qualities - communities - literacies

Learning To Drive - One Good News Story

2009-11-12T08:02:00.005-04:00

One of my learners who reads at a lower level came in the other night and said, "I got my driver's permit. I passed the test."

Really? Oh, that's great!

"Yeah, I wrote it again."

How did you do it? What happened that you were able to pass this time?

"Someone went with me to read it."

Yes? You mean read the questions?

"Yes."

I thought they read them to you last time.

"Yes, but this time I passed."

So, why do you think you passed this time?

"I listened to the tapes again and again."

The tapes?

"The tapes you made me."

Oh! The mp3 files of me reading from the book.

"Yeah. Sometimes I listened to them when I was at work. Then I went and wrote the test and passed."

Yay! Is it okay if I tell people about that?

"Of course. They can use the tapes too."

Original story here. The "tapes" contain parts of the New Brunswick Driver's Handbook, which is available online here, have been read aloud and saved as .mp3 files in my Windows' Skydrive folder. (Be aware of the underscore issue if you download into Firefox 3: you may need to rename the extension. More here, at the bottom about that.)

Side note: this noteworthy adult-learning success can't be registered or tracked using NB's performance accountability tools. We have ineffective tools, and everybody in the field knows it, except those civil servants who authored them and then imposed them upon us.

Remembrance Day 2009

2009-11-11T07:20:00.007-04:00

I have a learner reading The Death of Isaac Brock. This small book was written by Pierre Berton specifically for students, and is part of his History for Young Canadians series. The content for this book comes mainly from his book The Invasion Of Canada about the war of 1812. The former book is short and entertaining, but not "low level" by any means. Still, I wish I had the full set. (While we're wishing, I also wish I had a complete set of Gwynne Dyer's The Defense of Canada CBC mini-series from 1985. I don't like using films in class, but this might be the exception.)

And that's it for Remembrance Day related activity. We talked a little in class. Some people didn't know what the word cenotaph meant. The 11th hour of the 11th day bit and its origins in WW1 was something else some of them hadn't heard before.

I think the most challenging part of these conversations is when my adult learners ask about our present involvement in Afghanistan. Like many Canadians, they wonder why we went there, why we're still there, what we're doing there, and what we're trying to do there. Like many Canadians, I don't feel able to answer any of those questions to my own satisfaction.

As for my own remembrances I'll watch the ceremonies from Ottawa, and spend part of the day with David's Halberstam's history of the Korean War titled The Coldest Winter. Though, really, the day isn't that special to me. It's impossible to talk about Canadian history, as I do each day in class, and not talk a little about one of the wars. Too, news from Afghanistan - slender as it is - makes up part of my daily online reading. So, every day I think and worry about the Canadian Forces and the generals and politicians who use them.

We're a democracy, which means we the people are responsible for our leaders. We're a democracy, and we have troops in the field.

How could anyone forget?

Writing Errors of Fact and Fancy

2009-11-10T09:55:00.008-04:00

Originally, a torch was a portable source of fire used as a source of light, usually a rod-shaped piece of wood with a rag soaked in pitch and/or some other flammable material wrapped around one end. Torches were often supported in sconces by brackets high up on walls, to throw light over corridors in stone structures such as castles or crypts.
Wikipedia

I didn't know that about the "sconces" though I've heard and read the word "ensconced" often enough. I kind of knew about the pitch bit. That is, I knew torches had something to do with pitch, and that pitch (pine especially) burns hot and smoky, and that pitch was used for a bunch of stuff in the old days.

Nonetheless, it was a throw-away line when I wrote about Liz smelling the pitch on the torches in The Black Castle.

I've since heard from two facilitators about "pitch" becoming a minor point of conversation in their classes after reading the book. One wrote me:

Ch. 3 led to a discussion about pitch. Not everyone knew what it was, but many knew the term "pitch black." Most had seen torches in movies, but had wondered how they stayed lit.

The other told me she didn't know what pitch had to do with torches, but one of her learners knew about it and explained it to the rest of the class.

Nice. And pretty small beer, as these things go.

But here's what I'm thinking: I could have been wrong. Does it matter? I don't know.

It shouldn't... maybe. I mean I'm just writing these things for fun, you know? This isn't history or cultural studies or something. Errors of fact aren't just possible, they're probable. (It is a book about a monster.)

Yet, yet...

So, I spent an hour and a half last night on Google trying to find out if there is an in-shore fishery (i.e., a near-coast sea fishery) off Scotland's northwest. And if so, what are the seasons for what type of fish. Oh, and if it's not too much bother, what the heck do the boats look like?

Why? Because in Book Three Liz and David are going to come up over a hill and look at some fishing... trawlers? smacks? who will be fishing for... whitefish? cod? And this in the fall of the year... er, if that's not outside the season.

Liz and David do this thing and somewhere some reader, maybe, is going to register that such and such a kind of fish is caught in the seas near Scotland in the fall. Perhaps there will be a class discussion. Maybe it will feature in a word-search. Maybe somebody will look something up.

Then what? It would be unpleasant and woeful to have people mocking me for being entirely wrong.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm off to Google images of Scotland in the fall.

(Because you do know what an angry mob will do to writers who mislead them, don't you?)

On Ethics, White and Grey Areas, and Being Dense

2009-11-08T12:46:00.009-04:00

Last month there was an international "science of reading" story carried by the South African Press Association, l'Agence France Presse and the Australian Associated Press based on a story in the British journal Nature (Subscription only link here) that reported, in part

.... Researchers from Spain, Colombia and Britain seized a golden chance to find out more, thanks to 20 former rebels in Colombia who took part in an adult literacy course to help them reintegrate society. After the volunteers had become literate, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans of their brains were compared with those from 22 illiterates who were matched for age and cultural background. The new readers had a higher density of so-called grey matter, where information processing is carried out, in several areas of the left hemisphere of the brain, the investigators found. Previous research has already determined that these areas are responsible for recognizing the shapes of letters and translating the letters into speech sounds and deriving a meaning from them. Reading also boosted neural connections, known as white matter, between the different regions of grey matter. The team took the findings a step further by looking at the brains of people who mastered reading in childhood.

What?!?

Is it just me, or does anybody else wince at this Doctor Strangeglove style of pro-literacy research? I mean, I don't meet a lot of illiterate former Colombian rebels (most former Colombian rebels have been killed by current Colombian death-squads) so maybe I'm out of touch with the cutting edge here. Still...

I don't know what troubles me more: the first-world driven pseudo-science with inflated claims and faulty logic, the gross expenditure of money on something with no practical application, or the ethical framework of research done, if not in our name, then certainly under the banner of our field.

Professional Sharing Online - series post #1

2009-11-07T11:46:00.009-04:00

I was posting something from Creekside to my Facebook profile* the other day - using a smooth working Fb plugin for Firefox - when I thought, as I often do - this is the wrong way to go about this.

Shouldn't I be sharing via twitter or del.cio.us or stumbleupon or stumblr or... something else badly spelt? I'm not at all sure the people I'm connected to on Fb would be interested in reading Creekside. For that matter, I'm not sure who I'm connecting with on Fb, or why we've friended each other or what happened to some people I used to be connected with.... What exactly am I trying to accomplish here, anyway?

The sad answer is, I'm trying to "share" with "the world" and I don't know how.

By now, sharing should be super-easy. We've been in a Web 2.0 world for four or five years. According to wikipedia (a fine example of 2.0) the term Web 2.0 "is commonly associated with web applications which facilitate interactive information sharing, interoperability, user-centered design and collaboration on the World Wide Web." It's a change from earlier style "non-interactive websites where users are limited to the passive viewing of information that is provided to them."

I'm guessing I'm not really at Web 2.0 yet.

Why not? My chief reason is this: extroverts.

You may know them as trolls, though that's only a subset. They're the shouters, the Fox News types, the attention-whores, who argue to win and not to learn.

They scare the begeesers out of me, and I don't want to be any place near them. I certainly don't want to open up my content to them.

So, I rarely join on-line discussions, I moderate comments here, I haven't yet learned to wiki or twitter, and I comment with only the greatest timidity.

Ah, comments....

K. Before I get ahead of myself, I better tell you I'm in the middle of a project here - I mean, a school-project type thingy. I'd be doing all this with markers and bristol board (and feeling better about it) except my conscience in these things (who looks and sounds like Brian Kelly) won't have it. It's not 1990, he says, cryptically. These days, we do our presentations with 1s and 0s. Create on the desktop, share online.

So, the project: I'm trying to explain, if only to myself, how I use web-based communication tools. This will take several posting (fair warning) and may all come to naught. Such is life.

Pictured above is a first-draft table (created in Word, click to see it in full or here for the Google Docs version) of my on-line communications. It's mostly self-evident. Where there is more than one audience or goal I used bold text to signal the one most important to me. Also, this is a table about what I do right now, and about not what I think I should do or you should do someone else should do.

So... let's start with an easy one: column #5 - commenting on another's postings.

I don't know if it's common to think of commenting as self-publishing, but that's how I think of it. While I try to avoid bad manners and spam-commenting, I'm always aware and hopeful that other readers might find their way back to my blog(s). So, for example, when both the math and poetry blogs were as active as my literacy blog, I was always very mindful of associating one or another of them with my comment (in the "name field", not the text) depending on the post itself. In fact, I went looking for math blogs to comment on (though not so many poetry blogs because they're all so freakin touchy).

There are exceptions. There are four or five places I comment because I feel like I'm part of a long, casual conversation. The above mentioned Brian Kelly's UK WebFocus springs to mind or the I, Reader blog. As well, I also comment in order to promote or share ideas, or raise some questions ("advocacy support building") on the trade sites I visit as part of my on-going professional learning - Alphaplus or electro-textual or the Literacies Cafe.

But, by and large, my comments on sites outside my field are self-promotional. My assumed audience is either potential long distance associates or complete strangers. I'm guessing I comment about twice weekly - on average, it's more a feast or famine type thing - as part of a general goal of "taking part in the web to learn and to raise my own professional standing." Kind of a dorky goal, I know. But it keeps me up of the bars.

End post #1.

Um... Feel free to comment.

~~~~~~~~~~
* Note: I have a "public" Facebook for learners, friends, odd-bodies, etc. and another "private" for family and some closer personal friends. It's only the public or professional-me (vs. the private-me) that I'm talking about here.

Why Ask Learners Like Precious To Write

2009-11-06T17:15:00.007-04:00

Give Precious a Calculator read the lead in to the article "Why can't kids in movies ever do the math?" This was Jennie Yabroff writing in a Newsweek Web Exclusive (wha?) from yesterday. (I'm not going to link because there's a pop-up ad associated with it: I'm sure you can Google it.) She goes on to say

Early in the movie..., Precious tells the audience how much she likes math class. She even shushes another student when he interrupts the math teacher. But then Precious is kicked out of school for being pregnant. Eventually she winds up at an alternative school, where her teacher encourages her to write daily in her journal. Math does not appear to be on the curriculum.

At film's end, Precious is living in a halfway house, raising an infant and a toddler with Down syndrome; she's also unemployed and HIV-positive. She is reading and writing on a seventh-grade level. It's possible, of course, that Precious will go on journaling her way to middle-class security. But watching the film, I wondered why her teacher kept insisting Precious write, write, write, instead of add, subtract, multiply. If Precious aspires to financial security and gainful employment, she's a lot likelier to get it as an accountant than a poet.

I agree with Yarbroff that the idea "every underprivileged young adult harbors the soul of a Rimbaud is a favorite trope of popular culture." I mean, I wouldn't have written that tripe about poetic souls, but I know what she means, and I doubt I'll ever be able to watch Freedom Writers without wincing. I don't know what to make of her rather snarky "Anyone who has taught adult-literacy classes knows that inexperienced writers' efforts are more often clichéd, vague, and confusing than searingly original and profound." But I would cry "Yes!" to her musing that "writing in her journal allowed Precious to conceive of a better life for herself and her children; maybe creating a persona on the page enhanced her self-worth." (And began a visioning process that, with a different ~~facilitator~~ er... screenwriter might have led to different choices. More on that below.)

On the other hand, I have to disagree with her claim that "the world does not reward self-expression as readily or consistently as it rewards a good head for numbers." That's just... rhetorical bunk. It's also - in the absence of any hard numbers - a lovely example of an argument that proves itself false just by being (let my words convince you that words have less power to convince than numbers).

Now, thinking that Hollywood (or cable television) is going to portray anything realistic about adult literacy is like, well, taking seriously something written in Newsweek. Still, I thought it was worth dropping off a comment on this piece. After all, I belong to that "Anyone who has taught adult-literacy classes" group she defers to. Alas, Newsweek wanted me to pre-register, and there was that pop-up, and I thought, "Naw, I'll write this on my own blog instead."

So, back to the question: "why her teacher kept insisting Precious write, write, write, instead of add, subtract, multiply?"

The answer (besides the obvious "it said so in the script") is because math is easy and easy to escape into. Math is typically non-reflective and a-contextual. Math can be taught - it's all about sharing information (you add fractions like this for this reason). Math is a sensible domain for teachers and students. But, beyond basic numeracy (which she apparently has) adult literacy is about a different skill-set entirely.

You see, writing can't be taught: it can only be learned, and by someone willing to become a learner. And we're facilitators helping people become independent learners, not teachers instructing students via a curriculum toward financial security.

As well, writing is a faster means of (at the same time) raising one's reading and speaking vocabulary. Never mind being an accountant: right now we're worried about Precious reading her bills and explaining herself in court. (I promise, as soon as Precious really is ready to learn to keep books, we'll move her out of the adult literacy class and into a GED prep or workplace essential skills program. Er... assuming that's what she wants. We believe in self-directed learning too.)

And, finally, yes, writing provides opportunity for reflection / discussion that might help adult learners make more effective life-choices outside the classroom. Sounds like Precious could use some of that as well.

So, yes, I agree that the merit (and beauty) of mathematics is rarely captured by Hollywood. Even a supposedly "isn't it cool to be good at math" movie like Good Will Hunting said math is not enough. So what if you're good with a hammer, and enjoy and excel at math in your spare time. Until you join the worthy class of managers, scientists and professors, says the screenplay, you're just one more unlucky working-stiff wasting your life away.

But if you're talking adult literacy - which is what the article talks about, I can't speak for the movie - then there's no substitute for the learning-power of writing.

On screen or off.

Supporting Self-Directed Learning

2009-11-05T23:44:00.011-04:00

Do something. If it works, do more of it. If it doesn’t, do something else.
~ Franklin D. Roosevelt

We were talking about ILPs the other night, and for a few minutes I experienced the sudden vertigo of a man without a plan.

Then I realized I was being silly. True, I don't often create conventional Individualized Learning Plans in chart form with focused objectives and time-lines. But I and my learners have a plans. Really.

It works like this: based on what I know about my learners (ever changing because I'm learning more all the time, and, anyway, we do continuous intake), I stock my room with various materials pitched to different learning styles and reading levels. Some materials I "promote" by displaying them more prominently, while others I hold back a bit (e.g. present spine-on on a bookshelf).

Then, I ask each learner, each session, what they'd like to learn or learn about.

I can't say enough about the power of that simple question. There are variants, of course: "What would you like to learn or learn about today?" "What's something in math you can't do that you want to learn to do?" "What's one thing you'd like to improve about your writing?" But the point is that it's the learner who, in answering, is taking responsibility for creating their own (immediate) learning plan.

Of course it only works out well if I've already prepared a wealth of effective resources and materials. This can be challenging. I'm learning that, not only do different learners need different kinds of help, but sometimes the same learner needs different kinds of help on different days.

I also fret - which is silly - and make assumptions - which is unhelpful - when learners can't articulate clear learning objectives or interests. This shouldn't surprise me. Being self-directed is not something we encourage in public schools or in entry-level jobs. It's understandable that some people come into class thinking they're going to "get an education" or "finish school". Then, it's my job to, gently, ask more questions.

Sometimes a learner really can't say what they want to learn because they're in a state of protection, fearful of what's about to happen to them. That's a more serious challenge, and here I do fall back on a sort of mental checklist for building a positive relationship and helping them make an effective choice about coming:

Give information in a variety of (effective) ways.
Teach stress reduction techniques, choices, etc.
Provide optional healthy snacks and drinks.
Base plans on skills, not tasks.
Give time, and then more time.
Reinforce success: build on strength.
Decline to take part in ineffective strategies.
Ask and tell - share concerns and perceptions.
Provide materials at their reading level.
Provide a safe, friendly, positive environment.
Model effective reading, writing, learning behaviors.
Keep notes and reflect on / review my practice.
When in doubt, try something else.

Along with this, there are questions I (try to remember to) ask myself during difficult times:

What’s the goal - remediation or compensation?
Is the learner willing/able to participate?
Did the immediate plan work?
Or did everyone stick to the plan?
Is there progress and is more progress likely?
Am I working harder than the learner at their plan?
Are other learners being hindered?
Is there a crucial problem outside my control?

Depending on how I answer these questions, I may need to throw everything out the window and improvise something radically different.

Or, I may have to help the learner realize this isn't the place for him or her.

Something that takes its own kind of planning.

The Framing and Values of Literacy Work

2009-11-04T20:41:00.013-04:00

Well here comes the future and you can't run from it
If you've got a blacklist I want to be on it
Waiting for the Great Leap Forward
Billy Bragg (1996 CD re-issue)

I have a constant colleague who is a small "c" conservative (i.e., what we used to call "liberal") who believes more in private effort and individual initiative, than in government systems. I'm more of a small "l" liberal (i.e., what we used to call "socialist") who believes in social efforts and government intervention, and mistrusts private-property interests.

We get along just fine - you know, diversity is richness and all that - but the differences are there. (Ironically, it's the running-dog capitalist who coordinates with government and central committees, rather than the pinko-leftist commie. Who'dda thought?) We had a chance to talk about our different lens a few days ago, which started me thinking about sharing my lens here. You know, kindda explain what I mean when I say I'm mostly a post-marxist dependency theorist* sort of guy.

Then, I had the chance to read David J. Rosen explaining his lens in a blog post titled Advocating Smarter.

This Rosen bloke seems like a pretty smart guy, and I'd encourage you to take some time with his writings. According to the webpage I was on, he's been an executive director at an "Adult Literacy Resource Institute" which is part of the University of Massachusetts, and he's been a consultant with "education projects for adults and out-of-school youth in the U.S. and abroad." He's also been associated with some other state and federal adult-ed groups in the U.S. over the past couple of decades. Smart, articulate, and experienced.

He came to my attention (via Alphaplus) with this multipart post about how and why "adult literacy education advocates have been pushing a boulder up hill [which]... rolls down on us, and we just try to push harder." His suggestion is "maybe we don’t have to push up hill, and maybe we have more potential allies to help us push."

Literacy worker as Sisyphus? Hmm....

He tells us the blog entry is based on his paper called “Framing Literacy Values for Successful Advocacy” which appeared in the March 2006 issue of The Change Agent. By the way, I've had zero success getting at past issues of The Change Agent which appears never to have heard of OPEN ACCESS without registration and password systems that Never Seem To WORK (hello!! hello!!).... but I digress.

You can find his ideas pleasantly presented here: Advocating Smarter. In this post, he takes care to give us his lens up front:

My argument is based on three assumptions:

1. If adult literacy education – the work that teachers, tutors, and other practitioners and adult learners do – were well understood, it would be a bipartisan priority for Republicans and Democrats, and for conservatives as well as liberals or progressives;

2. The way we describe our work now, many conservatives, and the political middle-of-the-road, do not agree that it should get more government support; and

3. Our messages – what we project to the general public about our work — are flawed. They stereotype adult literacy education as “liberal,” “do-gooder,” or “noble work… for volunteers.”

Those are, indeed, happy thoughts. Would that the world worked that way.

Look, again, allow me to urge you to go read this piece. It's smart, thoughtful and thought-provoking.

But, I gotta tell ya, sadly, my experience and my lens lead me to three very different assumptions:

1. What adult literacy educators do poses a threat, on two levels, for social and fiscal conservatives (one threat is the redistribution of wealth required to fund this particular social program, and the other is an increasingly empowered and literate electorate who may speak, act and vote contrary to established interests) and they know this threat exists even if we all pretend it's not there;

2. The way we describe our work (particularly in funding requests) can create fences around what we are allowed to do (for example, preventing us from scaffolding learner self-advocacy, and pushing us toward an employer-determined workplace learning curriculum), which means it is more important that, from the get-go, our self-descriptions be effective for learners than that they be palatable for business interests; and

3. Our messages are often flawed because we have allowed ourselves to be pushed into two small corners where we typically blame the victims of unjust or poor social policy and then over-promise results ("Too many people get sick or become criminals because they can't read, and literacy workers can fix that," "The economy's in trouble because too many people aren't educated enough to be good workers, and literacy workers can fix that too").

This is part of what I mean about my post-marxist lens.

You would think that with such a pessimistic outlook I'd be depressed all the time, and probably sick and badly dressed to boot.

But I'm not. Go figure.

Oh, by the way, here's my picture of uphill work. F**k a bunch of boulders.

~~~~~~~~

* A fun but mysterious slideshare introduction here.

By the way, the fact I find this slideshow "fun" probably says something tragic about my upbringing. If you've enjoyed it as well, go here and, well, party like it's 1996!

What we don't know keeps the contracts alive and moving
They don't gotta burn the books, they just remove them
While arms warehouses fill as quick as the cells
Rally round the family, pockets full of shells
Bulls on Parade
rage against the machine (1996)

It may have been Camelot for Jack and Jacqueline
But on the Che Guevara highway filling up with gasoline
Fidel Castro's brother spies a rich lady who's crying
Over luxury's disappointment, so he walks over and he's trying
To sympathise with her but he thinks that he should warn her
That the Third World is just around the corner
Waiting for the Great Leap Forward
Billy Bragg (1996, CD re-issue)

Matching Inputs To Outcomes

2009-11-03T21:46:00.007-04:00

This summer some colleagues and I shifted our direct adult learning support to 57 Maclaren. There wasn't any money, so we volunteered our time and paid for stuff out of our own pockets (i.e., from our pay for running the storytents - think of it as double-duty dollars.) The Crescent Valley Community Tenant's Association generously gave us use of additional space. This gave us a place to store things like our adult resources and files, key equipment (computer, printer/photocopier, etc.), and our circular table and chairs, as well as a place to meet with people or complete paperwork. We sometimes made use of the larger front room and kitchen area, bringing materials and equipment out as needed.

Oh, and I stuck a sign in the window.

Over the course of the summer and early fall, nine individuals approached us about help with their learning. Of these, seven followed up by meeting with us. Two learners did not keep their appointment, and declined to make an additional appointment.

Of the seven, two learners chose to stop coming early on in our relationship. Three needed information, ideas and help with a referral: one or two meetings was adequate to meet their needs.

Only two learners made on-going use of our services, and only one attended 57 regularly.

The learner who came to 57 had workplace literacy as a goal (background story here). As a result of his efforts through the summer, this worker received a promotion and a pay increase at his place of work. At this time, I'm still working with him, though in a different venue. (One of the oddities of adult literacy work is that facilitators and learners alike migrate among the same seasonal or short-term programs and projects: one major retention issue is with the retention of the funding and space to keep programs running.)

The other (our self-directed learner) received at-home support provided in conjunction with the bookwagon. This support resulted in reading gains, is on-going, and may take place at 57 during the winter months.

Although discouraging, this pattern of only about 50% of interested adults showing up for an appointment, and only about 25% following through long enough to experience success, seems to be consistent with most adult literacy work. At least, it's consistent with my experiences. Issues beyond literacy - poor health, abusive or violent experience, periodic employment, frequent relocation - often create barriers between potential learners and their classes or tutors.

Is a 25% follow-through rate enough?

Well, look at what happened. One learner is reading better, and feeling better about her reading. And one learner got a promotion and a raise because his reading skills increased.

Not bad outcomes from sticking a sign in the window and hanging around a few extra hours a week.

But I'll tell you what. If you want better outcomes, give me some money to promote, to obtain better resources, and to have a more consistent presence in the community.

You get what you give.

Black Castle Follow-Up

2009-11-02T11:19:00.005-04:00

KarenB and I each put some questions up in the skydrive (in the Reading Level 4 folder) to go with The Black Castle if anybody's interested.

Her questions (for Chaps 1-3) are a little smarter, but mine are better looking.

:P

Just FYI.

A Continued Reading Culture

2009-11-01T11:43:00.005-04:00

One of the products of long term community access to books and reading is a continued reading culture.

I was reviewing some photos the other day (prep work for a piece we're planning about the Bookwagon) when this story-in-photos caught my eye.

When we met this girl she struggled with reading - especially reading English since she was in an all French program at school. Nonetheless, when we set up our tent near her house, she chose to check us out. I don't remember our first meeting, but I do recall that early on she welcomed some one-on-one reading help from us, and that Blue Hat Green Hat was her first success in the storytent.* She used to read it to us - and anyone who would listen - each time she came, and it was a book she liked to borrow.

Sometimes (first photo), she or a friend would bring a doll to the tent. We thought that was an interesting example of books and reading becoming part of their play (as well as, presumably, their quality worlds).

When summer ended and we began the Saturday morning bookwagon program, she borrowed regularly from the wagon (second photo).

One of the things we noticed was that, over the winter, she became confident enough to read to a younger friend (photo three). We aren't claiming special credit here: it was her and her mom that made that happen. But access to books continued to matter to the family.

A couple of years later (fourth photo), by the time she was ~~too cool~~ ~~too old~~ too busy for the storytent or wagon, and old enough to babysit, she was encouraging other children to borrow from the programs.

Whatever else happens in this young lady's life, I'm sure books and reading will always be part of her interactions with children - someone else's or her own.

This is what supporting a reading culture can look like. It's what community literacy can look like. It's not enough, this kind of program. Economically and politically significant family and literacy support requires other things like resource partnering, advocacy work, and direct adult instruction. But these other things don't have to happen all the time. What is necessary is a long term, consistent presence in a community: long term book access, and long term positive relationships.

Anyway, that's my perception. :)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~
* "Welcoming help" almost always looks like this:

Child: I can't read.

Worker: That's okay. But I know a book you might be able to read.

Worker digs out Blue Hat Green Hat or Machines At Work or Truck or Cat On The Mat or Yummy Yucky or Brown Bear Brown Bear or....

Child (15 minutes later): I can read that book.

Worker: Yay! Maybe you could borrow it and read it at home. Do you want to read it again? Do you want to read another book? Or do you want me to read a book to you? What would you like to do now?

Hallowe'en Readings

2009-10-31T15:03:00.009-03:00

Well, here it is Hallowe'en, and I don't have a class to read Dracula with.

I have three classes, but none of them are interested in group reading right now (something I have done in the past; see this post from 2007.)

Nonetheless, I had one learner just finish the Saddleback Classics Dracula - and move on to Frankenstein - and another start it, so I thought I'd give another shout-out to that series of adapted novels and workbooks.

The adaptions themselves score a reading level difficulty of about 6 to 7. The workbooks, I think, run a little higher.

I must say, I don't know if the workbooks do any good. I mean, I don't have any reason to doubt their worth. I don't have any concerns about them. I just can't say I've seen them make a tremendous difference. Maybe somebody else can?

As for myself, later tonight I plan to make a pot of tea and curl up with The Fellowship Of The Ring, picking up the story just before Frodo's departure from the Shire. In the meantime, while there's still weekend housework to do, I'm going to listen to Alan Winterrowd's LibriVox reading of The Bat by Mary Roberts Rinehart. Winterrowd first scared me with his LibriVox recording of The House On The Borderland, and I have high hopes for this one as well. Other note-worthy LibriVox recordings include "The Terror Of The Blue John Gap" and The Thing From The Lake.

By the way, The Bat has also appeared as several movies and a stageplay. My favorite movie version can be streamed in from Classic Cinema Online.

Stay safe, everyone!

Learning Democracy - the Sale of NB Power

2009-10-29T14:57:00.005-03:00

We were making progress.

I was slowly helping them move from saying "I hate taxes" to "I wish the tax system was different." I was helping them stop saying "I hate the government" and replace it with "I wish someone else was in government."

We were making progress away from monarchy-thinking, from the idea we're ruled from some castle on a hill, toward democracy-thinking, the idea people choose rulers who are answerable to them.

And then this happened.

Out of the blue, our government decided to sell-off the bulk of New Brunswick's energy resources and properties to a group outside the province and beyond New Brunswickers' control.

What's going to happen with the long term power rates? What's going to happen with nuclear energy and the disposal of nuclear waste? What's going to happen with green or renewable energy sources and innovation? What type of chemical will be sprayed along the transmission lines to kill back the brush?

Who knows. Someone in Quebec, I suppose.

Someone in that castle, ruling us from the hill.

*sigh*

Maybe it'll all work out. But, you know, it sure kicks the legs out from under anybody trying to argue that voting matters or democratic governments are answerable to their citizens.

Oh, and these guys were no help! Look at their front webpage from this morning. How's that for a statement of principles!?!

Background Knowledge and Social Studies

2009-10-27T15:03:00.006-03:00

She said, "I have to admit, though, that I'm starting to find this stuff a little bit interesting."

I didn't exactly do back-flips, but it was so much better than the "I really, really hate social studies" of three weeks ago that I may have done a small mental jig.

How'd it happen? As with most of these things, partly by accident.

I've long known that I've lacked plain language resources that explain the basics like how government works or what Joseph Howe was on about. Without adequate background knowledge, even good readers struggle with the Social Studies portion of the GED test.

So, how to get them that background knowledge. I've brought books from the public library, with limited success. I've made handouts now and again. I've yakked at people, narrating illustrated stories (see artwork above) to mostly no avail. This year, I even stretched a time line across one wall. That generated some interest - one learner even created her own. Still, learners weren't getting the information they needed in an effective, timely manner.

Then I got called out of town for several days for some professional development.

One evening, while out of town, I got over to the bookstore Chapters and found - in the parenting section, oddly enough - a workbook called Canadian Government Grades 4-6, published by The Popular Book Company (Canada) Ltd.

It was pitched for school children, but I figured it could be adapted for class. So, once I got back, I started cutting the workbook up, rearranging pages, throwing some stuff away and fitting other stuff in, swapping adult appropriate illustrations for the childish pictures. I put the end product in a three-ring binder, and then I handed it around for a couple of learners to test out.

"I see..." they said.

"I remember you talking about this..."

"Okay. Now this makes sense."

And, after a couple of weeks, one of them announced, "I have to admit, though, that I'm starting to find this stuff a little bit interesting."

Well, good. Now let's get you ready for that GED.

Checking In, Asking Questions, Making Plans

2009-10-25T21:48:00.007-03:00

It occurred to me that I don't really know this lady's reading level, and so I'm ~~operating in the dark, a little~~ forced to trust her self assessment. Is she making progress? I don't know. Does that matter? Or, better, Is it any of my business?

I can ask if she'd like to be tested - that's the word, "tested" and not "assessed" - just so she knows that is an option. Maybe in a couple of weeks. But I can't impose it on her. I can't take the initiative and responsibility away from her. That would be.... Well, it would be a lousy thing to do, is all. And it wouldn't be building relationship.
Building Community vs Community Buildings
June 8, 2009.

I connected with our self-directed learner during Bookwagon the other day, and expressed my doubts about how to help her best. I told her "I don't know what to do next." She said she didn't know what to do either. I took that as an invitation to suggest something. I suggested we meet at Tim Horton's later that afternoon.

I took along some books, writing materials, and some assessment tools from the Read Naturally crew. (The Read Naturally ME [Masters Edition] Placement Packet—2nd Ed. These were designed for children, but most of the reading comprehension portions can be used with adults. I'd have taken my CARA stuff but I couldn't find it - doh!)

I arrived a little early to find her already there, visibly nervous. I got a coffee and a couple of old fashioned sugar donuts, sat down, and listened. She talked a great long stream, mostly about her eyesight (she recognized her glasses weren't doing the job anymore) and a past unhappy experience with an adult literacy class. Then she said, "Is there a way to find out exactly where I am right now... what grade I'm at?"

That was my cue.

"Can I give you something to read?"

"Sure."

I handed over "Ice Cream Sodas", leveled at 3.5. She read it slowly to herself. Then I gave her the five comprehension questions that go with it. It was right away apparent that she was struggling.

Next, I handed over "Gorilla", leveled at 3. She read this more easily. I handed her the questions, and she answered them correctly with confidence.

That made sense. She had enjoyed the Jack Sloan westerns, which are a solid level 3, but found the level 4-5 biography series uncomfortable. Of course, she also affirmed that she was enjoying The Black Castle (she had the 1st three chapters). I estimate that story to be a reading level 4, but it's a straight-ahead narrative which makes it more accessible thant some other styles of text. And, in any case, no one was making her answer questions - she was reading for enjoyment.

Now I asked some questions about her quality world pictures. Did she still want one-on-one help? Was there anyone helping her now? Did she know anyone who would help her? Would she go out to get that one-on-one help? How far was she willing to travel? How often would she want that help? What time of day would she want it? If that wasn't possible, would other times of day be okay?

What was it she wanted to learn or learn about? Why did she want to read better? Was there something else she'd like to learn as well?

I found out she preferred one-on-one help in her neighbourhood, during the mornings. At present, there was no one helping her. She wanted to improve her reading to increase her independence. She didn't care about math, but was interested in recalling cursive writing. She was starting to learn to use a computer, with her son's help, and was interested in the idea of word games on Facebook and using email. She wanted help with her vision, and wondered about the value of a magnifying glass or magnifying page.

Okay, that was enough for me to create a to do list:

Bring her the four books in the Tony Jefferson series (r.l. 4)
Bring her complete copies of the Black Castle and Return books
(And finish the next two in the series)
Provide cursive writing worksheets
Find some reading materials with comprehension questions at level 3
Look into magnifying glasses
Look for someone reliable to provide one-on-one help

I explained that I couldn't offer one-on-one help in the daytime, nor on most evenings. But if there was nothing else available, I'd fit her in as best as I could. I also said, despite her reservations, I'd ask about the nearest adult literacy class and what kind of support she was likely to receive there. And, I promised to send her an email.

And that was that.

Since then, I've looked at and passed on magnifying sheets - I can't see how they'd be useful, given the need to hold them steady exactly 4" from the text (to keep the correct focal length): better to offer large-print materials. I've dropped off two of the Tony J. books (I've lent the other two to someone else) and both of the Black Castle books. And I've sent an email.

This week, I'll gather some more materials for her.

I'm... uncertain about the adult class. I run one myself, but don't think it would fit her wants right now. And I'm having no luck finding someone I trust to refer her to for one-on-one help.

Still, she hasn't given up, so neither will I.

How can I?

This is what I do.

******
Note: Read Naturally assigns levels to its materials based on these readability formulas:
Fry and Spache readability formulas for levels .8 through 2.7
Harris-Jacobson readability formula for levels 3.0 through 5.0
Dale Chall readability formula for levels 5.6 and above

I mostly defer to Fry, though, after nine years of it, I can ballpark pretty well just by reading. For more on readability see Wikipedia and here (and here, my constant guide by Zakaluk and Samuels).

Supporting Young Readers - One Hour A Week

2009-10-22T08:41:00.006-03:00

I was talking to a friend and colleague last night. She related this story:

I was at scouts tonight, and I saw the mom of a boy I'd read to last year. Her son now goes to scouts, and she was there talking to the leader. After, she spotted me and came over to tell me how her son was doing with reading. She was really excited. "I've just got to tell you," she said. She told me her son read almost a 100 books over the summer. She said he'd read all the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books, and all the 39 Clues books. Then, this fall, he came home from school and told her he didn't need reading resource this year! She was very pleased and went on for about ten minutes. She told me about his progress as a reader since our sessions last year, and said she'd even stopped reading books with him because he was reading ahead, telling her she was too slow.

What was really great about all this was that my daughter was standing right there. When we left she said, "I don't know why, but I feel warm all over." So I confirmed that it was very rewarding and also so simple! All it took was one hour a week, over the school year, building a positive relationship, talking about 'whatever' and being positive about reading. When we read, it was either me reading to him (the book he wanted was Charlie Bone), or shared reading, alternating pages (the Bone series - which was above his level, but he rose to it, I guess by listening). As well, I gave the mom some information: Avoid correcting; be a parent, not a teacher; read to and with and support independent reading by buying books he liked. I also sent mom towards the Summer Reading Club as a summer activity that would be supportive of his reading.

Simple indeed. Now, I'd better point out that my friend has many year's worth of experience successfully supporting families in crisis and designing effective supports for early childhood learning. She also is an accomplished whole-language adult literacy facilitator with a Masters in Adult Ed., and a certified Reality Therapy (/Choice Theory) counselor - which means she's highly trained in not telling people what to do.

But even so, what she did wasn't complicated. I could do it. So could you.

We'd just need to dedicate the time, keep positive, stop correcting and criticizing, and read... read to, read with.

It's worth keeping the simplicity in mind, because there's some ~~gibberish~~ ~~foolishness~~ pretty complex ideas floating around out there. Here's a snapshot of the thinking of Doug Downey et al. Nice enough people, I'm sure, but a little, um....

The title of this particular report is Are “Failing” Schools Really Failing? Using Seasonal Comparisons To Evaluate School Effectiveness, and the thesis in this and other of his writings is that "families play a dominant role in explaining variations in children’s achievement," that "the amount learned in a year is still not entirely under schools’ control" because "even during the academic year, children spend most of their time outside of the school environment," and that to really assess the effectiveness of schools, more testing and research are needed, maybe during the summer months.

Sometimes, when I read stuff like the silliness above, I feel a little lost, a little helpless, a little hopeless. I feel a little like this guy here:

But then I talk to somebody who actually does the work, like my friend, and I feel better.

The Other Kind Of Multistep Word Problems

2009-10-20T20:56:00.006-03:00

Jinkies! This Black Castle stuff is like real work!

And them learners - they're no help.

"Wendell, can you help me with these word problems in fractions? I'm trying to...."

Not now! *snarl* The font's all screwed up again! Howdoyaspell 'berserker'? One 'l' or two? *glances up to see the class staring, open mouthed* Okay, okay. Fractions. I wish all I had to worry about was fractions!"

Actually, it's not that bad. My learners are wonderful, clever, and patient with all my little side hobbies. They know they matter most, and I almost never snarl at anybody.

But I have been dealing with angst-making formatting issues as I move back and forth between MS Word (2003) and Open Office's Open Writer program (and dealing with my own iconoclastic spelling and grammatical foibles).

I should have just written the whole thing in notepad. But, no - that wouldn't have worked either. I've been trying to keep paragraphs together on one page. The page format is landscaped with wide margins and two columns (for book-making purposes). I'm using Word because I'm most comfortable with it's tools and trappings. But it doesn't have - or I can't find - an "export as .PDF" function. Hence my use of Open Writer, which I mostly don't like otherwise.

Why .PDF? I thought that would be the most accessible (you can print it or read it in a browser or reader) and would also preserve the original from inadvertent editing. I guess I could also have saved it as a read-only Word document. But is that still as accessible?

I dunno. *sigh*

I sent a link to the uploaded file via MSN Live directly to six people, five of whom reported back being able to open it okay. Not sure about the 6th one - whether it was a compatibility issue of maybe a firewall / security thing. So... unless I hear something more alarming, that's going to be my con't practice.

Right now I'm editing the second book in OW. Maybe I'll get that squared away by the end of the week.

You know, it's not rocket science. The first book was only about 2500 words, with book two just over twice that.

But it does take time and care and patience.

Mathematics really is the easy side of the street.

:)

Putting The Black Castle Online

2009-10-19T10:30:00.006-03:00

Hokay... Here's a test.

I've put the Black Castle (a completely hokey reading level 4ish story in six chapters) up on my Skydrive (MSN Live) as a PDF file. The idea is that anybody who wants to can grab it - download, since Skydrive doesn't have a built in screen-reader - and use it in whatever way they see fit.

The terms of use read: "This work is provided free of charge for others to use, copy, modify or redistribute provided these terms of use are not changed."

I'd appreciate any feedback about whether or not this Skydrive / pdf idea works before I upload any more resources.

Thks. :)

UPDATE: When using Firefox (rather than I.E.8) to download or save files from Skydrive, an underscore ( _ ) appears in the filename. Firefox users may need to change the .pdf_ to .pdf in order to open or read the file. This can be avoided by not having spaces in the filename - something I fixed with a 2nd upload.

(Also did some other housekeeping when I realized the .PDF file was opening with the wrong title - The Battle - and with someone else created as author! Yikes!)

Guest Post :)

2009-10-14T07:30:00.003-03:00

originally posted in Reading for Fun and Learning: Four Westerns

I read all four books about Jack Sloan and they are all western books and they are all every good too. I strongly agree that you should read all four books to see what I am saying about them because they are real good. In order the books are:

Tin Star Promise
Justice on Horseback
Shotgun Revenge
Mississippi Stranger

They are all written by the some person and her name is Agnes M .Hagen. The first book was dedicated to her students at Staunton Correctional Center and the second book was dedicated to “Janet and Carole who helped.” The third book was in memory of Mary and the fourth book was dedicated to “Elizabeth and Terrie two great writing teachers.”

Background Knowledge and Adult Learning

2009-10-12T19:34:00.008-03:00

Ross McGowan in sight of his first European Tour title after an amazing third round at the Madrid Masters.
European Tour

So I'm laying on my folks' couch watching afternoon golf in the Centro Nacional de Golf Madrid, and thinking, Madrid ...

I'm thinking red roofs and Spain and the costa del sol (which might not be right). I'm thinking Spanish Civil War and George Orwell and Picasso's painting about the bombing (you know, the one that starts with G). I'm thinking Casablanca (inexplicably) and Columbus and Seville (which is maybe in Italy) and flamingo guitar and ladies' legs and that closing scene in the movie From Russia With Love which always looks like Spain, but maybe its Portugal. I'm thinking about reading somewhere that Spain's Gross National Product is greater than Saudi Arabia's, and that Spanish fishermen used to fish off Newfoundland, and that Wellington entered Europe through Spain in his wars against Napoleon (which might also be wrong), and....

Well, you get the idea.

Golfers are chipping or putting for birdies, commentators are whispering sweet nothings about the wind and the lie, and I - learning that this game is taking place in Madrid - call up a host of images and ideas and memories and associations having to do (in my mind) with Spain.

Background knowledge - don't it make the world go round!

I don't know exactly why I have all this information of dubious accuracy and import.

No, that's wrong. I do know why: because I'm a visual learner; because I grew up in a household where we had free access to magazines and atlases and dictionaries and books, books, books; because I was free to hang with my parents watching documentaries on television and listening to world news on CBC radio; because I spent unfettered time on a university campus once, learning interesting histories from marxists and Catholic priests. So that, by the time I was 25, I had both a wealth of ideas and images cluttered away in my memory, and a sense of comfort with a variety of topics and disciplines.

(Note: There's something to be said here for family literacy and play-based learning at home, but I don't want to lose the thread of my thoughts.)

It doesn't matter that my associations are hopelessly garbled and misspelt. They are still effective because they are there to build upon as I learn new things or refine previously held ideas. Talk to me about Spain, and I will probably understand you, because I already know something related to what you're talking about.

Background knowledge and a storehouse of associations is something many of my learner's don't have. And that's a problem.

Interestingly, a lack of background knowledge is not much of a problem when I'm supporting adults with lower reading levels. In those circumstances, it's often a matter of linking up words to read or write with something personally encountered. That's the heart of "experience stories".

For example, suppose somebody enjoys working on their car at home. It's easy to build sentences and reading vocabulary around that experience. We can play with common words (working on, working at, working in, working for) or push tenses around (work, works, worked, working). We can use these words to create narrative or build an employable skills portfolio. There are lots of possibilities, and most involve a reading-writing vocabulary of less than 800 words.

On the other hand, even adults with a reading-writing vocabulary of several thousand words can be mystified by references to people, places, events and ideas they've had little or no contact with.

What does the statement "Columbus was working for the Spanish crown" mean to someone with no relevant images or associations for "Spain"? And if they have no associated images or memories, how are they to gain them?

This, I think, is the lesser challenge facing so-called Level II learners, adults able to read text with a 6 to 8 level of difficulty: they can often read beyond their scope of experience and associations.

I call this a lesser challenge because, after all, it's easily remedied. All that's required is time, space and resources. We need only allow adults to build up their store of experiences and mental images. In an age of public museums and libraries, cable television and the internet, nothing should be easier.

Sadly, these learners are rarely given that time and space. After all, these are people who are relatively independent - or, at least, who we expect to be relatively independent.

Family or work responsibilities, a low fixed income, uncertain personal health, a self- or externally-imposed time limit for obtaining a GED, or the self-defeating negative emotions that range from frustration to fear are just some of the factors that can keep, say, a twenty-eight year old single mom from developing mental associations for the word "Spain".... or "legislature" or "papacy" or "electron".

How much time would they need? I don't know, but I suspect a lot - more if they approach new information guardedly. Is there a way to cram? I don't know. What's the answer, then? I don't know.

I really don't know.

I'm just saying.

I was watching a golf game, a screen graphic said it was being played in Madrid, and I was able to call up dozens of associations of greater or lesser accuracy. That skill or resource or whatever-it-is makes learning easy for me.

My learners have fewer such associations. That makes learning hard for them.

Tired, But I'm Working, Yeah

2009-10-09T19:08:00.008-03:00

Yo, folks.

I am still blogging. I'm just not, you know... blogging.

Mostly, I blame the Alphaplus gang. They keep saying "Try this..." and "Look here..." and "Read that..." and now I'm, like, eighteen posts behind.

Secondly, there's been some good stuff happening and some bad stuff happening, all of which would be inappropriate to blog about right now. (You know how that is.)

A third reason for not posting is that I'm busy with the prep work and re-writes and other "putting-stuff-together-for-learners" activity that has come out of some thoughts and conversations I had this summer about supporting "Level II" learners - those learners independent with reading-level 6, 7 or 8 materials, but not yet able to navigate conventional GED prep materials.

And then there's been a little bit of this:

and a bunch of this:

More tomorrow or the next day. :)

Bookwagon (vs. the TD Bank)

2009-09-27T16:55:00.014-03:00

It was cool but sunny when we started out with the bookwagon. The streets were dry, and we had new books with us. I was worried about the front left wheel: it was broken, wobbling badly and worn, but not yet ready to fall off. The wagon pulled hard, but at least it pulled. And anyway, Cheryl and I are young and good looking rock & rollers, so what could go wrong?

A boy flagged us down almost immediately. Two of his friends, kids new to us, watched from a distance. When he had borrowed and returned to his friends, I heard a little girl ask, "Are those books?" And, to another child, "Do you want to look at the books?" I could hear the boy answering questions: "No, you borrow them." "As long as you want." "You give them back." "When they come here again." Meanwhile, another family came out to borrow. We lingered a bit longer. Three more kids came running up (one of whom borrowed), but the new kids never came any closer, and the morning was moving on, so we did too.

We had been late getting out the door (having braced ourselves with buckwheat pancakes). So, at our second stop, where Cheryl talked with a mom for a while (lending two adult books and giving out stay-healthy information), I finished folding, stapling and taping a chapter of the reading level 4 - 5 books I've been writing for another adult. A short time later, we paused near a yardsale and watched a couple of girls become excited about our new Nancy Drews. In particular, they were excited about duel copies: "Look! The same one! You can borrow one and I can borrow the same one!" In the end, however, they left with Goosebumps.

A boy came running up to return books. Further along, we connected with an adult who wanted to talk to us about her learning needs. We made an appointment to meet right after bookwagon, lent a Navada Barr novel to yet another adult, and walked on down the road.

At one stop, a little guy (pre-K) had been waiting for us for a hour. "My books!" he would say, and run to the window to look for us again. We collected some donated books from a family. We chatted with someone about the small library in the resource centre. And moved on.

It was cool but sunny, and kids were out playing. Some yelled, "I'm not getting books today" from their playground swings or passing by on their bikes. Some yelled, "Just a minute!" and banged into their homes to find books to return.

We stopped to talk with a family we'd been supporting for awhile. The little girl was doing better in school. The mom was volunteering daily (facilitated by information we had given her on an earlier visit). She asked us to prep another box of books at her child's reading level. Can do.

There was some more street borrowing - kids just coming running up. Another mom came out to get books for her children and talk about how they were doing. She said of one of her children, she's "living proof of how effective the [Storytent] program is" - a wonderfully warm thing to hear.

I dropped that level 4-5 homemade book through my learner's mail slot. We knocked on some doors where families weren't home. We turned into a court where a bunch of kids came crowding around. Not all borrowed, but they all wanted to look through the books. A couple of grown-ups came over to talk: one about community relations, the other about custody questions. Down the street a little further we lent a Sonic Hedgehog book and learned that Archie was marrying Veronica, to Betty's dismay. (You get all sorts of news doing bookwagon.)

We walked around our lost court - me moaning again about the business crowd displacing us with empty promises of a playground and splashpad - and lent zero books to about 50 families. *Grrrr*

Then we were on the short run home (hustling a little because we'd made that after-bookwagon appointment). We lent some more books. Got to talk with a mom about age-appropriate bookplay and why we were okay with her young child damaging our books in the process of learning and growing.

We lent three titles to one last adult borrower, and then headed to the CVCTA building where we store our stuff. Our visitor stopped by and we sat in the kitchen. She told us what she wanted, and we offered information about community learning options and resources, making plans to help her connect with a nearby service. (We would only intervene ourselves if a resident was expressly uninterested in using existing services: we would rather refer than replicate, although the bottom line is effectively helping residents reach their learning goal.) Then we put everything away, tidied up a bit, and went our respective ways.

What about the numbers?

I don't have the real statistics here, but I can offer some pretty good guesses. The whole affair cost us about four hours (about $120 worth of staff time, were we being paid). I'd say two dozen people borrowed about 80 books (children's and adult, valued at about $1000) over the two hour delivery period. There was no gender difference in the children's borrowing: boys borrowed as often as girls. Where gender did come into play was in the adult contacts: every one of them were women; all but one were mothers. About a quarter of our borrowers received something they'd requested or we'd prepped specifically for them (some of that prep happening "off the clock" during the week). I'm also guessing we spent roughly as much time giving out health, literacy and parenting information or connecting people to community resources as we did just lending books.

All in all, another successful episode of community literacy work.

(You'd think someone would pay us to do stuff like this.)

Update: A Local Bookwagon program not good enough for TD.

This just appeared in my email: TD National Reading Summit - Reading and Democracy, Wednesday, November 11 to Friday, November 13, 2009

The bank asks, "What is Canada doing to foster a reading culture?" - which sends a shiver down my spine - and then they say:

In Canada, individual provinces and communities have made steps in this direction; however, because schools and libraries are the most obvious focus for public reading initiatives, and both are under provincial and municipal jurisdictions, we have no coordinated national strategy to promote reading.

But that's not true. We've got fifty coordinated national strategies. We have National Family Literacy Day, and Freedom to Read Week, and Canada Book Day, for example. We've got Summer Reading Clubs that run coast-to-coast, and the Canada Reads promotional program, and things like Word On The Street, or the Running & Reading program. There are promo events like the Raise-a-Reader campaign, or the !ndigo Love of Reading Fund. There's the on-going cross-Canada work of outfits like Scholastic Canada and Frontier College and the Canadian Language & Literacy Network, and ABC Canada, and Movement for Canadian Literacy - they've all got strategies. There's a Canadian Children's Book Week and the TeenRC online network. We've even got a Scrabble-Night In Canada for crying out loud! These are all Canada-wide in focus and intent.

But maybe, you think, TD means we need some coordination between these strategies? Nope. TD has plans of its own.

"On November 11 to 13, 2009 the TD National Reading Summit will bring together writers, educators, publishers, librarians, and public officials who care about crafting a blueprint for a reading Canada [and] delegates will lay the groundwork for implementing new programs and policies with both provincial and federal participation" (my emphasis).

So, people will pay $250 for a seat, and feel very benevolent and engaged, and create new programs and policies to add to that alphabet soup I listed above.

But, you know, supporting reading doesn't require a "coordinated strategy" or national policies. It requires flexible, responsive, accessible, committed workers who have locally relevant information, materials and strategies.

The work I described above, the Bookwagon, is necessarily local. It can't be coordinated or policied ("policed") on a national level in any shape or form. To try to do so would kill it.

I promise you, I have no intention of dragging my wagon to Brampton or Yellowknife. And if someone from those towns decide they want to create their own bookwagon-thingy, they really don't need to hear from me. (And if they do want to hear from me, they won't need a bank coordinating it.)

Yes, I could use some help. I need more storage and office space. I could use a dedicated phone line, free of charge. I could stand to get paid and/or have a book budget. In particular, I need a front left wheel for my steel-mesh garden cart.

But national policies and coordination are not among the things I need.

TD, the things you dream are only going to slow me down.

Worksheets and Reflective Practice

2009-09-24T15:58:00.005-03:00

How much time do I spend participating in the same activities and work as my learners?
Do I ever feel excited about a lesson I have planned?

Those are two questions taken from a lengthy self-evaluation questionnaire created back in 1992. They're good questions. I found them the other night, digging around among some binders for a useful word list. I also found some sheets for story mapping. Here's how those finds shaped my night.

Everyone was reading independently, including me (reading about water and oceanography in preparation for helping another learner the next day). The learners all had the general notion of later "writing about" what they read. I thought the story mapping sheets might help organize that writing. I also thought - based on question #1 - it would be good practice for me to use the sheets as well.

I'd just finished reading, and so announced - somewhat disruptively - that I was going to "use one of these sheets to write about what I just read about." Then I handed other copies of the sheets around "in case anybody else wants to use one."

I'm saying "sheets" because I had two different single-page sheets. Each sheet asked us to organize information in a slightly different way. Here's my answers, with the original questions in bold:

Who did it? Charles William Beebe and Otis Barton

What happened? Made the first deep-sea dives in the oceans. They went down as far as 600 feet in 1930, and Barton ended up going down as far as 4,500 feet. Although visibility was poor, on one dive they reported seeing a 'giant serpent "more than twenty feet long and very wide".'

Where did it happen? Off the Bahamas and off California.

When did it happen? Between 1930 and 1948.

Who did it happen to? The oceanographic community and several mysterious fish.

Why did it happen? Both men were well-off, adventurous, and university educated. The oceans were an unexplored world.

What will happen next? In 1960, two other men dove 8 times as deep, after which attention focused on outer space. No one else went deep diving and, due to the cost, no one seems likely to any time soon.

Okay. So what did I learn about supporting adult basic education and literacy?

First, I learned that it is possible to use a form created for mapping out fiction to relate a nonfictional event. However, the questions didn't always fit the events - witness the "who did it happen to?" question - and that might frustrate or confuse someone who's concerned about following the rules.

Second, answering the questions forced me to re-read the text. I was a bit more attentive, wanting to get the facts right. Moreover, when I was done I was well-positioned to write a paragraphed summery. So, I guess it "worked" in terms of being a tool for re-reading... supposing you think there's value in that.

Third, doing this work - using the form - gave me a first hand understanding of what I was encouraging my learners to do. If the form had been completely ill-suited to the task, I would have recognized it right away. If it had felt onerous or unpleasant or trivial, I would have recognized that as well. Maybe that's the most important thing - being able to recognize a bad idea, especially when it comes from me.

How about that second question: Do I ever feel excited about a lesson I have planned?

Well, in the midst of working through my story-mapping form, I started thinking about this blog post. That led me to take a picture of my spot at the table.

"What for?" they wanted to know.

I'll probably write about this on my blog, I answered.

"Blog? What's a blog?" someone asked.

Anyway... push led to shove, and before the night was through that learner had created a blog.

They called it "Reading for Fun and Learning" and made their first book-review style post. (I'm not going to link it yet because there are some privacy settings and such I want to talk her through.)

So, yeah. That was kindda exciting. Even more revealing, after everyone else put their stuff away and went home, I stayed at the table working on this post.

How much time do I spend participating in the same activities and work as my learners? Several hours a night, and a good chunk of the next day - if this exercise is anything to go by.

A 40 Year Plan to Solve Low Adult Literacy

2009-09-23T18:59:00.012-03:00

"Struggling with literacy is a serious problem for too many people in our community," Times & Transcript managing editor Al Hogan said yesterday. "As a company that understands the importance and value of the written word, we wanted to do our part to raise literacy levels right here at home."
You can help raise a reader today
Times & Transcript Sept 23, 2009

Once upon a time, a group that funded work with young children offered us some money to use for a family literacy program we were planning. It was a wonderful gesture. But, for whatever reason, we had enough money. So we thanked them, turned them down as gently as we could, and suggested a different program which we knew was struggling for funds.

That happens sometimes among community groups. We don't follow a business model. We don't maximize revenue in a dog eat dog fashion. We try to look at a bigger picture. We try to do what's best for our community as a whole.

I think I've told this story before, but I don't care. I'm proud of it, proud of what we did.

I'm thinking about this stuff, about making sound spending and giving choices, because raise-a-reader happened today. All the funds raised in New Brunswick will go into billionaire's kid Jamie Irving's afterschool literacy program for Grade Two students. (Quotes at the bottom.)

Now, I should say right away that I believe the originators of this event, CanWest, actually do raise "money for local literacy programs and increasing awareness about the importance of encouraging family literacy"(Winnipeg - Business Wire).

But not in this town. Here, parents are invisible, and reading starts and ends in schools:

Wendy Papadopoulos, the [Elementary Literacy Friends] program's executive director, said according to an international literacy study more than half of the province's working population does not have the literacy skills to reach their full potential.

She said children acquire basic reading skills between kindergarten and Grade 2 and, from that age, on use their reading skills to learn. If they do not have the literacy skills necessary after Grade 2, she said, they may struggle with learning and self-esteem for the rest of their lives.

That is why Papadopoulos is trying to recruit up to 3,000 volunteers across the province - one for each struggling Grade 2 student. [Telegraph Journal]

Okay, listen, if people are going to do this schooling thing, they might as well do it right, right? It never hurts to fundraise for better schooling (except that it is a kind of collusion with a government that would rather invest money in breweries - but I digress).

And it's none of my business how Mr. Irving funds his projects. I mean, he could just pay more income tax... the whole Irving clan could stop pretending to be residents of Bermuda at tax time... but nevermind all that. I'm being damned snobbish and petty about the whole thing.

But....

Here's the thing that's wearing on me: the promotion and reporting around raise-a-reader refers to the sorry state of adult literacy and the hardships faced, chiefly in adolescence and adulthood, by people who struggle with reading. Yet, the money will go into Grade Two. That won't help with adult literacy any time soon, and adult literacy is what they're talking about.

Just look at this text from the Irving's Times & Transcript:

More than three million Canadians have problems dealing with printed materials such as reading a map or understanding a prescription. According to the International Adult Literacy Survey, low literacy levels are linked to low employment levels and high crime rates.

The statistics are frightening. The offenders in our prisons experience literacy problems at a rate three times higher than the general population. The average education level of new convicts serving two years or more is Grade 7.

People with low literacy skills are about twice as likely to be unemployed for six or more months as those with higher skills. Seniors with low literacy skills are more likely to have health problems than seniors with high literacy skills. Up to 50 per cent of adults with low literacy skills live in low-income households, compared with only eight per cent of those with higher skills.

New Brunswick has one of the highest rates of illiteracy in Canada, with half of all adults struggling enough with reading to affect their lives.

Leave aside the confusion between "illiteracy" (whatever that means) and Grade Seven (which is actually pretty functional). I want to know why they aren't talking about the struggles of Grade Two students, and what a hard year Grade Two is for everyone, and what a crappy job Grade Two teachers have done in the past... er, well, maybe not.

Again, anybody is allowed to promote to any scheme they want. Not everybody has to care about adults or whole families. As someone deeply involved in adult literacy, I can understand the temptation to just write off the "unemployed" and "new convicts", and start all over again with a passel of eager seven-year-olds. Supporting adult literacy learning is weary work.

But even more tiring, for me, is the habit of citing examples of adults who struggle with reading and writing in order to raise funds for programs meant to serve someone else.

Sure, in 10 years, those young kids will be productive adults (maybe, assuming nothing goes wrong in grades three through twelve). But they'll be, what?, 2% or 3% of the population. Unless we have a remarkable die-off of all those sick seniors and convicts and all them other no-good low-literacy adults, Jamie's reading program isn't going to turn things around for about 40 years. That's what a "generational improvement" (link) looks like.

Incidentally - lest someone start throwing stones at my own glass house - this is something that happens often in conversations around adult basic education and GED prep courses. I enjoy helping adults pass the GED tests. I enjoy watching them realize algebra's not so scary and, hey!, they can understand poetry and poetics. But I don't confuse that with adult basic literacy.

I work in both worlds, sometimes on the same day and in the same space. But they are different worlds.

My other big beef with this stuff has to do with the government using up charitable giving. I guess I'm old fashioned, and it's no different from something like the adopt-a-highway program. But with such small amounts available (and given the very real difference in influence and resources) do I really need to compete with my government for funds? How is that best for the community as a whole?

One year, the local NB Community College (a.k.a., the Province of New Brunswick) decided it would be nice to make it easier for some less-well-off students to attend. Did they offer some of their funds to these students? No. Did they waive some of the class or administrative fees? No. What did they do? The government sought - and received - charitable monies which they then gave to the students, who then gave it back to the government (a.k.a. NBCC).

That same year, some nonprofits ran reduced programming because charitable funding was harder to access. Hard because it's hard to compete with the government.

Well... whatcha gonna do?

I concentrate on the adults and families who come to me for help. I see and hear them. I tell them I'll do what I can.

I stay in touch with other friends of adult and whole family literacy.

And I remember the time some people called us up to say, hey, do you want some money? And we said, actually we know somebody who needs it more. And the sun was bright, and the sea sparkled with it, and kids read thousands of books, and their parents read them to sleep.

In their own words

All funds raised in New Brunswick will go directly to Elementary Literacy Friends, a not-for-profit organization that is recruiting volunteers across the province and training them to tutor Grade 2 students who need one-on-one assistance in order to gain the skills necessary to reach their full potential.
http://telegraphjournal.canadaeast.com/city/article/800373

In January, a pilot project is expected begin in about five schools in the province and after that she [Papadopoulos] expects the program to grow to incorporate every anglophone and francophone elementary school in New Brunswick.

"Literacy is critical," said Papadopoulos. "With the changes we face, it is really critical that we continue to focus efforts as early as possible so we can make a generational improvement in literacy over time."
http://telegraphjournal.canadaeast.com/front/article/799100

The goal of ELF is to help children between kindergarten and Grade 2 get one-on-one after-school tutoring, because that has been found to be a critical window for gaining the literacy skills needed for learning the rest of their lives.
http://timestranscript.canadaeast.com/front/article/800572

[In April 2009] New Brunswick Education Minister Kelly Lamrock and Jamie Irving, publisher of the Telegraph-Journal and head of Brunswick News, ...announced the creation of the Elementary Literacy Friends Foundation to engage the literacy issue at its earliest stages.
http://timestranscript.canadaeast.com/search/article/636940

Listening To Learners

2009-09-19T11:32:00.006-03:00

Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent.
Wittgenstein, Tractatus

I have watched topologists, knowing no syllable of each other's language, working effectively together at a blackboard in the silent speech common to their craft.
George Steiner, The Retreat From The Word

"Math is easy" I said to a room full of colleagues and managers during a five minute presentation on what happens in class. The comment drew some skeptical chuckles. Apparently, not everyone agreed.

What I meant was mathematics are comparatively easy.

Compared to what? To this....

I had a chance to catch up with a learner. "You passed one of the GED tests," I remembered. "Tell me again which one it was?"

"The poetry one."

"The GED Reading test, right."

"I remembered what you said about looking for what words mean other things not being said."

Well, I was remembering this, and feeling entirely smug. But I was also wondering at her identification of it as "the Poetry test" when poetry probably made up less than one fifth of the content.

Why do learners choose the words they do? How do they make sense of our word choices? What do learners mean when they say things? What does anyone mean? And how are we to know?

I grew up into a strong vocabulary - spoken and written - and a ~~neat and orderly~~ naive and artificial view of what language means. I understood double-meanings, and laughed along with the explanation Humpty-Dumpty gave of language to Alice-through-the-looking-glass.

'The question is,' said Alice, 'whether you can make words mean so many different things.'

'The question is,' said Humpty Dumpty, 'which is to be master– that’s all.'

But, at the end of the day, I always felt confident that words meant what they meant, named what they named, and nothing more.

Nowadays, I'm sometimes struck dumb with uncertainty.

That same day, I was catching up with another returning learner.

"How do you feel about your reading?" I asked.

"Pretty good. Well, sometimes I don't know how to spell things."

"Your reading, though...."

"Yeah. My spelling isn't great."

"Why do you say 'spelling' when you talk about reading?"

"Well, you can't read a word if you can't spell it, right?"

"Okay. I see what you mean."

Thankfully, I had sense enough not to lecture her about the difference between "reading vocabulary" and "writing vocabulary" or anything like that. It was on my tongue to do so, to pull out that false but orderly artifact that pretends our four vocabularies move from large to small:

words I hear with understanding
words I speak with understanding
words I read with understanding
words I write with understanding

What saved me was an earlier reflection on people using the term "spelling" where I would have said "writing" or something. I'm coming to understand that not everybody thinks this or that word means what I think it means even in the case of remarkably common words.

*Duh*

The wonder is that we can talk at all.

So, yeah. Math is easy.

Explaining why it's easy, even to one's peers, can be complicated beyond calculation.

Slightly relevant link to Pink Floyd's "Keep Talking" on Youtube. :P