qualities - communities - literacies

We Need To Be Able To Fail

2010-01-07T15:44:00.004-04:00

"If I do it like this, will it work out?"
Try it. Nothing very bad can happen.
"I hate it when you say that."

Why? Why hate it? When did getting it wrong, thinking some more, and then getting it right become such a problem? Whence the fear and fretting? Silly question, I suppose. I might just as well ask whence the bullying and criticism?

One of the things I struggle with is this: When to help, when not to help, when not helping is helpful, and how to cope with other would-be helpers.

My starting assumption is that learning takes time and, often, a certain amount of fumbling. On professional development days, we call this "action research" or "reflective practice." If I'm going to facilitate or support learning, I need to provide a safe space for people to fumble-learn.

For example, a learner is reading about health, and reaches for a dictionary. Only, unaware, she picks up a thesaurus. I'm watching this, you understand. I'm thinking whatever medical word has her stumped, its probably not in the thesaurus. And I wonder, should I say something?

Yes, so she doesn't get frustrated.
No, so she'll become aware of her mistake privately and in her own time.
Yes, because that's my job - to teach people.
No, because my job is to nurture life-long learners, life-long problem-solvers - here's a problem she is equipped to solve herself.
Are you mad? There's no reason to punish her because you've got some crackpot theory!
If I correct her before she asks, I'll be criticizing, and that always does damage.
That's your preception - she might see it differently.
Shut up.
You shut up.
Shut. Up.

In the end, I say nothing, compelled by the feeling that its isn't my business. Until she asks a question - asks for information or assistance - my job is to butt out.

So I do. In a few minutes, she trades the thesaurus for a dictionary, and finds her word. I don't know if she yet knows the difference between a thesaurus and a dictionary, so I'll stick that in the back of my mind as something to clarify down the road.

Later, I say to someone, "You'll probably want to use graph paper with those questions. Do you still have some?"

He says yes, and pull some sheets out of his book. He lays them down the "wrong way" (this is single-sided graph paper), and picks up a pencil and a ruler.

Now I'm wondering again. Do I say something? Does he realize? The gridwork shows through, faintly. Is he being misled?

I hold my tongue while he looks carefully at the math text, arranges the ruler, re-checks the math text... and then pauses. Flips the paper over, and carries on.

Mind your own business, Wendell, I remind myself again.

In truth, it's not too hard to leave people the space to fumble-learn. I only have to recall how annoyed I become when someone interrupts my learning with well-meant advice.

All I hear is criticism: "You're Doing that Wrong."

Besides, for me, learning has become a tremendous source of fun and pride. I enjoy figuring things out. Lots of us do. I think that's why we often don't read the instructions - we don't like being told. I sure don't.

There's also a schoolish behaviour too much interference brings. I'm thinking about the situation where people, unsure of themselves (or made to feel unsure of themselves), suggest an answer and then search my face for approval or disapproval. Though I've learned to be poker-faced, the very fact they're looking to me is troubling.

So, okay. I'm pretty motivated to create the kind of learning space that allows mistakes, reflection, discovery. The problem arises when other learners hasten to step in.

"You're doing that wrong."

We all know the value of peer mentoring, etc. But still....

What to do, what to do?

I mostly wave my arms and shush people, which is complete wrong. And inconsistent. And disconnecting. And perplexing for everyone but me.

It's just really hard to explain that there's a time to help and a time to leave people alone. No, sorry. That's wrong. What's hard is explaining the difference - especially when I'm not always sure myself.

More... and I guess this is the place I've been heading for: we, as a society and especially in the context of a "teaching-telling" institution, don't seem to allow each other, or ourselves, a fair chance to fail, to be surprised, to fumble-learn.

And there can be no more serious failure than that.

Students vs. Learners?

2010-01-05T14:24:00.004-04:00

This morning, one of my learners said, "I wish I was a teacher so I could learn a whole bunch of stuff. Wendell, do you want to take a couple of weeks off?"

At first, I was charmed. But then I wondered at how badly we - the collective we - have messed up the role of "student" that, even in an adult learning program, someone could think it is "teachers" that get to do all the learning.

The GED - Getting Old

2010-01-04T12:06:00.005-04:00

What's with this Lady GaGa chick? She's like Britney Spears but with stranger shoes. Catchy tunes, though! I found myself whistling "Bad Romance" on the way to work this morning - darn near started singing aloud.

One of my most fun Christmas presents was a DVD three-pack of Charlie Brown holiday specials: four specials in all. I've only watched the two Christmas specials so far. Notable in both are the numerous bible references. Notable because Schulz wasn't evangelizing (he had a reserved Wesleyan bent) - he assumed his audience would get them. I'm not sure that's still true.

In the 60's, George Steiner was writing essays about how university students didn't know the Greek and Roman myths anymore. He wasn't evangelizing either. He was just commenting on pieces of "Western culture" becoming more difficult for students. He said composers of poetry, plays or music who assumed their audience knew the myths would soon find themselves without any audience at all.

I think this is turning into one of my "old guy" posts.

See, there was a book on Queen Victoria on my desk this morning. It was left there from the pre-Christmas clean-up. "I should read that," I thought. And then I thought, "♪♪ You and me could have a bad romance, ♫ mmmmm. ♪ "

History, culture... these things really are rivers that sweep past at frightening speeds. For me, a recent war is Vietnam and a recent Prime Minister is John Turner. But that was 25 or maybe 50 years ago - more years than most of my adult learners have been alive.

The decision not to up-date the GED in 2011, and then not to up-date in 2012, means learners will be dealing with 10 or 12 year old materials. The Science test will reference acid rain and the ozone layer, but not peak oil or global warming. The Social Studies test will reference Free Trade and civil wars in Africa, but not the dot-com and housing stocks melt down or post 9/11 tensions. Goodness knows what will pass as "contemporary" fiction or poetry. The big, blue Steck-Vaughn book Complete Canadian GED Preparation from 2003 - that is, three or four years more recent than the last GED tests - quotes from works like Carl Sagan's Contact (1985) and Josephine Miles 70's poem "Moving In." Even the review of the movie Love and Basketball is 10 years old.

I've always said the GED is about reading - it's five reading tests with a little bit of math and writing thrown in.

Now I'm starting to say it's all about history - old guy stuff - as well.

Diversity, Uniformity, Contradictions

2010-01-03T00:07:00.016-04:00

I ran into my MLA just before Christmas. He asked if I'd seen the new adult literacy strategy for New Brunswick, and what did I think?

Well... what I think is it's a hard thing to create a literacy strategy for this province.

First, there is no clear agreement, within the local field itself, about what it means to be "literate" or how "family literacy" and "workplace literacy" and "adult literacy" can be differentiated. Hence the vague references to people being assessed at an IALS Level 3 or being employable despite our shrinking manufacturing and primary-resource base. I think this lack of clarity is, um... sometimes convenient for some folks. But mostly, it's just confusing for well-meaning politicians and such. More about that elsewhere.

Second, there has been some serious elbow throwing by groups and organizations - small and large - for a place at that mythical table where funding gets handed out. Someone could be forgiven for supposing the whole lot of us need to be taken in hand. That's a mistaken idea - but it's understandable.

Third, this effort to create something fresh and new appears to have arisen from within those two most conservative of organizations: the career civil service and the university. Given their distance - physical as well as philosophical - from front-line facilitators, it's no surprise they focused on management tools like standards, testing, and quality control.

It's this last bit that really stands out when I read the document.

What I think I'm seeing is a document that knows diversity and innovation are key to delivering effective literacy support in New Brunswick, but which also "knows" just as firmly that if learners and facilitators will only do as they're told for once everything will be all right.

So, for example, the document promises to find out what barriers keep adults away from programs. That's good. There's a Literacies issue that would make a good starting point.

But, in the next breath, the report says it already knows what these barriers are, and what we need to do about them. That suggests the real planning has already happened, and "working together" simply means doing what the government wants.

I'll talk about the barriers section later. I want to go back to the tension between diversity (driven by local needs and wants) and uniformity (under centralized, civil-servant control).

I want to set out some quotes from the documents, compiled into two opposing columns. There isn't a one-to-one correspondence: I'm only trying to show the conflict in the two visions. Please note that the bolding is my own doing:

Diversity & Innovation			Uniformity & Control
- At present, we are not reaching the vast majority of our target client group, and demand for [existing] services does not reflect the reported need.			- One balanced and cohesive adult literacy system is the ultimate goal….
- …no one organization acting alone will be able to meet the magnitude of the challenge that New Brunswick faces.			- We will: establish provincial quality standards for adult literacy….
- This implies a commitment from all parties to the development of true partnerships based on mutual respect; to ongoing consultation and consideration of stakeholders’ input….			- [The government] is initiating a process to develop quality service and assurance standards relating to program design, content, delivery, and support systems to ensure uniform, quality and meaningful learner experiences….
- Innovation will be supported….			-This implies a provincial framework of measures and processes that cascade from the high-level targets. To be as effective as possible we need to be prepared to subject programs to objective review, and adopt, adapt or discontinue, as appropriate.
- Given the diversity of learners’ situations, goals and personal circumstances, a wider range of services and innovative solutions is required.			- We need to… focus on developing a cohesive adult literacy system….
- We need to find ways of working together more effectively at different levels - to set aside historical, cultural and philosophical differences….			- We need to find ways… to set aside… philosophical differences….

I'm sorry for being all negative and Fox news and stuff. I actually like the idea of working with the government, including being tightly accountable for how I spend tax dollars. I understand that politicians need to work within the confines of a budget and public expectations. I'm cool with that. My government says we're going to partner, and share, and respect each other, and be innovative and meet learners' many diverse needs and goals. Super! I love it. Can't wait.

'Cept, it also says it already has a plan about what to teach, how to teach it, and how to ensure people with the right kind of training do the teaching.

That isn't the way to support innovation, build partnerships, or deliver a diverse spectrum of programs and supports. It's how you create public school for adults.

Nor is it the way you build quality. We need to get away from the academic's belief that quality (as used in "the quality of the teaching instruction") arises from qualifications ("teacher and practitioner qualifications at different levels"). In practice, that fallacy leads to employing teachers - often retired public school teachers - certified in those same unhelpful "traditional teaching methods" that "have not resulted in positive outcomes."

(Where's the innovation when an adult with reading difficulties walks into a classroom and is met by his Grade 5 teacher and a bookshelf of Grade 5 Steck-Vaughn math and English literature textbooks?)

Let me repeat that: the report states, "Adult literacy learners have not generally had positive experiences of formal education, and traditional teaching methods have not resulted in positive outcomes for them."

In that case, more of the same is hardly going to help.

"There is a lack of understanding of the literacy challenges that we face in New Brunswick," the report says.

In fact, there is a lack of understanding of "literacy" itself.

That could change.

Have Laptop, Will Publish

2010-01-02T17:57:00.006-04:00

Two laptops, a printer/photocopier, two digital cameras (that double as audio recorders), a projector and screen, a cell phone, some other odds and ends... I call it our "office in a box."

If I wanted it to sound more sexy, I'd call it our "street office" or "cloud computing" or something. Mostly, it means we don't have core funding, and so use borrowed work spaces, public infrastructure, and home-scale technologies. Today - knowing there was no internet at the community space we sometimes use - we decided to brave a snowstorm and meet up at the public library (bringing the "office" with us). Sadly, it was closed, and we ended up working at a little table in the mall.

Ah, well.

We kept our humour, and managed to get some final editing done, add a research page to the QLNB website, and work out the process for putting earlier Storytent research online.

Is it any wonder I'm all about open access, google tools, and windows live?

Community literacy - we never close.

:)

Principles of Adult Learning

2009-12-29T10:30:00.005-04:00

The blog Tutors of Literacy in the Commonwealth (that is, Pennsylvania) is a salad bar of links to sites and publications of greater and lesser usefulness.

Last November, for example, Kim Rossman, the Executive Director over there, posted "Books for Low Level Adult Readers" about the Junkyard Dan series from Nox Press. I hadn't heard of these: now I have. This spring, I'll order a set from their website, www.noxpress.com.

More recently, she pointed me at Senior Technical Writer Stephen Lieb's "Principles of Adult Learning" from 1991. I found this less encouraging. Lieb starts off strong with Malcolm Knowles (though he calls him Malcom). Then things go downhill pretty fast. Just compare this mind-set:

Adults are autonomous and self-directed. They need to be free to direct themselves. ...[A]dults should be treated as equals in experience and knowledge....

with this mind-set:

Reinforcement is a very necessary part of the teaching/learning process; through it, instructors encourage correct modes of behavior and performance.

The former is about sharing information and supporting adult attempts to build skills. The latter is about raising kids or dogs or something.

What's interesting, in both cases (the Commonwealth site and Lieb's list[s]) is the lack of any apparent unitary philosophy of learning. There's no framework to bound the discussion or direct reflective readers toward greater quality.

In the case of the Commonwealth blog, that's a virtue. Ms. Rossman shows every sign of treating her readers like adult learners who are "free to direct themselves." Thanks for that. I'll be coming back.

Mr. Lieb's piece, part of the teaching tips section of the faculty development page(s) at the Honolulu Community College, is less... respectful. It seems full of thou shall and thou shall not.... Um, thanks for that, too. I guess. Maybe I'll just go down to the beach for a minute, Steve. You go ahead and start without me....

:)

Meh

2009-12-29T09:46:00.002-04:00

I'll help you learn to read and write better. I'll help you with math or figuring out some basic computer stuff. I'll help you make a resume or get a library card or find out who your MLA is.

But I'm not your mother.

Barbarians In Da Howes

2009-12-28T20:37:00.006-04:00

Chrift in thefe laft times comming to vs from the Father, is preferred aboue the Angels, both in Perfon and Office.
The Epistle of Pavl the Apoftle to the Hebrewes
King James Version of the Bible 1611

Ah, English. I'd know you anywhere, in any sultry garb. By the way, despite first impressions, this is English as well:

4:15 mikeisgay23: r u gone?
4:15 Zuzubar: wut up?
4:15 malikjhall: they went of air?
4:16 ashaolivia: sump wrng wit d mic
4:16 musicman85: wat up
4:17 malikjhall: lol...wat hapened
4:17 mikeisgay24: why u kicked my homie mike :(
4:22 v5fox: do you speak english?
4:24 TwiT2-1: ellow
4:27 amalia101-1: go on mine
4:31 Zuzubar: this is extremely boring
4:31 Zuzubar: :/
4:34 dubby_425: why arent you talking??????????
4:39 dubby_425: dk
4:39 ashaolivia: were coming back hold on guys
4:50 danny1981: what it do
4:51 barxtch2312: nun yu
4:51 danny1981: can u see me
4:51 nylonlover: r u wear n sox
4:52 nylonlover: will u show ur sox
4:52 BIG_DICK: wat
4:55 THE_SITUATION: whats the situation here

I've been lurking around YouTube comment threads and video stream chat lines for a while now, watching dull conversation and an amazing flowering of newer English.

Here's simple example. I've seen "what" spelled:

what
whatt
wht
wat
watt
wutt
wut
whut

At first glance, these spellings appear to be interchangeable. It's not a case of "wat" being used to ask a question ("Wats up?") while "wut" is used as a pronoun or something ("... wut she was holding"). Nor does there seem to be a great deal of consistency by users. I mean, it's not like jazzkid231 always spells it "whut" while snkrfrkr332 spells it "wutt."

I say "at first glance" because I haven't studied and tracked this stuff enough to do more than guess.

I can say that not all these spellings are phonetically sensible. Nor are they all convenient to type or text. There's certainly no evidence of English becoming more logical, more stream-lined and simply spelled (spelt?).

And this is just in North America. One can only imagine the a-harmonic symphonies being created among those English-using youth of China and India.

All this hearkens back to those grim days when Shakespear (sic) spelled his name a dozen different ways, and King James' bible committee spent the bitter cold spring of 1609 agreeing on the spellings of 6000 words. The short Elizabethan century (c. 1560-1640), that golden era of English poetry, music and literature, was no place for earnest spelling reformers and dictionariests like Doctor John (1709 - 1784) or Noah the Webmiester (1758 - 1843). It was kindda fun, though. Er... assuming no one cut off your head or gave you the bubonic plague or something.

Well anyway, the point is some people enjoy the accuracy and symmetry of the gardens in Versailles, and others take walks in the woods. I enjoy a tanglewood sort of English. That doesn't suit everybody, I know. Whatcha gonna do?

I've been thinking about all this is from the point of view of literacy and questions like "literacy for what purpose?" and "whose literacy counts?"

Consider this: In all my lurking, I cannot recall a single instance of serious, sustained misunderstanding based on literacy difficulties. Here is a medium that is purely about reading and writing for communicating meaning, and these crazy spellers all seem able to talk to each other. What's going on here? Are they "appropriately literate" or wht?

dk

but it make u think if your nto thinking more n yelling bout spelling

lmfao :)

I don't give a damn for a man that can only spell a word one way.
Mark Twain

Kids Just Wanna Have... Books

2009-12-26T12:49:00.004-04:00

Whereupon, discovering the chest held books,
one pirate set upon another in the contest for
who should be first to choose.

Here's a note we got back from a community partner after supplying some books for their 2009 Christmas party:

Thanks for starting fights at the party. lol Actually had to intervene in 2 fights over books. Those great books that you brought were fought over by 2 different sets of people. lmao Imagine that. And.... people were trying to steal them. The books were a huge hit, can't wait to expand on it next year.

Hey, our pleasure!

This book give-away (one of two) is part of our expanded post-storytent work in two neighbourhoods over the winter. More about that later.

Just keep this in mind the next time you hear some old troll say kids don't like books or reading.

Of course they do.

They don't like bullying, crappy books, tests or home assignments. But books - good books - are on their list of things worth fighting for.

What!?! You think she wouldn't put out your lights for a chance to read a good book in peace?

;)

What Is A "Christmas Break"?

2009-12-17T16:31:00.006-04:00

I have a chart on my fridge that lists the differences between a "high school" modeled adult learning program and community-based adult literacy work that follows adult learning principles.

(Yes, I know. That's a pretty dorky thing to have on my fridge. Nevermind.)

The chart offers a lot of reflection and conversation points. One of them is this: where civil servants manage adult literacy or basic adult education services, they may think of these services as public school for big people. And if they have that paradigm, they may feel comfortable with things like a two week Christmas break.

But, where and when adults want literacy help to deal with stuff like bills or meds or kids or courts or work... those adults don't look forward to a Christmas break.

Where and when adult literacy work has a large counseling and support / encouragement dimension - someone's left an abusive relationship, just lost a job, is having trouble fitting into a new city or country - Christmas might be the worst time to take a break.

I'm just saying. Community literacy, and schooling for grown-ups, can be two different worlds.

K. I have to go to the bank now and plan for my two-week lay-off. (A cheerful "Christmas break" without pay is something else them civil servants thought up). Then, I have some house visits to arrange.

Online Resources - Few and Far Between

2009-12-11T10:13:00.006-04:00

Scam city central. Putting the phrase "GED essay" in a post is enough to attract a scam-bot from the GED A+ Essay Services. The scam-bot then generates a redirect that sends your readers to a multi-faced web service that promises to write you a plagiarism free essay for a small fee. Indeed, they offer a $5,000 no-plagiarism guarantee.

Since they've already claimed authorship of my last post (see the image below - clicking on that Q~C~L link takes you there, not here), I'm thinking plagiarism is about the only thing these guys can guarantee.

Do these services work? I mean, do they actually earn income? Judge for yourself. This is some text from an online advice forum:

I ordered a custom essay... for $79.96. ...After 12 hours, he sends me an essay via email attachment which seemed mediocre... I emailed him for a revision with exact instructions.... No response. ...I thought, "hmm maybe he downloaded the essay from one of those sites that sells already written essays"... So I do some searching across the internet by the title and copy and pasting some of the body of the essay... and I find many..results. The seller got the essay from one of those pre-written essay sites (probably a member who pays monthly to access their datebase [sic]) and charged me 80 bucks.
... Can I even take legal action? ...if I DO get kicked out of school for plagiarism, would that entitle me to sue this guy for ruining my life?

Um... no. But thanks for being entertainingly dense.

Just last evening a colleague was bemoaning the disproportionate number of misleading learner resource sites out there. "You click on a link, and it just takes you to another link, and then another... and you never get to the thing they promise."

That's the over-sold and under-used aspect of the internet.

The good news is we have sites like NALD, which just celebrated it's 20th. NALD is a bit hard to navigate because it's so large. But that's a product of success, not failure. If I took 10 minutes to learn how to build a custom Google search I could fix that.

Two other sites I watch for resources are Alphaplus (they don't host so much as point out) and the New Zealand Literacy Portal. I'm sure there are other state and provincial resources, and probably some in the U.K. - I just don't know enough of them.

Of course, you can always come here. I'll write you essays galore, and I won't charge you a cent.

:)

Reading and Writing Book Reviews

2009-12-10T13:57:00.005-04:00

"Are there questions to go with this book?" she asked.

Sort of.

Luckily, I was almost finished typing out a sheet on writing a book review. Years ago, I had a really good version of tips and examples for writing reviews. Actually, I had one for fiction and one for non-fiction. Those were the days when we were putting out Hooked, our class newsletter on entertainment and leisure activities. Then... those handy sheets just slipped away, or got deleted or lost on failed hard drives. You know how it is.

I like book review exercises because it's something a learner can do no matter what their independent reading level. I've seen perfectly fine reviews of three sentences on level one books, and also conventional 250 word GED essay-style reviews. Also, you can review any kind of book or story - even a math book if you are so inclined.

Like all writing, composing a review offers a chance to practice spelling, punctuation, clear expression and making an argument in a relatively functional context. (Not really functional, since it's schoolwork; but better than a bunch of brainless workbook exercises IMHO.)

Anyway, today I made up a new "Book Review" guide. Maybe it will get test driven today.

Meantime, I'm throwing it up on the the skydrive as a word doc (link here). The document itself is a reading level 5 or 6, so I've created a new folder for it.

Just FYI. :)

Book Three in the Reading Level 4 Series

2009-12-09T11:05:00.004-04:00

H'okay. Black Castle book number 3 - Shadows and Stones - is done and posted to the skydrive (link here). Whew....

One more to go.

Oh, no questions yet. (I'm really bad at making up questions and worksheets and such.) If you have any you want to send and share, I'll stick 'em up in the skydrive.

:)

Christmas Cards

2009-12-08T10:17:00.005-04:00

I came home the other day to find a parcel from Heather Reisman in my mailbox. Ms. Reisman is President and CEO of the Coles - Indigo - Chapters bookstore chain. She'd sent me a lovely gift and a Christmas card. Apparently I've spent enough of my income on books to show up on her radar. (Can a note from Becky McKinnon of Timothy's Coffees be far behind?) Or maybe we swapped names, and I missed the email. Cripes... that would be bad. What if I drew Frank Stronach? What to get Frank? An ice-scraper?

Ah... the awkwardness of Christmas.

I picked up some packets of cards for class the other day. I like to have them available for learners who might like help figuring out how addressing works or how to word a Christmas greeting. I use the cards as well for family, friends and co-workers - which is either a good example of modeling literate behaviour, or a questionable example of doing personal errands during work hours.

I never know what to say in Christmas cards, and always end up saying the same thing: "Best wishes for the season" (which is about as empty a sentiment as possible, I fear). On the other hand, I love getting Christmas cards, no matter what they say (or how much I have to spend to get them). I read every single word and then stand or tape them up in some extremely visible spot at home.

Sending and getting cards is still socially important or something. I have no idea how old the tradition is.... Still, I've learned not to make too many assumptions about the whole affair.

One year, after handing out Christmas cards to my learners, a gentleman quietly asked me what he should do with it. "I don't know," I replied blithely. "What do you usually do with your Christmas card?"

He said, "Nothing. I never got a Christmas card before."

Oh.

Writing Poems

2009-12-03T10:52:00.007-04:00

She said, "I want to learn to write poems."

Okay.

After a couple of embarrassingly ineffectual starts, we ended up using National Geographic magazines. The first time, I found a photograph without a whole lot going on - a gray, tableau scene of a wolf, partly hidden in blowing snow, beside a downed caribou - and we talked about what colours and objects she saw. Then she wrote a paragraph of sorts. We struck out the connecting words and some other "extra" words, and she arranged the resulting phrases into a verse-like form.

The next poem she wrote from an NG photo she picked out herself. I helped with spelling and with identifying the connecting terms that could be safely left out. She arranged the phrases. Then, for her third effort, she imagined a picture. She wrote a paragraph, struck out some words (and checked with me about some others) and ended up with the poem pictured above:

Sky

Some little brown birds
are flying around
the wind is blowing all
the Green trees around
there are white clouds
up in the Sky
the light blue Sky

Is it a good poem? Who knows?

Opinions about poetry are like opinions about hockey teams or pie crust. Everybody's entitled to their views: nobody needs pay much attention to anything anybody else says.

In any case, people are entitled to write bad poetry. Forget the jazz police - it's a free jungle out there. Good poetry, in my immodest opinion, is enjoyable to read because it's a balanced mix of ideas and imagery showing an economical use of language and arranged in verse. Bad poetry lacks balance (is only imagery or ideas), has too many words, or is presented in some kind of unrecognizable, tortured format. It's less fun to read or muse upon. But it's not illegal.

But here's the point I wanted to make. (And I'm still riffing off Yabroff's mean-spirited Newsweek tripe discussed here.) Writing these three poems - of whatever merit - involved identifying a photo's main idea, choosing words to represent an image, talking about word forms (e.g., cloud vs. cloudy), thinking about adjectives (I didn't promote the idea of adverbs), and talking about poetic forms and paragraphs (a.k.a. stanzas). It also involved the sustained work of writing and re-writing (each poem went through four drafts: paragraphed twice, versed once, then good-copied into her book).

There's more work to do. Soon, she'll start asking about punctuation. We'll also get around to talking about when and why to capitalize words. Still, if you add in the 30 or 40 minutes of silent reading that happened earlier in the class, and it was a solid bit of language arts learning facilitated through a learner-requested activity that was both individualized and functional - functional because she now has a small collection of poetry she wrote herself.

Shameless Self-Promotion

Two pieces I wrote using the same technique: A Picture... and Old Man....

;)

Authentic Writing

2009-11-27T14:01:00.008-04:00

I finally got the chance to use the New Readers Press (1989) book Writing it down: Writing skills for everyday life which was put together "by staff of the Women's Program Lutheran Settlement House Philadelphia, Pennsylvania" (and edited by Teddy Norwich Kempser).

I've always thought this book ought to be useful, but I never seemed to find the right moment to bring it out. (The couple of other times I've tried using it things flopped.) But, recently, somebody asked how to set-up a personal letter. "Just a sec..." I said, and opened the book to page 70, "Personal Letters".

Actually, it was page 71 that worked. The authors offered an example letter to "Dear Linda", and, below, an empty lined form to reproduce it in.

On a bit of a whim, I invited my learner to change the words - i.e., write her own letter - rather than simply reproduce someone else's content. "Write something you might write to a friend," I suggested.

Then I left her alone. She asked how to spell things when necessary. I checked in once or twice to ensure everything was going alright.

K. Fast forward an hour, and she's on Facebook, struggling to write a message to a friend.

I'm talking the "personal message" email-like app here, and not a wall post or photo comment or something. She's struggling with both what to say and how to spell it. "Well," I muse, "you could use that practice letter your wrote earlier."

Face lights up. Gets out scribbler and starts transferring text.

And I make note to self: this wouldn't have been possible if she had simply copied the Lutheran Settlement letter to "Dear Linda."

Authenticity is important.

It's how literacy learning becomes functional.

Reflective Practice and Reading

2009-11-26T15:05:00.006-04:00

There was an adult reading in the tent this summer. This is a story, you understand - something I watched happen. There was a reader who was reading a book with animals and numbers. A child was listening and looking and was asking questions about the animals. Note that: it was the child asking questions. The reader was answering questions, providing information in a calm, interested tone. It was a wonderful learning time. You could almost see the synapses flashing, the weaving of new connections between images and ideas and understandings in the child's mind.

They were reading, and talking, and then looking at the numbers. The child began to count. I forget. Maybe the reader encouraged it. Maybe the child just started counting. Anyway, the child was counting and then he paused. The reader pointed to the next number and asked, "What's next?"

It was an innocent enough question. But it was also damaging. All of a sudden, for the first time that afternoon, it became possible for the child to fail a test. I saw that, because I saw the child's face change expression. I saw the worry and the frown and, then, the downcast eyes.

It had been a wonderful, sunny afternoon. But that was gone now. I'm positive the adult intended no harm. But that didn't matter either. The child had gone into protection. What had been a wonderful learning experience without possibility of failure had suddenly become school. Learning time was over.

(You will want to say I'm exaggerating, but the child remained quiet, and left the tent shortly thereafter.)

This sort of sadness and fear arises, says John Holt, whenever humans sit in judgment over one another.

Spelling and Word Games for Grown-Ups

2009-11-24T11:17:00.006-04:00

I've been helping someone at another site hook up with some online word- and spelling-games. (They'd been mislead into using the trial download versions instead of playing the streamed flash versions.)

The two games my learners make the most use of are Bookworm @ Yahoo and Text Twist @ Yahoo.

There are comparable games among the Facebook apps Scramble and Word Twist, but I can't say I'm a fan of these. (Why do Facebook apps always seem to want you to spam all your contacts, publish your results, and generally do four other things rather than just play the game?) Michael Chalk from down under has a post about these games (as well as many other things - he's connected with the PRACE crew). Other than that....

Despite the hype and the promise, there are surprisingly few easy-to-access, high-end word and spelling games out there that are both suitable for adults and free.

Anyway, if you haven't tried the Yahoo games, give them a spin. If you know of another you'd like to share, let us know. Comment, or, better, post and put your link in the comments.

Have fun!

Defining Literacy

2009-11-23T08:02:00.008-04:00

She said don't I know you
From the cinematographer's party,
I said who am I
To blow against the wind,
I know what I know
Paul Simon

I wrote this in a fury early this morning - comes of reading the web before breakfast instead of listening to Glenn Campbell and waking up slow.

It's always a bad sign, I think, when someone says they want to define "literacy". It means that, whatever else they say, they're going to insist literacy is not "just" reading and writing.

"Just."

This is, I think, a new phenomenon. Before the 1960s, I think, to be literate - to be lettered - meant one of two things. Either it meant being able to read and write, or it meant having read culturally important works like Shakespear or Faulkner. Most of the time, it was pretty clear which definition an author intended.

But then a "new literacy / -ies" came along. Too soon, any number of communicative acts were associated with the noun "literacy". Sometimes, it seemed "literacy" had nothing at all to do with letters and written texts. This third, fluid use of "literacy" makes my head hurt. It also interferes with my ability to attract funding and support for adults and children who want to get better at reading and writing words.

Anyway, here's this morning's rant....

What I said every day, until friends bade me stop, was that when everything counts as "literacy", it will be the most popular, the most fashionable, the least expensive, the least troublesome forms of communication that receive attention, funding, and support.

This morning, on the site of a man who calls himself "the literacy adviser", I read:

The definition of 'literacy' in [the U.K.'s] Curriculum for Excellence is “the set of skills which allows an individual to engage fully in society and in learning, through the different forms of language which society values and finds useful."

And I said to myself - because I have no cat to complain to - "language" is a pretty slippery term. A lot depends on how you define it. Then, I read the next bullet:

The Literacy framework recognises that the meaning of ‘text’ has to include the huge range of texts with which we engage on a daily basis, and that we should use a range of texts to reflect this in our learning and teaching.

Yes, well. "Range of texts" is a complete give-away, isn't it. The next bullet read:

We live in a society where the image is becoming the dominant means of communication, and where once we used pictures to illustrate our written texts, increasingly we are using written text to illustrate the pictures.

I don't know if I agree with that. In fact, I know I don't. But nevermind. What I want to draw attention to is this passage:

Most of us engage with moving image texts more than any other form of text in any given day, so the development of literacy skills in young people should recognise that fact.

There it is. "Text" and "language" have come to mean "moving images". And literacy, one supposes, is as much about appreciating cinematography as it is decoding grouped letters for meaning. Or, as he puts it, "developing the set of skills which will enable [learners] to engage critically with the range of narratives which are in the world." There's that "range" again: a range dominated by "moving image texts".

Now, in all fairness, the gentleman whose website I took this from also describes himself also as a "Teacher, Education Manager and Independent Learning Consultant with a particular interest in Literacy and Moving Image Education." So, there's a certain logic in him drawing connections between written words and film.

But, this isn't literacy.... Surely, this isn't literacy!

Look. I know I have no university degree. The government doesn't hire me to consult - has had second thoughts about hiring me for anything. But I do work in this field. Almost every day I interact with someone who can't read very well. Sometimes they can scarcely read at all. Sometimes they can read a little bit, but read far too poorly to do clerical work or pass a written test. Sometimes they read moderately well, but feel unable to write notes and letters.

These people, these adults and children, can watch movies. I promise you, television and feature films don't trouble them. Youtube is not a mystery. Video is not a source of social embarrassment or a barrier to health or employment.

They want and need to get better at reading and writing text. Real text. "Text" as we have for decades understood that term.

Not everybody has to be a supporter of literacy.

But, at the very least, they could have the decency to honour the meaning of the word.

Things I'd Like To Remember

2009-11-22T22:44:00.005-04:00

Gets dark early now.

I was walking home in the dark the other night, heading for supper, when somebody beeped and waved from a parked car.

It was too dark to see much beyond the waving, so I stopped and peered in. The passenger window came down, and there was...

Hi, Wendell!

Damn... thinks I, She was in my class! But what was her name?

It's Britanny!

Right! Of course. You were, um...

I was working on my GED.

Right! Did you, um...

Oh yes! I'm in university now.

University?

Yes. I'm doing fourth year psychology.

Well. That's great!

See you later, Wendell.

See ya.

And it is great, you know. I mean, psychologists do all sorts of interesting things.

Like helping old people with their memory.

:)

How To Encourage Adult Reading

2009-11-20T11:40:00.009-04:00

Read the newspaper, read magazines, read books. Read whatever appeals to you - but read! Regular, daily reading is the best way to improve your reading skills.
The Gage Canadian GED Study Guide Series
p. 11

So, I woke up early a few days back, rushed down to my local semi-independent bookstore, had a coffee and a brownie for breakfast, slid four pages of a catalogue across the counter-top, and said "I uant une unv uvurthung."

"What?"

'"Urrry" *finishes chewing* "I want one of everything. But I don't want the hassle of ordering the stuff myself. I'd pay you a mark-up if you'd look after this for me."

"There's a lot here...."

"Yeah. It's about 650 dollars worth. Do you need the money up front?"

"No. Let us look after it."

And they did.

It was another half hour or so before the Scrooge McDuck side of me woke up to what was happening. At which point, he could only say, "WwhHat-kchack-stahack!!! Jrrusck-thrassckt-ishck!"

"Krash-thiskas-kursct-ghrsckiak..."

And then, the day before yesterday, the order came!

Yay!

The bookstore gave them to me at cost - i.e., with no mark-up - because they're supporters of adult literacy work.

And the books look Very Nice indeed. There are some Quick Reads, a variety of the lower-level Oxford Bookworms Library series, some more books from PRACE, and, well, a bunch more.

Then, yesterday, three learners each took one of the new books home to read. Every one of them said, in some form or other, 'I don't like to read' and every one of them said, in some form or other, 'This one looks like it might be okay.' Oh, and all three of them are parents, which means they will be modelling reading behaviour for their children.

It is so freaking easy to support adult reading. It is so Easy!

All you need is

A) a variety of quality titles and topics at various reading levels [see Grass Roots Press and/or New Readers Press]; and

B) a willingness to lend books.

Mind you... it is not always cheap or cost-effective to support adult reading. But that has to do with personal and social choices, and that's a blog topic of a different order.

(Hang the rich.)

Wonders of Science and Vertical Learning

2009-11-17T05:36:00.003-04:00

Speaking of science, do any of youse have these?

I love the Steck-Vaughn "Wonders of Science" titles by Joan S. Gottlieb - love them enough that they're becoming a source of friction between me and my public library.

I've talked before about background knowledge in social studies, and the problem of learners being able to read beyond their experience. The more common problem in science seems to be that background material is presented only at a very high reading level. These books create a wonderful bridge between basic literacy materials (say, the PRACE materials at reading level 4) and GED prep materials. I haven't done a readability on Gottlieb's books, but judging from who in my class has or hasn't found them accessible I'd call them a 5 or 6.

My favourite use for them is as part of what I imagine as a vertical learning column. I say "vertical" because the learner is moving up through higher reading levels, and "column" because they are remaining with a relatively small topic or theme. In other words, they are meeting the same ideas presented in increasingly complex language or graphics.

Picture this. A learner with an independent reading level of 7 works on their own through the water plants section of Water Life. We talk a little about the material as well - we have to, because there are questions but no answers (I'm guessing there's a "teacher's edition" somewhere). Sometimes, at this point, we seek additional explanations with Youtube or my globe or whatever. Then, I pull six or eight questions out of a Gage GED-level science book that focus on water plants. The learner works their way through these questions, with me sitting close by. They get some right, get some wrong, and we talk about the questions - about the science content, but also about reading strategies or how charts work. Then, they go back to working independently with the next unit of Water Life.

The advantage I see in these topic or theme based learning units which employ a range of reading-level materials is that learners are able to engage with GED level materials even when, strictly speaking, their reading skills or vocabulary aren't up to it. The alternative, and my former practice, was to give them only materials "at their level" and resist every effort they made to work out of the GED books. This was hard on our relationship, and on my self-image as a facilitator rather than a teacher or somebody's boss.

What happens when they meet material they just don't "get"? The same thing that happens in daily life. They come away with questions, knowledge, a larger vocabulary, and a new platform or starting point from which to approach the material again.

I don't stray far from my learners when we do all this level jumping. I watch very closely for signs of frustration or discouragement. I try to make sure they really are reading about the same thing - the earth's plates, human cell growth, photosynthesis - when they try the upper level material. I'm painfully aware that I risk setting them up for failure. Sometimes I forget to breathe and my chest hurts.

But it's a way to honour their desire to prepare for the GED as quickly and directly as possible. Plus, I'm helping them build reading strategies for difficult material - that's always part of our conversation - and I'm helping them gain necessary background knowledge in science.

It's not a perfect approach. It's vexing that, so far, I've only been able to find three of Gottlieb's titles. I'd be more comfortable with a greater range of science books at different levels. But, right now, this feels like the best I can do.

Water - Science, Social Studies, Engagement

2009-11-15T15:50:00.006-04:00

The man in that picture up there is my dad. He's working on a wharf on a lake that's part of a water and ecosystem his dad - a onetime county councilor - was once hired by the provincial Minister of Lands and Mines to protect. When I was very young, we moved into a village that drew its water from a near-by river, stored it in a former CN water tank, and dispensed it through old pipes in a rather limited and hit-and-miss fashion. The river received run-off from local farms, small industry, and various residential septic systems of greater or lesser efficiency. It was a bad deal for everybody.

In time, as mayor, my dad oversaw the creation of a new water system, originating from a new town well, and a sewerage treatment system that kept most of the pollutants out of the river. This was accompanied by improvements to the volunteer fire department and the installation of fire hydrants. It was also accompanied by an unpopular rise in rates, and a fair amount of grumbling.

I mention this because I'm awfully proud of my dad, but also because I want to indicate that I'm not a complete idiot when it comes to the politics of water and the guarding of ecosystems.

I know literacy and basic adult education organizations have to avoid doing advocacy work, lest they have their knuckles rapped by Revenue Canada. But nothing absolves us of our responsibility to help learners understand how government works or how to write a letter to the editor or the import of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Adult literacy is inescapably "political" in that sense.

Even preparing someone to challenge the Social Studies GED involves thoughtful discussions about the party system or the pros and cons of free trade or MacDonald's National Policy.

Thus, I have both a professional and a personal (citizen's) interest in environmental, political or economic debates and developments. If I'm to do my job well, I need to know something useful about, say, global warming, or the recent economic contraction, or the fighting in Afghanistan.

Or about water as an endangered resource, and what us ordinary folks can do about it.

I assume I'm on the wrong side of history when it comes to the bottled water debate. They're probably right: I'm probably wrong. Oh, and on a related matter, I'd always assumed I was a fan of The Council of Canadians even if I'd only met them through media releases.

And yet.

Let's take the first topic. Here are the four points often made, put simply. (If I'm missing one let me know, but don't simply restate a point in different language):

1. We're taking water out of the ground, in specific locations (some quite large), at a rate that threatens the long term viability of those locations for residential or agricultural use (or, simply, as a home for plants and animals). Fair enough. This is a practice that needs to stop.

2. Too much plastic is being produced, used and discarded by the bottled water industry and its consumers. Well... yes, though this isn't a water-specific issue. It's true of many food or drink products. Are we talking about water or the plastics industry? I think we're talking about plastics, and I assume glass-bottled water would be no more acceptable over the long term because of point #1.

3. Bottled water is less safe and/or less palatable than municipal water. Wrong.

Maybe some bottled water is less safe or less tasty than some municipal water, but that's isn't the case everywhere. Let's set aside the boil orders I've been under (5 in the past two years) here in Saint John. Even when the service is at its peak, my tap water turns my sink and shower stall blue, leaves deposits in my pots and kettle, and frequently smells quite bad. None of those things has ever been true of water I have purchased.

Yes, yes. I know the bit about how legal health standards are applied to city water systems but not to water companies. I'm not talking about standards: I'm talking about outcomes. Let me say it again: the water coming from my tap is dirtier and smellier than the water coming from the plastic container on my counter. Campaigns to prevent me buying bottled water are campaigns that threaten my quality of life and probably my long-term health.

4. The choice to drink bottled water is a result of industry hype and marketing, not thoughtful personal choice. Um... no. See point #3. And anyway, this claim is simply a personal attack, a sort of "shaming", meant to evade the reality of the general public voting ("wrong") with their pocket book.

I feel for the mayor of my city. I know he wants what's best. Saint John has about 75,000 souls living inside the city proper at any one time. If a third of these spend $2 a day on bottled water, that's $50,000 per day. Maybe I'm exaggerating. Let's make it $20,000 per day. That's still $600,000 per month or $7,200,000 per year.

Imagine having an extra 7 million a year to spend on water system up-grades! In 5 years we'd have one sparkling water system!

But few of us want to spend that money up-front for clean, safe, good tasting water 5 years from now - especially if it means not drinking what we want right now. (We might be okay with raised property taxes and service fees, properly explained, but only if industrial users paid the same rates - and anyway it's not going to happen because our major property-owners use their ownership of local media to convince everyone our property taxes are already too high.)

The city can force its employees to leave their bottled water at home, as can sympathetic private companies. But that just means people will be drinking iced teas, juices or soft drinks until a new council is voted in.

K. Topic Two. When I was on the Council of Canadians website, reading their news bits and essays on water use and bottled water, I found no place to comment.

There was plenty of opportunity to join or donate to the cause (turns out that was the same thing). I could have sent an email "for more information on how you can support The Council of Canadians." But there was no place to pose a public question or join a discussion.

(The closest I got was discussions on rabble.ca, and I gotta tell you, that particular bully-board is not a forum I would ever take part in, let alone introduce a learner to.)

Why does this matter? Because global warming and environmental destruction scare me and should scare you. Because the power of the resource industries scare me and should scare you. Because citizen engagement is the only way I see out of the mess we're in.

And because helping adults become politically engaged citizens is an essential part of adult and community literacy work.

But, listen, engaging citizens also means talking with them in polite, open public forums, and allowing them to ask questions or even disagree. It doesn't mean telling people "Drink from the tap - trust us, it's safer," and then leaving no place to comment.

So, I'll send this text in an email to the Council. They deserve to know. But then I'll be done with them.

Maybe the Green Party would like to have a conversation. I'll let you know.

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?