[AAACE-NLA] The Lions of Literacy

Thu Feb 1 20:13:49 EST 2007

Dear Mr. Sticht:  I have read your postings on aaace-nla in the past with 
great interest.  However, the last one on "The Lions of Literacy" was so 
nearly the exact subject of my master's thesis that I just needed to write 
and comment on the RESPECT section of your message.  My thesis was primarily 
concerned with the R-relevance, E-engagement, P-participation and T-teachers 
who care. I have been teaching ESL since 1993 but recently went back to 
school for my masters in TESOL.  The studies on effective ESL teaching which 
were included in my thesis all found overwhelmingly that the relevance of 
the materials to the students, the participation of the students in deciding 
the content of learning, the methods of learning as well as the methods of 
evaluating the learning, and the importance of teachers who respect and care 
about their students because they have gotten to know the students and their 
situations, are among the most important factors in whether the students 
learn and stay with the program as long as they need to for optimal success. 
  Thank you for reiterating these important ideas.  Sincerely, Lois Doll

>From: call4literacy at aol.com
>Reply-To: National Literacy Advocacy List sponsored by 
>AAACE<aaace-nla at lists.literacytent.org>
>To: aaace-nla at lists.literacytent.org
>Subject: Re: [AAACE-NLA] The Lions of Literacy
>Date: Wed, 31 Jan 2007 16:33:01 -0500
>
>Thanks, Tom!
>
>Too often, research outcomes, philosophy, and experience narratives comes 
>to service providers in ways that have limited value due to lack of 
>translation, poor packaging, or simple disregard for the attending 
>audience.  Once again you have translated, packaged, and shown an 
>understanding for many readers here.
>
>I can use this stuff!
>
>Jose
>
>Jose L. Cruz
>Chief Executive Officer
>San Diego Council on Literacy
>2515 Camino del Rio S., Ste. 111
>San Diego, CA 92108
>P: 619-574-1641, ext. 103
>F: 619-491-9242
>E: jcruz at literacysandiego.org
>www.literacysandiego.org
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: tsticht at znet.com
>To: aaace-nla at lists.literacytent.org
>Sent: Tue, 30 Jan 2007 11:58 AM
>Subject: [AAACE-NLA] The Lions of Literacy
>
>
>January 30, 2007
>
>The Lions of Literacy
>
>Tom Sticht
>International Consultant in Adult Education
>
>In January of 2007 I went to Dublin, Ireland to present a speech at a
>conference of adult literacy tutors sponsored by the National Adult
>Literacy Agency (NALA). The theme of the conference was Sustaining
>Motivation for Adult Literacy Learners. As I thought about this theme, and
>how I might frame remarks that would fit with it, I glanced at the bulletin
>board by my desk. There I noticed the photos of the grand, main building of
>the New York Public Library  (NYPL) that I have tacked to the board.
>
>I have long admired the NYPL located on the south-west corner of the
>intersection of 42nd street and 5th avenue. I am particularly fond of the
>two massive sculptures of lions that guard the main entrance to the
>library. During the great depression of the 1930s, New York Mayor Fiorello
>LaGuardia dubbed the two sculptures of lions with the names Patience and
>Fortitude. Mayor LaGuardia told the citizens of New York that patience and
>fortitude were the qualities they would require to survive the economic
>depression gripping the nation and New York City.
>
>This lead me to think that these great lions, Patience and Fortitude, also
>represent the qualities that adult literacy tutors require to persist in
>helping adult literacy learners maintain their motivation in what can often
>be a long and difficult struggle for literacy. In many ways, the adult
>literacy tutors are the Lions of Literacy. They help guide adult learners
>into the great library of books of the world which provide access to the
>collected knowledge of the ages.
>
>As I studied the photo of Patience and Fortitude, I came to the thought 
>that
>their was something that bonded these two qualities and sustained them. 
>Then
>I thought of Aretha Franklin and her musical hit song, RESPECT. It occurred
>to me that respect is what builds the bond between tutors and learners, a
>bond maintained by patience and fortitude on the part of both tutors and
>learners.
>
>For my presentation in Dublin, I built on these thoughts and developed the
>idea that the seven letters of the word R.E.S.P.E.C.T. could serve as a
>mnemonic for seven factors that taken together can help sustain motivation
>for the work of teaching and learning literacy.
>
>R.E.S.P.E.C.T.
>
>R : Relevance to the learner's lives
>
>E : Engagement with the learning experience
>
>S : Social capital development for learners
>
>P : Participation by learners in choosing goals, curriculum materials &
>methods
>
>E : Educational opportunities across the life span & across multiple life
>cycles
>
>C: Community support for adult literacy education
>
>T: Teachers/tutors who care about adults, literacy, & learning
>
>Following a brief overview of these seven factors, I focused on R, for
>Relevance. I recounted the stories of four great adult literacy educators
>who focused on the relevance to the lives of their students of the
>materials they were using to teach adults to read.
>
>First, the story of Harriet Jacobs, the former slave girl of the mid-1800s
>who taught an old black man to read using the Bible, which was what he
>wanted to learn to read. Next, an account of the work of Cora Wilson
>Stewart in 1911 to start the Moonlight Schools of Kentucky and the
>materials she wrote in books called the Country Life Readers. These books
>taught reading in the context of farming, home making, health for the
>family, community development and other topics of relevance to the lives of
>the country folks who came to class on moon lit nights.
>
>Then the work of Paul Witty during World War II was used to illustrate once
>again the professional wisdom of early pioneers in adult literacy education
>and their focus upon making their materials relevant to the lives of their
>learners. Witty invented the fictional Private Pete and his buddy Daffy,
>who were themselves learning to read and write in the Army, so that
>soldiers could identify with the stories about the Army and the military
>context through their relationship to the fictional soldiers they read
>about.
>
>Finally, the Queen Mother of the civil rights movement in the United States
>during mid-20th century was identified as Septima Poinsette Clark. She
>started Citizenship Schools to teach African-Americans to read and write so
>they could vote. This was the relevant goal for these American citizens who
>were being denied voting rights and hence social justice because of
>illiteracy. Septima Clark new the importance of developing literacy and
>power by making the materials of education relevant to the lives of her
>students.
>
>To sustain the motivation of adult students in the often arduous task of
>learning to read and write adult literacy tutors need both patience and
>fortitude. But above all, they need to have RESPECT for their students. And
>the primary letter of that word, R, stands for Relevance. Over a century of
>professional wisdom by those on whose shoulders we stand confirms the
>importance of relevance in adult literacy education.
>
>Today's adult literacy teachers and tutors carry on the important work of
>respecting adult students and providing relevant literacy education
>sustained by both patience and fortitude. They are the Lions of Literacy in
>the 21st century.
>
>Thomas G. Sticht
>International Consultant in Adult Education
>2062 Valley View Blvd.
>El Cajon, CA 92019-2059
>Tel/fax: (619) 444-9133
>Email: tsticht at aznet.net
>
>
>
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