[NLA] Sharing Experience

[Marian Thacher]

Gail,

Thank you for your message of hope, grace and leadership. I have been
receiving a needed political education from this process we are going
through of figuring out how to confront what seems to be a crisis in the
federal approach to adult literacy. Nelson Mandela is one of my all-time
heroes, exactly because he exhibited hope, grace and leadership even
during 27 years of incarceration. There must have been plenty of dark
moments, but in the end he lived to see his country transformed. Some of
the people you mentioned on the world economic summit have had similar
experiences.

Thank you also for your description of the comments of Harold McGraw Jr.
One difference between my youth and my current past-middle age is that I
see divisions as less black and white, and more as well-intentioned people
with different views of what the problems and solutions are. I don't want
to minimize the political connections between McGraw Hill and the White
House, or the money to be made by McGraw Hill from a phonics based
approach to reading on a national scale, as detailed the Nation article
someone referred to earlier, but I appreciate the genuine concern on both
sides of this debate for the importance of learning to read.

Also, Tom, thanks for your research note on teaching adults to read. I
think this whole debate on reading pedagogy/androgogy is very healthy. Not
only am I learning about the political process, but I am being led to
examine what I have believed, as an ESL teacher, about teaching non-native
speakers to read. I appreciate learning what the research has to tell us,
and clarifying my own thoughts. This will be a lifelong process, and I
suppose it should be. 

Marian Thacher
OTAN
Sacramento, CA

_______________________________________________
NLA mailing list: NLA at lists.literacytent.org
http://lists.literacytent.org/mailman/listinfo/nla
LiteracyTent: web hosting, news, community and goodies for literacy
http://literacytent.org