In May and June of 2001, Ms. Mev Miller (mev@winternet.com) was a guest facilitator on the LINCS Women and Literacy discussion list. For the past few years, Ms. Miller has been working on a project focusing on women-centered literacy materials. To date, this project has primarily involved seeking responses from literacy workers to a questionnaire that inquires about what women-centered literacy materials are used in literacy settings; how they are used; and what literacy resources and materials are still needed in this area.

Most recently, she initiated the steps to develop a nonprofit organization called WE LEARN (Women Expanding Literacy Education Action Resources Network). The primary goals of WE LEARN include maintaining a resource list of women-centered / women-positive basic literacy materials; creating a resource center / clearinghouse dedicated to the publishing, review, networking, and distribution of women-centered literacy resources, materials and curriculum; and developing a network of learners, literacy workers, librarians, and writers committed to and involved in the process of creating and distributing women-centered literacy materials. Additional information about WE LEARN can be found at http://www.litwomen.org/WLindex.html .

The following represents various topics discussed by discussion list subscribers while Ms. Miller facilitated the discussion. For complete postings go to the NIFL-WOMENLIT Archives and look at postings 1439-1457; 1474-1504.

1. Motivation

1A. As I talk with women learners in some of the contexts I've been in, it's fairly clear that among the ABE settings, few teachers have asked women what they WANT to read. Mostly, they read what is assigned by the teacher or by what information is on the test (GED). It seems this, too, mirrors what happens in K12 education esp. now that testing is so strongly emphasized. And this, of course, corresponds to educational and political powers that have a direct stake in making learners "responsible citizens" by getting them into the workforce, off welfare, or whatever but that doesn't necessarily foster leadership, democratic action or a critical thinking, or personal/political empowerment. When I bring easier-to-read books on women's issues into the room (suggestions that I've collected from talking to literacy workers) and show them to the women, sometimes it feels like I've dropped a bag of candy on the table! They become very interested in and engaged with them. I've "lost" a few books from the pile after some conversations. And it generates their listing of topics they would like to have additional access to. It seems like fundamental positions on participatory learning to me, that is, is it true that adults learn better when they see direct connections between their own lives and what they're "learning?" It seems that "dispositional barriers" correspond to theories of resistance -- "I won't learn" becomes a way (conscious or not) of resisting what they perceive as enlistment into their continued subjugated place in the status quo.

1B. When I do book (reading) discussion groups with women, I'll check with them about vocabulary and if it's clear they don't understand a section of the reading, they'll ask and we discuss it. Often, though, the groups use the readings to talk about their own experiences. In the process of the conversation, especially if it stalls, I'll refer something in the article and ask what they think it means or what their opinion is of it. So, we refer back to the materials but simply asking "content questions" seems boring to all of us! It's a way of understanding the content...and much more.

1C. As I talk with different groups of learners, so there's much enthusiasm about wanting to read so many different things -- and frustration that they can't find things they can actually read. There's 2 parts to that - finding it and level of difficulty. The women I've talked to want to be challenged (increase our vocabulary, learn new things) but not frustrated (I hate those books where you have to look in the dictionary every other sentence). Even those who admit they don't like to read or don't want to read have said they would read if they could find something interesting. Having them say what was interesting was a bit more of a challenge -- more of an 'I'll know it when I see it' kind of thing. And that whole sense of "trash" reading and the sense of 'well, at least they are reading' and the struggle between whole books and short articles -- these are interesting dilemmas. I've talked with several groups of learners and without fail, every one of the ABE groups rated horror fiction (Stephen King in particular) and mysteries as their first items. I became intrigued with this and started to ask why they liked it -- each group had a different set of reasons, but for both horror and mystery it was the sensation that they needed to figure it. It held their interest because they wanted to find out what happened - that's what kept them moving. It may be that they're "faster" in getting to solution that perhaps fiction stories that take longer to get to the conclusion. On the other hand, I've been with one group whose needs were to really look at "issue" related materials -- how to raise a biracial child, how to talk to your kids about divorce, how to leave an abusive husband, effective ways to conquer PMS, how to argue against "The Surrendered Wife". They don't want a whole book - they want some short and specific pieces that help them think it through.

1D. ESL students seem more interested in following the teacher's suggestions. But we might also ask about cultures of reading as well. I was working with one group of ESL learners who were not schooled in their home countries, either. For them, reading was not something they were used to -- because of war or displacement, because of poverty, and several other factors. It was not part of their experience to be readers in any language and learning English put them into the "culture of reading" that might otherwise not have happened for them. They couldn't say what they wanted to read because they didn't really have enough experience with it so they were happy to have the teachers choose.

1E. I've encountered a number of situations where the attitude about adult learners was that they're just "deficient" or "damaged." In one case, I was told by a teacher that I probably wouldn't get much input from a particular group about their reading interests because their skills we so low and they never had much too say. She implied that another group of higher-level learners would have been better NOT so much because of their reading level but because they had more life "experience" namely, addiction, jail time, abused backgrounds, etc. I'm had very little interaction with this teacher so I hesitate to make any judgments based on a short conversation but it felt like the 1st group was being dismissed because they lacked tragedy and because they were so low-level. My experience with them, however, was that they were shy and reticent at first but when it became clear that I really was interested in their answers and as the conversation progressed, I found their experiences were rich with possibility and that they could say what they wanted - they had just never really been asked before! Individuals in the group had some clear goals and some life experiences that proved fertile for saying what kinds of reading materials would have been useful for them. (for example, how to respond to people who have long-term and disabling illness).

Is it true we get what we expect? This is what is often said of children. But how does this work with adults? If we treat women learners as damaged people living in despair and poverty with little ability to analyze their situation, then do we continue to foster their "place" in society? If we treat adult women learners as people with rich life experiences and call for the best from them, does this offer more hope and spiritedness from the learning experience? I don't mean to be simplistic -- all of our lives are filled with complexities that are not easily solved but sometimes attitude (both positive and negative) can make a difference one way or the other.

2. Political and Cultural Agendas

2A. So my interest in women-centered literacy materials does have strong political implications. From my years in bookselling, I know so many women who have been affected - emotionally, politically, and/or radically - by finding books that reflect their experiences. As some of you may know, I work in a feminist women's bookstore. Everyday I talk to women (and some men) who talk about how the materials in our store (books and magazines mostly) have helped them make sense of their lives. They come for the comfort of the space. Women have described being able to "breath better" in an atmosphere that clearly values women's work, feeling, thought, and ideas. The sensation of "I'm not the only one" has profound meaning. This is an emerging theme as I talk with women learners too about their reading preferences.

2B. I'm thinking of one student I work with who sometimes is engaged by things I bring her to read, and other times gets very annoyed and tells me flat out that reading "triggers" her -- it aggravates her, she hates it. She doesn't want to talk about strategies, or ways to deal with it. I suspect this has much to do with her own personal ups and downs (I only see her for an hour a week) - but it's lead me to think about cultures of reading -- if you will -- and how people who love reading are able to help those who don't see its benefits without "imposing" a reading agenda.

2C. I had another student say that she really hates it when people give her something with the statement "you should read this." She feels like when people do that, they're trying to improve or reform her. So as we choose reading materials for ourselves and for learners, what are the positions of power and authority behind these selections? Is it what we think they want to read? What do they actually want to read? Or some agenda on our part to get women to read what we think is good for them?

2D. When we teach, we knowingly and unknowingly constantly present our hidden and not so hidden agendas-by our selections of topics, materials, choices that are presented, words we use, times we smile, praise, acknowledge, etc., etc., etc. And sometimes the opposites are even louder in message-when we don't praise, what we don't select, what choices we don't offer. I don't think that there is a way around it, but we do need to be ever mindful of it. Just the whole notion of teaching someone to read and advocating literacy development implies a value that reading is important and needs to be nurtured. We may strongly believe that our values are correct, but we do have to acknowledge that they are heavily culturally based.

2E. In my experience, literacy is libratory only when participants see it as such. Another factor which plays heavily into this is how learners view their current circumstances, whether they see themselves as oppressed, as having any rights, etc. In a couple of participatory movements I worked with in India, there were various degrees of participation, depending on who was involved in developing the movement, and what the goals were. In this country, my questions would be around these issues. Are we assuming they feel oppressed? In India the language of rights especially in the domain of women was not the norm, hence learning that was the first step.

2F. Libratory could mean any (or all) of the following... - guaranteed promise of a better job and good future (something many literacy programs hold out for their learners and/or promised by the educational system at large)- acquisition of critical thinking skills- the ability to participate in meaningfully in socio-political arenas and/or community (local/regional/national) decision-making processes (in U.S. context, that means participate more fully in democratic process)- being able to be free of or radically change abusive/violent situations or other oppressive structures and people etc. & so on....and so I wonder, are there other strengths / talents / skills that women learners could bring to any of the above that don't necessarily have to do with print literacy? It's clear to me that many women "have literacy" but perhaps do not care to participate in libratory activities. Do we hold learners to a higher standard in this regard? Does greater access to "women-centered" literacy materials foster this type of "libratory" awareness??

2G. Reading is more than simple decoding. People read using the backdrop of their personal life experiences to process what they read. Learners are not tabulae rasae who are blank until the written word hits them. Yes we are philosophical about literacy, our experiences in the field point towards this. Even the choice of reading materials, curricula, all have a political and cultural bias. Why Green Eggs and Ham and not The Noddy Books by Enid Blyton or culturally appropriate materials, which draw on the lives of learners, make sense from their cultural perspectives?

3. Definitions and Goals of Literacy Training

3A. How do we define literacy / literacies? Are we literate because we can read the things we have to (for work, to navigate the day-to-day, to help our kids with homework, etc.) even if we don't like it? Are we "more" literate if we like to read and/or have developed skills for reading for entertainment or reading for participation in socio-economic-political structures (democracy)? Do we have to read to be literate? Is that our basic definition of literacy -- to interact with written text?

3B. Reading has changed my life so much I am a different person then I was 20 years ago. Reading (being able to read) gave me so much self worth. I went to school to become a nurse and work in a hospital as a nurse and that is what reading did for me. Now, I speak to groups about learning to read and how it frees you up. Thank you for listening.

3C. I've worked in Women's bookstores and publishing for close to 20 years. It's almost a daily occurrence for me to have women come into the store and be obviously moved and relaxed by being in a women's space filled with women's words. At least once a week (and often more) I hear women say that having access to the writings of women changed their lives. Sometimes they say it even "saved" their lives. Having women's books to read offers comfort. It encourages them to action. It improves their sense of self, etc. There's a woman in one of my current book groups who says she only recently learned to read. She's extremely excited about it. She has gotten herself a bookshelf. She's also looking for books to put on it. She wants to build her own home library. So, it seems, in some very practical ways, literacy can be libratory.

3D. My opinion (and this is only my opinion) is that for a person who is just "getting by" and living in poverty, literacy just isn't that deep! It isn't being able to understand politics, it's being able to read a stop sign or a fast food menu. It isn't reading 'good literature.' It's reading "Green Egg's & Ham" with your three year old daughter. Yes, being able to understand your fourth grade son's homework is liberating, but is being able to fill out an application for McDonalds going to get this person out of poverty? Something to think about. I think we tend to get too philosophical about literacy. For some people yes, reading is the means to make a better life. But for others, reading is just a reading. I can teach someone to dance, but I cannot make him or her love it. Maybe that is the whole thing in a nutshell... I try to let my student just be themselves. If they fall in love with the written word then I am very happy for them. But if they only ever learn to just READ, well that's a pretty wonderful thing too!

3E. I can teach someone to dance, but I cannot make him or her love it. I wonder how many teachers see that as being the case with adult learners. I have not seen that expressed as a goal in the national study of ESL classrooms that we are doing. I have seen this being expressed by teachers in K-12 circumstances, but rarely in adult learning classes. Survival, catching up, very goal directed reading has been the driving force.

3F. I am thinking about this from an international perspective where often the materials to read are very limited. Now...you would probably argue, and I grant that you're right, literacy is not just decoding but asking questions of the text, the author and the reader her/himself. But if we are really honest about the amount of questioning many people actually do - for political, social, or practical reasons....I am afraid that some people become "literate" enough to play into the hands of the ruling party --not liberating.

3G. Literacy itself can be empowering as it opens the door to the world of print. Literacy is not just a technical skill, it is the ability to read with meaning, to know what the words MEAN. Because there are so many literacy worlds, it is impossible to expect that a student who can decode will know what all literacies mean, their vocabularies, their references. I am going to add a personal example. I started "studying" the literacy world of American politics via the newspaper about 3 years ago, now. I mean really study, not just read. I am now somewhat literate in this world.

I find it empowering to find out how the political game is played, and how it is reported. I further my knowledge through radio, TV, magazines, talking with friends.

So here are 2 examples of literacy as empowerment. This is probably a discussion we have already had at some point but I keep on seeing references to literacy as though it is just a skill that needs to be learned. Is this all that literacy is? Is it really that easy: learn to read and write and become empowered? For me the issue is more about the kinds of literacy we teach in our classes, or put another way, the kinds of literacy our learners are allowed to learn. Often the restrictions are placed there by educationalists who view certain kinds of students (students who come from different backgrounds to the educationists) as being 'deficient' or damaged.

A case in point: at the moment my sociology students are taking their final exams. a good pass will ensure they can go on to University in October. For the past two years they have struggled with some of the materials that they need to read as part of their syllabus, items such as 'serious' broadsheet newspapers. This group consists of good readers who successfully graduated from their schools two years ago. They certainly do not have so-called literacy problems. However, they find reading certain kinds of material extremely difficult because the writers use so many references to literature and other forms of learning or social experience and they simply do not understand these. Many of us take for granted these references because we share the same cultural capital as the authors, but for students who come from different cultural or class backgrounds the articles may as well be written in a foreign language. I have come across teachers who say "they (the students) are so ignorant." They then give up on them rather than teach them the new academic literacies. In this way many bright students are kept out of university when all they needed was someone to share with them their own cultural and linguistic experiences so they too could participate in emancipatory education

3H. I often worry that the underpinnings of literacy programs are framed in deficit - "you would be better if you could read"," you can't cope with the world if you can't read," etc. etc. I want to challenge all those judgments and recognize many forms of knowing the world and versions of literacies - many not even using print - but I also think that language and written forms of it can be tools for working through meaning in complex and wonderful ways and I like supporting others in exploring that.

4. Choosing Reading Material

4A. When I was teaching adult basic education students, all women, in a family literacy program, they spanned reading levels from about 3rd grade to high school. I experimented with sharing complicated, and what I termed "meaningful" fiction and literary non-fiction with them. I brought in a duffle bag of my favorite novels and books and walked them through a selection process that lovers of reading often go through. We spent a lot of time talking about and writing about strategies for choosing books and how to make one's way into a book. I developed worksheets and they used reading logs. We also spent a lot of in class time reading aloud from our chosen books. Basically, each student choose a book and through a series of silent-sustained reading exercises, reading aloud, writing exercises, discussion activities, made her way through at least one chapter of the book. Before these students attempted to choose and read these texts, we had done a unit on Beloved by Toni Morrison. The students read most of the first chapter out loud-- we looked at the structure of the book, we put a lot of that chapter to movement, the students retold parts of the stories from differing narrative perspectives to each other, we analyzed the role of the house, we viewed video interviews with Morrison and looked at pictures of slave ships in middle passage. It took a month to get through chapter one together and it was worth it. Their comments in their reading journals were incredible!

After that success, that's when we moved on to how does one choose a book of ones own? That's when I modeled for them how I choose books, how I even heard of which books to read, how I would go into a library and pick a book off the shelf and read from an arbitrary page, and how if the book touched me, I would have to write about it- to a friend in a letter or email, in my journal, or with a poem or story of my own authoring. We did all these things with our new books. Here's some of the books the students' choose: Zora Neale Hurston:'s Their Eyes were watching God; Nicholasa Mohr's El Bronx Remembered, Anchee Min's Red Azalea and Barabara Kingsolver's The Bean Trees.

Ultimately, it was the sharing group of other teachers that really supported me to experiment with, reflect on, analyze and document how we were giving "whole books' to our students and why, Interestingly, I had chosen the first round of books to help students not feel overwhelmed, then from there, they had made specific choices about which book they wanted to read. Also, we practiced choosing books from the library and even going into bookstores. And we certainly talked and talked about those books like they were friends.

4B. Dorothy Allison who maybe folks know from her novel "bastard out of Carolina" spoke about teaching reading for the first time, as the keynote speaker of a Lesbian/Gay writer's conference. And among other things, she said: "I bring what ever'sin on my floor, my desk, my bookshelf- which inevitably means "Good Housekeeping" and superman comics and ask my students to make a list about why they would want to read something and why they wouldn't." I love this approach. It asks for conversation.

Again, it's in the conversation about tastes and likes and dislikes that help us all learn, who we are, where we came from, how we're different, and what we want to do about it.

4C. Reading the tough books together makes it a communal literacy event, and different people will see/hear different things. I can readily see/hear many books being read this way, very enriching to all I should imagine. "Great books" remain great over time because many people HAVE READ THEM using many different lenses.

4D. Why do I read? What are my experiences of reading? How do I come to it? What do I know about the kinds of things that interest me? Is it reading alone that aggravates your student or is it perhaps also combined with other issues? For example, one student I was talking to said she didn't read, she didn't like to read. ...but she would read if it was something that interested her. But then, when I asked, she really couldn't say what interested her either and indicated it was a more "in the moment" kind of thing -- like if she passed a magazine and there was something on the cover that caught her attention. Knowing herself well enough, or having confidence in her own interests, seemed like a big hurdle. Even when learners in my reading/book discussion group ask for materials on certain topics, I wonder what motivates what I select? Is it really all that I can find at their reading level or do I have some agenda for what they "should" know or learn about? And is there anything necessarily wrong with that? Good about that?

4E. But some of the ABE learners I've talked with also seem to want to follow the teacher's choices mostly because the possibilities and options were overwhelming for them -- or because it was frustrating for them to find on their own what they wanted at their level of skill. But the flip side of this was learners have not ever or often been asked or encouraged by their teachers to say what interests them. Even when they want it, they feel like they have no choice but to follow the teacher's directions because of course requirements (GED, etc). They were extremely excited when I asked them what they wanted -- though hesitant at first, some groups were able to generate some interesting lists. Curiously, there were varied reactions among ESL & ABE learners when I asked directly if having materials on "women's issues" was of interest to them.

4F. If we present women learning to read or improving their reading skills only with a narrow range of materials that they can read to their children, or that prepares them only to fill in certain forms or know certain vocabulary related to a specific job, perhaps we've responded to their individually stated goals or the goals of the (anti-welfare)state but have we really broadened their literacy? If we offer reading materials with vocabulary related to specific job skills and placed in the context of a story that also discusses sexual harassment on the job or rights of immigrant workers, then we've upped the ante.

4G. In many of the conversation circles I've had with women learners about reading materials, there have been some themes. (I'm still in the process of pulling all this information together into something usable so these are only some initial reflections.) One theme is that women like to read about other women's lives, especially if they touch on something related to their own life experience. But this doesn't always have to be so -- learning something completely different than ones own cultural experience also had some appeal. For example, one woman had heard abut genital mutilation and she was curious to know more about it -- but this led her to a larger interest in learning about women in different countries around the world. It also opened up for her some different interests in understanding religious and cultural practices.

Another theme was women who expressed they wanted to know about women with situations similar to theirs because it helped them to feel less isolated and not like they were not the only one! Now this is a theme that I've seen constantly over my years in bookstore work...."there should be a book on such and such a topic because there are so many of us with this experience." or "wow - this book is so much like my life - I'm so glad to find out that I'm not the only one." People who work with lesbian/gay folks will also recognize this theme!

4H. I come back over and over again to the value of poetry - in groups I have used it in so many ways - to spark thought, lead to complex discussion and writing, to offer inspiration and solace, to bandage wounds and invite change. I am always on the hunt for poems full of complexity of thought but mostly simple words. The women's group I worked with most recently grew to have many favorites that we read together over and over again at the end of our sessions before we all headed back out into the world. I suppose how I use poetry also characterizes how I use any materials I like to try out lots of different things so that students can choose which ones to speak to them - just because I like it doesn't mean they will - but I do like to explain what did speak to me and why I chose "it", whatever it is, as something we would read. I've increasingly learned that I like to be present in the mix - sharing some of my own journey and what I like and why, but not saying anything is "good" and you should like it etc.... Much of the learner-centered approach bugs me as it doesn't feel as if it opens up horizons or takes advantage of the presence of the facilitator to expand on known possibilities or allowing the teacher to honestly present her or himself - leaving the danger of students "choosing" to read only what is already familiar. What can you choose but what you already know unless someone invites you into explore new things?

I am a women's bookstore addict - I go to browse there and talk to the women who run the store and get advice about materials whenever I need inspiration. Reading the talk here made me realize that in many ways what I tried to offer in the women's group I led recently was something quite similar to the sense I get in the women's bookstore - I bought loads of diverse materials and displayed as many as I could cover side out inviting women to pick them up and look - when they did, if they seemed questioning I would tell them a little about what sort of book it was - what might be exciting, hard, sad, happy etc. about it and encouraged women to dip into it, take it home. I also asked women about what they were looking for, would like to read etc.. The one thing I had least off was easy to read reflective books - women wanted to read about self esteem about coping on welfare, living in poverty, looking for children taken by children's aid, dealing with stalkers and the legal system, supporting children who were failing in school or angry, disobedient in trouble, living with the complexities of parenting - not "how to's" but material that would help them reflect. They asked questions about the experience of working with a counselor, about different religions and spiritual beliefs and many more questions about the impact of violence on their and their children's lives and I wished I had straightforward (but not condescending or childish) books to give them on those and many more subjects.

I was often frustrated by the loss in some of the simplified books - for example I love Courage to Heal but find Beginning to Heal very disappointing. In the class I would sometimes read small sections from the Courage to Heal and we would talk about how it resonated with their own experience - particularly sections on the difficulties of changing and the ways in which we often get caught going down the same road over and over again - you don't have to have been through direct violence to be able to relate to material like that. I was just looking on my shelves for a favorite (of mine and many readers) simple book about leaving a violent relationship and it doesn't seem to be there - it seems to have walked again - always a good (if sometimes expensive) sign that it works - I just tracked down the reference - I'll be curious to see if other people know it/like it too - I hope I've got the right one - I'd much rather see the book - color of the cover than have the name and title!: Marecek, Mary. Breaking Free from Partner Abuse: Voices of Battered Women Caught In The Cycle Of Domestic Violence. Morning Glory Press: Buena Park, California, 1993.

Ok now I've got started I could go on for ages! Just briefly I also have a bunch of really interesting children's books available - I'm very careful about those books because I don't want to imply that women I work with are childish - but I personally love children's books and often find lovely complex thought in simple language there - framed in a way that is not demeaning I've found women in my group have enjoyed them too and have talked about how wonderful they are and what it means to enjoy them when they didn't have much in the way of a childhood, let alone any childhood pleasures. For example there's a lovely kids book about a crab moving out of the confines of its shell and its small world that invites all sorts of reflection on the scariness of change. I haven't used these books in the group - just had them on display and women have borrowed them and enjoyed them - but I've wondered about using them together.....

For complete postings go to the NIFL-WOMENLIT Archives and look at postings 1439-1457; 1474-1504.