Return-Path: <nifl-aalpd@literacy.nifl.gov> Received: from literacy (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by literacy.nifl.gov (8.10.2/8.10.2) with SMTP id h37MKbU25036; Mon, 7 Apr 2003 18:20:37 -0400 (EDT) Date: Mon, 7 Apr 2003 18:20:37 -0400 (EDT) Message-Id: <3E9D3D47@webmail.utk.edu> Errors-To: listowner@literacy.nifl.gov Reply-To: nifl-aalpd@literacy.nifl.gov Originator: nifl-aalpd@literacy.nifl.gov Sender: nifl-aalpd@literacy.nifl.gov Precedence: bulk From: jataylor <jataylor@utk.edu> To: Multiple recipients of list <nifl-aalpd@literacy.nifl.gov> Subject: [NIFL-AALPD:125] questions for Debby, Margery, Lou, Maria, and Kay Tee X-Listprocessor-Version: 6.0c -- ListProcessor by Anastasios Kotsikonas Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-Mailer: WebMail (Hydra) SMTP v3.61.08 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="ISO-8859-1" Status: O Content-Length: 2694 Lines: 54 For Debby: This question is regarding adult education classes within state welfare reform initiatives. Oftentimes, learners are successful in moving from welfare to work, in part due to the adult education classes in which they learned workforce and basic skills. Yet, others only move from welfare to the working poor, then back to welfare, never seeming to succeed in moving from the different cultures of class and poverty to the workforce. I am a professional developer who provides learning experiences for adult educators who teach in the adult education component of Tennessee’s welfare reform initiative. It seems out of context to me, for teachers to be mandated to teach workforce and basic skills in an adult education component of welfare reform, without considering the context of class differences among teachers, learners, and the workforce into which teachers are to acculturate them. Yet, this is their charge. Regarding the role of class and poverty, what are specific strategies within a teachers’ control (program design is out of their hands) that might bridge the chasms of class and poverty? How can staff developers better support teachers who teach adult education as a component of welfare reform? What might be helpful resources for this task? Has anyone else had promising experiences in briding this issue? For Margery and Lou: I am fascinated by your organization’s efforts to make literacy a way of life by building ‘genuine’ relationships across the chasms that separate race and class. How can teachers, who come from a range of classroom comfort levels, begin to approach teaching in a way that fosters these creative relationships in their classrooms and programs? How can we build into our professional development events ways to support teachers in forging this ground? For Maria: Maria, considering your paradigm shift from being unable to confront issues of sexuality in literacy, to co-developing project VOICE, how did you begin to integrate this new shift of perspective into your teaching practice? Now, how do you facilitate the bridging of student perspectives that seem to either represent one side or the other? For Kay Tee: Imagine you are sitting in a workshop addressing diversity in ESOL. What specific teaching strategies would you recommend the presenter speak to regarding the teaching of Muslim women, in a women-only classroom? What if programs could not afford to provide a “women only” ESOL classroom? What strategies would you recommend professional developers advise ESOL teachers to try when teaching Muslim women in a classroom comprised of both women and men? Jackie Taylor
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Thu Mar 11 2004 - 12:15:01 EST