Return-Path: <nifl-esl@literacy.nifl.gov> Received: from literacy (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by literacy.nifl.gov (8.9.0.Beta5/8.9.0.Beta5/980425bjb) with SMTP id XAA05962; Sun, 11 Oct 1998 23:52:08 -0400 (EDT) Date: Sun, 11 Oct 1998 23:52:08 -0400 (EDT) Message-Id: <Pine.A41.3.96.981011234604.95668B-100000@academ.hvcc.edu> Errors-To: lmann@literacy.nifl.gov Reply-To: nifl-esl@literacy.nifl.gov Originator: nifl-esl@literacy.nifl.gov Sender: nifl-esl@literacy.nifl.gov Precedence: bulk From: MARILYN C SHAPIRO <shapimar@hvcc.edu> To: Multiple recipients of list <nifl-esl@literacy.nifl.gov> Subject: [NIFL-ESL:2315] Re: (no subject) X-Listprocessor-Version: 6.0c -- ListProcessor by Anastasios Kotsikonas Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII As an adult education teacher, I have run into the difficulty of "jumping to conclusions many times. I have learned as an adult educator to assume nothing. One day, after teaching my students the basics of the computer, I asked my students to follow through on an assignment. One of my students came up to me very frustrated and told me that the computer was not working as it was not responding. I asked her to show me what she was doing. She had gotten to part of the program that asked, "Do you want to save this file?" She was to press Yes or No. Instead, she said very loudly, "Yes!" "See," she told me. "It's not listening." We also make assumptions about their previous knowledge. Many of our students have no idea that the Rockies are in the West, not in upstate New York; that Abraham Lincoln, not George Washington, was president during the Civil War; that rain comes from clouds. After twenty years, I have learned again and again to assume nothing, to start from a very simple base, and move from there. Marilyn Shapiro Professor, Academics Capital District Educational Opportunity Center Albany, NY (Division of Hudson Valley Community College) On Fri, 9 Oct 1998, Frances Jones wrote: > We teachers jump to conclusions without asking enough questions. And when a student is making fast progress, we assume they've absorbed and accepted our viewpoint. A Chinese woman I once taught had been hired at Safeway Grocery. She knew and could say cabbage, avocado and all the rest, but she didn't recognize the printed names. > One day she was studying "pineapple." It should have been an easy word for her since she already knew the word "apple," but she was having trouble. I finally asked, "Why is this word giving us trouble?" > She hit the paper in frustration and said, "It doesn't look like a pineapple!" > I was taken by surprise. She was a 20-year resident of our country, extremely verbal and totally adapted to American life. > I asked her, "Do you expect these words to look like what they name?" > She said, "Yes. The Chinese words I learned to read looked like what they were." > Phonics? She had politely listened and then learned to read English with her own system of visual connections about which I had been ignorant. Had I asked more questions earlier about how she perceived reading, I would have been more help to her. > > I began writing for this same student when she asked "I wonder what is in the center of the earth?" > Immediately I began writing a series to explain the earth's structure, beginning with her first reading vocabulary, valley, river, hills etc. As she progressed over the next year or two, I wrote about other physical features of the earth, the plains, deserts, mountains and the sky. In the last book, I wrote about the the shifting crustal plates and the earth's center with its molten ball of iron and other metals. > She read that and sat thoughtfully. Then she looked at me apologetically and explained gently, "That's not what's in the center of the earth. There are people down there. The church said so. They have pictures of the center of the earth with people down there." > Her original question had been one of religion, not of science. Again, I had jumped to a wrong conclusion based on my experience rather than hers. > > > > ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ > Frances Jones - BOOKS for New Readers > Adult literacy & ABE students > Romance, mystery, skills development > 1719 Missouri Ave, Carthage, MO 64836 > http://www.sharplink.com/books > ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ >
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