Return-Path: <nifl-womenlit@literacy.nifl.gov> Received: from literacy (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by literacy.nifl.gov (8.10.2/8.10.2) with SMTP id gADEtuX04096; Wed, 13 Nov 2002 09:55:56 -0500 (EST) Date: Wed, 13 Nov 2002 09:55:56 -0500 (EST) Message-Id: <3.0.6.32.20021113095139.00e91248@mail.psnyc.com> Errors-To: alcrsb@langate.gsu.edu Reply-To: nifl-womenlit@literacy.nifl.gov Originator: nifl-womenlit@literacy.nifl.gov Sender: nifl-womenlit@literacy.nifl.gov Precedence: bulk From: Mariann Fedele <mariannf@lacnyc.org> To: Multiple recipients of list <nifl-womenlit@literacy.nifl.gov> Subject: [NIFL-WOMENLIT:2391] Re: % of lgbt in adult literacy X-Listprocessor-Version: 6.0c -- ListProcessor by Anastasios Kotsikonas Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" X-Mailer: QUALCOMM Windows Eudora Light Version 3.0.6 (32) Status: O Content-Length: 14089 Lines: 434 Hello Daphne and all, The media literacy event using the POV documentary on Bayard Rustin will be at the LAC on Friday, December 13th from 12-4pm. I will happily share the results of the strategy session with the list. Mariann At 09:47 PM 11/12/2002 -0500, you wrote: >Mariann, >When is the upcoming event at LAC? After the event,if you have the time, >I am sure that many of us who will not be able to attend, would love it >if you could describe what happened during the strategy session once the >event took place. >Daphne > >Daphne Greenberg >Associate Director >Center for the Study of Adult Literacy >Georgia State University >University Plaza >Atlanta, GA 30303-3083 >phone: 404-651-0127 >fax:404-651-4901 >dgreenberg@gsu.edu >>>> mariannf@lacnyc.org 11/11/02 15:30 PM >>> >Hello All, >As for some literature which may be appropriate for introducing LGBT >characters, concerns and issues in to the adult education classroom I >have >compiled a short list (at the end of this message). Most of these are >young >adult texts. To my knowledge there is a dangerous scarcity of adult >literacy level text which broach these topics. A lot of the work being >done >in terms of currciulum and materials that address the LGBT community are >being done at the k-12 level (see the GLSEN web site at >http://glsen.org/templates/index.html for curriculum and text resources >that might be adaptable to the adult ed. classroom). A media resource >which >may be of interest to the adult ed. community is the Point of View (POV) >television upcoming documentary on Bayard Rustin, a Civil Rights >activist >in the 60's who was gay. The web site ( http://www.pbs.org/pov/ ) will >feature classroom resources which will again have a k-12 focus. At the >Literacy Assistance Center (LAC) we will be conducting a workshop which >will include a pre-broadcast screening of the film and then a strategy >session on how the film and its themes (civil rights, lgbt people and >concerns,...) can be used and scaffolded in the adult ed. classroom >toward >meeting students goals for learning. > >As for the question of numbers of LGBT students, all the points Deborah >makes are well reasoned. I would only add that further complicating any >data collection on the numbers of adult ed. lgbt students are different >cultural constructions of what it means to be gay or lesbian. >Men-who-have-sex-with-men may by our cultural definition be considered >gay >but for people from some cultures your sexuality is determined by the >role >you take during the sex act. In 1997 the HIV Center for Clinical >Research >in New York City conducted a project called "Latinos Empowering >Ourselves" >(Project LEO). This project sought to increase safer sexual behaviors >among >Latino Men-Who-Have-Sex-With-Men by in part having them participate in >ESOL >classes for which HIV/AIDS awareness was the foundation of language >learning. The outreach to the community steered away from using the word >"gay" as it might have kept men either unable to cope with that term or >who >simply did not identify as gay from participating. > >I will gladly further discuss the upcoming event at the LAC or my >participation in Project LEO with anyone on the list. Please fell free >to >contact me at the below email address or number. >Sincerely, >Mariann > >Book List >Titles: >Companeras: Latina Lesbians >1994, Editor Juanita Ramos >Collection of oral histroies, essays, poetry and art by and about latina >lesbians > >I Am Your Sister >Audre Lorde, Kitchen Table: Women of Color Press, 1985 > >The Dear One >Jacqueline Woodson (Young Adult) >Dell, 1991 > >Growing Up Gay/Growing Up Lesbian (Literary Anthology, young adult) >Bennett, Singer >New Press 1994 > >Living in Secret >Christina Sala >Yearling, 1993 (Children's Lit) > >A Death in the Family (Video) >About a young man's death from AIDS >PBS Television, 1988 > >Different Daughter: A Book by Mothers of Lesbians >Louise Rafkin >1987, collection of essays > >My Son Eric >Mary Borhek >Pilgrim Press, 1979 (Non-fiction) > >MAC >John Maclean >Avon Books, 1987 (Young Adult) > >Now That I Know >Norma Klein >Bantam 1988 (Young adult) > >Becoming Visible >Kevin Jennings >Ayson Publications 1994 (Gay and Lesbian History for Young Adults) > >The Truth About Alex >Anne Snyder >New American Library, 1981 (Young Adult) > >When Someone You KNow is Gay >Susan Cohen >Dell, 1989 (Young Adult) > > > > > > > >At 02:25 PM 11/11/2002 -0500, you wrote: >>Daphne, >> >>Warning!This is a long post. >> >>These theories re: the percentage of lesbian, gay, bi, trans adult >students have been tossed >>around. Most of our theories are anecdotal as we don't have money >and/or >support to research the >>hard data about numbers of gay/lesbian/trans/bi adults in literacy >classrooms. IN fact, it's really >>difficult to determine actual gay numbers in the overall population >since >it's still nearly impossible >>and/or unsafe for many adults to identify as being >gay/lesbian/bi/trans. >> >>So, many of us speculate on numbers that we serve and on demographic >issues: For instance, I >>one colleague who teaches ESOL in San Francisco notes that there are a >huge percentage of gay >>men in his lanugage classes for refugees. He spoke to his students >about >this and came up with >>two possiblites: 1. Gay and lesbian immigrants may make a choice to >immigrate to certain areas of >>the country,or to certain countries because those regions seem more gay >friendly. This is not unlike >>the word of mouth syndrome that drives much of immigrant choices. 2. >Certain areas of the world >>may experience anti-gay policy, ie. torture and imprisonment that >drives >large groups of gay >>men/lesbians/bisexual and/or transgender people to leave their home >country. My colleague has >>coined this trend: "sexual refugees." >> >>In response to this notion of more gay, lesbian, bi and transgender >youth >showing up in our GED >>program, atleast around here, in Boston, I've certainly experienced >that. >I've taught classes of youth >>where 20 percent of my students identify as gay. >> >>The other obstacle we have to determining these numbers is that 10 >percent >is actually a very >>conservative estimate, and that as I mentioned previously, it's almost >impossible to determine >>how many people in any given population identify as gay. There's such >repercussions to identifying >>as gay in most contexts that the danger factor has to be correlated >somehow when we collect >>numbers. >> >>This leaves me with a question and two thoughts: >>I wonder has any one ever been involved with a study that in some way >measures how many >>lesbian, gay, bisexual and/or transgender people are served in a given >program or class room? Or >> >> I think we have to be careful relying on the notion of waiting to >collect >accurate numbers as a way to >>justify how inclusive our teaching material is. 1. Because it's so >difficult to really know, and 2. >>because whether or not we have gay-identified students, we all interact >with gay/lesbian people and >>our attempts to lovingly include others' reality is just part of a >procesc >of making our world more >>peaceful and acceptable to all. >> >>And finally, since we don't know the number of 'queer" students in our >classrooms, at any given >>moment in time, we want to do our best to make our classrooms safe for >these students who may >>or may not be able to identify as gay. I think what we don't want is to >add to any trend that is ousting >>gay/lesbian/transgender and bisexual people. We want our programs to be >a >safey net for any >>group of people whose lives have been made unsafe and dangerous due to >oppression. >> >>Deborah >> >>---- Daphne Greenberg <alcdgg@langate.gsu.edu> wrote: >>> Deborah, >>> You have touched upon an issue that I have been thinking about for >some >time, that actually got >>sparked from stuff that Mev has been tossing around. >>> You remind us that "at least 10 percent of any given population is >gay." >There are two arguments >>in how this could be inaccurate: >>> 1. Maybe it is more than 10%? Since compared to nongay teens, a >disproportional number of gay >>teens drop out >>> of high school, and our adult literacy classrooms are significantly >made >up of many high school >>dropouts, could adult literacy programs have a higher percentage of gay >students? >>> 2. Since there are so few materials out there that include lgbt >issues >for adult learners, and >>because it is so difficult for many individuals to be out about their >orientation, could it be that the >>adult literacy classroom is not a very comfortable place for them, and >perhaps the percentage of gay >>students is smaller? >>> Just some thoughts... >>> Daphne Greenberg >>> Associate Director >>> Center for the Study of Adult Literacy >>> Georgia State University >>> University Plaza >>> Atlanta, GA 30303-3083 >>> phone: 404-651-0127 >>> fax:404-651-4901 >>> dgreenberg@gsu.edu >>> >>> deborah@alri.org 11/09/02 14:03 PM >>> >>> .and one more thought about addressing the question of how much of >our >material should >>include >>> lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender issues, characters or >experiences. >Whether or not our >>students >>> or colleagues can or decide to be "out," atleast 10 percent of any >given >population is gay. If, as >>adult >>> educators, we were grounded in that truth then at least 10 percent of >the material and curriculum >>> that we develop and teach from, at any given time would include the >experience of gay people. >>> >>> Deborah >>> ---- Deborah Schwartz <deborah@alri.org> wrote: >>> > Daphne, >>> > .. as for your questions #2- using texts that are considered >between >2nd-7th grade reading >>levels >>> > that include Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and/or Transgender characters, >I've had success with >>> > Nicholasa Mohr's novella, Herman and Alice in her larger collection >of >work, El Bronx >>> Remembered, >>> > originally published by Arte Publico (1975), more recently >republished >in paperback by >>> > HarperCollins (1993). >>> > >>> > The novella explores Alice's life- a trapped, seemingly dead-end >existance where she's >>pregnant >>> > and on the cusp of leaving high school. She meets a handsome, >gracious >older man who is >>also >>> > trapped in his community and life and who happens to be gay. I >won't >give away the plot... >>> > >>> > The reading level seems to be about 5th or 6th grade equivalent, >but >the issues and the tone of >>> the >>> > writing are adult. >>> > >>> > Deborah Schwartz >>> > >>> > ---- Gail Spangenberg <gspangenberg@caalusa.org> wrote: >>> > > Daphne, On your first question, I always have trouble with the >terms >>> > > "learners" or "adult learners," because all of those terms >include >>> > > ALL adults -- i.e. we are ALL learners or adult learners >regardless >>> > > of the domain of learning. Also, I think "student" is a >honorable >>> > > term as is "literacy" and that both convey a very positive >concept. >>> > > Like you, I am inclined to feel that we need better terminology, >as >>> > > do the students who are learning or have learned new literacy >skills >>> > > and who aspire to provide much-needed leadership in the field. I > >>> > > don't necessarily have something better to offer, but perhaps >>> > > "literacy learners," or "adult literacy learners" or even "adult >>> > > literacy students" are worth considering. It will be interesting >to >>> > > see what other suggestions are made in your listserv and I hope >Marty >>> > > Furstenberg as Executive Director of VALUE will among those >sharing >>> > > their thoughts about this. Gail >>> > > >>> > > >>> > > >>> > > >>> > > >>> > > >As I mentioned in one of my previous posts, from time to time I >will >>> > > >pose questions that I am struggling with while I am doing my >>> > > >research. Here are two questions: >>> > > > >>> > > >1. Do you prefer the term learner or student? Do you prefer the >term >>> > > >teacher or instructor? If you have a preference, why? I am >>> > > >struggling with the words that we use, but I don't know enough >to >>> > > >know why I am struggling. What do we imply when we use the word >>> > > >learner vs. student? What do we imply when we use the word >teacher >>> > > >vs. instructor? Are there other terms that are even better? >>> > > > >>> > > >2. I would like to make sure that the reading materials that we >>> > > >offer to our learners/students are as diverse as possible. How >do I >>> > > >ensure this? For example, if I want to include books with >characters >>> > > >who have diverse orientations-what proportion of the books >should >>> > > >this be? Also, does anyone know of appropriate books that cover >LGBT >>> > > >issues/characters that are written between the 2nd and 7th grade > >>> > > >reading levels (Mev, I know that you have supplied lists, but >are >>> > > >any of the books that you have mentioned written below the 7th >grade >>> > > >reading level)? >>> > > > >>> > > >Any thoughts ideas about any of the above? >>> > > >Daphne >>> > > > >>> > > >Daphne Greenberg >>> > > >Associate Director >>> > > >Center for the Study of Adult Literacy >>> > > >Georgia State University >>> > > >University Plaza >>> > > >Atlanta, GA 30303-3083 >>> > > >phone: 404-651-0127 >>> > > >fax:404-651-4901 >>> > > >dgreenberg@gsu.edu >>> > > >>> > > >>> > > -- >>> > > Gail Spangenberg >>> > > President >>> > > Council for Advancement of Adult Literacy >>> > > 1221 Avenue of the Americas - 50th Fl >>> > > New York, NY 10020 >>> > > 212-512-2362, fax 212-512-2610 >>> > > >>> > > >>> > >>> > >>> >>> >>> >> >> >Mariann Fedele >Coordinator of Instructional Technology >Literacy Assistance Center >32 Broadway 10th Floor >New York, New York 10004 >212-803-3325 >mariannf@lacnyc.org >www.lacnyc.org > > > > Mariann Fedele Coordinator of Instructional Technology Literacy Assistance Center 32 Broadway 10th Floor New York, New York 10004 212-803-3325 mariannf@lacnyc.org www.lacnyc.org
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