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[FamilyLiteracy 924] Re: Peppermints Help Test-TakersCheryl Brown sjfamlit at nbnet.nb.caThu Jan 10 02:03:34 EST 2008
Hi Gail, This may be a bit long-ish You asked: Can you explain a little about what you mean by process, what obstacles individual students have made you aware of, and what you do (have done) to help students overcome these obstacles? Are they the same obstacles/barriers you described as generic? By process, I mean barriers for individual adults/families emerged and are overcome/removed through interaction with the program staff and/or other community agencies. Some barriers emerged only after others were removed. Because this was a pilot project, we felt that we could adapt and be responsive to the parents in the program. Most of the obstacles we/they encountered were beyond the initial generic list we had cited in our program porposal (transportation, childcare, nutritious snack, on-site childcare, etc). For example: Health: In our program, children and parents attended. Sometimes the children were too sick to attend. They had a constant cold, ear infection or flu, or a mother with three children would go though chicken pox, one child at a time, and miss significant time. Since our program also focused on health (it was called "Family Learning and Health") we talked about what we did as parents to keep our children well: improving immune system by including fruits and vegetables and eliminating sugars and processed foods; discussing food allergies and sensitivities and perceived controversial topics about nutrition (milk consumption, breast feeding, feeding on demand; etc). We attempted to provide many sides of a single healht/nutrition issue, so that parents could make informed choices. We also ate nutritious food at the program, had alternatives on hand (like rice milk and buckwheat flour) and sometimes made recipes with families that they could then use at home. Being lactose intolerant and sensitive to gluten myself also provided a different paradigm model. Other health issues, like head lice, made it difficult for parents to attend. One parent had poor eyesite and could not see the nits to remove them; another parent was overwhelmed and had called two health agencies for help and was considering calling child protection on herself just to get help. The details of the process of getting rid of lice (like washing all bedding in hot water and vacuuming everywhere and repeating the treatment after 10 - 14 days) needed to be explained to everyone with this issue. We just asked how they wanted us to help - for some families we obtained the shampoo, for others we gave more hands-on help, like demonstrating how to remove nits. Attendance Policies: In the adult literacy programs we had worked in, learners needed to attend 80% of the time they committed in order to stay in the program. Had we adhered to that policy in this propgram, we would have had to ask every family to leave. Some families missed three consecutive weeks due to illness or other issues. We decided to re-think the attendance policy and ask the parents what we could do differently to maintain continuity for them. Some parents wanted us to bring them work they could do while they were home and faithfully completed it. Others just wanted us to keep in phone contact to avoid feeling isolated. We decided that no one would be asked to leave, even if they did not return, which resulted in a feeling of success, especially for one parent, who cited she had been asked to leave every program she had attended as a parent. We maintained an on-site class and limited in-home support for families that requested it for the duration of the pilot. Lack of social support networks: Some parents had difficulty trusting other adults with their children, or lacked family nearby, or family who cared enough to help. One mother wanted to write the GED test, which was held on a Friday night and Saturday (outside regular day care hours). Her neighbour was her only babysitter and was unreliable. When the first opportunity to write the test came her babysitter backed out at the last minute. She had to wait two months for the next write and create a back up strategy. Unfortunately, her network was so small that she only trusted her neighbour and program staff with her child. Her neighbour did back out, and I cared for her child while she wrote the test, taking her child out to her at lunch on Saturday so she could breastfeed. Poverty: Many individual barriers were related to poverty. One mom missed time becasue she would keep her kids home on rainy days as they had no rainboots. One mom would miss time because she was taking her VCR to the pawn shop to get some money to buy her children a lunch and then take it up to the school for them. In these situations we relaxed out attendance policy, noting that this was important for this parent, and attempted to connect the parent to community resources that would assist them with these issues, sometimes taking a 'field trip' to a free clothing outlet in a church or food bank. Often, parents needed help in the winter transporting food from eth food bank to their residence, which we assisted with when possible. Learning Goals: Our program proposal contained a Parent - Child Activity day with planned activities for parents and children. We quickly found out that they were not interested in the pre-planned activities and attendance was low on these days. We decided to brainstorm with parents and co-construct activities they were more interested in. Our committment to be learner-centered made this an easy shift. Hope this helps. Cheryl :) ----- Original Message ----- From: Gail Price To: The Family Literacy Discussion List Sent: Tuesday, January 08, 2008 10:27 AM Subject: [FamilyLiteracy 906] Re: Peppermints Help Test-Takers Hi Cheryl, Thanks for your comments. "Timing is everything" they say and I am glad the timing of our posts was good for you. You mention that you now are thinking of barriers as a process, "as individual as the learners themselves, that provides specific assistance for overcoming obstacles to participation." Can you explain a little about what you mean by process, what obstacles individual students have made you aware of, and what you do (have done) to help students overcome these obstacles? Are they the same obstacles/barriers you described as generic? Gail J. Price Multimedia Specialist National Center for Family Literacy 325 W. Main Street, Suite 300 Louisville, KY 40202 gprice at famlit.org 502 584-1133, ext. 112 Join us for the 17th Annual National Conference on Family Literacy! "Literacy Grows Families and Communities" March 30, 31, & April 1, 2008-Louisville, KY Register online at www.famlit.org/conference ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ From: familyliteracy-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:familyliteracy-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Cheryl Brown Sent: Monday, January 07, 2008 10:33 PM To: The Family Literacy Discussion List Subject: [FamilyLiteracy 903] Re: Peppermints Help Test-Takers Hi all, Barriers is an extremely interesting topic for me and I have spent some time thinking and writing about it over the last decade. Essentially, we focus on Relationship, Content and Environment. We use William Glasser's Choice Theory to guide our behaviour in relationship building and setting environment, and a learner/community centered model for content (basically, we adapt what we do to individual learner's or community's wants and stated needs - some may remember as Student Centered Individualized Learning from Frontier College Student Handbook). I've personally shifted my thinking about barriers from what I've been calling a 'checklist approach' (generic list of barriers, like transportation, childcare, healthy snack, etc) to thinking about it as a process, as individual as the learner's themselves, that provides specific assistance for overcoming obstacles to participation. Funny this topic should happen to come up today - we've just talked about writing a paper about this, so if you're interested in hearing more, let me know off list. Cheryl Brown, Community Literacy Coordinator Quality Learning New Brunswick Saint John, NB Canada sjfamlit at nbnet.nb.ca ----- Original Message ----- From: Gail Price To: The Family Literacy Discussion List Sent: Monday, January 07, 2008 4:10 PM Subject: [FamilyLiteracy 901] Re: Peppermints Help Test-Takers Hey Jeri, Don't we all wish that keeping learners in our programs were as easy as providing peppermints and bottled water? Persistence is a complex issue and is pretty highly individualized, yet is something all adult education programs have to deal with. Studies over the years about persistence have suggested ways to keep students in programs-i.e., having a goal and making progress toward it; enjoying the classroom relationship with other learners; having an intake process that effectively counters barriers to attendance; and helping with logistical barriers such as transportation and child care, etc. How about it list subscribers-share your practical experience with us. What do you do to ensure that you keep learners in your program? What have you tried that has worked well? What has not worked quite so well? Gail J. Price Multimedia Specialist National Center for Family Literacy 325 W. Main Street, Suite 300 Louisville, KY 40202 gprice at famlit.org 502 584-1133, ext. 112 Join us for the 17th Annual National Conference on Family Literacy! "Literacy Grows Families and Communities" March 30, 31, & April 1, 2008-Louisville, KY Register online at www.famlit.org/conference ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: familyliteracy-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:familyliteracy-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of jalsails at aol.com Sent: Wednesday, January 02, 2008 11:15 PM To: familyliteracy at nifl.gov Subject: [FamilyLiteracy 893] Re: Peppermints Help Test-Takers Gail, Back when Brain Research was hot (about 10 years ago) we read research on the negative effects of dehydration on concentration and fatigue. We (LIFT, Missouri's Literacy Center) began providing bottled water at all of our workshops which in turn motivated family and adult literacy staff to provide it for their adult learners. Drinking water was encouraged to maximize extended attention spans for study and test taking. Perhaps it was the halo effect, but we had enthusiastic feedback. Now, if we'd used ordinary tap water to preserve the environment, added a peppermint candy to cut the frustration, and given ginger snaps for pregnant moms to reduce nausea, we may have made the news! What other practical strategies appear to spark and maintain learner persistence? Jeri Levesque, Ed.D. Evaluator, Missouri and Kentucky Even Start LIFT -----Original Message----- From: Gail Price <gprice at famlit.org> To: The Family Literacy Discussion List <familyliteracy at nifl.gov> Sent: Wed, 2 Jan 2008 12:23 pm Subject: [FamilyLiteracy 891] Peppermints Help Test-Takers Just for fun! An article titled "Peppermint prepares test-takers, a study says" recently appeared in the Middletown Journal, Middletown, OH. The articles states, "Candy canes greeted test-takers at Middletown's Adult Education center Friday before the General Educational Development exam. The purpose of the treats was two-fold: spread a little holiday cheer and awaken the test-takers, said Principal Rose Marie Stiehl. A NASA-funded study revealed that the smell of peppermint decreases fatigue and frustration by 15 percent and 25 percent respectively and increases alertness by 30 percent, said Stiehl. Ever since the study, the center has offered peppermints to test-takers." And Middletown's Adult Education programs seems to be doing very well. You can read the article at http://www.middletownjournal.com/hp/content/oh/story/news/local/2007/12/29/mj122907gedcanes.html I think I'll buy a stash of peppermints for my students. How about you? Gail J. Price Multimedia Specialist National Center for Family Literacy 325 W. Main Street, Suite 300 Louisville, KY 40202 gprice at famlit.org 502 584-1133, ext. 112 Join us for the 17th Annual National Conference on Family Literacy! "Literacy Grows Families and Communities" March 30, 31, & April 1, 2008-Louisville, KY Register online at www.famlit.org/conference ---------------------------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Family Literacy mailing list FamilyLiteracy at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/familyliteracy Email delivered to jalsails at aol.com size=2 width="100%" align=center> More new features than ever. 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