Very interesting.? Since "universal" reading is comparatively recent this makes sense.? Is the same baffelemnt present if talking about symbols?? Writing is making symbols on a material and reading is interpreting these symbols.? Maybe it was easier when pictographs were used.?At the core same thing really.? Symbols, however can also be difficult to get more than a general sense of the whole - learning to read Egyptian hieroglyphs for example or Mayan glyphs or any of the others.? 

Thanks for your take on this subject.

katie m
-----Original Message-----
From: Barb Van Horn <blv1 at psu.edu>
To: familyliteracy at nifl.gov
Sent: Wed, Aug 19, 2009 8:18 am
Subject: [FamilyLiteracy 1545] Re: Last Day With Guest Moderators



In thinking about the conversation about using rhymes and other types of language patterns in a family's first language and transitioning to English, I started to think about adults we work with in adult and family literacy, and their understanding about "reading" and "language." Most adults would be hard-pressed to explain what reading is, so it's pretty easy to understand why parents - even highly literate ones - might be reluctant to talk to a teacher about their child's learning to read. If knowledge leads to power, as the saying goes (I think), it would be helpful to introduce parents, particularly those in family literacy or adult literacy programs, to the vocabulary of reading - to demystify it, build their knowledge about it, and make them more comfortable with the whole concept of READING as it applies to their children and to them as adults.? 



Equipped for the Future (research and framework developed by the National Institute for Literacy and now housed at University of Tennessee-Knoxville <http://eff.cls.utk.edu/>) found that adults are interested in becoming literate to:

1) gain access to information and resources that help them orient themselves in the world (e.g., help child with schooling, get a job, understand systems and cultures)

2) voice their ideas and opinions with confidence that they will be heard and taken into account

3) solve problems and make decisions on their own, acting independently, as parents, citizens, and workers, for the good of their communities

and 4) keep learning to keep up with rapidly changing world.

I've always thought that these were pretty powerful reasons for becoming literate.?




If you are interested in providing parents with information and resources that help them learn "what reading is," NCSALL developed a?4-hour seminar called Teaching Learners What Reading Is All About <http://www.ncsall.net/fileadmin/resources/teach/teach_learners_role.pdf> that introduces adult education practitioners to?Understanding What Reading Is All About: Teaching Materials and Lessons?for Adult Basic Education Learners <http://www.ncsall.net/fileadmin/resources/teach/uwriaa.pdf>, a set of 13 lessons designed to help?learners understand the components of reading. So, you get a short professional development resource AND 13 lessons that can be used immediately in the classroom.




The seminar is an approved (i.e., externally reviewed) resource in the LINCS Basic Skills Collection <http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/resourcecollections/RC_skills.html> under the Reading Collection.




Has anyone subscribed used either of these resources or Equipped for the Future? If so, I'd be interested in learning what you thought about them.




Barb
= 


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