Secure environment, free babysitting and transportation is a wonderful start. I envy you! For us, working at a storefront location in a town of about 5,000 people, two things seem to be key to motivation and attendance.  First is to give students as a group control over as many parts of the program that we can--what we will read, which spelling program they will do, where we will go on field trips, how we organize coffee/lunch/cleanup.  Giving a weekly meeting authority to spend these parts of our budget is a symbol of their control.  Having ownership of the program, and solving the problems that come with managing the program, build self esteem, among other things.
             Second is to be transparent in my teaching--to talk to students about what I know about learning, to help them find out about themselves as learners, to let them know why I'm suggesting some particular way of working on literacy, or to give them two or three suggestions about how to go about learning something, and initiate a discussion about what might be the advantages of each.  Yes, I'm talking about throwing out the received curriculum/text!  
               More on our Centre by Bonnie Soroke, in her thesis called "Doing Freedom"  at http://library.nald.ca/research/search?q=Soroke <http://library.nald.ca/research/search?q=Soroke>  . I'd suggest you start at chapter 4 to get the details.
             And of course I try to remember that students' lives and student's experiences are such that not all will continue to attend.  I remember asking students at the end of the first week of class, "What surprised you about the first week?"  One student replied, "I'm surprised I'm still here.  As Always before I left after the first morning."  He never came back.  I count it as a victory, but it looks like a failure on the records.
Kate Nonesuch
Career and Academic Preparation
Malaspina University-College, Cowichan Campus
222 Cowichan Way
Duncan, BC
V9L 6P4
 
nonesuch at mala.ca
phone:  (250) 746-3565
Fax:  (250) 746-3563

________________________________

From: povertyracewomen-bounces at nifl.gov on behalf of Shoshanah Dean Hilmer
Sent: Mon 2/18/2008 10:33 AM
To: The Poverty, Race, Women and Literacy Discussion List
Subject: [PovertyRaceWomen 1803] Attendance


I would like to pose a question for the group to see if I can get ideas on how to improve program attendance.  How do you increase adult learner program attendance short of charging (which I'd like to do, but then the learners won't come)?  We offer a program that is for women 18 and above.  We offer a secure environment, free babysitting and transportation.  Really the issue boils down to the fact that learning literacy skills is hard work and many of our students are surviving (some just barely) and the the commitment to learning is too much for them.  We offer self esteem classes and a motivation class.  Does anyone else have suggestions on how to increase motivation and attendance?
 
Thanks,
Shannie



 

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