I taught third grade in the 60s. Today I am tutoring 3rd and 4th graders through the No Child Left Behind grant.  I tutor these children after school in a second grade classroom. I could not guess what grade was being taught in that classroom, I had to ask. That is because it looks very different from a second grade classroom in the 60s. The emphasis now is on writing stories. There is a lack of teaching the mechanics: handwriting, phonics, grammar, punctuation. Thus we are teaching the basics after school. Just filling in the gaps of "whole language" methodology.  
Sharon Hillestad
Community Learning Center 
Clearwater, Fl

--- On Fri, 10/30/09, Steve Kaufmann <steve at thelinguist.com> wrote:

From: Steve Kaufmann <steve at thelinguist.com>
Subject: [PD 4095] Re: Swinging the Sword of Literacy in Iraq
To: "The Adult Literacy Professional Development Discussion List" <professionaldevelopment at nifl.gov>
Date: Friday, October 30, 2009, 4:44 AM

Thank you Melinda for your insightful post. I would be very interested to know to what extent literacy teaching has changed in 34 years. I have two questions.

In relative terms, are there fewer or more people with literacy problems today than 30 years ago? I presume there are more immigrant learners than before, but what about literacy problems among native speakers?


Has the effectiveness of literacy learning improved or changed in any way? Are more people being helped then before? Are more people in need of help than before? Are people learning more easily than before as a result of changes in teaching methods? Or have most things remained the same?


If you have the time to provide your thoughts on this I would greatly appreciate it.

Steve Kaufmann
604-922-8551




--- @ WiseStamp Signature. Get it now


On Thu, Oct 29, 2009 at 8:19 AM, Melinda Hefner <mhefner at cccti.edu> wrote:





I would like to share a couple of my thoughts.
 
I’ve worked in adult literacy for over 34 years in the United States.  (I was a mere baby when I began teaching!)  I learned early on that I have a professionally ethical obligation to refrain from promoting my own ideas and beliefs, to not select course materials that do that or that intentionally exclude or diminish others’ beliefs.  Most adult educators are aware of that obligation and meet it admirably.  But things have changed over the last 34 years and what were once time honored beliefs historically held by the majority of individuals in my country  have been and are now being challenged.  

 
My concerns are not that those beliefs are being challenged, for inquiry is generally good, although I will admit that I'm not particularly comfortable with how some individuals on opposite sides of a given debate are often quite adversarial.  I am concerned, however, that educational systems are being used as forums for political, social, and cultural changes at the expense of academic instruction.  Let me underscore, "at the expense of academic instruction".  In my opinion, without strong academic backgrounds, our students or any others for that matter, will not be able to fully participate in political, social, economic, or any other discourse.  Moreover, they certainly won’t be prepared for the globalized knowledge-based economy of the 21st century.  

 
For me, it’s not necessary to hold my instruction up against the backdrops of social, economic, or political justice, etc. although I’m always cognizant of the numerous issues and the many sides of those issues.  When my students can read well, communicate effectively in writing and orally; solve problems, make decision; access and effectively utilize information; navigate education, employment, training, and other systems; use information technology to solve problems, perform tasks, or access information and services, etc,  they will be able to create they own backdrops of social, economic, and political justice.   (Just a note:  Please don't confuse my use of the terms social, political, economic “justice”, etc. with political, economic, social “literacy”.  I see them as quite connected but with significant and numerous differences.)

 
Melinda
 


>>> On 10/29/2009 at 8:04 am, in message <f1a6e820910290504t73dbf8a3y56d78eb7aaee61cb at mail.gmail.com>, Steve Kaufmann <steve at thelinguist.com> wrote:



It appears that almost every poster here is in favour of the position that

language and literacy teachers should teach their students to think
critically, and to challenge society.

I believe that teaching "critical thinking" is impossible, and that any
attempt to do so is merely an effort to impose one's own values on others. I

also think that it is arrogant to assume that one's own thinking process is
more "critical" or objective than that of the learner, when in fact most of
our positions are arrived at based on our own experience and feelings that

accumulated over time. I believe that literacy teaching should focus on
helping people read better so that they can form their own opinions by being
able to read from many different sources. The way to get there is to allow

learners to read what interests them and interpret it however they want.

I accept that mine is a minority position here. However, every campaign for
literacy that I have seen, especially fund raising activities focus on

reading, not on critical thinking and social change. If the majority of
literacy practitioners are into social change and teaching critical
thinking, then I think it would only be honest to say so up front in the

fund raising and advocacy campaigns. To not do so is dishonest in my
opinion.


Steve Kaufmann
604-922-8551
<http://www.lingq.com/?referral=steve>

<http://www.lingq.com/?referral=steve>


--- @ WiseStamp Signature <http://www.wisestamp.com/email-install>. Get it

now <http://www.wisestamp.com/email-install>


On Wed, Oct 28, 2009 at 5:50 AM, Janet Isserlis <Janet_Isserlis at brown.edu>wrote:



>  Re: comments about Art's post, education in Iraq and the whole notion of

> political literacy.

>

> Just looked up the word politics, but the definition kept using the word

> "political"



> so then I looked that up:

>

> p*o·liti·cal* (pə lit*′*i kəl)

> *

> adjectiv*e

>

> of or concerned with government, the state, or politics



> having a definite governmental organization

> engaged in or taking sides in politics political parties

> of or characteristic of political parties or politicians political pres

> sure

>

> http://www.yourdictionary.com/political



>

>

> so now, to reply, simply, to those who believe we shouldn't impose a

> particular set of political beliefs:

> NO ONE here has said we should.  Art has spoken eloquently to addressing



> the skills, knowledge and strategies needed to understand how government

> works and to enable adults to make choices  (and/or support them in making

> choices) that best suit their own interests and beliefs.  NO ONE is



> advocating for any one system, or set of beliefs.  No one is using the adult

> learning center as a soap box.  Good educators are listening to learners,

> living in shared communities, discussing what goes on and using language and



> learning skills, critical thinking, healthy debate, use of media and other

> resources, to enable everyone to get on as well as they can in the

> communities in which they live.

>

> Janet Isserlis



>

> ----------------------------------------------------

> National Institute for Literacy

> Adult Literacy Professional Development mailing list

> professionaldevelopment at nifl.gov



>

> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to

> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/professionaldevelopment



> Email delivered to steve at lingq.com

>

> Professional Development section of the Adult Literacy Education Wiki

>

> http://wiki.literacytent.org/index.php/Adult_Literacy_Professional_Development



>




-- 
Steve Kaufmann
www.lingq.com
604-922-8514


----------------------------------------------------

National Institute for Literacy

Adult Literacy Professional Development mailing list

professionaldevelopment at nifl.gov



To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/professionaldevelopment


Email delivered to steve at lingq.com



Professional Development section of the Adult Literacy Education Wiki

http://wiki.literacytent.org/index.php/Adult_Literacy_Professional_Development




-- 
Steve Kaufmann
www.lingq.com
604-922-8514


-----Inline Attachment Follows-----

----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Adult Literacy Professional Development mailing list
professionaldevelopment at nifl.gov
 
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/professionaldevelopment
Email delivered to sharonhillestad at yahoo.com

Professional Development section of the Adult Literacy Education Wiki 
http://wiki.literacytent.org/index.php/Adult_Literacy_Professional_Development


      
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/professionaldevelopment/attachments/20091101/5981ff15/attachment-0001.html