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<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Book Antiqua"><span
style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Book Antiqua"'>Hello Professional
Development Colleagues:<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Book Antiqua"><span
style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Book Antiqua"'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Book Antiqua"><span
style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Book Antiqua"'>Forgive the cross-posting,
but if you’re not on the Poverty, Race, Women and Literacy List, then I
thought you would be interested in the message from Tom Sticht below.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Book Antiqua"><span
style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Book Antiqua"'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Book Antiqua"><span
style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Book Antiqua"'>~ Wishing you all the best
this holiday season! Be warm and safe this Thanksgiving weekend ~ <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Book Antiqua"><span
style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Book Antiqua"'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Book Antiqua"><span
style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Book Antiqua"'>Jackie Taylor<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Book Antiqua"><span
style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Book Antiqua"'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Book Antiqua"><span
style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Book Antiqua"'>=====================================================<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Book Antiqua"><span
style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Book Antiqua"'>Date: Fri, 23 Nov 2007
09:58:40 -0800<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Book Antiqua"><span
style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Book Antiqua"'>From: tsticht@znet.com<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Book Antiqua"><span
style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Book Antiqua"'>Subject: [PovertyRaceWomen
1427] A <st1:place w:st="on">Holiday</st1:place> Greeting<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Book Antiqua"><span
style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Book Antiqua"'>To: <st1:PersonName w:st="on">povertyracewomen@nifl.gov</st1:PersonName><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Book Antiqua"><span
style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Book Antiqua"'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Book Antiqua"><span
style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Book Antiqua"'>A <st1:place w:st="on">Holiday</st1:place>
Greeting<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Book Antiqua"><span
style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Book Antiqua"'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Book Antiqua"><span
style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Book Antiqua"'>The Pearls of Adult
Literacy Education<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Book Antiqua"><span
style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Book Antiqua"'> November 23, 2007<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Book Antiqua"><span
style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Book Antiqua"'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Book Antiqua"><span
style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Book Antiqua"'>Tom Sticht<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Book Antiqua"><span
style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Book Antiqua"'>International Consultant in
Adult Education<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Book Antiqua"><span
style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Book Antiqua"'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Book Antiqua"><span
style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Book Antiqua"'>When you send your Holiday
Greeting cards, do you use cards with your name printed on them, or do you sign
them personally? It is easy to skip this personal touch, and so much more
efficient to just have the cards printed.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Book Antiqua"><span
style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Book Antiqua"'>But when we do this, we run
the risk of forgetting the deep meaning that being able to sign one?s name has
had in the history of adult literacy and the struggle for civil rights. Like a
chain of pearls, a major part of this history of adult illiterates and their
passion for learning to write their names can be traced by following the
teaching methods of three great women leaders of adult literacy education in
the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">United States</st1:place></st1:country-region>.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Book Antiqua"><span
style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Book Antiqua"'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Book Antiqua"><span
style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Book Antiqua"'>First <st1:City w:st="on">Pearl</st1:City>:
Cora Wilson Stewart and the <st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Moonlight</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">Schools</st1:PlaceType> of <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Kentucky</st1:place></st1:State><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Book Antiqua"><span
style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Book Antiqua"'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Book Antiqua"><span
style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Book Antiqua"'>When Cora Wilson Stewart
wrote about the Moonlight Schools of <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Kentucky</st1:place></st1:State>,
which she started in 1911 to teach illiterate adults to read and write, she
recalled the words of one middle-aged man when asked about why he wanted o go
to school. "Just to escape from the shame of making my mark"<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Book Antiqua"><span
style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Book Antiqua"'>(Stewart, 1922, p. 18).<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Book Antiqua"><span
style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Book Antiqua"'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Book Antiqua"><span
style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Book Antiqua"'>Knowing full well the
longing that illiterate adults had to write their own names, Stewart developed
special <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Moonlight</st1:PlaceName>
<st1:PlaceType w:st="on">School</st1:PlaceType></st1:place> tablets that were
made up of blotting paper. This was soft, deep paper that was used to blot up
the extra ink after writing with a pen. But Stewart had teachers use a pointed
tool to carve the student?s name deep into the paper. Then students traced over
the indented impressions of their names over and over until they could finally
write their names without using the tracing paper. (pp. 78-79)<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Book Antiqua"><span
style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Book Antiqua"'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Book Antiqua"><span
style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Book Antiqua"'>According to Stewart, many
adults learned to write their names the first evening of school. She recalled
that, "One old man on the shady side of fifty shouted for joy when he
learned to write his name. "Glory to God!"<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Book Antiqua"><span
style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Book Antiqua"'>he shouted, "I?ll
never have to make my mark any more" (p. 19)<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Book Antiqua"><span
style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Book Antiqua"'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Book Antiqua"><span
style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Book Antiqua"'>Second <st1:City w:st="on">Pearl</st1:City>:
Wil Lou Gray and the Write-Your-Name Crusade of <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">South Carolina</st1:place></st1:State><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Book Antiqua"><span
style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Book Antiqua"'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Book Antiqua"><span
style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Book Antiqua"'>The motivational power of
being able to write one?s own name was used later in 1922-23 by Dr. Wil Lou
Gray, State Superintendent of Adult Education in South Carolina, as part of an
anti-illiteracy campaign across the state. Called
the"Sign-Your-Own-Name" campaign in one county and "I?ll Write
My Own Name" campaign elsewhere in the state, the Write-Your-Name Crusade
aimed to get adults into literacy programs to learn to sign their names when
voting and in other important situations.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Book Antiqua"><span
style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Book Antiqua"'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Book Antiqua"><span
style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Book Antiqua"'>The method that Gray used
to teach writing was similar to that used by Stewart, whose books called the
Country Life Readers were also used by Gray in South Carolina literacy schools
in the 1920s. According to Ayres (1988), Gray recommended to teachers that they
" use a thorn or hairpin to trace letters on copy papers prepared so
students could practice at home."<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Book Antiqua"><span
style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Book Antiqua"'> (p. 101). Ayers suggests
that this may have been an early use of what Ayers calls the
"kinesthetic" method of teaching reading and writing and that Gray
may have been the first proponent of this method for adults. But the fact that
Gray was acquainted with Stewart, her methods and books suggests that Gray
learned the tracing method from Stewart.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Book Antiqua"><span
style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Book Antiqua"'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Book Antiqua"><span
style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Book Antiqua"'>Third <st1:City w:st="on">Pearl</st1:City>:
Septima Poinsetta Clark and the <st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Citizenship</st1:PlaceName>
<st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Schools</st1:PlaceType> of <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">Johns</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Island</st1:PlaceName></st1:place>,
SC<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Book Antiqua"><span
style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Book Antiqua"'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Book Antiqua"><span
style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Book Antiqua"'>The magic of a person?s
name in writing, and of Stewart?s tracing method of learning to write one?s
name was passed on from Wil Lou Gray to Septima Poinsette Clark, the great
civil rights teacher from the Highlander Folk School in Tennessee. On January
7, 1957, Clark and her teachers started the first <st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Citizenship</st1:PlaceName>
<st1:PlaceType w:st="on">School</st1:PlaceType> serving adult African-Americans
on <st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Johns</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Island</st1:PlaceName>
in <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">South Carolina</st1:place></st1:State>.
<st1:place w:st="on">Clark</st1:place> (1962) recalled that when the teachers
asked the students what they wanted to learn, the answer was that, "First,
they wanted to learn how to write their names. That was a matter of pride as
well as practical need. (p. 147).<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Book Antiqua"><span
style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Book Antiqua"'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Book Antiqua"><span
style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Book Antiqua"'>In teaching students to
write their names, <st1:place w:st="on">Clark</st1:place> used what she said
was the "kinesthetic" method which she had learned from Wil Lou Gray.
Teachers were instructed to write student?s names on cardboard. Then, according
to <st1:place w:st="on">Clark</st1:place>, "What the student does is trace
with his pencil over and over his signature until he gets the feel of writing
his name. I suppose his fingers memorize it by doing it over and over; he gets
into the habit by repeating the tracing time after time." (p.148)<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Book Antiqua"><span
style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Book Antiqua"'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Book Antiqua"><span
style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Book Antiqua"'>She went on to say,
"And perhaps the single greatest thing it accomplishes is the enabling of
a man to raise his head a little higher; knowing how to sign their names, many
of those men and women told me after they had learned, made them FEEL different.
Suddenly they had become a part of the community; they were on their way toward
first-class citizenship." (p.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Book Antiqua"><span
style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Book Antiqua"'>149)<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Book Antiqua"><span
style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Book Antiqua"'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Book Antiqua"><span
style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Book Antiqua"'>May The Chain of Pearls Go
Unbroken<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Book Antiqua"><span
style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Book Antiqua"'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Book Antiqua"><span
style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Book Antiqua"'>When I get a Holiday
Greeting card, I like to see a hand written signature. I know printed cards are
more efficient. I know people have lots to do and pre-printing their cards
saves them lots of effort and time.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Book Antiqua"><span
style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Book Antiqua"'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Book Antiqua"><span
style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Book Antiqua"'>Still, when I get a card
with a handwritten name, I feel more closely related to the person or persons
who sent the card. I feel a continuity of good will that I don?t get as readily
from a printed name. The written name seems more alive, more personal, more
human. And, as an adult literacy educator, I know how many millions of adults
have overcome shame, social, and political exclusion by learning to write their
names. So I value a handwritten signature on a greeting card. It makes me feel
that the chain of literacy is intact and the "pearls of adult literacy?s
past,"<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Book Antiqua"><span
style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Book Antiqua"'>Stewart, Gray, and Clark,
have straddled the thin temporal boundary of the 20th and 21st centuries and
their work goes on.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Book Antiqua"><span
style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Book Antiqua"'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Book Antiqua"><span
style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Book Antiqua"'>It is my hope for this
Holiday Season that the chain goes unbroken for the next year, and for all the
years to come.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Book Antiqua"><span
style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Book Antiqua"'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Book Antiqua"><span
style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Book Antiqua"'>Happy Holidays!<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Book Antiqua"><span
style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Book Antiqua"'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Book Antiqua"><span
style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Book Antiqua"'>(Signed in handwriting):
Tom Sticht<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Book Antiqua"><span
style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Book Antiqua"'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Book Antiqua"><span
style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Book Antiqua"'>References<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Book Antiqua"><span
style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Book Antiqua"'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Book Antiqua"><span
style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Book Antiqua"'>Ayres, DaMaris. E. (1988).
Let my people learn: The biography of Dr. Wil Lou Gray. <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City
w:st="on">Grenwood</st1:City>, <st1:State w:st="on">SC</st1:State></st1:place>:
Attic Press.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Book Antiqua"><span
style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Book Antiqua"'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Book Antiqua"><span
style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Book Antiqua"'>Clark, Septima P. (1962).
Echo in my soul. <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">New York</st1:place></st1:State>:
E. P. Dutton & C0.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Book Antiqua"><span
style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Book Antiqua"'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face="Book Antiqua"><span style='font-size:
11.0pt;font-family:"Book Antiqua"'>Stewart, Cora W. (1922). Moonlight Schools:
For the emancipation of adult illiterates. <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">New York</st1:place></st1:State>: E. P. Dutton, & Co.</span></font><font
size=2 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:Verdana'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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