Category Archives: Reblogged

Wrong Problem, Wrong Solution

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curioisitySo easy to make assumptions about what’s behind students’ behaviour. Often if we knew the reasons they were absent, late, inattentive, etc., we would be heartbroken, not angry. (I’m quoting someone there, but I can’t remember who!)

Jenny Horsman has just put up an interesting post about what happens when we assume students are not motivated when they annoy us by not showing up, showing up late, sitting at the back, unresponsive, with their coats on, neglecting assignments–I need not go on. You recognize the list.

Check out Jenny’s post here. 

Related posts:

Survival Strategies Come First 

If They Come, They Care

Every Student Cares

Neither Kind Nor Patient

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This is my most popular post, which has been viewed 4,336 times, nearly three times as many as the next most popular post. It reflects the difference between what you see and what you get when you look at good teaching, and captures a worry about how the world perceives the adult literacy practitioner. Since I first posted it, I have added the last sentence, based on a perceptive comment by Jenny Horsman. Thanks, Jenny!

When I chose blogging as a way to share my ideas about teaching, the question of who is reading the blog popped up, as well as the related question, “How many are reading?” I’ve learned a lot about finding/keeping an audience since I started this project. Someone posted this piece to MetaFilter, which brought many readers to the site, which in turn caught the interest of WordPress editors, who chose it to be “freshly pressed,” and this in turn brought many more readers to the site. I had a taste of internet “fame” and discovered that I was even more vain than I had previously thought.

It’s my most famous piece. Is it my best? Is it typical of the themes that I write about? Questions for me to ponder as I look at my blog as a whole.

Working in Adult Literacy

patient dog Morgue fileThe last time I had my teaching evaluated by my administration, I was disappointed. Although I was happy to get a grade of “excellent” (highest on a five point scale), the comments from administration made me gag: “Kate is a kind and a patient teacher,” and

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Blog Review

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My goal–to share everything I know about teaching before I retire. Have I reached my goal? What more do I want to say? I’m looking back at old posts, sorting, highlighting and making new connections.

Literacy Enquirer: Bring Back Copian

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Copian

(NOTE: the links, names of ministers and Prime Ministers, government departments, etc. are all out of date and no longer work. Alas, the protests about the loss of Copian were fruitless.  However, the holdings of its sizeable library are now being held by the CDEACF and may be downloaded there. May 2020)

In the midst of my despair at the closing of Copian, I was glad to find this post from the Literacy Enquirer: Bring Back Copian. Tracy Defoe gives some great strategies for working to get funding restored. I especially like her idea of showing the demand for Copian material by asking OLES (Office of literacy and Essential Skills) for what we need, all day, everyday. I’ll use the online form she suggests, and I’ll tweet my requests to @SocDevSoc and @kenneyjason as well, using the hashtag #BringbackCopian.

Here are Tracy’s suggestions. Pick some you can have fun with, and can keep up over the long haul!

M. Elisabeth Barot,
Education Programme Officer,
The Canadian Commission for UNESCO
(http://unesco.ca/en/home-accueil/contact)
Office of Literacy and Essential Skills
Employment and Social Development Canada
140 Promenade du Portage, Phase IV
Mailstop 515
Gatineau QC
K1A 0J9
They won’t know we miss it if they don’t hear that we are looking for resources and publications. – Tracy Defoe.

Get the full text of Tracy’s post here.

The More Things Change…

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from Our Story: The Realities of Working in the Literacy and Essential Skills Field; summary of survey by LESWORKFORCE.ca

from Our Story: The Realities of Working in the Literacy and Essential Skills Field; http://www.LESWORKFORCE.ca

Part-time work, insecure employment, expectations that practitioners will put in many unpaid hours, younger practitioners leaving the field, practitioners not able to earn a living, practitioners in one type of program being paid much less for the same kind of work as practitioners in another– all issues that we were agitating about when I first entered ABE/Adult Literacy in the 80’s, and still, it seems, relevant.

Three things crossed my desk recently that highlighted some of the same issues in the field today. First was the Literacy and Essential Skills Labour Market Study recently released by CLLN. Second was a blog post called Adult Educators: An Ageing Profession? by Ann Walker, Director for Education of the Workers’ Educational Association in Great Britain. Continue reading →

Learning Curves, Twists, and Turns

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So much food for thought here. I love these stories of teachers putting themselves in learners’ shoes, literally and figuratively.
And check out the rest of the blog, too–Kate

Adult Literacy and Essential Skills Research Institute

Written by:  Sandi Loschnig

In 1999, I chose to leave my comfortable life on Protection Island, British Columbia, to travel to Cochabamba in Bolivia for a new job working as an educator for a women’s organization. It was a learning journey in every way.

Learning Spanish, finding an apartment, discovering the eccentric transportation systems in the city, shopping for food, being immersed in a new culture—in every moment I was preoccupied with absorbing information. I even dreamed about conjugating Spanish verbs. I was trying so hard to cram everything in that my head ached each evening from the effort.

It wasn’t until I came back to Canada nine months later that I could reflect on my experience. I realized what it meant to be learning a whole new culture, how difficult it was, and how it changes your very identity.

I arrived in Bolivia as an experienced educator in my…

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Adult Learner Success

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https://katenonesuch.com/2013/08/06/adult-learner-success/ ‎Factors that Facilitate Adult Learner Success in the NWT starts with a review of earlier findings:

…we understand that:

  • Non-academic outcomes are qualitative, intangible, subjective, personal, and extensive.
  • Learners gain much more from ALBE programs than academic outcomes suggest. Continue reading →

Do as I Do…

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So love this picture! A fresh statement of an old idea, and a reminder to ask myself, “What do I think I’m teaching here? And what is being learned?” Thanks ABE United!

IMG_0451

ABE United

Today felt like a picture day and I have been saving this one for a while.

IMG_0451

Enjoy!

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Life Changing

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I told the Yahtzee story in this blog a couple of months ago, but I’ve been reading stories in other blogs about students who came back to say that they were profoundly affected by a particular classroom activity.

I especially liked this one from Agnes Tirrito: The Power to Change a Life.

So I’ll ask you the question on the post card: What activities have changed the life of one of your students?  Continue reading →

What’s Wrong with This Picture?

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Dear Mom,
You are always wondering what my job is and what I do for work. A while back I worked with a group of adults in a research project who listed all their needs before they could return to regular school. It was a huge list. What I do is try to support the programs that offer learning to these adults.
Today I am in a swank hotel in Vancouver, surrounded by glitz, food and chocolate, talking about Literacy.
What Is wrong with this picture?
Dee Continue reading →