In the "Orientation to Adult Education for New Staff" mini-course, participants are frequently asked to write in response to a particular topic being discussed. Here are a couple of interesting pieces from new teachers who took part in our most recent Orientation--Kerry Rumore, from ABCD, and Bob Davison, from the Pine St. Inn. These pieces were written in response to a reading that discusses the factors which can help support student persistence in attending class.
All four supports for persistence as identified in Helping Adults Persist: Four Supports were helpful for me to think about in terms of my own experience as a Basics I ABE teacher. The one that I think I have had the most experience utilizing in my one-and-a-half months of teaching adult learners is the second: self-efficacy. Because these very beginning steps of learning how to read and write are deceivingly "simple" for me as a reader with 30 years of experience, I found myself having to go into the emotional foundations in each adult I work with and focus on how they helped or hindered them to keep learning.
At the very beginning I was making the lessons too difficult. One of the more outgoing--but still very tough on himself--students told me that he needed to have lessons that he could feel he was learning from and that the ones I was making contained words that were too long. I knew they were really struggling to read the lessons I'd prepared, but I was just following the lesson plans of the previous Basics I teacher, afraid of changing too much while I was still the new element in the classroom. When the one student actually voiced that the exercises were too difficult, it freed me to do things a little differently. First, I tried using smaller and more phonetic words. I was still not getting it. The same student brought me a basal reader as an example of something that he might be able to read some of. I took the book home and found myself impressed by its slow, careful progression in the difficulty of the passages and question sheets. We started using them, and the class flew through the first three chapters. I was nervous that it was too easy and not challenging them at all. Then at chapter four, there was a slowing down. It took a little more time. Then a little more on chapter five. I was witnessing appropriate material being used by our class for the experience of mastery.
As far as social persuasion, we have a great dynamic in the room right now. A new student joined our group of four this past Tuesday night. I was prepared by my supervisor who told me that she definitely did not want to read aloud. When she arrived I gave here some background on the group and assured her that she didn't have to read aloud tonight, that following along while other students are reading is good. Then when one of the other students would struggle with a word when it was their turn, occasionally this new student would offer her assistance. "Thank you," was the reply from the one who was aided. Her confidence built up to the point where when we got to her "turn" to read (if she chose to) she asked me if she could read. The other students looked surprised, since they'd heard me tell her it was OK not to read out loud. They genuinely were excited for her and gave her warm and happy applause. She quietly, slowly whispered through the passage. Some students helped when she struggled with a word. I added many "Good!"s and one student leaned over when she finished and said, "You did a great job. It is hard to get started, but believe me, if I can do it you can!"
--Kerry Rumore
The small, supportive and intimate classroom (round tables) [helps promote] a more supportive classroom experience, where tension and stress are kept at low levels in order to focus more on accomplishment, and less on failure to master the material at hand. This is accomplished, in part, by using life histories and discussion that often helps students to identify the negative forces that may affect their own feelings of self-efficacy (such as lack of time to prepare homework due to participation in a job training program). Always, I focus on the small, incremental increase in students' skills and knowledge that come from coming to class, even when students themselves are not yet aware of the progress they've made. Acknowledgment of these "small steps" plays an integral role in motivating students to return to class when they otherwise may feel intimidated. Having received acknowledgment of progress also makes it easier to accept that learning itself is a process, and that sometimes there will be discouragement along the way.
Marvin's story [in the reading] contains certain similarities to some of the [Pine Street Inn] Literacy Program's students. In particular, the desire for improvement is present in my students; some of them hope to obtain citizenship, working papers, a job, or enter a training program. Occasionally, the dream of obtaining a GED is expressed. Whatever the goal, however, the common denominator is a motivation to improve each student's situation. The attainment of each student's dream, whether a short-term or long-term one, motivates my small class to return each week. Hindrances to their motivation include lack of time and/or space for quiet study, personal challenges such as drug or alcohol dependency, and sometimes problems in their families. My approach as a teacher in a larger service framework is to make class time something to look forward to, rather than fear. No matter what the problem, or how long the time away from class has been, I try to make the students see the personal benefits to "getting back on the horse." Of course, the real key to this is providing the best reasons for each of them to want to come when it is within their control to do so. Any "enticements" we provide, in order to succeed, must be based on students' desires, as they perceive them, rather than on our perceptions of what they should be motivated by.
--William (Bob) Davison