Family Literacy

Project IDEA Corner

The Even Start family literacy program in the small town of Taylor, Texas, consists of thirty-five mothers and their families plus our staff. Our program provides ABE, GED, ESL, and parenting classes for adult learners; a child development center for the younger children, with parent and child time daily; a twice weekly after-school reading program for elementary school children; home visitors (parent educators) make home visits to provide parents instruction so they can be effective first teachers of their children; and special events including field trips and guest speakers from the community. These diverse services and activities are vital for the success of our participants.

Preparation for entering school and success in learning is a high priority goal for our families. The child development center provides opportunities for children to learn to get along before going to school, to be more independent, and to be respectful of others. Within the home visitor system, mothers appreciate answers to questions about their children, such as how to interact with them in the best ways and how to help their children be successful in school. Also in the adult education and parenting classes, the parents are gaining experience in helping their children with homework and reading -- an important focus area in our program. In the after-school reading sessions, parents learn from other parents; children, from other children.

Our families experience the wider world of community through guest speakers: an inspiring local citizen, a police officer; field trips: local businesses and Pioneer Farms (we know where milk really comes from); and through real life experiences: planning open houses, hosting parties for the children, visiting the public library, and participating in a county wellness program.

The parents improve their basic skills and are proud of their progress in math, reading, and writing. One student proclaimed, "I had the grand opportunity to learn English." Special projects, computerized instruction programs, old-fashioned dictionaries and textbooks, make and take crafts, chit-chat in English sessions, and an array of learning activities happen in our classroom. The definitive learning activity is the making of family albums.

Our Even Start students have made family albums in past years and we are continuing this tradition, although expanding beyond the picture page only format. Students voice, and the assessments support, their need to improve their writing skills in English, and for some students, also in Spanish. With teacher persuasion, most students wrote family stories and developed captions beyond the minimalist level of previous years. All the family albums were displayed at the graduation celebration, providing the local community the opportunity to share our stories and lives.

This project was extremely slow in starting. Although the students had all indicated they wanted to do this project when staff first mentioned it, most were not interested when project time was scheduled within the daily classroom routine. Those who had done this project in previous years didn't want to do it again, even with the new directive of including more personal writing. New students were shown albums from previous years, but again most were not interested. Comments were generally about not being able to write.

The first difficulty was getting all the students to write. Writing is routinely taught in our classroom using outlining and mapping techniques. After more of these whole group writing sessions, students started writing - finally!! One new ESL student, who came to our program with 'learning-to-learn' skills, promptly started writing her personal story as soon as she understood the project. Her story served as a prototype for others, with the counsel of "No, your story doesn't have to be this long."

Students did not understand that captions to photographs could be more than a couple of words as had been done in the past. They needed to be taught how to write phrases and mini-paragraphs. One group session, using a real Easter photograph and our usual writing techniques, was sufficient to get even the most obstinate student writing attention-grabbing captions.

The second difficulty was getting the students to understand and take advantage of the editing process. Our classroom standard for quality of writing is 'highest level.' For ESL students, their writing in both English and Spanish should be of equally high levels. For English writing, the standard is 'college' level, as that is what we aspire to when GED certificates are completed. We use an editing system of the student's holding the pencil and making the corrections as a teacher talks her through the edits, sometimes showing, always explaining and clarifying the language. Most students just wanted the teacher to 'fix' the writing. It is much more time-consuming and complex for the student to do the 'fixing' themselves, but the language skills are better developed with this process.

The delayed notebooks physically arriving in the classroom seemed to signify the start of the album project for many students. Most students have some typing abilities and extremely limited computer skills. Students developed these skills best when they learned them as needed to complete a page. Retention of these skills and the generalization of skills from one assignment to another were better when doing the album pages than in our previous stand-alone computer skills sessions. Students had to help each other with the computers.

On our last school day, we had a reading circle with each student sharing a story. After weeks of "I can't" - with and without tears; complaints about "fixing" the writing; technical difficulties - "The computer won't work!" and intensive language development, the women read pages and pages of personal narratives. There were plenty of birth narratives, stories of good times, joyfulness, and pride, as well as stories of loss and abandonment. We heard about snakes and a childhood living along a river in Mexico; a Texas family taking a trip to see snow for the first time; and a fisherman grandfather who didn't wear shoes. One student cried as she read her piece, "My Beautiful Life," recalling being sixteen, moving to a new country, having no language and no friends. Her story has the proverbial happy ending as one of her new friends is now her husband and they have three wonderful children. Another mom writing to her children ended, "I want you to remember that I'm a good mom."

The impact of the reading circle session had a profound affect on all the listeners. In the future, we will do reading circles as soon as someone has written something to share, whether it has been edited or not. This will serve as a model for others to follow plus provide motivation and validation.

The family album project has taken on a life of its own. Even after we finished classes for the semester, many students were still writing and typing, adding even more memories to their albums. They've been promised more work time during summer school! This is definitely an on-going, year-round project without the pressure and constraints of a due date.

The impact of the project on the teacher was tears - when the biggest "I can't" turned into the reading of a six-page, single-spaced, poignant family story.

Recently taking time for reflection, the students shared their thoughts on the benefits of our family literacy program to the adult learners, their families, and the greater community.

"I didn't think I could learn English, but now I'm here at Even Start and I'm learning a lot." Another said, "Now I'm more comfortable and secure when others speak in English." The students cited the need for a GED certificate so they can go on with their lives, getting further training and employment that would sustain their families. Students have the opportunity (one of their favorite words) to use computers, a fundamental skill for today's workplace. Many students work part-time, contributing to the local economy.

One very young mom shared, "I can learn to be a good mom." This is crucial when a family does not have a role model for being a parent. Another commented, "I spend more time with my children now and that's good." Many students stated, "I read more to my children." One student commented, "All of Taylor benefits. Our children need less help so the teachers can help others more. Our children are role models and good examples to other children. Everyone does better."

A recurring theme is that of helping each other. The students have become a community within the larger community. After being isolated at home, attending school gave parents the chance to meet new people and to develop friendships. Outside of class times they share babysitting and rides to doctors' appointments. They reach out to other family members and neighbors. With better self-esteem and being happier, the students report that the overall quality of their lives has improved because of their involvement in the family literacy program.

We think of the word 'conclusion' as meaning the last part or end of something; however, it doesn't have a place in our vocabulary. Family literacy is a looped cycle. There's always a newborn baby, a new reader, a new graduate continuing her studies, and more pages needed for the family albums.

Arlene Boyer is the adult educator at the Taylor Even Start program. As part of a team, she's also involved with the parenting classes, the after-school reading program, and the scheduling of special events. Her family and her students are the heart of her life. She's an alumnus of Project IDEA, a Texas Master Gardener, a graduate of Kansas State University and of the University of Texas at Austin, with a MA in Curriculum and Instruction in Adult Education.