Literacy Links

Getting Started: (Advice for New Adult and Family Literacy Programs)

A Story of Success

by Roemer Visser

I am not a teacher. I am not one of those dedicated people who stand in front of a classroom many days or nights a week trying to help adults find a way to change their lives for the better.

I am a graduate student in Adult Education. It was about two years ago, when I had a relatively light course load, when I decided I wanted to get some first-hand exposure to Adult Education. I approached the local Adult Learning Center and volunteered to be a tutor for one to two hours a week. Since mathematics had always been a strong suit of mine, they gladly took me on for that semester.

My first time in the classroom, I was a bit intimidated. There were several groups of students in the room, all talking to each other, and this created an interesting first impression of chaotic collaboration. The teacher introduced me as a math tutor, telling them that they could just approach me if they needed any tutoring during the times I was there. No one responded.

Later, of course, I realized that it might have been because the students were more intimidated by me than I was by them, but I could not help but suspect that many were there to socialize: books were sometimes open, often closed, students were constantly talking and joking, and the few students who were there to study were sometimes visibly distracted by the talking going on in the other part of the room. It sometimes made me wonder why I was there.

In the second or third week, the teacher introduced me to a 26-year old single Hispanic mother. I'll refer to her as Elsa. Elsa had been studying for the GED and made great strides in most of the practice tests, but math had continued to be a problem for her. I remember vividly that when we sat down to practice, she said, "You're dealing with a math idiot here." As a knee-jerk reflex, I told her, "I doubt it." She appeared a little surprised that I said that, but we sat down and got to work.

In total, I do not think I spent more than 3 hours one-on-one with her. The only thing I did was to suggest strategies for solving problems, and coach her through those strategies when she struggled. At one point, she completed a problem on her own. She got the right answer but did not know this. She looked up at me and asked, "is this right?" I told her I did not know and suggested she look up the answer. She said, "No, it's wrong, it can't be right." She found she had the answer right, and attributed that to beginner's luck. On the next problem, she got it right again. Again, she assumed it was wrong (after all, it could not possibly be that she actually understood the material), and when she saw her answer was correct, twice in a row, without any help or intervention from me, her face just lit up. Looking back, I think she went through a transformation of some kind, where the persistent self-image of being a "math idiot" was up against some pretty strong evidence to the contrary. She did another problem, and got it wrong. Fortunately, this did not discourage her: we both went back over the problem step by step. She found her own mistake, corrected it, and came up with the correct answer.

After that session, Elsa stopped coming on the days that I was there. It was several weeks later, if not several months, that the teacher told me that Elsa had graduated. The ceremony was to be held a few days later. Since I had not seen Elsa in a while, I thought I would attend her graduation and personally congratulate her.

The setting was rather formal. The auditorium echoed with the sounds of excitement from students in robes and their family and friends. There were some great speakers who addressed the audience. And then, one of the students from the graduating class spoke. It was Elsa. On the stage, she beamed, nervous, but proud and excited. She talked about her past and her plan for the immediate future: to continue her education and get a nursing degree. She also thanked everyone who had helped her. What came as a complete surprise to me was that she mentioned me by name as well. I was touched and a little embarrassed, because I felt I had not done any work; she had done it all herself. On the one hand, I didn't want to take credit where it wasn't due. On the other, I was so honored by that that I did not quite know what to do or how to react. But it was right then and there that I realized why people "do this." It is an incredible privilege to be a part of the lives of people who are turning their lives around, and it certainly is an experience I will never forget.

About the Author

Roemer Visser is a Research Assistant with the Texas Center for the Advancement of Literacy and Learning. He is currently completing his doctorate in Human Resource Development. His prior degree is a Master's in Industrial/ Organizational Psychology from the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam. Upon graduation, he hopes to find a position as a professor in order to continue his commitment to lifelong learning.