Writing from the field
reflection, discussion, ideas
This page is intended to provide an ongoing
space
for the exchange of ideas, articles, reflections and other writing
relevant
to our work with adult learning and teaching, community development and
literacy generally. Members and friends of the adult education
community
are encouraged to send writing to LR/RI, via email,
snail mail (PO Box 1974, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912) or fax
([401] 863-3094). Please send your writing - the site is here
for
learners, practitioners and others with an interest in adult learning,
language and literacy. New writing and responses to the writing on this
page will be posted as received. Additional resource related to
utilizing
literature within literacy learning appears on LR/RI literature
and learning page.
Research
in Writing: Implications for Adult Literacy Education
- by Marilyn K. Gillespie, Volume 2, Chapter 3, The Annual Review
of
Adult Learning and Literacy. Highly readable overview of the
learning
and teaching of writing to adults.
Beginnings: Ohio Writers' Conference
- annual publication and celebration of adult learners' writing
From a Filipino Death March Survivor... by Bino
A. Realuyo, writer and adult literacy educator whose first poetry
collection, The Gods We Worship Live Next Door, is the recipient of the
2005 Agha Shahid Ali Prize in Poetry. Read more about Bino
Realuyo here.
ESL
Class: Grammar Lesson - a poem by Diane Pecoraro, long time
ESOL educator and writer.
The Neighborhood Stories Project
- Teens and adults in New Orleans, including recent response to
Hurricane Katrina
Real
Conditions - a publication of the University of Illinois at
Chicago's
Community Writing Project; the Writing Project's mission is to bring
parents
and other adult community members into the schools as equal
participants
in the educational process.
see also Amateur
Writing Group's New Director Pitches Its Story - how ordinary
people come to write
Poetry Workshop Planning Guide -
from Providence's New Urban Arts. Designed for youth mentors,
with ideas for everybody. Read about the guide at Community
Arts Network's site as well.
In partnership with Rick Benjamin and his course Poetry in Service
to the Community the Swearer Center for Public Service has launched a
companion
web site, Poetry
in Classrooms and Community, which includes sample
syllabi
from the course, lesson plans and poems written by youth. Will
grow
to include new lessons each semester. While the primary audience
is youth/youth educators, many of the ideas here are adaptable to adult
literacy and ESOL learners. Design by Laura Tan '02.
Aspirations
for Peace - Peace Poems: begun by Seattle educator Dan Stemp
with
the goal of creating a collection of peace poems and presenting a
published
edition of those poems to the United States Institute of Peace and the
United Nations in New York on August 14 2004. Already a large group of
students from the Seattle area and abroad have participated, the site
seeks
to reach out to ESL students who would provide unique perspectives.
Seth
Biderman, talk to SCALE participants: Seth Biderman, a 1997 Brown
graduate,
shares a talk he gave to the Student Coalition for Action in Literacy
Education
on February 28, 1998. Seth's clear views on learning and teaching make
sense on many levels; this important piece would be an interesting way
to start a discussion about learning and teaching in many contexts.
Create
your own photo essay - from Collected
Visions, a site comprised of writing and images from all over.
Current
writing attitudes and practices in selected adult literacy programs in
western Canada - study considering practices and views about
writing
as a means to greater self-awareness.
Dialogue
Journals: Interactive Writing to Develop Language and Literacy
by Joy Kreeft Peyton, National Center for ESL Literacy Education (NCLE)
The
Federation of Worker Writers and Community Publishers -
umbrella
organisation for independent writing workshops and community publishers
who wish to share their skills and work with their communities. "
Some 'FED' groups focus on particular areas such as adult literacy,
survivors
of the mental health system or homelesness. Membership is worldwide
representing
over 4,000 people who meet regularly to write; offer constuctive
criticism;
produce books and tapes; perform and share skills."
Field
Notes - Volume 14, Number 2, Fall 2004 - focus
on writing
Focus
on Basics, Volume 3, Issue D, December 1999 - focus on
writing
instruction
Gateways Community Voice
- wonderful compendium of life stories, resources for creating
same
and community histories from New York.
Immigrant
writing in New York State - events, writing and links to
additional
relevant resources
Janet Isserlis - Gender,
race and class: aren't we all the same? - from an article for the Change
Agent.
Maureen
Lawlor - There are no typical days
There are no typical days in a classroom. The combination of student
personalities, the surroundings and even the weather gives each day a
different
flavor. I teach in a setting that is not so typical and I teach
students
who do not fit the mainstream description of what constitutes a student
but nonetheless I am a teacher and they are my pupils.
Life Writing with Syd Butler -
resources for supporting writing, academic
articles about literacy and writing, and links to learner-generated
texts.
literacy
and learning in the lives of an american family - Henry
C. Amoroso, Jr. University of Southern Maine
Purposes,
Audiences, and Formats for Adult Writing - colloquium at TESOL '98,
March 17-21
Writing about writing from Joy Kreeft Peyton, Center for Applied
Linguistics,
Washington, DC, Gail Weinstein, San Francisco State University, Loren
McGrail,
Literacy South, Durham, NC, Lee Weinstein, Community Language Access
Society,
Vancouver, BC, Hilary Stern, Casa Latina, Seattle, WA Heide Spruck
Wrigley,
Aguirre International, San Mateo, CA and Janet Isserlis, Literacy
Resources/RI,
Providence, RI.
Voices
from the field - an
online
periodical produced by the Northeast and Islands Regional Educational
Laboratory,
a program of The Education Alliance at Brown University. Its purpose is
to present issues from the perspectives of teachers experiencing
change,
challenges, and growth as education reform takes shape.
Why
do we do what we do? - a review of Teaching for Social
Justice,
appearing in Bright
Ideas
Write
to Learn Café - wonderful compendium of writing,
resources
for writing, access to others doing writing work with adult learners
and
practitioners, based in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
Taking
Action against Violence - (from The
Change Agent September 1996) by Students in the
Intermediate
Class Dorcas Place Parent Literacy Center and their teacher, Rebecca
Garland
Writing from learners at Dorcas
Place in Providence.
Writings
about self defense
Writings about a recent self defense workshop from learners in Debby
Venator's ESOL class at William D'Abate School in Providence.
Write
Away - a showcase of writing by Australian adult migrants
Readings from the field
The
Age Poem: Building a Community of Trust - By Linda Christensen
" Poetry is a political action undertaken for the sake of information,
the faith, the exorcism, and the lyrical invention, that telling the
truth
makes possible. Poetry means taking control of the language of your
life.
Good poems can interdict a suicide, rescue a love affair, and
build
a revolution in which speaking and listening to somebody becomes
the first and last purpose to every social encounter. I would hope that
folks throughout the U.S.A. would consider the creation of poems
as a foundation for true community: a fearless democratic
society."
June Jordan from Rethinking Schools
SO
FAR: Words from Learners Edited by Jean Bennett, Richard
Jaccoma
and Lee Weinstein
"We began this project because we believed it
would be exciting to create a stage for people who are rarely heard.
Challenged
adults can't often get into literacy classes. Programs that do admit
them,
for whatever reason, often end up occupying their time with busy- work.
SO FAR is a result of our work with one group of learners over a space
of one year. We interviewed them in one-to-one and group discussions,
and
ran a monthly writing workshop. With the exception of the introduction
and the short biographical sketches of each contributor, every word in
this book was spoken or written by the learner-contributors.
SO FAR is remarkable in the creativity it has
unleashed. The themes in this book are universal: the struggle to
overcome
a lifetime of negative labelling and find meaning in one's existence.
It
is our deepest wish that other professionals who work with challenged
adults
and literacy learners will be inspired by what they see here."
also see LR/RI's tutor/teacher
resource page for more practitioner-based and -generated writing
and
resources.
THE JOURNAL OF
ORDINARY THOUGHT - The Journal of Ordinary Thought (JOT) is
part of the Neighborhood Writing Alliance, and is also affiliated with
the University of Illinois at Chicago.
Quietly Torn - " The sole
purpose of our
magazine is to be the voice for our community andourselves. To let the
world and other communities around us know of our existence. To
let
people know about the hardships of growing up Iu Mien in America,
changing
our individual lives to fit into our environment, finding th
middle
ground between our two cultures and at the same time, figuring out who
we really are. Fifteen Iu Mien young women from Richmond,
California
contributed to this magazine." [http://www.quietlytorn.com/ - as of
May,
2001, this link has become deactivated, but remains on the page in the
event that anyone can tell me
where Quietly Torn has gone]
"Rapid
writing... is my cup of tea" - Adult upgrading students' use of
writing strategies, by Pamela Young, one in a series of reports by
members
of the Alberta Research
in
Practice in Adult Literacy (RiPAL) Network.
Spain's
Literacy Program Unleashes Deep Yearnings By Daniel Woolls, on
womens enews: "After teaching older women to read, a Spanish literacy
program
encourages the students to write about their lives. The results are
sometimes
sheer poetry."
Writings from the Adult Education in ESOL
interest
section's academic session, Critical
Issues for Women in Adult ESOL, presented at TESOL '99. For more on
TESOL '99, go to http://www.tesol.org/.
LINKS to other writing-related
sites
Creative
Inspirations File Map - links to a number of writing based
projects
and sites
The
English Room: 30 Days of Poetry - although designed for high
school
students, many of the prompts are easily adaptable to ABE and ESOL
contexts.
The
Five Paragraph Essay Wizard - persuasive essay and prompts.
Flemington
reading and writing - adult writing from Australia and the
world.
In my own
words - Adult learners writing for adult learners
Intercultural
E-mail
Classroom Connections - site enabling teachers with students
wishing
to send email to one another
Interlake
Insights - Writings from adult learners in the Interlake Adult
Learning
Association Project
My History
is America's History - "Look around your
community for ways to share your family stories and to see how they
fit in the larger history of the community, region, or the nation;"
site
designed to teach about, facilitate, elict, encode and share community
histories.
The
Notre
Dame Writing Center - resources, materials, a compellingly
stated
mission; for writers developed by writers.
Online Writery -
"The
Online Writery is an ever-evolving community of writers who offer a
relaxing
and open environment in which to discuss writing in any form. We offer
suggestions and assistance with writing as well as forums for writers
to
meet one another and discuss ideas."
PEN American Center
A fellowship of writers working for more than seventy-five years to
advance
literature, to promote a culture of reading, and to defend free
expression.
Purdue online writing lab
- including searchable resources for writers, teachers and others, as
well
as links to and information about other online writing sites.
Research
and writing - the step by step approach; the five paragraph essay
<>SABES
writing theme - resource sites. and additional
information, resources and rubrics.
Teaching and learning writing: a
review of research and practice - research as
part of the first phase of a project that aims to identify principles
of effective teaching and learning of writing for adult literacy
learners, from the National Research and Development Centre for adult
literacy and numeracy.
Teachers and Writers Collaborative
- a nonprofit organization, founded in 1967 by writers and educators "
who believed that writers could make a unique contribution to the
teaching
of writing. T&W brings writers and educators together in
collaborations
that explore the connections between writing and reading literature and
that generate new ideas and materials. T&W writers' diaries, as
well
as articles from other writers and teachers from around the country,
are
the source of T&W publications."
Teaching
Expressive Writing to Students with Learning Disabilities -
provides
information on three instructional interventions that reliably and
consistently
lead to improved outcomes in teaching expressive writing; also provides
links to other related resources.
Teaching
Literacy through Creative Writing - Jane Ellen Ibur, LIFT
Program,
Missouri
Teaching
writing skills - although part of a commercial site (Macmillan
Publishers Ltd), resources adaptable for teaching writing at various
levels.
Tips
for teaching writing - Harvard Education Letter/Research online
http://writenet.ca/
- a website devoted to writing The goal of Writenet.ca
is to promote the use and value of writing in literacy and
social/special
programming.
Write on Nashville:
The Writing Project Instruction Manual - from NashvilleREAD, Inc.
The Write Site - "Provided by
Greater Dayton (Ohio) Public Television, this site provides information
on teaching and learning the basic skills of journalism. Features
include
the history of journalism and famous journalists, style tips, and
pointers
to relevant reference sites. Teachers can refer to the well-organized
instructional
guide, a guide that includes graphic organizers, task cards, and
checklists
(the last three available in Adobe Acrobat [.pdf] format only). Though
designed for middle schoolers in Ohio, there is a great deal of useful
information at this site for any middle school language arts class."
(link
to text only)
the Writing Den
- interactive site with step by step prompts around various pieces of
the
writing process, suggested topics and a range of writing genres.
Writing
resources from the Institute for Elementary and Secondary Education at
Brown University - the teaching
of
writing. While largely devoted to K-12 educators, many of these
resources
are useful for adult education practitioners.
Write where you are: Teaching Writing
- Jane Mace and Kate Tomlinson on teaching writing to adults.
WRITING GROUP?
New York's Literacy
Assistance Center holds monthly practitioners' writing groups,
described as an "opportunity for teachers, program managers, counselors
and others to focus on their own writing, professional or personal."
Practitioners
are invited to meet monthly to "write, share, and give feedback in a
supportive
environment." A first meeting for practitioners in Rhode Island was
held
in November, 1997. We used these sessions as a forum for sharing
journals,
generating writing ideas, setting up email or other exchanges. LR/RI
facilitated
writing groups during the 1997-98 year, but has temporarily suspended
the
groups, given the sparse attendance of those meetings. Groups can
be
started again; to schedule one, please contact LR/RI
Professional
development initiative
Some time ago, I spent a few days at the RI
Dislocated Worker Program, facilitating classes for the three
teachers
there so that they could have an opportunity to observe one another's
classes
and to reflect on their learning and teaching. Their reflections were
excerpted
for the bulletin, and appear here so that others who would like to
participate
in this process of professional development can gain a sense of how
peer
observation might be useful in their practice. If you would like to
participate
in this form of professional development, please contact LR/RI.
All that's required is your willingness to share your reflections about
the observation/ learning process for others. I'm hoping to build a
block
of writing and thinking about this and other forms of our own
professional
development both through the bulletin and the web site. - Janet
Isserlis
This
page last updated on July 13, 2007
LR/RI
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