Monday, November 1, 2010

Mon. 11/1/10, SWR Visit

See FIELDNOTES folder for Ann.
I GAVE ANN THE QUESTIONS AHEAD OF TIME SINCE SHE REQUESTED IT THAT WAY. THEN I PROCEEDED WITH THE INTERVIEW AS I WOULD NORMALLY.

Ann's background:
She was a medical librarian and high school media specialist for over 35 years. She has a chronic illness ( a diabetic for 56 years). When she was diagnosed at 19, she was given a 25 year prognosis. She is 74 today. She has a passion for health literacy and helping others with their health (lines 306-310).

SUMMARY OF ANN K.'s CLASS:
She teaches self-contained, stand-alone lessons. This is because not every student is able to come week after week.

She is clearly committed to the conversational focus of these classes (lines 266-67; 273-74). The way Ann does this is very unique. Her assistant teacher, a retired English high school teacher whom she co-teaches with, addresses these needs in the class.


Ann is very strongly committed to community building in the class, so she has a scheduled coffee break in each class. Again, she has an adult volunteer help her with it (who is not one of the students). This volunteer also handles all of the class registration of new learners.

Another unique thing about the class is that Lydia, one of the longterm learners (3 years now) started a Dominoes Club. This group now includes friends of class members who come to experience this "cultural exchange" group. Is English only spoken or is there an "exchange of language?

Plus, there is a lunch bunch that gets together after class about 4 or 5 times a year. There's also a couples' group that met in the class who also go out together socially.

She notes that the class is smaller, plus there is only one English Cafe class a week now since when she began eight years ago. As I suspected, this is cyclical and right now, Citizenship classes are more well-attended at SWR. There are three Citizen classes each week now at SWR.

When asked how she incorporates resources from the library into her classes, Ann says she tells her students about volunteering in the coffee shop and for Friends of the Library. Also, some volunteer in El Club (lines 336-351).

Question # IV-How are you informed in what you do? Uncover some rationales and justifications for what you do with your older learners.

Ann answered this question differently than the others. She is the only one who spoke about her own motivations for teaching. She shared about her own need for community, having lost her family and her husband, and for her own need for communicating with others. She also said that she has spiritual reasons for teaching. In doing so, she offered me insight into seeing alike teachers and learners are in these nonacademic classes.

She also answered several of the interview questions using health care examples. Being trained as a medical librarian, she makes an excellent teacher of Third Age ELL learners. Her example of the woman who came to class when Ann had a lesson on smoking was an example of how literacy education using the sociocultural approach (using the personal constrcuts of the learners, such as their culture, race, gender, including the learners' of a particular age cohort's health circumstances) was remarkable. Also, her example of the grandmother who was the caregiver of an intellectually challenged daughter who had a baby at thirteen provide insight into understanding the motivational and sociocultural needs to some Third Age adult learners.

Ann talked about the "shift going on" at SWR from English classes to Citizenship classes...

She talked about her own motivation to teach which dovetails that of her students--for community, a sense of family or belonging.

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