Sondra-thanks for sharing so many of your materials. I am not sure that where the discussion is held needs to be an either or situation. One possibility is to have it on this listserv and then include it in the wiki, like we did with the literacy in Afghanistan discussion. Of course, the other way is possible too-to have it on the wiki and then include it here. I don't know if wikis have live chat capabilities, the listserv does not.
Daphne


>>> s.cuban at lancaster.ac.uk 06/19/06 2:45 AM >>>

Dear all, I'm glad this idea of a reading group sparked so many wonderful ideas, and Mev's experience and wisdom and materials are really a good place to start. With the group I have, we are just reading chapters in books and articles. The main reason is people's time. Although we only meet once a month, reading a chapter or article doesn't feel overwhelming to people and so it seems that more people are attending. On the other hand, I am hoping we can 'graduate' to books, but I'm really interested in all sorts of reading, including lyrics of women's songs, poetry, etc...many of the genres in WELEARN materials. Yes the women's studies quarterly 2004 issue on women and literacy is fabulous. I highly recommend it. And I also recommend Jenny Horsman's Something in my mind--a page turner! We will definitely be reading chapters from these two. we've only met 3 times and are meeting a 4th time next week. So far so good. People want to meet during the summer, so we'll continue onwar
 ds through the summer.

So far the ones we have read are:
Kathleen Rockhill, "disconnecting and sexuality: speaking the unspeakable in the classroom (1993) in Lankshear and McLaren's Critical Literacy (this is a brilliant piece that challenges so many concepts in the literacy world and she is reflexive, talking about her own experience of abuse).

Anna Robinson-Pant's "Illiterate woman" in women, literacy, and development (ed, Robinson-Pant), 2004. we also plan to read Chizu Sato's piece in that too. 

Sheryl Gowan and Jennifer Bartlett (1997), "friends in the kitchen." A chapter in Hull's edited book, changing work, changing workers..."

Our next piece is one by bell hooks (any suggestions?)

And we plan to read Jenny Horsman's book, "too scared to learn." and the Lorna Rivera chapter in Women's studies (2004) , and a chapter by Kathleen Weiler on Freirean pedagogy from a feminist viewpoint.   we will also read The oakland readers series on women, enterprising women (Marilyn Martin-Jones), a chapter by Jane Mace in her book, playing with time, Bonny Norton's chapter on literacy and gender,  Jean Barr's work on liberating knowledge: research, feminism, and adult education, and the women and literacy change agent issue.

If you have others, please say! There are a number of women in the group who are interested in domestic violence issues w/literacy so I am attempting to get more of those. 

It's also important to have broad representation across countries, different viewpoints, and across social class, ethnicity, race, and other factors, like ESOL, learning disabilities, etc..

Also, yes, I am interested in an online discussion on WIKI or on this listserv. If you do it on a WIKI, can you have a space for synchronous discussions? if so, perhaps you can have a "live chat" I don't know. 

Later, Sondra


-----Original Message-----
From: womenliteracy-bounces at nifl.gov on behalf of Daphne Greenberg
Sent: Mon 6/19/2006 1:09 AM
To: womenliteracy at nifl.gov
Subject: [WomenLiteracy 331] Re: women and literacy reading group
 
Mev raises an interesting question about how a book group on this list would work. One way is that we would all decide to read the same book and give ourselves a deadline. Ideally, if I can get the author to be a guest facilitator, she/he would lead all of us in a discussion, the same way we have guest facilitators from time to time. If we cannot get the author, then I or another volunteer from the listserv would facilitate the discussion. We would make sure to keep book discussion, or something like that, in the subject line so that those not interested in participating can delete the message without reading it. In the meantime, discussions/postings would occur on other subjects, the same way we sometimes have more than one discussion thread going on during the same time. Another approach would be to do one chapter at a time (assuming that it is a chapter book). Both approaches have been done on other listservs. I am sure that there are other ways that some of you may sugges
 t.
Daphne


>>> mev at litwomen.org 06/18/06 7:50 PM >>>

Hi all

Just catching up on my email after being away the weekend...

Here are some suggestions I'd like to make on behalf of WE LEARN on 
this reading group thread...

1) RE: women & literacy books groups for academics & activists...
I did such a group many years ago in conjunction with a feminist 
bookstore in Mineapolis / St. Paul -- attended by women from the 
community, academics & ABE folks. We read "Something in My Mind Besides 
the Everyday" (J. Horsman) and "By Women/ For Women" (Laubach). I'd 
love to see Sondra's list and I'd also like to suggest a new title - 
the Women's Studies Quarterly #32 (1/2) on Women & Literacy (academic 
research studies) - read in conjunction with The Change Agent #19 on 
Women and literacy (by learners & teachers). and I'd also like to 
direct you to other good titles on the women & literacy booklist on our 
website: [http://www.litwomen.org/womlitbiblio.html]
I think such book groups provide a great possibility for folks to build 
local community support around these topics.  The Twin Cities group 
helped initiate some support to Women Leading through reading (see next)

2) RE: reading discussion circles for women learners....
I've had some experience with this over the past several years and I 
think it's a great way to get learners thinking about reading for 
various pursuits -- for example, connecting reading to what they want 
to know more about and discussion to learning from each other. WE LEARN 
has a grant pending for a project we want to do in RI -- something 
we'll keep the list informed about if the project goes forward. In the 
meantime, though, check out Women Leading through Reading 
[http://www.litwomen.org/wltr.html] -- an initiative that offered book 
discussion groups for women learners in the Twin Cities in the late 
1990s. This manual is old -- and I'm looking for resources to update it 
-- and if you have questions, let me know.

Also, some years back on this list we had a discussion about 
women-centered literacy materials and several folks offered some 
suggestions for using these materials with learners. I remember that 
some ideas from Deb Schwartz about reading with learners were 
especially useful -- you can see the archive at: 
http://www.nifl.gov/nifl-womenlit/2002/0407.html

3) RE: or own book group on this list...
I'm not sure how a reading discussion (book group) would work on this 
listserv -- frankly, I'd rather talk that type! but perhaps this is a 
good impetus for another project... WE LEARN has been asked to consider 
the possibility of taking responsibility to facilitate a women & 
literacy topic thread on the Adult Literacy Education Wiki 
[http://wiki.literacytent.org/index.php/Main_Page] Would this be of 
interest to anyone? perhaps some book discussion threads could provide 
initial focus.

Mev
WE LEARN
Women Expanding: Literacy Education Action Resource Network
www.litwomen.org/welearn.html

Mev Miller, Ed.D., Director
182 Riverside Ave.
Cranston, RI 02910
401-383-4374
welearn at litwomen.org

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To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/womenliteracy