Return-Path: <nifl-family@literacy.nifl.gov> Received: from literacy (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by literacy.nifl.gov (8.10.2/8.10.2) with SMTP id eAOK57912533; Fri, 24 Nov 2000 15:05:07 -0500 (EST) Date: Fri, 24 Nov 2000 15:05:07 -0500 (EST) Message-Id: <2.2.32.20001124200506.0073e438@mail.teleport.com> Errors-To: listowner@literacy.nifl.gov Reply-To: nifl-family@literacy.nifl.gov Originator: nifl-family@literacy.nifl.gov Sender: nifl-family@literacy.nifl.gov Precedence: bulk From: Sylvan Rainwater <sylrain@teleport.com> To: Multiple recipients of list <nifl-family@literacy.nifl.gov> Subject: [NIFL-FAMILY:3279] Re: more tips about NIFL-sponsored lists X-Listprocessor-Version: 6.0c -- ListProcessor by Anastasios Kotsikonas Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" X-Mailer: Windows Eudora Pro Version 2.2 (32) Status: O Content-Length: 2207 Lines: 44 At 09:10 AM 10/23/2000 -0400, Jane Meyer wrote: > > >The best tips I have for starting a family literacy program are: > >1) Build it on existing community resources. <SNIP> > >2) Integrate the components. <SNIP> Good advice, but it leaves out the "how". I've always understood the theory of building a good family literacy program, and for teaching adult ESL (which is my job), for that matter, but the practical matter of how to do it on a day to day basis has eluded me, especially at the beginning. Integration in particular is something I feel we're beginning to do better in our eighth-year program, but still struggle with on some levels. Really the other one also, connecting with other community resources, is something we've done partially, but are obviously scrambling to do more now, since the grant is running out rapidly. We're having some success, I believe, but it would have been nice to get further along with it earlier. Maybe it's not possible without that sense of urgency. I think when you're first starting out with a family literacy program there are so many nitty-gritty logistical details to take care of (transportation? childcare? curriculum? space? staff? food? recruitment/enrollment? attendance policies? etc., etc., on and on) that it's very difficult to see the big picture and address it adequately, or even if you do, it seems almost irrelevant to day-to-day needs. I think I agree with another poster who suggested that it takes the vision of one woman to make it happen, but I would add that the skills of the person who brings it into being aren't always the same as the skills needed to make it function and grow and become a good program. For that, you need the attention to details that the visionary doesn't always address. We need both, of course. But so often questions like this get addressed at the theoretical, visionary level, and leave out the detail, logistical stuff that most beginning programs are struggling with. Those are the things that are the hardest to get off the ground and maintain once they get rolling. --------------------------------------------------------------- Sylvan Rainwater . Portland, Oregon, USA . sylrain@teleport.com
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Tue Jan 16 2001 - 14:41:51 EST