Thesis on family literacy with LEP adults and reflective journal keeping

Because the purpose of this project has been to share lessons learned during program implementation, I feel it is now necessary to outline what led me to record those lessons in a reflective journal of classroom experiences. I hope that by sharing the details of project preparation, the resultant contribution of reflective journals and “lessons learned” will become more valid, as well as valued. In this chapter, elements such as background, setting, descriptions of the participants, materials, procedures, and survey results will be discussed.

When contemplating how to enter the realm of family literacy programs, offering this class to Latino ESL parents of Provo ESL elementary students seemed like a logical first step. Because Spanish is my L2 and I have always desired to use that skill in my teaching, working exclusively with the Latino population was an ideal setting for implementing this class for the first time. This class would be a great starting point for schools struggling to help their LEP parents acquire some English skills, along with building confidence in their ability to read with their children—a place where they could finally begin to meet those goals. It is this type of parent-training class that schools could add to, adapt, or even include as a group of workshops within a larger family literacy program, such as the way Handel organized in her Family Reading Program (1999). This class was never intended to fulfill the role of a Basic English skills class or a multi-faceted family literacy class.

As of October 2002, the Provo Utah School District had as many as 2,383 LEP students. One educator informed me, “About 80 percent of all ELLs (English language learners) are Latinos. The total percent of Latinos in the district is 18.9, but some of those students are not LEP students” (Julene Kendall, personal communication, October 4, 2002). This means that approximately 1,900 students within this school district are Latinos; some of those students, however, are not LEP. With such a large number of Latino parents potentially in need, within one of only three school districts in Utah County, I saw a vast pool of possible class participants. Beyond assisting my own little county, I envisioned my class to be adaptable enough that it could also be shared throughout the nation with teachers interested in using children’s literature to aid LEP and ESL adults/parents.

Before student recruiting and actual classroom teaching could occur, however, the location and setting of the class had to be established. Finding the right match between my vision, and an elementary school interested in participating in this project, was challenging. As a graduate student at Brigham Young University, I began by contacting the liaison for the school districts and BYU partnership. After meeting together and sharing my proposal with her, she then took my proposed idea to a monthly meeting she attends with the ESL coordinators from each school in the county and shared it with them. The Provo School District expressed interest in having me come and implement this class somewhere within their boundaries.

Within a few weeks I was sitting in Julene Kendall’s office, the Provo School District coordinator/director for ESL programs, discussing with her in a more detailed fashion what the BYU/school districts liaison had discussed with them previously. She sounded enthusiastic about my desire to contribute, and gave me the name of yet another person to contact. The human chain thus grew longer, and within a few more weeks I met Teresa Tavares, the Provo District ESOL Adult Program Coordinator. She and I discussed my proposed idea and decided that we would approach one elementary school in particular regarding the implementation of my class. The school we chose had a particularly high percentage of Latino students within its boundaries, and she felt their need would be great.

After meeting with the principal, I discovered that he had quite a few concerns (some of which were simply semantic issues of definitions), yet he allowed me to schedule a meeting with the first and second grade teachers for the following week to explain my idea. I was excited to do so because I wanted their input relative to specific picture books they had already read to their classes that year. Ideally, my class would utilize picture books that these parents’ children had already heard in class. This meeting was rushed, not highly welcomed, and even looked upon with a degree of skepticism by some of the teachers. I was anxious to emphasize that I did not want any more of their time, I simply wanted their immediate input, followed by suggestions of students whose parents we could personally invite to participate in this class. They reluctantly gave me some names, and I in turn obtained these families’ phone numbers from the school office secretary. However, because of the general lack of enthusiasm, I never followed up on the numbers and this was where my contact with that school ended. Teresa Tavares had, in thinking again about the schools in the district, come up with another school that would probably be more receptive to my idea.

Shortly after my second visit to the first elementary school, Teresa Tavares invited me to come meet the After-School/Evening Program coordinator of another elementary school within the Provo School District. This woman expressed great interest in my proposal, and we immediately began discussing details of how we would gather book titles from first and second grade teachers that they had used in the past few months. Permission was granted by the school principal for me to be on school grounds carrying out this class, and the childcare services already provided by school volunteers for the evening English classes were made available to my students as well. Doors opened up on all sides and the stage was set for a successful classroom experience; all that we needed at this point were willing students.

Recruiting and Participants

My initial aim was to seek out L1 Spanish-speaking parents of first and second graders attending Wood’s End Elementary. Eventually that group needed to be expanded, however, due to lack of initial interest among such a limited population. Therefore, the After School/Evening Program coordinator generated a list of all the L1 Spanish-speaking parents with children in Kindergarten through third grade that would possibly be interested in this class. Obviously, one of the great advantages of working so closely with the school was that they had knowledge and materials that I could not provide on my own. The two main women assisting me with this program knew most of the Latino parents personally, and they sent home a colorful flyer I created which invited parents to participate in the class. As a follow-up, the Spanish-speaking coordinator made personal phone calls, on behalf of the school and myself, inviting these parents to participate in the class beginning in mid-February 2002. A list of about twelve participants was created and I eagerly prepared for our first session.

Throughout the recruiting of the Wave One and Wave Two class sessions (this refers to two different groups of students taught; one group began on February 26^th, 2002, and the other began on April 16^th, 2002), the participants and potential participants all had a few basic characteristics in common; they were all Latino, and most had a connection to the Wood’s End Elementary School where my class took place (see Appendixes A and B for more participant details). As a general rule, there were many more people eager to participate than those who actually came and participated. Ideally, I wanted ten to fifteen participants in each class. This number would allow for group and partner work, for good group discussions, and yet also personal instruction. The twelve participants who expressed interest and committed to participating in Wave One included eleven females and one male. Those who actually attended included only five of those females, and by the end of the course, only two were coming—and sporadically at best. In Wave Two, twenty-two people expressed interest and returned forms indicating that they would like to participate in the class. Of those twenty-two, only three were males. Happily, varying combinations of about fourteen of those twenty-two people ended up participating in Wave Two. Two additional participants found out about the Wave Two class by other means and also came to participate. On the next to last day of class, one participant brought her neighbor who, after hearing so much about our class, wanted to come and participate herself. I was disappointed that she had not come earlier, yet was excited for her interest nonetheless.

Originally I had not intended on offering two waves of the class. However, as the weeks progressed during Wave One, sparse attendance was indicating to me that perhaps the class would need to be reorganized, re-advertised, and re-offered. Both classes were held at a local elementary school where the majority of class participants had children currently attending school. Wave One took place in a sixth grade classroom every Tuesday and Thursday from 6:30-7:45 PM, beginning in late February and ending in late May 2002. Wave Two was held in that same classroom on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 5:00–6:00 PM from mid-April to early June 2002.

All of the participating women in Wave One were slightly shy, humble mothers; some worked outside of the home in addition to being busy parents. In response to the flyer sent home advertising the class, they had all their expressed interest in participating in this class. Nevertheless, these five women slowly stopped attending due to varying difficult circumstances.

One woman was able to find a job after her husband had been out of work for two months; unfortunately, the job was at night. Another woman, after confessing that this class was the only thing she had done in her five years of living here besides going to the grocery store and walking her children to school, suddenly quit coming after attending two consecutive class sessions. Sadly, her husband had asked her to stay at home and not go out. The third woman was pregnant and having false labor periodically throughout the course of the class. Sometimes the pain was so bad that she was given morphine and confined to bed rest. She understandably had to stop coming and deliver her baby. The last two women, the most consistent in their attendance, also had their struggles. One struggled with depression and would have spurts of enthusiasm for learning, and then would disappear for a week or two at a time. Sometimes she had counseling scheduled during our class times. And the fifth woman—the oldest of the Wave One participants, with a four-year-old son at home, in addition to older children—came faithfully until she got sick and then had to return to help family in Mexico. Life did not make it easy for these women to participate and learn; it never will. Teachers need to be aware beforehand that scenarios like these will occur, and need to be anxious to help students work through them if possible.

I did not want to give up due to a lack of student participation on the first try. Therefore, after brainstorming a few hours with the after-school/evening program coordinator on different occasions, we decided to offer a condensed version of the class to students already participating in the Adult Evening English classes. We felt this would be a good population to draw upon because they were all Latino and had already demonstrated interest in learning and coming to regularly scheduled classes. I went to each class, personally introduced myself, explained the class I was offering, and sent them home with a more detailed flyer that they were to return to their teachers if they were interested in participating. Twenty-two flyers were returned expressing interest, and of those twenty-two, about fourteen actually came and participated in Wave Two. It is also important to note that the fifteen-dollar fee initially charged to the Wave One participants to cover the cost of materials (which may account for why some never attended in the first place) was waived by the time Wave Two implementation began. In discussing this issue with the after school/evening program coordinator, we decided that the fee may have been a big enough deterrent that we could do without it.

Because this group was larger than the first, there was greater diversity in ethnicity as well as age; students came from Mexico, Argentina, Peru, Venezuela, and Guatemala. There was one male (a husband) who came to participate, and there were also four participants who were not yet parents; two of those four were single women. This provided an interesting challenge for a class that was originally designed for parents. The youngest participant was 18 years old; the oldest was 74. Therefore, the children with whom these participants read ranged from grandchildren to children, and included nieces, nephews, and neighborhood friends.

Another issue I took into consideration was my students’ time constraints. The majority of them were already participating in Basic English classes Tuesday through Thursday from 6-8:00PM. Therefore, I initially offered the class to them on Tuesday evenings from 5-6:00PM, supposing this would have to suffice. Yet, after the first class period they were already making requests to meet more often. During the next class session we took an anonymous vote, and every week after that we met on both Tuesday and Thursday evenings from 5–6:00PM. I was able to adapt the classes and lessons to the needs of this diverse group by referring to activities as practices not only to be done with sons and daughters, but with nieces, nephews, grandchildren, and neighbor children.

Materials and Procedures

The materials I intended on using included the handbook and lesson plans that I had developed after reading and researching the use of children’s literature with Adult ESL students (see Appendix C). The books I had hoped to use were picture books that contained repetition, interesting themes to children and adults, predictability, and other helpful characteristics. Logistically, however, it quickly became evident that multiple copies of these books would not be available. Without the funds to purchase fifteen copies of ten different children’s books, I instead found an excellent resource in some of the children’s books the elementary school had in multiple copy sets. These titles were actual books that most of the children of the class participants would be exposed to either in first or second grade while at this elementary school. This element of exposure on both the part of the parent/caregiver and the child was a characteristic I was anxious to incorporate. Each book used in both waves of the class, with the exception of one well-known library book, was from the Early Success book series. These books were paperback, varied in length from eight to twenty pages, and contained anywhere from three to thirteen words on a page. The one book not of the Early Success series I was able to access enough copies of, The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry, and the Big Hungry Bear by Don and Audrey Wood, was also one that first grade teachers in the school had used with the children in their classrooms that year.

Other main materials that were utilized included a pamphlet (available in Spanish and English) from the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy entitled Barbara Bush’s Family Reading Tips, and student notebooks containing pages designed ahead of time for note taking. As each class period came and went, I was continually adjusting and adapting the curriculum, and therefore I often created an activity sheet to accompany our lesson that I had not previously planned to include. Sight-word flash cards were also brought in as an element of the Wave One classroom routine. As a general rule, the classroom routine in Wave One allowed for an hour to an hour-and-fifteen minute class period. But during Wave Two that range was shortened by fifteen minutes due to an evening Basic English class the majority of my students also attended.

As with most classroom settings, I sought early to establish a helpful, pace-keeping routine that would increase the students’ level of confidence through predictability. Initially, the Wave One class sessions began by introducing any new students, and then following the lesson plans found in Appendix C. This ideal quickly fell apart, however, once I began to understand how hard consistent attendance was for my students making it difficult to review or build off of past lessons. There was also a challenge in helping students learn from the children’s books selected without leaving any one student behind. Because attendance was sporadic, for reasons often beyond student control, is was difficult to not seem too repetitive from session to session. One small group of students would be there to begin working with a book, and then the next session it often happened that a small group of different students would be in attendance, so I would almost repeat what happened in the previous class session. This meant that the class did not progress as quickly as I had initially hoped.

Generally, Wave One class sessions began with some small talk; it was impossible to move forward without giving the women a chance to talk and get reacquainted a bit each evening. I would then proceed to either ask how things had gone reading the book they had taken home to share with their children, or to review the alphabet and sight-words as a class. This basic review was an element that I added after meeting and getting to know the students. Because their L1 literacy levels were generally lower than I had suspected, they needed such reviews to strengthen their abilities to enjoy reading these children’s books in English themselves. I often asked if anyone had been to the library since our last class period, and if they wanted to share their experience with us. We would then read and discuss a paragraph or two from the Barbara Bush family reading pamphlet during most class periods as well. Then, with each new book, a different element of reading aloud was introduced and practiced. For example, students learned and practiced sharing the book’s cover, reading with inflection to match the pictures and punctuation, and creating an appropriate atmosphere that would invite an enjoyable read-aloud session with their children. We also reviewed vocabulary from the books and worked on pronunciation together and individually. As students felt more and more successful, new books were introduced in class and shared with their children at home.

During Wave Two, I excitedly applied what I learned had worked in Wave One and tried leaving behind what didn’t seem to work as well. Once the initial orientation session was over, each class began with students’ questions about vocabulary they had found in their environment, or in the books we were reading, since the previous class session. We discussed those and then moved on to share any successful experiences with the public library and our reading aloud since the previous class. Initially, some students were too shy to share; yet quickly they learned that this was a safe classroom environment and that they enjoyed listening to their classmates. Eventually everyone shared at different times. Sight-words and alphabet reviews were not included in Wave Two as the L1 (and even L2 English) literacy levels of these students were higher than those in Wave One. I assumed that these higher literacy levels had a direct correlation with the fact that most of these students were also participating in Adult Basic English classes.

We continued in each Wave Two class period to share a small portion of the Barbara Bush pamphlet, discuss it, and then practice techniques for reading out loud with children. Topics covered included presentation aspects (how to hold the book, sharing the cover with the listener, asking questions and guessing just from seeing the cover, sharing the pictures with the listener), pronunciation and more fluid reading practices, voice expression and inflection, choosing books from the library on one’s own, and ideas for extra activities that accompany book reading and compliment the book’s topic. Thirteen Wave Two class sessions were offered, and each one seemed to pass by faster than the previous one. Because students attended more regularly during Wave Two, one could assume that it was the result of our decision to shorten the total class time. However, I believe that a larger class size—filled with students who attended on a more consistent basis—was the greatest motivation for individuals to come, participate, and want to keep coming.

The last part of that daily classroom routine, after reminding students to read with children at home, and talking with those who liked to linger and ask questions, was the actual journal writing. I made it a habit of writing, reflecting, and recounting the day’s events in my journal very soon after arriving home, in order to keep things fresh and accurate. These journals can be read in their entirety on the website, as well as in Appendix D and Appendix E.

Student Survey Data

In order to better track student attitudes toward reading in English with their children, surveys (see Appendix F) were given to students on the first and last day of class. Due to Wave One’s waning attendance (see explanation under “Recruiting and Participants”), only the initial surveys were given to these participants. Therefore, in the summary of before and after survey results, only Wave Two will be taken into account. Among those surveys, eleven of the actual fifteen “before” surveys made it back into my hands, as well as eleven of the “after” surveys. It is important to note that one of the eleven “before” surveys does not have an “after” match to it; likewise one of the eleven “after” surveys is also lacking in a “before” companion.

The survey can be broken down into a few general areas. It contained questions relative to general demographics, time typically spent reading with their children (in English and Spanish) and how free time with children was spent, experiences with their children’s school and teachers, self-evaluations of Spanish and English reading abilities, and the roles that reading in Spanish and English played in their lives. One additional open-ended question appeared on the “after” survey, inviting overall impressions of the class. As the results are summarized in following paragraphs (see Appendix G for more complete written results), it is important to keep in mind that the numbers being dealt with, though important as individual people, are small, and that these are qualitative descriptions of survey data. In order to generalize these results, a much larger student sample would need to participate.

With regards to demographics, parents who participated had children that ranged from four to twenty-seven years old; those with older children also had grandchildren with whom they spent considerable amounts of time. Those who were not yet parents made that fact very clear on the “before” surveys. However, much to my delight, on the “after” surveys, those same non-parent participants focused on the children in their lives with whom they were able to practice these skills—nieces, nephews, and friends. Their outlook had been broadened to consider that they could also have a positive influence upon those children who were not their own. As far as time spent actually reading to these children, about half of the participants reported an increase in time spent reading in English as well as in Spanish on the “after” surveys. One student in particular actually reported spending less time reading in Spanish and more time reading in English on the “after” survey; she was the one who attended more sessions than any other participant.

Regarding positive and negative experiences they had with the schools and/or teachers, most participants, in both the “before” and “after” surveys, either declined to answer because they had no children, commented that their children were still too young for school, or stated that all their interactions had been good ones. In the bad experiences portion the only comments that reflected anything negative related to not being able to understand the teacher, having to have a child translate for them, and not being able to participate in general due to the language barrier. Self-evaluations of participants’ language abilities also reflected some of these concerns. The majority of students did not report feeling an improved ability to communicate in English in the “after” surveys. That was a result I had predicted, simply because that was not the purpose or intended goal of this class.

Yet, two students did actually report an improved ability to read in Spanish on their “after” surveys. This was unexpected, because we did not read very much in the class in Spanish. However, perhaps some activities we did sparked their confidence and interest in reading, and yet the possibility exists that this increase had nothing to do with the class. Two students also reported an increase in their ability to read in English on the “after” surveys. Again, this may have happened as a result of this class and it may not have. Relative to enjoyment of reading to their children, however, results on the “after” surveys were mixed. About half of the participants reported feeling the same high level of enjoyment when reading to their children on “after” surveys, a few reported a higher level of enjoyment afterwards, and two participants even reported a decreased level of enjoyment on the “after” surveys. Their answers were marked with comments such as, “I feel bad because I don’t pronounce things well,” and “My boy doesn’t like it when people speak to him in English.” Ideally, all of the participants would have expressed a marked increase in enjoyment upon completion of the class; however, student responses allowed me to better understand that the factors which influence one’s reading enjoyment include many more variables that I had initially assumed.

The two questions concerning the role of reading in Spanish and English were generally not interpreted as I had intended by all of the participants. I had anticipated answers listing specific tasks for which Spanish and English were needed, respectively, in their daily lives. However, most reported more generalized answers such as reading in Spanish because they can understand it best, because they find enjoyment in it, or because they like to learn. These answers were very similar in both the “before” and “after” surveys. Most reported that they read in English in order to learn it, in order to be able to communicate with others, and/or because their child asks them to. These answers were similar on both the “before” and “after” surveys. Some also mentioned on both surveys that they needed English to be able to do their homework from Basic English classes.

The component I felt revealed the students’ feelings most effectively out of all the survey results were the written comments shared upon completion of the class. [Please note that most comments were written in Spanish and translated into English for Appendix E.] Comments revealed that the students felt the class was very helpful to them, they enjoyed coming and learning better how to read comfortably with their children, and many were anxious to continue our sessions together; a few even commented that the biggest problem with the class was that it was too short. Some comments include the following: “It has helped us to read more and to know how to share time with our children, and other children we spend time with…I would like to see this class continue in order to read together and share about different topics.” “This is a very good class, or program. It teaches us, as parents, different ways to get closer to our children. Above all, it is something that helps, and will help them, to have better development.” “Everything was very special. These are things that help us, the Latino parents, since we don’t know how to explain or read well in English.” “The class was very comfortable, dynamic, and fun. It is good to learn this way—playing, repeating, etc. This class had everything and I have no negative points about it …except I would make each class two hours long, or offer it more days of the week.” Students’ comments reveal that they felt the class was worth their time and effort. Some reported increased confidence, others reported increased abilities to share and express with their children, and still others reported enjoying the dynamics of the classroom. Reading over comments such as these give purpose and meaning to the work done researching the premise of this class, finding a home for it, recruiting participants, and developing materials and curriculum to effectively implement the concept.

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