Chapter Four

The Resulting Project

Lessons Learned

The majority of the data for this project came from the personal journal of reflections I kept after each class period taught during both Wave One and Wave Two. Journal writing, as previously discussed, is not a practice favored by everyone, yet I found it invaluable when processing the events of each class. My entries served as a solid record to which I could refer in order to gather thoughts, come to worthy conclusions, and create material that would be worthwhile to others in the field. As I recorded each entry, the temporary audience I had in mind was myself as the teacher/developer, which allowed me to be candid, sincere, and unguarded in my writing. I did not have to worry about a reader misinterpreting my feelings, or misunderstanding daily goals I was setting. Also, my observations could be recorded while still fresh in my mind, allowing for greater accuracy as I recalled comments offered or conversations had. The following list is a condensed version of the many reflections that went through my mind over the course of the class implementation; this list consequently became the basis for the project website I developed.

 

Lesson One - You cannot do it alone!

Lesson Two - Be flexible with content within the context of a routine.

Lesson Three - Remember your students have lives outside of class.

Lesson Four - Encourage a comfortable atmosphere in the classroom.

Lesson Five - Recruit students using as many methods possible.

Lesson Six - Accept, and act upon, student input.

Lesson Seven - Think about what you’re willing to do to help students be in class consistently.

Lesson Eight - Be prepared for discouraging days/nights.

Lesson Nine - Simultaneous enrollment in a family literacy class, along with a partnering ESL class, is very beneficial.

Lesson Ten - Help students understand why and how to keep records (e.g. reading logs) if that is something you believe is necessary to the class; review procedures often.

Lesson Eleven - Use of students’ native language is indispensable when taking into account student morale/optimism and the purpose of the class.

Lesson Twelve - Free childcare during classes is almost essential, even if the class takes place during regular school hours.

Lesson Thirteen - Great success is made up of small successes along the way.

The following pages contain the core material that is found on the accompanying project website (accessible through http://linguistics.byu.edu). Each page follows the same general outline. At the top of each page the number and title of the lesson learned is shown, followed by a brief written explanation of its importance. Next, each page contains salient excerpts from the reflective journals I kept during program implementation, followed by pertinent excerpts from the current family literacy literature. Following the literature excerpts are the references that accompany each chosen literature highlight. The full list of references appears on the website, as well as at the end of the written portion of this project. These pages are intended to be viewed in any order, according to the reader’s key interests.