Excerpts from Reflective Journals | Excerpts from Literature | References

Every teacher with some experience under their belt understands the principle of being flexible and adapting at times. If you are just starting out, take the advice of those who have paved the way, and be ready to change plans according to the needs of your students. Always be prepared with a lesson plan and specific objectives, but do not be so rigid that you teach to your agenda instead of to the needs and interests of the students in your classes and programs.

Excerpts from Reflective Journals

• March 5th, 2002 (Wave I) – “So, my challenge is where to pick up on Thursday…?! I want to read the book together, do a model perhaps, get to the rest of the lesson plan that I wasn’t able to, but also not have them reading this one book over and over and over all weekend with their child. I’m thinking about having them find a book from the library and reading it as well, then coming on Tuesday ready to tell us which one they picked, and how it went. We’ll see…!!!”
• March 26th, 2002 (Wave I) – “These aren’t people who necessarily have a complete education in their native tongue, and so things are taking much longer than I had ever anticipated. It gives me the idea that as PACT becomes something truly polished, it could become something divided into levels based on the language abilities of the parents…this is thinking big. And I want to keep thinking big with this—I still believe in its tremendous worth, despite the poor attendance... I keep thinking also that I want to arrange for another library visit for Victoria, Marisol, and Estela to attend. This is what really needs to happen! I want them to take ownership of this chance to learn and conquer any fears of the library, and choosing books to read to their children.”
• May 2nd, 2002 (Wave II) – “We began ‘as always’ (I’m trying to establish a routine with them, which is not always easy when some people don’t show up every time, or new people come every time, etc) with me asking for any experiences with trips to the Public Library.”
• May 7th, 2002 (Wave II) – “I didn’t worry too much about trying to catch them up on what they had missed because I have noticed that sporadic attendance is such a trend and I can’t always take ten minutes of a 60-minute class period for catching up—we’d never move forward that way! But, we did have a natural review that I think helped bring most everyone ‘up to speed.’”

Excerpts from Literature

• Auerbach, 1990, “We don’t believe that a single, generic, pre-packaged sequence of themes, language items or activities can possibly fit any set of circumstances or students. Instead of trying to cover content that has been predetermined, teachers need to discover content that’s important to their own students” (p. 1).
• Dilworth, 1995, “Although collaboration is not easy, the rewards are many. Our abilities as agencies and individuals to remain flexible will serve us well as we employ the strategies described here [in this chapter], as well as others… [We] were able to stretch ourselves as educators and develop a more sophisticated view of the potential of family literacy programs” (p. 31).
• Auerbach, 1997, “In addition to not being ideal, in many cases the comprehensive model may not be realistic. For many low-budget, small-scale community initiatives (in churches, adult education centers, preschools, etc.), a four-component program is financially and logistically impossible. Nevertheless, it is often precisely in these programs that are struggling to survive where innovative and effective family literacy practices originate” (pp. 78–79).
• Neuman, Caperelli, and Kee, 1998, “In contrast to prepackaged curricula and predetermined objectives, programs need to engage participants in their own education, connecting literacy—the discourse practices and ways of using language—with real-life social issues and concerns in the community” (p. 250).
• Hendrix, 1999, “Rather than rely on a relatively homogenous and homeostatic model that can be packaged and shipped across the U.S. (or indeed the world), family literacy educators need to attend to the ever-present and ever-shifting richness, complexity, and diversity in people’s lives” (p. 345).