Spring has Arrived!

So I realize that I tend to blog about the weather, but I love being outdoors and I bike to work everyday so the weather is very important to me. Many people pass it off as simply small talk, but it always seems to be in the back of my mind. Maybe my rainy Washingtonian upbringing has had some influence on my weather fixation (a sunny day in the 60's will find every Seattlite outside with shorts, t-shirt and sunglasses).
Austin, however, boasts very agreeable weather through most of the year (most... not all because those summer months... well, you know). We just finished a nice, relatively dry and calm winter and this last Tuesday marked the first day of Spring. And let me say, it has been beautiful! Okay, so there was a Zeus-sized thunderstorm on Monday night, but other than that... the sun is shining, the birds are singing and Austin can really be a beautiful place when the trees are still green from winter rains and the weather hasn't reached its top temperatures quite yet.
I feel as though I have seen a small change in our classes as well this week. People are sporting lighter fabrics and colors, attitudes have been lifted and some of my students and co-workers already seem to be tackling the idea of spring cleaning.
Let's just hope that not too many students come down with cases of spring fever!

Learning to love SXSW

Anyone living in Austin knows that SXSW occurred last week over Spring Break. Before last week, I had only been to SXSW once before and it left me with memories of good music, but also those of over-crowdedness, smelly people, blazing heat, and being in a bar full of people with strange beards. I think the fact that I was unprepared for it and later had to schlep through traffic back to San Marcos clouded my judgment of this festival. Now I live in Austin. My memories from the previous SXSW left me agitated the weeks leading up to it this year. All I could think about was how crowded Austin was going to be, how I was going to be unable to go to my favorite places, and how I was going to have to be visually assaulted with an onslaught of hipsters from all over the country (and other parts of the globe).

I have to say, that I was pleasantly surprised last week. I actually enjoyed SXSW and the changes that happen in Austin because of it. First of all, I enjoyed that I shaved about 10 minutes off my commute to work because so many people left for Spring Break vacation and others left to escape SXSW. I loved that I did not have to dodge insane drivers downtown because most people chose to bus, walk, or bike to get where they needed to go. I also enjoyed the camaraderie of it all. The overall attitude of downtown changed. People were friendlier than usual and more laidback. When I finally decided to dip my toe in the actual SXSW festivities, it was on a double date with a fellow AmeriCorps member. It was nice to bond with her as an individual and as couples with our respective partners. What I enjoyed most was seeing the little bits of Austin that I never get to see because I am racing past them on my daily commute. In particular: Sandy’s Hamburgers. My favorite part of the evening was sitting at Sandy’s, laughing and having nice (and often hilarious) conversation while eating fries and milkshakes with music from Auditorium Shores in the background. Last week taught me to have more respect for SXSW and for Austin. I welcome it again next year.

GED Book Club

I teach the following subjects in my GED class at the Kyle Learning Center:  Reading, Writing, Science, and Social Studies.  Many of the students fall within the 17-22 year old age range and have struggled to focus in class.  I have found that incorporating popular culture topics (ie: reading about why people do or do not enjoy horror movies) in class engages them enough that they will also tolerate learning the traditional subject matter (ie:  government structure).  I have planned reading comprehension lessons around magazine articles, news stories, and excerpts from fictional books that they might encounter in their lives, into the course work. 

I frequently tell my students that they should read more at home because that will increase their vocabulary, comprehension, sentence structure, etc.  Some students confided that reading has been difficult for them because of learning differences, disinterest in the subject matter, or that they don’t know what they like to read.  So, I was surprised when my students expressed interested in reading a book in class.  I decided to select a collection of books they would enjoy reading, would be high interest, and accessible to a variety of reading levels. 

The following is the criteria that I used to select the books:

·         Diversity of genres:  fantasy/science fiction, suspense, romance, action/adventure, chick literature.

·         Featured in popular culture and news

·         Had movie version adaptations

·         The first book of a series

·         Appealing to a mixture of ages

·         I had previously read most of the books

·         Recently written and easily available in softcover version

I provided the students with descriptions of the books I had chosen and I gave suggestions of which book to choose depending on their reading level.  Students that had read some of the books explained what they were about to other students in the class.  Most of the students had heard of the books or seen the movie adaptations themselves as well.  I purchased several copies of each book, so students were able to select which book they wanted to read.  In class, the students spend about 30 minutes silently reading their book, and will be meeting in discussion groups when they finish reading their books.

The books I selected:

 Life of Pi by Yann Martel

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (Series: Book 1)

Hatchet by Gary Paulson

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Ann Brashares (Series: Book 1)

Twilight by Stephanie Meyer (Series: Book 1)

The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan (Percy Jackson Series: Book 1)

Helping Students Help Themselves

In the midst of the Kony 2012/Stop Kony 2012 madness the past couple days, I have been thinking about and discussing the ideas of privilege and the savior complex and the implications of these things for the way I as an individual interact with my local and global community as well the the implications for the way our nation positions itself domestically and internationally. I obviously don't have the resolution to this incredibly multifaceted and volatile debate so I am not going to pretend that I do. Rather, I am going to offer my thoughts on how these things relate to being a literacy service provider, since this is something I have some (albeit limited) experience in.

As a Literacy AmeriCorps member in Central Texas serving at a nonprofit that provides literacy services, students come to me voluntarily seeking my help. Thus, my position in relation to my students is already inherently different than that of an American seeking to help a person who lives on another continent than them and has not necessarily asked for their help. But, I still want to be very concious of never slipping into the misguided (and unfortunately rather common) mindset that I am the one who has all the answers and is needed to "rescue" a student. Quite the contrary. It is the courage and persistence of a student that enables them to effect positive change in their life. As a literacy instructor, I am simply there to facilitate student learning and help them help themselves.

I am immensely grateful to be part of a program (Literacy AmeriCorps) and an agency (LifeWorks) that operate in a way that promotes and applies this type of thinking. I have been well taught to think of myself as an ally and partner with students rather than the traditional teacher above student hierarchy. Adult students are the best source of knowledge for what they need and want, an idea in the same vein as the operational mentality of "African Solutions for African Problems." Our students (who come from all over the world and represent a vast array of global and local issues), like all people, have a voice and need to be really heard and listened to in a meaningful way, and I am honored to get the chance to do just that here in my own hometown. I welcome the challenge of putting these ideas into practice day to day and hope to always apply them to the way I think about any local or global issue. I also hope and pray they will be applied by others, from ordinary citizens to national leadership, as well.