Everywhere I Look

Now that I've started to contemplate the issue of literacy I discover it is everywhere! It is an integral part of everything I do and sensitivity to people's reading ability levels is something I now realise I exercise very frequently... but more on that later.

First, a note on the interview with my group's student/subject: Don. I don't want to say too much at this point - I'd like to introduce Don fully in our presentation in week four. I took copious notes on Don's experiences as a student with dyslexia in the 1950's and on his views both on educating young people in general and more specifically educating young people with dyslexia. I would like to make note here though of two things:

When Don was asked if it was the teacher's responsibility to take action upon realising that a student is experiencing some kind of reading difficulty Don did not elaborate. He simply answered "yes" before changing the subject. (Don did a great deal of changing the subject when the subject was reading.)

The second thing I would like to record here is Don's response when asked if his inability to read and write had disadvantaged him in any way. He replied emphatically that it had not, with the following exception - "If I could read I would have become a doctor and gone to Africa to help people. You could do so much good there. That's the only thing I would have done different." The only thing??? I thought this was an incredible statement. Although Don did not believe he was in any way disadvantaged - his one regret is so enormous. He would have chosen a completely different path, led a completely different life. And, having spent quite a bit of time talking with Don over the course of two PCD's and this interview, I can assure you the man is as good as his word. He would have gone to Africa. He would have done so much good. Having said that - he does good anyway. I'm pretty sure the young people he coaches are pretty glad to have him exactly where he is.

A thought has just come to me. When Don was asked how his school teachers dealt with his reading challenges Don said they basically implied that he was lazy and wouldn't learn. I assume that at the time there was very little diagnosis or recognition of reading difficulties among students. But as I think of Don's particularly insightful brand of intelligence and the many ways that he has taught himself to learn (he listens intently, focuses, and remembers what he hears, and asks a lot of questions when he is not clear or wants to know more) I realise that an observant, compassionate, and committed teacher might have made a significant difference here - Don might not have had to leave school at fourteen and get a trade. He might have been able to be a doctor after all.

Which brings me to Professor Kaye Lowe's tutorial this week. What an eye opener. I have to say that this tutorial, aside from the fact that it conclusively demonstrated the many ways in which we (and our students) read, derive meaning, and take in and process information, was so - I'm looking for a better adjective than wonderful... how about brilliant... thrilling, even? - because it practised what it preached!!! I hope that I can be this kind of teacher some day! No long chunks of passive listening. No long passages of text to read. We learned - really learned by DOING - about some very, very useful points concerning how we learn - and don't learn. My favourite exercise was the passage in gibberish which we were all able to answer comprehension questions on - and get them right - without having any concept of the meaning of the passage - simply by recognising the words from the question in the text. Reading without meaning. Wow! Thank you Professor Lowe - you have taught me something. A few things, actually. And I enjoyed it!

To finish - an anecdote from my week. With literacy at the forefront of my mind it occurred to me this week how very important reading ability is to my passion in life - Drama. Every Friday afternoon I hold Drama workshops at my theatre for two groups. The first group is eight to twelve year olds. The second is thirteen to eighteen year olds. The thirteen to eighteen year olds are pretty straightforward. We do warm ups, play theatre sports to develop improvisation skills, and each week a few students perform monologues of their own choosing and I provide feedback to assist them in developing performance skills. The process of performing the monologue, of course, involves the students reading and memorising text - and many of the students, budding writers, write their own. I realise on reflection that none of my teenage group appear to have any difficulty with literacy, and I wonder if that is because Drama attracts good English students? Or confident readers? Or, adversely, if adolescents who are self-conscious about their reading ability might steer well clear of an activity which might draw attention to their challenges? The real observation I would like to make though involves my younger group. For the first few months I simply played Drama games with this group. I reasoned that they were pretty young and was not overly ambitious in my expectations of their capabilities, so I focused on developing their confidence, imagination, and teamwork skills. The group eventually became restless, and began to ask "When are we going to do some real acting?" I was very dubious, but nonetheless I hopped online and found some monologues suitable for young children. I found monologues from "Finding Nemo", "Alice in Wonderland", "The Little Princess", "101 Dalmations", "The Muppet Movie", and some others. Very cautiously I made the suggestion in class that they might like to choose a monologue, read over it for a few minutes with some help from myself and a couple of my older students, and then read it aloud for the group. They were thrilled, and jumped at the chance and - once again - all read confidently, having successfully interpreted the meaning of the texts. Once again - are confident readers drawn to Drama, while strugglers steer clear?

Just last night a few of my younger group asked if they could perform a monologue. There were at least fifteen students present, and as class was drawing to a close lots of parents were watching. I handed the students the folder of monologues and they excitedly flicked through them, choosing something they'd like to do. A brand new student, who just started last night, (I'll call her Jane) presented herself to me and said she had a monologue memorised already and may she perform that please? I was thrilled - of course! I asked what it was about, and she told me that it was about being an actress. I thought this sounded pretty good. I introduced Jane and handed her the floor. Bold as brass, she strutted up and down the stage delivering the delightful tale of an actress having to rehearse and rehearse for a performance. It was clearly completely improvised on the spot, but it was gorgeous, confident, and engaging. At the end of the class I was approached by her mother, who had witnessed the little show. She apoligised to me, saying "She does that all the time - just makes things up. She struggles with reading, you see... Perhaps if you gave me something I could work with her on it?" What a lovely mum, I thought. And what a lucky little girl. They chose Cruella de Vil's monologue from "101 Dalmations" - "I just love being nasty!" said the little superstar.

I can't wait to see the show!