As you may have already read in our general newsletter, after six great years as Executive Director of Literacy Source, Lynn Livesley will be stepping down from her position. We know that many of you have come to value Lynn as both a great person and a tireless ambassador for adult literacy and Literacy Source. She will be greatly missed and we hope you will join us in wishing her well in her future endeavors. 

 

Looking forward, Lynn's dedication has created a solid foundation that leaves us well-positioned to take advantage of future challenges and opportunities. The Board of Directors is leading a team to search for the next ED who can help us continue Lynn's work and maximize our potential to serve community needs. Lynn will continue to support us with the transition, ensuring our programs continue to run smoothly and that our new ED will benefit from her expertise. 

 

Please let me, Lynn, or any of our staff know if you have any questions or input during this transition period. Literacy Source has been successful in its work because of our community support, and we value your thoughts at this juncture. We look back in gratitude for Lynn's contributions, and look forward in excitement as we continue to strive towards our mission of education, equity, and opportunity for all. 

 

Warmly,

Caroline Socha

Volunteer Coordinator

Are you interested in enjoying the company of a very active group of Spanish-speaking seniors each week? We are looking for volunteers, who have some knowledge of Spanish, to help lead a weekly senior Talk Time group at Lake City Community Center. Literacy Source partners with Sound Generations and Sea Mar Community Health Centers to offer Spanish-speaking seniors opportunities to practice English and learn new skills. 

This hour-long English Talk Time is typically attended by 12-20 seniors each week.  The program revolves around a weekly topic introduced by a volunteer and supported by 1-2 co-volunteers. Recent topics have included health, holidays, clothing, animals, flowers, and household vocabulary. Weekly discussion leadership responsibilities rotate among volunteers, and each discussion leader prepares whatever materials may be needed to support the topic for that day. There are no requirements for materials: handouts with Spanish/English words, or items for playing a game, making a craft, or illustrating vocabulary can all be used depending on the topic. One 'lead' volunteer takes responsibility for recording and reporting monthly attendance, and for monitoring volunteer schedules to make sure someone is available for each Talk Time gathering.  A native Spanish-speaking Sea Mar staff person is always present to assist with occasional interpretation needs and to provide some support with materials.

 

The current Talk Time volunteers have had their personal schedules change, or anticipate changes over the next few months - which now makes additional volunteers essential if this wonderful program is to continue! If you are interested in learning more or in volunteering, please contact Caroline - she will be happy to provide more information about this very fun and valuable program!

At Literacy Source, we are intentional about creating a welcoming space for those who enter our learning center. We have a reception desk with both paid staff and volunteers who greet and help anyone who comes through the door or calls the center. We explicitly state that all are welcome and included in our community by including a multilingual welcome slide every quarter in our class announcements, written by our students in their own first languages, as well as a slide that says "we respect all beliefs and experiences." The inclusion  part of our new values statements (shared in last month's newsletter) states:   

We foster an inclusive and multicultural space in which all cultures, traditions, social identities, and ways of knowing are respected and welcomed. 

We'd like to think about what we currently do to foster the value of inclusion at Literacy Source, and how we can continue to deliberately create a welcoming space at our center and in our classrooms.  Explicitly recognizing and saying we value different cultures, traditions, and social identities alone is not enough. We must also take actions to respect and welcome differences.

At our center, we encourage reflective practices, where teachers and learners work together to set learning goals and continually reflect on their learning to build an effective learning community. Through class projects like those displayed in binders in the sun room, teachers and students recognize and respect differences while working together to build skills and create shared knowledge. 

What strategies can we use to build an inclusive and welcoming space in our classrooms? One way is to have welcoming routines in class. These can be as simple as "getting to know you" activities at the beginning of the term, or more complex activities like having a discussion about shared classroom norms for behavior and communication. The Welcoming Refugees Toolkit is a useful resource of instructional tools from the K-12 world that can be adapted to our work with adult learners, too. For example, the "Where does your name come from?" activity on page 18 of the kit can allow students to discover something important about their classmates in order to deepen peer understanding and build intercultural respect.

We recognize that students bring many skills and strengths with them, one of which is their prior knowledge of English and other languages. In past newsletters, we have talked about how students' first languages can be an asset in the learning environment. Intentionally building on our learners' strengths , like multiple language proficiency or other experiences they bring, shows respect and creates a community that supports learning for both students and teachers. 

 

Although we are intentionally working to create an inclusive, supportive community, we can always do better. We are currently in the midst of planning center-wide focus groups and surveys to gather more information from students about our programming and how we can better support a culture of student inclusion and leadership at Literacy Source. We'd love to hear about strategies you are currently using to put the value of inclusion into action in your own work as well - please feel free to email Cat about how you apply this in your teaching or tutoring sessions.