[Reading-hall-of-fame] Re: A Memorial Tribute to Aretha Franklin

[P Pearson]

Tom, your occasional epistles are always so thoughtful and inspiring.  This
one especially, as we mark a different kind of Aretha legacy.  Keep them
coming!!

pdp

On Thu, Aug 16, 2018 at 8:33 AM, Thomas Sticht <tgsticht at gmail.com> wrote:

> 8/16/2018
>
> A Memorial Tribute to Aretha Franklin: Meeting the Need for RESPECT with
> Adult Basic Skills Education
>
> Tom Sticht, International Consultant in Adult Education (Ret.)
>
> Aretha Franklin, the high school dropout who went on to become the “Queen
> of Soul” with honorary degrees from Harvard, Princeton, and Yale, wrote a
> song about her need for RESPECT. She sang out, “R-E-S-P-E-C-T   Find out
> what it means to me”. Aretha Franklin passed away today, August 16, 2018,
> aged 76, respected by millions of people around the world.  Not only was
> Aretha Franklin an iconic songstress, during the Civil Rights movements of
> the 1960s she contributed extensively to the actions of Dr. Martin Luther
> King, Jr. and others to bring literacy, civil, and voting rights to African
> Americans.
>
> As a memorial tribute to Aretha Franklin, here is a brief note about what
> RESPECT means to adults seeking to improve their basic reading, writing,
> and numeracy skills.
>
> In January of 2007 I went to Dublin, Ireland to present a speech at a  conference
> of adult literacy tutors sponsored by the National Adult  Literacy Agency
> (NALA). The theme of the conference was Sustaining  Motivation for Adult
> Literacy Learners. As I thought about this theme, and how I might frame
> remarks that would fit with it, I glanced at the  bulletin board by my
> desk. There I noticed the photos of the grand, main building of the New
> York Public Library (NYPL) that I have tacked to the board.
>
> I have long admired the NYPL located on the south-west corner of the intersection
> of 42nd street and 5th avenue. I am particularly fond of  the two massive
> sculptures of lions that guard the main entrance to the  library. During
> the great depression of the 1930s, New York Mayor
> Fiorello LaGuardia dubbed the two sculptures of lions with the names Patience
> and Fortitude. Mayor LaGuardia told the citizens of New York that
> patience and fortitude were the qualities they would require to survive
> the economic depression gripping the nation and New York City.
>
> This lead me to think that these great lions, Patience and Fortitude, also
> represent the qualities that adult literacy tutors require to persist in
> helping adult literacy learners maintain their motivation in  what can
> often be a long and difficult struggle for literacy. In many ways, the
> adult literacy tutors are the Lions of Literacy. They help guide adult
> learners into the great library of books of the world which provide
> access to the collected knowledge of the ages.
>
> As I studied the photo of Patience and Fortitude, I came to the thought that
> there was something that bonded these two qualities and sustained them.
> Then I thought of Aretha Franklin and her hit song, RESPECT. It occurred
> to me that respect is what builds the bond between tutors and learners, a
> bond maintained by patience and fortitude on the part of both tutors and
> learners.
>
> For my presentation in Dublin, I built on these thoughts and developed the
> idea that the seven letters of the word R.E.S.P.E.C.T. that Aretha Franklin
> spelled out in her song could serve as a mnemonic for seven factors that
> taken together can help sustain motivation for the work of teaching and
> learning in adult literacy education.
>
> R.E.S.P.E.C.T.
>
> R : Relevance to the learner's lives
>
> E : Engagement with the learning experience
>
> S : Social capital development for learners
>
> P : Participation by learners in choosing goals, curriculum materials &
> methods
>
> E : Educational opportunities across the life span & across multiple
> life cycles
>
> C: Community support for adult literacy education
>
> T: Teachers/tutors who care about adults, literacy, & learning
>
> Following a brief overview of these seven factors, I focused on R, for  Relevance.
> I recounted the stories of three great adult literacy educators who
> focused on the relevance to the lives of their students of the materials
> they were using to teach adults to read.
>
> First, the story of Harriet Jacobs, the former slave girl of the  mid-1800s
> who taught an old black man to read using the Bible, which was  what he
> wanted to learn to read.
>
>
>
> Next, an account of the work of Cora Wilson Stewart in 1911 to start the
> Moonlight Schools of Kentucky and  the materials she wrote in books
> called the Country Life Readers. These books taught reading in the
> context of farming, home making, health for  the family, community
> development and other topics of relevance to the lives of the country
> folks who came to class on moon lit nights.
>
> Finally, the Queen Mother of the civil rights movement in the United States
> during mid-20th century was identified as Septima Poinsette Clark. She
> started Citizenship Schools to teach African-Americans to read and write
> so they could vote. This was the relevant goal for these American
> citizens who were being denied voting rights and hence social justice
> because of illiteracy. Septima Clark knew the importance of developing
> literacy and power by making the materials of education relevant to the
> lives of her students.
>
> To sustain the motivation of adult students in the often arduous task of learning
> to read and write adult literacy tutors need both patience and fortitude.
> But above all, they need to have R.E.S.P.E.C.T. for their students. And
> the primary letter of that word, R, stands for Relevance. Over a century
> of professional wisdom by those on whose shoulders we stand confirms the
> importance of relevance in adult literacy education.
>
> Today's adult literacy teachers and tutors carry on the important work of
> respecting adult students and providing relevant literacy education sustained
> by both patience and fortitude. They are the Lions of Literacy in the
> 21st century.
>
>
>
> With R.E.S.P.E.C.T. for Aretha Franklin may she R.I.P.!
>
>
>
> tgsticht at gmail.com
>
>
>
>
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-- 
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
P. David Pearson
Evelyn Lois Corey *Emeritus* Professor of Instructional Science
and Professor of the Graduate School
Graduate School of Education
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