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

Thu Aug 16 18:01:05 BST 2018

Dear Tom,

I want to echo David's gratitude to you and indicate its importance for
adult readers as well as for readers of all ages.   A really big thank you
from Yetta and Ken

On Thu, Aug 16, 2018 at 9:43 AM P Pearson <ppearson at berkeley.edu> wrote:

> 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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>>
>>
>>
>>
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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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-- 

*Yetta Goodman, Regents Professor Emerita*
*University of Arizona, College of Education*
*home address:  7914 S Galilleo Lane, **Tucson AZ.85747-9609*

*http://www.retrospectivemiscue.com <http://www.retrospectivemiscue.com/>*

*No child needs to be motivated to learn. To learn is their trade.*
*They can't stop learning because they can't stop growing.*
*             Emilia Ferreiro, 2003 *

*Every time we teach a child something, we keep him/her from *
*inventing it. On the other hand, that which we allow **him/her **to*
*discover will remain visible for **the rest of his/her life. *
*               Jean Piaget*
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