It Started With 30 Students, And Became 30 Years:
Crawford Retires From Literacy Council
Thirty years ago, Nancy Crawford, an
elementary teacher who had taken a few years off to raise her young daughters,
received a phone call that would forever change her life.
Would she please come to work nights – about
19 hours a week – teaching literacy courses for adults?
“There was a handful of community members
here in Tyler who were concerned that adults didn’t have the skills they needed
to succeed in life,” Crawford explained. “And what was on my mind at the time
was making sure that parents could read to their children.”
As an elementary teacher, Crawford had seen
the importance of modeling the joy of reading as often as she could.
On her busiest days inside the classroom,
she’d skip social studies, science, math, “or anything.”
But never reading.
And the students would transform, right
before her eyes.
“I knew it was something powerful,” Crawford
said. “... How much more powerful would it be if that was happening not just at
school, but if that was also happening at home?”
And so Crawford, of course, said “yes” to
working evenings at the Literacy
Council.
═════════►
That first year, and that first group of 30
students, changed her life for good.
“It wasn’t a plan to get big, or to
accomplish all the things we accomplished. It was just wanting to help adults
learn to read,” Crawford said. “I never dreamed that we would be now serving
2,000 students a year.” READ MORE ➤➤
Based
on 7 readability formulas:
Grade
Level: 8
Reading
Level: fairly easy to read.
Reader's
Age: 12-14 yrs. old
(Seventh
and Eighth graders)
Learning
& Literacy Centre Prepares For New Year
Education
Director Laurie Collier says preparations are being made for extra cleaning of
the centre and masks will be mandatory for anyone entering the building.
"This
year, we're very, very happy that we can have students back in the building, so
that's kind of what we're focusing on: just preparing so that that students and
staff are safe," explains Collier.
Another
precaution being taken by the centre is to cap class sizes to allow for
physical distancing. Collier says this cap will depend on the classroom size as
some rooms are larger than others.
"We'll
also have waiting lists," notes Collier. "For anyone wanting to join,
if somebody doesn't show up or drops out in the first two weeks then we can
take another student." READ
MORE ➤➤
Based on 7 readability formulas:
Grade Level: 10
Reading Level: fairly difficult to read.
Reader's Age: 14-15 yrs. old
(Ninth to Tenth graders)
The 5 Q's: Improving Residents' Literacy Skills With Grace Clouse
A:
Our mission is to foster and strengthen literacy skills enabling learners to
reach their full potential. To do this, we offer classes and one-on-one
tutoring in literacy-related subjects. We offer tutoring in reading and math
and offer English as a second language classes each week. We also have classes
in computer literacy and, along with Joplin AEL, help students obtain their
high school equivalency. All of the services we offer are free of charge to our
learners.
Q:
How has the pandemic affected the organization?
A:
Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, NALA had to close its offices in March. Since
then, we have been working to transition as many of our current students to
remote learning as possible. This includes sending copies of materials sent to
students through the mail, virtual classrooms and tutoring sessions over the
phone.
While
virtual learning is a great resource, not all of our students have access to
digital resources, so we have adapted to the needs of students to ensure they
are able to receive curriculum until it is safer for us to return to
traditional classroom learning. We will continue to transition and ensure that
we have remote options as long as necessary.
COVID-19
has also caused us to cancel our spring fundraiser, which we look forward to
each year — the Spell Ball Bonanza. Because of this, we will be holding a
virtual silent auction from Facebook this fall to make up for lost income. READ
MORE ➤➤
Based on 7 readability formulas:
Grade
Level: 10
Reading
Level: fairly difficult to read.
Reader's
Age: 14-15 yrs. old
(Ninth
to Tenth graders)
Adult
Literacy League Holding Virtual Citizenship Classes
What
You Need To Know
Adult
Literacy League offering virtual classes
Nonprofit
holding citizenship classes on Zoom
Classes
designed to help legal permanent residents improve their English
The
nonprofit provides 20 Zoom classes as well as one-on-one sessions to help legal
permanent residents improve their English speaking and comprehension, and to
help them do better on their citizenship exam.
Vince
Scalise, a citizenship class instructor, advised his students to continue to
develop their skills during any citizenship process delay. USCIS announced
there would be a bigger citizenship backlog after it made budget cuts to cancel
planned furloughs.
In
May, backlog was more than 700,000.
Adult
Literacy League provided some tips to help legal residents better navigate
through the citizenship process.
1.
Check and double check your eligibility for naturalization. You can do so by
visiting the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services website.
2.
Make sure your personal information is 100% correct on your N400. Remember that
you are responsible for the information, and it must be correct. Use your
friends and family as resources!
3.
Understand all the vocabulary on the N400. Use the current processing delay to
your advantage and get to studying! You have 100 civic questions to familiarize
yourself with, so aim to learn a couple per week. READ MORE ➤➤
Based
on 7 readability formulas:
Grade
Level: 9
Reading
Level: difficult to read.
Reader's
Age: 13-15 yrs. old
(Eighth
and Ninth graders)
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