Hello All!

I want to take some time to introduce myself. My name is Pushti and I officially began my service at the DLC through AmeriCorps this past week. I recently graduated from University of NC at Charlotte with a BS in Biology and Psychology. I plan on continuing my education with Masters in Psychology; however I wanted to take a year off to serve. The Durham Literacy Center is a perfect match, and I am very delighted to be here. So far the experience has been nothing, but positive. I am very grateful to be working with people that are nice, caring, and passionate. Lastly, I want to thank Lark for all her help. I know that I have big shoes to fill, but I am ready to take on the Challenge. I am very ecstatic about joining the DLC and looking working to a wonderful year head

Pushti

Jermaie Harden – Olympic winner!

Jermaie Harden won four medals in Powerlifting at the Special Olympics North Carolina Summer Games. He won gold medals in the bench press, deadlift, and triple combination competitions and a silver medal in the squat competition. Congratulations, Jermaie!

Veleda’s Speech

Here is a video of the inspiring speech Veleda T. gave at the DLC’s 2008 Leaders in Literacy breakfast, which was held at the Washington Duke Inn.

Emmett’s speech at the RBC Center (April 2008)

Emmett Jackson, DLC adult literacy student and advocate, was the guest speaker at the Triangle United Way (TUW) annual awards event at the RBC Center in Raleigh, NC in April 2008. The event honored companies who helped support the TUW’s annual campaign. Mr. Jackson received a standing ovation from the audience of more than 300 people. Read more about Mr. Jackson here.

News, Notes, & Thanks

In the two short months since I joined the DLC staff, I’ve learned much about the amazing things that this community is accomplishing. For example . . .

• Carol has earned her driver’s permit and is now preparing to take the U.S. citizenship exam. Good luck!
• Kathy B. is moving from level 3 into level 4 of the Megawords program. Congratulations!
• Mike H. is moving from level level 2 to level 3 of the Wilson Reading system. Congratulations!
• Myrtle spoke at the DLC orientation for new board members, giving them a glimpse at what it is like to be a student in the Adult Literacy Program. Thank you, Myrtle!
• Lucy and Kiasha’s eloquence and passion made such an impression on visitors from organizations such as the Triangle United Way that they were invited to discuss their adult literacy experiences on the nationally syndicated radio show, The Story, which is hosted by Dick Gordon. We hope that this will be the first of many opportunities our students will have to share their experiences with the larger community. We all have so much to teach and to learn. Thank you Lucy and Kiasha for raising awareness about the DLC and adult literacy!

Many thanks to everyone in the Adult Literacy community – from Christine, who left the hospital where her son’s wife was giving birth to Christine’s grandson in order to take a CASAS test on Monday evening . . . to Deb, who spent a week of her vacation at training to enhance her understanding of reading instruction . . . to James, whose ability to describe how he is learning and how he sees (and hears) the challenges to reading and writing is incredibly instructive . . . to Mia, who is researching ways of meeting the needs of students with special learning needs – I am awed by your dedication to this community.

Have a joyous and peaceful New Year, everyone!

rebecca

Our students on NPR!

Good news! Two dedicated DLC students, Lucy and Kiasha,  were interviewed today by Dick Gordon from NC Public Radio’s The Story. Kiasha started with the Adult Literacy program over a year ago, and encouraged her grandmother, Lucy, to start coming as well.

Their amazing stories will be aired soon…so stay tuned!

Poetry by a Literacy Student & Advocate

Earl Mills, Poet

Emmett and I met an inspiring adult literacy student and poet at a conference we attended last year. The student’s name is Earl Mills, and he lives in New Bern, NC. Earl takes classes at the Craven Literacy Council, and he will publish his first book of poems soon. His blog (http://earlmills.wordpress.com) is an inspiring resource for literacy tutors and students. It tells the story of his journey to literacy and his growth as a poet, and it shares many of his poems.

Here is the beginning of one of his poems:

My Name is Illiterate

By Earl Mills

I’m red, yellow, black and white
From every nation and tongue
Old middle age and young.

I have no boundaries
Generational or race
My father couldn’t read
Now I take his place.

You look for me
In all the wrong places
For I’m closer than you think.

To read the rest of this poem and others by Earl Mills, CLICK HERE

Building Bridges with CLIC!

Computer classes begin this week at Lakewood Baptist Church!

The classes are for Adult Literacy, ESOL students, and the larger Durham community. These classes, called “Computer Literacy Inspiring Community” or CLIC, are being organized and taught by volunteers from Grace Mission Ministries. We are lucky to share our space at Lakewood with the folks at Grace – and we are very excited to work with them on this project. They hope to strengthen our community by helping us to use tools like email, the Internet, and word processor programs to connect to each other and to find resources that can help us achieve our goals at work, at home, and at school.

Here are the details:

What: CLIC Computer Classes

Where: Lakewood Baptist Church

When: Wednesdays and Thursdays, 6:30-8:30pm

Cost: Free!

RSVP: There are green info/RSVP cards with more info about the CLIC classes in the LWB classrooms. If possible, let us know you plan to come by filling out a card and dropping it in the box by the sign-in sheet. (RSVPs are encouraged but not required.)

A Few Notes:

THE CLASSES ARE NOW FULL! CHECK BACK IN JANUARY FOR THE NEW SCHEDULE. THANKS!

No food or drink permitted in this classroom

We hope to have Spanish translators in the classroom.

word, words, words

Test your knowledge of the English language!

Check out this fun word quiz. Try to guess as many of 100 most common words in English as you can in 5 minutes!

70 year old man in kindergarten learning to read

Alfred, a 70 year old man chooses to enroll in kindergarten, rather then an AL program, to learn how to read. Very sweet story.