The second video focuses on brain mapping and promising findings about the effects of multi-sensory phonics-based instruction on neural pathways. MRI studies show that the type of instruction we provide using Orton-Gillingham methods and Wilson materials can create new pathways in the brain and activate the left posterior sections of the brain responsible for rapid decoding and automatic word recognition.

It takes time and patience, but most of our students show improvement within a few months, and nearly all show improvement within a year. Perhaps most crucial for adult learners is the realization that they can learn how to read. That moment of realization changes lives.

The following video focuses on children, but the ideas hold true for adults as well. The process of creating new pathways may take longer for some adults, but it still happens…

“Nearly half of this spring’s GED graduates suffer from Irlen Syndrome, a perceptual disability that makes words dance on the page because of the way the brain interprets black print against a white page. These graduates passed their GED by using simple, colorful plastic sheets—provided by Forsyth Tech— that they placed over the printed page to correct the problem. Forsyth Tech was the first community college in North Carolina to test for Irlen and provide treatment. Of the 2,015 candidates who came through Forsyth Tech’s GED orientation sessions in 2009, 890, or 44 percent, needed color overlays. ”  [Read more on Forsyth Tech’s Web site.]

The Irlen Institute describes some of the symptoms of Irlen Syndrome:  “Some individuals experience physical symptoms and feel tired, sleepy, dizzy, anxious, or irritable. Others experience headaches, mood changes, restlessness or have difficulty staying focused, especially with bright or fluorescent lights.” Specific reading problems include misreading words, problems tracking from line to line, skipping words or lines, hesitating frequently, and/or miscomprehending texts.

I didn’t have any colored overlays handy, but I did have some blue index cards.  When the student placed a card below a line of text, she was able to read it without a problem.  Her symptoms disappeared completely within 10 minutes.

Given the high proportion of Forsyth Tech students who tested positive for Irlen Syndrome, it seems likely that many of our students might suffer from it as well.  It’s worth checking to see if a colored index card or a colored overlay make a difference for your student.  We’ll soon be stocking both in the library at Lakewood.  Please let us know if you find  them useful.

The image of ‘dancing text’ (see above) was found here on wikipedia.

• Betsy and Bonnie each contributed a number of fabulous worksheets to the Homework Sharing Binder located under the Wilson materials.  (The index at the front of the binder does not yet reflect these additions, so make sure to flip through the binder to see what’s new.)  Also – Betsy writes about her contributions in the previous blog post, so check that out, too!

• Karen recently donated more than 20 books, including Elijah of Buxton; Bud, Not Buddy; Fantastic Mr. Fox; Stone Fox; Rosa Parks; The Brown Condor: The True Adventures of John C. Robinson; Jackie Robinson; Spacebusters: The Race to the Moon; Eruption!  The Story of Volcanoes; Journey of a Humpback Whale; Tiger Tales and Big Cat Stories; Growl! A Book about Bears; Fluffy Goes Apple Picking; The Secret of Foghory Island; Horse Heroes; Earthquakes and other natural disasters; Shark Attack!; and others that are still on their way.  Wow!

• Sarah (Bell) recently donated copies of Wilson Student Workbooks (A & B) for Steps 1-6.  We are keeping them in our office in case the library copies are not available when a tutor needs to make some copies.  Just see a staff member if you need to grab one to make some quick copies.  Great (and generous) idea, Sarah!

• Pushti - AC Member and Volunteer – has just created two huge binders of resources from the Florida Center for Reading Research.  The worksheets and games cover all aspects of reading – alphabetics (phonemic awareness, phonics, and sight word recognition), fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension.  The resources are organized by reading component and level.  Fortunately, there are a number of great worksheets and games perfectly suited to supplement our Wilson and Megawords materials.  While they were created for primary and secondary school students, most will work just as well for adults.

• One of our partner nonprofits, the Augustine Project, shared a number of phonics games that can be used to supplement our Wilson materials.  They are located in the file box on the library book check-out table (under the window).  We will be adding more games as we find/create them.

We will continue to add new items to our library, so keep checking the shelves and this blog for updates.  And if you know someone itching to make a book donation, please send them the link to our online wishlist, which contains a growing list of desired books (with links to publisher sites).

Many thanks to all!!!

I am tutoring a wonderful student named Rufus who is at Wilson Level 1.2A, and wanted to let you other tutors know that I recently put some things in the Homework Sharing Notebook (in the Library) that I’ve worked on with Rufus.  The first thing is a lot of sentences I’ve come up with for reading and dictation.  I’ve found the ones in the Wilson books great, but needed more, so I’ve written some, and thought I’d share them.  Sight words are in red and vocabulary words are in black.  I also got an idea for homework from the notebook of scrambling sentences and letting Rufus try to unscramble them (thanks, Rebecca!)  Well, he loved doing this and asked for more of those.  So I wrote out more of those and put those in the notebook, too.

I think if we all take a few minutes now and then to run off a copy of some of the more successful homework sheets we’ve come up with, we could save each other some time.  There are lots of good ideas in that notebook!

Betsy Dain

I’m Kinesthetic-Visual. That means I need to interact with people and things to learn and that I need to see information in diagrams or charts to be able to process it. I have learned that about myself after 31 years of life and years of schooling- and it was just reinforced and validated after I took this VARK cool quiz (link below).

I would highly recommend this quiz for tutors as a good resource.

VARK- a guide to learning styles

Here are my suggestions for tutors in visual diagrammatic list form (with interactive components in the suggestions):

1- Take the quiz yourself.
It takes 5-10 minutes.

Find out your learning styles.
The “results” part is my favorite part because they give you your results in the learning style you are (for example, my kinesthetic results page had an interactive ball I had to move to find out my results)

You may be a mix of styles, so be sure to check out each page of your result
The results page explains INPUT, STUDY TECHNIQUES and OUTPUT.

2. Try the quiz with your student.
You most probably need to read the quiz and their results to your student.
This website is NOT designed for low literacy levels.

It would be good to give your student a reason of WHY you are doing this quiz.
For example- “Different people learn differently. Every one is different. Some people learn best when they HEAR a teacher talk, some people learn best when they SEE the teacher write on the white board, some people learn best when the DO the activity themselves. By taking this quiz- we will find out how you learn best AND what I, as your tutor can do to use that tool more.”

Maybe you can even include something you have already observed about your student like… “I have noticed when we play the word memory/matching game in our Wilson Lessons, you really enjoy it and can read the words quickly- that may mean that you learn well through TOUCH.”

3. Go through the results together
Explain to your students what their result is and what that might mean for their future lessons with you.
For example-
“Because you learn well through TOUCH, we can add an extra memory game to one class per week, but we still need to spend time strengthening your listening (audio) skills because it is important to use all our tools”

Talk about how this result could have affected their past learning experiences- this can create a great sense of relief for some students-
For example: “You learn best through VISUALS and DIAGRAMS rather then WRITTEN WORDS and our schools mostly use WORDS, so that may have made your school experience difficult- now that we know that- we can start to change things” Hearing that is really validating and encouraging.

Talk about what your results were and what that might mean for y’all working together-
For example: “I learn well through SOUND, like when I listen to a teacher talk. And you learn well through TOUCH, like when we play card games with the words we’ve learned so that means…”(and you can figure the rest out by the OUTPUT section of the results page)

4. Share!
Share your thoughts about this process with us on the blog.
Share your thoughts about this with Gardy, Rebecca, Pushti or other DLC tutors.
I would love to HEAR, SEE, READ, or INTERACT with your thoughts!

Good Luck!

Love,
Yashna
(DLC fan forever)

• Martin Luther King, Jr. (The Activist Series by Grassroots Press)
• Harriet Tubman (The Activist Series by Grassroots Press)
• Nelson Mandela (The Activist Series by Grassroots Press)
• Because of Wynn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo
• The Fantastic Mr. Fox by Roald Dahl
• Stone Fox by John Gardiner
• Holes by Louis Sachar
• The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
• Indigo Summer by Monica McKayhan
• Seedfolks by Paul Fleischman

* Based on library checkouts; the use of books during lessons; and feedback from students.

Books officially checked out of the DLC library by students since August 2009 include:

August 2009

• Indigo Summer by Monica McKayhan
• Trouble Follows by Monica McKayan (Durham Library)
• Martin Luther King, Jr. (The Activist Series by Grassroots Press)

September 2009

• Holes by Louis Sachar (3)
• The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho (3)
• Cosbyology by Bill Cosby
• The Barn by Avi
• Crash by Jerry Spinelli
• Joyful Noise by Paul Fleischman

October 2009

• Holes by Louis Sachar (3)
• The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho (3)
• Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo (2)
• The Last Shot: City Streets, Basketball Dreams by Darcy Fry
• Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis
• The Gold Bug by Edgar Allen Poe
• The Fantastic Mr. Fox by Roald Dahl
• The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
• The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros

November 2009

• Hoot by Carl Hiaasen (3)
• Holes by Louis Sachar (3)
• The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho (3)
• The Watsons Go to Birmingham, 1963 by Christopher Paul Curtis
• The First Four Years by Laura Ingalls Wilder
• The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros

December 2009

• Hoot by Carl Hiaasen (3)
• The Alchemist (3)
• Indigo Summer by Monica McKayhan
• Madea’s Uninhibited by Tyler Perry
• Hard Eight by Janet Evanovich
• The House on Mango Street
• The Devil and Miss Prym by Paulo Coelho

January 2010

• The Fantastic Mr. Fox by Roald Dahl (3)
• Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo
• The Alchemist

What are you reading?

Hello DLC community!

This is Yashna, visiting guest blogger, and DLC fan for life. First- I want to say that no one at DLC got me to write this. This post is a surprise to them too! I am moved to write about all this on my own.

My work with DLC has created a deep belief and passion for the importance of literacy education. Since I left DLC a year ago I have been searching for answers or truths to many things and so far this year, where ever I go (18 cities and towns in the U.S. and 2 in India), what ever I do-  the importance of literacy is a repeated life lesson- along with the importance of love (but that is a topic for another time).

Currently I am working towards building with hundreds and eventually thousands of other people towards the United States Social Forum in June 2010. I have been doing some reading and research in preparation for this because I am a bit nervous as to what strength and knowledge it would take from me and I want to be prepared. I have conjured up courage in part because of the inspiration of the everyday commitment students make by showing up to DLC.

I am writing today, not to talk about the amazing courage of AL, ESOL and TCA students, but to share an exert from some of my reading and research that has reminded me about the importance of literacy. I hope you enjoy this quote and that it helps you stay refreshed in your commitment as a student, tutor, staff or board member. What you do is important. Very very important. Thank you for helping to create a new world.

Grace and Jimmy

This quote is by Grace Lee Boggs reflecting on her husband, Jimmy Boggs, and his passion and skill for writing and how it contributed to his work as an activist and organizer-

“I never ceased to envy and marvel at the fluency with which Jimmy wrote and the speed with which his pen would travel from the left side of the page to the right. When he came home from work, he would lie down on his stomach on the living room floor with a yellow pad and start writing. He would wake up mornings and dash off letters to the editor before breakfast. In the course of a meeting he would start writing and by the end of the meeting he would be ready with a draft of a leaflet or letter. When he was asked where he acquired these skills, he would say that it came from writing letters for the mostly illiterate people in the little town where he grew up. Like other blacks who developed into writers, he began as the community scribe. Just as his childhood writing served his community, every speech he made, every article he wrote as an adult came out of his experiences in the on-going struggle and was produced in order to advance the struggle. His passion for writing, I am convinced, played an important role is his development as a leader and a revolutionary theoretician. Blacks emphasize the importance of the oral tradition in African and African-American history, and rightly so. But the continuing review revision, and self-criticism that are necessary to the development of ideas depend on a written script.”
- Grace Lee Boggs Living for Change

There is so much fodder in this dense paragraph that reflects the importance of literacy! Jimmy, through the tool of literacy, was able to support his community from a young age. That support then developed, as his skills developed, into being the written voice of the people! What a gift!

Today functional literacy is defined in simple terms of reading and writing your name and some basic information. This is how some countries can say they have 99% literacy rates- when in truth- a 1993 investigation revealed that 40 to 44 million Americans had only the most basic (which means below a 2nd grade level) reading and writing skills (Kirsch, Jungeblut, Jenkins, & Kolstad, 1993).

in my opinion- this is an inaccurate reflection due to the outrageous definition of literacy world-wide

True functional literacy is about not only decoding and encoding the words around you-
but the world around you!

Literacy is not inherit within us- it is a privilege that some of us had access to early on. How can we now share the gifts of our privilege? Being literate is not a given.

This is what I got out of this quote-

1- It reminded me about the importance of literacy- what it can do to change and enhance the life of an individual and the life of a community.

2- It gave me pause to gives thanks to the privilege I have of being able to read, write and speak English fluently. I gave thanks that not only did I gain this tool but have had a chance to develop it, and use it as I am doing right now.

3- Reminded me that literacy is a tool for change. Literacy is by no means a sign of intelligence- but it is a tool in our tool box. What are you doing with your literacy tool?

I hope you share some of my reflections and ponder on your own about this quote. Feel free to leave comments here on this blog about your thoughts!

If you are already involved with DLC- again, I hope this refreshes your commitment. Also, I give thanks for your involvement- whether a student, tutor, social worker, volunteer, staff, or board- thank you. What you do is very important. You are creating a new world!

If you are not involved in DLC and want to use the privilege of your literacy tool for change, there are many ways you can do this such as volunteer or read the wish list and see what you could donate to support our brave students.

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

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