Sticht champions adult education
that is relevant to the learner

Dr. Tom Sticht, international literacy researcher, spoke to about 45 literacy providers on “Functional Context Education (FCE): Making Learning Relevant in the 21st Century.” The GMLC conference was held on Friday, February 24, at MATC West Campus.

Sticht pointed out the need for more recognition of the needs of the adult literacy field in our country, shared the history of FCE, and emphasized the broad societal results of educating adults.

Sticht began his work on adult literacy in 1966, when he developed methods for helping blind students read through listening. He is recognized internationally for his groundbreaking work in the education and training of under-educated youth and adults. He holds a PhD in psychology from the University of Arizona and has published more than 150 books and articles. He has served on numerous national committees and received many awards, including UNESCO’s Mahatma Gandhi Medal in 2003 in recognition of 25 years of service on the international jury that selects UNESCO’s annual literacy awards.

Because of many changes in government policy and funding of adult education, the number of adult education students has declined, Sticht said. Many agencies have closed due to lack of funds, and, because of cuts in welfare, adults are forced to work instead of increasing skills. The government continues to pour more dollars into the K-12 system, Sticht pointed out, even though studies show that the best predictor of a child’s performance in school is the education level of the parents. In this country, we spend about $7,000 per year per student in K-12 and about $800 per year per adult student. Sticht suggested that we create a name for the adult literacy field, Adult Education and Literacy System of the USA, and invited everyone to sign a petition to increase funding for this field.

Much of the material that is available to teach reading to adults has no relevance to the learners, Sticht said. Materials should draw on the learners’ prior knowledge, because “that is all you have to learn from,” he insisted. These could be job-related materials, personal interest, books to read to a child, cultural or societal issues, or the desire to write one’s own name. Sticht’s research has shown that “using vocational material to teach reading increases scores quicker.” Functional Context Education, then, is developing vocabulary and reading materials using the information that the student wants to learn.

Sticht shared the history of the forerunners in our field, going back to Harriet Jacobs, a slave at the beginning of the Civil War, who used the Bible to teach another slave to read. Our predecessors have used both phonetics and whole language methods of teaching reading.

The presentation was the annual professional-development offering sponsored by GMLC and was made possible by funding from an Adult Education and Family Literacy (AEFL) State Grant and the Community Coordination Grant obtained from the state in conjunction with Milwaukee Area Technical College. Half Price Books also donated four gift cards as door prizes.

-- Mary Moze

Teaching math to adults made easy

If you ask most adults to tell about their experiences in learning math, you are likely to hear horror stories of humiliation and frustration.

Joanne Lange, retired MATC math teacher, spoke at the January 13 GMLC meeting, and pointed out that most stumbling blocks to learning math fall into two categories: Emotional (fear, anxiety) and Intellectual (memory.)

To overcome emotional barriers, Lange recommended two strategies – Success (setting up activities in which students can succeed) and making math fun (she offered a number of examples).

To overcome intellectual barriers, she recommended that students learn strategies to solve problems, learn about number relationships (positive/negative numbers, smaller/larger, etc.) and perform activities that strengthen memory (i.e. ask students to write down a “recipe” for long division).

Lange gave out many sheets with exercises, activities and interesting ways of approaching math. No room for frustration and humiliation here!

-- Kathy Mulvey