*a participatory process
*moving forward-enhancing professional skills, supporting community, building pathways to high education and job opportunities
*Assets vs. Needs approach i.e. the glass is half full approach to learning, listening to not just what learners think but what they need
*Student Voices Study in 2008 with 151 learners including current students and alumni across all sectors
*found that students were looking for opportunities to give back to their fellow students in the form of peer mentors, tutors, and counselors
*Strategies were developed and categorized based on need by the alumni
*support and motivation
*community organizing and outreach
*information and communication
*Advocacy
*The instructor then acts us all to define leadership; a long list of attributes was given
*Leadership:The decision to see that everything around you goes well.
*Issues that face women in leadership are
*Oppression;externally and socially
*Internalized oppression;no power, negative self-image,limited capacity to inspire
*passing the hurt vs. creating a culture of healing
*Isolation;cultural/language/economic barriers
*At this time we did a listening exchange exercise where we worked with a partner describing what our programs are doing to engage women in leadership. The listener was required to be silent but encouraging without interruptions or judgements
*upon further discussion of leadership qualities the instructor suggested that the same qualities required to be a leader are required to be an adult learner
*At this time we were introduced to program that began in New York in 2009 called We are New York or WANY an ESOL program
*In 2010 WANY began a leadership internship program
*the Future Now Program based on whole student centered principles
*Head-strong academics
*Heart-emotional support
*Soul-values adult learner bring to the classroom
*Engaging Adult learners as partners increases retention rates, improves program outcomes, decreases drop out rates
*We watched short video, (part of a TV series) specifically for adult learners that deals with obstacles that stand in the way of success. These videos are available with sub titles-used another tool/support system
*Adult Education Alumni Alliance
*objectives are based around improving outcomes for learner and alumni, the structure of a sustainable network in NYC, creation of a student centered adult education system
*We then discussed the the transition from local to systemic Action
Leaders
*Biming Long
*Role model for ESOL students in Chinatown community. She went from student to educator in the English and Grammar dept.
*currently a WANY intern at the Mayor's office
*Pamela Soriano
*serves a student liaison bridging the gap between students and program leaders
*Guadalupe Delgado
*on the student newspaper, works a research assistant
*works as a WANY intern at the Mayor's office using the We are New York TV series to improves the lives of other learners
*Diane Francis
*Works as a mentor and instructor for the Queens library adult literacy program
*works a WANY leadership intern for the Mayor's office. She is also a founding member of the Adult Education Alumni Alliance
*Objectives of leadership internships are; increased student retention and transitions to college level, increased literacy by helping people learn English, developed alumni leadership and advocacy
The lessons learned from these programs are
* learners are assets
*alumni are a "secret weapon"
*communities have to have the goal of empowerment
*the culture of adult learning needs to be shifted on both a local and systemic level towards learner centered and learner led programs
1 comment:
There scholarships for single mothers for non traditional students. These are nice scholarship awards and they deserve mentioning so as to help any women who may read this. They are fairly easy to apply to and not that difficult to be awarded. Attending college and paying for tuition is hard for us women who are single and do not have a partner to help with child rearing. This helps us reach our educational dreams a little easier. I have found grants are much easier to get then scholarships.
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