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I was lucky enough to attend the National Conference on Family Literacy last Spring and had an amazing experience. I shared my thoughts with the crew documenting the event and was surprised to be included in their recap video:
There was a lot of information to absorb at the National Conference on Family Literacy, which might be why it's taken me so long to process it all and write down my thoughts. I've been home for a little over a week and mulled over the messages I heard from educators from across the country and from the excellent speakers.* One consistent theme emerged: parents are a child's first and most important teachers. They need to be reminded of that and given the tools to help them become more engaged in that role.
I truly believe that is why the NCFL invited me to experience their annual event: parents need to realize that they are teachers. It's a simple message and perhaps obvious to some of us, who were lucky enough to grow up in families that cherished books and school and the concept of lifetime learning. It's easy to take that for granted but many don't have that background. Some parents may have struggled in school and don't think they have anything to teach their child in the realm of academia. Other parents might speak English as a second language and feel insecure about their contributions in American schools. Many children don't have parents in their lives and their caregivers are uncertain of their place in the classroom. The NCFL works with families to raise the collective bar of achievement. By empowering parents and caregivers to become active participants in the community of learning, the children are given a better opportunity to succeed. It's a win-win situation. Confident, engaged parents make for happier, more engaged kids and also stronger, more educated communities. The concept of family literacy is explained on the NCFL website:
What is family literacy? Essentially, it’s a practical solution that addresses the root of devastating social problems: low literacy rates and poverty.
The family literacy approach offers whole families educational opportunities so that every member is able to improve literacy and life skills. It is based upon the simple, but powerful premise that parents and children learn best when learning together. The benefits span generations: both parents and their children build essential skills to learn and compete in today’s economy.
Breaking it down, literacy is the catalyst that inspires families and communities to raise the achievement bar. Families act as the conduit for long lasting, meaningful change. By intertwining these two concepts, NCFL has developed a winning strategy to work with families, communities and dedicated partners that brings about change to ensure that parents and children achieve their goals for success.
Time and again, family literacy proves to break down other barriers to success, such as poverty, unemployment, poor health and inadequate housing. When parents struggle with literacy and basic life skills, their children have fewer chances for success. Family literacy reverses this destructive cycle by giving families the tools they need to thrive today, and most importantly, by helping them educate generations of tomorrow.
In addition to their many community projects and initiatives, NCFL hopes to reach out to individual families in their own homes. They are a major resource for the Thinkfinity.org website, which offers a wealth of educational and literacy resources for students, parents and after-school programs including lesson plans for K-12 as well as interactive tools and reference materials. I love that they have harnessed the power of the internet to bring resources such as the Smithsonian archives to younger kids and make it fun. One example is using the speeches of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to make word art. I was tickled to see a demo of this at the NCFL conference and surprised at how many audience members had not used Wordle before! Obviously, we have to get the word out about online literacy resources.
I was so honored and excited to be given this chance to learn more about the NCFL and hope to work with them more in the future. Hopefully more parent bloggers will be in attendance at next year's conference to learn more and spread the word about family literacy.
*I mentioned many of the speakers in my NCFL recap post but the final day's speakers were fabulous, too. Sir Ken Robinson was erudite and drily hilarious in a way that only British people seem to be. He spoke about the perceived rift between intelligence and creativity and the importance of realizing that they have a symbiotic relationship. Monica Holloway managed to simultaneously elicit giggles and tears with the story of her son's diagnosis of autism and the puppy who helped change his life. I was sorry to have to leave for the airport before her book signing.
I'm taking a break between sessions at the National Conference on Family Literacy. Midway through the second day and I am already exhausted! There is such a wealth of knowledge and experience and a sense of communal purpose. Most of the attendees are teachers or community educators. Because my own limited experience with literacy programs has focused on children, I imagined much of the content would be related to early childhood initiatives but the broader goal of the National Center for Family Literacy is to reach entire families.
Many of the speakers have come from disadvantaged backgrounds, with English as a second language, and the effect that adult literacy programs have had on their lives, and the lives of their families is truly inspiring. Kay Brown, the 2010 Toyota Teacher of the Year Award winner runs the Union Parish Family Literacy Center in Monroe, LA underscored the need for parents' confidence to be built up so they can share their new skills with their children. Education empowers parents to help their own children to succeed and set higher goals for themselves. Everyone wants to be heard and to be acknowledged and it is important to give parents the tools to work with. These might look like ordinary schoolteachers lining up for a fajita bar, but they are absolutely extraordinary for their ability to empower people through literacy!
Yesterday's keynote speakers were Sean and Collins Tuohy, the adoptive father and daughter portrayed in The Blind Side. Their message was powerful, even though they kept the audience laughing with a light tone and familial banter. They emphasized the importance of what they refer to as "cheerful giving" and reflected on ways family involvement and simply understanding and acknowledging the need for different avenues of learning can aid in a child's education.
Today, Byron Pitts talked about overcoming being diagnosed as functionally illiterate as a child in East Baltimore. He spoke about how the courage and compassion of family literacy educators helped him beat the odds to become an award-winning journalist and correspondent on 60 Minutes. He also discussed his recent travels to Afghanistan, where 50% of adult men and 90% of adult women are illiterate and how the US must put "books before bullets" by combatting illiteracy before training Afghans as soldiers. "How can you expect a population to embrace democracy when they can't even spell the word?" he asked. Pitts also underscored the importance of reaching out to others in need whenever possible and shared personal stories from his own life to further his message. He also signed copies of his book, Step Out on Nothing, for four hours… I went to two other sessions after his and he was still there, talking to fans about his life! (FYI: If you purchase the book from NCFL partner Better World Books, 100% of proceeds will be donated to literacy funding.)
I attended a remarkable presentation by Partners in Development, about their Ka Pa'alana Traveling Preschool and Homeless Outreach program that serves houseless families along the Leeward Coast of O‘ahu. I was saddened to learn how much the homeless epidemic has grown in Hawaii since I was growing up on the Windward side twenty years ago. Their program has been going on for three years now and it seems like they have made great strides, building yurts as classrooms and providing much-needed outreach and peer mentoring to older kids, too. I was also impressed (but not surprised!) that the Hawaiians brought food for their audience. (Right on!)
There was also a really enlightening (seriously!) panel discussion about the newly-revamped Electric Company. I remember the old series fondly from my childhood and got a real kick out of hearing how it's been tailored for a contemporary kid viewership. Three of the performers from the show were on the panel, plus the website coordinator and producers and all of them had great things to say about motivating kids to want to learn to read and to love words and music.
And if that wasn't enough, I got to meet Clifford the Big Red Dog. How cool is that?!
