The Art of Presenting

I think it would only be fair this week to begin this week's blog by writing about how well the first presentations went. Congratulations to a job well done by both Petra and Rachel. Both presentations were very informative. Petra's unique take on our inference group's (Dr. Bintz, Lisa, Liz, Petra, Rochelle and myself) study we have been working on for a class that was in the Spring of 2009 was awesome!! (It's afforded some really great opportunities already with more to come in the following weeks, namely IRA in April!!) Petra's presentation, "Inference and Implication" that integrated inference and writing allowed me to see our inference study through a different lens that I had not thought of before. Sometimes we are so involved in our own projects and studies that we need to just step back (at the recommendation of Clifford Geertz) to become an outsider for a moment (or longer) to see what we may be missing!! This is where we can begin to create thick descriptions for our studies.

Rachel's presentation on adult literacy, "Using New Literacies to Teach Old Literacies and Writing" was really interesting. I love hearing stories about teaching experiences in England and how they compare to our adult literacy classes here in the United States. It seems that there actually are more similarities than I originally imagined. Both adult education programs seem to have the same basic goals in mind-to have the adult students achieve basic literacy and math skills in order to improve as functioning adults in today's society.

I was somewhat surprised about how excited adult learners seem to be in England. As an adult education teacher, I have taught enthusiastic learners who are very goal oriented and determined to earn their General Educational Development diploma. On the other hand, I have taught a good number of students here in the United States who are required to come to adult education classes in order to fulfill community service, or for court ordered reasons, etc. These students are generally not nearly as enthusiastic to be in class as other students-I wonder why???

We here in the United States also have a problem with retention of students. The students come and go. Sometimes we see the same students for a few months and then we don't see them again. Others may leave and return in a few months or a couple of years when they say things have "settled down a bit" in their lives. (When do things ever "settle down"-I guess if that was me I'd be waiting a VERY long time??!!)

I hope that my own presentation will be as interesting as both of these two presenters have been, as the "bar has been set very high"!!! As these presentations continue I think we will discover the benefits of how writing can and definitely NEEDS to be incorporated across all areas of the curriculum. Writing needs to be addressed in all content areas not just the language arts classes.