Dignity and the Man in the Middle: Update Houston #2

I have been contacted by readers who want to hear more about how Houston is doing with the transition and what the transition looks like through the Literacy Lens. (See Nov 29) I can already see the next blog on this topic as part of the Houston picture involves the fact that our community was already under-serviced prior to this cut. The reality of technology replacing face-to-face service also carries literacy concerns which pile on top of all the literacy issues discussed below.
 

First, related to the worker transitions, let me say that all the service providers, provincial transition teams and elected officials are very present and aware and attending multiple meetings. Everyone has the best of intentions as they tackle this worker transition phase. Sometimes those best intentions don’t work for those wearing the hardhat.

In Literacy World, we talk about “The Man in the Middle.” The MM is the learner or student or in this case, the transitioning worker. We know everything about our work depends, not on the funders and their needs and wants, not on our organizations’ needs and wants, but rather on the Man in the Middle. The workers, male and female, is why we are here. We must earn their trust and their confidence. If we mess up, they will not come back.

Sometimes I think we have the best job in the world. We get to talk to folks and learn not only what they need, but what skills and talents they already hold. We often find out pretty interesting things about folks that you may not know by looking at them. All of them have a story. And we get to hear that story. When we do our job well, we get to listen to their stories and provide them some hope and dignity around the skills and knowledge they do have.

Right now, in Houston, it is the transitioning workers who are our Men in the Middle. And yes, there are women in this mix as well. Our mill worker (MM) is starting to feel a little lost as he runs around the community, attending town hall meetings, making appointments, writing resumes, collecting business cards and brochures, and placing phone calls. He is doing everything in his power to make sure his transition is as smooth as possible. He is a little fragile. He is told, by one service provider he will need to do an assessment for reading, document use and numeracy. In LiteracySpeak, this would be a TOWES type Essential Skills assessment. He is given a number and a website and told he needs a computer with certain specifications. His computer at home is not up to the task. He finds out through “word of mouth” that he can come to the college and we will help him get set up in our lab. Our adult basic education instructor is given strict instructions, by the other service provider, NOT to assist the workers in ANY way with the assessment. Not even the fragile ones. It would supposedly bias their results.

The tutorial at the start of the assessment has a baby-faced Sponge-bob style computer walk the test taker through all the special moves required for this particular assessment test. How to use the mouse to cut and paste, highlight and so forth. (Do you recall the first time you used a mouse?) When the real assessment starts, Sponge-bob is long gone. The questions relate to workplace materials so language is no longer childlike, the documents have excess information and distractors, and chances are good that the first answer that comes to our Man in the Middle is obvious, but perhaps not correct. The answer then needs to be formatted in a way the computer understands. How do you write 68 cents when they give you a box and a $ sign? $0.68 or would $.68 work? Certainly $68 would be wrong, but for our worker who does not have a computer, I wonder how long he searches for a cent sign, or feels confused that the answer is in dollars. Many of these workers do not use computers, “if they can help it”. MM is already stressed. One more parameter to add: time. This is a timed test of 90 minutes. Up goes the stress. Training dollars are at stake. Unfamiliar surroundings. Unfamiliar media. A test. Timed. High stakes. All adding to our already stressed Man in the Middle. What are the odds that the test score will reflect the actual skills of the worker?

Don’t get me wrong. Assessments are necessary for both the Man in the Middle and the service provider. Workplace essential skills do provide an idea of how the worker is able to apply his literacy skills to workplace situations. I am not convinced that for these workers, at this time, this testing format is appropriate. What is being assessed?

There are alternative assessment methods. They involve conversations, checklists and discussions around the Man in the Middle’s current skills in his current workplace. They give the assessee a voice and dignity. I know that the literacy practitioners I work with could spend a couple of hours with a worker using free printable materials from Human Resources and Development Canada, the creators of “Essential Skills”, and be able to identify the worker’s skills much more accurately, and within context, than a complicated computer-based test that, through its design, increases anxiety and stress.

How are the Houston workers doing with their transition? Some great. A few have challenged exams and worked through Prior Learning Assessment portfolios to the point that they have achieved an Adult Dogwood Certificate (BC Grade 12). In these cases, families, practitioners and the Man in the Middle are proud and empowered to move forward. Is there another job out there for them? We all have our fingers crossed.

Others have shown up for the online assessment and been so stressed, that I am convinced the results will be impaired. Another gentleman was told he would require computer training, so he was slotted into a special transition-worker beginner computer course 6 weeks from now. Six weeks is a long time to wait for someone trying to be pro-active. He then became our Man in the Middle as he independently sought computer help for before and after the upcoming computer course. I watched as he used a calendar to calculate his strange shift sequence so he could determine when his first days off (on day shift) after the holidays would fall. Extraneous information inadvertently included a 2015 calendar. Document use: Level 3-4. I was excited as I could see he will learn quickly. He graciously exuded thanks. Nice, but unnecessary.

When your job disappears, out from under you, through no fault of your own, it is not the piles of papers, the Seven Important Steps, the computer assessment or the fancy brochure of services that will save you. What will save you is the compassion and understanding of the people in your community who are working alongside you in your transition journey. As service providers, we all need to keep dignity as part of the process. Is there an online assessment for us?

 

For anyone who would like to try the TOWES test, this print sample gives you an idea of the complexity.

http://www.towes.com/media/7478/towes%20sample%20booklet.pdf

 

Parking Lot or Busy Intersection? Models for Adult Education

Every once in a while, literacy practitioners find themselves all on the same page. In this case, the page(s) are The Longitudinal Study of Adult Learning: Challenging Assumptions, by Stephen Reder [1]. It is not necessarily his findings as much as his analysis of other researchers, Kevin Leander, specifically, that provoked our collective brain. The ideas presented resonate with several of us in rural BC, as well as a colleague teaching at Simon Fraser.

The reason the ideas resonate is that Reder discussed models for adult education using some of Leander’s metaphors, and practitioners could clearly see this is what they were doing, or wished they could do. As a group, we see that education needs to change and evolve; the few paragraphs in the study have triggered a tsunami of thought, ideas and reinterpretations. Allow me to take you through the metaphors with my re-interpretations and a few photographs, and see what you think.

Leander[2] looks at “the prevailing logic model as the “parking lot” model; what matters is how long students are “parked” in the program”. For this model, students start at the same time, take the same courses, have the same assignments, often in the same room. Very much the traditional view of education that most of us are very familiar with.

Leander suggests we replace it with a “busy intersection” model in which what matters is not how long students spend waiting in the intersection but the direction they take when they leave it.

 

This is where the practitioners get excited. This describes adult education so clearly that we tend to go a bit crazy extending the metaphor. If you look closely at this busy intersection, you will see all the students are different and traveling at different speeds. Some are moving independently, some are being supported to move through the intersection, either with technology or human supports. There are many exits to the intersection; students can choose which exit they wish. They may return at any time and spend more time in the intersection, or less. They may complete the route they originally started on, or head off on another learning journey.

I recently spent some time in Southeast Asia, and came face to face with busy intersections. I got a new appreciation of how these intersections work; the metaphor expanded again. To show you what I mean, in terms of adult education, I am using the word student or learner to replace vehicle or individual as we look at more “busy intersection” photos.

True to the concepts above, each student does move at a different speed. Students will arrive with different burdens and different goals. Slower students are not run over or cursed; the faster moving students respect the speed and baggage of those ahead. It is possible for everyone to progress.

 

 

Sometimes the intersections are full to bursting; at other times they appear eerily quiet. There are no set lanes or routes to follow; students set forth in the general direction they wish to go and all their movements are slow and steady. They temporarily share space with faster learners.

 

The intersections may be large beautifully landscaped traffic circles, focal points for the community where learners can sit and rest, socialize, deal with other concerns, and join in the movement when they feel they are ready. They may intersect with the market or other businesses.

Intersections are used in differing ways at different times. Early morning, 5:30 am, pre-regular traffic, games and exercises are underway on the large expanse of mostly dry pavement. The regular “students” who also show up to use the intersection for more conventional uses at unconventional times, work their way around the early morning folks and everyone meets their goal.

 

As Reder states, when we look further at into the actual learning facility behind this metaphor, we see that students come to the program from different directions and depart towards different destinations. The adult education program helps them choose the best path as they leave the program and provides them with the resources and supports to become persistent lifelong learners and reach their destinations (Lesgold & Welch-Ross, 2012; Miller et al, 2011).[1]
 

In my next blog, I will look at how programs in the northwest are operating like the busy intersection, how that applies to literacy and training, and the effect of the boom and bust cycle on training and re-training.

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[1] Reder, S. (2012) The Longitudinal Study of Adult Learning: Challenging Assumptions. Montreal, QC: The Centre for Literacy. (Research Brief). 1-6.

[2] Leander, K. (2009) As cited in Reder,S. (2012)

Living the Boom and Bust Cycle: Update on Houston

Literacy struggles came to a head in Houston last month as employees from our second largest mill learned that Houston Forest Products will cease Houston operations in late May, 2014.  For some of the millworkers, to say “this changes everything” would be an understatement.   Consider this scenario: It is 1983 and you are a 16 year old, with Grade 10. You hear that you can work at the local mill for great money. You get the job and the big cheques come in. Then the car, the house, the wife and kids, and the payments. Now you are pretty much committed to this job and the lifestyle it provides.    Thirty years fly by. All the employees are notified of the mill closure in five months. You are now 46 and feel you have no skills and no credentials. You still have a house, a wife, kids and lots of bills that are your responsibility. Maybe not a lot in the bank—retirement is still 19 long years away. Suddenly, your job is no longer provides the stable future you used to rely on.    As an ex-worker you face many choices and challenges over the next few months. If you have low literacy skills you will find yourself particularly challenged. Not only are the choices tough, stay for the severance pay or quit now and find another job, apply for EI now or later, and to top it off you find out that the powers-that-be are still in the “wait and see how it all plays out” stage for some of the important information. (In the literacy world, we would call this a classic Level 5 Essential Skills Critical Thinking exercise. And yes, Level 5 is the highest level; the one we save for astronauts and rocket scientists.) This situation throws you into a stressful critical thinking exercise—and on top of that, there is the added stress that your life depends on you and your family’s decisions.    Houston Link to Learning has stepped in to assist Northwest Community College as they work to capacity assisting the displaced workforce with resume writing and learning plans. Both the Career and College Prep Coordinator and the Adult Literacy Coordinator have a steady stream of workers in their offices.  Resume writing is high demand, Houston Link to Learning began offering the service one day per week and now is up to two days, with other practitioners ready for the overflow.   How to articulate the workers’ skills, how to work with the folks in a respectful manner, how to stay hopeful in the face of despair, how to ask the right questions on the right day to figure out the workers’ future needs, are all skills that we, as literacy practitioners, are working hard to master.     To me, the current Houston condition is the sad reality of the resource industry. The ups and the downs, as you folks in Kitimat and Terrace know only too well. (I could keep adding towns to this—this is our shared regional reality—boom and bust.)   As Regional Literacy Coordinator, I will keep track and share our regional realties as we work through this current boom and bust of resource development. Please send me your “literacy lens” community updates of how the boom or bust is affecting you and your community. Or is your community immune? (For example, I have no idea what is happening in these terms in Haida Gwaii.)   I welcome submissions from anyone with the literacy lens, practitioners, learners, workers. Please send your thoughts to:  dmcrae@nwcc.bc.ca    I will be sharing these as they come in.

Welcome to this NEW Blog!

The NW Literacy Lens is a blog created by Dee McRae, Regional Literacy Coordinator for Northwest Community College, British Columbia. Our college region stretches from Houston to Haida Gwaii. It is intended as a glimpse at the world via the lens of literacy, low literacy, struggles with literacy, and dealing with technological literacy. Right now, the immediate theme is Living with the Cycle of Boom and Bust, but the theme will change and evolve.

I welcome other contributors to the blog, with the following considerations:

·         The literacy theme is the focus

·         The story relates to the northwest region of BC

·         All authors must include name and contact email

·         I will not publish everything I am sent. I will use the criteria of the NWCC Blog.

I will ask permission before I edit or change any submissions. I will not accept anonymous submissions, but I will assist in writing stories that others do not wish to write if it follows the themes and considerations indicated.

The Northwest Region of British Columbia, for the purpose of this blog stretches from Houston to Haida Gwaii and north to Hazelton and Stewart. Across this area there are many adult literacy programs and practitioners, working directly with literacy skills and others operating “by stealth.” We currently have 10 community (Houston, Smithers, Moricetown, Hazelton (2), Terrace (2), Kitimat, Prince Rupert, Haida Gwaii) organizations offering multiple programs in each community. As well, there are many early childhood, library, art, music and various other programs that are essentially “big picture” literacy. This blog will deal primarily with adult literacy.

I encourage readers to comment and send links to your pages. I know I am not the only voice out there. I hope this becomes a conversation about adult literacy, mostly as it applies to the northwest, but not always.

I am excited to push publish, and let this adventure begin!