A Reader writes in …

Dee Dickinson corresponded with Building visitor Carol Lewke who sent e-mail with comments about Dee's article Community Learning Centers. Carol gave us permission to post her initial comments, and her follow-up in response to Dee's reply.

Carol first responded:

Responding to your article on community learning sites, I would take it a 
step further and challenge some assumptions.

Why must all children be in a school building every day for at least six 
hours?  Given the new technology of computers, video conferencing and the 
internet, couldn't older children do more work off-site?  The Western 
Governor's group is creating an on-line university.  Can't we do on-line high 
school classes at least?   Must children be in groups all the time to learn? 
Must people only learn from teachers?   If children are in the school for 
less time, that leaves the building open for more hours for other community 
members.

Why are teachers the only ones allowed to teach?  I participated in a unique 
community learning program about fifteen years ago, in the Park West 
community of Chicago.  As a community group of about 250 members, 
we asked if there were any members who wished to teach something 
to other members.  We had about six classes.  One was in information 
retrieval, another taught Spanish, and yet another taught  weight loss.  
The programs were very successful and took place in each others' homes.

Currently I am working with a peer tutoring program, where students are 
trained to teach other students how to read better using a unique and 
effective method for teaching reading.

Recent research indicates that the time of fastest brain growth is during the 
first two or three years of life suggesting that lack of stimulation and 
nurturing during this time can cause lifelong learning problems. Why 
aren't we teaching parents and those who plan to become parents how to 
maximize this fertile time for learning by stimulating and nurturing their 
infants?  Community learning centers should not forget these populations. 

Have you read George Leonard's book from the sixties "Education and 
Ecstasy?" He is well before his time in describing a unique community 
learning center. Also, Aldous Huxley in the book "Island" describes 
unique and innovative learning methods.

I've enjoyed reading your newsletter.  My passion too is learning about
better ways to learn.  Thank you for your input.

President

Chicago Learns

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Intrigued, Dee asked Carol to expand on her comments, and to share information about two successful programs. She responded via e-mail:

Chicago Learns is the company I formed in 1994, to give structure to my dream of making a major positive learning impact on the city's public schools. Our mission is to contribute to the city's future by seeking out and spreading innovative and effective educational solutions that profoundly improve the lives of Chicago's families.

The educational solutions we seek must be user-friendly, economical and respectful of the learner. We've focused in three areas: literacy, parenting education and school climate. Too many adults and children are reading disabled. Preparing for parenting by being educated in child development and effective nurturing techniques before becoming a parent and after, should be the only socially acceptable way to parent. School climate, even in safe and orderly schools, can undermine student motivation and limit student learning. Children grow best, we've found, in schools that model and promote caring alternatives to violent and disrespectful behavior and where discipline is firm, yet encouraging and kind.

We work with two programs that fulfill our criteria. One is called Read Right® Systems, Inc. Read Right®, out of Shelton, Washington, uses cutting edge, well-researched "How the brain learns" reading technology. What sets Read Right® apart is that it:

• teaches people to read much faster than other methods, and
• it works for virtually everyone, including children and adults and dyslexics and the learning disabled.

Adult Read Right® students learn to read 12 times faster than those in traditional literacy programs. Industry has proven over and over again that Read Right® lives up to its claims. Read Right has implemented workforce literacy programs and ESL programs in 72 industrial sites including several major corporations like Ford, Hewlett Packard, Amoco and Johnson and Johnson.

You can learn more about Read Right® by visiting their web site at http://www.readright.com

From a community education perspective, Read Right® offers an extraordinary value. Read Right® trains tutors and project coordinators and closely monitors each student's progress. Trained tutors can tutor adults or children and eventually can be trained to train more tutors. The prerequisite for being a tutor is that you must love to read. Even children can be tutors. Read Right® works quickly and keeps students engaged, so they actually graduate as excellent readers - able to read whatever they want without struggle. We've got lots of people who need to be taught how to read. Read Right® offers an excellent system to reach them.

Often Read Right®'s industrial clients have provided tutors to teach their employees and when the employees have graduated as excellent readers, the tutors have been available to teach employee's children. Menasha Paper company in Otsego Michigan offered Read Right® tutoring to all their community members as has Simpson Lumber.

Read Right®'s technology operates from a significant paradigm shift from what we think of as reading pedagogy. In neither the whole language or phonics camp, Read Right® builds on both.

I also work with an excellent elementary school-based program called the Caring Project whose goals are to:

• Facilitate the growth of caring learning environments
• Teach the use of relationship problem-solving model called the caring paradigm
• Teach child development knowledge and relationship skills involved in effective parenting. These skills can be used in all human relationships.
• Discourage teen pregnancy and violent behaviors.

There's no question in my mind that there is too much learning power leached from brains of babies and children before they ever get to school. One way we can stop this is to equip this generation with the skills to effectively support the growth and development of another before they become responsible for another by becoming a parent.

The program based upon a monthly visit by a local parent and their infant or toddler, is again elegant in its simplicity. Students plan for their babies' visit, observe baby and parent, ask probing questions of mom and/or dad, and learn of the hard work and time that raising baby takes. They also learn about normal child development . (The National Association for the Prevention of child abuse informs us that abuse often occurs because the abuser does not have a realistic understanding of child development.)

Teaching young boys in particular the skills of nurturing behavior before they more close identify with traditional male gender roles means they will be more receptive to learning and using these skills. Nothing engages humans like babies do, so students who may not be engaged in learning in other classes, are totally involved in what goes on here.

I could go on and on about the changes the spread of these new horizons for learning could make, at least in my stomping grounds. I'd be happy to send you more information if you are interested and answer any questions.

I'm so happy to find people who believe in the potential of innovative education like I do … I am currently devouring [Ron Kotulak's book] Inside the Brain. Also, would highly recommend Children in Jeopardy: Can we break the cycle of poverty by Irving B. Harris. . Harris argues that the key to breaking the cycle of poverty, hopelessness and violence is very early intervention. We must provide adequate caregiving to children from birth to age three and-to stop the cycle even sooner-we must discourage pregnancy among adolescents. Makes enormous sense to me.

Carol Lewke
CaroLewke@aol.com

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