CLJ: Spring 2007 1.2 Titles & Abstracts
Putting Women at the Center: Sustaining a Woman-Centered Literacy Program
Betsy Bowen
Abstract
For nineteen years, Mercy Learning Center, a community-based literacy organization, has provided basic literacy instruction to low-income women in Bridgeport, Connecticut. During that time it has grown from three students and two tutors to 450 students, 155 tutors, and five full-time teachers. This growth has been affected by changes in welfare regulations and increased immigration. Using what it describes as a “holistic approach within a compassionate, supportive community,” the Center provides instruction that goes beyond what is usually considered basic literacy. The Center’s expansive view of basic literacy has helped it respond to the changing needs and demographics of its community.
Community Literacy, Labor Market Intermediaries, and Community Communication Ecologies
Michael Pennell
Abstract
Arguing that we fail both parents and students if we continue to think of community literacy as a dichotomy between school and work, this article illustrates Labor Market Intermediaries (LMIs) as sites of community literacy. The investigation of LMIs in a particular community (Greater Lafayette, Indiana) allows for a more thorough understanding of community literacy outside of traditional sites such as schools, community centers, and adult education programs; in turn, the article argues that such an understanding may lead to more productive involvement by literacy educators in our communities.
Julia Doggart, Melissa Tedrowe, and Kate Vieira
Abstract
What does it mean for a community writing assistance program to bridge the gap between the university and the community? What makes for a successful alliance between these two worlds usually considered distinct? Our paper addresses these questions by reflecting on the factors that have contributed to the growing success of our CWA program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Taking into account the varied alliances forged through our work — between the funding organization, instructors, community leaders, and writers themselves — we hope to offer a multi-faceted picture of local literacy outreach and partnership.
“A Reflection on Teaching and Learning in a Community Literacies Graduate Course”
Michele Fero, Jim Ridolfo, Jill M. McKay Chrobak, Deborah VanDuinen, Jason Wirtz, Ellen Cushman, and Jeffrey T. Grabill
Michigan State University
Abstract
This article outlines one potential model for a graduate-level course in community literacy studies. Ellen Cushman and Jeffery Grabill taught this course for the first time at Michigan State University in the spring of 2007. In this article our colleagues with varying disciplinary backgrounds reflect on the course, its readings, and their theoretical and practical understanding surrounding many of the central questions of this new discipline: what is a community? What is literacy? What is community literacy? And what does it mean to practice “community literacy” – to write, to speak, and so on? After a wide discussion of course experience from several student colleagues in the course, Cushman and Grabill reflect on their course objectives and point toward future incarnations of the course.
Heidi McKee
Kristine Blair
Abstract
In this article, we begin by briefly reviewing some of the national statistics on older adults and computer usage, statistics that led each of us to volunteer as teachers to develop technological literacy programs for older adults at local community centers. Because we recognize that all literacies are developed and used by specific people in specific contexts, we describe the community centers where we volunteered (New England and the Midwest), our roles as teachers and later as researchers, the older adults with whom we worked, and
the technological literacy curricula we developed and then revised based on extensive input from participants. Drawing from our experiences and from qualitative, interview-based research with participants, we seek in this article to discuss the barriers and benefits to older adults’ acquisition of technological literacies. In particular, we argue for the importance of building communities of practice based on relational support and interaction and for the importance of drawing from assets and needs existing within communities.
Book Reviews
Creating a New Kind of University: Institutionalizing Community-University Engagement.
Reviewed by Chris Warnick
Teaching Community: A Pedagogy of Hope.
Reviewed by T. Mercadal-Sabbagh
Beyond Nostalgia: Aging and Life-Story Writing.
Reviewed by Suzanne Van Dam
Community Media: People, Places, and Communication Technologies.
Reviewed by Jessica Rivait
Funds of Knowledge: Theorizing Practices in Households and Classrooms.
Reviewed by Chiara Cannella
Rhetorical Listening: Identification, Gender, Whiteness.
Reviewed by Shelley DeBlasis