On the Screen: A Sourcebook and Curriculum Guide Bringing Women's Barriers to Literacy, Learning and Employment to Light.

A 1999-2000 National Institute For Literacy Fellowship Project

Janet Isserlis janet_isserlis@brown.edu PO Box 1974/Brown University, Providence, RI 02912 phone: (401) 863-2839 fax: (401) 863-3094 http://www.brown.edu/Departments/Swearer_Center/Literacy_Resources/screen.html

quarterly report: January - March, 2000

During the month of January, the project group met twice; once with Margie Parsons, the trauma counselor hired by the project to provide support and content knowledge, and once as a working group, to review individual and collective progress.

I met with representatives of the Women's Center of Rhode Island (in Providence) and was to have met with the director of Sojourner House, a shelter for battered women in the northern part of the state, in order to be sure that more domestic violence workers would be aware of the work, and invited to participate in ways that might make sense to them. in order to determine best ways of disseminating work beyond those shelters/dv providers with whom Iım in direct contact. In the event, I met with two staff members from the Providence shelter, who told me at that meeting that the director of Sojourner House had abruptly left her position the previous week, effectively putting that outreach on hold.

The Providence workers, however, enthusiastically responded to the possibility of beginning a literacy drop in evening for shelter residents which would include building a library for the shelter, modeling/helping with mother/child reading, read alouds, and general exploration of literacy related activities. An initial meeting with the residential staff [2/10] drew additional support and a meeting with residents on 2/16 led to a book buying field trip with one of the residents and her son on February 29th, at which time an initial group of books -- self help, nutrition, family and childrenıs poems and stories were purchased. As well, On the Screen participated in the development of a critical issues grant through Southeastern New England United Way in order to develop additional funds for the expansion of the library collection and provision of an on-site literacy drop in at the center.

I scheduled a meeting with Mary Jean Francis of the Providence Ambulatory Health Clinics, in order to discuss the work with her in January, but due to a strike at that facility was only able to share materials with her, and have thus been unable to discuss the work thus far.

On February 24: meeting the Womenıs Resource Center of South County, to continue planning either a session for my team about rural issues or to further negotiate collaborative steps. We've agreed to meet jointly with the adult education learning center in the southern part of the state in April or May to replicate a meeting similar to that held with staff of International Institute of RI (described below).

In January I posted this message in LR/RI's bulletin: Trauma and learning: I am working with a group of educators who are examining the effects of trauma (political, physical, emotional) on learning processes. I am very interested in speaking to program administrators, teachers and others involved in adult education as part of a process of learning about perceptions and realities of abuse and other trauma, and the relationship of that abuse to adult learning. If you would like to discuss the work, or your staff would be interested in hearing more about it, I would be glad to meet with you individually, during staff meetings or in any other way that will enable us to share some of this learning. The final report, part of a fellowship project from the National Institute for Literacy, will be completed in the fall. Resources and preliminary information about the project are online at <http://www.brown.edu/Departments/Swearer_Center/Literacy_Resources/screen.html>. -JI

(online, at http://www.brown.edu/Departments/Swearer_Center/Literacy_Resources/bulletin88.html)

As a result I have met with the staff of one organization (International Institute of RI) in Providence and have had a request to meet with a staff of another in the northern part of the state later in March or in early April, as well as that anticipated with southern area learning center mentioned above.

IIRI meeting - 7 practitioners voiced their concerns around identifying trauma, coping with disclosure, knowing how / when to be helpful, needing information about available resources. They have agreed to participate in a workshop, to be co-facilitated by myself and womenıs center staff and to then decide how, within their classes, to take on issues directly with learners - which may mean asking me to facilitate discussions with learners. A follow-up letter was sent; workshop to be scheduled before the end of June.

During this quarter, the following dissemination activities have occurred:

web dissemination:

- continued development of shadow site, the address of which is known only to participants in the fellowship group, containing meeting notes, archives of email listserv, participant's statements (as part of application process to participate in the project) and contact information

- development of public pages, explaining the work and providing resources

http://www.brown.edu/Departments/Swearer_Center/Literacy_Resources/proposal.html

- abridged version of fellowship proposal

http://www.brown.edu/Departments/Swearer_Center/Literacy_Resources/screen.html

- print, video and online resources

order/received/distributed copies of Too Scared to Learn to participants, shelter partners and others working with the group.

On the Screen (web resource page) has been added as a link to Jenny Horsman's site: http://www.jennyhorsman.com

outreach: In addition to outreach via the LR/RI bulletin, I have also contacted Ross Cheit, a professor at Brown, who has himself done work in the area of abuse and development, and met with him on March 24.

additional workshops for myself and project participants:

February 11, March 24 - sessions with Margie Parsons - clinical support

March 31 - Richard Hoffman [author of Half the House, a memoir in which the author describes his own experience with and recovery from childhood sexual abuse] [Feb. 18 session postponed, due to snow]

presented the following workshops

co-facilitation, with Priscilla George, of a session on learning and trauma at the Canadian Congress for Learning Opportunities for Women, Toronto, March 1-5.

co-facilitation, with Anson, and Monica Rios, of a workshop on our project/dv and learning at COABE, Chicago. March 6.

facilitated a discussion group about women, learning and violence at the Sarah Doyle Women's Center at Brown University as part of that Center's observation of Women's History Month.

facilitation of a discussion group about women and literacy (including issues of trauma and learning at TESOL 2000, Vancouver, March 15. presentation of a paper, providing an overview and theoretical background, and potential practical applications of the work to date at TESOL 2000, Vancouver, March 15. (paper posted to On the Screen resource site ).

activities:

continued communication via listserv for project participants; again open only to participants and archived at a shadow site, as well as postings to NIFL's women and literacy list

attended a workshop given by Jenny Horsman in Toronto, and met with Dr. Horsman to discuss progress on the project and determine content of the workshop she will present in Rhode Island.

Meetings with the full group These meetings have provided opportunities for participants to learn more about one another's working contexts, to develop inquiry plans and to provide feedback to one another. Margie Parsons, a counselor who specializes in issues of trauma has facilitated one of these meetings and is available to meet with the group monthly. These meetings with Margie are optional (as participants were initially asked to commit only one meeting per month to the project); however most participants are interested in meeting both with Margie and with the group to discuss ongoing work at their sites.

On March 10th, Brett Simmons, one of the project participants who is also a licensed art therapist, facilitated a session for participants using visual images as stimulus for eliciting discussion around difficult topics. The process itself, as well as writing and drawing developed from that session will be incorporated into the final report, pending permission of participants to share their work in that forum.

Meeting with Fellows and NIFL staff - February 13, 15

Adult Correctional Institution, Cranston, RI : On January 11th I begin tutoring work at the Adult Correctional Institution's women's facility, working one on one with a 17 year old woman serving a very long sentence as a result of a violent crime. Although my initial agreement with the ACI was to provide volunteer tutoring services prior to speaking explicitly about issues of violence with female inmates, that plan is temporarily on hold. On March 28th I began working with a second student, one with a history of abuse (which she shared with me during our first session, unprompted). I have also been invited to observe sessions being held with male batterers in the men's facility of the ACI, and will do so beginning early in April. I am in the prison because I want my work to at least nominally reflect the need for inclusion of women in corrections in this work, but realize that there may be few opportunities to speak comfortably to other inmates. For the time being, I have made a commitment to tutor once a week at least through the spring, and possibly beyond. At the very least, the report will include appropriate reference material for others considering trauma and learning within the context of corrections education.

plans for next quarter:

-- ongoing meetings with participants and counselor, ongoing communication with Anson Green

-- proactive attempt to invite learners into the discussion (this has been an ongoing discussion with practitioners - ways in which to involve learners carefully and intentionally.)

-- continue writing

-- participation in Literacy 2000 - a literacy and prison conference being held in Ottawa, April 30 - May 2.

-- conference with Jenny Horsman for participants and for broader community

-- conference: RI participants' full day conference/presentation of findings - although the team is now considering moving this to early fall (September 2000)

-- participation (upon acceptance of application) in 3-day institute on women, violence and learning, sponsored by World Education

-- presentation/facilitation of workshop/information for Boston area teachers - invitation from the Adult Literacy Resource Institute, Boston; tentatively scheduled for June.

-- attendance at/observation of male batterers group, ACI, Cranston. -- additional meetings with area adult learning centers and shelters.

-- development of a digest on trauma and learning for the National Clearinghouse for Literacy Education


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