Ohio University Literacy Center

Literacy Center: Southeast Ohio’s best kept secret

By Dwayne Steward
Speakeasy
Staff Writer
Tue, Sep. 19, 2006

The sixth annual Literacy Center Kickoff Event at
Baker University Center Ballroom drew over 200 participants,
the largest crowd yet for the kickoff.

Ohio University played host to one of the largest regional events for the development of low literacy adult teachers on Friday, Sept. 15 in Baker University Center.

The 2006 Literacy Center and Central Southeast Ohio ABLE Resource Center Kickoff saw a record number of over 200 participants, all in the name of low adult literacy.

A $10,000 budget and the seven dedicated individuals who comprise The Edward W. Stevens Center for the Study and Development of Literacy and Language coordinated the region-wide effort. Themed “Learning Together: A Literacy Community,” the kickoff featured students who had excelled in the program in their morning ceremony and teacher development workshops that afternoon, coupled by industry consultants and educators.

The eight-hour conference included a keynote speech by Lynn Selmser, a policy consultant for the Commission on Adult Basic Education and former member of the House Committee on Education and Labor. Her speech, entitled “The State of Literacy in the U.S.—Advocacy and Congress” was given at a packed luncheon at Baker.

Robin Schwarz, session presenter and literacy educator consultant in Columbus, taught kickoff participants what not to do when teaching English for Speakers of Other Languages adults, using a simulation to reinforce her point. She began her session entitled “Practices that Help or Hinder Learning of ESOL Adults” by starting before everyone had seated, giving unclear instructions and randomly calling on participants to present their “work” to the “class.”

After ending the simulation she said, “I set you all up to fail. There are many classrooms where I have observed where teachers use teaching practices that set their students up for failure,” she said. “As teachers we must never engage in such destructive behavior.”

Other sessions included “Marketing Your ABLE Program,” “Fundamentals of Mediation” and “Dialogue Reading: An Interactive Approach for Tutors to Model Good Reading.”

Lois Knadler, 12-year ESOL educator, said the kickoff was extremely diverse in the sessions it offered, making it a much more eclectic and a more helpful experience.

“I just enjoy talking to different people,” she said. “That’s how you get your best ideas.”

OU’s own Marvin Nichols, a grounds maintenance employee with facilities management spoke at the event detailing his success and future endeavors in the program.

“Marvin is a special case, we actually tutored him here at the Literacy Center,” said Sharon Reynolds, coordinator of the Central/Southeast Ohio ABLE Resource Center.

Jeff Fantine, the center’s director, has been with the center for nearly six years. He said he thought the conference was a resounding success, which built lasting bridges and helped further the center’s core goals.

“I thought the kickoff was fantastic, every year it gets bigger and better,” he said.

Fantine said a better relationship was cultivated with the university this year, in the program’s sixth year.

“We’ve always been so isolated from the university in years past,” he said. “This year we felt we really made a connection with the university community.”

The center, hidden in the third floor of McCracken Hall, offers six major literacy projects, including the pilot GED Scholars Initiative, a one of a kind program, currently housed in Lancaster, which will help GED graduates transition into college learning.

“We hope to have the program [the GED Scholars Initiative] up and running on all the campuses by next year,” Fantine said.

The center caters to all of Southeast Ohio’s literacy needs and one of their grants has statewide jurisdiction.

The center’s Adult Basic and Literacy Education (ABEL) Resource Center, is one of only six in the state and specializes in adult literacy resources and special needs, including state of the art assistive technology for students with disabilities. Its resources can be used by students or anyone within the field of literacy

“The ABLE project has 30 programs operating within the region,” Reynolds said. Three other major projects comprise the center and have the arm just as far into the community.

AppalCORPS, a school-aged tutoring project, has 27 AmeriCORPS members at 20 schools, serving about 750 children in grades K-6 who are struggling with reading. The program operates in public schools in Athens, Scioto, Belmont and Monroe counties. America Reads has approximately 12 teachers at area elementary schools and Appalachia Reads focuses on promoting literacy awareness, specifically in Athens and neighboring counties. Projects are usually filled with work study positions or volunteers, for more information go to http://www.ohio.edu/literacy.

Besides the GED Scholars Initiative, the center is also offering new projects, including the Library Literacy and Teacher Education Project, to promote library usage amongst college students, and the Literacy on the Road Project, which is a mobile classroom that travels around Southeast Ohio promoting and improving literacy at grade schools.

“We’re continually trying to expand our programming,” Fantine said. “Our mission is to promote research and study of literacy and language on a national and global level and we also have a commitment to improve literacy in the Southeast Ohio and Appalachian region.”