Adult Education and Literacy
Adult educators, for years, have been asked to compensate for all that students in their classes had not learned previously in their K-12 education. As a result of recent RQP work in Northern New England, funded by Jane’s Trust, many adult educators discovered that they do not have to take everything on their shoulders alone. They began to teach their students how to become more effective learners, better advocates and problem-solvers and start on a road towards greater independence.
One educator in Vermont said: We will be doing a disservice to our students if we don’t teach them how to ask questions. A teacher in Maine said: If you want to encourage your students to be self-directed learners and to take charge of their own learning, this is a process to encourage that.
Adult educators in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont continue to teach RQP methods to adult learners in their GED, adult literacy, job training and workforce preparation programs in order to help adult learners:
- Improve their critical thinking and literacy skills
- Prepare for their GED and ESOL exams
- Acquire self-advocacy and strategic thinking skills they can use to deal with the many challenges they face each day
As a result of RQP’s work with the state adult education systems in Northern New England, adult learners found that they were indeed capable of learning to think and act on their own behalf. After years of experiencing failure in schools, facing great challenges in their own lives, problems confronting their families, and, in the face of it all, often feeling defeated and incapable of taking action, they discovered that they had within them the capacity to become better learners and could strategize and tackle the many challenges they face in their lives outside the classroom.
An adult learner from Maine captured the relevance of learning the skill of question formulation when she said: I can use it in many parts of my life to help me think and come up with better questions.
An immigant in an ESOL class in New Hampshire described the changes in herself after learning to ask questions:
Sometimes I thought it was hard to ask questions. The doctor asked me questions. Before I learned questions, I stayed quiet when I went to the doctor. But when I learned, I made questions. Before I only heard the doctor. Now I ask him questions. The appointment is much better and I feel more comfortable. Now I prepare questions when I go to see my child’s teacher. For me it is important to ask questions because I can understand more about something. I share it with my kids.
Adult educators discuss the impact of RQP on their students in: “Why Didn’t We Learn This in High School?”