I walked into the Elmhurst Library in search for a quick fix to my boredom on the train. It was early August 2010, around four months since I had moved into New York City. "A few graphic novels" I thought to my self - yes those are the easiest to digest and should keep me occupied on the commute. Leafing through the dc superheroes section I see a yellow Queens library flier. Its for the adult literacy center (ALC). [Link Here] I turn around and I see the door leading to the ALC located in the basement of the Elmhurst Library.The Library has the hustle and bustle of the community. My new community. A community to which I was new to. It was the need to get absorbed by the community that got me to sign up as a volunteer tutor at the ALC. I spent Saturdays in the following September attending tutor training sessions along with a bunch of other first time volunteers from all across Queens. Queens has around 65 public libraries [Link Here] , and 6 of them have ALCs located on their premises. The training period was lively, and full of debates, discussions and disagreements on methods of tutoring adults. A number of the volunteers had teaching background at schools. They were taken back by the difference in techniques that need to be used when tutoring adults. I found myself more open to these methodologies than the teachers were.
Andragogy, or the study of adult learning was developed out of a realization that there is a difference between the way adults learned as children, and the way they approach learning as adults.
"..if in an educational situation an adult's experience is ignored, not valued, not made use of, it is not just the experience that is being rejected; it is the person. Hence the great importance of using the experience of adult learners as a rich resource for learning. This principle is especially important in working with the undereducated adults, who, after all, have little to sustain their dignity other than their experience"
"...For the most part, adults do not learn for the sake of learning: they learn in order to be able to perform a task, solve a problem, or live in a more satisfying way .."
Excerpt from : Malcolm Knowles (1984) Andragogy in action : Applying Modern principles of Adult Learning
Malcolm Knowles is one of the most frequently cited theorists in adult education, and is frequently referred to as the "Father of Andragogy".
Through out these posts I will try and bring out how my experience as a tutor, has fared over time. I will end this post with a short introduction to the learning group assigned to me. My learning group has two adult learners. Again I would hate to call this a class, or any form of tutor and student model. As a tutor I am learning as much from them about literacy coaching as they are about the written form of the language. A middle age Nepalese lady, working part time as a baby sitter in Queens is my first learner-friend. Her husband works in a Chinese restaurant in Brooklyn. She has three school going kids, no formal education and been in New York City for five years. A young African-American lady, a high school drop out is my second learner-friend. Her husband is a painter, electrician and a plumber . She has four kids, all of whom live in Alabama with her cousin. She has been in New York all her life.
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