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ABE Site summary of conversation circle notes as provided to learners

(This is the summary that was sent to the learner participants for their approval. This is an "unapproved" summary as I received no responses from the learners about its accuracy.)

Mev Miller came to our class to talk with us. We had received her letter only a short time before class. We did not have time to read it before she came. We were doing math when she arrived. Our teacher went into another room with the men in the class to keep working on math. We stayed with Mev to talk about reading and reading materials. She said we could stay and talk or continue with math if we wanted to.

We asked Mev what kinds of questions she had. She said she wanted to talk to us about what we like to read. She wanted to know about what we would like to know about. Mev wanted to know what we would like to read if it was available. She also gave us a form with questions about reading that some of us filled in.

This is a summary of some of things we said. Mev did not tape our conversation and this summary comes from her notes.

 * We don't have much time to read. We'd rather listen to music. Our free time is spent cleaning and listening to music while we clean.

* I like to read magazines like Mademoiselle and Country Living.

* I don't read much. I just want to get my GED so that I can get a better job and get off the 3rd shift and spend more time with my daughter.

* I don't want people to bother me when I'm in the tub. I use that time to relax and sometimes I'll read horror or mysteries. I like them because you don't know what will happen next.

* It would be good to have a book on how to get your children to clean their rooms without mother telling them to do it. How do you get them to do chores without bribing them with money or without yelling at them? I don't always want them to think mommy will do it.

* I plan to be a nurse. But I don't know all the kinds of nursing there are, like pediatric nursing. I want a book that talks about all the different kinds of nursing and what they are.

* I want a book on beauty products and a woman's point of view about how to use them and what works. I want consumer information and real women's experiences, not just advertisers telling us what's good.

* I had a kidney transplant and would have liked a book on that and the experiences of other people.

* I would like a book on laws and my rights and what to do if my rights are violated.

* I'm interested in history.

* We had a discussion about violence in the workplace and on TV and in the movies. There's too much violence. The women in the circle agreed. One woman said that one of the reasons why she likes mysteries is because something good comes of it. There's usually a point. But then she also asked in general where are the morals of this society?

* One woman was also upset that there's so much violence in the workplace. She doesn't want to read about violence in general. There's a lot of problems in the workplace that would go away if people would just follow their job descriptions. She doesn't want to get involved in the business of her coworkers. She and her coworkers complain about violence in the workplace. It's not her place to deal with it though. Mostly, it should be taken care of by the supervisors. It's a concern but not one she wants to read about.

* I want something about what to say if my child tells me he's gay. How should I respond? This could also be a book about how to talk about sexuality in general. (Other women agreed about having books on how to talk to kids about sexuality.)

* Why do kids think their parents embarrass them? Why is it embarrassing?

* How do I talk to my daughter about getting her period, about body changes, about boys and sex, or safe sex, or no sex, and about having babies? (Many of the other women in the group spoke on this as well.)

* If girls were more involved in sports they wouldn't have time for boys. Sports keeps them away from boys. I want some books too on being a tomboy.

* I was always sick so I never had any friends. A book on how to make friends. And how people should treat other people who have illnesses.

* Why do men think they have to protect women? Why can't women fight their own battles?

We also spent some time looking at the books Mev brought. They were samples of books that other women literacy students have written. There were also books about topics that some women in other literacy groups said they were interested in. One woman was especially interested in the book called Daycare and Diplomas¹¹ and the one about miscarriage.

We have never really been asked what we want to read or what we would like to read. Mostly we just read what the teacher assigns. That's what will help us to get our GEDs. The teacher knows best what we should read to get our GEDs. (Women seemed reluctant to say whether they liked those readings or not.) Mostly we just want to get our GEDs and be done.

Mev gave us a form to fill in that had some questions on it about what we like to read. We spent some time filling them in. This activity and looking at the books helped us to think of other reading materials that would interest us.

* I'm into math, not writing. I would be interested in something on finance and accounting.

* One woman talked about her experiences about her kidney transplant and her size. She's tired of people bugging her with questions (like, why doesn't she drive, when will she have kids, why doesn't she date). She wants a book on kidney disease. It should tell people what to do for her and how to treat her like a normal person. It should tell them not to treat her like a kid. It should tell them how hard it is to make friends because of her size (people think she's a kid because of her small size).

* I would like a book on how to talk with children about school violence. What happens if they get shot? How do we keep our kids safe in school? Women in the group mentioned that Catholic school might be better, but maybe not. Several women in the group shared this concern.

These are answers we made on the question sheet Mev gave us.

1. If you feel like reading something, what would it be?

* Non-fiction books
* books about teen mothers who stayed in school
* women's health
* magazines like Glamour
* about parenting and children

 2. What resources help you to make sense of your life?

* How to get an education and stable financially
* going through the experience of life

 3. What kinds of materials would you put in a resource room?

* Books for teens, kids and adults, teen parenting, sex, cooking, decorating, STDs, violence and all kinds of different things. also magazines.

* Experiences, facts

4. What topics or subjects would you include in a resource room?

* Why people have a hard time in life
* Domestic violence
* Rights
* Health
* Sex (all types)

 5. What is your experience with reading?

 * I like it sometimes. Reading is the easiest when I have nothing to do and I am bored.

6. What are some of the things you have read that you really enjoyed?

* Non-fiction books

* Books about baby's and children because I have a baby that is one and my oldest is three so that would interest me a lot.

 

Number of learner participants (all meetings)	5
Age Range	19-33
Race / Ethnicity	African American - 2 (though 1 may have been from Caribbean) European American - 3
How many are parents?	4

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