How I Learn Stuff

Amanda Enclade (@aenclade) is one of the unschooling lights on Twitter. She posed a problem: How do you help young adults who can’t read, learn to read?

Approaching this problem as a buccaneer, first I remind myself:

Neither I, nor anyone else, can “educate” someone against their will or inclination. Where it appears that this has successfully been done, it’s but a shallow illusion. Yet, I do feel good if I can be of service, so let me look into it…

Next, I focus on a particular person, and think a few skeptical thoughts:

1. Maybe he doesn’t want to learn to read. What makes me think that he does? Maybe his desire is weak, or maybe it appears weak because the desire is masked by fear.
2. Maybe he doesn’t want help learning to read. Has he specifically asked for my help? If not, maybe he wants to ask and doesn’t know how. Maybe he’s embarrassed to ask. Maybe he’s comfortable learning on his own and I should butt out.
3. Maybe he can already read. Illiteracy is not an all or nothing thing. We are all illiterate in some ways. Try reading a patent, for instance. Try reading a medical textbook, or instructions for doing origami. Maybe my illiterate friend has trouble reading novels, but no trouble reading street signs. Maybe he knows the alphabet. I would need to learn what level of reading ability he already had and build on that.
4. Maybe his life would be better if he didn’t read. You know what I love about walking around Lund, Sweden? It’s that I can’t read the signs. I don’t speak or read Swedish, so the advertising on the signs doesn’t burden my mind. I can walk and think more easily than when I’m in New York City. I get along fine in other countries without the ability to read. Depending on what kind of life you want to live, you may not need to read at all. Socrates apparently didn’t read. You can live a quiet, earnest, and helpful domestic life without reading. I saw an interview with a fellow who taught English in Japan, no one ever knew he could not read.
5. Maybe the world would be better if he didn’t read. I believe the world benefits from having in it people with a wide variety of abilities and different kinds of focus. Someone who doesn’t read may focus on music (I’m a musician who doesn’t read music, by the way), or building things, or art. He may become adept at teamwork– getting other people to read things for him. This may lead to new ideas, new art forms, new communities. I like the example of my dogs. My dogs can’t read, but their beaming enthusiasm and affection makes my life more worth living. Bottom line: someone who can’t read may make someone who CAN read better at what they do.

Now let’s say that my friend asks me to help him learn to read. Okay, well, I’ve never helped anyone learn to read before (my son wouldn’t let me help him, except with a word here and there). I have no specific program for teaching reading. Obviously, I’m not an expert in this. But let’s assume there are no experts nearby willing or able to help. Or let’s assume my friend doesn’t want help from a stranger. Based on how I have helped other people (mostly adults) learn various things, this is what I would do.

1. First, talk with him. I want to discover his history of trying to learn to read. What went wrong? How does he feel about it?
2. Discover his talents and achievements. Learning something new and difficult requires us to believe “I AM SMART ENOUGH!” That’s why, as a coach, I’m always alert to any hint of confidence or pride. I want to fan those flames. Often the people I teach are not aware of how smart they already are, and it takes someone like me (with an outside perspective) to point out what is obvious to everyone but them.
3. Discover how I can learn from him. I don’t find it appealing or useful, long-term, to be an authority figure dispensing wisdom. (Short term, for childish ego reasons, I kinda like it.) So, I want to position myself as a fellow student. That means as I help others learn, I also learn. If I’m helping a man read better, I will ask him to teach me something in return. In general, this will improve his confidence, while helping me exercise my sometimes lazy humility.
4. Discover the authentic problem and turn it into a project. There’s got to be a good reason to read. I need to find that. I want my friend to finish the sentence “If I could read better I would be able to [...] which is important because [...].” Maybe he wants to read a novel, or maybe a textbook of case law. Once we have found an authentic problem, we can set about solving it. Put the authentic problem into the context of a project to accomplish something tangible. My son learned to type mainly because I would not type for him when he wanted to enter cheat code for video games. His project was playing better at video games. Knowing his way around the keyboard was crucial. Later, he wanted to appear older than the age of 12 when playing World of Warcraft online, that inspired him to learn to type chat messages in complete sentences, with good punctuation and spelling. Other players guessed that he was 25.
5. Focus on doing. Sometimes lecture matters. Mostly I want to get him doing things. If you want to learn to read, start trying to read!
6. Watch CAREFULLY for ANY improvement or accomplishment and celebrate it. Sometimes students can’t tell when they are getting better, or focus too much on mistakes. Every little success is an existence proof of a better future.
7. Watch for bold mistakes and celebrate those, too. Among my son’s first sentences was “No, please!” Technically an incorrect sentence, but what a bold idea to combine those two words. I told him he hurt my feelings once when he was five or so, and he said, with an elaborate and sincere sigh. “Ooookay Dad, I FORGIVE you.” Wrong words, but such a worthy mistake. Failing while sincerely trying is a kind of failure we must not fear, and therefore, we must celebrate it.
8. Set expectations low, and aspirations high. Let’s set our sights on reading Scientific American or Shakespeare. We can aspire to those things, without beating ourselves up for not getting there very quickly. Expectations must be kept low to prevent discouragement, but aspirations must be set high to stir the heart.
9. Don’t fret about lapses. Energy for this process may ebb, then flow. It’s all good. There’s no need for a do or die mentality. Externally imposed discipline can be a dangerous corrupting force. I might nudge and harass now and again, but ultimately, I watch the energy of the student and reflect that. Helping someone learn should not be like doing CPR or electroshock therapy.

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 9th, 2009 at 9:10 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.