The History of Literacy Volunteers: Yet another New York Story

Like many amazing accomplishments such as the Kodak Camera, Potato Chips, Jell-O, and Women's Rights, Literacy Volunteers of America was conceived in the great state of New York.

After reading an article in Syracuse Post-Standard in 1961, Ruth J. Colvin was shocked to hear that 11,000 people in Syracuse, NY could not read or write well.  She began connecting with service agencies, churches, and community leaders to find a solution to the problem of illiteracy plaguing her community.  She began developing materials, with the help of reading experts, to train volunteers to help adult learners improve their literacy skills.  In true Grass Roots fashion, Literacy Volunteers of America was born in her basement in 1962.  Ms. Colvin has been honored by two US Presidents, in 1987 she received the President's Volunteer Action Award and in 2006 with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor.  She was also inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in 1993, which you can also visit in Seneca Falls, NY.

In 2002, after collaborating on many projects and initiatives together Literacy Volunteers of America merged with Laubach Literacy International to form ProLiteracy.  The merger expanded the national network of literacy programs and created new international initiatives to increase educational opportunities for adult learners all over the globe. To learn more about ProLiteracy visit their website www.proliteracy.org.

Laubach Literacy International has deep and meaningful roots that touch New York history as well.  Dr. Frank C. Laubach was a missionary serving in the Philippines in 1930.  He recognized that their poor living conditions could be improved if they gained the ability to read and write.  His message was clear, "Each One, Teach One,"  meaning that one adult would teach one adult on an individual basis and the chain would continue if each learner then became the teacher.  He continued to travel to 105 countries addressing their literacy needs and developed reading lessons in 315 languages.  He officially founded Laubauch Literacy International in 1955.

His son, Dr. Robert Laubach followed in his father's footsteps and expanded the reach of the "Each One, Teach One" method.  While he was a high school student in the Philippines he learned to set type and run the printing press that produced the reading material for the learners in Laubach Literacy programs.  Not long after enrolling in Syracuse University, Dr. Bob developed a course there, "Writing for New Literates" and began teaching in the School of Journalism there.  This lead to him founding the Syracuse University Literacy Communications program which taught hundreds of educators from all over the world to prepare literacy materials.  In 1959, he began publishing News for You, which is a high interest, low level news source for adult literacy learners.  Check out this YouTube video to see how News for You has evolved with technology to become a unique and interactive experience for learners. News For You Online.  He also founded New Readers Press, located in Syracuse as well, which we use for a good majority of our adult literacy curriculum.  Today New Readers Press is the leading resource for adult literacy, publishing over 150,000 instructional titles.

Literacy Volunteers of Chemung and Schuyler Counties is part of a gigantic global mission to improve lives through increased literacy skills.  I am honored be part of something so tangible and meaningful and in awe of the big picture I am helping to paint from my little community here in Schuyler County, New York.  I invite anyone reading this to join me on this mission, if you are not in my community, contact me anyway and I will help you connect with your own!

A Favorite Fridays - www.k12reader.com

For those of you I have yet to meet, let me introduce myself.  I am a Program Coordinator for Literacy Volunteers of Chemung and Schuyler County.  My focus is on Schuyler County, a group of small villages hugging the south end of Seneca Lake.  While our community is famous for Watkins Glen State Park and award winning wineries, we are infamous for keeping our problems like poverty and illiteracy a secret.  This fall I committed myself to growing the Literacy Volunteers program here.

We serve people who need to improve their Basic Literacy Skills or learn English as a Second Language.  We can also offer tutoring support to adults who wish to further their education but need extra help reading and studying material needed to pass a class or obtain a certification.

When I get a new Basic Literacy learner I administer  a TABE test to pinpoint the grade level at which a new learner is skilled.  Today I am using a fantastic website, www.k12reader.com to print lesson materials for 2 learners on completely different levels.  Lessons and material can be found for learners from a kindergarten level all the way through tenth grade.

One of my learners is working on a 1.3 grade level.  Her goal is to be able to use Facebook to communicate with her children and grandchildren but she can not read or write responses to their posts.  For her I will be using their spelling lists which are based on word families at this level such as -un family (bun, gun, fun, run, etc).  I will also use the reading lessons that compliment this word list.  It will use the Dolce sight words and add focus words to provide a story that I will be able to assess for comprehension.

Another learner is working at a 3.9 grade level.  His goal is to get a better job.  He does not currently hold a driver's license which is a requirement listed in many job descriptions.  I will use the third grade spelling lists to start his lessons but this will be a much quicker process because he already has many skills in phonics and word decoding.  I will spend much more time with him in the 'Reading Skills' section.  We are focusing on Reading Comprehension, so he can read and understand study materials such as the Driver's Manual.  We will also use many of the Context Clues lessons so he will learn to find meaning in sentences even when he comes across a word he does not know how to decode.

These are examples for just two of my learners.  I highly recommend this website to find lessons for your learners at any level.  This is one of the best FREE websites I use!