Literacy Lantern

A short update

Breaking News!

This past year, we were fortunate to be introduced to “A Fish in a Tree” by Lynda Mullaly Hunt. What a story!! So we purchased the book thinking that this was a book for some of our students. Well, sure enough, one of our students, “Angel” read it – well actually devoured it. So Angel and her tutor set about to write a book review. You all need to read this review and then read the book for yourself. (That was a command, not a suggestion). You won’t be disappointed in reading this review and then in reading the book. So in Angel’s own words we have…”Fish in a Tree” The book “Fish in a Tree” written by Lynda Mullaly Hunt, is about a girl who couldn’t read. Her name was Ally. She really liked to draw. Her grandpa gave her a sketch book. Her grandpa always told Ally that she was very talented. She named her scrapbook Alice in Wonderland. Ally has a brother Travis. Ally is his favourite sister; she would always say to him, “I’m your only sister.” Ally had been to seven different schools in seven years. In each school she had hidden that she couldn’t read. Her teacher, Mrs. Hall, was going to have a baby so she left the school and Mr. Daniels took her place. Ally really didn’t like school. She couldn’t read and struggled. She was bullied. Kids made fun of her. She was always afraid to ask for help. Ally really like Mr. Daniels. He arranged for Miss Kessler, the learning skills teacher, to do a test on Ally. She did puzzles, games and a bubble test. Ally really liked Miss Kessler. After school Mr. Daniels gave Ally extra help with reading. He spoke to Ally’s mom. Mr. Daniels told Ally that she was smart but had learning differences. It took awhile for Ally’s confidence to grow but by the end of the book, she knows she can succeed at school and is much happier. Ally reminded me of me (Not being to read and write.) Trying to hide it, sure is an awful feeling. I felt scared and didn’t tell much. I had a hard time dealing with it. Kids were very mean to me and called me some really bad names; Dumb, stupid, loser, ugly. I used to be called greasy hair. They would say that I wasn’t normal and they called me a freak. I was surrounded by bullies. I was not lucky enough to get help after school like Ally. We never had one book in our house growing up. I was never lucky enough to even have a colouring book or crayons. We had really nothing. I live a very sad childhood. I love to colour so much now. I have to use a lot of colours and put a lot of detail in what I do. When you are a child and traumatized everyday, it is the most awful feeling ever. Right up to this day, when someone compliments to me about something, I have a very difficult time accepting it. I remember always being classed as DUMB and STUPID. Even myself to this day, I have a hard time believing what I can do. I feel sad. It sure did bring back a lot of memories. I also tried so hard to hide that I couldn’t read or write. I have always had very low self-esteem. I really like Ally’s second teacher and how he picked up on her not being able to read and write and helping her after school. “Fish in a Tree'” is a really good book to read. I would recommend anyone who likes to read to READ IT. Don’t you want to go right out and read this book??

Once again, it has been a while since I wrote anything in our blog. Why can’t I just make this a regular thing and not wait until we have something vital to say?? Maybe I need to enroll in a course “How to remember to blog.” I might get some tips 🙂  I am writing to clarify some information that we received and that you have maybe seen in the media in the recent days. As of May 3, 2024, GED testing will no longer be available in Canada. GED is a test that allows adults who have not finished secondary school the opportunity to earn an Ontario High School Equivalency Certificate signed by the Minister of Education. This a nation wide stoppage and it affects thousands of Canadians. There is word that a replacement will be made available but we don’t have any official announcement. Literacy Nipissing has been offering GED preparation classes for almost 15 years. In the past 6 years, we also hosted the testing so that North Bay citizens didn’t have to travel out of town to achieve this vital certificate. Over 100 adults in North Bay alone, have written and achieved this certificate, that we know of. Holding this credential has allowed many of our students to attend college, find meaningful employment, sign up for an apprenticeship but mainly, fulfill a lifetime goal. We have heard a lot of excited screams and seen huge grins when that big envelope with a certificate comes in the mail. AND we all feel like proud parents, our buttons popping when we hear the good news. There are a lot of different reasons why an adult may not have completed high school. Society believes there is only one reason – laziness. When I hear that, I want to punch the nearest wall!!! It is not right to make assumptions when you have not spoken to people who don’t have their high school diploma. High school was not the same experience for many people and a high school diploma is not achievable by everyone. A GED is a viable option for many people who don’t have a high school diploma and it takes into account life experience. Before I started working at Literacy Nipissing, I worked in other adult upgrading organizations. I didn’t have any experience with someone writing the GED. I had heard it was easy to get and anyone who wanted to write it could pass. In fact, I was told that GED stood for “good enough diploma”. Boy, was I wrong!! It is HARD. One year, I decided to write all the math tests that were available to us and I didn’t fly through them. I had to really think and calculate to get the right answer. The questions were real life situations and involved more than one operation. If you didn’t review whole numbers, fractions, decimals, percentages, area, perimeter, volume, integers, factoring…get my point – you would be lost. There was some prior knowledge needed to write the social studies. You had to know a little about how our government works. The point that I am trying to get across is that people who have earned their GED, EARNED THEIR GED. It was not just given to them because they decided that it was the easier route, they worked for it and achieved it. These 100 or more adults who earned their GED while attending here, deserved it and worked hard to get that precious diploma. As of August 14, 2023, we still don’t know what the GED will be replaced with. At this time, we have been told that there is another system that may be ready to be used sometime in 2024 or later but we can’t give a concrete answer. There needs to be a replacement for the GED so that even more adults can reach their goals and we are hoping that it will be in place sooner rather than later. Until then, we are going to try and concentrate on the next test that we have scheduled – November 22, 2023. It will be the last GED test written in North Bay. But the legacy of the GED will be seen in your fellow citizens who have worked hard to earn the right to be called high school graduates by completing the GED.

Today I am waiting for a very important document to be emailed to me. I have until 11:59 tonight to get that document to someone or, well, I don’t want to know what will happen. Let me be upfront and tell you right now about a character flaw I have. It has always been something I have tried to work on. It happens all the time and when I fail, I get so annoyed with myself. I berate myself for exposing this character flaw and vow that the next time it won’t happen again. I will try harder and harder. But I fail again. I suppose you are now wondering what this annoying character flaw that I possess could be. Maybe I shouldn’t tell anyone in case you think less of me. I don’t know. How do you feel that I haven’t told you about my annoying character flaw? Have I taken too long to let the cat out of the bag? Am I making you wait too long???? Are you annoyed yet??? Well, my annoying character flaw, wait for it, I hate to wait. I have no patience. If you are like me, that second paragraph was the epitome of frustration. “Get to the point already!!!!” I was the one in my family who searched for hidden Christmas presents. I couldn’t wait for the morning of the 25th. As soon as the hockey season is over, I start to dream about the next one and it can’t get here fast enough. AND I am a Leafs fan, so you can imagine my frustration at waiting for 55 years (and counting) for another cup!! Last June, when my son and his wife told us that they were expecting, well that was 9 months of pure torture!!!!! It didn’t seem as hard to wait for my son to be born compared to the birth of my granddaughter but getting sick and fat might have distracted me! There are a lot of things we wait for. A bus Cake to cook End of school – 3:00 or June!! Hair to grow Next season of your favourite show Summer Kids to finish their chores Teacher to mark a test 16th birthday to get a license. Gadot (don’t ask)  A lot of our students have waited a long time to come back to school. It is not that they can’t do the work. Life happens and then they put off getting their GED or upgrading their skills. Then one day they say to themselves that this is the day to just do it. “I can’t WAIT any longer to do what I really want/need to do”. That is usually the time that we meet them at the door, sit down with a coffee and have a conversation about goals. They are done waiting. It is time to get going. We aren’t annoyed or bothered about whena student comes to us, we just want them to come. This is one time that waiting is a good thing. If we wait for that door to open, good things are going to happen. We just have to wait 🙂 What are you waiting for ????

Written by Catherine Johnson Catherine is a community content writer from North Bay. She approached us about writing articles to bring light to the issues that adult students face in our world. Catherine is very keen to show the struggles that low level literacy adults face and how they adapt to life in our complicated world. We are so thankful that Catherine is now using her talents to help us showcase the struggles and triumphs that face adult learners every day.  Good reading and writing are essential skills in our modern world. Yet many people in Ontario do not read or write well enough to manage at home, work or for life in general. 1 in 6 people in Ontario have trouble reading the most basic text. Most people will find this surprising, because illiteracy is often hidden in plain site. Industries, such as trucking and many trades could be learned on the job 20 or 30 years ago. A high school diploma was not required at that time, nor was a high level of reading or writing skills. Many people who started working during those days are still in the workforce today. Even in today’s world there are jobs that do not require strong literacy skills, such as cleaning or jobs in the manufacturing sector. These jobs are dominated by women, pay poorly and are often part-time. John is an example of a man who cannot read or write well, but was able to earn a living working in the construction industry. John is now an older man. He doesn’t read or write well, and his math skills aren’t great either. He never did well in school and didn’t like being there. He left high school at age 15 to get a job and start earning some money. What was the point of staying in school? There were lots of jobs in those days. He became a roofer in the construction industry. He learned his trade on the job. No one needed papers to prove they could do the work. There were no courses or tests to pass. If you showed up and didn’t work hard, you’d be fired. Things were simple then. John worked until he was 60. He often jokingly says “All I have to show for 45 years of hard work is a bad back!” Now a senior, John is low income. He was never a member of a union, and his employers never offered a pension plan. He lives on his “Old Age Pension.” He doesn’t own a car because he can’t afford one. Like many people who have poor reading and writing skills, John is actually very clever. He has found ways to supplement his income. He does odd jobs. He mows lawns in the summer and snow blows driveways in the winter. He has just a few customers, because he finds he has less energy and his back hurts more and more as the years go by. He is a natural with simple mechanics. Sometimes he finds lawnmowers or bicycles that others have abandoned and fixes them up. He sells them off his front lawn. John is good at home repairs both inside and out. His neighbours will pay him cash for small tasks. He can put up curtain rods, do exterior painting, and refinish small pieces of furniture. There isn’t much he can’t do. Except use a computer. It wasn’t necessary to use a computer to be a roofer, so he never had to learn. He always managed his affairs by going in person, or calling customer service. When The COVID-19 pandemic hit, and everything became virtual, he really felt left behind. So how does having poor reading and writing skills affect health? Literacy skills are strongly related to good health. Adults with lower literacy levels are less likely to have a family Doctor, were more likely to misunderstand written medical directions, and had more trouble accessing health care. They also had more frequent trips to the Emergency Room. Let’s hear more about John. John doesn’t have a Family Doctor. He hadn’t been to a doctor in 20 years, but finally his back pain became so bad, he went to a walk-in clinic. The doctor told John his blood pressure was really, really high and prescribed a medication to bring it down. John asked for “pain pills” for his back, and was told the walk-in clinic did not prescribe narcotics. John felt intimidated and insulted. Did they think he was a drug addict or something! John looked at the bottle of his new medication. There was a lot of writing on the small label and some long words. He thought the Pharmacist had told him to take one pill a day. Well, he couldn’t read the label to check. John felt angry. This was the reason he stayed away from doctors and hospitals. They weren’t helpful, they never explained anything, and thought they knew what was good for him better than he did himself! He decided not to bother taking the medication. Afterall, he didn’t feel sick so how bad could his blood pressure be? Sadly, there are many people in Ontario like John whose lack of reading and writing skills are a barrier to good health. John is unable to read a medication label. He is unable to understand printed patient health care information, fill out consent forms, and does not know how the health care system works. Most literate people use the internet to find health care information, such as hours of operation, COVID-19 regulations, and information on health conditions. Some of this information in not available anywhere else. For people like John, who are unable to use the internet, this information does not exist. Most of it would be above his reading level anyway. It is not surprising most of his contact with the health care system is unsatisfying. References: Literacy in Canada – PMC (nih.gov) Why literacy matters. Links between reading ability and health – PubMed (nih.gov) Community Literacy of Ontario (2018). Literacy: Why it Matters (Brochure). Barrie, ON: Author

I remember last year when we were anticipating 2020, many people were coming up with some catchy slogans. “2020 – the year of clear vision”, “2020 – Looking to the future”. Some wanted Barbara Walters to announce on the New Year’s Eve shows when the ball dropped, “This is 2020”. A year later, you see pictures of a wasp nest with the caption, “If 2020 was a pinata”. 2020 didn’t work out like we “envisioned”. We could never have dreamed that 2020 would look like it did. In fact, at times it was more of a nightmare. You are probably tired of hearing about the fire, but it is stamped on our minds. I think that at least once a day you will hear one of us saying “oh remember that, it’s gone.” We actually only salvaged three things from our office. We have 2 tablecloths that we used for events (and only because I brought them home to wash), our incorporation book (damaged by smoke and water even though it was in our “safe”) and the letter “N” from our outdoor sign (we dug it out of the rubble the day after). It is hard to believe that this event was one year ago. It still seems like yesterday. Even though we are in our new office and we have replaced almost everything that we lost, the events are still branded into our memory. But you really know who you can count on when the “chips have burnt to a crisp”. Our staff jumped in and adapted to our new temporary home at YES Employment. They also were patient with me when I would let out a noise of frustration. One situation still makes us laugh. We were trying to forward our phone number to our cell phones so that people could still reach us. The very helpful (I say that last word while gritting my teeth) person at our phone provider said to me “Yes I can do that for you. Ok, if you can pick up the receiver of the original phone, then we can forward to your cell phone.” I told her that there wasn’t a phone to pick up because it was destroyed in a fire. “Well, madam, I can’t forward the number to your cell unless you pick up the receiver of the original phone.” Anger and frustration started to rise, and I told her forcefully that there was no phone to pick up. I eventually had to do a little freak out and make sure she understood that the original phone was under a mountain of rubble, I couldn’t pick it up. She got it then and forwarded our calls. Cassandra looked at me with surprise and laughter. The stress seemed to come out of me that day and that poor phone provider received the brunt of my emotions because of what had happened to us. We were on the receiving end of generosity that I could never have imagined. People walking in with boxes of binders, paper, pens, pencils. We received donations to help us rebuild. I hope that when people see our office, they think that we were good stewards of their donations. It took us almost 3 months (to the day) to get our office stocked and ready to welcome students and tutors. March 16th was the day that we would be ready to host classes and begin our “rebirth”. But then a pandemic hit. The day we were to open was the day that we had to shut down. Things were just not going our way this year but we were glad to stop in mid step in order to keep everyone safe. The staff worked from home for almost 3 months and we tried to encourage our students with learning and life. On June 8th we came back to our office. But it still took us another month to get things in order to safely welcome students. We’ve had more changes than a support group for menopausal women (only menopausal women can say this)! Since we re-opened, things are different but good; slower but satisfying. Learners are thankful to be back and the learning is happening once again. It is so nice to hear laughter coming from our classroom. The thing that amazes me most is that there are no complaints. I know that there are a lot of people out there who are complaining about restrictions and having to wear a mask but we don’t hear that here. ? We hear “thanks”, “how are you feeling today”, “I really like this office”. As we reflect back on this year, we want to share with you the top 10 lessons we have learned.  Don’t play with matches Take home your secret Christmas gifts as soon as you get them (I was hiding my husband’s Christmas gift at the office and was going to take it home the day of the fire ?) There is a North Bay, California so you need to ensure that you emphasize North Bay, ONTARIO. Stuff can be replaced but people can’t. Our community pulls together when there is a need. Kindness matters even when you are tired and frustrated (those poor telephone helpers ?) We have a plethora of friends Our provincial literacy community is really a small family and they are there to help. A new normal can be just as good as the old normal. Nothing, not a fire or a global pandemic, can stop learning.

It is Friday afternoon, a few hours before we close for a long weekend. Thanksgiving weekend…hard to believe this weekend is here already. It is really quiet in the office this afternoon. I am the only one in here right now and I thought it would be a good time to reflect on “thankfulness.”  While I type, I am listening to the announcement from the province about the shut downs that are going to start because of the increase in Covid-19 numbers. So here is my “first thankful”. No one in our office (staff or students) has or has had Covid-19. Even more than that, I am thankful that everyone – and I mean EVERYONE – has been respectful of the rules that we have in place to keep each other safe. I have not heard one complaint or watched a hissy fit because we are asking everyone to wear a mask. So I need to say a “thank you” to all of you. Thanks for putting other people before your own needs. Thanks for thinking of others in that you are working to keep us all safe. My “second thankful” is for our community. Have you heard that we had a fire in December that destroyed our office??? (good joke right?) Our community has rallied around us to help us rebuild. As I look around the office right now, I still can’t believe how far we have come. We have books, tables, chairs, desks, computers, filing cabinets, phones, whiteboards, paper, files, pens, pencils, pictures and on and on. At this time, there is nothing that I can think of that we need. That might change on Tuesday but we are good. Our community has given so much to make sure our students have what they need to keep learning. And it has only been 10 months!!!! Thankful…that word doesn’t even cover how we really feel. My “third thankful” is for our staff. Between the fire and Covid, our staff has never thrown up their hands and said that they couldn’t do it. To be honest, that was probably me!!!! No job was too big, no obstacle was too great for them to deal with. I think that the staff are the examples of how you put others before yourself. They really want to do what is best for our students. No person who walks through our doors with a desire to learn, is ever dismissed. Even during a pandemic. You might be asked a lot of personal questions when you come in but that is for the sake of others. Thanksgiving is a wonderful time to me to say THANK YOU to all of our staff and volunteers. We are better because of you. My “final thankful” is to our learners. It is interesting to write this point and to actually think of all the “thank yous” I received because we offer this service. But learners, you inspire all of us every day because of your commitment to learning and your determination to do it!!! Thanks for helping me/us to keep going when things get discouraging. You are an example to all of us about the importance of learning and why we open the doors every day. I want to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving. Maybe as you sit around in your social bubble this weekend, you can think of all the things that make you thankful. Don’t worry, we won’t ask you to turn it into a writing assignment on Tuesday. Enjoy your weekend and thanks for everything you give to us!!!

Last week we posted the first part of our “fire experience”. What a day that was!!! I feel I aged about 25 years in one day. So in the words of an old radio host Paul Harvey, here is “the rest of the story”. We all tried to have a normal Christmas with our families. But we were still getting emails and phone calls about how we were doing and next steps. Even turkey couldn’t help me escape from my “fire thoughts”. We were so thankful that YES offered to house us until we could find a new office. Our Employment Ontario partners to the rescue!!!! One item off the list!! The next was to get some books. I remember sitting on my sister’s couch one night and ordering over $5000 worth of books so we could have something to work from. Second thing checked off. But even though it seemed like our first priority was stuff, it had to be ensuring the learners and tutors so that there would be no disruption of service (wait, you may be thinking, a fire causes a disruption in service – you are right) and we would do our best to get them back to learning as soon as possible. BTW (look at me, so cool using the language of the kids ) our students only missed one week of classes 🙂 #firewon’tstopus It is amazing when you go through something like this, how your to-do-list and things-to-get list grows. “Oh wait, what about a phone? We need to call learners and tutors”. Write it on the list. “Oh, we don’t have any paper or pens”. Ok, I will get them. “But we don’t have a copier”. Oh yeah, I better cancel that contract and get another one ordered. “You need to pay that bill.” Oh, I better get some cheques. “But Vandra, where is your new office?” Ahhhhh – I will get back to you in a few days. We were once again blessed that our current landlord has another office just down the street from the rubble. It had to be renovated a bit but we thought we could be in by March. Check and check. Now that we had a office a very nice one at that. It just needed tables, chairs, computers, blinds, security system including a fire alarm (lol), filing cabinets, books, stapler, pens, paper, clocks, bookends – the list is endless. Here is a funny story…we needed erasers. So in our office supply order I ordered, what I thought was 24 erasers. We don’t make many mistakes – 24 is enough!!! I ended up with 24 boxes of 24 erasers. That equals 576 erasers. Maybe someone was trying to tell me that mistakes are made here – mostly by me!!!! We were also blessed with help from the ministry who funds us. They were so supportive – and I am not just saying this to get on their good side. They knew that this was a big job to rebuild and there were only 3 of us to do it. We were given some extra funding to hire some extra help. I pulled in two amazing people who knew literacy and who could keep me from going in many directions at the same time. But this wasn’t the only support we received. People in our community donated money, paper, binders, thumb drives, pencils, pens,a coffee pot (an angels sang when we got that), gift cards for books, and much, much more. We received boxes and boxes of books from other literacy organizations around the province. We received “Thinking of you” notes to encourage us. AND HUGS. Boy, we needed those!!!! I saw love and compassion every day from our community and from the literacy community in Ontario. We weren’t alone!!! We scheduled our move into the new office for March 16th. The day we were to open the order came down from the province to close for health reasons – Covid 19 hit. The fire wouldn’t stop us but it took a pandemic to slow us down.