Clear Notes on
Reading the MuseumJENIFER McVAUGH, STORYLINKS, THE CMA'S LITERACY PARTNER
I am working as a literacy resource person for the Reading the Museum program. My job is to visit Reading the Museum projects and help them get going.
I want to write about the rewards people get from Reading the Museum. I also want to write about the expert skills people bring to the project. I will write in "clear language," with short sentences and large type. I hope in this way more people, including literacy students, can read what I write.
I meet people from three groups: literacy students, literacy tutors and museum staff. All three groups get rewards from working together. All three groups bring skills to share.
Literacy students get a new door to open. A museum is a good place to relax and meet friends. It doesn't cost much. A museum is a place to have fun, to explore, to learn. A museum is a place where words and objects and ideas come together in a new way. The museum is a place dedicated to you as a human being. Museums let you soak up what it means to be "from here" and share your own discoveries.
Museum staff get a new crowd when literacy people push open the door. They meet people who will enrich the museum as guests and contributors. Five million Canadians don't read or write very well. If literacy students can help museums open up to non-readers, museums will have 5 million new visitors. These new people are all individuals with their own words and objects and ideas. They may not come from mainstream culture. Most museums want to reflect and serve a wide culture - a culture that includes and serve a wide culture - a culture that includes everybody. A museum will grow and get better when more people, different kinds of people, get involved.
Literacy tutors get new ways to help their students learn. There are not many books for adults who are learning to read. The museum project may produce interesting books for new readers. Tutors and students need projects to practise new skills. Here is a project where everybody gets to practise new skills.
These are some of the rewards of the Reading the Museum projects for literacy students, literacy tutors and museum staff. What are the skills that students and tutors and staff bring to the project?
Literacy tutors have skills in democratic social change. They bring patience and faith. Literacy tutors have faith in their students. Community-based literacy is usually called "learner-centred" and "learner-generated." This means it is not based on what the teacher wants to teach, it is based on what the student wants to learn. It doesn't work to use the "gas can" model of education for adults (where the teacher, who is full of knowledge, pours some into the student). Literacy workers use the "oil well" model of education. The tutor recognizes the student's skills and helps the student bring them to the surface and use them. This takes experience and literacy tutors have it.
Museum staff bring their own skills to the projects. Museum staff see their whole community. They are trained to understand connections. They look from the past and the present to the future. They see how their cultural centre connects with other centres. Museum staff see connections between objects and ideas and people. They are good at sharing excitement. "Did you see this? It reminds me of that!" And museum staff don't make the mistake of thinking that museums are cemeteries where the past is buried. They tell us that museums are also playgrounds to enjoy the present, and laboratories to invent the future.
What skills do literacy students bring to projects? Literacy students are adventurous. Literacy students put themselves on the line every day. Literacy students are having fun, because adults who keep on learning have more fun. That means literacy students are also fun to be with. Literacy students know how to work hard, because learning is hard work. A person who doesn't write notes to herself needs a good memory. A person who doesn't read signs needs to know how to ask questions. A person who doesn't read information needs to be a good listener.
These are some of the skills of many literacy students. To find out more, ask the "experts," the students themselves. Literacy students are the experts about how museums can serve non-readers better. Students are also the experts about what they have to offer.