Blog Archives
Norma Lesperance Receives Lois Land Award of Achievement
Sioux Hudson Literacy Council (SHLC) and Good Learning Anywhere (GLA) are proud to announce the 2011 recipient of the Lois Land Award of Achievement. Congratulations Norma Lesperance of Nipigon, Ontario!
When we are working at a distance with our learners, many outsiders have a hard time understanding what we do at Good Learning Anywhere. How are we helping learners achieve their goals? And truthfully, we sometimes wonder what sorts of impacts we are having on learners too. The results are not always quantifiable and recorded in statistics. It’s part of the challenge when working at a distance.
However, I would like to introduce you to Norma. I got to know Norma over a period of almost 4 months. Norma is a tremendously hard worker. Norma clearly had her goals in sight and worked very hard at figuring out what she needed to do to reach her goal. We commend Norma on her focus and we know that Norma will continue to apply what she learned from the Good Learning Anywhere and ENABLE programs. Here is a short video about the ENABLE program that was produced by Thunderstone Pictures.
When I told Norma that we selected her for this award, she was very excited. I asked if we could share her success story by means of answering a few questions. She declined that and decided she would like to reply in a paragraph format. This is her journey.
I first heard about this program through an “ENABLE” project that was offered to a handful of adult learners at Lake Helen Reserve. The on-line course was one part of many that we were required to participate in. As an adult learner these on-line courses made me less afraid of the computer. By this I mean, that I took a college course on-line a few years ago and I can honestly say that I was not prepared to do certain tasks with the computer. I didn’t understand networks, modems, e-mails, attachments; nothing. But now thanks to these courses and the jobs that followed; I am more confident in my computer skills.
When I was in high school the first time around, (in the late seventies, early eighties) I was a shy, gawky teenager, you wouldn’t catch me reading out loud, public speaking, or even standing up in front of a room full of my classmates. The computer had given me the ability to “speak up,” to “express my opinion,” to “participate,” without the fear of being laughed at, ridiculed, or rejected.
Like I’ve stated before, I’ve become more confident in my computer skills and this meant more job opportunities were becoming available to me. Since I have graduated in October of last year, I have gained employment as a relief secretary, an after-school tutor, then onto the Band Manager’s Assistant for the Red Rock Indian Band. I’m very proud of all my accomplishments and I plan to celebrate my achievements at our Annual Graduation Dinner on June 20th.
The only advice I can offer others is, “Just do it!”
If I had one word or sentence to describe my experience with GLA/ENABLE, it would have to say: “AWESOME, TOTALLY AWESOME!”
Norma
Norma earned her Grade 12 diploma with the help of the ENABLE and Good Learning Anywhere programs. As a matter of fact, she is having a graduation celebration today at Lake Helen Reserve 53A. She is also going to take the skills that made her successful and continue to apply them throughout her lifelong learning journey. Norma has told us that she wants to continue her learning and eventually become a school teacher.
Norma…we can’t wait for that day and who knows, maybe you’ll be teaching online too!
On behalf of Sioux Hudson Literacy Council (SHLC) and Good Learning Anywhere (GLA), we congratulate Norma on her achievements and sincerely hope all her dreams come true.
To learn more about the ENABLE program with Anishinabek Employment and Training Services, please visit their website: www.aets.org. To learn more about SHLC and GLA, please visit us at www.siouxhudsonliteracy.com or call us at 866-550-0697.
Distance? “Ain’t No Thing But A Chicken Wing!”
Our language is constantly evolving with words and phrases being added all the time. Some are added officially and some not so officially. One of the newer additions that I love is the phrase “Ain’t no thing but a chicken wing”. In case you are unfamiliar with the phrase and what it means, here is how www.urbandictionary.com defines it:
Used to describe an event, object or person which is of little importance. Stems from the fact that chickens (at least those bred as food) have wings but can’t fly, rendering the wings unimportant. Can be used in place of a reassuring “don’t worry about it” statement but often used as a sarcastic retort suggesting that which is being described is really not as important as the person saying it believes.
So how exactly do I use this phrase you may ask? What kind of situation would provoke this kind of response? Well the situation that makes me want to use it most often is when critics challenge the fact that people can effectively learn or teach online. Amazingly, there are still people out there that genuinely doubt that real connections can be made when there is no actual face-to-face contact involved. When people find out I teach online, they often skeptically ask, “But what about the distance? Isn’t it a huge obstacle?”. To this I respond (or at the very least, I strongly think it), “Ain’t no thing but a chicken wing”! In short, it is of little importance.
As a recent example of how distance is a non-issue, I have been working with a group of learners since January. I couldn’t be more distant from them. They are from three Matawa First Nations communities in Northern Ontario: A-Webequie (pop.685), B-Nibinamik (pop.404) and C-Neskantaga (pop.373). I am in D-Peterborough (pop.75,000). As you can see from the map, we have not had any face-to-face interaction!
However, I know that the community of Webequie looks like this:
I also know that one of the portables where the learners come to get online and meet me every night looks like this:
One student's favourite spot to sit and learn.
How do I know this? I know this because learners sent me these pictures. I didn’t ask for them. They wanted to share these with me. It was important to them, and I’m really glad they did. A connection has been made. It doesn’t matter that we don’t have face-to-face interaction and that we only get to interact online because there are many miles separating us. As long as everyone involved is there for the same reason and is committed to it, I challenge you NOT to make a connection. So, remember….distance? With the wonderful world of online learning, it “ain’t no thing but a chicken wing”!
Learner of the Month – Lennie’s Story
It is important to the staff at the Good Learning Anywhere project that we make sure that we recognize and celebrate our learners that help make this project such a success. One such learner is Lennie Spence from Webequie First Nation. Back in January I was fortunate enough to be given the opportunity to start working on a new project with the Matawa First Nations to prepare learners whose goal is to get their GED. These learners meet 4 nights a week for 2 hours each night, so it is quite the dedicated group. This is where I had the pleasure of meeting Lennie.
Usually, when we choose a Learner of the Month, one of the staff writes up an article describing all of the learner’s amazing qualities and their journey with education. It would be very easy for me to write about what a terrific learner Lennie is, how dedicated he is, how enthusiastic he is, how supportive he is of the other learners in the class, and so on. However, in one of our first classes together, Lennie shared with me that one of his goals is to be a writer, so I presented him with the challenge of writing his own Learner of the Month article. Needless to say, Lennie rose to the occasion and wrote a moving and inspiring piece that beautifully expresses his decision to pursue his education. Congratulations, Lennie!
- Lennie and his daughter, Liarah
My Learner of the Month Article
by Lennie Spence
I am deeply honoured and thrilled to be named the ‘Learner of the Month’. And before I get started with my story I’d like to thank the ‘Sioux Hudson Literacy’ for giving me this opportunity to be here and try to obtain my GED and also a special thanks goes out to my fellow students for being here as well for they too are trying to obtain their GED.
When I made my decision to apply for the GED program I had two reasons in mind. First, I now have a beautiful baby girl to support full-time and secondly, I had a brother that took his own life a few years ago that made me open my eyes that through education I can change my life around.
Over the years I was involved in all kinds of odd and seasonal jobs such as firefighting, line cutting, tree planting, sewage plant helper and numerous part-time jobs. When my daughter was born, I wondered, how am I going to support her with these kinds of jobs? I took two things into consideration; the high cost of living in the north and the scarcity of these part-time jobs.
Having a part-time job sometimes would take its toll on me. Bills would start to pile up and in most cases I barely had enough money left over to buy groceries for myself. At times it was really frustrating, although I had the opportunity to complete my education at an earlier age. I was one of the many who made that unwise decision to drop out of high school and this was my greatest regret in the years that followed.
My late brother went through the same thing too, but he took a different path to get back on track. He was leading a life of self-destruction, he was drinking a lot on the reserve and getting into all kinds of trouble and as I recall, some people said that he will never make out of this reserve and that he’ll probably end up in jail for good. But I, on the hand, had always believed that my brother was a very intelligent person and even his peers used to tell me how bright he was.
I think it was around 1996 that he finally decided to go back to school because he knew that it was hopeless to live on the reserve due to the lack of opportunities. He first sifted through mail correspondence courses and then went down the local Educational center to see if there was anything that appealed to him. Then entered another brother who just happened to be the Chief of the community at the time suggested that he just leave the community to attend college in Thunder Bay, Ontario.
After a few years of attending college in Thunder Bay he graduated with a diploma in business management and then shortly afterwards he continued onto Lakehead University where he graduated with a degree in Political Science. And right after Lakehead, he enrolled in a law school in Toronto, Ontario where he got accepted but never got around securing funding for it.
Sadly, after going through some personal problems and the pressures of city life he took his own life in June of 2004. One thing I learned from what he went through is that no matter what we go through we can all still be successful in obtaining our goals through hard work and a good education.
My goal is to continue in my quest for a good education for a full-time job.
Thank you very much.
Lennie Spence
