Update from Cynthia

Hi Folks,

Some kind of update felt in order so here it is:

It's been over ten years since I started this blog in March of 2012. (Here's the first post!) 

Big Changes in Adult Education in California

A lot has gone on in Adult Education over those years - since February of 2009, really  - cuts and closures, restructuring, narrowing of the mission, the Regional Consortia system, the recognition that equity needs to be centered in Adult Ed work, and lots more - some of it good, some of it bad, some of it mixed, some of it with the potential to be all those things - and more. 

Needed Changes

Pause to say how GLAD I am that discussions of equity are now increasingly common in Adult Education with a special shout out to Daquanna Harrison of Elevation Educational Consulting Group for the work she is doing and to COABE for their new emphasis on Equity. 

Years of Advocacy for Adult Education

During the years after Schwartzenegger flexed categoricals - making Adult Ed funds available to shore up K12 Districts in need of help after their own cuts, ----  I got heavily involved in advocacy for Adult Ed. I worked with lots of folks at my school, San Mateo Adult School, including Patricia Brown, David Doneff, Marina Kravtsova, Bruce Neuburger, Lisa Sparks; with Karen Arthur of The Alliance for California Adult Schools; with Kristen Pursley of Save Your Adult School; with Irma Beserra Nunez of California Coalition to Save Older Adult Education; with John Mears, Sean Abajian, Juan Noguera and others with No Legislator Left Behind; with the many folks in Older Adults Education Forever; with CFT - the California Federation of Teachers - as an officer in my local, CFT 4681, and as a representative on the CFT Adult Ed Committee, in various ways and spaces with CCAE, CATESOL, the Network for Public Education, OTAN, and COABE. I served on the OTAN Advisory Committee. I served as advisor - for a year - to the Evening Student Council at our school. I co-founded the San Mateo Adult School Green Team. I did my best to support student voice in wherever I found myself. 

Learning As I Went Along

In my years as a teacher, I have seen that everyone has their own learning style. Mine is a combination of learning on my own, asking a lot of questions, watching how other people do it, reading biographies (or Wikipedia, lol), getting mentorship from others, working with people I genuinely like and respect, and freaking out. I'm often fueled in my learning by either joy (oh those rabbit holes!) or anxiety (what if I mess this up?!). In the same way that I learned how to teach online just as the Internet was opening up - yes back in year 2000 - mostly because I needed to because I had an infant and teaching online was clearly something that could be a good thing for us - I learned how to run a blog, do social media, create and maintain a website, run a gofundme, use various sorts of technology, and understand how a bill becomes a law and the budget process for the State of California. In other words, I learned as I went along - with a lot of ups and downs and the regular freak out. 

How It Went

I attended a lot of meetings, sent a lot of emails, made a lot of phone calls, went to a lot of conferences, attended a lot of webinars, ran a petition, created lots of surveys, took a lot of photos, attended a lot of zooms, served on panels, spoke at hearings & board meetings, and learned how to get around the capital in Sacramento. I was often extremely nervous about at least half those things and could not have gotten through without the help and support of not only those working alongside me but also my family and friends - who might or might not have cared about Adult Education but sure heard a lot about it - and my anxiety when I was faced with speaking to a group. 

(I know - why does someone with a fear of public speaking become a teacher and an advocate? I still don't know. But I do remember a comment made by daughter's drama teacher: It's the people who want it the most who get the most nervous before the show.) 

Advocacy Is A Learnable, Transferable, and Very Useful Skill

I saw that advocacy was something that could be learned, taught, and used in any number of situations. I was often the person in charge of Adult Education Week at my school. Out of that work and working on this blog, I created various presentations and google docs with info on how to advocate for Adult Ed.  Much of what is in those presentations and docs can be used towards any cause. Remember to use The Force for Good! 

Camino Companions

A lot of the work I did was with others which led me to friendships I treasure to this day. There is a special bond that comes from walking the same path together - especially in a crisis. Good or bad, I think that's how we humans are wired - and what fires together wires together - so I feel forever connected and grateful to all the folks I've listed above and so many more! 

Looking Back

I did everything very imperfectly and when I look back, I sometimes have that "If I knew then what I know now" feeling and I can think of many ways to have done things better, more sustainably - for both self and community, more inclusively, etc.  Hindsight is 2020 - so I try to remember to put on my "Look Into The Past" glasses when I make look into the future - understanding I can't change the past - I can only learn from it. 

Life Holds Many Things

Alongside the Adult Ed advocacy, I did all the human things we all do. In my case it was raising my daughter, being a member of my family and friend community, caring about things in addition to Adult Education -- Black Lives Matter, Equity, Sustainability, Surviving the 45 Era, Climate Catastrophes, etc. I loved myself and my people through various crises - divorce, death, dementia, cancer, physical and mental illness, moves - wanted or unwanted, break-ups, make-ups, administrative shake-ups, and of course - COVID!  My hair got greyer, my joints got achier, my back got stiffer, the pandemic unrolled - and like so many of us, I did a lot reflecting and I made some choices. 

The New Is Made From The Old

These choices included retiring from my job at San Mateo Adult School to build a life that could better include caregiving, work, and my own health. Much like the quilt picture here --- (made for my daughter's college graduation and golden birthday - yay!) -- my new life is an amalgam of new and old - sewn together with love and lots of ouch, I just poked myself again - and uh oh that doesn't fit together quite right - and oh, thank you for that contribution, it fits just perfectly here! Thank you!  And maybe my favorite: this old thing becomes this new thing - nothing is ever wasted (if you can learn from it!) 

The Fate and State of Adult Education Matters Blog & Social Media

So ----  

I'm keeping this blog and AEM social media open to make them available for special updates, guest posts, etc. 

If you want to write a guest post, please let me know! Leave a comment below!  Or email me at gcteachercynthia at gmail dotcom. 

But/And ----

Change in Focus

In general, I'm shifting my focus away from tracking Adult Education in CA and towards

• Promoting Adult Ed Sustainability across the USA
• Regaining state funding for Older Adults Adult Education in CA
• Sustainability on all kinds of levels - ha! I wrote "lovels" and maybe that's the right word!
• Tutoring, editing, and social media coaching (let me know if you need some!) 

Look for my Adult Ed Sustainability work:

• Adultedsustainability.com
• Adult Ed Sustainability blog
• AES on Facebook
• AES on Instagram

Support My Work

And you can support my Adult Ed Sustainability work here. 

Almost all the advocacy work I've done - including this blog - has been "for free" as a volunteer. But age and time have taught me that I need to include myself in thinking about how to make things work. Sustainability includes myself and my family. So if you're drawn to do it, I welcome your contributions to my work! 

Contact Me

Contact me at gcteachercynthia at gmail dotcom if you want to

• Share something Adult Ed related on this blog or AEM social media
• Talk or learn about Adult Ed Sustainability
• Need a connect to someone you think I might know thru my years in AE Advocacy
• This list is free!

Hire Me

Or if you need some

• Social media coaching 
• Logo or slogan possibilities
• ESL tutoring
• Editing
• Help with college essay writing
• This list is for pay!

I'm still in the Adult Ed and advocacy game - but with an adjusted focus to reflect who I am today - an aging but still alive human who cares about people and planet, is a member of multiple communities, and loves learning new things - in spite of the anxiety I inevitably feel under pressure or when speaking in front of an audience. 

Thank you

Big big gratitude to all the folks I've worked alongside and to those who continue to carry the torch forward for Adult Education. I'm so moved by their/your work, spirit, knowledge, and heart.

It won't be long before we are at 200 years of Adult Education in California - a beautiful thing to behold! 

Why? 

You already know the answer... 

                                            

                            because Adult Education Matters! 

Sincerely,

Cynthia

Black History is Adult Education History - Valentine to Septima Poinsette Clark - and Proposal for Scholarship in Her Name

 Happy Black History Month! Happy Valentine's Day!

And do you know of Septima Poinsette Clark? 

Her contributions to human rights, civil rights, voting rights, labor rights, the teaching profession, public education, and Adult Education were profound - yet, as is so often the case with the contributions of Black women, they are rarely discussed in the classroom. 

And by classroom, I mean not only K12 and college classrooms but also teaching training programs - specifically those for Adult Education teaching and administration credentials. 

We currently face a teaching shortage in all branches of education. Due to the impact of the cuts and closures a few years back, this shortage may be most extreme in Adult Education.  We also face in all branches of education a lack of diversity in teachers and administrators. 

Now would be a good time to consider a scholarship in Septima Poinsette Clark's name to invite in more Black women to the profession -- How that scholarship would be funded --What would the parameters would be --Whether the intended recipients should be broader than Black women to include other women of color --These are all questions to consider and discuss. 

Read through the information below to learn a bit more about Septima Poinsette Clark and her phenomenal impact on the US, the Civil Rights movement, the teaching profession, and Adult Education. Ask your colleagues in the field - in professional organizations, unions, and faculty rooms - what they know about her, why they they do or don't know about her, what their thoughts are on the current teacher shortage, and the need for more diversity in teaching and administration.  

Your thoughts and recommendations are welcome here - in the comments or a published guest post.

Septima Poinsette Clark

Black History is Adult Education History

Black History is Women’s History

Black History is Labor History

Black History is Human Rights History

Black History is Citizenship History

Black History is American History

• https://ncwomenofcivilrights.wordpress.com/septima-clark/highlander-and-citizenship-schools/ Highlander Center and Citizenship Schools

• When Septima Clark lost her teaching job in Charleston, she left South Carolina to work at the Highlander Folk School in Tennessee. At Highlander, Clark continued her passion for adult education, and taught students and visitors from all over the South to read by reciting parts of the U.S. Constitution.  The Highlander School held workshops for Civil Rights activists, and trained its students to become community leaders through a range of seminars on topics including union organization, human rights discussions, voter education, and basic skills like money management.  Highlander attracted both white and African American Southerners of all education levels to converge and discuss social issues. Attendees also had the privilege of listening to inspiring speakers including Eleanor Roosevelt and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to help spark social activism.  Septima’s work at Highlander led to the birth of other citizenship schools across the South.1

• Clark, Septima Poinsette | The Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute

• A pioneer in grassroots citizenship education, Septima Clark was called the “Mother of the Movement” and the epitome of a “community teacher, intuitive fighter for human rights and leader of her unlettered and disillusioned people” (McFadden, “Septima Clark,” 85; King, July 1962). 

• The daughter of a laundrywoman and a former slave, Clark was born 3 May 1898 in Charleston, South Carolina. In 1916 she graduated from secondary school and, after passing her teacher’s exam, taught at a black school on Johns Island, just outside of Charleston. For more than 30 years, she taught throughout South Carolina, including 18 years in Columbia and 9 in Charleston.

• Septima Clark - SNCC Digital

• “Septima Poinsette Clark pioneered the link between education and political organizing, especially political organizing aimed at gaining the right to vote. “Literacy means liberation,” she stressed knowing that education was key to gaining political, economic, and social power.

• Long before SNCC’s Freedom Schools, Clark was developing a grassroots citizenship education program that used everyday materials to think about big questions.” - SNCC 

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Septima_Poinsette_Clark

• Septima Poinsette Clark (US National Park Service)

• https://www.biography.com/activist/septima-poinsette-clark

• Freedom's Teacher: The Life of Septima Clark Paperback – February 1, 2012

Septima’s Life - in her own words:

• Ready From Within by Septima Poinsette Clark 

• Echo in My Soul, By Septima Poinsette Clark With Legette Blythe

New Webinars for Equity in Adult Education - Spring 2022

 From COABE:

Equity in Adult Education: The Importance of Cultural Competence and Inclusion

• Date: Friday, February 11th  |  2:00 - 3:00 pm (ET)  |  REGISTER

• Presenters: Sudie Whalen

Equity, Not Equality: Practical Racial Justice Strategies to Increase Awareness

• Date: Wednesday, February 23rd  |  2:00 - 3:00 pm (ET)  |  REGISTER

• Presenters: Veronica Parker