Oldtimers assist newcomers

When a new student entered the program—which happened at any time because the program had continuous enrollment—that student was usually trained by an oldtimer. In other words, the oldtimer assumed a supervisory role, which was also considered to be one of the coffee shop jobs. A supervisor was assigned by the instructor to train a new student to do a particular job, such as serve the customers, prepare and serve the coffee, or bake the muffins. The supervisor did this using a combination of direct instruction, narration of the activity, and modeling. When it was the student's turn to attempt the task independently, the supervisor (including the instructors) stepped back and offered advice, prompts, or reminders as needed. In addition, there was ongoing collaboration between the students. They asked each other questions, reminded each other to do a forgotten task, and helped each other do an undesired task, such as dishwashing.

A safe and supportive environment

A key tenet of most adult literacy programs is the creation of a safe and supportive environment, but what does this mean? What are the elements that need to be in place to create such an environment? In the coffee shop, it meant that there were clear expectations, activities that had several small and incremental steps, opportunities for objective error analysis, and a tone of mutual respect. The posted job descriptions and opportunity to perform each job helped to establish routines and expectations in the coffee shop. In addition, each student was expected to learn and perform all of the jobs. In this way, all of the students in the coffee shop became aware of each other's responsibilities and were able to offer assistance or advice. Instructors and oldtimers helped the students break down a large job, such as operating the cash register or preparing muffins, into small achievable steps. Instructors would also determine a students' readiness to try a more difficult or complex activity. They wanted to ensure that a student experienced success, and not failure. When mistakes did happen, they were used as an opportunity for further learning. The error was looked at objectively. For example, a student was asked, "What caused the muffins to be small and hard?" as opposed to "What did you do to the muffins?" When errors were analysed, a suggested course of action to avoid a repeat of the error was also discussed. Finally, the instructors emphasized and demonstrated a tone of respect, professionalism, and politeness that was consistently used with each other, the students, and the customers. Sometimes instructors went beyond demonstration and had to directly address an issue: students were reminded to couch their requests in a polite way; or they were asked to rephrase criticisms. Quick demands, short tempers, uncooperative behaviour, and general rudeness were not tolerated by the instructors. Carrie explained how she worked on this aspect of learning as much and sometimes even more than the practical tasks.