SALLY CRAWFORD

A few years ago, I was talking to Pam Nason, one of the academic researchers at UNB. At the time I was working with an adult literacy program and she said, "Your Jenny Horsman is going to be at a conference and you should go." And I said, "My Jenny Horsman?" Because I hadn't read Jenny's things. I duly emailed Jenny and she was very gracious about responding and she was great and I read her stuff and I thought this is really good stuff. So I said I couldn't go to a conference, but I did. I went to Edmonton and it was great. I got there and there were all these people that were as passionate and interested as I was in literacy and helping people. I just felt like a sponge and I kept sucking in. So I went home, I was all excited, I was impassioned, and I was reading more stuff and learning more things. I became involved in an emerging literacies project in UNB.

The next year we went to Vancouver and I presented and I'm thinking, "Oh my goodness, who is this?" It was really good. It was a very good experience. I learned a lot. Then they were going to do something a third time, and I thought, "WOW, I'm going there again!" And here I am in Newfoundland. And this year I'm a rapporteur, for two reasons, one I wanted to put back, because I've gained so much from it, but the other one was I got thinking about learners and I think we always have to stay connected to the learners. I thought, "I expect my learners to get outside their comfort zone – to read, to write, to talk, to communicate, and to get their ideas across. So I'll be a rapporteur, I want to be able to feel a little bit like that – outside my comfort zone."

I really appreciate the people that I've met and the things that we've done. And I echoed the sentiments that we have to bring all these voices together. And we have to listen to each other. Now I know that there are undercurrents and politics and I know that there's disagreements, but at least we are here talking. And I think it's important to bring everybody – learners, practitioners, researchers, and the others that we've talked about in our morning sessions, policy makers, government – we have to keep to getting people together to talk about this. It is emerging, it's getting there. So, you know, I have gained a lot and I really appreciated being able to attend. For me, it's a chance to arm me and give me confidence to go out and do this work to change things for the better. You know, that's what it's all about, making things better for people. I also learned I'm not confused – I'm just asking questions.