I learned how to put a book together in much the same way I learned how to be a literacy coordinator - a little bit at a time, with trust in my intuition and in the support and experience of people who knew more about the subject that I did. And as so many people discover in their literacy work, the process was longer and sometimes more difficult than I thought it would be, but infinitely more rewarding.
Receiving funding and the "go ahead" to work on Opening Doors allowed me a rare privilege. My travel budget provided me with the opportunity to get to know people working in the field on many different levels. I visited with them in their homes and communities, met their families, learned about their interests and spent many hours talking one-to-one about their literacy work. After a year of travel, I settled into my office to begin the process of transcribing tapes, chronicling stories and organizing thoughts and ideas. When I got to the stage of actually writing individual chapters the true story began to emerge; the bigger picture of literacy became more and more clear.
Literacy workers in Alberta are exceptionally good at what they do. As they share their own love of learning, they give credit to and accept the need for students to feel ready to learn, able to learn and comfortable with their learning. They focus on education as a whole, recognizing that "learning readiness" is a prerequisite for successful literacy programming. Even with minimal training and resources, they are able to create positive learning opportunities for adult literacy students with very positive results.
Impressive also is how literacy workers have used a similar approach to offer support and training to each other. They "buddy- up" with and mentor each other, recognizing and accepting the need for newer members to the field to learn and take on more as they are ready. This encouraging and evolutionary approach forms the basis of the network which binds together the literacy field. The strength of this network pervades every aspect of grassroots literacy in Alberta.
Even though I worked most directly on this book project with people "in the trenches" of the literacy field, I also had the opportunity to work and talk informally with people in administrative and government positions. In my earlier years of literacy work, I wasn't aware of (or perhaps even interested in) the workings of government departments which affect literacy funding and programming. Preparing budgets, bargaining for funding. troubleshooting problems, writing policies and chairing interdepartmental meetings is time consuming and often frustrating work. I have gained much respect for the administrative and political skills and temperament needed to do this work and for the people whose personal and professional skills are in this area.
Some people talk about the lack of understanding and appreciation between grassroots and government work in Alberta. They feel that grassroots people are wrapped up and involved in what they are doing and the government representatives are overwhelmed by their own responsibilities, and are discouraged by the lack of connection or interaction between the two groups.
I have seen a volunteer tutor work all evening with a literacy student in a church basement in Northern Alberta and have listened to government representatives hold an all day round table discussion about the future of literacy in the province in a board room at the Devonian Building in downtown Edmonton. Physically these two memories are miles apart, but philosophically the situations are not dissimilar. There are those who feel the gap between the grassroots and government is widening but I am optimistic that the strength of the people and the level of commitment to literacy of both groups will provide the incentive for people to work together.