Surrounded by the folks at LEAP – Local Employability Access Program – here it is, the inception of PEARL Literacy’s blog. Welcome! Let the ride begin!
PEARL, by the way, stands for Producing Empowering Accounts of Real Life. It is also inspired by my Grandmother’s name…Pearl.
What is meant by Producing Empowering Accounts of Real Life?
As an English teacher, I have seen students transform an experience or relationship through writing. One of my former students wrote about her fractious relationship with her mother. Through developing this particular story, I think the student learned as much as she shared. What came out was that her single mom had become both her father and mother. There was so much conflict between the two of them, though, that she was not able to express how much she valued her mother until we did this project. At our class’ book launch, her mother could not read the story. However, she was moved beyond words and shed many tears when she read the story at home. Suddenly, she had tangible evidence that her daughter appreciated her and understood how much this mother was giving to the daughter. She proudly showed my student’s writing to others. The difficulties did not end, but the relationship certainly shifted.
This is only one example of how I have been privileged to enter into my students’ personal lives through their writing.
Leaving the high school environment, I felt I wanted to continue working with writing.
And so….this is it…PEARL Literacy.
Well, that is just an introduction. Our LEAP meeting is closing. Once again, I’ll be the last to leave!!
Enjoy!
