May 2010 Archive

Videos for ESOL Instruction with Heide Spruck Wrigley (May 26, 2010)

Heide Spruck Wrigley created four videos for Effective Teaching Strategies in an Adult ESOL Classroom. The four videos illustrate "effective teaching strategies in an adult ESL classroom. The teacher uses pictures and text, and real fruits and vegetables to teach basic vocabulary and language structures. She connects classroom and community by having students go on a site visit to a local farm to practice the language they are learning. Students later visit a grocery store where they ask questions. Back in the classroom they compare prices and do further language work. Heide Spruck Wrigley narrates and highlights effective instructional strategies and promising practices, including "bringing the outside in."

In The Reading Demonstration, a set of three videos, Heide "shows how to use materials from the everyday lives of learners to allow students to demonstrate what they can do with print. ""

To view the videos, click on this link and scroll down: http://tutoresol.wordpress.com/ There are many other videos pertaining to ESOL instruction on this site, including those that show techniques for one-on-one tutors.

ProLiteracy Has Three Free Online Courses that Can Be Adapted to Your Needs (May 18, 2010)

With support from the Dollar General Literacy Foundation, ProLiteracy is offering field-tested strategies that can be adapted to a program's accountability needs. This is a three-part series of self-paced online courses. The courses are described below. You can access these courses here:

http://207.10.202.152/home/

Data Collection and Management
This course focuses on the foundation practices in data collection and management needed to ensure the availability of credible, high-quality student data.

Length: 3-4 hours

This course will help you:

• build a common language and approach to accountability
• organize collection and management efforts around key decision points and staff roles
• increase confidence in your program's data collection and management practices

Data Analysis for Program Decision-Making
This course helps administrators and staff learn why and how to institutionalize data-driven, decision-making practices.

Length: 3-4 hours

In this course you will:

• review and practice data analysis skills
• improve quality of decision-making through a team approach to data analysis and review
• streamline program improvement using practical planning tools and strategies

Communicating Success to Stakeholders
This course helps participants use data to highlight their program's success, positioning it as a vital, relevant community service and thus attracting more resources.

Length: 4-5 hours

In this course you will learn how to:

• assess the needs of your community
• develop tailored messages to diverse stakeholders
• deliver those messages in innovative and effective ways

CBO ABE Student Acceptance Guidelines (May 12, 2010)

On May 11, 2010, Rebeca Loli wrote this comments on the LD NIFL listserv, following a discussion in the thread, “CBO ABE Student Acceptance Guidelines”. She requested feedback on her program’s developing ATB Policy:

This brings me to more clearly defining the population we do and can serve. I know there has been much discussion lately on this list surrounding the “Ability to Benefit” forms & policies places use. Many feel these are used as a way to deny services to individuals who could benefit, if the tutors/teachers were only good enough at teaching. But I’ve also read where someone on this list explained that ABE programs are run more like businesses than public schools, and therefore have to demonstrate certain achievements in order to qualify for funding. In our case, since our tutors are volunteers, and we are held to achievement standards, I feel we may need to embrace an ATB policy of sorts.

I’ve pasted my ATB Policy-in-Progress below. Please give feedback as you have it. I appreciate any comments and/or guidance you can offer.

As an agency receiving funding from the Workforce Investment Act of 1998, the Literacy Council of Buncombe County is responsible for achieving continuous improvement of adult education and literacy skills of students in the Adult Education program.

The Adult Education Program Coordinator, the volunteer tutor, and the Adult Ed. student work together to improve the student’s abilities and/or achievements in any one or more of the following indicators of performance listed in the WIA:

• Objective, quantifiable & measurable improvements in literacy skill levels in reading and writing the English language, numeracy and problem solving. (Demonstrated on standardized CASAS test after at least 70 hours of instruction.)
• Placement in, retention in, or completion of, postsecondary education, training, unsubsidized employment or career advancement. (Reported quarterly by tutor in Weekly Tutor Logs.)
• Receipt of a secondary school diploma or its recognized equivalent (e.g. GED). (Reported quarterly by tutor in Weekly Tutor Logs.)

Adult Ed. tutors are volunteers. They have completed 15 hours of training in teaching adult students of average IQ, and who can actively participate in age-appropriate English-language conversations, but who struggle with spelling, reading accurately and/or rapidly, or getting their thoughts on paper. The Adult Ed. tutor training includes instruction in multisensory teaching techniques and using the Wilson Reading System, which has been designed for individuals with specific language-based learning disabilities, such as dyslexia or dysgraphia.

The Literacy Council does NOT provide training for tutors in how to assist students with behavior modification, emotional regulation, or overcoming addiction. Neither does the Council provide training or resources for tutors to work with students who have mild, moderate, severe or profound mental retardation.

An Adult Ed. student who is able to demonstrate improvement in the WIA indicators of performance listed above, typically meets the following criteria:

• Able and willing to independently and consistently participate in tutoring sessions for at least two hours per week, over the course of at least nine months
• Moderate-to-high level of personal motivation
• Able to comprehend vocabulary and concepts appropriate for his/her age and prior educational experiences (generally indicated by an IQ of 70 or above)
• Not presently struggling with substance abuse
• Not presently experiencing medical conditions and/or taking medications that significantly influence his/her memory

Creating Authentic Materials and Activities for the Adult Literacy Classroom (April 27, 2010)

This handbook is based on the results of "The Literacy Practices of Adult Learners Study" which focused on the nature and impact of two dimensions of classroom practice in adult basic education. The authors see this book as a starting place for adult education teachers interested in changing their instructional practice, particularly as it relates to their learners' lives. This book will also be helpful to program administrators who are interested in leading change in their programs or who wish to know more about contextualized instruction in order to support teachers who are trying to implement it.

Based on their observations and interviews in 82 U.S. classrooms, the authors provide both concrete descriptions of what works and information and insight into how specific teachers make it work. The book provides illustrative examples from real classrooms as well as feedback from the teachers in those classrooms who use authentic materials for authentic purposes.

This book is appropriate for practitioners in adult basic education (ABE), adult literacy, family literacy and English for speakers of other languages (ESOL). The authors recognize that issues with ESOL students are unique within adult education, so they attempt, throughout the book, to provide examples that address these specific needs.

To download the handbook, go to: http://www.ncsall.net/fileadmin/resources/teach/jacobson.pdf