May 2006
No. 60
www.valrc.org
The Literacy Fair of Virginia in Keysville will offer a wide variety of hands-on, interactive workshops, great food, and door prizes! The Literacy Fair is open to all literacy providers in Virginia and will take place on May 18. To find out more, go to: www.literacyfairofvirginia.org.
A Meeting of the Minds II Symposium is set for November 30 - December 2, 2006. The National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy (NCSALL), the California Department of Education Adult Education Office, and the California Adult Literacy Professional Development Project (CALPRO) of the American Institutes for Research are the sponsors of this conference. The symposium will be held in Sacramento, CA and will provide opportunities for adult education practitioners and researchers to share and discuss the most current research findings and practitioner wisdom. The theme of this year's symposium is Systemic Change and Student Success: What Does Research Tell Us? For more information, go to: www.researchtopractice.org.
Learners' Experiences is the topic on the newest Focus on Basics. "Do ask, they’ll tell" is a good way of describing much of the research shared in this issue. How do adult learners feel about themselves? What works for them in terms of reading instruction? What do they read outside of class? What keeps them engaged in class? Researchers from the NCSALL team at Rutgers University posed these questions, followed learners at home and in the community, and videotaped them in classrooms to learn more about the experiences of the learner and what implications those experiences have for educational practice. Check it out at: www.ncsall.net/?id=1103.
The National Institute for Literacy has launched a new website. To see their new look, go to: www.nifl.gov.
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Two new NCSALL publications are available!
Do you need to assess adult learners' skills and understand assessment results? Are you confused by the debate about whether these assessments should report results as "scale scores" or "grade level equivalents"? Read "Why Scaled Scores Are Better than Grade Level Equivalents" to learn more at: www.casas.org/DirctDwnlds.cfm?mfile_id=1231&selected_id=715& |
NIFL announces the new Special Topics listserv. You may subscribe to the list for every topic or just those topics that interest you. Signing up is easy! Go to: www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/specialtopics. The first special topic, the Adult Reading Components Study (ARCS), is sure to be a useful one and begins on May 23. If you would like to participate in the ARCS discussion, please view a 30-minute video panel discussion on ARCS at: www.nifl.gov/nifl/webcasts/20040204/webcast02-04a.html.
Literacy President 2008 needs your opinions and votes! Literacy President 2008 is a non-partisan effort to increase national awareness of adult literacy. It provides members of the adult education community with ways to be active participants in the 2008 Presidential election. The first activity of the group was to develop questions to ask of the presidential candidates. Twenty questions were generated and these must be narrowed to five. To vote for the questions that you think are most important, go to: www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=85102489618.
Economic lessons a la Oprah! In April, Jason Guard submitted information to the VAELN listserv about Oprah's "Living on Minimum Wage" episode. This episode highlighted the plight of the American family who lives only on minimum wage salaries. Here is a list of the resources that he found to help you teach financial literacy and economics to your students:
- www.oprah.com/tows/slide/200604/20060414/slide_20060414_284_
101.jhtml - www.oprah.com/tows/slide/200604/20060414/slide_20060414_284_
201.jhtml - www.oprah.com/tows/pastshows/tows_past_20010521.jhtml
- www.oprah.com/tows/pastshows/tows_past_20010521_b.jhtml
He also provided a link to "Teaching Economics As If People Mattered," which is found at: www.teachingeconomics.org.
How Stuff Works is a website offering informative articles on subjects such as "How Hurricanes Work,""How Global Warming Works," and "How Rainbows Work." To find out how these and other things work, go to: http://science.howstuffworks.com/earth-science-channel.htm.
Weather Classroom.com is a website from the Weather Channel that offers sections for parents, teachers, and students. Included are activities for exploring weather, an interactive forecast, and resources such as an encyclopedia, glossary, web links, and information about careers in meteorology. To learn more, go to: http://weatherclassroom.com/index.php.
AccuWeather is a website showcasing podcasts relating to weather. You may also find weather blogs, trivia, and explore weather radar for scans from around the country. To learn more, go to: www.accuweather.com and then click on the Community section.
The 2006 Exploring Space Lectures from the National Air and Space Museum will be available online beginning in mid-May. Students can learn about "The Island Earth" with Dr. John Townshend, Dr. Judith Lean, Dr. Waleed Abdalati, and Dr. James Fleming. To find more, go to: http://ali.apple.com/ali_sites/ali/exhibits/1001730/.
NASA Multimedia Resources allows students to explore the universe using imagery, video, and podcasts. With SkyWatch 2.0, you and your students can track spacecraft. To learn more, go to: www.nasa.gov/audience/forstudents/9-12/multimedia/index.html.
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Immigrant Integration Superhighway is a printable full-color poster illustrating ways in which employers can incorporate immigrants into the workplace. This is produced by the Institute for Work and Economy's website found at: www.workandeconomy.org/Immigrant%20Integration%20Superhighway%
The Job Accommodation Network (JAN) Conference 2006 is announced. The theme is "Empowering Employers to Build an Inclusive Workforce" and it will be held in Boston, MA on September 18-19, 2006. For more information, go to: http://conference.jan.wvu.edu. |
Prime Time Family Reading, created by the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities (LEH) in 1991, is an award-winning reading, discussion, and storytelling series based on illustrated children's books. National expansion is made possible through a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and is a cooperative endeavor with the ALA Public Programs Office. You may learn more at the ALA website at: www.ala.org/ala/ppo/currentprograms/primetime/primetimefamily.htm.
The Goodling Institute's Family Literacy Certificate Program is offering the following three-credit online courses this summer. The courses begin May 24, 2006 and end August 23, 2006.
- ADTED 456: Introduction to Family Literacy
- ADTED 459: Interactive Literacy: Parents and Children
To find out more information, email Donna Bell (dbell@famlit.org) or Sheila Sherow (sms20@psu.edu).
The Harvard Family Research Project recently published these research pieces.
- Parental Involvement and Student Achievement: A Meta-Analysis by William Jeynes
- Family Involvement Makes a Difference in School Success by the National PTA Legislative Conference
Family Literacy for ESOL Learners Websites
- Little Explorers Picture Dictionary from Enchanted Learning in English-Spanish, Spanish-English, and English-Japanese
- Starfall
- Literacy Center Education Network in English, Spanish, French, and German
- Story Place - The Children's Digital Library (English and Spanish)
- Priory Woods: Bugz - Counting Spots
- Priory Woods: Animated Counting Songs
- Fishy Count
- A Walk in the Woods (English and Spanish)
- What is Weather?
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Need Internet sites for your ESOL learners to use at home? Find a table of wonderful ESOL sites all in one place at: www.az-aall.org/aall/pages/
Current Issues of Immigration, 2006 is a free, online curriculum available from the Constitutional Rights Foundation. The curriculum was carefully prepared to balance the sides of this controversial issue. It consists of six lessons designed to put the current controversies about illegal immigration into historical and political context. To download the lesson packet, go to: http://www.crf-usa.org/immigration/issues_of_immigration_
New publications from the Center for Adult English Language Acquisition (CAELA)
Washington and Lee University's English for Speakers of Other Languages volunteer initiative is offering free translation services of documents, forms, etc. for agencies and programs. This service is dependent upon the knowledge base of the student volunteers. They also offer free services as interpreters for the Buena Vista, Lexington, and Rockbridge County areas. The students will travel to homes, businesses, schools, doctors' offices, etc. to provide translation services. To inquire about this service, please call their 24-hour hotline at 540-460-6606 or go to: http://esol.wlu.edu. |
Tech21 helps adult educators make the best use of technology. The project consists of a National Center on Adult Literacy (NCAL) National Technology Laboratory for Literacy and Adult Education in Philadelphia, a companion OTAN/SCOE Technology Lab in Sacramento, a hands-on Demonstration Lab in Washington, D.C., seven adult education program-based field sites nationwide, and an Internet portal. At each site, adult learners and educators are learning how to use and participate in the development of IT-based models for learning, instruction, and professional development. Researchers, practitioners, and adult learners are collaborating in a real-time process of research and evaluation, using the expertise of top specialists in educational technology and incorporating the practice-based experience of practitioners and learners. Innovative technology-based instructional materials are being examined, tested, refined, and implemented. Videoconferencing, digital broadcasting, and the Internet are being used to extend the temporal and geographic diffusion and adoption of model training and materials. To learn more, go to: www.tech21.org.
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U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Quick Guide to Health Literacy is now available! Combining evidence and best practice, the new HHS Quick Guide to Health Literacy is a reference for professionals interested in health literacy. The strategies discussed in the guide reflect the current body of research in heath literacy and health communication. To learn more and view a sample PowerPoint presentation on health literacy and other resources, go to: www.health.gov/communication/literacy/default.htm.
Universal health symbols provide direction for patients in hospitals. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's program, Hablamos Juntos (We Speak Together), has developed 28 universally-recognized graphic health care symbols depicting important hospital destinations from Registration to Billing. To learn more about these symbols, go to: www.hablamosjuntos.org/signage/symbols/default.using_symbols.asp.
The Center for Health Care Strategies, Inc.'s Health Literacy Fact Sheets is a series of nine fact sheets created for those who are designing patient education materials for consumers with low health-literacy skills. The sheets define health literacy, describe its impact on health outcomes, provide strategies to prepare appropriate educational materials to assist low-literate consumers, and provide resources for additional health literacy information and publications. To view all nine fact sheets, go to: www.chcs.org/publications3960/publications_show.htm?doc_id=291711.
Ask Me 3.org is a quick, effective tool designed to improve health communication between patients and providers. Through patient and provider education materials developed by leading health literacy experts, Ask Me 3 promotes three simple but essential questions that patients should ask their providers in every health care interaction. Providers should always encourage their patients to understand the answers to:
To learn more, go to: www.askme3.org.
The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute offers an extensive collection of health booklets that are available for viewing and printing online or ordering (some are free for one copy, others have a minimal fee). Booklets are available in English as well as some in Spanish, Vietnamese, and Filipino. To view the available booklets, go to: www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/pubs/pub_gen.htm.
New York Online Access to Health (NOAH) provides access to high quality full-text consumer health information
in English and Spanish that is accurate, timely, relevant, and unbiased. To learn more, go to: |
