Weblog: January 2007
Update: Online Course Registration Is Now Closed
The Resource Center is excited to offer all of our online courses this winter. These courses are free to adult educators in Virginia, and you may complete them on your own schedule in the convenience of your home or office.
Courses offered are Adults as Learners: An Orientation, ESOL Basics, and Using Technology to Enhance GED Instruction. The registration deadline for all courses is Friday, February 16; courses begin Monday, February 19. Register now to reserve your spot in one of our innovative online courses! More information and registration for each course is available below:
If you have any questions regarding these courses, please contact Lauren Ellington at valrccourses@vcu.edu or 800-237-0178.
January Issue of Update
We are excited to offer you the January issue of Update. This issue has many timely resources for all adult literacy educators. Find out about the federal role in adult literacy, online resources for teaching numeracy, new publications from the FINE Network, and much more. To view it, go to: http://valrc.org/publications/update/update0107.htm.
John Strucker:Improving Instruction for Adult Intermediate Readers
You are cordially invited to attend ...
John Strucker is one of the most highly influential leaders in the field of adult literacy and reading in the U.S. today. For the past ten years he has been Research Associate at the National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy (NCSALL), and a Lecturer in the Harvard Graduate School of Education (GSE), where he teaches a laboratory practicum course, "Developing Reading in Adults and Older Adolescents." Dr. Strucker received his Doctorate from Harvard GSE in 1995. He is a member of the National Institute for Literacy's Adult Reading Expert Group.
Dr. Strucker's interest in adult literacy began when he worked as a labor and community organizer in Chicago in the 1970s. Before joining NCSALL, he taught adult literacy and ESL for 11 years at the Community Learning Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts, specializing in the diagnostic assessment and teaching of adults with reading difficulties.
During his tenure at NCSALL, Dr. Strucker has been the Principal Investigator on three large-scale research projects funded by the U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences: the "Adult Reading Components Study," a cluster analysis of the reading strengths and needs of 955 adult literacy and ESL students, "Components and the International Adult Literacy Study (IALS)" - a latent class analysis of the component skills of 1,084 IALS Level 1, 2, and 3 participants, and "Improving Instruction for Adult Intermediate Readers," an intervention study testing an adaptation of the Boys Town Reading Program with 275 adult learners.
Dr. Strucker's other interests include teacher-training in adult education, the application of technology to literacy learning, the development of adult literacy assessment tools, and family literacy.
To register for this lecture, please click on this link.
Tutor Training, Fredericksburg, March 3
Fine Tune Your Tutoring Skills This free workshop, sponsored by PD16 Regional Literacy Coordinating Committee and the Rappahannock Regional Library, is for experienced literacy tutors as well as those new to tutoring. The primary focus is to strengthen your skills in meeting the learning needs of adult emergent readers who may also have a learning disability. You will be working in small groups to explore many tutoring tips and strategies. You will then have the opportunity to make a lesson and build a notebook. The workshop presenters will be Susan Hahn and Peg Larose.
Saturday, March 3, 2007 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Lunch and snacks will be provided.
Salem Church Library
2607 Salem Church Road
Fredericksburg, VA 22407
For driving directions, click here.
Registration is limited to 20 so hurry and reserve a space.
Instructional resources abound!
Attend a Training: In the opening months of 2007 the Resource Center has already scheduled several GED Connection trainings around the state. These trainings are an essential experience for many instructors because this is where LiteracyLink Teachers Guides are distributed, and participation in the training gives you the keys to your own LiteracyLink virtual classroom (for Workplace Essential Skills curriculum as well). Take a look at the calendar to see if one of these trainings will fit into your schedule.
Turn DVDs into GEDs: To help Virginia adult educators take full advantage of the LiteracyLink programs, we are distributing DVD sets of both PBS television series, GED Connection and Workplace Essential Skills (WES). You can show these programs in your classroom before the whole class, or allow individual students to play the discs at personal computer stations. The cost of the DVD sets is $80 for GED Connection and $65 for WES (including shipping). If you are interested, contact Marianne Baker about placing an order.
Get Cozy with eLearning for the GED: Registration is now open for our online course "Using Technology to Enhance GED Instruction." This professional development session is a great way to get caught up on the latest teaching techniques in adult education. The registration deadline for all courses is Friday, February 16; courses begin Monday, February 19.
Two New Products: Could your students benefit from having GED prep in the palm of their hands? Some instructors are finding it useful to a have a stack of GED Flashcard Secrets in the classroom for students who want to get some extra practice in just before the test. They say you can't cram for the GED, but flashcards let you go through the motion while sharpening GED skills.
Recently, the VAELN listserv received an announcement about Spanish language GED practice tests that are now available from InterLingua Educational Publishing (Spanishged.org). These are not the Official Practice Test (OPT) in Spanish, which is only offered by Steck-Vaughn. However, they are inexpensive, downloadable, available on CD or hard-copy, and come with lessons that may be useful to your native Spanish-speaking students.
ProLiteracy Worldwide 2007 Annual Conference
November 7 - 10, 2007 at the Hilton Mark Center, Alexandria, Virginia
For more information, visit the ProLiteracy website or contact 315-422-9121, ext. 352 or conference@proliteracy.org
Dollar General Grants Available
Requests for Dollar General proposals are available on the Dollar General Website.
All proposals are due at the Dollar General Literacy Foundation by March 2, 2007. No late proposals will be accepted.
2007 Adult Literacy Grants are now available 2007 Family Literacy Grants are now available
Please contact Dollar General regarding these grants, not the Resource Center, at 615-855-5201
2007 TABE Pricing
The 2007 price list is now available from McGraw-Hill/Contemporary for TABE 9 and 10. Contact Mary McDowell for more information.
Virginia Literacy Foundation Grant Applications Available
The Virginia Literacy Foundation is pleased to announce that applications for our 2007-2008 matching grants are now available. If you are interested in applying for one of our grants, you may either request a packet of grant application forms by calling Julia Norman 804-237-8909, or download the required application forms on this website.
Please note: All grants must be completed as required and received by 5:00 PM on March 9, 2007 by the VLF. For questions, contact Victoire Gerkens Sanborn at 800-237-0178.
2007-2008 Virginia Literacy Foundation Grant RFPs Available
The Virginia Literacy Foundation is pleased to announce that applications for our 2007-2008 matching grants are now available. If you are interested in applying for one of our grants, you may either request a packet of grant application forms by calling 804-237-8909, or download the required application forms at www.valrc.org under weblogs, grants. To qualify for a grant, first-time applicants are required to fill out a 2007 Survey Form and return it with their grant application.
- 2007 Grant Application (Mandatory)
- 2007 Grant Instructions (Mandatory)
- 2007 Budget Sheet Attachment (Mandatory)
- 2007 Survey form for first time applicants
- 2007 Sample Goals, Objective, and Outcomes Table (Example)
- 10 Questions for Tier 2 Programs (Optional)
- Grant Guidelines (Suggested ways of writing a VLF grant)
Comprehension & Vocabulary- The Vicious Cycle
Many of our adult learners are stuck in a vicious cycle: "Their limited vocabulary and background knowledge create comprehension problems, and because they have difficulty with comprehension they don't choose to read much, so they don't develop vocabulary through reading." What will help? "Explicit vocabulary instruction is necessary to enable these adults to read material related to their educational, vocational, and family goals."
- Applying Research in Reading Instruction for Adults, p.60-61.. McShane/NIFL
An excellent tool that will help your student improve both vocabulary and comprehension, and that is particularly attuned to adults and their interests, is "News for You" by New Reader's Press. I will be providing more detail on this in the publication list above, presently.
Components of Numeracy (NCSALL): Quotes for Thought
The need: Based on the Adult Literacy and Lifeskills Survey, "US adults performing at numeracy levels 1 and 2 (the lowest of five levels) are about three times more likely to receive social assistance payments from the state...than those who score in levels 3, 4 and 5." Studies have determined that "58.6% of US adults was below level 3, the minimum for coping with today's skill demands."
Professional Development demands "With regard to context, teachers would benefit from the ability to enmesh instruction into contexts as well as to draw the math out from the contexts with which learners are familiar. Teachers should have a mastery of all the content strands, including but not limited to the computational aspects."
It's a high calling but worth the effort! See the Components of Numeracy.
MoneyWise: Financial Literacy Regional Trainings Coming Soon
Consumer Action has granted The Resource Center $3,000 to conduct four regional MoneyWise Financial Literacy Trainings in Virginia during the next six months. The purpose of these trainings, led by Victoire Gerkens Sanborn, a certified MoneyWise trainer, is to provide teachers and tutors with the tools and resources they need to help their students understand what good money management is and to better manage their money.
Starting in February, the trainings will be scheduled in Richmond (tentatively in May), Northern Virginia (February 23), Southwest Virginia (March 3), and Eastern Virginia (TBA.) Programs that are interested in hosting these trainings, that are centrally located within each geographic region, and that can offer a training space for 25 participants for an 8-hour workshop, please contact Victoire Gerkens Sanborn or 800-237-0178. Food and workshop costs and materials will be paid for by Consumer Action and the Resource Center.
MoneyWise is a financial education project of Consumer Action and Capital One.