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LR/RI produces a bulletin roughly every two weeks in order to inform area practitioners of news, events, and calls for participation and also as a forum for posing questions, issues and discussion topics. The current bulletin is posted below. To read previous bulletins, go to Bulletin Archives.March 1, 2003 Bulletin #160
Dear Colleagues, New Year's greetings. Calls for participation, employment,
funding,
and conference and workshop opportunities, online
and other resources. Resources for remembering the day are scattered
throughout the LR/RI site.
Janet Isserlis
NOTICES
Save the dates: March 31 and April 1 K. Lynn Savage one day workshop to focus on Crossroads Café for the classroom, 1/2 day to focus on On Common Ground for the classroom, and 1/2 day to focus on designing a distance learning program for ESL. K. Lynn Savage was the principal academic advisor for the videos and
lead author on the accompanying print materials for Crossroads Café,
a video-based course for teaching English to speakers of other languages.
She has used the materials in her own intermediate level ESL classes as
well as with distance learning students. The activities she will share
are ones she developed for those classes. She also established the
distance learning classes for ESL students at City College of San Francisco
and taught in the program for five years. She co-authored, with Ramirez,
the On Common Ground Teacher's Resource Book Distance Learning Edition
(Intelcom, 1999) and the article "Closing the Distance in Adult
ESL: Two Approaches to Video-Based Learning" in Distance Learning Programs
(TESOL, 2001).
Statewide conference LR/RI is organizing a statewide conference to be held on May 15th, at the Sheratin Providence Airport Hotel. Read more about it here, and/or contact LR/RI if youíd like to join us, or have suggestions for the conference. The Human Resource Investment Council RI Workforce Literacy Collaborative is sponsoring an Adult Education Fair on March 12th, at CCRI's Providence Campus. This event will give students and practitioners the opportunity to learn about adult education and training programs offered in RI and the services they provide. It is our intent that each member organization set up a table so that
attendees can ask questions and learn more about services your agencies
provide. We also request that you invite students and staff to attend
this networking and informative event. Please contact Yvette Kenner
by March 7 to let her know that you'll be attending/participating.
Yvette can be reached at (401) 861-0815.
A professional development workshop is being offered to literacy providers by Outreach Programs at Rhode Island College. Dawne Pezzuco will be conducting the workshop in teaching life skills using the internet as well as demonstrating to instructors how to support their curriculums with internet based information. The workshop will be offered Monday, March 17th,from 9-12 at Rhode Island College, East Campus, building 8. Breakfast will be served from 8:30 until 8:55 and the workshop will begin promptly at 9:00. Please contact Dawne Pezzuco at dpezzuco@cox.net to register no later than March 12th. ESOL sharing/discussion session will take place on Monday, April 21, 2:30 pm at the Genesis Center - post TESOL sharing session. Please join us to share feedback from the annual TESOL conference - and/or to share other ideas, materials and concerns. A survey about resources for ESOL activities, developed by Debby Venator,
is available online. We
request that teachers complete the survey and send their responses to LR/RI
as soon as possible.
CALL FOR ARTICLES for the next issue of The Change Agent THEME: HOUSING Educators and Adult Learners: We are looking for lessons, activities, and student writings that reflect on how having/not having ideal housing affects our lives, as well as how teaching about housing affects our classrooms. Some questions for students and teachers to think about: What happens when the topic of housing emerges in the classroom? What do you learn from introducing housing into the curriculum or class? What activities, resources and approaches have been most successful? Which literacy skills get tapped into and practiced? Describe and reflect on your current living situations-life in a temporary shelter, life on the streets, anxiety about losing a home, living with violence in the house\neighborhood, or the "perfect" housing and living situation. Describe and reflect on your housing dreams. How do you advocate and make change to bring about better housing conditions? All articles must be received by April 15, 2003. All articles will be considered. Final decisions are made by The Change Agent Editorial Board. Please send material (by email or PC disk) to: Deborah Schwartz c/o Angela Orlando, World Education, 44 Farnsworth Street, Boston, MA 02210 phone: (617) 482-9485 fax: (617) 482-0617 email: aorlando@worlded.org
Minigrant presentation - will be rescheduled - time/location TBA Please join Brenda McGill as she shares findings from her minigrant project on Students actively constructing their own knowledge. Brenda will share the definition of constructivism, its relevance to curriculum development, 5 Principles and clarifying questions. Her outline also includes: The Challenge, Cross references with Bloom and Critical Thinking Skills, Instructional design that supports Constructivism a) Guided Exploration, b) Cooperative / Collaborative Learning, c) Inquiry or Problem-Based Learning, Cross referenced with LD appropriate instruction and The Challenge revisited. A bibliography is included as well. The session will be held at the Providence (Liston) Campus of CCRI , Room #158 /Professional Devmt & Training (1 Hilton Street - directions at http://www.ccri.cc.ri.us/about/Campuses.shtml or call 455-6000. To learn more about Brenda's project see http://www.brown.edu/lrri/mingrants2002.html scholarships: Scholarship opportunity for low-income women Every year the Jeannette Rankin Foundation (JRF) awards scholarships to women 35 years of age and older who, through undergraduate or vocational education, are seeking to better themselves, their families and their communities. All applicants for this scholarship must be: Women, at least 35 years of age as of April 1, 2003., US citizens. Pursuing a technical/vocational degree, an associate degree, or a first\ bachelor degree., Enrolled or accepted in an accredited school for the fall of 2003, low-income. Application deadline: March 1, 2003. For exact income guidelines for this program, or to apply, go to: http://www.rankinfoundation.org/apply.htm. For additional information ,access the Foundation's website at http://www.rankinfoundation.org/ or contact the Foundation office directly at (706) 208-1211 (phone). ELA Scholarship Application Online The Ethel Louise Armstrong Foundation, Inc. (ELA) announces that the 2003 ELA Scholarship application is available in the scholarship section of the ELA website at http://www.ela.org. The Scholarship provides financial assistance to women with physical disabilities who are enrolled in a college or university graduate program in the US. Scholarship awards are based on merit and given in an objective and nondiscriminatory basis. Each applicant is required to submit an application packet including an application form, college transcript, two letters of academic recommendation, a medical verification form and an essay outlining how they will "Change the Face of Disability on the Planet." Scholarships range from $1,000 to $2,000 per year; application deadline is June 1, 2003. The vision of the Ethel Louise Armstrong (ELA) Foundation, Inc. is to "Change the Face of Disability on the Planet". Our mission is to promote, through grants and scholarships, the inclusion of people with disabilities in the areas of arts, advocacy and education. Horace Mann offers scholarships for educators taking college courses; deadline May 15. The Horace Mann Scholarship Program offers funds to help public and private school educators attend college. The 2003 program will offer 36 scholarships totaling $30,000. Awards include: one $5,000 scholarship; fifteen $1,000 scholarships; and twenty $500 scholarships. Horace Mann will pay scholarships directly to the college or university of each recipient's choice for tuition, fees and other educational expenses. To be eligible, an applicant must be an educator employed by a U.S. public or private school district or U.S. public or private college/ university planning to enter a two or four-year accredited college or university. The applicant must have a minimum of two years teaching experience. http://www.horacemann.com/html/news/nw1%7E02-03.html and https://www.horacemann.com/edscholarship/
Advocacy: Omnibus Literacy Legislation/WIA Reauthorization This February, a four-page Policy Brief will be delivered to every Senator and Congressperson. This document provides an overview of adult education in the United States and summarizes NCL policy recommendations for FY'04 Appropriations as well as for the reauthorization of Temporary Assistance to Needy Families and the Workforce Investment Act. Feel free to use it in meetings and communications to policy-makers. The National Coalition for Literacy (NCL) is spearheading efforts to produce an omnibus literacy bill in the U.S. Congress. Such a bill would call for changes in nine public laws that impact adult education and family literacy in this country. http://www.nifl.gov/coalition/omnibus.html Also: On January 21, 2003, the NCL issued an action alert to protect funding for FY'03 funding in the soon to be completed omnibus appropriations bill. To read amd act upon this appropriations alert, go to http://www.nifl.gov/coalition/appropriations.html Rhode Island Special Interest Group of MATSOL The Rhode Island SIG is a group of professionals in ESOL and Bilingual
Education organizing under the auspices of MATSOL, in order to meet the
professional needs in the field in Rhode Island. Our purpose is to
recruit ESOL and Bilingual Education professionals in Adult ESOL, Higher
Ed, Workplace Ed, Elementary, Secondary, and Low-Incidence programs serving
English Language Learners in Rhode Island, to determine advocacy and professional
development needs. If you are interested in joining or learning more
about the Rhode Island Special Interest Group of MATSOL, you can contact
Jenifer Giroux by e-mail jgiroux@ric.edu or at 456-8794.
From Paul Jurmo, an advisor to/supporter of VALUE ONE WAY TO SUPPORT LEARNER LEADERSHIP I urge all who recognize the important role that learners can play as advocates in our field to consider helping one or more learners to go to VALUE's national Adult Learner Leadership Institute to be held in Tampa , June 25- 27. (Go to the VALUE Web site for more information.) To give you an idea of the costs, here is an estimate of what it would take to send one learner to the Institute from NYC: Hotel for 3 nights = $225.00 Conf fee (includes meals)= 175.00 Airfare (LaG to Tampa)= 250.00 Ground travel = 40.00 Meals en route = 25.00 TOTAL: $715.00. Organizations might consider doing a fundraiser (organized by other learners) or offer a matching grant (paying part of the cost and asking another organization to pay the remainder). This strategy has the advantage of broadening local awareness about and investment in learner leadership. Each organization can decide for itself which learner it would support. In some cases, organizations already have an in-house adult learner group (e.g., a student council) or an external learner group (e.g., a statewide adult learner organization) which can choose its own representative. In other cases, an organization might invite nominations from the local literacy community and set up a panel to review the nominations. It is also important to consider how that learner would be supported when he/she returns from the Institute. This will ensure that the learner is actually able to use what he/she learns at the Institute. If you want some guidance on how you might support an adult learner to get training in leadership skills, contact the VALUE office at 610-876-7625. The VALUE Web site also has many examples of how adult learners have gotten involved in leadership roles around the U.S. The Susan Green Award, designed to recognize adult learners who exemplify the spirit of literacy advocate Susan Green [1944 - 2002] wil be presented at the conference. Deadline for nominations is April 18; to learn more: http://literacynet.org/value/whatsnew/2003_01/award.html
learning opportunities Two opportunities to attend a free workshop on how to run a book discussion group, with ideas specific to Wish You Well. Access the information you need to register by going to http://www.lori.state.ri.us/ce/spring03.php . Opportunity for RI youth (17 to 24), to partner with a Rhode Island non-profit organization in the Youth in Non-Profit Summer Fellowship. The program was conceived by the 2002-03 Rhode Island Foundation Fellows class to introduce youth leaders to careers in the non-profit sector. Youth fellows will receive a $3,000 stipend for working eight weeks at their collaborating agency. Additional information and an application form are available by contacting Inés Merchán imerchan@rifoundation.orge-mail or 274-4564 Cranston Adult Learning Center is offering free open entry GED, literacy, math skills and ESOL classes and new Distance Learning On-Line Course - preparing for GED, brush-up (reading/math). Access to the internet is required; counselor available for job skills assessment, training program assistance and college information. Programs are offered Monday - Friday 9 AM to 1 PM and Tuesday and Thursday evenings from 7 to 9 PM at 4 Sharpe Drive. Classes are also offered at Gladstone Street School, 50 Gladstone Street, Crnaston, Monday and Wednesday evenings from 6 to 8 PM. For more information, contact Gayle Dzekevich at 270-8166, or leave a message at 270-8176. 2002 minigrant projects - read about the projects being undertaken at: http://www.brown.edu/Departments/Swearer_Center/Literacy_Resources/mingrants2002.html The three minigrant recipients will present their work in the fall. what do you think? LR/RI has had an online survey on its site for months. Previously, those who may have come across the survey were asked to copy and paste it into an email message, or to print it and complete it. Thanks to the brilliant technical support and inservice learning provided by Brown University, the survey can now be completed on line. I'd be grateful if you could please take the time to complete it. While occasional word comes back about the work LR/RI has done, this survey attempts to be somewhat more systematic in considering the work that's done and the work that needs to be accomplished. Please complete the survey at http://www.brown.edu/lrri - scroll down and click on the link to the survey. If you lack web access and wish to complete the survey, please contact LR/RI to receive one via snail mail or fax. Resource demo: Aztec Software, is pleased to provide an opportunity to review its state-of-the-art internet-enabled multimedia learning system. With customers like, General Electric, Dade County School District, and the YMCA, Aztec has created the most comprehensive, and effective learning system available. This competency-based Action Learning series uses graphics and sound to teach workforce and academic skills. Correlated to the GED, TABE, ACT's WorkKeys® Assessment, CASAS, and most state exams, this versatile multi-level web enabled product can be configured directly to students' needs. Designed to enhance education and job performance, the prescriptive Aztec products provide testing, accountability and meet qualifications for most grant funded programs. Versions of these affordable courses are available for single workstations, LANs, Intranets or can be Internet accessible and it's free for 5 weeks if you mention this newsletter when you call. For information: lisa@aztecsoftware.com or call at 1-800-273-0033 and ask for Lisa to order your free demo now. The Rhode Island Foundation Gallery Invites you to take a tour of a new art exhibition entitled "Skin Deep Presumptions: Pride Through Adversity" The show features the Civil Rights collection of advertisements, prints and African-American memorabilia put together by Onna Moniz-John. The show is about how advertisements and objects today can reveal social relationships regarding race and how they once helped provide impetus for the birth of the Civil Rights movement. This exhibit really provides a great opportunity to deepen our understanding of how images, especially negative stereotypes, still shape our perceptions as much as they did in the past. This tour has been called eye-opening and all are conducted are free of charge! They last about 40 minutes, although chool groups may want to stay longer and do a written response, either creative or journalistic in nature.. Tours are on Mondays and Wednesdays from 3-6pm. After 2/24 tours will be conducted from 9-noon on Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday. Call 401-274-4564 or check http://www.rifoundation.org/ The Rhode Island Foundation is located on Kennedy Plaza. Buses sometimes park at the Roger Williams National Memorial on North Main Street after dropping off students funding opportunities - large and less large Human Resource Investmen Council grant process - RFPs available now at http://www.rihric.com/grantprogramshric.htm - Deadline March 21, 2003.
Pfizer Health Literacy Initiative Grants Program The Pfizer Health Literacy Initiative Grants Program is part of Pfizer Inc.'s project to advance healthcare professionals' efforts to improve health literacy. Grants are designed to generate knowledge, create solutions, support research, raise awareness, and attract new scholars to the service of health literacy. http://www.pfizerhealthliteracy.com/ For 2003, there are two grant categories: Scholars Awards: These awards will provide post-doctoral candidates committed to advancing health literacy an opportunity to study and conduct research under the guidance of a recognized expert in the field. Two awards of $65,000 each, per year, over two years will be made. Applicants will be considered from a variety of fields, including, but not limited to, education, medicine, nursing, pharmacy, public health, and social work. (Deadline: March 21.) Visiting Lecturer Grants: These grants offer applicants the opportunity to have a recognized health literacy expert visit their organization and provide lectures and workshops on health literacy. Fifteen grants of up to $4,500 each will be awarded. Applications from organizations in diverse fields are encouraged, including adult education, consumer advocacy, health economics, health literacy, health policy, managed care, medicine, nonprofit community organizations, nursing, pharmacy, public health, social work, and voluntary health associations. (Deadline: March 14.) To request an application form or to apply online, visit the Pfizer Health Literacy Initiative Web site. RFP Link: http://www.pfizerhealthliteracy.com/partnerships_awards.html The Poverty & Race Research Action Council (PRRAC) announces another round of education reform grants in areas of social science research. PRACC is particularly interested in issues such as high classroom turnover/mobility and its disproportionate impact on low-income, minority, and farm worker students. However, other issues will be considered as well. To apply, send PRRAC a proposal outlining the planned research and methodology, the advocacy work it is designed to support, a budget, timeline, and qualifications of the researchers. Maximum grant: $10,000. No application deadline. http://www.prrac.org/grants.htm Funding Solutions for Small Nonprofit Organizations A collection of resources to help small nonprofit organizations fundraise including ways to motivate your board, sample fundraising letters, phonathon advice, and tips to improve your direct mail solicitation. http://www.nonprofit-innovations.com/
employment opportunities National Institute for Literacy: links to employment in adult literacy, at: http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/whats_new/job_announce.html Rhode Island Community Jobs (RICOMJOB) is a public e-mail announcement list that seeks to raise the profile of meaningful work in Rhode Island by helping non-profit and public interest employers publicize openings effectively. Anyone seeking a job that makes a difference in Rhode Island can join the list. Any non-profit, government or private sector employer advertising a paid position related to the public interest or community concerns can post a free job listing. Positions must be paid but may be part-time, full-time or temporary. To join the list as a job seeker or to post a job as an employer go to: http://www.ricommunityjobs.org Rhode Island Community Jobs is supported by the Swearer Center for Public Service at Brown University and the Rhode Island Campus Compact. If you have questions about this service, please contact us at ricomjob@brown.edu Volunteers needed: We need someone on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays: from 6:30 to 9:30 at Gloria Dei, StepUp Center, for a class that has a main teacher but has two levels: a very beginner and a beginner. We would like to talk to anyone who would be interested in participating in the class. Please contact Kathryn Besnier, acting Lead Teacher at Gloria Dei Step Up Center. Email: kaybee@ids.net
online / resources Online resource: "Becoming American: The Chinese Experience" (a Bill Moyers special) will premiere March 25, 2003 on PBS. The companion website (still being enhanced) at http://www.pbs.org/becomingamerican/ includes an interactive database featuring mini-biographies, submitted by visitors, of their families' experiences in America. Users of all backgrounds are invited to begin submitting their stories now and to create this very personal mosaic about the American immigrant experience. Check your local station for local broadcast plans: http://www.pbs.org/stationfinder/localize092002.html?confirm=http://www.pbs.org/ From Sally Waldron, World Education: The Massachusetts Coalition for Adult Education announces a new advocacy resource for adult literacy programs: Your Government, Your Taxes, Your Choices, a curriculum for ABE/ESOL/GED students that addresses services the state provides, taxes people pay and issues of fairness, and advocacy. Developed by two ABE/ESOL teachers, Diana Satin and Nancy Sheridan, the curriculum is intended primarily for Massachusetts adult basic education learners but it also provides a model for other states. The language in the curriculum is geared for mid-beginning ESOL learners, and it also appropriate for students at higher language levels. Each lesson also contains ideas for adapting the curriculum for students at beginning and more advanced levels. Activities are varied. http://www.mcae.net/curriculum/ A feedback form will also be available. If you use parts of the curriculum, please send your comments and feedback to swaldron@worlded.org. We hope to revise and refine the materials next summer. A new issue of Focus on Basics is available online at http://ncsall.gse.harvard.edu/fob/2003/fob_6b.htm. The topic: "Isms" -- classism, racism, gender bias, and bias in all the other categories that can differentiate people from the majority in society. Follow the eight year transformation of a New Orleans program into an antiracist program; Refresh your knowledge of multicultural educational theory; Read about how an ESOL program in Oklahoma created a new venue for classes in which traditional Muslim women could feel comfortable; See how two basic education educators who thought they were non biased recognized and moved past their own limitations; Share the self recognition a teacher trainer felt when she realized her practice was not as empowering as she thought it was; View the field from inside out as an African American teacher and professional developer reflects on her growing awareness of the need to address issues of bias in her practice. A new issue of the Change Agent is also available; focusing on issue of language and power, the issue provides food for thought for learners and practitioners. For hard copies, contact LR/RI or go to http://www.nelrc.org/changeagent.
UnderstandingPrejudice.org, a web site for students, teachers, and others interested in the causes and consequences of prejudice. In these pages you will find more than 2,000 links to prejudice-related resources, as well as searchable databases with hundreds of prejudice researchers and social justice organizations. http://www.understandingprejudice.org/ OVAE Review is a biweekly update from the Office of the Assistant
Secretary at the Office of Vocational and Adult Education, U.S. Department
of Education (ED). Dr. Carol D'Amico's column appears monthly.
The full text of OVAE Review is available at http://www.ed.gov/offices/OVAE/news/orev020703.html
- including important information about budget decisions for fiscal
year 2004.
The Goodling Institute for Research in Family Literacy at Penn State and the National Center for Family Literacy are collaborating to develop and deliver an online Certificate in Family Literacy through Penn State's World Campus. The Web-based certificate program will begin in May, with a course entitled Introduction to Family Literacy. The Certificate consists of 15 credits (5 courses) that may be applied toward a bachelor's or master's degree. http://www.ed.psu.edu/goodlinginstitute/goal_2.asp. While at the web site, you might be interested in the report "Family Literacy: A Research Agenda to Build the Future." The Graduate School of Education at Lewis & Clark College offers three-week online course (2 hrs. graduate credit or 30 PDU's) designed to help educators become more proficient in utilizing the Internet. Michael Krauss, J.D., M.A.T, of the Institute for the Study of American Language and Culture has taught the course and offers it again this spring from February 24-March 14. Course materials, comments from prior participants, and registration available at http://www.lclark.edu/~krauss/usia/home.html If you have questions concerning the course, please contact Michael Krauss at (503) 768-7315 - krauss@lclark.edu or for credit information contact the Special Projects office at (503) 768-6040 - hays@lclark.edu Applications are available for the 2003 National Institute For Literacy's ESL Special Collection Mini-Grants. The ESL Special Collection mini-grants are designed to help adult literacy teachers develop ESL materials for inclusion on the ESL Special Collection. The Mini-Grants are for $500, and four grants are expected to be awarded. The deadline is Friday, April 18. For more information, visit the ESL Special Collection http://www.literacynet.org/esl/minigrants/index.html Film resource: "Echando Raices/Taking Root: Immigrant and Refugee Communities in California, Texas, and Iowa," for which NELRC wrote a discussion and education guide. "Echando Raices/ Taking Root" is a new educational video produced by the American Friends Service Committee. It tells the stories of immigrant communities and the struggle for immigrants' rights in three different parts of the country: California's Central Valley, a major agricultural area; Houston, Texas, where immigrants have reshaped the city's political and economic landscape; and central Iowa, where newly emergent immigrant communities face a host of challenges. The film is available in both English and Spanish. It features the stories and reflections of immigrants and refugees from Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Colombia, Cambodia, and Laos. A special feature is the inclusion of testimony by indigenous people, including Hmong refugees from Laos, Mayan refugees from Guatemala, and Mixteco immigrants and refugees from Mexico. Also included are perspectives from researchers, African American and European American community activists, local officials, displaced workers, and more. "Echando Raices/Taking Root" is an open-ended educational resource designed for use by immigrant organizations, other community organizations, labor unions, faith communities, adult educators, and service providers. The complete production is one hour long and each of its three sections may be used either separately or together. It is accompanied by a discussion guide with background on immigration issues and suggested activities for use in community contexts and adult education settings. information : http://www.takingroot.org . Additional questions may be directed to cruweb@afsc.org. Resource available: English language learners make up a significant segment of the adult education population in the United States. [from Miriam Burt, at the National Center for ESL Literacy Education] In program year 2001-2002, 42% of the participants in state administered
adult education programs were enrolled in English as a second language
classes. This percentage does not include adult English learners who are
being served in other segments of the system, such as GED, adult basic
education (ABE), and adult secondary education (ASE). To meet the
large demand for English language instruction, existing adult education
programs are expanding, and new ones are being established. Who are English
learners? Where do they come from? What kind of instruction is being provided
them? What kind of instruction should be provided them? To answer
these questions, read Adult English Language Instruction in the 21st Century.
This 40-page document, published by the National Center for ESL Literacy
Education (NCLE) at the Center for Applied Linguistics provides an overview
of the field of adult ESL instruction in the United States today. First,
it places adult ESL in the broader context of the US education system,
and then describes trends and issues in the areas of program design and
instructional practice, assessment, teacher training and professional development,integration
of research and practice, and technology. http://www.cal.org/ncle/languageinstruction.htm;
available in English http://www.cal.org/ncle/languageinstructionEng.pdf
and
Spanish http://www.cal.org/ncle/languageinstructionSp.pdf
From Dr. Jerri Scott, University of Memphis. Please visit her website (below) or contact her directly at jcscott@memphis.edu for further information: Schools, churches, libraries, bookstores, community and professional organizations, and interested citizens are urged to make literacy a significant part of Black History Month by hosting and coordinating Read-Ins in their communities. Hosting a Read-In can be as simple as bringing together family and friends to share a book, or as elaborate as arranging public readings and media presentations that feature professional African American Writers. To be counted as participants, simply: Select books authored by African Americans; Conduct your read-in(s) on the first Sunday or Monday of February; and Report your results by submitting the African American Read-In Chain Report Card. For more details, press releases and registration information, please visit http://www.people.memphis.edu/~jcscott/action.html Resource available Take on the Challenge: A Source Book from the Women, Violence, and Adult Education Project-by Elizabeth Morrish, Jenny Horsman, and Judy Hofer A project of World Education. Funded by the U.S. Department of Education, Women's Educational Equity Act (WEEA) Program. This new resource with photos and original artwork is primarily for teachers, but will useful for all educators and activists interested in anti-violence work. It is an analysis of the effects of violence and a practical collection of ideas and activities, with examples from teachers working in GED, native language literacy, ABE, ESOL, welfare-to-work, corrections, and shelter settings. It shows how they successfully changed their curriculum and learning environment to address the impact of violence on learning. Based on the foundation of Jenny Horsman's research, practitioners focused on well-being and incorporated counseling and creative arts - collage, quilting, movement, and meditation - into the classroom. Each chapter includes a general introduction, tools for programs, and teachers writing about the changes they made. Chapter One explores our understanding of violence, its impacts on learning, and first steps that programs can take. Chapter Two - Build a Web of Support -- describes how establishing program and community support and taking care of yourself are key to doing this work. Chapter Three - Reform Programming examines possibilities for changing curricula and creating conditions for learning with detailed descriptions from each teacher. For ordering information, please contact Sabrina Kurtz-Rossi at: World
Education, Inc., 44 Farnsworth Street, Boston, MA 02210. Tel: (617) 482-9485,
Fax: (617) 482-0617, and E-mail: skurtz@worlded.org
The Office of Vocational and Adult Education of the US Department of Education will be sponsoring the Adult Education Program Study (AEPS), which will provide the first-ever nationally representative information on the literacy and numeracy proficiency of participants in federally-funded adult education programs. This information will be gathered from adult learners across the country using assessments and many adult education programs will be asked to participate. Programs are being contacted now. If your program is contacted, please assist in this important effort. The AEPS will also collect national-level information on adult education program characteristics. Some 1500 programs across the country received questionnaires late in 2002 and were asked to respond. Many programs have not responded and we need their input in order to ensure the survey is repre-sentative of all programs. If your program was selected, please fill out the questionnaire and return it using the address information provided. If you aren't sure if your program was selected, have lost your questionnaire, or have questions, information (and copies of the questionnaire) are at http://www.nces.ed.gov/surveys/all/aeps.asp or call the study hotline at [1]888-689-3991 or contact aepsprogram@westat.com. Your state director of adult education should have information on the programs in their states which were selected. - Mariann Lemke, NCES e-literacy: The National Institute for Literacy's electronic newsletter is online (new and archived issues) at http://www.nifl.gov/nifl/eliteracy/archive.html NIFL also maintains an online calendar of events at http://www.nifl.gov/cgi-bin/Calendar/calendar_world.cgi search LR/RI - the search function at http://www.brown.edu/lrri has been improved so that the LR/RI website is now searchable. Please try it. Let me know what you think.. Thanks to Bill Dennen at Brown for his assistance in getting it to work. Free education publications are available from ED Pubs, the U.S. Department of Education's Publications Center. To order free books, brochures, videos, and more, visit the ED Pubs Web site (http://www.ed.gov/about/ordering.jsp) or call ED Pubs toll-free at 877/433-7827. LR/RI website: a shortcut. The URL for Literacy Resources/RI's website has not changed; you can now get to it more quickly by using this new address: http://www.brown.edu/lrri/ -- with thanks to Kath Connolly and Bill Dennen at Brown University for making it so. conferences and workshops - conferences and workshops are listed chronologically and are updated with each bulletin
Rhode Island - Training/events around employment issues for people with disabilities http://www.ric.edu/uap/training.html Brown at Brown, 2003: The New England Latino Leadership Conference February 22: Recognizing the need to provide a space for Latino students and community leaders to connect and focus on the "State of Latino Affairs in the United States, Brown at Brown 2003 serves as an opportunity for students and community leaders to dialogue, network, and organize. Through individual, group, panel presentations, and roundtable discussions. Conference participants will be exposed to a variety of important issues impacting Latinos throughout the United States. Learn more at: http://www.brown.edu/Student_Services/Office_of_Student_Life/CUS/index.html COABE Natrional Conference, Portland, Oregon, Aril 26-30 http://www.coabe03.org/ Technology, Reading & Learning Difficulties conference, January 16-18, 2003, San Francisco; sponsored by Educational Computer Conferences, Inc., and the International Reading Association. http://www.trld.com NAASLN: People and Partnerships First! Advocating and Partnering for Access, Quality and Outcomes, March 16 - 18, 2003. Columbus, OH. http://www.NAASLN.com or contact NAASLN, c/o CEA, 4380 Forbes Boulevard, Lanham, MD 20706, 800.496.9222 for more information. TESOL Electronic Village (EV) Online Sessions 2003 The CALL interest section announces its third round of online sessions, including readings, discussions, chats, guest speakers, and task-based activities. The EV sessions are held prior to TESOL 2003, and some are held in conjunction with interest section academic sessions or strands. Sessions run for 7 weeks, from January 20 to March 7, 2003. Registration will be held January 6-20,. Sessions include: V iva, the Virtual Electronic Village in the Ardeche -- Moderator: Philip Benz , Reading Online -- Moderator: Elizabeth Hanson-Smith, A Basic Workshop for Using the Internet in class, and An Intermediate Workshop for Using the Internet in class -- Moderator: JoAnn Miller , Oral Communication Skills for Professionals -- Moderators: Christine, Parkhurst & Rebecca Dauer , Creating an Online Magazine to Publish Student Writing -- Moderators: Sandra Peters, Julia Karet, Anne Davis , Communities of Practice Online: Reflection Through Experience and Experiment With the Webheads Community of Language Learners and Practitioners -- Moderators: Vance Stevens, Chris Jones, John Steele, Christine Bauer-Ramazani, Teresa Almeida d'Eça, Susanne Nyrop, Keiko Schneider, Rita Zeinstejer, Arif Altun, Christopher Johnson, Aiden Yeh, Dafne Gonzalez Chavez, Buthaina Othman, Arlyn Freed, Michael Coghlan Complete session descriptions and registration information available at http://academics.smcvt.edu/cbauer-ramazani/TESOL/EVOL/evol2003.htm Housing and registration information available for TESOL 2003,
to be held March 25 -29 in Baltimore, On line go to http://www.tesol.org/
The National Center for Family Literacy - 2003 National Conference on Family Literacy. The conference will take place in Long Beach, California from March 16 to18, 2003 and will be held in conjunction with the California Family Literacy Conference. Details available at available at NCFL's Web site at http://www.famlit.org Project Read Written Expression Training April 4, 5, 25, and 26 at 8:30 a.m. - 3:30 p.m., The Ray Conference Center at Butler Hospital, Providence, RI The Rhode Island Project Read Collaborative is pleased to announce a 4-day course in teaching sentence structure and writing, called Written Expression. The Written Expression curriculum, part of the Project Read series, is designed for learners in Grade One through adult levels, and features multisensory strategies, materials and activities to help students master: Sentence structure,Paragraph development, and Essay organization. Instructor Nancy Raskin is a national consultant for the Language Circle, publishers of Project Read". She has been a Project Read" trainer for the past four years and has taught twenty-one years at the Carroll School for students with learning disabilities in Lincoln, Massachusetts. $550 for early registration (before March 1) and $600 after March 1.
(This includes lunch and $160 worth of materials)
Adult Numeracy Network Math Institute and 9th Annual Meeting Saturday, April 12, San Antonio, Texas Come join this full-day institute, designed for experienced as well as novice teachers and staff developers who work in ABE, GED, ESOL, and developmental college programs. The meeting will focus, in a hands-on way, on critical math classroom issues as well as different ways of thinking about and doing math. The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) will hold its annual conference from April 9-12, At NCTM, there is a wide range of excellent workshops during the days preceding the ANN meeting on how to teach every math topic more effectively from K-12 and beyond. The ANN meeting is an opportunity for ABE, GED and other teachers of adults to spend some time with colleagues and also join the wider math education community. on the agenda of the April 12th ANN Institute and 9th Annual Meeting: Instruction and Best Practices and a Practitioner Forum. Special Guest: Dave Tout sharing adult numeracy practices from Australia A variety of materials and methods. Focus I. Multiple Paths to a Solution Other ways of teaching math that validate what learnersalready know, Building understanding rather than imposing rules, Emphasis on problem solving-the focus is on the process not just the answer. Focus II. Working in Groups-Hearing About Other Ways to Do Math Communicating about math leads to deeper understanding of other strategies, Hearing the math develops confidence in the math and understanding of the vocabulary Focus III. Your Best Practices Participants will share their best practices in round table groups of 20 minutes duration. guest speakers and the ANN Annual Business Meeting. The Adult Numeracy Network is a voice for those who teach math to adults.
We are a volunteer professional organization of teachers, curriculum developers,
researchers, and others interested in mathematics literacy for adults.
Many of us work in GED, high school equivalency, ABE, ESOL, workplace,
family literacy or developmental mathematics programs. We communicate
with each other via the newsletter (The Math Practitioner), an electronic
listserv called the Numeracy list (To subscribe, write to: majordomo@world.std.com.
In the message, type subscribe numeracy).
The ANN Institute will convene Saturday, April 12, from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. in San Antonio. A continental breakfast and lunch are included in the registration fee. Please apply early, as space is limited. Pre-registration is required for the full-day institute. Complete the ANN Meeting registration form available on the website and mail or fax by March 21. Please accompany each registration with a $60.00 check made payable to Adult Numeracy Network. To register for the NCTM meeting or for lodging information, go to http://www.nctm.org. Popular Education and the Immigrant Workforce: Organizing for Language,Literacy and Worker Rights The UC Berkeley Center for Labor Research and Education and the Center for Popular Education and Participatory Research will host a conference and workshop on April 25th and 26th, designed to bring together labor and ESL educators, community groups and union members and staff who are interested in applying popular education and participatory research to their work with immigrants. The April 25th conference will consist of a morning plenary and two sets of roundtable discussions, which will be open to participants. The roundtable discussions will include the following issues: How can participatory research or education within a union or community group be an organizing tool? How can you make an education program participatory? How can an organization or union set up and fun an education or research program among its members?How can popular education and participatory research methods be applied to ESL and literacy classes? How can workers' rights be taught within ESL & literacy programs? The Friday conference will be followed by workshop on April 26th.
The workshop will be tailored for English as a Second Language instructors
interested in writing immigrant workers' rights curriculum based on student
experience. For more information, e-mail Laura Nicodemus of the Center
for Labor Research and Education at: nicmail@pacbell.net
May 1-3 Hyatt Regency on Capitol Hill Washington, D.C. Immigrant Rights Conference 2003 Conference Goal: To help set a national agenda on issues affecting low-income immigrant communities, focusing on workers' rights, access to government benefits, and immigration rights. http://www.nilc.org/dc-conf2003 Thursday, May 22 - 11th Annual Conference on Serving Youth and Adults with Learning Disabilities Hartford Marriott, Farmington, CT http://www.crec.org/atdn/disabilities/ June 17-21 Research in Practice in Adult Literacy Institute, Saint John's, Newfoundland, Information available at http://www.mun.ca/educ/adult_literacy or contact LR/RI. Read about previous summer institutes at http://www.brown.edu/lrri/inquiry.html other events and conferences http://www.nifl.gov/cgi-bin/Calendar/calendar_world.cgi
from previous bulletins: REMINDERS, RESOURCES:
SABES Resource Lists Available. From Carey Reid [full message here]: As you might know, Massachusetts now has a rigorous, stand-alone ABE teacher's license. SABES, the System for Adult Basic Education Support, is a state-wide staff development system funded by MassDOE. Ö[S]months ago I asked if NLA subscribers were interested in helping SABES build resource lists, by standard, in support of teachers seeking the new license here in Massachusetts. Many of you helped out, thank you, and we've also worked with small groups of people locally to build these 29 lists, now with over 150 resources--books, articles, websites, and videos. The lists are now available on SABES's license support website at http://www.sabes.org/license. You can get quickly to the lists by clicking on the "new resources added" link under What's New, or at any time by using the resources link on the bottom of every webpage. When you arrive at the chart listing the 29 standards, click on any standard to go to the resource list we've compiled for it. The lists are annotated; with the annotations, teachers who wish to improve their knowledge and skills in respect to a particular standard can be more assured they're getting the resource they want or need. If the resource can be viewed or downloaded on the Net, we've provided a link. Additionally, we want to improve these lists, so please email me
if you'd like to suggest additions or changes. BTW, the full list
of resources is also collected in a ProCite bibliography file, so if you
use that software and would like to have your own "instant" database, let
me know and I'll email you the file. As stated earlier, SABES is funded
by the Massachusetts Department of Education. To avoid confusion,
the website is not an official DOE site but rather one of SABES's means
of supporting license-seeking teachers in our state. Links to Massachusetts
DOE webpages, however, are provided on the site.
breathe - everyday yoga at your desk. http://www.mydailyyoga.com/yoga/everyday_yoga.html Stop the Hate, http://www.stopthehate.net/index1.htm - provides numerous resources of value to anyone working in adult education, community development and/or hoping to consider viable ways in which to approach social change.
list servs: LR/RI listserv: As some of you know, Literacy Resources has a list serv - an email discussion group available to anyone with access to email in the state (or beyond, as interest warrants). To learn more about the list, or to subscribe, please send an email message to janet_isserlis@brown.edu. To date, about 30 people have joined the list. Its purpose is to provide a forum for local educators to discuss policy, practice, resources, issues and news related to our work with one another. Unlike the bulletin, which arrives as email, the list is interactive - when you respond to message from the discussion list, everyone else on the list receives your message -- and the conversation, we hope, continues and grows. VALUE e-list: VALUE has established a valuelearners mailing for email users, hosted by the Western/Pacific Literacy Network, part of the National Institute for Literacy Information and Communication Network System (LINCS). This "e-list" is a way for adult learners who are members of VALUE to communicate with each other. Only adult learners who are members of VALUE can subscribe to this e-list. VALUE is the national organization for adult learners (current or former participants in adult basic skills programs) in the United States. VALUE provides training and other supports to adult learners who want to be more effective leaders in their education programs, communities, and states. This e-list is being managed by members of VALUE's Communications Committee. Subscribers are encouraged to communicate about information, ideas, questions, or problems of interest to them. If you are a member of VALUE and need help subscribing, please contact LR/RI. If you're not a member, but would like to become one, contact LR/RI or visit the VALUE website at http://literacynet.org/value.
Professional development initiative: In 1998, I spent time at the RI Dislocated Worker Program, facilitating classes for teachers there so that they could have an opportunity to observe one another's classes and to reflect on their learning and teaching. (The full text of their reflections is available on the LR/RI web site at Writing from the Field - or contact LR/RI for a hard copy). Please let me know if you would like to participate in this process of professional development. All that's required is your willingness to share your reflections about the observation/learning process for others. I hope to build a block of writing and thinking about this and other forms of our own professional development both through the bulletin and the web site.
Please contact LR/RI if you have information, questions or announcements to share with adult educators in Rhode Island. Bulletins go out at least twice a month; more frequently when there's more to share. To submit information for the next bulletin, please contact LR/RI by phone (401-863-2839), mail (PO Box 1974, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912) or email. back to LR/RI home |
