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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.



Junly 8, 2004

Bulletin #183
 

Dear Colleagues, 

Calls for participation, employment, funding, and conference and workshop opportunities, online and other resources.  To post information, please contact LR/RI or leave a message (401-863-2839). 

Janet Isserlis 
____________________________________________________________

NOTICES


Maintain support for the National Institute for Literacy,  the only federal agency dedicated to adult literacy and language learning.  If you've used the LINCS website, participated in any of its lists, etc., please make your voice heard:  To learn more about the critical effort to preserve NIFL, go to http://savenifl.org/

ELCIVICS share  - August 5th at 1:00 pm at the Genesis Center. There were some suggestions on topics for that meeting, including ideas for projects (on the idea of the recently presented research-share projects), use of primary sources (oral histories, etc.), current events ideas, and student debates on various civics-related topics.
The next Adult Literacy Task Force meeting will be July 14th, 8:30 - 10:00 at the Office of Higher Ed.  The recommendations for structure, staffing, and governance of the new state ABE entity will be presented from Task Team 2.  The darft recommendations document incorporating results of today's Team 2 discussion will be sent out at least a week before the meeting for any last comments from members of Team 2. The final draft will be sent to Task Force members on Monday, July 12th (see http://www.ripolicy.org/literacy for more information)

Adult Education and Literacy System Action Plan - read about it, get involved:
This web site will be used to share meeting dates, agendas, and minutes for all teams, allowing all interested parties to particpate, show up, or follow the process. http://www.ripolicy.org/literacy/
Governor Carcieri created the Adult Literacy Task Force to develop an integrated, high-quality adult literacy system. The Task Force has embarked on a participatory planning process that will draw in the expertise of the adult education community in the state and draw on best-practices nationally to envision a system to better meet the needs of Rhode Islanders. Expanding opportunities for adults without the literacy skills to access good jobs or higher education now has the direct involvement of the Governor. This creates a long-awaited window of opportunity to do the difficult work of system building. The Governor and the General Assembly stepped up to the plate and delivered $1.4 million in new state money for adult literacy as part of the 2003 Jobs Initiative and the Governor created the task force.

1. System Objectives, Elements, and Governance working group (Team 2 on Action Plan)

Contact: Judy Titzel   judy@ripolicy.org

2. Professionalizing Instruction working group

Contact: Bob Mason   ride1555@ride.ri.us

3. Participant Assessment working group 

4. Program Quality and Performance Measures



call for papers: 
The National Even Start Association and the Goodling Institute for Research in Family Literacy at Penn State University Announce a Call for Papers for Family Literacy Forum  A Special Issue on Research in Family Literacy Manuscripts due July 12, 2004
Family Literacy Forum is a peer-reviewed journal published twice a year by the National Even Start Association (NESA), a membership organization that provides a national voice and vision for Even Start Family Literacy Partnerships.  Family Literacy Forum is committed to bringing the ideas and experiences of individuals in the field to the forefront of discussions about the literacy development of families in home, community, and school-based settings. 
The Goodling Institute's three goals: To develop a sound conceptual, interdisciplinary research base for guiding practice and policy; to build the capacity of the field to provide high quality, research-based instruction and program development; and to provide leadership in family literacy through communication and collaborative action with professional organizations, state departments of education, policy makers and the general public. For this issue, we welcome manuscripts that focus on research regarding the development of literacy in families and/or family literacy programs.ð
These should employ any of the following and should include implications for practice: 
1. Qualitative and/or quantitative empirical studies 
2. Conceptual arguments based on prior research 
3.  Research reviews in an effort to expand understanding of a particular topic 
4. Reports focusing on aspects of evaluation theory, practice and method 
Discussions about implications for practice may:  Explore practical ideas for working with families and their literacy development- Examine the role of research and continuous program development- Raise issues and concerns about current research and practice in the field.  Manuscripts should be between 1,000 and 5,000 words.  Submissions should be typed double-spaced, including quotations and references. Submissions should be typed in 12-point font. Include a cover sheet with the manuscript title, authors' names, addresses, phone numbers, and e-mail addresses.The names of the authors should not appear on the text as submissions are reviewed anonymously by peers.  Instead, type an identifying word on the top of each page.- Follow the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, Fifth Edition, for reference style guidelines.  Present important information in the text and do not use footnotes or extensive endnotes. To submit a manuscript, or for other editorial correspondence, please contact: Claudia M. Ullman, Family Literacy Forum, at cullman2@nyc.rr.com  or Eunice N. Askov, Goodling Institute for Research in Family Literacy, at ena1@psu.edu.



RHODE  ISLANDERS: 
We would like to invite you/your agency to join RI VERA (Voter Education, Registration, and Action).RI VERA '04 is a non-partisan effort aimed at adult literacy learners and program staff in the New England states.  Its goal is to educate adult learners about voting and the topical electoral issues and to mobilize them to vote in the 2004 elections. VERA is sponsored by the New England Literacy Resource Center (NELRC) at World Education.Voting is one of our most basic civil rights and responsibilities. Yet, barely one half (51.3%) of voting age adults voted in the 2000 United States presidential elections (Federal Election Commission, 2003).  Voting rates in The United States are among the lowest of any democracy in the world.  We should not allow another presidential election to go by with only one half of the voting age population bothering to go to the polls.

Studies show that the less education a person has, the less likely s/he is to vote. Yet, adult learners' well being is profoundly affected by the outcomes of current public policy debates.  Adult educators need to help learners to understand their self-interest and to see that their vote does count. The 2004 elections are a teachable moment with high stakes outcomes for low-income people in the United States.

Any interested adult education program in New England may join by registering on the web site .
 Individual teachers may also join VERA, but we need interested community and government members like you from outside of the Adult Education Field to lend some support to making this initiative successful in Rhode Island.

Each New England state is forming a VERA task force of practitioners and advocacy organizations.  Rhode Island needs your help in developing a statewide strategy and plan to mobilize the adult literacy community to vote in the 2004 presidential elections.  Please join us for this very important task.ð

Sincerely,
Patricia Bellart, Director, Mentor, Inc., 401-762-3841, patriral@ids.net 
Kristen McKenna, RIFLI Literacy Coordinator, Providence Public Library, 401-455-8066
kmckenna@provlib.org


advocacy - how one group works:  FYI, this from workers at the Providence Public Library.  For those interested in approaches to advocacy (and to the issue at hand), this might be of interest:
" Greetings to media, the public, and friends - if you are interested in what the library workers at the
Providence Public Library have to say about the current situation, or you are interested in helping
out, or you just are curious....Then please checkout our brand new website for the public.  It may be a little rough because it is new, but please give it a look and spread the word! http://www.provlibdefense.org


We are happy to announce that ALM is starting a refereed online journal, ISSN 1744 - 1803. The ALM Journal will be published twice a year. The first volume is planned to be published by the end of this year.

"Adults Learning Mathematics - An International Journal"  is an international refereed journal that provides a forum for the online publication of high quality research on the teaching and learning, knowledge and uses of numeracy/mathematics to adults at all levels in a variety of educational sectors. Submitted papers should normally be of interest to an international readership. We invite contributions in the following areas:
Research and theoretical perspectives in the area of adults learning mathematics/numeracy. Debate on special issues in the area of adults learning mathematics/numeracy; Practice: critical analysis of course materials and tasks, policy developments in curriculum and assessment, or data from large-scale tests, nationally and internationally. Both full-length articles and shorter reports may be submitted. No preference is given to any particular research methodology. For more information, please visit www.alm-online.org Contributions can be send to alm-journal@alm-online.org On behalf of the editorial team Mieke van Groenestijn



News from WE LEARN Women Expanding - Literacy Education Action Resource Network -  The WE LEARN website (www.litwomen.org/welearn.html) has recently been updated to include this information: 1) report of First Annual (Net)Working Conference on Women & Literacy 2) recent newsletter For those of you who are members, the print version of the newsletter is being mailed today. To receive a print version of the newsletter, please join WE LEARN as a member. Mev Miller. WE LEARNwww.litwomen.org/welearn.html


Special-Topic Issue, Autumn 2006 Race and TESOL. Edited by Ryuko Kubota and Angel Lin
TESOL Quarterly invites TESOL professionals worldwide to submit abstracts for the 2006 special-topic issue focusing on how issues of race affect English language learning and teaching. 

Abstracts should describe previously unpublished work that bridges theory, research, and practice and uses language that is accessible to TESOL Quarterly's broad readership. In addition to abstracts for full-length articles, authors are invited to submit descriptions of shorter papers for Brief Reports and Summaries and the Forum, as well as reviews of cutting-edge books. Articles are sought on a broad range of topics that explicitly address race and TESOL from theoretical, empirical, and pedagogical perspectives, especially work that focuses on race's interrelationship with other categories, such as gender, class, and sexual identity. Topic areas include:
Learner/teacher identities and race: How do racialized identities get constructed in various settings (e.g., K-12, postsecondary, adult learners, ITA training, teacher education)?
Race in curriculum, instruction, materials, and technology: How do local and global education practices reproduce racial norms, racism, and other racial meanings? How do antiracist pedagogies challenge these meanings?
Language policies/ideologies and race: What significance do racism and other racial meanings have for linguistic imperialism, English only, standard English, and other hegemonic ideologies that affect English language teaching?
Whiteness, native speaker myth, and the teaching of language and culture: How can the relationship between linguistic and racial privileges be theorized? How is it reflected in practice? What does it imply for teaching and learning?
Critical (classroom) discourse analysis and race: How are racial domination, subordination, and resistance manifested in the discourses of the classroom and other teaching and learning contexts?
Please send a 600-word abstract for a full-length article, a 300-word abstract for a Brief Report or Forum article, and a 150-world abstract for a book review. For all submissions, send three copies of the abstract without author name(s). On a separate sheet, include each author's name, affiliation, mailing address, email address, telephone and fax numbers, and 50-word biographical statement. Send abstracts and inquiries to Ryuko Kubota, School of Education, CB#3500, Peabody Hall, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3500. rkubota@email.unc.edu Abstracts are due December 31, 2004.


learning opportunities


Transition to College, Project RIRAL's ABE-to-College project is coordinated through the New England Literacy Resource Center and funded by the Nellie Mae Foundation. 

The project serves non-traditional adults who face many barriers to academic success.  They are often older adults who have been out of school for many years; most are single heads of households, and many are first generation college students.  Transition to College creates opportunities for adult literacy and high school graduates to prepare for, enter, and succeed in post secondary education.  Transition to College offers two evening and Saturday morning sessions starting in August. This free pre-college preparation program includes:  Educational Counseling, Academic Skills, PC Skills, College Survival Skills, and it includes workshops in Career Exploration, Stress and Time Management, and In-House Mentoring.  Students are also assisted in completing their college and financial aid applications and selection of college courses. While attending Transition to College, students also take a class at the Community College of Rhode Island earning three college credits toward their degree. Transition to College meets at netWORKri 175 Main Street in Pawtucket, RIðð For more information, contact Marie Crecca-Romero, Coordinator at 722-9800 or email to: creccaromero@cox.net.
http://www.transitiontocollege.org/



The People's School Summer 2004 Schedule of Free Workshops
The People's School is a free community-learning project that's been taking place in Providence for the last year and a half.  As a collective, we are committed to: sharing knowledge rooted in people's experiences, challenging the racism, sexism, heterosexism, and classism within ourselves and our communities, and learning outside of traditional educational structures. This summer we have an exciting new group of workshops taking place, beginning June 14 at the CityArts building, 891 Broad Street in South Providence. You can register for these workshops, listed below, by visiting our website at http://www.peopleschool.org or by leaving us a message at (401) 427-2181.  These workshops are all free of cost, but register now so that we know how many people to expect. This summer we're also opening a new classroom, library space, and public-access computer lab in the back of the CityArts building.  This space will be open from 5:30 - 9:30, Monday through Friday, beginning June 14.  For directions to the space, visit our website. 

Direct Action for Rights and Equality (DARE) is offering a "Women at Work" workshop free of charge to labor and community organizations, and we're looking for groups to participate. Women at Work is a project of DARE's Jobs with Dignity Campaign, whose goal is to build women's leadership in the labor movement. In order to build connections between women workers and advance the issues that are important to women workers, this project conducts workshops which focus on efforts to preserve health care and to win community access to good, living wage jobs. If you'd like the DARE workshop team to come to a meeting, class, or other event and lead the 30-minute workshop, please contact Eric Larson at Eric_D_Larson@brown.edu.

ASTHMA WORKSHOP AND ESOL LESSON 
This workshop fuses key, simple vocabulary and grammar into a lesson-like format tailored for ESOL learners.  The workshop is one to one and a half hours long, and includes information about the main characteristics of asthma, its symptoms and triggers.  Through a participatory and interactive environment, learners not only become aware of basic information relating to asthma, but they also learn English.  This workshop can also include data on how asthma affects Latinos, and local community resources where they offer bilingual help.
The workshop is free of cost and its language is applicable to all levels.  This is a workshop that could easily be integrated into a health unit or delivered as an isolated informative session and lesson.  If you and your learners would like to schedule a workshop, please feel free to contact me via e-mail or by phone.  Thank you. - Erick Garcia, ESOL Facilitator, American Lung Association, 401.935.8736 erickdgarcia@hotmail.com


funding opportunities - large and less large



The UPS Foundation funds volunteer management, hunger and literacy efforts.
http://www.community.ups.com/community/philanthropy/focus/main.html.

The federal government's new one stop grant site: http://www.grants.gov/


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/

Do you live in Providence?  Do you need a job?

First Source Hiring Survey

If you answered yes to these questions, or if you know other Providence residents who need a job, you can help make community access to city-funded jobs a reality by filling out this survey and giving it out to people you know (in your organization, union, church, school, family, etc.) to fill out as well.  Make sure to let us know if you want to get involved in making sure that the city implements the First Source Hiring Ordinance, and we'll let you know how to plug in.  Once surveys are filled out, please either send them by email to sara@daretowin.org, or mail or hand-deliver them to DARE, 340 Lockwood Street, Providence, RI 02907.  Our goal is to get 500 filled out in the next month.  Thank you!

This is a survey that DARE/ Providence WORKS! is collecting of Providence residents who are looking for work, in connection with a campaign to push the First Source Hiring Ordinance, passed in 1985 but never implemented.  This ordinance requires that any employers who receive city funding must use a city-maintained list of Providence residents who are looking for work.ðð
 

Name

Address

Zip Code

Phone
 

Email
 

Alternate contact #

 

Gender

 

Race

 

Languages Spoken ððððððððððð p English            p Spanish            p Portuguese    p Khmer

 Other_______________________________

 

1.  Are you currently unemployed?  YES             No
 
 

2.  What type of job are you looking for?

 Arts & entertainment                                     Manufacturing 
 
Construction                                               Other services

 Retail                                                           Professional, scientific

 Education, health, social services           Public administration

 Finance, insurance, real estate                Transportation

 Hospitality (hotels & food service)            Other__________________________

 

3.  What job experience do you have?

 

 

 

4.  Do you need any particular kind of job training?

If so, what kind?

 

 

5. What is your educational experience?

p Did not graduate from high school, have no GED

p High School Diploma/GED

p Certificate Program (what kind?)______________________

p Associates Degree

p Bachelors Degree

p Masters Degree or Higher

 

6. Do you have a drivers« license?                   Do you have a car?

p YES             p No                                                   p YES             p No

 

7. May we pass along this information to the city?

p YES             p No

 

8. Would you like to get involved in making sure that the city implements the First Source Hiring Program?

p YES             p No

 
 

¿Usted vive en Providence?  ¿Necesita un trabajo?

Encuesta de Primer Fuente de Empleo

 

Este es una encuesta que DARE/ Providence WORKS! esta haciendo con residentes de Providence quienes estan buscando trabajos, en connección con una campaña para empujar la Ordenanza de Primer Fuente de Empleo, pasado en 1985 pero nunca implementado.  Esta ordenanza requiere que cualquier empleador recibiendo fondos de la ciudad tiene que utilisar una lista mantenido por la ciudad de residentes buscando empleo.

 

Nombre

 

Dirección

 

Codigo Postal

 

Teléfono

 

Numero de teléfono alternativo para contacto

 

Email

 

Sexo

 

Raza

 

Linguas que usted puede hablar   p Español          p Inglés p Portuguésð

p Khmer            p Other_________________________

 

1.  ¿Usted ahora esta parado (sin trabajo)?

p SI                 p No

 

2.  ¿Cual tipo de trabajo usted esta buscando?

p Los artes & el entretenimiento                    p Hospitalidad (los hoteles & el servicio de

                                    los alimentos)

p Construcción                                    p La Fabricación

p Venta                                                          p Otros Servicios

p Educación, salud, servicios sociales            p Profesional o Científica

p Finanzas, seguro                                      p Administración Pública

p Transportación                                         p Otro________________________________

 

3.  ¿Cual tipo de experiencia trabajando tiene usted?

 

4.  ¿Usted necesita entrenamiento para trabajar?

¿Cual tipo de entrenamiento necesita usted?

 

5.  ¿Cual es su experiencia educacional?

 No gradué de escuela secondaria, no tiene GED

 Diploma de escuela segundaria/GED

 Programa de Certificado (¿que tipo?)______________________

 Associates Degree

 Bachelors Degree

 Masters Degree or Más

 

6. ¿Tiene usted una licensia para conducir?                  ¿Tiene usted un carro?

 SI                 No                                                                SI                 No

 

7.  ¿Podemos pasar su información a la ciudad?

 SI                  No

 

8.  ¿Usted le gustaria involucrarse con nosotros en empujar que la ciudad implementa el Programa de Primer Fuente de Empleo?  SI                 No



employment opportunities



The Family Life Center, a prisoner reentry program based in Providence, is seeking interested candidates for 2 available VISTA positions starting August 15, 2004.  

Information Technology:  Looking for someone to assist our technology  specialist in developing computer related policies, procedures, and strategies for our IT department.  Must have advanced knowledge of computer systems to include hardware, software, networking, and application skills.

Community Education/Policy:  Looking for someone to support our community  education coordinator by researching, collaborating with community agencies, and developing strategies to influence prisoner reentry issues and programs locally and state-wide with a specific focus on housing and employment.  Must have basic knowledge of research techniques and practices, organizing skills, and knowledge of urban community issues.

For more information about the Family Life Center, visit our website: http://www.ri-familylifecenter.org

Applications for the positions can be obtained from the VISTA website
 https://recruit.cns.gov/AmeriApp.pdf  and should be mailed to the  Family Life Center:  841 Broad St. 2nd Floor  Providence, RI 09207

For more information about these openings, please contact Ronn Fortes at:
ronnfortes@ri-familylifecenter.org or phone 781-5808 x101



Substitute list: if you would like your name added to the list, please see contact LR/RI.  The list needs to be updated so that it can function more usefully for teachers and programs hoping to work with them. (http://www.brown.edu/lrri/sub.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 


online / resources
From Barb Garner Editor, Focus on Basics:  Youth in ABE. It's a constant topic of conversation. Now you can read about it, too, in the newest issue of "Focus on Basics," available at http://ncsall.gse.harvard.edu (scroll down the home page and click on the "New FOB" box]   

How do you serve youth well without sacrificing the quality of service to older students? Missouri literacy program director Janet Geary participated in a professional development program to learn an approach to educating youth called youth cultural competence. Janet writes candidly about the trials of implementation. The changes her GED program made have resulted in increased retention and positive outcomes. Read about the professional development model and the theory behind Youth Cultural Competence as well. Young dropouts need to improve their basic skills because skills matter to their economic futures, writes NCSALL researcher John Tyler. He shares findings from his study that examined the impact of literacy skills on earnings.  Jennifer Roloff Welch and Kathrynn Di Tommaso examine how many youth are in the ABE system and why. It's a substantial number and may well grow over the next few years.

Oregon's Virginia Tardaewether sees no reason to separate younger and older students. What better place to learn to live together, she suggests, than in the ABE classroom? Students of all ages mix successfully in a high school for beginning English for speakers of other languages in Fairfax, Virginia. Originally established for young immigrants, the program now enrolls students of all ages.

In South Dakota, Lara Ann Frey and Yvonne Lerew found it necessary to create a special class for young immigrants who had age-specific psychosocial as well as language learning needs. Separating students by age works for a community college in New Mexico as well. Teachers Lilia-Rosa Salmon and Anastasia Cotton find that both the younger and older students now feel freer to address age-specific concerns within their classrooms and their academics have benefited as well. To read all of these stories and more, click on http://ncsall.gse.harvard.edu.


Living in Poverty slideshow does the math: what does it take to live at the poverty level.
http://www.nccbuscc.org/cchd/povertyusa/tour2.htm


RI Foundation online scholarship directory - searchable by city/town, intended field of study, current high school, and more. http://scholarship.rifoundation.org/



Securing the Right to Learn
An internationally-produced guide to advocacy- adult educators from 10 countries met to produce an advocacy guide for use by adult educators in increasing demand for adult learning at local, national and global levels and in a variety of geographical and societal contexts. http://www.niace.org.uk/projects/RightToLearn/


Reports from Research with Youth. Read the findings of a year long research study carried out in Ontario to: deepen understanding of the complex picture of how violence affects learning,; examine how school responses play a part in creating this picture, and, strengthen the possibilities to support learning for youth in high schools and in youth literacy and training programs. 
The Challenge to Create a Safer learning Environment for Youth by Jenny Horsman - the full 83 page report:- $10 (plus mailing) 
The Impact of Violence on Learning for Youth: What Can we Do  by Jenny Horsman - focuses particularly on the words of the interviewees - especially the youth - and their suggestions about what we can do to improve education - $4 (plus mailing)ðð 
You have to believe it to see it: Safer learning in dangerous times by Nicole Ysabet -a brief booklet aimed at youth ? 50 cents (free with the other reports if requested). All three publications can also be down loaded free from : http://www.jennyhorsman.com. To order please email Nicole at feedback@jennyhorsman.com  You can also contact us at that address with feedback on the publications - we would love to hear from you.


The Center on an Aging SocietyÌs Issue Brief , Cultural Competence in Health Care, points out that the increasing diversity of the population brings opportunities and challenges for the health care system in the US.  Racial and ethnic minorities, who are disproportionately burdened by chronic illness, are also likely to benefit from care that is delivered in a culturally competent manner.  The Brief notes that the commitment to cultural competence is growing among health care providers and systems, and that more attention to this issue could help improve access to health care services, quality of care, and health outcomes for vulnerable populations.
http://ihcrp.georgetown.edu/agingsociety/pubhtml/cultural/cultural.html


Program Quality Indicators for Adult Education Programs, Program Quality Indicators for Volunteer Literacy Programs and  Program Quality Indicators for TANF Agencies - all edited by Donna S. ShermanReviewed by over forty practitioners and based on the Bridges to Practice Indicators of High Quality Service for Adults with Learning Disabilities, these program quality indicators can be used to plan for long-term program improvement in serving adults with learning disabilities. Use these program quality indicators with the Bridges to Practice guidebooks and training. Requests for copies of the indicators should be addressed to Kaye Beall at kbeall@proliteracy.org.  PDF versions of the documents available online at http://www.brown.edu/lrri/ld.html; word versions available upon request.


- YouthBuild USA Learning Network has links to Web sites and full-text documents, and  which includes a section on "Authentic Materials/Engaged Learning/Constructivism/Contextual Learning/Project-based Learning." http://www.youthbuild.org/learningnetwork/professionaldev.html



Providence Community Resource Network (PCRN) http://www.provplan.org/pcrn
Spanish language version of PCRN is up and running.  You can access the site from the PCRN home page, http://www.provplan.org/pcrn, or go straight to http://www.provplan.org/pcrnespa. The Web pages, online instructions, and the content of the database have all been translated.


Civics 101 -  website of the RI Secretary of State, at http://www.rules.state.ri.us/civics_101/; a high school curriculum that may be adaptable for adult learners and/or useful for initiating critical
reflection about citizenship and communities.


.The Canadian Congress for Learning Opportunities for Women has placed many of its critical resources on women and literacy online.  To access these materials at Search CCLOW - http://www.nald.ca/cclow/search/ - or contact LR/RI for more information.ð

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



The Workforce Improvement Network holds its 2004 Summer  Institute on June 21 and 22, at James Madison  University in Harrisonburg, Virginia. All adult and  workforce educators are invited to attend. Dr. Yvonne Thayer, director of adult education and literacy  for the Virginia Department of Education, will give the  welcoming address and participants will be able to choose  from two workshop tracks: GED Learning in the Workplace and  Building Websites for ESOL Students. More information on the Summer Institute 2004 and a downloadable registration form can be found at: http://vawin.jmu.edu/news/announcements/summer2004.php

The Second Canadian Conference on Literacy and Health, Staying the  Course: October 17-19, Ottawa . 
Literacy and Health in the First Decade, will bring together learners, practitioners and leading experts from Canada and  the United States in a national forum to discuss what is being done to improve the health of Canadians with low literacy skills in the areas of practice, policy and research.  The conference is: Proposed conference themes include:  improving health services, raising literacy skills, focusing on language and culture, building  healthy public policy and learning through research.   Our objectives are to: Raise awareness of links between literacy and health; Identify how the Canadian context affects literacy and health; Exchange and document best practices and research in literacy and health in Canada; Identify policy issues involved in the linkage between literacy and health; Strengthen literacy and health networks and facilitate new  partnerships in the area of practice, policy and research across different sectors (such as health, education, and employment). 
To join our on-line Discussion Group and receive updates, or for information http://www.cpha.ca/literacyandhealth or e-mail literacyandhealth_conf@cpha.ca. 
- Lynn Chiarelli, Project Coordinator/Coordonnatrice de projet. Second Canadian Conference on Literacy and Health/Deuxième Conférence  canadienne sur l'alphabétisation et la santé Canadian Public Health Association/Association canadienne de santé publique 400-1565 Carling Avenue Ottawa, ON K1Z 8R1 Telephone: 613-725-3769 x112 Fax:  613-725-9826 http://www.nlhp.cpha.ca

From Archie Willard, Conference Chair, announcing  the 15th New Readers of Iowa Conference, Health and Literacy Working Together, (September 10-11 in Des Moines, Iowa).

If you are an adult learner and want to learn more about health or if you are a professional who wants to learn together with us, please call Karmen Shriver at North Iowa Area Community College at 641-422-4341 for information and/or to register. There is no conference fee. 
For those who come the night before, on, September 9, pharmacists will be there to visit with you about your medications. We encourage you to bring questions about health literacy problems, and for different adult learner groups to build partnerships with health professionals to find health literacy solutions. The New Readers of Iowa have partnered with the Iowa Health System and have been attending each others' meetings to work together to develop better communications in health care.
Some of the things we want to accomplish at this conference are to:
(1)  learn from the panel of health professionals
(2)  look at and work on health forms and questionnaires
(3)  make a health literacy statement, and
(4)  learn how to navigate the health system.
At the conference, the Iowa Health System will have a panel of health professionals (doctor, pharmacist, nutritionist, nurse practitioner and nurse). Later at the conference people from the Iowa Health System will work with the adult learners to look at health forms and questionnaires to see if adult learners can comprehend them and for them make recommendations about the forms and questionnaires. Adult learners will work together to make a health literacy statement. It is very important to us as adult learners to express ourselves in this way to the health literacy fields. Researchers from the School of Public Health at Harvard will work with us to learn how to navigate the health system. At this conference we'll all learn from each other. At this time, scheduled speakers at the conference are: Marty Finsterbush, Executive Director of VALUE; Pat Blackwell, an adult learner, now a nurse from Indiana; Marsha Tate, Senior Vice President from ProLiteracy. Dr. Claudia Corwin, formerly a transplant surgeon at the Uof Iowa and still on their staff, will be on our health professional panel.


Making Knowledge: Democracy, Cultural Partnerships, and the University 
University of Pennsylvania, November 5 - 7   

What happens when democracy, imagination, and scholarship converge? Drawing on the groundbreaking work of the University of Pennsylvania's Center for Community Partnerships, this year's conference will explore the collaborative production of new knowledge for the public good. Citizen scholars, working in and with universities, push the limits of community-based work in the arts and humanities. Based at the University of Michigan, Imagining America: Artists and Scholars in Public Life is a national consortium of colleges and universities committed to fostering campus-community partnerships in the arts and humanities. The conference program will showcase new research produced through cultural partnerships. Sessions will focus on innovative projects at the Center for Community Partnerships and major Imagining America initiatives, including the Tenure Transformation Team, research on excellent campus-community collaborations, and Sekou Sundiata's "dramatorio" in progress, The America Project. For more information, please contact Kristin Hass at kah@umich.edu,call (734) 615-8370, or seeð http://www.ia.umich.edu.



other events and conferences http://www.nifl.gov/cgi-bin/Calendar/calendar_world.cgi

TESOL worldwide calendar of events http://www.tesol.org/isaffil/calendar/index.html



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. 
÷[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


what do you think? LR/RI has had an online survey on its site forever.  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.

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