Contact LR/RI
|
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.August 5, 2005Bulletin #200 Dear Colleagues, Calls for participation, employment, funding, and conference and workshop opportunities, online and other resources. To post information, and/or to receive the bulletin via email, please contact LR/RI or leave a message at (401-863-2839).
Janet Isserlis NOTICES
LR/RI's web site is regularly reviewed and updated; the following pages have been thoroughly re-visited recently: corrections, women and literacy, welfare, and work. Other pages have also been updated – please have a look. http://www.brown.edu/lrri ESOL share - Wednesday, August 10, at 2:00 pm at the Genesis Center, 620 Potters Avenue, Providence. We've been talking about basic level literacy, native language literacy and goal setting.. Please join us. Idea exchange? Got a good idea? Want to share it? Aside from the monthly ESOL share, there's always a possibility of forming another group to discuss a range of topics in adult education. As well, think of sharing ideas through the bulletin by sending an email, fax or letter to LR/RI to share your idea across the state and throughout the region. Press release: State Representative Grace Diaz (D-11) passed a significant piece of legislation in the 2005 session: creating the office of the civil rights advocate within the Attorney Generals office. The bill – H5715 - became law without the Governor’s signature on July 19th. It was sponsored in the Senate by Sen. Juan Pichardo and introduced at the request of Attorney General Patrick Lynch. Representative Diaz outlined the importance of this bill: "Civil rights are a major concern for the people of District 11. The long struggle of women, African-Americans, Latinos, immigrants and others to win equal rights and equal opportunity has not ended. From the workplace to the criminal justice system, civil rights are violated on a routine basis. Now, our community will have a place to go to address these civil rights violations. The civil rights advocate will provide training and education on important civil rights issues. The advocate will review complaints and conduct investigations. And, if necessary, the advocate can bring civil action against violators. Similar to the Civil Rights department in the US Department of Justice, this civil rights advocate will ensure that all Rhode Islanders have their constitutional rights upheld." "I commend Attorney General Lynch for initiating this legislation and Senator Pichardo for his stewardship of this bill in the Senate. We have heard loud and clear the need of our community to have a greater protection of civil rights and we have responded with an excellent piece of legislation. I look forward to working with AG Lynch and Sen. Pichardo to ensure the ongoing success of the office of civil rights advocate." SHARING IDEAS FOR CONSTITUTION AND CITIZENSHIP DAY: As you may know (see just below), Congress has passed legislation requiring that educational institutions receiving federal funding must hold an educational program for their students pertaining to the US Constitution on September 17th of each year. Since September 17th falls on a Saturday this year, Constitution Day can be held during the preceding or following week. What does your organization have planned for Constitution Day? Please submit ideas for celebrating this day with adult education students to Karisa Tashjian (ktashjian@yahoo.com), Rhode Island Family Literacy Initiative (RIFLI) by September 2nd. Karisa will compile a list of ideas, to be posted on LR/RI’s website (and made available to those without web access) in September. Any ideas or resources are welcome. Online: a road map to the American Constitution: http://library.thinkquest.org/11572/index.html From the Fed: The Assistant Deputy Secretary for
Innovation & Improvement announces that, Do you have a story to tell? Share your story in a community visual art contest to help celebrate the 25h anniversary of The Peaceable Kingdom and its practice of collecting stories from around the world. Entries may be two or three dimensional. There is no fee to enter. We can’t wait to hear your story! Entries must be submitted by August 31, 2005 to The Peaceable Kingdom, 116 Ives Street, Providence, RI 02906 Prizes will be awarded in three categories (1) youth ages 14 and under; (2) adults; and (3) families or groups! First place winners in each category will receive cash prizes and their entries will be exhibited at Providence City Hall. Mayor David Cicilline will present awards at the opening reception for the exhibit on September 29, 2005. The exhibit will run until October 22, 2005. For more information or to register for the contest please contact Joan or Siobhan at The Peaceable Kingdom (401-351 -3472) or email siobhan02906@yahoo.com
Call for Manuscripts: Assessment
Practices in Adult Basic Education Grass Roots Press events at the Providence Public Library: http://www.provlib.org/branchout/current.html learning opportunities 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. funding opportunities - large and less large Funding opportunities from PEN Weekly NewsBlast, Hasbro Children Foundation grants to support the development and/or expansion of programs for children. Maximum Award: $500-$35,000. Eligibility: Programs must provide direct services to children under age 13. They must serve children and families who are economically disadvantaged. They must be innovative and provide a model from whichothers can learn. Deadline: N/A. http://www.hasbro.org The Allen Foundation supports educational nutrition programs, with priority given to training programs for children and young adults to improve their health and development. Maximum Award: Past grants haveranged from $2,000 to $1 million. Eligibility: Schools and schooldistricts should partner with local nonprofits to form nutrition education programs. Deadline: Ongoing. http://www.allenfoundation.org/ 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/ employment opportunities Worksite ESOL (2) and ABE (2) instructors wanted. Portuguese bilingual a real plus for one position. 6 – 12 hours/week. $25/hour plus planning time. Onsite in Providence and Newport. We are designing and implementing workplace specific curriculum and are looking for individuals who want to contribute to the process. Classes would begin in mid and late September, paid development time in beginning September. Experienced adult educators with experience working with adults of diverse educational and cultural backgrounds. Emphasis on ability to work with coordinator and employer to customize and deliver curriculum based on workplace specific needs. Please send, email, or fax resume to: Elizabeth Jardine, Project RIRAL Workplace Education Coordinator , 162 Main St, Woonsocket, RI 02895 ejardine@riral.org fax: 762-4396 Deadline: August 19. 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 available From David Rosen, re: the Adult Literacy Education Wiki: getting started, joining in Wiki rule #1: It's impossible to permanently mess up any page in a wiki. In the touch of a key the previous version can easily be restored -- by you -- or anyone. So feel free to experiment. Here are five steps for getting started: 1.Bookmark http://wiki.literacytent.org/index.php/Main_Page 2. Create a login account at http://wiki.literacytent.org/index.php?title=Special: Userlogin&returnto=Main_Page 3. Look over the main page and read the directions at http://wiki.literacytent.org/index.php/ AleDirections 4. Add a paragraph to the Who's Here page http://wiki.literacytent.org/index.php/WhosHere a) After logging in, go to http://wiki.literacytent.org/index.php/Whos Here b). Select the edit tab c) Scroll down the edit window to the bottom, and after the five dashes add your introduction. You might want to look at the formatting that others have used, for example, == ''' before and after your name. d) When you are done, add five dashes to make a horizontal line, then select Show preview. If you like what you see, select Save page. Otherwise, backpage and make changes in the text until you get it the way you want. Then select Save page. 5. Go to a topic area you are interested in, browse and add your comments/ideas. Have we hooked you yet? (We hope so!) international web forum: Liz Ford Friday July 29, 2005 http://education.guardian.co.uk/tefl/teaching/story/0,15085,1538862,00.html English language teachers all over the world are being invited to join a new web-based information and discussion group that focuses on "down to earth" matters such as pay and conditions. English Foreign Language Teachers United (EFLTU), which is described by its acting chairman, Dennis Newson, as a "union in spirit" if not on the ground, aims to create a network for teachers and a platform for debate, as well as providing information on the realities of the sector, such as pay, hours and pensions. (via Donna Martinez) After High School: A First Look at the Post-school Experiences of YouthWith Disabilities reports results of the study released by the US Department of Education. The underlying purpose of the study is to help gauge the success of federal laws and programs aimed at ensuring that elementary and secondary schools prepare young people with disabilities for later life. Results from the study indicate that nearly a third of young people with disabilities have taken at least some postsecondary classes within the first two years after they leave high school, according to a recently released Education Department study. The study also finds that students with disabilities over all are less than half as likely as their peers to have attended college in the two years after high school, but the college-going rate varies greatly by type of disability: Students with hearing or visual impairments are as likely as students without disabilities to have done some postsecondary work. For more information: http://insidehighered.com/news/2005/07/29/disabled Reading: The U.S. Department of Education, in response to requests made at the Even Start State Coordinators annual business meeting in August 2004, is hosting a series of three interactive webcasts addressing the adult education component in Even Start programs. The goals of the series are to: increase understanding of scientifically based reading research in the field of adult education; expand knowledge of adult reading assessments and connection to practice, and offer a variety of scientifically based strategies that can be shared with your program staff members. This webcast series is designed specifically for Even Start State Coordinators. However, the information provided is helpful to anyone in the field of family literacy or adult education. Each webcast will be archived on this page for a 6 month period to allow time for viewers to share information broadly. http://www.famlit.org/ProgramsandInitiatives/EvenStart/Even-Start- Webcast.cfm From EdInfo – Constitution Resources tools for learning about the U.S. Constitution. Meet the 55 delegates who gathered in Philadelphia in 1787 to rewrite the Articles of Confederation, read essays printed in NYC papers urging ratification of their proposal. Explore a 200-year timeline showing the impact of the Constitution on our history. Search the Constitution, see explanations of 300 topics. http://www.ed.gov/free/constitution/index.html. Also available at this URL: United States Constitution - includes notes Washington wrote on his copy of the Constitution, his diary at the Constitutional Convention, an essay on Madison's role in the Constitutional Convention, Madison's notes on the debates, Jefferson's letter to Madison expressing his opinions on the new Constitution & his belief that a Bill of Rights was needed, & more. http://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/ourdocs/Constitution.html To subscribe to EDInfo, address an email message to: listserv@listserv.ed.gov Then write SUBSCRIBE EDINFO YOURFIRSTNAME YOURLASTNAME in the message, (if you have a signature block, please turn it off) Then send it! Past messages: http://listserv.ed.gov/archives/edinfo.html Other math resources at http://www.nwt.literacy.ca/northernedge/ - check Issue 3 (consumer math) and see other editions as well for interesting ideas on incorporating numeracy learning. Practitioner Toolkit: Working with Adult English Language Learners - provides support and resources to adult education and family literacy instructors who are new to serving adults and families learning English and provides a variety of materials to help practitioners meet the language and literacy development needs of the ELL students they serve. These include responses to Frequently Asked Questions, a first-day orientation guide, lesson plans, research-to-practice papers on English language and literacy learning, and an annotated list of English and Spanish language assessments in use. On the Center for Adult English Language Acquisition Web site, the Index page at http://www.cal.org/caela/elltoolkit allows you to select and download the entire document or to select and download topics of interest as needed. The toolkit is made possible by a grant from the Office of Vocational and Adult Education, US Department of Education, through DTI Associates, and is a collaborative effort between the National Center for Family Literacy and the Center for Applied Linguistics (CAL) http://www.cal.org. If you have comments or questions about the Practitioner Toolkit, please contact Lynda Terrill at lterrill@cal.org. Google Scholar enables searches for scholarly literature, including peer-reviewed papers, theses, books, preprints, abstracts and technical reports from broad areas of research. Use Google Scholar to find articles from a variety of academic publishers, professional societies, preprint repositories and universities, as well as articles available across the web. Google Scholar orders search results by how relevant they are to your query, so the most useful references should appear at the top of the page. This relevance ranking takes into account the full text of each article as well as the article's author, the publication in which the article appeared and how often it has been cited in scholarly literature. Google Scholar automatically analyzes and extracts citations and presents them as separate results, even if the documents they refer to are not online. This means your search results may include citations of older works and seminal articles that appear only in books or other offline publications. http://scholar.google.com/ 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/ YouthBuild USA Learning Network has links to Web sites and full-text documents, and 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 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. 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 Student Coalition for Action in Literacy Education's Read. Write. Act. Conference October 27-29, 2005 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill <>Please join us for the only national conference created specifically for campus-based literacy programs, college student tutors, program coordinators, adult learners and community partners. We welcome you to submit a proposal that addresses one of our conference themes: Tutoring Strategies and Techniques, Social Justice & Activism in Education, Civic Engagement & Reflection; Service Learning, Assessment & Evaluation, Policy Issues, Program Practice & Program Management (e.g. volunteer recruitment,, tutor training, sustaining your program), Diversity and Community Partnerships The Student Coalition for Action in Literacy Education (SCALE) - Read. Write. Act. Conference October 27-29, UNC at Chapel Hill - created for campus-based literacy programs, college student tutors, program coordinators, adult learners and community partners. The conference offers the chance for campus programs, tutors, coordinators, new readers, administrators and community partners to share information, develop new skills, reflect on experiences and generate ideas to build more effective campus-based literacy programs. Kathy Sikes, Executive Director, (SCALE) 919.962.1542 COABE and the Texas Association for Literacy and Adult Education invite proposals for presentation at the 2006 COABE National Conference, Houston April 26-29, 2006. While some of website is under construction, [http://www.coabe06.org ] the Call for Presentations is complete and can be downloaded. Proposals are due Friday, November 18. The conference committee is interested in outstanding and innovative practices in all aspects of adult education including: basic literacy, workforce development, family literacy, ESOL, volunteer/ community-based literacy, and correctional education. Proposals in other areas of adult education will also be considered. The program committee seeks presentations based on successful implementation, current research, and sound practice. In addition to general adult education interest areas, this conference has five special tracks. Improving Teaching and Learning Outcomes, Integrating Technology and Instruction, Linking Research to Practice, Promoting Adult Educators as Leaders, and Advancing Change Through Education Institute By the Bay COABE Regional Institute, October 23 - 24, 2006, Portland, Maine - Maine Adult Education Association is hosting a Region 1 COABE Institute in 2006. We are planning the workshops and invite you to click on the link below and complete the needs survey. It should only take you 5 - 10 minutes to complete the short survey. Thank you for your time to help plan this exciting opportunity. http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=346701135288 More detailed information will follow this fall Evelyn Beaulieu, Director, Center for Adult Learning and Literacy, 5749 Merrill Hall, UM, Orono, ME 04469, (207) 581-2413, evelyn.beaulieu@umit.maine.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. 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 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. 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 |
