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LR/RI produces a bulletin roughly every
two
to three 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. To receive the bulletin via email, contact LR/RI.
May 8, 2006
Bulletin #215
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
ESOL share
- Tuesday, May 23rd at 2:00 (not 2:30) pm at the Genesis Center,
620 Potters Avenue, Providence. Please join us; we'll be discussing the
Teacher Knowledge Project, an approach to teacher inquiry developed at
the School for International Training http://www.sit.edu/tkp/index.html;
http://www.sit.edu/tkp/cycle.html
Pam McMichael, Executive Director of
the Highlander Center will be the keynote speaker at the
Institute for Labor Studies Annual Awards Dinner on May 18 th at the RI
Convention Center. The Highlander Center was founded in 1932 as
an adult education center for civil rights activists, union members,
community organizers and educators. It was an important
training ground for the Civil Rights movement and economic
justice. Pam's talk will focus on Highlanders' history and
applying popular education models to adult education for social reform.
For more information about the Highlander Center, please go to http://www.highlandercenter.org/
We would like to extend the invitation to our colleagues in Adult and
Civics Education to join us for an informal get-together with Pam on
May 18th at 2pm at the RI Convention Center in Ballroom C. It
will be an opportunity to learn more about Highlanders' education model
as well as sharing promising practices from our work in Rhode
Island. RSVP to Margo at The Institute for Labor Studies and
Research at 401-463-9900 if you plan to attend.
registration starting soon for summer
classes at Progreso Latino – Are other programs offering
summer classes? If you are, and would like to post that information,
please contact lrri@brown.edu.
Study Circle on Preparing Adult English
Language Learners for the Workforce
As part of Rhode Island;s participation in the
Center for Adult English Language Acquisition's national ESOL
professional development work , you're invited to join two study circle
sessions focused on preparing adult ESOL learners for the
workforce. The purpose of the study circle is to read and discuss
research on preparing ESOL learners for the workforce and to evaluate
its applications to our adult education practice. Participants
are asked to read and discuss two brief CAELA articles about workforce
instruction, consider their content and applications to instruction,
implement at least one new research or theory-based strategy in their
teaching and then reflect (during the second session) on the impact of
that strategy on their thinking and teaching practice.
The study circles are open to anyone, with a maximum of 20
participants. Those who are presently teaching workforce
readiness or workplace classes may be interested. If you are not
presently teaching either, but have an interest in the topic, you are
welcome to participate.
The readings are: Issues in Improving Immigrant Workers; English
Language Skills, by Miriam Burt http://www.cal.org/caela/esl_resources/digests/Workplaceissues.html
and
English that Works: Preparing Adult English Language Learners for
Success in the Workforce and Community, by Brigitte Marshall http://www.cal.org/caela/esl_resources/digests/Englishwks.html
The two sessions, Friday May 19h, at
1 pm and Friday, June
9th,
at 12:30 pm are two hours and one and a half hours long,
respectively, and will be held at the Genesis Center, 620 Potters
Avenue, Providence. Please join us.
To learn more about the CAELA State Capacity Building Initiative, http://www.cal.org/caela/scb/updates.html
To participate in the study circle, please contact LR/RI
(janet_isserlis@brown.edu or 863-2839) by May 2nd.
Dorcas Place Adult & Family Learning
Center is now enrolling for its Career Academy Job Center. Through
both group activities and individualized instruction, the 8- to 16-
week program develops concrete work skills (i.e. data entry, word
processing, bookeeping, and others) while improving academic skills.
The program provides guidance on job search as well. Registration every
Tuesday and Thursday at 10 AM at Dorcas Place (220 Elmwood Avenue,
Providence, RI, 02907. Phone: 401-273-8866). Services are
free.
Call for Articles for The Change Agent:
Theme: Immigration
Immigration reform has become a big political and
social issue that many political leaders connect to securing our
borders from terrorists. Many members of Congress support laws
that would strip immigrants of many rights, make it a felony to be an
undocumented immigrant, keep immigrant families separated, and deny
many immigrants a path to residency or citizenship in the United
States. This issue of The Change Agent aims to help readers to
understand and sort out what's at stake.
Questions for students and teachers to think about: How would your life
be different if the US had closed its borders to immigrants 100 (or so)
years ago? What should the US do to deal with the growing numbers of
immigrants who want to make this country their home? What are your
experiences and opinions related to people immigrating to the US? Have
they changed since September 11, 2001? What do you think about treating
undocumented immigrants as criminals, as proposed by some members of
Congress? What do you think of plans for a guest worker program
in which immigrants could work for up to six years legally and pay
taxes but never be eligible for citizenship and have almost no worker
protections? What connections do you see between the current
immigration debate and racism and discrimination? What connections do
you see between economic policies, such as NAFTA, and immigration
patterns where many people endure great hardship to come to the United
States in hopes of a better life for themselves and their families? All
articles must be received by May 12, 2006.
All articles will be considered. Suggested length is 500-1,200 words.
Final decisions are made by The Change Agent editorial board. A stipend
of $50 will be paid to each adult education student whose work is
accepted for publication in this issue. Please send material (by email
or PC disk) to: Angela Orlando, Editor New England Literacy Resource
Center/World Education 44 Farnsworth St., Boston, MA 02210 Phone:
617-482-9485 fax: 617-482-0617 : aorlando@worlded.org
NEW ROOTS PROVIDENCE Training Series
- training and technical assistance to help organizations strengthen
management structure, develop new sources of funds, and create vibrant,
healthy partnerships. http://www.provplan.org/matriarch/MultiPiecePage.asp_Q_PageID_E_109_A_PageName_E_nrtainings
MAY 22, Monday, 6-7:30 pm: Inservice:
Teaching with the Providence Journal.
260 West Exchange Street, Suite 109 (Conference Room, beside
LV-RI/Providence office). Plentiful free parking.
Newspapers can provide lessons in reading, writing, vocabulary and
comprehension for students at all levels. They are also easily
accessible for tutors and students, providing a great resource.
Avis Gunther-Rosenberg of the Providence Journal will show you how to
develop lessons for your student using the newspaper. Open to all
adult ed tutors/teachers. RSVP to LV East Bay by
5/19. 0Tracy Miyake, Director, Literacy Volunteers of East
Bay, 17 Croade Street, Warren RI 02885 http://www.lveastbay.org
401-247-2177
Practitioner
minigrant projects are underway – read about them at http://www.brown.edu/lrri/minigrant0506.html.
The fourth annual RI Adult Educators
Conference will be held on May 11, 2006. http://www.brown.edu/lrri/conference06.html
Registration for the conference on May 11th is now full. A
waiting list has been started. Thanks to all for your interest and
participation.
ALE Wiki: Katrina - families,
literacy, access and community
Donate Books to the New
Orleans Public Library
In an effort to restock their shelves after hurricane Katrina, the New
Orleans Public Library is asking for any and all hardcover and
paperback books for people of all ages. The staff will assess which
titles will be designated for its collections. The rest will be
distributed to destitute families or sold for library fundraising.
Please send your books to: Rica A. Trigs, Public Relations,
New Orleans Public Library, 219 Loyola Avenue, New Orleans, LA 70112
If you tell the post office that they are for the library in New
Orleans, they will give you the library rate, which is slightly less
than the book rate.
learning
opportunities
Mentor
Non-traditional
Adults Returning to College - TRANSITION TO COLLEGE is seeking
volunteer mentors and/or tutors to support their non-traditional adult
students as they prepare for the rigors of college. Over three dozen
TTC graduates have been mentored during their post-secondary
educational journey, which has demonstrably impacted our students
retention and persistence. As one student proclaimed about his mentor,
My mentor knows which buttons to push to have me challenge myself to
become more pro-active and self-confident . . . She is a friend, a
teacher, a cheerleader, and a role-model. If you are interested in
becoming a
Mentor and/or Tutor, please contact Marie@transitiontocollege.org or
call 722-9800.
Other
online courses: The Center for
Literacy Studies at the University
of Tennessee, and the Ohio Literacy Resource Center at Kent State
University announce spring 2006 distance learning courses.
Overviews
of each course, as well as start dates, are posted at http://www.aeprofessional.org.
- Pennsylvania State University's
online Certificate in Family Literacy Program is a partnership
between the Goodling Institute for Research in Family Literacy at Penn
State and the National Center for Family Literacy. The program is
offered through Penn's World Campus and brings experts in family
literacy together with specialists in early childhood and adult
education to offer a multidisciplinary and integrated approach to
professional development that focuses on literacy instruction. The
Goodling Institute's Family Literacy Certificate Program offers these
two three-credit online courses, from May 24, through August 23.
ADTED 456: Introduction to Family
Literacy
This course provides opportunities for students to discover and analyze
comprehensive family literacy within a model centered on how services
evolved out of a need to break the cycle of intergenerational poverty
and under-education.
ADTED 459: Interactive Literacy:
Parents and Children
This course prepares family literacy and early childhood educators for
understanding, preparing for and practicing interactive literacy
lessons. It emphasizes teaching in a planned and intentional mode that
encourages language and literacy development by integrating language,
reading, and writing/drawing processes.
For more information, contact: Donna Bell (dbell@famlit.org) or Sheila
Sherow (sms20@psu.edu)
The Virginia Adult
Learning Resource Center (VALRC) announces an online publication, Teaching Reading to Adult English Language
Learners: A Reading Instruction Staff Development Program
The development of the trainings and subsequent document was funded
with a federal English Literacy and Civics grant from the Office of
Adult Education and Literacy, Virginia Department of Education. This
document was prepared by the Center for Applied Linguistics for the
Adult ESOL Program, Office of Adult and Community Education, Fairfax
(VA) County Public Schools. According to VALRC: This15-hour training
will acquaint participants with the fundamental knowledge and skills
required to teach reading effectively to adult, nonnative speakers of
English. The content is based on research on the reading process in
general, on the process of learning to read as an adult, and learning
to read in another language. The training is designed to be delivered
by ESL instructional specialists at the local level or by trainers from
the VALRC, most typically in workshop settings with a practicum
component. That is, between workshop sessions, participants apply what
they have learned in the previous sessions to their own classroom
instruction. The document is available for download at http://www.valrc.org/publications/pdf/teachingreading.pdf
For more information, contact: Nancy R. Faux, ESOL Specialist,Virginia
Adult Learning Resource Center. Virginia Commonwealth University,
Richmond, VA nfaux@vcu.edu http://www.valrc.org
1-800-237-0178
I Open Up: Exploring Learners' Perspectives
on Progress Our one year research project, "Learners'
Perspectives on Progress" is now complete and available at http://www.nald.ca/ppr/researchproject.htm
Special thanks to the National Literacy Secretariat, Human Resources
and Skills Development Canada and the Ministry of Training, Colleges
and Universities, Skills Investment Branch for their support of this
project. The staff at Parkdale Project Read, Toronto, Ontario http://www.nald.ca/ppr
Providence Public
Library events
- http://www.provlib.org/branchout/current.html
funding
opportunities - large and less large
Training
funds available
The Governor's Workforce Board - RI is
pleased to issue a Request for Proposals (RFP) for Round 2 of the 2006
Workforce Improvement Grant Program.
Grant fund assistance is available for organizations to provide
training of their existing workers to increase productivity and skills
and to improve the organization's systemic and/or operational
capacities. Below is a listing of pertinent dates:
April 4, 2006 RFP available
April 11, 2006 Pre-proposal conference (registration
required)
May 16, 2006 Proposals due
July 1, 2006 Training can begin
More detailed information as well as the RFP can be downloaded at http://www.rihric.com
Healthy Neighborhoods Awards 2006
Neighborhood Health Plan of Rhode Island is offering mini-
grants to schools, non-profit community agencies, and organizations to
promote health initiatives
contributing to healthier life styles in their neighborhoods.
Successful proposals must address all of the
following:
1.Name of organization/school, including its mission and services
provided.
2.Description of the ethnicity, income levels, language, and cultural
diversity of the population
served.
3.Description of the project for which you are requesting the funding.
4.Who will be served by this project?
5.What health need or service is the organization trying to address or
expand?
6.Provide detailed information on how the funds will be used to impact
the health of the
participants.
7.Project timeline. When will the project start? End?
8.Where will the project take place?
Please submit proposals by May 15th,
2006
Proposals should not be any longer than two typewritten pages in
length. These health grants will range from $150 - $500 dollars. A
community panel of judges will judge the proposals. Mini grants will be
awarded based on need and health initiatives fostering healthy
lifestyles. Incomplete proposals will be disqualified. Please submit
proposals to:
Neighborhood Health Plan of Rhode Island Healthy Neighborhoods Awards
Ingry L. Lenderman
299 Promenade Street Providence, RI 02908 Or fax: 401- 459-6175 or
Email: ilenderman@nhpri.org
Technology Grant News: 2006 Opening New Territory with Technology
Cash Grant for Higher Ed Faculty (adult education educators in schools,
cbos, corrections, volunteer programs, etc. are also eligible to
apply). Deadline: May 30, 2006 http://www.technologygrantnews.com
The $500. cash grant
is to be used for computer software or equipment for a project or goal
that opens "new territory" for the applicant's field of study, school,
profession or community. In addition, 25 subscriptions to Technology
Grant News will be awarded to applicants. A 1-2 page description of the
project or goal is required, explaining how or what the computer
software or equipment will be used for. Projects and goals will
be
considered in all subject matters. The cash grant will be awarded based
on usefulness of the project or goal to the field of study, the school,
profession, or to the public. The 1-2 page description should be
sent
to newterritory@technologygrantnews.com by May 30, 2006. The winner
will be given the opportunity to write about the proposed project or
goal for an article to be featured in Technology Grant News. The award
will be announced in June 2006.
Funding
opportunities from PEN Weekly
NewsBlast, (from Pen Weekly Newsblast; To view
past issues of the PEN Weekly NewsBlast, visit: http://www.publiceducation.org/newsblast_past.asp
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.php
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
Substitute
teaching: The
Genesis Center is interested in adding to its substitute list. If you
are an ESOL instructor who is interested in occasional work as a
substitute, either day, evening or Saturday hours, please call Nancy
Fritz or Pat Clarkin at 781-6110.
Jobs in Literacy –
nation wide postings on the National Institute for
Literacy’s LINCS site: http://www.nifl.gov/cgi-bin/lincs/jobs/jobs.cgi
Substitute list:
if
you would like your name added to the general
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
Multilevel
Brief - Last fall CAELA met with our advisory
board, the Technical Work Group (TWG), to discuss CAELA's work,
including topics for our briefs. The topic multilevel classes was high
on our to-do list, having been suggested to us by many practitioners
and others in the states we work with across the country. Our TWG,
however, advised us to move beyond saying what teachers can do in the
classroom to engage the interest of all learners in their classes while
helping them achieve their often diverse educational goals. They
suggested we also talk about what administrators can do to help ensure
the success of these classes-- how administrators might support
teachers in multilevel classes.
The brief, Promoting the Success of Multilevel ESL Classes: What
Teachers and Administrators Can Do is online at http://www.cal.org/caela/esl_resources/briefs/multilevel.html
and in pdf at http://www.cal.org/caela/esl_resources/briefs/multilevel.pdf
Also
online - new issue of our newsletter CAELA Currents http://www.cal.org/caela/esl_resources/ccapr06.html
Articles in this April 2006 publication include information about a new
teacher might use the CAELA Web site for professional development at http://www.cal.org/caela/esl_resources/ccapr06.html#web,
information about the available statistics on the training and
education levels of adult ESL teachers http://www.cal.org/caela/esl_resources/ccapr06.html#questions
as well as information about recent publications of interest to the
field such as the joint publication by Senior Service America, Inc and
staff at the Center for Applied Linguistics entitled Engaging
Immigrant Seniors in Community Service and Employment Programs: A Guide
for Providers. The guide provides background information on immigrant
seniors and gives practical advice for employers and co-workers working
with seniors from linguistically/culturally diverse backgrounds.
http://www.cal.org/caela/esl_resources/ccapr06.html#seniors
- Miriam Burt, CAELA, miriam@cal.org
The
National Institute for Literacy has launched a new web page design to
help provide easily accessible, high quality information about
literacy. New features highlight the Institute's work in all areas of
literacy, including early childhood, childhood, adolescence, and
adulthood. You will continue to find the links to all of the
Institute's projects, such as Bridges to Practice, LINCS, Assessment
Strategies and Reading Profiles under Programs and Services.
Publications, including Teaching Reading to Adults can be found under
the Publications link. Please visit http://www.nifl.gov
for more information.
This is phase one of the redesign. We will soon be incorporating all
the Institute's projects into this new design. As many of you
know, websites are always a work in progress and we intend to continue
improving the Institute's site in order to provide you with the best
available resources. We would love to hear your thoughts regarding the
new look. Please send comments to Jo Maralit at
mmaralit@nifl.gov. Thanks, Sandra Baxter, Ed.D.,
Director, National Institute for Literacy
New
Special Topics Discussion List - On May 23rd we will
begin a week-long discussion on the new National Institute for Literacy
Special Topics electronic list. The topic is the Adult
Reading Components Study (ARCS). Dr. Rosalind Davidson
and Dr. John Strucker, the co-researchers, will join us to answer your
questions.
Special Topics will be an intermittent discussion list. The topics will
open and close throughout the year, so there will be periods where
there will be no discussion or postings. You can subscribe to the
e-list for a particular topic of interest, and then unsubscribe, or you
can stay subscribed throughout the year.
To participate in this first topic, the Adult Reading Components Study,
and to learn more about the ARCS interactive Web site - which has lots
of reading help for teachers - please subscribe to the Special Topics
list now by going to:
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/specialtopics
Before the discussion begins on May 23rd please look at a 30-minute
streaming video introduction to the discussion with researcher
panelists Rosalind Davidson and John Strucker, and practitioners Kay
Vaccaro and Jane Meyer. (or end a request for the Adult Readiing
Components Study (ARCS) Panel (free) DVD to: info@nifl.gov
Be sure to include your mailing address); online view it at
http://www.nifl.gov/nifl/webcasts/20040204/webcast02-04a.html (Note:
Macintosh users will need Real Player installed; performance may not be
optimal.) After you subscribe, send questions to the discussion list.
(but) messages will not be posted until May 22.
- David J. Rosen, Special Topics Discussion List Moderator
djrosen@comcast.net
Esmerelda
Doreste, Program Director with the Union City (NJ) Adult
Learning Center, will be a guest on the program leadership list
from Monday, May 8 through Friday, May 12. As a participant
in the UPS Foundation-funded Leadership for Community Literacy
Initiative that was administered by the Equipped for the Future
(EFF) Center in the late winter, Ms. Doreste worked with her
program to implement a program improvement process based on the
EFF program quality model. Along with the four other participants, Ms.
Doreste wrote about that experience. Her story is accessible on
the Program Leadership and Improvement web site. Go to http://pli.cls.utk.edu and click
the Stories of Program Improvement button, then click/open Union
City Adult Learning Center: A Program Improvement Process. Please read
the story in preparation for Ms. Doreste's visit next week. She
will be ready to answer your questions about the nuts and bolts of
implementing the process, as well as other related issues.
To subscribe: http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/programleadership
from
WHAT'S NEW AT FINE - May 2006 Monthly news and resources from FINE
(Family Involvement Network of Educators) http://www.gse.harvard.edu/hfrp/projects/fine.html
Lessons from Leaders on Mathematics Education Marilou
Hyson, NAEYC Associate Executive Director for Professional Development,
discusses how teachers and families can work together to help children
know and love mathematics. http://www.gse.harvard.edu/hfrp/projects/fine/fineforum/forum6/lessons.html
Member Insight: How can early childhood
settings encourage parents to advocate for their child?
Six early childhood education experts explain
how early childhood settings can encourage parents to advocate for
their children. http://www.gse.harvard.edu/hfrp/projects/fine/memberinsights.html#ecs
Two publications available from NCSALL. For
more information, http://www.ncsall.net
An Evidence-based Adult Education Program Model Appropriate for
Research by John Comings, Lisa Soricone, and Maricel Santos - reviews
available empirical evidence and professional wisdom in order to define
a program model that meets the requirements for good practice. This
program model describes what teachers, adult students, counselors,
administrators, volunteers, and program partners should do to provide
both effective instruction and the support services adults need to
persist in their learning long enough to be successful. This paper
describes a program model as having a program quality support component
and 3 chronological program components: entrance into a program,
participation in a program, and reengagement in learning. Though this
model could be used as a description of good programs for other
purposes, here it describes the context in which research on approaches
to instruction and support services could be productive.
To download the NCSALL Occasional Paper: http://www.ncsall.net/index.php?id=26#ebae
Learner’s Engagement in
Adult Literacy Education by Hal Beder, Jessica Tomkins, Patsy
Medina, Regina Riccioni, and Weiling Deng - Engagement is
mental effort focused on learning and is a precondition to learning
progress. This study focused on how learning context shapes engagement.
The practical reason for doing so is that to a great extent adult
educators control the educational context. Thus if they understand how
the educational context shapes engagement, they can influence
engagement in positive ways.
To download the NCSALL Report: http://www.ncsall.net/?id=29#28
Family Health and Literacy
This guide to easy-to-read health materials and websites is for adult
literacy practitioners and health educators alike. It lists
resources to teach health to families with lower literacy skills, but
also discusses how to integrate health and literacy education, how to
get started and engage adult learners, and how to build connections
between literacy programs and local health services. You
can find Family Health and Literacy online at: http://www.worlded.org/us/health/docs/family.
This is a PDF, and with Adobe Reader 7 or higher you can click on the
live links! Hard copies are also available free of charge for a
limited time: please contact Leah_Peterson@worlded.org
The April issue of Literacy Links,
published by the Texas Center for the Advancement of Literacy &
Learning, available online at http://www-tcall.tamu.edu/newsletr/apr06/apr06b.htm,
focuses on youth in adult education,
teaching resource: No Human is Illegal: An
Educator’s Guide for Addressing Immigration In the Classroom; available
for free at http://www.nycore.org
In the recent weeks HR4437 advocates have sought to
introduce
legislation that will radically change the legal, social, and economic
status of immigrant communities in the US. The debate rages on and we
have heard
opinions ranging from the conservatives to the democrats to the
left—and a powerful constituency has emerged stronger than ever before
in the 21st century—students. How will educators encourage these acts
of critical thinking, civic responsibility, agency, and above all—
student leadership in advocating for all human rights? How can
educators engage their students in these critical issues in the
classroom? How can we serve as the liaison between students andthe
mixed messages the media and politicians are sending?
This guide is for educators to take on the important
issues that
teachers and students alike have been tackling in
their activism from INSIDE the classroom. This resource can be
best used online as a web resource. – from Sally Lee, Founder, Teachers
Unite sally@teachersunite.net 646-206-4160, http://www.teachersunite.net
from THE OVAE REVIEW April 30; Office of
Vocational and Adult Education U.S. Department of Education http://www.ed.gov/news/newsletters/ovaereview/2006/042806.html
Angela Desrochers, Editor
The Review is an update from the Office of the
Assistant Secretary at the Office of Vocational and Adult Education,
U.S. Department of Education. Including: Community College
Improves Teacher Education Program, an overview of the Adult Numeracy
Initiative (which will provide baseline data about adults enrolled in
numeracy programs and the practices that have been found to be
effective. Among the goals of the initiative are developing a
thorough understanding of the current state of the field in adult
numeracy, identifying effective instructional strategies for adult
learners, and examining the effectiveness of current assessment
instruments in adequately measuring adult quantitative skill
acquisition.) and other news. Full text is online at the URL
above.
The newest Focus On Basics, on Learners'
Experiences, is available on NCSALL's web site, http://www.ncsall.net.
(click on "Newest Issue of Focus on Basics") -from Barb Garner, Editor:
Quick, tell me about your students' self esteem.
Low, because of their academic struggles? That's not what a recent
NCSALL-Rutgers study showed. And how about reading? Do your learners
know that to increase their reading fluency, they need to...read? What
kind of and how much reading do they do outside of class? Another
NCSALL-Rutgers study follows three learners as they go about their days
and finds quite a variety in the amount of reading the learners do on
their own. Teachers, have you ever seen yourself teach? Or noticed just
what that clump of students was doing while you were engaged with one
person on another side of the classroom? Teachers working with
NCSALL-Rutgers found that videos taken of their classroom for research
purposes provided them with rich information useful to their own
professional development. Learn how useful video can be in helping
pinpoint issues and suggest new ways of doing things in the classroom.
There's lots more, particularly around learner engagement.
Literacy President is a
non-partisan, collaborative initiative among individual advocates, The
Change Agent, and Voice for Adult Literacy United for Education (VALUE)
to increase national awareness of adult literacy regardless of which
candidate is elected. Members of the adult education community can be
active participants in the 2008 Presidential election by: Identifying
and voting on the top questions, Attending caucuses or house parties in
early primary states, Hosting program visits for candidates in early
primary states, Raising the issues through the media, Sponsoring voter
registration drives. By asking Presidential candidates questions
early, we have the opportunity to reach the candidates themselves,
engage them in dialogue about the issues, and show them that adult
literacy and language learning IS on Americans’ minds.
To learn more, go to http://www.litpresident.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.
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 12th Annual International
Pedagogy & Theatre of the Oppressed Conference, May 18-21,
Chapel Hill, NC Join us for this unique gathering of people committed
to libratory education, community action, and interactive theatre for
social change. We invite you to submit a proposal to present at
the workshop; to register to attend, for guidelines, information and/or
to submit your proposal online: http://www.ptoweb.org
- deadline for submission: January 9. Augusto Boal will
conduct pre-conference workshops May 15-18, and Michael Rohd will
conduct a post conference workshop "Devising Performance:
Collaboration, Engagement and Dialogue" on May 21-22. Featured guests
include Augusto Boal, Lilia Bartolome, Geneva Gay, Linda Parris-Bailey
(with Marquez Rhyne) and Michael Rohd.. - Ellie Friedland, Board
president Pedagogy & Theatre of the Oppressed
14th Annual LD Conference Thursday,
May 25
Marriott Hotel in Farmington - full details at http://www.crec.org/cetes/atdn/programs/disabilities/ld_conf/
or call (860) 247-2732
From Erik Jacobson,
Chair, J. Michael Parker Award Committee - The National Reading Conference's
(NRC) 56th Annual Meeting will take place in Los Angeles, from
November 29 to December 2. The conference covers a range of
literacy related topics, including adult literacy. Information is
available at http://www.nrconline.org/.
I encourage adult literacy researchers to join the dialogue at
the meeting and to consider submitting proposals. In addition, to
encourage research on adult literacy, NRC has established the J.
Michael Parker Award, given to graduate students and
untenured professors who present research on adult learning or
education at the annual meeting. Information and submission
guidelines at http://www.nrconline.org/pdf/2006callforproposals.pdf
SAVE the DATES: November 30-December
2, 2006 A MEETING OF THE MINDS II SYMPOSIUM
The National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy, the
California Department of Education Adult Education Office, and the
California Adult Literacy Professional Development Project of the
American Institutes for Research announce a Meeting of the Minds II: A
National Adult Education Practitioner-Researcher Symposium.
Scheduled for November 30-December 2, at the Sheraton Grand hotel in
Sacramento, California, the symposium is designed to provide
opportunities for adult education practitioners and researchers to
share and discuss current research findings and practitioner wisdom. It
will engage practitioners and researchers with questions related to
goals, accountability, and efficacy and efficiency in policy, practice,
and research. The ultimate goals of the symposium are to highlight
systemic changes that can enhance literacy practice and increase
student learning gains. The theme of this symposium is Systemic Change
and Student Success: What Does Research Tell Us? As in the first
Meeting of the Minds Symposium that was held in 2004, each session of
the 2006 Symposium will be structured so that the research presentation
is followed by a panel of practitioners who will discuss implications
for practice or policy. In addition, conference attendees will have
opportunities for small group interaction and networking with
researcher-presenters to discuss not only how research can inform
practice and policy, but also how practice and policy can inform and
suggest a research agenda.
More information will be available soon at http://www.researchtopractice.org.
(This Web site currently lists presenters' PowerPoints and abstracts of
sessions held at the 2004 Meeting of the Minds symposium as well as
thoughts generated by attendees regarding implications of the research
findings.) We are updating this site to house information about online
registration for the 2006 symposium as well as information about hotel
registration. We will send out another notice after the Web site has
been updated.
-Mary Ann Corley, Ph.D., Symposium Coordinator and CALPRO Director,
American Institutes for Research
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
submit
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
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