Literacy Resources/RI
PO Box 1974 Brown University
Providence, RI 02912
(401) 863-2839
http://www.brown.edu/lrri
janet_isserlis@brown.edu
21 March, 2007
Bulletin #239
Dear Colleagues,
Calls for participation, resources, employment and conference opportunities. To post
notices, please contact LR/RI at the phone or email above.
Janet Isserlis
NOTICES
ESOL share April 25,2:30 pm., Genesis Center, 620 Potters Avenue, Providence Using
online resources. Practitioners from Progreso Latino will share work they’ve done using
online materials and programs; please bring your ideas, share sites that you’ve used.
Conferences/workshops
other events and conferences http://www.nifl.gov/cgi-bin/Calendar/calendar_world.cgi
The Commission on Adult Basic Education and the Pennsylvania Association for Adult
Continuing Education National Conference. March 25-28: http://www.coabe2007.org/
rfpo7.htm
Creating Balance in an Unjust World Conference on Math Education and Social Justice
Long Island University, Brooklyn, April 27 - 29 http://www.radicalmath.org/conference
RI Adult Educators’ Conference: May 17 http://www.brown.edu/lrri/conference07.html
5th biennial National Adult Learner Leadership Institute, July 5-7, Hartford, CT. - Come
meet and network with adult learner leaders and supporters from around the country;
take part in leadership training workshops; and discuss what is going on in adult literacy
nationally. Come early and spend Independence Day in Hartford! Register online or send
in the form by regular mail. http://www.valueusa.org/2007LeadershipInstitute.htm
Reading Across RI May Breakfast May 5th, 9:30 am - noon,
http://www.readingacrossri.org/ (ticket information online).
Our guest speaker is the author of The Memory of Running, Ron McLarty. Copies of the
book will be available for purchase. A Penny Social (with a Rhode Island theme) will take
place to benefit Reading Across RI. Deadline for ticket sales: April 1. http://
www.readingacrossri.org/documents/maybreakfast2006.pdf http://
www.readingacrossri.org/documents/RARIBreakfastRegForm.pdf
Is your school or library interested in joining the 2007 Videoconference with Ron McLarty
on the morning of May 4th? Please email or call me with your interest or to register for
one of the twelve available slots (455-8134). -Louise B. Moulton, 150 Empire Str.,
Providence, RI 02903 401.455.8134; lmoulton@provib.org
funding opportunity: Grants to Support Job Skills & Education for Disadvantaged Youth -
Staples Foundation for Learning Grants provide funding to programs that support or
provide job skills and/or education for all people, with a special emphasis on
disadvantaged youth. Maximum Award: varies. Eligibility: 501(c)3 organizations.
Deadline: April 6. http://www.staplesfoundation.org/foundapplication.html
employment opportunities
English for Action seeks a passionate, energetic and creative full-time executive director
to provide leadership to the organization as it seeks to increase sustainability and
community impact. Full description: http://www.idealist.org/en/job/211090-138
Part-Time ESL Instructor, Providence Housing Authority 50 Laurel Hill Avenue, Providence
$20/hour Start Date: 3/26/07. We have an immediate opening for an experienced,
qualified ESL instructor to teach a beginner and an intermediate level class at our
Resident Services building on Laurel Hill Avenue. Four-year degree or certification in
Education, English or related field required. Experience in CASAS test administration
preferred. Classes will run in the evening 5:30-7:00 PM, Monday-Thursday (2 nights of
each level per week). An additional 2.5 hours of paid preparation time/week is provided.
To apply, please send resume and references to Kathleen Knight via email at
kathleen@pha-providence.com or fax (401) 709-6425.
The Education Department at Brown University will sponsor a screening of "The Perfect
Life" on Saturday, March 24, at 4 pm, in Lower Salomon Center Room 001 on the Brown
campus. Read more about the film at http://www.theperfectlife.net/. The film
documents the lives of New York students over several years and the film's director will
join the screening to talk about the film and its implications.
May 18-20 Call for Papers for WiaOC 2007 CONNECT: a free synchronous and
asynchronous online conference for teachers and education professionals May 18–20,
2007
Webheads in Action (http://webheads.info), a world-wide cross-cultural online community
of several hundred ESL/EFL educators and other professionals, invites your participation
in CONNECT: Conversations on Networking, Education, Communities, and Technology, a
unique conference to be held entirely online May 18–20. The conference is called a
convergence because it is intended to be a fair or festival in which many communities of
colleagues converge to celebrate with us by presenting their work in a wide variety of
formats. Participation is free and open to all who are interested.. More information
http://www.wiaoc.org. WiAOC 2007 follows on the success of our first online global
convergence, http://2005.wiaoc.org
Proposals for presentations at WiAOC 2007 will be accepted through April 7 and are
invited for synchronous events, asynchronous events, or combinations of the two. Session
topics can be pedagogical or technical, and might include examples of practical work with
students, training sessions, reports of research or research in progress, demonstrations
of new media, or descriptions or explorations of how interaction takes place over the
Internet—e.g., how online communities form as a result of computer-mediated
communication.
Synchronous events (including, but not limited to presentations, demonstrations, panel /
roundtable discussions, chats and conversations) can be held at any of our partners'
voice-enabled presentation portals, or one of your own choosing. Training and assistance
will be available for presenters wishing to use our partners' venues.
Asynchronous events might include bulletin board discussions, online poster sessions,
integration with content management systems, or other formats. To create a proposal,
first register at the convergence proposal site http://wiaoc.prof2000.pt/. Questions?
contact WiAOC Coordinator Vance Stevens vstevens@emirates.net.ae
The new issue of The Change Agent is all about Caring for Our Children.
Since so many adult learners are also parents this is sure to be an issue your students
will want to read. The Change Agent is a 56-page journal that provides authentic texts
and teaching materials for examining social issues in the classroom. Find out the answers
to these questions and much more: What can you do when your child misbehaves? How
do parents navigate the tricky waters of disciplining their kids? Are children of
homosexuals worse off than children of heterosexuals? What do adult learners think?
Should children learn two languages at the same time? Does TV make a good babysitter?
Which two industrialized countries do not provide paid maternity leave for new moms?
How can programs prepare parents to advocate and be active in their children’s
education? How does talking to your young child help develop literacy skills? What is
Beatriz Garcia’s secret to being a great parent? Don’t miss this exciting issue with over 15
articles written by students. Visit our Web site or call to get your copy:
http://www.nelrc.org/changeagent (or contact LR/RI for hard copy if you're in Rhode
island). Angela Orlando, Change Agent Editor World Education Boston, MA 02210 email:
aorlando@worlded.org http://www.nelrc.org/changeagent
New from NCSALL The Relationship of the Component Skills of Reading to IALS
Performance: Tipping Points and Five Classes of Adult Literacy Learners By John
Strucker, Kentaro Yamamoto, and Irwin Kirsch
As its title indicates, this study’s aim was to understand the relationship of the component
skills of reading, such as word recognition, vocabulary, and spelling, to large-scale
measures of literacy, such as the 1992 National Adult Literacy Survey (NALS) (Kirsch,
Jungleblut, Jenkins, & Kolstad, 1993) and the closely related International Adult Literacy
Survey (IALS) (Tuijnman, 2001). http://www.ncsall.net/index.php?id=29#29
from, the Southern Poverty Law Center) a new report, Close to Slavery: Guestworker
Programs in the United States (http://www.splcenter.org/news/item.jsp?aid=247). The
report can be downloaded in pdf format at
http://www.splcenter.org/pdf/static/SPLCguestworker.pdf .
Change Agent CALL FOR ARTICLES Theme: Taking Action to Stay In School?
Adult students face many challenges as they try to balance their work life, family life,
and commitment to their education. Most students, at some point or another, encounter
obstacles too difficult to overcome and have to stop out from school. We’re looking for
students who have creative ideas and are taking action to keep themselves and their
classmates in school. This issue of The Change Agent is about the external challenges
(working too hard, health issues, lack of transportation or child care) that make it hard to
keep coming to class and the ways that students are taking leadership to address those
difficulties.
Questions for students and teachers to think about: (Please choose one question to write
on.)
What needs to happen in your community, workplace, or program so you can keep
coming to class?
What are some things you think you could do with your classmates to address the
challenges of staying in school? Have you done any organizing with your classmates or
program around transportation, child care, jobs and wages, or health care? What was it,
how did you do it, what happened? How have other students helped you stay in school? If
your program provides child care or transportation, how did you make it happen and has
it made a difference in learner persistence? All articles must be received by May 18,
2007.
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 (preferably by email) 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 email: aorlando@worlded.org
The mission of The Change Agent is to provide news, issues, ideas, and other teaching
resources that inspire and enable adult educators and learners to make civic participation
and social justice part of their teaching and learning. It is published by the New England
Literacy Resource Center. http://www.nelrc.org/changeagent
The U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI), a refugee resettlement and
advocacy organization serving refugees and immigrants since 1911, announces the
release of a new Health Toolkit. Funded through the U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services, Office of Refugee Resettlement, the toolkit is designed to aid in
communicating culturally relevant health information to refugees and immigrants living in
the United States. We at USCRI view health promotion an integral part of successful
refugee resettlement. We have developed this toolkit based on extensive research into
the needs and gaps in services provided for refugees. Hard copies and CD-ROMs are
available for your use. Please feel free to copy and duplicate the materials at your
discretion. USCRI’s Health Toolkit materials are available in Arabic, Bosnian, Burmese,
French, Kirundi, Sgaw Karen, Somali, Swahili, Russian and Vietnamese languages.
USCRI is a non-profit refugee resettlement, immigrant service, and public education
organization that meets the needs of refugees and immigrants through a network of 50
community-based partner agencies in the United States. For further information, please
contact Xuan Nguyen at the US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (202)347-3507
ext 3056 or at xnguyen@uscridc.org http://www.refugees.org . (for an order form / word
document, please contact lrri@brown.edu)
From Jane M. Hugo, Director of Special Projects ProLiteracy America According to recent
surveys, thousands of potential adult basic literacy and English-language students across
the country wait each month to start learning. Adult educators know that they must find
ways to engage these potential students in meaningful learning activities as soon as
possible or risk losing them. A resource addressing how to reduce waiting lists is now
available free, online from ProLiteracy America: Promising Practices: Reducing Waiting
Lists in Adult Education and Literacy Programs (73-pages, pdf format). ProLiteracy
worked with 23 adult education and literacy programs to identify promising practices that
help reduce student waiting lists. In addition to the booklet, two videos (require high
speed Internet connection) and the resources referred to in the booklet are available at
http://www.proliteracy.org/resources.asp. information: Michele Diecuch at
info@proliteracy.org.
from Thursday notes, March 15/07: Dr. Justesen To Testify On FY08 Request
Assistant Secretary Troy R. Justesen will testify on the President’s FY 2008 budget request
before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services,
and Education on Monday, March 19th. Also testifying will be Department of Labor
Assistant Secretary Emily Stover DeRocco who heads the Employment and Training
Administration.
Talk About Transition… More than 1,700 potential low-income college students and
parents, who earn less than $45,000 annually and have their taxes done at Ohio H&R
Block offices, will get free help completing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid
(FAFSA). Researchers will compare their levels of college attendance and aid awards
with those of a group that got only a financial aid pamphlet. The study aims to inform
and improve the national debate on access to higher education. Tax preparers from 26
H&R Block sites in Cleveland received training to participate. The study is one of several
sponsored in recent years by H&R Block. The Ohio Board of Regents is tracking State
policy implications of the research. See http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0308/p16s01-
legn.html?page=1
Research Says!
Family Literacy Practitioner On-Line Training Course Offered Free of Charge
The Volunteer Florida Foundation, in partnership with the Florida
Department of Education, Division of Community Colleges and Workforce
Development, has launched Research Says!, a 12 hour, professional
development training on-line course. “Research Says!” is a virtual
classroom designed to teach family literacy practitioners how to use a
book as a bridge to existing curriculum. The course will be offered free
of charge through June 30, 2007. Please visit
http://www.flafamilyliteracy.org/ and click on the “Research Says!” link
to register, and learn more.
from EdInfo, March 20, 2007
Women's History Month -- See more than 30 federal resources for teaching and learning
about women pioneers and writers, the fight for women's rights, and events and
individuals that shaped the course of women's history in the U.S. http://www.free.ed.gov/
subjects.cfm?subject_id=26
Accidental Scientist: Science of Cooking - looks at the science behind food and cooking.
Learn about what
happens when you eat sugar, bake bread, cook an egg, or pickle foods. Find out how
muscle turns to meat, what makes meat tender, and what gives meat its flavor.
Discover breads and spices of the world. Explore your sense of taste and smell. http://
free.ed.gov/resource.cfm?resource_id=1866
Earth and Space Science provides activities, animations, and lessons on astronomy, the
solar system, and earth's structure, processes, and history. Topics include earthquakes,
faults, tectonic plates, soil liquefaction, Antarctica, convection currents in water,
continental drift, extremophiles, auroras, subduction, Curie point, ozone, climate change,
earth's magnetic field, and seasons. http://free.ed.gov/resource.cfm?resource_id=1857
Global Climate Change is an introduction to the world of scientific research on climate
change. Learn about physical processes underlying the earth's climate, data on how the
climate is changing and the role of human activity, and questions and uncertainties that
researchers continue to explore. The site is organized in four parts: the atmosphere,
hydrosphere (oceans and water), cryosphere (snow and ice), and biosphere (living
organisms).
(Exploratorium, National Science Foundation)
http://free.ed.gov/resource.cfm?resource_id=1865
Nature of Science provides activities and lessons for learning about the scientific process,
science and society, and science as a career.
http://free.ed.gov/resource.cfm?resource_id=1860
Physical Sciences presents more than 200 activities, visualizations, and lessons on
electricity and magnetism, energy, heat and thermodynamics, interactions of matter,
light and optics, measurement, motion and forces, matter, and vibrations and waves.
http://www.free.ed.gov/resource.cfm?resource_id=1859
archive of past messages- http://www.ed.gov/MailingLists/EDInfo/
Editors: Peter Kickbush and Kirk Winters
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