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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.November 5, 1997 Bulletin #25 Dear Colleagues, This bulletin contains the learner survey included in the last bulletin, which I hope you'll be able to complete with learners in your programs. Employment opportunities, information about the growing number and foci of discussion/sharing sessions, program updates, and coming events are included, as well as a reminder/request: if you haven't completed the practitioner census form, it's not too late. Please mail or fax the form to LR/RI as soon as possible, or contact me if you haven1t received one. Thanks very much.
Janet Isserlis ____________________________________________________________ NOTICES Sharing/discussion groups - Where and when? Rhode Island is a small state, but it's not that small, and I've had some input about the fact that discussion groups are being scheduled in Providence. For many, this is an inconvenience. While not wanting to create splintered groups, I also very much want to encourage as many people as possible to participate in these groups/meetings, because the meetings provide a means for us to identify our interests, strengths and needs in particular areas. If you would like your site to host a meeting/ discussion group around any topic, please let me know, so that we can broaden involvement and make these sessions as inclusive as possible. I would also appreciate having more opportunities to meet with program people (e.g., through a regular staff meeting, informal meeting) so that we can talk about what's working and what's needing work generally and specifically in programs around the state.
The next planning meeting for the intergenerational literacy conference will be held on Friday, November 14, at 12:30 PM at IIRI (645 Elmwood Avenue). Registration flyers for the conference, to be held in January, are being sent out soon. For information, please contact Terri Coustan at 351-4252. Sharing/discussion group for educators interested in intergenerational learning (not conference planning), are invited to meet at IIRI on Friday, November 21 at 1:00 PM. Although the conference is important, we still want to talk about ongoing practice, programs, questions and issues relative to intergenerational literacy and learning. Sharing/discussion group for educators interested in women's issues in adult education A second meeting for educators concerned about women's issues in adult education is scheduled for Thursday, November 13, at 4:00 PM at the Sarah Doyle Women's Center, 185 Meeting Street in Providence. Anyone with ideas, concerns, and an interest in women, learning and teaching is welcome to attend. Please join us in making this a forum for sharing ideas, exchanging information and generating energy. If this is a bad time for you, please let me know so that we may be able to schedule an alternative time/date as well. WRITING GROUP: New York's Literacy Assistance Center holds monthly practitioners writing groups, described as an "opportunity for teachers, program managers, counselors and others to focus on their own writing, professional or personal." Practitioners are invited to meet monthly to "write, share, and give feedback in a supportive environment." A first meeting for practitioners in Rhode Island will be held on November 18 at 3:00 PM at the Swearer Center for Public Service. We can decide how to use this session - as a forum for sharing journals, generating writing ideas for ourselves and our learners, setting up email or other exchanges. If this s a bad time/place for you, please call to suggest alternatives that would be more useful. Sharing/discussion group for educators with an interest in learning disabilities Our next meeting is scheduled for Friday, November 21st at 3 PM, at the International Institute of Rhode Island, 645 Elmwood Avenue, Providence. Many of us who don't work specifically with LD learners can benefit greatly by learning more about the strategies, methods and approaches developed for LD students, particularly multisensory structured phonic reading instruction. Learning how such instruction can be applied to our teaching/tutoring contexts can only strengthen our abilities overall to meet the needs of the state's adult learners. At this meeting, Lisa Roseman Beade will facilitate a discussion of the Orton Gillingham method; next month we'll learn about the Wilson method. Orton-Gillingham is "a multisensory technique, requiring the simultaneous use of the visual, auditory, and kinesthetic modalities. .. Further information about using the technique ... in reading, writing, and spelling is available from the International Dyslexia Society" Chester Building, Suite 382, 8600 LaSalle Rd, Baltimore, MD 21204-0232 (http://www.interdys.org/) Messages (800) ABCD123, Voice (410) 296-0232, Fax (410) 321-5069). (from an ERIC Digest by Vicki Barr, http://ericae2.educ.cua.edu/db/edo/ED355834.HTM). An LD list serv is archived at http://novel.nifl.gov/nifl-ld/ Additional LD information is available at the NIFL site;also check LR/RI's links to LD resources.
Education Workshop at Brown University sponsored by the Howard R. Swearer Center for Public Service / Fall 1997 These workshops are free and open to the public. For more information, please contact Marie T. Cora at 863-3986. Teaching Reading - Moving On Monday, November 17, 6:00 to 8:00 PM Sayles Hall, Rm. 105
The University of Rhode Island Project L.E.A.P.is now in the process of recruiting students for spring 1998 classes. A L.E.A.P. informational session will be held at CCE on Washington Street, in Providence, on Saturday, Novemebr 8, 1997 at 12:00 PM in the Janice Paff Auditorium. If you know of any person who needs preparation for college let them know that L.E.A.P. is a semester long course designed to help students polish their reading, writing, and computer skills and there is no fee for the course. For additional information please call Mary L. Stanley, Acting Director, URI/CCE L.E.A.P. at 277-5170 or fax 277-5060. VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES - International Institute of Rhode Island (IIRI) Volunteers are needed for office and teaching work. Office work for citizenship/ESL program: Help with student intakes, input of student records in computer, help correct tests, photocopy, type letters, file, make telephone calls, help with events as needed, 2 to 5 hours per week, times flexible. Teaching a citizenship/ESL class of adult immigrants preparing to take the US Citizenship exam. Some experience with teaching immigrant adults preferred, will train. TIME: 9 to 11 AM, any two days of the week, from October to December 20, 1997 or February to May, 1998. Please contact Nazneen Rahman, 784-4611, IIRI, 645 Elmwood Avenue, Providence, RI 02907.
EVENING ESL TUTORING COORDINATOR at Genesis Center Eight hours per week, $8.00 per hour. October - May 25, 1998 (27 paid weeks, excluding 5 vacation weeks) The Genesis Center is expanding our ESOL instructional programs to evening hours again this year. We are looking for a tutoring coordinator to recruit tutors and coordinate instructional sessions two evenings per week. QUALIFICATIONS Experience tutoring/teaching - English as a second language experience preferred; Experience working with limited English proficient adults/urban minority populations; Interest in learner centered community based education. DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES Help recruit tutors for evening ESOL sessions at the Genesis Center, work with volunteer coordinator to schedule tutors for evening sessions, work with Adult Programs director to provide training and support to tutors, and provide on-site supervision of program Tuesday and Thursday evenings 6 to 8 PM. Interested applicants, please contact Sally S. Gabb, Director of Adult Programs, 781-6110 before October 31.
NCSALL Practitioner Dissemination and Research Network Now Scheduling On -Site Introductions The National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy's Practitioner Dissemination and Research Network / Rhode Island is now scheduling on-site introductory meetings with practitioners and administrators as part of its ongoing effort to facilitate the development and strengthening of ties between researchers and practitioners. The sessions will highlight current NCSALL research and its connection to Rhode Island adult ed practice, introduce Focus On Basics - an adult ed pulication aimed at addressing practitioners' needs - and encourage discussion on practitioners' roles in research, ways in which research results can be applied to practice, and the utility of the PDRN to the Rhode Island adult ed community. Meetings will be tailored to suit a group or program's time restrictions and can be made to run anywhere between 30 and 60 minutes. Adminstrators and practitioners interested in learning more about or scheduling an on -site meeting should contact David Hayes, PDRN / RI Practitioner Leader, at (401) 331 - 9261 or by email to PDRNRI@aol.com.
ANNOUNCEMENT: Literacy Volunteers of Washington County has received a $10,000 grant from the Strategic Planning Unit of the RI Department of Human Services to institute free classes in citizenship preparation. LV has hired Ebba Spector, former director of the Washington County Adult Learning Center and long time ESOL teacher, to teach the classes, which will be held in the Literacy Volunteers center in the lower level of the Westerly Public Library on Tuesdays, from 6 to 8 PM and on Saturday mornings, from 9 to 11:00. Classes begin on Saturday, November 8, and are free and open to the public. Call 401-596-9411 to register, or come to a class.
LEARNER SURVEY From Paul Jurmo, on the NLA listserv:<pjjurmo@intac.com> "Subscribers to the NLA list have seen the valuable leadership potential which adult learners can bring to our field. Learners are forming adult learner organizations, organizing state conferences, participating on decision-making bodies, and serving as advocates for adult learning. As Archie Willard explained in a recent posting, a small group of learners is now working with a handful of adult education professionals to explore the feasibility of creating a national adult learner organization. If funding can be secured, this planning group (joined by a few more learners and professionals) will convene at the Highlander Center early next year to take this idea of a national learner organization a few steps further. Before we go much further down that road, we want to be clearer about the level of interest in this idea. We ... ask that others who use this list share these questions with the adult learners you work with and convey their responses back to us. Please convey your responses to Patsy Medina.We will share our findings with you soon." Please respond by November 21st; please email responses directly (patsymedina@juno.com)), or mail them to Patsy at Rutgers University, GSE ETPA Dept., 10 Seminary Place, New Brunswick, NJ 08903 phone (908) 932-2638 FAX (908) 932-6803. _______________________________________________________________________ Your name: Your address: Your telephone number: Are you: (Check all that apply.) A current student in an adult basic education program? A former student in an adult basic education program? An adult education provider? (Please explain.) (Note that, because this survey is aimed at adult learners, anyone else should only be serving as a messenger conveying feedback from adult learners with whom she/he works.) (survey, continued) 1. Do you think it would be useful to create a national organization of adult learners (i.e., current and former participants in adult basic skills programs in the U.S.)? (Check one.) Yes No Not sure 2. If yes, what might such an organization try to accomplish? (That is, what should be its goals and purposes?) 3. Are you currently (or have you previously been) involved in any similar adult learner organization in your community or state? (Check one.) Yes No 4. If yes, what is/was that organization's name and what does/did it do? 5. Would you like to be added to a mailing list in case a national organization is formed? (Check one.) Yes No 6. Would you be willing to help such a national organization? Yes No Maybe If _yes_ or _maybe_, what might you do to help? 6. Feel free to add any other comments, ideas, or questions here (or on an additional sheet of paper):
REGIONAL CONFERENCES (For information on the following, please contact LR/RI.)
LITERACY WORKS! Sharing Resources - Building Connections: Burlington, VT. Pre-conference workshop on Learning Disabilities and Family Literacy 11/16; and 11/17 - general workshops. Deadline for 11/16 registration($55/day; $95/2 days): October 16; full conference, November 3. Voter Education, Registration and Action (VERA) Institute: COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION: From literacy to action. December 6, Northern Essex Community College, 9:30 to 4:30. Free of charge; registration is limited to 60 on a first come - first-served basis.
from previous issues:
Workshops available - During the past few years I've worked with a team of women from around Canada, through the Canadian Congress for Learning Opportunities for Women, on Making Connections: Literacy and EAL Curriculum from a Feminist Perspective. The curriculum was developed for learners in basic education and English language programs. A series of workshops have been developed and are available to anyone in the area with an interest in learning more about incorporating the curriculum and its approaches into their own work. Please contact me (Janet) at LR/RI for more information and/or to schedule a workshop. Information about the curriculum is also available online at http://www.nald.ca/canorg/cclow/EAL.HTM. While the cost of the curriculum document itself is $20, there is no charge for the workshops.
For the teacher sharing session on Thursday, July 10, these brief articles were reviewed: Cross-Cultural Issues in Adult ESL Literacy Classrooms, (http://www.cal.org/ncle/digests/CROSS_CULTURAL.HTML) Race and Gender in Adult Education, http://coe.ohio-state.edu/cete/ericacve/docs/race-gen.htm and Adult Eduction: Social Change or Status Quo? http://coe.ohio-state.edu/cete/ericacve/docs/dig176.htm You can link to the articles at the URLs above, or contact LR/RI for hardcopies.
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