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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.

April 21, 1998 

Bulletin #41

Dear Colleagues, 

This bulletin carries new information about staff development, notices and reminders of upcoming meetings and events, a fellowship announcement, and additional information about summer courses. For details, or to post information, please contact LR/RI or phone 863-2839.

Thanks.

Janet Isserlis 

____________________________________________________________

NOTICES 

LD - Sharing/discussion group for educators with an interest in learning disabilities

Friday, April 24 at 3 PM, at the International Institute of Rhode Island. Louise Cherubini and Phyllis Leventhal's A Roadguide to Understanding Learning Disabilities was shared at our last meeting; those present agreed that the material is well worth presenting again. We hope that more people will join us to talk about the Roadguide and to share other concerns and questions around learning disabilities.

Sharing/discussion group for educators with an interest in intergenerational learning will be held on Monday April 27, from noon to 1:00 PM at IIRI, 645 Elmwood Avenue, Providence. Join colleagues who come together to reflect on ongoing work in intergenerational learning.

Sharing/discussion group for educators with an interest in women's issues in adult education will be on Wed., May 6 , 3 PM at Sandy Petruzzi's house, 61 12th Street, Providence. 

PRACTITIONER WRITING GROUP: Practitioners are invited to meet, write, and give feed-back in a supportive environment on Friday, May 8 at 1:15 PM at Dorcas Place, (270 Elmwood Avenue, Providence). Participants have agreed to bring writing to share, and invite others to do the same (although everyone is welcome - with or without writing).

ESOL sharing/discussion group: Tuesday, May 12 at 3:00 PM. Genesis Center, 620 Potters Avenue, Prov. Participants at the last meeting have agreed to bring in lesson plans and/or materials that have been particularly useful/interesting/effective with their ESOL learners. Please join us.

LEARNING OPPORTUNITY: HRIC English for Work Program - ESOL with a workplace-centered content at IIRI. Students should be 18 years or older, currently employed but in need of more English skills in order to advance in the job; or unemployed and looking for work. International Institute of RI, 645 Elmwood. The program began on February 17, and continues through to early June. Class hours: Monday through Thursday 9:30 - 11:30 AM or 7 to 9 PM. Registration is ongoing; contact Julie Fischer 784-4607 for information and/or to register.

Serving Adults with Learning Disabilities, sponsored by the Adult Training and Development Network and the post secondary Education Disability Unit at the University of Connecticut. May 21, Hartford Marriott, Farmington, Conn. Regular fee is $95; discount available ($86) for three of more individuals registering together from the same institution. Information: LR/RI or call (860) 524-4046.

Career Awareness Fair for Women: Tuesday, May 12, from 8:30 AM to 2:00 PM at the Providence campus of CCRI. Explore careers in the skilled trades, technologies and manufacturing. Students, women in search of a career, career counselors, teachers, social service providers and anyone interested in learning more about nontraditional careers for women are encouraged to attend. Hosted by CCRI New Careers for Women Project and RI Women in Nontraditional Careers (RI WIN). For more information, call 825-2300.

Visual Mathematics Workshop is an intensive 20-hour workshop designed specifically for adult basic education teachers to help explore mathematical concepts and problem solving in the ABE, GED classroom, and for ABE/GED/ESOL teachers to create opportunities for all of us to access math meaning through visual models. The workshop will be held on June 22-24 at Brown University. Cost is $200. Brochures are available at LR/RI, and registration is due by May 1st. Information is also available on line at http:www.std.com/anpn/visualmath.html

It's not too late - Frank Symonds participated in a learner summit held at Highlander Center in Tennessee, representing RI adult learners. Costs for the trip were not covered by summit organizers; if you are able to make a contribution to Frank's travel expenses (estimated to be about $500), Donna Sherman will handle donations through LVA-RI. Please make checks payable to LVA-RI, with "Highlande" in the memo, and send to LVA-RI, 260 West Exchange St., Suite 201/2, Prov., RI 02903. LVA will see that funds reach Frank as part of the literacy community's effort to support his participation during this event. For more on the summit, see LR/RI's learners' page.

On Thursday, April 23, from 2 - 4 PM, WSBE/Channel 36 will receive Integrating technology in the ABE/GED curriculum, a teleconference demonstrating how technology plans progress from words to implementation in adult education settings, and how adult educators use technology to improve instruction and strengthen learning for ABE/GED students. Through case studies and discussions with teachers and curriculum specialists, learn why teachers and learners think technology is important; how they began using educational technology, overcame barriers, and how teachers are integrating educational technologies into classroom activities; also see examples of technology-based learning activities. WSBE is located at 50 Park Lane, Providence.

The Practitioner Dissemination and Research Network/Rhode Island will conduct a workshop, NCSALL Research and You: Connecting Research and Practice, at 10 AM on Saturday, May 9 at the Howard Swearer Center for Public Service, 25 George St., Providence. The workshop will encourage and devlop practitioners' and administrators' questions and concerns about their practices and discuss how those issues are being addressed or may be addressed by researchers from the National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy. Practitioners and administrators will learn about ways in which they and their learners may become involved in current research projects, explore Focus on Basics (NCSALL's quarterly practitioner magazine), and discuss ways in which the PDRN / RI may be of use to them. This free workshop is expected to last about 90 minutes. No pre-registration is necessary; however, interested practitioners and administrators are encouraged to call PDRN / RI Practitioner Leader David Hayes at 331-9261. 

Employment opportunity: Coordinator of Education and Research, Institute for Labor Studies and Research (ILSR), to work in the planning, development, implementation and delivery of job training and labor education programs for the ILSR; coordinate and conduct research projects as needed, and be responsible for various other projects and events. Applicant should have a minimum 3 yrs. of union, community organization or labor education experience, a knowledge of labor issues and expertise in curriculum and teaching. Masters Degree or equivalent education and experience required. Salary $30-33K, commensurate with experience. Send resume with three references to ILSR, 99 Bald Hill Rd. Cranston, RI 02920 by May 18th. Full details of announcement available through LR/RI.

Good sports for a great cause - celebration and auction to benefit the Rhode Island Coalition Against Domestic Violence. Thursday, April 30th, 5 to 8 PM, Rhodes on-the-Pawtuxet, 60 Rhodes Place, Cranston. Tickets $10 - adults, $5 - kids, free under five. Reserve tickets by April 24th. Information: RI Coalition Against Domestic Violence - 467-9940

12th annual Carnival Ball, International Institute of RI's annual celebration to benefit education and social services provided through IIRI. Rhodes on-the-Pawtuxet, 60 Rhodes Place, Cranston. 9:00 PM to 1:00 AM. Information: 784-4630

READING POVERTY: The Social, Political & Economic Contexts of Literacy Education, A Conference in honor of Paulo Freire Celebration and Continuance Tuesday, May 5, 1998 Montclair State University Student Center: Interactive Theater Workshops for critical consciousness & social change. Freire & Feminism. Literacy & Economic Development. Latin American Challenges. Action Plans. Students' Perspectives. Freire's Impact on Educators Today. Information: Ruth Handel (973) 655-7190 handelr@saturn.montclair.edu registration:contact LR/RI. 

100 Ways of Seeing Retreat Reflect Renew with colleagues around New England. July 15-17, Room and Board Provided, Sponsored by the Adult Literacy Resource Institute/Boston Regional SABES Center. 

A retreat offering adult basic education staff 3 days in the Massachusetts Berkshires to seek perspective on our work through reading, writing, talk and play. A teacher who participated in the first retreat and helped in planning the second wrote, "When we set out to design staff development programs, we typically isolate one segment of the human experience. We focus on our identities as workers, as staff members, as teachers. This is often quite effective. Teaching and learning, however, require us to draw upon more than our knowledge of specific teaching methods or strategies." Thus the retreat is a very different kind of staff development. In the past, participants have done self-portraits, investigated pond life, spun believable lies, done dramatic interpretations of working conditions, and connected all of these experience to their beliefs about teaching and learning. Participants have spoken highly of the effect on their outlook: Simultaneous workshops and free time activities will be structured around the talents and ideas participants suggest in their applications. For more information, call Martha Merson, Steve Reuys, or Maria E. Gonzalez at 617-782-8956.

SUMMER COURSES: 

Graduate level course at Providence College - Of interest to people working with learners with special needs/learning disabilities, EDU 556-G1 Individual Intelligence Testing, meets Mondays and Wednesdays, from 4 to 7:15 PM, and involves a survey of psychological measurements dealing with the construction, administration, scoring and interpretation of various mental tests, beginning late in June. For information, please call 865-1800. Registration begins June 1st.

GED this summer - CCRI offers these courses: 

Warwick Campus: GED - Tuesdays/Thursdays, May 19- July 7. Fee of $85 includes testing and materials; register at least a week before classes. 

Lincoln Campus: GED - Mondays/Wednesdays, from 4:30 to 7 PM, May 18 to July 13 and Tuesdays/Thursdays, May 19-July 7. Information - Community Services at CCRI, at 333-7070.

Math for the GED meets on Saturday mornings from 9 to noon, starting May 2. $65 for 15 weeks. Questions? 333-7070. 

Conversation and Vocabulary: Saturdays, 9:00 AM to 12:30 PM. May 2 - July 25, 12 sessions, $90. Mondays and Wednesdays, 5:30 - 8:30 PM. 15 meetings, May 4 - June 22, $90 

Introduction to Windows 95/Microsoft Word 7.0 Sat. 9 to noon. May 2 - July 25, 12 sessions, $80. 

Registration - Fridays 8 to 5, Saturdays 9 to 11 at the Office of Community Services in Lincoln. Please bring check or money order; cash will not be accepted. Information - Cecilia Londono 333-7074. (Course information in Spanish is also available).

PROGRESO LATINO - Contact Carlos Gonzalaez, 728-5920 

English Classes: Registration is May 4 - 7, 10:00 am to 1:00 pm or 3:00 pm to 7:00 pm. Classes are held on Monday through Thusday, 9:30 am to 11:30 am, 4:00 to 6:00 pm, and 6:00 to 8:00 pm. Classes start on May 11, for 15 weeks. 

GED in Spanish: Registration open and ongoing. Classes are held Monday through Thursday 12:00 noon to 2:00 pm and 6:00 to 8:00 pm, for 15-20 weeks.

Citizenship classes: Registration open and ongoing. Classes are held Monday through Thursday 4:30 to 6:00 pm or on Saturdays from 9:00 am to 12:00 noon, for 20 weeks. 

TUTOR NEEDED: A 39 year old man, dually diagnosed and living in a residential care facility in North Providence, is in need of a tutor to learn to read and write. Please contact Cheryl Bautista at Northridge Residential Care, 726-2131.

Even Start Statewide Family Literacy Initiative (Federal Register: April 1, 1998 [CFDA# 84.314A]) Purpose of Program: To enable States to plan & implement statewide family literacy initiatives under the Even Start Family Literacy Program. Initiative activities must be conducted through a consortium of State, local, & other institutions, organizations, or agencies. Eligible Applicants: State office or agency. Deadline for Transmittal of Applications: June 29, 1998.

Available funds: $1,000,000. Note: Under this program, States receiving grants must make available non-Federal contributions in an amount equal to not less than the Federal funds provided under the grant, as required by section 1202(c)(2) of the Elementary & Secondary Education Act (ESEA). Grantees may not use funds awarded under these grants for indirect costs either as a direct charge or as part of the matching requirement. Estimated range of awards: $100,000-$250,000. Estimated average size of awards: $200,000. Estimated number of awards: 5. Additional information: A waiver of reporting requirement, invitational priorities, selection criteria, a contact, & other information are available in the Federal Register notice. Additional information available online at: http://ocfo.ed.gov/gophroot/4fedreg/1grantann/040198a.txt The complete application is available online at: http://ocfo.ed.gov/fedreg/grantann/040198a.pdf

Intergenerational literacy resources: (from Elsa Auerbach)...Partnerships with Linguistic Minority Communities, a new publication by Mary McGroarty, is a professional paper which contextualizes and defines partnerships, notes typical obstacles to partnerships, highlights promising practices associated with effective partnerships, recommends future courses of action and provides a list of resource materials on partnerships. It can be ordered from TESOL at tesol@tesol.edu Many Families, Many Literacies, edited by Denny Taylor, is also available from Heinemann Publishers. 

WHERE TO GO WITH VERA? The New England Literacy Resource Center needs YOUR input in planning future Voter Education, Registration and Action institutes. We have tentative plans to hold an institute on the theme of "Justice" or "Democracy" in late September. Our questions to you are: Which theme would inspire you to participate in a VERA institute? What workshop topics would you like to see? Please take a moment to call Andy Nash at (617) 482-9485 or e-mail anash@ worlded.org. All respondents will receive a free copy of The Change Agent newspaper. Thanks!

New Professional development initiative:

Last month I spent time at the RI Dislocated Worker Program, facilitating classes for teachers there so that they could have an opportunity to observe one another's classes and to reflect on their learning and teaching. Excerpts from their notes follow, (full text is available on the LR/RI web site at Writing from the Field - or contact LR/RI for a hard copy). Please let me know if you would like to participate in this process of professional development. All that's required is your willingness to share your reflections about the observation/ learning process for others. I'm hoping to build a block of writing and thinking about this and other forms of our own professional development both through the bulletin and the web site. 

Denise Di Marzio writes ... budgets can't ... provide ... for conferences or frequent staff development time. But we all have access to a wealth of information - each other. The lessons of having another teacher participating in the class and of being able to witness another class in action are multi-fold and invaluable. [A] woman at Quaker Meeting said, "let us teach by ourselves being teachable." ..I was able to learn from the interaction between David [Hayes] and students, to witness a genuine exchange of questions and discussions. I saw ways to balance student participation and teacher direction... Since I teach a beginner literacy/basic ESL class, the opportunities I have for exchange with the students are presented to me in other ways, yet I could still see what methods David and I have in common and where we might have different approaches. As in writing, critical distance from one's work as a teacher is essential and difficult... But even a single visit to another class can add a fresh perspective to one's own work and vision -- a mean to providing that necessary distance, that small reminder to remain teachable. 

David adds: Janet's project provided me with an opportunity to observe the ESL class which feeds my ESL/Pre-GED group... I was able to get a much better feel for the level of ability, habits and classroom personalities of the students with whom I will eventually be working. In an open enroll-ment pre-GED environment, where I try to keep the curriculum both learner-centered and test-oriented, any advance familiarity with an entering student is of tremendous value. I profited from watching my colleague Moin Ajmiri, at work. While Moin and I often share ideas and opinions about teaching... I had never been able to observe his approach. Doing so strengthened my appreciation for his work and offered insight into both his and my own practice. ... [the project] provided a wonderful opportunity to gain a fresh perspective on classroom dynamics and teaching techniques. 

Moin notes: ... I have always believed that observing another teacher or being observed in a class setting is one of the best learning tools. Attending conferences and seminars are good for sharing ideas but observing a peer at work is the real thing. 

From Esther D. Leonelli, Community Learning Center, Cambridge: 3rd Annual YALD Spring Lecture Series Free and Open to the Public 1998 Adult and Adolescent Reading and Learning Disabilities, Sponsored by the Mass. DOE Young Adults with Learning Disabilities Project, Community Learning Center, SCALE (Somerville), Adult Literacy Resource Institute and Boston Region SABES 

- Friday, May 1 Increasing Automaticity, Fluency, and Word Retrieval; Insights from the Tufts NICHD Project Theresa Deeney, M. Ed. Project Director Tufts University 

- Friday, May 8 Written Expression Overview; a sequential and structured approach to teaching writing Joyce Goldweitz, Project Read Instructor, The Language Circle Enterprize 

- Friday, May 15 Phonological Awareness: Why Is It Important? How Can We Help Students Acquire it? Joseph K. Torgessen, Ph.D., Director for the Study of Reading and Reading Disabilities, Florida State University 

- Friday, May 22 Wilson Reading System Overview; A Structured, Multisensory, Phonics Based Approach to Teaching Reading Barbara Wilson, Director, Wilson Language Training

Sessions will be held from 3:30 to 5PM at the Central Square Library, 45 Pearl Street, Central Square, Cambridge (Adjacent to Municipal Parking Garage) For information / travel directions please call: Ashley Hager, Community Learning, (617) 349-6363, 6367. Refreshments served before each lecture from 3:00 to 3:30

CHECKING IN WITH THE FIELD

Summer courses? Professional development? If you have any information about summer courses (aside from the notice for GED classes at CCRI on page 3), please contact LR/RI so that we can publicize these program offerings while people are beginning to plan for the summer months. Also, if you have any interest in participating in informal computer drop-in sessions, or other professional development activity, please call me at 863-2839.

BULLETIN - Do you want to continue to receive the bulletin? Have you had enough? Do you know of someone else who would like to receive the bulletin? The bulletin is available (and archived on-line), as well as via regular mail, email and fax. If you would like to change the way you receive it (if, for example you now have email and would prefer to receive it that way), please contact me. The bulletin is the best way I know of to keep everyone informed of issues, programs and events, but it will only benefit from increased input and distribution across the state and region. I welcome your suggestions, writing, information. Thanks. 

Stats resource available: The State of Literacy in America: Estimates at the local, state and national levels, is now available, free of charge from the National Institute for Literacy. While the use and abuse of statistics can be daunting, the volume is of interest - it projects literacy abilities and problems on local levels using the National Adult Literacy Survey (NALS) as a basis for these estimates. For a copy of the publication, call 1-800-228-8813.

REMINDERS: 

Resource available: Teaching and Learning with Internet-based Resources, by Susan Cowles, is available in hard copy or on line at http://www.nifl.gov/susanc/inthome.htm From the on-line introduction: "Literacy students, instructors, program administrators, and other life-long learners are all in the group moving along the information superhighway. Some people have been running for a while; others are just starting down the road. Beginning to use the Internet can sometimes seem as grueling as participating in a marathon. This short course is designed to make the journey as informative and enjoyable as possible." To order a hard copy of the document, please call 1-800-228-8813. Susan Cowles is a Literacy Leader Fellow for 1996-97; this document is her fellowship report to the National Institute for Literacy.

from previous bulletins:

LEGISLATIVE INFORMATION ON-LINE (from Fran Keenan at the Center for Applied Linguistics): http://www.StateServ.hpts.org provides current and exclusive state legislative information on welfare reform & immigrants. The 1996 welfare law rewrote the rules for immigrants, originally cutting $24 billion in cash, medical, and food stamp benefits. Although $12 billion in SSI benefits were restored in 1997, states are still challenged by the cost shifts from federal to state and local safety net programs, and are determining whether and how to serve particularly vulnerable immigrant populations. State legislation is summarized by cash assistance, medical assistance, nutritional assistance, and naturalization. Also available on-line are the Project's popular new series of issue briefs "Welfare Reform & Immigrants." Currently posted are briefs on: State Trends, Nutritional Assistance, and TANF. The website was launched by the Health Policy Tracking Service at NCSL. StateServ also provides information on state policies and legislation in the areas of adolescent health, HIV/AIDS, and youth access to alcohol. The website is supported with grants from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Ford Foundation. For more information on StateServ, call The Health Policy Tracking Service at 202-624-3567 or e-mail them at: info@hpts.org. 

For more information on Welfare Reform & Immigrants, contact Ann Morse, Immigrant Policy Project, (ann.morse@ncsl.org) or Jeremy Meadows (jeremy.meadows@ncsl.org). We welcome your comments. (The IMMIGRANT-NEWS-L distribution list is a service of NCSLnet, the Electronic Information Network for State Legislatures. National Conference of State Legislatures. For information on NCSLnet services send a blank e-mail message to: NCSLnet-Info@ncsl.org). 

AIDS RESOURCES ONLINE

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention1s national AIDS clearinghouse is located at http://www.cdcnac.org. It's Up to Us: An AIDS Education Curriculum for ESL Students and Other English Language Learners, by Henry Lesnick, is available on line at http://www.hostos.cuny.edu/homepages/lesnick/AIDS. AVERT, AIDS Education and Research Trust, a British site, is at http://www.avert.org/ World AIDS Day is observed on December 1st, but the need to work on appropriate educational strategies around HIV and AIDS prevention education persists year round. 

PROJECT BASED LEARNING AND ACCESS TO THE INTERNET

How is the internet being used in adult education? What are some helpful uses, and how do we sort through the huge amount of material available on line? Susan Gaer is interested in helping programs link to one another, and has been doing so through an email project homepage on-line, at http://www.otan.dni.us/webfarm/emailproject/email.htm. If you have or know of similar learner work on line, please contact Susan at SusanG2@aol.com. As well, David Rosen (who in addition to advocacy work, has done a great deal of work on and research into using the internet) has asked that we have a look at the inquiry maps on the Adult Literacy Resource Institute1s home page. As he explains, "[a]n Inquiry Map is a group participatory research process on a topic of high interest to the group. Participants (in this case, adult learners) make their own questions, and then set about finding answers to them. The Inquiry map is a process which is never finished. Many of the questions go unanswered, are only partially answered, or have only one answer given where other points of view are possible. So, there is room for other participants to join in the process at any time, to add their answers, their comments on the answers already given, and questions which they might also choose to research." Questions, answers and comments can be posted to David Rosen <DJRosen@world.std.com>, and he'll add them to the inquiry map. So, it keeps on being an inquiry process with each new person who reads and adds to it. He welcomes additions of questions and answers; as you may know, many internet sites run threaded conversations on a variety of topics. The ALRI sites are: http://www2.wgbh.org/MBCWEIS/LTC/ALRI/I.M.html and http://www2.wgbh.org/MBCWEIS/LTC/ALRI/IM3.html (How to make inquiry maps). The LR/RI website has added a page about technology and learning as well. The page consists of the beginning of a discussion about the ways in which technology can be used interactively -- is the screen just a big flashy workbook, or is there more to it? Your comments can be sent by email, fax or regular mail, and will be added to the page to continue the conversation.

and also 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.

ERIC/ACVE continually collects written materials on all aspects of adult, career, and vocational education to be considered for inclusion in the ERIC database. Research reports, annotated bibliographies, conference papers, instructional materials, position papers, program descriptions and evaluations, curriculum guides, proceedings, lesson plans and teaching guides, and resource guides, are for the database. If you have a document or documents you would like to submit, contact Steve Chambers, acquisitions coordinator at chambers.2@osu.edu or call 1-800-848- 4815, ext 47642 or send your documents to: Acquisitions Coordinator, ERIC/ACVE, 1900 Kenny Road, Columbus, OH 43210-1090. 

Materials are evaluated by subject specialists according to the following criteria: significance, relevance, timeliness, applicability, authority of author, comprehensiveness, clarity of presentation, reflection of emerging trends, capability of meeting users' needs, and generalizability. Every item submitted is given careful consideration. If an item is not selected for ERIC, the author is given an explanation of why it did not meet the selection criteria. 

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.