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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.

May 11, 1999

Bulletin #69

Dear Colleagues,

Notice of upcoming professional development events, employment opportunities, conferences, meetings, minigrants, and adult education week . To post information, please contact me at LR/RI or leave a message (863-2839).

Thanks.

Janet Isserlis

____________________________________________________________

NOTICES

Learning to think: advances in cognitive psychology for adult literacy - Monday, May 24th, 8:30 to 1:00 at URI Library's Gallanti Lounge, Kingston Campus. Jennifer Cromley of the Academy of Hope (a community-based literacy program in Washington DC and a NIFL fellow) will review recent literature on how people learn and how thinking skills develop. She has developed materials designed to show how this research translates into best teaching practices. She will discuss several hands-on lessons about the learning process for adult students. Draft copies of the report on the research will be available, (lunch included). Presented by the RI Association for Adult and Continuing Education and RIDE; no fee, but please preregister by calling John Boulmetis at 401-874-4159 or email johnb@uriacc.uri.edu

A videotaped recording of Dr. Jenny Horsman's plenary talk at the International Conference on Women and Literacy (held this past January) will be shown at the Swearer Center for Public on Thursday, May 13 at 3. If this time doesnÕt work for you and youÕd like to view the tape, please contact LR/RI. The talk provides an overview of Dr. HorsmanÕs work with violence and literacy learning; other print materials will also be available related to the topic; see also LR/RI's women and literacy page within the LR/RI website.

Discussion/sharing session for educators with an interest in intergenerational learning and adult education will be held on Thursday, May 27th, at 2:30 PM at the Genesis Center. Practitioners returning from the National Center for Family Literacy Conference will be discussing information gathered from the conference. As well, a new report on strengthening family literacy, from the National Institute for Literacy will be available, (and/or call LR/RI).

Seventh Annual Conference On Serving Adults with Learning Disabilities, May 27 Farmington, CT. Primary emphasis of the conference will be on serving adults with learning disabilities and other hidden disabilities, as well as adults who have difficulty learning for a variety of reasons. Registration: $95, or $86/each for groups of three or more individuals attending from the same institution; deadline May 21. contact LR/RI or Debbie Kalanquin, (860) 524-4046.

Women in Transition, Inc. - Task Force for Women in Conflict with the Law presents Life Without Mom: Round Table Discussion on Children of Incarcerated Women

Friday, May 14 9:30 -11:30 am, Phillips Memorial Baptist Church, 565 Pontiac Ave. Cranston, RI 02910, The task force is a coalition of service providers, representatives from state agencies and community members who meet regularly to address the barriers fdaced by women with criminal records. Moderator: Roberta Richman, Warden, Women's Prison, ACI Panelists: Alberta Baccari, Parenting Coordinator, ACI Sandy Woods, Substance Abuse Coordiantor, DCYF Stephanie Terry, Supervisor, DCYF Rebecca Boss, Clinical Supervisor, CODAC (from Providence: 95 S to Exit 17 (Elmwood Ave.). Turn left at bottom of ramp and follow Elmwood Ave to light at Park Ave. Turn right onto Park Ave to Rolfe Square (at Park Cinema). Turn left onto Rolfe Street (it will merge with Pontiac Ave.) The church is 1/4 mile ahead on the right. Information: 461-8233

Adult Education week -- the week of May 17th. Activities for the week

Connections through Literacy presents Dr. Susan Baum - Multiple Intelligences Theory in the Classroom: Pathways to Implementation, Saturday, May 15, 9 am -12, IIRI. Fee $10. Practical strategies for implementing Howard Gardner's Theory of Multiple Intelligences in the classroom with all types of learners. Participants will take away a set of strategies which may be adapted for all learning, including application for family literacy and learning disability situations. Participants will actively explore specific pathways for Multiple Intelligences Theory to improve reading and teaching. Deadline for registration: May 1. Questions? Call Terri Coustan, 351-4252 or email at TCoustan@aol.com. Checks payable to Connections through Literacy can be sent to Debbe Fate, LV-NRI, c/o Central Falls Free Library, 205 Central Street, Central Falls, RI 02863.

Government in Action - May 17 and 19: groups of adult learners will participate in mock legislative sessions at the invitation of Senator Mary Parella, Chair of the RI Adult Education Commission. If you've not received a mailing about this activity and want more information, please call LR/RI.

Adult Education Day at the State House, May 20, 2-5pm - Learners, teachers and staff from adult literacy will be at the state house to display program information and to talk with their legislators. If you haven't already done so, please contact LR/RI to confirm your attendance if youÕd like table/ display space made available. If you have them, please bring agency banners to display from the banisters. We will gather at 3:30 in the Governor's State Room for a short speaking program, including recognition of significant events in adult education during this past year.

9th Annual Walk for Literacy, Saturday, May 22 - (registration 8:30 am State House), sponsored by the Providence Journal Charitable Foundation/United Way Literacy Fund. Seven adult literacy agencies will raise monies through the 5K walk through Providence, India Point Park and the east side.

On Friday, May 21, from 1:30-3:30 PM, Arthur Peña will present a workshop entitled Grammarwords: A Grammar-Teaching Paradigm Shift, at the International Institute of RI, 645 Elmwood Avenue, Providence. He describes the workshop: As teachers of ESL/EFL, we find ourselves obliged to speak in apparent contradictions. We tell our students: 'the past is used for a hypothetical present/future' (If we won the lottery...); 'the present is used to express a kind of scheduled future' (The plane arrives at eight-o'clock tomorrow...); 'the present is used to talk about past events' (...and then he walks right up to her and says...); 'the present continuous is used to talk about future plans (We're eating out tonight...); and so on. There must be a better way.... Dispensing with abstract constructs such as "past", "perfect", and "continuos", the grammarword paradigm presents the tense/aspect/modal forms ('ed', 'have...en', 'be...ing', etc.) directly, systematically, and concretely as meaningful words (i.e. "grammarwords") in their own right. Participants in this workshop can expect to gain not only a theoretical understanding of the grammarword approach, but also the ability to use it in their own classrooms. Pre-registration preferred (not required): Just call (401) 461-5940 ext. 4604 and leave your name.

CCRI noncredit programs

Conversation and Vocabulary - Sat 9AM - 12:30, 12 meetings, 5/22 - 8/14, $90.00

Advanced Writing - Tues/Thurs. 5:30 - 8:30 PM, 15 meetings, 6/1 - 7/20, $90.00

Computer applications and intro to windows95 Sat 9AM - 12:00, 10 meetings, 5/22 - 8/14 $100, Tuesdays 5 to 8 PM, 5/25 - 8/10, 12 meetings, $80.00. Registration will start on Friday 5/7. at CCRI in Lincoln.

Registration and placement testing will take place Monday through Friday 5 - 7 PM and on Saturdays at 9:30 AM until May 21. All new students interested in Conversation and Vocabulary must take the placement test at registration, at the Office of Community Services in Lincoln. (Registration for Conversation and Vocabulary cannot be accepted on the first day of class, so please register before classes start). Course fees payable by check or money order only - cash can not be accepted. For additional information please call Cecilia Londono at 333-7074 after 4 PM or Saturday morning, 8 to noon.

other summer programs? If you know of adult education classes being held this summer, please notify LR/RI so that we can let others know about learning opportunities.

LR/RI will offer computer drop in sessions again this summer. Please contact me if you think you'd like to participate; although registration is not required, this will help in planning for the sessions.

updated information about Swearer Language and Literacy programs; http://www.brown.edu/Departments/Swearer_Center/Literacy_Resources/slandl.html

Programs are welcome to send updates and information about their programs as well. If possible, please send these via email to facilitate the process of translating the information onto the web.

Email / internet lesson for adult learners from Stacie Evans in NY

"Teen Immigrants: Five American Stories" will be re-broadcast during the week of May 15. Viewers are invited to tape the program off-air for use as an educational resource. The show's companion website, "Immigration Station," includes transcript, Teacher Guide, additional comments from interviewed teens, resources, US immigration timeline, and survey www.pbs.org/mix/immigration/ istation/ishome.html. Different PBS affiliates will air this show at different times during the week-- please check local listings, contact your PBS station, or visit the carriage list on our website at www.pbs.org/mix. For information or to order a videotape copy of this 30-minute special, e-mail InTheMix@pbs.org.

The RI Family Literacy Initiative-East Bay seeks volunteers for its spring and summer literacy program. The 8-wk summer course begins the week of July 12. Classes take place in Warren and East Providence, and focus on conversation for intermediate to advanced ESL adults. Parents are encouraged to bring children, ages 3-12 for age appropriate literacy classes. Learners are grouped according to abilities into small groups lead by volunteers. Volunteers do not need experience, just a willingness to commit to 4 hrs per week. EP: 6:30-8:00, Tues/Thurs at the libraryÕs Weaver Branch.Warren:10:30-12:00, George Hail Library. Kristen McKenna, 434-2719 or 245-7686.

resource available (from OVAE News, 5/6/99, via Fran Keenan, NIFL-ESL list:) ESL Materials For Healthy Hearts Health literacy takes a new step with the National Institutes of Health's (NIH's) Salud para su Corazon (Health for your Heart) initiative. Low-cost materials designed to deliver health literacy through existing adult education programs are now available from NIH's National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute. They include a series of eight easy-to-read brochures teaching heart health in English and Spanish, a recipe book in the two languages, heart health videos in Spanish, self-help guides in English and Spanish and heart health curricula. Call 1-800/282-9126 to receive a free package of the eight booklets. The Institute invites you to reproduce as many additional copies as needed or order more from 301/592-8573. You can also download publications from the Institute at www.nhlbi.nih.gov/nhlbi/cardio/latino/latin_pg.htm

MINI-GRANTS AVAILABLE again for summer/fall 1999: Following last year's successful work, another round of grants are available, with a few slight changes to the process:

DESCRIPTION OF GRANTS Five grants of $400 each are available for practitioners wishing to explore a particular idea, reflect upon a problem, develop a teaching strategy, work on curricula, research a particular aspect of learning and/or teaching, deal with program design, implementation, assessment - you decide. As well, if you're currently working on an inquiry project and have a plan for extending that work, you can apply for funding under this process. The parameters of the grant are deliberately broad to accommodate your particular interests. The project should be something that impassions you, and that enables you to develop some tangible thing - a curriculum, a report, lesson plans - which can be shared with others in the field.

GOAL OF GRANTS

The overall goal is to think about and somehow change one's practice, and to enable practitioners to invest time and energy in carrying out useful and creative staff development and program development projects. The ultimate beneficiaries of the grant are the learners in your program. The grant is designed to provide an opportunity to take some time to think about pursuing a thread and developing something that will help your own teaching and can be shared by others. You might: produce a series of lesson plans with a clear rationale that you can share with others through workshops, meetings and/or email; refine an assessment process; reflect upon what's worked within your program/classroom in terms of retention, attendance, learner motivation, progress and document your reflections so that others may draw on your learning, do a literature review on a particular topic and write an annotated bibiolgraphy, critical review and analysis. The project should be small in scope - that is, it should look closely at a particular task - but go into some depth around that subject/task/idea.

ELIGIBILITY To be eligible, you need to have been teaching in adult education for at least a year, be reasonably sure of employment in adult education in the fall and commit to sharing your work through a mini-conference late in the fall during which time project outcomes and processes will be shared with the field. A written report will be submitted, to be posted on Literacy Resource/RI's web site, and to be disseminated as part of a collection of occasional papers both in hard copy and on-line.

GUIDELINES --Up to $100 of the grant can be used for postage, supplies, consumables (film, tapes), photocopying and the like. --Most of the money is intended as an honorarium for the practitioner's time in developing the project. --Grant recipients should complete their work by late fall and present their work sometime before the end of the calendar year.

TO APPLY Please write a two-three page narrative responding to the questions below, and mail your application to LR/RI, PO Box 1974, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912 or email to janet_isserlis@brown.edu by June 1.

For this project, I would like to ......

- BECAUSE.....

- THIS IS HOW I WANT TO DO IT......

- THIS IS WHAT I HOPE TO LEARN OR GAIN FROM THE PROJECT.....

- HERE'S A PROPOSED ROUGH BUDGET

- THIS IS HOW I THINK IT WOULD BE BEST TO COMMUNICATE MY PROJECT'S OUTCOMES TO THE FIELD

Please provide contact address (email or regular post), phone number and best times to call. For more information, and/or to check on whether an idea is appropriate for a mini-grant, please contact LR/RI. (863-2839, fax: 863-3094, email: janet_isserlis@brown.edu)

conferences

Workplace Learning Conference - Milwaukee, May 16-18. Bringing together teachers, program planners, funders, union representatives, business people, and governmental agency representatives, sessions will be offered across four tracks: Partnerships and Linkages; Program Design and Evaluation; Resources and Technologies; and Trends Affecting the Workplace and Workers.Information: http://www.cew.wisc.edu/workplace or call 608-265-3542.

"A Woman's Place Is...in the Curriculum" conference, August 1- 5, 1999, Rohnet Park, California, focusing on multicultural approaches to incorporating women's history into the k-12 curriculum. Contact: National Women's History Project, 717-838-6000 or nwhp@aol.com .

relatively new on the website:

- An update on VALUE, the national learner organization, (go to learners), new postings on the links, women and literacy and inquiry pages, as well.

- Research Agenda for Adult ESL The National Clearinghouse for ESL Literacy Education, in collaboration with National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy and with additional sponsorship and support from Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages, has published a Research Agenda for Adult ESL. Its objectives are to provide funders with clear priorities for funding; to provide researchers with support for proposing specific projects; and to provide a focus for dis-cussion about how to improve adult ESL programs. The document incorporates feedback from learners, instructors, program administrators, policymakers, and researchers, and is available, free, from NCLE, 4646 40th street NW, Washington, DC 20016; (202) 362-0700 extension 200, or can be downloaded from NCLE at http://www.cal.org/ncle (and is also linked to LR/RI's ESOL page).

- The Key on line - Monthly newspaper for adults in Wisconsin's basic education and ESL programs.  http://www.keynews.org/ (and is linked to LR/RI's learner page).

from previous bulletins: REMINDERS, RESOURCES:

The National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy has recently released a set of informative fact sheets outlining for practitioners and others the projects with which NCSALL researchers are currently engaged. Project histories, plans, and implications for practice are all highlighted in the fact sheets. Projects include studies of Learner Motivation, Impact of Literacy Programs on Adult learners, Adult Multiple Intelligences, Home Literacy Uses, Adult Development and Literacy Learning, Staff Development, Assessment, GED Impact, Health and Literacy, and Reading Diagnostics, Anyone interested in reading about one or all of the projects or anyone who may be interested in project participation information may receive copies by contacting David Hayes at (401) 331-9261. (The PDRN bulletin, including a link to the NCSALL fact sheets is also available online.

list servs:

LEARNER is intended primarily for adult learners. LITERACY is a general list for adult literacy practitioners and others. Information on these electronic lists is below.

LEARNER To subscribe to LEARNER, send an email message to: listserv@nysernet.org

Skip the message header and in the body of the message, type: subscribe LEARNER Yourfirstname Yourlastname All submissions to LEARNER should be addressed to: LEARNER@nysernet.org Questions regarding the list should be sent to: Beverly Choltco-Devlin Moderator, LEARNER bdevlin@dreamscape.com

LITERACY To subscribe to LITERACY, send an email message to: listserv@nysernet.org

Skip the message header and in the body of the message, type: subscribe LITERACY Yourfirstname Yourlastname All submissions to LITERACY should be addressed to: LITERACY@nysernet.org Questions regarding the LITERACY list should be sent to: Beverly Choltco-Devlin bdevlin@dreamscape.com

Welfare to work listserv: from Glenn Young - For those interested in the subject of welfare reform and learning disabilities, there has been a listserv created through NIFL. To sign up, please send a message to: listproc@literacy.nifl.gov write in the body of the message subscribe nifl-wtwld and your name. Do not write anything in the subject line and do not use any dots or dashes other than between nifl and wtwld. (Click here for more information on listservs).

women and literacy listserv.

To participate, subscribe by sending an email message to: LISTPROC@LITERACY.NIFL.GOV with the following request in the body of the message: subscribe NIFL-Womenlit firstname lastname Substitute your first and last name spelled exactly as you would like it to appear. For example, to subscribe to the NIFL-Womenlit list Sue Smith would type: subscribe NIFL-womenlit Sue Smith There should be no other text in the message (e.g., your signature block). It is recommended that the subject line be left blank if possible.

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.

David Rosen has asked that we have a look at the inquiry maps on the Adult Literacy Resource Institute's 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).