details

9:00 to 10:30

Noreen Lopez - Teaching with multi-media resources in GED and Pre-GED classrooms

Goals: To have participants 1)review good techniques for the appropriate use of video for instruction; and, 2) to develop a lesson for using multi-media resources in the classroom. This session will focus on using multi-media resources, including video, print and online, to appeal to all learning styles in the GED and pre-GED classroom. The emphasis in this session will be on the appropriate use of video and print with less attention to the Internet component. Discussion will also include ideas of how different media appeal to different learning styles.

A brief overview of the resource materials for GED Connection and Workplace Essential Skills, along with a review of "good practice" when using video will be provided to set the stage for a demonstration lesson. The lead presenter will take the role of the teacher, with participants being the students in a brief demonstration. Participants will be divided into groups to prepare their own multi-media lessons, using a different topic than the one used for demonstration purposes. Participants will then have an opportunity to present back to the whole group.

Noreen Lopez is an Educational Consultant with an adult education career that spans more than thirty years. Most recently she served as Director of PBS LiteracyLink.

Mev Miller - WE LEARN: Finding Women's Literacy Power through Women-Centered Literacy Materials

WE LEARN (Women Expanding ­ Literacy Education Action Resource Network) values and promotes literacy and literature for all women; especially those who wish their reading and writing were stronger. WE LEARN is committed to the development and distribution of transformative adult literacy materials focused on women's issues, interests and concerns. Adult learners, especially women, will gain positive benefit from creative, accessible, and meaningful basic literacy materials addressing women's issues. These materials with relevant content and context will give visibility to the experiences of women learners, support their on-going desire to learn, encourage critical thinking, provide the support and information women learners could use to change their current situations, foster their leadership, involve them more directly in the development of theory and action related to women's political movements, and provide a catalyst to transform women's lives.

WE LEARN is the first organization to offer an extensive list of women-centered literacy materials as well as some insight into the kinds of reading materials adult women learners would find interesting and meaningful. At this time, the primary activity of WE LEARN is the development and maintenance of a website. With areas designed for adult learners and educators, the website is an interactive tool for resource development and information sharing.

This workshop will present WE LEARN and the tools and resources currently available on the website, and outline some of the future directions planned for the website (e.g. interactive discussions among educators, and reviews of resource materials, newsletter, etc.). Most of the workshop, however, will be spent in discussion with participants about what women-centered materials they have used and how they can use or have used women-centered materials in classrooms, especially within current curriculum guidelines focused on meeting standards. Participants will be invited to advise WE LEARN on how we can facilitate the resource networking and support educators and learners want or need to address the specific issues of importance to women learners. The primary audience for this workshop will be practitioners, though women learners are invited and encouraged to participate. A display table of books and handouts will also be available.

Janet Isserlis - Using The Change Agent in Instruction

Title: Using The Change Agent in Instruction

The Change Agent is a teaching resource in the form of a newspaper that aims to inspire and enable adult educators and learners to make community involvement and social justice a part of their teaching and learning. Each issue focuses on a theme that is relevant to the lives of adult education students (immigration, economic literacy, health, etc.), and includes informational articles, teaching activities, and reproducible graphics that can be used or adapted for the classroom.

This interactive workshop considers the possibilities and challenges teachers encounter in striving for that goal and offers concrete ideas for how to use The Change Agent in instruction to meet learning objectives. Participants will discuss the issues particular to using this resource in their teaching context, and develop strategies for bridging barriers. In particular, the group will explore a variety of pre- and post-reading activities that can make high-interest text accessible to adult learners.

Janet Isserlis has served on the editorial board of the Change Agent and has contributed articles to the paper and its accompanying In the Classroom website.

10:45 - 12:15

Nazneen Rahman, International Institute of Rhode Island - Assessment what it is, why does it matter and what do we do about it?

Teachers' work, in large, part, consists of assessing learners' progress. As educators, we have a variety of ways of understanding how our learners make progress. Funders want this progress reported in particular ways; teachers want assessment to inform teaching practice. In this workshop, Nazneen Rahman will present an overview of the rationale behind assessment that informs classroom work and that which translates into progress reports for funders. Nazneen has been an instructor of adult education for the past 20 years and a program administrator since 1993. She will offer her prospective both as a teacher and an administrator.

Nazneen Rahman has been active in the field of adult education for over 20 years and currently serves as the Education Director of the International Institute of Rhode Island. During her tenure with the Institute she has served as a teacher, Citizenship Program Coordinator, and Deputy Director. Beyond her work in the classroom, she has been a contributing writer for various publications, such as the TESOL Journal and The Change Agent. She also testified before the RI State Legislature to advocate for an increase in adult education funding. Nazneen has led numerous workshops during her career on such topics as civics education, citizenship preparation, and ESL teaching methodologies. In addition to her full time job, Nazneen is enrolled in the School for International Training where she is pursuing her Masters degree.

Thomas Harrington, Northeastern University and Joan Stoia - Literacy and the Rhode Island Labor Market
This session focuses on the connection between literacy and employment and offers participants a method for identifying the firms and organizations that are most likely to employ individuals with lower literacy skills. The program begins with an analysis of the demand side of the RI job market and demonstrates how information about client interests, the literacy requirements of occupations and projected demand for those occupations within RI can be combined to help clients make more informed, and hopefully more successful, decisions about where to look for and obtain jobs.
The session is designed for literacy services providers, staff of CBO¹s, netWORKri staff, adult education specialists, special education and vocational counselors. Information on the work of the LMI Training Project and ways practitioners can access free in-service training from now through early 2004 will also be provided.

Tom Harrington and Joan Stoia are members of a team of instructors drawn from both Northeastern University and the Rhode Island Dept. of Labor & Training who are currently providing training on the uses of labor market and career information for audiences from business, government, education and the not-for-profit sector. Dr. Harrington is a counseling psychologist and professor at Northeastern University and is the co-author of the award-winning Harrington-O¹Shea Career Decision-Making System. Joan Stoia has designed and managed career services for adolescents through adults and has trained career counselors and job developers across the country.

Audience: Literacy services providers, CBO's, netWORKri staff, adult education specialists, special education and vocational counselors.

Michele Rajotte, Deborah Venator, Nancy Fritz, the Genesis Center - Interactive Activities for the ESOL Classroom
Over and over again, we hear adult ESOL students say that they want to "learn to speak English." How can we help them with this goal? We all need activities for the classroom that are interesting, fun, at the appropriate level for our learners, and that help the learners improve their abilities to communicate in English.

In this workshop, three experienced ESOL teachers from the Genesis Center will present some of their favorite interactive activities. The activitiers are proven to engage students, to get them talking with each other, and to improve their abilities to communicate. They are also adaptable for all levels of ESOL and incorporate many aspects of multiple intelligence learning. Listening, speaking, reading and writing skills will all be included.

Michele Rajotte has taught ESOL at the Genesis Center for the past seven years. She is currently teaching an intermediate level Project Opportunity class that prepares welfare recipients for work. Michele taught abroad in Turkey from 1998-99 and has also taught in several international programs during the summers.
Deborah Venator has been in the field of adult education since 1990. Since 1991, she has been teaching and coordinating family literacy programs. She was the ESOL teacher in the William D'Abate School and at Smith Hill Center from 1994 to 2001. Currently, Deborah teaches a family literacy class at the Genesis Center.
Nancy Fritz began working in adult education as a Literacy Volunteer in 1986. She worked at several adult education agencies in the state before coming to the Genesis Center in 1997. She taught ESOL at Genesis for three years before becoming the Director of Adult Education in November, 2000.

lunch

lunch topics and hosts: (updates will be added; please check back often)

accommodations and the GED: Every candidate for the GED Tests should have a fair chance to demonstrate her/his knowledge and skills under appropriate test conditions. For some people, a disability may interfere with their opportunity to fully demonstrate what they know under standard testing conditions. Accommodations in testing are available for adults with documented physical disabilities as well as learning disabilities. This discussion will review the accommodations available, how to request a screening for a undiagnosed learning disability, use of the L-15 form for documenting/requesting accommodations for LD or ADHD examinees and SA-001 for examinees with emotional or physical disabilities. Robert Mason, State Director of Adult Education, State Administrator, GED Testing Program, RI Department of Education

family literacy: Please join us for a discussion on Family Literacy, including issues such as attendance and retention; share what has worked and what hasn't. Some of the best ideas come from people in the field and we'd love to hear about your program. Staff from Project LEARN will host the table discussion. Susan Grislis is the Executive Director of Project LEARN. Cheryl Tondreau has worked in our Family Literacy Programs for the past four years.

ESOL: Join Nancy Fritz, Michele Rajotte and Deborah Venator of the Genesis Center to share issues of concern and discuss ESOL practice.

workplace learning: Join Robert Vitello, SE MA Coordinator, Applicant Assistance Program Commonwealth Corporation, Joan M. Stoia, Center for Labor Market Studies aat Northeastern Unviersity, and Chris Hedenberg of the RIWLC and other workplace presenters and practitioners to share information and address issues relevant to workplace learning and its implications.

the GED. Kathleen Howell, and Beatrice McGeoch educators with experience in teaching GED courses in a range of contexts, will host this table.

the Adult Basic Education . Cindy Mylniec, director of Literacy Volunteers of America - RI will facilitate this discussion.

corrections education. Janet Isserlis, who has worked with adult learners in the ACI, will faclitate this discussion.

1:30 - 2:30

Noreen Lopez, PBS - Distance Learning for Extending Learning and Reaching New Learners
Goals: To have participants 1) become familiar with ³what works² in distance learning; and, 2) develop a lesson for a distance learner or a classroom learner who needs extended learning outside class time.

Adult Education programs do not reach all the learners who need their services and often are unable to provide enough hours of instruction for those who do come into programs. Distance learning, an option made possible with multi-media resources which include video and Internet, provide an opportunity to both expand services for current learners and to reach new learners.

This session will provide information and facilitate discussion of "what works" in distance learning, at the GED and pre-GED level, drawing on the research findings of the states participating in Project IDEAL.

We will then see a demonstration of the LiteracyLink online learning system to see how it can enhance instruction and communication between teacher and learner at a distance. Participants will be divided into groups and asked to develop a lesson that could be facilitated via distance using Workplace Essential Skills or GED Connection materials. Some groups will work on extended learning activities and some on pure distance learning.

Noreen Lopez is an Educational Consultant with an adult education career that spans more than thirty years. Most recently she served as Director of PBS LiteracyLink.

Beatrice McGeoch - Workshop on the Future of Adult Basic Education in Rhode Island

While RI literacy rates are a statewide issue, adult basic education teachers rarely have the time to discuss larger changes that would make programs more effective. During the mayoral race in Providence, people talked about turning schools into off-hours community centers, and the Kids Count study just came out with the first numbers on literacy rates among new mothers. There is alot of material to look at, and each teacher has their own views and experience in the current system. Teachers in this workshop will consider different plans to improve adult education programs and create a specific list of recommendations that address not only classroom conditions, but also public policy and legislation. Results of the workshop will be forwarded to the Annie Casey Foundation's Making Connections project. Making Connections will be funding projects for community change in Providence for the next 10 years.

In the first hour, we will create an inventory of what the major issues are now and consider what would be necessary for an ideal Adult Education program.

"What do we have now?" We will ask this question and address each of the aspects below.

Funding
Legislation
Types of Institutions Currently Providing ABE
Student Body
Teaching Body
Measures of Success
Causes of Failure

At the end of the first hour we will ask "What are the attributes of an ideal program?"

In the second hour, we will compare what we have and what we hope to have, and create a list of specific changes or improvements- thinking not only of conditions within classrooms, but also more generally of public policy and legislation to put forward as recommendations.

A final report will be generated following the conference, and participants will be invited to consider next steps -- including subsequent meetings, email and other forms of communication to extend the conversation beyond the conference itself,

Beatrice McGeoch has worked in Providence for the last three years as a GED instructor. Her work history also includes arts education for children and freelance journalism.

Chris Hedenberg RIWLC

The Rhode Island Workforce Literacy Collaborative is a grant funded (DLT, HRIC) system of adult education providers who have formed a network to improve professional development activities, development a learner referral source, educate employers about literacy, and engage in all initiatives which promote skills in the RI workforce. This session presents information and back ground on the Collaborative, benefits of participation, accomplishments in the last 8 years, discussion of the extended group, RIWLC "Network", how to apply to participate in free/paid trainings, availibity of Private Industry, Externships for teacher/traners, and how and where to look for upcoming events

2:45 - 3:45

Noreen Lopez - Distance Learning for Extending Learning and Reaching New Learners, continued from 1:30

Beatrice McGeoch - Workshop on the Future of ABE in RI, continued from 1:30

Athur Plitt, Rhode Island Parent Information Network
What do adult educators need to know about resources available to parents? How can this knowledge assist us in working with adult learners? The dilemma in any learning, including adult literacy, is of the uses of what resources, scarce especially at times, can be enhanced with the extended family adding its power by participating and sharing the learning curve with the addition of the RIPIN (RI Parent Information Network) to maximize the adult learner(s) progress. The empowerment of helping the family together is powerful synergy in itself, but many of the successful cues for one may also be the resources for the other. Handouts and local, regional and national resources will be shared. Many shared successes will be part of the interactive workshop for adding to your tool boxes.

4:00 - 4:30: wrap up

Additional teacher/tutor resources are also posted at Teacher, Tutor and Volunteer Worker Resources; additional information about other conferences online at Current Bulletin

For additional information, please contact LR/RI.

updated May 5, 2003

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