From djrosen at comcast.net  Sun Jan  1 18:32:33 2006
From: djrosen at comcast.net (David Rosen)
Date: Sun, 1 Jan 2006 18:32:33 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] Literacy List Updated
Message-ID: <65423178-F949-450B-92AE-F5626C4E9B91@comcast.net>
Colleagues,
For several years, as a volunteer service, I have published the  
Literacy List, a large online collection of free Adult Basic  
Education and English language (ELL/ESL/ESOL) Web sites, electronic  
discussion lists ("listservs"), and other Internet resources for  
adult basic skills learners, teachers and tutors.
I have just updated it, removing a few outdated links and adding new  
ones.  Please have a look.  If you know of a good free Web site  
resource which you think should be added, please let me know.  The  
Literacy List gets better as a result of teachers sharing their  
favorite online resources.
You will find the Literacy List now in two locations:
	http://alri.org/literacylist.html
or
	http:newsomeassociates.com (Select Publications at the Bottom of the  
Page)
All the best in 2006.
David J. Rosen
djrosen at comcast.net
From julie_mcKinney at worlded.org  Tue Jan  3 13:42:51 2006
From: julie_mcKinney at worlded.org (Julie  McKinney)
Date: Tue, 03 Jan 2006 13:42:51 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] Try the ALE Wiki to share Adult Literacy Education
	ideas and	info
Message-ID: <s3ba7f76.070@mail.jsi.com>
Hello List Members and Happy New Year to you all!
I hope you all had good holidays and some restful time off. I want to pass on an invitation for a new online networking and information-sharing website for Adult Literacy Education practitioners. It's called the ALE Wiki and can be found at:
 http://wiki.literacytent.org 
There are many topics listed that you can share information about, including a section on Research to Practice, Practice to Research. I will keep an eye on this section and cross-post items of particular interest to the FOB community, but I encourage all of you to check out this site for yourself and contribute your unique and valuable ideas!
Read on for a more complete description of the ALE Wiki from its creator, David Rosen.
Cheers,
Julie
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
jmckinney at worlded.org 
>From David Rosen:
Dear Colleague,
Are you an adult literacy practitioner (e.g. a teacher, tutor or  
program administrator) who, through teaching, managing, reading,  
coursework, and/or dialogue, has gained professional wisdom - in one  
area or in many - that you would like to share? Maybe you have been  
thinking about your practice for some time, and are now ready to  
write about it for the first time. Perhaps you have written about  
your practice and published your thoughts already.  Perhaps the  
professional wisdom you value is embodied in someone else's writing,  
and this has so influenced and benefited you in your practice that  
you want others to know about this writing.  Perhaps you don't have  
answers but you have questions you would like to share.
I invite you to join your colleagues in contributing knowledge -  
professional wisdom and research - to others who are working in the  
field of adult literacy education (including English language  
learning.)  I invite you to contribute to - and benefit from - an  
adult literacy education community of practice.
The Adult Literacy Education (ALE) Wiki has an odd name.  For some, a  
community of practice with such a name cannot be taken seriously. For  
others, especially for those who may be familiar with the world's  
largest, and well-respected encyclopedia, the Wikipedia, a wiki is an  
innovation, a presence, and a power in 21st century world knowledge.   
The ALE Wiki is a serious and beneficial undertaking to capture and  
make available our field's knowledge and wisdom.
Like most wikis, the ALE Wiki is a collaborative volunteer effort.   
Nearly five hundred people in our field have registered so far in its  
one year of existence. Over forty people have taken the time to  
introduce themselves.  Several people are now responsible for  
developing topic areas such as Assessment, Professional Development,  
Technology, Public Policy, Workforce Development, Family Literacy,  
Numeracy and others.
How can you learn more and get involved?  You could:
* Visit the ALE Wiki regularly at http://wiki.literacytent.org 
* Register at http://wiki.literacytent.org/index.php? 
title=Special:Userlogin&returnto=Main_Page  or, for short, http:// 
tinyurl.com/a8gz
* Introduce yourself at http://wiki.literacytent.org/index.php/WhosHere 
* Pick one or more topic areas and add your professional wisdom or  
research: answer a question, amplify someone else's answer, cite a  
good reference, define a word in the glossary, add articles you have  
written (or references to them) or add to or clarify something that  
you - or someone else - has written in the ALE Wiki
* Become a Topic Area Leader - for an existing topic area that needs  
a leader, or for a new area that you would like to add (See a  
description of this role at: http://wiki.literacytent.org/index.php/ 
AleAreaLeader ) or
* Become An ALE Wikiteer - get on the mailing list and receive a  
weekly Wiki update.
There is no cost involved - only your time.  But there is benefit -  
to you and to your colleagues.  I hope you will accept this invitation.
If you have questions, please feel free to contact me.
David J. Rosen
ALE Wiki organizer
_______________________________________________
Alewiki mailing list
Alewiki at lists.literacytent.org 
http://lists.literacytent.org/mailman/listinfo/alewiki
From julie_mcKinney at worlded.org  Wed Jan 11 11:04:34 2006
From: julie_mcKinney at worlded.org (Julie  McKinney)
Date: Wed, 11 Jan 2006 11:04:34 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] Join or Renew Membership with AALPD for 2006!
Message-ID: <s3c4e64c.026@mail.jsi.com>
Hello All,
I'm passing on a message from Jackie Taylor about joining the
Association of Adult Literacy Professional Developers (AALPD):
Dear Colleague:
Are you interested in getting more involved with adult literacy
professional 
development? If so, then I hope you will join or renew membership with
the 
Association of Adult Literacy Professional Developers (AALPD) for 2006: 
http://www.aalpd.org/membership_form.cfm
While you are joining or renewing membership this month, you will also
have 
the opportunity to:
1) Vote on this year's slate of officers (by January 31)
2) Vote on the top 6 priorities for AALPD (by January 31)
Membership with AALPD is *free*. If you'd like more information about
joining 
AALPD, then please see below. Thanks! Jackie Taylor, List Moderator,
Adult 
Literacy Professional Development, jataylor at utk.edu
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Why should you join or renew your membership?
Renewing Membership:
As we grow and expand, we need updated information about our members in
order 
to advocate effectively for professional development and provide members
with 
the best possible services. So, we are asking everyone to renew their 
memberships by registering as an AALPD member in January of each year. 
***Please take a moment to update your membership information and *vote*
for 
this year's slate of officers and the top 6 AALPD priorities by
visiting:
http://www.aalpd.org/membership_form.cfm
New Membership/Prospective Members:
If you are not yet a member, are you interested in:
- getting more involved with adult literacy professional development?
- contributing your voice along with other advocates of adult literacy
PD?
- taking part in establishing (in the eyes of policy makers) the
legitimacy of 
a national association of practitioners committed to adult literacy 
professional development?
We invite you to become a formal member of the Association of Adult
Literacy 
Professional Developers (AALPD). Membership in AALPD is *free* and open
to 
adult educators interested or working in professional development in
adult 
literacy. Individuals join AALPD by completing and submitting the
Membership 
Form:
http://www.aalpd.org/membership_form.cfm
=============================================================
Vote While You Join or Renew Membership
1) **Members Vote for Slate of Officers by January 31st**
On the membership page, you can also VOTE for the current slate of
nominated 
AALPD officers (Chair, Vice-Chair and Secretary-Treasurer).
http://www.aalpd.org/membership_form.cfm
2) **Vote on the Top 6 Priorities for AALPD**
This year, the AALPD Executive Board is identifying top priorities for
AALPD. 
Ideas for AALPD activities were gathered both from individuals in the
field 
and by the board.  Update your membership at: 
http://www.aalpd.org/membership_form.cfm and scroll to the bottom of the
page 
to vote on the top 6 AALPD priorities.
=============================================================
Why should you become a member of AALPD?
* It's free!
* You can vote for AALPD officers and on special issues that arise (Only
AALPD 
members will be eligible to vote).
* We will send you the latest information about upcoming trainings,
events and 
resources.
* You can have input into the design of next year's COABE pre-conference
session.
* You can contribute your voice to our advocacy efforts.
* You can help to establish AALPD's legitimacy in the eyes of policy
makers by 
demonstrating a strong membership of concerned practitioners committed
to 
professional development.
Thank you for joining or renewing your membership with AALPD. We're glad
to 
have you on board!
On behalf of the AALPD Executive Board,
Jackie Taylor
Adult Literacy Professional Development List Moderator
jataylor at utk.edu
=====================================================================
The Association of Adult Literacy Professional Developers (AALPD) is a 
national group for professional developers in adult literacy. As a
special 
interest group within COABE (Commission on Adult Basic Education), AALPD
meets 
at COABE Conferences and other professional development events. AALPD is
a 
member of the National Coalition for Literacy.
=====================================================================
From cesarwattsg at yahoo.com  Mon Jan 16 11:52:38 2006
From: cesarwattsg at yahoo.com (Cesar Watts)
Date: Mon, 16 Jan 2006 08:52:38 -0800 (PST)
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] non-reader who wants info on adult ed
Message-ID: <20060116165238.53045.qmail@web30302.mail.mud.yahoo.com>
  Dear Friends:
   
  Do you have any advice for me to share with an adult non-reader(native English speaker) who is interested in obtaining information about basic reading and writing? A woman called me the other day and she is interested in educating herself and supporting her children's emerging literacy skills. I can help her out in relation to children's literacy, but wasn't sure where to send her for adult education information, as she has very low literacy skills.
   
  Cesar Watts
  Read Out Loud Hotline Coordinator
  DC LEARNs 
  www.readoutloud.org
  www.dclearns.org
1-866-732-3688
			
---------------------------------
Yahoo! Photos
 Got holiday prints? See all the ways to get quality prints in your hands ASAP.
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From kabeall at comcast.net  Mon Jan 16 18:49:37 2006
From: kabeall at comcast.net (Kaye Beall)
Date: Mon, 16 Jan 2006 18:49:37 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] New from NCSALL--Review of Adult Learning and
	Literacy, Volume 6
Message-ID: <006401c61af7$82daa7d0$0202a8c0@your4105e587b6>
The newest volume of the Review of Adult Learning and Literacy: Connecting Research, Policy, and Practice (Vol. 6, 2006) is now available from NCSALL. For more information, please visit the NCSALL Web site at http://www.ncsall.net. 
It includes chapters on: 
?         demographic change and low-literacy Americans
?         the role of vocabulary in adult basic education (ABE)
?         implications of research on spelling for ABE
?         issues in teaching speaking skills to adult ESOL learners
?         the preparation and stability of the ABE teaching workforce
?         the adult literacy system in Ireland
?         broad-based organizing as a vehicle for promoting adult literacy
 
To order the Review of Adult Learning and Literacy, Volume 6, visit Erlbaum?s Web site (https://www.erlbaum.com/shop/tek9.asp?pg=search&mode=regular). 
To order Volume 6 at a 30% discount from NCSALL, go to our Order Form (http://www.ncsall.net/?id=1002); limited quantities available.
 
 
****************
Kaye Beall
Outreach Coordinator/NCSALL Dissemination Project
World Education
4401 S. Madison St.
Muncie, IN  47302
Tel: 765-717-3942
Fax: 208-694-8262
kaye_beall at worlded.org
http://www.ncsall.net
 
 
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From RFrench at Bath.k12.ky.us  Tue Jan 17 10:02:26 2006
From: RFrench at Bath.k12.ky.us (French, Regina)
Date: Tue, 17 Jan 2006 10:02:26 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] non-reader who wants info on adult ed
Message-ID: <38539BE27FCED3118CBD0004AC4CF3F9018D8BA1@E025000N0>
You should be able to send her to the Adult Education Center in the county
where she lives, as they should be able to help her with literacy skills.
Study times are usually set up so that they have a one on one relationship
and privacy from other students. Volunteers are often used with low literacy
level students, meetings can be at the library or any other place both feel
safe and comfortable. 
  _____  
From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov]
On Behalf Of Cesar Watts
Sent: Monday, January 16, 2006 11:53 AM
To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] non-reader who wants info on adult ed
Dear Friends:
 
Do you have any advice for me to share with an adult non-reader(native
English speaker) who is interested in obtaining information about basic
reading and writing? A woman called me the other day and she is interested
in educating herself and supporting her children's emerging literacy skills.
I can help her out in relation to children's literacy, but wasn't sure where
to send her for adult education information, as she has very low literacy
skills.
 
Cesar Watts
Read Out Loud Hotline Coordinator
DC LEARNs 
www.readoutloud.org
www.dclearns.org
1-866-732-3688 
  _____  
Yahoo! Photos
Got holiday prints? See
<http://us.rd.yahoo.com/mail_us/taglines/holidayprints/*http://pa.yahoo.com/
*http://us.rd.yahoo.com/mail_us/taglines/photos/evt=38089/*http://pg.photos.
yahoo.com/ph//print_splash> all the ways to get quality prints in your hands
ASAP.
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From julie_mcKinney at worlded.org  Tue Jan 17 10:45:11 2006
From: julie_mcKinney at worlded.org (Julie  McKinney)
Date: Tue, 17 Jan 2006 10:45:11 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] non-reader who wants info on adult ed
Message-ID: <s3cccac8.025@mail.jsi.com>
Dear Cesar,
I would suggest that this woman find a friend who can help her to find
an Adult Basic Education program in her local area, preferably one with
a family literacy program, which could help her children's and her own
emerging literacy skills together. 
If she can find someone to help her (or possibly you) who has internet
access, try the National Institute for Literacy's program directory at:
www.literacydirectory.org
You can check the box "Help with Reading and Writing", and put in a zip
code and mile radius to find nearby adult basic education programs and
their phone numbers. Many are free.
Without internet access, she could call her city's Department of Human
Services to find the same information.
Good luck!
Julie McKinney
>>> cesarwattsg at yahoo.com 01/16/06 11:52 AM >>>
  Dear Friends:
   
  Do you have any advice for me to share with an adult non-reader(native
English speaker) who is interested in obtaining information about basic
reading and writing? A woman called me the other day and she is
interested in educating herself and supporting her children's emerging
literacy skills. I can help her out in relation to children's literacy,
but wasn't sure where to send her for adult education information, as
she has very low literacy skills.
   
  Cesar Watts
  Read Out Loud Hotline Coordinator
  DC LEARNs 
  www.readoutloud.org
  www.dclearns.org
1-866-732-3688
			
---------------------------------
Yahoo! Photos
 Got holiday prints? See all the ways to get quality prints in your
hands ASAP.
From cesarwattsg at yahoo.com  Tue Jan 17 15:14:07 2006
From: cesarwattsg at yahoo.com (Cesar Watts)
Date: Tue, 17 Jan 2006 12:14:07 -0800 (PST)
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] non-reader who wants info on adult ed
	(clarification)
Message-ID: <20060117201407.68540.qmail@web30306.mail.mud.yahoo.com>
 Thank you for your reply but let me clarify  my request, as I?m actually looking for different information.   The learner that I referenced in my previous request is actually  looking for resources that she can use to educate herself, and in turn,  educate her children on her own.  She is not interested in  participating in or attending any formal programs.  Do you have  any advice about information that I can share with her (for example,  internet sites with literacy lesson plans for adults/children,  reference books, etc.)?
  
   
  
  Cesar Watts
  
  Read Out Loud Hotline Coordinator
  
   
  
  Sent: Monday, January 16, 2006 10:59 AM
   
  Subject: non-reader who wants info on adult ed
  
  Dear Friends:
  
   
  
  you have any advice for me to share with an adult non-reader(native  english speaker) who is interested in obtaining information about basic  reading and writing? A woman called me the other day and she is  interested in educating herself and supporting her children's emerging  literacy skills. I can help her out in relation to children's literacy,  but wasn't sure where to send her for adult education information, as  she has very low literacy skills.
  
   
  
  Cesar Watts
  
  Read Out Loud Hotline Coordinator
  
  DC LEARNs
  
  www.readoutloud.org
  
  www.dclearns.org
  
  1-866-732-3688
			
---------------------------------
Yahoo! Photos
 Got holiday prints? See all the ways to get quality prints in your hands ASAP.
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From julie_mcKinney at worlded.org  Tue Jan 17 16:30:37 2006
From: julie_mcKinney at worlded.org (Julie  McKinney)
Date: Tue, 17 Jan 2006 16:30:37 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] non-reader who wants info on
	adult	ed(clarification)
Message-ID: <s3cd1bd7.068@mail.jsi.com>
Oh, that is different!
The ESOL Special Collection has online activitiesfor literacy learners.
It is geared to speakers of other languages, but they do have a good
selection of activtities that could be used by primary English speakers
as well.
www.eslcollection.org/ (Click the button for  Students/Learners)
The Family Literacy Special Collection also has nice activitites for
parents and children to explore to enhance literacy skills:
This is the Family Links Page (a better starting place for your caller):
http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/FamilyLit/parent_links.html
This is the home page:
http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/FamilyLit/index.html
You may also find good suggestions by asking on two other discussion
lists: Adult English Language Learners, and Family Literacy. This link
will take you to the other discussion lists:
http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/discussions.html
I would say, however, that someone with very low literacy skills would
find it very difficult to use these kinds of resources without any
guidance. She does sound like a very resourceful person, though, and I
wish her luck!
Julie
>>> cesarwattsg at yahoo.com 01/17/06 3:14 PM >>>
 Thank you for your reply but let me clarify  my request, as I'm
actually looking for different information.   The learner that I
referenced in my previous request is actually  looking for resources
that she can use to educate herself, and in turn,  educate her children
on her own.  She is not interested in  participating in or attending any
formal programs.  Do you have  any advice about information that I can
share with her (for example,  internet sites with literacy lesson plans
for adults/children,  reference books, etc.)?
  
   
  
  Cesar Watts
  
  Read Out Loud Hotline Coordinator
  
   
  
  Sent: Monday, January 16, 2006 10:59 AM
   
  Subject: non-reader who wants info on adult ed
  
  Dear Friends:
  
   
  
  you have any advice for me to share with an adult non-reader(native 
english speaker) who is interested in obtaining information about basic 
reading and writing? A woman called me the other day and she is 
interested in educating herself and supporting her children's emerging 
literacy skills. I can help her out in relation to children's literacy, 
but wasn't sure where to send her for adult education information, as 
she has very low literacy skills.
  
   
  
  Cesar Watts
  
  Read Out Loud Hotline Coordinator
  
  DC LEARNs
  
  www.readoutloud.org
  
  www.dclearns.org
  
  1-866-732-3688
			
---------------------------------
Yahoo! Photos
 Got holiday prints? See all the ways to get quality prints in your
hands ASAP.
From djrosen at comcast.net  Tue Jan 17 16:56:22 2006
From: djrosen at comcast.net (David Rosen)
Date: Tue, 17 Jan 2006 16:56:22 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] [PovertyLiteracy] non-reader who wants info on
	adult ed (clarification)
In-Reply-To: <20060117201505.68898.qmail@web30306.mail.mud.yahoo.com>
References: <20060117201505.68898.qmail@web30306.mail.mud.yahoo.com>
Message-ID: <64E65FB6-C6C8-421D-BA6E-DBD51761B64F@comcast.net>
Hello Cesar,
If the person you describe is truly a nonreader, or having trouble  
with decoding and encoding, this will be tough to do entirely on her  
own. Would she be interested in a tutor?
There are computer programs that may assist her, but these are  
designed to be used with a tutor or teacher
? Language Tuneup kit
? Reading with Phonics
? Lexia Reading SOS
? Learning 100 (Steck Vaughn)
? Reading Horizons
? Academy of Reading
? My reading Coach
Descriptions of most of these will be found on my software list (soon  
to be updated) at http://newsomeassociates.com/ (Select Publications,  
then Adult Literacy Education Software Recommendations.)
David J. Rosen
djrosen at comcast.net
On Jan 17, 2006, at 3:15 PM, Cesar Watts wrote:
>
> Thank you for your reply but let me clarify my request, as I?m  
> actually looking for different information.  The learner that I  
> referenced in my previous request is actually looking for resources  
> that she can use to educate herself, and in turn, educate her  
> children on her own.  She is not interested in participating in or  
> attending any formal programs.  Do you have any advice about  
> information that I can share with her (for example, internet sites  
> with literacy lesson plans for adults/children, reference books,  
> etc.)?
>
> Cesar Watts
> Read Out Loud Hotline Coordinator
>
>
> Sent: Monday, January 16, 2006 10:59 AM
>
> Subject: non-reader who wants info on adult ed
> Dear Friends:
>
> you have any advice for me to share with an adult non-reader(native  
> english speaker) who is interested in obtaining information about  
> basic reading and writing? A woman called me the other day and she  
> is interested in educating herself and supporting her children's  
> emerging literacy skills. I can help her out in relation to  
> children's literacy, but wasn't sure where to send her for adult  
> education information, as she has very low literacy skills.
>
> Cesar Watts
> Read Out Loud Hotline Coordinator
> DC LEARNs
> www.readoutloud.org
> www.dclearns.org
> 1-866-732-3688
>
>
> Yahoo! Photos ? Showcase holiday pictures in hardcover
> Photo Books. You design it and we?ll bind it!
> ----------------------------------------------------
> National Insitute for Literacy
> Poverty, Race, and Literacy mailing list
> PovertyLiteracy at nifl.gov
> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to  
> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/povertyliteracy
From miriam at cal.org  Sat Jan 21 16:38:06 2006
From: miriam at cal.org (Miriam Burt)
Date: Sat, 21 Jan 2006 16:38:06 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] New briefs from CAELA  are online
Message-ID: <7E0B624DDF68104F92C38648A4D93D8F903D0B@MAIL.cal.local>
 
Hello everyone: 
The Center for Adult English Language Acquisition (CAELA) published two
briefs in late 2005: Adolescent Learners in Adult ESL Classes and Online
Professional Development for Adult ESL Educators: 
 Adolescent Learners in Adult ESL Classes 
CAELA staff member Sarah Young has written a brief that explains some of
the reasons why adolescents may attend adult ESL classes and describes
the characteristics of adolescent learners. The brief also provides
guidelines for adult ESL program administrators, instructors, and
communities to improve adolescent ELL's chances of success in and beyond
adult ESL programs.  Download it at
http://www.cal.org/caela/esl_resources/briefs/adolescent.html
<http://www.cal.org/caela/esl_resources/briefs/adolescent.html> 
Online Professional Development for Adult ESL Educators 
This brief describes current efforts to provide online professional
development opportunities and resources for adult ESL teachers and
discusses factors that must be considered in the development, delivery,
and evaluation of professional development that is available online.This
brief is written by Karen Taylor technology manager at the Arlington
(Virginia) Education and Employment Program (REEP) and CAELA staff
member Julie Mathews-Aydinli. Download it at 
http://www.cal.org/caela/esl_resources/briefs/onlinepd.html
<http://www.cal.org/caela/esl_resources/briefs/onlinepd.html>  
While you're online at CAELA's Web site www.cal.org/caela
<file://www.cal.org/caela> , check out the Ask CAELA  (on the home
page). The current topic of ASK CAELA is professional learning
communities and includes an interview with Jessica Dilworth, the adult
education director at Cochise College in Douglas, Arizona. 
Miriam 
************ 
Miriam Burt 
Center for Adult English Language Acquisition 
Center for Applied Linguistics 
4646 40th Street NW 
Washington, DC 20016 
(202) 362-0700 
(202) 363-7204 (fax) 
miriam at cal.org 
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From julie_mcKinney at worlded.org  Mon Jan 23 21:46:36 2006
From: julie_mcKinney at worlded.org (Julie  McKinney)
Date: Mon, 23 Jan 2006 21:46:36 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] Career Opportunities at the National Institute for
	Literacy
Message-ID: <s3d54ed0.041@mail.jsi.com>
Hello All, 
I'm passing this on from the National Institute for Literacy.
-Julie
The National Institute for Literacy is launching projects in new areas
and
seeks additional staff members, including those with expertise in early
literacy, English language acquisition, and workforce and basic skills
development. Other positions include: Associate Directors for
Communication
and Programs, Contract Specialists, Human Resources Officer, Budget and
Policy Analyst.  For more information on career opportunities with the
National Institute for Literacy and how to apply please visit:
http://www.nifl.gov and click on Career Opportunities. 
Please review instruction on How to Apply. Incomplete applications will
not
be accepted.  Questions regarding these positions should be submitted to
staff_search at nifl.gov <mailto:staff_search at nifl.gov>  Note: Applications
will be accepted until 3:00 p.m. February 10, 2006.
Shelly Coles
National Institute for Literacy
_______________________________________________
From julie_mcKinney at worlded.org  Mon Jan 23 21:58:47 2006
From: julie_mcKinney at worlded.org (Julie  McKinney)
Date: Mon, 23 Jan 2006 21:58:47 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] Discussion of State Professional Development Systems
Message-ID: <s3d551b7.067@mail.jsi.com>
Hi All,
Here's a message I'm passing on from Jackie Taylor, moderator of the Professional Development Discussion List. I'd recommend checking this out...the folks I know on the guest list have a lot to offer!
-Julie
Colleagues:
The Adult Literacy Professional Development Discussion List is hosting a 
disscussion of "State Professional Development Systems," featuring 
professional development offered both regionally in New England and in the 
following states: California, Florida, Massachusetts, New Mexico, New York, 
Ohio, and Rhode Island. Colleagues from all states are invited to participate 
and share their work or experiences with state PD! To participate, subscribe 
by visiting: http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/Professionaldevelopment
See below for the list of guests participating. I hope you will be able to 
join us!  Jackie Taylor, Adult Literacy Professional Development List 
Moderator, jataylor at utk.edu
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Topic: State Professional Development Systems
Discussion Dates: January 30 * February 10
Guest Facilitator: Cassie Drennon Bryant, President, Cassandra Drennon & 
Associates, Inc.
To participate: Subscribe by visiting: 
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/Professionaldevelopment
General Overview:
Join our guests to discuss a broad range of topics on how state professional 
development (PD) systems work, including (but not limited to): funding, 
leadership, structure, provision of PD, policy, state initiatives, assessment 
and evaluation, continuous improvement, and other related issues.
The discussion is open to anyone who would like to share their work or 
experiences with state PD. Guests from the following seven states and one 
region will be joining us in discussion and participating on behalf of their 
professional development entities/organizations:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GUESTS
New England
Silja Kallenbach, Coordinator, New England Literacy Resource Center 
(NELRC)/World Education
California
Mary Ann Corley, Ph.D., Principal Research Analyst and California Adult 
Literacy Professional Development Project (CALPRO) Director, American 
Institutes for Research
Erik Jacobson, Research Analyst, American Institutes for Research/CALPRO
Wendi Maxwell, Education Programs Consultant, California Department of 
Education
Florida
Teresa G. Bestor, State Director of Adult Education and Compliance Monitoring, 
Division of Community Colleges and Workforce Education, Florida Department of 
Education
Debra Hargrove, Coordinator, Florida TechNet
Massachusetts
Mina Reddy, Director, System for Adult Basic Education Support (SABES) Central 
Resource Center, World Education
Steve Reuys, Director, Adult Literacy Resource Institute/Greater Boston SABES 
Regional Support Center
George Kohout, Director, SABES Western Regional Support Center and has worked 
for five years as Technology Coordinator
New Mexico
Nick Evangelista, Executive Director, New Mexico Adult Education Association
New York
Ira Yankwitt, Director of the New York City Regional Adult Education Network 
(NYC RAEN), Literacy Assistance Center
Ohio
Jeff Fantine, Director of the Central/Southeast ABLE Resource Center at Ohio 
University, participating on behalf of the Ohio ABLE Resource Center Network
Rhode Island
Janet Isserlis Project Director, Literacy Resources/RI
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To participate, subscribe by visiting: 
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/Professionaldevelopment
See you on the list! Best, Jackie Taylor
 
From b.garner4 at verizon.net  Wed Feb  1 09:24:12 2006
From: b.garner4 at verizon.net (Barbara Garner)
Date: Wed, 01 Feb 2006 08:24:12 -0600 (CST)
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] Evaluation results coming soon
Message-ID: <23408297.1138803852352.JavaMail.root@vms076.mailsrvcs.net>
Thanks again to everyone who filled out the "Focus on Basics" evaluation survey (so long ago). Although we're just having the report proofread now, I was able to incorporate some of your suggestions into Volume 8A.
I'll soon post a summary of the results to the FOB list, and announce when the full document is available on the Web. 
Barb Garner
Editor, Focus on Basics
From julie_mcKinney at worlded.org  Fri Feb  3 11:19:50 2006
From: julie_mcKinney at worlded.org (Julie  McKinney)
Date: Fri, 03 Feb 2006 11:19:50 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] Guest Speaker on FOB List: Feb. 15-22
Message-ID: <s3e33c76.062@mail.jsi.com>
Hi All,
I'm happy to announce a Guest Speaker Discussion: February 15-22!
Please join us for a discussion with FOB author, Robin Schwarz. 
We will discuss her article in the most recent FOB:
"Taking a Closer Look at Struggling ESOL Learners" 
is about ESOL learners who seem "stuck", and how we can find the real
reasons for their struggles and find ways to get them back on track.
You can find this article at:
http://www.ncsall.net/index.php?id=994
I'll post questions to think about on Tuesday, Feb. 7th, and the
discussion will start on Wednesday, Feb. 15th. We'll wrap up by the
following Wednesday. (I know that a Wed. to Wed. time frame is a little
odd, but we are trying it out to accommodate scheduling issues!)
I encourage you to re-read the article and start thinking about your
experiences with learners who have been "stuck", and the intake or
interviewing procedures that you use.
Robin Schwarz is an ESOL tutor, LD specialist and consultant in ESOL/LD
issues, and is a partner in the TLP Group in Columbus, Ohio. We are so
pleased to have her as guest speaker!
All the best,
Julie
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
From julie_mcKinney at worlded.org  Fri Feb  3 13:26:51 2006
From: julie_mcKinney at worlded.org (Julie  McKinney)
Date: Fri, 03 Feb 2006 13:26:51 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] Guest Speaker on FOB list: Feb. 15-22
Message-ID: <s3e35a36.046@mail.jsi.com>
Hi All,
I'm happy to announce a Guest Speaker Discussion: February 15-22!
Please join us for a discussion with FOB author, Robin Schwarz. 
We will discuss her article in the most recent FOB:
"Taking a Closer Look at Struggling ESOL Learners" 
is about ESOL learners who seem ??*stuck?? , and how we can find the real reasons for their struggles and find ways to get them back on track.
You can find this article at:
http://www.ncsall.net/index.php?id=994
I??*ll post questions to think about on Tuesday, Feb. 7th, and the discussion will start on Wednesday, Feb. 15th. We??*ll wrap up by the following Wednesday. (I know that a Wed. to Wed. time frame is a little odd, but we are trying it out to accommodate scheduling issues!)
I encourage you to re-read the article and start thinking about your experiences with learners who have been "stuck", and the intake or interviewing procedures that you use.
Robin Schwarz is an ESOL tutor, LD specialist and consultant in ESOL/LD issues, and is a partner in the TLP Group in Columbus, Ohio. We are so pleased to have her as guest speaker!
All the best,
Julie
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
 
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
From EJacobson at air.org  Mon Feb  6 18:04:38 2006
From: EJacobson at air.org (Jacobson, Erik)
Date: Mon, 6 Feb 2006 15:04:38 -0800
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] National Reading Conference - J. Michael Parker
	Award
Message-ID: <DC59DD324318E44AA0C054AC1D7806BE0661A37E@ca1ex1.air.org>
National Reading Conference - J. Michael Parker Award
The National Reading Conference (NRC) - 56th Annual Meeting will take
place in Los Angeles, CA, from November 29 to December 2, 2006. The
conference covers a wide range of literacy related topics, including
sessions on adult literacy. Information about the annual meeting is
available at http://www.nrconline.org/. I encourage adult literacy
researchers to join the dialogue at the meeting and to consider
submitting proposals 
In addition, to encourage research on adult literacy, NRC has
established the J. Michael Parker Award. This award is given to graduate
students and untenured professors who present research on adult learning
or education at the annual meeting. More information and submission
guidelines are available in the meeting's Call for Proposals -
http://www.nrconline.org/pdf/2006callforproposals.pdf  Submissions are
due March 1st, 2006, and must be submitted electronically. 
Erik Jacobson
Chair, J. Michael Parker Award Committee
National Reading Conference
From julie_mcKinney at worlded.org  Tue Feb  7 10:06:45 2006
From: julie_mcKinney at worlded.org (Julie  McKinney)
Date: Tue, 07 Feb 2006 10:06:45 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] Discussion about Adolescent Language Learners
Message-ID: <s3e87162.091@mail.jsi.com>
Hi all, 
I'm passing on this announcement from Lynda Terrill about an upcoming
discussion on the Adult English Language Learners list:
The Adult English Language Learners is planning an online discussion on
adolescent learners in adult ESL/ESOL classes from February 8-14, 2006.
To join the English language list, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/discussions.html and follow the
directions for subscribing.
*********
Adolescent English language learners (ELLs) are a growing population in
secondary schools and a steady presence in postsecondary (adult)
education programs. Many of you have experienced the unique
characteristics and needs that adolescent ELLs present in the adult ESL
classroom. Like their adult counterparts, some of these adolescents may
be undocumented or may not have high literacy or education levels in
their native languages. They may be trying to juggle work, education,
community, and family responsibilities both here and in their native
countries. Some may be struggling with cross-generational reunification
issues. Others may have been born and raised in the U.S. but failed to
succeed in traditional K-12 schooling. Despite their varied educational,
social, and cultural backgrounds, these adolescents have one thing in
common - their developmental stage and related needs may set them apart
from the adult students in your classes. 
As high school exit criteria grow more demanding in the United States,
students with limited or interrupted schooling are finding it difficult
to graduate within the timeframes traditionally allocated for high
school study. As a result, these students are turning to adult education
to earn high school diplomas, increase their job skills, and improve
their English language proficiency. On February 8-14 Sarah Young, author
of Adolescent Learners in Adult ESL Classes,
http://www.cal.org/caela/esl_resources/briefs/adolescent.html  will lead
a discussion and respond to questions about this topic. 
Sarah is an instructor at the Arlington Education and Employment Program
(REEP) in Arlington, Virginia. She is also an adult ESL content
specialist at the Center for Applied Linguistics where she works on
several projects related to adolescent and adult English language
learners.
On February 8, Sarah will summarize some of the issues related to
adolescents studying in adult ESL/ESOL classrooms (e.g., who these
learners are and why they are in adult ESL/ESOL classes, what
instructional strategies may work well with this population, what types
of educational opportunities may be available).
To review the topic before the discussion, please read brief (above),
which includes an extensive bibliography. 
We hope you will share your own experiences, advice, and comments,
before, during, and after the days that Sarah leads the discussion and
fields questions. 
If questions or comments are raised before next Tuesday, I will forward
them to Sarah. 
You may also send comments or questions to me off the list at
lterrill at cal.org
Lynda Terrill
English Language Discussion List
Center for Adult English Language Acquisition Center for Applied
Linguistics
4646 40th St, NW
Washington, DC
lterrill at cal.org
tel 202-362-0700
fax 202-363-7204
http://www.cal.org/caela
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
From julie_mcKinney at worlded.org  Wed Feb  8 08:11:53 2006
From: julie_mcKinney at worlded.org (Julie  McKinney)
Date: Wed, 08 Feb 2006 08:11:53 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] Questions for Discussion of Struggling ESOL Learners
Message-ID: <s3e9a7f9.011@mail.jsi.com>
Hi All! 
Please remember that we are having a guest speaker starting next
Wednesday (Feb. 15th--the day after Valentine's Day).
Robin Schwarz, a longtime LD specialist, researcher and ESOL tutor, will
discuss her  recent article, "Taking a Closer Look at Struggling ESOL
Learners ", about ESOL learners who seem "stuck", and how we can find
the real reasons for their struggles and find ways to get them back on
track.
You can find this article at:
http://www.ncsall.net/index.php?id=994
Following are some questions to think about as we prepare to discuss
this article. If you have staff meetings coming up, I encourage you to
use them as a chance to discuss the following questions as they relate
to your center or program.
Discussion Questions
1.  Stories:  Have you had struggling learners in your program? How
common do you think this problem is? Do you want to share a story of a
learner you have worked with, and tell us how you were able to find out
the issue, and what you did to help?
2.  Physical Disabilities:  How do we screen for them and what specific
accommodations can we make in the class or program for them?
3.  Intake/Counseling Procedures:  What does your center or program do
for a routine intake? What is the procedure to address a learner who is
not progressing? How well do you get at factors such as physical and
health problems, living situations, amount and nature of literacy
skills, nature of the primary language and cultural communication style?
4.  Responding: Once there is a reason discovered for a learner's
struggles, how well-equipped are you to respond to the problem? How do
you learn how to accommodate a hearing or visual problem? What do you do
for the learner with anxiety or depression? Do you have access to a
consulting teacher, or someone knowledgeable in the complexities of a
given culture's communication style (as in the example of the Sudanese
men in the article)? 
5.  Staff Training/Professional Development: What kind of training do we
all need in order to ensure that our intake procedures are complete and
appropriate? What kind of  training will help us to respond an effective
way?
6.  Did This Article Change Something You Do? Share with us anything
that you changed, did, started, or stopped as a result of reading this
article.  Why?  What result did you get?
7. What Connections Did You Make With This Article? Even if you did not
change anything, did it ring a bell or hit home to you in some way?
 We'll see you next week for the discussion!
Julie
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
From julie_mcKinney at worlded.org  Tue Feb 14 11:48:09 2006
From: julie_mcKinney at worlded.org (Julie  McKinney)
Date: Tue, 14 Feb 2006 11:48:09 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] Discussion of Struggling ESOL Learners starts
	tomorrow!
Message-ID: <s3f1c395.077@mail.jsi.com>
Hi All, 
Please remember that our discussion with Robin Schwarz starts
tomorrow--Wednesday, Feb 15th! If you know someone who would be
interested, please forward this on. 
To read the article: "Taking a Closer Look at Struggling ESOL Learners"
go to:
http://www.ncsall.net/index.php?id=994
If you are not subscribed to the FOB list, you can subscribe at:
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
Below are the questions we posted last week to get us thinking about the
article and how it relates to the work we do.
Discussion Questions
1.  Stories:  Have you had struggling learners in your program? How
common do you think this problem is? Do you want to share a story of a
learner you have worked with, and tell us how you were able to find out
the issue, and what you did to help?
2.  Physical Disabilities:  How do we screen for them and what specific
accommodations can we make in the class or program for them?
3.  Intake/Counseling Procedures:  What does your center or program do
for a routine intake? What is the procedure to address a learner who is
not progressing? How well do you get at factors such as physical and
health problems, living situations, amount and nature of literacy
skills, nature of the primary language and cultural communication style?
4.  Responding: Once there is a reason discovered for a learner's
struggles, how well-equipped are you to respond to the problem? How do
you learn how to accommodate a hearing or visual problem? What do you do
for the learner with anxiety or depression? Do you have access to a
consulting teacher, or someone knowledgeable in the complexities of a
given culture's communication style (as in the example of the Sudanese
men in the article)? 
5.  Staff Training/Professional Development: What kind of training do we
all need in order to ensure that our intake procedures are complete and
appropriate? What kind of  training will help us to respond an effective
way?
6.  Did This Article Change Something You Do? Share with us anything
that you changed, did, started, or stopped as a result of reading this
article.  Why?  What result did you get?
7. What Connections Did You Make With This Article? Even if you did not
change anything, did it ring a bell or hit home to you in some way?
We'll see you tomorrow for the discussion!
Julie
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
From hgalindo at carlosrosario.org  Tue Feb 14 14:16:15 2006
From: hgalindo at carlosrosario.org (Hugo Galindo)
Date: Tue, 14 Feb 2006 14:16:15 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] Discussion of Struggling ESOL Learners
	startstomorrow!
In-Reply-To: <s3f1c395.077@mail.jsi.com>
Message-ID: <20060214191641.2236311C44@mail.nifl.gov>
Julie:
I am interested in the discussion. I have never participated in this kind of
electronic communication. I still feel I need more information regarding the
mechanics, the time, duration and the expected time to finish. We all have
our jobs and our responsibilities during the day. Please advice.
Hugo Galindo 
From PHCSJean.2164047 at bloglines.com  Tue Feb 14 17:31:21 2006
From: PHCSJean.2164047 at bloglines.com (PHCSJean.2164047 at bloglines.com)
Date: 14 Feb 2006 22:31:21 -0000
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] Discussion of Struggling ESOL Learners
	startstomorrow!
Message-ID: <1139956281.2290239811.24538.sendItem@bloglines.com>
Hugh--
The discussion basically follows what you're already doing, but there
will be a guest answering topic specific questions. This specific guest will
be available for a week. It's a great way to "discuss" a specific topic.
Jean Marrapodi
Providence Assembly of God Learning Center
Providence,
RI
--- hgalindo at carlosrosario.org wrote:
> 
> Julie:
> I am interested
in the discussion. I have never participated in this kind of
> electronic
communication. I still feel I need more information regarding the
> mechanics,
the time, duration and the expected time to finish. We all have
> our jobs
and our responsibilities during the day. Please advice.
> Hugo Galindo 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ----------------------------------------------------
> National Institute for Literacy
> Focus on Basics mailing list
> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
> 
From julie_mcKinney at worlded.org  Wed Feb 15 08:02:12 2006
From: julie_mcKinney at worlded.org (Julie  McKinney)
Date: Wed, 15 Feb 2006 08:02:12 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] Welcome to our discussion with Robin Schwarz!
Message-ID: <s3f2e024.069@mail.jsi.com>
Hi All,
Our discussion on Struggling ESOL Learners starts today, and here is an
introduction from our guest author, Robin Schwarz:
Hello to all those on the Focus on Basics discussion list.   
 
It is my great pleasure to be guest author this week in a discussion of
my article, "Taking a Closer Look at Struggling ESOL Learners", which
appeared in the most recent issue of FOB.   As you can probably tell, I
am deeply devoted to these learners. Many remain my close friends. 
Their experiences constantly remind me that I must continue to urge
teachers and others who work with them to consider the broad range of
issues that these learners deal with in their lives and learning
efforts. 
 
My interest in sorting out the learning difficulties of English language
learners really took root when I was an ESL teacher in an Intensive
English Program ( IEP) in Washington, DC over 20 years ago.   I had
begun teaching English as a foreign language in West Africa with the
Peace Corps in the late 60's and early 70's ( yes, I am THAT old....) 
and continued as an ESL teacher in Washington after my return from
Africa. Besides teaching ESL in DC, I also pursued intensive training in
learning disabilities at a well-known diagnostic center  there and then
began teaching at the Lab School of Washington--first with younger
children and later in the Night School of the Lab School, which was one
of the first programs for adults with LD.   ( And where I hired Neil
Sturomski as a tutor--and later he hired me as a teacher!!) 
 
I had just completed a master's in LD when I started working with the
adults with LD and soon began noticing that many of the struggling
students in the ESL program where I worked in the daytime had problems
that closely resembled those of the adults with LD.  Wondering whether I
had missed that piece in my degree or in my ESL training, I soon
realized that the intersection of LD and second or foreign language
learning in adult learners was a much neglected topic.  Though there was
beginning to be a lot of focus on how to determime whether ELLs in K-12
had LD or not, virtually no work was being focused on post-secondary
ELLs. So I started learning what I could about all related topics. 
 
Throughout the  90's I was fortunate to have the opportunity to work
with classes of ESL learners in our IEP who were at risk for failure and
was able to try out many methods and ideas that were being studied in
relation to American college students struggling in foreign language
classes.  I realized that the principles of foreign/other language
learning and the collision with apparent LD would be the same--and in
fact, that direction has led me to a great deal of research that has
been done about LD across languages and cultures.  Europe particularly
has focused on this topic and provided rich research for me from which
to learn.  
 
In 2000, I left Washington for Boston to pursue a doctorate in
education, focused on LD/ESOL, at Lesley University ( actually in
Cambridge).   Though I arrived convinced I could devise a test that was
more culturally and linguistically appropriate for identifying LD than
existing tools were, my doctoral studies soon led me to  realize that
the issues were indeed as complex as I had thought when I first began my
interest in this topic.  Encounters with learners such as the ones
described in my article convinced me that no single test could reveal
these issues.  I learned that many ELLs in adult ESOL or adult education
were being perceived as having learning difficulties or even learning
disabilities, when in fact other issues were the cause of their
problems.   Since I turned in that direction, I have deepened my
knowledge of how culture impacts adult learners-- both their culture and
ours-- how first language issues make learning English more complicated
than we expect, how the learner's level of literacy impacts acquiring
literacy in a new language, and how dyslexia, when in fact it IS
present, appears across languages.    
 
Wherever I go to do workshops and presentations about the factors that
impact ELLs, people confirm that the wide range of obstacles for their
learners:   
 
An LD specialist in the midwest, attempting what I had wanted to do
earlier--test ELLS for LD-- has found that low literacy renders even
"non-verbal" tests useless and that despite having been deemed to have
adequate oral skills for testing, those who were very culturally
different were extremely reticent in a testing situation.  
 
A teacher in California realized that her students kept doing poorly in
her writing class because they had never heard of the notion of a main
idea and another, herself from South America, enthusiastically agreed
that time notions were very different in her country.  
 
A high-level official in adult education in a southwestern state,
himself a Navajo,  confirmed that the Navajo do not even have words for
"learning disabilities,"   and another worried that the school board
governing the schools on a reservation would not be excited about a new
way to identify learning challenges among the adult learners in their
community. 
 
Two Colombian doctors who were my students in Massachusetts were able to
explain that the teacher expectations they had encountered in their
conversation classes in a proprietary ESL school  in Boston were very
different from what they had known and were confusing to them. 
 
And on and on.   Every week I learn more about these challenges and
renew my efforts to understand them and communicate them to teachers and
programs.  
I look forward to discussing YOUR experiences with and questions about
adult ESOL learners who struggle to learn.  
 
Robin Schwarz 
 
  
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
From b.garner4 at verizon.net  Wed Feb 15 09:51:18 2006
From: b.garner4 at verizon.net (Barbara Garner)
Date: Wed, 15 Feb 2006 08:51:18 -0600 (CST)
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] Welcome to our discussion with Robin Schwarz!
Message-ID: <33367179.1140015078935.JavaMail.root@vms071.mailsrvcs.net>
Hi All,
I have two questions, one for Robin and one for list members. 
Robin, in your article you concluded that staff training is one of the ways to ensure that learners' needs are understood and, one hopes, appropriately addressed. Given the limited pre-service training time most ESOL programs have, what one or two things would you suggest programs focus on with NEW teachers, vis-a-vis "the variety of noneducational issues that can impede learning"? Can you direct us to any particular resources that are helpful? 
List colleagues, what training or orientation, if any, does your program give or did you get as a new teacher (or a teacher new to that institution?) to prepare you to address these issues? Can you share any particular resources that were helpful?
Regards,
Barb Garner
(Focus on Basics editor)
 
From: Julie  McKinney <julie_mcKinney at worlded.org>
Date: Wed Feb 15 07:02:12 CST 2006
To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] Welcome to our discussion with Robin Schwarz!
Hi All,
Our discussion on Struggling ESOL Learners starts today, and here is an
introduction from our guest author, Robin Schwarz:
Hello to all those on the Focus on Basics discussion list.   
 
It is my great pleasure to be guest author this week in a discussion of
my article, "Taking a Closer Look at Struggling ESOL Learners", which
appeared in the most recent issue of FOB.   As you can probably tell, I
am deeply devoted to these learners. Many remain my close friends. 
Their experiences constantly remind me that I must continue to urge
teachers and others who work with them to consider the broad range of
issues that these learners deal with in their lives and learning
efforts. 
 
My interest in sorting out the learning difficulties of English language
learners really took root when I was an ESL teacher in an Intensive
English Program ( IEP) in Washington, DC over 20 years ago.   I had
begun teaching English as a foreign language in West Africa with the
Peace Corps in the late 60's and early 70's ( yes, I am THAT old....) 
and continued as an ESL teacher in Washington after my return from
Africa. Besides teaching ESL in DC, I also pursued intensive training in
learning disabilities at a well-known diagnostic center  there and then
began teaching at the Lab School of Washington--first with younger
children and later in the Night School of the Lab School, which was one
of the first programs for adults with LD.   ( And where I hired Neil
Sturomski as a tutor--and later he hired me as a teacher!!) 
 
I had just completed a master's in LD when I started working with the
adults with LD and soon began noticing that many of the struggling
students in the ESL program where I worked in the daytime had problems
that closely resembled those of the adults with LD.  Wondering whether I
had missed that piece in my degree or in my ESL training, I soon
realized that the intersection of LD and second or foreign language
learning in adult learners was a much neglected topic.  Though there was
beginning to be a lot of focus on how to determime whether ELLs in K-12
had LD or not, virtually no work was being focused on post-secondary
ELLs. So I started learning what I could about all related topics. 
 
Throughout the  90's I was fortunate to have the opportunity to work
with classes of ESL learners in our IEP who were at risk for failure and
was able to try out many methods and ideas that were being studied in
relation to American college students struggling in foreign language
classes.  I realized that the principles of foreign/other language
learning and the collision with apparent LD would be the same--and in
fact, that direction has led me to a great deal of research that has
been done about LD across languages and cultures.  Europe particularly
has focused on this topic and provided rich research for me from which
to learn.  
 
In 2000, I left Washington for Boston to pursue a doctorate in
education, focused on LD/ESOL, at Lesley University ( actually in
Cambridge).   Though I arrived convinced I could devise a test that was
more culturally and linguistically appropriate for identifying LD than
existing tools were, my doctoral studies soon led me to  realize that
the issues were indeed as complex as I had thought when I first began my
interest in this topic.  Encounters with learners such as the ones
described in my article convinced me that no single test could reveal
these issues.  I learned that many ELLs in adult ESOL or adult education
were being perceived as having learning difficulties or even learning
disabilities, when in fact other issues were the cause of their
problems.   Since I turned in that direction, I have deepened my
knowledge of how culture impacts adult learners-- both their culture and
ours-- how first language issues make learning English more complicated
than we expect, how the learner's level of literacy impacts acquiring
literacy in a new language, and how dyslexia, when in fact it IS
present, appears across languages.    
 
Wherever I go to do workshops and presentations about the factors that
impact ELLs, people confirm that the wide range of obstacles for their
learners:   
 
An LD specialist in the midwest, attempting what I had wanted to do
earlier--test ELLS for LD-- has found that low literacy renders even
"non-verbal" tests useless and that despite having been deemed to have
adequate oral skills for testing, those who were very culturally
different were extremely reticent in a testing situation.  
 
A teacher in California realized that her students kept doing poorly in
her writing class because they had never heard of the notion of a main
idea and another, herself from South America, enthusiastically agreed
that time notions were very different in her country.  
 
A high-level official in adult education in a southwestern state,
himself a Navajo,  confirmed that the Navajo do not even have words for
"learning disabilities,"   and another worried that the school board
governing the schools on a reservation would not be excited about a new
way to identify learning challenges among the adult learners in their
community. 
 
Two Colombian doctors who were my students in Massachusetts were able to
explain that the teacher expectations they had encountered in their
conversation classes in a proprietary ESL school  in Boston were very
different from what they had known and were confusing to them. 
 
And on and on.   Every week I learn more about these challenges and
renew my efforts to understand them and communicate them to teachers and
programs.  
I look forward to discussing YOUR experiences with and questions about
adult ESOL learners who struggle to learn.  
 
Robin Schwarz 
 
  
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
From julie_mcKinney at worlded.org  Wed Feb 15 11:36:16 2006
From: julie_mcKinney at worlded.org (Julie  McKinney)
Date: Wed, 15 Feb 2006 11:36:16 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] Welcome to our discussion with Robin	Schwarz!
Message-ID: <s3f31252.044@mail.jsi.com>
Hi All,
Robin will be checking in at lunchtime, let's put something out here to
share with her.
Some ideas: 
   * answer Barbs question about the training you received as a new
teacher
   * address one of the discussion question (see below)
   * ask Robin one question
Thanks,
Julie
Discussion Questions
1.  Stories:  Have you had struggling learners in your program? How
common do you think this problem is? Do you want to share a story of a
learner you have worked with, and tell us how you were able to find out
the issue, and what you did to help?
2.  Physical Disabilities:  How do we screen for them and what specific
accommodations can we make in the class or program for them?
3.  Intake/Counseling Procedures:  What does your center or program do
for a routine intake? What is the procedure to address a learner who is
not progressing? How well do you get at factors such as physical and
health problems, living situations, amount and nature of literacy
skills, nature of the primary language and cultural communication style?
4.  Responding: Once there is a reason discovered for a learner's
struggles, how well-equipped are you to respond to the problem? How do
you learn how to accommodate a hearing or visual problem? What do you do
for the learner with anxiety or depression? Do you have access to a
consulting teacher, or someone knowledgeable in the complexities of a
given culture's communication style (as in the example of the Sudanese
men in the article)? 
5.  Staff Training/Professional Development: What kind of training do we
all need in order to ensure that our intake procedures are complete and
appropriate? What kind of  training will help us to respond an effective
way?
6.  Did This Article Change Something You Do? Share with us anything
that you changed, did, started, or stopped as a result of reading this
article.  Why?  What result did you get?
7. What Connections Did You Make With This Article? Even if you did not
change anything, did it ring a bell or hit home to you in some way?
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
>>> Barbara Garner <b.garner4 at verizon.net> 02/15/06 9:51 AM >>>
Hi All,
I have two questions, one for Robin and one for list members. 
Robin, in your article you concluded that staff training is one of the
ways to ensure that learners' needs are understood and, one hopes,
appropriately addressed. Given the limited pre-service training time
most ESOL programs have, what one or two things would you suggest
programs focus on with NEW teachers, vis-a-vis "the variety of
noneducational issues that can impede learning"? Can you direct us to
any particular resources that are helpful? 
List colleagues, what training or orientation, if any, does your program
give or did you get as a new teacher (or a teacher new to that
institution?) to prepare you to address these issues? Can you share any
particular resources that were helpful?
Regards,
Barb Garner
(Focus on Basics editor)
 
From: Julie  McKinney <julie_mcKinney at worlded.org>
Date: Wed Feb 15 07:02:12 CST 2006
To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] Welcome to our discussion with Robin Schwarz!
Hi All,
Our discussion on Struggling ESOL Learners starts today, and here is an
introduction from our guest author, Robin Schwarz:
Hello to all those on the Focus on Basics discussion list.   
 
It is my great pleasure to be guest author this week in a discussion of
my article, "Taking a Closer Look at Struggling ESOL Learners", which
appeared in the most recent issue of FOB.   As you can probably tell, I
am deeply devoted to these learners. Many remain my close friends. 
Their experiences constantly remind me that I must continue to urge
teachers and others who work with them to consider the broad range of
issues that these learners deal with in their lives and learning
efforts. 
 
My interest in sorting out the learning difficulties of English language
learners really took root when I was an ESL teacher in an Intensive
English Program ( IEP) in Washington, DC over 20 years ago.   I had
begun teaching English as a foreign language in West Africa with the
Peace Corps in the late 60's and early 70's ( yes, I am THAT old....) 
and continued as an ESL teacher in Washington after my return from
Africa. Besides teaching ESL in DC, I also pursued intensive training in
learning disabilities at a well-known diagnostic center  there and then
began teaching at the Lab School of Washington--first with younger
children and later in the Night School of the Lab School, which was one
of the first programs for adults with LD.   ( And where I hired Neil
Sturomski as a tutor--and later he hired me as a teacher!!) 
 
I had just completed a master's in LD when I started working with the
adults with LD and soon began noticing that many of the struggling
students in the ESL program where I worked in the daytime had problems
that closely resembled those of the adults with LD.  Wondering whether I
had missed that piece in my degree or in my ESL training, I soon
realized that the intersection of LD and second or foreign language
learning in adult learners was a much neglected topic.  Though there was
beginning to be a lot of focus on how to determime whether ELLs in K-12
had LD or not, virtually no work was being focused on post-secondary
ELLs. So I started learning what I could about all related topics. 
 
Throughout the  90's I was fortunate to have the opportunity to work
with classes of ESL learners in our IEP who were at risk for failure and
was able to try out many methods and ideas that were being studied in
relation to American college students struggling in foreign language
classes.  I realized that the principles of foreign/other language
learning and the collision with apparent LD would be the same--and in
fact, that direction has led me to a great deal of research that has
been done about LD across languages and cultures.  Europe particularly
has focused on this topic and provided rich research for me from which
to learn.  
 
In 2000, I left Washington for Boston to pursue a doctorate in
education, focused on LD/ESOL, at Lesley University ( actually in
Cambridge).   Though I arrived convinced I could devise a test that was
more culturally and linguistically appropriate for identifying LD than
existing tools were, my doctoral studies soon led me to  realize that
the issues were indeed as complex as I had thought when I first began my
interest in this topic.  Encounters with learners such as the ones
described in my article convinced me that no single test could reveal
these issues.  I learned that many ELLs in adult ESOL or adult education
were being perceived as having learning difficulties or even learning
disabilities, when in fact other issues were the cause of their
problems.   Since I turned in that direction, I have deepened my
knowledge of how culture impacts adult learners-- both their culture and
ours-- how first language issues make learning English more complicated
than we expect, how the learner's level of literacy impacts acquiring
literacy in a new language, and how dyslexia, when in fact it IS
present, appears across languages.    
 
Wherever I go to do workshops and presentations about the factors that
impact ELLs, people confirm that the wide range of obstacles for their
learners:   
 
An LD specialist in the midwest, attempting what I had wanted to do
earlier--test ELLS for LD-- has found that low literacy renders even
"non-verbal" tests useless and that despite having been deemed to have
adequate oral skills for testing, those who were very culturally
different were extremely reticent in a testing situation.  
 
A teacher in California realized that her students kept doing poorly in
her writing class because they had never heard of the notion of a main
idea and another, herself from South America, enthusiastically agreed
that time notions were very different in her country.  
 
A high-level official in adult education in a southwestern state,
himself a Navajo,  confirmed that the Navajo do not even have words for
"learning disabilities,"   and another worried that the school board
governing the schools on a reservation would not be excited about a new
way to identify learning challenges among the adult learners in their
community. 
 
Two Colombian doctors who were my students in Massachusetts were able to
explain that the teacher expectations they had encountered in their
conversation classes in a proprietary ESL school  in Boston were very
different from what they had known and were confusing to them. 
 
And on and on.   Every week I learn more about these challenges and
renew my efforts to understand them and communicate them to teachers and
programs.  
I look forward to discussing YOUR experiences with and questions about
adult ESOL learners who struggle to learn.  
 
Robin Schwarz 
 
  
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
From PHCSJean.2164047 at bloglines.com  Wed Feb 15 11:56:54 2006
From: PHCSJean.2164047 at bloglines.com (PHCSJean.2164047 at bloglines.com)
Date: 15 Feb 2006 16:56:54 -0000
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] Welcome to our discussion with Robin Schwarz!
Message-ID: <1140022614.1169321133.15418.sendItem@bloglines.com>
Hi Robin.
It's wonderful to gain your insight here. I'm looking forward to
hearing your thoughts on the LD/ESOL connections.
In my work, I've seen
a plateau effect in native-English speaking low-literacy learners we discussed
about a year ago on this board. We captured a lot of that on the ALE Wiki
and explored some of the rationale. Many confirmed that for some reason the
NSE (native speakers of English) learners get stuck at a second or third grade
level and don't get past that point to become true readers, winding up in
decoding-ville with minimal comprehension.
I'd suspect that learning disabilities
play in here too. Some of what I've found in my research on metacognition
and the NSE low-literacy learners implicates the learners' concepts about
reading and I think that's a factor too. You mentioned your Navaho contact
not having a word for learning disabilities. I wonder if some of the ESOL
learners have trouble with the conceptualization of the reading process too.
We work with a population of recently immigrated older Liberian women with
no schooling at all, and find that there are so many assumptions in American
culture that they have no concept of. 
I wonder if the conceptualization
of the reading process has some implications for your populations too.
Jean Marrapodi
Providence Assembly of God Learning Center
From kabeall at comcast.net  Wed Feb 15 12:22:21 2006
From: kabeall at comcast.net (Kaye Beall)
Date: Wed, 15 Feb 2006 12:22:21 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] New from NCSALL--Program Administrators' Sourcebook
Message-ID: <005b01c63254$6149b560$0202a8c0@your4105e587b6>
If you administer an adult education program, you face a wide variety of challenges:
*         How can you help students make "level" gains?
*         How can you help students gain the skills they need to reach their goals?
*         How can you help students stay in programs long enough to meet their goals?
*         How can you prepare and retain good teachers?
*         How can you document the successes of your program?
 
The National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy (NCSALL) conducted research relevant to these questions. The Program Administrators? Sourcebook (December 2005) is designed to give you, as a program administrator, direct access to research that may help you address the challenges you face in your job.
 
Written by Jackie Taylor, Cristine Smith, and Beth Bingman in collaboration with five local program administrators, this sourcebook presents NCSALL?s research findings in short sections related to key challenges that program administrators face in their work as managers of adult education programs. It also presents the implications of these research findings for program structure and services, as well as some strategies for implementing change based on these implications. 
 
To download the Program Administrators' Sourcebook, visit NCSALL's Web site: http://www.ncsall.net/?id=1035
 
To order the Program Administrators' Sourcebook at $10.00/copy, go to the NCSALL Order Form (http://www.ncsall.net/?id=674); limited quantities available.
 
 
****************
Kaye Beall
Outreach Coordinator/NCSALL Dissemination Project
World Education
4401 S. Madison St.
Muncie, IN  47302
Tel: 765-717-3942
Fax: 208-694-8262
kaye_beall at worlded.org
http://www.ncsall.net
 
 
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From hgalindo at carlosrosario.org  Wed Feb 15 14:35:51 2006
From: hgalindo at carlosrosario.org (Hugo Galindo)
Date: Wed, 15 Feb 2006 14:35:51 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] Welcome to our discussion with Robin	Schwarz!
In-Reply-To: <s3f31252.044@mail.jsi.com>
Message-ID: <20060215193545.5889E11D68@mail.nifl.gov>
Robin
I am in Washington DC and I am working with a large number of adult
immigrants with very limited academic background and in many cases
illiterate.
I have many questions but I would like to focus on two burning questions at
this time:
1) Where can we draw the line between illiteracy and learning disability?
2) Is it pedagogically sound to teach how to read and to write in their
native language before attempting to teach English as a second language?
Thank you for your thoughts and ideas.
Hugo
From akohring at utk.edu  Wed Feb 15 15:17:41 2006
From: akohring at utk.edu (Aaron Kohring)
Date: Wed, 15 Feb 2006 15:17:41 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] Wondering about struggling writers
Message-ID: <5.1.0.14.2.20060215144716.03226d00@pop.utk.edu>
Greetings all,
While reading Robin's article- "Taking a Closer Look at Struggling ESOL 
Learners", I was struck by the discussion about Surer and issues around 
pre-literacy skills.  I took an ESL instructional course
a few years ago at the University of Tennessee where the topic of teacher 
preparation for teaching handwriting was raised.  And most of the articles 
I found in looking into that topic indicated that many instructors did not 
feel prepared to provide that type of instruction.
But what I also discovered in the process, was some suggestions and ideas 
to guide instructors.
For example:
- Collect writing samples for analysis (level appropriate)
- Observe students as they write. What to look for: grip, posture, slant, 
wrist stability, eye-hand coordination, hand dominance
- Plan for teaching interventions such as:
--Practice script: Lined/unlined paper, Letter formation- Direction, 
Starting/ending point, Spacing, Size, Connections
-- Modeling
-- Integrated Approaches:
a) Practice handwriting within context- Use authentic materials, Practice 
has a purpose such as letter to a friend or taking a phone message
b) Utilize other skills: Reading left to right, Write on board or vertical 
surface, Use math, art, games, and other activities or manipulatives
c) Mix of explicit and integrated approaches
Yet the overall question this raised for me was- is there a connection 
between the reluctance of some ESOL learners to write partly connected to 
pre-literate skills such as handwriting in the English language??
Aaron
Aaron Kohring
Coordinator, LINCS Literacy & Learning Disabilities Special Collection 
(http://ldlink.coe.utk.edu/)
Moderator, National Institute for Literacy's Content Standards Discussion 
List (http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/Contentstandards)
Coordinator, Equipped for the Future Websites (http://eff.cls.utk.edu/)
Center for Literacy Studies, University of Tennessee
EFF Center for Training and Technical Assistance
Phone:(865) 974-4109 main
           (865) 974-4258 direct
Fax:   (865) 974-3857
e-mail: akohring at utk.edu
From mslaathaug at midco.net  Wed Feb 15 15:46:09 2006
From: mslaathaug at midco.net (Missy Slaathaug)
Date: Wed, 15 Feb 2006 14:46:09 -0600
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] Welcome to our discussion with Robin	Schwarz!
In-Reply-To: <s3f31252.044@mail.jsi.com>
Message-ID: <005e01c63270$d9978670$070ac90a@explorit3>
The training I received as a new teacher did not touch on issues of
learning disability in our ESL learners.  
I am now working in South Dakota, designing teacher training modules for
new ESL adult ed teachers, and we are concerned that we at least touch
on this issue of how teachers can help struggling learners.  I think it
might best be tied in with assessment, and ongoing assessment.  New
teachers perhaps can be thoroughly immersed in the idea that they need
to assess and later re-assess their learner's needs and progress all
along the way.   
You have to beware of overload in new teacher training, however.  They
can only absorb so much in one sitting.  Perhaps this topic is best
dealt with after 6 months or even 1 year of teaching, in a continuing
training for new teachers.    
-----Original Message-----
From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Julie McKinney
Sent: Wednesday, February 15, 2006 10:36 AM
To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
Subject: Re: [FocusOnBasics] Welcome to our discussion with Robin
Schwarz!
Hi All,
Robin will be checking in at lunchtime, let's put something out here to
share with her.
Some ideas: 
   * answer Barbs question about the training you received as a new
teacher
   * address one of the discussion question (see below)
   * ask Robin one question
Thanks,
Julie
Discussion Questions
1.  Stories:  Have you had struggling learners in your program? How
common do you think this problem is? Do you want to share a story of a
learner you have worked with, and tell us how you were able to find out
the issue, and what you did to help?
2.  Physical Disabilities:  How do we screen for them and what specific
accommodations can we make in the class or program for them?
3.  Intake/Counseling Procedures:  What does your center or program do
for a routine intake? What is the procedure to address a learner who is
not progressing? How well do you get at factors such as physical and
health problems, living situations, amount and nature of literacy
skills, nature of the primary language and cultural communication style?
4.  Responding: Once there is a reason discovered for a learner's
struggles, how well-equipped are you to respond to the problem? How do
you learn how to accommodate a hearing or visual problem? What do you do
for the learner with anxiety or depression? Do you have access to a
consulting teacher, or someone knowledgeable in the complexities of a
given culture's communication style (as in the example of the Sudanese
men in the article)? 
5.  Staff Training/Professional Development: What kind of training do we
all need in order to ensure that our intake procedures are complete and
appropriate? What kind of  training will help us to respond an effective
way?
6.  Did This Article Change Something You Do? Share with us anything
that you changed, did, started, or stopped as a result of reading this
article.  Why?  What result did you get?
7. What Connections Did You Make With This Article? Even if you did not
change anything, did it ring a bell or hit home to you in some way?
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
>>> Barbara Garner <b.garner4 at verizon.net> 02/15/06 9:51 AM >>>
Hi All,
I have two questions, one for Robin and one for list members. 
Robin, in your article you concluded that staff training is one of the
ways to ensure that learners' needs are understood and, one hopes,
appropriately addressed. Given the limited pre-service training time
most ESOL programs have, what one or two things would you suggest
programs focus on with NEW teachers, vis-a-vis "the variety of
noneducational issues that can impede learning"? Can you direct us to
any particular resources that are helpful? 
List colleagues, what training or orientation, if any, does your program
give or did you get as a new teacher (or a teacher new to that
institution?) to prepare you to address these issues? Can you share any
particular resources that were helpful?
Regards,
Barb Garner
(Focus on Basics editor)
 
From: Julie  McKinney <julie_mcKinney at worlded.org>
Date: Wed Feb 15 07:02:12 CST 2006
To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] Welcome to our discussion with Robin Schwarz!
Hi All,
Our discussion on Struggling ESOL Learners starts today, and here is an
introduction from our guest author, Robin Schwarz:
Hello to all those on the Focus on Basics discussion list.   
 
It is my great pleasure to be guest author this week in a discussion of
my article, "Taking a Closer Look at Struggling ESOL Learners", which
appeared in the most recent issue of FOB.   As you can probably tell, I
am deeply devoted to these learners. Many remain my close friends. 
Their experiences constantly remind me that I must continue to urge
teachers and others who work with them to consider the broad range of
issues that these learners deal with in their lives and learning
efforts. 
 
My interest in sorting out the learning difficulties of English language
learners really took root when I was an ESL teacher in an Intensive
English Program ( IEP) in Washington, DC over 20 years ago.   I had
begun teaching English as a foreign language in West Africa with the
Peace Corps in the late 60's and early 70's ( yes, I am THAT old....) 
and continued as an ESL teacher in Washington after my return from
Africa. Besides teaching ESL in DC, I also pursued intensive training in
learning disabilities at a well-known diagnostic center  there and then
began teaching at the Lab School of Washington--first with younger
children and later in the Night School of the Lab School, which was one
of the first programs for adults with LD.   ( And where I hired Neil
Sturomski as a tutor--and later he hired me as a teacher!!) 
 
I had just completed a master's in LD when I started working with the
adults with LD and soon began noticing that many of the struggling
students in the ESL program where I worked in the daytime had problems
that closely resembled those of the adults with LD.  Wondering whether I
had missed that piece in my degree or in my ESL training, I soon
realized that the intersection of LD and second or foreign language
learning in adult learners was a much neglected topic.  Though there was
beginning to be a lot of focus on how to determime whether ELLs in K-12
had LD or not, virtually no work was being focused on post-secondary
ELLs. So I started learning what I could about all related topics. 
 
Throughout the  90's I was fortunate to have the opportunity to work
with classes of ESL learners in our IEP who were at risk for failure and
was able to try out many methods and ideas that were being studied in
relation to American college students struggling in foreign language
classes.  I realized that the principles of foreign/other language
learning and the collision with apparent LD would be the same--and in
fact, that direction has led me to a great deal of research that has
been done about LD across languages and cultures.  Europe particularly
has focused on this topic and provided rich research for me from which
to learn.  
 
In 2000, I left Washington for Boston to pursue a doctorate in
education, focused on LD/ESOL, at Lesley University ( actually in
Cambridge).   Though I arrived convinced I could devise a test that was
more culturally and linguistically appropriate for identifying LD than
existing tools were, my doctoral studies soon led me to  realize that
the issues were indeed as complex as I had thought when I first began my
interest in this topic.  Encounters with learners such as the ones
described in my article convinced me that no single test could reveal
these issues.  I learned that many ELLs in adult ESOL or adult education
were being perceived as having learning difficulties or even learning
disabilities, when in fact other issues were the cause of their
problems.   Since I turned in that direction, I have deepened my
knowledge of how culture impacts adult learners-- both their culture and
ours-- how first language issues make learning English more complicated
than we expect, how the learner's level of literacy impacts acquiring
literacy in a new language, and how dyslexia, when in fact it IS
present, appears across languages.    
 
Wherever I go to do workshops and presentations about the factors that
impact ELLs, people confirm that the wide range of obstacles for their
learners:   
 
An LD specialist in the midwest, attempting what I had wanted to do
earlier--test ELLS for LD-- has found that low literacy renders even
"non-verbal" tests useless and that despite having been deemed to have
adequate oral skills for testing, those who were very culturally
different were extremely reticent in a testing situation.  
 
A teacher in California realized that her students kept doing poorly in
her writing class because they had never heard of the notion of a main
idea and another, herself from South America, enthusiastically agreed
that time notions were very different in her country.  
 
A high-level official in adult education in a southwestern state,
himself a Navajo,  confirmed that the Navajo do not even have words for
"learning disabilities,"   and another worried that the school board
governing the schools on a reservation would not be excited about a new
way to identify learning challenges among the adult learners in their
community. 
 
Two Colombian doctors who were my students in Massachusetts were able to
explain that the teacher expectations they had encountered in their
conversation classes in a proprietary ESL school  in Boston were very
different from what they had known and were confusing to them. 
 
And on and on.   Every week I learn more about these challenges and
renew my efforts to understand them and communicate them to teachers and
programs.  
I look forward to discussing YOUR experiences with and questions about
adult ESOL learners who struggle to learn.  
 
Robin Schwarz 
 
  
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
From julie_mcKinney at worlded.org  Wed Feb 15 16:45:18 2006
From: julie_mcKinney at worlded.org (Julie  McKinney)
Date: Wed, 15 Feb 2006 16:45:18 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] Making connections with struggling learners
Message-ID: <s3f35ab4.032@mail.jsi.com>
Aaron's thoughts about how pre-literacy skills (or lack of them) can
affect learners made me think back to some learners I've worked with. I
was trying to remember how it came out that they were not literate in
their first language, or that their first language was not a written
one.
A woman from Nigeria came to mind...she was outgoing, bold, and funny
and spoke very well, but her writing skills were far behind her speaking
skills. I noticed it in terms of her handwriting, spelling, and ability
to put her thoughts on paper. When we started talking about her writing,
she told me that that she had no literacy skills until she came to the
U.S. as a young adult, and the whole concept of writing was new to her.
It was her open personality that made it easy for her to tell me this.
If she was a quieter, more private person, or less articulate in
English, it would have been much harder to figure out.
So my question for Robin and others out there is: How can we make
connections with people to get at the root of these issues without
pushing too much and overstepping our role. A person's personality is
one among many factors that we have to consider in order to follow the
best approach. Robin's article gave some good information about asking
privately and gently, and I would love to expand on that and ask for
more advice.
Julie
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
From b.garner4 at verizon.net  Wed Feb 15 17:44:39 2006
From: b.garner4 at verizon.net (Barbara Garner)
Date: Wed, 15 Feb 2006 16:44:39 -0600 (CST)
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] Welcome to our discussion with Robin	Schwarz!
Message-ID: <2448696.1140043479520.JavaMail.root@vms168.mailsrvcs.net>
Missy,
I agree, the question of overload is always one to consider. 
Would it be worth including Robin's article in a packet of reading material packet for your new teachers? A set of articles they might read on their own, when they get a chance...?
Barb Garner
From: Missy Slaathaug <mslaathaug at midco.net>
Date: Wed Feb 15 14:46:09 CST 2006
To: 'The Focus on Basics Discussion List' <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
Subject: Re: [FocusOnBasics] Welcome to our discussion with Robin	Schwarz!
The training I received as a new teacher did not touch on issues of
learning disability in our ESL learners.  
I am now working in South Dakota, designing teacher training modules for
new ESL adult ed teachers, and we are concerned that we at least touch
on this issue of how teachers can help struggling learners.  I think it
might best be tied in with assessment, and ongoing assessment.  New
teachers perhaps can be thoroughly immersed in the idea that they need
to assess and later re-assess their learner's needs and progress all
along the way.   
You have to beware of overload in new teacher training, however.  They
can only absorb so much in one sitting.  Perhaps this topic is best
dealt with after 6 months or even 1 year of teaching, in a continuing
training for new teachers.    
-----Original Message-----
From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Julie McKinney
Sent: Wednesday, February 15, 2006 10:36 AM
To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
Subject: Re: [FocusOnBasics] Welcome to our discussion with Robin
Schwarz!
Hi All,
Robin will be checking in at lunchtime, let's put something out here to
share with her.
Some ideas: 
   * answer Barbs question about the training you received as a new
teacher
   * address one of the discussion question (see below)
   * ask Robin one question
Thanks,
Julie
Discussion Questions
1.  Stories:  Have you had struggling learners in your program? How
common do you think this problem is? Do you want to share a story of a
learner you have worked with, and tell us how you were able to find out
the issue, and what you did to help?
2.  Physical Disabilities:  How do we screen for them and what specific
accommodations can we make in the class or program for them?
3.  Intake/Counseling Procedures:  What does your center or program do
for a routine intake? What is the procedure to address a learner who is
not progressing? How well do you get at factors such as physical and
health problems, living situations, amount and nature of literacy
skills, nature of the primary language and cultural communication style?
4.  Responding: Once there is a reason discovered for a learner's
struggles, how well-equipped are you to respond to the problem? How do
you learn how to accommodate a hearing or visual problem? What do you do
for the learner with anxiety or depression? Do you have access to a
consulting teacher, or someone knowledgeable in the complexities of a
given culture's communication style (as in the example of the Sudanese
men in the article)? 
5.  Staff Training/Professional Development: What kind of training do we
all need in order to ensure that our intake procedures are complete and
appropriate? What kind of  training will help us to respond an effective
way?
6.  Did This Article Change Something You Do? Share with us anything
that you changed, did, started, or stopped as a result of reading this
article.  Why?  What result did you get?
7. What Connections Did You Make With This Article? Even if you did not
change anything, did it ring a bell or hit home to you in some way?
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
>>> Barbara Garner <b.garner4 at verizon.net> 02/15/06 9:51 AM >>>
Hi All,
I have two questions, one for Robin and one for list members. 
Robin, in your article you concluded that staff training is one of the
ways to ensure that learners' needs are understood and, one hopes,
appropriately addressed. Given the limited pre-service training time
most ESOL programs have, what one or two things would you suggest
programs focus on with NEW teachers, vis-a-vis "the variety of
noneducational issues that can impede learning"? Can you direct us to
any particular resources that are helpful? 
List colleagues, what training or orientation, if any, does your program
give or did you get as a new teacher (or a teacher new to that
institution?) to prepare you to address these issues? Can you share any
particular resources that were helpful?
Regards,
Barb Garner
(Focus on Basics editor)
 
From: Julie  McKinney <julie_mcKinney at worlded.org>
Date: Wed Feb 15 07:02:12 CST 2006
To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] Welcome to our discussion with Robin Schwarz!
Hi All,
Our discussion on Struggling ESOL Learners starts today, and here is an
introduction from our guest author, Robin Schwarz:
Hello to all those on the Focus on Basics discussion list.   
 
It is my great pleasure to be guest author this week in a discussion of
my article, "Taking a Closer Look at Struggling ESOL Learners", which
appeared in the most recent issue of FOB.   As you can probably tell, I
am deeply devoted to these learners. Many remain my close friends. 
Their experiences constantly remind me that I must continue to urge
teachers and others who work with them to consider the broad range of
issues that these learners deal with in their lives and learning
efforts. 
 
My interest in sorting out the learning difficulties of English language
learners really took root when I was an ESL teacher in an Intensive
English Program ( IEP) in Washington, DC over 20 years ago.   I had
begun teaching English as a foreign language in West Africa with the
Peace Corps in the late 60's and early 70's ( yes, I am THAT old....) 
and continued as an ESL teacher in Washington after my return from
Africa. Besides teaching ESL in DC, I also pursued intensive training in
learning disabilities at a well-known diagnostic center  there and then
began teaching at the Lab School of Washington--first with younger
children and later in the Night School of the Lab School, which was one
of the first programs for adults with LD.   ( And where I hired Neil
Sturomski as a tutor--and later he hired me as a teacher!!) 
 
I had just completed a master's in LD when I started working with the
adults with LD and soon began noticing that many of the struggling
students in the ESL program where I worked in the daytime had problems
that closely resembled those of the adults with LD.  Wondering whether I
had missed that piece in my degree or in my ESL training, I soon
realized that the intersection of LD and second or foreign language
learning in adult learners was a much neglected topic.  Though there was
beginning to be a lot of focus on how to determime whether ELLs in K-12
had LD or not, virtually no work was being focused on post-secondary
ELLs. So I started learning what I could about all related topics. 
 
Throughout the  90's I was fortunate to have the opportunity to work
with classes of ESL learners in our IEP who were at risk for failure and
was able to try out many methods and ideas that were being studied in
relation to American college students struggling in foreign language
classes.  I realized that the principles of foreign/other language
learning and the collision with apparent LD would be the same--and in
fact, that direction has led me to a great deal of research that has
been done about LD across languages and cultures.  Europe particularly
has focused on this topic and provided rich research for me from which
to learn.  
 
In 2000, I left Washington for Boston to pursue a doctorate in
education, focused on LD/ESOL, at Lesley University ( actually in
Cambridge).   Though I arrived convinced I could devise a test that was
more culturally and linguistically appropriate for identifying LD than
existing tools were, my doctoral studies soon led me to  realize that
the issues were indeed as complex as I had thought when I first began my
interest in this topic.  Encounters with learners such as the ones
described in my article convinced me that no single test could reveal
these issues.  I learned that many ELLs in adult ESOL or adult education
were being perceived as having learning difficulties or even learning
disabilities, when in fact other issues were the cause of their
problems.   Since I turned in that direction, I have deepened my
knowledge of how culture impacts adult learners-- both their culture and
ours-- how first language issues make learning English more complicated
than we expect, how the learner's level of literacy impacts acquiring
literacy in a new language, and how dyslexia, when in fact it IS
present, appears across languages.    
 
Wherever I go to do workshops and presentations about the factors that
impact ELLs, people confirm that the wide range of obstacles for their
learners:   
 
An LD specialist in the midwest, attempting what I had wanted to do
earlier--test ELLS for LD-- has found that low literacy renders even
"non-verbal" tests useless and that despite having been deemed to have
adequate oral skills for testing, those who were very culturally
different were extremely reticent in a testing situation.  
 
A teacher in California realized that her students kept doing poorly in
her writing class because they had never heard of the notion of a main
idea and another, herself from South America, enthusiastically agreed
that time notions were very different in her country.  
 
A high-level official in adult education in a southwestern state,
himself a Navajo,  confirmed that the Navajo do not even have words for
"learning disabilities,"   and another worried that the school board
governing the schools on a reservation would not be excited about a new
way to identify learning challenges among the adult learners in their
community. 
 
Two Colombian doctors who were my students in Massachusetts were able to
explain that the teacher expectations they had encountered in their
conversation classes in a proprietary ESL school  in Boston were very
different from what they had known and were confusing to them. 
 
And on and on.   Every week I learn more about these challenges and
renew my efforts to understand them and communicate them to teachers and
programs.  
I look forward to discussing YOUR experiences with and questions about
adult ESOL learners who struggle to learn.  
 
Robin Schwarz 
 
  
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
From Janet_Isserlis at brown.edu  Wed Feb 15 17:47:44 2006
From: Janet_Isserlis at brown.edu (Janet Isserlis)
Date: Wed, 15 Feb 2006 17:47:44 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] Welcome to our discussion with Robin Schwarz!
In-Reply-To: <2448696.1140043479520.JavaMail.root@vms168.mailsrvcs.net>
Message-ID: <C01919C0.9D1A%Janet_Isserlis@brown.edu>
all
On the one hand, yes, overload is a concern.  but are there also ways to
begin to integrate awareness of issues around LD and reading difficulties
from the get go, without waiting for the big LD workshops?
Janet Isserlis
> Missy,
> I agree, the question of overload is always one to consider.
> Would it be worth including Robin's article in a packet of reading material
> packet for your new teachers? A set of articles they might read on their own,
> when they get a chance...?
> 
> Barb Garner
> 
> From: Missy Slaathaug <mslaathaug at midco.net>
> Date: Wed Feb 15 14:46:09 CST 2006
> To: 'The Focus on Basics Discussion List' <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
> Subject: Re: [FocusOnBasics] Welcome to our discussion with Robin Schwarz!
> 
> 
> You have to beware of overload in new teacher training, however.  They
> can only absorb so much in one sitting.  Perhaps this topic is best
> dealt with after 6 months or even 1 year of teaching, in a continuing
> training for new teachers.
>
From TMcKelton at gwinnetttech.edu  Wed Feb 15 18:53:19 2006
From: TMcKelton at gwinnetttech.edu (McKelton, Terri)
Date: Wed, 15 Feb 2006 18:53:19 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] Welcome to our discussion with Robin	Schwarz!
Message-ID: <CE0D49D5836C5444B46853C07149A036043B51@ex01.gtc.internal>
Barb,
While Robin's article is extremely informative and worth having at my
fingertips, I've found that giving teachers too much to consume, even at
their leisure, is truly an overload.  I am the lead ESL instructor in
charge of curriculum development and staff development meetings at a
technical college in Gwinnett County, and I particularly like the idea
of having a continuing training for new teachers.  At each of our
quarterly staff development meetings, one of the items on the agenda is
a break-out session for teachers at different levels.  Incumbent
teachers get to share their experiences with new teachers.  I give them
discussion questions to cover in their groups, and then they share what
they've discovered with the rest of the staff.  Many of our teachers are
retired elementary school teachers or current ESOL teachers.  They
absolutely love sharing their classroom challenges and ideas with each
other in small groups.  
I'll certainly add Robin's article to one of my staff development
agendas.
T. McKelton
-----Original Message-----
From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Barbara Garner
Sent: Wednesday, February 15, 2006 5:45 PM
To: Missy Slaathaug; 'The Focus on Basics Discussion List'
Subject: Re: [FocusOnBasics] Welcome to our discussion with Robin
Schwarz!
Missy,
I agree, the question of overload is always one to consider. 
Would it be worth including Robin's article in a packet of reading
material packet for your new teachers? A set of articles they might read
on their own, when they get a chance...?
Barb Garner
From: Missy Slaathaug <mslaathaug at midco.net>
Date: Wed Feb 15 14:46:09 CST 2006
To: 'The Focus on Basics Discussion List' <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
Subject: Re: [FocusOnBasics] Welcome to our discussion with Robin
Schwarz!
The training I received as a new teacher did not touch on issues of
learning disability in our ESL learners.  
I am now working in South Dakota, designing teacher training modules for
new ESL adult ed teachers, and we are concerned that we at least touch
on this issue of how teachers can help struggling learners.  I think it
might best be tied in with assessment, and ongoing assessment.  New
teachers perhaps can be thoroughly immersed in the idea that they need
to assess and later re-assess their learner's needs and progress all
along the way.   
You have to beware of overload in new teacher training, however.  They
can only absorb so much in one sitting.  Perhaps this topic is best
dealt with after 6 months or even 1 year of teaching, in a continuing
training for new teachers.    
-----Original Message-----
From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Julie McKinney
Sent: Wednesday, February 15, 2006 10:36 AM
To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
Subject: Re: [FocusOnBasics] Welcome to our discussion with Robin
Schwarz!
Hi All,
Robin will be checking in at lunchtime, let's put something out here to
share with her.
Some ideas: 
   * answer Barbs question about the training you received as a new
teacher
   * address one of the discussion question (see below)
   * ask Robin one question
Thanks,
Julie
Discussion Questions
1.  Stories:  Have you had struggling learners in your program? How
common do you think this problem is? Do you want to share a story of a
learner you have worked with, and tell us how you were able to find out
the issue, and what you did to help?
2.  Physical Disabilities:  How do we screen for them and what specific
accommodations can we make in the class or program for them?
3.  Intake/Counseling Procedures:  What does your center or program do
for a routine intake? What is the procedure to address a learner who is
not progressing? How well do you get at factors such as physical and
health problems, living situations, amount and nature of literacy
skills, nature of the primary language and cultural communication style?
4.  Responding: Once there is a reason discovered for a learner's
struggles, how well-equipped are you to respond to the problem? How do
you learn how to accommodate a hearing or visual problem? What do you do
for the learner with anxiety or depression? Do you have access to a
consulting teacher, or someone knowledgeable in the complexities of a
given culture's communication style (as in the example of the Sudanese
men in the article)? 
5.  Staff Training/Professional Development: What kind of training do we
all need in order to ensure that our intake procedures are complete and
appropriate? What kind of  training will help us to respond an effective
way?
6.  Did This Article Change Something You Do? Share with us anything
that you changed, did, started, or stopped as a result of reading this
article.  Why?  What result did you get?
7. What Connections Did You Make With This Article? Even if you did not
change anything, did it ring a bell or hit home to you in some way?
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
>>> Barbara Garner <b.garner4 at verizon.net> 02/15/06 9:51 AM >>>
Hi All,
I have two questions, one for Robin and one for list members. 
Robin, in your article you concluded that staff training is one of the
ways to ensure that learners' needs are understood and, one hopes,
appropriately addressed. Given the limited pre-service training time
most ESOL programs have, what one or two things would you suggest
programs focus on with NEW teachers, vis-a-vis "the variety of
noneducational issues that can impede learning"? Can you direct us to
any particular resources that are helpful? 
List colleagues, what training or orientation, if any, does your program
give or did you get as a new teacher (or a teacher new to that
institution?) to prepare you to address these issues? Can you share any
particular resources that were helpful?
Regards,
Barb Garner
(Focus on Basics editor)
 
From: Julie  McKinney <julie_mcKinney at worlded.org>
Date: Wed Feb 15 07:02:12 CST 2006
To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] Welcome to our discussion with Robin Schwarz!
Hi All,
Our discussion on Struggling ESOL Learners starts today, and here is an
introduction from our guest author, Robin Schwarz:
Hello to all those on the Focus on Basics discussion list.   
 
It is my great pleasure to be guest author this week in a discussion of
my article, "Taking a Closer Look at Struggling ESOL Learners", which
appeared in the most recent issue of FOB.   As you can probably tell, I
am deeply devoted to these learners. Many remain my close friends. 
Their experiences constantly remind me that I must continue to urge
teachers and others who work with them to consider the broad range of
issues that these learners deal with in their lives and learning
efforts. 
 
My interest in sorting out the learning difficulties of English language
learners really took root when I was an ESL teacher in an Intensive
English Program ( IEP) in Washington, DC over 20 years ago.   I had
begun teaching English as a foreign language in West Africa with the
Peace Corps in the late 60's and early 70's ( yes, I am THAT old....) 
and continued as an ESL teacher in Washington after my return from
Africa. Besides teaching ESL in DC, I also pursued intensive training in
learning disabilities at a well-known diagnostic center  there and then
began teaching at the Lab School of Washington--first with younger
children and later in the Night School of the Lab School, which was one
of the first programs for adults with LD.   ( And where I hired Neil
Sturomski as a tutor--and later he hired me as a teacher!!) 
 
I had just completed a master's in LD when I started working with the
adults with LD and soon began noticing that many of the struggling
students in the ESL program where I worked in the daytime had problems
that closely resembled those of the adults with LD.  Wondering whether I
had missed that piece in my degree or in my ESL training, I soon
realized that the intersection of LD and second or foreign language
learning in adult learners was a much neglected topic.  Though there was
beginning to be a lot of focus on how to determime whether ELLs in K-12
had LD or not, virtually no work was being focused on post-secondary
ELLs. So I started learning what I could about all related topics. 
 
Throughout the  90's I was fortunate to have the opportunity to work
with classes of ESL learners in our IEP who were at risk for failure and
was able to try out many methods and ideas that were being studied in
relation to American college students struggling in foreign language
classes.  I realized that the principles of foreign/other language
learning and the collision with apparent LD would be the same--and in
fact, that direction has led me to a great deal of research that has
been done about LD across languages and cultures.  Europe particularly
has focused on this topic and provided rich research for me from which
to learn.  
 
In 2000, I left Washington for Boston to pursue a doctorate in
education, focused on LD/ESOL, at Lesley University ( actually in
Cambridge).   Though I arrived convinced I could devise a test that was
more culturally and linguistically appropriate for identifying LD than
existing tools were, my doctoral studies soon led me to  realize that
the issues were indeed as complex as I had thought when I first began my
interest in this topic.  Encounters with learners such as the ones
described in my article convinced me that no single test could reveal
these issues.  I learned that many ELLs in adult ESOL or adult education
were being perceived as having learning difficulties or even learning
disabilities, when in fact other issues were the cause of their
problems.   Since I turned in that direction, I have deepened my
knowledge of how culture impacts adult learners-- both their culture and
ours-- how first language issues make learning English more complicated
than we expect, how the learner's level of literacy impacts acquiring
literacy in a new language, and how dyslexia, when in fact it IS
present, appears across languages.    
 
Wherever I go to do workshops and presentations about the factors that
impact ELLs, people confirm that the wide range of obstacles for their
learners:   
 
An LD specialist in the midwest, attempting what I had wanted to do
earlier--test ELLS for LD-- has found that low literacy renders even
"non-verbal" tests useless and that despite having been deemed to have
adequate oral skills for testing, those who were very culturally
different were extremely reticent in a testing situation.  
 
A teacher in California realized that her students kept doing poorly in
her writing class because they had never heard of the notion of a main
idea and another, herself from South America, enthusiastically agreed
that time notions were very different in her country.  
 
A high-level official in adult education in a southwestern state,
himself a Navajo,  confirmed that the Navajo do not even have words for
"learning disabilities,"   and another worried that the school board
governing the schools on a reservation would not be excited about a new
way to identify learning challenges among the adult learners in their
community. 
 
Two Colombian doctors who were my students in Massachusetts were able to
explain that the teacher expectations they had encountered in their
conversation classes in a proprietary ESL school  in Boston were very
different from what they had known and were confusing to them. 
 
And on and on.   Every week I learn more about these challenges and
renew my efforts to understand them and communicate them to teachers and
programs.  
I look forward to discussing YOUR experiences with and questions about
adult ESOL learners who struggle to learn.  
 
Robin Schwarz 
 
  
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
----------------------------------------------------
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To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
From janeaddeo at comcast.net  Wed Feb 15 19:50:19 2006
From: janeaddeo at comcast.net (janeaddeo at comcast.net)
Date: Thu, 16 Feb 2006 00:50:19 +0000
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] Welcome to our discussion with Robin	Schwarz!
Message-ID: <021620060050.14152.43F3CC4B000AB07C000037482209229927010A0B0B0E0A020E06@comcast.net>
Hugo,
1.     Illiteracy vs. LD
I teach Beg. ESL to recently arrived, mostly illiterate Latino students.  In my experience the lack of literacy emerges quite early- at the introduction of the alphabet and spelling of names or noticing a student has difficulty holding a pen or pencil.
Recognition of LD or handicaps tends to take  longer.  At times another student  has informed me of a classmate's difficulty.
Students seem more willing to admit illiteracy than LD/ handicap.  It is often a problem to locate needed services for students because of their lack of insurance or legal status.
2.   Given the time and the resources to teach literacy skills in the student's native language is sound practice.  Literacy in the first language facilitates literacy in the second.
  
  
 -------------- Original message ----------------------
From: "Hugo Galindo" <hgalindo at carlosrosario.org>
> Robin
> 
> I am in Washington DC and I am working with a large number of adult
> immigrants with very limited academic background and in many cases
> illiterate.
> 
> I have many questions but I would like to focus on two burning questions at
> this time:
> 
> 1) Where can we draw the line between illiteracy and learning disability?
> 
> 2) Is it pedagogically sound to teach how to read and to write in their
> native language before attempting to teach English as a second language?
> 
> Thank you for your thoughts and ideas.
> 
> Hugo
> 
> 
> 
> ----------------------------------------------------
> National Institute for Literacy
> Focus on Basics mailing list
> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to 
> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
From PHCSJean.2164047 at bloglines.com  Wed Feb 15 22:31:23 2006
From: PHCSJean.2164047 at bloglines.com (PHCSJean.2164047 at bloglines.com)
Date: 16 Feb 2006 03:31:23 -0000
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] Pre-Literacy Resources
Message-ID: <1140060683.601830673.7189.sendItem@bloglines.com>
The NIFL-ESL list has been discussing pre-literate learners and has included
some tremendous resources some of you might not have seen. I've copied and
pasted the posts with some of the links to save you search time.
A test!
I'm not sure of the alphabetical order rationale in here, but this is short
and sweet and free:
>From Charles Larue
Developed with a grant from the MN
Dept of Education: The LaRue Literacy Skills Test  http://www.mcedservices.com/PDFs.html
and Pre-Literacy Exercises are available free online.
>From Pauline Mcnaughton
The Canadian Language Benchmarks:  ESL for Literacy Learners (adults) which
starts out at the Foundation Level with the assumption that learners have
never even held a pencil.
http://www.language.ca/display_page.asp?page_id=255
>From Shash Woods
Tacoma Community House Training Project in Tacoma, Washington
has developed a booklet called "Making It Real" that is a guide to teaching
adult pre-literate refugees. While it does not deal with early literacy for
children, it is a useful resource for teaching adults. The book contains a
wealth of information on techniques and activities and a checklist and resource
section. You can download it for free from http://www.tchtrainingproject.com
>From Marian Burt
In fact, in  Practitioner Toolkit: Working with Adult
English Language Learners, the National Center for Family Literacy along with
the Center for Applied Linguistics published a guide for those working specifically
with adults learning to read who are not native English speakers - discussing
the role of phonological processing, vocabulary knowledge, syntactic processing,
and background knowledge. In section II, pages 57 -59, these skills are discussed.
Then, on pages II- 60 -61, pre-reading activities to use with pre-literate
and nonliterate English language learners are described. (The next pages have
activities to use with beginning level learners, intermediate, and advanced).
You can download the toolkit in PDF at http://www.cal.org/caela/tools/instructional/prac_toolkit.html
Jean Marrapodi
Providence Assembly of God Learning Center
 
From robinschwarz1 at aol.com  Wed Feb 15 22:50:34 2006
From: robinschwarz1 at aol.com (robinschwarz1 at aol.com)
Date: Wed, 15 Feb 2006 22:50:34 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] Fwd: non/lowliterate learners and literacy
In-Reply-To: <8C800B694646FD8-1400-1C57@mblk-r40.sysops.aol.com>
References: <8C800B694646FD8-1400-1C57@mblk-r40.sysops.aol.com>
Message-ID: <8C800C3465CF9FE-17D8-3FC@MBLK-M21.sysops.aol.com>
Hi All-- sorry I did not catch up with the discussion earlier-- I am 
not using the list and messages correctly I fear, because the e-mail on 
my computer does not work and replying directly is impossible-- I have 
to jump to my other e-mail systems. But here is an attempt to get in 
and answer a few questions about non-literate learners and reading in 
first language. These were answers posted on the NIFL=ESL discussion 
list a week or so ago--the same questions came up there. This question 
was from a director of an ESL program in DC:?
?
Is there any research on teaching?
Adult LD or illiterate students in their own language for a semester or 
100 hours, before?
immersion into English???? Basically, if the student learns how to read 
and write and/or?
decode in their language, is that a benefit to them in their process of 
learning English????
?
Here are my responses to that question: -?
There is literature about that advantage. Many recommend that literacy 
happen in first language, if at all possible. The transferability of 
phonological skills that accrue through gaining literacy is considered 
to be very high. Thus becoming literate in one language supports 
gaining literacy in another--College students who start a foreign 
language in college are expected in two semesters (roughly 160 hours of 
instruction) to be able to converse at about SPL 3 ( basic 
conversations about everyday topicsthat are reasonably grammatically 
correct), read literature in that language and write brief compositions 
in that language. Compare that with the progress of someone who has low 
level literacy--or none at all-- in 160 hours of instruction.......The 
outcome would be very different.?
?
However, if the language of the student is an unwritten language (e.g. 
Dinka --a language spoken by many Sudanese) literacy would have to 
develop in a second language anyway.--the Sudanese usually speak Arabic 
or Kiswahili --some very fluently). It would presumably be better for 
that person to attempt literacy in his or her strongest language, as 
literacy requires a vocabulary of, I believe David Rosen said, roughly 
3,000--5,000 words --something many ESOL learners might be a long time 
acquiring.?
?
Basic literacy in any language is supported by phonological skills: 
phonological awareness, underlying literacy skills, and phonological 
memory, underlying aural/oral skills ( listening and speaking). Thus 
those skills must be verified to be strong in an adult that is becoming 
literate. These are pre-literacy skills--not directly related to 
text--the kind of skills nursery rhymes were intended to support in 
English. It is a sense of the sound chunks of a given language ( i.e. 
words, syllables--and sometimes discrete phonemes, though actual 
phoneme awareness in an alphabetic language takes exposure to print.) 
and how these chunks can be manipulated. In English, phonological 
awareness includes an awareness of rhyme. It also includes awareness of 
tone and pitch and other non-language sounds ( suprasegmentals). These 
are the skills the huge majority of children come to school with, or 
had well-developed before they were exposed to print concepts. In the 
researchi on reading difficulties ( dyslexia ) phonological awareness, 
has been found to be the basic skill needed for literacy--which is why 
it is so difficult for dyslexics to master reading--they are known to 
have difficulties with phonological awareness. Therefore, if it is not 
well?
developed, a learner will have enormous difficulty in becoming 
literate.?
?
*************************************************?
Another list question had to do with whether learning "fractured 
grammar" in one language would result in fractured grammar in another:?
?
Since understanding and mastering grammar is dependent on good 
phonological skills (remember the manipulating of chunks part-- moving 
or adding words, syllables or sounds to new meanings is what we 
describe as grammar-) then it is a universal skill and not a 
language-specific one. The field of second language acquisition does 
not consider that interference of one's first language with the new 
language is anything other than a normal language learning stage. If 
having fractured grammar in one language would lead to the same thing 
in the new language, then the opposite could also be presumed to be 
true. But having perfect grammar in one language does not guarantee 
having perfect grammar in the new language--if phonological awareness 
is fundamentally weak but that weakness was overcome through repetition 
and practice in one language, it will raise its ugly head when a new 
language is encountered. Think how many high school and college 
students who fail miserably at learning a foreign language even though 
they are highly literate in their first language. I know I have at 
least one person like that in every audience I address, large or small. 
? In fact, it was that very phenomenon--very bright college students 
unable to learn foreign languages--which launched research into how 
dylexia impacts foreign language learning.?
?
*******************************************************?
Still another question was what to do if learners wanted to learn 
English and not become literate in their own language:?
?
As for learners not wanting to become literate in their first language, 
it is their choice, not ours. But as always, we want it to be an 
informed choice. They should be helped to truly understand that it is 
probably actually a shorter route to English literacy to start with 
first language literacy. And becoming literate in their language 
doesn't have to mean they are barred from English classes--where a lot 
of other kinds of literacy-- signage, labels on groceries, directions 
on commeon objects--can take place. And of course, their becoming 
literate in their first language means being taught literacy by someone 
literate in it....which could be a challenge for many programs--finding 
someone literate enough and trained to teach it.?
?
Robin?
?
From robinschwarz1 at aol.com  Wed Feb 15 22:51:51 2006
From: robinschwarz1 at aol.com (robinschwarz1 at aol.com)
Date: Wed, 15 Feb 2006 22:51:51 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] Fwd: Three more thoughts on writing
In-Reply-To: <8C800BB460518EE-17D8-FD@MBLK-M21.sysops.aol.com>
References: <8C800BB460518EE-17D8-FD@MBLK-M21.sysops.aol.com>
Message-ID: <8C800C37420B72E-17D8-40D@MBLK-M21.sysops.aol.com>
I don't want to forget to mention the amazing Emily Griffiths 
Opportunity School in Denver. This is a century-old ESL school for 
adults that has a large program for non-literate refugees. They do a 
wonderful job--and when I visited in November, the director described a 
program for non-literate Somali women that was highly successful in 
getting the women to speak, read and write English--very gradually and 
gently. Perhaps someone can contact the school and find out more about 
how they do it.?
?
Thinking about the writing question also made me think of the Sudanese 
I have worked with and another cultural issue--I think I mentioned that 
in the article-this was the situation where the learners were not 
interested in answering what they considered to be obvious 
-ridiculous??--questions. When given a different set of prompts about 
topics they were interested in, they did very well.?
?
?And finally, I cannot emphasize often enough how important it is to be 
sure your adult learners can SEE. Adult ESOL learners typically do not 
give vision care very high priority-- yet many have vision challenges. 
It is very hard to write clearly and form letters accurately if you 
cannot see. Wherever possible I urge that you facilitate eye exams--and 
urge the optometrist to check for binocularity problems as well as 
acuity problems. Binocularity is the ability to focus both eyes on one 
object and keep them there--then move them smoothly together. A 
suprising number of adults who struggle to read and write have this 
problem. To help your learners in the meantime, provide colored paper 
to write on, and larger than usual figures to copy or trace. The 
reduced glare and larger figures make it easier to see to write.?
?
Robin
From robinschwarz1 at aol.com  Wed Feb 15 22:52:26 2006
From: robinschwarz1 at aol.com (robinschwarz1 at aol.com)
Date: Wed, 15 Feb 2006 22:52:26 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] Fwd: LD in ESL
In-Reply-To: <8C800C1625ECFA6-17D8-343@MBLK-M21.sysops.aol.com>
References: <8C800C1625ECFA6-17D8-343@MBLK-M21.sysops.aol.com>
Message-ID: <8C800C3895EF946-17D8-412@MBLK-M21.sysops.aol.com>
As I indicated in my opening message, distinguishing LD in ESOL 
learners has been my focus and specialty since about 1985--the more I 
learn about this, the less I know. What I know at this point, as my 
article was intended to illustrate, is that there are many other 
legitimate issues that impede learning progress in adult ESOL learners 
( and younger ones, too, for that matter.) These issues are given short 
shrift by inexperienced or unaware ESOL teachers and other teachers who 
do not know about second language acquisition, low literacy 
implications, cultural differences and their impact, etc.?
?
Where once I felt that LD issues were rather common among ESOL 
learners, I now think they are no more common than they REALLY are in 
adult learners in this country-- though there is now a strong belief 
that the incidence is high, my experience and recent work has led me to 
believe there are many other issues causing difficulties for adult 
learners: vision, visual stress syndrome ( difficulty with light 
sensitivity and looking at black print on white paper), hearing, 
health, attention problems, etc.?
?
In the ESOL learners, what emerged as signficant barriers to learning 
were weaknesses in core phonological skills, as mentioned in an earlier 
post, and problems with actual discrimination of sounds in English. It 
is perfectly normal for the adult brain to have more difficulty 
perceiving sounds of a new language accurately--and those who are 
monolingual may have even more difficulty than those who are already 
multilingual ( though I do not wholly agree with the contention of some 
in linguistics that speaking multiple languages automatically precludes 
difficulty in hearing a new language accurately--again, I have ample 
anecdotal evidence to know that, like any other generalization, is not 
true--though may be true more often than not)?
?
When I have put heavy emphasis in my teaching on the drilling of 
hearing fine differences in sounds -- minimal pairs such as bit/bet or 
sheep/cheap or feet/ Pete--- or tap/tab -- I find that my students' 
aural comprehension soars and then their ablitiy to hear and remember 
the language accurately also soars--and then reading comes along much 
better, too.?
?
I use a book called Pronunciation Contrasts in English, by D L. F. 
Nilsen and A. P. Nilsen. To my knowledge, it has been recently 
reprinted-- it is a book of all the minimal pairs in English-- and each 
page includes a diagram of the mouth for each sound, plus a list of all 
the languages for which that contrast is a a difficulty. I cannot 
recommend it enough. If you contact me off-list, I can forward my 
handout on drilling these pairs.--thge book does not have drills per 
se.?
?
As for phonological skills, as mentioned in that earlier post, I find 
it is essential that core phonological awareness be strong before 
literacy is attempted. I cannot recommend enough screening this skill ( 
can the learner hear rhymes ( once the concept is explained) ?) Can the 
learner count the number of words in a sentence s/he hears? If these 
skills are weak, they must be addressed. People with true dyslexia have 
great difficulty hearing and producing rhyme and have been repeatedly 
shown in studies to have significant weaknesses in phonological 
awareness in general. This skill PRECEDES phonemic awareness--which in 
English comes later, as literacy begins to develop. ?Just bear in mind 
the progression of skills that children go through before they begin to 
read. Children are not aware of single sounds in words until they are 
first aware of the larger chunks of language. ( And don't forget that 
many language on the planet are NOT alphabetic, and therefore do not 
have phonemes per se. If your learner's language is like this, then the 
very concept of phonemes and letter sounds has to be approached quite 
differently than it would be for a learner from an alphabetic language. 
)?
?
Phonological MEMORY supports the learning of new vocabulary and 
language strings-- idioms and syntax, etc. If your learner cannot 
repeat a sentence of more than 3 or four words completely accurately, 
this skill should be targeted through activities in counting words in 
sentences and saying them accurately-- gradually increasing the length 
of sentences repeated, etc. I am constantly challenged in this by 
people saying that if you know the language you can repeat the 
sentences. But actually, a person with good phonological memory can do 
this relatively easily without any idea of what s/he is saying. This 
skill is tested in the native language by using nonsense words (see a 
test like the C-TOPP --Comrpehensive TEst of Phonological Processing 
Skills) for example. ) It is irrelevant to test nonsense words for ESOL 
learners, since a foreign language is ipso facto nonsense words until 
one learns a lot of vocabulary. Just try it with low frequency words-- 
words we rarely use in conversation.?
?
This skill can be so weak as to constitute a learning 
disability--though it is not classified as such. Phonological awareness 
weaknesses, on the other hand, are known to be at the heart of 
dyslexia--and so ARE LD-- except that we need to have attempted to 
strengthen awareness in a new language before deciding that it is a 
disability---. It is possible to determine in first language that there 
is a reading disability, but it requires having the correct tools to do 
it-tests of reading nonsense words in that language and other tasks 
that test core phonological awareness and speed of decoding. The usual 
tools for diagnosing LD in English do not work with non-native English 
speakers, except those tests of phonological awareness, and then we 
have to be careful that the tests are not weighted to English speakers.?
?
This is getting long-- sorry for so much information-- I guess this 
will overload a lot of people. But since these are the core skills 
needed for language learning and reading, it seems awfully important 
that teachers know about them and understand what challenges are likely 
plaguing their adult learners who are stuck.?
?
More tomorrow on reasons why those readers may plateau at 3rd or 4th 
grade. Robin?
?
From robinschwarz1 at aol.com  Thu Feb 16 07:39:04 2006
From: robinschwarz1 at aol.com (robinschwarz1 at aol.com)
Date: Thu, 16 Feb 2006 07:39:04 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] non/lowliterate learners and literacy
In-Reply-To: <8C800B694646FD8-1400-1C57@mblk-r40.sysops.aol.com>
References: <8C800B694646FD8-1400-1C57@mblk-r40.sysops.aol.com>
Message-ID: <8C8010D1AE15B4F-1088-15A8@mblk-d38.sysops.aol.com>
Hi All-- sorry I did not catch up with the discussion earlier-- I am 
not using the list and messages correctly I fear, because the e-mail on 
my computer does not work and replying directly is impossible-- I have 
to jump to my other e-mail systems. But here is an attempt to get in 
and answer a few questions about non-literate learners and reading in 
first language. These were answers posted on the NIFL=ESL discussion 
list a week or so ago--the same questions came up there. This question 
was from a director of an ESL program in DC:?
?
Is there any research on teaching?
Adult LD or illiterate students in their own language for a semester or 
100 hours, before?
immersion into English???? Basically, if the student learns how to read 
and write and/or?
decode in their language, is that a benefit to them in their process of 
learning English????
?
Here are my responses to that question: -?
There is literature about that advantage. Many recommend that literacy 
happen in first language, if at all possible. The transferability of 
phonological skills that accrue through gaining literacy is considered 
to be very high. Thus becoming literate in one language supports 
gaining literacy in another--College students who start a foreign 
language in college are expected in two semesters (roughly 160 hours of 
instruction) to be able to converse at about SPL 3 ( basic 
conversations about everyday topicsthat are reasonably grammatically 
correct), read literature in that language and write brief compositions 
in that language. Compare that with the progress of someone who has low 
level literacy--or none at all-- in 160 hours of instruction.......The 
outcome would be very different.?
?
However, if the language of the student is an unwritten language (e.g. 
Dinka --a language spoken by many Sudanese) literacy would have to 
develop in a second language anyway.--the Sudanese usually speak Arabic 
or Kiswahili --some very fluently). It would presumably be better for 
that person to attempt literacy in his or her strongest language, as 
literacy requires a vocabulary of, I believe David Rosen said, roughly 
3,000--5,000 words --something many ESOL learners might be a long time 
acquiring.?
?
Basic literacy in any language is supported by phonological skills: 
phonological awareness, underlying literacy skills, and phonological 
memory, underlying aural/oral skills ( listening and speaking). Thus 
those skills must be verified to be strong in an adult that is becoming 
literate. These are pre-literacy skills--not directly related to 
text--the kind of skills nursery rhymes were intended to support in 
English. It is a sense of the sound chunks of a given language ( i.e. 
words, syllables--and sometimes discrete phonemes, though actual 
phoneme awareness in an alphabetic language takes exposure to print.) 
and how these chunks can be manipulated. In English, phonological 
awareness includes an awareness of rhyme. It also includes awareness of 
tone and pitch and other non-language sounds ( suprasegmentals). These 
are the skills the huge majority of children come to school with, or 
had well-developed before they were exposed to print concepts. In the 
researchi on reading difficulties ( dyslexia ) phonological awareness, 
has been found to be the basic skill needed for literacy--which is why 
it is so difficult for dyslexics to master reading--they are known to 
have difficulties with phonological awareness. Therefore, if it is not 
well?
developed, a learner will have enormous difficulty in becoming 
literate.?
?
*************************************************?
Another list question had to do with whether learning "fractured 
grammar" in one language would result in fractured grammar in another:?
?
Since understanding and mastering grammar is dependent on good 
phonological skills (remember the manipulating of chunks part-- moving 
or adding words, syllables or sounds to new meanings is what we 
describe as grammar-) then it is a universal skill and not a 
language-specific one. The field of second language acquisition does 
not consider that interference of one's first language with the new 
language is anything other than a normal language learning stage. If 
having fractured grammar in one language would lead to the same thing 
in the new language, then the opposite could also be presumed to be 
true. But having perfect grammar in one language does not guarantee 
having perfect grammar in the new language--if phonological awareness 
is fundamentally weak but that weakness was overcome through repetition 
and practice in one language, it will raise its ugly head when a new 
language is encountered. Think how many high school and college 
students who fail miserably at learning a foreign language even though 
they are highly literate in their first language. I know I have at 
least one person like that in every audience I address, large or small. 
? In fact, it was that very phenomenon--very bright college students 
unable to learn foreign languages--which launched research into how 
dylexia impacts foreign language learning.?
?
*******************************************************?
Still another question was what to do if learners wanted to learn 
English and not become literate in their own language:?
?
As for learners not wanting to become literate in their first language, 
it is their choice, not ours. But as always, we want it to be an 
informed choice. They should be helped to truly understand that it is 
probably actually a shorter route to English literacy to start with 
first language literacy. And becoming literate in their language 
doesn't have to mean they are barred from English classes--where a lot 
of other kinds of literacy-- signage, labels on groceries, directions 
on commeon objects--can take place. And of course, their becoming 
literate in their first language means being taught literacy by someone 
literate in it....which could be a challenge for many programs--finding 
someone literate enough and trained to teach it.?
?
Robin?
?
From robinschwarz1 at aol.com  Thu Feb 16 07:39:29 2006
From: robinschwarz1 at aol.com (robinschwarz1 at aol.com)
Date: Thu, 16 Feb 2006 07:39:29 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] Fwd: writing and handwriting for low literate
	/non-literate learners
In-Reply-To: <8C800BA14585A5E-17D8-76@MBLK-M21.sysops.aol.com>
References: <8C800BA14585A5E-17D8-76@MBLK-M21.sysops.aol.com>
Message-ID: <8C8010D2A22A0C5-1088-15AB@mblk-d38.sysops.aol.com>
-----Original Message-----
From: Robinschwarz1
To: focusonbasics at dev.nifl.gov
Sent: Wed, 15 Feb 2006 21:44:45 -0500
Subject: writing and handwriting for low literate /non-literate learners
This is in response to Aaron's and others' comments and questions on 
teaching writing to low or non-literate learners.?
?
Though this is an area I am not so well acquainted with, here are some 
observations and thoughts:?
?
AS for phonological skills, the skill of handwriting requires roughly 
the same preparation that young children get before they are expected 
to write easily-- lots and lots of fine motor practice-- the muscles 
for holding a writing instrument must be developed and the movements 
developed from large to small. When remediating these skills in persons 
with dysgraphia, it is necessary to start with large arm movements, 
creating circles and other letter-related movements on the board or on 
newspaper with markers ( pens , especially most ball point pens, are 
slippery for those with hand writing challenges--plus the added tactile 
input of markers is helpful in teaching the fingers to grasp 
correctly.) Fat pens or pencils would be helpful in the beginning-- or 
fat markers.?
?
Much tracing experience is recommended--plus other kinds of activities 
that involve fine motor with a writing tool-- mazes, connecting dots, 
coloring---all the things children do to strengthen their fingers and 
hands.?
There is an amazing choice of "adult" coloring books-- lovely designs, 
pictures from different cultures, etc--usually available through 
museums- ( does anyone know the name of that company that produces 
those in great profusion?? They must be available on the web).?
?
There are a VERY few books for non-literate adult ESOL learners that 
include some basic tracing of letter forms, but to my highly 
opinionated view, they have far too little practice in them. Like all 
skills, these must be mastered-- overlearned-- for further writing to 
develop comfortably. Also bear in mind that for those with dyslexia and 
dysgraphia, cursive is highly recommended over block printing. Thus it 
will undoubtedly be easier for those learning to write for the first 
time to move directly to connected writing and curvy lines rather than 
straight interrupted lines. A friend of mine in the DC area, Janette 
Haynes produced a wonderful handwriting book for adult ESOL learners 
coming from other alphabets-- it was called American Handwriting Slow 
and Easy and was a simplified cursive system. (Delta Publishing 
Systems, 1995) My Arabic college students found this very helpful--it 
has practice with check writing, names of states, different names for 
streets, cardinal and ordinal numbers, etc--all things ESOL learners 
need to learn anyway, instead of meaningless sentences.?
?
As for those who write already, here is where my culture alarms go off. 
? Many other cultures have a very different approach to writing than we 
do . For example, in the French=based system I taught in in Africa, 
students were obliged to have "perfect" handwriting at a very early 
age. They had a much different formation of letters than we do--and 
they were severely punished if their writing was not neat and beautiful 
and if they misspelled ANYTHING. Thus learners coming from such 
cultures may be extremely hesitant to write in English, a) because they 
do not know how to form the letters the way we do and b) because they 
fear being reprimanded for making errors. As Dave Barry would say, I am 
NOT making this up. In my class of adult ESOL learners in Massachusetts 
I encountered this very situation. These were mostly learners from Cape 
Verde and Brazil, Haiti and different African countries. When I gave 
them some task to write and hardly anyone moved their pencil, I asked 
them whether they were afraid I would be mad if they made spelling 
mistakes or wrote badly= they ALL nodded vigorously. I had to assure 
them repeatedly I was not going to look at those things!!!?
?
And finally, looking further to actual composition--again culture is a 
huge obstacle. How text is organized for writing varies enormously from 
culture to culture--in some it is considered rude to make a point 
explicitly. It is up to the reader to figure it out. In other cultures 
it is important to write EVERYTHING you know about a topic-- and these 
do not understand why we get so exercised about their voluminous 
compositions that appear to us to ramble all over the place. ?As I have 
said many times in my trainings, the concept of main idea in writing 
does not exist much beyond our borders. This was confirmed by my next 
door neighbor here in Columbus, where I live now== she is Romanian, and 
a doctoral student. She told me she also had a terrible time figuring 
out how to write in the highly linear way we do in America, --a thought 
seconded by my Portugues doctoral advisor at Lesley. She said she had 
to teach herself how to write " just the important points" when she was 
a newly arrived college student from Portugal.?
?
Robin?
?
From julie_mcKinney at worlded.org  Thu Feb 16 10:01:32 2006
From: julie_mcKinney at worlded.org (Julie  McKinney)
Date: Thu, 16 Feb 2006 10:01:32 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] Use this address: focusonbasics@nifl.gov
Message-ID: <s3f44d80.075@mail.jsi.com>
Hi All,
Please note that the correct address to send postings to is:
focusonbasics at nifl.gov
Cut out the"dev":
Those of you who have been with us for a while may still be using the
old address focusonbasics at dev.nifl.gov. This one no longer works. 
You can also just reply to a message from the list, but consider if you
want the subject line to match what you are replying to, or if you want
a new one.
Thanks folks!
Julie
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
From julie_mcKinney at worlded.org  Thu Feb 16 14:46:12 2006
From: julie_mcKinney at worlded.org (Julie  McKinney)
Date: Thu, 16 Feb 2006 14:46:12 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] Resources for phonological awareness, etc.??
Message-ID: <s3f49051.077@mail.jsi.com>
Hi All,
Robin gave us a lot to absorb, and a lot of specifics to try to
incorporate into teaching and teacher training. It would be helpful to
share ideas and resources that can help with the specific suggestions
she recommended. (Thanks, Jean, for pulling those other resources from
the ESL discussion for us!)
Does anyone know of resources to share in the following areas:
* phonological awareness: how to assess and how to practice
* phonological memory: how to assess and practice
* tracing/handwriting or other fine-motor practice for adults
* the world's languages and cultures--is there a resource to help us
learn about a language (is it written? type of approach to writing?) and
culture (communication style?) I'm thinking about the Sudanese men and
what would we do if there's no expert available...
Julie
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
From dbrillan at pdx.edu  Thu Feb 16 15:47:56 2006
From: dbrillan at pdx.edu (Dominique Brillanceau)
Date: Thu, 16 Feb 2006 12:47:56 -0800
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] Resources for phonological awareness, etc.??
In-Reply-To: <s3f49051.077@mail.jsi.com>
References: <s3f49051.077@mail.jsi.com>
Message-ID: <43F4E4FC.2080902@pdx.edu>
Hello!
Here are a couple of resources I have used to look up languages, 
language structure, history etc...
This link covers many languages but the information on each is brief, 
location, # of speakers  and sometimes but not always, whether it is 
written or not.
http://www.ethnologue.com/   
This information about each language is a lot more in -depth ( /its 
history, status, sound system, grammar, vocabulary, writing and much 
more../.)
 than in  the previous link  but  it covers fewer languages.   It also 
gives a lot  of references for further research.
http://www.nvtc.gov/lotw/languageList.html
I have consulted both links about Mayan ( we have a few Mayans in our 
program) and  learned a lot through the second link
Enjoy,
Dominique Brillanceau
NCSALL ESOL labsite
Portland, Oregon
Julie McKinney wrote:
>Hi All,
>
>Robin gave us a lot to absorb, and a lot of specifics to try to
>incorporate into teaching and teacher training. It would be helpful to
>share ideas and resources that can help with the specific suggestions
>she recommended. (Thanks, Jean, for pulling those other resources from
>the ESL discussion for us!)
>
>Does anyone know of resources to share in the following areas:
>
>* phonological awareness: how to assess and how to practice
>* phonological memory: how to assess and practice
>* tracing/handwriting or other fine-motor practice for adults
>* the world's languages and cultures--is there a resource to help us
>learn about a language (is it written? type of approach to writing?) and
>culture (communication style?) I'm thinking about the Sudanese men and
>what would we do if there's no expert available...
>
>Julie
>
>Julie McKinney
>Discussion List Moderator
>World Education/NCSALL
>jmckinney at worlded.org
>
>----------------------------------------------------
>National Institute for Literacy
>Focus on Basics mailing list
>FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
>To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
>
>  
>
From robinschwarz1 at aol.com  Thu Feb 16 21:34:55 2006
From: robinschwarz1 at aol.com (robinschwarz1 at aol.com)
Date: Thu, 16 Feb 2006 21:34:55 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] Resources for phonological awareness, etc.??
In-Reply-To: <s3f49051.077@mail.jsi.com>
References: <s3f49051.077@mail.jsi.com>
Message-ID: <8C80181DF47561B-178C-82FB@mblk-r41.sysops.aol.com>
Julie and all -- I think CAELA and especially NCELA have some good 
resources on culture and languages.  The Office of Refugee Concerns has 
booklets on many cultures---tomorrow I will add some titles of books 
that have helped me with this topic.
Phonological awareness may not be listed per se as a skill to practice, 
but if one googles "phonemic awareness"  there is a LOT there on 
practicing the kinds of skills that build UP to phonemic awareness and 
phonological memory.   One artilce that really covers the whole topic 
well and offers great suggestions for activities is
" How Now Brown Cow: Phoneme Awareness Activities for Collaborative 
Classrooms" by Patricia J. Edelen-Smith.     I found it on the web--iIt 
was published in Intervention in School and Clinic in 1997Vol 33 #2
Robin
-----Original Message-----
From: Julie  McKinney <julie_mcKinney at worlded.org>
To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
Sent: Thu, 16 Feb 2006 14:46:12 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] Resources for phonological awareness, etc.??
Hi All,
Robin gave us a lot to absorb, and a lot of specifics to try to
incorporate into teaching and teacher training. It would be helpful to
share ideas and resources that can help with the specific suggestions
she recommended. (Thanks, Jean, for pulling those other resources from
the ESL discussion for us!)
Does anyone know of resources to share in the following areas:
* phonological awareness: how to assess and how to practice
* phonological memory: how to assess and practice
* tracing/handwriting or other fine-motor practice for adults
* the world's languages and cultures--is there a resource to help us
learn about a language (is it written? type of approach to writing?) and
culture (communication style?) I'm thinking about the Sudanese men and
what would we do if there's no expert available...
Julie
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
From robinschwarz1 at aol.com  Thu Feb 16 21:37:36 2006
From: robinschwarz1 at aol.com (robinschwarz1 at aol.com)
Date: Thu, 16 Feb 2006 21:37:36 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] Resources for phonological awareness, etc.??
In-Reply-To: <43F4E4FC.2080902@pdx.edu>
References: <s3f49051.077@mail.jsi.com> <43F4E4FC.2080902@pdx.edu>
Message-ID: <8C801823F0B9AE3-178C-831C@mblk-r41.sysops.aol.com>
Dominique--these are GREAT-- these are some of the ones I had seen 
reference to lately but had not noted.   Thank you!   robin
-----Original Message-----
From: Dominique Brillanceau <dbrillan at pdx.edu>
To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
Sent: Thu, 16 Feb 2006 12:47:56 -0800
Subject: Re: [FocusOnBasics] Resources for phonological awareness, 
etc.??
Hello!
Here are a couple of resources I have used to look up languages,
language structure, history etc...
This link covers many languages but the information on each is brief,
location, # of speakers  and sometimes but not always, whether it is
written or not.
http://www.ethnologue.com/
This information about each language is a lot more in -depth ( /its
history, status, sound system, grammar, vocabulary, writing and much
more../.)
 than in  the previous link  but  it covers fewer languages.   It also
gives a lot  of references for further research.
http://www.nvtc.gov/lotw/languageList.html
I have consulted both links about Mayan ( we have a few Mayans in our
program) and  learned a lot through the second link
Enjoy,
Dominique Brillanceau
NCSALL ESOL labsite
Portland, Oregon
Julie McKinney wrote:
>Hi All,
>
>Robin gave us a lot to absorb, and a lot of specifics to try to
>incorporate into teaching and teacher training. It would be helpful to
>share ideas and resources that can help with the specific suggestions
>she recommended. (Thanks, Jean, for pulling those other resources from
>the ESL discussion for us!)
>
>Does anyone know of resources to share in the following areas:
>
>* phonological awareness: how to assess and how to practice
>* phonological memory: how to assess and practice
>* tracing/handwriting or other fine-motor practice for adults
>* the world's languages and cultures--is there a resource to help us
>learn about a language (is it written? type of approach to writing?) 
and
>culture (communication style?) I'm thinking about the Sudanese men and
>what would we do if there's no expert available...
>
>Julie
>
>Julie McKinney
>Discussion List Moderator
>World Education/NCSALL
>jmckinney at worlded.org
>
>----------------------------------------------------
>National Institute for Literacy
>Focus on Basics mailing list
>FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
>To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
>
>
>
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
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FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
From jn at cloudworld.co.uk  Fri Feb 17 06:46:38 2006
From: jn at cloudworld.co.uk (John Nissen)
Date: Fri, 17 Feb 2006 11:46:38 -0000
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] Fwd: Three more thoughts on writing
References: <8C800BB460518EE-17D8-FD@MBLK-M21.sysops.aol.com>
	<8C800C37420B72E-17D8-40D@MBLK-M21.sysops.aol.com>
Message-ID: <017001c633b7$d089a070$5503fea9@Tomschoice>
Hi Robin,
Interesting point about prevalence of vision problems.  What proportion of 
your students have this would you say?
I found this with Google, suggesting 3-5% might have a certain type of 
binocularity problem called "convergence insufficiency" which would affect 
their reading.
http://www.emedicine.com/oph/topic553.htm
However it is rare in children, so would hardly ever be a cause for a person 
not to have been able to learn to read as a child.
Is this "convergence insufficiency" the kind of problem you are finding, or 
are other problems more common?
Cheers from Chiswick.
John
John Nissen
Cloudworld Ltd - http://www.cloudworld.co.uk
maker of the assistive reader, WordAloud.
Try WordAloud with synthetic phonics:
http://www.cloudworld.co.uk/teaching-synthetic-phonics.htm
Tel: +44 208 742 3170  Fax: +44 208 742 0202
Email: info at cloudworld.co.uk
----- Original Message ----- 
From: <robinschwarz1 at aol.com>
To: <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
Sent: Thursday, February 16, 2006 3:51 AM
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] Fwd: Three more thoughts on writing
I don't want to forget to mention the amazing Emily Griffiths
Opportunity School in Denver. This is a century-old ESL school for
adults that has a large program for non-literate refugees. They do a
wonderful job--and when I visited in November, the director described a
program for non-literate Somali women that was highly successful in
getting the women to speak, read and write English--very gradually and
gently. Perhaps someone can contact the school and find out more about
how they do it.
Thinking about the writing question also made me think of the Sudanese
I have worked with and another cultural issue--I think I mentioned that
in the article-this was the situation where the learners were not
interested in answering what they considered to be obvious
-ridiculous??--questions. When given a different set of prompts about
topics they were interested in, they did very well.
And finally, I cannot emphasize often enough how important it is to be
sure your adult learners can SEE. Adult ESOL learners typically do not
give vision care very high priority-- yet many have vision challenges.
It is very hard to write clearly and form letters accurately if you
cannot see. Wherever possible I urge that you facilitate eye exams--and
urge the optometrist to check for binocularity problems as well as
acuity problems. Binocularity is the ability to focus both eyes on one
object and keep them there--then move them smoothly together. A
suprising number of adults who struggle to read and write have this
problem. To help your learners in the meantime, provide colored paper
to write on, and larger than usual figures to copy or trace. The
reduced glare and larger figures make it easier to see to write.
Robin
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
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From iris.broudy at SDH.state.ma.us  Fri Feb 17 09:29:57 2006
From: iris.broudy at SDH.state.ma.us (iris.broudy at SDH.state.ma.us)
Date: Fri, 17 Feb 2006 09:29:57 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] a lament
Message-ID: <0459EA4FEFB2D31195830008C79119310514F358@yosemitesam>
Thanks to Robin for hosting this discussion.  I have no answers to specific
questions posed this week, but I feel a need to use this forum to express my
frustration and sense of helplessness.  I hope you will indulge me.  I have
12 years of ESOL experience, in a great variety of settings, and a master's
in ESOL. In July 2002, I took a position in correctional education, teaching
beginning ESOL to male inmates in a large county facility in Massachusetts
that is well-known for its education program.  When I came here, I had no
training or experience in working with special-needs students.  Yet, as you
all probably know, a great percentage of incarcerated adult students have
learning issues. Many of the ESOL students here are nonliterate in their
first language, which in this case is Spanish.  It is difficult to know,
when a nonliterate inmate comes through orientation, why he can't read
because we have no screening protocols.  He simply gets placed in the
beginners class. (This is if his oral SPL is 0 to 2; if he can communicate
at an intermediate level but can't read, that's another challenge that we
cannot meet.) In rare cases, such as that of Rodolfo, a 21-year-old from
Guatemala, the student simply had not been to school. I initially thought
Rodolfo had LDs. In addition to being nonliterate, he seemed unable to
produce oral language. But over time I discovered that Rodolfo lacked
confidence and self-esteem. Eventually, he began speaking (with excellent
pronunciation).  As for reading, early on I had little success using a
phonics approach. Then I discovered that he was very good at word
recognition in context. 
In most cases, however, there are issues of LDs, head injuries, substance
abuse, childhood trauma, low intelligence, etc. Take Anibal (age 30) or Jos?
and Hector (both in their late 50s): After months of school, despite
individual work with a peer tutor (inmate) and one-on-one tutoring from me
when I could manage it, they still could not read a simple word.  Since I've
been here, I have attended several workshops on learning disabilities,
including an excellent one presented a year ago by Robin herself at this
facility.  But I am far from a trained reading specialist. And I cannot even
apply what I have learned so long as the special-needs students are
integrated with beginning learners who are literate in L1 and may even have
high school diplomas.  Yes, I can provide things like Irlen overlays. But we
do not have the resources to creat special-needs ESOL classes. So most of
these men sit and do busywork or, when possible, work on computer software.
With intensive tutoring, they might be able to learn. But under these
circumstances, they make little or no progress, and because they are
mandated to be in school, they take spaces in class that could go to
students with greater learning potential. So this is my frustration. I'm not
trained to teach a large number of our ESOL students, and even if I were,
limited resources prevent delivering what they need. I feel that I'm burning
out and question the value of what I'm doing.  Perhaps teachers in other
kinds of adult programs face the same issues. 
Iris L. Broudy
ESOL Instructor/Programs Dept.
Hampden County Sheriff's Department
627 Randall Road
Ludlow,  MA  01056
(413) 547-8000  ext. 2468
Fax:  (413) 583-3099
iris.broudy at sdh.state.ma.us
-----Original Message-----
From: Julie McKinney [mailto:julie_mcKinney at worlded.org]
Sent: Thursday, February 16, 2006 10:02 AM
To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] Use this address: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
Hi All,
Please note that the correct address to send postings to is:
focusonbasics at nifl.gov
Cut out the"dev":
Those of you who have been with us for a while may still be using the
old address focusonbasics at dev.nifl.gov. This one no longer works. 
You can also just reply to a message from the list, but consider if you
want the subject line to match what you are replying to, or if you want
a new one.
Thanks folks!
Julie
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
From SandyF61 at aol.com  Fri Feb 17 21:45:29 2006
From: SandyF61 at aol.com (SandyF61 at aol.com)
Date: Fri, 17 Feb 2006 21:45:29 EST
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] Adult Learners
Message-ID: <db.371a9af0.3127e449@aol.com>
I also work with beginning learners, most of whom are refugees. Like most  
programs, even if one of my students were diagnosed with some learning  
disabilites, we don't have the resources to make much difference.
I have a student from Cambodia. She has good speaking skills but can not  
read or write.  She has never been to school either in Cambodia or the  US.  I 
have a retired special ed. teacher who works with her twice a  week.  She really 
isn't making much progress and is losing  confidence.  Her work has told her 
that she must learn to read so she  really feels the pressure.
My biggest puzzle is a woman from Guadalupe.  She has been in the US  for 
over 10 years and is married to an American.  She speaks French with  the 
occasional English word thrown in.  After 20 plus years of marriage to  an American, 
three English speaking kids and many ESL classes, she still doesn't  speak 
English. However, she can read and write in English.
I think she comes to class for the relationships and I'm happy to have her  
there.
 
 
Sandy Fox
Columbia, MO
-------------- next part --------------
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From robinschwarz1 at aol.com  Fri Feb 17 21:59:13 2006
From: robinschwarz1 at aol.com (robinschwarz1 at aol.com)
Date: Fri, 17 Feb 2006 21:59:13 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] a lament
In-Reply-To: <0459EA4FEFB2D31195830008C79119310514F358@yosemitesam>
References: <0459EA4FEFB2D31195830008C79119310514F358@yosemitesam>
Message-ID: <8C8024E6EA978CD-180-A71@MBLK-M17.sysops.aol.com>
HI All--and HI to Iris, who is facing a truly frustrating situation, 
which I exerienced first hand.  I will give some thoughts on her 
message tomorrow-- I have been training all week and am really tired 
tonight.     There have been some good, thought-provoking questions and 
discussions here--thank you all for your interest and messages.   I 
will answer more of them this weekend.    Robin
-----Original Message-----
From: iris.broudy at SDH.state.ma.us
To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
Sent: Fri, 17 Feb 2006 09:29:57 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] a lament
Thanks to Robin for hosting this discussion.  I have no answers to 
specific
questions posed this week, but I feel a need to use this forum to 
express my
frustration and sense of helplessness.  I hope you will indulge me.  I 
have
12 years of ESOL experience, in a great variety of settings, and a 
master's
in ESOL. In July 2002, I took a position in correctional education, 
teaching
beginning ESOL to male inmates in a large county facility in 
Massachusetts
that is well-known for its education program.  When I came here, I had 
no
training or experience in working with special-needs students.  Yet, as 
you
all probably know, a great percentage of incarcerated adult students 
have
learning issues. Many of the ESOL students here are nonliterate in their
first language, which in this case is Spanish.  It is difficult to know,
when a nonliterate inmate comes through orientation, why he can't read
because we have no screening protocols.  He simply gets placed in the
beginners class. (This is if his oral SPL is 0 to 2; if he can 
communicate
at an intermediate level but can't read, that's another challenge that 
we
cannot meet.) In rare cases, such as that of Rodolfo, a 21-year-old from
Guatemala, the student simply had not been to school. I initially 
thought
Rodolfo had LDs. In addition to being nonliterate, he seemed unable to
produce oral language. But over time I discovered that Rodolfo lacked
confidence and self-esteem. Eventually, he began speaking (with 
excellent
pronunciation).  As for reading, early on I had little success using a
phonics approach. Then I discovered that he was very good at word
recognition in context.
In most cases, however, there are issues of LDs, head injuries, 
substance
abuse, childhood trauma, low intelligence, etc. Take Anibal (age 30) or 
Jos?
and Hector (both in their late 50s): After months of school, despite
individual work with a peer tutor (inmate) and one-on-one tutoring from 
me
when I could manage it, they still could not read a simple word.  Since 
I've
been here, I have attended several workshops on learning disabilities,
including an excellent one presented a year ago by Robin herself at this
facility.  But I am far from a trained reading specialist. And I cannot 
even
apply what I have learned so long as the special-needs students are
integrated with beginning learners who are literate in L1 and may even 
have
high school diplomas.  Yes, I can provide things like Irlen overlays. 
But we
do not have the resources to creat special-needs ESOL classes. So most 
of
these men sit and do busywork or, when possible, work on computer 
software.
With intensive tutoring, they might be able to learn. But under these
circumstances, they make little or no progress, and because they are
mandated to be in school, they take spaces in class that could go to
students with greater learning potential. So this is my frustration. 
I'm not
trained to teach a large number of our ESOL students, and even if I 
were,
limited resources prevent delivering what they need. I feel that I'm 
burning
out and question the value of what I'm doing.  Perhaps teachers in other
kinds of adult programs face the same issues.
Iris L. Broudy
ESOL Instructor/Programs Dept.
Hampden County Sheriff's Department
627 Randall Road
Ludlow,  MA  01056
(413) 547-8000  ext. 2468
Fax:  (413) 583-3099
iris.broudy at sdh.state.ma.us
-----Original Message-----
From: Julie McKinney [mailto:julie_mcKinney at worlded.org]
Sent: Thursday, February 16, 2006 10:02 AM
To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] Use this address: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
Hi All,
Please note that the correct address to send postings to is:
focusonbasics at nifl.gov
Cut out the"dev":
Those of you who have been with us for a while may still be using the
old address focusonbasics at dev.nifl.gov. This one no longer works.
You can also just reply to a message from the list, but consider if you
want the subject line to match what you are replying to, or if you want
a new one.
Thanks folks!
Julie
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
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FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
From woodsnh at isp.com  Sat Feb 18 00:16:43 2006
From: woodsnh at isp.com (Woods)
Date: Sat, 18 Feb 2006 00:16:43 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] a lament
In-Reply-To: <0459EA4FEFB2D31195830008C79119310514F358@yosemitesam>
References: <0459EA4FEFB2D31195830008C79119310514F358@yosemitesam>
Message-ID: <43F6ADBB.2000908@isp.com>
Iris,
You are not alone.I too am a corrections educator. You described a 
similar situation to what I see in my job in VT, a simply huge variety 
of abilities and levels. Your situation sounds a bit more complicated 
than mine because the vast majority of my students are able to speak 
English.
I think that the hardest cases for me are when traumatic brain injuries 
co-mingle with chronic drug and alcohol abuse. It is so unpredictable 
what kinds of learning problems these individuals may experience.
It sounds like you are extremely frustrated with your work with the 
offenders. If you are given freedom to develop the education program 
where you work, you might look at it as a wonderful opportunity to 
create a system that works for your guys where nothing has ever worked 
before.
Ten things I've learned as I helped build our high school, the Community 
High School of Vermont, are:
1. You can't help everybody.
2. Everyone comes to you at his own level and works at his own pace.
3. Some problems of individuals are bigger than education.
4. It is best to have no expectations for your students, not low 
expectations. No expectations.
5. Appreciate whatever gains might be made, no matter what they may  be.
6. Every student is good at something.
7. Students have to direct the course of their education. Teachers 
assist them.
8. Don't try doing it the other way around or you will fail miserably 
and drive all your students away.
9. You may not know when you will gain a new student or lose an old 
student so your classes have to be self-standing, not dependent on a 
sequence of classes the student may have missed.
10. These things motivate learners. and a motivated learner cannot be 
stopped. He will learn more than you ever thought possible, learning and 
emotional disabilities become irrelevant.
Best wishes,
Tom Woods
From robinschwarz1 at aol.com  Sat Feb 18 17:11:58 2006
From: robinschwarz1 at aol.com (robinschwarz1 at aol.com)
Date: Sat, 18 Feb 2006 17:11:58 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] Adult Learners
In-Reply-To: <db.371a9af0.3127e449@aol.com>
References: <db.371a9af0.3127e449@aol.com>
Message-ID: <8C802EF78282837-134C-92BB@FWM-R08.sysops.aol.com>
Sandy, Iris and others who work with such learners:  This is what I 
meant by the necessity of checking and addressing core phonological 
skills.   These are NOT phonics or other text-related skills, but those 
that are the foundation of language and language acquisition.
In the case of these learners who cannot seem to learn to read and 
write, go back and look at my comments about checking their 
phonological awareness.   If they cannot HEAR that words rhyme --and 
feel free to ask someone who speaks the language to explain the concept 
to them if you feel they do not get it-- and if they cannot count the 
words in sentences they can say, you will know that there is some very 
fundamental work to be done.   There appears to be no way to short cut 
these needs nor hurry up the acquisition of them.  These folks will 
need extended work in those two skills before literacy skills will 
begin to emerge.   All the research tells us that if they do not have 
these very fundamental understandings of how the chunks of language 
work, they will not be able to make much progress with the notion of 
assigning symbols to the chunks ( in the case of English--letters 
representing sounds).
10-15 minutes per day doing a wide variety of activities around rhyming 
and around word counting should begin to make a chink in this wall.   
Be careful to keep ALL activities non-text related--use only pictures, 
objects for rhyming and abstract forms to count words --if you know 
anything about or can get information about the LIPS program of the 
Lindamood-Bell approach, that is what it is designed to do--build 
pre-text phonological skills, though I don't think it specifically 
stresses rhyme.
Activities for rhyme can be first just matching a set of pictures-- 
have available about 12 sets , but vary the sets worked with each day 
to preclude the memory factor. Use about 4 sets per day.   Then this 
activity can be expanded to determine which 2 of 3 rhyme;  then if the 
sense appears to be emerging, have several pictures that have one rhyme 
(cat, mat, hat, bat)  and have the learner sort two of these sets.   
Make a sort of wheel--with one key word in the middle, and places to 
place the rhyming pictures around it for one manipulative activity.   
Use wall pockets to sort rhyming pictures by pairs, then by groups as 
the skill grows. Using pictures or ojects have the learner move around 
the room to find them, or to place the pairs together. Complete body 
involvement will be helpful.  Do not tackle two-syllable rhymes until 
the rhyme concept has happened.   You have to believe me that using 
print will only confuse the issue until it has emerged as an oral/aural 
skill.    It may take many sessions for this skill to begin to emerge.  
Word games or very short poems that can be learned can be  used to 
begin to help the learner pay attention to rhyme.   Use nursery 
rhymes--two line ones-- for the learner to complete-- give tokens for 
each one completed correctly ( ORALLY ONLY!!)
Eg.  Hickory, Dickory Dock, the mouse ran up the ____?   The learner 
says CLOCK-- and gets a token.   Aim for one or two tokens per 
session--then three, then four, etc.
Use Shel Silverstein and other highly rhymed poetry also--have the 
learner begin to predict what kind of word will complete the couplet or 
rhyme.
For word counting, first have the learner literally WALK the words in a 
sentence by laying out colored squares of carpet or paper fastened to 
the floor and having him/her repeat the sentence as they walk on the 
squares.   YOu might be really surprised to see how hard this will be 
for them at first.  Continue with similar full-body activities until 
they can say and count four-word sentences well.  Keep a graph or 
record of progress so they can see this--it will be unlike anything 
else they have gotten credit for.  Don't mix in syllables at this 
point.
As for the rhyme, spend only a few minutes a session on this-- it will 
not be effective if the learner's brain is tired--and that fatigue 
happens quickly in a foreign language.
If there is someone who can do these kinds of activities with the 
learners in their first language--especially the word counting-- the 
idea will transfer a bit more readily, I would predict.   The Spanish 
speakers, Iris, should be able to understand the concept of rhyme in 
Spanish with some help from a classmate or teacher who speaks Spanish,  
If there is such a person available, by all means let the learner do 
these activities in Spanish, and then see if the awareness can be 
transferred to English--all without print, as I keep saying.
Once the rhyming gets stronger, you can move to identification of 
initial sounds of words--again assuring total mastery and again, 
reviewing rhyme every other session.   I know with the learners I have 
done rhyme with, it grew in strength very gradually, and review was 
helpful to maintain it.
At the point where first letter sound becomes a strong skill, you can 
begin to introduce letters that produce that sound.   Then you can 
begin to use children's type very early phonics books to give you ideas 
of how to proceed.
As word counting becomes literally easy, then you can move to syllable 
counting-- I find that leap is not very hard- again using the first 
language if the concept can be explained in it.
Again, Google phonemic awareness, and you will get a whole panoply of 
sources with activities for pre-phoneme phonological awareness that can 
be readily adapted to your situations.
Let me give thoughts on the lady from Guadalupe in a second response so 
this doesn't go on too long.
The Cambodian lady has what amounts to dyslexia--though how you would 
get that diagnosed as such is another problem.   In any case, it is 
time for some pretty strong advocacy on your part to her employer 
telling the company or manager or whoever that it is unrealistic to put 
any time limit on her learning English as that is not a time-able 
activitiy.   If anyone is willing to vouch, besides me, that this IS in 
fact, a LD, then unless her job truly requires reading and she was 
hired without reading, there may be solid grounds for a discrimination 
compl aint if the insistence on reading in a certain time persists 
despite your advocacy...
This kind of demand usually comes from ignorance about the language 
acqusition process and obstacles to it. Obviously the lady WANTS to 
learn English or she wouldn't be in your program.
I hope this is helpful.    Robin
-----Original Message-----
From: SandyF61 at aol.com
To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
Sent: Fri, 17 Feb 2006 21:45:29 EST
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] Adult Learners
I also work with beginning learners, most of whom are refugees. Like 
most programs, even if one of my students were diagnosed with some 
learning disabilites, we don't have the resources to make much 
difference.
I have a student from Cambodia. She has good speaking skills but can 
not read or write.? She has never been to school either in Cambodia or 
the US.? I have a retired special ed. teacher who works with her twice 
a week.? She really isn't making much progress and is losing 
confidence.? Her work has told her that she must learn to read so she 
really feels the pressure.
My biggest puzzle is a woman from Guadalupe.? She has been in the US 
for over 10 years and is married to an American.? She speaks French 
with the occasional English word thrown in.? After 20 plus years of 
marriage to an American, three English speaking kids and many ESL 
classes, she still doesn't speak English. However, she can read and 
write in English.
I think she comes to class for the relationships and I'm happy to have 
her there.
?
?
Sandy Fox
Columbia, MO
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From robinschwarz1 at aol.com  Sat Feb 18 17:52:59 2006
From: robinschwarz1 at aol.com (robinschwarz1 at aol.com)
Date: Sat, 18 Feb 2006 17:52:59 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] a lament
In-Reply-To: <0459EA4FEFB2D31195830008C79119310514F358@yosemitesam>
References: <0459EA4FEFB2D31195830008C79119310514F358@yosemitesam>
Message-ID: <8C802F5330F6CAA-728-B254@FWM-D43.sysops.aol.com>
This is for Sandy and Iris --and the mothers on the NIFL LD list of 
those students having such a hard time learning a foreign language in 
school--
Sandy- the lady from Guadalupe is a glowing example of how phonological 
skills can be separate completely-- a phenomenon noted early on in the 
LD/ Foreign/second language literature I referred to in my very first 
communication to this discussion.  If any of you is interested in 
research on this, look up the works of Leonore Ganschow and Richard 
Sparks ( the latter of Mount St. Joseph's college of Ohio).  They have 
written about 100 articles related to foreign language learning and 
learning disabilities.  Many of the recent ones address the topics 
Glenn wrote about--how colleges decide on a waiver etc. and the need 
for really good foreign language instruction.
It is fascinating to me that the world of foreign language difficulties 
and LD have agreed for a long time that some students will do better if 
they can do only one aspect of language-- either listening as speaking 
or reading and writing.   The University of Colorado at Boulder, for 
example, used to--and may still- offer Spanish conversation for those 
whose phonological memory skills were strong but whose phonological 
awarenness was weak ( i.e. speaking and listening skills were strong, 
but reading and writing were weak)   The opposite set of skills, what 
Sandy's lady from Guadalupe exhibits-- strong phonological awareness 
--reading and writing skills, but weak phonological memory-  difficulty 
in acquiring oral/aural skills- was addressed by offering these 
students Latin class, where they didn't have to listen to and pronounce 
the language much at all.   There is, in fact, a fairly robust body of 
literature about offering Latin to students with LD for that very 
purpose.    Funny, isn't it, that TESOL and ESOL teachers' training 
never seems to address that split........?
I worked with a doctor from Colombia with this latter problem-- he 
could--can-- read literally better than I can-- he reads medical texts 
in English at lightning speed and reads the New York Times for 
enjoyment--but he was unable to understand the simplest conversation in 
English or produce grammatically correct or comprehensible sentences 
orally.   He tested as having somewhat weak  phonological memory 
skills--but these were impacted by the strong interference of Spanish 
and by his inability as an adult learner of English to discriminate 
English sounds and words accurately.   Intensive work on minimal pairs 
to help him hear the fine differences more accurately, work on hearing 
and reproducing words in sentences extremely accurately plus a lot of 
expliciti instruction in how English phonology works--that is, how 
stress works, how we run together words in sentences
(as in connecting the regular past tense to following words:  She 
dropped it--becomes "she drop  tit " in speech )  helped him immensely. 
  He now speaks rather deliberately but can apply the rules of English 
grammar very accurately  and speaks in slow but completely 
comprehensible and correct sentences.
A phenomenon noted in research also affected this man-- though he was 
highly literate in English and Spanish, he still applied Spanish 
phonics--sound-symbol correspondences-- to English and so was forever 
puzzled by the resulting mangled words.    This is apparently not an 
uncommon tendency in persons coming from highly regular writing 
systems--they do not consciously notice that English is NOT regular and 
continue to try to apply a regular system to it.
A system I learned from a great friend who is an ESOL teacher for 
having learners sort words in readings by vowel sounds helped the 
doctor enormously in that problem, as well.  My friend uses a grid with 
the 10 basic vowel sounds--long and short, plus the vowel plus 
diphthongs (in English phonics, but they don't need that term)  ( oy, 
ow as in cow) /aw/, and r controlled vowels, --then the students take a 
list of words -- use one-syllable to start with-- and sorts them into 
these boxes.   This helps them see the many spellings of long o, for 
example, or that the other big variety of spellings all have one 
sound-- /aw/ as in paw, call, wasp, etc.   ( this is the phenomenon 
that the program called, I think, Phonographics addresses----that one 
thing can be represented in many ways--as the word flower represents a 
huge variety of things we call flowers; or chair refers to a huge 
variety of seating---in the same way,  long o can be represented in 
writing in many different ways-- a concept children and adults alike 
readily understand once it is explicitly taught to them as such. )
For your student, Sandy, I would recommend some intensive work of the 
sort I just suggested-- work on minimal pairs to hear English sounds 
accurately ( contact me off list for my drill procedure for this) and 
previously I recommended a book called Pronunciation Contrasts in 
English by Nilsen and Nilsen. I have been told it has been recently 
reprinted.
For helping student hear words in sentences accurately, I think a book 
called "Listening Dictation"-which used to be on every ESL program's 
shelves-- may still be available through e-bay or google-- it is by 
Joan Morley, a person who truly understood the listening needs of 
English language learners.   It has lessons designed to help learners 
hear specific words and structures in sentences and to pay attention to 
prepositions and other small words that learners of English tend to 
miss.   It addresses all four skills, too, listening, speaking, writing 
and reading.  It is a marvel of effectiveness, I have always found.
Also for students like yours, and for the others working on 
pre-literacy phonological and listening discrimination skills, books 
and CD's designed for pre-reading listening would be great.    These 
are ESL materials designed to help learners learn the names of things, 
listen for differences such as plurals, the difference between these 
and those and other critical oral information. They have only pictures 
and then a script or a CD with spoken lessons for doing the activities 
related to the pictures.
Caution: I used to recommend books on tape to these learners--but found 
out from my Colombian doctor, who had a work ethic that was  
breathtaking and a drive to learn English that was staggering, that all 
the listening in the world didn't help him understand them easily.    
The speed of the langauge on the tapes was WAY beyond him--no matter 
how simple the content.   ESL materials, on the other hand, will be 
designed to avoid that problem.
Robin
-----Original Message-----
From: iris.broudy at SDH.state.ma.us
To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
Sent: Fri, 17 Feb 2006 09:29:57 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] a lament
Thanks to Robin for hosting this discussion.  I have no answers to 
specific
questions posed this week, but I feel a need to use this forum to 
express my
frustration and sense of helplessness.  I hope you will indulge me.  I 
have
12 years of ESOL experience, in a great variety of settings, and a 
master's
in ESOL. In July 2002, I took a position in correctional education, 
teaching
beginning ESOL to male inmates in a large county facility in 
Massachusetts
that is well-known for its education program.  When I came here, I had 
no
training or experience in working with special-needs students.  Yet, as 
you
all probably know, a great percentage of incarcerated adult students 
have
learning issues. Many of the ESOL students here are nonliterate in their
first language, which in this case is Spanish.  It is difficult to know,
when a nonliterate inmate comes through orientation, why he can't read
because we have no screening protocols.  He simply gets placed in the
beginners class. (This is if his oral SPL is 0 to 2; if he can 
communicate
at an intermediate level but can't read, that's another challenge that 
we
cannot meet.) In rare cases, such as that of Rodolfo, a 21-year-old from
Guatemala, the student simply had not been to school. I initially 
thought
Rodolfo had LDs. In addition to being nonliterate, he seemed unable to
produce oral language. But over time I discovered that Rodolfo lacked
confidence and self-esteem. Eventually, he began speaking (with 
excellent
pronunciation).  As for reading, early on I had little success using a
phonics approach. Then I discovered that he was very good at word
recognition in context.
In most cases, however, there are issues of LDs, head injuries, 
substance
abuse, childhood trauma, low intelligence, etc. Take Anibal (age 30) or 
Jos?
and Hector (both in their late 50s): After months of school, despite
individual work with a peer tutor (inmate) and one-on-one tutoring from 
me
when I could manage it, they still could not read a simple word.  Since 
I've
been here, I have attended several workshops on learning disabilities,
including an excellent one presented a year ago by Robin herself at this
facility.  But I am far from a trained reading specialist. And I cannot 
even
apply what I have learned so long as the special-needs students are
integrated with beginning learners who are literate in L1 and may even 
have
high school diplomas.  Yes, I can provide things like Irlen overlays. 
But we
do not have the resources to creat special-needs ESOL classes. So most 
of
these men sit and do busywork or, when possible, work on computer 
software.
With intensive tutoring, they might be able to learn. But under these
circumstances, they make little or no progress, and because they are
mandated to be in school, they take spaces in class that could go to
students with greater learning potential. So this is my frustration. 
I'm not
trained to teach a large number of our ESOL students, and even if I 
were,
limited resources prevent delivering what they need. I feel that I'm 
burning
out and question the value of what I'm doing.  Perhaps teachers in other
kinds of adult programs face the same issues.
Iris L. Broudy
ESOL Instructor/Programs Dept.
Hampden County Sheriff's Department
627 Randall Road
Ludlow,  MA  01056
(413) 547-8000  ext. 2468
Fax:  (413) 583-3099
iris.broudy at sdh.state.ma.us
-----Original Message-----
From: Julie McKinney [mailto:julie_mcKinney at worlded.org]
Sent: Thursday, February 16, 2006 10:02 AM
To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] Use this address: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
Hi All,
Please note that the correct address to send postings to is:
focusonbasics at nifl.gov
Cut out the"dev":
Those of you who have been with us for a while may still be using the
old address focusonbasics at dev.nifl.gov. This one no longer works.
You can also just reply to a message from the list, but consider if you
want the subject line to match what you are replying to, or if you want
a new one.
Thanks folks!
Julie
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
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From robinschwarz1 at aol.com  Sat Feb 18 18:13:28 2006
From: robinschwarz1 at aol.com (robinschwarz1 at aol.com)
Date: Sat, 18 Feb 2006 18:13:28 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] a lament
In-Reply-To: <43F6ADBB.2000908@isp.com>
References: <0459EA4FEFB2D31195830008C79119310514F358@yosemitesam>
	<43F6ADBB.2000908@isp.com>
Message-ID: <8C802F80FD8890B-171C-BE38@FWM-D07.sysops.aol.com>
Wow-- I really have to object to some of the things in this 
message--particularly number 1 and number 4!!  Yes you CAN help 
everybody-- it depends on what you mean by "help"-- in fact, some of 
the other points contradict this one, because if you hand over learning 
decisions--paired with really good information on what is holding the 
learner up, the learner will ipso facto be "helped" to see that they 
can indeed learn.    And as for having "no expectations"--that sounds 
like the results of having one's own expectations of learners 
disappointed.    Again, it depends on how the expectations are framed.  
If they are framed in terms of teachers' expectations, of course they 
will not be met as we want. If they are framed in terms of doing 
whatever it takes to help a learner learn to learn, then the learner's 
expectations of being able to learn can be readily addressed.
I expect that every learner who has made it to my setting WANTS to 
learn--and I will do whatever I can to help learning happen-- I do NOT 
have expectations of how much or how soon-- I ALWAYS have expectations 
that learning will happen--EVERYONE can learn SOMETHING--it is NOT our 
job to decide what that will be or how it will be learned--but ours to 
help the learner make what they want happen or understand more about 
how it realistically has to happen.
As I have tried to point out to the NIFL lists before, it is incredible 
how much about adult learners' learning barriers can be discovered by 
careful screening and by helping learners learn how to learn, one tiny 
step at a time.  There is a LOT of literature about how the 
metacognitive skills of learners of the type Tom has described in 
earlier messages have never been developed because of the stress, 
physical violence and other dilfficult situations they come out of.  
Therefore, one thing we CAN do as teachers is help these learners learn 
about themselves and about how learning happens in tiny increments by 
guiding them through a consistent process designed to build these 
metacognitive skills.
The teaching processes described in the previous two lessons have 
worked for me and other teachers because they addressed real needs of 
learners and because they presumed no learning until it was 
demonstrated.  I find in my work that extremely often learners are 
presumed to be unable to learn but in fact, teachers are starting too 
high and not taking into account very basic learning needs of these 
learners.  Too many assumptions are made about foundation skills--both 
linguistic and basic skills needed for learning-- and about learners' 
having the necessary "school" skills-- being able to see, process 
visual information in the way we expect, process auditory information 
adequately, copy information, pay attention etc. .  When these skills 
are not firm and then combined with underdeveloped learning in the neo 
cortex and frontal lobes,  of course learning will seem impossible both 
to learner and teacher.
There are extremely effective ways available to evaluate and address 
these needs and skills and then help even the most challenged learner 
begin to find ways to learn.
Robin
-----Original Message-----
From: Woods <woodsnh at isp.com>
To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
Sent: Sat, 18 Feb 2006 00:16:43 -0500
Subject: Re: [FocusOnBasics] a lament
Iris,
You are not alone.I too am a corrections educator. You described a
similar situation to what I see in my job in VT, a simply huge variety
of abilities and levels. Your situation sounds a bit more complicated
than mine because the vast majority of my students are able to speak
English.
I think that the hardest cases for me are when traumatic brain injuries
co-mingle with chronic drug and alcohol abuse. It is so unpredictable
what kinds of learning problems these individuals may experience.
It sounds like you are extremely frustrated with your work with the
offenders. If you are given freedom to develop the education program
where you work, you might look at it as a wonderful opportunity to
create a system that works for your guys where nothing has ever worked
before.
Ten things I've learned as I helped build our high school, the 
Community
High School of Vermont, are:
1. You can't help everybody.
2. Everyone comes to you at his own level and works at his own pace.
3. Some problems of individuals are bigger than education.
4. It is best to have no expectations for your students, not low
expectations. No expectations.
5. Appreciate whatever gains might be made, no matter what they may  be.
6. Every student is good at something.
7. Students have to direct the course of their education. Teachers
assist them.
8. Don't try doing it the other way around or you will fail miserably
and drive all your students away.
9. You may not know when you will gain a new student or lose an old
student so your classes have to be self-standing, not dependent on a
sequence of classes the student may have missed.
10. These things motivate learners. and a motivated learner cannot be
stopped. He will learn more than you ever thought possible, learning 
and
emotional disabilities become irrelevant.
Best wishes,
Tom Woods
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From robinschwarz1 at aol.com  Sat Feb 18 18:18:09 2006
From: robinschwarz1 at aol.com (robinschwarz1 at aol.com)
Date: Sat, 18 Feb 2006 18:18:09 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] Fwd: Three more thoughts on writing
In-Reply-To: <017001c633b7$d089a070$5503fea9@Tomschoice>
References: <8C800BB460518EE-17D8-FD@MBLK-M21.sysops.aol.com>	<8C800C37420B72E-17D8-40D@MBLK-M21.sysops.aol.com>
	<017001c633b7$d089a070$5503fea9@Tomschoice>
Message-ID: <8C802F8B7849797-171C-BE57@FWM-D07.sysops.aol.com>
-----Original Message-----
From: John Nissen <jn at cloudworld.co.uk>
To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
Cc: Debbie Hepplewhite <debbie at syntheticphonics.com>
Sent: Fri, 17 Feb 2006 11:46:38 -0000
Subject: Re: [FocusOnBasics] Fwd: Three more thoughts on writing
Hi Robin,
Interesting point about prevalence of vision problems.  What proportion 
of
your students have this would you say?
I found this with Google, suggesting 3-5% might have a certain type of
binocularity problem called "convergence insufficiency" which would 
affect
their reading.
http://www.emedicine.com/oph/topic553.htm
However it is rare in children, so would hardly ever be a cause for a 
person
not to have been able to learn to read as a child.
Is this "convergence insufficiency" the kind of problem you are 
finding, or
are other problems more common?
Cheers from Chiswick.
John
John Nissen
Cloudworld Ltd - http://www.cloudworld.co.uk
maker of the assistive reader, WordAloud.
Try WordAloud with synthetic phonics:
http://www.cloudworld.co.uk/teaching-synthetic-phonics.htm
Tel: +44 208 742 3170  Fax: +44 208 742 0202
Email: info at cloudworld.co.uk
----- Original Message -----
From: <robinschwarz1 at aol.com>
To: <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
Sent: Thursday, February 16, 2006 3:51 AM
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] Fwd: Three more thoughts on writing
I don't want to forget to mention the amazing Emily Griffiths
Opportunity School in Denver. This is a century-old ESL school for
adults that has a large program for non-literate refugees. They do a
wonderful job--and when I visited in November, the director described a
program for non-literate Somali women that was highly successful in
getting the women to speak, read and write English--very gradually and
gently. Perhaps someone can contact the school and find out more about
how they do it.
Thinking about the writing question also made me think of the Sudanese
I have worked with and another cultural issue--I think I mentioned that
in the article-this was the situation where the learners were not
interested in answering what they considered to be obvious
-ridiculous??--questions. When given a different set of prompts about
topics they were interested in, they did very well.
And finally, I cannot emphasize often enough how important it is to be
sure your adult learners can SEE. Adult ESOL learners typically do not
give vision care very high priority-- yet many have vision challenges.
It is very hard to write clearly and form letters accurately if you
cannot see. Wherever possible I urge that you facilitate eye exams--and
urge the optometrist to check for binocularity problems as well as
acuity problems. Binocularity is the ability to focus both eyes on one
object and keep them there--then move them smoothly together. A
suprising number of adults who struggle to read and write have this
problem. To help your learners in the meantime, provide colored paper
to write on, and larger than usual figures to copy or trace. The
reduced glare and larger figures make it easier to see to write.
Robin
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From robinschwarz1 at aol.com  Sat Feb 18 18:45:00 2006
From: robinschwarz1 at aol.com (robinschwarz1 at aol.com)
Date: Sat, 18 Feb 2006 18:45:00 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] Fwd: Three more thoughts on writing
In-Reply-To: <017001c633b7$d089a070$5503fea9@Tomschoice>
References: <8C800BB460518EE-17D8-FD@MBLK-M21.sysops.aol.com>	<8C800C37420B72E-17D8-40D@MBLK-M21.sysops.aol.com>
	<017001c633b7$d089a070$5503fea9@Tomschoice>
Message-ID: <8C802FC774FAD8C-171C-BEF2@FWM-D07.sysops.aol.com>
John--  as I have pointed out on other lists,  the company I work for 
has data showing that in the population of adult learners identified as 
having a high risk of some serious learning barrier (using a widely 
known and used tool which is a list of 13 questions that were deemed 
sensitive to indicating the presences of some learning barrier or 
other)  50% had vision problems that were uncorrected --including the 
convergence insufficiency--which we call binocularity difficulties, I 
believe (a partly scientific term, I acknowledge).  We have a tool to 
screen for binocularity problems as well as for distance and near point 
acuity.
More prominent however, is a problem your British colleagues call 
visual linked stress syndrome (known here as scotopic sensitivity or 
the Irlen syndrome.) My business partner just spent a week in January 
consulting with four different researchers in Britain about their 
findings and methods of identifying this and about its relationship to 
what you call convergence insufficiency.   In our data, 85% of the 
learners, who were all dentified as struggling to learn (according to 
that screening tool mentioned above),  had this problem.   It is helped 
by use of colored overlays or colored lenses.  The British researchers 
have variously developed a diagnostic process on a computer or with 
lights or another device to identify it and to measure the outcomes 
that change with use of lenses and overlays.  Two of them have 
developed a rather efficient way for having adults choose lenses to 
help those who are significantly affected -- more than just reading.    
One of these researchers is one of the world's leading voices on 
binocularity problems and contends that visual linked stress syndrome 
may be the real reasons many of our learners appear to have 
binocularity problems.  In any case, there is mounting evidence that 
this syndrome has very profound effects on the brain and all it 
processes.
We continue to accrue more data on these learners and this problem-- it 
is undeniable and profound for many.   It does not affect only poor 
readers. We continue to encounter persons who would be considered 
unimpaired because they have graduated from college but who, in fact, 
confess to being highly reading-aversive--they do not read unless they 
absolutely have to because reading is so uncomfortable.  Given 
overlays, these persons, too, become avid and fluent readers.   One 
person we screened in NM reported two months later that though he had 
literally gone from 2nd grade through college without ever reading a 
book because his compensatory skills were so highly developed, he now 
reads 3-5 books PER WEEK and adores reading.    The stories of their 
struggles in school are heart rending because no one believed them when 
they said things moved on the page and reading gave them headaches and 
other physical symptoms.
The easiest way to know that reading problems likely stem from 
visual-related difficulties is if the person can actually decode single 
words effectively --proivded font is large and not on white paper.   If 
they can do that, but cannot read text well or for longer than a few 
minutes without beginning to make a lot of errors such as dropping 
words or lines, losing their place easily, using a finger or pointer to 
read, guessing words or leaving off parts of words , substituting 
letters and words, and read very haltingly, then visual problems must 
be very strongly suspected.  Clearly they have mastered the 
sound-symbol association process but cannot attain fluent reading.    
As noted earlier, these people will almost always tell you that things 
move if shown that in fact, they do NOT move.   We recently screened a 
36 year-old lady-- an 8th grade dropout who was diagnosed as having LD 
in 2nd grade.  She did NOT report that things moved--but when given an 
overlay, looked up in surprise and said that the lines stopped 
swirling-- she said she had never known that they were NOT supposed to 
move.   Her 9-year old daughter had identical symptoms and also 
reported that words and lines stopped "sliding off the page"  and 
disappearing--she was already in remedial reading for her halting and 
inaccurate reading, and like many others, when asked, reported that her 
eyes watered and burned and that she got headaches from reading.   With 
her overlays (she chose two--one color over the other),  she read 
adult-level material fluently.
This puts an awful lot of conclusions about reading fluency outcomes 
and other reading problems in question.......
Cheers back from Ohio--  Robin Schwarz
(
-----Original Message-----
From: John Nissen <jn at cloudworld.co.uk>
To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
Cc: Debbie Hepplewhite <debbie at syntheticphonics.com>
Sent: Fri, 17 Feb 2006 11:46:38 -0000
Subject: Re: [FocusOnBasics] Fwd: Three more thoughts on writing
Hi Robin,
Interesting point about prevalence of vision problems.  What proportion 
of
your students have this would you say?
I found this with Google, suggesting 3-5% might have a certain type of
binocularity problem called "convergence insufficiency" which would 
affect
their reading.
http://www.emedicine.com/oph/topic553.htm
However it is rare in children, so would hardly ever be a cause for a 
person
not to have been able to learn to read as a child.
Is this "convergence insufficiency" the kind of problem you are 
finding, or
are other problems more common?
Cheers from Chiswick.
John
John Nissen
Cloudworld Ltd - http://www.cloudworld.co.uk
maker of the assistive reader, WordAloud.
Try WordAloud with synthetic phonics:
http://www.cloudworld.co.uk/teaching-synthetic-phonics.htm
Tel: +44 208 742 3170  Fax: +44 208 742 0202
Email: info at cloudworld.co.uk
----- Original Message -----
From: <robinschwarz1 at aol.com>
To: <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
Sent: Thursday, February 16, 2006 3:51 AM
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] Fwd: Three more thoughts on writing
I don't want to forget to mention the amazing Emily Griffiths
Opportunity School in Denver. This is a century-old ESL school for
adults that has a large program for non-literate refugees. They do a
wonderful job--and when I visited in November, the director described a
program for non-literate Somali women that was highly successful in
getting the women to speak, read and write English--very gradually and
gently. Perhaps someone can contact the school and find out more about
how they do it.
Thinking about the writing question also made me think of the Sudanese
I have worked with and another cultural issue--I think I mentioned that
in the article-this was the situation where the learners were not
interested in answering what they considered to be obvious
-ridiculous??--questions. When given a different set of prompts about
topics they were interested in, they did very well.
And finally, I cannot emphasize often enough how important it is to be
sure your adult learners can SEE. Adult ESOL learners typically do not
give vision care very high priority-- yet many have vision challenges.
It is very hard to write clearly and form letters accurately if you
cannot see. Wherever possible I urge that you facilitate eye exams--and
urge the optometrist to check for binocularity problems as well as
acuity problems. Binocularity is the ability to focus both eyes on one
object and keep them there--then move them smoothly together. A
suprising number of adults who struggle to read and write have this
problem. To help your learners in the meantime, provide colored paper
to write on, and larger than usual figures to copy or trace. The
reduced glare and larger figures make it easier to see to write.
Robin
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
From robinschwarz1 at aol.com  Sat Feb 18 19:28:22 2006
From: robinschwarz1 at aol.com (robinschwarz1 at aol.com)
Date: Sat, 18 Feb 2006 19:28:22 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] teacher professional development
Message-ID: <8C80302864BF8C9-171C-C004@FWM-D07.sysops.aol.com>
Hi --this is in response to the person from Oregon or Washington and to 
Janet Isserlis on another list, both of whose topic was teacher 
professional development and the fear of overloading teachers with 
information.
This topic is near and dear to my heart.  As I indicated in another 
posting today, it is surprising to me that the field of ESL does not 
seem to prepare teachers for the sort of really hard-core learning 
problems that several readers and responders have mentioned.
In another message on one of the NIFL lists the notion of profesisonal 
development qualification standards for teachers in adult education was 
mentioned.
Frankly, what I often see is that it is too common that teachers in 
adult education and adult ESOL education are woefully unqualified to do 
what they do.   Then learners suffer.   My article in FOB indicated 
that in some of those cases, teachers were simply not prepared to ask 
the right questions or to consider the key issues in adult ESOL 
learners' situations that significantly impact the learners' progress 
in their settings.
Those of you who know me, know that I get pretty passionate on this 
topic.  I believe, as do my business partners, Laura Weisel and Al 
Toops, we are supposed to be in business for the learners, not for the 
tutors and teachers in our programs.  In other words, it is not the 
needs and limitations of the teachers or tutors that should drive 
decisions or policies about how our programs run but rather the needs 
of our learners.  I have advocated for years that there need to be 
minimal qualifications for hiring teachers or tutors to teach adult 
ESOL learners.  I can write an entire book-- and someday will-- of 
stories like those in the article where the learner was somehow blamed 
for no progress when in truth the learner's teacher had no idea how to 
address the learner's real needs.
I agree strongly with Janet that it is essential that the nature of 
learning challenges-- of all kinds, including language learning 
challenges-- be constantly put out to teachers and required reading for 
them.    Though I am sure no program is going to fire its tutors 
because I say so, I certainly hope you will consider a far more 
stringent approach to requiring that those already in your employ 
inform themselves about adult learners and adult ESOL learning,  about 
the very most basic principles of language instruction,  about the 
culture of their learners. etc.    Also, program administrators have 
everything to gain by requiring more training for tutors and better 
experience and qualifications for teachers.  In the end, they will be 
more effective and programs with have better outcomes.  The NCSALL 
research project on learner persistence (2005 --at NCSCALL.net) 
indicated that when tutors were better trained, not only were learners 
happier and tended to persist longer, but tutors also persisted because 
they did not feel so helpless in helping those with significant 
learning needs.
Somewhere recently I saw reference to the suggestion or proposal that 
adult education teachers be subject to qualification much as K-12 
teachers are.  This can only be a good thing for our learners.
And as for LD issues, I know for a well-documented fact that having a 
tutor or teacher who is well meant and kind but does not "get" LD and 
language learning challenges is actually worse for the learner than 
just sitting in a class and trying to absorb something.
Just as for learners, having high expectations for teachers and tutors 
is critical to having an effective program.
As a start for ESOL and learning challengs,  programs might want to 
look at the handbook : Taking Action: A Handbook for Instructors of 
Adult ESOL Learners with Learning Dissablities"  produced and 
distrbuted by the Minnesota Learning Disabilities Association (visit 
www.ldaminnesota.org to find it).  This walks teachers through the 
topic of LD and an approach to determining if other problems might be 
at the root of learning difficulties.
There is also a great handbook for tutors teaching reading to 
English-speaking adults  called The Adult Reading Toolkit ( ART)
Both of these are designed for tutors and teachers who have little 
prior knowledge on the topic--and they are extremely user-friendly and 
beautifully thought out.   --And no, I don't have any financial 
interest in them......
 Robin
From mslaathaug at midco.net  Mon Feb 20 11:40:54 2006
From: mslaathaug at midco.net (Missy Slaathaug)
Date: Mon, 20 Feb 2006 10:40:54 -0600
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] teacher professional development
In-Reply-To: <8C80302864BF8C9-171C-C004@FWM-D07.sysops.aol.com>
Message-ID: <005b01c6363c$6ad46580$070ac90a@explorit3>
Hi Robin - it was South Dakota, one of those nameless flyover states!
 
And I couldn't agree with you more that teachers absolutely need to be
trained and educated in this.  My comment was only that too much
information in the very first teacher training may be wasted or even
counter-productive.  Teachers can only absorb so much in one six hour
training, and usually until they have begun to teach they don't have a
conceptual framework to help them process much information.  They are
hungry for classroom strategies and techniques - they want to know what
to DO in the multi-level classroom that they are facing the very next
week.  
 
But as for ongoing training and higher expectations for adult ed
teachers, and the entire rest of your posting, I couldn't agree with you
more.  
 
Missy Slaathaug
Pierre, South Dakota
 
-----Original Message-----
From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of
robinschwarz1 at aol.com
Sent: Saturday, February 18, 2006 6:28 PM
To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] teacher professional development
 
Hi --this is in response to the person from Oregon or Washington and to 
Janet Isserlis on another list, both of whose topic was teacher 
professional development and the fear of overloading teachers with 
information.
 
This topic is near and dear to my heart.  As I indicated in another 
posting today, it is surprising to me that the field of ESL does not 
seem to prepare teachers for the sort of really hard-core learning 
problems that several readers and responders have mentioned.
 
In another message on one of the NIFL lists the notion of profesisonal 
development qualification standards for teachers in adult education was 
mentioned.
 
Frankly, what I often see is that it is too common that teachers in 
adult education and adult ESOL education are woefully unqualified to do 
what they do.   Then learners suffer.   My article in FOB indicated 
that in some of those cases, teachers were simply not prepared to ask 
the right questions or to consider the key issues in adult ESOL 
learners' situations that significantly impact the learners' progress 
in their settings.
 
Those of you who know me, know that I get pretty passionate on this 
topic.  I believe, as do my business partners, Laura Weisel and Al 
Toops, we are supposed to be in business for the learners, not for the 
tutors and teachers in our programs.  In other words, it is not the 
needs and limitations of the teachers or tutors that should drive 
decisions or policies about how our programs run but rather the needs 
of our learners.  I have advocated for years that there need to be 
minimal qualifications for hiring teachers or tutors to teach adult 
ESOL learners.  I can write an entire book-- and someday will-- of 
stories like those in the article where the learner was somehow blamed 
for no progress when in truth the learner's teacher had no idea how to 
address the learner's real needs.
 
I agree strongly with Janet that it is essential that the nature of 
learning challenges-- of all kinds, including language learning 
challenges-- be constantly put out to teachers and required reading for 
them.    Though I am sure no program is going to fire its tutors 
because I say so, I certainly hope you will consider a far more 
stringent approach to requiring that those already in your employ 
inform themselves about adult learners and adult ESOL learning,  about 
the very most basic principles of language instruction,  about the 
culture of their learners. etc.    Also, program administrators have 
everything to gain by requiring more training for tutors and better 
experience and qualifications for teachers.  In the end, they will be 
more effective and programs with have better outcomes.  The NCSALL 
research project on learner persistence (2005 --at NCSCALL.net) 
indicated that when tutors were better trained, not only were learners 
happier and tended to persist longer, but tutors also persisted because 
they did not feel so helpless in helping those with significant 
learning needs.
 
Somewhere recently I saw reference to the suggestion or proposal that 
adult education teachers be subject to qualification much as K-12 
teachers are.  This can only be a good thing for our learners.
 
And as for LD issues, I know for a well-documented fact that having a 
tutor or teacher who is well meant and kind but does not "get" LD and 
language learning challenges is actually worse for the learner than 
just sitting in a class and trying to absorb something.
 
Just as for learners, having high expectations for teachers and tutors 
is critical to having an effective program.
 
As a start for ESOL and learning challengs,  programs might want to 
look at the handbook : Taking Action: A Handbook for Instructors of 
Adult ESOL Learners with Learning Dissablities"  produced and 
distrbuted by the Minnesota Learning Disabilities Association (visit 
www.ldaminnesota.org to find it).  This walks teachers through the 
topic of LD and an approach to determining if other problems might be 
at the root of learning difficulties.
 
There is also a great handbook for tutors teaching reading to 
English-speaking adults  called The Adult Reading Toolkit ( ART)
 
Both of these are designed for tutors and teachers who have little 
prior knowledge on the topic--and they are extremely user-friendly and 
beautifully thought out.   --And no, I don't have any financial 
interest in them......
 
 
 Robin
 
 
 
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
 
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From jn at cloudworld.co.uk  Mon Feb 20 17:48:45 2006
From: jn at cloudworld.co.uk (John Nissen)
Date: Mon, 20 Feb 2006 22:48:45 -0000
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] Assessment - Re: More information on Reading
References: <5.1.0.14.2.20051129124326.03af4ad0@pop.utk.edu>
Message-ID: <00f301c6366f$cec4edc0$0302a8c0@Tomschoice>
Hello Aaron,
We are wondering about assessment over here in UK, in anticipation of the 
government adopting synthetic phonics for teaching in schools.  You mention 
http://eff.cls.utk.edu/assessment/read5.htm as a source of a standard for 
assessment.  But the mention of "selecting a reading strategy" and "using 
various strategies" (for decoding and word recognition), makes it 
inappropriate for us.  The reason why our National Literacy Strategy has 
failed is that a mixture of strategies has been recommended - in particular 
a process of "multi-cueing" where the learning reader is expected to guess a 
word from various cues or clues, including pictures, context, comparison 
with known sight words, and, lastly, the sound of the first letter. 
Synthetic phonics sweeps all that away, and lets the reader concentrate on 
the decoding process - a single strategy if you like.  Thus assessment has 
now to be geared to determining how well that process has been learnt, 
reflecting inevitably on how well that process has been taught.  I believe 
that the assessment should be applied to the learning and teaching of 
literacy, regardless of the age of the learner, where comprehension is not 
an issue, i.e. where English is the mother tongue.  (Obviously, when 
comprehension is an issue, there need to be additional tests for 
comprehension.)  Are any States adopting this kind of assessment, for 
children and/or adult learners?  Here in UK, we'd like to learn from others' 
experience.
Cheers from Chiswick,
John
John Nissen
Cloudworld Ltd - http://www.cloudworld.co.uk
maker of the assistive reader, WordAloud.
Try WordAloud with synthetic phonics:
http://www.cloudworld.co.uk/teaching-synthetic-phonics.htm
Tel: +44 208 742 3170  Fax: +44 208 742 0202
Email: info at cloudworld.co.uk
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Aaron Kohring" <akohring at utk.edu>
To: <focusonbasics at dev.nifl.gov>
Sent: Tuesday, November 29, 2005 5:46 PM
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] More information on Reading
> Hi all,
>
> Barb, you are correct that there are no "National Standards". Most states 
> have adopted, adapted, or developed their own set of standards.
>
> Bryan-
> In beginning reading, you can see what EFF learned from research and data 
> from the field: http://eff.cls.utk.edu/assessment/read5.htm
>
> I'd also recommend looking at some of the information available on Reading 
> from other states at OVAE's Standards Warehouse: 
> http://www.adultedcontentstandards.org/Source/GetStandard.asp
>
> You may also want to post your question to the Adult Education Content 
> Standards Discussion List (contentstandards at dev.nifl.gov).  Members of 
> that list may be able to give you further information.
>
> Aaron
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: focusonbasics-bounces at dev.nifl.gov
> [mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at dev.nifl.gov]On Behalf Of Barbara Garner
> Sent: Tuesday, November 22, 2005 6:08 PM
> To: Halcomb, Becky (Southeast); The Focus on Basics Discussion List
> Subject: Re: RE: [FocusOnBasics] One-Stop/EFF Conference
>
> Thanks, Becky.
> Does anyone else have suggestions for Bryan? There are not national 
> standards as far as I know; do any states have standards for beginning 
> reading?
> What do the EFF standards say?
> Barb Garner
> From: "Halcomb, Becky (Southeast)" <rebecca.halcomb at kctcs.edu>
> Date: Tue Nov 22 16:27:42 CST 2005
> To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List <focusonbasics at dev.nifl.gov>
> Subject: RE: [FocusOnBasics] One-Stop/EFF Conference
> Bryan,
> I hope this will help you in your search. I found this website to be
> very informative and hope you will too.
> http://www.nifl.gov/partnershipforreading/adult_reading/adult_reading.ht
> ml
> Rebecca
> -----Original Message-----
> From: focusonbasics-bounces at dev.nifl.gov
> [mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at dev.nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Bryan A. Wilson
> Sent: Monday, November 21, 2005 6:09 PM
> To: b.garner4 at verizon.net; 'The Focus on Basics Discussion List'
> Subject: RE: [FocusOnBasics] One-Stop/EFF Conference
> Barbara (and anyone else),
> Do you have any national standards for beginning reading? You know,
> things
> that speak of phonetic awareness, decoding strategies, fluency levels,
> etc?
> Bryan
>
>
>
> Aaron Kohring
> Coordinator, LINCS Literacy & Learning Disabilities Special Collection
> Moderator, NIFL Content Standards Discussion List
>
> Center for Literacy Studies, University of Tennessee
> EFF Center for Training and Technical Assistance
> Phone:(865) 974-4109 main
>           (865) 974-4258 direct
> Fax:   (865) 974-3857
> e-mail: akohring at utk.edu
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------
> National Insitute for Literacy
> Focus on Basics mailing list
> FocusOnBasics at dev.nifl.gov
> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to 
> http://dev.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
> 
From robinschwarz1 at aol.com  Mon Feb 20 21:15:42 2006
From: robinschwarz1 at aol.com (robinschwarz1 at aol.com)
Date: Mon, 20 Feb 2006 21:15:42 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] teacher professional development
In-Reply-To: <005b01c6363c$6ad46580$070ac90a@explorit3>
Message-ID: <8C804A3DA04664C-8A4-2D9C@mblk-r40.sysops.aol.com>
Thanks for the clarification, Missy-- yes it CAN get overwhelming, but 
maybe teachers, like our learners, need a longer entry into the 
work--if it were framed as a privilege to be earned to be able to work 
with learners and not something with automatic access, the notion of 
having to be more informed and prepared might fly better......Some 
adult programs are now doing this for extended orientations--- 
requiring that learners complete some sort of orientation or 
preparation in order to get a tutor or assigned to a class.    Robin
-----Original Message-----
From: Missy Slaathaug <mslaathaug at midco.net>
To: 'The Focus on Basics Discussion List' <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
Sent: Mon, 20 Feb 2006 10:40:54 -0600
Subject: Re: [FocusOnBasics] teacher professional development
Hi Robin - it was South Dakota, one of those nameless flyover states!
?
And I couldn't agree with you more that teachers absolutely need to be 
trained and educated in this.? My comment was only that too much 
information in the very first teacher training may be wasted or even 
counter-productive. ?Teachers can only absorb so much in one six hour 
training, and usually until they have begun to teach they don't have a 
conceptual framework to help them process much information. ?They are 
hungry for classroom strategies and techniques - they want to know what 
to DO in the multi-level classroom that they are facing the very next 
week.?
?
But as for ongoing training and higher expectations for adult ed 
teachers, and the entire rest of your posting, I couldn't agree with 
you more. ?
?
Missy Slaathaug
Pierre, South Dakota
?
-----Original Message-----
 From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov 
[mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of 
robinschwarz1 at aol.com
Sent: Saturday, February 18, 2006 6:28 PM
To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] teacher professional development
?
Hi --this is in response to the person from Oregon or Washington and to
Janet Isserlis on another list, both of whose topic was teacher
professional development and the fear of overloading teachers with
information.
?
This topic is near and dear to my heart.? As I indicated in another
posting today, it is surprising to me that the field of ESL does not
seem to prepare teachers for the sort of really hard-core learning
problems that several readers and responders have mentioned.
?
In another message on one of the NIFL lists the notion of profesisonal
development qualification standards for teachers in adult education was
mentioned.
?
Frankly, what I often see is that it is too common that teachers in
adult education and adult ESOL education are woefully unqualified to do
what they do.?? Then learners suffer.?? My article in FOB indicated
that in some of those cases, teachers were simply not prepared to ask
the right questions or to consider the key issues in adult ESOL
learners' situations that significantly impact the learners' progress
in their settings.
?
Those of you who know me, know that I get pretty passionate on this
topic.? I believe, as do my business partners, Laura Weisel and Al
Toops, we are supposed to be in business for the learners, not for the
tutors and teachers in our programs.? In other words, it is not the
needs and limitations of the teachers or tutors that should drive
decisions or policies about how our programs run but rather the needs
of our learners.? I have advocated for years that there need to be
minimal qualifications for hiring teachers or tutors to teach adult
ESOL learners.? I can write an entire book-- and someday will-- of
stories like those in the article where the learner was somehow blamed
for no progress when in truth the learner's teacher had no idea how to
address the learner's real needs.
?
I agree strongly with Janet that it is essential that the nature of
learning challenges-- of all kinds, including language learning
challenges-- be constantly put out to teachers and required reading for
them.??? Though I am sure no program is going to fire its tutors
because I say so, I certainly hope you will consider a far more
stringent approach to requiring that those already in your employ
inform themselves about adult learners and adult ESOL learning,? about
the very most basic principles of language instruction,? about the
culture of their learners. etc.??? Also, program administrators have
everything to gain by requiring more training for tutors and better
experience and qualifications for teachers.? In the end, they will be
more effective and programs with have better outcomes.? The NCSALL
research project on learner persistence (2005 --at NCSCALL.net)
indicated that when tutors were better trained, not only were learners
happier and tended to persist longer, but tutors also persisted because
they did not feel so helpless in helping those with significant
learning needs.
?
Somewhere recently I saw reference to the suggestion or proposal that
adult education teachers be subject to qualification much as K-12
teachers are.? This can only be a good thing for our learners.
?
And as for LD issues, I know for a well-documented fact that having a
tutor or teacher who is well meant and kind but does not "get" LD and
language learning challenges is actually worse for the learner than
just sitting in a class and trying to absorb something.
?
Just as for learners, having high expectations for teachers and tutors
is critical to having an effective program.
?
As a start for ESOL and learning challengs,? programs might want to
look at the handbook : Taking Action: A Handbook for Instructors of
Adult ESOL Learners with Learning Dissablities"? produced and
distrbuted by the Minnesota Learning Disabilities Association (visit
www.ldaminnesota.org to find it).? This walks teachers through the
topic of LD and an approach to determining if other problems might be
at the root of learning difficulties.
?
There is also a great handbook for tutors teaching reading to
English-speaking adults? called The Adult Reading Toolkit ( ART)
?
Both of these are designed for tutors and teachers who have little
prior knowledge on the topic--and they are extremely user-friendly and
beautifully thought out.?? --And no, I don't have any financial
interest in them......
?
?
?Robin
?
?
?
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to 
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
?
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
From sandyc at bigbend.edu  Mon Feb 20 12:59:03 2006
From: sandyc at bigbend.edu (Cheek, Sandy)
Date: Mon, 20 Feb 2006 09:59:03 -0800
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] teacher professional development
Message-ID: <7905AF1D688C9F47B9C9E338C4FE315F011EA5B8@MAIL.bigbend.edu>
HI all,
Some thoughts to add to Robin's:
It's true that better training for teachers and tutors will result in
more and better student outcomes. That's kind of an inarguable point.
However: that is also assuming that there is a plethora of teachers and
tutors out there, and we have the luxury of being highly selective when
it comes to choosing volunteer tutors and teachers. That's simply  not
the reality. Oftentimes the opposite is true: we have to accept those
who are willing to learn but inexperienced, and do the best we can to
inspire and train them. 
Teaching has never been a field that attracts a huge number of people.
There are realities around pay, job security, and benefits that have had
the effect of reducing the numbers of people interested in this
profession.  I consider myself lucky when I get someone in my office who
expresses an interest in teaching for me on a part-time basis, who may
have limited teaching experience, but has a sincere desire to "give
back" to their community.  
So the question really is:  Should we aspire to fewer, but better
trained teachers and tutors (which would be the reality if we became
more stringent in our selection criteria)? I know that if I were to
require additional training and certification for tutors and teachers, I
would lose a significant number of my teachers. And know that these are
GOOD teachers, but most of them work full-time during the day, or are
stay-at-home moms, and work for me in the evenings teaching part-time,
and they don't have much spare time beyond those commitments.  
I don't have the answers, but it's important to balance our idealism
with the realities of the profession when considering future directions.
Sandy Cheek
Sandy Cheek 
Director of Basic Skills 
Big Bend Community College 
7662 Chanute Street NE 
Moses Lake, WA  98837 
509.793.2305 
toll-free 877.745.1212 
fax 509.762.2696 
 
________________________________
From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Missy Slaathaug
Sent: Monday, February 20, 2006 8:41 AM
To: 'The Focus on Basics Discussion List'
Subject: Re: [FocusOnBasics] teacher professional development
Hi Robin - it was South Dakota, one of those nameless flyover states!
 
And I couldn't agree with you more that teachers absolutely need to be
trained and educated in this.  My comment was only that too much
information in the very first teacher training may be wasted or even
counter-productive.  Teachers can only absorb so much in one six hour
training, and usually until they have begun to teach they don't have a
conceptual framework to help them process much information.  They are
hungry for classroom strategies and techniques - they want to know what
to DO in the multi-level classroom that they are facing the very next
week.  
 
But as for ongoing training and higher expectations for adult ed
teachers, and the entire rest of your posting, I couldn't agree with you
more.  
 
Missy Slaathaug
Pierre, South Dakota
 
-----Original Message-----
From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of
robinschwarz1 at aol.com
Sent: Saturday, February 18, 2006 6:28 PM
To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] teacher professional development
 
Hi --this is in response to the person from Oregon or Washington and to 
Janet Isserlis on another list, both of whose topic was teacher 
professional development and the fear of overloading teachers with 
information.
 
This topic is near and dear to my heart.  As I indicated in another 
posting today, it is surprising to me that the field of ESL does not 
seem to prepare teachers for the sort of really hard-core learning 
problems that several readers and responders have mentioned.
 
In another message on one of the NIFL lists the notion of profesisonal 
development qualification standards for teachers in adult education was 
mentioned.
 
Frankly, what I often see is that it is too common that teachers in 
adult education and adult ESOL education are woefully unqualified to do 
what they do.   Then learners suffer.   My article in FOB indicated 
that in some of those cases, teachers were simply not prepared to ask 
the right questions or to consider the key issues in adult ESOL 
learners' situations that significantly impact the learners' progress 
in their settings.
 
Those of you who know me, know that I get pretty passionate on this 
topic.  I believe, as do my business partners, Laura Weisel and Al 
Toops, we are supposed to be in business for the learners, not for the 
tutors and teachers in our programs.  In other words, it is not the 
needs and limitations of the teachers or tutors that should drive 
decisions or policies about how our programs run but rather the needs 
of our learners.  I have advocated for years that there need to be 
minimal qualifications for hiring teachers or tutors to teach adult 
ESOL learners.  I can write an entire book-- and someday will-- of 
stories like those in the article where the learner was somehow blamed 
for no progress when in truth the learner's teacher had no idea how to 
address the learner's real needs.
 
I agree strongly with Janet that it is essential that the nature of 
learning challenges-- of all kinds, including language learning 
challenges-- be constantly put out to teachers and required reading for 
them.    Though I am sure no program is going to fire its tutors 
because I say so, I certainly hope you will consider a far more 
stringent approach to requiring that those already in your employ 
inform themselves about adult learners and adult ESOL learning,  about 
the very most basic principles of language instruction,  about the 
culture of their learners. etc.    Also, program administrators have 
everything to gain by requiring more training for tutors and better 
experience and qualifications for teachers.  In the end, they will be 
more effective and programs with have better outcomes.  The NCSALL 
research project on learner persistence (2005 --at NCSCALL.net) 
indicated that when tutors were better trained, not only were learners 
happier and tended to persist longer, but tutors also persisted because 
they did not feel so helpless in helping those with significant 
learning needs.
 
Somewhere recently I saw reference to the suggestion or proposal that 
adult education teachers be subject to qualification much as K-12 
teachers are.  This can only be a good thing for our learners.
 
And as for LD issues, I know for a well-documented fact that having a 
tutor or teacher who is well meant and kind but does not "get" LD and 
language learning challenges is actually worse for the learner than 
just sitting in a class and trying to absorb something.
 
Just as for learners, having high expectations for teachers and tutors 
is critical to having an effective program.
 
As a start for ESOL and learning challengs,  programs might want to 
look at the handbook : Taking Action: A Handbook for Instructors of 
Adult ESOL Learners with Learning Dissablities"  produced and 
distrbuted by the Minnesota Learning Disabilities Association (visit 
www.ldaminnesota.org to find it).  This walks teachers through the 
topic of LD and an approach to determining if other problems might be 
at the root of learning difficulties.
 
There is also a great handbook for tutors teaching reading to 
English-speaking adults  called The Adult Reading Toolkit ( ART)
 
Both of these are designed for tutors and teachers who have little 
prior knowledge on the topic--and they are extremely user-friendly and 
beautifully thought out.   --And no, I don't have any financial 
interest in them......
 
 
 Robin
 
 
 
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
 
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From vanillaicy at hotmail.co.uk  Mon Feb 20 13:16:38 2006
From: vanillaicy at hotmail.co.uk (Aliya AbdulLatif)
Date: Mon, 20 Feb 2006 18:16:38 +0000
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] teacher professional development
In-Reply-To: <005b01c6363c$6ad46580$070ac90a@explorit3>
Message-ID: <BAY15-F11A30BCCFA77E4D39645C890FF0@phx.gbl>
I am in UK and training to be a Literacy Tutor but so far except one 
excercise everything else we are being trained in does not make any sense. 
Well, not to me because I have studied linguistics before but most of my 
colleagues are facing difficulties trying to grasp the whole training 
aspects. I believe the training should be more practical. We can write 
tonnes of assignments but that will only show our skills of writing and not 
teaching or pdegogy.
>From: "Missy Slaathaug" <mslaathaug at midco.net>
>Reply-To: mslaathaug at midco.net,The Focus on Basics Discussion List 
><focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
>To: "'The Focus on Basics Discussion List'" <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
>Subject: Re: [FocusOnBasics] teacher professional development
>Date: Mon, 20 Feb 2006 10:40:54 -0600
>
>Hi Robin - it was South Dakota, one of those nameless flyover states!
>
>And I couldn't agree with you more that teachers absolutely need to be
>trained and educated in this.  My comment was only that too much
>information in the very first teacher training may be wasted or even
>counter-productive.  Teachers can only absorb so much in one six hour
>training, and usually until they have begun to teach they don't have a
>conceptual framework to help them process much information.  They are
>hungry for classroom strategies and techniques - they want to know what
>to DO in the multi-level classroom that they are facing the very next
>week.
>
>But as for ongoing training and higher expectations for adult ed
>teachers, and the entire rest of your posting, I couldn't agree with you
>more.
>
>Missy Slaathaug
>Pierre, South Dakota
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov
>[mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of
>robinschwarz1 at aol.com
>Sent: Saturday, February 18, 2006 6:28 PM
>To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
>Subject: [FocusOnBasics] teacher professional development
>
>Hi --this is in response to the person from Oregon or Washington and to
>Janet Isserlis on another list, both of whose topic was teacher
>professional development and the fear of overloading teachers with
>information.
>
>This topic is near and dear to my heart.  As I indicated in another
>posting today, it is surprising to me that the field of ESL does not
>seem to prepare teachers for the sort of really hard-core learning
>problems that several readers and responders have mentioned.
>
>In another message on one of the NIFL lists the notion of profesisonal
>development qualification standards for teachers in adult education was
>mentioned.
>
>Frankly, what I often see is that it is too common that teachers in
>adult education and adult ESOL education are woefully unqualified to do
>what they do.   Then learners suffer.   My article in FOB indicated
>that in some of those cases, teachers were simply not prepared to ask
>the right questions or to consider the key issues in adult ESOL
>learners' situations that significantly impact the learners' progress
>in their settings.
>
>Those of you who know me, know that I get pretty passionate on this
>topic.  I believe, as do my business partners, Laura Weisel and Al
>Toops, we are supposed to be in business for the learners, not for the
>tutors and teachers in our programs.  In other words, it is not the
>needs and limitations of the teachers or tutors that should drive
>decisions or policies about how our programs run but rather the needs
>of our learners.  I have advocated for years that there need to be
>minimal qualifications for hiring teachers or tutors to teach adult
>ESOL learners.  I can write an entire book-- and someday will-- of
>stories like those in the article where the learner was somehow blamed
>for no progress when in truth the learner's teacher had no idea how to
>address the learner's real needs.
>
>I agree strongly with Janet that it is essential that the nature of
>learning challenges-- of all kinds, including language learning
>challenges-- be constantly put out to teachers and required reading for
>them.    Though I am sure no program is going to fire its tutors
>because I say so, I certainly hope you will consider a far more
>stringent approach to requiring that those already in your employ
>inform themselves about adult learners and adult ESOL learning,  about
>the very most basic principles of language instruction,  about the
>culture of their learners. etc.    Also, program administrators have
>everything to gain by requiring more training for tutors and better
>experience and qualifications for teachers.  In the end, they will be
>more effective and programs with have better outcomes.  The NCSALL
>research project on learner persistence (2005 --at NCSCALL.net)
>indicated that when tutors were better trained, not only were learners
>happier and tended to persist longer, but tutors also persisted because
>they did not feel so helpless in helping those with significant
>learning needs.
>
>Somewhere recently I saw reference to the suggestion or proposal that
>adult education teachers be subject to qualification much as K-12
>teachers are.  This can only be a good thing for our learners.
>
>And as for LD issues, I know for a well-documented fact that having a
>tutor or teacher who is well meant and kind but does not "get" LD and
>language learning challenges is actually worse for the learner than
>just sitting in a class and trying to absorb something.
>
>Just as for learners, having high expectations for teachers and tutors
>is critical to having an effective program.
>
>As a start for ESOL and learning challengs,  programs might want to
>look at the handbook : Taking Action: A Handbook for Instructors of
>Adult ESOL Learners with Learning Dissablities"  produced and
>distrbuted by the Minnesota Learning Disabilities Association (visit
>www.ldaminnesota.org to find it).  This walks teachers through the
>topic of LD and an approach to determining if other problems might be
>at the root of learning difficulties.
>
>There is also a great handbook for tutors teaching reading to
>English-speaking adults  called The Adult Reading Toolkit ( ART)
>
>Both of these are designed for tutors and teachers who have little
>prior knowledge on the topic--and they are extremely user-friendly and
>beautifully thought out.   --And no, I don't have any financial
>interest in them......
>
>
>  Robin
>
>
>
>----------------------------------------------------
>National Institute for Literacy
>Focus on Basics mailing list
>FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
>To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
>http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
>
>----------------------------------------------------
>National Institute for Literacy
>Focus on Basics mailing list
>FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
>To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to 
>http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
_________________________________________________________________
The new MSN Search Toolbar now includes Desktop search! 
http://toolbar.msn.co.uk/
From julie_mcKinney at worlded.org  Tue Feb 21 01:07:28 2006
From: julie_mcKinney at worlded.org (Julie  McKinney)
Date: Tue, 21 Feb 2006 01:07:28 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] One More Day
Message-ID: <s3fa67f0.008@mail.jsi.com>
Hi All,
A quick reminder that Robin's informative and enlightening guest week
for this discussion on Struggling ESOL Learners ends tomorrow (Wed). We
can all keep discussing these issues further, but if you have more
questions or comments for Robin, please post them within the next day.
Thanks,
Julie
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
From jn at cloudworld.co.uk  Tue Feb 21 04:35:57 2006
From: jn at cloudworld.co.uk (John Nissen)
Date: Tue, 21 Feb 2006 09:35:57 -0000
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] teacher professional development
References: <BAY15-F11A30BCCFA77E4D39645C890FF0@phx.gbl>
Message-ID: <019a01c636ca$38494f20$0302a8c0@Tomschoice>
Hi Aliya,
It is very good to have a person who understands linguistics teaching 
literacy, because many teachers flounder through lack of understanding of 
the elements of language.  My particular concern is that, with the UK going 
over to synthetic phonics, teachers will not understand the basis of that 
change, and will continue in their old ways whilst trying to bolt on the 
phonics.  This will not work, and when they get poor results they will blame 
the method.  So we really need to have good guidance to teachers, with 
practical advice on how to teach in various settings and how to teach 
learners with particular problems, including vision or hearing impairment, 
attention deficit, language understanding, conceptual misunderstandings, 
memory of sounds, etc.  At the moment such guidance is lacking, and we 
intend to do something about this.  We know that there are already some good 
programmes to follow, such as Jolly Phonics, but without the teacher 
understanding the basis for synthetic phonics, and without practical advice, 
the teacher is liable to fail to implement the method properly and obtain 
the 100% success which was shown to be possible in Clackmannanshire.  So 
good guidance will be crucial in teacher training.
Best wishes,
John
John Nissen
Cloudworld Ltd - http://www.cloudworld.co.uk
maker of the assistive reader, WordAloud.
Try WordAloud with synthetic phonics:
http://www.cloudworld.co.uk/teaching-synthetic-phonics.htm
Tel: +44 208 742 3170  Fax: +44 208 742 0202
Email: info at cloudworld.co.uk
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Aliya AbdulLatif" <vanillaicy at hotmail.co.uk>
To: <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
Sent: Monday, February 20, 2006 6:16 PM
Subject: Re: [FocusOnBasics] teacher professional development
>
> I am in UK and training to be a Literacy Tutor but so far except one
> excercise everything else we are being trained in does not make any sense.
> Well, not to me because I have studied linguistics before but most of my
> colleagues are facing difficulties trying to grasp the whole training
> aspects. I believe the training should be more practical. We can write
> tonnes of assignments but that will only show our skills of writing and 
> not
> teaching or pdegogy.
>
>>From: "Missy Slaathaug" <mslaathaug at midco.net>
>>Reply-To: mslaathaug at midco.net,The Focus on Basics Discussion List
>><focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
>>To: "'The Focus on Basics Discussion List'" <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
>>Subject: Re: [FocusOnBasics] teacher professional development
>>Date: Mon, 20 Feb 2006 10:40:54 -0600
>>
>>Hi Robin - it was South Dakota, one of those nameless flyover states!
>>
>>And I couldn't agree with you more that teachers absolutely need to be
>>trained and educated in this.  My comment was only that too much
>>information in the very first teacher training may be wasted or even
>>counter-productive.  Teachers can only absorb so much in one six hour
>>training, and usually until they have begun to teach they don't have a
>>conceptual framework to help them process much information.  They are
>>hungry for classroom strategies and techniques - they want to know what
>>to DO in the multi-level classroom that they are facing the very next
>>week.
>>
>>But as for ongoing training and higher expectations for adult ed
>>teachers, and the entire rest of your posting, I couldn't agree with you
>>more.
>>
>>Missy Slaathaug
>>Pierre, South Dakota
>>
>>-----Original Message-----
>>From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov
>>[mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of
>>robinschwarz1 at aol.com
>>Sent: Saturday, February 18, 2006 6:28 PM
>>To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
>>Subject: [FocusOnBasics] teacher professional development
>>
>>Hi --this is in response to the person from Oregon or Washington and to
>>Janet Isserlis on another list, both of whose topic was teacher
>>professional development and the fear of overloading teachers with
>>information.
>>
>>This topic is near and dear to my heart.  As I indicated in another
>>posting today, it is surprising to me that the field of ESL does not
>>seem to prepare teachers for the sort of really hard-core learning
>>problems that several readers and responders have mentioned.
>>
>>In another message on one of the NIFL lists the notion of profesisonal
>>development qualification standards for teachers in adult education was
>>mentioned.
>>
>>Frankly, what I often see is that it is too common that teachers in
>>adult education and adult ESOL education are woefully unqualified to do
>>what they do.   Then learners suffer.   My article in FOB indicated
>>that in some of those cases, teachers were simply not prepared to ask
>>the right questions or to consider the key issues in adult ESOL
>>learners' situations that significantly impact the learners' progress
>>in their settings.
>>
>>Those of you who know me, know that I get pretty passionate on this
>>topic.  I believe, as do my business partners, Laura Weisel and Al
>>Toops, we are supposed to be in business for the learners, not for the
>>tutors and teachers in our programs.  In other words, it is not the
>>needs and limitations of the teachers or tutors that should drive
>>decisions or policies about how our programs run but rather the needs
>>of our learners.  I have advocated for years that there need to be
>>minimal qualifications for hiring teachers or tutors to teach adult
>>ESOL learners.  I can write an entire book-- and someday will-- of
>>stories like those in the article where the learner was somehow blamed
>>for no progress when in truth the learner's teacher had no idea how to
>>address the learner's real needs.
>>
>>I agree strongly with Janet that it is essential that the nature of
>>learning challenges-- of all kinds, including language learning
>>challenges-- be constantly put out to teachers and required reading for
>>them.    Though I am sure no program is going to fire its tutors
>>because I say so, I certainly hope you will consider a far more
>>stringent approach to requiring that those already in your employ
>>inform themselves about adult learners and adult ESOL learning,  about
>>the very most basic principles of language instruction,  about the
>>culture of their learners. etc.    Also, program administrators have
>>everything to gain by requiring more training for tutors and better
>>experience and qualifications for teachers.  In the end, they will be
>>more effective and programs with have better outcomes.  The NCSALL
>>research project on learner persistence (2005 --at NCSCALL.net)
>>indicated that when tutors were better trained, not only were learners
>>happier and tended to persist longer, but tutors also persisted because
>>they did not feel so helpless in helping those with significant
>>learning needs.
>>
>>Somewhere recently I saw reference to the suggestion or proposal that
>>adult education teachers be subject to qualification much as K-12
>>teachers are.  This can only be a good thing for our learners.
>>
>>And as for LD issues, I know for a well-documented fact that having a
>>tutor or teacher who is well meant and kind but does not "get" LD and
>>language learning challenges is actually worse for the learner than
>>just sitting in a class and trying to absorb something.
>>
>>Just as for learners, having high expectations for teachers and tutors
>>is critical to having an effective program.
>>
>>As a start for ESOL and learning challengs,  programs might want to
>>look at the handbook : Taking Action: A Handbook for Instructors of
>>Adult ESOL Learners with Learning Dissablities"  produced and
>>distrbuted by the Minnesota Learning Disabilities Association (visit
>>www.ldaminnesota.org to find it).  This walks teachers through the
>>topic of LD and an approach to determining if other problems might be
>>at the root of learning difficulties.
>>
>>There is also a great handbook for tutors teaching reading to
>>English-speaking adults  called The Adult Reading Toolkit ( ART)
>>
>>Both of these are designed for tutors and teachers who have little
>>prior knowledge on the topic--and they are extremely user-friendly and
>>beautifully thought out.   --And no, I don't have any financial
>>interest in them......
>>
>>
>>  Robin
>>
>>
>>
>>----------------------------------------------------
>>National Institute for Literacy
>>Focus on Basics mailing list
>>FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
>>To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
>>http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
>>
>
>
>>----------------------------------------------------
>>National Institute for Literacy
>>Focus on Basics mailing list
>>FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
>>To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
>>http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
>
> _________________________________________________________________
> The new MSN Search Toolbar now includes Desktop search!
> http://toolbar.msn.co.uk/
>
> ----------------------------------------------------
> National Institute for Literacy
> Focus on Basics mailing list
> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to 
> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
> 
From mjjerdems at yahoo.com  Tue Feb 21 06:35:41 2006
From: mjjerdems at yahoo.com (Mary Jane Jerde)
Date: Tue, 21 Feb 2006 03:35:41 -0800 (PST)
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] teacher professional development
In-Reply-To: <7905AF1D688C9F47B9C9E338C4FE315F011EA5B8@MAIL.bigbend.edu>
Message-ID: <20060221113541.94268.qmail@web54002.mail.yahoo.com>
Hi,
  
  As one of those who fits between the certified teacher category and the  educationally inexperienced category, I have to say that what has  helped me the most dealing with any class or student issue. (I taught  overseas at colleges for two years, did other things--an RN-- for about  20 years, taught in Prince George's County's Refugee Program in  Maryland, and earned a masters in curriuculum and instruction.)
  
  1. Clear, excellent models of skills to be learned and techniques of instruction
  
  2. A cadre of experienced and successful professionals to talk to
  
  3. Good references to learn from
  
  4. A good library of class materials on-site
  
  The LD thing is really frustrating because it is so ameboid. I've asked  my current program to buy some of the materials that have been referred  to in this listing, because, while I really enjoy the global aspects of  discussion, I have to be able to walk into class and do something that  will benefit the student. I don't have "world enough and time." 
  
  I hope that in the materials I am able to find some straightforward  frameworks I can use to organize assessment and interventions. 
  
  One question may help, how do you organize initial assessment and class  plans with specific students in mind? Can you give us a walk through?
  
  South Dakota, a land of black dirt and straight roads and distant horizons.
  
  Thanks,
  
  Mary Jane Jerde
"Cheek, Sandy" <sandyc at bigbend.edu> wrote:            
             Normal   Clean   Clean   DocumentEmail                                MicrosoftInternetExplorer4     st1\:*{behavior:url(#default#ieooui) }             /* Style Definitions */   table.MsoNormalTable  {mso-style-name:"Table Normal";  mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;  mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;  mso-style-noshow:yes;  mso-style-parent:"";  mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;  mso-para-margin:0in;  mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;  mso-pagination:widow-orphan;  font-size:10.0pt;  font-family:"Times New Roman";}    HI all,
  Some thoughts to add to Robin's:
  It's true that better training for teachers and tutors will result   in more and better student outcomes. That's kind of an inarguable point.   However: that is also assuming that there is a plethora of teachers and   tutors out there, and we have the luxury of being highly selective when it comes   to choosing volunteer tutors and teachers. That's simply  not the reality.   Oftentimes the opposite is true: we have to accept those who are willing to   learn but inexperienced, and do the best we can to inspire and train them.   
  Teaching has never been a field that attracts a huge number of   people. There are realities around pay, job security, and benefits that have had   the effect of reducing the numbers of people interested in this   profession.  I consider myself lucky when I get someone in my office who   expresses an interest in teaching for me on a part-time basis, who may have   limited teaching experience, but has a sincere desire to "give back" to their   community.  
  So the question really is:  Should we aspire to fewer, but   better trained teachers and tutors (which would be the reality if we became more   stringent in our selection criteria)? I know that if I were to require   additional training and certification for tutors and teachers, I would lose a   significant number of my teachers. And know that these are GOOD teachers, but   most of them work full-time during the day, or are stay-at-home moms, and work   for me in the evenings teaching part-time, and they don't have much spare time   beyond those commitments.  
  I don't have the answers, but it's important to balance our   idealism with the realities of the profession when considering future   directions.
  Sandy Cheek
  Sandy   Cheek 
Director of Basic Skills   
Big Bend   Community College 
7662 Chanute Street NE   
Moses Lake,   WA  98837 
509.793.2305 
toll-free   877.745.1212 
fax 509.762.2696 
   
    
---------------------------------
  From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov   [mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Missy   Slaathaug
Sent: Monday, February 20, 2006 8:41 AM
To: 'The   Focus on Basics Discussion List'
Subject: Re: [FocusOnBasics] teacher   professional development
  
    Hi Robin - it was South Dakota, one of those nameless   flyover states!
   
  And I couldn't agree with you more that teachers   absolutely need to be trained and educated in this.  My comment was only that too much   information in the very first teacher training may be wasted or   even counter-productive.  Teachers   can only absorb so much in one six hour training, and   usually until they have begun to teach they don't have a conceptual framework to   help them process much information.  They are hungry for classroom strategies   and techniques - they want to know what to DO in the multi-level classroom that   they are facing the very next week.    
   
  But as for ongoing training and higher expectations for   adult ed teachers, and the entire rest of your posting,   I couldn't agree with you more.  
   
  Missy Slaathaug
  Pierre,   South Dakota
   
  -----Original Message-----
From:   focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf   Of robinschwarz1 at aol.com
Sent: Saturday, February 18, 2006 6:28 PM
To:   focusonbasics at nifl.gov
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] teacher professional   development
   
  Hi --this is in response to the person from Oregon or   Washington and to 
  Janet Isserlis on another list, both of whose topic was   teacher 
  professional development and the fear of overloading   teachers with 
  information.
   
  This topic is near and dear to my heart.  As I indicated in another   
  posting today, it is surprising to me that the field of   ESL does not 
  seem to prepare teachers for the sort of really   hard-core learning 
  problems that several readers and responders have   mentioned.
   
  In another message on one of the NIFL lists the notion   of profesisonal 
  development qualification standards for teachers in   adult education was 
  mentioned.
   
  Frankly, what I often see is that it is too common that   teachers in 
  adult education and adult ESOL education are woefully   unqualified to do 
  what they do.   Then learners suffer.   My article in FOB indicated   
  that in some of those cases, teachers were simply not   prepared to ask 
  the right questions or to consider the key issues in   adult ESOL 
  learners' situations that significantly impact the   learners' progress 
  in their settings.
   
  Those of you who know me, know that I get pretty   passionate on this 
  topic.  I   believe, as do my business partners, Laura Weisel and Al   
  Toops, we are supposed to be in business for the   learners, not for the 
  tutors and teachers in our programs.  In other words, it is not the   
  needs and limitations of the teachers or tutors that   should drive 
  decisions or policies about how our programs run but   rather the needs 
  of our learners.    I have advocated for years that there need to be   
  minimal qualifications for hiring teachers or tutors to   teach adult 
  ESOL learners.    I can write an entire book-- and someday will-- of   
  stories like those in the article where the learner was   somehow blamed 
  for no progress when in truth the learner's teacher had   no idea how to 
  address the learner's real   needs.
   
  I agree strongly with Janet that it is essential that   the nature of 
  learning challenges-- of all kinds, including language   learning 
  challenges-- be constantly put out to teachers and   required reading for 
  them.      Though I am sure no program is going to fire its tutors   
  because I say so, I certainly hope you will consider a   far more 
  stringent approach to requiring that those already in   your employ 
  inform themselves about adult learners and adult ESOL   learning,  about   
  the very most basic principles of language   instruction,  about the   
  culture of their learners. etc.    Also, program administrators   have 
  everything to gain by requiring more training for tutors   and better 
  experience and qualifications for teachers.  In the end, they will be   
  more effective and programs with have better   outcomes.  The NCSALL   
  research project on learner persistence (2005 --at   NCSCALL.net) 
  indicated that when tutors were better trained, not only   were learners 
  happier and tended to persist longer, but tutors also   persisted because 
  they did not feel so helpless in helping those with   significant 
  learning needs.
   
  Somewhere recently I saw reference to the suggestion or   proposal that 
  adult education teachers be subject to qualification   much as K-12 
  teachers are.    This can only be a good thing for our   learners.
   
  And as for LD issues, I know for a well-documented fact   that having a 
  tutor or teacher who is well meant and kind but does not   "get" LD and 
  language learning challenges is actually worse for the   learner than 
  just sitting in a class and trying to absorb   something.
   
  Just as for learners, having high expectations for   teachers and tutors 
  is critical to having an effective   program.
   
  As a start for ESOL and learning challengs,  programs might want to   
  look at the handbook : Taking Action: A Handbook for   Instructors of 
  Adult ESOL Learners with Learning Dissablities"  produced and   
  distrbuted by the Minnesota Learning Disabilities   Association (visit 
  www.ldaminnesota.org to find it).  This walks teachers through the   
  topic of LD and an approach to determining if other   problems might be 
  at the root of learning   difficulties.
   
  There is also a great handbook for tutors teaching   reading to 
  English-speaking adults  called The Adult Reading Toolkit (   ART)
   
  Both of these are designed for tutors and teachers who   have little 
  prior knowledge on the topic--and they are extremely   user-friendly and 
  beautifully thought out.   --And no, I don't have any   financial 
  interest in them......
   
   
   Robin
   
   
   
  ----------------------------------------------------
  National Institute for   Literacy
  Focus on Basics mailing   list
  FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
  To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings,   please go to   http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
   
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
		
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From DonMcCabe at aol.com  Tue Feb 21 09:33:53 2006
From: DonMcCabe at aol.com (DonMcCabe at aol.com)
Date: Tue, 21 Feb 2006 09:33:53 EST
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] Assessment - Re: More information on Reading
Message-ID: <29f.5bfcaee.312c7ed1@aol.com>
In a message dated 2/20/2006 11:02:50 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,  
jn at cloudworld.co.uk writes:
"We are wondering about assessment over here in  UK, in anticipation of the 
government adopting synthetic phonics for  teaching in schools."
 
You might consider developing a "correct" nonsense word testing  system.  If 
you want to see a highly incorrect (87% misspelled nonsense  words) you might 
want to visit dibels.com and check out their level one.  I  didn't bother 
going past that after finding so many egregious errors.  I  did inform them.  I 
even showed each incorrect misspelling of a nonsense  word, why they were 
misspelled, and made suggestions for having a correctly  spelled nonsense word to 
test the child's knowledge of the phonic principle  involved.  I got a polite 
thank you and that was that.
If you would  like assistance in a project such as that, I would be glad to 
help.  And  when I offer help, I am not asking for money.  We are very 
nonprofit here  at AVKO.
 
Don McCabe, Research Director
AVKO Educational Research Foundation
spelling.org
 
From julie_mcKinney at worlded.org  Tue Feb 21 09:38:23 2006
From: julie_mcKinney at worlded.org (Julie  McKinney)
Date: Tue, 21 Feb 2006 09:38:23 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] health, stress and learning struggles
Message-ID: <s3fadfab.090@mail.jsi.com>
Hi Robin and others,
One thing that struck me in the article was how health and home stress
issues affected people's learning. For example, Anna Maria had the
hearing problem and the mother with alzheimers, and Henri was
preoccupied with his prostate cancer. It seems that health issues for
the learner and the learner's family can be significant barriers to
learning.
Any more ideas for assessing and addressing these types of problems?
Thanks,
Julie
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
From mbloom at maine.rr.com  Wed Feb 22 10:18:36 2006
From: mbloom at maine.rr.com (Mary Bloom)
Date: Wed, 22 Feb 2006 10:18:36 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] Minimal Pairs
Message-ID: <7.0.0.16.0.20060222100844.01eef570@maine.rr.com>
Hello all,
	I've very much enjoyed Robin's suggestions, especially about 
phonological awareness.  I'd appreciate knowing about any materials, 
particularly pictures, which concentrate on rhyming.  Googling 
"phonological awareness", I've found some, but I'd be interested in 
materials already assembled.  Assuming my pre-literate Somali, 
Sudanese, and Vietnamese elderly refugees proceed well, I'd also like 
Robin's minimal pairs list. Robin, how can I contact you off list?
Mary Bloom
Portland Adult Education
mbloom at maine.rr.com  
From vanillaicy at hotmail.co.uk  Tue Feb 21 15:18:43 2006
From: vanillaicy at hotmail.co.uk (Aliya AbdulLatif)
Date: Tue, 21 Feb 2006 20:18:43 +0000
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] teacher professional development
In-Reply-To: <019a01c636ca$38494f20$0302a8c0@Tomschoice>
Message-ID: <BAY15-F20D7B899AC9DE34A8F91CA90FC0@phx.gbl>
Hi John
I believe that we are receiving inadequate training in Literacy Level 4 as 
well. The teacher is not explaining the terms properly. Like I said I am not 
finding that too difficult since I am already familiar with most of the 
concepts but most of the students think the course is too difficult for them 
and they cannot even apply most of what they study in the class. We are 
studying Sythetic and Analytic Phonics in Phonology but even these topics 
were not taught properly. I know at level 4 we are expected to do alot of 
learning on our own but still for my colleagues the course is not being 
delivered properly. The delivery methods are not adequate either hence 
teachers are blaming the syllabus and not the trainers. I hope they will 
provide trainers with adequate training before initiating the course. Thank 
you for your comments.
Aliya
>From: "John Nissen" <jn at cloudworld.co.uk>
>Reply-To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
>To: "The Focus on Basics Discussion List" <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
>CC: Jennifer Chew <jennifer at chew8.freeserve.co.uk>,Debbie Hepplewhite 
><debbie at syntheticphonics.com>,John Rack <jrack at dyslexia-inst.org.uk>
>Subject: Re: [FocusOnBasics] teacher professional development
>Date: Tue, 21 Feb 2006 09:35:57 -0000
>
>
>Hi Aliya,
>
>It is very good to have a person who understands linguistics teaching
>literacy, because many teachers flounder through lack of understanding of
>the elements of language.  My particular concern is that, with the UK going
>over to synthetic phonics, teachers will not understand the basis of that
>change, and will continue in their old ways whilst trying to bolt on the
>phonics.  This will not work, and when they get poor results they will 
>blame
>the method.  So we really need to have good guidance to teachers, with
>practical advice on how to teach in various settings and how to teach
>learners with particular problems, including vision or hearing impairment,
>attention deficit, language understanding, conceptual misunderstandings,
>memory of sounds, etc.  At the moment such guidance is lacking, and we
>intend to do something about this.  We know that there are already some 
>good
>programmes to follow, such as Jolly Phonics, but without the teacher
>understanding the basis for synthetic phonics, and without practical 
>advice,
>the teacher is liable to fail to implement the method properly and obtain
>the 100% success which was shown to be possible in Clackmannanshire.  So
>good guidance will be crucial in teacher training.
>
>Best wishes,
>
>John
>
>John Nissen
>Cloudworld Ltd - http://www.cloudworld.co.uk
>maker of the assistive reader, WordAloud.
>Try WordAloud with synthetic phonics:
>http://www.cloudworld.co.uk/teaching-synthetic-phonics.htm
>Tel: +44 208 742 3170  Fax: +44 208 742 0202
>Email: info at cloudworld.co.uk
>
>
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Aliya AbdulLatif" <vanillaicy at hotmail.co.uk>
>To: <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
>Sent: Monday, February 20, 2006 6:16 PM
>Subject: Re: [FocusOnBasics] teacher professional development
>
>
> >
> > I am in UK and training to be a Literacy Tutor but so far except one
> > excercise everything else we are being trained in does not make any 
>sense.
> > Well, not to me because I have studied linguistics before but most of my
> > colleagues are facing difficulties trying to grasp the whole training
> > aspects. I believe the training should be more practical. We can write
> > tonnes of assignments but that will only show our skills of writing and
> > not
> > teaching or pdegogy.
> >
> >>From: "Missy Slaathaug" <mslaathaug at midco.net>
> >>Reply-To: mslaathaug at midco.net,The Focus on Basics Discussion List
> >><focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
> >>To: "'The Focus on Basics Discussion List'" <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
> >>Subject: Re: [FocusOnBasics] teacher professional development
> >>Date: Mon, 20 Feb 2006 10:40:54 -0600
> >>
> >>Hi Robin - it was South Dakota, one of those nameless flyover states!
> >>
> >>And I couldn't agree with you more that teachers absolutely need to be
> >>trained and educated in this.  My comment was only that too much
> >>information in the very first teacher training may be wasted or even
> >>counter-productive.  Teachers can only absorb so much in one six hour
> >>training, and usually until they have begun to teach they don't have a
> >>conceptual framework to help them process much information.  They are
> >>hungry for classroom strategies and techniques - they want to know what
> >>to DO in the multi-level classroom that they are facing the very next
> >>week.
> >>
> >>But as for ongoing training and higher expectations for adult ed
> >>teachers, and the entire rest of your posting, I couldn't agree with you
> >>more.
> >>
> >>Missy Slaathaug
> >>Pierre, South Dakota
> >>
> >>-----Original Message-----
> >>From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov
> >>[mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of
> >>robinschwarz1 at aol.com
> >>Sent: Saturday, February 18, 2006 6:28 PM
> >>To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
> >>Subject: [FocusOnBasics] teacher professional development
> >>
> >>Hi --this is in response to the person from Oregon or Washington and to
> >>Janet Isserlis on another list, both of whose topic was teacher
> >>professional development and the fear of overloading teachers with
> >>information.
> >>
> >>This topic is near and dear to my heart.  As I indicated in another
> >>posting today, it is surprising to me that the field of ESL does not
> >>seem to prepare teachers for the sort of really hard-core learning
> >>problems that several readers and responders have mentioned.
> >>
> >>In another message on one of the NIFL lists the notion of profesisonal
> >>development qualification standards for teachers in adult education was
> >>mentioned.
> >>
> >>Frankly, what I often see is that it is too common that teachers in
> >>adult education and adult ESOL education are woefully unqualified to do
> >>what they do.   Then learners suffer.   My article in FOB indicated
> >>that in some of those cases, teachers were simply not prepared to ask
> >>the right questions or to consider the key issues in adult ESOL
> >>learners' situations that significantly impact the learners' progress
> >>in their settings.
> >>
> >>Those of you who know me, know that I get pretty passionate on this
> >>topic.  I believe, as do my business partners, Laura Weisel and Al
> >>Toops, we are supposed to be in business for the learners, not for the
> >>tutors and teachers in our programs.  In other words, it is not the
> >>needs and limitations of the teachers or tutors that should drive
> >>decisions or policies about how our programs run but rather the needs
> >>of our learners.  I have advocated for years that there need to be
> >>minimal qualifications for hiring teachers or tutors to teach adult
> >>ESOL learners.  I can write an entire book-- and someday will-- of
> >>stories like those in the article where the learner was somehow blamed
> >>for no progress when in truth the learner's teacher had no idea how to
> >>address the learner's real needs.
> >>
> >>I agree strongly with Janet that it is essential that the nature of
> >>learning challenges-- of all kinds, including language learning
> >>challenges-- be constantly put out to teachers and required reading for
> >>them.    Though I am sure no program is going to fire its tutors
> >>because I say so, I certainly hope you will consider a far more
> >>stringent approach to requiring that those already in your employ
> >>inform themselves about adult learners and adult ESOL learning,  about
> >>the very most basic principles of language instruction,  about the
> >>culture of their learners. etc.    Also, program administrators have
> >>everything to gain by requiring more training for tutors and better
> >>experience and qualifications for teachers.  In the end, they will be
> >>more effective and programs with have better outcomes.  The NCSALL
> >>research project on learner persistence (2005 --at NCSCALL.net)
> >>indicated that when tutors were better trained, not only were learners
> >>happier and tended to persist longer, but tutors also persisted because
> >>they did not feel so helpless in helping those with significant
> >>learning needs.
> >>
> >>Somewhere recently I saw reference to the suggestion or proposal that
> >>adult education teachers be subject to qualification much as K-12
> >>teachers are.  This can only be a good thing for our learners.
> >>
> >>And as for LD issues, I know for a well-documented fact that having a
> >>tutor or teacher who is well meant and kind but does not "get" LD and
> >>language learning challenges is actually worse for the learner than
> >>just sitting in a class and trying to absorb something.
> >>
> >>Just as for learners, having high expectations for teachers and tutors
> >>is critical to having an effective program.
> >>
> >>As a start for ESOL and learning challengs,  programs might want to
> >>look at the handbook : Taking Action: A Handbook for Instructors of
> >>Adult ESOL Learners with Learning Dissablities"  produced and
> >>distrbuted by the Minnesota Learning Disabilities Association (visit
> >>www.ldaminnesota.org to find it).  This walks teachers through the
> >>topic of LD and an approach to determining if other problems might be
> >>at the root of learning difficulties.
> >>
> >>There is also a great handbook for tutors teaching reading to
> >>English-speaking adults  called The Adult Reading Toolkit ( ART)
> >>
> >>Both of these are designed for tutors and teachers who have little
> >>prior knowledge on the topic--and they are extremely user-friendly and
> >>beautifully thought out.   --And no, I don't have any financial
> >>interest in them......
> >>
> >>
> >>  Robin
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>----------------------------------------------------
> >>National Institute for Literacy
> >>Focus on Basics mailing list
> >>FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
> >>To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
> >>http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
> >>
> >
> >
> >>----------------------------------------------------
> >>National Institute for Literacy
> >>Focus on Basics mailing list
> >>FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
> >>To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
> >>http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
> >
> > _________________________________________________________________
> > The new MSN Search Toolbar now includes Desktop search!
> > http://toolbar.msn.co.uk/
> >
> > ----------------------------------------------------
> > National Institute for Literacy
> > Focus on Basics mailing list
> > FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
> > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
> > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
> >
>
>----------------------------------------------------
>National Institute for Literacy
>Focus on Basics mailing list
>FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
>To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to 
>http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
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From khinson at future-gate.com  Tue Feb 21 15:21:53 2006
From: khinson at future-gate.com (Katrina Hinson)
Date: Tue, 21 Feb 2006 12:21:53 -0800
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] health, stress and learning struggles
Message-ID: <43FB8472020000A000002095@smtp.us.future-gate.com
	smtp.de.future-gate.com>
I think it's just these kind of issues that no amount of statistical data ever covers  - especially when it comes down to NRS reporting etc, but these are very real issues faced by many of our older and younger adult students alike. These issues affect every thing from individual attendance to long term retention numbers. I have a student in my class as well whose mother has alzheimers. It takes a great deal of her emotional strength just to deal with it on a day to day basis let alone have anything left over to think and comprehend with. Add to that, the student also has a child under a year old with asthma.   A person's health, and the health of those around them, I feel, directly impacts his or her ability to learn. If you're concentrating so much on a pain or discomfort you have, there is no way you can fully concentrate on the material you're trying to learn.  If you're worried about your loved ones, you can't focus on the learning. I think looking at these barriers and trying to find ways to overcome them is a very important and real issue for all of us.
Regards
Katrina Hinson
>>> julie_mcKinney at worlded.org  >>>
Hi Robin and others,
One thing that struck me in the article was how health and home stress
issues affected people's learning. For example, Anna Maria had the
hearing problem and the mother with alzheimers, and Henri was
preoccupied with his prostate cancer. It seems that health issues for
the learner and the learner's family can be significant barriers to
learning.
Any more ideas for assessing and addressing these types of problems?
Thanks,
Julie
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
From cgrimaldi at lagcc.cuny.edu  Tue Feb 21 17:17:22 2006
From: cgrimaldi at lagcc.cuny.edu (Carolyn Grimaldi)
Date: Tue, 21 Feb 2006 17:17:22 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] Fwd: writing and handwriting for
	low	literate/non-literate learners
Message-ID: <s3fb4c2e.041@mailgate.lagcc.cuny.edu>
Hello all,
I'm not sure if my questions fall under the writing or the visual
problems categories or both, but here it is:
In my years of teaching to low-level ESOL adults, I have had many
students who I would call "weak writers" for lack of a better term,
often, these students have dropped out of school early, like 5th-8th
grades, but these are not non-literate students.  They usually require
much more time to write and copy from the board, and many students have
the problem of copying incorrectly.  We don't have any way of screening
for disabilities right now in our programs.  My assumption was that 
many students just were "out of practice", having spent many years out
of school both in their own countries and in the US, and essentially
their writing muscles are out of shape.  Is this possible or should I
always suspect LD?
In addition, I am quite surprised at the large number of students, even
the ones who write faster, who copy things incorrectly off the board. 
It's hard to know if this just comes from L1 interference.
If indeed it was possible to test students for the visual and learning
problems, how and where to refer our students?  Unfortunately we don't
have nor do we know of "Special Education" for adult ESOL learners.
Coincidentally, I have begun to find out just how many students have
visual problems and trying to find them affordable care.  Does anyone
have resources for this?  So far we don't know of any.
Thanks for an interesting...and important discussion.
Carolyn Grimaldi
Center for Immigrant Education and Training
LaGuardia Community College
29-10 Thomson Ave. C250
Long Island City, NY 11101
(718) 482-5067
www.lagcc.cuny.edu/ciet/
cgrimaldi at lagcc.cuny.edu
>>> robinschwarz1 at aol.com 2/16/2006 7:39:29 AM >>>
-----Original Message-----
From: Robinschwarz1
To: focusonbasics at dev.nifl.gov 
Sent: Wed, 15 Feb 2006 21:44:45 -0500
Subject: writing and handwriting for low literate /non-literate
learners
This is in response to Aaron's and others' comments and questions on 
teaching writing to low or non-literate learners. 
 
Though this is an area I am not so well acquainted with, here are some
observations and thoughts: 
 
AS for phonological skills, the skill of handwriting requires roughly 
the same preparation that young children get before they are expected 
to write easily-- lots and lots of fine motor practice-- the muscles 
for holding a writing instrument must be developed and the movements 
developed from large to small. When remediating these skills in persons
with dysgraphia, it is necessary to start with large arm movements, 
creating circles and other letter-related movements on the board or on
newspaper with markers ( pens , especially most ball point pens, are 
slippery for those with hand writing challenges--plus the added tactile
input of markers is helpful in teaching the fingers to grasp 
correctly.) Fat pens or pencils would be helpful in the beginning-- or
fat markers. 
 
Much tracing experience is recommended--plus other kinds of activities
that involve fine motor with a writing tool-- mazes, connecting dots, 
coloring---all the things children do to strengthen their fingers and 
hands. 
There is an amazing choice of "adult" coloring books-- lovely designs,
pictures from different cultures, etc--usually available through 
museums- ( does anyone know the name of that company that produces 
those in great profusion?? They must be available on the web). 
 
There are a VERY few books for non-literate adult ESOL learners that 
include some basic tracing of letter forms, but to my highly 
opinionated view, they have far too little practice in them. Like all 
skills, these must be mastered-- overlearned-- for further writing to 
develop comfortably. Also bear in mind that for those with dyslexia and
dysgraphia, cursive is highly recommended over block printing. Thus it
will undoubtedly be easier for those learning to write for the first 
time to move directly to connected writing and curvy lines rather than
straight interrupted lines. A friend of mine in the DC area, Janette 
Haynes produced a wonderful handwriting book for adult ESOL learners 
coming from other alphabets-- it was called American Handwriting Slow 
and Easy and was a simplified cursive system. (Delta Publishing 
Systems, 1995) My Arabic college students found this very helpful--it 
has practice with check writing, names of states, different names for 
streets, cardinal and ordinal numbers, etc--all things ESOL learners 
need to learn anyway, instead of meaningless sentences. 
 
As for those who write already, here is where my culture alarms go off.
  Many other cultures have a very different approach to writing than we
do . For example, in the French=based system I taught in in Africa, 
students were obliged to have "perfect" handwriting at a very early 
age. They had a much different formation of letters than we do--and 
they were severely punished if their writing was not neat and beautiful
and if they misspelled ANYTHING. Thus learners coming from such 
cultures may be extremely hesitant to write in English, a) because they
do not know how to form the letters the way we do and b) because they 
fear being reprimanded for making errors. As Dave Barry would say, I am
NOT making this up. In my class of adult ESOL learners in Massachusetts
I encountered this very situation. These were mostly learners from Cape
Verde and Brazil, Haiti and different African countries. When I gave 
them some task to write and hardly anyone moved their pencil, I asked 
them whether they were afraid I would be mad if they made spelling 
mistakes or wrote badly= they ALL nodded vigorously. I had to assure 
them repeatedly I was not going to look at those things!!! 
 
And finally, looking further to actual composition--again culture is a
huge obstacle. How text is organized for writing varies enormously from
culture to culture--in some it is considered rude to make a point 
explicitly. It is up to the reader to figure it out. In other cultures
it is important to write EVERYTHING you know about a topic-- and these
do not understand why we get so exercised about their voluminous 
compositions that appear to us to ramble all over the place.  As I have
said many times in my trainings, the concept of main idea in writing 
does not exist much beyond our borders. This was confirmed by my next 
door neighbor here in Columbus, where I live now== she is Romanian, and
a doctoral student. She told me she also had a terrible time figuring 
out how to write in the highly linear way we do in America, --a thought
seconded by my Portugues doctoral advisor at Lesley. She said she had 
to teach herself how to write " just the important points" when she was
a newly arrived college student from Portugal. 
 
Robin 
 
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From cgrimaldi at lagcc.cuny.edu  Tue Feb 21 17:29:12 2006
From: cgrimaldi at lagcc.cuny.edu (Carolyn Grimaldi)
Date: Tue, 21 Feb 2006 17:29:12 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] health, stress and learning struggles
Message-ID: <s3fb4ef9.068@mailgate.lagcc.cuny.edu>
I agree with all stated on this topic.  I have been saying for some time
that the support our students really need is in stress management and
development of confidence.  I believe that just coming to class, being
with and making friends, and improving English contributes very much to
that.  However, more development for teachers, and more resources need
to be devoted to these areas.  Luckily the program I work for does have
a case manager.  But that is one person for hundreds of students.  
I'm not sure what it would look like to support our students in these
ways, if related to class or in addition to class.
One thing our program likes to use is Problem-posing lessons, focusing
the students on the solutions to everyday problems.
Best,
Carolyn Grimaldi
Center for Immigrant Education and Training
LaGuardia Community College
29-10 Thomson Ave. C250
Long Island City, NY 11101
(718) 482-5067
www.lagcc.cuny.edu/ciet/
cgrimaldi at lagcc.cuny.edu
>>> khinson at future-gate.com 2/21/2006 3:21:53 PM >>>
I think it's just these kind of issues that no amount of statistical
data ever covers  - especially when it comes down to NRS reporting etc,
but these are very real issues faced by many of our older and younger
adult students alike. These issues affect every thing from individual
attendance to long term retention numbers. I have a student in my class
as well whose mother has alzheimers. It takes a great deal of her
emotional strength just to deal with it on a day to day basis let alone
have anything left over to think and comprehend with. Add to that, the
student also has a child under a year old with asthma.   A person's
health, and the health of those around them, I feel, directly impacts
his or her ability to learn. If you're concentrating so much on a pain
or discomfort you have, there is no way you can fully concentrate on the
material you're trying to learn.  If you're worried about your loved
ones, you can't focus on the learning. I think looking at these barriers
and 
 trying to find ways to overcome them is a very important and real
issue for all of us.
Regards
Katrina Hinson
>>> julie_mcKinney at worlded.org  >>>
Hi Robin and others,
One thing that struck me in the article was how health and home stress
issues affected people's learning. For example, Anna Maria had the
hearing problem and the mother with alzheimers, and Henri was
preoccupied with his prostate cancer. It seems that health issues for
the learner and the learner's family can be significant barriers to
learning.
Any more ideas for assessing and addressing these types of problems?
Thanks,
Julie
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org 
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov 
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov 
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
From SandyF61 at aol.com  Tue Feb 21 18:35:19 2006
From: SandyF61 at aol.com (SandyF61 at aol.com)
Date: Tue, 21 Feb 2006 18:35:19 EST
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] More questions
Message-ID: <e6.7b0fd8d6.312cfdb7@aol.com>
I am struggling a little in this discussion with the practicality of some  of 
the suggestions. I teach total beginners. Most are refugees with little to no 
 experience in school.  I have always done needs based curriculum and found  
it effective.  We keep our students for a pretty short time as they need to  
get jobs.
I see the point of more work on phonemic recognition.  We certainly do  some 
but our main focus is on practical vocabulary and related issues (how to  find 
a job, see a doctor, talk to your child's teacher).  I've also had  great 
success with things like Jazz Chants.
But when I use more *rule based* curriculum, their eyes glaze over.  I  use 
Clear Speech for pronunciation but minimize the rule content.   Even books like 
Pronuncation Pairs don't work as well for them.
So the question is how to integrate these phonemic skills in such a  way that 
is effective and not a turn off?
 
Sandy Fox
Columbia, MO
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From dezreen at excite.com  Tue Feb 21 21:27:33 2006
From: dezreen at excite.com (dezreen at excite.com)
Date: Tue, 21 Feb 2006 21:27:33 -0500 (EST)
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] Fwd: writing and handwriting
	forlowliterate/non-literate learners
Message-ID: <20060222022733.DF156BB45C@xprdmailfe27.nwk.excite.com>
Call your local Wal-mart and ask their VisionCenter what they have available. I recently was sent to them for coupons for kids that covers full exam, lenses and frames. They also suggested I call my local Lions Club, as they also offer child and adult vision assistance. 
Kathleen Morgan
Telluride CO
 --- On Tue 02/21, Carolyn Grimaldi < cgrimaldi at lagcc.cuny.edu > wrote:
From: Carolyn Grimaldi [mailto: cgrimaldi at lagcc.cuny.edu]
To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
Date: Tue, 21 Feb 2006 17:17:22 -0500
Subject: Re: [FocusOnBasics] Fwd: writing and handwriting for	low	literate/non-literate learners
Hello all,<br>I'm not sure if my questions fall under the writing or the visual<br>problems categories or both, but here it is:<br><br>In my years of teaching to low-level ESOL adults, I have had many<br>students who I would call "weak writers" for lack of a better term,<br>often, these students have dropped out of school early, like 5th-8th<br>grades, but these are not non-literate students.  They usually require<br>much more time to write and copy from the board, and many students have<br>the problem of copying incorrectly.  We don't have any way of screening<br>for disabilities right now in our programs.  My assumption was that <br>many students just were "out of practice", having spent many years out<br>of school both in their own countries and in the US, and essentially<br>their writing muscles are out of shape.  Is this possible or should I<br>always suspect LD?<br><br>In addition, I am quite surprised at the large number of students, even<br>the ones who write faster, 
who copy things incorrectly off the board. <br>It's hard to know if this just comes from L1 interference.<br><br>If indeed it was possible to test students for the visual and learning<br>problems, how and where to refer our students?  Unfortunately we don't<br>have nor do we know of "Special Education" for adult ESOL learners.<br><br>Coincidentally, I have begun to find out just how many students have<br>visual problems and trying to find them affordable care.  Does anyone<br>have resources for this?  So far we don't know of any.<br><br>Thanks for an interesting...and important discussion.<br><br><br>Carolyn Grimaldi<br>Center for Immigrant Education and Training<br>LaGuardia Community College<br>29-10 Thomson Ave. C250<br>Long Island City, NY 11101<br>(718) 482-5067<br>www.lagcc.cuny.edu/ciet/<br>cgrimaldi at lagcc.cuny.edu<br><br>>>> robinschwarz1 at aol.com 2/16/2006 7:39:29 AM >>><br><br><br>-----Original Message-----<br>From: Robinschwarz1<br>To: focusonbasics at dev.nifl.gov 
<br>Sent: Wed, 15 Feb 2006 21:44:45 -0500<br>Subject: writing and handwriting for low literate /non-literate<br>learners<br><br>This is in response to Aaron's and others' comments and questions on <br>teaching writing to low or non-literate learners. <br> <br>Though this is an area I am not so well acquainted with, here are some<br><br>observations and thoughts: <br> <br>AS for phonological skills, the skill of handwriting requires roughly <br>the same preparation that young children get before they are expected <br>to write easily-- lots and lots of fine motor practice-- the muscles <br>for holding a writing instrument must be developed and the movements <br>developed from large to small. When remediating these skills in persons<br><br>with dysgraphia, it is necessary to start with large arm movements, <br>creating circles and other letter-related movements on the board or on<br><br>newspaper with markers ( pens , especially most ball point pens, are <br>slippery for those 
with hand writing challenges--plus the added tactile<br><br>input of markers is helpful in teaching the fingers to grasp <br>correctly.) Fat pens or pencils would be helpful in the beginning-- or<br><br>fat markers. <br> <br>Much tracing experience is recommended--plus other kinds of activities<br><br>that involve fine motor with a writing tool-- mazes, connecting dots, <br>coloring---all the things children do to strengthen their fingers and <br>hands. <br>There is an amazing choice of "adult" coloring books-- lovely designs,<br><br>pictures from different cultures, etc--usually available through <br>museums- ( does anyone know the name of that company that produces <br>those in great profusion?? They must be available on the web). <br> <br>There are a VERY few books for non-literate adult ESOL learners that <br>include some basic tracing of letter forms, but to my highly <br>opinionated view, they have far too little practice in them. Like all <br>skills, these must be 
mastered-- overlearned-- for further writing to <br>develop comfortably. Also bear in mind that for those with dyslexia and<br><br>dysgraphia, cursive is highly recommended over block printing. Thus it<br><br>will undoubtedly be easier for those learning to write for the first <br>time to move directly to connected writing and curvy lines rather than<br><br>straight interrupted lines. A friend of mine in the DC area, Janette <br>Haynes produced a wonderful handwriting book for adult ESOL learners <br>coming from other alphabets-- it was called American Handwriting Slow <br>and Easy and was a simplified cursive system. (Delta Publishing <br>Systems, 1995) My Arabic college students found this very helpful--it <br>has practice with check writing, names of states, different names for <br>streets, cardinal and ordinal numbers, etc--all things ESOL learners <br>need to learn anyway, instead of meaningless sentences. <br> <br>As for those who write already, here is where my culture 
alarms go off.<br><br>  Many other cultures have a very different approach to writing than we<br><br>do . For example, in the French=based system I taught in in Africa, <br>students were obliged to have "perfect" handwriting at a very early <br>age. They had a much different formation of letters than we do--and <br>they were severely punished if their writing was not neat and beautiful<br><br>and if they misspelled ANYTHING. Thus learners coming from such <br>cultures may be extremely hesitant to write in English, a) because they<br><br>do not know how to form the letters the way we do and b) because they <br>fear being reprimanded for making errors. As Dave Barry would say, I am<br><br>NOT making this up. In my class of adult ESOL learners in Massachusetts<br><br>I encountered this very situation. These were mostly learners from Cape<br><br>Verde and Brazil, Haiti and different African countries. When I gave <br>them some task to write and hardly anyone moved their pencil, I 
asked <br>them whether they were afraid I would be mad if they made spelling <br>mistakes or wrote badly= they ALL nodded vigorously. I had to assure <br>them repeatedly I was not going to look at those things!!! <br> <br>And finally, looking further to actual composition--again culture is a<br><br>huge obstacle. How text is organized for writing varies enormously from<br><br>culture to culture--in some it is considered rude to make a point <br>explicitly. It is up to the reader to figure it out. In other cultures<br><br>it is important to write EVERYTHING you know about a topic-- and these<br><br>do not understand why we get so exercised about their voluminous <br>compositions that appear to us to ramble all over the place.  As I have<br><br>said many times in my trainings, the concept of main idea in writing <br>does not exist much beyond our borders. This was confirmed by my next <br>door neighbor here in Columbus, where I live now== she is Romanian, and<br><br>a doctoral 
student. She told me she also had a terrible time figuring <br>out how to write in the highly linear way we do in America, --a thought<br><br>seconded by my Portugues doctoral advisor at Lesley. She said she had <br>to teach herself how to write " just the important points" when she was<br><br>a newly arrived college student from Portugal. <br> <br>Robin <br> <br><br>----------------------------------------------------<br>National Institute for Literacy<br>Focus on Basics mailing list<br>FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov <br>To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to<br>http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics<br>----------------------------------------------------<br>National Institute for Literacy<br>Focus on Basics mailing list<br>FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov<br>To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics<br>
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From robinschwarz1 at aol.com  Tue Feb 21 23:28:29 2006
From: robinschwarz1 at aol.com (robinschwarz1 at aol.com)
Date: Tue, 21 Feb 2006 23:28:29 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] health, stress and learning struggles
In-Reply-To: <s3fadfab.090@mail.jsi.com>
References: <s3fadfab.090@mail.jsi.com>
Message-ID: <8C8057F90EB8E53-5E0-4F08@MBLK-M20.sysops.aol.com>
Julie and all-- there isn't any one way to do this-- but I generally do 
a pretty lengthy interview at some point early in the season with the 
learners.  In the description I just gave of how I get a class started, 
I would include questions about health etc in the interview.  I would 
also have had class conversations about such topics, keeping them very 
general, so students know that these things can interfere with their 
learning. The basic topic is "everyone learns differently for different 
reasons"--   I think in the FOB issue, there were some guiding 
questions about the health issues.
It is important NOT to think you are prying or being a social worker, 
as many teachers have told me when I urged them to do this.   As my 
article was intended to point out, without this information some pretty 
severe problems can go unnoticed and as a result learners will not 
profit from instruction/learning efforts as they should.    At the same 
time it is important to be sensitive to the culture(s) of your learners 
and what the norms are for discussing problems or for persons with 
challenges.  If they think they will be punished for having a problem ( 
something even my most aware college ESL students feared greatly ) they 
are unlikely to self identify or confess to having  a problem. That is 
where the one-on-one times with members of a class are very helpful.  
You establish a warm, personal relationship so they will feel more 
comfortable about talking about these things.  --though in the cases I 
cite in my article, except for one, I did not know these students well 
and they still spilled all to me in a private conversation.    Robin
-----Original Message-----
From: Julie  McKinney <julie_mcKinney at worlded.org>
To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
Sent: Tue, 21 Feb 2006 09:38:23 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] health, stress and learning struggles
Hi Robin and others,
One thing that struck me in the article was how health and home stress
issues affected people's learning. For example, Anna Maria had the
hearing problem and the mother with alzheimers, and Henri was
preoccupied with his prostate cancer. It seems that health issues for
the learner and the learner's family can be significant barriers to
learning.
Any more ideas for assessing and addressing these types of problems?
Thanks,
Julie
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
From robinschwarz1 at aol.com  Tue Feb 21 23:35:37 2006
From: robinschwarz1 at aol.com (robinschwarz1 at aol.com)
Date: Tue, 21 Feb 2006 23:35:37 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] health, stress and learning struggles
In-Reply-To: <43FB8472020000A000002095@smtp.us.future-gate.com	smtp.de.future-gate.com>
References: <43FB8472020000A000002095@smtp.us.future-gate.com	smtp.de.future-gate.com>
Message-ID: <8C80580900D1258-5E0-4F5D@MBLK-M20.sysops.aol.com>
Yes, that is one of the challenges of working with adults with such 
stressful lives-- but while these issues are difficult, I believe it is 
important that we continue to have expectations that learners WILL 
accomplish something and not just use the class for group therapy.    
It may just be a page or an activity or participating in a 
conversation, but the expectation is that they will do something.
and I want to note that in my messages I stress persistence as opposed 
to retention-- retention smacks of us hanging on to them, while 
persistence, the term used by NCSALL, indicates that the learner has 
chosen to persist.   Rlobin
-----Original Message-----
From: Katrina Hinson <khinson at future-gate.com>
To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov; julie_mcKinney at worlded.org
Sent: Tue, 21 Feb 2006 12:21:53 -0800
Subject: Re: [FocusOnBasics] health, stress and learning struggles
I think it's just these kind of issues that no amount of statistical 
data ever
covers  - especially when it comes down to NRS reporting etc, but these 
are very
real issues faced by many of our older and younger adult students 
alike. These
issues affect every thing from individual attendance to long term 
retention
numbers. I have a student in my class as well whose mother has 
alzheimers. It
takes a great deal of her emotional strength just to deal with it on a 
day to
day basis let alone have anything left over to think and comprehend 
with. Add to
that, the student also has a child under a year old with asthma.   A 
person's
health, and the health of those around them, I feel, directly impacts 
his or her
ability to learn. If you're concentrating so much on a pain or 
discomfort you
have, there is no way you can fully concentrate on the material you're 
trying to
learn.  If you're worried about your loved ones, you can't focus on the
learning. I think looking at these barriers and
  trying to find ways to overcome them is a very important and real 
issue for all
of us.
Regards
Katrina Hinson
>>> julie_mcKinney at worlded.org  >>>
Hi Robin and others,
One thing that struck me in the article was how health and home stress
issues affected people's learning. For example, Anna Maria had the
hearing problem and the mother with alzheimers, and Henri was
preoccupied with his prostate cancer. It seems that health issues for
the learner and the learner's family can be significant barriers to
learning.
Any more ideas for assessing and addressing these types of problems?
Thanks,
Julie
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
From robinschwarz1 at aol.com  Tue Feb 21 23:38:02 2006
From: robinschwarz1 at aol.com (robinschwarz1 at aol.com)
Date: Tue, 21 Feb 2006 23:38:02 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] teacher professional development
In-Reply-To: <20060221113541.94268.qmail@web54002.mail.yahoo.com>
Message-ID: <8C80580E63D1EDF-1350-7221@mblk-d26.sysops.aol.com>
Mary Jane-- now THAT is a good, practical question!   Here is what I 
generally do with a group of adult ESL learners.  Make of this what you 
will:   First I prepare folders for each student with a few generic 
activities at different levels-- a reading/questions sort of activity, 
vocabulary matching, some phonics=related activity, some easy grammar, 
maybe a handwriting activity that includes spelling ( like the ones in 
the handwriting book I mentioned a few days ago).  Then I get a few 
things ready from whatever books are around and design them for what is 
known as differentiated teaching--one topic and one starter reading and 
then activities at a wide range of levels.   When the students first 
come, we do a rather long session on getting to know each other, and 
then I have them do one of the activities I have ready for everyone and 
I observe like crazy-- who has trouble with what, who is whizzing 
through the materials.   Then we go back to a group-based  
activity--usually a brief reading at "mid" level--whatever that is for 
the class-- and then back to individual work on that --the activities I 
have already prepared at different levels.  I go around to each student 
and work with them and observe like crazy.
The next class, as students arrive I will start them on the folders-- 
which I may already have adjusted in response to what I observed-- more 
advanced stuff for some, easier stuff for others.   Again, I observe 
and coach and take notes, both mentally and otherwise.   Then , when 
everyone is present and has had a minimum of 15 minutes in folders, we 
do group conversation, or vocabulary or a simple grammar lesson.  Then 
back and forth to individual and group work, oral and reading, etc.   
Next time I will use the folder time to begin to take students  to a 
private place for a few minutes of interview to get a better idea of 
oral skills and to ask what they especially want to work on.   I can 
usually see about 5-8 students an evening doing that-- I may put some 
of the class in small groups to work on some activity or other, 
depending on their skills.  If it is a very low-skill class, I make 
sure to have activites such as matching pictures to 
words--vocabulary/picture concentration, for example--, sentences on 
cards to put in order with a partner, puzzles ( I collect puzzles of 
states, or other sort of "educational" puzzles), handwriting 
activities, copying sentences etc.  ( Someone once asked me in 
disbelief if I evaluated EVERY one of my students this way---of course 
I do!!  How esle will I know what each needs???)
I never do formal assessment of my class simply because I LOATHE formal 
assessments--I always find that they are unfair to someone and give me 
a false idea of some students.
I was trained in the Peace Corps school of language teaching-- highly 
interactive, lots of focus on praise and reward,  focus on mastery, 
keeping the class as interesting and motivating to use English as 
possible.  I combine that with some excellent special ed training that 
taught me how to do individualized work.   The folders keep evolving to 
be highly individual and fitted to each particular learner.  I find 
that they are useful for several things, but especially for 1) having 
something useful for learners to do if they arrive early 2) giving them 
time off from listening --which is exhausting if you are a language 
learner-- 3) giving me time to work with individual students while 
others work on their own or in pairs or triplets.  4) letting me know 
just what each student's strengths and challenges are.     I give LOTS 
of feedback  on work in folders and reward perfect papers with great 
big holographic stars from Staples-- I work with all learners to make 
sure everyone has perfect papers often.   (and papers are suited to 
learners' levels s othey can get rewards readily).  I put a lot of 
emphasis, as you can imagine, on phonological skills and phonics-- with 
a very wide range of activities for that. I always do minimal pairs for 
every class I teach and lots of work on rhyme and other patterns.
Even in Adult Ed/ESL I always gave a lot of homework-- chosen with and 
by the student where possible.  Of course not everyone did the 
homework, but I made it pretty clear in many conversations about 
homework that without doing SOMETHING outside of class, they will not 
progress much at all--and that was OK as long as they understood that.  
  The vast  majority of them did some most of the time-- . I made sure 
to have a wide range of things for them to choose from.
While I was teaching at a university ESL program, I did not like to 
give grades. To me, attending and working hard , and doing homework was 
automatically a good grade-- since I was in a university setting I had 
to give grades ultimately, but provided portfolio-like activities for 
students to continue to revise to get better and better grades.   I 
NEVER graded things in adult education-- except to mark a perfect paper 
perfect.
Currently, with the program I train people to use, learners are 
screened for a variety of learning barriers that I have frequently 
mentioned--then they get reports that detail strategies they can use to 
accommodate their learning needs.  These strategies are combined with 
the learner's very tightly framed learning goals to assure they have 
full control over time decisions and material and goals--but with full 
information about what they need to do to reach those goals. Each 
learner learns to create his or her own plan with a lot of guidance. It 
is not so different from how I ran, and would continue to run, an ESL 
class-- I love working with adults because we are equals and we share 
humor and life problems and family worries and successes as adults.   
My classes are more like seminars in that respect--people moving around 
and helping each other and asking me for help with questions etc.
As the year goes by, I work at responding to what each learner has done 
and wants to do-- some make special requests--and usually will land on 
a theme that will take us many weeks to do.  I also take care to 
rework, review, reteach, restructure because adult language learners 
and those with challenges need many passes.    do not assume anyone has 
learned anything until I have multiple evidences of that ( my special 
ed training.....).    I like to have "learning stations"--activities 
learners can do on their own--around the classroom--they can go to 
those instead of or after their folder work.
I hope that gives you some ideas to go on-- it may seem unstructured, 
but in fact is highly structured.  I generally have a rough schedule-- 
30 minutes on this, an hour on that, etc-- gthe same for every evening 
so students know what to expect, and I always know where we are going 
and so do the students-- but I also always respond to teachable 
moments-- someone attended a funeral or wedding, current events, 
something happened in someone's country, etc.
Robin
-----Original Message-----
From: Mary Jane Jerde <mjjerdems at yahoo.com>
To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
Sent: Tue, 21 Feb 2006 03:35:41 -0800 (PST)
Subject: Re: [FocusOnBasics] teacher professional development
Hi,
As one of those who fits between the certified teacher category and the 
educationally inexperienced category, I have to say that what has 
helped me the most dealing with any class or student issue. (I taught 
overseas at colleges for two years, did other things--an RN-- for about 
20 years, taught in Prince George's County's Refugee Program in 
Maryland, and earned a masters in curriuculum and instruction.)
1. Clear, excellent models of skills to be learned and techniques of 
instruction
2. A cadre of experienced and successful professionals to talk to
3. Good references to learn from
4. A good library of class materials on-site
The LD thing is really frustrating because it is so ameboid. I've asked 
my current program to buy some of the materials that have been referred 
to in this listing, because, while I really enjoy the global aspects of 
discussion, I have to be able to walk into class and do something that 
will benefit the student. I don't have "world enough and time."
I hope that in the materials I am able to find some straightforward 
frameworks I can use to organize assessment and interventions.
One question may help, how do you organize initial assessment and class 
plans with specific students in mind? Can you give us a walk through?
South Dakota, a land of black dirt and straight roads and distant 
horizons.
Thanks,
Mary Jane Jerde
"Cheek, Sandy" <sandyc at bigbend.edu> wrote:HI all,
Some thoughts to add to Robin's:
It's true that better training for teachers and tutors will result in 
more and better student outcomes. That's kind of an inarguable point. 
However: that is also assuming that there is a plethora of teachers and 
tutors out there, and we have the luxury of being highly selective when 
it comes to choosing volunteer tutors and teachers. That's simply? not 
the reality. Oftentimes the opposite is true: we have to accept those 
who are willing to learn but inexperienced, and do the best we can to 
inspire and train them.
Teaching has never been a field that attracts a huge number of people. 
There are realities around pay, job security, and benefits that have 
had the effect of reducing the numbers of people interested in this 
profession.? I consider myself lucky when I get someone in my office 
who expresses an interest in teaching for me on a part-time basis, who 
may have limited teaching experience, but has a sincere desire to "give 
back" to their community.?
So the question really is:? Should we aspire to fewer, but better 
trained teachers and tutors (which would be the reality if we became 
more stringent in our selection criteria)? I know that if I were to 
require additional training and certification for tutors and teachers, 
I would lose a significant number of my teachers. And know that these 
are GOOD teachers, but most of them work full-time during the day, or 
are stay-at-home moms, and work for me in the evenings teaching 
part-time, and they don't have much spare time beyond those 
commitments.?
I don't have the answers, but it's important to balance our idealism 
with the realities of the profession when considering future directions.
Sandy Cheek
Sandy Cheek
Director of Basic Skills
Big Bend Community College
7662 Chanute Street NE
Moses Lake, WA? 98837
509.793.2305
toll-free 877.745.1212
fax 509.762.2696
?
--------
 From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov 
[mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Missy Slaathaug
Sent: Monday, February 20, 2006 8:41 AM
To: 'The Focus on Basics Discussion List'
Subject: Re: [FocusOnBasics] teacher professional development
Hi Robin - it was South Dakota, one of those nameless flyover states!
?
And I couldn't agree with you more that teachers absolutely need to be 
trained and educated in this.? My comment was only that too much 
information in the very first teacher training may be wasted or even 
counter-productive. ?Teachers can only absorb so much in one six hour 
training, and usually until they have begun to teach they don't have a 
conceptual framework to help them process much information. ?They are 
hungry for classroom strategies and techniques - they want to know what 
to DO in the multi-level classroom that they are facing the very next 
week.?
?
But as for ongoing training and higher expectations for adult ed 
teachers, and the entire rest of your posting, I couldn't agree with 
you more. ?
?
Missy Slaathaug
Pierre, South Dakota
?
-----Original Message-----
 From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov 
[mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of 
robinschwarz1 at aol.com
Sent: Saturday, February 18, 2006 6:28 PM
To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] teacher professional development
?
Hi --this is in response to the person from Oregon or Washington and to
Janet Isserlis on another list, both of whose topic was teacher
professional development and the fear of overloading teachers with
information.
?
This topic is near and dear to my heart.? As I indicated in another
posting today, it is surprising to me that the field of ESL does not
seem to prepare teachers for the sort of really hard-core learning
problems that several readers and responders have mentioned.
?
In another message on one of the NIFL lists the notion of profesisonal
development qualification standards for teachers in adult education was
mentioned.
?
Frankly, what I often see is that it is too common that teachers in
adult education and adult ESOL education are woefully unqualified to do
what they do.?? Then learners suffer.?? My article in FOB indicated
that in some of those cases, teachers were simply not prepared to ask
the right questions or to consider the key issues in adult ESOL
learners' situations that significantly impact the learners' progress
in their settings.
?
Those of you who know me, know that I get pretty passionate on this
topic.? I believe, as do my business partners, Laura Weisel and Al
Toops, we are supposed to be in business for the learners, not for the
tutors and teachers in our programs.? In other words, it is not the
needs and limitations of the teachers or tutors that should drive
decisions or policies about how our programs run but rather the needs
of our learners.? I have advocated for years that there need to be
minimal qualifications for hiring teachers or tutors to teach adult
ESOL learners.? I can write an entire book-- and someday will-- of
stories like those in the article where the learner was somehow blamed
for no progress when in truth the learner's teacher had no idea how to
address the learner's real needs.
?
I agree strongly with Janet that it is essential that the nature of
learning challenges-- of all kinds, including language learning
challenges-- be constantly put out to teachers and required reading for
them.??? Though I am sure no program is going to fire its tutors
because I say so, I certainly hope you will consider a far more
stringent approach to requiring that those already in your employ
inform themselves about adult learners and adult ESOL learning,? about
the very most basic principles of language instruction,? about the
culture of their learners. etc.??? Also, program administrators have
everything to gain by requiring more training for tutors and better
experience and qualifications for teachers.? In the end, they will be
more effective and programs with have better outcomes.? The NCSALL
research project on learner persistence (2005 --at NCSCALL.net)
indicated that when tutors were better trained, not only were learners
happier and tended to persist longer, but tutors also persisted because
they did not feel so helpless in helping those with significant
learning needs.
?
Somewhere recently I saw reference to the suggestion or proposal that
adult education teachers be subject to qualification much as K-12
teachers are.? This can only be a good thing for our learners.
?
And as for LD issues, I know for a well-documented fact that having a
tutor or teacher who is well meant and kind but does not "get" LD and
language learning challenges is actually worse for the learner than
just sitting in a class and trying to absorb something.
?
Just as for learners, having high expectations for teachers and tutors
is critical to having an effective program.
?
As a start for ESOL and learning challengs,? programs might want to
look at the handbook : Taking Action: A Handbook for Instructors of
Adult ESOL Learners with Learning Dissablities"? produced and
distrbuted by the Minnesota Learning Disabilities Association (visit
www.ldaminnesota.org to find it).? This walks teachers through the
topic of LD and an approach to determining if other problems might be
at the root of learning difficulties.
?
There is also a great handbook for tutors teaching reading to
English-speaking adults? called The Adult Reading Toolkit ( ART)
?
Both of these are designed for tutors and teachers who have little
prior knowledge on the topic--and they are extremely user-friendly and
beautifully thought out.?? --And no, I don't have any financial
interest in them......
?
?
?Robin
?
?
?
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From robinschwarz1 at aol.com  Tue Feb 21 23:41:44 2006
From: robinschwarz1 at aol.com (robinschwarz1 at aol.com)
Date: Tue, 21 Feb 2006 23:41:44 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] Minimal Pairs
In-Reply-To: <7.0.0.16.0.20060222100844.01eef570@maine.rr.com>
References: <7.0.0.16.0.20060222100844.01eef570@maine.rr.com>
Message-ID: <8C805816AD08546-5E0-4F94@MBLK-M20.sysops.aol.com>
Mary-- there is very little that addresses these pre-literacy level 
skills thorougly enough to rely on them alone.  It will require much 
expansion on your part to provide enough variety in working on the low 
level skills to assure mastery.   I like a book called English Sounds 
and Spelling by McClelland, Hale and Beaudikofer, which is no longer in 
print, but available, I am told, on the internet-- it is a very 
straightforward English (ESL) phonics books, but it has many great line 
drawings of words ESL learners need to know that can be cut up and used 
for many kinds of practice.  The actual phonics lessons are good, but 
presume a certain level of other-language literacy, as most ESL phonics 
books do.    Robin
my address at AOL  is robinschwarz1 at aol.com
-----Original Message-----
From: Mary Bloom <mbloom at maine.rr.com>
To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
Sent: Wed, 22 Feb 2006 10:18:36 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] Minimal Pairs
Hello all,
    I've very much enjoyed Robin's suggestions, especially about
phonological awareness.  I'd appreciate knowing about any materials,
particularly pictures, which concentrate on rhyming.  Googling
"phonological awareness", I've found some, but I'd be interested in
materials already assembled.  Assuming my pre-literate Somali,
Sudanese, and Vietnamese elderly refugees proceed well, I'd also like
Robin's minimal pairs list. Robin, how can I contact you off list?
Mary Bloom
Portland Adult Education
mbloom at maine.rr.com
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From robinschwarz1 at aol.com  Tue Feb 21 23:49:01 2006
From: robinschwarz1 at aol.com (robinschwarz1 at aol.com)
Date: Tue, 21 Feb 2006 23:49:01 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] Fwd: writing and handwriting for low
 literate/non-literate learners
In-Reply-To: <s3fb4c2e.041@mailgate.lagcc.cuny.edu>
References: <s3fb4c2e.041@mailgate.lagcc.cuny.edu>
Message-ID: <8C805826F77D4D2-5E0-4FDC@MBLK-M20.sysops.aol.com>
Carolyn-- these kind of problems are actually rather prevalent in adult 
learners who struggle to learn-- copying from any place.   In the 
product I train with, we screen this skill with an adaptation of an old 
standard in special ed-- a program called the Beery Test of Visual 
Motor Integration  (VMI)  --it involves copying geometric figures and 
is remarkably diagnostic for the kinds of problems you cite. You can 
probably get a version of it by googling.   There was a wonderful adult 
screening tool called the Hull SCreening that was available in MA 
--this has a version of the VMI, too. But it is hard to get hold of.
  But also, the visual linked stress syndrome I have described will 
contbribute heavily to copying problems.  It is hard, after all, to 
copy things that are moving around or blurry.    A self test and forms 
for ordering colored overlays can be found at irlen.com -- a beware-- 
when you open that site, it starts with an example of what many people 
see!!!
Binocularity issues will also impact copying-- so be sure your students 
have had a good vision screening that includes a screening for 
binocularity. Though more are including it, many optometrists will not 
check this unless asked--and will need to be told why you are asking.   
   ( and note this is optometrists who do this, not ophthamologists, who 
operate on eyes, or opticians, who prepare lenses. )   Robin
-----Original Message-----
From: Carolyn Grimaldi <cgrimaldi at lagcc.cuny.edu>
To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
Sent: Tue, 21 Feb 2006 17:17:22 -0500
Subject: Re: [FocusOnBasics] Fwd: writing and handwriting for low 
literate/non-literate learners
Hello all,
I'm not sure if my questions fall under the writing or the visual
problems categories or both, but here it is:
In my years of teaching to low-level ESOL adults, I have had many
students who I would call "weak writers" for lack of a better term,
often, these students have dropped out of school early, like 5th-8th
grades, but these are not non-literate students.  They usually require
much more time to write and copy from the board, and many students have
the problem of copying incorrectly.  We don't have any way of screening
for disabilities right now in our programs.  My assumption was that
many students just were "out of practice", having spent many years out
of school both in their own countries and in the US, and essentially
their writing muscles are out of shape.  Is this possible or should I
always suspect LD?
In addition, I am quite surprised at the large number of students, even
the ones who write faster, who copy things incorrectly off the board.
It's hard to know if this just comes from L1 interference.
If indeed it was possible to test students for the visual and learning
problems, how and where to refer our students?  Unfortunately we don't
have nor do we know of "Special Education" for adult ESOL learners.
Coincidentally, I have begun to find out just how many students have
visual problems and trying to find them affordable care.  Does anyone
have resources for this?  So far we don't know of any.
Thanks for an interesting...and important discussion.
Carolyn Grimaldi
Center for Immigrant Education and Training
LaGuardia Community College
29-10 Thomson Ave. C250
Long Island City, NY 11101
(718) 482-5067
www.lagcc.cuny.edu/ciet/
cgrimaldi at lagcc.cuny.edu
>>> robinschwarz1 at aol.com 2/16/2006 7:39:29 AM >>>
-----Original Message-----
From: Robinschwarz1
To: focusonbasics at dev.nifl.gov
Sent: Wed, 15 Feb 2006 21:44:45 -0500
Subject: writing and handwriting for low literate /non-literate
learners
This is in response to Aaron's and others' comments and questions on
teaching writing to low or non-literate learners.
Though this is an area I am not so well acquainted with, here are some
observations and thoughts:
AS for phonological skills, the skill of handwriting requires roughly
the same preparation that young children get before they are expected
to write easily-- lots and lots of fine motor practice-- the muscles
for holding a writing instrument must be developed and the movements
developed from large to small. When remediating these skills in persons
with dysgraphia, it is necessary to start with large arm movements,
creating circles and other letter-related movements on the board or on
newspaper with markers ( pens , especially most ball point pens, are
slippery for those with hand writing challenges--plus the added tactile
input of markers is helpful in teaching the fingers to grasp
correctly.) Fat pens or pencils would be helpful in the beginning-- or
fat markers.
Much tracing experience is recommended--plus other kinds of activities
that involve fine motor with a writing tool-- mazes, connecting dots,
coloring---all the things children do to strengthen their fingers and
hands.
There is an amazing choice of "adult" coloring books-- lovely designs,
pictures from different cultures, etc--usually available through
museums- ( does anyone know the name of that company that produces
those in great profusion?? They must be available on the web).
There are a VERY few books for non-literate adult ESOL learners that
include some basic tracing of letter forms, but to my highly
opinionated view, they have far too little practice in them. Like all
skills, these must be mastered-- overlearned-- for further writing to
develop comfortably. Also bear in mind that for those with dyslexia and
dysgraphia, cursive is highly recommended over block printing. Thus it
will undoubtedly be easier for those learning to write for the first
time to move directly to connected writing and curvy lines rather than
straight interrupted lines. A friend of mine in the DC area, Janette
Haynes produced a wonderful handwriting book for adult ESOL learners
coming from other alphabets-- it was called American Handwriting Slow
and Easy and was a simplified cursive system. (Delta Publishing
Systems, 1995) My Arabic college students found this very helpful--it
has practice with check writing, names of states, different names for
streets, cardinal and ordinal numbers, etc--all things ESOL learners
need to learn anyway, instead of meaningless sentences.
As for those who write already, here is where my culture alarms go off.
  Many other cultures have a very different approach to writing than we
do . For example, in the French=based system I taught in in Africa,
students were obliged to have "perfect" handwriting at a very early
age. They had a much different formation of letters than we do--and
they were severely punished if their writing was not neat and beautiful
and if they misspelled ANYTHING. Thus learners coming from such
cultures may be extremely hesitant to write in English, a) because they
do not know how to form the letters the way we do and b) because they
fear being reprimanded for making errors. As Dave Barry would say, I am
NOT making this up. In my class of adult ESOL learners in Massachusetts
I encountered this very situation. These were mostly learners from Cape
Verde and Brazil, Haiti and different African countries. When I gave
them some task to write and hardly anyone moved their pencil, I asked
them whether they were afraid I would be mad if they made spelling
mistakes or wrote badly= they ALL nodded vigorously. I had to assure
them repeatedly I was not going to look at those things!!!
And finally, looking further to actual composition--again culture is a
huge obstacle. How text is organized for writing varies enormously from
culture to culture--in some it is considered rude to make a point
explicitly. It is up to the reader to figure it out. In other cultures
it is important to write EVERYTHING you know about a topic-- and these
do not understand why we get so exercised about their voluminous
compositions that appear to us to ramble all over the place.  As I have
said many times in my trainings, the concept of main idea in writing
does not exist much beyond our borders. This was confirmed by my next
door neighbor here in Columbus, where I live now== she is Romanian, and
a doctoral student. She told me she also had a terrible time figuring
out how to write in the highly linear way we do in America, --a thought
seconded by my Portugues doctoral advisor at Lesley. She said she had
to teach herself how to write " just the important points" when she was
a newly arrived college student from Portugal.
Robin
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From woodsnh at isp.com  Tue Feb 21 23:44:50 2006
From: woodsnh at isp.com (Woods)
Date: Tue, 21 Feb 2006 23:44:50 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] a lament
In-Reply-To: <0459EA4FEFB2D31195830008C79119310514F358@yosemitesam>
References: <0459EA4FEFB2D31195830008C79119310514F358@yosemitesam>
Message-ID: <43FBEC42.6090203@isp.com>
iris.broudy at SDH.state.ma.us wrote:
>I feel that I'm burning
>out and question the value of what I'm doing.  Perhaps teachers in other kinds of adult programs face the same issues. 
>  
>
Sometimes we get an adjunct teacher who has a background in ESOL and I 
always appreciate what they bring to the classroom because they don't 
make assumptions about what students may understand or not understand. 
For instance, one teacher who taught a current events class was always 
so good to talk about what a political "party" was, or the terms left 
wing and right wing. Even the simplest everyday expression can go right 
over the heads of many in the class. As far as the value of what one 
does goes, I remind myself of the story about the starfish on the beach. 
You can't help everyone, but you will certainly help one. And that matters.
Tom Woods
Community High School of Vermont
From robinschwarz1 at aol.com  Tue Feb 21 23:56:36 2006
From: robinschwarz1 at aol.com (robinschwarz1 at aol.com)
Date: Tue, 21 Feb 2006 23:56:36 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] More questions
In-Reply-To: <e6.7b0fd8d6.312cfdb7@aol.com>
References: <e6.7b0fd8d6.312cfdb7@aol.com>
Message-ID: <8C805837EA073B6-5E0-501D@MBLK-M20.sysops.aol.com>
Yes, that is right that Cleer Speech is too hard and Pron. Pairs is 
beyond them-- which is why it is important to begin with PRELITERACY 
skills--no rules-- just sounds.    If these students cannot hear 
discrete words in sentences and do not hear sound patterns, their 
vocabulary acquisition will stop quickly--that is the whole skill 
supported by the phonological memory I described last week.   It is NOT 
phonemic awareness, let me say that again.  Phonemes are individual 
sounds in words. Phonological skills for preliteracy is awareness of 
larger chunks of sounds---words, syllables and the sounds that add to 
meaning--stress and intonation.   - I am so glad you mentioned Carolyn 
Graham's Jazz Chant s--the very beginning levels of those should be 
great as they put a lot of emphasis on individual words in sentences 
and on the rhythm of language.   But if the learners cannot hear where 
words begin and end then the vocabulary building will not progress.   
Minimal pairs like all else i recommend, can be done without reference 
to text or rules.
Remember again that the phonological skills I am referring to are the 
"eyes closed, lights out  work of language"---what you can know about 
language from just listening to it.    NO RULES  for the preliterate!  
The things I was referring to about the sound of past tense etc. can 
all be taught orally without reference to rules but rather by modeling. 
  I would recommend not using any books at all, as these learners get 
little from them.  It is all, pardon the expression, GREEK to 
them...... Robin
-----Original Message-----
From: SandyF61 at aol.com
To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
Sent: Tue, 21 Feb 2006 18:35:19 EST
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] More questions
I am struggling a little in this discussion with the practicality of 
some of the suggestions. I teach total beginners. Most are refugees 
with little to no experience in school.? I have always done needs based 
curriculum and found it effective.? We keep our students for a pretty 
short time as they need to get jobs.
I see the point of more work on phonemic recognition.? We certainly do 
some but our main focus is on practical vocabulary and related issues 
(how to find a job, see a doctor, talk to your child's teacher).? I've 
also had great success with things like Jazz Chants.
But when I use more *rule based* curriculum, their eyes glaze over.? I 
use Clear Speech for pronunciation but minimize the rule content.? Even 
books like Pronuncation Pairs don't work as well for them.
So the question is?how to integrate these phonemic skills in such a way 
that is effective and not a turn off?
?
Sandy Fox
Columbia, MO
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From akohring at utk.edu  Wed Feb 22 08:15:47 2006
From: akohring at utk.edu (Aaron Kohring)
Date: Wed, 22 Feb 2006 08:15:47 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] Assessment - Re: More information on  Reading
In-Reply-To: <00f301c6366f$cec4edc0$0302a8c0@Tomschoice>
References: <5.1.0.14.2.20051129124326.03af4ad0@pop.utk.edu>
Message-ID: <5.1.0.14.2.20060222081450.03ce23c8@pop.utk.edu>
John,
You may want to consider also posting your question to the Assessment 
Discussion List for feedback from colleagues there: assessment at nifl.gov.
Aaron
At 10:48 PM 2/20/2006 +0000, you wrote:
>Hello Aaron,
>
>We are wondering about assessment over here in UK, in anticipation of the
>government adopting synthetic phonics for teaching in schools.  You mention
>http://eff.cls.utk.edu/assessment/read5.htm as a source of a standard for
>assessment.  But the mention of "selecting a reading strategy" and "using
>various strategies" (for decoding and word recognition), makes it
>inappropriate for us.  The reason why our National Literacy Strategy has
>failed is that a mixture of strategies has been recommended - in particular
>a process of "multi-cueing" where the learning reader is expected to guess a
>word from various cues or clues, including pictures, context, comparison
>with known sight words, and, lastly, the sound of the first letter.
>Synthetic phonics sweeps all that away, and lets the reader concentrate on
>the decoding process - a single strategy if you like.  Thus assessment has
>now to be geared to determining how well that process has been learnt,
>reflecting inevitably on how well that process has been taught.  I believe
>that the assessment should be applied to the learning and teaching of
>literacy, regardless of the age of the learner, where comprehension is not
>an issue, i.e. where English is the mother tongue.  (Obviously, when
>comprehension is an issue, there need to be additional tests for
>comprehension.)  Are any States adopting this kind of assessment, for
>children and/or adult learners?  Here in UK, we'd like to learn from others'
>experience.
>
>Cheers from Chiswick,
>
>John
>
>John Nissen
>Cloudworld Ltd - http://www.cloudworld.co.uk
>maker of the assistive reader, WordAloud.
>Try WordAloud with synthetic phonics:
>http://www.cloudworld.co.uk/teaching-synthetic-phonics.htm
>Tel: +44 208 742 3170  Fax: +44 208 742 0202
>Email: info at cloudworld.co.uk
>
>
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Aaron Kohring" <akohring at utk.edu>
>To: <focusonbasics at dev.nifl.gov>
>Sent: Tuesday, November 29, 2005 5:46 PM
>Subject: [FocusOnBasics] More information on Reading
>
>
> > Hi all,
> >
> > Barb, you are correct that there are no "National Standards". Most states
> > have adopted, adapted, or developed their own set of standards.
> >
> > Bryan-
> > In beginning reading, you can see what EFF learned from research and data
> > from the field: http://eff.cls.utk.edu/assessment/read5.htm
> >
> > I'd also recommend looking at some of the information available on Reading
> > from other states at OVAE's Standards Warehouse:
> > http://www.adultedcontentstandards.org/Source/GetStandard.asp
> >
> > You may also want to post your question to the Adult Education Content
> > Standards Discussion List (contentstandards at dev.nifl.gov).  Members of
> > that list may be able to give you further information.
> >
> > Aaron
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: focusonbasics-bounces at dev.nifl.gov
> > [mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at dev.nifl.gov]On Behalf Of Barbara Garner
> > Sent: Tuesday, November 22, 2005 6:08 PM
> > To: Halcomb, Becky (Southeast); The Focus on Basics Discussion List
> > Subject: Re: RE: [FocusOnBasics] One-Stop/EFF Conference
> >
> > Thanks, Becky.
> > Does anyone else have suggestions for Bryan? There are not national
> > standards as far as I know; do any states have standards for beginning
> > reading?
> > What do the EFF standards say?
> > Barb Garner
> > From: "Halcomb, Becky (Southeast)" <rebecca.halcomb at kctcs.edu>
> > Date: Tue Nov 22 16:27:42 CST 2005
> > To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List <focusonbasics at dev.nifl.gov>
> > Subject: RE: [FocusOnBasics] One-Stop/EFF Conference
> > Bryan,
> > I hope this will help you in your search. I found this website to be
> > very informative and hope you will too.
> > http://www.nifl.gov/partnershipforreading/adult_reading/adult_reading.ht
> > ml
> > Rebecca
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: focusonbasics-bounces at dev.nifl.gov
> > [mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at dev.nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Bryan A. Wilson
> > Sent: Monday, November 21, 2005 6:09 PM
> > To: b.garner4 at verizon.net; 'The Focus on Basics Discussion List'
> > Subject: RE: [FocusOnBasics] One-Stop/EFF Conference
> > Barbara (and anyone else),
> > Do you have any national standards for beginning reading? You know,
> > things
> > that speak of phonetic awareness, decoding strategies, fluency levels,
> > etc?
> > Bryan
> >
> >
> >
> > Aaron Kohring
> > Coordinator, LINCS Literacy & Learning Disabilities Special Collection
> > Moderator, NIFL Content Standards Discussion List
> >
> > Center for Literacy Studies, University of Tennessee
> > EFF Center for Training and Technical Assistance
> > Phone:(865) 974-4109 main
> >           (865) 974-4258 direct
> > Fax:   (865) 974-3857
> > e-mail: akohring at utk.edu
> >
> >
> > ----------------------------------------------------
> > National Insitute for Literacy
> > Focus on Basics mailing list
> > FocusOnBasics at dev.nifl.gov
> > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
> > http://dev.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
> >
>
>----------------------------------------------------
>National Institute for Literacy
>Focus on Basics mailing list
>FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
>To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to 
>http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
Aaron Kohring
Coordinator, LINCS Literacy & Learning Disabilities Special Collection 
(http://ldlink.coe.utk.edu/)
Moderator, National Institute for Literacy's Content Standards Discussion 
List (http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/Contentstandards)
Coordinator, Equipped for the Future Websites (http://eff.cls.utk.edu/)
Center for Literacy Studies, University of Tennessee
EFF Center for Training and Technical Assistance
Phone:(865) 974-4109 main
           (865) 974-4258 direct
Fax:   (865) 974-3857
e-mail: akohring at utk.edu
From DonMcCabe at aol.com  Wed Feb 22 08:59:43 2006
From: DonMcCabe at aol.com (DonMcCabe at aol.com)
Date: Wed, 22 Feb 2006 08:59:43 EST
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] Fwd: writing and handwriting for low
	literate/non-literat...
Message-ID: <a0.37bb83bb.312dc84f@aol.com>
In a message dated 2/21/2006 9:27:43 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,  
cgrimaldi at lagcc.cuny.edu writes:
Hello all,
I'm not sure if my questions  fall under the writing or the visual
problems categories or both, but here it  is:
In my years of teaching to low-level ESOL adults, I have had  many
students who I would call "weak writers" for lack of a better  term,
often, these students have dropped out of school early, like  5th-8th
grades, but these are not non-literate students.  They usually  require
much more time to write and copy from the board, and many students  have
the problem of copying incorrectly.  We don't have any way of  screening
for disabilities right now in our programs.  My assumption was  that 
many students just were "out of practice", having spent many years  out
of school both in their own countries and in the US, and  essentially
their writing muscles are out of shape.  Is this possible or  should I
always suspect LD?
 
Don McCabe's answer:  Your assumption is probably  right.  There always is 
the problem of a slight loss of automaticity  in making the connection between 
the mind and the muscles from lack of  activity.  I know my automatic 
handwriting has suffered a decline because  99% of all my writing is done on the 
computer.
Don McCabe, Research  Director
AVKO Educational Research Foundation
_www.spelling.org_ (http://www.spelling.org) 
From dbrillan at pdx.edu  Wed Feb 22 15:06:50 2006
From: dbrillan at pdx.edu (Dominique Brillanceau)
Date: Wed, 22 Feb 2006 12:06:50 -0800
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] health, stress and teaching struggles
References: <43FB8472020000A000002095@smtp.us.future-gate.com	smtp.de.future-gate.com>
	<8C80580900D1258-5E0-4F5D@MBLK-M20.sysops.aol.com>
Message-ID: <002f01c637eb$85a91210$6501a8c0@D483MV11>
To all,
Health and family issues may interfere with teaching as much as with learning. While it is important to be aware of what may impede a learner's learning, we would not tell them what might be interfering with our teaching.  As adults with complicated lives, teachers and learners come to the classroom to learn and teach each other in an environment which excludes very temporarily our outside lives.   
With the exception of adult learners that are required to attend as part of a  school-to-work program (for example), the ESOL learners I have had the pleasure to teach have attended because they think the learning in the classroom is more important than sleep, free time, learning on their own, etc... It  would be a disservice to them as well as misleading to have them think we can do something for them beyond the classroom.  I think it is important for learners to know the limits of their teacher's abilities and what the classroom is and what it is not. 
Stated more simpy:  learners will not come if they don't think it is making a  difference.  Likewise, they know when something is interfering with their learning therefore attend only when they know it is beneficial to them.  However, we must teach regardless we can or we can't. 
Training and ongoing  professional development should not only make pre-service and in-service teachers aware of what might affect a learner's learning but a teacher's teaching and train them to understand the limits of the classroom arena.  Teachers'  persistence and retention are on a par with learners' persistence and retention.  
Best,
Dominique Brillanceau
instructor/ research associate
NCSALL Esol Labschool
http://www.labschool.pdx.edu/index.php
 From: <robinschwarz1 at aol.com>
To: <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
Sent: Tuesday, February 21, 2006 8:35 PM
Subject: Re: [FocusOnBasics] health, stress and learning struggles
> Yes, that is one of the challenges of working with adults with such 
> stressful lives-- but while these issues are difficult, I believe it is 
> important that we continue to have expectations that learners WILL 
> accomplish something and not just use the class for group therapy.    
> It may just be a page or an activity or participating in a 
> conversation, but the expectation is that they will do something.
> 
> and I want to note that in my messages I stress persistence as opposed 
> to retention-- retention smacks of us hanging on to them, while 
> persistence, the term used by NCSALL, indicates that the learner has 
> chosen to persist.   Rlobin
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Katrina Hinson <khinson at future-gate.com>
> To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov; julie_mcKinney at worlded.org
> Sent: Tue, 21 Feb 2006 12:21:53 -0800
> Subject: Re: [FocusOnBasics] health, stress and learning struggles
> 
> I think it's just these kind of issues that no amount of statistical 
> data ever
> covers  - especially when it comes down to NRS reporting etc, but these 
> are very
> real issues faced by many of our older and younger adult students 
> alike. These
> issues affect every thing from individual attendance to long term 
> retention
> numbers. I have a student in my class as well whose mother has 
> alzheimers. It
> takes a great deal of her emotional strength just to deal with it on a 
> day to
> day basis let alone have anything left over to think and comprehend 
> with. Add to
> that, the student also has a child under a year old with asthma.   A 
> person's
> health, and the health of those around them, I feel, directly impacts 
> his or her
> ability to learn. If you're concentrating so much on a pain or 
> discomfort you
> have, there is no way you can fully concentrate on the material you're 
> trying to
> learn.  If you're worried about your loved ones, you can't focus on the
> learning. I think looking at these barriers and
>  trying to find ways to overcome them is a very important and real 
> issue for all
> of us.
> 
> 
> Regards
> Katrina Hinson
> 
>>>> julie_mcKinney at worlded.org  >>>
> Hi Robin and others,
> 
> One thing that struck me in the article was how health and home stress
> issues affected people's learning. For example, Anna Maria had the
> hearing problem and the mother with alzheimers, and Henri was
> preoccupied with his prostate cancer. It seems that health issues for
> the learner and the learner's family can be significant barriers to
> learning.
> 
> Any more ideas for assessing and addressing these types of problems?
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Julie
> 
> Julie McKinney
> Discussion List Moderator
> World Education/NCSALL
> jmckinney at worlded.org
> 
> ----------------------------------------------------
> National Institute for Literacy
> Focus on Basics mailing list
> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
> 
> ----------------------------------------------------
> National Institute for Literacy
> Focus on Basics mailing list
> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
> 
> ----------------------------------------------------
> National Institute for Literacy
> Focus on Basics mailing list
> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
>
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From iris.broudy at SDH.state.ma.us  Wed Feb 22 15:59:58 2006
From: iris.broudy at SDH.state.ma.us (iris.broudy at SDH.state.ma.us)
Date: Wed, 22 Feb 2006 15:59:58 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] a lament
Message-ID: <0459EA4FEFB2D31195830008C79119310514F360@yosemitesam>
Thanks to Tom Woods for the encouraging response.  I've heard excellent
things about your program in Vermont,Tom. And yes, I suppose if I'm going to
continue to function successfully in this setting, I need to keep reminding
myself about the realities of the student population and to lower my
expectations. I appreciate your input.
Regards,
Iris  
Iris L. Broudy
ESOL Instructor/Programs Dept.
Hampden County Sheriff's Department
627 Randall Road
Ludlow,  MA  01056
(413) 547-8000  ext. 2468
Fax:  (413) 583-3099
iris.broudy at sdh.state.ma.us
-----Original Message-----
From: Woods [mailto:woodsnh at isp.com]
Sent: Saturday, February 18, 2006 12:17 AM
To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List
Subject: Re: [FocusOnBasics] a lament
Iris,
You are not alone.I too am a corrections educator. You described a 
similar situation to what I see in my job in VT, a simply huge variety 
of abilities and levels. Your situation sounds a bit more complicated 
than mine because the vast majority of my students are able to speak 
English.
I think that the hardest cases for me are when traumatic brain injuries 
co-mingle with chronic drug and alcohol abuse. It is so unpredictable 
what kinds of learning problems these individuals may experience.
It sounds like you are extremely frustrated with your work with the 
offenders. If you are given freedom to develop the education program 
where you work, you might look at it as a wonderful opportunity to 
create a system that works for your guys where nothing has ever worked 
before.
Ten things I've learned as I helped build our high school, the Community 
High School of Vermont, are:
1. You can't help everybody.
2. Everyone comes to you at his own level and works at his own pace.
3. Some problems of individuals are bigger than education.
4. It is best to have no expectations for your students, not low 
expectations. No expectations.
5. Appreciate whatever gains might be made, no matter what they may  be.
6. Every student is good at something.
7. Students have to direct the course of their education. Teachers 
assist them.
8. Don't try doing it the other way around or you will fail miserably 
and drive all your students away.
9. You may not know when you will gain a new student or lose an old 
student so your classes have to be self-standing, not dependent on a 
sequence of classes the student may have missed.
10. These things motivate learners. and a motivated learner cannot be 
stopped. He will learn more than you ever thought possible, learning and 
emotional disabilities become irrelevant.
Best wishes,
Tom Woods
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
From julie_mcKinney at worlded.org  Wed Feb 22 17:35:15 2006
From: julie_mcKinney at worlded.org (Julie  McKinney)
Date: Wed, 22 Feb 2006 17:35:15 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] Thanks to Robin and all!
Message-ID: <s3fca0fb.064@mail.jsi.com>
Hi All,
Thank you all so much for your input during this past week's discussion
of struggling ESOL learners. And HUGE thanks to Robin for sharing her
experience and knowledge with us all. I especially appreciated the
specific, practical advice she was able to give that stemmed from years
of study and research, and the geniune sense of caring for the learners
that so clearly guides her attitude and methods of teaching. 
We can all still continue this discussion, but we gratefully say goodbye
to Robin with thanks for answering our questions and concerns so fully.
I will go through the postings and compile all the specific links, book
titles, workbooks, etc. that were recommended as resources and have them
for you next week.
Thanks again,
Julie
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
From GEMIRVING at MSN.COM  Wed Feb 22 21:27:55 2006
From: GEMIRVING at MSN.COM (M G IRVING)
Date: Wed, 22 Feb 2006 19:27:55 -0700
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] Thanks Robin
Message-ID: <BAY103-DAV5C8803C46A5F91EE85C25A7F20@phx.gbl>
Robin,
Thanks for all the great info you've shared with us over the last week.  You've answered a great range of questions and even shared some great sources with us.  I know you're also involved with PowerPath, a wonderful LD screening tool.  I've been using it in the last several weeks and my students have been very receptive!  I was worried that approaching the question of asking them about their learning difficulties might be awkward, but I'm finding that they are eager to share and even more eager to get some help as well as thrilled to get the accommodations that PowerPath gives.  Many of my students have shown (through the testing) that they are indeed scotopically sensitive and benefit from a colored filter.  I'm grateful for all the knowledge you've passed on this week.   Again, Thanks 
Geri Irving
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From robinschwarz1 at aol.com  Wed Feb 22 21:37:50 2006
From: robinschwarz1 at aol.com (robinschwarz1 at aol.com)
Date: Wed, 22 Feb 2006 21:37:50 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] health, stress and teaching struggles
In-Reply-To: <002f01c637eb$85a91210$6501a8c0@D483MV11>
References: <43FB8472020000A000002095@smtp.us.future-gate.com	smtp.de.future-gate.com>	<8C80580900D1258-5E0-4F5D@MBLK-M20.sysops.aol.com>
	<002f01c637eb$85a91210$6501a8c0@D483MV11>
Message-ID: <8C80639463D7EDC-CD8-10346@mblk-d43.sysops.aol.com>
Lest there be any misunderstanding about the implications of my message 
and article, I am not advocating teachers' necessarily doing anything 
about their students' "exterior" problems, but rather being aware of 
those that impact learning in the classroom.  In some cases, it might 
be important to make the learner aware of support services he or she 
could access.  In questions of vision, however, I tend to be the one 
giving referrals to a doctor I trust or to a place ( such as the Lions 
Club) that can help with this.  In the adult ESOL program I worked in 
in MA there was a counselor present most of the time--he would connect 
learners with community resources as needed.
Acknowledgement of the problem can go far in helping learners keep on 
trying--as it did for Henri--who attended though it WAS NOT beneficial 
for him in terms of learning English--  while finding out about the 
hearing loss meant a far more appropriate learning setting and 
counseling about employment discrimination rights for Anna.
Robin
-----Original Message-----
From: Dominique Brillanceau <dbrillan at pdx.edu>
To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
Sent: Wed, 22 Feb 2006 12:06:50 -0800
Subject: Re: [FocusOnBasics] health, stress and teaching struggles
To all,
Health and family issues may interfere with?teaching as much as with 
learning. While it is important to be aware of what may impede a 
learner's learning, we would not tell them what might be interfering 
with our teaching.? As adults with complicated lives, teachers and 
learners come to the classroom to learn and teach each other in an 
environment which excludes very temporarily our outside lives.??
With the exception of adult learners that are required to attend as 
part of a? school-to-work program (for example), the ESOL learners I 
have had the pleasure to teach have attended because they think the 
learning in the classroom is more important than sleep, free time, 
learning on their own, etc... It? would be a disservice to them as well 
as misleading to have them think we can do something for them beyond 
the classroom.? I think it is important for learners to know the limits 
of their teacher's abilities and what the classroom is and what it is 
not.
Stated more simpy: ?learners will not come if they don't think it is 
making a? difference.??Likewise, they know when something is 
interfering with their learning therefore attend only?when they know it 
is beneficial to them.? However, we must teach regardless we can or we 
can't.
Training and ongoing? professional development should not only make 
pre-service and in-service teachers aware of what might affect a 
learner's learning but a teacher's teaching and train them to 
understand the limits of the classroom arena.? Teachers' ?persistence 
and retention are on a par with learners' persistence and retention.?
?
Best,
?
Dominique Brillanceau
instructor/ research associate
NCSALL Esol Labschool
http://www.labschool.pdx.edu/index.php
?
?From: <robinschwarz1 at aol.com>
To: <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
Sent: Tuesday, February 21, 2006 8:35 PM
Subject: Re: [FocusOnBasics] health, stress and learning struggles
> Yes, that is one of the challenges of working with adults with such
> stressful lives-- but while these issues are difficult, I believe it 
is
> important that we continue to have expectations that learners WILL
> accomplish something and not just use the class for group therapy.???
> It may just be a page or an activity or participating in a
> conversation, but the expectation is that they will do something.
>
> and I want to note that in my messages I stress persistence as 
opposed
> to retention-- retention smacks of us hanging on to them, while
> persistence, the term used by NCSALL, indicates that the learner has
> chosen to persist.?? Rlobin
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Katrina Hinson <khinson at future-gate.com>
> To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov; julie_mcKinney at worlded.org
> Sent: Tue, 21 Feb 2006 12:21:53 -0800
> Subject: Re: [FocusOnBasics] health, stress and learning struggles
>
> I think it's just these kind of issues that no amount of statistical
> data ever
> covers? - especially when it comes down to NRS reporting etc, but 
these
> are very
> real issues faced by many of our older and younger adult students
> alike. These
> issues affect every thing from individual attendance to long term
> retention
> numbers. I have a student in my class as well whose mother has
> alzheimers. It
> takes a great deal of her emotional strength just to deal with it on 
a
> day to
> day basis let alone have anything left over to think and comprehend
> with. Add to
> that, the student also has a child under a year old with asthma.?? A
> person's
> health, and the health of those around them, I feel, directly impacts
> his or her
> ability to learn. If you're concentrating so much on a pain or
> discomfort you
> have, there is no way you can fully concentrate on the material 
you're
> trying to
> learn.? If you're worried about your loved ones, you can't focus on 
the
> learning. I think looking at these barriers and
>? trying to find ways to overcome them is a very important and real
> issue for all
> of us.
>
>
> Regards
> Katrina Hinson
>
>>>> julie_mcKinney at worlded.org? >>>
> Hi Robin and others,
>
> One thing that struck me in the article was how health and home stress
> issues affected people's learning. For example, Anna Maria had the
> hearing problem and the mother with alzheimers, and Henri was
> preoccupied with his prostate cancer. It seems that health issues for
> the learner and the learner's family can be significant barriers to
> learning.
>
> Any more ideas for assessing and addressing these types of problems?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Julie
>
> Julie McKinney
> Discussion List Moderator
> World Education/NCSALL
> jmckinney at worlded.org
>
> ----------------------------------------------------
> National Institute for Literacy
> Focus on Basics mailing list
> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
>
> ----------------------------------------------------
> National Institute for Literacy
> Focus on Basics mailing list
> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
>
> ----------------------------------------------------
> National Institute for Literacy
> Focus on Basics mailing list
> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to 
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
>
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
From robinschwarz1 at aol.com  Wed Feb 22 21:54:24 2006
From: robinschwarz1 at aol.com (robinschwarz1 at aol.com)
Date: Wed, 22 Feb 2006 21:54:24 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] teacher professional development
In-Reply-To: <7905AF1D688C9F47B9C9E338C4FE315F011EA5B8@MAIL.bigbend.edu>
References: <7905AF1D688C9F47B9C9E338C4FE315F011EA5B8@MAIL.bigbend.edu>
Message-ID: <8C8063B96BDB14B-14F0-A13E@MBLK-M29.sysops.aol.com>
Without addressing specifics of Sandy's message, let me restate my 
position that a) underprepared teachers and tutors can often do more 
harm than good (nearly all of the cases in my article came about 
because of teachers who had little experience or were not trained in 
ESOL issues at all)-- and b) that I believe the needs of our learners 
should drive the decisions and policies of the programs.   This means 
that we serve our learners best by requiring that tutors and teachers 
working with them have the information and training needed to do a 
reasonably good job--and must be willing to continue to learn on the 
job.  I have way too often --WAY too often--seen people taking the 
evening teaching job just because it was extra income. There was little 
interest in whether they were being effective for adult learners or 
adult ESOL learners.  Another issue is the belief that just because one 
has either lived in another country or speaks another language that 
that qualifies one to teach ESOL.
I think I cited a lot earlier my Columbian doctor students in Boston 
who spent an awful lot of money and an awful lot of time in a private 
ESL school with a teacher who was really an engineer.  He had no idea 
how to explain the complexities of English to these hard working 
learners--and they were frustrated literally to tears at having made no 
progress in English--literally no progress--in over 6 months.  And I 
did not cite other cases such as Jeanne, the Haitian lady whom I was 
told was "unteachable" and that her teachers had "tried everything" and 
she could not learn.   I do not accept these reasons.   What was clear 
was that Jeanne's teacher had never encountered a completely 
non-literate person and had no idea how to teach her.   Is it really 
Jeanne's fault that she was not learning???  That is the message that 
is almost always conveyed.
I think it is only respectful to those learners whom Dominique 
Brillanceau cites as wanting to come to school for any reason that we 
serve them the very best we can---that may mean not giviing them an 
underqualified teacher. I hope that programs are not in business to 
give tutors some place to volunteer rather than to give learners the 
best education possible.    Better teachers will mean better results 
for programs as more learners actually progress and complete goals.  
Perhaps creative directors can figure out how make pay that would cover 
several untrained teachers or tutors to pay more for a highly qualfied 
one.
ProLiteracy, among other organizations, has gone far towards creating 
training programs for new tutors because literacy providers know that 
if tutors are untrained, learners cannot progress and will not persist. 
   Why can't this be the case in ESOL??
 Robin
-----Original Message-----
From: Cheek, Sandy <sandyc at bigbend.edu>
To: mslaathaug at midco.net; The Focus on Basics Discussion List 
<focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
Sent: Mon, 20 Feb 2006 09:59:03 -0800
Subject: Re: [FocusOnBasics] teacher professional development
HI all,
Some thoughts to add to Robin's:
It's true that better training for teachers and tutors will result in 
more and better student outcomes. That's kind of an inarguable point. 
However: that is also assuming that there is a plethora of teachers and 
tutors out there, and we have the luxury of being highly selective when 
it comes to choosing volunteer tutors and teachers. That's simply? not 
the reality. Oftentimes the opposite is true: we have to accept those 
who are willing to learn but inexperienced, and do the best we can to 
inspire and train them.
Teaching has never been a field that attracts a huge number of people. 
There are realities around pay, job security, and benefits that have 
had the effect of reducing the numbers of people interested in this 
profession.? I consider myself lucky when I get someone in my office 
who expresses an interest in teaching for me on a part-time basis, who 
may have limited teaching experience, but has a sincere desire to "give 
back" to their community.?
So the question really is:? Should we aspire to fewer, but better 
trained teachers and tutors (which would be the reality if we became 
more stringent in our selection criteria)? I know that if I were to 
require additional training and certification for tutors and teachers, 
I would lose a significant number of my teachers. And know that these 
are GOOD teachers, but most of them work full-time during the day, or 
are stay-at-home moms, and work for me in the evenings teaching 
part-time, and they don't have much spare time beyond those 
commitments.?
I don't have the answers, but it's important to balance our idealism 
with the realities of the profession when considering future directions.
Sandy Cheek
Sandy Cheek
Director of Basic Skills
Big Bend Community College
7662 Chanute Street NE
Moses Lake, WA? 98837
509.793.2305
toll-free 877.745.1212
fax 509.762.2696
?
--------
 From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov 
[mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Missy Slaathaug
Sent: Monday, February 20, 2006 8:41 AM
To: 'The Focus on Basics Discussion List'
Subject: Re: [FocusOnBasics] teacher professional development
Hi Robin - it was South Dakota, one of those nameless flyover states!
?
And I couldn't agree with you more that teachers absolutely need to be 
trained and educated in this.? My comment was only that too much 
information in the very first teacher training may be wasted or even 
counter-productive. ?Teachers can only absorb so much in one six hour 
training, and usually until they have begun to teach they don't have a 
conceptual framework to help them process much information. ?They are 
hungry for classroom strategies and techniques - they want to know what 
to DO in the multi-level classroom that they are facing the very next 
week.?
?
But as for ongoing training and higher expectations for adult ed 
teachers, and the entire rest of your posting, I couldn't agree with 
you more. ?
?
Missy Slaathaug
Pierre, South Dakota
?
-----Original Message-----
 From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov 
[mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of 
robinschwarz1 at aol.com
Sent: Saturday, February 18, 2006 6:28 PM
To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] teacher professional development
?
Hi --this is in response to the person from Oregon or Washington and to
Janet Isserlis on another list, both of whose topic was teacher
professional development and the fear of overloading teachers with
information.
?
This topic is near and dear to my heart.? As I indicated in another
posting today, it is surprising to me that the field of ESL does not
seem to prepare teachers for the sort of really hard-core learning
problems that several readers and responders have mentioned.
?
In another message on one of the NIFL lists the notion of profesisonal
development qualification standards for teachers in adult education was
mentioned.
?
Frankly, what I often see is that it is too common that teachers in
adult education and adult ESOL education are woefully unqualified to do
what they do.?? Then learners suffer.?? My article in FOB indicated
that in some of those cases, teachers were simply not prepared to ask
the right questions or to consider the key issues in adult ESOL
learners' situations that significantly impact the learners' progress
in their settings.
?
Those of you who know me, know that I get pretty passionate on this
topic.? I believe, as do my business partners, Laura Weisel and Al
Toops, we are supposed to be in business for the learners, not for the
tutors and teachers in our programs.? In other words, it is not the
needs and limitations of the teachers or tutors that should drive
decisions or policies about how our programs run but rather the needs
of our learners.? I have advocated for years that there need to be
minimal qualifications for hiring teachers or tutors to teach adult
ESOL learners.? I can write an entire book-- and someday will-- of
stories like those in the article where the learner was somehow blamed
for no progress when in truth the learner's teacher had no idea how to
address the learner's real needs.
?
I agree strongly with Janet that it is essential that the nature of
learning challenges-- of all kinds, including language learning
challenges-- be constantly put out to teachers and required reading for
them.??? Though I am sure no program is going to fire its tutors
because I say so, I certainly hope you will consider a far more
stringent approach to requiring that those already in your employ
inform themselves about adult learners and adult ESOL learning,? about
the very most basic principles of language instruction,? about the
culture of their learners. etc.??? Also, program administrators have
everything to gain by requiring more training for tutors and better
experience and qualifications for teachers.? In the end, they will be
more effective and programs with have better outcomes.? The NCSALL
research project on learner persistence (2005 --at NCSCALL.net)
indicated that when tutors were better trained, not only were learners
happier and tended to persist longer, but tutors also persisted because
they did not feel so helpless in helping those with significant
learning needs.
?
Somewhere recently I saw reference to the suggestion or proposal that
adult education teachers be subject to qualification much as K-12
teachers are.? This can only be a good thing for our learners.
?
And as for LD issues, I know for a well-documented fact that having a
tutor or teacher who is well meant and kind but does not "get" LD and
language learning challenges is actually worse for the learner than
just sitting in a class and trying to absorb something.
?
Just as for learners, having high expectations for teachers and tutors
is critical to having an effective program.
?
As a start for ESOL and learning challengs,? programs might want to
look at the handbook : Taking Action: A Handbook for Instructors of
Adult ESOL Learners with Learning Dissablities"? produced and
distrbuted by the Minnesota Learning Disabilities Association (visit
www.ldaminnesota.org to find it).? This walks teachers through the
topic of LD and an approach to determining if other problems might be
at the root of learning difficulties.
?
There is also a great handbook for tutors teaching reading to
English-speaking adults? called The Adult Reading Toolkit ( ART)
?
Both of these are designed for tutors and teachers who have little
prior knowledge on the topic--and they are extremely user-friendly and
beautifully thought out.?? --And no, I don't have any financial
interest in them......
?
?
?Robin
?
?
?
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to 
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
?
----------------------------------------------------
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From woodsnh at isp.com  Wed Feb 22 23:46:00 2006
From: woodsnh at isp.com (Woods)
Date: Wed, 22 Feb 2006 23:46:00 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] a lament
In-Reply-To: <0459EA4FEFB2D31195830008C79119310514F360@yosemitesam>
References: <0459EA4FEFB2D31195830008C79119310514F360@yosemitesam>
Message-ID: <43FD3E08.9060201@isp.com>
iris.broudy at SDH.state.ma.us wrote:
>I need to keep reminding
>myself about the realities of the student population and to lower my
>expectations. 
>
It isn't so much about lowering your expectations. Rather, enter into 
your relationship with a student with no expectations and appreciate 
whatever outcomes may rise out of that relationship. The student will 
begin to form his or her own expectations, which are OK.
In public K-12 education, it is a mantra taught to all beginning 
teachers: you must have high expectations for your students and they 
will rise to meet them. Research has been designed to show that this is 
indeed the case. It is the paradigm in public education, and it is a 
line of thinking that is fundamentally flawed, in my opinion. The 
problems with expectations are that students usually only work to meet 
the expectations and not go any further. They are the foundation for the 
measurement of success and failure in schools. They create a system in 
which students work (or not) to try to meet the expectations of their 
teachers and not for the intrinsic benefits of learning for its own 
sake. One very unfortunate outcome of this is the student's education 
becomes directed others and not the by the student. It is 
teacher-centered, not student-centered. When a student fails to meet the 
teacher's expectations, it is said the student did not learn, which is 
very clearly not the case. In extreme situations, failure to learn has a 
name: learning disability. As I'm sure you've noticed in corrections 
education, these are our guys. They come from a lifetime of failure to 
meet teachers' expectations.
In a no-expectations paradigm, the teacher would not attempt to define a 
set of learning objectives and decide whether they had been met. 
Instead, the teacher would try to identify what learning did occur and 
see how it fits with the school's overall curriculum. Immediately, there 
is no such thing as failure in this system. There is only learning. It 
progresses according to the student's expectations of him- or herself. 
If a teacher can work in this setting, all learning is valued. There 
would not be disappointment if it doesn't progress the way the teacher 
would like it to. Oops. That would mean there is a teacher-expectation.
What I've found K-12 teachers look at me like I come from another planet 
if I start talking to them about trying to not have expectations for 
their students. The mindset of having high expectations is so ingrained, 
so supported by research, and so much a part of our educational 
tradition that it is extremely difficult to break out. Still there are 
hints of it in the traditions of progressive education, of the 
Summerhill School in England, and of the Sudbury Valley School in MA. I 
also know from my own experience, it works. Kids who were completely 
turned off by their past experiences get so pumped they will move 
mountains to get their diplomas . It begins with doing away with teacher 
expectations and allowing the student to begin to form them for him- or 
herself.
I apologize for the long winded treatise, but expectations are a 
hot-button item for me, as I'm sure you have guessed.
Tom
From julie_mcKinney at worlded.org  Thu Feb 23 10:41:19 2006
From: julie_mcKinney at worlded.org (Julie  McKinney)
Date: Thu, 23 Feb 2006 10:41:19 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] one lost message
Message-ID: <s3fd915f.070@mail.jsi.com>
Hi All,
Did anyone send a message between Wed. night and Thurs. morning? I saw
one and it disappeared before I could send it through. Never seen that
happen before... If you sent one and don't see it posted, please send it
again.
Thanks,
Julie
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
From annb at lcbc.org  Thu Feb 23 10:54:14 2006
From: annb at lcbc.org (Ann Barncard)
Date: Thu, 23 Feb 2006 09:54:14 -0600
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] Thanks to Robin and all!
In-Reply-To: <s3fca0fb.064@mail.jsi.com>
Message-ID: <003f01c63891$68811060$3f00000a@lcbc.ad.lcbc.org>
Thanks for your efforts, too, Julie.  I look forward to having the
compilation of links, etc.
-----Original Message-----
From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Julie McKinney
Sent: Wednesday, February 22, 2006 4:35 PM
To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] Thanks to Robin and all!
Hi All,
Thank you all so much for your input during this past week's discussion
of struggling ESOL learners. And HUGE thanks to Robin for sharing her
experience and knowledge with us all. I especially appreciated the
specific, practical advice she was able to give that stemmed from years
of study and research, and the geniune sense of caring for the learners
that so clearly guides her attitude and methods of teaching. 
We can all still continue this discussion, but we gratefully say goodbye
to Robin with thanks for answering our questions and concerns so fully.
I will go through the postings and compile all the specific links, book
titles, workbooks, etc. that were recommended as resources and have them
for you next week.
Thanks again,
Julie
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
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To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
From hgalindo at carlosrosario.org  Thu Feb 23 11:49:34 2006
From: hgalindo at carlosrosario.org (Hugo Galindo)
Date: Thu, 23 Feb 2006 11:49:34 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] Information
In-Reply-To: <s3fd915f.070@mail.jsi.com>
Message-ID: <20060223164844.761EE11C95@mail.nifl.gov>
Julie:
Thank you for all your work in organizing this focus group. There is a lot
of information to digest.
I would like more information on "Power Path screening tool". Do you have
the contact person where I can get more information?
Thanks again,
Hugo Galindo
From carole.a.scholl at co.multnomah.or.us  Thu Feb 23 17:22:52 2006
From: carole.a.scholl at co.multnomah.or.us (SCHOLL Carole A)
Date: Thu, 23 Feb 2006 14:22:52 -0800
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] Information
Message-ID: <A8BC992059697640B54014809BF0D35206523190@mttabor.co.multnomah.or.us>
Hello all,
Our center has just started to use the Power Path screening tool, and
have had positive feedback. We are an adult education center working
with students who are out of jail or involved in drug/alcohol treatment.
There is a high incidence of comorbidity: addictions + mental illness +
criminal history + learning difficulties. We suspect many have learning
"disabilities," but have no funds to get official diagnosis. 
Power Path has offered us a new approach toward our learners with
difficulties. It enables us to screen for auditory, visual and
information processing problems. But, most importantly, it goes a step
further, stressing "strategy" planning with the student. Power Path
reports provide strategies for students to overcome their barriers. A
systematic checking-in with the student allows for tracking of progress,
goal-setting and planning. In sum, we are able to help students develop
metacognitive skills that they need to succeed, instead of just
emphasizing students' deficiencies. 
It's so easy to get hung up on what we can't do as programs (pay for an
LD diagnosis, for example!).  But there's so much we can do better to
help our learners help themselves.  
Thank you all for this fine discussion on Focus on Basics!
Carole Scholl
Londer Learning Center
Multnomah County Department of Community Justice
-----Original Message-----
From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Hugo Galindo
Sent: Thursday, February 23, 2006 8:50 AM
To: 'The Focus on Basics Discussion List'
Subject: Re: [FocusOnBasics] Information
Julie:
Thank you for all your work in organizing this focus group. There is a
lot
of information to digest.
I would like more information on "Power Path screening tool". Do you
have
the contact person where I can get more information?
Thanks again,
Hugo Galindo
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
From julie_mcKinney at worlded.org  Thu Feb 23 18:28:46 2006
From: julie_mcKinney at worlded.org (Julie  McKinney)
Date: Thu, 23 Feb 2006 18:28:46 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] Upcoming discussion: New Technology in Adult Ed
Message-ID: <s3fdfef4.075@mail.jsi.com>
Hi All,
Read on for details of an upcoming discussion of new technology in adult
education on the Technology and literacy discussion list.
-Julie
Hello NIFL discussion list colleagues,
Audio and video resources have been used in adult education instruction
for
many years, but the introduction of CDs, DVDs, the Internet, and other
electronic technologies has greatly expanded their availability and
raise
many questions about implementation, support annd training.
I'm pleased to announce that David Collings, Technology Coordinator for
the
Adult and Community Education Network in Delaware, and Alex Quinn,
Executive Director of the Adult Literacy Media Alliance (ALMA), will
join
the NIFL Technology list as guests to lead a discussion on  
current and emerging uses of media in adult ed. instruction in the
classroom and at a distance. Their discussion will take place next week
from Tuesday, February 28th through Friday March 3rd. Some of the areas
they will cover on this topic include: teacher training, technical
support
for teachers and learners, the challenges of their use, media
distribution,
and emerging uses and tools foor delivery of media. 
You are encouraged to participate, ask questions, and share you
experience
and knowledge.
To join the NIFL Technology and Literacy discussion list please
subscribe
by going to:
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/Technology
Please don't hesitate to get in touch if you have questions.
Regards,
Mariann
Mariann Fedele
Coordinator of Professional Development, 
Literacy Assistance Center
Moderator,
NIFL Technology and Literacy Discussion List
32 Broadway 10th Floor
New York, New York 10004
212-803-3325
mariannf at lacnyc.org
www.lacnyc.org
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
From vanillaicy at hotmail.co.uk  Thu Feb 23 19:39:25 2006
From: vanillaicy at hotmail.co.uk (Aliya AbdulLatif)
Date: Fri, 24 Feb 2006 00:39:25 +0000
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] Upcoming discussion: New Technology in Adult Ed
In-Reply-To: <s3fdfef4.075@mail.jsi.com>
Message-ID: <BAY15-F206FE4962B0048153661F090F30@phx.gbl>
Hi Julie
I may not be looking in the right files but I wanted to know if you have 
links for any online resources we can use in Lietracy and ESOL teaching 
please?
Regards
Aliya
>From: "Julie  McKinney" <julie_mcKinney at worlded.org>
>Reply-To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
>To: <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
>CC: healthliteracy at nifl.gov
>Subject: [FocusOnBasics] Upcoming discussion: New Technology in Adult Ed
>Date: Thu, 23 Feb 2006 18:28:46 -0500
>
>Hi All,
>Read on for details of an upcoming discussion of new technology in adult
>education on the Technology and literacy discussion list.
>-Julie
>
>Hello NIFL discussion list colleagues,
>
>Audio and video resources have been used in adult education instruction
>for
>many years, but the introduction of CDs, DVDs, the Internet, and other
>electronic technologies has greatly expanded their availability and
>raise
>many questions about implementation, support annd training.
>
>I'm pleased to announce that David Collings, Technology Coordinator for
>the
>Adult and Community Education Network in Delaware, and Alex Quinn,
>Executive Director of the Adult Literacy Media Alliance (ALMA), will
>join
>the NIFL Technology list as guests to lead a discussion on
>current and emerging uses of media in adult ed. instruction in the
>classroom and at a distance. Their discussion will take place next week
>from Tuesday, February 28th through Friday March 3rd. Some of the areas
>they will cover on this topic include: teacher training, technical
>support
>for teachers and learners, the challenges of their use, media
>distribution,
>and emerging uses and tools foor delivery of media.
>
>You are encouraged to participate, ask questions, and share you
>experience
>and knowledge.
>To join the NIFL Technology and Literacy discussion list please
>subscribe
>by going to:
>http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/Technology
>
>Please don't hesitate to get in touch if you have questions.
>
>Regards,
>Mariann
>
>
>
>
>
>Mariann Fedele
>Coordinator of Professional Development,
>Literacy Assistance Center
>Moderator,
>NIFL Technology and Literacy Discussion List
>32 Broadway 10th Floor
>New York, New York 10004
>212-803-3325
>mariannf at lacnyc.org
>www.lacnyc.org
>
>
>
>Julie McKinney
>Discussion List Moderator
>World Education/NCSALL
>jmckinney at worlded.org
>
>----------------------------------------------------
>National Institute for Literacy
>Focus on Basics mailing list
>FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
>To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to 
>http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
_________________________________________________________________
Are you using the latest version of MSN Messenger? Download MSN Messenger 
7.5 today! http://messenger.msn.co.uk
From Deborah.Skillington at sctworkforce.org  Fri Feb 24 08:56:19 2006
From: Deborah.Skillington at sctworkforce.org (Deborah Skillington)
Date: Fri, 24 Feb 2006 07:56:19 -0600
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] Information
Message-ID: <3CB81F831AFD584290A6AB1859F783E94C9A8C@adminserver2.sctworkforce.org>
Julie
The information you were asking for is:
Power Path to adult basic learning
P.O. Box 21510
Columbus, Ohio 43221
PowerPath at aol.com
ph 800-641-3632
fax 614-850-8687
 
There are several groups that have been trained to pass on the information;
Lincoln County is one in District 6 
the contact person would be Teresa Smith 
1604 Huntsville Hwy
Fayetteville, TN 37334
931-438-0555
 
Hope this helps
 
 
Deborah Skillington
District 8 TN Support Network Contact
Maury County Adult Education Families First Teacher
119 Nashville Highway, Suite 106
Columbia, TN 38401
931-490-3818 work phone
 
________________________________
From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov on behalf of Hugo Galindo
Sent: Thu 2/23/2006 10:49 AM
To: 'The Focus on Basics Discussion List'
Subject: Re: [FocusOnBasics] Information
Julie:
Thank you for all your work in organizing this focus group. There is a lot
of information to digest.
I would like more information on "Power Path screening tool". Do you have
the contact person where I can get more information?
Thanks again,
Hugo Galindo
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
-------------- next part --------------
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From djrosen at comcast.net  Fri Feb 24 09:58:49 2006
From: djrosen at comcast.net (David Rosen)
Date: Fri, 24 Feb 2006 09:58:49 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] Upcoming discussion: New Technology in Adult Ed
In-Reply-To: <BAY15-F206FE4962B0048153661F090F30@phx.gbl>
References: <BAY15-F206FE4962B0048153661F090F30@phx.gbl>
Message-ID: <7BE830AB-1017-4223-8A34-290F17C0399E@comcast.net>
Hello Aliya,
I am not sure if you meant just health literacy online resources or a  
broader range of online literacy and ESOL resources.
For a broad range of adult literacy and ESOL online resources, try:
	http://www.alri.org/literacylist.html
	For Health and Science:
		http://www.alri.org/litlist/websites.html#healthandscience
and
	http://www.alri.org/harness.html
	Health:
		http://www.alri.org/harness/harnesshealth.html
	Science:
		http://www.alri.org/harness.html#SCIENCE
David J. Rosen
djrosen at comcast.net
On Feb 23, 2006, at 7:39 PM, Aliya AbdulLatif wrote:
> Hi Julie
> I may not be looking in the right files but I wanted to know if you  
> have
> links for any online resources we can use in Lietracy and ESOL  
> teaching
> please?
> Regards
> Aliya
>
>
>> From: "Julie  McKinney" <julie_mcKinney at worlded.org>
>> Reply-To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List  
>> <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
>> To: <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
>> CC: healthliteracy at nifl.gov
>> Subject: [FocusOnBasics] Upcoming discussion: New Technology in  
>> Adult Ed
>> Date: Thu, 23 Feb 2006 18:28:46 -0500
>>
>> Hi All,
>> Read on for details of an upcoming discussion of new technology in  
>> adult
>> education on the Technology and literacy discussion list.
>> -Julie
>>
>> Hello NIFL discussion list colleagues,
>>
>> Audio and video resources have been used in adult education  
>> instruction
>> for
>> many years, but the introduction of CDs, DVDs, the Internet, and  
>> other
>> electronic technologies has greatly expanded their availability and
>> raise
>> many questions about implementation, support annd training.
>>
>> I'm pleased to announce that David Collings, Technology  
>> Coordinator for
>> the
>> Adult and Community Education Network in Delaware, and Alex Quinn,
>> Executive Director of the Adult Literacy Media Alliance (ALMA), will
>> join
>> the NIFL Technology list as guests to lead a discussion on
>> current and emerging uses of media in adult ed. instruction in the
>> classroom and at a distance. Their discussion will take place next  
>> week
>> from Tuesday, February 28th through Friday March 3rd. Some of the  
>> areas
>> they will cover on this topic include: teacher training, technical
>> support
>> for teachers and learners, the challenges of their use, media
>> distribution,
>> and emerging uses and tools foor delivery of media.
>>
>> You are encouraged to participate, ask questions, and share you
>> experience
>> and knowledge.
>> To join the NIFL Technology and Literacy discussion list please
>> subscribe
>> by going to:
>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/Technology
>>
>> Please don't hesitate to get in touch if you have questions.
>>
>> Regards,
>> Mariann
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Mariann Fedele
>> Coordinator of Professional Development,
>> Literacy Assistance Center
>> Moderator,
>> NIFL Technology and Literacy Discussion List
>> 32 Broadway 10th Floor
>> New York, New York 10004
>> 212-803-3325
>> mariannf at lacnyc.org
>> www.lacnyc.org
>>
>>
>>
>> Julie McKinney
>> Discussion List Moderator
>> World Education/NCSALL
>> jmckinney at worlded.org
>>
>> ----------------------------------------------------
>> National Institute for Literacy
>> Focus on Basics mailing list
>> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
>
> _________________________________________________________________
> Are you using the latest version of MSN Messenger? Download MSN  
> Messenger
> 7.5 today! http://messenger.msn.co.uk
>
> ----------------------------------------------------
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> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to  
> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
From julie_mcKinney at worlded.org  Fri Feb 24 11:34:06 2006
From: julie_mcKinney at worlded.org (Julie  McKinney)
Date: Fri, 24 Feb 2006 11:34:06 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] Fwd: I learned a lot
Message-ID: <s3feef44.045@mail.jsi.com>
Hi All,
I am passing on this message from Luri Owen to the list. (Maybe this is
the one that got lost in that weird glitch!) Sorry Luri!
Julie
Following this discussion has been both informative and fun!  Before
it's over, I'd like to invite comments on a proposal for a presentation
I will be making in April, which I hope will touch on many issues raised
in this discussion and for which I am thankful to NIFL for initiating
and to Robin for facilitating.  Here's the proposal:
 
"Adult ESOL students are capable of applying higher-order thinking
skills in the classroom but may hesitate to do so both because of how
they were conditioned to learn as young learners and at what
age/educational level they terminated schooling in their own countries. 
Teachers design activities requiring the use of higher-order thinking
skills, but students may not feel that they are ?working? or ?learning?
in class and may be unwilling to assume responsibility for their own
learning.  Teachers may perceive this hesitancy as differences in
individual personalities when, in fact, it may be learned ?school?
behavior.
            This presentation encourages teachers to explore and reflect
on their students? prior learning experiences, their expectations of
?school? and ?learning,? and the value their cultures place on education
and learning.  It will also open discussion on how these factors affect
the elementary and secondary children of adult ESOL students as they
experience American educational values and expectations. Participants
are encouraged to share their ideas and experiences for fostering
student ownership of the individual learning process, providing class
time and space for community-building in the classroom, and shifting
student perception of teacher-as-knower to teacher-as-guide.   This
presentation will incorporate research on teaching higher-order thinking
skills as well as the measurable and observable effects of
sociocognitive conflict in the classroom."
 
I was inspired to start thinking these issues by a student I had last
year who did well as long as she was attending class regularly, but
seemed to not be able to pick up and go forward from where we had
stopped if she was absent for a class.  Reading this discussion has
really made me aware that there could have been lots of things going on
in her situation that impacted her learning that I didn't consider at
the time.  
 
Thanks in advance to everybody!                      :)
 
Luri Owen
Bayfield/ESL Coordinator
The Adult Learning Center, Inc.
Phone 970-884-7765
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
From julie_mcKinney at worlded.org  Fri Feb 24 12:21:41 2006
From: julie_mcKinney at worlded.org (Julie  McKinney)
Date: Fri, 24 Feb 2006 12:21:41 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] Online Resources
Message-ID: <s3fefa7d.084@mail.jsi.com>
Aliya,
You didn't say what kind of resources you are looking for exactly. If
you don't find what you are looking for, write back with more specifics,
and we can all try to help.
Have you used the LINCS database? It has a ton of literacy resources:
www.nifl.gov/lincs
>From this home page, you can click on "LincSearch" (left side of banner
on top) to search for different kinds of resources. You can also click
on the "LINCS Special Collections" to find nicely organized collections
of hand-picked resources within a specific topic area. I would recommend
especially the ESOL Special collection, but there are also collections
for Health Literacy, Family Literacy, Science and Numeracy, and many
others that have good teaching resources.
Good luck!
Julie
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
From julie_mcKinney at worlded.org  Fri Feb 24 12:16:20 2006
From: julie_mcKinney at worlded.org (Julie  McKinney)
Date: Fri, 24 Feb 2006 12:16:20 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] Reminder: Change the Subject Line
Message-ID: <s3fef933.055@mail.jsi.com>
Hi All,
Just a reminder here to help us organize the information we share on the
list. Most of us find a message to reply to as an easy way of sending a
message to the list, instead of writing out the address in a new e-mail.
This is fine, but if you are starting a new topic of discussion or
asking a new question, please change the subject line to reflect your
new topic. This will make it easier to go back and find the information
later. (See the example in the previous few messages about online
resources.)
Of course, you can also start a new e-mail and send it to:
focusonbasics at nifl.gov
Thanks!
Julie
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
From mslaathaug at midco.net  Fri Feb 24 13:36:38 2006
From: mslaathaug at midco.net (Missy Slaathaug)
Date: Fri, 24 Feb 2006 12:36:38 -0600
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] a lament
In-Reply-To: <43FD3E08.9060201@isp.com>
Message-ID: <003f01c63971$3fbe6d90$090ac90a@explorit3>
I have also taught in a correctional setting, although I taught low
level readers, not ESL learners.  I agree with all of your statements,
Tom - the correctional setting is so completely different than any other
kind of educational setting, and I agree with your ten things you have
learned about this kind of teaching.  
I think it helped me that I was in my forties, and therefore not out to
save the world.  I had a pretty realistic take on the barriers and
obstacles my learners were facing and would face when they left the
prison.  I felt comfortable being a positive teaching presence in their
lives, and was pretty happy with any little sign of accomplishment, no
matter what.  
Iris, we could label students FTP - Failure to Progress - when that was
indicated.  That way they didn't have to keep coming and thus taking the
place of someone who could learn and progress.  Sounds like you don't
have this option, which does make it tough. 
Missy Slaathaug
-----Original Message-----
From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Woods
Sent: Wednesday, February 22, 2006 10:46 PM
To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List
Subject: Re: [FocusOnBasics] a lament
iris.broudy at SDH.state.ma.us wrote:
>I need to keep reminding
>myself about the realities of the student population and to lower my
>expectations. 
>
It isn't so much about lowering your expectations. Rather, enter into 
your relationship with a student with no expectations and appreciate 
whatever outcomes may rise out of that relationship. The student will 
begin to form his or her own expectations, which are OK.
In public K-12 education, it is a mantra taught to all beginning 
teachers: you must have high expectations for your students and they 
will rise to meet them. Research has been designed to show that this is 
indeed the case. It is the paradigm in public education, and it is a 
line of thinking that is fundamentally flawed, in my opinion. The 
problems with expectations are that students usually only work to meet 
the expectations and not go any further. They are the foundation for the
measurement of success and failure in schools. They create a system in 
which students work (or not) to try to meet the expectations of their 
teachers and not for the intrinsic benefits of learning for its own 
sake. One very unfortunate outcome of this is the student's education 
becomes directed others and not the by the student. It is 
teacher-centered, not student-centered. When a student fails to meet the
teacher's expectations, it is said the student did not learn, which is 
very clearly not the case. In extreme situations, failure to learn has a
name: learning disability. As I'm sure you've noticed in corrections 
education, these are our guys. They come from a lifetime of failure to 
meet teachers' expectations.
In a no-expectations paradigm, the teacher would not attempt to define a
set of learning objectives and decide whether they had been met. 
Instead, the teacher would try to identify what learning did occur and 
see how it fits with the school's overall curriculum. Immediately, there
is no such thing as failure in this system. There is only learning. It 
progresses according to the student's expectations of him- or herself. 
If a teacher can work in this setting, all learning is valued. There 
would not be disappointment if it doesn't progress the way the teacher 
would like it to. Oops. That would mean there is a teacher-expectation.
What I've found K-12 teachers look at me like I come from another planet
if I start talking to them about trying to not have expectations for 
their students. The mindset of having high expectations is so ingrained,
so supported by research, and so much a part of our educational 
tradition that it is extremely difficult to break out. Still there are 
hints of it in the traditions of progressive education, of the 
Summerhill School in England, and of the Sudbury Valley School in MA. I 
also know from my own experience, it works. Kids who were completely 
turned off by their past experiences get so pumped they will move 
mountains to get their diplomas . It begins with doing away with teacher
expectations and allowing the student to begin to form them for him- or 
herself.
I apologize for the long winded treatise, but expectations are a 
hot-button item for me, as I'm sure you have guessed.
Tom
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
From AWilder106 at aol.com  Fri Feb 24 17:31:25 2006
From: AWilder106 at aol.com (AWilder106 at aol.com)
Date: Fri, 24 Feb 2006 17:31:25 EST
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] a lament
Message-ID: <256.6f98e95.3130e33d@aol.com>
Hi Iris,
I can't remember the name of the first researcher who did   a study on 
low/high teacher expectations and their self-fulling prophecy, but I do remember the 
study.   The resaercher got his data by lying to the teacher about the 
ability of her students.   (Maybe more than one teacher, I can't remember now.)
When I read that I kind of stopped cold.   Toally unethical, of course.
It was the idea of lying to the teacher that I found so shocking.   What can 
I say;   I was very young.
Andrea.
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From vanillaicy at hotmail.co.uk  Fri Feb 24 17:47:40 2006
From: vanillaicy at hotmail.co.uk (Aliya AbdulLatif)
Date: Fri, 24 Feb 2006 22:47:40 +0000
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] Upcoming discussion: New Technology in Adult Ed
In-Reply-To: <7BE830AB-1017-4223-8A34-290F17C0399E@comcast.net>
Message-ID: <BAY15-F5D8E8DC9BFBECFFC97AAB90F30@phx.gbl>
Thank you David, this is exactly what I was looking for.
Regards
Aliya
>From: David Rosen <djrosen at comcast.net>
>Reply-To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
>To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
>Subject: Re: [FocusOnBasics] Upcoming discussion: New Technology in Adult 
>Ed
>Date: Fri, 24 Feb 2006 09:58:49 -0500
>
>Hello Aliya,
>
>I am not sure if you meant just health literacy online resources or a
>broader range of online literacy and ESOL resources.
>For a broad range of adult literacy and ESOL online resources, try:
>
>	http://www.alri.org/literacylist.html
>
>	For Health and Science:
>
>		http://www.alri.org/litlist/websites.html#healthandscience
>
>and
>
>	http://www.alri.org/harness.html
>
>	Health:
>
>		http://www.alri.org/harness/harnesshealth.html
>
>	Science:
>
>		http://www.alri.org/harness.html#SCIENCE
>
>David J. Rosen
>djrosen at comcast.net
>
>
>On Feb 23, 2006, at 7:39 PM, Aliya AbdulLatif wrote:
>
> > Hi Julie
> > I may not be looking in the right files but I wanted to know if you
> > have
> > links for any online resources we can use in Lietracy and ESOL
> > teaching
> > please?
> > Regards
> > Aliya
> >
> >
> >> From: "Julie  McKinney" <julie_mcKinney at worlded.org>
> >> Reply-To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List
> >> <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
> >> To: <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
> >> CC: healthliteracy at nifl.gov
> >> Subject: [FocusOnBasics] Upcoming discussion: New Technology in
> >> Adult Ed
> >> Date: Thu, 23 Feb 2006 18:28:46 -0500
> >>
> >> Hi All,
> >> Read on for details of an upcoming discussion of new technology in
> >> adult
> >> education on the Technology and literacy discussion list.
> >> -Julie
> >>
> >> Hello NIFL discussion list colleagues,
> >>
> >> Audio and video resources have been used in adult education
> >> instruction
> >> for
> >> many years, but the introduction of CDs, DVDs, the Internet, and
> >> other
> >> electronic technologies has greatly expanded their availability and
> >> raise
> >> many questions about implementation, support annd training.
> >>
> >> I'm pleased to announce that David Collings, Technology
> >> Coordinator for
> >> the
> >> Adult and Community Education Network in Delaware, and Alex Quinn,
> >> Executive Director of the Adult Literacy Media Alliance (ALMA), will
> >> join
> >> the NIFL Technology list as guests to lead a discussion on
> >> current and emerging uses of media in adult ed. instruction in the
> >> classroom and at a distance. Their discussion will take place next
> >> week
> >> from Tuesday, February 28th through Friday March 3rd. Some of the
> >> areas
> >> they will cover on this topic include: teacher training, technical
> >> support
> >> for teachers and learners, the challenges of their use, media
> >> distribution,
> >> and emerging uses and tools foor delivery of media.
> >>
> >> You are encouraged to participate, ask questions, and share you
> >> experience
> >> and knowledge.
> >> To join the NIFL Technology and Literacy discussion list please
> >> subscribe
> >> by going to:
> >> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/Technology
> >>
> >> Please don't hesitate to get in touch if you have questions.
> >>
> >> Regards,
> >> Mariann
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> Mariann Fedele
> >> Coordinator of Professional Development,
> >> Literacy Assistance Center
> >> Moderator,
> >> NIFL Technology and Literacy Discussion List
> >> 32 Broadway 10th Floor
> >> New York, New York 10004
> >> 212-803-3325
> >> mariannf at lacnyc.org
> >> www.lacnyc.org
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> Julie McKinney
> >> Discussion List Moderator
> >> World Education/NCSALL
> >> jmckinney at worlded.org
> >>
> >> ----------------------------------------------------
> >> National Institute for Literacy
> >> Focus on Basics mailing list
> >> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
> >> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
> >> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
> >
> > _________________________________________________________________
> > Are you using the latest version of MSN Messenger? Download MSN
> > Messenger
> > 7.5 today! http://messenger.msn.co.uk
> >
> > ----------------------------------------------------
> > National Institute for Literacy
> > Focus on Basics mailing list
> > FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
> > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
> > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
>
>----------------------------------------------------
>National Institute for Literacy
>Focus on Basics mailing list
>FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
>To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to 
>http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
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http://www.msn.co.uk/newsletters
From vanillaicy at hotmail.co.uk  Fri Feb 24 19:22:31 2006
From: vanillaicy at hotmail.co.uk (Aliya AbdulLatif)
Date: Sat, 25 Feb 2006 00:22:31 +0000
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] Online Resources
In-Reply-To: <s3fefa7d.084@mail.jsi.com>
Message-ID: <BAY15-F167733472566F1AAF5E59A90F00@phx.gbl>
Thank you Julie, that really helped alot. I appreciate it.
Regards
Aliya
>From: "Julie  McKinney" <julie_mcKinney at worlded.org>
>Reply-To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
>To: <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
>Subject: [FocusOnBasics] Online Resources
>Date: Fri, 24 Feb 2006 12:21:41 -0500
>
>Aliya,
>
>You didn't say what kind of resources you are looking for exactly. If
>you don't find what you are looking for, write back with more specifics,
>and we can all try to help.
>
>Have you used the LINCS database? It has a ton of literacy resources:
>
>www.nifl.gov/lincs
>
> >From this home page, you can click on "LincSearch" (left side of banner
>on top) to search for different kinds of resources. You can also click
>on the "LINCS Special Collections" to find nicely organized collections
>of hand-picked resources within a specific topic area. I would recommend
>especially the ESOL Special collection, but there are also collections
>for Health Literacy, Family Literacy, Science and Numeracy, and many
>others that have good teaching resources.
>
>Good luck!
>
>Julie
>
>
>
>Julie McKinney
>Discussion List Moderator
>World Education/NCSALL
>jmckinney at worlded.org
>
>----------------------------------------------------
>National Institute for Literacy
>Focus on Basics mailing list
>FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
>To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to 
>http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
_________________________________________________________________
Are you using the latest version of MSN Messenger? Download MSN Messenger 
7.5 today! http://messenger.msn.co.uk
From woodsnh at isp.com  Sun Feb 26 00:51:31 2006
From: woodsnh at isp.com (Woods)
Date: Sun, 26 Feb 2006 00:51:31 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] a lament
In-Reply-To: <003f01c63971$3fbe6d90$090ac90a@explorit3>
References: <003f01c63971$3fbe6d90$090ac90a@explorit3>
Message-ID: <440141E3.4070207@isp.com>
Missy Slaathaug wrote:
>we could label students FTP - Failure to Progress - when that was
>indicated.  That way they didn't have to keep coming and thus taking the
>place of someone who could learn and progress.  
>
It is very important to have some kind of system to prioritize so you 
can deliver what resources you have to where they will do the most good. 
We go by age and graduation status because state law makes school 
mandatory for those under 22 y.o. without a diploma while they are 
incarcerated. Older inmates and HS grads may have to go on a waiting 
list. I really hate to turn anyone away, especially if they want to come 
voluntarily. We seldom have to, but even for those who do have to wait, 
transfers to and from our facility are so high that the wait to get in 
is not a long one. While this is fortunate from the standpoint of those 
who may have to wait to get in a class, it poses an altogether different 
set of problems when trying to plan instruction for a group of students 
who were in your class yesterday, but may not be with you today.
Tom Woods
From julie_mcKinney at worlded.org  Mon Feb 27 14:30:08 2006
From: julie_mcKinney at worlded.org (Julie  McKinney)
Date: Mon, 27 Feb 2006 14:30:08 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] Another discussion starts tomorrow with the Lab
	School Team
Message-ID: <s4030d05.077@mail.jsi.com>
Hi All,
Guess what*we have another guest discussion starting tomorrow!
A team of researchers/authors from the Lab School will discuss their articles from the recent FOB issue on ESOL Research (Vol. 8A). 
This discussion will include information about the Lab School itself, and several research projects that were done there involving student-to-student language and interaction, and a modified reading technique in beginning level adult ESOL classes. Many of the topics overlap, so it will be great to have these researchers lead the discussion as a team. 
The articles and authors include:
The "Lab School"
By Steve Reder
http://www.ncsall.net/index.php?id=987
Same Activity, Different Focus [Pair Activities]
By Kathryn Harris
http://www.ncsall.net/index.php?id=988
A Conversation with FOB: Modified Sustained Silent Reading
By Sandra Banke and Reuel Kurzet
http://www.ncsall.net/index.php?id=990
Rewarding Conversations
By Betsy Kraft
http://www.ncsall.net/index.php?id=991
Spontaneous Conversations: A Window into Language Learners' Autonomy
By Dominique Brillanceau
http://www.ncsall.net/index.php?id=992
Turn Taking and Opening Interactions
By John Hellermann
http://www.ncsall.net/index.php?id=993
Please take a look at the articles and join us for this discussion!
(If you are not subscribed to the FOB list, you can subscribe at:
www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics )
Sorry for the short notice, but we had a rare window of availability open!
Julie
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
From julie_mcKinney at worlded.org  Tue Feb 28 09:10:44 2006
From: julie_mcKinney at worlded.org (Julie  McKinney)
Date: Tue, 28 Feb 2006 09:10:44 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] Introduction to the Lab School Team
Message-ID: <s40413b2.070@mail.jsi.com>
Hi All,
Welcome to our guest discussion with the Lab School Team! See each author's introduction below, along with the link to their article. 
Please note that, in order to keep the threads organized, we are asking you to put the author's name and the topic in the subject line of your question or comment. (See instructions in each introduction.) Of course, you may have questions for the group as a whole, so you can write the subject line accordingly. If you hit "reply" to a message, but your comment is about a different article, please change the subject line to reflect your comment.
Thank you, and enjoy the discussion!
Julie
The "Lab School"
By Steve Reder
http://www.ncsall.net/index.php?id=987
Hi * my name is Steve Reder.  I wrote the article entitled "The 'Lab School'" that provides an overview of the purpose, design and work of the lab school.  I'm a professor and chair of the Department of Applied Linguistics at Portland State University and the Principal Investigator of NCSALL's Adult ESOL Labsite (aka "Lab School") project.  My research and teaching interests are in the areas of adult literacy and second language development.  When you have a question for me, please put "Steve?overall lab school" in the subject line and I'll try to address your question.  I'm looking forward to our discussion.
Same Activity, Different Focus [Pair Activities]
By Kathryn Harris
http://www.ncsall.net/index.php?id=988
My name is Kathy Harris and I wrote the article called "Same activity,
different focus".  I am a researcher at the adult ESOL Lab School and a
faculty member at the Portland State University Dept of Applied Linguistics.
I teach courses to pre-service teachers who want to work with ESL learners
in the context of the United States and other countries.  In my research at
the Lab School I am trying to clarify the relationship between the way that
teachers design pair activities and the ways that the students interact in
them, as well as the ways that student interaction in pair activities
supports language learning.   
When you have a question for me, please say "Kathy--pair work" in the
subject line and I'll do my best to address your question.  I look forward
to our discussion!
A Conversation with FOB: Modified Sustained Silent Reading
By Sandra Banke and Reuel Kurzet
http://www.ncsall.net/index.php?id=990
My name is Sandra Banke.  I and my colleague, Reuel Kurzet, were interviewed
by
Barbara Garner, editor of FOB, about the experience of implementing
Sustained
Silent Reading with beginning adult learners in "A Conversation with FOB."
I
am an English as a Second Language instructor for Portland Community
College. 
I've been teaching adult learners of ESL in the Portland area for over 10
years. I am also a research-associate for the Adult ESOL Lab School at
Portland State University.  Since 2001, as part of my work with the Lab School, all
of my classes have been digitally recorded and transcribed for research purposes.
My professional interests include interaction in pair activities (in
collaboration with Kathy Harris), reading instruction, and professional development.
If you have a question regarding the use of SSR with beginning adult
learners of ESL, please write "Reuel or Sandra - SSR" in the subject line.  I look
forward to a stimulating discussion.
Rewarding Conversations
By Betsy Kraft
http://www.ncsall.net/index.php?id=991
My name is Betsy Kraft, and I wrote the article called "Rewarding
Conversations". I teach a class at Portland State University where university
seniors are conversation partners with English Language Learners at Portland
Community College. The partnership began in the Lab School, where many sessions
were video taped, and has since moved to one of the other community college
sites. In their coursework, the university students learn strategies for
working with ELL students and issues pertaining to immigration. If you want to
talk about conversation partnerships, write "Betsy - conversation partnerships"
in the subject line.
Betsy Kraft
Spontaneous Conversations: A Window into Language Learners' Autonomy
By Dominique Brillanceau
http://www.ncsall.net/index.php?id=992
My name is Dominique Brillanceau  and I wrote the article called "
Spontaneous Conversations".  I have been an ESL instructor  in the Portland
area for the past 20 years and at the labschool for the past 5 years. I'm
also a researcher associate at the labschool.  The focus of my research in
this particular article is to understand learning in the classroom
specifically when it occurs outside of a teacher-set activity. Watching hours
of authentic classroom video has allowed me to rethink learning and teaching
in ways not otherwise possible. Hopefully this article begins to share what I
have seen.
Dominique
Turn Taking and Opening Interactions
By John Hellermann
http://www.ncsall.net/index.php?id=993
My name is John Hellermann and I wrote the article called "Turn taking in adult
ESOL classroom interaction: Practices for interaction in another language".  I
am a researcher at the adult ESOL Lab School and a faculty member at the
Portland State University Applied Linguistics Dept.
My research at the Lab School investigates conversational practices that occur
in the language learning classroom which are usually invisible to teachers. My
goal is to show how learning can be understood as learners change in
participation in these conversational practices.
When you have a question for me, please write "John?turn taking" in the
subject line.
Thanks,
John
 
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
From kabeall at comcast.net  Tue Feb 28 12:53:59 2006
From: kabeall at comcast.net (Kaye Beall)
Date: Tue, 28 Feb 2006 12:53:59 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] New from NCSALL--Practitioner Research,
	Practitioner Knowledge
Message-ID: <003301c63c8f$f5257360$0202a8c0@your4105e587b6>
Visit the new Practitioner Research, Practitioner Knowledge section of
NCSALL's Web site at http://www.ncsall.net/?id=967. Find out how
practitioners learn about new research and then inquire about how this
research might be used in their own practice. 
 
Teachers in the Northwest Practitioner Knowledge Institute learned about ESL
research, made a change in their own practice, documented what happened when
they made the change, and shared this knowledge in final reports. They
developed and documented "practitioner knowledge" developed from learning
about others' research. 
 
Teachers in the Minnesota Practitioner Research in Reading Project and the
Practitioner Dissemination and Research Network learned about others'
research and also conducted research of their own. After learning about new
research findings in reading or learner persistence, these teachers
developed a research question on one of these topics, planned an
intervention or change in their own practice, collected data on what
happened as a result, analyzed these data and reported their findings.
 
****************
Kaye Beall
Outreach Coordinator/NCSALL Dissemination Project
World Education
4401 S. Madison St.
Muncie, IN  47302
Tel: 765-717-3942
Fax: 208-694-8262
kaye_beall at worlded.org
http://www.ncsall.net
 
 
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From julie_mcKinney at worlded.org  Tue Feb 28 19:34:47 2006
From: julie_mcKinney at worlded.org (Julie  McKinney)
Date: Tue, 28 Feb 2006 19:34:47 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] One more Lab School Team Introduction
Message-ID: <s404a5e5.091@mail.jsi.com>
Hi All,
Here is one more introduction from Reuel Kurzet of the Lab School Team. 
A Conversation with FOB: Modified Sustained Silent Reading
http://www.ncsall.net/index.php?id=990
My name is Reuel Kurzet.  Sandra Banke and I were interviewed by Barbara
Garner,
editor of Focus on Basics, about the Lab School's experience
implementing
sustained silent reading with low-level adult ESOL learners. I have been
an ESL
faculty member at Portland Community College (PCC) for 26 years; I am
also the
ESL Department Chair for one of the PCC's campuses and the PCC ESL site
at the
PSU Adult ESOL Lab School. Also, at the Lab School, I am the
professional
development associate. I do research on professional development and
help to
create professional development opportunities around the research coming
out of
the Lab School. My professional interests include student pair and small
group
activities, reading instruction, and professional development.
If you have a question regarding the use of Sustained Silent Reading
with
beginning adult ESOL learners, please write "Reuel or Sandra--SSR" in
the
subject line.  I look forward to this discussion.
Reuel
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
From b.garner4 at verizon.net  Wed Mar  1 14:51:43 2006
From: b.garner4 at verizon.net (Barbara Garner)
Date: Wed, 01 Mar 2006 13:51:43 -0600 (CST)
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] Sandra Banke-SSR
Message-ID: <30917387.1141242703846.JavaMail.root@vms070.mailsrvcs.net>
Here's a question that isn't about the research per se, as much as the research process. Sandra, I assume your classroom was videotaped as the others were. Is that correct? If so, what impact, if any, did seeing yourself in the videos have on your teaching practice?
Barb Garner
   
From sbanke at pdx.edu  Wed Mar  1 18:21:06 2006
From: sbanke at pdx.edu (sbanke at pdx.edu)
Date: Wed, 01 Mar 2006 15:21:06 -0800
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] Sandra Banke-SSR
In-Reply-To: <30917387.1141242703846.JavaMail.root@vms070.mailsrvcs.net>
References: <30917387.1141242703846.JavaMail.root@vms070.mailsrvcs.net>
Message-ID: <1141255266.44062c62bf84d@webmail.pdx.edu>
Hello Barbara-
Sandra and Dominique here.  Yes, we were video-taped during the year that we did
the experiment with Sustained Silent Reading.  However, we, the instructors, did
not view the media to monitor the implementation of either condition as we were
involved with other data-collection projects.  We *did* reflect on our teaching
every day in an audio-recorded "debrief session."  As with any reflection, we
found ourselves refining and altering our practice, keeping in mind the
constraints of the condition that we were teaching in a given quarter
(experimental/modified-SSR or control/conventional reading instruction).  These
"audio-logs"  have been digitally catalogued and stored with its corresponding
class session's video.
Dominique and Sandra
Quoting Barbara Garner <b.garner4 at verizon.net>:
> Here's a question that isn't about the research per se, as much as the
> research process. Sandra, I assume your classroom was videotaped as the
> others were. Is that correct? If so, what impact, if any, did seeing yourself
> in the videos have on your teaching practice?
>
> Barb Garner
>
> ----------------------------------------------------
> National Institute for Literacy
> Focus on Basics mailing list
> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
>
>
From jswing at RADFORD.EDU  Thu Mar  2 12:21:09 2006
From: jswing at RADFORD.EDU (Swing, Jane C)
Date: Thu, 2 Mar 2006 12:21:09 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] Annual VAACE Conference
Message-ID: <94408727380148499415989CDE2958780124E0D5@exchange03>
The Virginia Association of Adult and Continuing Education invites you
to
 
Sail into Spring
 
The Virginia Association of Adult and Continuing Education (VAACE)
invites you to attend its annual conference to be held May 3-5 at the
Virginia Beach Resort and Conference Center in Virginia Beach, Virginia.
 
The conference will provide a wonderful opportunity for you to network
and learn about the latest trends and issues facing adult education.
Vendors will be on hand to show off their newest publications along with
tried and true ones. Awards will be presented to some of Virginia's best
adult education practitioners. 
 
The conference planning team is in search of presenters to offer
interesting and relevant sessions for our participants. They know there
are many people doing great work in adult education. Now is the time to
share what you are doing with others. Encourage your peers to share
their work and knowledge through a workshop presentation. The workshop
proposal form is attached to this message.
 
Don't miss out on this opportunity to learn, renew, and relax in a
wonderful setting with colleagues who are facing the same issues,
challenges and rewards.
 
More information about VAACE and this year's conference can be found at
www.vaace.org <http://www.vaace.org/> .
Jane C. Swing, Director
Office of Adult Education and Literacy Projects
Radford University
PO Box 7015
A 136 Peters Hall
Radford, VA 24142
540-831-6207
FAX 540-831-5779
jswing at radford.edu
 
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From julie_mcKinney at worlded.org  Thu Mar  2 14:29:11 2006
From: julie_mcKinney at worlded.org (Julie  McKinney)
Date: Thu, 02 Mar 2006 14:29:11 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] Steve--overall Lab School
Message-ID: <s4070154.098@mail.jsi.com>
Hi Steve and the rest of the team,
I have a question about the Lab School itself. It seems that you have an
incredibly unique situation in that you can watch (through video) what
happens in the ESOL classroom between the students at any given time. So
you can observe what the teacher cannot see, for example how students
interact when doing pair work or other tasks when the teacher is not
interacting with them. 
So you have this capability, and thousands (?) of hours of recorded data
of this type. How do you decide what research to use this data for? How
do you pick which specific questions to pose?
Thanks,
Julie McKinney
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
From reders at pdx.edu  Fri Mar  3 00:40:46 2006
From: reders at pdx.edu (Steve Reder)
Date: Thu, 2 Mar 2006 21:40:46 -0800
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] Steve--overall Lab School
In-Reply-To: <s4070154.098@mail.jsi.com>
Message-ID: <200603030540.k235ekJO006717@njord.oit.pdx.edu>
Good question, Julie.  We do have a lot of video data that we believe can be
very useful for a variety of research topics and for professional
development purposes in our field.  Our intention in designing the lab
school was for this large compilation of data to be a rich resource not only
for our work but for others in our field as well.  We have developed
software tools that enable others -- whether in Portland or elsewhere on the
Internet -- to access these data to conduct their own research or create
their own teacher training materials.  
We picked our initial research questions based on our team's collective
experience as ESL teachers and researchers.  Our decisions were helped along
by reviewing previous research in the field, by input from programs and
practitioners, and from an expert advisory group.  We settled on several
strands of research that we thought would be very useful additions to the
base of knowledge in our field.
Two of our major strands or questions are: (1) How do interactions between
students in beginning level classes contribute to learning English (and how
can teachers setup activities to facilitate student-student interactions and
learning)?  (2) How do individual students, when followed over time,
progress in their acquisition of English.  Examples of studies in each of
these strands can be seen in the FOB articles by Kathy Harris and John
Hellermann.
Other researchers, teachers and professional developers are starting to work
with our media and data on their own questions and around their own
interests.  We're eager to hear from others who may have questions or ideas
about how to use this resource in their teaching, research or professional
development materials.
-Steve Reder
-----Original Message-----
From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov]
On Behalf Of Julie McKinney
Sent: Thursday, March 02, 2006 11:29 AM
To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] Steve--overall Lab School
Hi Steve and the rest of the team,
I have a question about the Lab School itself. It seems that you have an
incredibly unique situation in that you can watch (through video) what
happens in the ESOL classroom between the students at any given time. So
you can observe what the teacher cannot see, for example how students
interact when doing pair work or other tasks when the teacher is not
interacting with them. 
So you have this capability, and thousands (?) of hours of recorded data
of this type. How do you decide what research to use this data for? How
do you pick which specific questions to pose?
Thanks,
Julie McKinney
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
From harriska at pdx.edu  Fri Mar  3 15:27:56 2006
From: harriska at pdx.edu (Kathryn Harris)
Date: Fri, 3 Mar 2006 12:27:56 -0800
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] seeing ESOL classes on videotape
Message-ID: <200603032027.k23KRuEj016970@njord.oit.pdx.edu>
Hi list members,  this is Kathy, one of the authors in the recent FOB issue.
I'd like to pose a question to you all.
 
Here at the lab school we have a unique view of ESOL classrooms because we
have cameras that record classes-not just a few minutes of classrooms, but
every minute of every day.  Jokingly, we call our video "reality classrooms"
like the reality shows on TV.  Using the video we have a perspective that
isn't usually available to teachers and researchers.
 
We use the recordings to do our research on learning and teaching.  We also
use the recordings to do professional development and to illustrate our
research, as in this FOB issue.
 
Please pick any clip that is part of the FOB issue.  Then answer the
question, how does this video clip help me understand the research or help
me understand the students in my classroom?
 
Here is the link to the FOB issue.  Each of the articles has a link to clips
in it.  In encourage you to choose clips from the article that is most
relevant to your work context.  http://www.ncsall.net/?id=986
 
 
Your answers will really help me make my work more accessible to others.
 
Thanks!
Kathy
 
 
 
 
****************************************
Kathryn A. Harris
Portland State University
Dept. of Applied Linguistics and the Adult ESOL Lab School
P.O. Box 751
Portland, OR  97207
USA
phone:  (503)725-8300
fax:  (503)725-4139
email:  harriska at pdx.edu
www.labschool.pdx.edu
 
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From julie_mcKinney at worlded.org  Fri Mar  3 16:06:50 2006
From: julie_mcKinney at worlded.org (Julie  McKinney)
Date: Fri, 03 Mar 2006 16:06:50 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] Discussion goes through 3/7 - Here are the links
	again
Message-ID: <s40869b3.087@mail.jsi.com>
Hi All,
I just want to let you know that this discussion going on now with the Lab School team from Portland will continue through Tuesday, March 7th.
For your convenience, I am including the links again to the articles whose authors are participating this week. Please share your thoughts and questions with them!
The "Lab School"
By Steve Reder
(Please put "Steve?overall lab school" in the subject line.)
http://www.ncsall.net/index.php?id=987
Same Activity, Different Focus [Pair Activities]
By Kathryn Harris
(Please put "Kathy--pair work" in the subject line.)
http://www.ncsall.net/index.php?id=988
A Conversation with FOB: Modified Sustained Silent Reading
By Sandra Banke and Reuel Kurzet
(Please put "Reuel or Sandra - SSR" in the subject line.)
http://www.ncsall.net/index.php?id=990
Rewarding Conversations
By Betsy Kraft
(Please put "Betsy - conversation partnerships" in the subject line.)
http://www.ncsall.net/index.php?id=991
Spontaneous Conversations: A Window into Language Learners' Autonomy
By Dominique Brillanceau
(Please put "Dominique - Spontaneous Conversations" in the subject line.)
http://www.ncsall.net/index.php?id=992
Turn Taking and Opening Interactions
By John Hellermann
(Please put "John?turn taking" in the subject line.)
http://www.ncsall.net/index.php?id=993
For questions to the whole group, of course, choose a subject line to fit!
Thanks,
Julie
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
From julie_mcKinney at worlded.org  Sun Mar  5 22:17:01 2006
From: julie_mcKinney at worlded.org (Julie  McKinney)
Date: Sun, 05 Mar 2006 22:17:01 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] Resources/Links from Robin's Discussion
Message-ID: <s40b636c.001@mail.jsi.com>
Hi All,
Here is the compilation of links, book names, etc. from the discussion
on Struggling ESOL Learners with Robin Schwarz. (Let me know if you want
a formatted version, and I can send it as an attachment.)
Julie
Resources from Robin's Discussion:
Phonemic Awareness Resources
"How Now Brown Cow: Phoneme Awareness Activities for Collaborative 
Classrooms"
 by Patricia J. Edelen-Smith. Published in Intervention in School and
Clinic in 1997Vol 33 #2
Try googling "Phonemic Awareness"
Books and Workbooks 
"Pronunciation Contrasts in English"
by D L. F. Nilsen and A. P. Nilsen. (recently reprinted)
(It is a book of all the minimal pairs in English-- and each 
page includes a diagram of the mouth for each sound, plus a list of all 
the languages for which that contrast is a a difficulty.)
"Listening Dictation"
by Joan Morley
It has lessons designed to help learners hear specific words and
structures in sentences and to pay attention to prepositions and other
small words that learners of English tend to miss.   It addresses all
four skills, too, listening, speaking, writing and reading.
"Taking Action: A Handbook for Instructors of Adult ESOL Learners with
Learning Dissablities"
produced and distrbuted by the Minnesota Learning Disabilities
Association 
www.ldaminnesota.org
This walks teachers through the topic of LD and an approach to
determining if other problems might be at the root of learning
difficulties.
"The Adult Reading Toolkit ( ART)"
A great handbook for tutors teaching reading to English-speaking adults.
"English Sounds and Spelling"
by McClelland, Hale and Beaudikofer 
(no longer in print, but available on the internet.)
It is a very straightforward English (ESL) phonics books, but it has
many great line drawings of words ESL learners need to know that can be
cut up and used 
for many kinds of practice.  The actual phonics lessons are good, but 
presume a certain level of other-language literacy, as most ESL phonics 
books do.
Programs and Screenings
The Beery Test of Visual Motor Integration  (VMI) 
It involves copying geometric figures and is remarkably diagnostic for
problems of copying things accurately. You can probably get a version of
it by googling.
The Hull Screening 
(Was available in MA, but is hard to get hold of.)
This has a version of the VMI, too. 
www.irlen.com
A self test for visual linked stress syndrome, and forms for ordering
colored overlays. (But beware--when you open that site, it starts with
an example of what many people see!!!)  .    
Organization:
ProLiteracy
Creates training programs for new tutors because literacy providers know
that 
if tutors are untrained, learners cannot progress and will not persist. 
Resources for information about languages, language structure, history,
culture, etc...
http://www.ethnologue.com/   
http://www.nvtc.gov/lotw/languageList.html
>from Dominique Brillanceau
CAELA: Center for Adult English Language Acquisition
http://www.cal.org/caela/
NCELA: National Clearinghouse for English Language Acquisition
http://www.ncela.gwu.edu/
The Office of Refugee Concerns 
More resources from people other than Robin:
The following four are resources for pre-literate learners compiled
(with thanks) by Jean Marrapodi from discussion on ESOL list: 
"The LaRue Literacy Skills Test"
Developed with a grant from the MN Dept of Education.
http://www.mcedservices.com/PDFs.html
>From Charles LaRue
"The Canadian Language Benchmarks:  ESL for Literacy Learners"
Starts out at the Foundation Level with the assumption that learners
have
never even held a pencil.
http://www.language.ca/display_page.asp?page_id=255
>From Pauline Mcnaughton
 "Making It Real": a guide to teaching adult pre-literate refugees. 
 From the Tacoma Community House Training Project in Tacoma, Washington
 http://www.tchtrainingproject.com
>From Shash Woods
"Practitioner Toolkit: Working with Adult English Language Learners"
>From the National Center for Family Literacy along with the Center for
Applied Linguistics.   
See section II, pages 57 -59 for info on phonological processing,
vocabulary knowledge, syntactic processing, and background knowledge.
See pages II- 60 -61 for pre-reading activities to use with pre-literate
and nonliterate English language learners. 
http://www.cal.org/caela/tools/instructional/prac_toolkit.html
>From Marian Burt
http://eff.cls.utk.edu/assessment/read5.htm 
A source of a standard for assessment.
>from Aaron Kohring:
www.dibels.com
An example of a "highly incorrect" nonsense word testing system.
Contains many incorrectly spelled nonsense words.
>from Don McCabe, who adds: If you would  like assistance in a project
such as that, I would be glad to help.  And  when I offer help, I am not
asking for money.  We are very nonprofit here  at AVKO. 
Don McCabe, Research Director
AVKO Educational Research Foundation
spelling.org
Assistance with vision testing:
Call your local Wal-mart and ask their VisionCenter what they have
available. I recently was sent to them for coupons for kids that cover
full exam, lenses and frames. They also suggested I call my local Lions
Club, as they also offer child and adult vision assistance.
>from Kathleen Morgan:
Jazz Chants (book and cassettes)
By Carolyn Graham
>from Sandy Fox and Robin
PowerPath,
A wonderful LD screening tool.  
>from Geri Irving
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
From jn at cloudworld.co.uk  Mon Mar  6 06:26:02 2006
From: jn at cloudworld.co.uk (John Nissen)
Date: Mon, 6 Mar 2006 11:26:02 -0000
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] teacher professional development
References: <BAY15-F20D7B899AC9DE34A8F91CA90FC0@phx.gbl>
Message-ID: <008901c64110$c0980bf0$0302a8c0@Tomschoice>
Hello Aliya,
I'm sorry that I missed your reply which you sent nearly a fortnight ago. 
You confirm our suspicions that concepts are not being taught properly, and 
that a definitive guide to synthetic phonics, and all aspects of teaching 
it, is needed.   We are discussing the production of such a guide.
Best wishes,
John
John Nissen
Cloudworld Ltd - http://www.cloudworld.co.uk
maker of the assistive reader, WordAloud.
Try WordAloud with synthetic phonics:
http://www.cloudworld.co.uk/teaching-synthetic-phonics.htm
Tel: +44 208 742 3170  Fax: +44 208 742 0202
Email: info at cloudworld.co.uk
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Aliya AbdulLatif" <vanillaicy at hotmail.co.uk>
To: <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
Sent: Tuesday, February 21, 2006 8:18 PM
Subject: Re: [FocusOnBasics] teacher professional development
> Hi John
>
> I believe that we are receiving inadequate training in Literacy Level 4 as
> well. The teacher is not explaining the terms properly. Like I said I am 
> not
> finding that too difficult since I am already familiar with most of the
> concepts but most of the students think the course is too difficult for 
> them
> and they cannot even apply most of what they study in the class. We are
> studying Sythetic and Analytic Phonics in Phonology but even these topics
> were not taught properly. I know at level 4 we are expected to do alot of
> learning on our own but still for my colleagues the course is not being
> delivered properly. The delivery methods are not adequate either hence
> teachers are blaming the syllabus and not the trainers. I hope they will
> provide trainers with adequate training before initiating the course. 
> Thank
> you for your comments.
> Aliya
>
>
>>From: "John Nissen" <jn at cloudworld.co.uk>
>>Reply-To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
>>To: "The Focus on Basics Discussion List" <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
>>CC: Jennifer Chew <jennifer at chew8.freeserve.co.uk>,Debbie Hepplewhite
>><debbie at syntheticphonics.com>,John Rack <jrack at dyslexia-inst.org.uk>
>>Subject: Re: [FocusOnBasics] teacher professional development
>>Date: Tue, 21 Feb 2006 09:35:57 -0000
>>
>>
>>Hi Aliya,
>>
>>It is very good to have a person who understands linguistics teaching
>>literacy, because many teachers flounder through lack of understanding of
>>the elements of language.  My particular concern is that, with the UK 
>>going
>>over to synthetic phonics, teachers will not understand the basis of that
>>change, and will continue in their old ways whilst trying to bolt on the
>>phonics.  This will not work, and when they get poor results they will
>>blame
>>the method.  So we really need to have good guidance to teachers, with
>>practical advice on how to teach in various settings and how to teach
>>learners with particular problems, including vision or hearing impairment,
>>attention deficit, language understanding, conceptual misunderstandings,
>>memory of sounds, etc.  At the moment such guidance is lacking, and we
>>intend to do something about this.  We know that there are already some
>>good
>>programmes to follow, such as Jolly Phonics, but without the teacher
>>understanding the basis for synthetic phonics, and without practical
>>advice,
>>the teacher is liable to fail to implement the method properly and obtain
>>the 100% success which was shown to be possible in Clackmannanshire.  So
>>good guidance will be crucial in teacher training.
>>
>>Best wishes,
>>
>>John
>>
>>John Nissen
>>Cloudworld Ltd - http://www.cloudworld.co.uk
>>maker of the assistive reader, WordAloud.
>>Try WordAloud with synthetic phonics:
>>http://www.cloudworld.co.uk/teaching-synthetic-phonics.htm
>>Tel: +44 208 742 3170  Fax: +44 208 742 0202
>>Email: info at cloudworld.co.uk
>>
>>
>>
>>----- Original Message -----
>>From: "Aliya AbdulLatif" <vanillaicy at hotmail.co.uk>
>>To: <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
>>Sent: Monday, February 20, 2006 6:16 PM
>>Subject: Re: [FocusOnBasics] teacher professional development
>>
>>
>> >
>> > I am in UK and training to be a Literacy Tutor but so far except one
>> > excercise everything else we are being trained in does not make any
>>sense.
>> > Well, not to me because I have studied linguistics before but most of 
>> > my
>> > colleagues are facing difficulties trying to grasp the whole training
>> > aspects. I believe the training should be more practical. We can write
>> > tonnes of assignments but that will only show our skills of writing and
>> > not
>> > teaching or pdegogy.
>> >
>> >>From: "Missy Slaathaug" <mslaathaug at midco.net>
>> >>Reply-To: mslaathaug at midco.net,The Focus on Basics Discussion List
>> >><focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
>> >>To: "'The Focus on Basics Discussion List'" <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
>> >>Subject: Re: [FocusOnBasics] teacher professional development
>> >>Date: Mon, 20 Feb 2006 10:40:54 -0600
>> >>
>> >>Hi Robin - it was South Dakota, one of those nameless flyover states!
>> >>
>> >>And I couldn't agree with you more that teachers absolutely need to be
>> >>trained and educated in this.  My comment was only that too much
>> >>information in the very first teacher training may be wasted or even
>> >>counter-productive.  Teachers can only absorb so much in one six hour
>> >>training, and usually until they have begun to teach they don't have a
>> >>conceptual framework to help them process much information.  They are
>> >>hungry for classroom strategies and techniques - they want to know what
>> >>to DO in the multi-level classroom that they are facing the very next
>> >>week.
>> >>
>> >>But as for ongoing training and higher expectations for adult ed
>> >>teachers, and the entire rest of your posting, I couldn't agree with 
>> >>you
>> >>more.
>> >>
>> >>Missy Slaathaug
>> >>Pierre, South Dakota
>> >>
>> >>-----Original Message-----
>> >>From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov
>> >>[mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of
>> >>robinschwarz1 at aol.com
>> >>Sent: Saturday, February 18, 2006 6:28 PM
>> >>To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
>> >>Subject: [FocusOnBasics] teacher professional development
>> >>
>> >>Hi --this is in response to the person from Oregon or Washington and to
>> >>Janet Isserlis on another list, both of whose topic was teacher
>> >>professional development and the fear of overloading teachers with
>> >>information.
>> >>
>> >>This topic is near and dear to my heart.  As I indicated in another
>> >>posting today, it is surprising to me that the field of ESL does not
>> >>seem to prepare teachers for the sort of really hard-core learning
>> >>problems that several readers and responders have mentioned.
>> >>
>> >>In another message on one of the NIFL lists the notion of profesisonal
>> >>development qualification standards for teachers in adult education was
>> >>mentioned.
>> >>
>> >>Frankly, what I often see is that it is too common that teachers in
>> >>adult education and adult ESOL education are woefully unqualified to do
>> >>what they do.   Then learners suffer.   My article in FOB indicated
>> >>that in some of those cases, teachers were simply not prepared to ask
>> >>the right questions or to consider the key issues in adult ESOL
>> >>learners' situations that significantly impact the learners' progress
>> >>in their settings.
>> >>  [snip]
>> >>  Robin
From mjjerdems at yahoo.com  Mon Mar  6 08:19:16 2006
From: mjjerdems at yahoo.com (Mary Jane Jerde)
Date: Mon, 6 Mar 2006 05:19:16 -0800 (PST)
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] Resources/Links from Robin's Discussion
In-Reply-To: <s40b636c.001@mail.jsi.com>
Message-ID: <20060306131916.99352.qmail@web54004.mail.yahoo.com>
Thank you so much, Julie.
  
  I'd compiled a part of this list.
  
  Mary Jane Jerde
Julie  McKinney <julie_mcKinney at worlded.org> wrote:  Hi All,
Here is the compilation of links, book names, etc. from the discussion
on Struggling ESOL Learners with Robin Schwarz. (Let me know if you want
a formatted version, and I can send it as an attachment.)
Julie
Resources from Robin's Discussion:
Phonemic Awareness Resources
"How Now Brown Cow: Phoneme Awareness Activities for Collaborative 
Classrooms"
 by Patricia J. Edelen-Smith. Published in Intervention in School and
Clinic in 1997Vol 33 #2
Try googling "Phonemic Awareness"
Books and Workbooks 
"Pronunciation Contrasts in English"
by D L. F. Nilsen and A. P. Nilsen. (recently reprinted)
(It is a book of all the minimal pairs in English-- and each 
page includes a diagram of the mouth for each sound, plus a list of all 
the languages for which that contrast is a a difficulty.)
"Listening Dictation"
by Joan Morley
It has lessons designed to help learners hear specific words and
structures in sentences and to pay attention to prepositions and other
small words that learners of English tend to miss.   It addresses all
four skills, too, listening, speaking, writing and reading.
"Taking Action: A Handbook for Instructors of Adult ESOL Learners with
Learning Dissablities"
produced and distrbuted by the Minnesota Learning Disabilities
Association 
www.ldaminnesota.org
This walks teachers through the topic of LD and an approach to
determining if other problems might be at the root of learning
difficulties.
"The Adult Reading Toolkit ( ART)"
A great handbook for tutors teaching reading to English-speaking adults.
"English Sounds and Spelling"
by McClelland, Hale and Beaudikofer 
(no longer in print, but available on the internet.)
It is a very straightforward English (ESL) phonics books, but it has
many great line drawings of words ESL learners need to know that can be
cut up and used 
for many kinds of practice.  The actual phonics lessons are good, but 
presume a certain level of other-language literacy, as most ESL phonics 
books do.
Programs and Screenings
The Beery Test of Visual Motor Integration  (VMI) 
It involves copying geometric figures and is remarkably diagnostic for
problems of copying things accurately. You can probably get a version of
it by googling.
The Hull Screening 
(Was available in MA, but is hard to get hold of.)
This has a version of the VMI, too. 
www.irlen.com
A self test for visual linked stress syndrome, and forms for ordering
colored overlays. (But beware--when you open that site, it starts with
an example of what many people see!!!)  .    
Organization:
ProLiteracy
Creates training programs for new tutors because literacy providers know
that 
if tutors are untrained, learners cannot progress and will not persist. 
Resources for information about languages, language structure, history,
culture, etc...
http://www.ethnologue.com/   
http://www.nvtc.gov/lotw/languageList.html
>from Dominique Brillanceau
CAELA: Center for Adult English Language Acquisition
http://www.cal.org/caela/
NCELA: National Clearinghouse for English Language Acquisition
http://www.ncela.gwu.edu/
The Office of Refugee Concerns 
More resources from people other than Robin:
The following four are resources for pre-literate learners compiled
(with thanks) by Jean Marrapodi from discussion on ESOL list: 
"The LaRue Literacy Skills Test"
Developed with a grant from the MN Dept of Education.
http://www.mcedservices.com/PDFs.html
>From Charles LaRue
"The Canadian Language Benchmarks:  ESL for Literacy Learners"
Starts out at the Foundation Level with the assumption that learners
have
never even held a pencil.
http://www.language.ca/display_page.asp?page_id=255
>From Pauline Mcnaughton
 "Making It Real": a guide to teaching adult pre-literate refugees. 
 From the Tacoma Community House Training Project in Tacoma, Washington
 http://www.tchtrainingproject.com
>From Shash Woods
"Practitioner Toolkit: Working with Adult English Language Learners"
>From the National Center for Family Literacy along with the Center for
Applied Linguistics.   
See section II, pages 57 -59 for info on phonological processing,
vocabulary knowledge, syntactic processing, and background knowledge.
See pages II- 60 -61 for pre-reading activities to use with pre-literate
and nonliterate English language learners. 
http://www.cal.org/caela/tools/instructional/prac_toolkit.html
>From Marian Burt
http://eff.cls.utk.edu/assessment/read5.htm 
A source of a standard for assessment.
>from Aaron Kohring:
www.dibels.com
An example of a "highly incorrect" nonsense word testing system.
Contains many incorrectly spelled nonsense words.
>from Don McCabe, who adds: If you would  like assistance in a project
such as that, I would be glad to help.  And  when I offer help, I am not
asking for money.  We are very nonprofit here  at AVKO. 
Don McCabe, Research Director
AVKO Educational Research Foundation
spelling.org
Assistance with vision testing:
Call your local Wal-mart and ask their VisionCenter what they have
available. I recently was sent to them for coupons for kids that cover
full exam, lenses and frames. They also suggested I call my local Lions
Club, as they also offer child and adult vision assistance.
>from Kathleen Morgan:
Jazz Chants (book and cassettes)
By Carolyn Graham
>from Sandy Fox and Robin
PowerPath,
A wonderful LD screening tool.  
>from Geri Irving
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
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From rkurzet at pdx.edu  Mon Mar  6 12:36:35 2006
From: rkurzet at pdx.edu (rkurzet at pdx.edu)
Date: Mon, 06 Mar 2006 09:36:35 -0800
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] seeing ESOL classes on videotape
In-Reply-To: <200603032027.k23KRuEj016970@njord.oit.pdx.edu>
References: <200603032027.k23KRuEj016970@njord.oit.pdx.edu>
Message-ID: <1141666595.440c732396c1d@webmail.pdx.edu>
Kathy,
What a great challenge to FOB readers. Excellent idea.  Kudos!
Reuel
Quoting Kathryn Harris <harriska at pdx.edu>:
> Hi list members,  this is Kathy, one of the authors in the recent FOB issue.
> I'd like to pose a question to you all.
>
>
>
> Here at the lab school we have a unique view of ESOL classrooms because we
> have cameras that record classes-not just a few minutes of classrooms, but
> every minute of every day.  Jokingly, we call our video "reality classrooms"
> like the reality shows on TV.  Using the video we have a perspective that
> isn't usually available to teachers and researchers.
>
>
>
> We use the recordings to do our research on learning and teaching.  We also
> use the recordings to do professional development and to illustrate our
> research, as in this FOB issue.
>
>
>
> Please pick any clip that is part of the FOB issue.  Then answer the
> question, how does this video clip help me understand the research or help
> me understand the students in my classroom?
>
>
>
> Here is the link to the FOB issue.  Each of the articles has a link to clips
> in it.  In encourage you to choose clips from the article that is most
> relevant to your work context.  http://www.ncsall.net/?id=986
>
>
>
>
>
> Your answers will really help me make my work more accessible to others.
>
>
>
> Thanks!
> Kathy
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> ****************************************
>
> Kathryn A. Harris
>
> Portland State University
>
> Dept. of Applied Linguistics and the Adult ESOL Lab School
>
> P.O. Box 751
>
> Portland, OR  97207
>
> USA
>
> phone:  (503)725-8300
>
> fax:  (503)725-4139
>
> email:  harriska at pdx.edu
>
> www.labschool.pdx.edu
>
>
>
>
From julie_mcKinney at worlded.org  Tue Mar  7 11:16:34 2006
From: julie_mcKinney at worlded.org (Julie  McKinney)
Date: Tue, 07 Mar 2006 11:16:34 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] seeing ESOL classes on videotape
Message-ID: <s40d6bb7.081@mail.jsi.com>
These video clips are really interesting to see!
I would encourage everyone to try to view one or two of these clips. It
gives a much clearer understanding of what the Lab School can study, and
what happens in those precious classroom moments that are unencumbered
by teacher presence.
The technology (like all technology!) is a bit funky, but it's worth it
if you can persevere through it. When you put in a URL for one of the
video clips, your computer will prompt you to install the ClassAction
software (from Portland State U.) which allows you to view the clips.
Then follow the instructions and click on "Agree" and then "Clip". 
Please try to see one, and answer back with any thoughts on how it
allows you to understand your class, or this research any differently!
See below for the video clip URLs that go with the FOB research
articles.
Same Activity, Different Focus (Pair Activities)
By Kathryn Harris
www.labschool.pdx.edu/Viewer/viewer.php?pair_interaction
Rewarding Conversations
By Betsy Kraft
www.labschool.pdx.edu/Viewer/viewer.php?pl=Betsys%20NCSALL%20Clips&cl=Heidi
Spontaneous Conversations
By Dominique Brillanceau
www.labschool.pdx.edu/Viewer/viewer.php?sponcovfob
Turn-taking and Opening Interactions
By John Hellermann
www.labschool.pdx.edu/Viewer/viewer.php?FOB3jkh
Good Luck!
Julie
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
>>> harriska at pdx.edu 03/03/06 3:27 PM >>>
Hi list members,  this is Kathy, one of the authors in the recent FOB
issue.
I'd like to pose a question to you all.
 
Here at the lab school we have a unique view of ESOL classrooms because
we
have cameras that record classes-not just a few minutes of classrooms,
but
every minute of every day.  Jokingly, we call our video "reality
classrooms"
like the reality shows on TV.  Using the video we have a perspective
that
isn't usually available to teachers and researchers.
 
We use the recordings to do our research on learning and teaching.  We
also
use the recordings to do professional development and to illustrate our
research, as in this FOB issue.
 
Please pick any clip that is part of the FOB issue.  Then answer the
question, how does this video clip help me understand the research or
help
me understand the students in my classroom?
 
Here is the link to the FOB issue.  Each of the articles has a link to
clips
in it.  In encourage you to choose clips from the article that is most
relevant to your work context.  http://www.ncsall.net/?id=986
 
 
Your answers will really help me make my work more accessible to others.
 
Thanks!
Kathy
 
 
 
 
****************************************
Kathryn A. Harris
Portland State University
Dept. of Applied Linguistics and the Adult ESOL Lab School
P.O. Box 751
Portland, OR  97207
USA
phone:  (503)725-8300
fax:  (503)725-4139
email:  harriska at pdx.edu
www.labschool.pdx.edu
 
From kabeall at comcast.net  Wed Mar  8 08:20:37 2006
From: kabeall at comcast.net (Kaye Beall)
Date: Wed, 8 Mar 2006 08:20:37 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] New from NCSALL--Skills for Chronic Disease
	Management
Message-ID: <002601c642b3$16f1ea90$0c0fca0a@your4105e587b6>
Skills for Chronic Disease Management 
by Rima Rudd, Lisa Soricone, Maricel Santos, Charlotte Nath, and Janet Smith
is now available from NCSALL.
 
The goal of this 15-hour study circle+ is to prepare participants to help
their students develop basic skills needed for chronic disease management.
These skills include reading medicine labels, following directions, and
measuring dosages correctly; using measurement tools to monitor health;
monitoring symptoms and talking to health care professionals the
observations; and making critical decisions about health care.
 
To download the Health Literacy Study Circle+ Facilitator's Guide: Skills
for  Chronic Disease Management, visit NCSALL's Web site:
http://www.ncsall.net/?id=1058
 
To order the Health Literacy Study Circle+ Facilitator's Guide: Skills for
Chronic Disease Management at $33.00/copy, go to the NCSALL Order Form:
http://www.ncsall.net/?id=674
 
 
 
****************
Kaye Beall
Outreach Coordinator/NCSALL Dissemination Project
World Education
4401 S. Madison St.
Muncie, IN  47302
Tel: 765-717-3942
Fax: 208-694-8262
kaye_beall at worlded.org
http://www.ncsall.net
 
 
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From julie_mcKinney at worlded.org  Thu Mar  9 12:37:57 2006
From: julie_mcKinney at worlded.org (Julie  McKinney)
Date: Thu, 09 Mar 2006 12:37:57 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] note about next message
Message-ID: <s41021ca.070@mail.jsi.com>
Hi All,
After this message is one from Robin Schwarz called "a lament". I just
wanted to put it in context because it is in response to some discussion
a couple weeks ago. It is in response to Iris and Andrea talking about
studies on teacher expectaions. By the way, please feel free to keep
discussing any of this!
Thanks,
Julie
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
From robinschwarz1 at aol.com  Mon Mar  6 21:12:58 2006
From: robinschwarz1 at aol.com (robinschwarz1 at aol.com)
Date: Mon, 06 Mar 2006 21:12:58 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] a lament
In-Reply-To: <256.6f98e95.3130e33d@aol.com>
References: <256.6f98e95.3130e33d@aol.com>
Message-ID: <8C80FA3C9BA84C0-954-E0D3@MBLK-R08.sysops.aol.com>
Well why not look at a study from Kentucky about the effect of teacher 
expectations on high school students.  No lying involved.   In this 
study, two teachers were prepared in exactly the same way to do a new 
program ( I believe it was in science).  The idea of the study was to 
see if the program helped the students, but to the surprise of the 
researchers the two classes achieved quite different results.  The only 
factor that could be identified that influenced the results was teacher 
expectation--the students of the teacher who was sure her students 
could do this new, challenging work did very well, while the students 
of the other teacher, who was sure the students would not get it, did 
relatively poorly.  This is not news.  This is what is known as a self- 
fulfilling prophecy.
Studies were done in the 70's on the effect of labeling students on 
teachers' expectations of the students.  Needless to say, the 
expectations shifted drastically down when students were identified as 
special needs in any way.
Recent ( January) visits to several K-12 schools confirmed that this 
attitude is alive and well among a lot of teachers and sped teachers.   
Robin Schwarz
-----Original Message-----
From: AWilder106 at aol.com
To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
Sent: Fri, 24 Feb 2006 17:31:25 EST
Subject: Re: [FocusOnBasics] a lament
Hi Iris,
I can't remember the name of the first researcher who did? a study on 
low/high teacher expectations and their self-fulling prophecy, but I do 
remember the study.? The resaercher got his data by lying to the 
teacher about the ability of her students.? (Maybe more than one 
teacher, I can't remember now.)
When I read that I kind of stopped cold.? Toally unethical, of course.
It was the idea of lying to the teacher that I found so shocking.? What 
can I say;? I was very young.
Andrea.
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
From julie_mcKinney at worlded.org  Thu Mar  9 13:42:52 2006
From: julie_mcKinney at worlded.org (Julie  McKinney)
Date: Thu, 09 Mar 2006 13:42:52 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] Thank you Lab School Team!
Message-ID: <s41030f5.076@mail.jsi.com>
Hi All,
I want to thank the Lab School Team for being available, for sharing
their research through FOB, and for introducing us to the video clips of
classroom interactions and the concept of studying these hidden gems.
Although the discussion "week" is over, any questions or comments about
the team's work and their articles will still be welcome! (After all,
they are the bulk of the last FOB issue.) 
Thank you,
Julie
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
From tarv at chemeketa.edu  Thu Mar  9 12:47:42 2006
From: tarv at chemeketa.edu (Virginia Tardaewether)
Date: Thu, 9 Mar 2006 09:47:42 -0800
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] a lament
Message-ID: <89DA2100D59D7341BEA4D938F9FB2A93024B5392@cccmail2.chemeketa.network>
There have been studies on parental expectations too: if you expect your child to graduate, he or she will.  This reminds me of that movie about the math teacher in LA, can't remember the name of it, but his students completed higher math course and passed tests, but the administration didn't believe the results.  I think standards, from many angles, are vastly important.
va
Virginia Tardaewether 
Chemeketa Community College 
4000 Lancaster Drive NE 
Salem, OR  97305 
503-399-6147 
When new life appears, just as a budding plant rises from the ground, the heart aspires to new growth and is filled with hope. Use life to renew oneself.
Voices of the Heart
-----Original Message-----
From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov]On Behalf Of
robinschwarz1 at aol.com
Sent: Monday, March 06, 2006 6:13 PM
To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
Subject: Re: [FocusOnBasics] a lament
Well why not look at a study from Kentucky about the effect of teacher 
expectations on high school students.  No lying involved.   In this 
study, two teachers were prepared in exactly the same way to do a new 
program ( I believe it was in science).  The idea of the study was to 
see if the program helped the students, but to the surprise of the 
researchers the two classes achieved quite different results.  The only 
factor that could be identified that influenced the results was teacher 
expectation--the students of the teacher who was sure her students 
could do this new, challenging work did very well, while the students 
of the other teacher, who was sure the students would not get it, did 
relatively poorly.  This is not news.  This is what is known as a self- 
fulfilling prophecy.
Studies were done in the 70's on the effect of labeling students on 
teachers' expectations of the students.  Needless to say, the 
expectations shifted drastically down when students were identified as 
special needs in any way.
Recent ( January) visits to several K-12 schools confirmed that this 
attitude is alive and well among a lot of teachers and sped teachers.   
Robin Schwarz
-----Original Message-----
From: AWilder106 at aol.com
To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
Sent: Fri, 24 Feb 2006 17:31:25 EST
Subject: Re: [FocusOnBasics] a lament
Hi Iris,
I can't remember the name of the first researcher who did? a study on 
low/high teacher expectations and their self-fulling prophecy, but I do 
remember the study.? The resaercher got his data by lying to the 
teacher about the ability of her students.? (Maybe more than one 
teacher, I can't remember now.)
When I read that I kind of stopped cold.? Toally unethical, of course.
It was the idea of lying to the teacher that I found so shocking.? What 
can I say;? I was very young.
Andrea.
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
From bddavis at butlercc.edu  Thu Mar  9 14:20:46 2006
From: bddavis at butlercc.edu (Beverly Davis)
Date: Thu, 09 Mar 2006 13:20:46 -0600 (CST)
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] a lament
Message-ID: <1517364.1141932046397.JavaMail.bddavis@butlercc.edu>
The movie is "Stand and Deliver"
Virginia Tardaewether wrote:
>There have been studies on parental expectations too: if you expect 
your child to graduate, he or she will.  This reminds me of that movie 
about the math teacher in LA, can't remember the name of it, but his 
students completed higher math course and passed tests, but the 
administration didn't believe the results.  I think standards, from 
many angles, are vastly important.
>va
>
>Virginia Tardaewether 
>Chemeketa Community College 
>4000 Lancaster Drive NE 
>Salem, OR  97305 
>503-399-6147 
>
>
>When new life appears, just as a budding plant rises from the ground, 
the heart aspires to new growth and is filled with hope. Use life to 
renew oneself.
>Voices of the Heart
>
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov
>[mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov]On Behalf Of
>robinschwarz1 at aol.com
>Sent: Monday, March 06, 2006 6:13 PM
>To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
>Subject: Re: [FocusOnBasics] a lament
>
>
>Well why not look at a study from Kentucky about the effect of teacher 
>expectations on high school students.  No lying involved.   In this 
>study, two teachers were prepared in exactly the same way to do a new 
>program ( I believe it was in science).  The idea of the study was to 
>see if the program helped the students, but to the surprise of the 
>researchers the two classes achieved quite different results.  The only 
>factor that could be identified that influenced the results was teacher 
>expectation--the students of the teacher who was sure her students 
>could do this new, challenging work did very well, while the students 
>of the other teacher, who was sure the students would not get it, did 
>relatively poorly.  This is not news.  This is what is known as a self- 
>fulfilling prophecy.
>
>Studies were done in the 70's on the effect of labeling students on 
>teachers' expectations of the students.  Needless to say, the 
>expectations shifted drastically down when students were identified as 
>special needs in any way.
>
>Recent ( January) visits to several K-12 schools confirmed that this 
>attitude is alive and well among a lot of teachers and sped teachers.   
>Robin Schwarz
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: AWilder106 at aol.com
>To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
>Sent: Fri, 24 Feb 2006 17:31:25 EST
>Subject: Re: [FocusOnBasics] a lament
>
>Hi Iris,
>
>I can't remember the name of the first researcher who did? a study on 
>low/high teacher expectations and their self-fulling prophecy, but I do 
>remember the study.? The resaercher got his data by lying to the 
>teacher about the ability of her students.? (Maybe more than one 
>teacher, I can't remember now.)
>
>When I read that I kind of stopped cold.? Toally unethical, of course.
>
>It was the idea of lying to the teacher that I found so shocking.? What 
>can I say;? I was very young.
>
>Andrea.
>
>----------------------------------------------------
>National Institute for Literacy
>Focus on Basics mailing list
>FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
>To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
>http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
>
>----------------------------------------------------
>National Institute for Literacy
>Focus on Basics mailing list
>FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
>To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
>http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
>----------------------------------------------------
>National Institute for Literacy
>Focus on Basics mailing list
>FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
>To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to 
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
>----------------------------------------------------
>National Institute for Literacy
>Focus on Basics mailing list
>FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
>To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to 
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
>
---------------------------------------
It is not the load that breaks you, it 
is the way you carry it. 
Beverly Davis
ABE/GEDButler Community College
Instructional Coordinator
(316) 321-4030, ext. 113
From mslaathaug at midco.net  Thu Mar  9 14:25:10 2006
From: mslaathaug at midco.net (Missy Slaathaug)
Date: Thu, 9 Mar 2006 13:25:10 -0600
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] a lament
In-Reply-To: <89DA2100D59D7341BEA4D938F9FB2A93024B5392@cccmail2.chemeketa.network>
Message-ID: <007b01c643af$2ed497a0$150ac90a@explorit3>
The movie was Stand and Deliver, and it is an excellent film.  I used it
in one of my ESL speaking and listening classes when I taught grad
students already enrolled in degree programs.  It's a great film.  
 
-----Original Message-----
From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Virginia
Tardaewether
Sent: Thursday, March 09, 2006 11:48 AM
To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List
Subject: Re: [FocusOnBasics] a lament
 
There have been studies on parental expectations too: if you expect your
child to graduate, he or she will.  This reminds me of that movie about
the math teacher in LA, can't remember the name of it, but his students
completed higher math course and passed tests, but the administration
didn't believe the results.  I think standards, from many angles, are
vastly important.
va
 
Virginia Tardaewether 
Chemeketa Community College 
4000 Lancaster Drive NE 
Salem, OR  97305 
503-399-6147 
 
 
When new life appears, just as a budding plant rises from the ground,
the heart aspires to new growth and is filled with hope. Use life to
renew oneself.
Voices of the Heart
 
 
 
-----Original Message-----
From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov]On Behalf Of
robinschwarz1 at aol.com
Sent: Monday, March 06, 2006 6:13 PM
To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
Subject: Re: [FocusOnBasics] a lament
 
 
Well why not look at a study from Kentucky about the effect of teacher 
expectations on high school students.  No lying involved.   In this 
study, two teachers were prepared in exactly the same way to do a new 
program ( I believe it was in science).  The idea of the study was to 
see if the program helped the students, but to the surprise of the 
researchers the two classes achieved quite different results.  The only 
factor that could be identified that influenced the results was teacher 
expectation--the students of the teacher who was sure her students 
could do this new, challenging work did very well, while the students 
of the other teacher, who was sure the students would not get it, did 
relatively poorly.  This is not news.  This is what is known as a self- 
fulfilling prophecy.
 
Studies were done in the 70's on the effect of labeling students on 
teachers' expectations of the students.  Needless to say, the 
expectations shifted drastically down when students were identified as 
special needs in any way.
 
Recent ( January) visits to several K-12 schools confirmed that this 
attitude is alive and well among a lot of teachers and sped teachers.   
Robin Schwarz
 
-----Original Message-----
From: AWilder106 at aol.com
To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
Sent: Fri, 24 Feb 2006 17:31:25 EST
Subject: Re: [FocusOnBasics] a lament
 
Hi Iris,
 
I can't remember the name of the first researcher who did  a study on 
low/high teacher expectations and their self-fulling prophecy, but I do 
remember the study.  The resaercher got his data by lying to the 
teacher about the ability of her students.  (Maybe more than one 
teacher, I can't remember now.)
 
When I read that I kind of stopped cold.  Toally unethical, of course.
 
It was the idea of lying to the teacher that I found so shocking.  What 
can I say;  I was very young.
 
Andrea.
 
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
 
----------------------------------------------------
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From jclizer at columbiabasin.edu  Thu Mar  9 15:42:12 2006
From: jclizer at columbiabasin.edu (Jason Clizer)
Date: Thu, 09 Mar 2006 12:42:12 -0800
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] a lament
Message-ID: <s41022b1.001@mail.columbiabasin.edu>
"Stand and Deliver" is the name of the movie.
It is a good movie to show in an adult ed. class.
Jason Clizer
ESL Instructor
Columbia Basin College, Pasco WA 99301
Telephone:509/547-0511 #2588
Email:jclizer at columbiabasin.edu
>>> tarv at chemeketa.edu 03/09/06 09:47AM >>>
There have been studies on parental expectations too: if you expect your child to graduate, he or she will.  This reminds me of that movie about the math teacher in LA, can't remember the name of it, but his students completed higher math course and passed tests, but the administration didn't believe the results.  I think standards, from many angles, are vastly important.
va
Virginia Tardaewether 
Chemeketa Community College 
4000 Lancaster Drive NE 
Salem, OR  97305 
503-399-6147 
When new life appears, just as a budding plant rises from the ground, the heart aspires to new growth and is filled with hope. Use life to renew oneself.
Voices of the Heart
-----Original Message-----
From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov 
[mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov]On Behalf Of
robinschwarz1 at aol.com 
Sent: Monday, March 06, 2006 6:13 PM
To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov 
Subject: Re: [FocusOnBasics] a lament
Well why not look at a study from Kentucky about the effect of teacher 
expectations on high school students.  No lying involved.   In this 
study, two teachers were prepared in exactly the same way to do a new 
program ( I believe it was in science).  The idea of the study was to 
see if the program helped the students, but to the surprise of the 
researchers the two classes achieved quite different results.  The only 
factor that could be identified that influenced the results was teacher 
expectation--the students of the teacher who was sure her students 
could do this new, challenging work did very well, while the students 
of the other teacher, who was sure the students would not get it, did 
relatively poorly.  This is not news.  This is what is known as a self- 
fulfilling prophecy.
Studies were done in the 70's on the effect of labeling students on 
teachers' expectations of the students.  Needless to say, the 
expectations shifted drastically down when students were identified as 
special needs in any way.
Recent ( January) visits to several K-12 schools confirmed that this 
attitude is alive and well among a lot of teachers and sped teachers.   
Robin Schwarz
-----Original Message-----
From: AWilder106 at aol.com 
To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov 
Sent: Fri, 24 Feb 2006 17:31:25 EST
Subject: Re: [FocusOnBasics] a lament
Hi Iris,
I can't remember the name of the first researcher who did  a study on 
low/high teacher expectations and their self-fulling prophecy, but I do 
remember the study.  The resaercher got his data by lying to the 
teacher about the ability of her students.  (Maybe more than one 
teacher, I can't remember now.)
When I read that I kind of stopped cold.  Toally unethical, of course.
It was the idea of lying to the teacher that I found so shocking.  What 
can I say;  I was very young.
Andrea.
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov 
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics 
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov 
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics 
----------------------------------------------------
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FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov 
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics 
----------------------------------------------------
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From tarv at chemeketa.edu  Thu Mar  9 16:27:03 2006
From: tarv at chemeketa.edu (Virginia Tardaewether)
Date: Thu, 9 Mar 2006 13:27:03 -0800
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] a lament
Message-ID: <89DA2100D59D7341BEA4D938F9FB2A93024B5395@cccmail2.chemeketa.network>
thanks I had forgotten the name, but it was real to me
Virginia Tardaewether 
Chemeketa Community College 
4000 Lancaster Drive NE 
Salem, OR  97305 
503-399-6147 
When new life appears, just as a budding plant rises from the ground, the heart aspires to new growth and is filled with hope. Use life to renew oneself.
Voices of the Heart
-----Original Message-----
From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov]On Behalf Of Beverly Davis
Sent: Thursday, March 09, 2006 11:21 AM
To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List
Subject: Re: [FocusOnBasics] a lament
The movie is "Stand and Deliver"
Virginia Tardaewether wrote:
>There have been studies on parental expectations too: if you expect 
your child to graduate, he or she will.  This reminds me of that movie 
about the math teacher in LA, can't remember the name of it, but his 
students completed higher math course and passed tests, but the 
administration didn't believe the results.  I think standards, from 
many angles, are vastly important.
>va
>
>Virginia Tardaewether 
>Chemeketa Community College 
>4000 Lancaster Drive NE 
>Salem, OR  97305 
>503-399-6147 
>
>
>When new life appears, just as a budding plant rises from the ground, 
the heart aspires to new growth and is filled with hope. Use life to 
renew oneself.
>Voices of the Heart
>
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov
>[mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov]On Behalf Of
>robinschwarz1 at aol.com
>Sent: Monday, March 06, 2006 6:13 PM
>To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
>Subject: Re: [FocusOnBasics] a lament
>
>
>Well why not look at a study from Kentucky about the effect of teacher 
>expectations on high school students.  No lying involved.   In this 
>study, two teachers were prepared in exactly the same way to do a new 
>program ( I believe it was in science).  The idea of the study was to 
>see if the program helped the students, but to the surprise of the 
>researchers the two classes achieved quite different results.  The only 
>factor that could be identified that influenced the results was teacher 
>expectation--the students of the teacher who was sure her students 
>could do this new, challenging work did very well, while the students 
>of the other teacher, who was sure the students would not get it, did 
>relatively poorly.  This is not news.  This is what is known as a self- 
>fulfilling prophecy.
>
>Studies were done in the 70's on the effect of labeling students on 
>teachers' expectations of the students.  Needless to say, the 
>expectations shifted drastically down when students were identified as 
>special needs in any way.
>
>Recent ( January) visits to several K-12 schools confirmed that this 
>attitude is alive and well among a lot of teachers and sped teachers.   
>Robin Schwarz
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: AWilder106 at aol.com
>To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
>Sent: Fri, 24 Feb 2006 17:31:25 EST
>Subject: Re: [FocusOnBasics] a lament
>
>Hi Iris,
>
>I can't remember the name of the first researcher who did? a study on 
>low/high teacher expectations and their self-fulling prophecy, but I do 
>remember the study.? The resaercher got his data by lying to the 
>teacher about the ability of her students.? (Maybe more than one 
>teacher, I can't remember now.)
>
>When I read that I kind of stopped cold.? Toally unethical, of course.
>
>It was the idea of lying to the teacher that I found so shocking.? What 
>can I say;? I was very young.
>
>Andrea.
>
>----------------------------------------------------
>National Institute for Literacy
>Focus on Basics mailing list
>FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
>To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
>http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
>
>----------------------------------------------------
>National Institute for Literacy
>Focus on Basics mailing list
>FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
>To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
>http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
>----------------------------------------------------
>National Institute for Literacy
>Focus on Basics mailing list
>FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
>To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to 
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
>----------------------------------------------------
>National Institute for Literacy
>Focus on Basics mailing list
>FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
>To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to 
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
>
---------------------------------------
It is not the load that breaks you, it 
is the way you carry it. 
Beverly Davis
ABE/GEDButler Community College
Instructional Coordinator
(316) 321-4030, ext. 113
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
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To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
From eslmax2004 at yahoo.com  Thu Mar  9 22:49:31 2006
From: eslmax2004 at yahoo.com (Barb L)
Date: Thu, 9 Mar 2006 19:49:31 -0800 (PST)
Subject: [FocusOnBasics]  expectations
In-Reply-To: <007b01c643af$2ed497a0$150ac90a@explorit3>
Message-ID: <20060310034931.6849.qmail@web53407.mail.yahoo.com>
A new study just came out, The Color of Success, by Gilberto Conchas.  He's a sociologist who studied an urban high school which is successful at getting minority students to graduate and go on to college.  What he found is that detracking, career academies and high teacher and parent expectations were key to the success of these students.  
   
  The high achievement of the Vietnamese students was the most surprising, as these students had none of the educational or economic advantages usually associated with Asian students.  However, they were still treated as "the model minority" by the school and rose to meet the high expectations placed on them.
   
  Barb Linek
  University of Illinois Extension
  eslmax2004 at yahoo.com
  
Missy Slaathaug <mslaathaug at midco.net> wrote:
        
            The movie was Stand and Deliver, and it is an excellent film.  I used it in one of my ESL speaking and listening classes when I taught grad students already enrolled in degree programs.  It?s a great film.  
   
  -----Original Message-----
From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Virginia Tardaewether
Sent: Thursday, March 09, 2006 11:48 AM
To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List
Subject: Re: [FocusOnBasics] a lament
   
  There have been studies on parental expectations too: if you expect your child to graduate, he or she will.  This reminds me of that movie about the math teacher in LA, can't remember the name of it, but his students completed higher math course and passed tests, but the administration didn't believe the results.  I think standards, from many angles, are vastly important.
  va
   
  Virginia Tardaewether 
  Chemeketa Community College 
  4000 Lancaster Drive NE 
  Salem, OR  97305 
  503-399-6147 
   
   
  When new life appears, just as a budding plant rises from the ground, the heart aspires to new growth and is filled with hope. Use life to renew oneself.
  Voices of the Heart
   
   
   
  -----Original Message-----
  From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov
  [mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov]On Behalf Of
  robinschwarz1 at aol.com
  Sent: Monday, March 06, 2006 6:13 PM
  To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
  Subject: Re: [FocusOnBasics] a lament
   
   
  Well why not look at a study from Kentucky about the effect of teacher 
  expectations on high school students.  No lying involved.   In this 
  study, two teachers were prepared in exactly the same way to do a new 
  program ( I believe it was in science).  The idea of the study was to 
  see if the program helped the students, but to the surprise of the 
  researchers the two classes achieved quite different results.  The only 
  factor that could be identified that influenced the results was teacher 
  expectation--the students of the teacher who was sure her students 
  could do this new, challenging work did very well, while the students 
  of the other teacher, who was sure the students would not get it, did 
  relatively poorly.  This is not news.  This is what is known as a self- 
  fulfilling prophecy.
   
  Studies were done in the 70's on the effect of labeling students on 
  teachers' expectations of the students.  Needless to say, the 
  expectations shifted drastically down when students were identified as 
  special needs in any way.
   
  Recent ( January) visits to several K-12 schools confirmed that this 
  attitude is alive and well among a lot of teachers and sped teachers.   
  Robin Schwarz
   
  -----Original Message-----
  From: AWilder106 at aol.com
  To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
  Sent: Fri, 24 Feb 2006 17:31:25 EST
  Subject: Re: [FocusOnBasics] a lament
   
  Hi Iris,
   
  I can't remember the name of the first researcher who did  a study on 
  low/high teacher expectations and their self-fulling prophecy, but I do 
  remember the study.  The resaercher got his data by lying to the 
  teacher about the ability of her students.  (Maybe more than one 
  teacher, I can't remember now.)
   
  When I read that I kind of stopped cold.  Toally unethical, of course.
   
  It was the idea of lying to the teacher that I found so shocking.  What 
  can I say;  I was very young.
   
  Andrea.
   
  ----------------------------------------------------
  National Institute for Literacy
  Focus on Basics mailing list
  FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
  To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
  http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
   
  ----------------------------------------------------
  National Institute for Literacy
  Focus on Basics mailing list
  FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
  To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
  http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
  ----------------------------------------------------
  National Institute for Literacy
  Focus on Basics mailing list
  FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
  To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
  ----------------------------------------------------
  National Institute for Literacy
  Focus on Basics mailing list
  FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
  To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
   
----------------------------------------------------
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---------------------------------
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From robinschwarz1 at aol.com  Thu Mar  9 23:06:19 2006
From: robinschwarz1 at aol.com (robinschwarz1 at aol.com)
Date: Thu, 09 Mar 2006 23:06:19 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] a lament
In-Reply-To: <89DA2100D59D7341BEA4D938F9FB2A93024B5392@cccmail2.chemeketa.network>
References: <89DA2100D59D7341BEA4D938F9FB2A93024B5392@cccmail2.chemeketa.network>
Message-ID: <8C8120F1E99196A-BAC-6C3D@mblk-r23.sysops.aol.com>
Virginia -- that movie was "Stand and Deliver"-- one of my all-time 
favorite movies--and a mostly-true story, too-- and yes--this teacher 
had very high standards for the Spanish speaking students and made sure 
they got the support and instruction they needed to fill in the gaps 
they had in trying to meet his expectations.  It is such an inspiring 
movie.   It also gives clear pictures of challenges  many ELL/CLD 
learners' face both in school and out-- taking care of siblings while 
parents work, parents who don't understand American school demands,  
kids who must themselves work, peer pressure, teachers who do not 
understand them etc.    Robin
-----Original Message-----
From: Virginia Tardaewether <tarv at chemeketa.edu>
To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
Sent: Thu, 9 Mar 2006 09:47:42 -0800
Subject: Re: [FocusOnBasics] a lament
There have been studies on parental expectations too: if you expect 
your child
to graduate, he or she will.  This reminds me of that movie about the 
math
teacher in LA, can't remember the name of it, but his students 
completed higher
math course and passed tests, but the administration didn't believe the 
results.
I think standards, from many angles, are vastly important.
va
Virginia Tardaewether
Chemeketa Community College
4000 Lancaster Drive NE
Salem, OR  97305
503-399-6147
When new life appears, just as a budding plant rises from the ground, 
the heart
aspires to new growth and is filled with hope. Use life to renew 
oneself.
Voices of the Heart
-----Original Message-----
From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov]On Behalf Of
robinschwarz1 at aol.com
Sent: Monday, March 06, 2006 6:13 PM
To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
Subject: Re: [FocusOnBasics] a lament
Well why not look at a study from Kentucky about the effect of teacher
expectations on high school students.  No lying involved.   In this
study, two teachers were prepared in exactly the same way to do a new
program ( I believe it was in science).  The idea of the study was to
see if the program helped the students, but to the surprise of the
researchers the two classes achieved quite different results.  The only
factor that could be identified that influenced the results was teacher
expectation--the students of the teacher who was sure her students
could do this new, challenging work did very well, while the students
of the other teacher, who was sure the students would not get it, did
relatively poorly.  This is not news.  This is what is known as a self-
fulfilling prophecy.
Studies were done in the 70's on the effect of labeling students on
teachers' expectations of the students.  Needless to say, the
expectations shifted drastically down when students were identified as
special needs in any way.
Recent ( January) visits to several K-12 schools confirmed that this
attitude is alive and well among a lot of teachers and sped teachers.
Robin Schwarz
-----Original Message-----
From: AWilder106 at aol.com
To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
Sent: Fri, 24 Feb 2006 17:31:25 EST
Subject: Re: [FocusOnBasics] a lament
Hi Iris,
I can't remember the name of the first researcher who did? a study on
low/high teacher expectations and their self-fulling prophecy, but I do
remember the study.? The resaercher got his data by lying to the
teacher about the ability of her students.? (Maybe more than one
teacher, I can't remember now.)
When I read that I kind of stopped cold.? Toally unethical, of course.
It was the idea of lying to the teacher that I found so shocking.? What
can I say;? I was very young.
Andrea.
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
----------------------------------------------------
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To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
From khinson at future-gate.com  Fri Mar 10 08:39:53 2006
From: khinson at future-gate.com (Katrina Hinson)
Date: Fri, 10 Mar 2006 14:39:53 +0100
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] a lament
Message-ID: <44118FBA020000A0000021D7@fghamn01.ham.de.future-gate.com>
The importance of teacher expectations and student ability hit home for me  recently at a professional development event I attended. I was fortunate enough to be in an environment with a majority of curriculum instructors. There were only 5 Adult Educational Professionals at the event - and it was eye opening for all of us. One of the things that came up was "differently abled" students. A curriculum instructor commented on how she had a student who was handicapped - if memory serves, the student has Tourettes Syndrome,  and how difficult it was for him to meet her expectations. She had already decided he could not perform in her class. Another instructor had taught the same student a previous semester and had a totally different experience with the student. He was well pleased with the student's performance and talked about how with the right structure, the student just thrived.  From a third person in the group, the comment came "Sometimes, you just go ahead and accept that differently abled student is going to fail at a certain point". I was appalled. to hear any instructor say that.  It still bothers me. I pointed out, when I had the chance to speak, that Basic Skills teachers deal with the learning disabled and physically disbaled daily and sometimes our students don't even know they have a learning disability but that we help our students achieve success by meeting the student needs not by having the student meet our needs.  This comment met with some very mixed reactions and alot of "Well, we just can't do that in curriculum or I don't have the time to adjust my teaching style for one student."
Teacher expectations go a long way in student performance. If you as a teacher believe in your students, your students will find more and more reason to believe in themselves and you'll see their achievement climb.
Regards
Katrina Hinson
>>> robinschwarz1 at aol.com  >>>
Well why not look at a study from Kentucky about the effect of teacher 
expectations on high school students.  No lying involved.   In this 
study, two teachers were prepared in exactly the same way to do a new 
program ( I believe it was in science).  The idea of the study was to 
see if the program helped the students, but to the surprise of the 
researchers the two classes achieved quite different results.  The only 
factor that could be identified that influenced the results was teacher 
expectation--the students of the teacher who was sure her students 
could do this new, challenging work did very well, while the students 
of the other teacher, who was sure the students would not get it, did 
relatively poorly.  This is not news.  This is what is known as a self- 
fulfilling prophecy.
Studies were done in the 70's on the effect of labeling students on 
teachers' expectations of the students.  Needless to say, the 
expectations shifted drastically down when students were identified as 
special needs in any way.
Recent ( January) visits to several K-12 schools confirmed that this 
attitude is alive and well among a lot of teachers and sped teachers.   
Robin Schwarz
-----Original Message-----
From: AWilder106 at aol.com
To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
Sent: Fri, 24 Feb 2006 17:31:25 EST
Subject: Re: [FocusOnBasics] a lament
Hi Iris,
I can't remember the name of the first researcher who did  a study on 
low/high teacher expectations and their self-fulling prophecy, but I do 
remember the study.  The resaercher got his data by lying to the 
teacher about the ability of her students.  (Maybe more than one 
teacher, I can't remember now.)
When I read that I kind of stopped cold.  Toally unethical, of course.
It was the idea of lying to the teacher that I found so shocking.  What 
can I say;  I was very young.
Andrea.
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
----------------------------------------------------
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To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
From b.garner4 at verizon.net  Fri Mar 10 09:40:06 2006
From: b.garner4 at verizon.net (Barbara Garner)
Date: Fri, 10 Mar 2006 08:40:06 -0600 (CST)
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] high expectations, with radar out...
Message-ID: <17340862.1142001607027.JavaMail.root@vms074.mailsrvcs.net>
This is a great conversation. I totally agree that teacher expectations are crucial to achievement. 
It's not simple, however. For example, my child's first grade teacher, a well traine reading teacher with no knowledge of second language learners, has very high expectations for all her students. She had a number of second language speaking kids the year my child was in her class. These kids, children of scientists, were fluent in first grade classroom English and "reading" ahead of their grade. Because they did so well and because she hadn't received any training in second language reading, she failed to realize that they had huge gaps in their vocabulary. I noticed it when volunteering in the reading program. I knew they spoke Chinese at home and so, as a former ESOL teacher, I wondered if their comprehension matched their decoding skills.
The point I'm trying to make is that while having high expectations, we need to be aware of the possible "blind spots" we may have to certain students' learning needs.
Barb Garner
Focus on Basics
  From: Katrina Hinson <khinson at future-gate.com>
Date: Fri Mar 10 07:39:53 CST 2006
To: robinschwarz1 at aol.com, focusonbasics at nifl.gov
Subject: Re: [FocusOnBasics] a lament
The importance of teacher expectations and student ability hit home for me  recently at a professional development event I attended. I was fortunate enough to be in an environment with a majority of curriculum instructors. There were only 5 Adult Educational Professionals at the event - and it was eye opening for all of us. One of the things that came up was "differently abled" students. A curriculum instructor commented on how she had a student who was handicapped - if memory serves, the student has Tourettes Syndrome,  and how difficult it was for him to meet her expectations. She had already decided he could not perform in her class. Another instructor had taught the same student a previous semester and had a totally different experience with the student. He was well pleased with the student's performance and talked about how with the right structure, the student just thrived.  From a third person in the group, the comment came "Sometimes, you just go ahead and accept that
  differently abled student is going to fail at a certain point". I was appalled. to hear any instructor say that.  It still bothers me. I pointed out, when I had the chance to speak, that Basic Skills teachers deal with the learning disabled and physically disbaled daily and sometimes our students don't even know they have a learning disability but that we help our students achieve success by meeting the student needs not by having the student meet our needs.  This comment met with some very mixed reactions and alot of "Well, we just can't do that in curriculum or I don't have the time to adjust my teaching style for one student."
Teacher expectations go a long way in student performance. If you as a teacher believe in your students, your students will find more and more reason to believe in themselves and you'll see their achievement climb.
Regards
Katrina Hinson
>>> robinschwarz1 at aol.com  >>>
Well why not look at a study from Kentucky about the effect of teacher 
expectations on high school students.  No lying involved.   In this 
study, two teachers were prepared in exactly the same way to do a new 
program ( I believe it was in science).  The idea of the study was to 
see if the program helped the students, but to the surprise of the 
researchers the two classes achieved quite different results.  The only 
factor that could be identified that influenced the results was teacher 
expectation--the students of the teacher who was sure her students 
could do this new, challenging work did very well, while the students 
of the other teacher, who was sure the students would not get it, did 
relatively poorly.  This is not news.  This is what is known as a self- 
fulfilling prophecy.
Studies were done in the 70's on the effect of labeling students on 
teachers' expectations of the students.  Needless to say, the 
expectations shifted drastically down when students were identified as 
special needs in any way.
Recent ( January) visits to several K-12 schools confirmed that this 
attitude is alive and well among a lot of teachers and sped teachers.   
Robin Schwarz
-----Original Message-----
From: AWilder106 at aol.com
To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
Sent: Fri, 24 Feb 2006 17:31:25 EST
Subject: Re: [FocusOnBasics] a lament
Hi Iris,
I can't remember the name of the first researcher who did  a study on 
low/high teacher expectations and their self-fulling prophecy, but I do 
remember the study.  The resaercher got his data by lying to the 
teacher about the ability of her students.  (Maybe more than one 
teacher, I can't remember now.)
When I read that I kind of stopped cold.  Toally unethical, of course.
It was the idea of lying to the teacher that I found so shocking.  What 
can I say;  I was very young.
Andrea.
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
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FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
----------------------------------------------------
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From l.cuttler at comcast.net  Fri Mar 10 07:43:54 2006
From: l.cuttler at comcast.net (Lucille Cuttler)
Date: Fri, 10 Mar 2006 07:43:54 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] a lament
In-Reply-To: <8C8120F1E99196A-BAC-6C3D@mblk-r23.sysops.aol.com>
Message-ID: <LOBBICLOAFKBEPDBHIAJEEPJGEAA.l.cuttler@comcast.net>
Does everyone out there know the book "PYGMALION IN THE CLASSROOM" -
documentation about expectations.  This was a required reading when
preparing to be a teacher.  Lucille Cuttler
-----Original Message-----
From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov]On Behalf Of
robinschwarz1 at aol.com
Sent: Thursday, March 09, 2006 11:06 PM
To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
Subject: Re: [FocusOnBasics] a lament
Virginia -- that movie was "Stand and Deliver"-- one of my all-time
favorite movies--and a mostly-true story, too-- and yes--this teacher
had very high standards for the Spanish speaking students and made sure
they got the support and instruction they needed to fill in the gaps
they had in trying to meet his expectations.  It is such an inspiring
movie.   It also gives clear pictures of challenges  many ELL/CLD
learners' face both in school and out-- taking care of siblings while
parents work, parents who don't understand American school demands,
kids who must themselves work, peer pressure, teachers who do not
understand them etc.    Robin
-----Original Message-----
From: Virginia Tardaewether <tarv at chemeketa.edu>
To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
Sent: Thu, 9 Mar 2006 09:47:42 -0800
Subject: Re: [FocusOnBasics] a lament
There have been studies on parental expectations too: if you expect
your child
to graduate, he or she will.  This reminds me of that movie about the
math
teacher in LA, can't remember the name of it, but his students
completed higher
math course and passed tests, but the administration didn't believe the
results.
I think standards, from many angles, are vastly important.
va
Virginia Tardaewether
Chemeketa Community College
4000 Lancaster Drive NE
Salem, OR  97305
503-399-6147
When new life appears, just as a budding plant rises from the ground,
the heart
aspires to new growth and is filled with hope. Use life to renew
oneself.
Voices of the Heart
-----Original Message-----
From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov]On Behalf Of
robinschwarz1 at aol.com
Sent: Monday, March 06, 2006 6:13 PM
To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
Subject: Re: [FocusOnBasics] a lament
Well why not look at a study from Kentucky about the effect of teacher
expectations on high school students.  No lying involved.   In this
study, two teachers were prepared in exactly the same way to do a new
program ( I believe it was in science).  The idea of the study was to
see if the program helped the students, but to the surprise of the
researchers the two classes achieved quite different results.  The only
factor that could be identified that influenced the results was teacher
expectation--the students of the teacher who was sure her students
could do this new, challenging work did very well, while the students
of the other teacher, who was sure the students would not get it, did
relatively poorly.  This is not news.  This is what is known as a self-
fulfilling prophecy.
Studies were done in the 70's on the effect of labeling students on
teachers' expectations of the students.  Needless to say, the
expectations shifted drastically down when students were identified as
special needs in any way.
Recent ( January) visits to several K-12 schools confirmed that this
attitude is alive and well among a lot of teachers and sped teachers.
Robin Schwarz
-----Original Message-----
From: AWilder106 at aol.com
To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
Sent: Fri, 24 Feb 2006 17:31:25 EST
Subject: Re: [FocusOnBasics] a lament
Hi Iris,
I can't remember the name of the first researcher who did? a study on
low/high teacher expectations and their self-fulling prophecy, but I do
remember the study.? The resaercher got his data by lying to the
teacher about the ability of her students.? (Maybe more than one
teacher, I can't remember now.)
When I read that I kind of stopped cold.? Toally unethical, of course.
It was the idea of lying to the teacher that I found so shocking.? What
can I say;? I was very young.
Andrea.
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
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FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
----------------------------------------------------
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To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
----------------------------------------------------
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From woodsnh at isp.com  Fri Mar 10 10:48:05 2006
From: woodsnh at isp.com (Woods)
Date: Fri, 10 Mar 2006 10:48:05 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] high expectations, with radar out...
In-Reply-To: <17340862.1142001607027.JavaMail.root@vms074.mailsrvcs.net>
References: <17340862.1142001607027.JavaMail.root@vms074.mailsrvcs.net>
Message-ID: <44119FB5.2020705@isp.com>
Barbara Garner wrote:
 > The point I'm trying to make is that while having high expectations,
 > we need to be aware of the possible "blind spots" we may have to
 > certain students' learning needs.
I believe that having high expectations does, in fact, result in high 
performance for many students because many students will work extremely 
hard to please the people around them.  It's the students for whom it 
does not work well that concern me and there are many of them.
I get concerned about who forms the expectations. When we say teachers 
should have high expectations for their students, I take that to mean I 
should expect my student to perform well at the challenges I provide. He 
or she performs at the level I expect. Personally I see that as me being 
rather arrogant because I presume to know more about what my student 
needs to know than my student does.
A traditional American Indian view is that we should not have 
expectations for others, that "expect" and "respect" are diametrically 
opposed. Perhaps this helps explain why so many American Indian children 
do poorly in our modern school systems and they drop out at extremely 
high rates.
A different twist to this topic is students' high expectations of 
themselves. This is far more important and more healthy in my view. I 
feel I can encourage students to develop their own high expectations and 
experience very positive results, but it shifts the emphasis from 
teacher to student.
So often in the field of education we hear about the need to make 
learning student-centered instead of teacher-centered. I believe deeply 
that this begins with the question, who holds the expectations?
 Tom Woods
From janeaddeo at comcast.net  Fri Mar 10 13:51:18 2006
From: janeaddeo at comcast.net (janeaddeo at comcast.net)
Date: Fri, 10 Mar 2006 18:51:18 +0000
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] expectations
Message-ID: <031020061851.4488.4411CAA5000CB03B000011882200735834010A0B0B0E0A020E06@comcast.net>
Barb,
The study seems very interesting.  Would you please provide the complete reference?
Thanks,
Jane
-------------- Original message -------------- 
From: Barb L <eslmax2004 at yahoo.com> 
A new study just came out, The Color of Success, by Gilberto Conchas.  He's a sociologist who studied an urban high school which is successful at getting minority students to graduate and go on to college.  What he found is that detracking, career academies and high teacher and parent expectations were key to the success of these students.  
The high achievement of the Vietnamese students was the most surprising, as these students had none of the educational or economic advantages usually associated with Asian students.  However, they were still treated as "the model minority" by the school and rose to meet the high expectations placed on them.
Barb Linek
University of Illinois Extension
eslmax2004 at yahoo.com
Missy Slaathaug <mslaathaug at midco.net> wrote:
The movie was Stand and Deliver, and it is an excellent film.  I used it in one of my ESL speaking and listening classes when I taught grad students already enrolled in degree programs.  It?s a great film.  
 
-----Original Message-----
From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Virginia Tardaewether
Sent: Thursday, March 09, 2006 11:48 AM
To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List
Subject: Re: [FocusOnBasics] a lament
 
There have been studies on parental expectations too: if you expect your child to graduate, he or she will.  Thi s reminds me of that movie about the math teacher in LA, can't remember the name of it, but his students completed higher math course and passed tests, but the administration didn't believe the results.  I think standards, from many angles, are vastly important.
va
 
Virginia Tardaewether 
Chemeketa Community College 
4000 Lancaster Drive NE 
Salem, OR  97305 
503-399-6147 
 
 
When new life appears, just as a budding plant rises from the ground, the heart aspires to new growth and is filled with hope. Use life to renew oneself.
Voices of the Heart
 
 
 
-----Original Message-----
From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov]On Behalf Of
robinschwarz1 at aol.com
Sent: Monday, March 06, 2006 6:13 PM
To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
Subject: Re: [FocusOnBasics] a lament
 
 
Well why not look at a study from Kent ucky about the effect of teacher 
expectations on high school students.  No lying involved.   In this 
study, two teachers were prepared in exactly the same way to do a new 
program ( I believe it was in science).  The idea of the study was to 
see if the program helped the students, but to the surprise of the 
researchers the two classes achieved quite different results.  The only 
factor that could be identified that influenced the results was teacher 
expectation--the students of the teacher who was sure her students 
could do this new, challenging work did very well, while the students 
of the other teacher, who was sure the students would not get it, did 
relatively poorly.  This is not news.  This is what is known as a self- 
fulfilling prophecy.
 
Studies were done in the 70's on the effect of labeling students on 
teachers' expectations of the students.  Needless to say, the 
expectations shifted drastically down when students were identified as 
special needs in any way.
 
Recent ( January) visits to several K-12 schools confirmed that this 
attitude is alive and well among a lot of teachers and sped teachers.   
Robin Schwarz
 
-----Original Message-----
From: AWilder106 at aol.com
To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
Sent: Fri, 24 Feb 2006 17:31:25 EST
Subject: Re: [FocusOnBasics] a lament
 
Hi Iris,
 
I can't remember the name of the first researcher who did  a study on 
low/high teacher expectations and their self-fulling prophecy, but I do 
remember the study.  The resaercher got his data by lyi ng to the 
teacher about the ability of her students.  (Maybe more than one 
teacher, I can't remember now.)
 
When I read that I kind of stopped cold.  Toally unethical, of course.
 
It was the idea of lying to the teacher t hat I found so shocking.  What 
can I say;  I was very young.
 
Andrea.
 
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
 
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy 
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
 
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
Relax. Yahoo! Mail virus scanning helps detect nasty viruses! 
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From: Barb L <eslmax2004 at yahoo.com>
Subject: [FocusOnBasics]  expectations
Date: Fri, 10 Mar 2006 14:08:27 +0000
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From Deborah.Skillington at sctworkforce.org  Fri Mar 10 13:58:41 2006
From: Deborah.Skillington at sctworkforce.org (Deborah Skillington)
Date: Fri, 10 Mar 2006 12:58:41 -0600
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] high expectations, with radar out...
Message-ID: <3CB81F831AFD584290A6AB1859F783E94C9AAC@adminserver2.sctworkforce.org>
I agree with you Barbara. It is very important for the student to believe that they can accomplish the challenges they are given. It is the teachers job to encourage,  find levels they can perform successfully; and have positive experiences until they can believe in themselves. 
 
Deborah Skillington
District 8 TN Support Network Contact
Maury County Adult Education Families First Teacher
119 Nashville Highway, Suite 106
Columbia, TN 38401
931-490-3818 work phone
Deborah.Skillington at sctworkforce.org -email address
 
________________________________
From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov on behalf of Woods
Sent: Fri 3/10/2006 9:48 AM
To: b.garner4 at verizon.net; The Focus on Basics Discussion List
Subject: Re: [FocusOnBasics] high expectations, with radar out...
Barbara Garner wrote:
 > The point I'm trying to make is that while having high expectations,
 > we need to be aware of the possible "blind spots" we may have to
 > certain students' learning needs.
I believe that having high expectations does, in fact, result in high
performance for many students because many students will work extremely
hard to please the people around them.  It's the students for whom it
does not work well that concern me and there are many of them.
I get concerned about who forms the expectations. When we say teachers
should have high expectations for their students, I take that to mean I
should expect my student to perform well at the challenges I provide. He
or she performs at the level I expect. Personally I see that as me being
rather arrogant because I presume to know more about what my student
needs to know than my student does.
A traditional American Indian view is that we should not have
expectations for others, that "expect" and "respect" are diametrically
opposed. Perhaps this helps explain why so many American Indian children
do poorly in our modern school systems and they drop out at extremely
high rates.
A different twist to this topic is students' high expectations of
themselves. This is far more important and more healthy in my view. I
feel I can encourage students to develop their own high expectations and
experience very positive results, but it shifts the emphasis from
teacher to student.
So often in the field of education we hear about the need to make
learning student-centered instead of teacher-centered. I believe deeply
that this begins with the question, who holds the expectations?
 Tom Woods
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
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From khinson at future-gate.com  Fri Mar 10 14:25:17 2006
From: khinson at future-gate.com (Katrina Hinson)
Date: Fri, 10 Mar 2006 20:25:17 +0100
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] high expectations, with radar out...
Message-ID: <4411E0AD020000A0000021E0@fghamn01.ham.de.future-gate.com>
I  think one of the things to consider is that often adult students have had very little success in school before coming to us and that one of the first things they need to know is that someone believes in them - believes he/she can be successful etc.  I agree that our students expectations of themselves is very important - at the same time, some of them don't even know where to begin to create that expectation and they can learn to have their own personal expectations from having teachers that believe in them and help them make connections for themselves to find their own success. For some adult students, their self esteem has been so badly damaged by encountering people who expect nothing or who assume that they are incapable of learning that the student has learned to internalize that as "I'm stupid" or "I can't learn" when in actuality, all they really needed was a teacher that knew how to put a student on the right path.
Expectations need to work both ways. The student needs to have expectations for him or herself; the teacher also needs to expect the student to be able to achieve and to find ways to encourage and nurture that success.
Regards
Katrina Hinson
>>> woodsnh at isp.com  >>>
Barbara Garner wrote:
 > The point I'm trying to make is that while having high expectations,
 > we need to be aware of the possible "blind spots" we may have to
 > certain students' learning needs.
I believe that having high expectations does, in fact, result in high 
performance for many students because many students will work extremely 
hard to please the people around them.  It's the students for whom it 
does not work well that concern me and there are many of them.
I get concerned about who forms the expectations. When we say teachers 
should have high expectations for their students, I take that to mean I 
should expect my student to perform well at the challenges I provide. He 
or she performs at the level I expect. Personally I see that as me being 
rather arrogant because I presume to know more about what my student 
needs to know than my student does.
A traditional American Indian view is that we should not have 
expectations for others, that "expect" and "respect" are diametrically 
opposed. Perhaps this helps explain why so many American Indian children 
do poorly in our modern school systems and they drop out at extremely 
high rates.
A different twist to this topic is students' high expectations of 
themselves. This is far more important and more healthy in my view. I 
feel I can encourage students to develop their own high expectations and 
experience very positive results, but it shifts the emphasis from 
teacher to student.
So often in the field of education we hear about the need to make 
learning student-centered instead of teacher-centered. I believe deeply 
that this begins with the question, who holds the expectations?
 Tom Woods
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
From robinschwarz1 at aol.com  Fri Mar 10 15:34:02 2006
From: robinschwarz1 at aol.com (robinschwarz1 at aol.com)
Date: Fri, 10 Mar 2006 15:34:02 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] expectations
In-Reply-To: <20060310034931.6849.qmail@web53407.mail.yahoo.com>
Message-ID: <8C812991A2E5FF1-F28-1E7@mblk-d22.sysops.aol.com>
Thanks Barb, for this great reference!!  Lucky students at that 
school-- the minority drop out rate in this country hovers around 
60%+-- a shameful figure.    Robin S.
-----Original Message-----
From: Barb L <eslmax2004 at yahoo.com>
To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
Sent: Thu, 9 Mar 2006 19:49:31 -0800 (PST)
Subject: [FocusOnBasics]  expectations
A new study just came out, The Color of Success, by Gilberto Conchas.? 
He's a sociologist who studied an urban high school which is?successful 
at getting minority students to graduate and go on to college.? What he 
found is that detracking, career academies and high teacher and parent 
expectations were key to the success of these students.?
?
The high achievement of the Vietnamese students?was the most 
surprising, as these students had none of the educational or economic 
advantages usually associated with Asian students.? However, they were 
still treated as "the model minority" by the school and rose to meet 
the high expectations placed on them.
?
Barb Linek
University of Illinois Extension
eslmax2004 at yahoo.com
Missy Slaathaug <mslaathaug at midco.net> wrote:
The movie was Stand and Deliver, and it is an excellent film.? I used 
it in one of my ESL speaking and listening classes when I taught grad 
students already enrolled in degree programs. ?It's a great film.?
?
-----Original Message-----
 From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov 
[mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Virginia 
Tardaewether
Sent: Thursday, March 09, 2006 11:48 AM
To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List
Subject: Re: [FocusOnBasics] a lament
?
There have been studies on parental expectations too: if you expect 
your child to graduate, he or she will.? This reminds me of that movie 
about the math teacher in LA, can't remember the name of it, but his 
students completed higher math course and passed tests, but the 
administration didn't believe the results.? I think standards, from 
many angles, are vastly important.
va
?
Virginia Tardaewether
Chemeketa Community College
4000 Lancaster Drive NE
Salem, OR? 97305
503-399-6147
?
?
When new life appears, just as a budding plant rises from the ground, 
the heart aspires to new growth and is filled with hope. Use life to 
renew oneself.
Voices of the Heart
?
?
?
-----Original Message-----
From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov]On Behalf Of
robinschwarz1 at aol.com
Sent: Monday, March 06, 2006 6:13 PM
To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
Subject: Re: [FocusOnBasics] a lament
?
?
Well why not look at a study from Kentucky about the effect of teacher
expectations on high school students.? No lying involved.?? In this
study, two teachers were prepared in exactly the same way to do a new
program ( I believe it was in science).? The idea of the study was to
see if the program helped the students, but to the surprise of the
researchers the two classes achieved quite different results.? The only
factor that could be identified that influenced the results was teacher
expectation--the students of the teacher who was sure her students
could do this new, challenging work did very well, while the students
of the other teacher, who was sure the students would not get it, did
relatively poorly.? This is not news.? This is what is known as a self-
fulfilling prophecy.
?
Studies were done in the 70's on the effect of labeling students on
teachers' expectations of the students.? Needless to say, the
expectations shifted drastically down when students were identified as
special needs in any way.
?
Recent ( January) visits to several K-12 schools confirmed that this
attitude is alive and well among a lot of teachers and sped teachers.??
Robin Schwarz
?
-----Original Message-----
From: AWilder106 at aol.com
To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
Sent: Fri, 24 Feb 2006 17:31:25 EST
Subject: Re: [FocusOnBasics] a lament
?
Hi Iris,
?
I can't remember the name of the first researcher who did? a study on
low/high teacher expectations and their self-fulling prophecy, but I do
remember the study.? The resaercher got his data by lying to the
teacher about the ability of her students.? (Maybe more than one
teacher, I can't remember now.)
?
When I read that I kind of stopped cold.? Toally unethical, of course.
?
It was the idea of lying to the teacher that I found so shocking.? What
can I say;? I was very young.
?
Andrea.
?
----------------------------------------------------
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FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
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?
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?
----------------------------------------------------
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--------
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From robinschwarz1 at aol.com  Fri Mar 10 15:45:47 2006
From: robinschwarz1 at aol.com (robinschwarz1 at aol.com)
Date: Fri, 10 Mar 2006 15:45:47 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] high expectations, with radar out...
In-Reply-To: <44119FB5.2020705@isp.com>
References: <17340862.1142001607027.JavaMail.root@vms074.mailsrvcs.net>
	<44119FB5.2020705@isp.com>
Message-ID: <8C8129ABE7BFDAB-F28-311@mblk-d22.sysops.aol.com>
Once again I must disagree with Tom about the interpretation of 
expectations. It should not be about OUR expecatations, but rather 
those of the learners.  I think that what is needed is an expectation 
that the learner can learn, no matter what, and WANTS to learn 
something or do better at something and is trying hard.   Learners 
quickly sense when there are no expectations for them and may feel 
either let down or confirmed that they do not have hope of learning.    
It is perhaps splitting hairs here, but to me the difference in 
thinking learners must meet OUR expectations and having expectations 
that learners want to learn is very different.   Robin S.
-----Original Message-----
From: Woods <woodsnh at isp.com>
To: b.garner4 at verizon.net; The Focus on Basics Discussion List 
<focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
Sent: Fri, 10 Mar 2006 10:48:05 -0500
Subject: Re: [FocusOnBasics] high expectations, with radar out...
Barbara Garner wrote:
 > The point I'm trying to make is that while having high expectations,
 > we need to be aware of the possible "blind spots" we may have to
 > certain students' learning needs.
I believe that having high expectations does, in fact, result in high
performance for many students because many students will work extremely
hard to please the people around them.  It's the students for whom it
does not work well that concern me and there are many of them.
I get concerned about who forms the expectations. When we say teachers
should have high expectations for their students, I take that to mean I
should expect my student to perform well at the challenges I provide. 
He
or she performs at the level I expect. Personally I see that as me 
being
rather arrogant because I presume to know more about what my student
needs to know than my student does.
A traditional American Indian view is that we should not have
expectations for others, that "expect" and "respect" are diametrically
opposed. Perhaps this helps explain why so many American Indian 
children
do poorly in our modern school systems and they drop out at extremely
high rates.
A different twist to this topic is students' high expectations of
themselves. This is far more important and more healthy in my view. I
feel I can encourage students to develop their own high expectations 
and
experience very positive results, but it shifts the emphasis from
teacher to student.
So often in the field of education we hear about the need to make
learning student-centered instead of teacher-centered. I believe deeply
that this begins with the question, who holds the expectations?
 Tom Woods
----------------------------------------------------
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FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
From robinschwarz1 at aol.com  Fri Mar 10 15:46:30 2006
From: robinschwarz1 at aol.com (robinschwarz1 at aol.com)
Date: Fri, 10 Mar 2006 15:46:30 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] a lament
In-Reply-To: <LOBBICLOAFKBEPDBHIAJEEPJGEAA.l.cuttler@comcast.net>
Message-ID: <8C8129AD7D5B3FD-F28-324@mblk-d22.sysops.aol.com>
Lucille-- I had forgotten ALL about that!!  Thank you for reminding us! 
 Robin S.
-----Original Message-----
From: Lucille Cuttler <l.cuttler at comcast.net>
To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
Sent: Fri, 10 Mar 2006 07:43:54 -0500
Subject: Re: [FocusOnBasics] a lament
Does everyone out there know the book "PYGMALION IN THE CLASSROOM" -
documentation about expectations.  This was a required reading when
preparing to be a teacher.  Lucille Cuttler
-----Original Message-----
From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov]On Behalf Of
robinschwarz1 at aol.com
Sent: Thursday, March 09, 2006 11:06 PM
To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
Subject: Re: [FocusOnBasics] a lament
Virginia -- that movie was "Stand and Deliver"-- one of my all-time
favorite movies--and a mostly-true story, too-- and yes--this teacher
had very high standards for the Spanish speaking students and made sure
they got the support and instruction they needed to fill in the gaps
they had in trying to meet his expectations.  It is such an inspiring
movie.   It also gives clear pictures of challenges  many ELL/CLD
learners' face both in school and out-- taking care of siblings while
parents work, parents who don't understand American school demands,
kids who must themselves work, peer pressure, teachers who do not
understand them etc.    Robin
-----Original Message-----
From: Virginia Tardaewether <tarv at chemeketa.edu>
To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
Sent: Thu, 9 Mar 2006 09:47:42 -0800
Subject: Re: [FocusOnBasics] a lament
There have been studies on parental expectations too: if you expect
your child
to graduate, he or she will.  This reminds me of that movie about the
math
teacher in LA, can't remember the name of it, but his students
completed higher
math course and passed tests, but the administration didn't believe the
results.
I think standards, from many angles, are vastly important.
va
Virginia Tardaewether
Chemeketa Community College
4000 Lancaster Drive NE
Salem, OR  97305
503-399-6147
When new life appears, just as a budding plant rises from the ground,
the heart
aspires to new growth and is filled with hope. Use life to renew
oneself.
Voices of the Heart
-----Original Message-----
From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov]On Behalf Of
robinschwarz1 at aol.com
Sent: Monday, March 06, 2006 6:13 PM
To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
Subject: Re: [FocusOnBasics] a lament
Well why not look at a study from Kentucky about the effect of teacher
expectations on high school students.  No lying involved.   In this
study, two teachers were prepared in exactly the same way to do a new
program ( I believe it was in science).  The idea of the study was to
see if the program helped the students, but to the surprise of the
researchers the two classes achieved quite different results.  The only
factor that could be identified that influenced the results was teacher
expectation--the students of the teacher who was sure her students
could do this new, challenging work did very well, while the students
of the other teacher, who was sure the students would not get it, did
relatively poorly.  This is not news.  This is what is known as a self-
fulfilling prophecy.
Studies were done in the 70's on the effect of labeling students on
teachers' expectations of the students.  Needless to say, the
expectations shifted drastically down when students were identified as
special needs in any way.
Recent ( January) visits to several K-12 schools confirmed that this
attitude is alive and well among a lot of teachers and sped teachers.
Robin Schwarz
-----Original Message-----
From: AWilder106 at aol.com
To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
Sent: Fri, 24 Feb 2006 17:31:25 EST
Subject: Re: [FocusOnBasics] a lament
Hi Iris,
I can't remember the name of the first researcher who did? a study on
low/high teacher expectations and their self-fulling prophecy, but I do
remember the study.? The resaercher got his data by lying to the
teacher about the ability of her students.? (Maybe more than one
teacher, I can't remember now.)
When I read that I kind of stopped cold.? Toally unethical, of course.
It was the idea of lying to the teacher that I found so shocking.? What
can I say;? I was very young.
Andrea.
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
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FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
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FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
----------------------------------------------------
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http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
----------------------------------------------------
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From robinschwarz1 at aol.com  Fri Mar 10 15:48:56 2006
From: robinschwarz1 at aol.com (robinschwarz1 at aol.com)
Date: Fri, 10 Mar 2006 15:48:56 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] high expectations, with radar out...
In-Reply-To: <4411E0AD020000A0000021E0@fghamn01.ham.de.future-gate.com>
References: <4411E0AD020000A0000021E0@fghamn01.ham.de.future-gate.com>
Message-ID: <8C8129B2F08B118-F28-354@mblk-d22.sysops.aol.com>
Nicely put Katrina!! I couldn't agree more.   Robin S.
-----Original Message-----
From: Katrina Hinson <khinson at future-gate.com>
To: woodsnh at isp.com; focusonbasics at nifl.gov; b.garner4 at verizon.net
Sent: Fri, 10 Mar 2006 20:25:17 +0100
Subject: Re: [FocusOnBasics] high expectations, with radar out...
I  think one of the things to consider is that often adult students 
have had
very little success in school before coming to us and that one of the 
first
things they need to know is that someone believes in them - believes 
he/she can
be successful etc.  I agree that our students expectations of 
themselves is very
important - at the same time, some of them don't even know where to 
begin to
create that expectation and they can learn to have their own personal
expectations from having teachers that believe in them and help them 
make
connections for themselves to find their own success. For some adult 
students,
their self esteem has been so badly damaged by encountering people who 
expect
nothing or who assume that they are incapable of learning that the 
student has
learned to internalize that as "I'm stupid" or "I can't learn" when in
actuality, all they really needed was a teacher that knew how to put a 
student
on the right path.
Expectations need to work both ways. The student needs to have 
expectations for
him or herself; the teacher also needs to expect the student to be able 
to
achieve and to find ways to encourage and nurture that success.
Regards
Katrina Hinson
>>> woodsnh at isp.com  >>>
Barbara Garner wrote:
 > The point I'm trying to make is that while having high expectations,
 > we need to be aware of the possible "blind spots" we may have to
 > certain students' learning needs.
I believe that having high expectations does, in fact, result in high
performance for many students because many students will work extremely
hard to please the people around them.  It's the students for whom it
does not work well that concern me and there are many of them.
I get concerned about who forms the expectations. When we say teachers
should have high expectations for their students, I take that to mean I
should expect my student to perform well at the challenges I provide. 
He
or she performs at the level I expect. Personally I see that as me 
being
rather arrogant because I presume to know more about what my student
needs to know than my student does.
A traditional American Indian view is that we should not have
expectations for others, that "expect" and "respect" are diametrically
opposed. Perhaps this helps explain why so many American Indian 
children
do poorly in our modern school systems and they drop out at extremely
high rates.
A different twist to this topic is students' high expectations of
themselves. This is far more important and more healthy in my view. I
feel I can encourage students to develop their own high expectations 
and
experience very positive results, but it shifts the emphasis from
teacher to student.
So often in the field of education we hear about the need to make
learning student-centered instead of teacher-centered. I believe deeply
that this begins with the question, who holds the expectations?
 Tom Woods
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
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FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
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From mslaathaug at midco.net  Fri Mar 10 16:00:41 2006
From: mslaathaug at midco.net (Missy Slaathaug)
Date: Fri, 10 Mar 2006 15:00:41 -0600
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] expectations
In-Reply-To: <031020061851.4488.4411CAA5000CB03B000011882200735834010A0B0B0E0A020E06@comcast.net>
Message-ID: <004401c64485$b106f480$150ac90a@explorit3>
You can find it for the lowest price of about $17.00 on BestPrices.com.
 
It looks like a great book.  
 
Just google it, and you will have lots of choices for where to go to
read about it.  
 
Missy
 
-----Original Message-----
From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of
janeaddeo at comcast.net
Sent: Friday, March 10, 2006 12:51 PM
To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List
Subject: Re: [FocusOnBasics] expectations
 
Barb,
 
The study seems very interesting.  Would you please provide the complete
reference?
 
Thanks,
 
Jane
 
-------------- Original message -------------- 
From: Barb L <eslmax2004 at yahoo.com> 
A new study just came out, The Color of Success, by Gilberto Conchas.
He's a sociologist who studied an urban high school which is successful
at getting minority students to graduate and go on to college.  What he
found is that detracking, career academies and high teacher and parent
expectations were key to the success of these students.  
 
The high achievement of the Vietnamese students was the most surprising,
as these students had none of the educational or economic advantages
usually associated with Asian students.  However, they were still
treated as "the model minority" by the school and rose to meet the high
expectations placed on them.
 
Barb Linek
University of Illinois Extension
eslmax2004 at yahoo.com
Missy Slaathaug <mslaathaug at midco.net> wrote:
The movie was Stand and Deliver, and it is an excellent film.  I used it
in one of my ESL speaking and listening classes when I taught grad
students already enrolled in degree programs.  It's a great film.  
 
-----Original Message-----
From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Virginia
Tardaewether
Sent: Thursday, March 09, 2006 11:48 AM
To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List
Subject: Re: [FocusOnBasics] a lament
 
There have been studies on parental expectations too: if you expect your
child to graduate, he or she will.  Thi s reminds me of that movie about
the math teacher in LA, can't remember the name of it, but his students
completed higher math course and passed tests, but the administration
didn't believe the results.  I think standards, from many angles, are
vastly important.
va
 
Virginia Tardaewether 
Chemeketa Community College 
4000 Lancaster Drive NE 
Salem, OR  97305 
503-399-6147 
 
 
When new life appears, just as a budding plant rises from the ground,
the heart aspires to new growth and is filled with hope. Use life to
renew oneself.
Voices of the Heart
 
 
 
-----Original Message-----
From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov]On Behalf Of
robinschwarz1 at aol.com
Sent: Monday, March 06, 2006 6:13 PM
To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
Subject: Re: [FocusOnBasics] a lament
 
 
Well why not look at a study from Kent ucky about the effect of teacher 
expectations on high school students.  No lying involved.   In this 
study, two teachers were prepared in exactly the same way to do a new 
program ( I believe it was in science).  The idea of the study was to 
see if the program helped the students, but to the surprise of the 
researchers the two classes achieved quite different results.  The only 
factor that could be identified that influenced the results was teacher 
expectation--the students of the teacher who was sure her students 
could do this new, challenging work did very well, while the students 
of the other teacher, who was sure the students would not get it, did 
relatively poorly.  This is not news.  This is what is known as a self- 
fulfilling prophecy.
 
Studies were done in the 70's on the effect of labeling students on 
teachers' expectations of the students.  Needless to say, the 
expectations shifted drastically down when students were identified as 
special needs in any way.
 
Recent ( January) visits to several K-12 schools confirmed that this 
attitude is alive and well among a lot of teachers and sped teachers.   
Robin Schwarz
 
-----Original Message-----
From: AWilder106 at aol.com
To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
Sent: Fri, 24 Feb 2006 17:31:25 EST
Subject: Re: [FocusOnBasics] a lament
 
Hi Iris,
 
I can't remember the name of the first researcher who did  a study on 
low/high teacher expectations and their self-fulling prophecy, but I do 
remember the study.  The resaercher got his data by lyi ng to the 
teacher about the ability of her students.  (Maybe more than one 
teacher, I can't remember now.)
 
When I read that I kind of stopped cold.  Toally unethical, of course.
 
It was the idea of lying to the teacher t hat I found so shocking.  What
can I say;  I was very young.
 
Andrea.
 
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
 
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy 
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
 
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
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FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
 
  _____  
Relax. Yahoo! Mail virus
<http://us.rd.yahoo.com/mail_us/taglines/virusall/*http:/communications.
yahoo.com/features.php?page=221>  scanning helps detect nasty viruses! 
-------------- next part --------------
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From julie_mcKinney at worlded.org  Sat Mar 11 22:10:33 2006
From: julie_mcKinney at worlded.org (Julie  McKinney)
Date: Sat, 11 Mar 2006 22:10:33 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics] Away for a week
Message-ID: <s4134b06.016@mail.jsi.com>
Hi All,
I just want to let you know that I'll be away for a week. Someone will
be checking the postings and sending them through, but if you have any
questions for me, please know that I'll be back on March 20th.
Enjoy the week,
Julie
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
From kabeall at comcast.net  Mon Mar 13 13:27:54 2006
From: kabeall at comcast.net (Kaye Beall)
Date: Mon, 13 Mar 2006 13:27:54 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 194] New from NCSALL--An Evaluation of Focus on
	Basics
Message-ID: <002c01c646cb$d8b761c0$0302a8c0@your4105e587b6>
"It's not an expensive journal, but has high quality articles with current
research and
techniques. . it helps me stay connected with the profession." says one
reader of Focus on Basics. 
 
The results of a survey on the impact of Focus on Basics on its readers is
available on the NCSALL Web site at http://www.ncsall.net/?id=29#27.  To
order a printed version ($10), go to http://www.ncsall.net/?id=681. (Printed
copies will be available by 3/17/06.)
 
SNEAK PREVIEW: The findings were overwhelmingly upbeat. The 292 readers who
completed the survey report that Focus on Basics has had a positive impact
in the following ways:
. It has influenced their beliefs about adult basic education.
. It has helped them feel connected to the larger education community as
professionals.
. It has contributed to the development of communities of practice.
. It has enabled them to make a connection between research and practice.
. It has provided them with concrete ideas they have used to change their
programs and practice.
 
Four in-depth interviews with professional development providers are
included as well.
 
Read the report to find out more about how the publication is and can be
used as a professional development tool.
 
****************
Kaye Beall
Outreach Coordinator/NCSALL Dissemination Project
World Education
4401 S. Madison St.
Muncie, IN  47302
Tel: 765-717-3942
Fax: 208-694-8262
kaye_beall at worlded.org
http://www.ncsall.net
 
 
-------------- next part --------------
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From robinschwarz1 at aol.com  Mon Mar 13 14:57:36 2006
From: robinschwarz1 at aol.com (robinschwarz1 at aol.com)
Date: Mon, 13 Mar 2006 14:57:36 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 195] Re: [FocusOnBasics] The Color of Success
In-Reply-To: <004401c64485$b106f480$150ac90a@explorit3>
Message-ID: <8C814EF82C52A19-BDC-1B@MBLK-M34.sysops.aol.com>
Wow-- everyone must have rushed to the site Missy recommended-- it is 
now listed there at $61!!  And Amazon's lowest price is $23--  maybe 
the library......((-:  Robin SChwarz
-----Original Message-----
From: Missy Slaathaug <mslaathaug at midco.net>
To: 'The Focus on Basics Discussion List' <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
Sent: Fri, 10 Mar 2006 15:00:41 -0600
Subject: Re: [FocusOnBasics] expectations
You can find it for the lowest price of about $17.00 on BestPrices.com. 
?
?
It looks like a great book.?
?
Just google it, and you will have lots of choices for where to go to 
read about it. ?
?
Missy
?
-----Original Message-----
 From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov 
[mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of 
janeaddeo at comcast.net
Sent: Friday, March 10, 2006 12:51 PM
To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List
Subject: Re: [FocusOnBasics] expectations
?
Barb,
?
The study seems very interesting.? Would you please provide the 
complete reference?
?
Thanks,
?
Jane
?
-------------- Original message --------------
From: Barb L <eslmax2004 at yahoo.com>
A new study just came out, The Color of Success, by Gilberto Conchas.? 
He's a sociologist who studied an urban high school which is?successful 
at getting minority students to graduate and go on to college.? What he 
found is that detracking, career academies and high teacher and parent 
expectations were key to the success of these students.?
?
The high achievement of the Vietnamese students?was the most 
surprising, as these students had none of the educational or economic 
advantages usually associated with Asian students.? However, they were 
still treated as "the model minority" by the school and rose to meet 
the high expectations placed on them.
?
Barb Linek
University of Illinois Extension
eslmax2004 at yahoo.com
Missy Slaathaug <mslaathaug at midco.net> wrote:
The movie was Stand and Deliver, and it is an excellent film.? I used 
it in one of my ESL speaking and listening classes when I taught grad 
students already enrolled in degree programs.? It's a great film. ?
?
-----Original Message-----
 From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov 
[mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Virginia 
Tardaewether
Sent: Thursday, March 09, 2006 11:48 AM
To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List
Subject: Re: [FocusOnBasics] a lament
?
There have been studies on parental expectations too: if you expect 
your child to graduate, he or she will.? Thi s reminds me of that movie 
about the math teacher in LA, can't remember the name of it, but his 
students completed higher math course and passed tests, but the 
administration didn't believe the results.? I think standards, from 
many angles, are vastly important.
va
?
Virginia Tardaewether
Chemeketa Community College
4000 Lancaster Drive NE
Salem, OR? 97305
503-399-6147
?
?
When new life appears, just as a budding plant rises from the ground, 
the heart aspires to new growth and is filled with hope. Use life to 
renew oneself.
Voices of the Heart
?
?
?
-----Original Message-----
From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov]On Behalf Of
robinschwarz1 at aol.com
Sent: Monday, March 06, 2006 6:13 PM
To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
Subject: Re: [FocusOnBasics] a lament
?
?
Well why not look at a study from Kent ucky about the effect of teacher
expectations on high school students.? No lying involved.?? In this
study, two teachers were prepared in exactly the same way to do a new
program ( I believe it was in science).? The idea of the study was to
see if the program helped the students, but to the surprise of the
researchers the two classes achieved quite different results.? The only
factor that could be identified that influenced the results was teacher
expectation--the students of the teacher who was sure her students
could do this new, challenging work did very well, while the students
of the other teacher, who was sure the students would not get it, did
relatively poorly.? This is not news.? This is what is known as a self-
fulfilling prophecy.
?
Studies were done in the 70's on the effect of labeling students on
teachers' expectations of the students.? Needless to say, the
expectations shifted drastically down when students were identified as
special needs in any way.
?
Recent ( January) visits to several K-12 schools confirmed that this
attitude is alive and well among a lot of teachers and sped teachers.? ?
Robin Schwarz
?
-----Original Message-----
From: AWilder106 at aol.com
To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
Sent: Fri, 24 Feb 2006 17:31:25 EST
Subject: Re: [FocusOnBasics] a lament
?
Hi Iris,
?
I can't remember the name of the first researcher who did? a study on
low/high teacher expectations and their self-fulling prophecy, but I do
remember the study.? The resaercher got his data by lyi ng to the
teacher about the ability of her students.? (Maybe more than one
teacher, I can't remember now.)
?
When I read that I kind of stopped cold.? Toally unethical, of course.
?
It was the idea of lying to the teacher t hat I found so shocking.? 
What
can I say;? I was very young.
?
Andrea.
?
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?
----------------------------------------------------
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?
----------------------------------------------------
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?
--------
Relax. Yahoo! Mail virus scanning helps detect nasty viruses!
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From wandanelson3 at yahoo.com  Thu Mar 16 21:25:49 2006
From: wandanelson3 at yahoo.com (Wanda Nelson)
Date: Thu, 16 Mar 2006 18:25:49 -0800 (PST)
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 196]  Beginning reading materials for adults
Message-ID: <20060317022549.19297.qmail@web33601.mail.mud.yahoo.com>
Is there a resource for adult beginning reading material and lesson plans on-line?
 
			
---------------------------------
 Yahoo! Mail
 Use Photomail to share photos without annoying attachments.
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From b.garner4 at verizon.net  Mon Mar 20 12:48:34 2006
From: b.garner4 at verizon.net (Barbara Garner)
Date: Mon, 20 Mar 2006 11:48:34 -0600 (CST)
Subject: =?ISO-8859-1?B?UmU6IFtGb2N1c09uQmFzaWNzIDE5Nl0goEJlZ2lubg==?=
	=?ISO-8859-1?B?aW5nIHJlYWRpbmcgbWF0ZXJpYWxzIGZvciBhZHVsdHM=?=
Message-ID: <13625568.1140901142876914528.JavaMail.root@vms064.mailsrvcs.net>
Wanda,
NCSALL has a book, "Understanding What Reading is All About," that offers 13 lessons designed to help learners understand the components of reading that are part of becoming a more fluent reader. The lessons can be used as an independent mini-course or be integrated into an existing curriculum. Go to www.ncsall.net/fileadmin/resources/teach/uwriaa.pdf
Two issues of "Focus on Basics" offer guidance on adult reading. Volume 1, Issue B, http://www.ncsall.net/index.php?id=167 is on reading in general.
Volume 5, Issue A, http://www.ncsall.net/index.php?id=147
is on first level readers. 
I'm sure other list members have favorite materials and places on the Internet to share as well.
Barb Garner
Editor, Focus on Basics
From: Wanda Nelson <wandanelson3 at yahoo.com>
Date: Thu Mar 16 20:25:49 CST 2006
To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 196]  Beginning reading materials for adults
Is there a resource for adult beginning reading material and lesson plans on-line?
?
		 Yahoo! Mail
Use Photomail to share photos without annoying attachments.
----------------------------------------------------
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To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
From mariasief at adelphia.net  Mon Mar 20 19:43:14 2006
From: mariasief at adelphia.net (Maria Siefert)
Date: Mon, 20 Mar 2006 19:43:14 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 198] Re: Beginning reading materials for adults
In-Reply-To: <20060317022549.19297.qmail@web33601.mail.mud.yahoo.com>
Message-ID: <000201c64c80$71e3d7c0$6400a8c0@kitchen>
I am interested in the same information.
 
Thank you,
 
Maria Siefert
 
-----Original Message-----
From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Wanda Nelson
Sent: Thursday, March 16, 2006 9:26 PM
To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 196] Beginning reading materials for adults
 
Is there a resource for adult beginning reading material and lesson
plans on-line?
 
 
  _____  
Yahoo! Mail
Use
<http://us.rd.yahoo.com/mail_us/taglines/pmall2/*http:/photomail.mail.ya
hoo.com>  Photomail to share photos without annoying attachments.
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From robinschwarz1 at aol.com  Mon Mar 20 22:11:53 2006
From: robinschwarz1 at aol.com (robinschwarz1 at aol.com)
Date: Mon, 20 Mar 2006 22:11:53 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 199] Re: Beginning reading materials for adults
In-Reply-To: <20060317022549.19297.qmail@web33601.mail.mud.yahoo.com>
References: <20060317022549.19297.qmail@web33601.mail.mud.yahoo.com>
Message-ID: <8C81AAC56C9A6D6-1878-EE0A@FWM-D12.sysops.aol.com>
Check out the ART-- Adult Reading Toolkit -- produced by Minnesota 
LDA-- I think the website is minnesotalda.org--if not, google it--This 
is another extremely well designed book from LDA Minnesota that is for 
tutors who do not know a lot about reading and are teaching low level 
learners (though the book contains information about higher level 
learners too)  It includes a lot of the teaching materials needed, plus 
research-based lesson plans etc.  A terrific tool--but NOT for 
beginning ESOL , in case any one is wondering!    Robin Schwarz
-----Original Message-----
From: Wanda Nelson <wandanelson3 at yahoo.com>
To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
Sent: Thu, 16 Mar 2006 18:25:49 -0800 (PST)
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 196]  Beginning reading materials for adults
Is there a resource for adult beginning reading material and lesson 
plans on-line?
?
--------
Yahoo! Mail
Use Photomail to share photos without annoying attachments.
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
From vanillaicy at hotmail.co.uk  Tue Mar 21 09:30:00 2006
From: vanillaicy at hotmail.co.uk (Aliya AbdulLatif)
Date: Tue, 21 Mar 2006 14:30:00 +0000
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 200] Re: Beginning reading materials for adults
In-Reply-To: <8C81AAC56C9A6D6-1878-EE0A@FWM-D12.sysops.aol.com>
Message-ID: <BAY15-F85557DD790A80A4C31C3890D80@phx.gbl>
This is the website
http://www.ldaminnesota.org/programs/educational_products.html
Has anyone used crazytalk?
http://crazytalk.reallusion.com/
Regards
>From: robinschwarz1 at aol.com
>Reply-To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
>To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
>Subject: [FocusOnBasics 199] Re: Beginning reading materials for adults
>Date: Mon, 20 Mar 2006 22:11:53 -0500
>
>Check out the ART-- Adult Reading Toolkit -- produced by Minnesota
>LDA-- I think the website is minnesotalda.org--if not, google it--This
>is another extremely well designed book from LDA Minnesota that is for
>tutors who do not know a lot about reading and are teaching low level
>learners (though the book contains information about higher level
>learners too)  It includes a lot of the teaching materials needed, plus
>research-based lesson plans etc.  A terrific tool--but NOT for
>beginning ESOL , in case any one is wondering!    Robin Schwarz
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Wanda Nelson <wandanelson3 at yahoo.com>
>To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
>Sent: Thu, 16 Mar 2006 18:25:49 -0800 (PST)
>Subject: [FocusOnBasics 196]  Beginning reading materials for adults
>
>Is there a resource for adult beginning reading material and lesson
>plans on-line?
>
>
>?
>
>--------
>Yahoo! Mail
>Use Photomail to share photos without annoying attachments.
>----------------------------------------------------
>National Institute for Literacy
>Focus on Basics mailing list
>FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
>To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
>http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
>----------------------------------------------------
>National Institute for Literacy
>Focus on Basics mailing list
>FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
>To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to 
>http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
_________________________________________________________________
Be the first to hear what's new at MSN - sign up to our free newsletters! 
http://www.msn.co.uk/newsletters
From gprice at famlit.org  Thu Mar 23 08:02:30 2006
From: gprice at famlit.org (Gail Price)
Date: Thu, 23 Mar 2006 08:02:30 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 201] Re: Beginning reading materials for adults
In-Reply-To: <20060317022549.19297.qmail@web33601.mail.mud.yahoo.com>
References: <20060317022549.19297.qmail@web33601.mail.mud.yahoo.com>
Message-ID: <D2741498-67E3-4A9B-8138-43E0CA5D03B9@famlit.org>
Also check out these publications available at the National Institute  
for Literacy Web site --Applying Research in Reading Instruction for  
Adults: First Steps for Teachers, Teaching Adults to Read, and  
Research-Based Principles for Adult Basic Education Reading  
Instruction.  All are available for download at NIFL's Partnership  
for Reading Web site
http://www.nifl.gov/partnershipforreading/publications/adult.htm
On Mar 16, 2006, at 9:25 PM, Wanda Nelson wrote:
> Is there a resource for adult beginning reading material and lesson  
> plans on-line?
>
>
>
>
> Yahoo! Mail
> Use Photomail to share photos without annoying attachments.
> ----------------------------------------------------
> National Institute for Literacy
> Focus on Basics mailing list
> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to  
> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
Gail J. Price
Multimedia Specialist
National Center for Family Literacy
325 West Main Street, Suite 300
Louisville, KY 40205
Phone: 502 584-1133, ext. 112
Fax: 502 584-0172
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From julie_mcKinney at worlded.org  Mon Apr  3 09:25:31 2006
From: julie_mcKinney at worlded.org (Julie  McKinney)
Date: Mon, 03 Apr 2006 09:25:31 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 202]  Upcoming Discussion on FOB Evaluation
Message-ID: <s430ea1e.021@mail.jsi.com>
Hi All,
As you know, the FOB Evaluation is complete and highlights the variety of ways that it impacts its readers. Barb Garner, FOB's editor, will lead a discussion on the list the week of April 10-14 to discuss the survey results and how these results can guide our use of FOB as professionals. Please take a look at the evaluation and think about comments or questions you may have. I'll post some questions by Wednesday.
Julie
************************************************************************
The evaluation results are available on the NCSALL Web site at:
 http://www.ncsall.net/?id=29#27
To order a printed version ($10), go to:
 http://www.ncsall.net/?id=681. 
SNEAK PREVIEW: The findings were overwhelmingly upbeat. The 292 readers who completed the survey report that Focus on Basics has had a positive impact in the following ways:
* It has influenced their beliefs about adult basic education.
* It has helped them feel connected to the larger education community as professionals.
* It has contributed to the development of communities of practice.
* It has enabled them to make a connection between research and practice.
* It has provided them with concrete ideas they have used to change their programs and practice.
 
Four in-depth interviews with professional development providers are included as well.
 
Read the report to find out more about how the publication is and can be used as a professional development tool.
 
****************
Kaye Beall
Outreach Coordinator/NCSALL Dissemination Project
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
From kabeall at comcast.net  Wed Apr  5 14:06:10 2006
From: kabeall at comcast.net (Kaye Beall)
Date: Wed, 5 Apr 2006 14:06:10 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 203] Linking Research and Practice: NCSALL's
	Research Strand at COABE
Message-ID: <008201c658db$9f2015c0$0202a8c0@your4105e587b6>
For those of you attending the 2006 COABE Conference in Houston April 26-29,
the National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy (NCSALL)
invites you to attend its sessions during the conference.
 
Presenters will highlight NCSALL research findings and share professional
development activities and instructional strategies for strengthening the
quality of adult literacy programs.
 
Attached is a list of the NCSALL sessions.
 
See you at COABE! Stop by and visit our booth (#119) in the exhibit area.
 
 
****************
Kaye Beall
Outreach Coordinator/NCSALL Dissemination Project
World Education
4401 S. Madison St.
Muncie, IN  47302
Tel: 765-717-3942
Fax: 208-694-8262
kaye_beall at worlded.org
http://www.ncsall.net
 
 
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From julie_mcKinney at worlded.org  Wed Apr  5 17:17:58 2006
From: julie_mcKinney at worlded.org (Julie  McKinney)
Date: Wed, 05 Apr 2006 17:17:58 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 204] April 10-14: Discussion w/ Barb Garner on FOB
	Evaluation
Message-ID: <s433fbee.063@mail.jsi.com>
Hi All,
Barb Garner will join us next week to discuss the findings of the
evaluation of FOB. The results were very encouraging, with a few
surprises and a lot to be discussed about how we can use FOB in our
work.
You can find the Evaluation Report at:
http://www.ncsall.net/?id=29#27 
Below are some questions to think about as we prepare for this
discussion.
1. How do you use FOB in your professional life?
2. Have you ever used FOB for professional development? How?
3. Did the findings of this report change or add to your concept of FOB,
or your thoughts on how your program can use it?
4. Were any of the findings surprising to you in any way?
5. Reportedly, 72% of respondents interact with colleagues about what
they read in FOB. In what ways do you do this, and how does it affect
your work?
6. The report indicates that FOB "helps to create professionals; it
provides practitioners with the sense that they are not working in
isolation." How important is this to you and others in your program?
7. According to written comments from the survey, readers want more
online discussions, workshops and study circles to reflect and share
what they read in FOB. How can this discussion list 
help to meet this need better?
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
From tamill2 at uky.edu  Fri Apr  7 14:38:11 2006
From: tamill2 at uky.edu (Toni-Ann Mills)
Date: Fri, 07 Apr 2006 14:38:11 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 205] COABE - Research-based practices for teaching
 reading to adults workshop
Message-ID: <6.0.1.1.2.20060407143713.01cf55a8@pop.uky.edu>
Invitation to a professional development workshop ? Research-based 
practices for teaching reading to adults
For those attending the 2006 COABE Conference in Houston April 26-29, the 
NIFL/NCSALL Adult Literacy Research Working Group (ALRWG) would like to 
invite you to register for the pre-conference session, Implementing 
Research-Based Practices for Adult Literacy Instruction: Ideas from the 
NIFL / NCSALL Adult Literacy Research Working Group, Wednesday, April 26th 
from 9:00 am to 4:00pm.
The workshop is an in-depth exploration of research-based practices for 
teaching reading to adults and includes demonstrations and activities from 
a variety of professional development materials. As a workshop participant 
you will learn about teaching practices drawn from reading instruction 
research and how these practices can be applied in adult education 
classrooms. You will look closely at professional development materials 
based on reading instruction research, and participate in demonstrations of 
reading instruction activities taken from these materials. How to access 
many of the materials as free downloads from websites or arrange to have 
copies sent to you and your colleagues will also be explored.
We look forward to working with you at COABE so be sure to register at 
<<file:///javascript:ol('http://www.coabe06.org/');>http://www.coabe06.org>.
John Kruidenier
On behalf of the presentation team from NIFL/NCSALL ALRWG
Toni-Ann Mills
CCLD Director - Adult Education
Phone (859) 257-6127
Fax (859) 323 3963
email: tamill2 at uky.edu
Seize the day 
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From julie_mcKinney at worlded.org  Sun Apr  9 23:50:20 2006
From: julie_mcKinney at worlded.org (Julie  McKinney)
Date: Sun, 09 Apr 2006 23:50:20 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 206] Discussion Starts Today: FOB Evaluation Results
Message-ID: <s4399dda.015@mail.jsi.com>
Hi All and Welcome to Barb Garner, 
Today we start a discussion of the results of the FOB Evaluation. Barb
Garner, editor of FOB, will join us to discuss the findings of this
survey of 292 FOB readers.
You can read the Evauation Report at:
http://www.ncsall.net/?id=29#27 
See below for some discussion questions to think about.
Enjoy!
Julie
******************************
1. How do you use FOB in your professional life?
2. Have you ever used FOB for professional development? How?
3. Did the findings of this report change or add to your concept of FOB,
or your thoughts on how your program can use it?
4. Were any of the findings surprising to you in any way?
5. Reportedly, 72% of respondents interact with colleagues about what
they read in FOB. In what ways do you do this, and how does it affect
your work?
6. The report indicates that FOB "helps to create professionals; it
provides practitioners with the sense that they are not working in
isolation." How important is this to you and others in your program?
7. According to written comments from the survey, readers want more
online discussions, workshops and study circles to reflect and share
what they read in FOB. How can this discussion list 
help to meet this need better?
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
From b.garner4 at verizon.net  Mon Apr 10 08:47:48 2006
From: b.garner4 at verizon.net (Barbara Garner)
Date: Mon, 10 Apr 2006 07:47:48 -0500 (CDT)
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 207] Re: Discussion Starts Today: FOB Evaluation
	Results
Message-ID: <4009252.2782521144673268350.JavaMail.root@vms071.mailsrvcs.net>
I'll looking forward to the discussion this week for more indepth information than a survey can offer (although we had pages and pages of responses to the open ended question. Thanks again to all who completed the survey).
One question we didn't ask in the survey...One of my pleasures in putting together each issue is working with Mary, our illustrator, to conceptualize art to accompany the text. It's not easy coming up with concrete ideas to illustrate often abstract concepts. What reactions do you have to the art work? 
Barb Garner
From: Julie  McKinney <julie_mcKinney at worlded.org>
Date: Sun Apr 09 22:50:20 CDT 2006
To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 206] Discussion Starts Today: FOB Evaluation Results
Hi All and Welcome to Barb Garner, 
Today we start a discussion of the results of the FOB Evaluation. Barb
Garner, editor of FOB, will join us to discuss the findings of this
survey of 292 FOB readers.
You can read the Evauation Report at:
http://www.ncsall.net/?id=29#27 
See below for some discussion questions to think about.
Enjoy!
Julie
******************************
1. How do you use FOB in your professional life?
2. Have you ever used FOB for professional development? How?
3. Did the findings of this report change or add to your concept of FOB,
or your thoughts on how your program can use it?
4. Were any of the findings surprising to you in any way?
5. Reportedly, 72% of respondents interact with colleagues about what
they read in FOB. In what ways do you do this, and how does it affect
your work?
6. The report indicates that FOB "helps to create professionals; it
provides practitioners with the sense that they are not working in
isolation." How important is this to you and others in your program?
7. According to written comments from the survey, readers want more
online discussions, workshops and study circles to reflect and share
what they read in FOB. How can this discussion list 
help to meet this need better?
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
From b.garner4 at verizon.net  Mon Apr 10 15:47:03 2006
From: b.garner4 at verizon.net (Barbara Garner)
Date: Mon, 10 Apr 2006 14:47:03 -0500 (CDT)
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 208]  Editorial Board Members needed
Message-ID: <12275478.1046541144698424063.JavaMail.root@vms171.mailsrvcs.net>
I'm recruiting for editorial board members for what might be the last issue of "Focus on Basics." A familiarity with research (quant or qualitative), a critical eye, and some experience as an ABE or ESOL teacher would be great.
The issue will feature research reports from a number of NCSALL researchers: one on health and literacy, one on post GED activities, one on reading, to name a few...
The work will start sometime in May and continue sporadically through September. We meet by phone to discuss the articles, setting our call schedule to suit participants (it has worked nicely to settle on a weekly meeting time, but that may be impossible in the summer). 
If a former ed board member could chime in to let list subscribers know what the experience is like, that would be great.
I select based on geography (states that have been underrepresented on the board get priority) and otherwise on a first come first serve basis...A small stipend is provided.
Email me on the list or off (off: b.garner4 at verizon.net)
Looking forward to hearing from you,
Thanks,
Barb Garner
Editor, Focus on Basics
From b.garner4 at verizon.net  Tue Apr 11 12:35:09 2006
From: b.garner4 at verizon.net (Barbara Garner)
Date: Tue, 11 Apr 2006 11:35:09 -0500 (CDT)
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 209]  Using FOB / Editorial Board
Message-ID: <33154974.99691144773309098.JavaMail.root@vms073.mailsrvcs.net>
Not a lot of folks (none...) jumping in to the discussion about the evaluation of "Focus on Basics..."
The evaluation documented the many ways folks use the publication. Which issue did you use most recently. How, and why?
Barb Garner
Editor, FOB
(PS, thanks to those who have come forth for the next editorial board. I'm still taking names and will get back to everyone at the end of the week. Oklahoma, Michigan, Delaware, you've been underrepresented...Is there anyone on the list who from those states interested in joining the editorial board?)
From nancy.mckeand at gmail.com  Tue Apr 11 14:14:49 2006
From: nancy.mckeand at gmail.com (Nancy McKeand)
Date: Tue, 11 Apr 2006 13:14:49 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 210] Re: Discussion Starts Today: FOB Evaluation
	Results
In-Reply-To: <4009252.2782521144673268350.JavaMail.root@vms071.mailsrvcs.net>
References: <4009252.2782521144673268350.JavaMail.root@vms071.mailsrvcs.net>
Message-ID: <2e8319bb0604111114s7836569ax1591dda4cfdeeee0@mail.gmail.com>
I'm glad you asked about the illustrations, Barb, because I really liked
them.  The Lab School drawing on the cover of 8A is quite clever!  I like,
too, how Mary included some of the actual vocabulary that was discussed in
the articles in the drawings.
I think that the artwork is a real nice touch.  It makes FOB seem more
accessible, more inviting.
Nancy McKeand
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From mslaathaug at midco.net  Tue Apr 11 15:32:47 2006
From: mslaathaug at midco.net (Missy Slaathaug)
Date: Tue, 11 Apr 2006 14:32:47 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 211]  Using FOB
In-Reply-To: <33154974.99691144773309098.JavaMail.root@vms073.mailsrvcs.net>
Message-ID: <000901c65d9e$b6c2e640$060ac90a@explorit3>
I like this publication very much.  I read all the issues and find them
useful and informative.  The last article I used actively was Robin
Schwarz' article on the struggling ESL learner.  We asked our new
teachers to read it prior to their New Teacher Training.  It was a great
article that generated a lot of discussion and hopefully raised the
level of awareness of these potential learner problems.  Keep up the
good work.  
Missy Slaathaug
ESL Technical Resource
South Dakota
mslaathaug at midco.net
-----Original Message-----
From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Barbara Garner
Sent: Tuesday, April 11, 2006 11:35 AM
To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 209] Using FOB / Editorial Board
Not a lot of folks (none...) jumping in to the discussion about the
evaluation of "Focus on Basics..."
The evaluation documented the many ways folks use the publication. Which
issue did you use most recently. How, and why?
Barb Garner
Editor, FOB
(PS, thanks to those who have come forth for the next editorial board.
I'm still taking names and will get back to everyone at the end of the
week. Oklahoma, Michigan, Delaware, you've been underrepresented...Is
there anyone on the list who from those states interested in joining the
editorial board?)
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
From b.garner4 at verizon.net  Tue Apr 11 15:50:47 2006
From: b.garner4 at verizon.net (Barbara Garner)
Date: Tue, 11 Apr 2006 14:50:47 -0500 (CDT)
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 212] Re: Using FOB
Message-ID: <7414113.232101144785047308.JavaMail.root@vms063.mailsrvcs.net>
Thanks, Missy,,,
That struggling ESOL learner article really struck a chord. 
When you've been working in a field---any field---for awhile, it's easy to forget how much you actually have learned and apply on a day-to-day basis. Robin's article seems to have reminded us that new staff, or experienced staff working with new types of learners, need information that may have become second nature to some.
What other articles to folks use with new teachers, and why?
Barb
From: Missy Slaathaug <mslaathaug at midco.net>
Date: Tue Apr 11 14:32:47 CDT 2006
To: b.garner4 at verizon.net, 
	'The Focus on Basics Discussion List' <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
Subject: Using FOB
I like this publication very much.  I read all the issues and find them
useful and informative.  The last article I used actively was Robin
Schwarz' article on the struggling ESL learner.  We asked our new
teachers to read it prior to their New Teacher Training.  It was a great
article that generated a lot of discussion and hopefully raised the
level of awareness of these potential learner problems.  Keep up the
good work.  
Missy Slaathaug
ESL Technical Resource
South Dakota
mslaathaug at midco.net
-----Original Message-----
From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Barbara Garner
Sent: Tuesday, April 11, 2006 11:35 AM
To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 209] Using FOB / Editorial Board
Not a lot of folks (none...) jumping in to the discussion about the
evaluation of "Focus on Basics..."
The evaluation documented the many ways folks use the publication. Which
issue did you use most recently. How, and why?
Barb Garner
Editor, FOB
(PS, thanks to those who have come forth for the next editorial board.
I'm still taking names and will get back to everyone at the end of the
week. Oklahoma, Michigan, Delaware, you've been underrepresented...Is
there anyone on the list who from those states interested in joining the
editorial board?)
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
From dharting at proliteracy.org  Tue Apr 11 15:47:13 2006
From: dharting at proliteracy.org (dharting)
Date: Tue, 11 Apr 2006 15:47:13 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 213] Re: Discussion Starts Today: FOB Evaluati	on
	Results
Message-ID: <24C87A21440F3A4B94ED4594298D45F304B89A@hardy>
Hi Barb:
 
I like the illustrations, too. I particularly liked the one from September
2003 that showed authentic materials like invoices and soup cans flying in
the window. Or were they flying out the window??
 
I also liked the way you used portions of the cover illustration inside the
publication to send visual cues that the inside article was related to the
cover story.
 
You're right: it's always a creative challenge to illustrate an abstract
concept in a concrete manner. The recently released NAAL is a good example.
We're blessed to have a talented and creative graphic artist on our staff
who helps us with these kinds of challenges.
 
Our survey research from the summer of 2005 revealed a high level of respect
for your publication among literacy field workers, esp. program managers.
Congratulations!
 
Don Harting
ProLiteracy America
Syracuse, New York
 
-----Original Message-----
From: Nancy McKeand [mailto:nancy.mckeand at gmail.com]
Sent: Tuesday, April 11, 2006 2:15 PM
To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 210] Re: Discussion Starts Today: FOB Evaluation
Results
I'm glad you asked about the illustrations, Barb, because I really liked
them.  The Lab School drawing on the cover of 8A is quite clever!  I like,
too, how Mary included some of the actual vocabulary that was discussed in
the articles in the drawings.    
I think that the artwork is a real nice touch.  It makes FOB seem more
accessible, more inviting.  
Nancy McKeand
-------------- next part --------------
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From sbeaman at webster.edu  Tue Apr 11 16:51:39 2006
From: sbeaman at webster.edu (Sarah Beaman-Jones)
Date: Tue, 11 Apr 2006 15:51:39 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 214] Re: Using FOB
In-Reply-To: <7414113.232101144785047308.JavaMail.root@vms063.mailsrvcs.net>
References: <7414113.232101144785047308.JavaMail.root@vms063.mailsrvcs.net>
Message-ID: <a06210201c061c6acc309@[10.10.138.248]>
This summer I will be leading a workshop for 
experienced adult educators.  They have four 
hours of activities assigned before the workshop. 
As part of the reading assignment, they can 
select one of four articles:
To find the articles, go to 
http://www.ncsall.net/index.php?id=167 and select 
either
What Silent Reading Tests alone Can't Tell you
or
There's Reading?..And Then There's Reading
These articles are about reading in general.  If 
you want to read more specifically on first level 
readers, go to 
http://www.ncsall.net/index.php?id=147 and select 
either
Techniques for Teaching Beginning-Level Reading to Adults
			or
Reading for Pleasure
BTW, there is no reason you can't read all four 
or even the entire issue if you get involved.
As you read the article, code the test in the following manner:
=   I agree
X  I thought differently
+   New information
!    WOW
?   I don't get it
*   I know this is important
[INSERT system "Interactive Notational System for 
Effective Reading and Thinking" from Vaughn & 
Estes, 1986]
After completing the reading, please complete a 
short reflection piece.  In one or two 
paragraphs, describe the main ideas of the 
article your read and your reaction to  them.
In one or two paragraphs, describe your experience using the INSERT system.
-- 
Sarah Beaman-Jones
Literacy Program Developer
LIFT-Missouri
815 Olive Street, Suite 22
St. Louis, MO 63101
1-800-729-4443 
1-314-678-4443 ext. 206
1-314-678-2938 [fax]
http://lift-missouri.org
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From CColletti at ILSOS.NET  Tue Apr 11 17:17:24 2006
From: CColletti at ILSOS.NET (Colletti, Cyndy)
Date: Tue, 11 Apr 2006 16:17:24 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 215]  FOB Evaluation
Message-ID: <96DF6DA6D4E9A946B7D02E762CED51580393E24E@exc01.ilsos.net>
FOB has always intrigued me because it's on top of the challenges that teachers and tutors face in classrooms across the country.  Once we were discussing the reasons that students go on or do not go on to other educational pursuits.  Soon I saw that the next issue of FOB would cover "Transitions."  This field is widely diverse and often isolated from each other and from a sense of itself as a field.  FOB is a unifying force as it presents the latest research and relates that research right to the instructional setting. In my job as a state level coordinator, I publicize each and every issue so that practitioners can use the information presented in the articles.  When I survey practitioners about what they need, I always hear, "Something I can use tomorrow."  Well, FOB has always provided just that.
Cyndy Colletti
From b.garner4 at verizon.net  Tue Apr 11 21:47:14 2006
From: b.garner4 at verizon.net (Barbara Garner)
Date: Tue, 11 Apr 2006 20:47:14 -0500 (CDT)
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 216] Re: Using FOB
Message-ID: <24742110.266251144806434989.JavaMail.root@vms071.mailsrvcs.net>
Sarah, 
Thanks for your thorough explanation of one way to use articles from "Focus on Basics." (And thanks for bringing the
insert system to my attention: it's new to me and quite intriguing.)
Has anyone else used those articles for professional development? How did you use them? Do you have any suggestions for Sarah?
Barb Garner
From: Sarah Beaman-Jones <sbeaman at webster.edu>
Date: Tue Apr 11 15:51:39 CDT 2006
To: b.garner4 at verizon.net, 
	The Focus on Basics Discussion List <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 214] Re: Using FOB
Re: Using FOBThis summer I will be leading a workshop for experienced adulteducators.? They have four hours of activities assigned beforethe workshop.? As part of the reading assignment, they can selectone of four articles:To find the articles, go tohttp://www.ncsall.net/index.php?id=167 and select either
What Silent Reading Tests alone Can't Tell you
or
There's Reading?..And Then There's Reading
These articles are about reading in general.? If you want toread more specifically on first level readers, go tohttp://www.ncsall.net/index.php?id=147 and select either
Techniques for Teaching Beginning-Level Reading to Adults
????????????????????or
Reading for Pleasure
BTW, there is no reason you can't read allfour or even the entire issue if you get involved.
As you read the article, code the test inthe following manner:
=?? I agree
X? I thought differently
+?? New information
!??? WOW
??? I don't get it
*?? I know this is important
[INSERT system "Interactive Notational System for Effective Readingand Thinking" from Vaughn & Estes, 1986]
After completing the reading, please complete a short reflectionpiece.? In one or two paragraphs, describe the main ideas of thearticle your read and your reaction to? them.
In one or two paragraphs, describe your experience using the INSERTsystem.
--Sarah Beaman-Jones
Literacy Program Developer
LIFT-Missouri
815 Olive Street, Suite 22
St. Louis, MO 63101
1-800-729-4443?
1-314-678-4443 ext. 206
1-314-678-2938 [fax]
http://lift-missouri.org
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
From b.garner4 at verizon.net  Tue Apr 11 21:52:39 2006
From: b.garner4 at verizon.net (Barbara Garner)
Date: Tue, 11 Apr 2006 20:52:39 -0500 (CDT)
Subject: =?ISO-8859-1?B?UmU6IFtGb2N1c09uQmFzaWNzIDIxNV0goEZPQiBFdmFsdWF0aW9u?=
Message-ID: <7501858.267731144806759429.JavaMail.root@vms071.mailsrvcs.net>
One of the themes that is emerging in this discussion is how professional development providers serve as a conduit, introducing teachers to the publication and to particular articles.
If you're a teacher, how did you find out about "Focus on Basics"?
If you're a professional development provider, does your experience bear this out: do you introduce teacher to FOB?
And if we are able to find additional funding and continue publishing beyond 8C, where should we put our dissemination energy? Into reaching professional development providers, assuming they will introduce teachers to FOB? Or should we focus marketing efforts on teachers? Thoughts?
Barb Garner
Editor
From: "Colletti, Cyndy" <CColletti at ILSOS.NET>
Date: Tue Apr 11 16:17:24 CDT 2006
To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 215]  FOB Evaluation
FOB has always intrigued me because it's on top of the challenges that teachers and tutors face in classrooms across the country.  Once we were discussing the reasons that students go on or do not go on to other educational pursuits.  Soon I saw that the next issue of FOB would cover "Transitions."  This field is widely diverse and often isolated from each other and from a sense of itself as a field.  FOB is a unifying force as it presents the latest research and relates that research right to the instructional setting. In my job as a state level coordinator, I publicize each and every issue so that practitioners can use the information presented in the articles.  When I survey practitioners about what they need, I always hear, "Something I can use tomorrow."  Well, FOB has always provided just that.
Cyndy Colletti
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
From varshna at grandecom.net  Tue Apr 11 22:08:18 2006
From: varshna at grandecom.net (Varshna Narumanchi-Jackson)
Date: Tue, 11 Apr 2006 21:08:18 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 218] Re: Using FOB / Editorial Board
In-Reply-To: <33154974.99691144773309098.JavaMail.root@vms073.mailsrvcs.net>
Message-ID: <C061CB42.983C%varshna@grandecom.net>
Dear Barb:
The usefulness of FOB is, in my opinion, the result of the variety of the
articles and topics offered.  Just as there isn't a single recipe for
success in the classroom, what one benefits from in order to grow depends on
the different perspectives brought to the profession.  And I think that
you've done a good job of balancing the dynamic between research and
practice.  It's hard to document the transition from one realm to another,
but I think FOB strikes a balanced review to offer to academics and
classroom professionals alike.
I must confess that I don't have a lot of time to read these days, but I do
enjoy being able to access electronic copies.  It is definitely a website I
will continue to bookmark!
Thanks, Varshna.
--------------
Varshna Jackson
Austin, TX
PS. It was really a pleasure to serve on the editorial board -- very
stimulating and good company!
From Miller_J at cde.state.co.us  Wed Apr 12 11:48:09 2006
From: Miller_J at cde.state.co.us (Miller, Jane)
Date: Wed, 12 Apr 2006 09:48:09 -0600
Subject: =?iso-8859-1?Q?RE=3A_=5BFocusOnBasics_215=5D_=A0FOB_Evaluation?=
Message-ID: <1590226EC6C04443A841ED70F8F9303610729C@wopr.cde.state.co.us>
I am the professional development coordinator for adult educators in Colorado. I enjoyed taking part in the recent FOB evaluation survey.
I read FOB for my own PD and always include FOB articles in PD events - study circles, conference workshops, and extended trainings. I reference the NCSALL website in general, provide direct links to specific articles, and include printed copies of articles in handouts.  I also facilitate several work groups - a state-wide PD advisory group, our state's CAELA capacity-building team, and various pilot projects.  Whenever our state office receives a box of hard-copy FOBs I always snatch a dozen or more to give to members of these work groups to show my appreciation for the work they do.  I think everyone appreciates having their own, personal, hard-bound, nicely illustrated copy. 
Colorado's coordinator of our State Literacy Resource Centers always puts out an announcement on our state-wide adult ed listserv whenever a new issue of FOB comes out.  That spreads the word to adult ed program directors and teachers.
When I was in the classroom, our program director always circulated our one copy of FOB to all the teachers using a routing slip.
Hopefully FOB can continue to do its excellent work.  I would hate to have to choose among teachers, professional developers or program directors to be the focus of FOB's marketing efforts.  Based on what others and I have said, program directors and professional developers have the means to introduce FOB to teachers by incorporating FOB into the greater context of PD events.
Jane Miller
Professional Development Coordinator
Colorado Department of Education
Adult Education and Family Literacy
Miller_j at cde.state.co.us
 
-----Original Message-----
From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Barbara Garner
Sent: Tuesday, April 11, 2006 7:53 PM
To: Colletti, Cyndy; The Focus on Basics Discussion List
Subject: Re: [FocusOnBasics 215]  FOB Evaluation
One of the themes that is emerging in this discussion is how professional development providers serve as a conduit, introducing teachers to the publication and to particular articles.
If you're a teacher, how did you find out about "Focus on Basics"?
If you're a professional development provider, does your experience bear this out: do you introduce teacher to FOB?
And if we are able to find additional funding and continue publishing beyond 8C, where should we put our dissemination energy? Into reaching professional development providers, assuming they will introduce teachers to FOB? Or should we focus marketing efforts on teachers? Thoughts?
Barb Garner
Editor
From: "Colletti, Cyndy" <CColletti at ILSOS.NET>
Date: Tue Apr 11 16:17:24 CDT 2006
To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 215]  FOB Evaluation
FOB has always intrigued me because it's on top of the challenges that teachers and tutors face in classrooms across the country.  Once we were discussing the reasons that students go on or do not go on to other educational pursuits.  Soon I saw that the next issue of FOB would cover "Transitions."  This field is widely diverse and often isolated from each other and from a sense of itself as a field.  FOB is a unifying force as it presents the latest research and relates that research right to the instructional setting. In my job as a state level coordinator, I publicize each and every issue so that practitioners can use the information presented in the articles.  When I survey practitioners about what they need, I always hear, "Something I can use tomorrow."  Well, FOB has always provided just that.
Cyndy Colletti
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
From b.garner4 at verizon.net  Wed Apr 12 14:15:35 2006
From: b.garner4 at verizon.net (Barbara Garner)
Date: Wed, 12 Apr 2006 13:15:35 -0500 (CDT)
Subject: =?ISO-8859-1?B?UmU6IFJFOiBbRm9jdXNPbkJhc2lj?=
	=?ISO-8859-1?B?cyAyMTVdIKBGT0IgRXZhbHVhdGlvbg==?=
Message-ID: <29859699.494121144865735659.JavaMail.root@vms068.mailsrvcs.net>
I too love the printed version, with the nice thick paper. I keep mine in two binders so I can always find them. But we never had overwhelming success with subscriptions. We priced them low: $8 for 4 issues, which barely covered printing and mailing, thinking that individuals---teachers, we hoped---would want their own copies rather than have to share them. But we never seem to have more than 500 individual subscribers. 
List readers, what's your story? Why did or didn't you subscribe?
Barb Garner
Editor, FOB
From: "Miller, Jane" <Miller_J at cde.state.co.us>
Date: Wed Apr 12 10:48:09 CDT 2006
To: b.garner4 at verizon.net, 
	The Focus on Basics Discussion List <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>, 
	"Colletti, Cyndy" <CColletti at ILSOS.NET>
Subject: RE: [FocusOnBasics 215] ?FOB Evaluation
I am the professional development coordinator for adult educators in Colorado. I enjoyed taking part in the recent FOB evaluation survey.
I read FOB for my own PD and always include FOB articles in PD events - study circles, conference workshops, and extended trainings. I reference the NCSALL website in general, provide direct links to specific articles, and include printed copies of articles in handouts.  I also facilitate several work groups - a state-wide PD advisory group, our state's CAELA capacity-building team, and various pilot projects.  Whenever our state office receives a box of hard-copy FOBs I always snatch a dozen or more to give to members of these work groups to show my appreciation for the work they do.  I think everyone appreciates having their own, personal, hard-bound, nicely illustrated copy. 
Colorado's coordinator of our State Literacy Resource Centers always puts out an announcement on our state-wide adult ed listserv whenever a new issue of FOB comes out.  That spreads the word to adult ed program directors and teachers.
When I was in the classroom, our program director always circulated our one copy of FOB to all the teachers using a routing slip.
Hopefully FOB can continue to do its excellent work.  I would hate to have to choose among teachers, professional developers or program directors to be the focus of FOB's marketing efforts.  Based on what others and I have said, program directors and professional developers have the means to introduce FOB to teachers by incorporating FOB into the greater context of PD events.
Jane Miller
Professional Development Coordinator
Colorado Department of Education
Adult Education and Family Literacy
Miller_j at cde.state.co.us
 
-----Original Message-----
From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Barbara Garner
Sent: Tuesday, April 11, 2006 7:53 PM
To: Colletti, Cyndy; The Focus on Basics Discussion List
Subject: Re: [FocusOnBasics 215]  FOB Evaluation
One of the themes that is emerging in this discussion is how professional development providers serve as a conduit, introducing teachers to the publication and to particular articles.
If you're a teacher, how did you find out about "Focus on Basics"?
If you're a professional development provider, does your experience bear this out: do you introduce teacher to FOB?
And if we are able to find additional funding and continue publishing beyond 8C, where should we put our dissemination energy? Into reaching professional development providers, assuming they will introduce teachers to FOB? Or should we focus marketing efforts on teachers? Thoughts?
Barb Garner
Editor
From: "Colletti, Cyndy" <CColletti at ILSOS.NET>
Date: Tue Apr 11 16:17:24 CDT 2006
To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 215]  FOB Evaluation
FOB has always intrigued me because it's on top of the challenges that teachers and tutors face in classrooms across the country.  Once we were discussing the reasons that students go on or do not go on to other educational pursuits.  Soon I saw that the next issue of FOB would cover "Transitions."  This field is widely diverse and often isolated from each other and from a sense of itself as a field.  FOB is a unifying force as it presents the latest research and relates that research right to the instructional setting. In my job as a state level coordinator, I publicize each and every issue so that practitioners can use the information presented in the articles.  When I survey practitioners about what they need, I always hear, "Something I can use tomorrow."  Well, FOB has always provided just that.
Cyndy Colletti
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
From kandrew at sbctc.ctc.edu  Wed Apr 12 15:27:28 2006
From: kandrew at sbctc.ctc.edu (KC Andrew)
Date: Wed, 12 Apr 2006 12:27:28 -0700
Subject: =?iso-8859-1?Q?RE=3A_RE=3A_=5BFocusOnBasics_215=5D_=A0FOB_Evaluation?=
References: <29859699.494121144865735659.JavaMail.root@vms068.mailsrvcs.net>
Message-ID: <0CA6C79FCB4AC642A77B76C17A4316EE0DD990@exch-1.sbctc2.local>
The programs I've worked for have always provided copies for faculty and staff, so I never had a need to subscribe personally.  Do adult ed programs subscribe or are they just provided by FOB?  I also keep my copies - even if a topic is not immediately relevant to my program or my practice, it becomes relevant over time.
 
KC Andrew
Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges
Adult Basic Education - Professional Development Services
360/485-2338 *NEW NUMBER*
kandrew at sbctc.ctc.edu <mailto:kandrew at sbctc.ctc.edu> 
________________________________
From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov on behalf of Barbara Garner
Sent: Wed 4/12/2006 11:15 AM
To: Miller, Jane; b.garner4 at verizon.net; The Focus on Basics Discussion List; Colletti, Cyndy
Subject: Re: RE: [FocusOnBasics 215]  FOB Evaluation
I too love the printed version, with the nice thick paper. I keep mine in two binders so I can always find them. But we never had overwhelming success with subscriptions. We priced them low: $8 for 4 issues, which barely covered printing and mailing, thinking that individuals---teachers, we hoped---would want their own copies rather than have to share them. But we never seem to have more than 500 individual subscribers.
List readers, what's your story? Why did or didn't you subscribe?
Barb Garner
Editor, FOB
From: "Miller, Jane" <Miller_J at cde.state.co.us>
Date: Wed Apr 12 10:48:09 CDT 2006
To: b.garner4 at verizon.net,
        The Focus on Basics Discussion List <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>,
        "Colletti, Cyndy" <CColletti at ILSOS.NET>
Subject: RE: [FocusOnBasics 215]  FOB Evaluation
I am the professional development coordinator for adult educators in Colorado. I enjoyed taking part in the recent FOB evaluation survey.
I read FOB for my own PD and always include FOB articles in PD events - study circles, conference workshops, and extended trainings. I reference the NCSALL website in general, provide direct links to specific articles, and include printed copies of articles in handouts.  I also facilitate several work groups - a state-wide PD advisory group, our state's CAELA capacity-building team, and various pilot projects.  Whenever our state office receives a box of hard-copy FOBs I always snatch a dozen or more to give to members of these work groups to show my appreciation for the work they do.  I think everyone appreciates having their own, personal, hard-bound, nicely illustrated copy.
Colorado's coordinator of our State Literacy Resource Centers always puts out an announcement on our state-wide adult ed listserv whenever a new issue of FOB comes out.  That spreads the word to adult ed program directors and teachers.
When I was in the classroom, our program director always circulated our one copy of FOB to all the teachers using a routing slip.
Hopefully FOB can continue to do its excellent work.  I would hate to have to choose among teachers, professional developers or program directors to be the focus of FOB's marketing efforts.  Based on what others and I have said, program directors and professional developers have the means to introduce FOB to teachers by incorporating FOB into the greater context of PD events.
Jane Miller
Professional Development Coordinator
Colorado Department of Education
Adult Education and Family Literacy
Miller_j at cde.state.co.us
-----Original Message-----
From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Barbara Garner
Sent: Tuesday, April 11, 2006 7:53 PM
To: Colletti, Cyndy; The Focus on Basics Discussion List
Subject: Re: [FocusOnBasics 215]  FOB Evaluation
One of the themes that is emerging in this discussion is how professional development providers serve as a conduit, introducing teachers to the publication and to particular articles.
If you're a teacher, how did you find out about "Focus on Basics"?
If you're a professional development provider, does your experience bear this out: do you introduce teacher to FOB?
And if we are able to find additional funding and continue publishing beyond 8C, where should we put our dissemination energy? Into reaching professional development providers, assuming they will introduce teachers to FOB? Or should we focus marketing efforts on teachers? Thoughts?
Barb Garner
Editor
From: "Colletti, Cyndy" <CColletti at ILSOS.NET>
Date: Tue Apr 11 16:17:24 CDT 2006
To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 215]  FOB Evaluation
FOB has always intrigued me because it's on top of the challenges that teachers and tutors face in classrooms across the country.  Once we were discussing the reasons that students go on or do not go on to other educational pursuits.  Soon I saw that the next issue of FOB would cover "Transitions."  This field is widely diverse and often isolated from each other and from a sense of itself as a field.  FOB is a unifying force as it presents the latest research and relates that research right to the instructional setting. In my job as a state level coordinator, I publicize each and every issue so that practitioners can use the information presented in the articles.  When I survey practitioners about what they need, I always hear, "Something I can use tomorrow."  Well, FOB has always provided just that.
Cyndy Colletti
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
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From b.garner4 at verizon.net  Wed Apr 12 15:35:09 2006
From: b.garner4 at verizon.net (Barbara Garner)
Date: Wed, 12 Apr 2006 14:35:09 -0500 (CDT)
Subject: =?ISO-8859-1?B?UmU6IFJFOiBSRTogW0ZvY3VzT25CYXM=?=
	=?ISO-8859-1?B?aWNzIDIxNV0goEZPQiBFdmFsdWF0aW9u?=
Message-ID: <18987056.518791144870509405.JavaMail.root@vms068.mailsrvcs.net>
>From its inception, Focus on Basics/NCSALL has worked in partnership with the states to distribute the publication. We send a pre-established number (based on federal allocation and what the states tell us they can absorb) to almost every state and the state distributes them as it sees fit (in total, 8,500 copies go to states and protectorates). Some states prefer to send their constituents to the web rather than pay for mailing. Some states mail their allocations out, some give them out at events, etc.
We sell subscriptions and also bulk subscriptions. Some community colleges, for example, buy a bulk number and distribute them to staff.
(We had hoped the subscription base would grow but it has remained pretty stable.)
We also provide "photocopiable masters" to those who want them and promise to distribute copies. THese aren't really needed now that we put the PDF up on the web.
Barb Garner
Editor, FOB
From: KC Andrew <kandrew at sbctc.ctc.edu>
Date: Wed Apr 12 14:27:28 CDT 2006
To: b.garner4 at verizon.net, 
	The Focus on Basics Discussion List <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
Subject: RE: RE: [FocusOnBasics 215] ?FOB Evaluation
The programs I've worked for have always provided copies for faculty and staff, so I never had a need to subscribe personally.  Do adult ed programs subscribe or are they just provided by FOB?  I also keep my copies - even if a topic is not immediately relevant to my program or my practice, it becomes relevant over time.
 
KC Andrew
Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges
Adult Basic Education - Professional Development Services
360/485-2338 *NEW NUMBER*
kandrew at sbctc.ctc.edu <mailto:kandrew at sbctc.ctc.edu> 
________________________________
From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov on behalf of Barbara Garner
Sent: Wed 4/12/2006 11:15 AM
To: Miller, Jane; b.garner4 at verizon.net; The Focus on Basics Discussion List; Colletti, Cyndy
Subject: Re: RE: [FocusOnBasics 215]  FOB Evaluation
I too love the printed version, with the nice thick paper. I keep mine in two binders so I can always find them. But we never had overwhelming success with subscriptions. We priced them low: $8 for 4 issues, which barely covered printing and mailing, thinking that individuals---teachers, we hoped---would want their own copies rather than have to share them. But we never seem to have more than 500 individual subscribers.
List readers, what's your story? Why did or didn't you subscribe?
Barb Garner
Editor, FOB
From: "Miller, Jane" <Miller_J at cde.state.co.us>
Date: Wed Apr 12 10:48:09 CDT 2006
To: b.garner4 at verizon.net,
        The Focus on Basics Discussion List <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>,
        "Colletti, Cyndy" <CColletti at ILSOS.NET>
Subject: RE: [FocusOnBasics 215]  FOB Evaluation
I am the professional development coordinator for adult educators in Colorado. I enjoyed taking part in the recent FOB evaluation survey.
I read FOB for my own PD and always include FOB articles in PD events - study circles, conference workshops, and extended trainings. I reference the NCSALL website in general, provide direct links to specific articles, and include printed copies of articles in handouts.  I also facilitate several work groups - a state-wide PD advisory group, our state's CAELA capacity-building team, and various pilot projects.  Whenever our state office receives a box of hard-copy FOBs I always snatch a dozen or more to give to members of these work groups to show my appreciation for the work they do.  I think everyone appreciates having their own, personal, hard-bound, nicely illustrated copy.
Colorado's coordinator of our State Literacy Resource Centers always puts out an announcement on our state-wide adult ed listserv whenever a new issue of FOB comes out.  That spreads the word to adult ed program directors and teachers.
When I was in the classroom, our program director always circulated our one copy of FOB to all the teachers using a routing slip.
Hopefully FOB can continue to do its excellent work.  I would hate to have to choose among teachers, professional developers or program directors to be the focus of FOB's marketing efforts.  Based on what others and I have said, program directors and professional developers have the means to introduce FOB to teachers by incorporating FOB into the greater context of PD events.
Jane Miller
Professional Development Coordinator
Colorado Department of Education
Adult Education and Family Literacy
Miller_j at cde.state.co.us
-----Original Message-----
From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Barbara Garner
Sent: Tuesday, April 11, 2006 7:53 PM
To: Colletti, Cyndy; The Focus on Basics Discussion List
Subject: Re: [FocusOnBasics 215]  FOB Evaluation
One of the themes that is emerging in this discussion is how professional development providers serve as a conduit, introducing teachers to the publication and to particular articles.
If you're a teacher, how did you find out about "Focus on Basics"?
If you're a professional development provider, does your experience bear this out: do you introduce teacher to FOB?
And if we are able to find additional funding and continue publishing beyond 8C, where should we put our dissemination energy? Into reaching professional development providers, assuming they will introduce teachers to FOB? Or should we focus marketing efforts on teachers? Thoughts?
Barb Garner
Editor
From: "Colletti, Cyndy" <CColletti at ILSOS.NET>
Date: Tue Apr 11 16:17:24 CDT 2006
To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 215]  FOB Evaluation
FOB has always intrigued me because it's on top of the challenges that teachers and tutors face in classrooms across the country.  Once we were discussing the reasons that students go on or do not go on to other educational pursuits.  Soon I saw that the next issue of FOB would cover "Transitions."  This field is widely diverse and often isolated from each other and from a sense of itself as a field.  FOB is a unifying force as it presents the latest research and relates that research right to the instructional setting. In my job as a state level coordinator, I publicize each and every issue so that practitioners can use the information presented in the articles.  When I survey practitioners about what they need, I always hear, "Something I can use tomorrow."  Well, FOB has always provided just that.
Cyndy Colletti
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
From khinson71 at cox.net  Wed Apr 12 16:03:40 2006
From: khinson71 at cox.net (Katrina Hinson)
Date: Wed, 12 Apr 2006 16:03:40 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 220] Re: April 10-14: Discussion w/ Barb Garner on
 FOB Evaluation
In-Reply-To: <s433fbee.063@mail.jsi.com>
References: <s433fbee.063@mail.jsi.com>
Message-ID: <6.1.2.0.0.20060412155525.0288cba0@pop.east.cox.net>
>Below are some questions to think about as we prepare for this
>discussion.
>
>1. How do you use FOB in your professional life?
I use it as a point of reference for developing professional development 
projects at work. I also use it as an invaluable source of information. I 
like to see what is working in other places and adapt ideas to fit my work 
environment.  I share information with my colleagues both from the FOB 
issues and from the discussion list.
>2. Have you ever used FOB for professional development? How?
Yes, I have. I use it most often in this manner as reference/research tool.
>3. Did the findings of this report change or add to your concept of FOB,
>or your thoughts on how your program can use it?
It's given me some insight into some other ways we may can use it but the 
findings didn't really change my opinion or thoughts about FOB. I still 
think it's an invaluable resource of information for Adult Education 
professionals.
>4. Were any of the findings surprising to you in any way?
>
>5. Reportedly, 72% of respondents interact with colleagues about what
>they read in FOB. In what ways do you do this, and how does it affect
>your work?
I share what I read when it fits a conversation. I'll find myself referring 
to something I've read in FOB or telling someone that I saw something 
related to what they're interested in a FOB issue. As to my work, it makes 
me more conscious of the many ways information and ideas can be shared. It 
reminds me that I'm not alone and that people have faced the same 
challenges and hurdles that I face, have faced or will face. It also gives 
me strategies for dealing with the day to day classroom hurdles without 
losing my sanity.
>6. The report indicates that FOB "helps to create professionals; it
>provides practitioners with the sense that they are not working in
>isolation." How important is this to you and others in your program?
I'm not sure how important it is to others but to me, it's very important. 
Up until recently my department has consisted of a lot of individuals with 
their own individual tasks/ classroom environments...and there has been 
little discussion between the "parts" of the whole. FOB keeps me connected 
to the greater picture of Adult Ed and really does cut down on the feeling 
of isolation that surrounds the job. I think now that there have been some 
administrative changes that perhaps FOB can be a bridge to building 
teamwork both within the dept and within the classrooms.
>7. According to written comments from the survey, readers want more
>online discussions, workshops and study circles to reflect and share
>what they read in FOB. How can this discussion list
>help to meet this need better?
>
I think if the lists becomes an avenue for commenting, sharing ideas etc 
about related material in FOB, that it would be one way to meet the need.
Katrina Hinson 
-- 
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Checked by AVG Anti-Virus.
Version: 7.1.385 / Virus Database: 268.4.1/309 - Release Date: 4/11/06
From khinson71 at cox.net  Wed Apr 12 16:06:06 2006
From: khinson71 at cox.net (Katrina Hinson)
Date: Wed, 12 Apr 2006 16:06:06 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 221] Re: Editorial Board Members needed
In-Reply-To: <12275478.1046541144698424063.JavaMail.root@vms171.mailsrvc s.net>
References: <12275478.1046541144698424063.JavaMail.root@vms171.mailsrvcs.net>
Message-ID: <6.1.2.0.0.20060412160451.0288b170@pop.east.cox.net>
I would love to participate if you've not filled all the slots. I'm in 
North Carolina. I have experience teaching ABE, GED, ESL and AHS.  I have 
an undergrad degree in English with a concentration in writing and have 
worked as technical writer in the past.  I love every issue of FOB and 
hopefully this won't be the last.
Regards
Katrina Hinson
At 03:47 PM 4/10/06, you wrote:
>I'm recruiting for editorial board members for what might be the last 
>issue of "Focus on Basics." A familiarity with research (quant or 
>qualitative), a critical eye, and some experience as an ABE or ESOL 
>teacher would be great.
>The issue will feature research reports from a number of NCSALL 
>researchers: one on health and literacy, one on post GED activities, one 
>on reading, to name a few...
>The work will start sometime in May and continue sporadically through 
>September. We meet by phone to discuss the articles, setting our call 
>schedule to suit participants (it has worked nicely to settle on a weekly 
>meeting time, but that may be impossible in the summer).
>If a former ed board member could chime in to let list subscribers know 
>what the experience is like, that would be great.
>I select based on geography (states that have been underrepresented on the 
>board get priority) and otherwise on a first come first serve basis...A 
>small stipend is provided.
>Email me on the list or off (off: b.garner4 at verizon.net)
>Looking forward to hearing from you,
>Thanks,
>Barb Garner
>Editor, Focus on Basics
>
>----------------------------------------------------
>National Institute for Literacy
>Focus on Basics mailing list
>FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
>To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to 
>http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
>
>
>
>--
>No virus found in this incoming message.
>Checked by AVG Anti-Virus.
>Version: 7.1.385 / Virus Database: 268.4.1/307 - Release Date: 4/10/06
-- 
No virus found in this outgoing message.
Checked by AVG Anti-Virus.
Version: 7.1.385 / Virus Database: 268.4.1/309 - Release Date: 4/11/06
From sylviap at westman.wave.ca  Wed Apr 12 20:55:05 2006
From: sylviap at westman.wave.ca (Sylvia Provenski)
Date: Wed, 12 Apr 2006 19:55:05 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 222]  Editorial board
In-Reply-To: <mailman.3.1144857601.29223.focusonbasics@nifl.gov>
Message-ID: <001701c65e94$e7438350$0500a8c0@D4TWM391>
Are you interested in any Canadian editors for your board?
Sylvia P.
 
-----Original Message-----
From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov]
On Behalf Of focusonbasics-request at nifl.gov
Sent: April 12, 2006 11:00 AM
To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
Subject: FocusOnBasics Digest, Vol 7, Issue 7
Send FocusOnBasics mailing list submissions to
	focusonbasics at nifl.gov
To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit
	http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to
	focusonbasics-request at nifl.gov
You can reach the person managing the list at
	focusonbasics-owner at nifl.gov
When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific
than "Re: Contents of FocusOnBasics digest..."
Today's Topics:
   1. [FocusOnBasics 209]  Using FOB / Editorial Board (Barbara Garner)
   2. [FocusOnBasics 210] Re: Discussion Starts Today: FOB
      Evaluation	Results (Nancy McKeand)
   3. [FocusOnBasics 211]  Using FOB (Missy Slaathaug)
   4. [FocusOnBasics 212] Re: Using FOB (Barbara Garner)
   5. [FocusOnBasics 213] Re: Discussion Starts Today: FOB Evaluati
      on	Results (dharting)
   6. [FocusOnBasics 214] Re: Using FOB (Sarah Beaman-Jones)
   7. [FocusOnBasics 215]  FOB Evaluation (Colletti, Cyndy)
   8. [FocusOnBasics 216] Re: Using FOB (Barbara Garner)
   9. Re: [FocusOnBasics 215] ?FOB Evaluation (Barbara Garner)
  10. [FocusOnBasics 218] Re: Using FOB / Editorial Board
      (Varshna Narumanchi-Jackson)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Message: 1
Date: Tue, 11 Apr 2006 11:35:09 -0500 (CDT)
From: Barbara Garner <b.garner4 at verizon.net>
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 209]  Using FOB / Editorial Board
To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
Message-ID:
	<33154974.99691144773309098.JavaMail.root at vms073.mailsrvcs.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
Not a lot of folks (none...) jumping in to the discussion about the
evaluation of "Focus on Basics..."
The evaluation documented the many ways folks use the publication. Which
issue did you use most recently. How, and why?
Barb Garner
Editor, FOB
(PS, thanks to those who have come forth for the next editorial board. I'm
still taking names and will get back to everyone at the end of the week.
Oklahoma, Michigan, Delaware, you've been underrepresented...Is there anyone
on the list who from those states interested in joining the editorial
board?)
------------------------------
Message: 2
Date: Tue, 11 Apr 2006 13:14:49 -0500
From: "Nancy McKeand" <nancy.mckeand at gmail.com>
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 210] Re: Discussion Starts Today: FOB
	Evaluation	Results
To: "The Focus on Basics Discussion List" <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
Message-ID:
	<2e8319bb0604111114s7836569ax1591dda4cfdeeee0 at mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
I'm glad you asked about the illustrations, Barb, because I really liked
them.  The Lab School drawing on the cover of 8A is quite clever!  I like,
too, how Mary included some of the actual vocabulary that was discussed in
the articles in the drawings.
I think that the artwork is a real nice touch.  It makes FOB seem more
accessible, more inviting.
Nancy McKeand
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Message: 3
Date: Tue, 11 Apr 2006 14:32:47 -0500
From: "Missy Slaathaug" <mslaathaug at midco.net>
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 211]  Using FOB
To: <b.garner4 at verizon.net>,	"'The Focus on Basics Discussion List'"
	<focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
Message-ID: <000901c65d9e$b6c2e640$060ac90a at explorit3>
Content-Type: text/plain;	charset="us-ascii"
I like this publication very much.  I read all the issues and find them
useful and informative.  The last article I used actively was Robin
Schwarz' article on the struggling ESL learner.  We asked our new
teachers to read it prior to their New Teacher Training.  It was a great
article that generated a lot of discussion and hopefully raised the
level of awareness of these potential learner problems.  Keep up the
good work.  
Missy Slaathaug
ESL Technical Resource
South Dakota
mslaathaug at midco.net
-----Original Message-----
From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Barbara Garner
Sent: Tuesday, April 11, 2006 11:35 AM
To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 209] Using FOB / Editorial Board
Not a lot of folks (none...) jumping in to the discussion about the
evaluation of "Focus on Basics..."
The evaluation documented the many ways folks use the publication. Which
issue did you use most recently. How, and why?
Barb Garner
Editor, FOB
(PS, thanks to those who have come forth for the next editorial board.
I'm still taking names and will get back to everyone at the end of the
week. Oklahoma, Michigan, Delaware, you've been underrepresented...Is
there anyone on the list who from those states interested in joining the
editorial board?)
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
------------------------------
Message: 4
Date: Tue, 11 Apr 2006 14:50:47 -0500 (CDT)
From: Barbara Garner <b.garner4 at verizon.net>
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 212] Re: Using FOB
To: Missy Slaathaug <mslaathaug at midco.net>, b.garner4 at verizon.net,
	'The Focus on Basics Discussion List' <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
Message-ID:
	<7414113.232101144785047308.JavaMail.root at vms063.mailsrvcs.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
Thanks, Missy,,,
That struggling ESOL learner article really struck a chord. 
When you've been working in a field---any field---for awhile, it's easy to
forget how much you actually have learned and apply on a day-to-day basis.
Robin's article seems to have reminded us that new staff, or experienced
staff working with new types of learners, need information that may have
become second nature to some.
What other articles to folks use with new teachers, and why?
Barb
From: Missy Slaathaug <mslaathaug at midco.net>
Date: Tue Apr 11 14:32:47 CDT 2006
To: b.garner4 at verizon.net, 
	'The Focus on Basics Discussion List' <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
Subject: Using FOB
I like this publication very much.  I read all the issues and find them
useful and informative.  The last article I used actively was Robin
Schwarz' article on the struggling ESL learner.  We asked our new
teachers to read it prior to their New Teacher Training.  It was a great
article that generated a lot of discussion and hopefully raised the
level of awareness of these potential learner problems.  Keep up the
good work.  
Missy Slaathaug
ESL Technical Resource
South Dakota
mslaathaug at midco.net
-----Original Message-----
From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Barbara Garner
Sent: Tuesday, April 11, 2006 11:35 AM
To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 209] Using FOB / Editorial Board
Not a lot of folks (none...) jumping in to the discussion about the
evaluation of "Focus on Basics..."
The evaluation documented the many ways folks use the publication. Which
issue did you use most recently. How, and why?
Barb Garner
Editor, FOB
(PS, thanks to those who have come forth for the next editorial board.
I'm still taking names and will get back to everyone at the end of the
week. Oklahoma, Michigan, Delaware, you've been underrepresented...Is
there anyone on the list who from those states interested in joining the
editorial board?)
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
------------------------------
Message: 5
Date: Tue, 11 Apr 2006 15:47:13 -0400
From: dharting <dharting at proliteracy.org>
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 213] Re: Discussion Starts Today: FOB Evaluati
	on	Results
To: 'The Focus on Basics Discussion List' <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
Message-ID: <24C87A21440F3A4B94ED4594298D45F304B89A at hardy>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
Hi Barb:
 
I like the illustrations, too. I particularly liked the one from September
2003 that showed authentic materials like invoices and soup cans flying in
the window. Or were they flying out the window??
 
I also liked the way you used portions of the cover illustration inside the
publication to send visual cues that the inside article was related to the
cover story.
 
You're right: it's always a creative challenge to illustrate an abstract
concept in a concrete manner. The recently released NAAL is a good example.
We're blessed to have a talented and creative graphic artist on our staff
who helps us with these kinds of challenges.
 
Our survey research from the summer of 2005 revealed a high level of respect
for your publication among literacy field workers, esp. program managers.
Congratulations!
 
Don Harting
ProLiteracy America
Syracuse, New York
 
-----Original Message-----
From: Nancy McKeand [mailto:nancy.mckeand at gmail.com]
Sent: Tuesday, April 11, 2006 2:15 PM
To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 210] Re: Discussion Starts Today: FOB Evaluation
Results
I'm glad you asked about the illustrations, Barb, because I really liked
them.  The Lab School drawing on the cover of 8A is quite clever!  I like,
too, how Mary included some of the actual vocabulary that was discussed in
the articles in the drawings.    
I think that the artwork is a real nice touch.  It makes FOB seem more
accessible, more inviting.  
Nancy McKeand
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------------------------------
Message: 6
Date: Tue, 11 Apr 2006 15:51:39 -0500
From: Sarah Beaman-Jones <sbeaman at webster.edu>
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 214] Re: Using FOB
To: b.garner4 at verizon.net,	The Focus on Basics Discussion List
	<focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
Message-ID: <a06210201c061c6acc309@[10.10.138.248]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
This summer I will be leading a workshop for 
experienced adult educators.  They have four 
hours of activities assigned before the workshop. 
As part of the reading assignment, they can 
select one of four articles:
To find the articles, go to 
http://www.ncsall.net/index.php?id=167 and select 
either
What Silent Reading Tests alone Can't Tell you
or
There's Reading?..And Then There's Reading
These articles are about reading in general.  If 
you want to read more specifically on first level 
readers, go to 
http://www.ncsall.net/index.php?id=147 and select 
either
Techniques for Teaching Beginning-Level Reading to Adults
			or
Reading for Pleasure
BTW, there is no reason you can't read all four 
or even the entire issue if you get involved.
As you read the article, code the test in the following manner:
=   I agree
X  I thought differently
+   New information
!    WOW
?   I don't get it
*   I know this is important
[INSERT system "Interactive Notational System for 
Effective Reading and Thinking" from Vaughn & 
Estes, 1986]
After completing the reading, please complete a 
short reflection piece.  In one or two 
paragraphs, describe the main ideas of the 
article your read and your reaction to  them.
In one or two paragraphs, describe your experience using the INSERT system.
-- 
Sarah Beaman-Jones
Literacy Program Developer
LIFT-Missouri
815 Olive Street, Suite 22
St. Louis, MO 63101
1-800-729-4443 
1-314-678-4443 ext. 206
1-314-678-2938 [fax]
http://lift-missouri.org
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Message: 7
Date: Tue, 11 Apr 2006 16:17:24 -0500
From: "Colletti, Cyndy" <CColletti at ILSOS.NET>
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 215]  FOB Evaluation
To: "The Focus on Basics Discussion List" <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
Message-ID: <96DF6DA6D4E9A946B7D02E762CED51580393E24E at exc01.ilsos.net>
Content-Type: text/plain;	charset="iso-8859-1"
FOB has always intrigued me because it's on top of the challenges that
teachers and tutors face in classrooms across the country.  Once we were
discussing the reasons that students go on or do not go on to other
educational pursuits.  Soon I saw that the next issue of FOB would cover
"Transitions."  This field is widely diverse and often isolated from each
other and from a sense of itself as a field.  FOB is a unifying force as it
presents the latest research and relates that research right to the
instructional setting. In my job as a state level coordinator, I publicize
each and every issue so that practitioners can use the information presented
in the articles.  When I survey practitioners about what they need, I always
hear, "Something I can use tomorrow."  Well, FOB has always provided just
that.
Cyndy Colletti
------------------------------
Message: 8
Date: Tue, 11 Apr 2006 20:47:14 -0500 (CDT)
From: Barbara Garner <b.garner4 at verizon.net>
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 216] Re: Using FOB
To: Sarah Beaman-Jones <sbeaman at webster.edu>, b.garner4 at verizon.net,
	The Focus on Basics Discussion List <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
Message-ID:
	<24742110.266251144806434989.JavaMail.root at vms071.mailsrvcs.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
Sarah, 
Thanks for your thorough explanation of one way to use articles from "Focus
on Basics." (And thanks for bringing the
insert system to my attention: it's new to me and quite intriguing.)
Has anyone else used those articles for professional development? How did
you use them? Do you have any suggestions for Sarah?
Barb Garner
From: Sarah Beaman-Jones <sbeaman at webster.edu>
Date: Tue Apr 11 15:51:39 CDT 2006
To: b.garner4 at verizon.net, 
	The Focus on Basics Discussion List <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 214] Re: Using FOB
Re: Using FOBThis summer I will be leading a workshop for experienced
adulteducators.? They have four hours of activities assigned beforethe
workshop.? As part of the reading assignment, they can selectone of four
articles:To find the articles, go tohttp://www.ncsall.net/index.php?id=167
and select either
What Silent Reading Tests alone Can't Tell you
or
There's Reading?..And Then There's Reading
These articles are about reading in general.? If you want toread more
specifically on first level readers, go
tohttp://www.ncsall.net/index.php?id=147 and select either
Techniques for Teaching Beginning-Level Reading to Adults
????????????????????or
Reading for Pleasure
BTW, there is no reason you can't read allfour or even the entire issue if
you get involved.
As you read the article, code the test inthe following manner:
=?? I agree
X? I thought differently
+?? New information
!??? WOW
??? I don't get it
*?? I know this is important
[INSERT system "Interactive Notational System for Effective Readingand
Thinking" from Vaughn & Estes, 1986]
After completing the reading, please complete a short reflectionpiece.? In
one or two paragraphs, describe the main ideas of thearticle your read and
your reaction to? them.
In one or two paragraphs, describe your experience using the INSERTsystem.
--Sarah Beaman-Jones
Literacy Program Developer
LIFT-Missouri
815 Olive Street, Suite 22
St. Louis, MO 63101
1-800-729-4443?
1-314-678-4443 ext. 206
1-314-678-2938 [fax]
http://lift-missouri.org
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
------------------------------
Message: 9
Date: Tue, 11 Apr 2006 20:52:39 -0500 (CDT)
From: Barbara Garner <b.garner4 at verizon.net>
Subject: Re: [FocusOnBasics 215] ?FOB Evaluation
To: "Colletti, Cyndy" <CColletti at ILSOS.NET>,	The Focus on Basics
	Discussion List <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
Message-ID:
	<7501858.267731144806759429.JavaMail.root at vms071.mailsrvcs.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
One of the themes that is emerging in this discussion is how professional
development providers serve as a conduit, introducing teachers to the
publication and to particular articles.
If you're a teacher, how did you find out about "Focus on Basics"?
If you're a professional development provider, does your experience bear
this out: do you introduce teacher to FOB?
And if we are able to find additional funding and continue publishing beyond
8C, where should we put our dissemination energy? Into reaching professional
development providers, assuming they will introduce teachers to FOB? Or
should we focus marketing efforts on teachers? Thoughts?
Barb Garner
Editor
From: "Colletti, Cyndy" <CColletti at ILSOS.NET>
Date: Tue Apr 11 16:17:24 CDT 2006
To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 215]  FOB Evaluation
FOB has always intrigued me because it's on top of the challenges that
teachers and tutors face in classrooms across the country.  Once we were
discussing the reasons that students go on or do not go on to other
educational pursuits.  Soon I saw that the next issue of FOB would cover
"Transitions."  This field is widely diverse and often isolated from each
other and from a sense of itself as a field.  FOB is a unifying force as it
presents the latest research and relates that research right to the
instructional setting. In my job as a state level coordinator, I publicize
each and every issue so that practitioners can use the information presented
in the articles.  When I survey practitioners about what they need, I always
hear, "Something I can use tomorrow."  Well, FOB has always provided just
that.
Cyndy Colletti
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
------------------------------
Message: 10
Date: Tue, 11 Apr 2006 21:08:18 -0500
From: Varshna Narumanchi-Jackson <varshna at grandecom.net>
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 218] Re: Using FOB / Editorial Board
To: "b.garner4 at verizon.net, The Focus on Basics Discussion List"
	<focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
Message-ID: <C061CB42.983C%varshna at grandecom.net>
Content-Type: text/plain;	charset="US-ASCII"
Dear Barb:
The usefulness of FOB is, in my opinion, the result of the variety of the
articles and topics offered.  Just as there isn't a single recipe for
success in the classroom, what one benefits from in order to grow depends on
the different perspectives brought to the profession.  And I think that
you've done a good job of balancing the dynamic between research and
practice.  It's hard to document the transition from one realm to another,
but I think FOB strikes a balanced review to offer to academics and
classroom professionals alike.
I must confess that I don't have a lot of time to read these days, but I do
enjoy being able to access electronic copies.  It is definitely a website I
will continue to bookmark!
Thanks, Varshna.
--------------
Varshna Jackson
Austin, TX
PS. It was really a pleasure to serve on the editorial board -- very
stimulating and good company!
------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
End of FocusOnBasics Digest, Vol 7, Issue 7
*******************************************
From b.garner4 at verizon.net  Thu Apr 13 08:12:48 2006
From: b.garner4 at verizon.net (Barbara Garner)
Date: Thu, 13 Apr 2006 07:12:48 -0500 (CDT)
Subject: =?ISO-8859-1?B?UmU6IFtGb2N1c09uQmFzaWNzIDIyMl0goEVkaXRvcmlhbCBib2FyZA==?=
Message-ID: <26379734.824231144930368787.JavaMail.root@vms064.mailsrvcs.net>
Since FOB is funded by the US Gov (Institute of Education Sciences), I should first fill the FOB 8C board with US practitioners. If there are open slots and no other US volunteers, I see no reason not to have Canadians as well.
 
Given that much of the work will be done in the summer, when people's schedules are crazy, we'll have a more board members than usual. That way we'll always have a critical mass available. 
I'll announce the board the week of April 24, so if you haven't contacted me yet, there's still time. 
Barb Garner
Editor, FOB
From: Sylvia Provenski <sylviap at westman.wave.ca>
Date: Wed Apr 12 19:55:05 CDT 2006
To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 222]  Editorial board
Are you interested in any Canadian editors for your board?
Sylvia P.
 
-----Original Message-----
From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov]
On Behalf Of focusonbasics-request at nifl.gov
Sent: April 12, 2006 11:00 AM
To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
Subject: FocusOnBasics Digest, Vol 7, Issue 7
Send FocusOnBasics mailing list submissions to
	focusonbasics at nifl.gov
To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit
	http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to
	focusonbasics-request at nifl.gov
You can reach the person managing the list at
	focusonbasics-owner at nifl.gov
When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific
than "Re: Contents of FocusOnBasics digest..."
Today's Topics:
   1. [FocusOnBasics 209]  Using FOB / Editorial Board (Barbara Garner)
   2. [FocusOnBasics 210] Re: Discussion Starts Today: FOB
      Evaluation	Results (Nancy McKeand)
   3. [FocusOnBasics 211]  Using FOB (Missy Slaathaug)
   4. [FocusOnBasics 212] Re: Using FOB (Barbara Garner)
   5. [FocusOnBasics 213] Re: Discussion Starts Today: FOB Evaluati
      on	Results (dharting)
   6. [FocusOnBasics 214] Re: Using FOB (Sarah Beaman-Jones)
   7. [FocusOnBasics 215]  FOB Evaluation (Colletti, Cyndy)
   8. [FocusOnBasics 216] Re: Using FOB (Barbara Garner)
   9. Re: [FocusOnBasics 215] ?FOB Evaluation (Barbara Garner)
  10. [FocusOnBasics 218] Re: Using FOB / Editorial Board
      (Varshna Narumanchi-Jackson)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Message: 1
Date: Tue, 11 Apr 2006 11:35:09 -0500 (CDT)
From: Barbara Garner <b.garner4 at verizon.net>
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 209]  Using FOB / Editorial Board
To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
Message-ID:
	<33154974.99691144773309098.JavaMail.root at vms073.mailsrvcs.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
Not a lot of folks (none...) jumping in to the discussion about the
evaluation of "Focus on Basics..."
The evaluation documented the many ways folks use the publication. Which
issue did you use most recently. How, and why?
Barb Garner
Editor, FOB
(PS, thanks to those who have come forth for the next editorial board. I'm
still taking names and will get back to everyone at the end of the week.
Oklahoma, Michigan, Delaware, you've been underrepresented...Is there anyone
on the list who from those states interested in joining the editorial
board?)
------------------------------
Message: 2
Date: Tue, 11 Apr 2006 13:14:49 -0500
From: "Nancy McKeand" <nancy.mckeand at gmail.com>
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 210] Re: Discussion Starts Today: FOB
	Evaluation	Results
To: "The Focus on Basics Discussion List" <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
Message-ID:
	<2e8319bb0604111114s7836569ax1591dda4cfdeeee0 at mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
I'm glad you asked about the illustrations, Barb, because I really liked
them.  The Lab School drawing on the cover of 8A is quite clever!  I like,
too, how Mary included some of the actual vocabulary that was discussed in
the articles in the drawings.
I think that the artwork is a real nice touch.  It makes FOB seem more
accessible, more inviting.
Nancy McKeand
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Message: 3
Date: Tue, 11 Apr 2006 14:32:47 -0500
From: "Missy Slaathaug" <mslaathaug at midco.net>
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 211]  Using FOB
To: <b.garner4 at verizon.net>,	"'The Focus on Basics Discussion List'"
	<focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
Message-ID: <000901c65d9e$b6c2e640$060ac90a at explorit3>
Content-Type: text/plain;	charset="us-ascii"
I like this publication very much.  I read all the issues and find them
useful and informative.  The last article I used actively was Robin
Schwarz' article on the struggling ESL learner.  We asked our new
teachers to read it prior to their New Teacher Training.  It was a great
article that generated a lot of discussion and hopefully raised the
level of awareness of these potential learner problems.  Keep up the
good work.  
Missy Slaathaug
ESL Technical Resource
South Dakota
mslaathaug at midco.net
-----Original Message-----
From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Barbara Garner
Sent: Tuesday, April 11, 2006 11:35 AM
To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 209] Using FOB / Editorial Board
Not a lot of folks (none...) jumping in to the discussion about the
evaluation of "Focus on Basics..."
The evaluation documented the many ways folks use the publication. Which
issue did you use most recently. How, and why?
Barb Garner
Editor, FOB
(PS, thanks to those who have come forth for the next editorial board.
I'm still taking names and will get back to everyone at the end of the
week. Oklahoma, Michigan, Delaware, you've been underrepresented...Is
there anyone on the list who from those states interested in joining the
editorial board?)
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
------------------------------
Message: 4
Date: Tue, 11 Apr 2006 14:50:47 -0500 (CDT)
From: Barbara Garner <b.garner4 at verizon.net>
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 212] Re: Using FOB
To: Missy Slaathaug <mslaathaug at midco.net>, b.garner4 at verizon.net,
	'The Focus on Basics Discussion List' <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
Message-ID:
	<7414113.232101144785047308.JavaMail.root at vms063.mailsrvcs.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
Thanks, Missy,,,
That struggling ESOL learner article really struck a chord. 
When you've been working in a field---any field---for awhile, it's easy to
forget how much you actually have learned and apply on a day-to-day basis.
Robin's article seems to have reminded us that new staff, or experienced
staff working with new types of learners, need information that may have
become second nature to some.
What other articles to folks use with new teachers, and why?
Barb
From: Missy Slaathaug <mslaathaug at midco.net>
Date: Tue Apr 11 14:32:47 CDT 2006
To: b.garner4 at verizon.net, 
	'The Focus on Basics Discussion List' <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
Subject: Using FOB
I like this publication very much.  I read all the issues and find them
useful and informative.  The last article I used actively was Robin
Schwarz' article on the struggling ESL learner.  We asked our new
teachers to read it prior to their New Teacher Training.  It was a great
article that generated a lot of discussion and hopefully raised the
level of awareness of these potential learner problems.  Keep up the
good work.  
Missy Slaathaug
ESL Technical Resource
South Dakota
mslaathaug at midco.net
-----Original Message-----
From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Barbara Garner
Sent: Tuesday, April 11, 2006 11:35 AM
To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 209] Using FOB / Editorial Board
Not a lot of folks (none...) jumping in to the discussion about the
evaluation of "Focus on Basics..."
The evaluation documented the many ways folks use the publication. Which
issue did you use most recently. How, and why?
Barb Garner
Editor, FOB
(PS, thanks to those who have come forth for the next editorial board.
I'm still taking names and will get back to everyone at the end of the
week. Oklahoma, Michigan, Delaware, you've been underrepresented...Is
there anyone on the list who from those states interested in joining the
editorial board?)
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
------------------------------
Message: 5
Date: Tue, 11 Apr 2006 15:47:13 -0400
From: dharting <dharting at proliteracy.org>
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 213] Re: Discussion Starts Today: FOB Evaluati
	on	Results
To: 'The Focus on Basics Discussion List' <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
Message-ID: <24C87A21440F3A4B94ED4594298D45F304B89A at hardy>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
Hi Barb:
 
I like the illustrations, too. I particularly liked the one from September
2003 that showed authentic materials like invoices and soup cans flying in
the window. Or were they flying out the window??
 
I also liked the way you used portions of the cover illustration inside the
publication to send visual cues that the inside article was related to the
cover story.
 
You're right: it's always a creative challenge to illustrate an abstract
concept in a concrete manner. The recently released NAAL is a good example.
We're blessed to have a talented and creative graphic artist on our staff
who helps us with these kinds of challenges.
 
Our survey research from the summer of 2005 revealed a high level of respect
for your publication among literacy field workers, esp. program managers.
Congratulations!
 
Don Harting
ProLiteracy America
Syracuse, New York
 
-----Original Message-----
From: Nancy McKeand [mailto:nancy.mckeand at gmail.com]
Sent: Tuesday, April 11, 2006 2:15 PM
To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 210] Re: Discussion Starts Today: FOB Evaluation
Results
I'm glad you asked about the illustrations, Barb, because I really liked
them.  The Lab School drawing on the cover of 8A is quite clever!  I like,
too, how Mary included some of the actual vocabulary that was discussed in
the articles in the drawings.    
I think that the artwork is a real nice touch.  It makes FOB seem more
accessible, more inviting.  
Nancy McKeand
-------------- next part --------------
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URL:
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------------------------------
Message: 6
Date: Tue, 11 Apr 2006 15:51:39 -0500
From: Sarah Beaman-Jones <sbeaman at webster.edu>
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 214] Re: Using FOB
To: b.garner4 at verizon.net,	The Focus on Basics Discussion List
	<focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
Message-ID: <a06210201c061c6acc309@[10.10.138.248]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
This summer I will be leading a workshop for 
experienced adult educators.  They have four 
hours of activities assigned before the workshop. 
As part of the reading assignment, they can 
select one of four articles:
To find the articles, go to 
http://www.ncsall.net/index.php?id=167 and select 
either
What Silent Reading Tests alone Can't Tell you
or
There's Reading?..And Then There's Reading
These articles are about reading in general.  If 
you want to read more specifically on first level 
readers, go to 
http://www.ncsall.net/index.php?id=147 and select 
either
Techniques for Teaching Beginning-Level Reading to Adults
			or
Reading for Pleasure
BTW, there is no reason you can't read all four 
or even the entire issue if you get involved.
As you read the article, code the test in the following manner:
=   I agree
X  I thought differently
+   New information
!    WOW
?   I don't get it
*   I know this is important
[INSERT system "Interactive Notational System for 
Effective Reading and Thinking" from Vaughn & 
Estes, 1986]
After completing the reading, please complete a 
short reflection piece.  In one or two 
paragraphs, describe the main ideas of the 
article your read and your reaction to  them.
In one or two paragraphs, describe your experience using the INSERT system.
-- 
Sarah Beaman-Jones
Literacy Program Developer
LIFT-Missouri
815 Olive Street, Suite 22
St. Louis, MO 63101
1-800-729-4443 
1-314-678-4443 ext. 206
1-314-678-2938 [fax]
http://lift-missouri.org
-------------- next part --------------
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URL:
http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/focusonbasics/attachments/20060411/9e7f082d/at
tachment-0001.html
------------------------------
Message: 7
Date: Tue, 11 Apr 2006 16:17:24 -0500
From: "Colletti, Cyndy" <CColletti at ILSOS.NET>
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 215]  FOB Evaluation
To: "The Focus on Basics Discussion List" <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
Message-ID: <96DF6DA6D4E9A946B7D02E762CED51580393E24E at exc01.ilsos.net>
Content-Type: text/plain;	charset="iso-8859-1"
FOB has always intrigued me because it's on top of the challenges that
teachers and tutors face in classrooms across the country.  Once we were
discussing the reasons that students go on or do not go on to other
educational pursuits.  Soon I saw that the next issue of FOB would cover
"Transitions."  This field is widely diverse and often isolated from each
other and from a sense of itself as a field.  FOB is a unifying force as it
presents the latest research and relates that research right to the
instructional setting. In my job as a state level coordinator, I publicize
each and every issue so that practitioners can use the information presented
in the articles.  When I survey practitioners about what they need, I always
hear, "Something I can use tomorrow."  Well, FOB has always provided just
that.
Cyndy Colletti
------------------------------
Message: 8
Date: Tue, 11 Apr 2006 20:47:14 -0500 (CDT)
From: Barbara Garner <b.garner4 at verizon.net>
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 216] Re: Using FOB
To: Sarah Beaman-Jones <sbeaman at webster.edu>, b.garner4 at verizon.net,
	The Focus on Basics Discussion List <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
Message-ID:
	<24742110.266251144806434989.JavaMail.root at vms071.mailsrvcs.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
Sarah, 
Thanks for your thorough explanation of one way to use articles from "Focus
on Basics." (And thanks for bringing the
insert system to my attention: it's new to me and quite intriguing.)
Has anyone else used those articles for professional development? How did
you use them? Do you have any suggestions for Sarah?
Barb Garner
From: Sarah Beaman-Jones <sbeaman at webster.edu>
Date: Tue Apr 11 15:51:39 CDT 2006
To: b.garner4 at verizon.net, 
	The Focus on Basics Discussion List <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 214] Re: Using FOB
Re: Using FOBThis summer I will be leading a workshop for experienced
adulteducators.? They have four hours of activities assigned beforethe
workshop.? As part of the reading assignment, they can selectone of four
articles:To find the articles, go tohttp://www.ncsall.net/index.php?id=167
and select either
What Silent Reading Tests alone Can't Tell you
or
There's Reading?..And Then There's Reading
These articles are about reading in general.? If you want toread more
specifically on first level readers, go
tohttp://www.ncsall.net/index.php?id=147 and select either
Techniques for Teaching Beginning-Level Reading to Adults
????????????????????or
Reading for Pleasure
BTW, there is no reason you can't read allfour or even the entire issue if
you get involved.
As you read the article, code the test inthe following manner:
=?? I agree
X? I thought differently
+?? New information
!??? WOW
??? I don't get it
*?? I know this is important
[INSERT system "Interactive Notational System for Effective Readingand
Thinking" from Vaughn & Estes, 1986]
After completing the reading, please complete a short reflectionpiece.? In
one or two paragraphs, describe the main ideas of thearticle your read and
your reaction to? them.
In one or two paragraphs, describe your experience using the INSERTsystem.
--Sarah Beaman-Jones
Literacy Program Developer
LIFT-Missouri
815 Olive Street, Suite 22
St. Louis, MO 63101
1-800-729-4443?
1-314-678-4443 ext. 206
1-314-678-2938 [fax]
http://lift-missouri.org
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
------------------------------
Message: 9
Date: Tue, 11 Apr 2006 20:52:39 -0500 (CDT)
From: Barbara Garner <b.garner4 at verizon.net>
Subject: Re: [FocusOnBasics 215] ?FOB Evaluation
To: "Colletti, Cyndy" <CColletti at ILSOS.NET>,	The Focus on Basics
	Discussion List <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
Message-ID:
	<7501858.267731144806759429.JavaMail.root at vms071.mailsrvcs.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
One of the themes that is emerging in this discussion is how professional
development providers serve as a conduit, introducing teachers to the
publication and to particular articles.
If you're a teacher, how did you find out about "Focus on Basics"?
If you're a professional development provider, does your experience bear
this out: do you introduce teacher to FOB?
And if we are able to find additional funding and continue publishing beyond
8C, where should we put our dissemination energy? Into reaching professional
development providers, assuming they will introduce teachers to FOB? Or
should we focus marketing efforts on teachers? Thoughts?
Barb Garner
Editor
From: "Colletti, Cyndy" <CColletti at ILSOS.NET>
Date: Tue Apr 11 16:17:24 CDT 2006
To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 215]  FOB Evaluation
FOB has always intrigued me because it's on top of the challenges that
teachers and tutors face in classrooms across the country.  Once we were
discussing the reasons that students go on or do not go on to other
educational pursuits.  Soon I saw that the next issue of FOB would cover
"Transitions."  This field is widely diverse and often isolated from each
other and from a sense of itself as a field.  FOB is a unifying force as it
presents the latest research and relates that research right to the
instructional setting. In my job as a state level coordinator, I publicize
each and every issue so that practitioners can use the information presented
in the articles.  When I survey practitioners about what they need, I always
hear, "Something I can use tomorrow."  Well, FOB has always provided just
that.
Cyndy Colletti
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
------------------------------
Message: 10
Date: Tue, 11 Apr 2006 21:08:18 -0500
From: Varshna Narumanchi-Jackson <varshna at grandecom.net>
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 218] Re: Using FOB / Editorial Board
To: "b.garner4 at verizon.net, The Focus on Basics Discussion List"
	<focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
Message-ID: <C061CB42.983C%varshna at grandecom.net>
Content-Type: text/plain;	charset="US-ASCII"
Dear Barb:
The usefulness of FOB is, in my opinion, the result of the variety of the
articles and topics offered.  Just as there isn't a single recipe for
success in the classroom, what one benefits from in order to grow depends on
the different perspectives brought to the profession.  And I think that
you've done a good job of balancing the dynamic between research and
practice.  It's hard to document the transition from one realm to another,
but I think FOB strikes a balanced review to offer to academics and
classroom professionals alike.
I must confess that I don't have a lot of time to read these days, but I do
enjoy being able to access electronic copies.  It is definitely a website I
will continue to bookmark!
Thanks, Varshna.
--------------
Varshna Jackson
Austin, TX
PS. It was really a pleasure to serve on the editorial board -- very
stimulating and good company!
------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
End of FocusOnBasics Digest, Vol 7, Issue 7
*******************************************
----------------------------------------------------
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From bgiven at gmu.edu  Thu Apr 13 08:19:02 2006
From: bgiven at gmu.edu (bgiven at gmu.edu)
Date: Thu, 13 Apr 2006 08:19:02 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 224]  editorial board
Message-ID: <f74082904a26a.443e0976@gmu.edu>
I am responding to the below notification that FoB is in need of new members for its editorial board. If you have remaining need, I would be happy to work with you. barb given
Barbara K. Given, Ph.D.
Director, Adolescent and Adult Learning Research Center
Krasnow Institute for Advanced Study, and
Director, Center for Honoring Individual Learning Diversity and International Learning Style 
George Mason University
Fairfax, VA 22030-4444
Fax: 703-993-4325
Ph:  703-993-4406
I'm recruiting for editorial board members for what might be the last 
>issue of "Focus on Basics." A familiarity with research (quant or 
>qualitative), a critical eye, and some experience as an ABE or ESOL 
>teacher would be great.
>The issue will feature research reports from a number of NCSALL 
>researchers: one on health and literacy, one on post GED activities, one 
>on reading, to name a few...
>The work will start sometime in May and continue sporadically through 
>September. We meet by phone to discuss the articles, setting our call 
>schedule to suit participants (it has worked nicely to settle on a weekly 
>meeting time, but that may be impossible in the summer).
>If a former ed board member could chime in to let list subscribers know 
>what the experience is like, that would be great.
>I select based on geography (states that have been underrepresented on the 
>board get priority) and otherwise on a first come first serve basis...A 
>small stipend is provided.
>Email me on the list or off (off: b.garner4 at verizon.net)
>Looking forward to hearing from you,
>Thanks,
>Barb Garner
>Editor, Focus on Basics
>
>----------------------------------------------------
>National Institute for Literacy
>Focus on Basics mailing list
>FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
>To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to 
>http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
From vicart at earthlink.net  Wed Apr 12 15:40:54 2006
From: vicart at earthlink.net (Victor Alejo)
Date: Wed, 12 Apr 2006 15:40:54 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 225] Fwd: [NIFL-FOBASICS:1364] FW: RE: External
	Diploma Program
Message-ID: <419EE35C-CA5C-11DA-8128-000393D9E808@earthlink.net>
Begin forwarded message:
> From: Victor Alejo <vicart at earthlink.net>
> Date: Wed Apr 12, 2006  1:46:04  PM America/New_York
> To: nifl-fobasics at nifl.gov
> Subject: Re: [NIFL-FOBASICS:1364] FW: RE: External Diploma Program
>
> I need to find out if you could help me find a place in New York City 
> that could offer the External Diploma Program.  There has to be a 
> place in the Big Apple that offers this program in order to get your 
> high school diploma.  I been trying to find it on my own but, no luck 
> at all with results.  I hope that you send me information or details 
> where can l go and start the EDP program.  I live in the Bronx, NY 
> but, l love to see if they would have this program in Manhattan, NY.  
> I will wait for your reply soon.
>
> Regards,
>
> Victor Alejo
>
From mslaathaug at midco.net  Thu Apr 13 09:57:09 2006
From: mslaathaug at midco.net (Missy Slaathaug)
Date: Thu, 13 Apr 2006 08:57:09 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 226]  might be the last issue?
In-Reply-To: <26379734.824231144930368787.JavaMail.root@vms064.mailsrvcs.net>
Message-ID: <003c01c65f02$28535100$030ac90a@explorit3>
I feel like I missed something - why might this be the last issue of
FOB?  It is an excellent publication, which many of us use in many
different ways.  I would hate to see it disappear. 
Missy Slaathaug
-----Original Message-----
From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Barbara Garner
Sent: Thursday, April 13, 2006 7:13 AM
To: Sylvia Provenski; focusonbasics at nifl.gov
Subject: Re: [FocusOnBasics 222] ?Editorial board
Since FOB is funded by the US Gov (Institute of Education Sciences), I
should first fill the FOB 8C board with US practitioners. If there are
open slots and no other US volunteers, I see no reason not to have
Canadians as well.
 
Given that much of the work will be done in the summer, when people's
schedules are crazy, we'll have a more board members than usual. That
way we'll always have a critical mass available. 
I'll announce the board the week of April 24, so if you haven't
contacted me yet, there's still time. 
Barb Garner
Editor, FOB
From: Sylvia Provenski <sylviap at westman.wave.ca>
Date: Wed Apr 12 19:55:05 CDT 2006
To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 222]  Editorial board
Are you interested in any Canadian editors for your board?
Sylvia P.
 
-----Original Message-----
From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov]
On Behalf Of focusonbasics-request at nifl.gov
Sent: April 12, 2006 11:00 AM
To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
Subject: FocusOnBasics Digest, Vol 7, Issue 7
Send FocusOnBasics mailing list submissions to
	focusonbasics at nifl.gov
To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit
	http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to
	focusonbasics-request at nifl.gov
You can reach the person managing the list at
	focusonbasics-owner at nifl.gov
When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific
than "Re: Contents of FocusOnBasics digest..."
Today's Topics:
   1. [FocusOnBasics 209]  Using FOB / Editorial Board (Barbara Garner)
   2. [FocusOnBasics 210] Re: Discussion Starts Today: FOB
      Evaluation	Results (Nancy McKeand)
   3. [FocusOnBasics 211]  Using FOB (Missy Slaathaug)
   4. [FocusOnBasics 212] Re: Using FOB (Barbara Garner)
   5. [FocusOnBasics 213] Re: Discussion Starts Today: FOB Evaluati
      on	Results (dharting)
   6. [FocusOnBasics 214] Re: Using FOB (Sarah Beaman-Jones)
   7. [FocusOnBasics 215]  FOB Evaluation (Colletti, Cyndy)
   8. [FocusOnBasics 216] Re: Using FOB (Barbara Garner)
   9. Re: [FocusOnBasics 215] ?FOB Evaluation (Barbara Garner)
  10. [FocusOnBasics 218] Re: Using FOB / Editorial Board
      (Varshna Narumanchi-Jackson)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Message: 1
Date: Tue, 11 Apr 2006 11:35:09 -0500 (CDT)
From: Barbara Garner <b.garner4 at verizon.net>
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 209]  Using FOB / Editorial Board
To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
Message-ID:
	<33154974.99691144773309098.JavaMail.root at vms073.mailsrvcs.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
Not a lot of folks (none...) jumping in to the discussion about the
evaluation of "Focus on Basics..."
The evaluation documented the many ways folks use the publication. Which
issue did you use most recently. How, and why?
Barb Garner
Editor, FOB
(PS, thanks to those who have come forth for the next editorial board.
I'm
still taking names and will get back to everyone at the end of the week.
Oklahoma, Michigan, Delaware, you've been underrepresented...Is there
anyone
on the list who from those states interested in joining the editorial
board?)
------------------------------
Message: 2
Date: Tue, 11 Apr 2006 13:14:49 -0500
From: "Nancy McKeand" <nancy.mckeand at gmail.com>
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 210] Re: Discussion Starts Today: FOB
	Evaluation	Results
To: "The Focus on Basics Discussion List" <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
Message-ID:
	<2e8319bb0604111114s7836569ax1591dda4cfdeeee0 at mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
I'm glad you asked about the illustrations, Barb, because I really liked
them.  The Lab School drawing on the cover of 8A is quite clever!  I
like,
too, how Mary included some of the actual vocabulary that was discussed
in
the articles in the drawings.
I think that the artwork is a real nice touch.  It makes FOB seem more
accessible, more inviting.
Nancy McKeand
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Message: 3
Date: Tue, 11 Apr 2006 14:32:47 -0500
From: "Missy Slaathaug" <mslaathaug at midco.net>
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 211]  Using FOB
To: <b.garner4 at verizon.net>,	"'The Focus on Basics Discussion List'"
	<focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
Message-ID: <000901c65d9e$b6c2e640$060ac90a at explorit3>
Content-Type: text/plain;	charset="us-ascii"
I like this publication very much.  I read all the issues and find them
useful and informative.  The last article I used actively was Robin
Schwarz' article on the struggling ESL learner.  We asked our new
teachers to read it prior to their New Teacher Training.  It was a great
article that generated a lot of discussion and hopefully raised the
level of awareness of these potential learner problems.  Keep up the
good work.  
Missy Slaathaug
ESL Technical Resource
South Dakota
mslaathaug at midco.net
-----Original Message-----
From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Barbara Garner
Sent: Tuesday, April 11, 2006 11:35 AM
To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 209] Using FOB / Editorial Board
Not a lot of folks (none...) jumping in to the discussion about the
evaluation of "Focus on Basics..."
The evaluation documented the many ways folks use the publication. Which
issue did you use most recently. How, and why?
Barb Garner
Editor, FOB
(PS, thanks to those who have come forth for the next editorial board.
I'm still taking names and will get back to everyone at the end of the
week. Oklahoma, Michigan, Delaware, you've been underrepresented...Is
there anyone on the list who from those states interested in joining the
editorial board?)
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
------------------------------
Message: 4
Date: Tue, 11 Apr 2006 14:50:47 -0500 (CDT)
From: Barbara Garner <b.garner4 at verizon.net>
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 212] Re: Using FOB
To: Missy Slaathaug <mslaathaug at midco.net>, b.garner4 at verizon.net,
	'The Focus on Basics Discussion List' <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
Message-ID:
	<7414113.232101144785047308.JavaMail.root at vms063.mailsrvcs.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
Thanks, Missy,,,
That struggling ESOL learner article really struck a chord. 
When you've been working in a field---any field---for awhile, it's easy
to
forget how much you actually have learned and apply on a day-to-day
basis.
Robin's article seems to have reminded us that new staff, or experienced
staff working with new types of learners, need information that may have
become second nature to some.
What other articles to folks use with new teachers, and why?
Barb
From: Missy Slaathaug <mslaathaug at midco.net>
Date: Tue Apr 11 14:32:47 CDT 2006
To: b.garner4 at verizon.net, 
	'The Focus on Basics Discussion List' <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
Subject: Using FOB
I like this publication very much.  I read all the issues and find them
useful and informative.  The last article I used actively was Robin
Schwarz' article on the struggling ESL learner.  We asked our new
teachers to read it prior to their New Teacher Training.  It was a great
article that generated a lot of discussion and hopefully raised the
level of awareness of these potential learner problems.  Keep up the
good work.  
Missy Slaathaug
ESL Technical Resource
South Dakota
mslaathaug at midco.net
-----Original Message-----
From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Barbara Garner
Sent: Tuesday, April 11, 2006 11:35 AM
To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 209] Using FOB / Editorial Board
Not a lot of folks (none...) jumping in to the discussion about the
evaluation of "Focus on Basics..."
The evaluation documented the many ways folks use the publication. Which
issue did you use most recently. How, and why?
Barb Garner
Editor, FOB
(PS, thanks to those who have come forth for the next editorial board.
I'm still taking names and will get back to everyone at the end of the
week. Oklahoma, Michigan, Delaware, you've been underrepresented...Is
there anyone on the list who from those states interested in joining the
editorial board?)
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
------------------------------
Message: 5
Date: Tue, 11 Apr 2006 15:47:13 -0400
From: dharting <dharting at proliteracy.org>
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 213] Re: Discussion Starts Today: FOB Evaluati
	on	Results
To: 'The Focus on Basics Discussion List' <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
Message-ID: <24C87A21440F3A4B94ED4594298D45F304B89A at hardy>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
Hi Barb:
 
I like the illustrations, too. I particularly liked the one from
September
2003 that showed authentic materials like invoices and soup cans flying
in
the window. Or were they flying out the window??
 
I also liked the way you used portions of the cover illustration inside
the
publication to send visual cues that the inside article was related to
the
cover story.
 
You're right: it's always a creative challenge to illustrate an abstract
concept in a concrete manner. The recently released NAAL is a good
example.
We're blessed to have a talented and creative graphic artist on our
staff
who helps us with these kinds of challenges.
 
Our survey research from the summer of 2005 revealed a high level of
respect
for your publication among literacy field workers, esp. program
managers.
Congratulations!
 
Don Harting
ProLiteracy America
Syracuse, New York
 
-----Original Message-----
From: Nancy McKeand [mailto:nancy.mckeand at gmail.com]
Sent: Tuesday, April 11, 2006 2:15 PM
To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 210] Re: Discussion Starts Today: FOB Evaluation
Results
I'm glad you asked about the illustrations, Barb, because I really liked
them.  The Lab School drawing on the cover of 8A is quite clever!  I
like,
too, how Mary included some of the actual vocabulary that was discussed
in
the articles in the drawings.    
I think that the artwork is a real nice touch.  It makes FOB seem more
accessible, more inviting.  
Nancy McKeand
-------------- next part --------------
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------------------------------
Message: 6
Date: Tue, 11 Apr 2006 15:51:39 -0500
From: Sarah Beaman-Jones <sbeaman at webster.edu>
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 214] Re: Using FOB
To: b.garner4 at verizon.net,	The Focus on Basics Discussion List
	<focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
Message-ID: <a06210201c061c6acc309@[10.10.138.248]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
This summer I will be leading a workshop for 
experienced adult educators.  They have four 
hours of activities assigned before the workshop. 
As part of the reading assignment, they can 
select one of four articles:
To find the articles, go to 
http://www.ncsall.net/index.php?id=167 and select 
either
What Silent Reading Tests alone Can't Tell you
or
There's Reading?..And Then There's Reading
These articles are about reading in general.  If 
you want to read more specifically on first level 
readers, go to 
http://www.ncsall.net/index.php?id=147 and select 
either
Techniques for Teaching Beginning-Level Reading to Adults
			or
Reading for Pleasure
BTW, there is no reason you can't read all four 
or even the entire issue if you get involved.
As you read the article, code the test in the following manner:
=   I agree
X  I thought differently
+   New information
!    WOW
?   I don't get it
*   I know this is important
[INSERT system "Interactive Notational System for 
Effective Reading and Thinking" from Vaughn & 
Estes, 1986]
After completing the reading, please complete a 
short reflection piece.  In one or two 
paragraphs, describe the main ideas of the 
article your read and your reaction to  them.
In one or two paragraphs, describe your experience using the INSERT
system.
-- 
Sarah Beaman-Jones
Literacy Program Developer
LIFT-Missouri
815 Olive Street, Suite 22
St. Louis, MO 63101
1-800-729-4443 
1-314-678-4443 ext. 206
1-314-678-2938 [fax]
http://lift-missouri.org
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------------------------------
Message: 7
Date: Tue, 11 Apr 2006 16:17:24 -0500
From: "Colletti, Cyndy" <CColletti at ILSOS.NET>
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 215]  FOB Evaluation
To: "The Focus on Basics Discussion List" <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
Message-ID: <96DF6DA6D4E9A946B7D02E762CED51580393E24E at exc01.ilsos.net>
Content-Type: text/plain;	charset="iso-8859-1"
FOB has always intrigued me because it's on top of the challenges that
teachers and tutors face in classrooms across the country.  Once we were
discussing the reasons that students go on or do not go on to other
educational pursuits.  Soon I saw that the next issue of FOB would cover
"Transitions."  This field is widely diverse and often isolated from
each
other and from a sense of itself as a field.  FOB is a unifying force as
it
presents the latest research and relates that research right to the
instructional setting. In my job as a state level coordinator, I
publicize
each and every issue so that practitioners can use the information
presented
in the articles.  When I survey practitioners about what they need, I
always
hear, "Something I can use tomorrow."  Well, FOB has always provided
just
that.
Cyndy Colletti
------------------------------
Message: 8
Date: Tue, 11 Apr 2006 20:47:14 -0500 (CDT)
From: Barbara Garner <b.garner4 at verizon.net>
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 216] Re: Using FOB
To: Sarah Beaman-Jones <sbeaman at webster.edu>, b.garner4 at verizon.net,
	The Focus on Basics Discussion List <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
Message-ID:
	<24742110.266251144806434989.JavaMail.root at vms071.mailsrvcs.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
Sarah, 
Thanks for your thorough explanation of one way to use articles from
"Focus
on Basics." (And thanks for bringing the
insert system to my attention: it's new to me and quite intriguing.)
Has anyone else used those articles for professional development? How
did
you use them? Do you have any suggestions for Sarah?
Barb Garner
From: Sarah Beaman-Jones <sbeaman at webster.edu>
Date: Tue Apr 11 15:51:39 CDT 2006
To: b.garner4 at verizon.net, 
	The Focus on Basics Discussion List <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 214] Re: Using FOB
Re: Using FOBThis summer I will be leading a workshop for experienced
adulteducators.? They have four hours of activities assigned beforethe
workshop.? As part of the reading assignment, they can selectone of four
articles:To find the articles, go
tohttp://www.ncsall.net/index.php?id=167
and select either
What Silent Reading Tests alone Can't Tell you
or
There's Reading?..And Then There's Reading
These articles are about reading in general.? If you want toread more
specifically on first level readers, go
tohttp://www.ncsall.net/index.php?id=147 and select either
Techniques for Teaching Beginning-Level Reading to Adults
????????????????????or
Reading for Pleasure
BTW, there is no reason you can't read allfour or even the entire issue
if
you get involved.
As you read the article, code the test inthe following manner:
=?? I agree
X? I thought differently
+?? New information
!??? WOW
??? I don't get it
*?? I know this is important
[INSERT system "Interactive Notational System for Effective Readingand
Thinking" from Vaughn & Estes, 1986]
After completing the reading, please complete a short reflectionpiece.?
In
one or two paragraphs, describe the main ideas of thearticle your read
and
your reaction to? them.
In one or two paragraphs, describe your experience using the
INSERTsystem.
--Sarah Beaman-Jones
Literacy Program Developer
LIFT-Missouri
815 Olive Street, Suite 22
St. Louis, MO 63101
1-800-729-4443?
1-314-678-4443 ext. 206
1-314-678-2938 [fax]
http://lift-missouri.org
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
------------------------------
Message: 9
Date: Tue, 11 Apr 2006 20:52:39 -0500 (CDT)
From: Barbara Garner <b.garner4 at verizon.net>
Subject: Re: [FocusOnBasics 215] ?FOB Evaluation
To: "Colletti, Cyndy" <CColletti at ILSOS.NET>,	The Focus on Basics
	Discussion List <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
Message-ID:
	<7501858.267731144806759429.JavaMail.root at vms071.mailsrvcs.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
One of the themes that is emerging in this discussion is how
professional
development providers serve as a conduit, introducing teachers to the
publication and to particular articles.
If you're a teacher, how did you find out about "Focus on Basics"?
If you're a professional development provider, does your experience bear
this out: do you introduce teacher to FOB?
And if we are able to find additional funding and continue publishing
beyond
8C, where should we put our dissemination energy? Into reaching
professional
development providers, assuming they will introduce teachers to FOB? Or
should we focus marketing efforts on teachers? Thoughts?
Barb Garner
Editor
From: "Colletti, Cyndy" <CColletti at ILSOS.NET>
Date: Tue Apr 11 16:17:24 CDT 2006
To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 215]  FOB Evaluation
FOB has always intrigued me because it's on top of the challenges that
teachers and tutors face in classrooms across the country.  Once we were
discussing the reasons that students go on or do not go on to other
educational pursuits.  Soon I saw that the next issue of FOB would cover
"Transitions."  This field is widely diverse and often isolated from
each
other and from a sense of itself as a field.  FOB is a unifying force as
it
presents the latest research and relates that research right to the
instructional setting. In my job as a state level coordinator, I
publicize
each and every issue so that practitioners can use the information
presented
in the articles.  When I survey practitioners about what they need, I
always
hear, "Something I can use tomorrow."  Well, FOB has always provided
just
that.
Cyndy Colletti
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
------------------------------
Message: 10
Date: Tue, 11 Apr 2006 21:08:18 -0500
From: Varshna Narumanchi-Jackson <varshna at grandecom.net>
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 218] Re: Using FOB / Editorial Board
To: "b.garner4 at verizon.net, The Focus on Basics Discussion List"
	<focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
Message-ID: <C061CB42.983C%varshna at grandecom.net>
Content-Type: text/plain;	charset="US-ASCII"
Dear Barb:
The usefulness of FOB is, in my opinion, the result of the variety of
the
articles and topics offered.  Just as there isn't a single recipe for
success in the classroom, what one benefits from in order to grow
depends on
the different perspectives brought to the profession.  And I think that
you've done a good job of balancing the dynamic between research and
practice.  It's hard to document the transition from one realm to
another,
but I think FOB strikes a balanced review to offer to academics and
classroom professionals alike.
I must confess that I don't have a lot of time to read these days, but I
do
enjoy being able to access electronic copies.  It is definitely a
website I
will continue to bookmark!
Thanks, Varshna.
--------------
Varshna Jackson
Austin, TX
PS. It was really a pleasure to serve on the editorial board -- very
stimulating and good company!
------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------
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To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
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End of FocusOnBasics Digest, Vol 7, Issue 7
*******************************************
----------------------------------------------------
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From julie_mcKinney at worlded.org  Thu Apr 13 10:05:31 2006
From: julie_mcKinney at worlded.org (Julie  McKinney)
Date: Thu, 13 Apr 2006 10:05:31 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 227]  Searching for topics on FOB
Message-ID: <s43e228c.010@mail.jsi.com>
I agree that the variety and relevance of the topics covered are one of
the strengths of FOB. Almost every article I read gives insight into
some specific aspect of working and learning in a classroom that
teachers face daily, and the "Implications for Teaching" sections at the
end of the articles tie that insight into action. 
KC Andrew mentioned keeping copies for later because the topic "becomes
relevant over time." This reminded me that there is a wealth of past
topics that may become relevant and are worth going back to find. When I
recently did a presentation on Health Literacy, I found the issue that
addressed Health Literacy, used the information from it, and distributed
it. (I always feel like Santa when I distribute copies--they are so
prized!)
I am lucky enough to work at the dissemination center for FOB, so I can
easily find the back issues with topics I need, so I am not very
familiar with searching for back issues and topics on the NCSALL
website. Barb, can you please give us a run-down on how to search for
past FOB topics?
Thanks,
Julie
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
From b.garner4 at verizon.net  Thu Apr 13 10:30:12 2006
From: b.garner4 at verizon.net (Barbara Garner)
Date: Thu, 13 Apr 2006 09:30:12 -0500 (CDT)
Subject: =?ISO-8859-1?B?UmU6IFtGb2N1c09uQmFzaWNzIDIyNl0g?=
	=?ISO-8859-1?B?oG1pZ2h0IGJlIHRoZSBsYXN0IGlzc3VlPw==?=
Message-ID: <1550908.654201144938612594.JavaMail.root@vms071.mailsrvcs.net>
The funding for NCSALL ends at the end of the year. After that, the US DOE won't be funding a research center that focuses on adult basic education.
We have been trying to raise funds to keep "Focus on Basics" going, but have not secured anything yet. We're still trying, but can not say with any assurance that we will be able to publish past 8C.
Barb Garner
Editor, "Focus on Basic"
From: Missy Slaathaug <mslaathaug at midco.net>
Date: Thu Apr 13 08:57:09 CDT 2006
To: 'The Focus on Basics Discussion List' <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 226]  might be the last issue?
I feel like I missed something - why might this be the last issue of
FOB?  It is an excellent publication, which many of us use in many
different ways.  I would hate to see it disappear. 
Missy Slaathaug
-----Original Message-----
From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Barbara Garner
Sent: Thursday, April 13, 2006 7:13 AM
To: Sylvia Provenski; focusonbasics at nifl.gov
Subject: Re: [FocusOnBasics 222] ?Editorial board
Since FOB is funded by the US Gov (Institute of Education Sciences), I
should first fill the FOB 8C board with US practitioners. If there are
open slots and no other US volunteers, I see no reason not to have
Canadians as well.
 
Given that much of the work will be done in the summer, when people's
schedules are crazy, we'll have a more board members than usual. That
way we'll always have a critical mass available. 
I'll announce the board the week of April 24, so if you haven't
contacted me yet, there's still time. 
Barb Garner
Editor, FOB
From: Sylvia Provenski <sylviap at westman.wave.ca>
Date: Wed Apr 12 19:55:05 CDT 2006
To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 222]  Editorial board
Are you interested in any Canadian editors for your board?
Sylvia P.
 
-----Original Message-----
From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov]
On Behalf Of focusonbasics-request at nifl.gov
Sent: April 12, 2006 11:00 AM
To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
Subject: FocusOnBasics Digest, Vol 7, Issue 7
Send FocusOnBasics mailing list submissions to
	focusonbasics at nifl.gov
To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit
	http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
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When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific
than "Re: Contents of FocusOnBasics digest..."
Today's Topics:
   1. [FocusOnBasics 209]  Using FOB / Editorial Board (Barbara Garner)
   2. [FocusOnBasics 210] Re: Discussion Starts Today: FOB
      Evaluation	Results (Nancy McKeand)
   3. [FocusOnBasics 211]  Using FOB (Missy Slaathaug)
   4. [FocusOnBasics 212] Re: Using FOB (Barbara Garner)
   5. [FocusOnBasics 213] Re: Discussion Starts Today: FOB Evaluati
      on	Results (dharting)
   6. [FocusOnBasics 214] Re: Using FOB (Sarah Beaman-Jones)
   7. [FocusOnBasics 215]  FOB Evaluation (Colletti, Cyndy)
   8. [FocusOnBasics 216] Re: Using FOB (Barbara Garner)
   9. Re: [FocusOnBasics 215] ?FOB Evaluation (Barbara Garner)
  10. [FocusOnBasics 218] Re: Using FOB / Editorial Board
      (Varshna Narumanchi-Jackson)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Message: 1
Date: Tue, 11 Apr 2006 11:35:09 -0500 (CDT)
From: Barbara Garner <b.garner4 at verizon.net>
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 209]  Using FOB / Editorial Board
To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
Message-ID:
	<33154974.99691144773309098.JavaMail.root at vms073.mailsrvcs.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
Not a lot of folks (none...) jumping in to the discussion about the
evaluation of "Focus on Basics..."
The evaluation documented the many ways folks use the publication. Which
issue did you use most recently. How, and why?
Barb Garner
Editor, FOB
(PS, thanks to those who have come forth for the next editorial board.
I'm
still taking names and will get back to everyone at the end of the week.
Oklahoma, Michigan, Delaware, you've been underrepresented...Is there
anyone
on the list who from those states interested in joining the editorial
board?)
------------------------------
Message: 2
Date: Tue, 11 Apr 2006 13:14:49 -0500
From: "Nancy McKeand" <nancy.mckeand at gmail.com>
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 210] Re: Discussion Starts Today: FOB
	Evaluation	Results
To: "The Focus on Basics Discussion List" <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
Message-ID:
	<2e8319bb0604111114s7836569ax1591dda4cfdeeee0 at mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
I'm glad you asked about the illustrations, Barb, because I really liked
them.  The Lab School drawing on the cover of 8A is quite clever!  I
like,
too, how Mary included some of the actual vocabulary that was discussed
in
the articles in the drawings.
I think that the artwork is a real nice touch.  It makes FOB seem more
accessible, more inviting.
Nancy McKeand
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Message: 3
Date: Tue, 11 Apr 2006 14:32:47 -0500
From: "Missy Slaathaug" <mslaathaug at midco.net>
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 211]  Using FOB
To: <b.garner4 at verizon.net>,	"'The Focus on Basics Discussion List'"
	<focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
Message-ID: <000901c65d9e$b6c2e640$060ac90a at explorit3>
Content-Type: text/plain;	charset="us-ascii"
I like this publication very much.  I read all the issues and find them
useful and informative.  The last article I used actively was Robin
Schwarz' article on the struggling ESL learner.  We asked our new
teachers to read it prior to their New Teacher Training.  It was a great
article that generated a lot of discussion and hopefully raised the
level of awareness of these potential learner problems.  Keep up the
good work.  
Missy Slaathaug
ESL Technical Resource
South Dakota
mslaathaug at midco.net
-----Original Message-----
From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Barbara Garner
Sent: Tuesday, April 11, 2006 11:35 AM
To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 209] Using FOB / Editorial Board
Not a lot of folks (none...) jumping in to the discussion about the
evaluation of "Focus on Basics..."
The evaluation documented the many ways folks use the publication. Which
issue did you use most recently. How, and why?
Barb Garner
Editor, FOB
(PS, thanks to those who have come forth for the next editorial board.
I'm still taking names and will get back to everyone at the end of the
week. Oklahoma, Michigan, Delaware, you've been underrepresented...Is
there anyone on the list who from those states interested in joining the
editorial board?)
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
------------------------------
Message: 4
Date: Tue, 11 Apr 2006 14:50:47 -0500 (CDT)
From: Barbara Garner <b.garner4 at verizon.net>
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 212] Re: Using FOB
To: Missy Slaathaug <mslaathaug at midco.net>, b.garner4 at verizon.net,
	'The Focus on Basics Discussion List' <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
Message-ID:
	<7414113.232101144785047308.JavaMail.root at vms063.mailsrvcs.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
Thanks, Missy,,,
That struggling ESOL learner article really struck a chord. 
When you've been working in a field---any field---for awhile, it's easy
to
forget how much you actually have learned and apply on a day-to-day
basis.
Robin's article seems to have reminded us that new staff, or experienced
staff working with new types of learners, need information that may have
become second nature to some.
What other articles to folks use with new teachers, and why?
Barb
From: Missy Slaathaug <mslaathaug at midco.net>
Date: Tue Apr 11 14:32:47 CDT 2006
To: b.garner4 at verizon.net, 
	'The Focus on Basics Discussion List' <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
Subject: Using FOB
I like this publication very much.  I read all the issues and find them
useful and informative.  The last article I used actively was Robin
Schwarz' article on the struggling ESL learner.  We asked our new
teachers to read it prior to their New Teacher Training.  It was a great
article that generated a lot of discussion and hopefully raised the
level of awareness of these potential learner problems.  Keep up the
good work.  
Missy Slaathaug
ESL Technical Resource
South Dakota
mslaathaug at midco.net
-----Original Message-----
From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Barbara Garner
Sent: Tuesday, April 11, 2006 11:35 AM
To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 209] Using FOB / Editorial Board
Not a lot of folks (none...) jumping in to the discussion about the
evaluation of "Focus on Basics..."
The evaluation documented the many ways folks use the publication. Which
issue did you use most recently. How, and why?
Barb Garner
Editor, FOB
(PS, thanks to those who have come forth for the next editorial board.
I'm still taking names and will get back to everyone at the end of the
week. Oklahoma, Michigan, Delaware, you've been underrepresented...Is
there anyone on the list who from those states interested in joining the
editorial board?)
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
------------------------------
Message: 5
Date: Tue, 11 Apr 2006 15:47:13 -0400
From: dharting <dharting at proliteracy.org>
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 213] Re: Discussion Starts Today: FOB Evaluati
	on	Results
To: 'The Focus on Basics Discussion List' <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
Message-ID: <24C87A21440F3A4B94ED4594298D45F304B89A at hardy>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
Hi Barb:
 
I like the illustrations, too. I particularly liked the one from
September
2003 that showed authentic materials like invoices and soup cans flying
in
the window. Or were they flying out the window??
 
I also liked the way you used portions of the cover illustration inside
the
publication to send visual cues that the inside article was related to
the
cover story.
 
You're right: it's always a creative challenge to illustrate an abstract
concept in a concrete manner. The recently released NAAL is a good
example.
We're blessed to have a talented and creative graphic artist on our
staff
who helps us with these kinds of challenges.
 
Our survey research from the summer of 2005 revealed a high level of
respect
for your publication among literacy field workers, esp. program
managers.
Congratulations!
 
Don Harting
ProLiteracy America
Syracuse, New York
 
-----Original Message-----
From: Nancy McKeand [mailto:nancy.mckeand at gmail.com]
Sent: Tuesday, April 11, 2006 2:15 PM
To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 210] Re: Discussion Starts Today: FOB Evaluation
Results
I'm glad you asked about the illustrations, Barb, because I really liked
them.  The Lab School drawing on the cover of 8A is quite clever!  I
like,
too, how Mary included some of the actual vocabulary that was discussed
in
the articles in the drawings.    
I think that the artwork is a real nice touch.  It makes FOB seem more
accessible, more inviting.  
Nancy McKeand
-------------- next part --------------
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------------------------------
Message: 6
Date: Tue, 11 Apr 2006 15:51:39 -0500
From: Sarah Beaman-Jones <sbeaman at webster.edu>
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 214] Re: Using FOB
To: b.garner4 at verizon.net,	The Focus on Basics Discussion List
	<focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
Message-ID: <a06210201c061c6acc309@[10.10.138.248]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
This summer I will be leading a workshop for 
experienced adult educators.  They have four 
hours of activities assigned before the workshop. 
As part of the reading assignment, they can 
select one of four articles:
To find the articles, go to 
http://www.ncsall.net/index.php?id=167 and select 
either
What Silent Reading Tests alone Can't Tell you
or
There's Reading?..And Then There's Reading
These articles are about reading in general.  If 
you want to read more specifically on first level 
readers, go to 
http://www.ncsall.net/index.php?id=147 and select 
either
Techniques for Teaching Beginning-Level Reading to Adults
			or
Reading for Pleasure
BTW, there is no reason you can't read all four 
or even the entire issue if you get involved.
As you read the article, code the test in the following manner:
=   I agree
X  I thought differently
+   New information
!    WOW
?   I don't get it
*   I know this is important
[INSERT system "Interactive Notational System for 
Effective Reading and Thinking" from Vaughn & 
Estes, 1986]
After completing the reading, please complete a 
short reflection piece.  In one or two 
paragraphs, describe the main ideas of the 
article your read and your reaction to  them.
In one or two paragraphs, describe your experience using the INSERT
system.
-- 
Sarah Beaman-Jones
Literacy Program Developer
LIFT-Missouri
815 Olive Street, Suite 22
St. Louis, MO 63101
1-800-729-4443 
1-314-678-4443 ext. 206
1-314-678-2938 [fax]
http://lift-missouri.org
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------------------------------
Message: 7
Date: Tue, 11 Apr 2006 16:17:24 -0500
From: "Colletti, Cyndy" <CColletti at ILSOS.NET>
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 215]  FOB Evaluation
To: "The Focus on Basics Discussion List" <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
Message-ID: <96DF6DA6D4E9A946B7D02E762CED51580393E24E at exc01.ilsos.net>
Content-Type: text/plain;	charset="iso-8859-1"
FOB has always intrigued me because it's on top of the challenges that
teachers and tutors face in classrooms across the country.  Once we were
discussing the reasons that students go on or do not go on to other
educational pursuits.  Soon I saw that the next issue of FOB would cover
"Transitions."  This field is widely diverse and often isolated from
each
other and from a sense of itself as a field.  FOB is a unifying force as
it
presents the latest research and relates that research right to the
instructional setting. In my job as a state level coordinator, I
publicize
each and every issue so that practitioners can use the information
presented
in the articles.  When I survey practitioners about what they need, I
always
hear, "Something I can use tomorrow."  Well, FOB has always provided
just
that.
Cyndy Colletti
------------------------------
Message: 8
Date: Tue, 11 Apr 2006 20:47:14 -0500 (CDT)
From: Barbara Garner <b.garner4 at verizon.net>
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 216] Re: Using FOB
To: Sarah Beaman-Jones <sbeaman at webster.edu>, b.garner4 at verizon.net,
	The Focus on Basics Discussion List <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
Message-ID:
	<24742110.266251144806434989.JavaMail.root at vms071.mailsrvcs.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
Sarah, 
Thanks for your thorough explanation of one way to use articles from
"Focus
on Basics." (And thanks for bringing the
insert system to my attention: it's new to me and quite intriguing.)
Has anyone else used those articles for professional development? How
did
you use them? Do you have any suggestions for Sarah?
Barb Garner
From: Sarah Beaman-Jones <sbeaman at webster.edu>
Date: Tue Apr 11 15:51:39 CDT 2006
To: b.garner4 at verizon.net, 
	The Focus on Basics Discussion List <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 214] Re: Using FOB
Re: Using FOBThis summer I will be leading a workshop for experienced
adulteducators.? They have four hours of activities assigned beforethe
workshop.? As part of the reading assignment, they can selectone of four
articles:To find the articles, go
tohttp://www.ncsall.net/index.php?id=167
and select either
What Silent Reading Tests alone Can't Tell you
or
There's Reading?..And Then There's Reading
These articles are about reading in general.? If you want toread more
specifically on first level readers, go
tohttp://www.ncsall.net/index.php?id=147 and select either
Techniques for Teaching Beginning-Level Reading to Adults
????????????????????or
Reading for Pleasure
BTW, there is no reason you can't read allfour or even the entire issue
if
you get involved.
As you read the article, code the test inthe following manner:
=?? I agree
X? I thought differently
+?? New information
!??? WOW
??? I don't get it
*?? I know this is important
[INSERT system "Interactive Notational System for Effective Readingand
Thinking" from Vaughn & Estes, 1986]
After completing the reading, please complete a short reflectionpiece.?
In
one or two paragraphs, describe the main ideas of thearticle your read
and
your reaction to? them.
In one or two paragraphs, describe your experience using the
INSERTsystem.
--Sarah Beaman-Jones
Literacy Program Developer
LIFT-Missouri
815 Olive Street, Suite 22
St. Louis, MO 63101
1-800-729-4443?
1-314-678-4443 ext. 206
1-314-678-2938 [fax]
http://lift-missouri.org
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
------------------------------
Message: 9
Date: Tue, 11 Apr 2006 20:52:39 -0500 (CDT)
From: Barbara Garner <b.garner4 at verizon.net>
Subject: Re: [FocusOnBasics 215] ?FOB Evaluation
To: "Colletti, Cyndy" <CColletti at ILSOS.NET>,	The Focus on Basics
	Discussion List <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
Message-ID:
	<7501858.267731144806759429.JavaMail.root at vms071.mailsrvcs.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
One of the themes that is emerging in this discussion is how
professional
development providers serve as a conduit, introducing teachers to the
publication and to particular articles.
If you're a teacher, how did you find out about "Focus on Basics"?
If you're a professional development provider, does your experience bear
this out: do you introduce teacher to FOB?
And if we are able to find additional funding and continue publishing
beyond
8C, where should we put our dissemination energy? Into reaching
professional
development providers, assuming they will introduce teachers to FOB? Or
should we focus marketing efforts on teachers? Thoughts?
Barb Garner
Editor
From: "Colletti, Cyndy" <CColletti at ILSOS.NET>
Date: Tue Apr 11 16:17:24 CDT 2006
To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 215]  FOB Evaluation
FOB has always intrigued me because it's on top of the challenges that
teachers and tutors face in classrooms across the country.  Once we were
discussing the reasons that students go on or do not go on to other
educational pursuits.  Soon I saw that the next issue of FOB would cover
"Transitions."  This field is widely diverse and often isolated from
each
other and from a sense of itself as a field.  FOB is a unifying force as
it
presents the latest research and relates that research right to the
instructional setting. In my job as a state level coordinator, I
publicize
each and every issue so that practitioners can use the information
presented
in the articles.  When I survey practitioners about what they need, I
always
hear, "Something I can use tomorrow."  Well, FOB has always provided
just
that.
Cyndy Colletti
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
------------------------------
Message: 10
Date: Tue, 11 Apr 2006 21:08:18 -0500
From: Varshna Narumanchi-Jackson <varshna at grandecom.net>
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 218] Re: Using FOB / Editorial Board
To: "b.garner4 at verizon.net, The Focus on Basics Discussion List"
	<focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
Message-ID: <C061CB42.983C%varshna at grandecom.net>
Content-Type: text/plain;	charset="US-ASCII"
Dear Barb:
The usefulness of FOB is, in my opinion, the result of the variety of
the
articles and topics offered.  Just as there isn't a single recipe for
success in the classroom, what one benefits from in order to grow
depends on
the different perspectives brought to the profession.  And I think that
you've done a good job of balancing the dynamic between research and
practice.  It's hard to document the transition from one realm to
another,
but I think FOB strikes a balanced review to offer to academics and
classroom professionals alike.
I must confess that I don't have a lot of time to read these days, but I
do
enjoy being able to access electronic copies.  It is definitely a
website I
will continue to bookmark!
Thanks, Varshna.
--------------
Varshna Jackson
Austin, TX
PS. It was really a pleasure to serve on the editorial board -- very
stimulating and good company!
------------------------------
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From jataylor at utk.edu  Thu Apr 13 10:36:40 2006
From: jataylor at utk.edu (jataylor)
Date: Thu, 13 Apr 2006 10:36:40 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 229]  teacher education and change
Message-ID: <445B747D@webmail.utk.edu>
Hi Barb,
As you know, in the FOB evaluation NCSALL reported finding that "Respondents 
with higher levels of education report a higher rate of change in their 
attitudes and behaviors about adult basic education and a higher rate of 
putting into action ideas they learn as a result of reading Focus on Basics."
The report also notes the contradiction of this to the finding in the 2003 
NCSALL Professional Development Study which documents that 'teachers with 
master's degrees were less likely than those without to act upon information 
learned in staff development activities.' One hypothesis offered was that 
teachers who were more educated were possibly more "settled" in their work and 
less likely to demonstrate change based on what they learned in PD.
What are your speculations about this discrepancy as it pertains to the 
research, and what is the message you'd recommend that professional developers 
take away from this comparison as it is pertinent to their work?
Thanks, Jackie
Jackie Taylor, Moderator
Adult Literacy Professional Development Discussion List
jataylor at utk.edu
From b.garner4 at verizon.net  Thu Apr 13 11:05:55 2006
From: b.garner4 at verizon.net (Barbara Garner)
Date: Thu, 13 Apr 2006 10:05:55 -0500 (CDT)
Subject: =?ISO-8859-1?B?UmU6IFtGb2N1c09uQmFzaWNzIDIyN10goFM=?=
	=?ISO-8859-1?B?ZWFyY2hpbmcgZm9yIHRvcGljcyBvbiBGT0I=?=
Message-ID: <718441.665361144940755864.JavaMail.root@vms071.mailsrvcs.net>
The easiest way to find articles from earlier FOBs on topics you're interested in now is to go to the NCSALL web site (http://www.ncsall.net). On the righthand side is "subject link", right under the GOOGLE search thing. Click on subject link.
Scroll down that list to find the topic that best describes your interest. Click on that, and it will bring you to a list of all the related NCSALL products. Scroll down to see Focus on Basics articles are grouped under the heading "Focus on Basics".
If your topic doesn't appear on the subject topic list, you can try using the GOOGLE search bar.
Or, you can post your question to the FOB list serve, and in my role as human search engine, I will send you to the most relevant articles. 
Barb Garner  
Editor, FOB
From: Julie  McKinney <julie_mcKinney at worlded.org>
Date: Thu Apr 13 09:05:31 CDT 2006
To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 227]  Searching for topics on FOB
I agree that the variety and relevance of the topics covered are one of
the strengths of FOB. Almost every article I read gives insight into
some specific aspect of working and learning in a classroom that
teachers face daily, and the "Implications for Teaching" sections at the
end of the articles tie that insight into action. 
KC Andrew mentioned keeping copies for later because the topic "becomes
relevant over time." This reminded me that there is a wealth of past
topics that may become relevant and are worth going back to find. When I
recently did a presentation on Health Literacy, I found the issue that
addressed Health Literacy, used the information from it, and distributed
it. (I always feel like Santa when I distribute copies--they are so
prized!)
I am lucky enough to work at the dissemination center for FOB, so I can
easily find the back issues with topics I need, so I am not very
familiar with searching for back issues and topics on the NCSALL
website. Barb, can you please give us a run-down on how to search for
past FOB topics?
Thanks,
Julie
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
----------------------------------------------------
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From b.garner4 at verizon.net  Thu Apr 13 11:19:13 2006
From: b.garner4 at verizon.net (Barbara Garner)
Date: Thu, 13 Apr 2006 10:19:13 -0500 (CDT)
Subject: =?ISO-8859-1?B?UmU6IFtGb2N1c09uQmFzaWNzIDIyOV0goHQ=?=
	=?ISO-8859-1?B?ZWFjaGVyIGVkdWNhdGlvbiBhbmQgY2hhbmdl?=
Message-ID: <10218925.669071144941554077.JavaMail.root@vms071.mailsrvcs.net>
That's a great question, and one that merits more research. I'll weigh in, but would love to hear from others, too.
Keep in mind, the FOB evaluation was not an effort to replicate the findings of NCSALL Staff Development Study. The NCSALL Staff Development study involved practitioners in a variety of different types of professional development. But those types did not include "reading professional journals and perhaps discussing them with colleagues". So what we might be seeing is that different types of practitioners relate differently to difference types of professional development. 
In terms of what lesson it offers professional developers now: to me it says that if you don't already include reading materials with any professional development activity you conduct, you should consider adding some.
Barb Garner
 From: jataylor <jataylor at utk.edu>
Date: Thu Apr 13 09:36:40 CDT 2006
To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 229]  teacher education and change
Hi Barb,
As you know, in the FOB evaluation NCSALL reported finding that "Respondents 
with higher levels of education report a higher rate of change in their 
attitudes and behaviors about adult basic education and a higher rate of 
putting into action ideas they learn as a result of reading Focus on Basics."
The report also notes the contradiction of this to the finding in the 2003 
NCSALL Professional Development Study which documents that 'teachers with 
master's degrees were less likely than those without to act upon information 
learned in staff development activities.' One hypothesis offered was that 
teachers who were more educated were possibly more "settled" in their work and 
less likely to demonstrate change based on what they learned in PD.
What are your speculations about this discrepancy as it pertains to the 
research, and what is the message you'd recommend that professional developers 
take away from this comparison as it is pertinent to their work?
Thanks, Jackie
Jackie Taylor, Moderator
Adult Literacy Professional Development Discussion List
jataylor at utk.edu
----------------------------------------------------
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From annb at lcbc.org  Thu Apr 13 11:55:34 2006
From: annb at lcbc.org (Ann Barncard)
Date: Thu, 13 Apr 2006 10:55:34 -0500
Subject: =?iso-8859-1?Q?RE:_=5BFocusOnBasics_227=5D_=A0Searching_for_topics_on_FOB?=
In-Reply-To: <718441.665361144940755864.JavaMail.root@vms071.mailsrvcs.net>
Message-ID: <003601c65f12$b6498780$3f00000a@lcbc.ad.lcbc.org>
If NCSALL is not refunded, how long will the website be available?
Ann Barncard
Workforce Development Coordinator
Literacy Council of Brown County
424 S. Monroe Ave.
Green Bay, WI  54301
annb at lcbc.org
-----Original Message-----
From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Barbara Garner
Sent: Thursday, April 13, 2006 10:06 AM
To: Julie  McKinney; focusonbasics at nifl.gov
Subject: Re: [FocusOnBasics 227]  Searching for topics on FOB
The easiest way to find articles from earlier FOBs on topics you're
interested in now is to go to the NCSALL web site
(http://www.ncsall.net). On the righthand side is "subject link", right
under the GOOGLE search thing. Click on subject link.
Scroll down that list to find the topic that best describes your
interest. Click on that, and it will bring you to a list of all the
related NCSALL products. Scroll down to see Focus on Basics articles are
grouped under the heading "Focus on Basics".
If your topic doesn't appear on the subject topic list, you can try
using the GOOGLE search bar.
Or, you can post your question to the FOB list serve, and in my role as
human search engine, I will send you to the most relevant articles. 
Barb Garner  
Editor, FOB
From: Julie  McKinney <julie_mcKinney at worlded.org>
Date: Thu Apr 13 09:05:31 CDT 2006
To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 227]  Searching for topics on FOB
I agree that the variety and relevance of the topics covered are one of
the strengths of FOB. Almost every article I read gives insight into
some specific aspect of working and learning in a classroom that
teachers face daily, and the "Implications for Teaching" sections at the
end of the articles tie that insight into action. 
KC Andrew mentioned keeping copies for later because the topic "becomes
relevant over time." This reminded me that there is a wealth of past
topics that may become relevant and are worth going back to find. When I
recently did a presentation on Health Literacy, I found the issue that
addressed Health Literacy, used the information from it, and distributed
it. (I always feel like Santa when I distribute copies--they are so
prized!)
I am lucky enough to work at the dissemination center for FOB, so I can
easily find the back issues with topics I need, so I am not very
familiar with searching for back issues and topics on the NCSALL
website. Barb, can you please give us a run-down on how to search for
past FOB topics?
Thanks,
Julie
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
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To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
----------------------------------------------------
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From kolson2 at columbus.rr.com  Thu Apr 13 12:12:56 2006
From: kolson2 at columbus.rr.com (K Olson)
Date: Thu, 13 Apr 2006 12:12:56 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 232]  Who uses FOB?
In-Reply-To: <718441.665361144940755864.JavaMail.root@vms071.mailsrvcs.net>
Message-ID: <000601c65f15$27338e80$f3e7d2cc@bessie>
I find that one of the differences between program administrators and adult
education teachers is that administrators look at the research and, when
they come across a good theory or implication for instruction, they pass it
along to their teachers. Unfortunately, teachers, on the other hand, are
often part time, many with other full time jobs. They do not have enough
time to stay up to date on all the research in the field, so FOB in my
estimation probably serves more administrators than teachers. 
What do I see that teachers want? They want material and lessons they can
use the next day in their classrooms as they do not have time to create such
materials. So, if FOB (and this is only my opinion) wants to reach both
teachers and administrators, I feel the articles exposing current research
in adult education should also have reproducible materials that can be
immediately used in the classroom that support this research. Perhaps in
this manner teachers will then be inspired to continue to create other
materials once they have had an opportunity to see how the particular piece
of research impacts learning in their classroom. 
Kathy Olson
Training Specialist
From c.spencerack at morehead-st.edu  Thu Apr 13 12:45:14 2006
From: c.spencerack at morehead-st.edu (Connie Spencer-Ackerman)
Date: Thu, 13 Apr 2006 12:45:14 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 233] Re: might be the last issue?
In-Reply-To: <1550908.654201144938612594.JavaMail.root@vms071.mailsrvcs.net>
References: <1550908.654201144938612594.JavaMail.root@vms071.mailsrvcs.net>
Message-ID: <443E801A.8020301@moreheadstate.edu>
I am so sorry to hear that our profession might lose NCSALL.  For years, 
the ERIC Clearinghouse on Adult, Career, and Vocational Education and 
NCSALL publications have been the places where I start any search for 
information about adult education and adult learning.  ERIC has already 
been eliminated, and now we learn that NCSALL faces the same.  Barb, is 
it possible that the publications will be archived in a searchable form?
Like others, I frequently pass out copies of Focus on Basics at 
workshops and meetings.  FOB is the basis for workshops I deliver on a 
variety of topics.  Hoping to encourage people to explore the NCSALL 
site and learn something of the many resources there, I have built links 
to FOB articles into an online course for local program directors.  Just 
last week, while directing people to the site during a workshop on 
grant-writing, I heard one of the participants say that he remembered 
the site because of the online course.  Hurray!
Being a fan of the publication, I was pleased when I was able to serve 
on the editorial board last year.  Being able to work with distant 
colleagues as we read and learned from submitted articles was 
professional development itself, and it was a pleasure to work with 
Barb.  I can't imagine professional development in our field in a future 
without Focus on Basics.
Connie Spencer-Ackerman
Adult Education Academy
Morehead State University
Morehead Kentucky
 
Barbara Garner wrote:
>The funding for NCSALL ends at the end of the year. After that, the US DOE won't be funding a research center that focuses on adult basic education.
>We have been trying to raise funds to keep "Focus on Basics" going, but have not secured anything yet. We're still trying, but can not say with any assurance that we will be able to publish past 8C.
>Barb Garner
>Editor, "Focus on Basic"
>
>From: Missy Slaathaug <mslaathaug at midco.net>
>Date: Thu Apr 13 08:57:09 CDT 2006
>To: 'The Focus on Basics Discussion List' <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
>Subject: [FocusOnBasics 226]  might be the last issue?
>
>I feel like I missed something - why might this be the last issue of
>FOB?  It is an excellent publication, which many of us use in many
>different ways.  I would hate to see it disappear. 
>
>Missy Slaathaug
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov
>[mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Barbara Garner
>Sent: Thursday, April 13, 2006 7:13 AM
>To: Sylvia Provenski; focusonbasics at nifl.gov
>Subject: Re: [FocusOnBasics 222]  Editorial board
>
>Since FOB is funded by the US Gov (Institute of Education Sciences), I
>should first fill the FOB 8C board with US practitioners. If there are
>open slots and no other US volunteers, I see no reason not to have
>Canadians as well.
> 
>Given that much of the work will be done in the summer, when people's
>schedules are crazy, we'll have a more board members than usual. That
>way we'll always have a critical mass available. 
>
>I'll announce the board the week of April 24, so if you haven't
>contacted me yet, there's still time. 
>Barb Garner
>Editor, FOB
>
>From: Sylvia Provenski <sylviap at westman.wave.ca>
>Date: Wed Apr 12 19:55:05 CDT 2006
>To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
>Subject: [FocusOnBasics 222]  Editorial board
>
>Are you interested in any Canadian editors for your board?
>Sylvia P.
>
> 
>-----Original Message-----
>From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov
>[mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov]
>On Behalf Of focusonbasics-request at nifl.gov
>Sent: April 12, 2006 11:00 AM
>To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
>Subject: FocusOnBasics Digest, Vol 7, Issue 7
>
>Send FocusOnBasics mailing list submissions to
>	focusonbasics at nifl.gov
>
>To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit
>	http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
>or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to
>	focusonbasics-request at nifl.gov
>
>You can reach the person managing the list at
>	focusonbasics-owner at nifl.gov
>
>When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific
>than "Re: Contents of FocusOnBasics digest..."
>
>
>Today's Topics:
>
>   1. [FocusOnBasics 209]  Using FOB / Editorial Board (Barbara Garner)
>   2. [FocusOnBasics 210] Re: Discussion Starts Today: FOB
>      Evaluation	Results (Nancy McKeand)
>   3. [FocusOnBasics 211]  Using FOB (Missy Slaathaug)
>   4. [FocusOnBasics 212] Re: Using FOB (Barbara Garner)
>   5. [FocusOnBasics 213] Re: Discussion Starts Today: FOB Evaluati
>      on	Results (dharting)
>   6. [FocusOnBasics 214] Re: Using FOB (Sarah Beaman-Jones)
>   7. [FocusOnBasics 215]  FOB Evaluation (Colletti, Cyndy)
>   8. [FocusOnBasics 216] Re: Using FOB (Barbara Garner)
>   9. Re: [FocusOnBasics 215] ?FOB Evaluation (Barbara Garner)
>  10. [FocusOnBasics 218] Re: Using FOB / Editorial Board
>      (Varshna Narumanchi-Jackson)
>
>
>----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>Message: 1
>Date: Tue, 11 Apr 2006 11:35:09 -0500 (CDT)
>From: Barbara Garner <b.garner4 at verizon.net>
>Subject: [FocusOnBasics 209]  Using FOB / Editorial Board
>To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
>Message-ID:
>	<33154974.99691144773309098.JavaMail.root at vms073.mailsrvcs.net>
>Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
>
>Not a lot of folks (none...) jumping in to the discussion about the
>evaluation of "Focus on Basics..."
>
>The evaluation documented the many ways folks use the publication. Which
>issue did you use most recently. How, and why?
>
>Barb Garner
>Editor, FOB
>
>(PS, thanks to those who have come forth for the next editorial board.
>I'm
>still taking names and will get back to everyone at the end of the week.
>Oklahoma, Michigan, Delaware, you've been underrepresented...Is there
>anyone
>on the list who from those states interested in joining the editorial
>board?)
>
>
>------------------------------
>
>Message: 2
>Date: Tue, 11 Apr 2006 13:14:49 -0500
>From: "Nancy McKeand" <nancy.mckeand at gmail.com>
>Subject: [FocusOnBasics 210] Re: Discussion Starts Today: FOB
>	Evaluation	Results
>To: "The Focus on Basics Discussion List" <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
>Message-ID:
>	<2e8319bb0604111114s7836569ax1591dda4cfdeeee0 at mail.gmail.com>
>Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
>
>I'm glad you asked about the illustrations, Barb, because I really liked
>them.  The Lab School drawing on the cover of 8A is quite clever!  I
>like,
>too, how Mary included some of the actual vocabulary that was discussed
>in
>the articles in the drawings.
>
>I think that the artwork is a real nice touch.  It makes FOB seem more
>accessible, more inviting.
>
>Nancy McKeand
>-------------- next part --------------
>An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
>URL:
>http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/focusonbasics/attachments/20060411/e1654da
>4/at
>tachment-0001.html
>
>------------------------------
>
>Message: 3
>Date: Tue, 11 Apr 2006 14:32:47 -0500
>From: "Missy Slaathaug" <mslaathaug at midco.net>
>Subject: [FocusOnBasics 211]  Using FOB
>To: <b.garner4 at verizon.net>,	"'The Focus on Basics Discussion List'"
>	<focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
>Message-ID: <000901c65d9e$b6c2e640$060ac90a at explorit3>
>Content-Type: text/plain;	charset="us-ascii"
>
>I like this publication very much.  I read all the issues and find them
>useful and informative.  The last article I used actively was Robin
>Schwarz' article on the struggling ESL learner.  We asked our new
>teachers to read it prior to their New Teacher Training.  It was a great
>article that generated a lot of discussion and hopefully raised the
>level of awareness of these potential learner problems.  Keep up the
>good work.  
>
>Missy Slaathaug
>ESL Technical Resource
>South Dakota
>mslaathaug at midco.net
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov
>[mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Barbara Garner
>Sent: Tuesday, April 11, 2006 11:35 AM
>To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
>Subject: [FocusOnBasics 209] Using FOB / Editorial Board
>
>Not a lot of folks (none...) jumping in to the discussion about the
>evaluation of "Focus on Basics..."
>
>The evaluation documented the many ways folks use the publication. Which
>issue did you use most recently. How, and why?
>
>Barb Garner
>Editor, FOB
>
>(PS, thanks to those who have come forth for the next editorial board.
>I'm still taking names and will get back to everyone at the end of the
>week. Oklahoma, Michigan, Delaware, you've been underrepresented...Is
>there anyone on the list who from those states interested in joining the
>editorial board?)
>----------------------------------------------------
>National Institute for Literacy
>Focus on Basics mailing list
>FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
>To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
>http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
>
>
>
>------------------------------
>
>Message: 4
>Date: Tue, 11 Apr 2006 14:50:47 -0500 (CDT)
>From: Barbara Garner <b.garner4 at verizon.net>
>Subject: [FocusOnBasics 212] Re: Using FOB
>To: Missy Slaathaug <mslaathaug at midco.net>, b.garner4 at verizon.net,
>	'The Focus on Basics Discussion List' <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
>Message-ID:
>	<7414113.232101144785047308.JavaMail.root at vms063.mailsrvcs.net>
>Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
>
>Thanks, Missy,,,
>That struggling ESOL learner article really struck a chord. 
>
>When you've been working in a field---any field---for awhile, it's easy
>to
>forget how much you actually have learned and apply on a day-to-day
>basis.
>Robin's article seems to have reminded us that new staff, or experienced
>staff working with new types of learners, need information that may have
>become second nature to some.
>
>What other articles to folks use with new teachers, and why?
>Barb
>
>From: Missy Slaathaug <mslaathaug at midco.net>
>Date: Tue Apr 11 14:32:47 CDT 2006
>To: b.garner4 at verizon.net, 
>	'The Focus on Basics Discussion List' <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
>Subject: Using FOB
>
>I like this publication very much.  I read all the issues and find them
>useful and informative.  The last article I used actively was Robin
>Schwarz' article on the struggling ESL learner.  We asked our new
>teachers to read it prior to their New Teacher Training.  It was a great
>article that generated a lot of discussion and hopefully raised the
>level of awareness of these potential learner problems.  Keep up the
>good work.  
>
>Missy Slaathaug
>ESL Technical Resource
>South Dakota
>mslaathaug at midco.net
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov
>[mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Barbara Garner
>Sent: Tuesday, April 11, 2006 11:35 AM
>To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
>Subject: [FocusOnBasics 209] Using FOB / Editorial Board
>
>Not a lot of folks (none...) jumping in to the discussion about the
>evaluation of "Focus on Basics..."
>
>The evaluation documented the many ways folks use the publication. Which
>issue did you use most recently. How, and why?
>
>Barb Garner
>Editor, FOB
>
>(PS, thanks to those who have come forth for the next editorial board.
>I'm still taking names and will get back to everyone at the end of the
>week. Oklahoma, Michigan, Delaware, you've been underrepresented...Is
>there anyone on the list who from those states interested in joining the
>editorial board?)
>----------------------------------------------------
>National Institute for Literacy
>Focus on Basics mailing list
>FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
>To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
>http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
>
>
>
>------------------------------
>
>Message: 5
>Date: Tue, 11 Apr 2006 15:47:13 -0400
>From: dharting <dharting at proliteracy.org>
>Subject: [FocusOnBasics 213] Re: Discussion Starts Today: FOB Evaluati
>	on	Results
>To: 'The Focus on Basics Discussion List' <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
>Message-ID: <24C87A21440F3A4B94ED4594298D45F304B89A at hardy>
>Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
>
>Hi Barb:
> 
>I like the illustrations, too. I particularly liked the one from
>September
>2003 that showed authentic materials like invoices and soup cans flying
>in
>the window. Or were they flying out the window??
> 
>I also liked the way you used portions of the cover illustration inside
>the
>publication to send visual cues that the inside article was related to
>the
>cover story.
> 
>You're right: it's always a creative challenge to illustrate an abstract
>concept in a concrete manner. The recently released NAAL is a good
>example.
>We're blessed to have a talented and creative graphic artist on our
>staff
>who helps us with these kinds of challenges.
> 
>Our survey research from the summer of 2005 revealed a high level of
>respect
>for your publication among literacy field workers, esp. program
>managers.
>Congratulations!
> 
>Don Harting
>ProLiteracy America
>Syracuse, New York
> 
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Nancy McKeand [mailto:nancy.mckeand at gmail.com]
>Sent: Tuesday, April 11, 2006 2:15 PM
>To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List
>Subject: [FocusOnBasics 210] Re: Discussion Starts Today: FOB Evaluation
>Results
>
>
>
>I'm glad you asked about the illustrations, Barb, because I really liked
>them.  The Lab School drawing on the cover of 8A is quite clever!  I
>like,
>too, how Mary included some of the actual vocabulary that was discussed
>in
>the articles in the drawings.    
>
>I think that the artwork is a real nice touch.  It makes FOB seem more
>accessible, more inviting.  
>
>Nancy McKeand
>
>
>
>
>-------------- next part --------------
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>------------------------------
>
>Message: 6
>Date: Tue, 11 Apr 2006 15:51:39 -0500
>From: Sarah Beaman-Jones <sbeaman at webster.edu>
>Subject: [FocusOnBasics 214] Re: Using FOB
>To: b.garner4 at verizon.net,	The Focus on Basics Discussion List
>	<focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
>Message-ID: <a06210201c061c6acc309@[10.10.138.248]>
>Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
>
>This summer I will be leading a workshop for 
>experienced adult educators.  They have four 
>hours of activities assigned before the workshop. 
>As part of the reading assignment, they can 
>select one of four articles:
>To find the articles, go to 
>http://www.ncsall.net/index.php?id=167 and select 
>either
>
>What Silent Reading Tests alone Can't Tell you
>or
>There's Reading?..And Then There's Reading
>
>These articles are about reading in general.  If 
>you want to read more specifically on first level 
>readers, go to 
>http://www.ncsall.net/index.php?id=147 and select 
>either
>
>Techniques for Teaching Beginning-Level Reading to Adults
>			or
>Reading for Pleasure
>
>BTW, there is no reason you can't read all four 
>or even the entire issue if you get involved.
>
>As you read the article, code the test in the following manner:
>
>=   I agree
>X  I thought differently
>+   New information
>!    WOW
>?   I don't get it
>*   I know this is important
>
>[INSERT system "Interactive Notational System for 
>Effective Reading and Thinking" from Vaughn & 
>Estes, 1986]
>
>
>After completing the reading, please complete a 
>short reflection piece.  In one or two 
>paragraphs, describe the main ideas of the 
>article your read and your reaction to  them.
>In one or two paragraphs, describe your experience using the INSERT
>system.
>
>  
>
-- 
Connie Spencer-Ackerman
Adult Education Academy
Morehead State University
150 University Boulevard, Box 968
Morehead, KY 40351
ph:  606-783-9377   fax:  606-783-9111
The reason most major goals are not achieved is that we spend our time doing second things first.
Robert J. McKain
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From kolson2 at columbus.rr.com  Thu Apr 13 13:16:42 2006
From: kolson2 at columbus.rr.com (K Olson)
Date: Thu, 13 Apr 2006 13:16:42 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 234]  Working on the editorial board
In-Reply-To: <000601c65f15$27338e80$f3e7d2cc@bessie>
Message-ID: <000601c65f1e$09173010$f3e7d2cc@bessie>
I second Connie's comment that it was a pleasure to work with Barb. I found
working on the editorial board to be a great learning experience in and of
itself. It was amazing to me how much time and effort went into the revision
of submitted articles until they were printed in final form. If any of you
are planning to publish someday, this gives you good insight into what takes
place after the article is submitted. 
Kathy Olson 
Training Specialist
From tarv at chemeketa.edu  Thu Apr 13 13:24:41 2006
From: tarv at chemeketa.edu (Virginia Tardaewether)
Date: Thu, 13 Apr 2006 10:24:41 -0700
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 235] Re: Who uses FOB?
Message-ID: <89DA2100D59D7341BEA4D938F9FB2A9303B47107@cccmail2.chemeketa.network>
I'm an instructor in ABE/GED/Dev Ed and I read FOB most of the time to
keep current in the field.  It does seem that most of the writers are
administrators and I'm glad that they are reading what's going on in the
field.  Hopefully, it helps them to support their part-time staff in
creative ways and to move their programs into the future successfully.
Va
-----Original Message-----
From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of K Olson
Sent: Thursday, April 13, 2006 9:13 AM
To: b.garner4 at verizon.net; 'The Focus on Basics Discussion List'
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 232] Who uses FOB?
I find that one of the differences between program administrators and
adult
education teachers is that administrators look at the research and, when
they come across a good theory or implication for instruction, they pass
it
along to their teachers. Unfortunately, teachers, on the other hand, are
often part time, many with other full time jobs. They do not have enough
time to stay up to date on all the research in the field, so FOB in my
estimation probably serves more administrators than teachers. 
What do I see that teachers want? They want material and lessons they
can
use the next day in their classrooms as they do not have time to create
such
materials. So, if FOB (and this is only my opinion) wants to reach both
teachers and administrators, I feel the articles exposing current
research
in adult education should also have reproducible materials that can be
immediately used in the classroom that support this research. Perhaps in
this manner teachers will then be inspired to continue to create other
materials once they have had an opportunity to see how the particular
piece
of research impacts learning in their classroom. 
Kathy Olson
Training Specialist
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
From b.garner4 at verizon.net  Thu Apr 13 14:53:59 2006
From: b.garner4 at verizon.net (Barbara Garner)
Date: Thu, 13 Apr 2006 13:53:59 -0500 (CDT)
Subject: =?ISO-8859-1?B?UmU6IKBSRTogW0ZvY3VzT25CYXNpY3MgMjI3XQ==?=
	=?ISO-8859-1?B?IKBTZWFyY2hpbmcgZm9yIHRvcGljcyBvbiBGT0I=?=
Message-ID: <9966279.639051144954439603.JavaMail.root@vms073.mailsrvcs.net>
How long will the web site stay up? I don't have specifics on that--I'll check with Director John Comings and Deputy Director Cristine Smith to see what the plans are. 
Barb Garner
From: Ann Barncard <annb at lcbc.org>
Date: Thu Apr 13 10:55:34 CDT 2006
To: b.garner4 at verizon.net, 
	'The Focus on Basics Discussion List' <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
Subject:  RE: [FocusOnBasics 227] ?Searching for topics on FOB
If NCSALL is not refunded, how long will the website be available?
Ann Barncard
Workforce Development Coordinator
Literacy Council of Brown County
424 S. Monroe Ave.
Green Bay, WI  54301
annb at lcbc.org
-----Original Message-----
From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Barbara Garner
Sent: Thursday, April 13, 2006 10:06 AM
To: Julie  McKinney; focusonbasics at nifl.gov
Subject: Re: [FocusOnBasics 227]  Searching for topics on FOB
The easiest way to find articles from earlier FOBs on topics you're
interested in now is to go to the NCSALL web site
(http://www.ncsall.net). On the righthand side is "subject link", right
under the GOOGLE search thing. Click on subject link.
Scroll down that list to find the topic that best describes your
interest. Click on that, and it will bring you to a list of all the
related NCSALL products. Scroll down to see Focus on Basics articles are
grouped under the heading "Focus on Basics".
If your topic doesn't appear on the subject topic list, you can try
using the GOOGLE search bar.
Or, you can post your question to the FOB list serve, and in my role as
human search engine, I will send you to the most relevant articles. 
Barb Garner  
Editor, FOB
From: Julie  McKinney <julie_mcKinney at worlded.org>
Date: Thu Apr 13 09:05:31 CDT 2006
To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 227]  Searching for topics on FOB
I agree that the variety and relevance of the topics covered are one of
the strengths of FOB. Almost every article I read gives insight into
some specific aspect of working and learning in a classroom that
teachers face daily, and the "Implications for Teaching" sections at the
end of the articles tie that insight into action. 
KC Andrew mentioned keeping copies for later because the topic "becomes
relevant over time." This reminded me that there is a wealth of past
topics that may become relevant and are worth going back to find. When I
recently did a presentation on Health Literacy, I found the issue that
addressed Health Literacy, used the information from it, and distributed
it. (I always feel like Santa when I distribute copies--they are so
prized!)
I am lucky enough to work at the dissemination center for FOB, so I can
easily find the back issues with topics I need, so I am not very
familiar with searching for back issues and topics on the NCSALL
website. Barb, can you please give us a run-down on how to search for
past FOB topics?
Thanks,
Julie
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
From b.garner4 at verizon.net  Thu Apr 13 15:09:49 2006
From: b.garner4 at verizon.net (Barbara Garner)
Date: Thu, 13 Apr 2006 14:09:49 -0500 (CDT)
Subject: =?ISO-8859-1?B?UmU6IFtGb2N1c09uQmFzaWNzIDIzMl0goFdobyB1c2VzIEZPQj8=?=
Message-ID: <30670063.644321144955389520.JavaMail.root@vms073.mailsrvcs.net>
That's a good point, Kathy. Our first evaluation indicated that teachers wanted more "ready to use" information and materials. We responded to a certain degree by creating the occasional column "Focus on Teaching", by incorporating more boxes with teaching ideas into articles, and by encouraging authors to include sections on implications for teachers. At the same time, our focus is connecting research and practice, so we don't want to become a "lesson plan for tomorrow" resource. It's a careful balance, although you're right, we could certainly work more on connecting the research to the classroom.
 Barb Garner
Editor, FOB
  From: K Olson <kolson2 at columbus.rr.com>
Date: Thu Apr 13 11:12:56 CDT 2006
To: b.garner4 at verizon.net, 
	'The Focus on Basics Discussion List' <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 232]  Who uses FOB?
I find that one of the differences between program administrators and adult
education teachers is that administrators look at the research and, when
they come across a good theory or implication for instruction, they pass it
along to their teachers. Unfortunately, teachers, on the other hand, are
often part time, many with other full time jobs. They do not have enough
time to stay up to date on all the research in the field, so FOB in my
estimation probably serves more administrators than teachers. 
What do I see that teachers want? They want material and lessons they can
use the next day in their classrooms as they do not have time to create such
materials. So, if FOB (and this is only my opinion) wants to reach both
teachers and administrators, I feel the articles exposing current research
in adult education should also have reproducible materials that can be
immediately used in the classroom that support this research. Perhaps in
this manner teachers will then be inspired to continue to create other
materials once they have had an opportunity to see how the particular piece
of research impacts learning in their classroom. 
Kathy Olson
Training Specialist
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
From kelleyterr at yahoo.com  Thu Apr 13 16:02:22 2006
From: kelleyterr at yahoo.com (Terrence Kelley)
Date: Thu, 13 Apr 2006 13:02:22 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 229] teacher education and change
In-Reply-To: <10218925.669071144941554077.JavaMail.root@vms071.mailsrvcs.net>
Message-ID: <20060413200222.77723.qmail@web51605.mail.yahoo.com>
Dear Barb,
REF (presumed) professional development and the
incorporation thereof issue ... and I speak for
colleagues here -- 
"Incorporation thereof" is different for new and
seasoned practioners, education levels accounted for. 
I think there are several aspects to consider -the
major one of which is:  Does one choose their own PD
based on professional interests/an intererst
stream/prior education/prior professional development
activities, student needs etc., or is PD something
that is arranged by one's administration and is
supposedly suitable for all simply because it (the PD
offering) fits somehwere within the world of adult
education? That's the situation I'm in, and I'm sure
not alone.
What is bona fide professional development, i.e.
current and content relevant, for a new teacher may
very well not be for a seasoned one - either because
it's old hat, it doesn't fit their teaching style, or
is not suitable for their students, or ..... So, who
incorporates what and why, or why not, has to be
carefully considered.  
The above are just applied meanderings. 
Have a good weekend.
Terry Kelley 
Missoula Adult Basic & Literacy Education
Missoula MT
 
--- Barbara Garner <b.garner4 at verizon.net> wrote:
> That's a great question, and one that merits more
> research. I'll weigh in, but would love to hear from
> others, too.
> 
> Keep in mind, the FOB evaluation was not an effort
> to replicate the findings of NCSALL Staff
> Development Study. The NCSALL Staff Development
> study involved practitioners in a variety of
> different types of professional development. But
> those types did not include "reading professional
> journals and perhaps discussing them with
> colleagues". So what we might be seeing is that
> different types of practitioners relate differently
> to difference types of professional development. 
> 
> In terms of what lesson it offers professional
> developers now: to me it says that if you don't
> already include reading materials with any
> professional development activity you conduct, you
> should consider adding some.
> 
> Barb Garner
> 
> 
>  From: jataylor <jataylor at utk.edu>
> Date: Thu Apr 13 09:36:40 CDT 2006
> To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
> Subject: [FocusOnBasics 229]  teacher education and
> change
> 
> Hi Barb,
> As you know, in the FOB evaluation NCSALL reported
> finding that "Respondents 
> with higher levels of education report a higher rate
> of change in their 
> attitudes and behaviors about adult basic education
> and a higher rate of 
> putting into action ideas they learn as a result of
> reading Focus on Basics."
> 
> The report also notes the contradiction of this to
> the finding in the 2003 
> NCSALL Professional Development Study which
> documents that 'teachers with 
> master's degrees were less likely than those without
> to act upon information 
> learned in staff development activities.' One
> hypothesis offered was that 
> teachers who were more educated were possibly more
> "settled" in their work and 
> less likely to demonstrate change based on what they
> learned in PD.
> 
> What are your speculations about this discrepancy as
> it pertains to the 
> research, and what is the message you'd recommend
> that professional developers 
> take away from this comparison as it is pertinent to
> their work?
> 
> Thanks, Jackie
> 
> Jackie Taylor, Moderator
> Adult Literacy Professional Development Discussion
> List
> jataylor at utk.edu
> 
> ----------------------------------------------------
> National Institute for Literacy
> Focus on Basics mailing list
> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings,
> please go to
> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
> 
> ----------------------------------------------------
> National Institute for Literacy
> Focus on Basics mailing list
> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings,
> please go to
> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
> 
__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam?  Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around 
http://mail.yahoo.com 
From b.garner4 at verizon.net  Thu Apr 13 16:52:07 2006
From: b.garner4 at verizon.net (Barbara Garner)
Date: Thu, 13 Apr 2006 15:52:07 -0500 (CDT)
Subject: =?ISO-8859-1?B?UmU6IFJlOiBbRm9jdXNPbkJhc2ljcyAyMjldIA==?=
	=?ISO-8859-1?B?oHRlYWNoZXIgZWR1Y2F0aW9uIGFuZCBjaGFuZ2U=?=
Message-ID: <22029446.873831144961527250.JavaMail.root@vms069.mailsrvcs.net>
Dear Listers...
Terry makes a good point...presumably most folks who completed the Focus on Basics evaluation survey read FOB because they are self motivated to do so (although we didn't ask that question). Whereas some participants in professional development are sent by their administrators because of the presumed suitability of the offering. Motivation makes a difference. 
I'm not sure how the NCSALL Staff Development study treated motivation in their analysis. I'll ask them to share with us their views, if not this week then next.
What do other readers think might be reasons for the difference in findings between the FOB evaluation, in which "Respondents 
with higher levels of education report a higher rate of change in their attitudes and behaviors about adult basic education
and a higher rate of putting into action ideas they learn as a result of reading Focus on Basics" and the NCSALL staff development study, which reported that 'teachers with master's degrees were less likely than those without to act upon information 
 learned in staff development activities.'?
Barb Garner
From: Terrence Kelley <kelleyterr at yahoo.com>
Date: Thu Apr 13 15:02:22 CDT 2006
To: b.garner4 at verizon.net, 
	The Focus on Basics Discussion List <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
Subject: Re: [FocusOnBasics 229] ?teacher education and change
Dear Barb,
REF (presumed) professional development and the
incorporation thereof issue ... and I speak for
colleagues here -- 
"Incorporation thereof" is different for new and
seasoned practioners, education levels accounted for. 
I think there are several aspects to consider -the
major one of which is:  Does one choose their own PD
based on professional interests/an intererst
stream/prior education/prior professional development
activities, student needs etc., or is PD something
that is arranged by one's administration and is
supposedly suitable for all simply because it (the PD
offering) fits somehwere within the world of adult
education? That's the situation I'm in, and I'm sure
not alone.
What is bona fide professional development, i.e.
current and content relevant, for a new teacher may
very well not be for a seasoned one - either because
it's old hat, it doesn't fit their teaching style, or
is not suitable for their students, or ..... So, who
incorporates what and why, or why not, has to be
carefully considered.  
The above are just applied meanderings. 
Have a good weekend.
Terry Kelley 
Missoula Adult Basic & Literacy Education
Missoula MT
 
--- Barbara Garner <b.garner4 at verizon.net> wrote:
> That's a great question, and one that merits more
> research. I'll weigh in, but would love to hear from
> others, too.
> 
> Keep in mind, the FOB evaluation was not an effort
> to replicate the findings of NCSALL Staff
> Development Study. The NCSALL Staff Development
> study involved practitioners in a variety of
> different types of professional development. But
> those types did not include "reading professional
> journals and perhaps discussing them with
> colleagues". So what we might be seeing is that
> different types of practitioners relate differently
> to difference types of professional development. 
> 
> In terms of what lesson it offers professional
> developers now: to me it says that if you don't
> already include reading materials with any
> professional development activity you conduct, you
> should consider adding some.
> 
> Barb Garner
> 
> 
>  From: jataylor <jataylor at utk.edu>
> Date: Thu Apr 13 09:36:40 CDT 2006
> To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
> Subject: [FocusOnBasics 229]  teacher education and
> change
> 
> Hi Barb,
> As you know, in the FOB evaluation NCSALL reported
> finding that "Respondents 
> with higher levels of education report a higher rate
> of change in their 
> attitudes and behaviors about adult basic education
> and a higher rate of 
> putting into action ideas they learn as a result of
> reading Focus on Basics."
> 
> The report also notes the contradiction of this to
> the finding in the 2003 
> NCSALL Professional Development Study which
> documents that 'teachers with 
> master's degrees were less likely than those without
> to act upon information 
> learned in staff development activities.' One
> hypothesis offered was that 
> teachers who were more educated were possibly more
> "settled" in their work and 
> less likely to demonstrate change based on what they
> learned in PD.
> 
> What are your speculations about this discrepancy as
> it pertains to the 
> research, and what is the message you'd recommend
> that professional developers 
> take away from this comparison as it is pertinent to
> their work?
> 
> Thanks, Jackie
> 
> Jackie Taylor, Moderator
> Adult Literacy Professional Development Discussion
> List
> jataylor at utk.edu
> 
> ----------------------------------------------------
> National Institute for Literacy
> Focus on Basics mailing list
> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings,
> please go to
> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
> 
> ----------------------------------------------------
> National Institute for Literacy
> Focus on Basics mailing list
> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings,
> please go to
> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
> 
__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam?  Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around 
http://mail.yahoo.com 
From b.garner4 at verizon.net  Thu Apr 13 18:11:18 2006
From: b.garner4 at verizon.net (Barbara Garner)
Date: Thu, 13 Apr 2006 17:11:18 -0500 (CDT)
Subject: =?ISO-8859-1?B?UmU6IKBSRTogW0ZvY3VzT25CYXNpY3MgMjI3XQ==?=
	=?ISO-8859-1?B?IKBTZWFyY2hpbmcgZm9yIHRvcGljcyBvbiBGT0I=?=
Message-ID: <6110529.1488481144966278323.JavaMail.root@vms075.mailsrvcs.net>
According to the director of NCSALL, John Comings, the NCSALL web site will be up through 2008. After that, we don't know.
Barb 
From: Ann Barncard <annb at lcbc.org>
Date: Thu Apr 13 10:55:34 CDT 2006
To: b.garner4 at verizon.net, 
	'The Focus on Basics Discussion List' <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
Subject:  RE: [FocusOnBasics 227] ?Searching for topics on FOB
If NCSALL is not refunded, how long will the website be available?
Ann Barncard
Workforce Development Coordinator
Literacy Council of Brown County
424 S. Monroe Ave.
Green Bay, WI  54301
annb at lcbc.org
-----Original Message-----
From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Barbara Garner
Sent: Thursday, April 13, 2006 10:06 AM
To: Julie  McKinney; focusonbasics at nifl.gov
Subject: Re: [FocusOnBasics 227]  Searching for topics on FOB
The easiest way to find articles from earlier FOBs on topics you're
interested in now is to go to the NCSALL web site
(http://www.ncsall.net). On the righthand side is "subject link", right
under the GOOGLE search thing. Click on subject link.
Scroll down that list to find the topic that best describes your
interest. Click on that, and it will bring you to a list of all the
related NCSALL products. Scroll down to see Focus on Basics articles are
grouped under the heading "Focus on Basics".
If your topic doesn't appear on the subject topic list, you can try
using the GOOGLE search bar.
Or, you can post your question to the FOB list serve, and in my role as
human search engine, I will send you to the most relevant articles. 
Barb Garner  
Editor, FOB
From: Julie  McKinney <julie_mcKinney at worlded.org>
Date: Thu Apr 13 09:05:31 CDT 2006
To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 227]  Searching for topics on FOB
I agree that the variety and relevance of the topics covered are one of
the strengths of FOB. Almost every article I read gives insight into
some specific aspect of working and learning in a classroom that
teachers face daily, and the "Implications for Teaching" sections at the
end of the articles tie that insight into action. 
KC Andrew mentioned keeping copies for later because the topic "becomes
relevant over time." This reminded me that there is a wealth of past
topics that may become relevant and are worth going back to find. When I
recently did a presentation on Health Literacy, I found the issue that
addressed Health Literacy, used the information from it, and distributed
it. (I always feel like Santa when I distribute copies--they are so
prized!)
I am lucky enough to work at the dissemination center for FOB, so I can
easily find the back issues with topics I need, so I am not very
familiar with searching for back issues and topics on the NCSALL
website. Barb, can you please give us a run-down on how to search for
past FOB topics?
Thanks,
Julie
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
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From khinson at future-gate.com  Thu Apr 13 19:21:17 2006
From: khinson at future-gate.com (Katrina Hinson)
Date: Fri, 14 Apr 2006 01:21:17 +0200
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 241]   Re: Who uses FOB?
In-Reply-To: <89DA2100D59D7341BEA4D938F9FB2A9303B47107@cccmail2.chemeketa.network>
References: <89DA2100D59D7341BEA4D938F9FB2A9303B47107@cccmail2.chemeketa.network>
Message-ID: <443EF90D020000A0000024F1@fghamn01.ham.de.future-gate.com>
As an instructor I read FOB because I like to see what other programs are doing  that works. I can take what they're doing back to my administrators and say "Hey, we might want to see if we can do something similar." or I can use it to back up a need or supprt a stance at times.   Additionally, not all the articles are from the admin point of view. There are plenty of success stories by teachers as well...those are great to share with colleagues and students alike. They often motivate and inspitre others when they feel they've reached the end of their rope.
Regards
Katrina Hinson
>>> tarv at chemeketa.edu 04/13/06 1:24 PM >>>
I'm an instructor in ABE/GED/Dev Ed and I read FOB most of the time to
keep current in the field.  It does seem that most of the writers are
administrators and I'm glad that they are reading what's going on in the
field.  Hopefully, it helps them to support their part-time staff in
creative ways and to move their programs into the future successfully.
Va
-----Original Message-----
From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov 
[mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of K Olson
Sent: Thursday, April 13, 2006 9:13 AM
To: b.garner4 at verizon.net; 'The Focus on Basics Discussion List'
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 232] Who uses FOB?
I find that one of the differences between program administrators and
adult
education teachers is that administrators look at the research and, when
they come across a good theory or implication for instruction, they pass
it
along to their teachers. Unfortunately, teachers, on the other hand, are
often part time, many with other full time jobs. They do not have enough
time to stay up to date on all the research in the field, so FOB in my
estimation probably serves more administrators than teachers. 
What do I see that teachers want? They want material and lessons they
can
use the next day in their classrooms as they do not have time to create
such
materials. So, if FOB (and this is only my opinion) wants to reach both
teachers and administrators, I feel the articles exposing current
research
in adult education should also have reproducible materials that can be
immediately used in the classroom that support this research. Perhaps in
this manner teachers will then be inspired to continue to create other
materials once they have had an opportunity to see how the particular
piece
of research impacts learning in their classroom. 
Kathy Olson
Training Specialist
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From khinson at future-gate.com  Thu Apr 13 19:30:31 2006
From: khinson at future-gate.com (Katrina Hinson)
Date: Fri, 14 Apr 2006 01:30:31 +0200
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 242] Re: teacher education and change
In-Reply-To: <22029446.873831144961527250.JavaMail.root@vms069.mailsrvcs.net>
References: <22029446.873831144961527250.JavaMail.root@vms069.mailsrvcs.net>
Message-ID: <443EFB37020000A0000024F6@fghamn01.ham.de.future-gate.com>
I think motivation is probably the driving force. I think the individual has to be willing to learn or be open to new ideas. I also think complacency is a bad thing and something people slide into sometimes unknowingly...they get comfortable with the way they've done something and think they don't have to change it or even fear the change and tensions usually associated with change.
Personally,  I've waited for a while before pursuing an advanced degree and if all goes well I'll be starting my Masters in the fall. I've been teaching in Adult Ed for 10 years though. I think sometimes, that there is a feeling that having an advanced degree means you've "arrived" at some pre determined destination...or that you're now an expert able to impart knowledge but perhaps not gain it. I'm not really sure. I've encounted that behavior in the workplace and I think that's what's put me off for so long about going back to school. I don't ever want to feel I have nothing else to learn or gain via any form of education. I definitely feel that professional development is essential to staying effective in the classroom. I actually believe professional development is essential in ANY workplace.
I think I'd wonder how the NCSALL arrived at their conclusion compared to how FOB arrived at theirs.  Was the pool of respondants the same in size as well as was the pool of respondants the same in terms of degrees etc. 
Ultimately, I think it comes down to the individual person's drive and desire to grow professionally and personally.
Regards
Katrina Hinson
>>> Barbara Garner <b.garner4 at verizon.net> 04/13/06 4:52 PM >>>
Dear Listers...
Terry makes a good point...presumably most folks who completed the Focus on Basics evaluation survey read FOB because they are self motivated to do so (although we didn't ask that question). Whereas some participants in professional development are sent by their administrators because of the presumed suitability of the offering. Motivation makes a difference. 
I'm not sure how the NCSALL Staff Development study treated motivation in their analysis. I'll ask them to share with us their views, if not this week then next.
What do other readers think might be reasons for the difference in findings between the FOB evaluation, in which "Respondents 
with higher levels of education report a higher rate of change in their attitudes and behaviors about adult basic education
and a higher rate of putting into action ideas they learn as a result of reading Focus on Basics" and the NCSALL staff development study, which reported that 'teachers with master's degrees were less likely than those without to act upon information 
 learned in staff development activities.'?
Barb Garner
From: Terrence Kelley <kelleyterr at yahoo.com>
Date: Thu Apr 13 15:02:22 CDT 2006
To: b.garner4 at verizon.net, 
	The Focus on Basics Discussion List <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
Subject: Re: [FocusOnBasics 229]  teacher education and change
Dear Barb,
REF (presumed) professional development and the
incorporation thereof issue ... and I speak for
colleagues here -- 
"Incorporation thereof" is different for new and
seasoned practioners, education levels accounted for. 
I think there are several aspects to consider -the
major one of which is:  Does one choose their own PD
based on professional interests/an intererst
stream/prior education/prior professional development
activities, student needs etc., or is PD something
that is arranged by one's administration and is
supposedly suitable for all simply because it (the PD
offering) fits somehwere within the world of adult
education? That's the situation I'm in, and I'm sure
not alone.
What is bona fide professional development, i.e.
current and content relevant, for a new teacher may
very well not be for a seasoned one - either because
it's old hat, it doesn't fit their teaching style, or
is not suitable for their students, or ..... So, who
incorporates what and why, or why not, has to be
carefully considered.  
The above are just applied meanderings. 
Have a good weekend.
Terry Kelley 
Missoula Adult Basic & Literacy Education
Missoula MT
 
--- Barbara Garner <b.garner4 at verizon.net> wrote:
> That's a great question, and one that merits more
> research. I'll weigh in, but would love to hear from
> others, too.
> 
> Keep in mind, the FOB evaluation was not an effort
> to replicate the findings of NCSALL Staff
> Development Study. The NCSALL Staff Development
> study involved practitioners in a variety of
> different types of professional development. But
> those types did not include "reading professional
> journals and perhaps discussing them with
> colleagues". So what we might be seeing is that
> different types of practitioners relate differently
> to difference types of professional development. 
> 
> In terms of what lesson it offers professional
> developers now: to me it says that if you don't
> already include reading materials with any
> professional development activity you conduct, you
> should consider adding some.
> 
> Barb Garner
> 
> 
>  From: jataylor <jataylor at utk.edu>
> Date: Thu Apr 13 09:36:40 CDT 2006
> To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov 
> Subject: [FocusOnBasics 229]  teacher education and
> change
> 
> Hi Barb,
> As you know, in the FOB evaluation NCSALL reported
> finding that "Respondents 
> with higher levels of education report a higher rate
> of change in their 
> attitudes and behaviors about adult basic education
> and a higher rate of 
> putting into action ideas they learn as a result of
> reading Focus on Basics."
> 
> The report also notes the contradiction of this to
> the finding in the 2003 
> NCSALL Professional Development Study which
> documents that 'teachers with 
> master's degrees were less likely than those without
> to act upon information 
> learned in staff development activities.' One
> hypothesis offered was that 
> teachers who were more educated were possibly more
> "settled" in their work and 
> less likely to demonstrate change based on what they
> learned in PD.
> 
> What are your speculations about this discrepancy as
> it pertains to the 
> research, and what is the message you'd recommend
> that professional developers 
> take away from this comparison as it is pertinent to
> their work?
> 
> Thanks, Jackie
> 
> Jackie Taylor, Moderator
> Adult Literacy Professional Development Discussion
> List
> jataylor at utk.edu 
> 
> ----------------------------------------------------
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> Focus on Basics mailing list
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> please go to
> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics 
> 
> ----------------------------------------------------
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From Janet_Isserlis at brown.edu  Fri Apr 14 09:27:22 2006
From: Janet_Isserlis at brown.edu (Janet Isserlis)
Date: Fri, 14 Apr 2006 09:27:22 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 243] Re: teacher education and change
In-Reply-To: <443EFB37020000A0000024F6@fghamn01.ham.de.future-gate.com>
Message-ID: <C0651B7A.BBB1%Janet_Isserlis@brown.edu>
Katrina and all
I think motivation is likely an important factor, but we also need to be
mindful of systemic support for educators.  What supports are/aren't
available to people who are working more than one part-time job?  What are
the cultures of professional development in their various workplaces?  Aside
from the intrinsic motivation to learn more, what messages to program
administrators, colleagues and funders convey to teachers about the value of
professional development?
I was really fortunate to have had an opportunity to begin my MA work after
I'd been teaching for 9 years (through a program that funded the courses so
that we only paid for books).  It was a part-time masters program, over two
and a half years, designed for full-time teachers.  I was already privileged
to be working full time; the degree program required a lot of work, but not
a lot of money.  While grateful endlessly for the program - I was ready to
dig in and learn, and had the questions to ask that I might not have had in
my first year of teaching - I still think that we can't only ascribe
participation in PD to personal motivation.  We also need to be proactive in
working to build opportunities for practitioners across the board - new,
continuing, veteran practitioners - or we risk what I've heard Barb describe
as "good programs getting gooder."  It's great to build capacity in strong
programs - but it's also great to make capacity building available across
the board.
IF it is the case that personal motivation is the determining factor, then
we've all the more work to do to build a greater collective culture of
learning and respect for learning throughout the field.
Janet Isserlis
> 
> I think motivation is probably the driving force. I think the individual has
> to be willing to learn or be open to new ideas. I also think complacency is a
> bad thing and something people slide into sometimes unknowingly...they get
> comfortable with the way they've done something and think they don't have to
> change it or even fear the change and tensions usually associated with change.
> 
> Personally,  I've waited for a while before pursuing an advanced degree and if
> all goes well I'll be starting my Masters in the fall. I've been teaching in
> Adult Ed for 10 years though. I think sometimes, that there is a feeling that
> having an advanced degree means you've "arrived" at some pre determined
> destination...or that you're now an expert able to impart knowledge but
> perhaps not gain it. I'm not really sure. I've encounted that behavior in the
> workplace and I think that's what's put me off for so long about going back to
> school. I don't ever want to feel I have nothing else to learn or gain via any
> form of education. I definitely feel that professional development is
> essential to staying effective in the classroom. I actually believe
> professional development is essential in ANY workplace.
> 
> I think I'd wonder how the NCSALL arrived at their conclusion compared to how
> FOB arrived at theirs.  Was the pool of respondants the same in size as well
> as was the pool of respondants the same in terms of degrees etc.
> 
> Ultimately, I think it comes down to the individual person's drive and desire
> to grow professionally and personally.
> 
> Regards
> Katrina Hinson
From mgsantos at sfsu.edu  Fri Apr 14 10:21:13 2006
From: mgsantos at sfsu.edu (mgsantos at sfsu.edu)
Date: Fri, 14 Apr 2006 07:21:13 -0700
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 244] Re: teacher education and change
In-Reply-To: <C0651B7A.BBB1%Janet_Isserlis@brown.edu>
References: <C0651B7A.BBB1%Janet_Isserlis@brown.edu>
Message-ID: <1145024472.443fafd90082c@webmail.sfsu.edu>
Janet and all
I have to agree strong with Janet's thoughts on motivation.  I train adult ESL
teachers in MA TESOL program and many of them (of varying levels of experience)
WANT to implement the ideas they read in FOB ... but when they get go back to
their programs, they reported feeling frustrated that their programs don't seem
to support innovation and creativity in teaching. If a program isn't committed
at the program-level to fostering a "culture of change" (lots of stuff out there
in K-12 about this), personal motivation can provide a point of entry but is not
sufficient for meaningful impact.
At the same time I think we need to recognize the many ways that teachers do
grow and develop that don't necessarily translate into measurable learner gains.
Stephen Reder and his team in Portland have argued for a broader view on learner
participation, beyond program attendance.  Perhaps we also need to begin
systematically accounting for the ways that teachers manage their own
professional growth and strive to develop professionally, outside of formal pd
organizations and *in spite* of the lack of programmatic support.  
With FOB online, the series represents a rich library that a teacher could turn
to for self-reflection. However there are still a lot of teachers out there (I
meet them at TESOL conventions) who don't know about NCSALL or FOB.  If FOB is
facing the end of its publishing run, it seems strategic to think how NCSALL
might use its remaining FOB funds to expand its outreach. 
Best, Maricel Santos
Quoting Janet Isserlis <Janet_Isserlis at brown.edu>:
> Katrina and all
> 
> I think motivation is likely an important factor, but we also need to be
> mindful of systemic support for educators.  What supports are/aren't
> available to people who are working more than one part-time job?  What are
> the cultures of professional development in their various workplaces?  Aside
> from the intrinsic motivation to learn more, what messages to program
> administrators, colleagues and funders convey to teachers about the value of
> professional development?
> 
> I was really fortunate to have had an opportunity to begin my MA work after
> I'd been teaching for 9 years (through a program that funded the courses so
> that we only paid for books).  It was a part-time masters program, over two
> and a half years, designed for full-time teachers.  I was already privileged
> to be working full time; the degree program required a lot of work, but not
> a lot of money.  While grateful endlessly for the program - I was ready to
> dig in and learn, and had the questions to ask that I might not have had in
> my first year of teaching - I still think that we can't only ascribe
> participation in PD to personal motivation.  We also need to be proactive in
> working to build opportunities for practitioners across the board - new,
> continuing, veteran practitioners - or we risk what I've heard Barb describe
> as "good programs getting gooder."  It's great to build capacity in strong
> programs - but it's also great to make capacity building available across
> the board.
> 
> IF it is the case that personal motivation is the determining factor, then
> we've all the more work to do to build a greater collective culture of
> learning and respect for learning throughout the field.
> 
> Janet Isserlis
> > 
> > I think motivation is probably the driving force. I think the individual
> has
> > to be willing to learn or be open to new ideas. I also think complacency is
> a
> > bad thing and something people slide into sometimes unknowingly...they get
> > comfortable with the way they've done something and think they don't have
> to
> > change it or even fear the change and tensions usually associated with
> change.
> > 
> > Personally,  I've waited for a while before pursuing an advanced degree and
> if
> > all goes well I'll be starting my Masters in the fall. I've been teaching
> in
> > Adult Ed for 10 years though. I think sometimes, that there is a feeling
> that
> > having an advanced degree means you've "arrived" at some pre determined
> > destination...or that you're now an expert able to impart knowledge but
> > perhaps not gain it. I'm not really sure. I've encounted that behavior in
> the
> > workplace and I think that's what's put me off for so long about going back
> to
> > school. I don't ever want to feel I have nothing else to learn or gain via
> any
> > form of education. I definitely feel that professional development is
> > essential to staying effective in the classroom. I actually believe
> > professional development is essential in ANY workplace.
> > 
> > I think I'd wonder how the NCSALL arrived at their conclusion compared to
> how
> > FOB arrived at theirs.  Was the pool of respondants the same in size as
> well
> > as was the pool of respondants the same in terms of degrees etc.
> > 
> > Ultimately, I think it comes down to the individual person's drive and
> desire
> > to grow professionally and personally.
> > 
> > Regards
> > Katrina Hinson
> 
> ----------------------------------------------------
> National Institute for Literacy
> Focus on Basics mailing list
> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
> 
From b.garner4 at verizon.net  Fri Apr 14 12:32:11 2006
From: b.garner4 at verizon.net (Barbara Garner)
Date: Fri, 14 Apr 2006 11:32:11 -0500 (CDT)
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 245] Re: teacher education and change
Message-ID: <27865687.501611145032331148.JavaMail.root@vms062.mailsrvcs.net>
Wow, lots of ideas and information here.
First, regarding the differing findings of the two studies (the FOB survey, and the NCSALL Staff Development Study, a lengthy research projects)in one, those with less education were more likely to incorporate ideas learned in professional development. In the other, those with more education were likely to do the incorporating...
But perhaps the good news is that both groups, under certain conditions, put professional development to use.
The issue that Janet writes about, of the conditions conducive to engagement in professional development, are much the same issues we think about when pondering how to enroll and engage ABE learners. The need, the motivation, are important, but so are elements such as availability, cost (free), accessibility, child care if needed, etc. And a climate conducive to learning. I can't agree more that all the pieces have to be in place. 
Has anyone experienced a considerable change in their program, toward a climate more conducive to learning? And when I write "climate" I'm thinking about both atmosphere and also particulars: paid release time, substitutes available, support for trying new things, etc. What caused the change? What can we learn from your experiences? How about change, I hate to say it, in the opposite direction? What stifles professional learning?
And continuing outreach, particularly to folks who don't know of FOB and NCSALL as a resource, is a valuable reminder. Any suggestions of concrete things NCSALL should be doing to bring itself and FOB to teachers' attention?
Barb
From: mgsantos at sfsu.edu
Date: Fri Apr 14 09:21:13 CDT 2006
To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>, 
	Janet Isserlis <Janet_Isserlis at brown.edu>
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 244] Re: teacher education and change
Janet and all
I have to agree strong with Janet's thoughts on motivation.  I train adult ESL
teachers in MA TESOL program and many of them (of varying levels of experience)
WANT to implement the ideas they read in FOB ... but when they get go back to
their programs, they reported feeling frustrated that their programs don't seem
to support innovation and creativity in teaching. If a program isn't committed
at the program-level to fostering a "culture of change" (lots of stuff out there
in K-12 about this), personal motivation can provide a point of entry but is not
sufficient for meaningful impact.
At the same time I think we need to recognize the many ways that teachers do
grow and develop that don't necessarily translate into measurable learner gains.
Stephen Reder and his team in Portland have argued for a broader view on learner
participation, beyond program attendance.  Perhaps we also need to begin
systematically accounting for the ways that teachers manage their own
professional growth and strive to develop professionally, outside of formal pd
organizations and *in spite* of the lack of programmatic support.  
With FOB online, the series represents a rich library that a teacher could turn
to for self-reflection. However there are still a lot of teachers out there (I
meet them at TESOL conventions) who don't know about NCSALL or FOB.  If FOB is
facing the end of its publishing run, it seems strategic to think how NCSALL
might use its remaining FOB funds to expand its outreach. 
Best, Maricel Santos
Quoting Janet Isserlis <Janet_Isserlis at brown.edu>:
> Katrina and all
> 
> I think motivation is likely an important factor, but we also need to be
> mindful of systemic support for educators.  What supports are/aren't
> available to people who are working more than one part-time job?  What are
> the cultures of professional development in their various workplaces?  Aside
> from the intrinsic motivation to learn more, what messages to program
> administrators, colleagues and funders convey to teachers about the value of
> professional development?
> 
> I was really fortunate to have had an opportunity to begin my MA work after
> I'd been teaching for 9 years (through a program that funded the courses so
> that we only paid for books).  It was a part-time masters program, over two
> and a half years, designed for full-time teachers.  I was already privileged
> to be working full time; the degree program required a lot of work, but not
> a lot of money.  While grateful endlessly for the program - I was ready to
> dig in and learn, and had the questions to ask that I might not have had in
> my first year of teaching - I still think that we can't only ascribe
> participation in PD to personal motivation.  We also need to be proactive in
> working to build opportunities for practitioners across the board - new,
> continuing, veteran practitioners - or we risk what I've heard Barb describe
> as "good programs getting gooder."  It's great to build capacity in strong
> programs - but it's also great to make capacity building available across
> the board.
> 
> IF it is the case that personal motivation is the determining factor, then
> we've all the more work to do to build a greater collective culture of
> learning and respect for learning throughout the field.
> 
> Janet Isserlis
> > 
> > I think motivation is probably the driving force. I think the individual
> has
> > to be willing to learn or be open to new ideas. I also think complacency is
> a
> > bad thing and something people slide into sometimes unknowingly...they get
> > comfortable with the way they've done something and think they don't have
> to
> > change it or even fear the change and tensions usually associated with
> change.
> > 
> > Personally,  I've waited for a while before pursuing an advanced degree and
> if
> > all goes well I'll be starting my Masters in the fall. I've been teaching
> in
> > Adult Ed for 10 years though. I think sometimes, that there is a feeling
> that
> > having an advanced degree means you've "arrived" at some pre determined
> > destination...or that you're now an expert able to impart knowledge but
> > perhaps not gain it. I'm not really sure. I've encounted that behavior in
> the
> > workplace and I think that's what's put me off for so long about going back
> to
> > school. I don't ever want to feel I have nothing else to learn or gain via
> any
> > form of education. I definitely feel that professional development is
> > essential to staying effective in the classroom. I actually believe
> > professional development is essential in ANY workplace.
> > 
> > I think I'd wonder how the NCSALL arrived at their conclusion compared to
> how
> > FOB arrived at theirs.  Was the pool of respondants the same in size as
> well
> > as was the pool of respondants the same in terms of degrees etc.
> > 
> > Ultimately, I think it comes down to the individual person's drive and
> desire
> > to grow professionally and personally.
> > 
> > Regards
> > Katrina Hinson
> 
> ----------------------------------------------------
> National Institute for Literacy
> Focus on Basics mailing list
> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
> 
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From jataylor at utk.edu  Fri Apr 14 13:38:28 2006
From: jataylor at utk.edu (jataylor)
Date: Fri, 14 Apr 2006 13:38:28 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 246]  teacher education and change
Message-ID: <4467A8A7@webmail.utk.edu>
Hi all,
I appreciate this discussion immensely, thanks for the stimulating thoughts. 
For those who've been out-and-about and you'd like to catch up on the 
discussion thread, it is now being archived in the wiki:
http://wiki.literacytent.org/index.php/Teacher_Experience_and_Change
Jackie
From julie_mcKinney at worlded.org  Fri Apr 14 15:28:50 2006
From: julie_mcKinney at worlded.org (Julie  McKinney)
Date: Fri, 14 Apr 2006 15:28:50 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 247]  Thanks to Barb and All for great discussion!
Message-ID: <s43fbfe0.061@mail.jsi.com>
Hi All,
Thanks so much for participating in our discussion of the FOB
evaluation, and thanks Barb for facilitating it and answering all the
questions! Although the discussion officially ends today, you all know
that we can continue discussing these issues afterwards, and that Barb
is around and tuned in to the list. 
Again, thanks to all.
Julie
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
From b.garner4 at verizon.net  Fri Apr 14 16:08:33 2006
From: b.garner4 at verizon.net (Barbara Garner)
Date: Fri, 14 Apr 2006 15:08:33 -0500 (CDT)
Subject: =?ISO-8859-1?B?UmU6IFtGb2N1c09uQmFzaWNzIDI0N10goFRoYW5rcyB0bw==?=
	=?ISO-8859-1?B?IEJhcmIgYW5kIEFsbCBmb3IgZ3JlYXQgZGlzY3Vzc2lvbiE=?=
Message-ID: <28654494.832481145045313726.JavaMail.root@vms168.mailsrvcs.net>
Thanks to everyone...please continue to send us ideas on how to get existing articles into the hands of teachers...
Our dissemination team sends copies of all NCSALL publications to ERIC (and now to whatever it is) to archive. So they should be available there as well.
I WON'T be able to access email from Sunday - through next Friday, but will be back on by April 22.
(And a new Focus on Basics will be out in May!)
Regards,
Barb Garner
Editor, "Focus on Basics"
From: Julie  McKinney <julie_mcKinney at worlded.org>
Date: Fri Apr 14 14:28:50 CDT 2006
To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 247]  Thanks to Barb and All for great discussion!
Hi All,
Thanks so much for participating in our discussion of the FOB
evaluation, and thanks Barb for facilitating it and answering all the
questions! Although the discussion officially ends today, you all know
that we can continue discussing these issues afterwards, and that Barb
is around and tuned in to the list. 
Again, thanks to all.
Julie
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
From b.garner4 at verizon.net  Fri Apr 14 16:44:29 2006
From: b.garner4 at verizon.net (Barbara Garner)
Date: Fri, 14 Apr 2006 15:44:29 -0500 (CDT)
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 249] Re:
	=?iso-8859-1?q?=A0Searching_for_topics_on_FOB?=
Message-ID: <30964.839081145047469339.JavaMail.root@vms168.mailsrvcs.net>
I just checked ERIC and you can find them either under "Focus on Basics" (best to put a year in) or with a search word...
So that's good to know...posterity!
Barb Garner
From: Kaye Beall <kabeall at comcast.net>
Date: Fri Apr 14 14:57:26 CDT 2006
To: b.garner4 at verizon.net, 
	'The Focus on Basics Discussion List' <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
Subject: RE: ?Searching for topics on FOB
Focus on Basics and other NCSALL publications can also be found in the
Education Resources Information Center (ERIC), sponsored by the Institute of
Education Sciences (IES) of the U.S. Department of Education at:
http://www.eric.ed.gov/
So, the materials would still be available when the NCSALL web site is
discontinued.
Kaye
****************
Kaye Beall
Outreach Coordinator/NCSALL Dissemination Project
World Education
4401 S. Madison St.
Muncie, IN  47302
Tel: 765-717-3942
Fax: 208-694-8262
kaye_beall at worlded.org
http://www.ncsall.net
 
-----Original Message-----
From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov]
On Behalf Of Barbara Garner
Sent: Thursday, April 13, 2006 6:11 PM
To: Ann Barncard; b.garner4 at verizon.net; 'The Focus on Basics Discussion
List'
Subject: Re: ?RE: [FocusOnBasics 227] ?Searching for topics on FOB
According to the director of NCSALL, John Comings, the NCSALL web site will
be up through 2008. After that, we don't know.
Barb 
From kabeall at comcast.net  Fri Apr 14 15:57:26 2006
From: kabeall at comcast.net (Kaye Beall)
Date: Fri, 14 Apr 2006 15:57:26 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 249] Re:
	=?iso-8859-1?q?=A0Searching_for_topics_on_FOB?=
In-Reply-To: <6110529.1488481144966278323.JavaMail.root@vms075.mailsrvcs.net>
Message-ID: <003a01c65ffd$a7a52360$0202a8c0@your4105e587b6>
Focus on Basics and other NCSALL publications can also be found in the
Education Resources Information Center (ERIC), sponsored by the Institute of
Education Sciences (IES) of the U.S. Department of Education at:
http://www.eric.ed.gov/
So, the materials would still be available when the NCSALL web site is
discontinued.
Kaye
****************
Kaye Beall
Outreach Coordinator/NCSALL Dissemination Project
World Education
4401 S. Madison St.
Muncie, IN  47302
Tel: 765-717-3942
Fax: 208-694-8262
kaye_beall at worlded.org
http://www.ncsall.net
 
-----Original Message-----
From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov]
On Behalf Of Barbara Garner
Sent: Thursday, April 13, 2006 6:11 PM
To: Ann Barncard; b.garner4 at verizon.net; 'The Focus on Basics Discussion
List'
Subject: Re: ?RE: [FocusOnBasics 227] ?Searching for topics on FOB
According to the director of NCSALL, John Comings, the NCSALL web site will
be up through 2008. After that, we don't know.
Barb 
From khinson at future-gate.com  Fri Apr 14 17:17:57 2006
From: khinson at future-gate.com (Katrina Hinson)
Date: Fri, 14 Apr 2006 23:17:57 +0200
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 250]   Re: teacher education and change
In-Reply-To: <C0651B7A.BBB1%Janet_Isserlis@brown.edu>
References: <443EFB37020000A0000024F6@fghamn01.ham.de.future-gate.com>
	<C0651B7A.BBB1%Janet_Isserlis@brown.edu>
Message-ID: <44402DA5020000A00000250E@fghamn01.ham.de.future-gate.com>
I think the biggest support that is missing is adequate funding. I recently attended an event in my state and was fortunate to be an instructor among several other administrators as well as other instructors. In our down time,  I had the chance to talk with the two administrators. They were talking about how they'd love to send their teachers to what we ourselves were attending. I asked why they didn't. They said they didn't have the funds and they didn't have the means by and large to provide professional development on any regular basis. I thought that was sad and I counted myself blessed that the school I work for does budget for professional development.  I was also disappoited that professional development isn't/wasn't considered  something that should be necessary in EVERY budget.  Unfortunately the way community college budgets are done sometimes means there is great disparity across the state and therefore great disparity in the opportunities available.
I agree that there is probably more that goes into the professional development question and the differences between the NCSALL findings and the FOB findings. I'm just not sure where we'd even begin to get people to appreciate and understand the great need there really is for providing professional development on a larger, consistent scale.
 
Regards
Katrina Hinson
>>> Janet_Isserlis at brown.edu 04/14/06 9:27 AM >>>
Katrina and all
I think motivation is likely an important factor, but we also need to be
mindful of systemic support for educators.  What supports are/aren't
available to people who are working more than one part-time job?  What are
the cultures of professional development in their various workplaces?  Aside
from the intrinsic motivation to learn more, what messages to program
administrators, colleagues and funders convey to teachers about the value of
professional development?
I was really fortunate to have had an opportunity to begin my MA work after
I'd been teaching for 9 years (through a program that funded the courses so
that we only paid for books).  It was a part-time masters program, over two
and a half years, designed for full-time teachers.  I was already privileged
to be working full time; the degree program required a lot of work, but not
a lot of money.  While grateful endlessly for the program - I was ready to
dig in and learn, and had the questions to ask that I might not have had in
my first year of teaching - I still think that we can't only ascribe
participation in PD to personal motivation.  We also need to be proactive in
working to build opportunities for practitioners across the board - new,
continuing, veteran practitioners - or we risk what I've heard Barb describe
as "good programs getting gooder."  It's great to build capacity in strong
programs - but it's also great to make capacity building available across
the board.
IF it is the case that personal motivation is the determining factor, then
we've all the more work to do to build a greater collective culture of
learning and respect for learning throughout the field.
Janet Isserlis
> 
> I think motivation is probably the driving force. I think the individual has
> to be willing to learn or be open to new ideas. I also think complacency is a
> bad thing and something people slide into sometimes unknowingly...they get
> comfortable with the way they've done something and think they don't have to
> change it or even fear the change and tensions usually associated with change.
> 
> Personally,  I've waited for a while before pursuing an advanced degree and if
> all goes well I'll be starting my Masters in the fall. I've been teaching in
> Adult Ed for 10 years though. I think sometimes, that there is a feeling that
> having an advanced degree means you've "arrived" at some pre determined
> destination...or that you're now an expert able to impart knowledge but
> perhaps not gain it. I'm not really sure. I've encounted that behavior in the
> workplace and I think that's what's put me off for so long about going back to
> school. I don't ever want to feel I have nothing else to learn or gain via any
> form of education. I definitely feel that professional development is
> essential to staying effective in the classroom. I actually believe
> professional development is essential in ANY workplace.
> 
> I think I'd wonder how the NCSALL arrived at their conclusion compared to how
> FOB arrived at theirs.  Was the pool of respondants the same in size as well
> as was the pool of respondants the same in terms of degrees etc.
> 
> Ultimately, I think it comes down to the individual person's drive and desire
> to grow professionally and personally.
> 
> Regards
> Katrina Hinson
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov 
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
From tarv at chemeketa.edu  Mon Apr 17 18:29:01 2006
From: tarv at chemeketa.edu (Virginia Tardaewether)
Date: Mon, 17 Apr 2006 15:29:01 -0700
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 251] Re: teacher education and change
Message-ID: <89DA2100D59D7341BEA4D938F9FB2A9303BA4953@cccmail2.chemeketa.network>
Designing workshops that have dual purposes might be a good strategy for
effective staff development.  My example is WATER on THE WEB.  This
training worked for both my part time jobs.  It gave me worksites for my
watershed education needs and live sites that I used weekly with my GED
students.  
VA
-----Original Message-----
From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Katrina Hinson
Sent: Friday, April 14, 2006 2:18 PM
To: Janet_Isserlis at brown.edu; The Focus on Basics Discussion List
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 250] Re: teacher education and change
I think the biggest support that is missing is adequate funding. I
recently attended an event in my state and was fortunate to be an
instructor among several other administrators as well as other
instructors. In our down time,  I had the chance to talk with the two
administrators. They were talking about how they'd love to send their
teachers to what we ourselves were attending. I asked why they didn't.
They said they didn't have the funds and they didn't have the means by
and large to provide professional development on any regular basis. I
thought that was sad and I counted myself blessed that the school I work
for does budget for professional development.  I was also disappoited
that professional development isn't/wasn't considered  something that
should be necessary in EVERY budget.  Unfortunately the way community
college budgets are done sometimes means there is great disparity across
the state and therefore great disparity in the opportunities available.
I agree that there is probably more that goes into the professional
development question and the differences between the NCSALL findings and
the FOB findings. I'm just not sure where we'd even begin to get people
to appreciate and understand the great need there really is for
providing professional development on a larger, consistent scale.
 
Regards
Katrina Hinson
>>> Janet_Isserlis at brown.edu 04/14/06 9:27 AM >>>
Katrina and all
I think motivation is likely an important factor, but we also need to be
mindful of systemic support for educators.  What supports are/aren't
available to people who are working more than one part-time job?  What
are
the cultures of professional development in their various workplaces?
Aside
from the intrinsic motivation to learn more, what messages to program
administrators, colleagues and funders convey to teachers about the
value of
professional development?
I was really fortunate to have had an opportunity to begin my MA work
after
I'd been teaching for 9 years (through a program that funded the courses
so
that we only paid for books).  It was a part-time masters program, over
two
and a half years, designed for full-time teachers.  I was already
privileged
to be working full time; the degree program required a lot of work, but
not
a lot of money.  While grateful endlessly for the program - I was ready
to
dig in and learn, and had the questions to ask that I might not have had
in
my first year of teaching - I still think that we can't only ascribe
participation in PD to personal motivation.  We also need to be
proactive in
working to build opportunities for practitioners across the board - new,
continuing, veteran practitioners - or we risk what I've heard Barb
describe
as "good programs getting gooder."  It's great to build capacity in
strong
programs - but it's also great to make capacity building available
across
the board.
IF it is the case that personal motivation is the determining factor,
then
we've all the more work to do to build a greater collective culture of
learning and respect for learning throughout the field.
Janet Isserlis
> 
> I think motivation is probably the driving force. I think the
individual has
> to be willing to learn or be open to new ideas. I also think
complacency is a
> bad thing and something people slide into sometimes unknowingly...they
get
> comfortable with the way they've done something and think they don't
have to
> change it or even fear the change and tensions usually associated with
change.
> 
> Personally,  I've waited for a while before pursuing an advanced
degree and if
> all goes well I'll be starting my Masters in the fall. I've been
teaching in
> Adult Ed for 10 years though. I think sometimes, that there is a
feeling that
> having an advanced degree means you've "arrived" at some pre
determined
> destination...or that you're now an expert able to impart knowledge
but
> perhaps not gain it. I'm not really sure. I've encounted that behavior
in the
> workplace and I think that's what's put me off for so long about going
back to
> school. I don't ever want to feel I have nothing else to learn or gain
via any
> form of education. I definitely feel that professional development is
> essential to staying effective in the classroom. I actually believe
> professional development is essential in ANY workplace.
> 
> I think I'd wonder how the NCSALL arrived at their conclusion compared
to how
> FOB arrived at theirs.  Was the pool of respondants the same in size
as well
> as was the pool of respondants the same in terms of degrees etc.
> 
> Ultimately, I think it comes down to the individual person's drive and
desire
> to grow professionally and personally.
> 
> Regards
> Katrina Hinson
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov 
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
From julie_mcKinney at worlded.org  Tue Apr 18 09:55:01 2006
From: julie_mcKinney at worlded.org (Julie  McKinney)
Date: Tue, 18 Apr 2006 09:55:01 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 252]  Meeting of the Minds II Symposium
Message-ID: <s444b790.096@mail.jsi.com>
Hi All,
I am passing on this announcement from Mary Ann Corley about  a national
adult education practitioner-researcher symposium, a Meeting of the
Minds II, to be held in Sacramento, CA November 30-December 2, 2006. 
Julie
***********   
SAVE the DATES:  November 30-December 2, 2006!
ANNOUNCING: A MEETING OF THE MINDS II SYMPOSIUM!
The National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy
(NCSALL), the California Department of Education (CDE) Adult Education
Office, and the California Adult Literacy Professional Development
Project (CALPRO) of the American Institutes for Research are pleased to
announce a Meeting of the Minds II: A National Adult Education
Practitioner-Researcher Symposium. 
Scheduled for November 30-December 2, 2006, at the Sheraton Grand hotel
in Sacramento, California, the symposium is designed to provide
opportunities for adult education practitioners and researchers to share
and discuss the most current research findings and practitioner wisdom.
It will engage practitioners and researchers with questions related to
goals, accountability, and efficacy and efficiency in policy, practice,
and research. The ultimate goals of the symposium are to highlight
systemic changes that can enhance literacy practice and increase student
learning gains. The theme of this year's symposium is Systemic Change
and Student Success: What Does Research Tell Us? 
As in the first Meeting of the Minds Symposium that was held in 2004,
each session of the 2006 Symposium will be structured so that the
research presentation is followed by a panel of practitioners who will
discuss implications for practice or policy. In addition, conference
attendees will have opportunities for small group interaction and
networking with researcher-presenters to discuss not only how research
can inform practice and policy, but also how practice and policy can
inform and suggest a research agenda.      
More information about the Meeting of the Minds II symposium will be
available soon on the symposium Web site,  www.researchtopractice.org.
(This Web site currently lists presenters' PowerPoints and abstracts of
sessions held at the 2004 Meeting of the Minds symposium as well as
thoughts generated by attendees regarding implications of the research
findings.) We are in the process of updating this Web site to house
information about online registration for the 2006 symposium as well as
information about hotel registration. We will send out another notice
after the Web site has been updated. In the meantime, please save the
dates and plan to join us in November in Sacramento!
Thank you.
-Mary Ann Corley, Ph.D.
Symposium Coordinator and
CALPRO Director, American Institutes for Research
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
From kabeall at comcast.net  Tue Apr 18 14:30:56 2006
From: kabeall at comcast.net (Kaye Beall)
Date: Tue, 18 Apr 2006 14:30:56 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 253]  New from NCSALL
Message-ID: <007201c66316$3bb6bda0$0202a8c0@your4105e587b6>
Two new publications are now available from NCSALL. For more information,
please visit the NCSALL Web site at: http://www.ncsall.net
<http://www.ncsall.net/> 
 
An Evidence-based Adult Education Program Model Appropriate for Research 
by John Comings, Lisa Soricone, and Maricel Santos 
The document reviews the available empirical evidence and professional
wisdom in order to define a program model that meets the requirements for
good practice. This program model describes what teachers, adult students,
counselors, administrators, volunteers, and program partners should do to
provide both effective instruction and the support services adults need to
persist in their learning long enough to be successful. This paper describes
a program model as having a program quality support component and three
chronological program components, which are entrance into a program,
participation in a program, and reengagement in learning. Though this model
could also be used as a description of good programs for other purposes,
here it describes the context in which research on approaches to instruction
and support services could be productive. 
To download the NCSALL Occasional Paper, visit NCSALL's Web site:
http://www.ncsall.net/index.php?id=26#ebae
 
Learner's Engagement in Adult Literacy Education  
by Hal Beder, Jessica Tomkins, Patsy Medina, Regina Riccioni, and Weiling
Deng 
Engagement is mental effort focused on learning and is a precondition to
learning progress. It is important to understand how and why adult learners
engage in literacy instruction because engagement is a precondition to
learning progress. This study focused on how learning context shapes
engagement. The practical reason for doing so is that to a great extent
adult educators control the educational context. Thus if they understand how
the educational context shapes engagement, they can influence engagement in
positive ways.
To download the NCSALL Report, visit NCSALL's Web site:
http://www.ncsall.net/?id=29#28
To order the NCSALL Report at $10.00/copy, go to the Order Form:
http://www.ncsall.net/?id=681
 
****************
Kaye Beall
Outreach Coordinator/NCSALL Dissemination Project
World Education
4401 S. Madison St.
Muncie, IN  47302
Tel: 765-717-3942
Fax: 208-694-8262
kaye_beall at worlded.org
http://www.ncsall.net
 
 
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From julie_mcKinney at worlded.org  Wed Apr 19 23:26:21 2006
From: julie_mcKinney at worlded.org (Julie  McKinney)
Date: Wed, 19 Apr 2006 23:26:21 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 254] Re: teacher education and change
Message-ID: <s446c72d.052@mail.jsi.com>
Hi Everyone,
I'm passing on this message from Cris Smith. It is a response to last
week's discussion about the differing findings of the FOB survey, and
the NCSALL Staff Development Study, in terms of teacher education level
and chances of incorporating ideas learned in PD. 
Julie
**********************************************
Cris here.  I directed the NCSALL professional development study, where
we
found that teachers with a bachelor's degree or less made fewer changes
in
thinking and acting after participating in professional development,
which
is different from the FOB evaluation, which found that those with
master's
degrees or above who responded to the Focus on Basics survey reported
making
more change in their classrooms or programs after reading Focus on
Basics.
I think one reason for the difference, in addition to the ones people
have
mentioned previously, might be the difference in the samples:  in our
professional development study, almost 100% of those participating were
primarily teachers.  In the Focus on Basics survey, only 33% identified
themselves primarily as teachers (although in both samples we had
administrators who did some teaching, and some teachers who did some
administrating).
One hypothesis for the differences between these two studies and the
amount
of change related to level of education might be that, according to what
we
found in the professional development study, administrators and others
have
more power to make change than do teachers, even at the classroom level.
 So
it could be that with the higher proportion of administrators and
non-teachers in the FOB sample, many of whom have post-graduate degrees,
they may be reporting more change because they are in a position to make
more change, whereas the PD study sample, which was mostly teachers and
where only half had masters' or above, were not in a position to make as
much change as a result of what they had learned.  Anyway, that's one
hypothesis.
It could also be a motivational issue.  It requires individual
initiative to
read Focus on Basics, and probably many people read articles on those
topics
about which they have the strongest motivation or recognize the issue as
a
problem in their work that needs solving.  Whereas, some proportion of
teachers who attend professional development (we found) are there for
reasons other than an interest in the topic or just a strong motivation
to
learn:  they may have been asked (or told) by their program
administrator to
attend the PD; it was on a free night or convenient to get to; someone
else
from their program was also attending so they went along; or they were
interested in our PD because it was part of a research project or they
liked
the idea of trying a different model of PD (practitioner research or
mentor
teacher group) that they hadn't tried before, but either weren't
interested
in the topic of the PD (learner persistence) or didn't recognize it as a
problem in their program or class.  All of these things, regardless of
education level, may affect what people learn and do after attending the
PD.
However, I still believe that the idea that more experienced, more
"degreed"
practitioners and administrators CAN become "settled" and not feel as if
they need to make changes in what they do.  If they are already doing a
good
job, they might be right, but in both the PD study and the FOB
evaluation,
we didn't look at teaching quality (as evidenced by student achievement)
so
we don't know if that's the case.  They could be "settled" teachers who
are
either very effective or not very effective at all.  But that's another
study.  Best...Cris
Cristine Smith
Deputy Director, NCSALL
World Education
44 Farnsworth Street
Boston, MA  02210-1211
csmith at worlded.org
(617) 482-9485  T,W
(413) 256-6258  M, Th, F
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
>>> Barbara Garner <b.garner4 at verizon.net> 04/14/06 12:32 PM >>>
Wow, lots of ideas and information here.
First, regarding the differing findings of the two studies (the FOB
survey, and the NCSALL Staff Development Study, a lengthy research
projects)in one, those with less education were more likely to
incorporate ideas learned in professional development. In the other,
those with more education were likely to do the incorporating...
But perhaps the good news is that both groups, under certain conditions,
put professional development to use.
The issue that Janet writes about, of the conditions conducive to
engagement in professional development, are much the same issues we
think about when pondering how to enroll and engage ABE learners. The
need, the motivation, are important, but so are elements such as
availability, cost (free), accessibility, child care if needed, etc. And
a climate conducive to learning. I can't agree more that all the pieces
have to be in place. 
Has anyone experienced a considerable change in their program, toward a
climate more conducive to learning? And when I write "climate" I'm
thinking about both atmosphere and also particulars: paid release time,
substitutes available, support for trying new things, etc. What caused
the change? What can we learn from your experiences? How about change, I
hate to say it, in the opposite direction? What stifles professional
learning?
And continuing outreach, particularly to folks who don't know of FOB and
NCSALL as a resource, is a valuable reminder. Any suggestions of
concrete things NCSALL should be doing to bring itself and FOB to
teachers' attention?
Barb
From: mgsantos at sfsu.edu
Date: Fri Apr 14 09:21:13 CDT 2006
To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>, 
	Janet Isserlis <Janet_Isserlis at brown.edu>
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 244] Re: teacher education and change
Janet and all
I have to agree strong with Janet's thoughts on motivation.  I train
adult ESL
teachers in MA TESOL program and many of them (of varying levels of
experience)
WANT to implement the ideas they read in FOB ... but when they get go
back to
their programs, they reported feeling frustrated that their programs
don't seem
to support innovation and creativity in teaching. If a program isn't
committed
at the program-level to fostering a "culture of change" (lots of stuff
out there
in K-12 about this), personal motivation can provide a point of entry
but is not
sufficient for meaningful impact.
At the same time I think we need to recognize the many ways that
teachers do
grow and develop that don't necessarily translate into measurable
learner gains.
Stephen Reder and his team in Portland have argued for a broader view on
learner
participation, beyond program attendance.  Perhaps we also need to begin
systematically accounting for the ways that teachers manage their own
professional growth and strive to develop professionally, outside of
formal pd
organizations and *in spite* of the lack of programmatic support.  
With FOB online, the series represents a rich library that a teacher
could turn
to for self-reflection. However there are still a lot of teachers out
there (I
meet them at TESOL conventions) who don't know about NCSALL or FOB.  If
FOB is
facing the end of its publishing run, it seems strategic to think how
NCSALL
might use its remaining FOB funds to expand its outreach. 
Best, Maricel Santos
Quoting Janet Isserlis <Janet_Isserlis at brown.edu>:
> Katrina and all
> 
> I think motivation is likely an important factor, but we also need to
be
> mindful of systemic support for educators.  What supports are/aren't
> available to people who are working more than one part-time job?  What
are
> the cultures of professional development in their various workplaces? 
Aside
> from the intrinsic motivation to learn more, what messages to program
> administrators, colleagues and funders convey to teachers about the
value of
> professional development?
> 
> I was really fortunate to have had an opportunity to begin my MA work
after
> I'd been teaching for 9 years (through a program that funded the
courses so
> that we only paid for books).  It was a part-time masters program,
over two
> and a half years, designed for full-time teachers.  I was already
privileged
> to be working full time; the degree program required a lot of work,
but not
> a lot of money.  While grateful endlessly for the program - I was
ready to
> dig in and learn, and had the questions to ask that I might not have
had in
> my first year of teaching - I still think that we can't only ascribe
> participation in PD to personal motivation.  We also need to be
proactive in
> working to build opportunities for practitioners across the board -
new,
> continuing, veteran practitioners - or we risk what I've heard Barb
describe
> as "good programs getting gooder."  It's great to build capacity in
strong
> programs - but it's also great to make capacity building available
across
> the board.
> 
> IF it is the case that personal motivation is the determining factor,
then
> we've all the more work to do to build a greater collective culture of
> learning and respect for learning throughout the field.
> 
> Janet Isserlis
> > 
> > I think motivation is probably the driving force. I think the
individual
> has
> > to be willing to learn or be open to new ideas. I also think
complacency is
> a
> > bad thing and something people slide into sometimes
unknowingly...they get
> > comfortable with the way they've done something and think they don't
have
> to
> > change it or even fear the change and tensions usually associated
with
> change.
> > 
> > Personally,  I've waited for a while before pursuing an advanced
degree and
> if
> > all goes well I'll be starting my Masters in the fall. I've been
teaching
> in
> > Adult Ed for 10 years though. I think sometimes, that there is a
feeling
> that
> > having an advanced degree means you've "arrived" at some pre
determined
> > destination...or that you're now an expert able to impart knowledge
but
> > perhaps not gain it. I'm not really sure. I've encounted that
behavior in
> the
> > workplace and I think that's what's put me off for so long about
going back
> to
> > school. I don't ever want to feel I have nothing else to learn or
gain via
> any
> > form of education. I definitely feel that professional development
is
> > essential to staying effective in the classroom. I actually believe
> > professional development is essential in ANY workplace.
> > 
> > I think I'd wonder how the NCSALL arrived at their conclusion
compared to
> how
> > FOB arrived at theirs.  Was the pool of respondants the same in size
as
> well
> > as was the pool of respondants the same in terms of degrees etc.
> > 
> > Ultimately, I think it comes down to the individual person's drive
and
> desire
> > to grow professionally and personally.
> > 
> > Regards
> > Katrina Hinson
> 
> ----------------------------------------------------
> National Institute for Literacy
> Focus on Basics mailing list
> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
> 
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
----------------------------------------------------
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FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
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http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
From Holly.Dilatush-Guthrie at ccs.k12.va.us  Thu Apr 20 08:48:50 2006
From: Holly.Dilatush-Guthrie at ccs.k12.va.us (Holly Dilatush-Guthrie)
Date: Thu, 20 Apr 2006 08:48:50 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 254]   Re: promoting awareness of NCSALL and FOB
Message-ID: <s4474b00.078@mail.ccs.k12.va.us>
Responding to this post from from  Maricel Santos:  <<With FOB online, the series represents a rich library that a teacher could turn to for self-reflection. However there are still a lot of teachers out there (I meet them at TESOL conventions) who don't know about NCSALL or FOB.  If FOB is facing the end of its publishing run, it seems strategic to think how NCSALL might use its remaining FOB funds to expand its outreach. >>
 
This may sound ridiculous, but I'll suggest it nonetheless * TESOL is a good place for outreach * and I for one would volunteer to wear a very noticeable and memorable hat and some sort of 'sandwich board' plastered with past issues and roam the halls handing out sample articles and/or issues and subscription requests * perhaps 'testimonials' from various professionals who have used these resources, sharing why/how/what has influenced them/their PD/their teaching, etc. * from both administrators and teachers points of view.      I'm not sure this is allowed at TESOL unless one pays for a vendor's booth?     It may sound far-fetched and 'tacky,' but I do believe that in a TESOL-type environment it could be effective.    In 'prior lives' I've been seen cavorting as the Easter bunny, a Santa's elf, a homeless wretch from the streets, a cookie, and more * so this task would be an easy one for someone with my quirky personality!   Maybe there are others who would be willing to join me?  Or maybe this is just too silly of an image for quality publications?   [I believe in sharing ideas, however bizarre, to spur others' thinking]
 
A more 'tried and true' way would be to put together a panel presentation * which means submitting * SOON * proposals.   This, too, can be effective, but for a smaller number of people.
 
Personally speaking, connections and awarenesses gained from attending TESOL and other PD conferences have greatly influenced my life.
 
Holly
 
 
"No matter what our attempts to inform, it is our ability to inspire that will turn the tides."
Holly Dilatush
ESL distance learning, Dialogue Cafe, Volunteer coordinator
Charlottesville City Schools Adult Learning Center
1000 Preston Ave., Suite D
Charlottesville  VA  22903
(434) 245.2815 office
(434) 960.7177 cell/mobile
http://theHsmile.org  ['home' to several Moodle CMS (course management systems/virtual classrooms)]
http://www.Charlottesville-ESL.org 
"Live with intention. Share inside~out smiles, inspire hope, seek awe and nurture in nature."
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From mgsantos at sfsu.edu  Thu Apr 20 10:56:42 2006
From: mgsantos at sfsu.edu (mgsantos at sfsu.edu)
Date: Thu, 20 Apr 2006 07:56:42 -0700
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 255] Re: promoting awareness of NCSALL and FOB
In-Reply-To: <s4474b00.078@mail.ccs.k12.va.us>
References: <s4474b00.078@mail.ccs.k12.va.us>
Message-ID: <1145545002.4447a12a2fd70@webmail.sfsu.edu>
Holly's suggestions are good ones.  I'm less of a fan of the placard approach
(but thanks, Holly, for being willing to put yourself out there!) but I'm very
supportive of any proposals for the 2007 TESOl convention that could spotlight
FOB.  Could Holly and others work with NCSALL leaders to put together a panel of
presentations on how FOB has been used by teachers in their classrooms?
I attend TESOL every year so would be willing to support people in this approach.  
NCSALL hasn't had the kind of outreach funds to attend lots of conferences so
its presence at TESOL has been on and off.  For the past 3 conventions, Lisa
Soricone and I, and most recently with Winston Lawrence and Tilla Elahi from
NYC, have presented on the health literacy study circles which gives us a reason
to talk about NCSALL to TESOL folks.
Take care, maricel santos
Quoting Holly Dilatush-Guthrie <Holly.Dilatush-Guthrie at ccs.k12.va.us>:
> Responding to this post from from  Maricel Santos:  <<With FOB online, the
> series represents a rich library that a teacher could turn to for
> self-reflection. However there are still a lot of teachers out there (I meet
> them at TESOL conventions) who don't know about NCSALL or FOB.  If FOB is
> facing the end of its publishing run, it seems strategic to think how NCSALL
> might use its remaining FOB funds to expand its outreach. >>
>  
> This may sound ridiculous, but I'll suggest it nonetheless * TESOL is a good
> place for outreach * and I for one would volunteer to wear a very noticeable
> and memorable hat and some sort of 'sandwich board' plastered with past
> issues and roam the halls handing out sample articles and/or issues and
> subscription requests * perhaps 'testimonials' from various professionals who
> have used these resources, sharing why/how/what has influenced them/their
> PD/their teaching, etc. * from both administrators and teachers points of
> view.      I'm not sure this is allowed at TESOL unless one pays for a
> vendor's booth?     It may sound far-fetched and 'tacky,' but I do believe
> that in a TESOL-type environment it could be effective.    In 'prior lives'
> I've been seen cavorting as the Easter bunny, a Santa's elf, a homeless
> wretch from the streets, a cookie, and more * so this task would be an easy
> one for someone with my quirky personality!   Maybe there are others who
> would be willing to join me?  Or maybe this is just too silly of an image for
> quality publications?   [I believe in sharing ideas, however bizarre, to spur
> others' thinking]
>  
> A more 'tried and true' way would be to put together a panel presentation *
> which means submitting * SOON * proposals.   This, too, can be effective, but
> for a smaller number of people.
>  
> Personally speaking, connections and awarenesses gained from attending TESOL
> and other PD conferences have greatly influenced my life.
>  
> Holly
>  
> 
>  
> "No matter what our attempts to inform, it is our ability to inspire that
> will turn the tides."
> Holly Dilatush
> ESL distance learning, Dialogue Cafe, Volunteer coordinator
> Charlottesville City Schools Adult Learning Center
> 1000 Preston Ave., Suite D
> Charlottesville  VA  22903
> (434) 245.2815 office
> (434) 960.7177 cell/mobile
> http://theHsmile.org  ['home' to several Moodle CMS (course management
> systems/virtual classrooms)]
> http://www.Charlottesville-ESL.org 
> "Live with intention. Share inside~out smiles, inspire hope, seek awe and
> nurture in nature."
> 
> 
From julie_mcKinney at worlded.org  Fri Apr 21 10:01:28 2006
From: julie_mcKinney at worlded.org (Julie  McKinney)
Date: Fri, 21 Apr 2006 10:01:28 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 256]  Promoting awareness of NCSALL and FOB
Message-ID: <s448ad90.099@mail.jsi.com>
Holly and all,
Thanks so much for thinking about ways to promote NCSALL and FOB. As you
can imagine, we are very interested in doing whatever we can to attract
funding and keep FOB going. We would love to talk about ways to promote
at TESOL, and other places. I will also be at COABE next week--too late
for anything formal, but I'd be happy to work on some informal
promotion.
Barb has been on vacation this week and will be back on Monday. Perhaps
next week we can continue this conversation and collectively come up
with some ideas. We appreciate all your support so much!
All the best,
Julie
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
From Janet_Isserlis at brown.edu  Fri Apr 21 10:04:34 2006
From: Janet_Isserlis at brown.edu (Janet Isserlis)
Date: Fri, 21 Apr 2006 10:04:34 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 257] Re: Promoting awareness of NCSALL and FOB
In-Reply-To: <s448ad90.099@mail.jsi.com>
Message-ID: <C06E5EB2.BF56%Janet_Isserlis@brown.edu>
one more small, but maybe significant step if many of us can do it:
I have links to a number of specific FOB pieces on my website, and almost
always include them as resources when I facilitate workshops.  Another way
to infuse, disseminate and otherwise make people aware of -- and help them
towards using - the resource.
Janet Isselris
> From: Julie  McKinney <julie_mcKinney at worlded.org>
> Reply-To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
> Date: Fri, 21 Apr 2006 10:01:28 -0400
> To: <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
> Subject: [FocusOnBasics 256]  Promoting awareness of NCSALL and FOB
> 
> Holly and all,
> 
> Thanks so much for thinking about ways to promote NCSALL and FOB. As you
> can imagine, we are very interested in doing whatever we can to attract
> funding and keep FOB going. We would love to talk about ways to promote
> at TESOL, and other places. I will also be at COABE next week--too late
> for anything formal, but I'd be happy to work on some informal
> promotion.
> 
> Barb has been on vacation this week and will be back on Monday. Perhaps
> next week we can continue this conversation and collectively come up
> with some ideas. We appreciate all your support so much!
> 
> All the best,
> 
> Julie
> 
> Julie McKinney
> Discussion List Moderator
> World Education/NCSALL
> jmckinney at worlded.org
> 
> ----------------------------------------------------
> National Institute for Literacy
> Focus on Basics mailing list
> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
From sylviap at westman.wave.ca  Sun Apr 23 14:47:02 2006
From: sylviap at westman.wave.ca (sylviap)
Date: Sun, 23 Apr 2006 13:47:02 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 258] Re: FocusOnBasics Digest, Vol 7, Issue 18
In-Reply-To: <mailman.1.1145721601.1847.focusonbasics@nifl.gov>
Message-ID: <001801c66706$4f768570$0500a8c0@D4TWM391>
Has there ever been any discussion about going international? The border
between Canada and the USA is the largest factor separating the issues and
concerns regarding adult literacy, adult learning, adult education or what
ever other terminology we use to describe this area.
I have been involved in all of the above and have found your information
extremely helpful despite the fact that it is not Canadian based. 
Sylvia Provenski
 
-----Original Message-----
From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov]
On Behalf Of focusonbasics-request at nifl.gov
Sent: April 22, 2006 11:00 AM
To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
Subject: FocusOnBasics Digest, Vol 7, Issue 18
Send FocusOnBasics mailing list submissions to
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Today's Topics:
   1. [FocusOnBasics 257] Re: Promoting awareness of NCSALL and FOB
      (Janet Isserlis)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Message: 1
Date: Fri, 21 Apr 2006 10:04:34 -0400
From: Janet Isserlis <Janet_Isserlis at brown.edu>
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 257] Re: Promoting awareness of NCSALL and FOB
To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
Message-ID: <C06E5EB2.BF56%Janet_Isserlis at brown.edu>
Content-Type: text/plain;	charset="US-ASCII"
one more small, but maybe significant step if many of us can do it:
I have links to a number of specific FOB pieces on my website, and almost
always include them as resources when I facilitate workshops.  Another way
to infuse, disseminate and otherwise make people aware of -- and help them
towards using - the resource.
Janet Isselris
> From: Julie  McKinney <julie_mcKinney at worlded.org>
> Reply-To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
> Date: Fri, 21 Apr 2006 10:01:28 -0400
> To: <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
> Subject: [FocusOnBasics 256]  Promoting awareness of NCSALL and FOB
> 
> Holly and all,
> 
> Thanks so much for thinking about ways to promote NCSALL and FOB. As you
> can imagine, we are very interested in doing whatever we can to attract
> funding and keep FOB going. We would love to talk about ways to promote
> at TESOL, and other places. I will also be at COABE next week--too late
> for anything formal, but I'd be happy to work on some informal
> promotion.
> 
> Barb has been on vacation this week and will be back on Monday. Perhaps
> next week we can continue this conversation and collectively come up
> with some ideas. We appreciate all your support so much!
> 
> All the best,
> 
> Julie
> 
> Julie McKinney
> Discussion List Moderator
> World Education/NCSALL
> jmckinney at worlded.org
> 
> ----------------------------------------------------
> National Institute for Literacy
> Focus on Basics mailing list
> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
End of FocusOnBasics Digest, Vol 7, Issue 18
********************************************
From julie_mcKinney at worlded.org  Mon Apr 24 17:20:59 2006
From: julie_mcKinney at worlded.org (Julie  McKinney)
Date: Mon, 24 Apr 2006 17:20:59 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 259]  Discuss the Discussion Lists at COABE!
Message-ID: <s44d091b.081@mail.jsi.com>
Hi Everyone,
If any of you are going to the COABE conference next week, please
consider joining my colleagues, who are presenting a session about this
and other discussion lists from the National Institute for Literacy.
Find out how you can get more out of them.
Read on for more information about the session:
*********************************************
Dear Colleagues: 
Please join us in the following session at this year?s COABE National
Conference
in Houston, Texas: 
Professional Development From Your ?Inbox?: Making the Most of National
Discussion Lists
Saturday, 9:45 ? 11:00
Presented by NIFL Discussion List Moderators:
Jackie Taylor, Adult Literacy Professional Development List
Marie Cora, Assessment List
Daphne Greenberg, Women & Literacy List 
National online discussion lists provide an opportunity for ongoing
professional development with colleagues, researchers,
nationally-recognized experts and leaders in the field. Presenters will
provide information regarding the National Institute for Literacy's
discussion lists, emerging and key issues for each topic, upcoming
discussion activities, and how to get the most from your discussion list
subscription. 
To this end, we encourage you to attend the session to discuss your own
experience being a subscriber (writer or lurker!) on any of the
Institute's Lists.  Please come and share your thoughts on how newcomers
can get the most out of their subscription, as well as provide us with
feedback so that we can better serve your needs.   
We look forward to meeting you in person! 
Jackie Taylor, Moderator
Adult Literacy Professional Development List 
Marie Cora, Moderator
Assessment List 
Daphne Greenberg, Moderator
Women & Literacy List 
The National Institute for Literacy?s Discussion Lists are: Adult
Literacy Professional Development, Assessment, Adult Education Content
Standards, English Language Learners, Family Literacy, Focus on Basics,
Health and Literacy, Learning Disabilities, Poverty, Race, and Literacy,
Program Leadership and Improvement, Technology and Literacy, Women and
Literacy, and Workplace Literacy.
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
From khinson at future-gate.com  Mon Apr 24 20:42:29 2006
From: khinson at future-gate.com (Katrina Hinson)
Date: Tue, 25 Apr 2006 02:42:29 +0200
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 260]   Re: Promoting awareness of NCSALL and FOB
In-Reply-To: <C06E5EB2.BF56%Janet_Isserlis@brown.edu>
References: <s448ad90.099@mail.jsi.com>
	<C06E5EB2.BF56%Janet_Isserlis@brown.edu>
Message-ID: <444D8C95020000A000002634@fghamn01.ham.de.future-gate.com>
These are all great ideas. I'm working on a resource matrix for instructors where I work. I am definitely going to include information like this for them. I'm trying to encourage other instructors to invest even a small amount of time reading information related to adult education practices. 
Katrina
>>> Janet_Isserlis at brown.edu 04/21/06 10:04 AM >>>
one more small, but maybe significant step if many of us can do it:
I have links to a number of specific FOB pieces on my website, and almost
always include them as resources when I facilitate workshops.  Another way
to infuse, disseminate and otherwise make people aware of -- and help them
towards using - the resource.
Janet Isselris
> From: Julie  McKinney <julie_mcKinney at worlded.org>
> Reply-To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
> Date: Fri, 21 Apr 2006 10:01:28 -0400
> To: <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
> Subject: [FocusOnBasics 256]  Promoting awareness of NCSALL and FOB
> 
> Holly and all,
> 
> Thanks so much for thinking about ways to promote NCSALL and FOB. As you
> can imagine, we are very interested in doing whatever we can to attract
> funding and keep FOB going. We would love to talk about ways to promote
> at TESOL, and other places. I will also be at COABE next week--too late
> for anything formal, but I'd be happy to work on some informal
> promotion.
> 
> Barb has been on vacation this week and will be back on Monday. Perhaps
> next week we can continue this conversation and collectively come up
> with some ideas. We appreciate all your support so much!
> 
> All the best,
> 
> Julie
> 
> Julie McKinney
> Discussion List Moderator
> World Education/NCSALL
> jmckinney at worlded.org 
> 
> ----------------------------------------------------
> National Institute for Literacy
> Focus on Basics mailing list
> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov 
> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics 
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov 
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
From julie_mcKinney at worlded.org  Tue Apr 25 11:11:44 2006
From: julie_mcKinney at worlded.org (Julie  McKinney)
Date: Tue, 25 Apr 2006 11:11:44 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 261]  A way to support U.S. literacy education
Message-ID: <s44e040b.056@mail.jsi.com>
Hi Everyone,
I am passing on a message from the Literacy President Group. This group
helps those of us who care about adult literacy in this country to
participate in the process of encouraging the next administration to
support adult literacy education. 
All the best,
Julie
________________________________
Dear Colleague,
We need your opinion and your vote.  Literacy President 2008 is a non- 
partisan effort to increase national awareness of adult literacy  
regardless of whom is elected.  Literacy President provides members  
of the adult education community with ways to be active participants  
in the 2008 Presidential election.  The first activity was generating  
possible questions to ask the candidates.  We now have 20 possible  
questions, and they need to be narrowed to the top five.
This is your chance to vote on these, to help us narrow them to the  
top five best questions.  In the 2004 election, Literacy President  
had over 1000 people -- practitioners, adult learners and others --  
who voted for  the top priority questions. This time our goal is 1500  
people participating: students, practitioners and other advocates for  
adult literacy.
To vote, please go to
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=85102489618
If the address breaks into two lines, you can try this one instead:
http://tinyurl.com/s553p
For the Literacy President Group,
David Rosen
djrosen at comcast.net
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
From b.garner4 at verizon.net  Tue Apr 25 14:39:25 2006
From: b.garner4 at verizon.net (Barbara Garner)
Date: Tue, 25 Apr 2006 13:39:25 -0500 (CDT)
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 262]  Editorial Board
Message-ID: <26709787.2832461145990365254.JavaMail.root@vms169.mailsrvcs.net>
Thanks to everyone who volunteered to be on the editorial board for "Focus on Basics" 8C. 
I wish I could give everyone a chance. Here's how I selected:
1) US based (thanks to the Canadians who offered, but since the publication is funded by the US government, I prioritized people working on adult literacy in the US)
2) No prior experience working on Focus on Basics or Focus on Basics related publications--we like to make the opportunity available to the greatest number of people possible
3) From different states and states less represented in FOB or on the FOB board (Sorry, Colorado...I heard from lots of you!)
4) First come first serve
Right now I can't say to volunteer next time, because I don't know if there will be a next time. Time will tell.
Thanks again for your support and willingness to do a lot of work!
Barb Garner
Editor, Focus on Basics
From b.garner4 at verizon.net  Tue Apr 25 14:47:36 2006
From: b.garner4 at verizon.net (Barbara Garner)
Date: Tue, 25 Apr 2006 13:47:36 -0500 (CDT)
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 263] Re: FocusOnBasics Digest, Vol 7, Issue 18
Message-ID: <32100931.2834681145990856798.JavaMail.root@vms169.mailsrvcs.net>
Glad to hear that Focus on Basics is useful in Canada. To answer your question, we talked many years ago with some large Canadian literacy organizations about the possibility of having them subscribe so their constituents could get the published (vs. online) version of FOB, but nothing came of it.
We've published an article in 7B by Tracy Defoe and Sue Folinsbee about their work in workplace education in Canada, and we know we have some Canadian readers. We also have a strong following in New Zealand!
Barb Garner
Editor, Focus on Basics
=====================
From: sylviap <sylviap at westman.wave.ca>
Date: Sun Apr 23 13:47:02 CDT 2006
To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 258] Re: FocusOnBasics Digest, Vol 7, Issue 18
Has there ever been any discussion about going international? The border
between Canada and the USA is the largest factor separating the issues and
concerns regarding adult literacy, adult learning, adult education or what
ever other terminology we use to describe this area.
I have been involved in all of the above and have found your information
extremely helpful despite the fact that it is not Canadian based. 
Sylvia Provenski
 
-----Original Message-----
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On Behalf Of focusonbasics-request at nifl.gov
Sent: April 22, 2006 11:00 AM
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Subject: FocusOnBasics Digest, Vol 7, Issue 18
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Today's Topics:
   1. [FocusOnBasics 257] Re: Promoting awareness of NCSALL and FOB
      (Janet Isserlis)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Message: 1
Date: Fri, 21 Apr 2006 10:04:34 -0400
From: Janet Isserlis <Janet_Isserlis at brown.edu>
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 257] Re: Promoting awareness of NCSALL and FOB
To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
Message-ID: <C06E5EB2.BF56%Janet_Isserlis at brown.edu>
Content-Type: text/plain;	charset="US-ASCII"
one more small, but maybe significant step if many of us can do it:
I have links to a number of specific FOB pieces on my website, and almost
always include them as resources when I facilitate workshops.  Another way
to infuse, disseminate and otherwise make people aware of -- and help them
towards using - the resource.
Janet Isselris
> From: Julie  McKinney <julie_mcKinney at worlded.org>
> Reply-To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
> Date: Fri, 21 Apr 2006 10:01:28 -0400
> To: <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
> Subject: [FocusOnBasics 256]  Promoting awareness of NCSALL and FOB
> 
> Holly and all,
> 
> Thanks so much for thinking about ways to promote NCSALL and FOB. As you
> can imagine, we are very interested in doing whatever we can to attract
> funding and keep FOB going. We would love to talk about ways to promote
> at TESOL, and other places. I will also be at COABE next week--too late
> for anything formal, but I'd be happy to work on some informal
> promotion.
> 
> Barb has been on vacation this week and will be back on Monday. Perhaps
> next week we can continue this conversation and collectively come up
> with some ideas. We appreciate all your support so much!
> 
> All the best,
> 
> Julie
> 
> Julie McKinney
> Discussion List Moderator
> World Education/NCSALL
> jmckinney at worlded.org
> 
> ----------------------------------------------------
> National Institute for Literacy
> Focus on Basics mailing list
> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
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From julie_mcKinney at worlded.org  Wed Apr 26 10:39:01 2006
From: julie_mcKinney at worlded.org (Julie  McKinney)
Date: Wed, 26 Apr 2006 10:39:01 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 264] Family Health and Literacy - A New Resource
	Guide!
Message-ID: <s44f4def.029@mail.jsi.com>
Hi Everyone,
I would like to announce a new health literacy resource guide that has
just been published in print and on the Web!
Family Health and Literacy 
This guide to easy-to-read health materials and websites is for adult
literacy practitioners and  health educators alike. It lists resources
to teach health to families with lower literacy skills, but also
discusses how to integrate health and literacy education, how to get
started and engage adult learners, and how to build connections between
literacy programs and local health services.  
You can find Family Health and Literacy online at:
www.worlded.org/us/health/docs/family
This is a PDF, and with Adobe Reader 7 or higher you can click on the
live links! 
Hard copies are also available free of charge for a limited time: please
contact Leah_Peterson at worlded.org
I hope you find it helpful.
All the best,
Julie
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
From leellington at vcu.edu  Fri Apr 28 12:00:14 2006
From: leellington at vcu.edu (Lauren E Ellington/FS/VCU)
Date: Fri, 28 Apr 2006 12:00:14 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 265]  multiple postings
Message-ID: <OF04C45D73.864C908F-ON8525715E.0057A84F-8525715E.0057ED8B@vcu.edu>
I'm wondering if it is at all possible for multiple postings to be sent to 
the lists as one message rather than as separate messages.  I ask this 
because I am a member of 12 of the 13 listservs and every time there is a 
multiple message, I receive it 12 times.  As you can imagine this fills up 
my inbox quite a bit.  It is rather easy to do by creating a group listing 
in your address book (like I've done with this message).
I am sure that there are other listserv participants who are members of 
multiple lists as well who would appreciate this consideration.  Thank 
you.
**************************************************************
Lauren Ellington
Online Training Specialist, 
Learning Disabilities Specialist, and
Writer/Editor of Update and Update on LD
Virginia Adult Learning Resource Center
Virginia Commonwealth University
817 W. Franklin Street, Room 221  |  P.O. Box 842037
Richmond, VA  23284-2037
Phone:  1-800-237-0178 or  804-828-6158 
Fax:  804-828-7539
http://www.valrc.org
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From info at nifl.gov  Wed May  3 09:02:53 2006
From: info at nifl.gov (Sandra Baxter)
Date: Wed,  3 May 2006 09:02:53 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 266]  News from the National Institute for Literacy
Message-ID: <20060503130253.2F1E846555@dev.nifl.gov>
Dear Colleagues,
We are happy to announce that the National Institute for Literacy has launched a new web page design to help provide easily accessible, high quality information about literacy. New features clearly highlight the Institute's work in all areas of literacy, including early childhood, childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. You will continue to find the links to all of the Institute's projects, such as Bridges to Practice, LINCS, Assessment Strategies and Reading Profiles under Programs and Services. The Institute's publications, including the recently released Teaching Reading to Adults can be found under the Publications link. Please visit http://www.nifl.gov for more information.
This is phase one of the redesign. We will soon be incorporating all the Institute's projects into this new design.  As many of you know, websites are always a work in progress and we intend to continue improving the Institute's site in order to provide you with the best available resources.	
We would love to hear your thoughts regarding the new look. Please send your comments to Jo Maralit at mmaralit at nifl.gov.   
Thanks,
Sandra Baxter, Ed.D.
Director
National Institute for Literacy
http://www.nifl.gov
From miriam at cal.org  Wed May  3 12:20:31 2006
From: miriam at cal.org (Miriam Burt)
Date: Wed, 3 May 2006 12:20:31 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 267] New from CAELA: Multilevel Brief and CAELA
	Currents Newsletter
Message-ID: <7E0B624DDF68104F92C38648A4D93D8FF6A123@MAIL.cal.local>
Hello everyone:  The following new resources from the Center for Adult
English Language Acquisition may be of interest to readers focus on
basics discussion list members:
Multilevel Brief
Last fall CAELA met with our advisory board, the Technical Work Group
(TWG), to discuss CAELA's work, including topics for our briefs. The
topic "multilevel classes" was high on our to-do list, having been
suggested to us by many practitioners and others in the states we work
with across the country. Our TWG, however, advised us to move beyond
saying what teachers can do in the classroom to engage the interest of
all learners in their classes while helping them achieve their often
diverse educational goals. Our TWG suggested we also talk about what
administrators can do to help ensure the success of these classes-- how
administrators might support teachers in multilevel classes. 
The brief, Promoting the Success of Multilevel ESL Classes: What
Teachers and Administrators Can Do, is now completed and online at
http://www.cal.org/caela/esl_resources/briefs/multilevel.html. and in
pdf at http://www.cal.org/caela/esl_resources/briefs/multilevel.pdf.
CAELA Currents
Also online is the new issue of our newsletter CAELA Currents at
http://www.cal.org/caela/esl_resources/ccapr06.html    
Articles in this April 2006 publication include information about a new
teacher might use the CAELA Web site for professional development at
http://www.cal.org/caela/esl_resources/ccapr06.html#web
Information about the available statistics on the training and education
levels of adult ESL teachers
http://www.cal.org/caela/esl_resources/ccapr06.html#questions
as well as information about recent publications of interest to the
field such as the joint publication by Senior Service America, Inc and
staff at the Center for Applied Linguistics (CAL) entitled Engaging
Immigrant Seniors in Community Service and Employment Programs: A Guide
for Providers. The guide provides background information on immigrant
seniors in the United States and gives practical advice for employers
and co-workers working with seniors from linguistically and culturally
diverse backgrounds. More information on this free publication and how
to obtain it is available at
http://www.cal.org/caela/esl_resources/ccapr06.html#seniors
Thanks. 
Miriam
*******
Miriam Burt
Center for Applied Linguistics
4646 40th Street NW
Washington, DC 20016
(202) 362-0700
(202) 363-7204 (fax)
miriam at cal.org 
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From julie_mcKinney at worlded.org  Fri May  5 10:41:10 2006
From: julie_mcKinney at worlded.org (Julie  McKinney)
Date: Fri, 05 May 2006 10:41:10 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 268] Guest on Program Leadership & Improvement List
	- May 8-12
Message-ID: <s45b2be9.021@mail.jsi.com>
Hi Everyone,
Those of you involved in running literacy programs may be interested in
next week's guest speaker on the Program Leadership & Improvement List.
Please see the announcement below from that list's moderator, Kim
Chaney:
- Julie
*******************************************************
I am pleased to announce that Esmerelda Doreste, Program Director with
the 
Union City (NJ) Adult Learning Center, will be a guest on the list from 
Monday, May 8 through Friday, May 12. As a participant in the UPS 
Foundation-funded "Leadership for Community Literacy" Initiative that
was 
administered by the Equipped for the Future (EFF) Center in the late 
winter, Ms. Doreste worked with her program to implement a program 
improvement process based on the EFF program quality model.
Along with the four other participants, Ms. Doreste wrote about that 
experience...her story is now accessible on the "Program Leadership and 
Improvement" web site. Go to [http://pli.cls.utk.edu] and click the 
"Stories of Program Improvement" button, then click/open "Union City
Adult 
Learning Center: A Program Improvement Process."
Please read the story in preparation for Ms. Doreste's visit next 
week. She will be ready to answer your questions about the nuts and
bolts 
of implementing the process, as well as any other related issues.
To Subscribe to the Program Leadership & Improvement List, go to:
 http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/Programleadership
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
From julie_mcKinney at worlded.org  Mon May  8 09:15:28 2006
From: julie_mcKinney at worlded.org (Julie  McKinney)
Date: Mon, 08 May 2006 09:15:28 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 269] New FOB: Learners' Experiences - now available
	online!
Message-ID: <s45f0c34.023@mail.jsi.com>
Hi Everyone, 
Finally, the moment you've all been waiting for...
The newest Focus On Basics, on learners' Experiences, is now available
on NCSALL's web site:
www.ncsall.net. 
Here's a preview from editor Barb Garner:
*************************************************
Quick, tell me about your students' self esteem. Low, because of their
academic struggles? That's not what a recent NCSALL-Rutgers study
showed.
And how about reading? Do your learners know that to increase their
reading fluency, they need to...read? What kind of and how much reading
do they do outside of class? Another NCSALL-Rutgers study follows three
learners as they go about their days and finds quite a variety in the
amount of reading the learners do on their own.
Teachers, have you ever seen yourself teach? Or noticed just what that
clump of students was doing while you were engaged with one person on
another side of the classroom? Teachers working with NCSALL-Rutgers
found that videos taken of their classroom for research purposes
provided them with rich information useful to their own professional
development. Learn how useful video can be in helping pinpoint issues
and suggest new ways of doing things in the classroom.
There's lots more, particularly around learner engagement.
Go to www.ncsall.net and click on "Newest Issue of Focus on Basics"
Printed copies and a text-only web version will not be out for another
two weeks.
Regards,
Barb Garner, Editor
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
From MMaralit at NIFL.gov  Mon May  8 16:03:44 2006
From: MMaralit at NIFL.gov (Maralit, Mary Jo)
Date: Mon, 8 May 2006 16:03:44 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 270] Update: New National Institute for Literacy
	Discussion List
Message-ID: <4062487BDB6029428A763CAEF4E1FE5B0E59B7F3@wdcrobe2m03.ed.gov>
Dear subscribers,
We invite you to join us on the National Institute for Literacy's new
SPECIAL TOPICS List.  This list was established to provide opportunities
throughout the year for focused discussion topics with invited researchers
and other experts in the field of adult education and literacy (including
English language learning and numeracy). 
The Special Topics Discussion List will be moderated by David Rosen, Ed.D.,
Senior Associate, Newsome Associates.  This list is an intermittent
discussion list.  The topics will open and close throughout the year, so
there are periods when there will be no  
discussion or postings. You can subscribe to the discussion list for a
particular topic of interest, and then unsubscribe, or you can stay
subscribed throughout the year.
Please join us on May 23rd for the launch of the new Special Topics list
with guests Dr. Rosalind Davidson and Dr. John Strucker, co-researchers on
the Adult Reading Components Study (ARCS).  They will be available for one
week to answer your questions and to introduce you to the ARCS interactive
Web site, designed to help teachers with assessing and teaching reading.
To subscribe, go to: http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/specialtopics
Before the discussion begins on May 23rd, please look at a 30-minute video
panel discussion on the ARCS, streamed on the National Institute for
Literacy Web site, or on DVD.
1. Streaming video:
http://www.nifl.gov/nifl/webcasts/20040204/webcast02-04a.html 
(Note: Macintosh users will need to have Real Player installed, and for them
performance may not be optimal.)
2. DVD: Send a request for the Adult Readiing Components Study (ARCS) Panel
(free) DVD to: info at nifl.gov  Be sure to include your mailing address. 
After you subscribe, you can send your questions to the discussion list.
Please note, however, that messages will not be posted until May 22nd.
For more information, or suggestions of topics, contact David J. Rosen at
djrosen1 at comcast.net
Regards,
Jo Maralit
National Institute for Literacy
http://www.nifl.gov
From b.garner4 at verizon.net  Thu May 11 08:46:14 2006
From: b.garner4 at verizon.net (Barbara Garner)
Date: Thu, 11 May 2006 07:46:14 -0500 (CDT)
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 271]  Supporting out of school study
Message-ID: <2449243.6226761147351574221.JavaMail.root@vms169.mailsrvcs.net>
Research coming out the NCSALL Lab School in Portland, OR, finds that many people who have participated in ABE or would be good candidates for ABE study on their own. 
Has anyone's program taken this into account and put into place supports for students who want to continue to study on their own when not actively participating in a program? If so, what do these supports look like? How has it gone?
Barb Garner
Editor, Focus on Basics
Sharon, MA
b.garner4 at verizon.net
From khinson at future-gate.com  Thu May 11 19:42:04 2006
From: khinson at future-gate.com (Katrina Hinson)
Date: Fri, 12 May 2006 01:42:04 +0200
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 272] Re: Supporting out of school study
In-Reply-To: <2449243.6226761147351574221.JavaMail.root@vms169.mailsrvcs.net>
References: <2449243.6226761147351574221.JavaMail.root@vms169.mailsrvcs.net>
Message-ID: <4463E7EC020000A0000027CA@fgwiel01a.wie.de.future-gate.com>
I'm not exactly sure I understand the question or if I read it
correctly. At first glance however, what springs to mind for me is my
students who study outside of class as well as attend on a regular or
semi-regular basis.  My most successful students are the ones who study
in and out of class. They'll ask for additional work or they'll work
online via several computer programs we use. They'll even actively seek
out information online to use as study aids such as math websites or
practice test websites etc.  We don't have any formal supports in place
for students but I do know that sometimes teachers will come by and say
'can you put John/Jane Smith in the database so they can do some work
online during Spring Break or Semester Break etc." Most of the time when
I've encountered students who are not actively participating in class or
in a program, it's usually because they don't have the time to devote to
studying whether it's because of work, family or personal reasons etc.
We do try to accomodate students though and our online component allows
us to help students who sometimes cannot attend a traditional classroom
setting.  At the moment that's all I can think of.
Katrina
>>> Barbara Garner <b.garner4 at verizon.net> 05/11/06 8:46 AM >>>
Research coming out the NCSALL Lab School in Portland, OR, finds that
many people who have participated in ABE or would be good candidates for
ABE study on their own. 
Has anyone's program taken this into account and put into place
supports for students who want to continue to study on their own when
not actively participating in a program? If so, what do these supports
look like? How has it gone?
Barb Garner
Editor, Focus on Basics
Sharon, MA
b.garner4 at verizon.net 
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov 
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
From b.garner4 at verizon.net  Thu May 11 22:23:30 2006
From: b.garner4 at verizon.net (Barbara Garner)
Date: Thu, 11 May 2006 21:23:30 -0500 (CDT)
Subject: =?ISO-8859-1?B?UmU6IFJlOiBbRm9jdXNPbkJhc2ljcyAyNzFdIKA=?=
	=?ISO-8859-1?B?U3VwcG9ydGluZyBvdXQgb2Ygc2Nob29sIHN0dWR5?=
Message-ID: <9626742.2914731147400610115.JavaMail.root@vms061.mailsrvcs.net>
It's great, Katrina, that you have students who do homework while a program is in session and even more wonderful that some do online work during school breaks.
You're right, though, my interest right now, is a little different: I"m curious about whether anyone is expressly doing things to let students know that if they have to stop coming for some reason, they can continue to study on their own. Does anyone do that, and introduce students to self-study materials they can purchse or borrow, or online resources? 
Barb Garner 
====================
From: Katrina Hinson <khinson at future-gate.com>
Date: Thu May 11 18:42:04 CDT 2006
To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov, b.garner4 at verizon.net
Subject: Re: [FocusOnBasics 271]  Supporting out of school study
I'm not exactly sure I understand the question or if I read it
correctly. At first glance however, what springs to mind for me is my
students who study outside of class as well as attend on a regular or
semi-regular basis.  My most successful students are the ones who study
in and out of class. They'll ask for additional work or they'll work
online via several computer programs we use. They'll even actively seek
out information online to use as study aids such as math websites or
practice test websites etc.  We don't have any formal supports in place
for students but I do know that sometimes teachers will come by and say
'can you put John/Jane Smith in the database so they can do some work
online during Spring Break or Semester Break etc." Most of the time when
I've encountered students who are not actively participating in class or
in a program, it's usually because they don't have the time to devote to
studying whether it's because of work, family or personal reasons etc.
We do try to accomodate students though and our online component allows
us to help students who sometimes cannot attend a traditional classroom
setting.  At the moment that's all I can think of.
Katrina
>>> Barbara Garner <b.garner4 at verizon.net> 05/11/06 8:46 AM >>>
Research coming out the NCSALL Lab School in Portland, OR, finds that
many people who have participated in ABE or would be good candidates for
ABE study on their own. 
Has anyone's program taken this into account and put into place
supports for students who want to continue to study on their own when
not actively participating in a program? If so, what do these supports
look like? How has it gone?
Barb Garner
Editor, Focus on Basics
Sharon, MA
b.garner4 at verizon.net 
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov 
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
From khinson at future-gate.com  Fri May 12 06:56:31 2006
From: khinson at future-gate.com (Katrina Hinson)
Date: Fri, 12 May 2006 12:56:31 +0200
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 274] Re: Supporting out of school study
Message-ID: <44648601020000A0000027D7@fgwiel01a.wie.de.future-gate.com>
I thought I might have misunderstood. However, I do think my program is
moving in the direction you're talking about. I know we're looking at
growing our distance education component in basic skills to do just what
you're talking about. We want to be able to reach students who can't
come to a "normal/regular" class time but who are motivated to learn on
their own.  The software we use has an online component to it that makes
this a viable option for us - in addition we're looking at creating some
components similar to blackboard courses that we can offer that address
the needs of our students as well. What we've talked about doing is at
least having them come out to do a pre/post test, some kind of midterm
and some kind of exit exam if they're adult high school oriented and if
they're GED oriented, they would have to come on campus to take their
practice test and the offical test. If they're improving they're basic
skills for employment etc, they would just need to demonstrate progress
on their pre/post test scores.  There are ways to capture "seat" time
for such students as well even if they are not part of a "traditona"
environment. The whole idea is to find ways to help students progress
towards their goal even when they feel like life is preventing them from
doing so. We also have video component with workbook materials. Students
who can't come/enroll in a class can "check" out the videos, complete
the workbook component and any other materials that the instructor deems
necessary and still make progress towards whatever the desired
goal/outcome might be.  What we run into is trying not to pull students
from the existing classes for these options but to actually target the 
information to that population who really needs this kind of option in
order to pursue their goals.
We're only in the beginning phases of this - well, we've been working on
it for almost a year and still trying to get the glitches out.
Regards
Katrina Hinson
>>> Barbara Garner <b.garner4 at verizon.net>  >>>
It's great, Katrina, that you have students who do homework while a
program is in session and even more wonderful that some do online work
during school breaks.
You're right, though, my interest right now, is a little different: I"m
curious about whether anyone is expressly doing things to let students
know that if they have to stop coming for some reason, they can continue
to study on their own. Does anyone do that, and introduce students to
self-study materials they can purchse or borrow, or online resources? 
Barb Garner 
====================
From: Katrina Hinson <khinson at future-gate.com>
Date: Thu May 11 18:42:04 CDT 2006
To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov, b.garner4 at verizon.net
Subject: Re: [FocusOnBasics 271]  Supporting out of school study
I'm not exactly sure I understand the question or if I read it
correctly. At first glance however, what springs to mind for me is my
students who study outside of class as well as attend on a regular or
semi-regular basis.  My most successful students are the ones who study
in and out of class. They'll ask for additional work or they'll work
online via several computer programs we use. They'll even actively seek
out information online to use as study aids such as math websites or
practice test websites etc.  We don't have any formal supports in place
for students but I do know that sometimes teachers will come by and say
'can you put John/Jane Smith in the database so they can do some work
online during Spring Break or Semester Break etc." Most of the time when
I've encountered students who are not actively participating in class or
in a program, it's usually because they don't have the time to devote to
studying whether it's because of work, family or personal reasons etc.
We do try to accomodate students though and our online component allows
us to help students who sometimes cannot attend a traditional classroom
setting.  At the moment that's all I can think of.
Katrina
>>> Barbara Garner <b.garner4 at verizon.net> 05/11/06 8:46 AM >>>
Research coming out the NCSALL Lab School in Portland, OR, finds that
many people who have participated in ABE or would be good candidates for
ABE study on their own. 
Has anyone's program taken this into account and put into place
supports for students who want to continue to study on their own when
not actively participating in a program? If so, what do these supports
look like? How has it gone?
Barb Garner
Editor, Focus on Basics
Sharon, MA
b.garner4 at verizon.net 
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov 
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
From b.garner4 at verizon.net  Fri May 12 11:38:20 2006
From: b.garner4 at verizon.net (Barbara Garner)
Date: Fri, 12 May 2006 10:38:20 -0500 (CDT)
Subject: =?ISO-8859-1?B?UmU6IFJlOiBSZTogW0ZvY3VzT25CYXNpY3MgMjcxXQ==?=
	=?ISO-8859-1?B?IKBTdXBwb3J0aW5nIG91dCBvZiBzY2hvb2wgc3R1ZHk=?=
Message-ID: <29374929.40721147448301061.JavaMail.root@vms075.mailsrvcs.net>
Katrina, 
Can you share some specifics? How do you announce its availability to those connected with your program? If someone stops coming, for example, do you call or visit them with the online resource as an option? 
What strategies are you trying to keep it from being an invitation for active students to decide to, in effect, telecommute? 
Barb Garner
Editor, Focus on Basics
=====================
From: Katrina Hinson <khinson at future-gate.com>
Date: Fri May 12 05:56:31 CDT 2006
To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov, b.garner4 at verizon.net
Subject: Re: Re: [FocusOnBasics 271]  Supporting out of school study
I thought I might have misunderstood. However, I do think my program is
moving in the direction you're talking about. I know we're looking at
growing our distance education component in basic skills to do just what
you're talking about. We want to be able to reach students who can't
come to a "normal/regular" class time but who are motivated to learn on
their own.  The software we use has an online component to it that makes
this a viable option for us - in addition we're looking at creating some
components similar to blackboard courses that we can offer that address
the needs of our students as well. What we've talked about doing is at
least having them come out to do a pre/post test, some kind of midterm
and some kind of exit exam if they're adult high school oriented and if
they're GED oriented, they would have to come on campus to take their
practice test and the offical test. If they're improving they're basic
skills for employment etc, they would just need to demonstrate progress
on their pre/post test scores.  There are ways to capture "seat" time
for such students as well even if they are not part of a "traditona"
environment. The whole idea is to find ways to help students progress
towards their goal even when they feel like life is preventing them from
doing so. We also have video component with workbook materials. Students
who can't come/enroll in a class can "check" out the videos, complete
the workbook component and any other materials that the instructor deems
necessary and still make progress towards whatever the desired
goal/outcome might be.  What we run into is trying not to pull students
from the existing classes for these options but to actually target the 
information to that population who really needs this kind of option in
order to pursue their goals.
We're only in the beginning phases of this - well, we've been working on
it for almost a year and still trying to get the glitches out.
Regards
Katrina Hinson
>>> Barbara Garner <b.garner4 at verizon.net>  >>>
It's great, Katrina, that you have students who do homework while a
program is in session and even more wonderful that some do online work
during school breaks.
You're right, though, my interest right now, is a little different: I"m
curious about whether anyone is expressly doing things to let students
know that if they have to stop coming for some reason, they can continue
to study on their own. Does anyone do that, and introduce students to
self-study materials they can purchse or borrow, or online resources? 
Barb Garner 
====================
From: Katrina Hinson <khinson at future-gate.com>
Date: Thu May 11 18:42:04 CDT 2006
To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov, b.garner4 at verizon.net
Subject: Re: [FocusOnBasics 271]  Supporting out of school study
I'm not exactly sure I understand the question or if I read it
correctly. At first glance however, what springs to mind for me is my
students who study outside of class as well as attend on a regular or
semi-regular basis.  My most successful students are the ones who study
in and out of class. They'll ask for additional work or they'll work
online via several computer programs we use. They'll even actively seek
out information online to use as study aids such as math websites or
practice test websites etc.  We don't have any formal supports in place
for students but I do know that sometimes teachers will come by and say
'can you put John/Jane Smith in the database so they can do some work
online during Spring Break or Semester Break etc." Most of the time when
I've encountered students who are not actively participating in class or
in a program, it's usually because they don't have the time to devote to
studying whether it's because of work, family or personal reasons etc.
We do try to accomodate students though and our online component allows
us to help students who sometimes cannot attend a traditional classroom
setting.  At the moment that's all I can think of.
Katrina
>>> Barbara Garner <b.garner4 at verizon.net> 05/11/06 8:46 AM >>>
Research coming out the NCSALL Lab School in Portland, OR, finds that
many people who have participated in ABE or would be good candidates for
ABE study on their own. 
Has anyone's program taken this into account and put into place
supports for students who want to continue to study on their own when
not actively participating in a program? If so, what do these supports
look like? How has it gone?
Barb Garner
Editor, Focus on Basics
Sharon, MA
b.garner4 at verizon.net 
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov 
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
From julie_mcKinney at worlded.org  Fri May 12 12:25:38 2006
From: julie_mcKinney at worlded.org (Julie  McKinney)
Date: Fri, 12 May 2006 12:25:38 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 276] Re: Supporting out of school study
Message-ID: <s4647ee2.036@mail.jsi.com>
Does anyone else out there do any kind of distance education or have
methods to keep students studying when have to drop class for a while?
Part of the NCSALL research Barb mentioned suggests that most students,
over the course of several years, are forced to move in and out of class
programs, due to changing life circumstances. This means that programs
will need to move toward offering support for students to keep learning
during their out-of-class phases. So it is interesting to hear about
Katrina's program and others that are working towards that. 
Katrina, I'm also curious to know what you mean when you put students
"in the database" and what your "online component" is like? 
Julie
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
>>> khinson at future-gate.com 05/12/06 6:56 AM >>>
I thought I might have misunderstood. However, I do think my program is
moving in the direction you're talking about. I know we're looking at
growing our distance education component in basic skills to do just what
you're talking about. We want to be able to reach students who can't
come to a "normal/regular" class time but who are motivated to learn on
their own.  The software we use has an online component to it that makes
this a viable option for us - in addition we're looking at creating some
components similar to blackboard courses that we can offer that address
the needs of our students as well. What we've talked about doing is at
least having them come out to do a pre/post test, some kind of midterm
and some kind of exit exam if they're adult high school oriented and if
they're GED oriented, they would have to come on campus to take their
practice test and the offical test. If they're improving they're basic
skills for employment etc, they would just need to demonstrate progress
on their pre/post test scores.  There are ways to capture "seat" time
for such students as well even if they are not part of a "traditona"
environment. The whole idea is to find ways to help students progress
towards their goal even when they feel like life is preventing them from
doing so. We also have video component with workbook materials. Students
who can't come/enroll in a class can "check" out the videos, complete
the workbook component and any other materials that the instructor deems
necessary and still make progress towards whatever the desired
goal/outcome might be.  What we run into is trying not to pull students
from the existing classes for these options but to actually target the 
information to that population who really needs this kind of option in
order to pursue their goals.
We're only in the beginning phases of this - well, we've been working on
it for almost a year and still trying to get the glitches out.
Regards
Katrina Hinson
>>> Barbara Garner <b.garner4 at verizon.net>  >>>
It's great, Katrina, that you have students who do homework while a
program is in session and even more wonderful that some do online work
during school breaks.
You're right, though, my interest right now, is a little different: I"m
curious about whether anyone is expressly doing things to let students
know that if they have to stop coming for some reason, they can continue
to study on their own. Does anyone do that, and introduce students to
self-study materials they can purchse or borrow, or online resources? 
Barb Garner 
====================
From: Katrina Hinson <khinson at future-gate.com>
Date: Thu May 11 18:42:04 CDT 2006
To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov, b.garner4 at verizon.net
Subject: Re: [FocusOnBasics 271]  Supporting out of school study
I'm not exactly sure I understand the question or if I read it
correctly. At first glance however, what springs to mind for me is my
students who study outside of class as well as attend on a regular or
semi-regular basis.  My most successful students are the ones who study
in and out of class. They'll ask for additional work or they'll work
online via several computer programs we use. They'll even actively seek
out information online to use as study aids such as math websites or
practice test websites etc.  We don't have any formal supports in place
for students but I do know that sometimes teachers will come by and say
'can you put John/Jane Smith in the database so they can do some work
online during Spring Break or Semester Break etc." Most of the time when
I've encountered students who are not actively participating in class or
in a program, it's usually because they don't have the time to devote to
studying whether it's because of work, family or personal reasons etc.
We do try to accomodate students though and our online component allows
us to help students who sometimes cannot attend a traditional classroom
setting.  At the moment that's all I can think of.
Katrina
>>> Barbara Garner <b.garner4 at verizon.net> 05/11/06 8:46 AM >>>
Research coming out the NCSALL Lab School in Portland, OR, finds that
many people who have participated in ABE or would be good candidates for
ABE study on their own. 
Has anyone's program taken this into account and put into place
supports for students who want to continue to study on their own when
not actively participating in a program? If so, what do these supports
look like? How has it gone?
Barb Garner
Editor, Focus on Basics
Sharon, MA
b.garner4 at verizon.net 
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov 
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
From astotts at gicw.org  Fri May 12 12:27:26 2006
From: astotts at gicw.org (Amy Stotts)
Date: Fri, 12 May 2006 09:27:26 -0700
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 277] Re: Supporting out of school study
Message-ID: <34D02900B99AE949966EAE61AD08FB0816CD8D@exchange2003.gicw.org>
As it happens, we are creating a program for ESL learners to engage in
self-study. It's not quite "out of school", and yet it offers some
supports that might be relevant.
A little background:  At Goodwill Industries in Portland, Oregon, we
offer ESL classes to novice through intermediate level employees at
their worksites during their paid working time. When it works it's
fantastic, but if a worksite has fewer than three people at a similar
level of language ability, we are unable to offer a class to those
employees.
As we have very motivated employees who want ESL help, we're currently
constructing an ESL self-study program to encourage and aid those
employees that are not able to participate in our regular programs. Some
of the supports we will offer are:
Bimonthly 60-90 minute meetings with an ESL practitioner 
Language exchange partners at the worksite for weekly or biweekly lunch
sessions
An extensive choice of materials from our program library 
Information about and encouragement to participate in English language
activities offered by our organization and in the community
Pre-, mid- and post- study language assessment
We will be starting this program within a month--I wish I could tell you
how it will work!
Amy Stotts
Goodwill of the Columbia Willamette, Inc.
ESL Department
www.meetgoodwill.org
Phone:  503/238.6196
Fax:  503/239.1732
-----Original Message-----
From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Barbara Garner
Sent: Thursday, May 11, 2006 5:46 AM
To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 271] Supporting out of school study
Research coming out the NCSALL Lab School in Portland, OR, finds that
many people who have participated in ABE or would be good candidates for
ABE study on their own. 
Has anyone's program taken this into account and put into place supports
for students who want to continue to study on their own when not
actively participating in a program? If so, what do these supports look
like? How has it gone?
Barb Garner
Editor, Focus on Basics
Sharon, MA
b.garner4 at verizon.net
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
From b.garner4 at verizon.net  Fri May 12 14:51:11 2006
From: b.garner4 at verizon.net (Barbara Garner)
Date: Fri, 12 May 2006 13:51:11 -0500 (CDT)
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 278] Re: Supporting out of school study
Message-ID: <7184050.2607771147459872375.JavaMail.root@vms063.mailsrvcs.net>
Amy, please do report back to the list in a few months and let us know how it is going. Perhaps other colleagues on this list can give you suggestions if you hit snags....
Barb Garner
Editor, Focus on Basics
=====================
From: Amy Stotts <astotts at gicw.org>
Date: Fri May 12 11:27:26 CDT 2006
To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 277] Re: Supporting out of school study
As it happens, we are creating a program for ESL learners to engage in
self-study. It's not quite "out of school", and yet it offers some
supports that might be relevant.
A little background:  At Goodwill Industries in Portland, Oregon, we
offer ESL classes to novice through intermediate level employees at
their worksites during their paid working time. When it works it's
fantastic, but if a worksite has fewer than three people at a similar
level of language ability, we are unable to offer a class to those
employees.
As we have very motivated employees who want ESL help, we're currently
constructing an ESL self-study program to encourage and aid those
employees that are not able to participate in our regular programs. Some
of the supports we will offer are:
Bimonthly 60-90 minute meetings with an ESL practitioner 
Language exchange partners at the worksite for weekly or biweekly lunch
sessions
An extensive choice of materials from our program library 
Information about and encouragement to participate in English language
activities offered by our organization and in the community
Pre-, mid- and post- study language assessment
We will be starting this program within a month--I wish I could tell you
how it will work!
Amy Stotts
Goodwill of the Columbia Willamette, Inc.
ESL Department
www.meetgoodwill.org
Phone:  503/238.6196
Fax:  503/239.1732
-----Original Message-----
From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Barbara Garner
Sent: Thursday, May 11, 2006 5:46 AM
To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 271] Supporting out of school study
Research coming out the NCSALL Lab School in Portland, OR, finds that
many people who have participated in ABE or would be good candidates for
ABE study on their own. 
Has anyone's program taken this into account and put into place supports
for students who want to continue to study on their own when not
actively participating in a program? If so, what do these supports look
like? How has it gone?
Barb Garner
Editor, Focus on Basics
Sharon, MA
b.garner4 at verizon.net
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
From woodsnh at isp.com  Fri May 12 23:34:21 2006
From: woodsnh at isp.com (Woods)
Date: Fri, 12 May 2006 23:34:21 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 279] Re: Supporting out of school study
In-Reply-To: <2449243.6226761147351574221.JavaMail.root@vms169.mailsrvcs.net>
References: <2449243.6226761147351574221.JavaMail.root@vms169.mailsrvcs.net>
Message-ID: <446553BD.3050500@isp.com>
Hi Barb,
Our students sometimes return from prison to towns where they do not 
have easy access to our community campuses . In one such case, I had a 
student who needed just two more credits to graduate, but he was moving 
out of state. I provided him with assignments to complete and return to 
me by mail, sort of a correspondence course, I guess. The outcome was 
not what I hoped for. He called me once, but never did any of the 
assignments.
We have found that our students often do very well in school when they 
are incarcerated, but many forces conspire to make continued schooling 
difficult after they get out. In prison, their basic needs are met, 
meals, health care, warmth, bed, clothing, etc. On their own back in the 
community, they have to work hard to provide these things for 
themselves. Other issues such as family, social, job, transportation and 
other responsibilities required of them by their probation office (e.g. 
substance abuse counseling, restitution, etc.) interfere with their 
ability to attend classes and progress stops. We have not yet found a 
good solution for these folks.
A few of us have been thinking about putting some sort of online 
distance learning program on our school web site, but this is only in 
the dream stage right now.
Tom Woods
Community High School of Vermont
Barbara Garner wrote:
Has anyone's program taken this into account and put into place supports for students who want to continue to study on their own when not actively participating in a program?
From khinson at future-gate.com  Sat May 13 16:19:02 2006
From: khinson at future-gate.com (Katrina Hinson)
Date: Sat, 13 May 2006 22:19:02 +0200
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 280]   Re: Supporting out of school study
In-Reply-To: <s4647ee2.036@mail.jsi.com>
References: <s4647ee2.036@mail.jsi.com>
Message-ID: <44665B56020000A0000027FD@fgwiel01a.wie.de.future-gate.com>
We use myskillstutor and A+  anywhere for online instruction. We're
looking at building/designing blackboard courses as well but havent'
started those yet. The database refers to the database for both
myskillstutor and A+.
Katrina
>>> "Julie  McKinney" <julie_mcKinney at worlded.org> 05/12/06 12:25 PM
>>>
Does anyone else out there do any kind of distance education or have
methods to keep students studying when have to drop class for a while?
Part of the NCSALL research Barb mentioned suggests that most
students,
over the course of several years, are forced to move in and out of
class
programs, due to changing life circumstances. This means that programs
will need to move toward offering support for students to keep
learning
during their out-of-class phases. So it is interesting to hear about
Katrina's program and others that are working towards that. 
Katrina, I'm also curious to know what you mean when you put students
"in the database" and what your "online component" is like? 
Julie
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org 
>>> khinson at future-gate.com 05/12/06 6:56 AM >>>
I thought I might have misunderstood. However, I do think my program
is
moving in the direction you're talking about. I know we're looking at
growing our distance education component in basic skills to do just
what
you're talking about. We want to be able to reach students who can't
come to a "normal/regular" class time but who are motivated to learn
on
their own.  The software we use has an online component to it that
makes
this a viable option for us - in addition we're looking at creating
some
components similar to blackboard courses that we can offer that
address
the needs of our students as well. What we've talked about doing is at
least having them come out to do a pre/post test, some kind of midterm
and some kind of exit exam if they're adult high school oriented and
if
they're GED oriented, they would have to come on campus to take their
practice test and the offical test. If they're improving they're basic
skills for employment etc, they would just need to demonstrate
progress
on their pre/post test scores.  There are ways to capture "seat" time
for such students as well even if they are not part of a "traditona"
environment. The whole idea is to find ways to help students progress
towards their goal even when they feel like life is preventing them
from
doing so. We also have video component with workbook materials.
Students
who can't come/enroll in a class can "check" out the videos, complete
the workbook component and any other materials that the instructor
deems
necessary and still make progress towards whatever the desired
goal/outcome might be.  What we run into is trying not to pull
students
from the existing classes for these options but to actually target the
information to that population who really needs this kind of option in
order to pursue their goals.
We're only in the beginning phases of this - well, we've been working
on
it for almost a year and still trying to get the glitches out.
Regards
Katrina Hinson
>>> Barbara Garner <b.garner4 at verizon.net>  >>>
It's great, Katrina, that you have students who do homework while a
program is in session and even more wonderful that some do online work
during school breaks.
You're right, though, my interest right now, is a little different:
I"m
curious about whether anyone is expressly doing things to let students
know that if they have to stop coming for some reason, they can
continue
to study on their own. Does anyone do that, and introduce students to
self-study materials they can purchse or borrow, or online resources? 
Barb Garner 
====================
From: Katrina Hinson <khinson at future-gate.com>
Date: Thu May 11 18:42:04 CDT 2006
To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov, b.garner4 at verizon.net 
Subject: Re: [FocusOnBasics 271]  Supporting out of school study
I'm not exactly sure I understand the question or if I read it
correctly. At first glance however, what springs to mind for me is my
students who study outside of class as well as attend on a regular or
semi-regular basis.  My most successful students are the ones who
study
in and out of class. They'll ask for additional work or they'll work
online via several computer programs we use. They'll even actively
seek
out information online to use as study aids such as math websites or
practice test websites etc.  We don't have any formal supports in
place
for students but I do know that sometimes teachers will come by and
say
'can you put John/Jane Smith in the database so they can do some work
online during Spring Break or Semester Break etc." Most of the time
when
I've encountered students who are not actively participating in class
or
in a program, it's usually because they don't have the time to devote
to
studying whether it's because of work, family or personal reasons etc.
We do try to accomodate students though and our online component
allows
us to help students who sometimes cannot attend a traditional
classroom
setting.  At the moment that's all I can think of.
Katrina
>>> Barbara Garner <b.garner4 at verizon.net> 05/11/06 8:46 AM >>>
Research coming out the NCSALL Lab School in Portland, OR, finds that
many people who have participated in ABE or would be good candidates
for
ABE study on their own. 
Has anyone's program taken this into account and put into place
supports for students who want to continue to study on their own when
not actively participating in a program? If so, what do these supports
look like? How has it gone?
Barb Garner
Editor, Focus on Basics
Sharon, MA
b.garner4 at verizon.net 
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov 
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics 
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov 
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics 
----------------------------------------------------
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From steve_quann at worlded.org  Mon May 15 10:52:57 2006
From: steve_quann at worlded.org (Steve Quann)
Date: Mon, 15 May 2006 10:52:57 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 281]   Re: Supporting out of school study
Message-ID: <s4685d9c.014@mail.jsi.com>
This message is in response to Julie's question and is from Diana Satin
who is not presently on the listserve:
Hello there --
Our school has just started a program like that. We invite ESL students
who 
are SPL (student performance level) 4-6 from our wait list and SPL 4-6
students who have been in our regular, face-to-face classes but had to
stop 
for a time or drop out because of a change in their work schedule,
family 
illness, etc. We're using the free English for All course, along with 
writing assignments, and telephone/in-person work on conversation and 
pronunciation. Students are *quite* appreciative of this opportunity to
study when they can fit it into their busy schedules, and we're very
glad to 
be able to offer it. It fills an important void in the educational
needs 
people in our communities have.
We consider students enrolled after they've completed the two
orientation 
meetings.
We assess them using REEP at the second orientation meeting, and again
later 
on in the year. Neither the BEST nor the REEP is a perfect fit for EFA,
but 
they are the only standardized assessments available for ESL at the
moment, 
and the REEP fits better because of the predominant use of text in the
curriculum.
Sometimes, when students have to stop classes for a while, our program
has 
also set them up with a tutor to work individually.
Hope this helps. I'd love to hear about others' programs as well.
Diana Satin
Jamaica Plain Community Centers
Adult Learning Program
144 McBride Street
Jamaica Plain, MA 02130
617.635.5201
dianaalp at goowy.com 
>>> julie_mcKinney at worlded.org 05/12 12:25 PM >>>
Does anyone else out there do any kind of distance education or have
methods to keep students studying when have to drop class for a while?
Part of the NCSALL research Barb mentioned suggests that most
students,
over the course of several years, are forced to move in and out of
class
programs, due to changing life circumstances. This means that programs
will need to move toward offering support for students to keep
learning
during their out-of-class phases. So it is interesting to hear about
Katrina's program and others that are working towards that. 
Katrina, I'm also curious to know what you mean when you put students
"in the database" and what your "online component" is like? 
Julie
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org 
>>> khinson at future-gate.com 05/12/06 6:56 AM >>>
I thought I might have misunderstood. However, I do think my program
is
moving in the direction you're talking about. I know we're looking at
growing our distance education component in basic skills to do just
what
you're talking about. We want to be able to reach students who can't
come to a "normal/regular" class time but who are motivated to learn
on
their own.  The software we use has an online component to it that
makes
this a viable option for us - in addition we're looking at creating
some
components similar to blackboard courses that we can offer that
address
the needs of our students as well. What we've talked about doing is at
least having them come out to do a pre/post test, some kind of midterm
and some kind of exit exam if they're adult high school oriented and
if
they're GED oriented, they would have to come on campus to take their
practice test and the offical test. If they're improving they're basic
skills for employment etc, they would just need to demonstrate
progress
on their pre/post test scores.  There are ways to capture "seat" time
for such students as well even if they are not part of a "traditona"
environment. The whole idea is to find ways to help students progress
towards their goal even when they feel like life is preventing them
from
doing so. We also have video component with workbook materials.
Students
who can't come/enroll in a class can "check" out the videos, complete
the workbook component and any other materials that the instructor
deems
necessary and still make progress towards whatever the desired
goal/outcome might be.  What we run into is trying not to pull
students
from the existing classes for these options but to actually target the
information to that population who really needs this kind of option in
order to pursue their goals.
We're only in the beginning phases of this - well, we've been working
on
it for almost a year and still trying to get the glitches out.
Regards
Katrina Hinson
>>> Barbara Garner <b.garner4 at verizon.net>  >>>
It's great, Katrina, that you have students who do homework while a
program is in session and even more wonderful that some do online work
during school breaks.
You're right, though, my interest right now, is a little different:
I"m
curious about whether anyone is expressly doing things to let students
know that if they have to stop coming for some reason, they can
continue
to study on their own. Does anyone do that, and introduce students to
self-study materials they can purchse or borrow, or online resources? 
Barb Garner 
====================
From: Katrina Hinson <khinson at future-gate.com>
Date: Thu May 11 18:42:04 CDT 2006
To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov, b.garner4 at verizon.net 
Subject: Re: [FocusOnBasics 271]  Supporting out of school study
I'm not exactly sure I understand the question or if I read it
correctly. At first glance however, what springs to mind for me is my
students who study outside of class as well as attend on a regular or
semi-regular basis.  My most successful students are the ones who
study
in and out of class. They'll ask for additional work or they'll work
online via several computer programs we use. They'll even actively
seek
out information online to use as study aids such as math websites or
practice test websites etc.  We don't have any formal supports in
place
for students but I do know that sometimes teachers will come by and
say
'can you put John/Jane Smith in the database so they can do some work
online during Spring Break or Semester Break etc." Most of the time
when
I've encountered students who are not actively participating in class
or
in a program, it's usually because they don't have the time to devote
to
studying whether it's because of work, family or personal reasons etc.
We do try to accomodate students though and our online component
allows
us to help students who sometimes cannot attend a traditional
classroom
setting.  At the moment that's all I can think of.
Katrina
>>> Barbara Garner <b.garner4 at verizon.net> 05/11/06 8:46 AM >>>
Research coming out the NCSALL Lab School in Portland, OR, finds that
many people who have participated in ABE or would be good candidates
for
ABE study on their own. 
Has anyone's program taken this into account and put into place
supports for students who want to continue to study on their own when
not actively participating in a program? If so, what do these supports
look like? How has it gone?
Barb Garner
Editor, Focus on Basics
Sharon, MA
b.garner4 at verizon.net 
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov 
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics 
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov 
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics 
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
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FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov 
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
From leellington at vcu.edu  Mon May 15 11:04:17 2006
From: leellington at vcu.edu (Lauren E Ellington/FS/VCU)
Date: Mon, 15 May 2006 11:04:17 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 282] Re: Supporting out of school study
In-Reply-To: <s4647ee2.036@mail.jsi.com>
Message-ID: <OF73746062.BB910401-ON8525716F.0052C5ED-8525716F.0052DCBB@vcu.edu>
Virginia is.  Check out http://www.theliteracyinstitute.org/efset/ and 
http://www.efsetva.org/.  This is a new program that is being piloted.
**************************************************************
Lauren Ellington
Online Training Specialist, 
Learning Disabilities Specialist, and
Writer/Editor of Update and Update on LD
Virginia Adult Learning Resource Center
Virginia Commonwealth University
817 W. Franklin Street, Room 221  |  P.O. Box 842037
Richmond, VA  23284-2037
Phone:  1-800-237-0178 or  804-828-6158 
Fax:  804-828-7539
http://www.valrc.org
"Julie  McKinney" <julie_mcKinney at worlded.org> 
Sent by: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov
05/12/2006 12:25 PM
Please respond to
The Focus on Basics Discussion List <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
To
<focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
cc
Subject
[FocusOnBasics 276] Re: Supporting out of school study
Does anyone else out there do any kind of distance education or have
methods to keep students studying when have to drop class for a while?
Part of the NCSALL research Barb mentioned suggests that most students,
over the course of several years, are forced to move in and out of class
programs, due to changing life circumstances. This means that programs
will need to move toward offering support for students to keep learning
during their out-of-class phases. So it is interesting to hear about
Katrina's program and others that are working towards that. 
Katrina, I'm also curious to know what you mean when you put students
"in the database" and what your "online component" is like? 
Julie
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
>>> khinson at future-gate.com 05/12/06 6:56 AM >>>
I thought I might have misunderstood. However, I do think my program is
moving in the direction you're talking about. I know we're looking at
growing our distance education component in basic skills to do just what
you're talking about. We want to be able to reach students who can't
come to a "normal/regular" class time but who are motivated to learn on
their own.  The software we use has an online component to it that makes
this a viable option for us - in addition we're looking at creating some
components similar to blackboard courses that we can offer that address
the needs of our students as well. What we've talked about doing is at
least having them come out to do a pre/post test, some kind of midterm
and some kind of exit exam if they're adult high school oriented and if
they're GED oriented, they would have to come on campus to take their
practice test and the offical test. If they're improving they're basic
skills for employment etc, they would just need to demonstrate progress
on their pre/post test scores.  There are ways to capture "seat" time
for such students as well even if they are not part of a "traditona"
environment. The whole idea is to find ways to help students progress
towards their goal even when they feel like life is preventing them from
doing so. We also have video component with workbook materials. Students
who can't come/enroll in a class can "check" out the videos, complete
the workbook component and any other materials that the instructor deems
necessary and still make progress towards whatever the desired
goal/outcome might be.  What we run into is trying not to pull students
from the existing classes for these options but to actually target the 
information to that population who really needs this kind of option in
order to pursue their goals.
We're only in the beginning phases of this - well, we've been working on
it for almost a year and still trying to get the glitches out.
Regards
Katrina Hinson
>>> Barbara Garner <b.garner4 at verizon.net>  >>>
It's great, Katrina, that you have students who do homework while a
program is in session and even more wonderful that some do online work
during school breaks.
You're right, though, my interest right now, is a little different: I"m
curious about whether anyone is expressly doing things to let students
know that if they have to stop coming for some reason, they can continue
to study on their own. Does anyone do that, and introduce students to
self-study materials they can purchse or borrow, or online resources? 
Barb Garner 
====================
From: Katrina Hinson <khinson at future-gate.com>
Date: Thu May 11 18:42:04 CDT 2006
To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov, b.garner4 at verizon.net
Subject: Re: [FocusOnBasics 271]  Supporting out of school study
I'm not exactly sure I understand the question or if I read it
correctly. At first glance however, what springs to mind for me is my
students who study outside of class as well as attend on a regular or
semi-regular basis.  My most successful students are the ones who study
in and out of class. They'll ask for additional work or they'll work
online via several computer programs we use. They'll even actively seek
out information online to use as study aids such as math websites or
practice test websites etc.  We don't have any formal supports in place
for students but I do know that sometimes teachers will come by and say
'can you put John/Jane Smith in the database so they can do some work
online during Spring Break or Semester Break etc." Most of the time when
I've encountered students who are not actively participating in class or
in a program, it's usually because they don't have the time to devote to
studying whether it's because of work, family or personal reasons etc.
We do try to accomodate students though and our online component allows
us to help students who sometimes cannot attend a traditional classroom
setting.  At the moment that's all I can think of.
Katrina
>>> Barbara Garner <b.garner4 at verizon.net> 05/11/06 8:46 AM >>>
Research coming out the NCSALL Lab School in Portland, OR, finds that
many people who have participated in ABE or would be good candidates for
ABE study on their own. 
Has anyone's program taken this into account and put into place
supports for students who want to continue to study on their own when
not actively participating in a program? If so, what do these supports
look like? How has it gone?
Barb Garner
Editor, Focus on Basics
Sharon, MA
b.garner4 at verizon.net 
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov 
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to 
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
-------------- next part --------------
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From Jennifer.Rafferty at umb.edu  Mon May 15 11:41:31 2006
From: Jennifer.Rafferty at umb.edu (Jennifer Rafferty)
Date: Mon, 15 May 2006 11:41:31 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 282] Re: Supporting out of school study
In-Reply-To: <s4685d9c.014@mail.jsi.com>
Message-ID: <JPEBKBGPHMOCOPFAFGNDCEOBCHAA.Jennifer.Rafferty@umb.edu>
Hello,
In Massachusetts we are piloting a distance learning initiative with six
programs throughout the state.  Visit our website at
www.anywhereanytimeabe.org .  You will see in the section, "Meet the DL
Programs", that all of the programs are slightly different in program
design, population served, curriculum, and delivery of services.
Our initiative serves learners who are not able to attend regular classes.
Some of our dl programs have developed a strong relationship with the
classroom based program in their agency so that learners who stop out of a
regular class are able to transition into the distance learning program
immediately.  This strong relationship entails not only making appropriate
referrals to the distance learning program, but also preparing the learner
for independent learning while they are still in the classroom.  When time
management skills, computer literacy, goal setting,and study skills are a
part of both the classroom and dl curricula, the transition for learners
will go more smoothly and they are more likely to remain engaged.  The key
is to develop that relationship between the classroom and the dl program
staff so that they can create a referral system and a curriculum that will
prepare the learner for self-directed study.
Jennifer Rafferty
DL Project Manager
The Adult Literacy Resource Institute
-----Original Message-----
From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov]On Behalf Of Steve Quann
Sent: Monday, May 15, 2006 10:53 AM
To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 281] Re: Supporting out of school study
This message is in response to Julie's question and is from Diana Satin
who is not presently on the listserve:
Hello there --
Our school has just started a program like that. We invite ESL students
who
are SPL (student performance level) 4-6 from our wait list and SPL 4-6
students who have been in our regular, face-to-face classes but had to
stop
for a time or drop out because of a change in their work schedule,
family
illness, etc. We're using the free English for All course, along with
writing assignments, and telephone/in-person work on conversation and
pronunciation. Students are *quite* appreciative of this opportunity to
study when they can fit it into their busy schedules, and we're very
glad to
be able to offer it. It fills an important void in the educational
needs
people in our communities have.
We consider students enrolled after they've completed the two
orientation
meetings.
We assess them using REEP at the second orientation meeting, and again
later
on in the year. Neither the BEST nor the REEP is a perfect fit for EFA,
but
they are the only standardized assessments available for ESL at the
moment,
and the REEP fits better because of the predominant use of text in the
curriculum.
Sometimes, when students have to stop classes for a while, our program
has
also set them up with a tutor to work individually.
Hope this helps. I'd love to hear about others' programs as well.
Diana Satin
Jamaica Plain Community Centers
Adult Learning Program
144 McBride Street
Jamaica Plain, MA 02130
617.635.5201
dianaalp at goowy.com
>>> julie_mcKinney at worlded.org 05/12 12:25 PM >>>
Does anyone else out there do any kind of distance education or have
methods to keep students studying when have to drop class for a while?
Part of the NCSALL research Barb mentioned suggests that most
students,
over the course of several years, are forced to move in and out of
class
programs, due to changing life circumstances. This means that programs
will need to move toward offering support for students to keep
learning
during their out-of-class phases. So it is interesting to hear about
Katrina's program and others that are working towards that.
Katrina, I'm also curious to know what you mean when you put students
"in the database" and what your "online component" is like?
Julie
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
>>> khinson at future-gate.com 05/12/06 6:56 AM >>>
I thought I might have misunderstood. However, I do think my program
is
moving in the direction you're talking about. I know we're looking at
growing our distance education component in basic skills to do just
what
you're talking about. We want to be able to reach students who can't
come to a "normal/regular" class time but who are motivated to learn
on
their own.  The software we use has an online component to it that
makes
this a viable option for us - in addition we're looking at creating
some
components similar to blackboard courses that we can offer that
address
the needs of our students as well. What we've talked about doing is at
least having them come out to do a pre/post test, some kind of midterm
and some kind of exit exam if they're adult high school oriented and
if
they're GED oriented, they would have to come on campus to take their
practice test and the offical test. If they're improving they're basic
skills for employment etc, they would just need to demonstrate
progress
on their pre/post test scores.  There are ways to capture "seat" time
for such students as well even if they are not part of a "traditona"
environment. The whole idea is to find ways to help students progress
towards their goal even when they feel like life is preventing them
from
doing so. We also have video component with workbook materials.
Students
who can't come/enroll in a class can "check" out the videos, complete
the workbook component and any other materials that the instructor
deems
necessary and still make progress towards whatever the desired
goal/outcome might be.  What we run into is trying not to pull
students
from the existing classes for these options but to actually target the
information to that population who really needs this kind of option in
order to pursue their goals.
We're only in the beginning phases of this - well, we've been working
on
it for almost a year and still trying to get the glitches out.
Regards
Katrina Hinson
>>> Barbara Garner <b.garner4 at verizon.net>  >>>
It's great, Katrina, that you have students who do homework while a
program is in session and even more wonderful that some do online work
during school breaks.
You're right, though, my interest right now, is a little different:
I"m
curious about whether anyone is expressly doing things to let students
know that if they have to stop coming for some reason, they can
continue
to study on their own. Does anyone do that, and introduce students to
self-study materials they can purchse or borrow, or online resources?
Barb Garner
====================
From: Katrina Hinson <khinson at future-gate.com>
Date: Thu May 11 18:42:04 CDT 2006
To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov, b.garner4 at verizon.net
Subject: Re: [FocusOnBasics 271]  Supporting out of school study
I'm not exactly sure I understand the question or if I read it
correctly. At first glance however, what springs to mind for me is my
students who study outside of class as well as attend on a regular or
semi-regular basis.  My most successful students are the ones who
study
in and out of class. They'll ask for additional work or they'll work
online via several computer programs we use. They'll even actively
seek
out information online to use as study aids such as math websites or
practice test websites etc.  We don't have any formal supports in
place
for students but I do know that sometimes teachers will come by and
say
'can you put John/Jane Smith in the database so they can do some work
online during Spring Break or Semester Break etc." Most of the time
when
I've encountered students who are not actively participating in class
or
in a program, it's usually because they don't have the time to devote
to
studying whether it's because of work, family or personal reasons etc.
We do try to accomodate students though and our online component
allows
us to help students who sometimes cannot attend a traditional
classroom
setting.  At the moment that's all I can think of.
Katrina
>>> Barbara Garner <b.garner4 at verizon.net> 05/11/06 8:46 AM >>>
Research coming out the NCSALL Lab School in Portland, OR, finds that
many people who have participated in ABE or would be good candidates
for
ABE study on their own.
Has anyone's program taken this into account and put into place
supports for students who want to continue to study on their own when
not actively participating in a program? If so, what do these supports
look like? How has it gone?
Barb Garner
Editor, Focus on Basics
Sharon, MA
b.garner4 at verizon.net
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
----------------------------------------------------
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Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
From Holly.Dilatush-Guthrie at ccs.k12.va.us  Mon May 15 11:53:59 2006
From: Holly.Dilatush-Guthrie at ccs.k12.va.us (Holly Dilatush-Guthrie)
Date: Mon, 15 May 2006 11:53:59 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 283]   Re: Supporting out of school study
Message-ID: <s4686bee.021@mail.ccs.k12.va.us>
Yes * Charlottesville City Schools (Charlottesville VA) has been piloting a very successful ESL at Home program since October 2005, via an EL/Civics grant.   Although not yet cost-effective, student success has been great!
We've modeled our program similar to one used by North Carolina (LEAD program) and are using Crossroads Cafe video series as our curriculum.  We have had our first two 'graduates' this month (finishing all 26 episodes, worktexts, and a review test after each episode)!  
We've had several learners show reportable gains, many many many anecdotal success stories.   
We have an optional virtual classroom on the internet, http://theHsmile.org (then ESL at Home with Crossroads Cafe] using MOODLE.  http://www.moodle.org) as our Course Management System (CMS).
Enrollment for this class is ongoing (the only ongoing open enrollment course in our Adult Learning Center's program); we began with 6 students in October, have had a total of 46 to date, with approx. 30% dropping out before sufficient hours completed to 'officially count' them.   31 of the 46 who have registered into our pilot group so far have registered on our virtual website, over 20 are active on the site.  The virtual classroom has many supplemental activities: discussion forums, resources, quizzes, assignments, a chat function, more!   
I'm happy to share more details (off the discussion list) for anyone interested.
Holly
"No matter what our attempts to inform, it is our ability to inspire that will turn the tides."
Holly Dilatush
ESL distance learning, Dialogue Cafe, Volunteer coordinator
Charlottesville City Schools Adult Learning Center
1000 Preston Ave., Suite D
Charlottesville  VA  22903
(434) 245.2815 office
(434) 960.7177 cell/mobile
http://theHsmile.org  ['home' to several Moodle CMS (course management systems/virtual classrooms)]
http://www.Charlottesville-ESL.org 
"Live with intention. Share inside~out smiles, inspire hope, seek awe and nurture in nature."
>>> julie_mcKinney at worlded.org 05/12/06 12:25 PM >>>
Does anyone else out there do any kind of distance education or have
methods to keep students studying when have to drop class for a while?
Part of the NCSALL research Barb mentioned suggests that most students,
over the course of several years, are forced to move in and out of class
programs, due to changing life circumstances. This means that programs
will need to move toward offering support for students to keep learning
during their out-of-class phases. So it is interesting to hear about
Katrina's program and others that are working towards that. 
From archangels at att.net  Mon May 15 12:14:55 2006
From: archangels at att.net (Michael Keith Pen Ultimate Rare Books)
Date: Mon, 15 May 2006 16:14:55 +0000
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 284] Re: Supporting out of school study
Message-ID: <051520061614.21540.4468A8FF0006E53A0000542421603760219C040A09020E080C9D0E@att.net>
Tom,
That was  a valuable observation about access to educational programs inside prison (where basic needs are met) and outside.  Does anyone know of any literature on some of these programs, like NYC's Fortune Society, which address themselves to ex-offenders?  Thanks, Michael
-------------- Original message from Woods <woodsnh at isp.com>: -------------- 
> Hi Barb, 
> Our students sometimes return from prison to towns where they do not 
> have easy access to our community campuses . In one such case, I had a 
> student who needed just two more credits to graduate, but he was moving 
> out of state. I provided him with assignments to complete and return to 
> me by mail, sort of a correspondence course, I guess. The outcome was 
> not what I hoped for. He called me once, but never did any of the 
> assignments. 
> 
> We have found that our students often do very well in school when they 
> are incarcerated, but many forces conspire to make continued schooling 
> difficult after they get out. In prison, their basic needs are met, 
> meals, health care, warmth, bed, clothing, etc. On their own back in the 
> community, they have to work hard to provide these things for 
> themselves. Other issues such as family, social, job, transportation and 
> other responsibilities required of them by their probation office (e.g. 
> substance abuse counseling, restitution, etc.) interfere with their 
> ability to attend classes and progress stops. We have not yet found a 
> good solution for these folks. 
> 
> A few of us have been thinking about putting some sort of online 
> distance learning program on our school web site, but this is only in 
> the dream stage right now. 
> 
> Tom Woods 
> Community High School of Vermont 
> 
> Barbara Garner wrote: 
> 
> Has anyone's program taken this into account and put into place supports for 
> students who want to continue to study on their own when not actively 
> participating in a program? 
> 
> 
> ---------------------------------------------------- 
> National Institute for Literacy 
> Focus on Basics mailing list 
> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov 
> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to 
> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics 
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From jgordon at fortunesociety.org  Mon May 15 12:30:17 2006
From: jgordon at fortunesociety.org (John Gordon)
Date: Mon, 15 May 2006 12:30:17 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 285]  College correspondence programs
Message-ID: <FCE5A738D738724AB9ED7A61D3E733F002D40FCA@mail.fortunesociety.org>
Hi everyone,
I am corresponding with someone currently incarcerated in a New York
State prison. He is interested in enrolling in a Correspondence/Distance
Learning program for college. Does anyone have any experience with this?
Do you know of any decent programs?
Any help would be appreciated. You can respond off-line if you like.
thanks,
John Gordon
From b.garner4 at verizon.net  Mon May 15 12:51:21 2006
From: b.garner4 at verizon.net (Barbara Garner)
Date: Mon, 15 May 2006 11:51:21 -0500 (CDT)
Subject: =?ISO-8859-1?B?UmU6IFtGb2N1c09uQmFzaWNzIDI4M10goCBSZTogUHI=?=
	=?ISO-8859-1?B?ZS1FbnJvbGxtZW50IG91dCBvZiBzY2hvb2wgc3R1ZHk=?=
Message-ID: <1627054.7853491147711881590.JavaMail.root@vms168.mailsrvcs.net>
It's encouraging to learn about so many different models of out-of-school study in use around the country...
Does anyone ask learners on intake whether they have been doing
self-study before coming to enroll? If so, do you have any sense of what
proportion of your learners did? And why are they choosing to enroll if
they have been studying on their own?
Barb Garner
Editor, Focus on Basics
=====================
From: Holly Dilatush-Guthrie <Holly.Dilatush-Guthrie at ccs.k12.va.us>
Date: Mon May 15 10:53:59 CDT 2006
To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 283]   Re: Supporting out of school study
Yes * Charlottesville City Schools (Charlottesville VA) has been piloting a very successful ESL at Home program since October 2005, via an EL/Civics grant.   Although not yet cost-effective, student success has been great!
We've modeled our program similar to one used by North Carolina (LEAD program) and are using Crossroads Cafe video series as our curriculum.  We have had our first two 'graduates' this month (finishing all 26 episodes, worktexts, and a review test after each episode)!  
We've had several learners show reportable gains, many many many anecdotal success stories.   
We have an optional virtual classroom on the internet, http://theHsmile.org (then ESL at Home with Crossroads Cafe] using MOODLE.  http://www.moodle.org) as our Course Management System (CMS).
Enrollment for this class is ongoing (the only ongoing open enrollment course in our Adult Learning Center's program); we began with 6 students in October, have had a total of 46 to date, with approx. 30% dropping out before sufficient hours completed to 'officially count' them.   31 of the 46 who have registered into our pilot group so far have registered on our virtual website, over 20 are active on the site.  The virtual classroom has many supplemental activities: discussion forums, resources, quizzes, assignments, a chat function, more!   
I'm happy to share more details (off the discussion list) for anyone interested.
Holly
"No matter what our attempts to inform, it is our ability to inspire that will turn the tides."
Holly Dilatush
ESL distance learning, Dialogue Cafe, Volunteer coordinator
Charlottesville City Schools Adult Learning Center
1000 Preston Ave., Suite D
Charlottesville  VA  22903
(434) 245.2815 office
(434) 960.7177 cell/mobile
http://theHsmile.org  ['home' to several Moodle CMS (course management systems/virtual classrooms)]
http://www.Charlottesville-ESL.org 
"Live with intention. Share inside~out smiles, inspire hope, seek awe and nurture in nature."
>>> julie_mcKinney at worlded.org 05/12/06 12:25 PM >>>
Does anyone else out there do any kind of distance education or have
methods to keep students studying when have to drop class for a while?
Part of the NCSALL research Barb mentioned suggests that most students,
over the course of several years, are forced to move in and out of class
programs, due to changing life circumstances. This means that programs
will need to move toward offering support for students to keep learning
during their out-of-class phases. So it is interesting to hear about
Katrina's program and others that are working towards that. 
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
From Jennifer.Rafferty at umb.edu  Mon May 15 13:00:26 2006
From: Jennifer.Rafferty at umb.edu (Jennifer Rafferty)
Date: Mon, 15 May 2006 13:00:26 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 287] Re: College correspondence programs
In-Reply-To: <FCE5A738D738724AB9ED7A61D3E733F002D40FCA@mail.fortunesociety.org>
Message-ID: <JPEBKBGPHMOCOPFAFGNDOEOCCHAA.Jennifer.Rafferty@umb.edu>
New York is part of the Project IDEAL (Improving Distance Education for
Adult Learners) consortium.  They might be able to help you.  Visit the
Project IDEAL www.projectideal.org website for more information.  I do not
have any contact names to give you.
Best of luck,
Jennifer Rafferty
-----Original Message-----
From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov]On Behalf Of John Gordon
Sent: Monday, May 15, 2006 12:30 PM
To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 285] College correspondence programs
Hi everyone,
I am corresponding with someone currently incarcerated in a New York
State prison. He is interested in enrolling in a Correspondence/Distance
Learning program for college. Does anyone have any experience with this?
Do you know of any decent programs?
Any help would be appreciated. You can respond off-line if you like.
thanks,
John Gordon
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
From julie_mcKinney at worlded.org  Mon May 15 13:01:14 2006
From: julie_mcKinney at worlded.org (Julie  McKinney)
Date: Mon, 15 May 2006 13:01:14 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 288] Re: Supporting out of school study
Message-ID: <s4687ba1.082@mail.jsi.com>
Thanks Katrina, Diana (through Steve), Jennifer, Holly and others for
your accounts of out-of-school study options for your students! Please
keep these coming. It is great to hear what people are doing, and maybe
some of these ideas will be appropriate for the corrections people
looking for distance education options.
It seems like there is always a component of some human contact (as
there should be), and I'm curious how your programs have managed this in
terms of staffing and funding. For those without special grants for this
purpose, what is the most cost-effective way to build this in?
Julie
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
>>> Holly.Dilatush-Guthrie at ccs.k12.va.us 05/15/06 11:53 AM >>>
Yes * Charlottesville City Schools (Charlottesville VA) has been
piloting a very successful ESL at Home program since October 2005, via
an EL/Civics grant.   Although not yet cost-effective, student success
has been great!
We've modeled our program similar to one used by North Carolina (LEAD
program) and are using Crossroads Cafe video series as our curriculum. 
We have had our first two 'graduates' this month (finishing all 26
episodes, worktexts, and a review test after each episode)!  
We've had several learners show reportable gains, many many many
anecdotal success stories.   
We have an optional virtual classroom on the internet,
http://theHsmile.org (then ESL at Home with Crossroads Cafe] using
MOODLE.  http://www.moodle.org) as our Course Management System (CMS).
Enrollment for this class is ongoing (the only ongoing open enrollment
course in our Adult Learning Center's program); we began with 6 students
in October, have had a total of 46 to date, with approx. 30% dropping
out before sufficient hours completed to 'officially count' them.   31
of the 46 who have registered into our pilot group so far have
registered on our virtual website, over 20 are active on the site.  The
virtual classroom has many supplemental activities: discussion forums,
resources, quizzes, assignments, a chat function, more!   
I'm happy to share more details (off the discussion list) for anyone
interested.
Holly
"No matter what our attempts to inform, it is our ability to inspire
that will turn the tides."
Holly Dilatush
ESL distance learning, Dialogue Cafe, Volunteer coordinator
Charlottesville City Schools Adult Learning Center
1000 Preston Ave., Suite D
Charlottesville  VA  22903
(434) 245.2815 office
(434) 960.7177 cell/mobile
http://theHsmile.org  ['home' to several Moodle CMS (course management
systems/virtual classrooms)]
http://www.Charlottesville-ESL.org 
"Live with intention. Share inside~out smiles, inspire hope, seek awe
and nurture in nature."
>>> julie_mcKinney at worlded.org 05/12/06 12:25 PM >>>
Does anyone else out there do any kind of distance education or have
methods to keep students studying when have to drop class for a while?
Part of the NCSALL research Barb mentioned suggests that most students,
over the course of several years, are forced to move in and out of class
programs, due to changing life circumstances. This means that programs
will need to move toward offering support for students to keep learning
during their out-of-class phases. So it is interesting to hear about
Katrina's program and others that are working towards that. 
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
From tarv at chemeketa.edu  Mon May 15 13:15:05 2006
From: tarv at chemeketa.edu (Virginia Tardaewether)
Date: Mon, 15 May 2006 10:15:05 -0700
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 289] Re: College correspondence programs
Message-ID: <D63A25821E9AE349ADBAB6BB1F0A766C75E19B@cccmail2.chemeketa.network>
John
Have you checked with your local community college or university for
their on-line catalog? Many institutions have these services now. If you
connect this prisoner to his/her local institution, he/she might
continue there when they are on the outside.  It might depend on how
long the prisoner has left on the inside to make it realistic and on
what their financial capability is.  You may need to be a liaison if
there are any required on campus meetings or tests that can't be
completed on-line.  Most prisons do NOT have access for on-line
computers for inmates so you're probably looking at hard copy courses.
va
-----Original Message-----
From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of John Gordon
Sent: Monday, May 15, 2006 9:30 AM
To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 285] College correspondence programs
Hi everyone,
I am corresponding with someone currently incarcerated in a New York
State prison. He is interested in enrolling in a Correspondence/Distance
Learning program for college. Does anyone have any experience with this?
Do you know of any decent programs?
Any help would be appreciated. You can respond off-line if you like.
thanks,
John Gordon
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
From Holly.Dilatush-Guthrie at ccs.k12.va.us  Mon May 15 13:27:55 2006
From: Holly.Dilatush-Guthrie at ccs.k12.va.us (Holly Dilatush-Guthrie)
Date: Mon, 15 May 2006 13:27:55 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 290]   Re: Supporting out of school study
Message-ID: <s46881f0.081@mail.ccs.k12.va.us>
The ESL at Home pilot offers optional f2f study session times, one afternoon, one evening each week, and students who are able to attend are the most successful.  We use volunteers (two to four per study session) to work 1:1 or small groups with students studying the same episode of Crossroads Cafe, to answer questions,  listening as students practice speaking and pronunciation exercises.   These sessions are wild times!   Students may be reviewing, reading transcripts, (for any of the 26 episodes... because it's ongoing enrollment and self-paced, students are NOT all in the same place of the curriculum!), waiting for a speaking test, watching a review test tape for listening questions, taking written tests, picking up work, exchanging borrowed DVDs and VHS tapes, more!   Some students cannot attend these sessions.   Once a month I meet some on a Saturday morning at a local library across town.   Others I make appointments for sporadically as they complete work (there is a reveiw test given after each episode).   For two students, we're experimenting with telephone and/or recorded  speaking tests, and snail-mail or drop-off for their completed work.    As a pilot, we're experimenting with various options.   
Evaluating all aspects and working towad the cost effectiveness will be a strong component of the next phase of our pilot effort.
Holly
"No matter what our attempts to inform, it is our ability to inspire that will turn the tides."
Holly Dilatush
ESL distance learning, Dialogue Cafe, Volunteer coordinator
Charlottesville City Schools Adult Learning Center
1000 Preston Ave., Suite D
Charlottesville  VA  22903
(434) 245.2815 office
(434) 960.7177 cell/mobile
http://theHsmile.org  ['home' to several Moodle CMS (course management systems/virtual classrooms)]
http://www.Charlottesville-ESL.org 
"Live with intention. Share inside~out smiles, inspire hope, seek awe and nurture in nature."
>>> julie_mcKinney at worlded.org 05/15/06 1:01 PM >>>
Thanks Katrina, Diana (through Steve), Jennifer, Holly and others for
your accounts of out-of-school study options for your students! Please
keep these coming. It is great to hear what people are doing, and maybe
some of these ideas will be appropriate for the corrections people
looking for distance education options.
It seems like there is always a component of some human contact (as
there should be), and I'm curious how your programs have managed this in
terms of staffing and funding. For those without special grants for this
purpose, what is the most cost-effective way to build this in?
Julie
From tarv at chemeketa.edu  Mon May 15 13:45:35 2006
From: tarv at chemeketa.edu (Virginia Tardaewether)
Date: Mon, 15 May 2006 10:45:35 -0700
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 291] Re: Supporting out of school study
Message-ID: <D63A25821E9AE349ADBAB6BB1F0A766C75E19D@cccmail2.chemeketa.network>
Michael
There is a program called CRIMINON that addresses basic literacy inmates
and criminal thinking.  They are international in scope and have
programs in the USA and Mexico.  Go to criminon.org for more information
and an organization closest to you.  I've used their curriculum with in
the prison system and seen the positive changes it makes in the criminal
thinking process.  
va
 
________________________________
From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Michael Keith Pen
Ultimate Rare Books
Sent: Monday, May 15, 2006 9:15 AM
To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 284] Re: Supporting out of school study
 
Tom,
 
That was  a valuable observation about access to educational programs
inside prison (where basic needs are met) and outside.  Does anyone know
of any literature on some of these programs, like NYC's Fortune Society,
which address themselves to ex-offenders?  Thanks, Michael
	-------------- Original message from Woods <woodsnh at isp.com>:
-------------- 
	
	
	> Hi Barb, 
	> Our students sometimes return from prison to towns where they
do not 
	> have easy access to our community campuses . In one such case,
I had a 
	> student who needed just two more credits to graduate, but he
was moving 
	> out of state. I provided him with assignments to complete and
return to 
	> me by mail, sort of a correspondence course, I guess. The
outcome was 
	> not what I hoped for. He called me once, but never did any of
the 
	> assignments. 
	> 
	> We have found that our students often do very well in school
when they 
	> are incarcerated, but many forces conspire to make continued
schooling 
	> difficult after they get out. In prison, their basic needs are
met, 
	> meals, health care, warmth, bed, clothing, etc. On their own
back in the 
	> community, they have to work hard to provide these things for 
	> themselves. Other issues such as family, social, job,
transportation and 
	> other responsibilities required of them by their probation
office (e.g. 
	> substance abuse counseling, restitution, etc.) interfere with
their 
	> ability to attend classes and progress stops. We have not yet
found a 
	> good solution for these folks. 
	> 
	> A few of us have been thinking about putting some sort of
online 
	> distance learning program on our school web site, but this is
only in 
	> the dream stage right now. 
	> 
	> Tom Woods 
	> Community High School of Vermont 
	> 
	> Barbara Garner wrote: 
	> 
	> Has anyone's program taken this into account and put into
place supports for 
	> students who want to continue to study on their own when not
actively 
	> participating in a program? 
	> 
	> 
	> ---------------------------------------------------- 
	> National Institute for Literacy 
	> Focus on Basics mailing list 
	> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov 
	> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go
to 
	> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics 
-------------- next part --------------
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From kolson2 at columbus.rr.com  Mon May 15 14:11:26 2006
From: kolson2 at columbus.rr.com (K Olson)
Date: Mon, 15 May 2006 14:11:26 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 292]  out of school study
In-Reply-To: <1627054.7853491147711881590.JavaMail.root@vms168.mailsrvcs.net>
Message-ID: <000001c6784a$fbfef160$0e464847@bessie>
I went to a very interesting presentation at TESOL probably three years ago.
The presenter talked about a program they had instituted in conjunction with
the public libraries. I believe it might have been with Crossroads Caf?.
(and it might have been in Virginia or California). Anyway, if someone was
interested in checking out a video, they had them take a quick pre-test (ten
questions or less). When they returned the tape, they took a short
post-test, so there was a way of documenting progress. The thing I was most
impressed with, though, was that when they looked at the people who were
using the tapes, they found out that they were mainly young Hispanic wives
who said they would NOT go to a class. So it was a great way of reaching a
population that would otherwise not be served. 
Kathy Olson
-----Original Message-----
From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov]
On Behalf Of Barbara Garner
Sent: Monday, May 15, 2006 12:51 PM
To: Holly Dilatush-Guthrie; focusonbasics at nifl.gov
Subject: Re: [FocusOnBasics 283] ? Re: Pre-Enrollment out of school study
It's encouraging to learn about so many different models of out-of-school
study in use around the country...
Does anyone ask learners on intake whether they have been doing
self-study before coming to enroll? If so, do you have any sense of what
proportion of your learners did? And why are they choosing to enroll if
they have been studying on their own?
Barb Garner
Editor, Focus on Basics
=====================
From: Holly Dilatush-Guthrie <Holly.Dilatush-Guthrie at ccs.k12.va.us>
Date: Mon May 15 10:53:59 CDT 2006
To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 283]   Re: Supporting out of school study
Yes * Charlottesville City Schools (Charlottesville VA) has been piloting a
very successful ESL at Home program since October 2005, via an EL/Civics
grant.   Although not yet cost-effective, student success has been great!
We've modeled our program similar to one used by North Carolina (LEAD
program) and are using Crossroads Cafe video series as our curriculum.  We
have had our first two 'graduates' this month (finishing all 26 episodes,
worktexts, and a review test after each episode)!  
We've had several learners show reportable gains, many many many anecdotal
success stories.   
We have an optional virtual classroom on the internet, http://theHsmile.org
(then ESL at Home with Crossroads Cafe] using MOODLE.
http://www.moodle.org) as our Course Management System (CMS).
Enrollment for this class is ongoing (the only ongoing open enrollment
course in our Adult Learning Center's program); we began with 6 students in
October, have had a total of 46 to date, with approx. 30% dropping out
before sufficient hours completed to 'officially count' them.   31 of the 46
who have registered into our pilot group so far have registered on our
virtual website, over 20 are active on the site.  The virtual classroom has
many supplemental activities: discussion forums, resources, quizzes,
assignments, a chat function, more!   
I'm happy to share more details (off the discussion list) for anyone
interested.
Holly
"No matter what our attempts to inform, it is our ability to inspire that
will turn the tides."
Holly Dilatush
ESL distance learning, Dialogue Cafe, Volunteer coordinator
Charlottesville City Schools Adult Learning Center
1000 Preston Ave., Suite D
Charlottesville  VA  22903
(434) 245.2815 office
(434) 960.7177 cell/mobile
http://theHsmile.org  ['home' to several Moodle CMS (course management
systems/virtual classrooms)]
http://www.Charlottesville-ESL.org 
"Live with intention. Share inside~out smiles, inspire hope, seek awe and
nurture in nature."
>>> julie_mcKinney at worlded.org 05/12/06 12:25 PM >>>
Does anyone else out there do any kind of distance education or have
methods to keep students studying when have to drop class for a while?
Part of the NCSALL research Barb mentioned suggests that most students,
over the course of several years, are forced to move in and out of class
programs, due to changing life circumstances. This means that programs
will need to move toward offering support for students to keep learning
during their out-of-class phases. So it is interesting to hear about
Katrina's program and others that are working towards that. 
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
From jgordon at fortunesociety.org  Mon May 15 18:45:15 2006
From: jgordon at fortunesociety.org (John Gordon)
Date: Mon, 15 May 2006 18:45:15 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 293] Re: Supporting out of school study
Message-ID: <FCE5A738D738724AB9ED7A61D3E733F002D411BB@mail.fortunesociety.org>
Michael,
 
I work for the Fortune Society and would be happy to provide you with
any information I can about our work. Fortune works with several
thousand ex-prisoners a year. We provide counseling, career development
and job readiness, substance abuse treatment, HIV peer education, health
and housing services for those former prisoners who are HIV positive. We
run four alternative to incarceration programs and have a 59 bed
transitional housing center in Harlem.
 
And of course we have an education program which serves over 400 people
per year. We offer classes in small groups from basic literacy through
pre-GED as well as ESOL. We have a very active computer lab,
www.fortunesociety.org/education.  
 
Many of the comments Tom made in his email are true for students here. I
would mention, as well, that many of them are now back in environments
which conspire against success. Many are homeless, and finding a job is
very difficult for people coming out of prison, especially a job that
will pay the rent here in New York City. Many lack strong family support
systems. The lure of the streets and harassment from the police take
their toll as well. Some are mandated here by the courts or pushed by
their probation officer. Education is not always on the top of people's
priority list. 
 
Despite all that, this can be a very exciting place to work. Most people
at Fortune are in a process of trying to make profound changes in their
lives. There is a lot of transformation happening, and it's a privilege
to be able to play a small part in that. 
 
I'd be happy to discuss working with ex-prisoners further if people are
interested. We have a lot of experience, but we certainly have a lot to
learn as well.
 
John Gordon
The Fortune Society
 
 
 
  _____  
From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Michael Keith Pen
Ultimate Rare Books
Sent: Monday, May 15, 2006 12:15 PM
To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 284] Re: Supporting out of school study
Tom,
 
That was  a valuable observation about access to educational programs
inside prison (where basic needs are met) and outside.  Does anyone know
of any literature on some of these programs, like NYC's Fortune Society,
which address themselves to ex-offenders?  Thanks, Michael
	-------------- Original message from Woods <woodsnh at isp.com>:
-------------- 
	
	
	> Hi Barb, 
	> Our students sometimes return from prison to towns where they
do not 
	> have easy access to our community campuses . In one such case,
I had a 
	> student who needed just two more credits to graduate, but he
was moving 
	> out of state. I provided him with assignments to complete and
return to 
	> me by mail, sort of a correspondence course, I guess. The
outcome was 
	> not what I hoped for. He called me once, but never did any of
the 
	> assignments. 
	> 
	> We have found that our students often do very well in school
when they 
	> are incarcerated, but many forces conspire to make continued
schooling 
	> difficult after they get out. In prison, their basic needs are
met, 
	> meals, health care, warmth, bed, clothing, etc. On their own
back in the 
	> community, they have to work hard to provide these things for 
	> themselves. Other issues such as family, social, job,
transportation and 
	> other responsibilities required of them by their probation
office (e.g. 
	> substance abuse counseling, restitution, etc.) interfere with
their 
	> ability to attend classes and progress stops. We have not yet
found a 
	> good solution for these folks. 
	> 
	> A few of us have been thinking about putting some sort of
online 
	> distance learning program on our school web site, but this is
only in 
	> the dream stage right now. 
	> 
	> Tom Woods 
	> Community High School of Vermont 
	> 
	> Barbara Garner wrote: 
	> 
	> Has anyone's program taken this into account and put into
place supports for 
	> students who want to continue to study on their own when not
actively 
	> participating in a program? 
	> 
	> ; 
	> ---------------------------------------------------- 
	> National Institute for Literacy 
	> Focus on Basics mailing list 
	> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov 
	> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go
to 
	> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics 
-------------- next part --------------
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From archangels at att.net  Tue May 16 09:09:05 2006
From: archangels at att.net (Michael Keith Pen Ultimate Rare Books)
Date: Tue, 16 May 2006 13:09:05 +0000
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 294] Re: Supporting out of school study
Message-ID: <051620061309.2045.4469CEF10005BAA7000007FD21587667559C040A09020E080C9D0E@att.net>
Dear John
Thanks so much.  I do have several questions I'd like to ask you.  May I call you and perhaps set up an appointment?  Michael     archangels at att.net
-------------- Original message from "John Gordon" <jgordon at fortunesociety.org>: -------------- 
Michael,
I work for the Fortune Society and would be happy to provide you with any information I can about our work. Fortune works with several thousand ex-prisoners a year. We provide counseling, career development and job readiness, substance abuse treatment, HIV peer education, health and housing services for those former prisoners who are HIV positive. We run four alternative to incarceration programs and have a 59 bed transitional housing center in Harlem.
And of course we have an education program which serves over 400 people per year. We offer classes in small groups from basic literacy through pre-GED as well as ESOL. We have a very active computer lab, www.fortunesociety.org/education.  
Many of the comments Tom made in his email are true for students here. I would mention, as well, that many of them are now back in environments which conspire against success. Many are homeless, and finding a job is very difficult for people coming out of prison, especially a job that will pay the rent here in New York City. Many lack strong family support systems. The lure of the streets and harassment from the police take their toll as well. Some are mandated here by the courts or pushed by their probation officer. Education is not always on the top of people's priority list. 
Despite all that, this can be a very exciting place to work. Most people at Fortune are in a process of trying to make profound changes in their lives. There is a lot of transformation happening, and it's a privilege to be able to play a small part in that. 
I'd be happy to discuss working with ex-prisoners further if people are interested. We have a lot of experience, but we certainly have a lot to learn as well.
John Gordon
The Fortune Society
From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Michael Keith Pen Ultimate Rare Books
Sent: Monday, May 15, 2006 12:15 PM
To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 284] Re: Supporting out of school study
Tom,
That was  a valuable observation about access to educational programs inside prison (where basic needs are met) and outside.  Does anyone know of any literature on some of these programs, like NYC's Fortune Society, which address themselves to ex-offenders?  Thanks, Michael
-------------- Original message from Woods <woodsnh at isp.com>: -------------- 
> Hi Barb, 
> Our students sometimes return from prison to towns where they do not 
> have easy access to our community campuses . In one such case, I had a 
> student who needed just two more credits to graduate, but he was moving 
> out of state. I provided him with assignments to complete and return to 
> me by mail, sort of a correspondence course, I guess. The outcome was 
> not what I hoped for. He called me once, but never did any of the 
> assignments. 
> 
> We have found that our students often do very well in school when they 
> are incarcerated, but many forces conspire to make continued schooling 
> difficult after they get out. In prison, their basic needs are met, 
> meals, health care, warmth, bed, clothing, etc. On their own back in the 
> community, they have to work hard to provide these things for 
> themselves. Other issues such as family, social, job, transportation and 
> other responsibilities required of them by their probation office (e.g. 
> substance abuse counseling, restitution, etc.) interfere with their 
> ability to attend classes and progress stops. We have not yet found a 
> good solution for these folks. 
> 
> A few of us have been thinking about putting some sort of online 
> distance learning program on our school web site, but this is only in 
> the dream stage right now. 
> 
> Tom Woods 
> Community High School of Vermont 
> 
> Barbara Garner wrote: 
> 
> Has anyone's program taken this into account and put into place supports for 
> students who want to continue to study on their own when not actively 
> participating in a program? 
> 
> ; 
> ---------------------------------------------------- 
> National Institute for Literacy 
> Focus on Basics mailing list 
> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov 
> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to 
> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics 
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From: "John Gordon" <jgordon at fortunesociety.org>
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 293] Re: Supporting out of school study
Date: Tue, 16 May 2006 12:41:23 +0000
Size: 818
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From Gina.Lobaccaro at state.de.us  Tue May 16 11:31:04 2006
From: Gina.Lobaccaro at state.de.us (Lobaccaro Gina (DOC))
Date: Tue, 16 May 2006 11:31:04 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 295] Re: Supporting out of school study
Message-ID: <A7439902C13D6C459A2217AB22A386FB09E450@DOVERSCLS01N1.state.de.us>
My name is Gina Lobaccaro, and I have taught at Sussex Correctional Institution in Georgetown, DE for more than 15 years. I have taught Special Education level students between 18-21 yrs, ABE, GED, adult high school, and college level incarcerated students.  Just today, an inmate who I have seen come in and out of prison for a while, told me that he wants to make a commitment to improving his reading (is now 4-5th GE) and academic skills when he gets out.  He has three months here, at least six months in a treatment program in a lower level of security, and I think 15 months of "aftercare" probation.  
I told him about Delaware's James H. Groves High School Diploma at a Distance program and our ABE at a Distance Program.  I am co-ordinating with the instructor at the ABE program to confirm that she still uses the same program I have in my computer lab for the ABE students.  If so, I will teach him to use the program now and perhaps we can find a way for him to continue with some academic learning support at the Work Release Program until he can access a computer again on the outside.  
He sounded motivated.
And then I opened this message and it is very interesting to me.
I help manage the corrections site at the Research and Practice Wiki at http://wiki.literacytent.org/index.php/Main_Page
The corrections page is at http://wiki.literacytent.org/index.php/Corrections_Education
One of the sections at the corrections page is about ex-offender resources.
It might be a good place to begin a "community of practice" for those of us who are interested in this topic. The is the first paragraph on them main page:
You can learn about the adult literacy education field here, including English language learning, numeracy, and adult basic and secondary education. You can also add knowledge from your experience teaching adult learners, from your research, or from your experience as an adult learner. The ALE Wiki is an online professional development environment, a community of practice rich in professional wisdom and with links to research, for teachers, other practitioners, researchers, learners and others. Although some people add to the discussion here, it is not like an electronic list (or "listserv") where dialogue may be frequent and lively. For the most part, the discussion has taken place on electronic lists elsewhere and been archived here. 
Please let me know if it might be worthwhile to start a discussion directly related to this topic (or perhaps this is it?) and I will keep the discussion thread on the Wiki site updated.  
A ways back on this thread Tom Woods wrote:
> A few of us have been thinking about putting some sort of online 
> distance learning program on our school web site, but this is only in 
> the dream stage right now. 
Perhaps we could use the Wiki to start gathering together resources, research, discussion toward the goal for building this type of distance learning program that would serve as a model for any prison education/community education program that serves ex- offenders.
What do you think?
Gina
"For business reasons, I must preserve the outward sign of sanity." --Mark Twain
Gina Lobaccaro
Sussex Correctional Institution
Prison Education Department
PO Box 500
Georgetown, DE 19947
Office (302) 856-5282 x 6204
Fax (302) 856-5642
gina.lobaccaro at state.de.us 
-----Original Message-----
From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov]On Behalf Of Michael Keith Pen Ultimate Rare Books
Sent: Tuesday, May 16, 2006 9:09 AM
To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 294] Re: Supporting out of school study
Dear John
 
Thanks so much.  I do have several questions I'd like to ask you.  May I call you and perhaps set up an appointment?  Michael      archangels at att.net
-------------- Original message from "John Gordon" <jgordon at fortunesociety.org>: -------------- 
Michael,
 
I work for the Fortune Society and would be happy to provide you with any information I can about our work. Fortune works with several thousand ex-prisoners a year. We provide counseling, career development and job readiness, substance abuse treatment, HIV peer education, health and housing services for those former prisoners who are HIV positive. We run four alternative to incarceration programs and have a 59 bed transitional housing center in Harlem.
 
And of course we have an education program which serves over 400 people per year. We offer classes in small groups from basic literacy through pre-GED as well as ESOL. We have a very active computer lab, www.fortunesociety.org/education.  
 
Many of the comments Tom made in his email are true for students here. I would mention, as well, that many of them are now back in environments which conspire against success. Many are homeless, and finding a job is very difficult for people coming out of prison, especially a job that will pay the rent here in New York City. Many lack strong family support systems. The lure of the streets and harassment from the police take their toll as well. Some are mandated here by the courts or pushed by their probation officer. Education is not always on the top of people's priority list. 
 
Despite all that, this can be a very exciting place to work. Most people at Fortune are in a process of trying to make profound changes in their lives. There is a lot of transformation happening, and it's a privilege to be able to play a small part in that. 
 
I'd be happy to discuss working with ex-prisoners further if people are interested. We have a lot of experience, but we certainly have a lot to learn as well.
 
John Gordon
The Fortune Society
 
 
 
  _____  
From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Michael Keith Pen Ultimate Rare Books
Sent: Monday, May 15, 2006 12:15 PM
To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 284] Re: Supporting out of school study
Tom,
 
That was  a valuable observation about access to educational programs inside prison (where basic needs are met) and outside.  Does anyone know of any literature on some of these programs, like NYC's Fortune Society, which address themselves to ex-offenders?  Thanks, Michael
-------------- Original message from Woods <woodsnh at isp.com>: -------------- 
> Hi Barb, 
> Our students sometimes return from prison to towns where they do not 
> have easy access to our community campuses . In one such case, I had a 
> student who needed just two more credits to graduate, but he was moving 
> out of state. I provided him with assignments to complete and return to 
> me by mail, sort of a correspondence course, I guess. The outcome was 
> not what I hoped for. He called me once, but never did any of the 
> assignments. 
> 
> We have found that our students often do very well in school when they 
> are incarcerated, but many forces conspire to make continued schooling 
> difficult after they get out. In prison, their basic needs are met, 
> meals, health care, warmth, bed, clothing, etc. On their own back in the 
> community, they have to work hard to provide these things for 
> themselves. Other issues such as family, social, job, transportation and 
> other responsibilities required of them by their probation office (e.g. 
> substance abuse counseling, restitution, etc.) interfere with their 
> ability to attend classes and progress stops. We have not yet found a 
> good solution for these folks. 
> 
> A few of us have been thinking about putting some sort of online 
> distance learning program on our school web site, but this is only in 
> the dream stage right now. 
> 
> Tom Woods 
> Community High School of Vermont 
> 
> Barbara Garner wrote: 
> 
> Has anyone's program taken this into account and put into place supports for 
> students who want to continue to study on their own when not actively 
> participating in a program? 
> 
> ; ; > ---------------------------------------------------- 
> National Institute for Literacy 
> Focus on Basics mailing list 
> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov 
> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to 
> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics 
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From julie_mcKinney at worlded.org  Tue May 16 16:07:40 2006
From: julie_mcKinney at worlded.org (Julie  McKinney)
Date: Tue, 16 May 2006 16:07:40 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 296]  Supporting out of school study
Message-ID: <s469f8ed.031@mail.jsi.com>
Hi Everyone,
Below is a message I am forwarding to the list from Jane Eguez from CASAS in relation to the discussion of supporting out of school study:
Julie
*******************************************************
The California Distance Learning Project (CDLP) goal is to help expand learner access to adult basic education services in California. 
For over 10 years they have assisted CA adult education programs and CA Dept of Education to:
**Build and Promote a Distance Learning Knowledge Base 
**Provide Technical Assistance in Implementing Distance Learning 
**Test New Instructional Delivery Methods / Materials 
**Help Create a Statewide Distance Learning Infrastructure 
http://www.cdlponline.org
The California Adult Education 2003 - 2005 Innovation and Alternative
Instructional Delivery Program - A Review (To read the full report, go to: http://www.cdlponline.org/pdf/innovation_programs_report03-05.pdf)
"State legislation permits California adult schools to spend up to 5% of their apportionment on non traditional educational approaches. The resulting "Innovation Programs" continue to grow while overall adult education remains relatively static. Over 50,000 adult learners participated in 81 Innovation Programs, all of which were distance learning in nature.
When comparing classroom data with the Innovation Programs, it is clear that the distance learning programs are particularly successful in providing ESL learning opportunities. Local research data on student persistence and retention support these findings.
The Innovation Programs meet the three crucial benefit-cost criteria necessary to be accepted by adult education providers and the California Department of Education. These programs are effective, efficient, and equitable. This is the fifth year that these summary conclusions have been supported. They indicate the continued success of the Innovation Program initiative.
This data driven report draws information from the annual Innovation Program applications, the statewide student information system - TOPSPro, and from statewide CASAS reading and listening tests. The availability of these standardized data enables researchers to describe and examine distance learning program characteristics, learner characteristics, and learner progress and outcomes using several measures. The result is the most complete look at adult education distance learning programs available.
The Innovation Programs provide significant and meaningful alternatives for adults -
* needing more practice of skills to achieve mastery,
* having work and family obligations that make attending a regular class time difficult,
* lacking the full confidence to participate in a large classroom setting in front of other students,
* wanting the participation, assistance, and support of their families in their learning,
* living in locations without convenient access to traditional classes,
* living in areas where desired programs are either full or not available
* learning more effectively from video, audio, and web-based media when moving at their own pace, and
* other groups who can not access traditional classroom programs.
For other research reports on CA distance learning projects, go to:
http://www.cdlponline.org/fivepercent.htm
If you would like more information, please contact 
Dennis Porter, Project Director
porter_d at pacbell.net  
Jane Eg?ez, 
CASAS, Director of Program Planning
jeguez at casas.org
www.casas.org
800-255-1036 x125
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
From djrosen at comcast.net  Sun May 21 17:43:16 2006
From: djrosen at comcast.net (David Rosen)
Date: Sun, 21 May 2006 17:43:16 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 297] Re: Supporting out of school study
In-Reply-To: <44665B56020000A0000027FD@fgwiel01a.wie.de.future-gate.com>
References: <s4647ee2.036@mail.jsi.com>
	<44665B56020000A0000027FD@fgwiel01a.wie.de.future-gate.com>
Message-ID: <E6B2B4FB-1973-493A-ADC2-AF98AC4193B8@comcast.net>
Hello Katrina, Barbara and others,
Katrina, is myskillstutor the student log-in page for the online   
computer-assisted instruction product,  "Skills Tutor" ? I am not  
familiar with "A+ Anywhere".  Is this the A+ Anywhere Learning  
System? [ http://www.amered.com/awl_products.php ] ?  Can you tell us  
how you use these products, and when you would use one rather than  
the other?  Can you also tell us what you have in mind for developing  
your own online courses?  And are you using Blackboard because it is  
available to you or for some other reason?
Recently I have been trying to sort out "distance learning" from  
"integrated learning".  Here's the definition I am working from now.   
I wonder if this is useful to you, Katrina, as from your description  
you seem to be doing both?  I also wonder if this distinction is  
useful to you, Barbara?  It should be useful to funders who may need  
to decide what is/isn't distance learning.
Distance learning (DL) (whether pure, supported, or blended/hybrid)  
has as its main characteristic that students do not come to a face-to- 
face class or tutorial as their primary source of instruction. So  
this would include correspondence courses, online learning, and TV  
broadcast learning (often with accompanying print materials).  It  
might include a teacher (not primarily face-to-face in the same  
physical place.)  It might be available for people on waiting lists  
for classes. And it might be a way to help students who are primarily  
interested in self-study, with a little assistance from a Web site or  
online or telephone tutor, counselor and/or mentor.
Integrated learning (which uses technology and some elements of DL)   
is face-to-face classroom learning or tutorials with supplemental or  
temporary uses of online or digital learning resources.  This is a  
way to supplement, enrich or extend learning for those who come to  
class or tutorials, or to provide short-term solutions for those who  
temporarily cannot attend class, so they do not have to drop out.  
Face-to-face learning activities are integrated with online or  
digital media learning activities used in the program, at home, or  
elsewhere.
Students might access digital learning activities for either DL or  
integrated models through the use of computers, dvd players, web- 
accessed mobile phones or pdas, MP3 players, and whatever is next in  
the evolving world of portable digital technology.
Of course, a DL student could become an Integrated learning student  
or vice versa.  And a self-study or waiting list learner might not  
(or might) be enrolled as a student.
I have been working on a concept I call a Seamless System of Adult  
Education and Literacy, particularly on the online component.  I will  
be glad to e-mail the current draft to those who may be interested.
David J. Rosen
djrosen at comcast.net
On May 13, 2006, at 4:19 PM, Katrina Hinson wrote:
> We use myskillstutor and A+  anywhere for online instruction. We're
> looking at building/designing blackboard courses as well but havent'
> started those yet. The database refers to the database for both
> myskillstutor and A+.
>
> Katrina
>
>>>> "Julie  McKinney" <julie_mcKinney at worlded.org> 05/12/06 12:25 PM
>>>>
> Does anyone else out there do any kind of distance education or have
> methods to keep students studying when have to drop class for a while?
> Part of the NCSALL research Barb mentioned suggests that most
> students,
> over the course of several years, are forced to move in and out of
> class
> programs, due to changing life circumstances. This means that programs
> will need to move toward offering support for students to keep
> learning
> during their out-of-class phases. So it is interesting to hear about
> Katrina's program and others that are working towards that.
>
> Katrina, I'm also curious to know what you mean when you put students
> "in the database" and what your "online component" is like?
>
> Julie
>
> Julie McKinney
> Discussion List Moderator
> World Education/NCSALL
> jmckinney at worlded.org
>
>>>> khinson at future-gate.com 05/12/06 6:56 AM >>>
> I thought I might have misunderstood. However, I do think my program
> is
> moving in the direction you're talking about. I know we're looking at
> growing our distance education component in basic skills to do just
> what
> you're talking about. We want to be able to reach students who can't
> come to a "normal/regular" class time but who are motivated to learn
> on
> their own.  The software we use has an online component to it that
> makes
> this a viable option for us - in addition we're looking at creating
> some
> components similar to blackboard courses that we can offer that
> address
> the needs of our students as well. What we've talked about doing is at
> least having them come out to do a pre/post test, some kind of midterm
> and some kind of exit exam if they're adult high school oriented and
> if
> they're GED oriented, they would have to come on campus to take their
> practice test and the offical test. If they're improving they're basic
> skills for employment etc, they would just need to demonstrate
> progress
> on their pre/post test scores.  There are ways to capture "seat" time
> for such students as well even if they are not part of a "traditona"
> environment. The whole idea is to find ways to help students progress
> towards their goal even when they feel like life is preventing them
> from
> doing so. We also have video component with workbook materials.
> Students
> who can't come/enroll in a class can "check" out the videos, complete
> the workbook component and any other materials that the instructor
> deems
> necessary and still make progress towards whatever the desired
> goal/outcome might be.  What we run into is trying not to pull
> students
> from the existing classes for these options but to actually target the
>
> information to that population who really needs this kind of option in
> order to pursue their goals.
> We're only in the beginning phases of this - well, we've been working
> on
> it for almost a year and still trying to get the glitches out.
>
> Regards
> Katrina Hinson
>>>> Barbara Garner <b.garner4 at verizon.net>  >>>
> It's great, Katrina, that you have students who do homework while a
> program is in session and even more wonderful that some do online work
> during school breaks.
>
> You're right, though, my interest right now, is a little different:
> I"m
> curious about whether anyone is expressly doing things to let students
> know that if they have to stop coming for some reason, they can
> continue
> to study on their own. Does anyone do that, and introduce students to
> self-study materials they can purchse or borrow, or online resources?
> Barb Garner
> ====================
> From: Katrina Hinson <khinson at future-gate.com>
> Date: Thu May 11 18:42:04 CDT 2006
> To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov, b.garner4 at verizon.net
> Subject: Re: [FocusOnBasics 271]  Supporting out of school study
>
> I'm not exactly sure I understand the question or if I read it
> correctly. At first glance however, what springs to mind for me is my
> students who study outside of class as well as attend on a regular or
> semi-regular basis.  My most successful students are the ones who
> study
> in and out of class. They'll ask for additional work or they'll work
> online via several computer programs we use. They'll even actively
> seek
> out information online to use as study aids such as math websites or
> practice test websites etc.  We don't have any formal supports in
> place
> for students but I do know that sometimes teachers will come by and
> say
> 'can you put John/Jane Smith in the database so they can do some work
> online during Spring Break or Semester Break etc." Most of the time
> when
> I've encountered students who are not actively participating in class
> or
> in a program, it's usually because they don't have the time to devote
> to
> studying whether it's because of work, family or personal reasons etc.
> We do try to accomodate students though and our online component
> allows
> us to help students who sometimes cannot attend a traditional
> classroom
> setting.  At the moment that's all I can think of.
>
>
> Katrina
>
>>>> Barbara Garner <b.garner4 at verizon.net> 05/11/06 8:46 AM >>>
> Research coming out the NCSALL Lab School in Portland, OR, finds that
> many people who have participated in ABE or would be good candidates
> for
> ABE study on their own.
>
> Has anyone's program taken this into account and put into place
> supports for students who want to continue to study on their own when
> not actively participating in a program? If so, what do these supports
> look like? How has it gone?
>
> Barb Garner
> Editor, Focus on Basics
> Sharon, MA
> b.garner4 at verizon.net
>
> ----------------------------------------------------
> National Institute for Literacy
> Focus on Basics mailing list
> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------
> National Institute for Literacy
> Focus on Basics mailing list
> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
>
> ----------------------------------------------------
> National Institute for Literacy
> Focus on Basics mailing list
> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
> ----------------------------------------------------
> National Institute for Literacy
> Focus on Basics mailing list
> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to  
> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
David Rosen
djrosen at comcast.net
From julie_mcKinney at worlded.org  Mon May 22 12:04:05 2006
From: julie_mcKinney at worlded.org (Julie  McKinney)
Date: Mon, 22 May 2006 12:04:05 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 298] Discussion on Adult Reading Components Study
	(ARCS) Starts	Tomorrow!
Message-ID: <s471a8ce.056@mail.jsi.com>
Hi Everyone,
A REMINDER: starting tomorrow, May 23rd, there will be a
discussion on the Adult Reading Components Study (ARCS) with the  
researchers.  This discussion will be on the NEW Special Topics
Discussion List!
To sign up, go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/specialtopics
You will find a 30-minute video panel discussion with ARCS  
researchers,  Rosalind Davidson and John Strucker, and practitioners  
Kay Vaccaro and Jane Meyer at
http://www.nifl.gov/nifl/webcasts/20040204/webcast02-04.html
The video panel introduction is also available on DVD from the  
National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy [ http:// 
www.ncsall.net/?id=24 ] or from the National Institute for Literacy.  
(Send a request for the Adult Readiing Components Study (ARCS) Panel  
(free) DVD to: info at nifl.gov  Be sure to include your mailing  
address.)
Other ARCS introductory materials include:
1. Adult Reading Components Study (ARCS) [PDF document]
by John Strucker and Rosalind Davidson
http://www.ncsall.net/?id=27   (ninth item down)
2. How the ARCS Was Done
http://www.ncsall.net/fileadmin/resources/research/op_arcs.pdf
3. Adult Reading Components Study (ARCS)
http://www.ncsall.net/?id=27#arcs
We do hope you will be able to join us, from May 23rd through May  
30th to learn about and explore the uses of the ARCS.
David J. Rosen
djrosen at comcast.net
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
From julie_mcKinney at worlded.org  Mon May 22 12:22:20 2006
From: julie_mcKinney at worlded.org (Julie  McKinney)
Date: Mon, 22 May 2006 12:22:20 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 299]  FOB article for ARCS discussion
Message-ID: <s471ad05.088@mail.jsi.com>
Hi Everyone,
For those of you planning to participate in the discussion of the ARCS
starting tomorrow on the Special Topics Discussion list, you may want to
read the following article from Volume 1B of FOB.
This article, by John Strucker, is called "What Silent Reading Tests
Alone Can't Tell You", and was the precursor to the website that will be
discussed. 
You can find the article at:
http://www.ncsall.net/index.php?id=456
Enjoy the discussion!
Julie
 
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
From tarv at chemeketa.edu  Mon May 22 13:03:09 2006
From: tarv at chemeketa.edu (Virginia Tardaewether)
Date: Mon, 22 May 2006 10:03:09 -0700
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 300] Re: Supporting out of school study
Message-ID: <D63A25821E9AE349ADBAB6BB1F0A766C75E21A@cccmail2.chemeketa.network>
David
I think our course are moving toward a hybrid model.  Some on-line and
remote home study and some in-class face to face instruction with
integration of technology in both.
Va
-----Original Message-----
From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of David Rosen
Sent: Sunday, May 21, 2006 2:43 PM
To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 297] Re: Supporting out of school study
Hello Katrina, Barbara and others,
Katrina, is myskillstutor the student log-in page for the online   
computer-assisted instruction product,  "Skills Tutor" ? I am not  
familiar with "A+ Anywhere".  Is this the A+ Anywhere Learning  
System? [ http://www.amered.com/awl_products.php ] ?  Can you tell us  
how you use these products, and when you would use one rather than  
the other?  Can you also tell us what you have in mind for developing  
your own online courses?  And are you using Blackboard because it is  
available to you or for some other reason?
Recently I have been trying to sort out "distance learning" from  
"integrated learning".  Here's the definition I am working from now.   
I wonder if this is useful to you, Katrina, as from your description  
you seem to be doing both?  I also wonder if this distinction is  
useful to you, Barbara?  It should be useful to funders who may need  
to decide what is/isn't distance learning.
Distance learning (DL) (whether pure, supported, or blended/hybrid)  
has as its main characteristic that students do not come to a face-to- 
face class or tutorial as their primary source of instruction. So  
this would include correspondence courses, online learning, and TV  
broadcast learning (often with accompanying print materials).  It  
might include a teacher (not primarily face-to-face in the same  
physical place.)  It might be available for people on waiting lists  
for classes. And it might be a way to help students who are primarily  
interested in self-study, with a little assistance from a Web site or  
online or telephone tutor, counselor and/or mentor.
Integrated learning (which uses technology and some elements of DL)   
is face-to-face classroom learning or tutorials with supplemental or  
temporary uses of online or digital learning resources.  This is a  
way to supplement, enrich or extend learning for those who come to  
class or tutorials, or to provide short-term solutions for those who  
temporarily cannot attend class, so they do not have to drop out.  
Face-to-face learning activities are integrated with online or  
digital media learning activities used in the program, at home, or  
elsewhere.
Students might access digital learning activities for either DL or  
integrated models through the use of computers, dvd players, web- 
accessed mobile phones or pdas, MP3 players, and whatever is next in  
the evolving world of portable digital technology.
Of course, a DL student could become an Integrated learning student  
or vice versa.  And a self-study or waiting list learner might not  
(or might) be enrolled as a student.
I have been working on a concept I call a Seamless System of Adult  
Education and Literacy, particularly on the online component.  I will  
be glad to e-mail the current draft to those who may be interested.
David J. Rosen
djrosen at comcast.net
On May 13, 2006, at 4:19 PM, Katrina Hinson wrote:
> We use myskillstutor and A+  anywhere for online instruction. We're
> looking at building/designing blackboard courses as well but havent'
> started those yet. The database refers to the database for both
> myskillstutor and A+.
>
> Katrina
>
>>>> "Julie  McKinney" <julie_mcKinney at worlded.org> 05/12/06 12:25 PM
>>>>
> Does anyone else out there do any kind of distance education or have
> methods to keep students studying when have to drop class for a while?
> Part of the NCSALL research Barb mentioned suggests that most
> students,
> over the course of several years, are forced to move in and out of
> class
> programs, due to changing life circumstances. This means that programs
> will need to move toward offering support for students to keep
> learning
> during their out-of-class phases. So it is interesting to hear about
> Katrina's program and others that are working towards that.
>
> Katrina, I'm also curious to know what you mean when you put students
> "in the database" and what your "online component" is like?
>
> Julie
>
> Julie McKinney
> Discussion List Moderator
> World Education/NCSALL
> jmckinney at worlded.org
>
>>>> khinson at future-gate.com 05/12/06 6:56 AM >>>
> I thought I might have misunderstood. However, I do think my program
> is
> moving in the direction you're talking about. I know we're looking at
> growing our distance education component in basic skills to do just
> what
> you're talking about. We want to be able to reach students who can't
> come to a "normal/regular" class time but who are motivated to learn
> on
> their own.  The software we use has an online component to it that
> makes
> this a viable option for us - in addition we're looking at creating
> some
> components similar to blackboard courses that we can offer that
> address
> the needs of our students as well. What we've talked about doing is at
> least having them come out to do a pre/post test, some kind of midterm
> and some kind of exit exam if they're adult high school oriented and
> if
> they're GED oriented, they would have to come on campus to take their
> practice test and the offical test. If they're improving they're basic
> skills for employment etc, they would just need to demonstrate
> progress
> on their pre/post test scores.  There are ways to capture "seat" time
> for such students as well even if they are not part of a "traditona"
> environment. The whole idea is to find ways to help students progress
> towards their goal even when they feel like life is preventing them
> from
> doing so. We also have video component with workbook materials.
> Students
> who can't come/enroll in a class can "check" out the videos, complete
> the workbook component and any other materials that the instructor
> deems
> necessary and still make progress towards whatever the desired
> goal/outcome might be.  What we run into is trying not to pull
> students
> from the existing classes for these options but to actually target the
>
> information to that population who really needs this kind of option in
> order to pursue their goals.
> We're only in the beginning phases of this - well, we've been working
> on
> it for almost a year and still trying to get the glitches out.
>
> Regards
> Katrina Hinson
>>>> Barbara Garner <b.garner4 at verizon.net>  >>>
> It's great, Katrina, that you have students who do homework while a
> program is in session and even more wonderful that some do online work
> during school breaks.
>
> You're right, though, my interest right now, is a little different:
> I"m
> curious about whether anyone is expressly doing things to let students
> know that if they have to stop coming for some reason, they can
> continue
> to study on their own. Does anyone do that, and introduce students to
> self-study materials they can purchse or borrow, or online resources?
> Barb Garner
> ====================
> From: Katrina Hinson <khinson at future-gate.com>
> Date: Thu May 11 18:42:04 CDT 2006
> To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov, b.garner4 at verizon.net
> Subject: Re: [FocusOnBasics 271]  Supporting out of school study
>
> I'm not exactly sure I understand the question or if I read it
> correctly. At first glance however, what springs to mind for me is my
> students who study outside of class as well as attend on a regular or
> semi-regular basis.  My most successful students are the ones who
> study
> in and out of class. They'll ask for additional work or they'll work
> online via several computer programs we use. They'll even actively
> seek
> out information online to use as study aids such as math websites or
> practice test websites etc.  We don't have any formal supports in
> place
> for students but I do know that sometimes teachers will come by and
> say
> 'can you put John/Jane Smith in the database so they can do some work
> online during Spring Break or Semester Break etc." Most of the time
> when
> I've encountered students who are not actively participating in class
> or
> in a program, it's usually because they don't have the time to devote
> to
> studying whether it's because of work, family or personal reasons etc.
> We do try to accomodate students though and our online component
> allows
> us to help students who sometimes cannot attend a traditional
> classroom
> setting.  At the moment that's all I can think of.
>
>
> Katrina
>
>>>> Barbara Garner <b.garner4 at verizon.net> 05/11/06 8:46 AM >>>
> Research coming out the NCSALL Lab School in Portland, OR, finds that
> many people who have participated in ABE or would be good candidates
> for
> ABE study on their own.
>
> Has anyone's program taken this into account and put into place
> supports for students who want to continue to study on their own when
> not actively participating in a program? If so, what do these supports
> look like? How has it gone?
>
> Barb Garner
> Editor, Focus on Basics
> Sharon, MA
> b.garner4 at verizon.net
>
> ----------------------------------------------------
> National Institute for Literacy
> Focus on Basics mailing list
> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------
> National Institute for Literacy
> Focus on Basics mailing list
> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
>
> ----------------------------------------------------
> National Institute for Literacy
> Focus on Basics mailing list
> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
> ----------------------------------------------------
> National Institute for Literacy
> Focus on Basics mailing list
> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to  
> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
David Rosen
djrosen at comcast.net
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
From b.garner4 at verizon.net  Mon May 22 14:03:36 2006
From: b.garner4 at verizon.net (Barbara Garner)
Date: Mon, 22 May 2006 13:03:36 -0500 (CDT)
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 301] Re: Supporting out of school study
Message-ID: <27275133.2684661148321016516.JavaMail.root@vms075.mailsrvcs.net>
Clarifying terminology is useful. Thanks, David, for doing so. 
When I asked about "self-study" I was referring to people who decide to pick up a book, a cd study package, a tape, the internet and learn, without any affiliation to a program. In the FOB list context, I was referring to strengthening reading, writing, math skills, or improving English, or preparing for the GED.
The discussion focused on learners who had been affiliated with programs and for some reason needed to "stop out" but wanted to keep learning, so they switched to what might be considered "program-affiliated self study", which involves some resources (perhaps books, occasional meetings with teachers, some technology) and some loose connection to a program.
Barb Garner
Editor, Focus on Basics
=====================
From: David Rosen <djrosen at comcast.net>
Date: Sun May 21 16:43:16 CDT 2006
To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 297] Re: Supporting out of school study
Hello Katrina, Barbara and others,
Katrina, is myskillstutor the student log-in page for the online   
computer-assisted instruction product,  "Skills Tutor" ? I am not  
familiar with "A+ Anywhere".  Is this the A+ Anywhere Learning  
System? [ http://www.amered.com/awl_products.php ] ?  Can you tell us  
how you use these products, and when you would use one rather than  
the other?  Can you also tell us what you have in mind for developing  
your own online courses?  And are you using Blackboard because it is  
available to you or for some other reason?
Recently I have been trying to sort out "distance learning" from  
"integrated learning".  Here's the definition I am working from now.   
I wonder if this is useful to you, Katrina, as from your description  
you seem to be doing both?  I also wonder if this distinction is  
useful to you, Barbara?  It should be useful to funders who may need  
to decide what is/isn't distance learning.
Distance learning (DL) (whether pure, supported, or blended/hybrid)  
has as its main characteristic that students do not come to a face-to- 
face class or tutorial as their primary source of instruction. So  
this would include correspondence courses, online learning, and TV  
broadcast learning (often with accompanying print materials).  It  
might include a teacher (not primarily face-to-face in the same  
physical place.)  It might be available for people on waiting lists  
for classes. And it might be a way to help students who are primarily  
interested in self-study, with a little assistance from a Web site or  
online or telephone tutor, counselor and/or mentor.
Integrated learning (which uses technology and some elements of DL)   
is face-to-face classroom learning or tutorials with supplemental or  
temporary uses of online or digital learning resources.  This is a  
way to supplement, enrich or extend learning for those who come to  
class or tutorials, or to provide short-term solutions for those who  
temporarily cannot attend class, so they do not have to drop out.  
Face-to-face learning activities are integrated with online or  
digital media learning activities used in the program, at home, or  
elsewhere.
Students might access digital learning activities for either DL or  
integrated models through the use of computers, dvd players, web- 
accessed mobile phones or pdas, MP3 players, and whatever is next in  
the evolving world of portable digital technology.
Of course, a DL student could become an Integrated learning student  
or vice versa.  And a self-study or waiting list learner might not  
(or might) be enrolled as a student.
I have been working on a concept I call a Seamless System of Adult  
Education and Literacy, particularly on the online component.  I will  
be glad to e-mail the current draft to those who may be interested.
David J. Rosen
djrosen at comcast.net
On May 13, 2006, at 4:19 PM, Katrina Hinson wrote:
> We use myskillstutor and A+  anywhere for online instruction. We're
> looking at building/designing blackboard courses as well but havent'
> started those yet. The database refers to the database for both
> myskillstutor and A+.
>
> Katrina
>
>>>> "Julie  McKinney" <julie_mcKinney at worlded.org> 05/12/06 12:25 PM
>>>>
> Does anyone else out there do any kind of distance education or have
> methods to keep students studying when have to drop class for a while?
> Part of the NCSALL research Barb mentioned suggests that most
> students,
> over the course of several years, are forced to move in and out of
> class
> programs, due to changing life circumstances. This means that programs
> will need to move toward offering support for students to keep
> learning
> during their out-of-class phases. So it is interesting to hear about
> Katrina's program and others that are working towards that.
>
> Katrina, I'm also curious to know what you mean when you put students
> "in the database" and what your "online component" is like?
>
> Julie
>
> Julie McKinney
> Discussion List Moderator
> World Education/NCSALL
> jmckinney at worlded.org
>
>>>> khinson at future-gate.com 05/12/06 6:56 AM >>>
> I thought I might have misunderstood. However, I do think my program
> is
> moving in the direction you're talking about. I know we're looking at
> growing our distance education component in basic skills to do just
> what
> you're talking about. We want to be able to reach students who can't
> come to a "normal/regular" class time but who are motivated to learn
> on
> their own.  The software we use has an online component to it that
> makes
> this a viable option for us - in addition we're looking at creating
> some
> components similar to blackboard courses that we can offer that
> address
> the needs of our students as well. What we've talked about doing is at
> least having them come out to do a pre/post test, some kind of midterm
> and some kind of exit exam if they're adult high school oriented and
> if
> they're GED oriented, they would have to come on campus to take their
> practice test and the offical test. If they're improving they're basic
> skills for employment etc, they would just need to demonstrate
> progress
> on their pre/post test scores.  There are ways to capture "seat" time
> for such students as well even if they are not part of a "traditona"
> environment. The whole idea is to find ways to help students progress
> towards their goal even when they feel like life is preventing them
> from
> doing so. We also have video component with workbook materials.
> Students
> who can't come/enroll in a class can "check" out the videos, complete
> the workbook component and any other materials that the instructor
> deems
> necessary and still make progress towards whatever the desired
> goal/outcome might be.  What we run into is trying not to pull
> students
> from the existing classes for these options but to actually target the
>
> information to that population who really needs this kind of option in
> order to pursue their goals.
> We're only in the beginning phases of this - well, we've been working
> on
> it for almost a year and still trying to get the glitches out.
>
> Regards
> Katrina Hinson
>>>> Barbara Garner <b.garner4 at verizon.net>  >>>
> It's great, Katrina, that you have students who do homework while a
> program is in session and even more wonderful that some do online work
> during school breaks.
>
> You're right, though, my interest right now, is a little different:
> I"m
> curious about whether anyone is expressly doing things to let students
> know that if they have to stop coming for some reason, they can
> continue
> to study on their own. Does anyone do that, and introduce students to
> self-study materials they can purchse or borrow, or online resources?
> Barb Garner
> ====================
> From: Katrina Hinson <khinson at future-gate.com>
> Date: Thu May 11 18:42:04 CDT 2006
> To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov, b.garner4 at verizon.net
> Subject: Re: [FocusOnBasics 271]  Supporting out of school study
>
> I'm not exactly sure I understand the question or if I read it
> correctly. At first glance however, what springs to mind for me is my
> students who study outside of class as well as attend on a regular or
> semi-regular basis.  My most successful students are the ones who
> study
> in and out of class. They'll ask for additional work or they'll work
> online via several computer programs we use. They'll even actively
> seek
> out information online to use as study aids such as math websites or
> practice test websites etc.  We don't have any formal supports in
> place
> for students but I do know that sometimes teachers will come by and
> say
> 'can you put John/Jane Smith in the database so they can do some work
> online during Spring Break or Semester Break etc." Most of the time
> when
> I've encountered students who are not actively participating in class
> or
> in a program, it's usually because they don't have the time to devote
> to
> studying whether it's because of work, family or personal reasons etc.
> We do try to accomodate students though and our online component
> allows
> us to help students who sometimes cannot attend a traditional
> classroom
> setting.  At the moment that's all I can think of.
>
>
> Katrina
>
>>>> Barbara Garner <b.garner4 at verizon.net> 05/11/06 8:46 AM >>>
> Research coming out the NCSALL Lab School in Portland, OR, finds that
> many people who have participated in ABE or would be good candidates
> for
> ABE study on their own.
>
> Has anyone's program taken this into account and put into place
> supports for students who want to continue to study on their own when
> not actively participating in a program? If so, what do these supports
> look like? How has it gone?
>
> Barb Garner
> Editor, Focus on Basics
> Sharon, MA
> b.garner4 at verizon.net
>
> ----------------------------------------------------
> National Institute for Literacy
> Focus on Basics mailing list
> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------
> National Institute for Literacy
> Focus on Basics mailing list
> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
>
> ----------------------------------------------------
> National Institute for Literacy
> Focus on Basics mailing list
> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
> ----------------------------------------------------
> National Institute for Literacy
> Focus on Basics mailing list
> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to  
> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
David Rosen
djrosen at comcast.net
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
From khinson at future-gate.com  Tue May 23 13:14:28 2006
From: khinson at future-gate.com (Katrina Hinson)
Date: Tue, 23 May 2006 19:14:28 +0200
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 302] Re: Supporting out of school study
Message-ID: <44735F14020000A00000290A@fgwiel01a.wie.de.future-gate.com>
David and others. I'll get you the information requested in David's
email below when I get back to my home computer. I'm away at a week long
training event and I don't have easy access to a pc or time to write a
good reply.
Regards
Katrina Hinson
>>> Barbara Garner <b.garner4 at verizon.net>  >>>
Clarifying terminology is useful. Thanks, David, for doing so. 
When I asked about "self-study" I was referring to people who decide to
pick up a book, a cd study package, a tape, the internet and learn,
without any affiliation to a program. In the FOB list context, I was
referring to strengthening reading, writing, math skills, or improving
English, or preparing for the GED.
The discussion focused on learners who had been affiliated with programs
and for some reason needed to "stop out" but wanted to keep learning, so
they switched to what might be considered "program-affiliated self
study", which involves some resources (perhaps books, occasional
meetings with teachers, some technology) and some loose connection to a
program.
Barb Garner
Editor, Focus on Basics
=====================
From: David Rosen <djrosen at comcast.net>
Date: Sun May 21 16:43:16 CDT 2006
To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 297] Re: Supporting out of school study
Hello Katrina, Barbara and others,
Katrina, is myskillstutor the student log-in page for the online   
computer-assisted instruction product,  "Skills Tutor" ? I am not  
familiar with "A+ Anywhere".  Is this the A+ Anywhere Learning  
System? [ http://www.amered.com/awl_products.php ] ?  Can you tell us  
how you use these products, and when you would use one rather than  
the other?  Can you also tell us what you have in mind for developing  
your own online courses?  And are you using Blackboard because it is  
available to you or for some other reason?
Recently I have been trying to sort out "distance learning" from  
"integrated learning".  Here's the definition I am working from now.   
I wonder if this is useful to you, Katrina, as from your description  
you seem to be doing both?  I also wonder if this distinction is  
useful to you, Barbara?  It should be useful to funders who may need  
to decide what is/isn't distance learning.
Distance learning (DL) (whether pure, supported, or blended/hybrid)  
has as its main characteristic that students do not come to a face-to- 
face class or tutorial as their primary source of instruction. So  
this would include correspondence courses, online learning, and TV  
broadcast learning (often with accompanying print materials).  It  
might include a teacher (not primarily face-to-face in the same  
physical place.)  It might be available for people on waiting lists  
for classes. And it might be a way to help students who are primarily  
interested in self-study, with a little assistance from a Web site or  
online or telephone tutor, counselor and/or mentor.
Integrated learning (which uses technology and some elements of DL)   
is face-to-face classroom learning or tutorials with supplemental or  
temporary uses of online or digital learning resources.  This is a  
way to supplement, enrich or extend learning for those who come to  
class or tutorials, or to provide short-term solutions for those who  
temporarily cannot attend class, so they do not have to drop out.  
Face-to-face learning activities are integrated with online or  
digital media learning activities used in the program, at home, or  
elsewhere.
Students might access digital learning activities for either DL or  
integrated models through the use of computers, dvd players, web- 
accessed mobile phones or pdas, MP3 players, and whatever is next in  
the evolving world of portable digital technology.
Of course, a DL student could become an Integrated learning student  
or vice versa.  And a self-study or waiting list learner might not  
(or might) be enrolled as a student.
I have been working on a concept I call a Seamless System of Adult  
Education and Literacy, particularly on the online component.  I will  
be glad to e-mail the current draft to those who may be interested.
David J. Rosen
djrosen at comcast.net
On May 13, 2006, at 4:19 PM, Katrina Hinson wrote:
> We use myskillstutor and A+  anywhere for online instruction. We're
> looking at building/designing blackboard courses as well but havent'
> started those yet. The database refers to the database for both
> myskillstutor and A+.
>
> Katrina
>
>>>> "Julie  McKinney" <julie_mcKinney at worlded.org> 05/12/06 12:25 PM
>>>>
> Does anyone else out there do any kind of distance education or have
> methods to keep students studying when have to drop class for a while?
> Part of the NCSALL research Barb mentioned suggests that most
> students,
> over the course of several years, are forced to move in and out of
> class
> programs, due to changing life circumstances. This means that programs
> will need to move toward offering support for students to keep
> learning
> during their out-of-class phases. So it is interesting to hear about
> Katrina's program and others that are working towards that.
>
> Katrina, I'm also curious to know what you mean when you put students
> "in the database" and what your "online component" is like?
>
> Julie
>
> Julie McKinney
> Discussion List Moderator
> World Education/NCSALL
> jmckinney at worlded.org
>
>>>> khinson at future-gate.com 05/12/06 6:56 AM >>>
> I thought I might have misunderstood. However, I do think my program
> is
> moving in the direction you're talking about. I know we're looking at
> growing our distance education component in basic skills to do just
> what
> you're talking about. We want to be able to reach students who can't
> come to a "normal/regular" class time but who are motivated to learn
> on
> their own.  The software we use has an online component to it that
> makes
> this a viable option for us - in addition we're looking at creating
> some
> components similar to blackboard courses that we can offer that
> address
> the needs of our students as well. What we've talked about doing is at
> least having them come out to do a pre/post test, some kind of midterm
> and some kind of exit exam if they're adult high school oriented and
> if
> they're GED oriented, they would have to come on campus to take their
> practice test and the offical test. If they're improving they're basic
> skills for employment etc, they would just need to demonstrate
> progress
> on their pre/post test scores.  There are ways to capture "seat" time
> for such students as well even if they are not part of a "traditona"
> environment. The whole idea is to find ways to help students progress
> towards their goal even when they feel like life is preventing them
> from
> doing so. We also have video component with workbook materials.
> Students
> who can't come/enroll in a class can "check" out the videos, complete
> the workbook component and any other materials that the instructor
> deems
> necessary and still make progress towards whatever the desired
> goal/outcome might be.  What we run into is trying not to pull
> students
> from the existing classes for these options but to actually target the
>
> information to that population who really needs this kind of option in
> order to pursue their goals.
> We're only in the beginning phases of this - well, we've been working
> on
> it for almost a year and still trying to get the glitches out.
>
> Regards
> Katrina Hinson
>>>> Barbara Garner <b.garner4 at verizon.net>  >>>
> It's great, Katrina, that you have students who do homework while a
> program is in session and even more wonderful that some do online work
> during school breaks.
>
> You're right, though, my interest right now, is a little different:
> I"m
> curious about whether anyone is expressly doing things to let students
> know that if they have to stop coming for some reason, they can
> continue
> to study on their own. Does anyone do that, and introduce students to
> self-study materials they can purchse or borrow, or online resources?
> Barb Garner
> ====================
> From: Katrina Hinson <khinson at future-gate.com>
> Date: Thu May 11 18:42:04 CDT 2006
> To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov, b.garner4 at verizon.net
> Subject: Re: [FocusOnBasics 271]  Supporting out of school study
>
> I'm not exactly sure I understand the question or if I read it
> correctly. At first glance however, what springs to mind for me is my
> students who study outside of class as well as attend on a regular or
> semi-regular basis.  My most successful students are the ones who
> study
> in and out of class. They'll ask for additional work or they'll work
> online via several computer programs we use. They'll even actively
> seek
> out information online to use as study aids such as math websites or
> practice test websites etc.  We don't have any formal supports in
> place
> for students but I do know that sometimes teachers will come by and
> say
> 'can you put John/Jane Smith in the database so they can do some work
> online during Spring Break or Semester Break etc." Most of the time
> when
> I've encountered students who are not actively participating in class
> or
> in a program, it's usually because they don't have the time to devote
> to
> studying whether it's because of work, family or personal reasons etc.
> We do try to accomodate students though and our online component
> allows
> us to help students who sometimes cannot attend a traditional
> classroom
> setting.  At the moment that's all I can think of.
>
>
> Katrina
>
>>>> Barbara Garner <b.garner4 at verizon.net> 05/11/06 8:46 AM >>>
> Research coming out the NCSALL Lab School in Portland, OR, finds that
> many people who have participated in ABE or would be good candidates
> for
> ABE study on their own.
>
> Has anyone's program taken this into account and put into place
> supports for students who want to continue to study on their own when
> not actively participating in a program? If so, what do these supports
> look like? How has it gone?
>
> Barb Garner
> Editor, Focus on Basics
> Sharon, MA
> b.garner4 at verizon.net
>
> ----------------------------------------------------
> National Institute for Literacy
> Focus on Basics mailing list
> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------
> National Institute for Literacy
> Focus on Basics mailing list
> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
>
> ----------------------------------------------------
> National Institute for Literacy
> Focus on Basics mailing list
> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
> ----------------------------------------------------
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> Focus on Basics mailing list
> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to  
> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
David Rosen
djrosen at comcast.net
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
----------------------------------------------------
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From julie_mcKinney at worlded.org  Wed May 24 11:31:16 2006
From: julie_mcKinney at worlded.org (Julie  McKinney)
Date: Wed, 24 May 2006 11:31:16 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 303] Announcing: Leadership Conference for Adult
	Educators
Message-ID: <s4744426.004@mail.jsi.com>
Hello Everyone,
I'm passing on this message from Mariann Fedele, Coordinator of
Professional Development at the Literacy Assistance Center.
Julie
**********************************************
Dear Colleagues:
The New York Association for Continuing/Community Education (NYACCE) is
hosting a three-day leadership conference for adult educators this July
26-28.  For more information, please see the description below.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
"The greatest revolution in our generation is that of human beings, who
by changing the inner attitudes of their minds, can change the outer
aspects of their lives." 
--Marilyn Ferguson 
 
Are you an educator, an administrator, or a program manager wishing to
be a catalyst of change in your organization? Are you a workforce
development practitioner seeking to build your leadership skills? As a
leader, do you feel you have fully tapped your ability to reflect on
what you do in order to inspire yourself and others to be and do more?
 
Join the New York Association for Continuing/Community Education this
July in the Hudson Valley for a three day leadership retreat that will
help you find some of the answers to these questions. This leadership
retreat will be led by Louis Miceli of Workforce Professionals Training
Institute, and will feature Sheila Maguire of Working Ventures for a
special keynote presentation, among others.
 
To download a brochure about this event, click here: 
 
http://www.workforceprofessionals.org/wpti_content/uploadfiles/NYACCE_brochure.pdf
 
 
To download the registration form for this event, click here:
 
http://www.workforceprofessionals.org/wpti_content/uploadfiles/NYACCE_registration.doc
 
 
If you have any questions, you can contact Lou Miceli at
lmiceli at workforceprofessionals.org, or Marjorie Parker at
Marjorie.parker at verizon.net. To learn more about NYACCE, visit
www.nyacce.org. 
 
Sent to you from the WPTI team on behalf of the New York Association for
Continuing/Community Educators.
 
 
 
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
From julie_mcKinney at worlded.org  Fri May 26 13:34:14 2006
From: julie_mcKinney at worlded.org (Julie  McKinney)
Date: Fri, 26 May 2006 13:34:14 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 304]  Upcoming Discussions with FOB Authors
Message-ID: <s4770406.035@mail.jsi.com>
Hello Everyone,
I want to give you a heads-up on next month's rich schedule of weekly
discussions with FOB authors. The following authors will discuss their
articles from the recent issue of Focus On Basics, Vol. 8B, which is
about Learners' Experiences.
Find the whole issue at:
http://www.ncsall.net/?id=1103
June 5-9:  
Jessica Tomkins
Video as a Professional Development Tool
http://www.ncsall.net/index.php?id=1107
June 12-16:
Alisa Belzer
Influences on the Reading Practices of Adults in ABE
http://www.ncsall.net/index.php?id=1108
       and
Learners on Learning to Read
http://www.ncsall.net/index.php?id=1110
June 25-30:
Hal Beder
Shaping and Sustaining Learner Engagement in Individualized Group
Instruction Classrooms
http://www.ncsall.net/index.php?id=1106
Please pass on the word to colleagues who may be interested in these
discussions! Anyone can subscribe to the list at:
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
Have a great Memorial Day weekend!
All the Best,
Julie
     
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
From julie_mcKinney at worlded.org  Thu Jun  1 14:37:10 2006
From: julie_mcKinney at worlded.org (Julie  McKinney)
Date: Thu, 01 Jun 2006 14:37:10 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 305] Discussion starts June 5: Video as a
	Professional Development	Tool
Message-ID: <s47efbac.033@mail.jsi.com>
Hi Everyone,
This is a REMINDER of our discussion starting Monday with author Jessica
Tomkins about her recent FOB article:
Video as a Professional Development Tool
http://www.ncsall.net/index.php?id=1107
The discussion will go from Monday, June 5 to Friday, June 9.
Please read the article at the link above, and think about the following
questions in preparation for the discussion. Please invite colleagues
who you think may be interested to join the Focus on Basics Discussion
List for this discussion.
************************************************
Discussion Questions
1. Have you ever seen a video of yourself teaching? If so, what was your
impression?  Did it affect your teaching? How?
>
> 2. What do you think you might gain from seeing yourself and your
students on video?
>
> 3. How might your students benefit from you reviewing such a video?
>
> 4. Have you ever used video as a professional development tool in your
program? If so, how did your group review and process the video in order
to share thoughts, give feedback and get the maximum benefit? How did
teachers receive this?
>
> 5. After reading this article, what unanswered questions stay with
you?
*****************************************************
To subscribe, please go to:
www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics 
 
See you on Monday!
All the Best,
Julie
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
From julie_mcKinney at worlded.org  Mon Jun  5 09:13:07 2006
From: julie_mcKinney at worlded.org (Julie  McKinney)
Date: Mon, 05 Jun 2006 09:13:07 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 306] Discussion starts today: Video as a
	Professional Development	Tool
Message-ID: <s483f5c9.091@mail.jsi.com>
Hi Everyone,
Welcome to our discussion with author Jessica Tomkins about her recent
FOB article:
Video as a Professional Development Tool
http://www.ncsall.net/index.php?id=1107
Please write in with any impressions, comments or questions you have
about the article! See below for some discussion questions.
Enjoy!
Julie
************************************
Discussion Questions
1. Have you ever seen a video of yourself teaching? If so, what was your
impression?  Did it affect your teaching? How?
>
> 2. What do you think you might gain from seeing yourself and your
students on video?
>
> 3. How might your students benefit from you reviewing such a video?
>
> 4. Have you ever used video as a professional development tool in your
program? If so, how did your group review and process the video in order
to share thoughts, give feedback and get the maximum benefit? How did
teachers receive this?
>
> 5. After reading this article, what unanswered questions stay with
you?
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
From Janet_Isserlis at brown.edu  Mon Jun  5 09:35:51 2006
From: Janet_Isserlis at brown.edu (Janet Isserlis)
Date: Mon, 05 Jun 2006 09:35:51 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 307] Re: Discussion starts today: Video as a
 Professional Development Tool
In-Reply-To: <s483f5c9.091@mail.jsi.com>
Message-ID: <C0A9AB77.D615%Janet_Isserlis@brown.edu>
All - a few impressions about using video:
> 1. Have you ever seen a video of yourself teaching? If so, what was your
> impression?  Did it affect your teaching? How?
The most helpful thing about seeing a tape of my teaching was that the
colleague who made the tape was wise enough to focus almost entirely on the
students; I learned how I tend to teach to the left (to my physical left) -
so hadn't spent the kind of time I'd like to have on teaching around the
entire room.  My physical focus was limited to a part of the classroom.
As well, the sound of my voice alone was, well, more present than one would
have hoped for.  A lot more teacher talk than I'd have thought...
Students liked watching the tapes - especially a month or so after they'd
been made, where they could see progress they'd made between the time of the
taping and the time of the viewing.
>> 2. What do you think you might gain from seeing yourself and your
> students on video?
perspective; a look at folks who I may not have been attentive to - what ARE
they doing, how do they interact with one another? -  as well as a sense of
the flow of a class.
>> 
sserlis
Janet I
From julie_mcKinney at worlded.org  Mon Jun  5 11:41:14 2006
From: julie_mcKinney at worlded.org (Julie  McKinney)
Date: Mon, 05 Jun 2006 11:41:14 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 308] Re: Discussion starts today: Video
	as	aProfessional Development Tool
Message-ID: <s4841874.019@mail.jsi.com>
Janet,
Thanks for sharing your reactions to your videotaped class! I am curious
to know how it came about, and how it was used. Was it a purposeful
professional development activity, or just something you decided to try?
And it's interesting that you watched it with your students--was there a
specific process that helped you get feedback from them? From other
colleagues?
It's interesting that you say one of the best things was that it focused
on the students, which fits with Jessica's experience as she described
in the article.
Julie
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
>>> Janet_Isserlis at brown.edu 06/05/06 9:35 AM >>>
All - a few impressions about using video:
> 1. Have you ever seen a video of yourself teaching? If so, what was
your
> impression?  Did it affect your teaching? How?
The most helpful thing about seeing a tape of my teaching was that the
colleague who made the tape was wise enough to focus almost entirely on
the
students; I learned how I tend to teach to the left (to my physical
left) -
so hadn't spent the kind of time I'd like to have on teaching around the
entire room.  My physical focus was limited to a part of the classroom.
As well, the sound of my voice alone was, well, more present than one
would
have hoped for.  A lot more teacher talk than I'd have thought...
Students liked watching the tapes - especially a month or so after
they'd
been made, where they could see progress they'd made between the time of
the
taping and the time of the viewing.
>> 2. What do you think you might gain from seeing yourself and your
> students on video?
perspective; a look at folks who I may not have been attentive to - what
ARE
they doing, how do they interact with one another? -  as well as a sense
of
the flow of a class.
>> 
sserlis
Janet I
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
From b.garner4 at verizon.net  Mon Jun  5 11:47:56 2006
From: b.garner4 at verizon.net (Barbara Garner)
Date: Mon, 05 Jun 2006 10:47:56 -0500 (CDT)
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 309] Re: Discussion starts today: Video as a
 Professional Development Tool
Message-ID: <14306912.1638101149522476643.JavaMail.root@vms071.mailsrvcs.net>
I had an eye opening experience using video years ago...about 1985! I was working with teachers in a refugee education program: I observed them in classes on a weekly basis. One teacher never ever smiled. She said she was concerned that her youth would undercut her credibility with the older Cambodians she was teaching, so she tried to appear stern. That didn't seem to be working: the atmosphere in her classroom seemed quite tense.
She said she'd try smiling, but it wasn't happening (as I write this I know it sounds strange, but it's true.) I tried a number of things, from collecting data on her facial expressions at intervals during the class to trying to catch her eye from the back of the room and smile.
Finally, I had her video taped. She watched the tape by herself, burst into tears (she reported), and totally changed her classroom manner, with, it was easy to see, great results.
I guess this long story is a reinforcement of Janet's post, and of Jessica's report: a picture can really tell a story...
Barb Garner
 =====================
From: Janet Isserlis <Janet_Isserlis at brown.edu>
Date: Mon Jun 05 08:35:51 CDT 2006
To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 307] Re: Discussion starts today: Video as a Professional Development Tool
All - a few impressions about using video:
> 1. Have you ever seen a video of yourself teaching? If so, what was your
> impression?  Did it affect your teaching? How?
The most helpful thing about seeing a tape of my teaching was that the
colleague who made the tape was wise enough to focus almost entirely on the
students; I learned how I tend to teach to the left (to my physical left) -
so hadn't spent the kind of time I'd like to have on teaching around the
entire room.  My physical focus was limited to a part of the classroom.
As well, the sound of my voice alone was, well, more present than one would
have hoped for.  A lot more teacher talk than I'd have thought...
Students liked watching the tapes - especially a month or so after they'd
been made, where they could see progress they'd made between the time of the
taping and the time of the viewing.
>> 2. What do you think you might gain from seeing yourself and your
> students on video?
perspective; a look at folks who I may not have been attentive to - what ARE
they doing, how do they interact with one another? -  as well as a sense of
the flow of a class.
>> 
sserlis
Janet I
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
From dbrillan at pdx.edu  Mon Jun  5 12:59:41 2006
From: dbrillan at pdx.edu (Dominique Brillanceau)
Date: Mon, 05 Jun 2006 09:59:41 -0700
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 310]  Discussion: video as a prof. devlpmt tool.
Message-ID: <448462FD.1050007@pdx.edu>
Greetings!
I am an extreme case: I was recorded at the NCSALL ESOL  Labschool for 4 years, several hours every week. (or about 1360 hours of my stellar performances.) So what I have to say is magnified by the experience.  Also the video was not meant to be a tool of professional development for the teachers who were filmed but rather a tool to comprehend learning and teaching, learners and teachers and the ties that bind them. In the process of doing research on SLA, and classroom behaviors, I have seen myself countless times, and of course I am my first critic.  My caution to anyone who wants to improve their teaching through numerous recordings is "don't do it" or you will go through the roller coaster of "How could I do that??" and "That was really smooth". With the first one, you begin to wonder whether you destroy students' eagerness to learn English or made them stop coming altogether.  The second reflection ends up raising the bar for the next class: can I do this again? What else can I possibly learn from this?  The reflection wheels never really stop. The thirst for perfection is never appeased. 
The most important point of watching classroom video is to see the students and watch them learn, not only English but classroom behaviors and social competencies which are developed in the safe environment of the classroom and replicable in the outside world. They do and say amazing things, pertinent to the task/ activity or outside of the activity but nonetheless important to them. 
On 3 and 4, the video of the classroom was used on a couple of occasions for study circles, directed by Reuel Kurzet, our professional developer . ( http://www.ncsall.net/?id=232  is the link which will lead you to her article on the matter).
Also over the past 4 years, we have had several graduate research assistants (GRAs) who worked on coding and transcribing the classrooms video data .  These GRAs were concurrently enrolled in the MA TESOL program at Portland State University.  Each one of them ( about 25) has been extremely grateful to have been privy to watching hours of classroom recording before actually becoming teachers themselves. 
As for myself, in the process of the longitudinal study of a few students, I have watched other teachers teach.  The great lesson has been to recognize good teaching, even though the techniques employed might be something that one would never do. (student engagement which is also captured through the video is a good indicator of  a successful class)  
So yes, video is a great tool for prof. development. One must be prepared to watch a classroom in "real time" though, which is different but a lot richer (and a lot slower) than "canned"  classroom videos, edited for the perfect lesson.
Dominique Brillanceau
practitioner/research associate
NCSALL ESOL labschool
www.labschool.pdx.edu
From jessicatomkins at gmail.com  Mon Jun  5 22:40:09 2006
From: jessicatomkins at gmail.com (Jessica Tomkins)
Date: Mon, 5 Jun 2006 22:40:09 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 311] Re: Discussion: video as a prof. devlpmt tool.
In-Reply-To: <448462FD.1050007@pdx.edu>
References: <448462FD.1050007@pdx.edu>
Message-ID: <7de8295a0606051940k76cfb181g3f0f0a9042ea9b77@mail.gmail.com>
Hi everyone,
I've just read through the experiences everyone shared today and it's
interesting to see how much they resonate with those of the teachers we
worked with and who I interviewed for the article. First of all, even after
years of reviewing classroom video with teachers and chatting with them, I
had no idea how compelling the video of their own classrooms was to them.
(By the way I've never had the experience of being the one taped while
teaching, though now I'm curious to try it.) Hearing these new stories and
thinking about this topic again today, it occurs to me how the sort of
shock-value of seeing oneself teach (volume of voice, hand gestures, all
that kind of stuff one wouldn't be aware of otherwise - never smiling, as in
Barb's story) is one specific use video can be put to - something that
happened incidentally in our study and for most of us would probably best be
had as a one-time experience. Mostly, the teachers I interviewed (as well as
teachers posting comments today) benefitted from watching their learners,
and analysing their own teaching via their learners' behavior. Our research
videos were necessarily focused on learners, so they didn't always even
include the teachers directly. I wonder if this wouldn't be a good format
for video as a pd activity? It seems like it worked as well as it did
because the video and the surrounding discussing revolved almost entirely
around students. Could teachers just video their students and use the videos
to improve their own teaching? That seems like a very elegant way to do
this. Also, I like the idea of showing video to learners. We did this in our
study as well, but not over time. Especially in an ESOL class this seems
like a great and obvious tool both for teacher reflection and for learners
to get a sense of their own progress...Anyway, sorry so long. It's nice to
meet you guys and hear your thoughts on this topic-
Jessica
On 6/5/06, Dominique Brillanceau <dbrillan at pdx.edu> wrote:
>
> Greetings!
>
> I am an extreme case: I was recorded at the NCSALL ESOL  Labschool for 4
> years, several hours every week. (or about 1360 hours of my stellar
> performances.) So what I have to say is magnified by the experience.  Also
> the video was not meant to be a tool of professional development for the
> teachers who were filmed but rather a tool to comprehend learning and
> teaching, learners and teachers and the ties that bind them. In the process
> of doing research on SLA, and classroom behaviors, I have seen myself
> countless times, and of course I am my first critic.  My caution to anyone
> who wants to improve their teaching through numerous recordings is "don't do
> it" or you will go through the roller coaster of "How could I do that??" and
> "That was really smooth". With the first one, you begin to wonder whether
> you destroy students' eagerness to learn English or made them stop coming
> altogether.  The second reflection ends up raising the bar for the next
> class: can I do this again? What els
> e can I possibly learn from this?  The reflection wheels never really
> stop. The thirst for perfection is never appeased.
>
> The most important point of watching classroom video is to see the
> students and watch them learn, not only English but classroom behaviors and
> social competencies which are developed in the safe environment of the
> classroom and replicable in the outside world. They do and say amazing
> things, pertinent to the task/ activity or outside of the activity but
> nonetheless important to them.
> On 3 and 4, the video of the classroom was used on a couple of occasions
> for study circles, directed by Reuel Kurzet, our professional developer . (
> http://www.ncsall.net/?id=232  is the link which will lead you to her
> article on the matter).
> Also over the past 4 years, we have had several graduate research
> assistants (GRAs) who worked on coding and transcribing the classrooms video
> data .  These GRAs were concurrently enrolled in the MA TESOL program at
> Portland State University.  Each one of them ( about 25) has been extremely
> grateful to have been privy to watching hours of classroom recording before
> actually becoming teachers themselves.
> As for myself, in the process of the longitudinal study of a few students,
> I have watched other teachers teach.  The great lesson has been to recognize
> good teaching, even though the techniques employed might be something that
> one would never do. (student engagement which is also captured through the
> video is a good indicator of  a successful class)
> So yes, video is a great tool for prof. development. One must be prepared
> to watch a classroom in "real time" though, which is different but a lot
> richer (and a lot slower) than "canned"  classroom videos, edited for the
> perfect lesson.
>
> Dominique Brillanceau
> practitioner/research associate
> NCSALL ESOL labschool
> www.labschool.pdx.edu
>
>
>
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------
> National Institute for Literacy
> Focus on Basics mailing list
> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
>
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From djrosen at comcast.net  Tue Jun  6 08:36:28 2006
From: djrosen at comcast.net (David Rosen)
Date: Tue, 6 Jun 2006 08:36:28 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 312] Re: Reflections on Video as a Professional
	Development	 Tool
In-Reply-To: <s483f5c9.091@mail.jsi.com>
References: <s483f5c9.091@mail.jsi.com>
Message-ID: <1D969205-37D7-45FE-9B39-7A712C22B227@comcast.net>
Hello Julie, Jessica, and others
As a teacher in training I was videotaped in 1969. VHS was relatively  
new then, but it was widely used in the University of Massachusetts  
Graduate School of Education. There was a protocol called  
_Microteaching_, which had been developed by Dwight Allen at Stanford  
in the mid 1960's, before he was the Dean of Education at UMass  
Amherst. For some information on Microteaching, see:
[ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microteaching ]
[ http://fdc.fullerton.edu/learning/CASTL/ 
carnegie_microteaching_materials.htm ]
I remember getting three kinds of useful feedback ("feedback" was new  
jargon in education then):
1) seeing myself teach (not an entirely positive experience);
2) getting comments from other teacher trainees and a master teacher;  
and
3) getting comments from the students who were videotaped about what  
they thought I was trying to do, how effective it was, and what was  
happening from their perspectives.
Some of the comments from students were especially helpful.  I  
realized that I was reaching only about half of the class and that,  
while my (very oral) presentation style of presentation worked well  
for them, it wasn't working for the others.  That caused be to ask  
some good questions like: What other styles of teaching and learning  
are there? What do we know about the match of teacher styles of  
presentation and student styles of learning? Is it possible for a  
teacher to learn or strengthen other styles?  And so on.
I also remember that it was important to have a structured process,  
where the teaching/learning objectives were clear at the outset, and  
were a main reference point for the comments later.
Finally I remember thinking that this "slice of teaching" approach  
also had its limitations and wasn't representative of the actual ebb  
and flow of the classroom teaching process over time.
David J. Rosen
newsomeassociates.com
djrosen at comcast.net
On Jun 5, 2006, at 9:13 AM, Julie McKinney wrote:
> Hi Everyone,
>
> Welcome to our discussion with author Jessica Tomkins about her recent
> FOB article:
>
> Video as a Professional Development Tool
> http://www.ncsall.net/index.php?id=1107
>
> Please write in with any impressions, comments or questions you have
> about the article! See below for some discussion questions.
>
> Enjoy!
>
> Julie
>
> ************************************
>
> Discussion Questions
>
> 1. Have you ever seen a video of yourself teaching? If so, what was  
> your
> impression?  Did it affect your teaching? How?
>>
>> 2. What do you think you might gain from seeing yourself and your
> students on video?
>>
>> 3. How might your students benefit from you reviewing such a video?
>>
>> 4. Have you ever used video as a professional development tool in  
>> your
> program? If so, how did your group review and process the video in  
> order
> to share thoughts, give feedback and get the maximum benefit? How did
> teachers receive this?
>>
>> 5. After reading this article, what unanswered questions stay with
> you?
>
>
> Julie McKinney
> Discussion List Moderator
> World Education/NCSALL
> jmckinney at worlded.org
>
> ----------------------------------------------------
> National Institute for Literacy
> Focus on Basics mailing list
> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to  
> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
David Rosen
djrosen at comcast.net
From b.garner4 at verizon.net  Tue Jun  6 14:54:21 2006
From: b.garner4 at verizon.net (Barbara Garner)
Date: Tue, 06 Jun 2006 13:54:21 -0500 (CDT)
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 313] Re: Reflections on Video as a
	Professional	Development	 Tool
Message-ID: <2204608.995701149620061193.JavaMail.root@vms074.mailsrvcs.net>
When we (the FOB editorial board and me) were working with Jessica to edit this article, I was surprised at how FEW of the editorial board members had used video in any professional development activities.
How about you, list members? Let us know if you HAVE or HAVE NOT been videoed, or HAVE or HAVE NOT used video as a professional development tool.
Barb Garner
=====================
From: David Rosen <djrosen at comcast.net>
Date: Tue Jun 06 07:36:28 CDT 2006
To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 312] Re: Reflections on Video as a Professional	Development	 Tool
Hello Julie, Jessica, and others
As a teacher in training I was videotaped in 1969. VHS was relatively  
new then, but it was widely used in the University of Massachusetts  
Graduate School of Education. There was a protocol called  
_Microteaching_, which had been developed by Dwight Allen at Stanford  
in the mid 1960's, before he was the Dean of Education at UMass  
Amherst. For some information on Microteaching, see:
[ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microteaching ]
[ http://fdc.fullerton.edu/learning/CASTL/ 
carnegie_microteaching_materials.htm ]
I remember getting three kinds of useful feedback ("feedback" was new  
jargon in education then):
1) seeing myself teach (not an entirely positive experience);
2) getting comments from other teacher trainees and a master teacher;  
and
3) getting comments from the students who were videotaped about what  
they thought I was trying to do, how effective it was, and what was  
happening from their perspectives.
Some of the comments from students were especially helpful.  I  
realized that I was reaching only about half of the class and that,  
while my (very oral) presentation style of presentation worked well  
for them, it wasn't working for the others.  That caused be to ask  
some good questions like: What other styles of teaching and learning  
are there? What do we know about the match of teacher styles of  
presentation and student styles of learning? Is it possible for a  
teacher to learn or strengthen other styles?  And so on.
I also remember that it was important to have a structured process,  
where the teaching/learning objectives were clear at the outset, and  
were a main reference point for the comments later.
Finally I remember thinking that this "slice of teaching" approach  
also had its limitations and wasn't representative of the actual ebb  
and flow of the classroom teaching process over time.
David J. Rosen
newsomeassociates.com
djrosen at comcast.net
On Jun 5, 2006, at 9:13 AM, Julie McKinney wrote:
> Hi Everyone,
>
> Welcome to our discussion with author Jessica Tomkins about her recent
> FOB article:
>
> Video as a Professional Development Tool
> http://www.ncsall.net/index.php?id=1107
>
> Please write in with any impressions, comments or questions you have
> about the article! See below for some discussion questions.
>
> Enjoy!
>
> Julie
>
> ************************************
>
> Discussion Questions
>
> 1. Have you ever seen a video of yourself teaching? If so, what was  
> your
> impression?  Did it affect your teaching? How?
>>
>> 2. What do you think you might gain from seeing yourself and your
> students on video?
>>
>> 3. How might your students benefit from you reviewing such a video?
>>
>> 4. Have you ever used video as a professional development tool in  
>> your
> program? If so, how did your group review and process the video in  
> order
> to share thoughts, give feedback and get the maximum benefit? How did
> teachers receive this?
>>
>> 5. After reading this article, what unanswered questions stay with
> you?
>
>
> Julie McKinney
> Discussion List Moderator
> World Education/NCSALL
> jmckinney at worlded.org
>
> ----------------------------------------------------
> National Institute for Literacy
> Focus on Basics mailing list
> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to  
> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
David Rosen
djrosen at comcast.net
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
From e.b.shupe at lycos.com  Wed Jun  7 08:38:55 2006
From: e.b.shupe at lycos.com (e s)
Date: Wed, 07 Jun 2006 07:38:55 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 314] Re: Discussion: video as a prof. devlpmt tool.
Message-ID: <20060607123905.5A59CCA0C0@ws7-4.us4.outblaze.com>
Hi Everyone,
Unfortunately I've never had the experience of being taped while 
teaching, but I have watched videos of other teachers in the 
process and the experience has been enlightening.  It directed my 
attention to my own ideological beliefs about teaching and 
learning.  What were my expectations of learners and how did those 
expectations connect with larger issues that impact teachers such 
as time constraints, and program goals(to mention only a few).
I think videotaping classes does give teachers 
an opportunity to have a more critical look at 
the impact of their teaching on learners, and similarly would give learners 
an opportunity to speak on behalf of their own learning experience which is
further reflection for teachers.  As part of the requirements for a english language teaching certificate program at the new school I will be required to videotape three of the classes I will be teaching this coming fall.  I'll keep you posted.
Esther Shupe
-- 
_______________________________________________
Search for businesses by name, location, or phone number.  -Lycos Yellow Pages
http://r.lycos.com/r/yp_emailfooter/http://yellowpages.lycos.com/default.asp?SRC=lycos10
From julie_mcKinney at worlded.org  Wed Jun  7 11:34:00 2006
From: julie_mcKinney at worlded.org (Julie  McKinney)
Date: Wed, 07 Jun 2006 11:34:00 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 315] Next Week: Reading from the Learners'
	Perspective
Message-ID: <s486b9ba.066@mail.jsi.com>
Hi Everyone,
I don't mean to interrupt the present discussion about video, but I do
want to give you a quick heads-up on next week's discussion:
Next week, June 12-16, Alisa Belzer will discuss two of her articles
from FOB.
Influences on the Reading Practices of Adults in ABE
http://www.ncsall.net/index.php?id=1108
      and
Learners on Learning to Read
http://www.ncsall.net/index.php?id=1110
The first article examines case studies of three learners and the
reading that they do outside of class to learn how this influences their
learning, and how teachers can encourage out-of-class reading. The
second describes a unique study where students were interviewed to give
their own assessment of what factors influenced their success in
learning how to read.
Please pass this on to anyone you know who may be interested in this
discussion. They can subscribe to the list at:
www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
We'll post some discussion questions by Friday morning.
All the best,
Julie
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
From e.b.shupe at lycos.com  Wed Jun  7 12:31:26 2006
From: e.b.shupe at lycos.com (e s)
Date: Wed, 07 Jun 2006 11:31:26 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 316] Re: Discussion: video as a prof. devlpmt tool.
Message-ID: <20060607163127.8B450CA0C0@ws7-4.us4.outblaze.com>
Everyone,
I wanted to say a little more about the program that I am currently enrolled and the videotaping requirement.  THis is an online certificate program in English Language Teaching at The New School in NYC. THe nature of distance learning requires the aid of technology to make the program work and the videotaping of classroom instruction is purposeful in this regard.  The type of feedback I will get about the teaching and learning observations is unknown to me at this time, but I hope to have my own purpose in viewing the tapes.  Jessica's article and comments from the discussion will help me to ask the right questions.  I'll be sure to share my experience with the list.
On another note,  it's disheartening to me to read David's post and to know that the practice of videotaping classroom dynamics has been around for so long and yet is still not common practice for adult educators.  THe issues are at least in part about funding but also about the lack of connection that is experienced by many adult educators.  We for the most part are a team of volunteers or part-timers with very little power in determining, what if any PD is offered to us.  One of the continuing discussions about adult education is the way we are separate from other institutions of learning.  This in many ways gives us creative license but in many significant ways is disempowering.  What do others think?
Esther
-- 
_______________________________________________
Search for businesses by name, location, or phone number.  -Lycos Yellow Pages
http://r.lycos.com/r/yp_emailfooter/http://yellowpages.lycos.com/default.asp?SRC=lycos10
From Janet_Isserlis at brown.edu  Wed Jun  7 13:45:27 2006
From: Janet_Isserlis at brown.edu (Janet Isserlis)
Date: Wed, 07 Jun 2006 13:45:27 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 317] Re: Discussion starts today: Video as
 aProfessional Development Tool
In-Reply-To: <s4841874.019@mail.jsi.com>
Message-ID: <C0AC88F7.D76A%Janet_Isserlis@brown.edu>
All
Apologies for the delayed response - have been out of town.
We decided to tape as part of a three-year demonstration project (of sorts)
designed to assist ESOL teachers in integrating literacy into 'regular' ESOL
classes - as opposed to a pull-out model, which generally consisted of
having volunteers work on literacy with ESOL students one-on-one during
class time (and out of the classroom).
We were trying to find ways to incorporate strategies addressing literacy
for learners with roughly equivalent abilities with aural/oral language.
Part of that work including demonstration classes at the site, and part of
our documentation, initially, was through both written accounts and video
recording.  Once we began reviewing the tapes, we also saw their great
potential as professional development tools - both for those who are being
taped, as well as for others.  I've used the tapes (years later) with
university students who are working in literacy programs) as a means of
asking them to watch the tape, share observations, reflections and respond
to some guided questions about the teaching and learning they see.
Janet
> From: Julie  McKinney <julie_mcKinney at worlded.org>
> Reply-To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
> Date: Mon, 05 Jun 2006 11:41:14 -0400
> To: <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
> Subject: [FocusOnBasics 308] Re: Discussion starts today: Video as
> aProfessional Development Tool
> 
> Janet,
> 
> Thanks for sharing your reactions to your videotaped class! I am curious
> to know how it came about, and how it was used. Was it a purposeful
> professional development activity, or just something you decided to try?
> And it's interesting that you watched it with your students--was there a
> specific process that helped you get feedback from them? From other
> colleagues?
> 
> It's interesting that you say one of the best things was that it focused
> on the students, which fits with Jessica's experience as she described
> in the article.
> 
> Julie
From dbrillan at pdx.edu  Wed Jun  7 15:56:52 2006
From: dbrillan at pdx.edu (Dominique Brillanceau)
Date: Wed, 7 Jun 2006 12:56:52 -0700
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 318] Re: Discussion: video as a prof. devlpmt tool.
References: <20060607163127.8B450CA0C0@ws7-4.us4.outblaze.com>
Message-ID: <000501c68a6c$86ffcd10$6501a8c0@D483MV11>
Greetings,
While I concur with Esther's comments on the disconnectedness of adult 
educators and the barriers to sharing one's teaching or others' through 
video media, I have been thinking about the impact it has on people who have 
done it.  David  did it in the 60's and a couple more people who have 
participated in the discussion  mentioned videotaping themselves or others a 
long time ago and they still talk about it.  Or Janet who is using it in 
training.  To me, that was uplifting.  It is an experience that one never 
forgets and should be part of all teacher training programs.
It was a requirement in the TESL program at Portland State University 20 
years ago when I got my certificate but it no longer is. ( I still have the 
tape- no comment)
 A colleague of mine just made it a class requirement/ task for her students 
in a MA TESOL program at Oregon State University.
So... are there any paper FOB issues for this particular issue left? They 
could be sent to MA TESOL programs around the country and to state directors 
of Adult Basic Skills.  Just an idea...
Great conversation.  An eye opener and a way of being connected.
Dominique Brillanceau
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "e s" <e.b.shupe at lycos.com>
To: "The Focus on Basics Discussion List" <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
Sent: Wednesday, June 07, 2006 9:31 AM
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 316] Re: Discussion: video as a prof. devlpmt tool.
> Everyone,
> I wanted to say a little more about the program that I am currently 
> enrolled and the videotaping requirement.  THis is an online certificate 
> program in English Language Teaching at The New School in NYC. THe nature 
> of distance learning requires the aid of technology to make the program 
> work and the videotaping of classroom instruction is purposeful in this 
> regard.  The type of feedback I will get about the teaching and learning 
> observations is unknown to me at this time, but I hope to have my own 
> purpose in viewing the tapes.  Jessica's article and comments from the 
> discussion will help me to ask the right questions.  I'll be sure to share 
> my experience with the list.
>
> On another note,  it's disheartening to me to read David's post and to 
> know that the practice of videotaping classroom dynamics has been around 
> for so long and yet is still not common practice for adult educators.  THe 
> issues are at least in part about funding but also about the lack of 
> connection that is experienced by many adult educators.  We for the most 
> part are a team of volunteers or part-timers with very little power in 
> determining, what if any PD is offered to us.  One of the continuing 
> discussions about adult education is the way we are separate from other 
> institutions of learning.  This in many ways gives us creative license but 
> in many significant ways is disempowering.  What do others think?
> Esther
>
> -- 
> _______________________________________________
>
> Search for businesses by name, location, or phone number.  -Lycos Yellow 
> Pages
>
> http://r.lycos.com/r/yp_emailfooter/http://yellowpages.lycos.com/default.asp?SRC=lycos10
>
> ----------------------------------------------------
> National Institute for Literacy
> Focus on Basics mailing list
> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to 
> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
> 
From tarv at chemeketa.edu  Wed Jun  7 16:44:29 2006
From: tarv at chemeketa.edu (Virginia Tardaewether)
Date: Wed, 7 Jun 2006 13:44:29 -0700
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 319] Re: Discussion: video as a prof. devlpmt tool.
Message-ID: <D63A25821E9AE349ADBAB6BB1F0A766C75E303@cccmail2.chemeketa.network>
I've used video on my own evaluation and had students use it for theirs.
It is a useful tool and helps one be objective about what really happens
in a group.  We used to set the video up and leave it on regularly, then
review what we noticed as a group (students and instructors).  We found
it a useful tool for program improvement.
Va
-----Original Message-----
From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Dominique
Brillanceau
Sent: Wednesday, June 07, 2006 12:57 PM
To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 318] Re: Discussion: video as a prof. devlpmt
tool.
Greetings,
While I concur with Esther's comments on the disconnectedness of adult 
educators and the barriers to sharing one's teaching or others' through 
video media, I have been thinking about the impact it has on people who
have 
done it.  David  did it in the 60's and a couple more people who have 
participated in the discussion  mentioned videotaping themselves or
others a 
long time ago and they still talk about it.  Or Janet who is using it in
training.  To me, that was uplifting.  It is an experience that one
never 
forgets and should be part of all teacher training programs.
It was a requirement in the TESL program at Portland State University 20
years ago when I got my certificate but it no longer is. ( I still have
the 
tape- no comment)
 A colleague of mine just made it a class requirement/ task for her
students 
in a MA TESOL program at Oregon State University.
So... are there any paper FOB issues for this particular issue left?
They 
could be sent to MA TESOL programs around the country and to state
directors 
of Adult Basic Skills.  Just an idea...
Great conversation.  An eye opener and a way of being connected.
Dominique Brillanceau
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "e s" <e.b.shupe at lycos.com>
To: "The Focus on Basics Discussion List" <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
Sent: Wednesday, June 07, 2006 9:31 AM
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 316] Re: Discussion: video as a prof. devlpmt
tool.
> Everyone,
> I wanted to say a little more about the program that I am currently 
> enrolled and the videotaping requirement.  THis is an online
certificate 
> program in English Language Teaching at The New School in NYC. THe
nature 
> of distance learning requires the aid of technology to make the
program 
> work and the videotaping of classroom instruction is purposeful in
this 
> regard.  The type of feedback I will get about the teaching and
learning 
> observations is unknown to me at this time, but I hope to have my own 
> purpose in viewing the tapes.  Jessica's article and comments from the
> discussion will help me to ask the right questions.  I'll be sure to
share 
> my experience with the list.
>
> On another note,  it's disheartening to me to read David's post and to
> know that the practice of videotaping classroom dynamics has been
around 
> for so long and yet is still not common practice for adult educators.
THe 
> issues are at least in part about funding but also about the lack of 
> connection that is experienced by many adult educators.  We for the
most 
> part are a team of volunteers or part-timers with very little power in
> determining, what if any PD is offered to us.  One of the continuing 
> discussions about adult education is the way we are separate from
other 
> institutions of learning.  This in many ways gives us creative license
but 
> in many significant ways is disempowering.  What do others think?
> Esther
>
> -- 
> _______________________________________________
>
> Search for businesses by name, location, or phone number.  -Lycos
Yellow 
> Pages
>
>
http://r.lycos.com/r/yp_emailfooter/http://yellowpages.lycos.com/default
.asp?SRC=lycos10
>
> ----------------------------------------------------
> National Institute for Literacy
> Focus on Basics mailing list
> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to 
> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
> 
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
From b.garner4 at verizon.net  Wed Jun  7 17:42:20 2006
From: b.garner4 at verizon.net (Barbara Garner)
Date: Wed, 07 Jun 2006 16:42:20 -0500 (CDT)
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 320] Re: Discussion: video as a prof. devlpmt tool.
Message-ID: <22005221.120721149716540639.JavaMail.root@vms172.mailsrvcs.net>
The only other Focus on Basics article that features videotaping that I can think of is by Reuel Kurzet, in Volume 5, Issue D (http://www.ncsall.net/?id=232). She writes about the NCSALL Lab School at Portland State's use of audio and video taping, and how looking together at a piece of tape gives folks a shared experience they can talk about.
Reuel emphasizes describing rather than judging what appears in a video of a classroom as an important first step.  What have other folks' experiences been: if you have seen yourself or your students in a video, what process do you use when viewing it?
Barb Garner
Editor, Focus on Basics
That's a slightly different take on the discussion we've been having here: using classroom video together with a group. 
 =====================
From: Dominique Brillanceau <dbrillan at pdx.edu>
Date: Wed Jun 07 14:56:52 CDT 2006
To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 318] Re: Discussion: video as a prof. devlpmt tool.
Greetings,
While I concur with Esther's comments on the disconnectedness of adult 
educators and the barriers to sharing one's teaching or others' through 
video media, I have been thinking about the impact it has on people who have 
done it.  David  did it in the 60's and a couple more people who have 
participated in the discussion  mentioned videotaping themselves or others a 
long time ago and they still talk about it.  Or Janet who is using it in 
training.  To me, that was uplifting.  It is an experience that one never 
forgets and should be part of all teacher training programs.
It was a requirement in the TESL program at Portland State University 20 
years ago when I got my certificate but it no longer is. ( I still have the 
tape- no comment)
 A colleague of mine just made it a class requirement/ task for her students 
in a MA TESOL program at Oregon State University.
So... are there any paper FOB issues for this particular issue left? They 
could be sent to MA TESOL programs around the country and to state directors 
of Adult Basic Skills.  Just an idea...
Great conversation.  An eye opener and a way of being connected.
Dominique Brillanceau
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "e s" <e.b.shupe at lycos.com>
To: "The Focus on Basics Discussion List" <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
Sent: Wednesday, June 07, 2006 9:31 AM
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 316] Re: Discussion: video as a prof. devlpmt tool.
> Everyone,
> I wanted to say a little more about the program that I am currently 
> enrolled and the videotaping requirement.  THis is an online certificate 
> program in English Language Teaching at The New School in NYC. THe nature 
> of distance learning requires the aid of technology to make the program 
> work and the videotaping of classroom instruction is purposeful in this 
> regard.  The type of feedback I will get about the teaching and learning 
> observations is unknown to me at this time, but I hope to have my own 
> purpose in viewing the tapes.  Jessica's article and comments from the 
> discussion will help me to ask the right questions.  I'll be sure to share 
> my experience with the list.
>
> On another note,  it's disheartening to me to read David's post and to 
> know that the practice of videotaping classroom dynamics has been around 
> for so long and yet is still not common practice for adult educators.  THe 
> issues are at least in part about funding but also about the lack of 
> connection that is experienced by many adult educators.  We for the most 
> part are a team of volunteers or part-timers with very little power in 
> determining, what if any PD is offered to us.  One of the continuing 
> discussions about adult education is the way we are separate from other 
> institutions of learning.  This in many ways gives us creative license but 
> in many significant ways is disempowering.  What do others think?
> Esther
>
> -- 
> _______________________________________________
>
> Search for businesses by name, location, or phone number.  -Lycos Yellow 
> Pages
>
> http://r.lycos.com/r/yp_emailfooter/http://yellowpages.lycos.com/default.asp?SRC=lycos10
>
> ----------------------------------------------------
> National Institute for Literacy
> Focus on Basics mailing list
> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to 
> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
> 
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
From kabeall at comcast.net  Wed Jun  7 12:55:04 2006
From: kabeall at comcast.net (Kaye Beall)
Date: Wed, 7 Jun 2006 12:55:04 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 321]  New from NIFL & NCSALL-ARCS Video
Message-ID: <000e01c68a53$202b8700$0202a8c0@your4105e587b6>
The National Institute for Literacy (NIFL) and the National Center for the
Study of Adult Learning and Literacy (NCSALL) announce the "Adult Reading
Components Study (ARCS) Panel," a 30-minute video on NCSALL's ARCS research
produced by the Institute.  This video is available in streaming format and
can be viewed by going to:
 
http://www.nifl.gov/nifl/webcasts/20040204/webcast02-04.html 
 
ARCS was the first large-scale attempt to use a battery of individually
administered reading and language tests to describe the reading of students
enrolled in adult basic education (ABE) and English for speakers of other
languages (ESOL) programs. Nearly 1,000 adult learners from 30 learning
centers in seven states were assessed in order to develop instructionally
relevant cluster profiles of adult readers. 
 
The video offers a panel discussion about NCSALL's ARCS research and ways in
which programs can use the Assessment Strategies and Reading Profiles, an
on-line assessment tool based on the ARCS research, to assess students and
plan instruction tailored to their specific profiles. Panel participants
are:
 
Dr. John Strucker - Researcher and ARCS Director, NCSALL
Dr. Rosalind Davidson - Researcher and ARCS Assistant Director, NCSALL
Kay Vaccaro - Program Assistant, Harris County, TX Department of Education,
Adult Education Division
Jane Meyer - Coordinator, ABLE-funded adult literacy project, Canton, OH
David J. Rosen (moderator) - Senior Associate, Newsome Associates, Boston,
MA
 
To visit the Assessment Strategies and Reading Profiles ARCS Web site,
please go to: http://www.nifl.gov/readingprofiles/
To learn more about the ARCS, please see NCSALL's "Seminar Guide - Reading
Profiles" http://www.ncsall.net/?id=597 available from the CPPR section of
the NCSALL Web site. 
A NCSALL study circle guide on reading research and teaching materials on
reading are available from the Publications section of the NCSALL Web site:
http://www.ncsall.net/index.php?id=25
The ARCS video panel introduction is also available free on DVD:
Order from NCSALL at http://www.ncsall.net/?id=24 for $5.00/copy (shipping
and handling), or send your request to NIFL at info at nifl.gov, and be sure to
include your mailing address.
 
The ARCS video is the first in a series of videos based on NCSALL research
that are being produced by the National Institute for Literacy.   As each
video is completed, streaming versions will be posted to the Web, with
accompanying announcements on the Institute's listservs and web sites and
NCSALL's Web site. Once the entire series is completed, all of the videos
will be packaged in a single DVD, which the Institute and NCSALL will make
available to the field.  The National Institute for Literacy and NCSALL
present these videos as introductions to key research topics in adult
learning and literacy.  We hope the field finds them useful as professional
and program development tools.
 
 
****************
Kaye Beall
Outreach Coordinator/NCSALL Dissemination Project
World Education
4401 S. Madison St.
Muncie, IN  47302
Tel: 765-717-3942
Fax: 208-694-8262
kaye_beall at worlded.org
http://www.ncsall.net
 
 
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From akohring at utk.edu  Thu Jun  8 09:23:21 2006
From: akohring at utk.edu (Aaron Kohring)
Date: Thu, 08 Jun 2006 09:23:21 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 322] Re: Discussion: video as a prof. devlpmt tool.
In-Reply-To: <D63A25821E9AE349ADBAB6BB1F0A766C75E303@cccmail2.chemeketa.
	network>
Message-ID: <5.1.0.14.2.20060608092104.03e0fac0@pop.utk.edu>
Virginia,
I'm glad you mentioned how students used video as a resource for 
themselves.  I remember observing a classroom that was doing a series of 
lessons around speaking and listening with a goal of preparing for work 
interviews.  The students really found video useful as an assessment for 
how well they performed.
Aaron
At 01:44 PM 6/7/2006 -0700, you wrote:
>I've used video on my own evaluation and had students use it for theirs.
>It is a useful tool and helps one be objective about what really happens
>in a group.  We used to set the video up and leave it on regularly, then
>review what we noticed as a group (students and instructors).  We found
>it a useful tool for program improvement.
>Va
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov
>[mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Dominique
>Brillanceau
>Sent: Wednesday, June 07, 2006 12:57 PM
>To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List
>Subject: [FocusOnBasics 318] Re: Discussion: video as a prof. devlpmt
>tool.
>
>Greetings,
>While I concur with Esther's comments on the disconnectedness of adult
>educators and the barriers to sharing one's teaching or others' through
>video media, I have been thinking about the impact it has on people who
>have
>done it.  David  did it in the 60's and a couple more people who have
>participated in the discussion  mentioned videotaping themselves or
>others a
>long time ago and they still talk about it.  Or Janet who is using it in
>
>training.  To me, that was uplifting.  It is an experience that one
>never
>forgets and should be part of all teacher training programs.
>It was a requirement in the TESL program at Portland State University 20
>
>years ago when I got my certificate but it no longer is. ( I still have
>the
>tape- no comment)
>  A colleague of mine just made it a class requirement/ task for her
>students
>in a MA TESOL program at Oregon State University.
>So... are there any paper FOB issues for this particular issue left?
>They
>could be sent to MA TESOL programs around the country and to state
>directors
>of Adult Basic Skills.  Just an idea...
>Great conversation.  An eye opener and a way of being connected.
>
>Dominique Brillanceau
>
>
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "e s" <e.b.shupe at lycos.com>
>To: "The Focus on Basics Discussion List" <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
>Sent: Wednesday, June 07, 2006 9:31 AM
>Subject: [FocusOnBasics 316] Re: Discussion: video as a prof. devlpmt
>tool.
>
>
> > Everyone,
> > I wanted to say a little more about the program that I am currently
> > enrolled and the videotaping requirement.  THis is an online
>certificate
> > program in English Language Teaching at The New School in NYC. THe
>nature
> > of distance learning requires the aid of technology to make the
>program
> > work and the videotaping of classroom instruction is purposeful in
>this
> > regard.  The type of feedback I will get about the teaching and
>learning
> > observations is unknown to me at this time, but I hope to have my own
> > purpose in viewing the tapes.  Jessica's article and comments from the
>
> > discussion will help me to ask the right questions.  I'll be sure to
>share
> > my experience with the list.
> >
> > On another note,  it's disheartening to me to read David's post and to
>
> > know that the practice of videotaping classroom dynamics has been
>around
> > for so long and yet is still not common practice for adult educators.
>THe
> > issues are at least in part about funding but also about the lack of
> > connection that is experienced by many adult educators.  We for the
>most
> > part are a team of volunteers or part-timers with very little power in
>
> > determining, what if any PD is offered to us.  One of the continuing
> > discussions about adult education is the way we are separate from
>other
> > institutions of learning.  This in many ways gives us creative license
>but
> > in many significant ways is disempowering.  What do others think?
> > Esther
> >
> > --
> > _______________________________________________
> >
> > Search for businesses by name, location, or phone number.  -Lycos
>Yellow
> > Pages
> >
> >
>http://r.lycos.com/r/yp_emailfooter/http://yellowpages.lycos.com/default
>.asp?SRC=lycos10
> >
> > ----------------------------------------------------
> > National Institute for Literacy
> > Focus on Basics mailing list
> > FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
> > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
> > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
> >
>
>
>----------------------------------------------------
>National Institute for Literacy
>Focus on Basics mailing list
>FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
>To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
>http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
>----------------------------------------------------
>National Institute for Literacy
>Focus on Basics mailing list
>FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
>To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to 
>http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
Aaron Kohring
Coordinator, LINCS Literacy & Learning Disabilities Special Collection 
(http://ldlink.coe.utk.edu/)
Moderator, National Institute for Literacy's Content Standards Discussion 
List (http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/Contentstandards)
Coordinator, Equipped for the Future Websites (http://eff.cls.utk.edu/)
Center for Literacy Studies, University of Tennessee
EFF Center for Training and Technical Assistance
Phone:(865) 974-4109 main
           (865) 974-4258 direct
Fax:   (865) 974-3857
e-mail: akohring at utk.edu
From djrosen at comcast.net  Thu Jun  8 10:59:30 2006
From: djrosen at comcast.net (David Rosen)
Date: Thu, 8 Jun 2006 10:59:30 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 323] Re: Discussion: video as a prof. devlpmt tool.
In-Reply-To: <5.1.0.14.2.20060608092104.03e0fac0@pop.utk.edu>
References: <5.1.0.14.2.20060608092104.03e0fac0@pop.utk.edu>
Message-ID: <12A5324E-F269-4552-9B31-4162FB2693C7@comcast.net>
Aaron and others,
I would like to see our field have a large digital video collection  
of excellent examples of teaching.  These "learning objects," or  
relatively short classroom digital video clips, could demonstrate for  
example: a teaching approach, technique, or method; a way of  
organizing a classroom; a way to integrate technology; or a way to  
use certain materials. Each clip could be linked to a widely agreed- 
upon teaching quality standard.  It should be online, accessible free  
to teachers anytime, anywhere, and also to those who could use them  
in their online or face-to-face professional development courses or  
workshops.
Some examples of this exist in the area of integrating technology in  
the classroom.  In our field this began several years ago with the  
very well done, and still relevant "Captured Wisdom" project by Lynda  
Ginsburg, Jennifer Elmore and others [ http://www.ncrtec.org/pd/cw/ 
adultlit.htm ] . Current good work is being done in California by  
Marian Thacher and others at OTAN [ http://www.otan.us/Itap/index.cfm? 
fuseaction=videogallery ]. These are short classroom examples of  
teachers and students integrating technology well.  I  have learned a  
lot about how to integrate technology well from both Captured Wisdom  
and OTAN instructional Technology Assistance Project  videos.
There are also examples of digital videos on line from the Portland,  
Oregon National Labsite for Adult ESOL [http://www.labschool.pdx.edu/ 
video_demo.html ] , a FOB article on this at [ http://www.ncsall.net/? 
id=987 ] and an archived discussion which began on this list in  
February, 2006
[ http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/focusonbasics/2006/000157.html ].
Are there other online digital video examples of good adult education  
teaching?
I think we need a major, multiyear national project to build an  
online digital searchable database of "standards-based" examples of  
good teaching. Would this be useful to you as a teacher, tutor,  
administrator, or professional developer?  If so, what would you like  
to see in this database?
David J. Rosen
djrosen at comcast.net
On Jun 8, 2006, at 9:23 AM, Aaron Kohring wrote:
> Virginia,
>
> I'm glad you mentioned how students used video as a resource for
> themselves.  I remember observing a classroom that was doing a  
> series of
> lessons around speaking and listening with a goal of preparing for  
> work
> interviews.  The students really found video useful as an  
> assessment for
> how well they performed.
> Aaron
>
> At 01:44 PM 6/7/2006 -0700, you wrote:
>> I've used video on my own evaluation and had students use it for  
>> theirs.
>> It is a useful tool and helps one be objective about what really  
>> happens
>> in a group.  We used to set the video up and leave it on  
>> regularly, then
>> review what we noticed as a group (students and instructors).  We  
>> found
>> it a useful tool for program improvement.
>> Va
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov
>> [mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Dominique
>> Brillanceau
>> Sent: Wednesday, June 07, 2006 12:57 PM
>> To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List
>> Subject: [FocusOnBasics 318] Re: Discussion: video as a prof. devlpmt
>> tool.
>>
>> Greetings,
>> While I concur with Esther's comments on the disconnectedness of  
>> adult
>> educators and the barriers to sharing one's teaching or others'  
>> through
>> video media, I have been thinking about the impact it has on  
>> people who
>> have
>> done it.  David  did it in the 60's and a couple more people who have
>> participated in the discussion  mentioned videotaping themselves or
>> others a
>> long time ago and they still talk about it.  Or Janet who is using  
>> it in
>>
>> training.  To me, that was uplifting.  It is an experience that one
>> never
>> forgets and should be part of all teacher training programs.
>> It was a requirement in the TESL program at Portland State  
>> University 20
>>
>> years ago when I got my certificate but it no longer is. ( I still  
>> have
>> the
>> tape- no comment)
>>  A colleague of mine just made it a class requirement/ task for her
>> students
>> in a MA TESOL program at Oregon State University.
>> So... are there any paper FOB issues for this particular issue left?
>> They
>> could be sent to MA TESOL programs around the country and to state
>> directors
>> of Adult Basic Skills.  Just an idea...
>> Great conversation.  An eye opener and a way of being connected.
>>
>> Dominique Brillanceau
>>
>>
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "e s" <e.b.shupe at lycos.com>
>> To: "The Focus on Basics Discussion List" <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
>> Sent: Wednesday, June 07, 2006 9:31 AM
>> Subject: [FocusOnBasics 316] Re: Discussion: video as a prof. devlpmt
>> tool.
>>
>>
>>> Everyone,
>>> I wanted to say a little more about the program that I am currently
>>> enrolled and the videotaping requirement.  THis is an online
>> certificate
>>> program in English Language Teaching at The New School in NYC. THe
>> nature
>>> of distance learning requires the aid of technology to make the
>> program
>>> work and the videotaping of classroom instruction is purposeful in
>> this
>>> regard.  The type of feedback I will get about the teaching and
>> learning
>>> observations is unknown to me at this time, but I hope to have my  
>>> own
>>> purpose in viewing the tapes.  Jessica's article and comments  
>>> from the
>>
>>> discussion will help me to ask the right questions.  I'll be sure to
>> share
>>> my experience with the list.
>>>
>>> On another note,  it's disheartening to me to read David's post  
>>> and to
>>
>>> know that the practice of videotaping classroom dynamics has been
>> around
>>> for so long and yet is still not common practice for adult  
>>> educators.
>> THe
>>> issues are at least in part about funding but also about the lack of
>>> connection that is experienced by many adult educators.  We for the
>> most
>>> part are a team of volunteers or part-timers with very little  
>>> power in
>>
>>> determining, what if any PD is offered to us.  One of the continuing
>>> discussions about adult education is the way we are separate from
>> other
>>> institutions of learning.  This in many ways gives us creative  
>>> license
>> but
>>> in many significant ways is disempowering.  What do others think?
>>> Esther
>>>
>>> --
>>> _______________________________________________
>>>
>>> Search for businesses by name, location, or phone number.  -Lycos
>> Yellow
>>> Pages
>>>
>>>
>> http://r.lycos.com/r/yp_emailfooter/http://yellowpages.lycos.com/ 
>> default
>> .asp?SRC=lycos10
>>>
>>> ----------------------------------------------------
>>> National Institute for Literacy
>>> Focus on Basics mailing list
>>> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
>>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
>>>
>>
>>
>> ----------------------------------------------------
>> National Institute for Literacy
>> Focus on Basics mailing list
>> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
>> ----------------------------------------------------
>> National Institute for Literacy
>> Focus on Basics mailing list
>> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
>
> Aaron Kohring
> Coordinator, LINCS Literacy & Learning Disabilities Special Collection
> (http://ldlink.coe.utk.edu/)
> Moderator, National Institute for Literacy's Content Standards  
> Discussion
> List (http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/Contentstandards)
> Coordinator, Equipped for the Future Websites (http:// 
> eff.cls.utk.edu/)
>
> Center for Literacy Studies, University of Tennessee
> EFF Center for Training and Technical Assistance
> Phone:(865) 974-4109 main
>            (865) 974-4258 direct
> Fax:   (865) 974-3857
> e-mail: akohring at utk.edu
>
> ----------------------------------------------------
> National Institute for Literacy
> Focus on Basics mailing list
> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to  
> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
David Rosen
djrosen at comcast.net
From jessicatomkins at gmail.com  Thu Jun  8 11:07:23 2006
From: jessicatomkins at gmail.com (Jessica Tomkins)
Date: Thu, 8 Jun 2006 11:07:23 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 324] Re: Discussion: video as a prof. devlpmt tool.
In-Reply-To: <000501c68a6c$86ffcd10$6501a8c0@D483MV11>
References: <20060607163127.8B450CA0C0@ws7-4.us4.outblaze.com>
	<000501c68a6c$86ffcd10$6501a8c0@D483MV11>
Message-ID: <7de8295a0606080807ib66abfdqa30104ef3519f543@mail.gmail.com>
Hi-
I'm thinking- in response to Esther & Dominique's comments on the
disconnectedness of adult educators- tt this is an issue within schools as
well as across the field that can be addressed by using video. One of the
teachers I interviewed pointed out that two willing teachers could easily
video each other and then sit around and discuss their classes - that this
is essentially free and effective for improving one's teaching (in his
experience). I think in k-12 schools it is often a mentor & novice teacher
who pair up to do this, but is seems like it would work the best with peers.
I heard a lot from the teachers I interviewed about the importance to them
of not being judged or evaluated - of course they meant by researchers, but
I suspect the lack of evaluation left them as open as they were to seeing
their classrooms from a new perspective. I guess I'm thinking about two
things - first of all video as a way of connecting p/t teachers (perhaps)
who wouldn't have a chance to cross paths or really work together. what do
you think? also, how important is the type of discussion and the level of
judgement? is it better to focus on students, is it better to really analyze
one's own teaching directly, or does self-conciousness then get in the way
and ruin the process? i know there are probably many different answers to
this question, but while we're rolling with this as a pd tool, i'm wondering
if there is a generally good way to use it - guidelines, perhaps, based on
everyone's experiences...
jessica
On 6/7/06, Dominique Brillanceau <dbrillan at pdx.edu> wrote:
>
> Greetings,
> While I concur with Esther's comments on the disconnectedness of adult
> educators and the barriers to sharing one's teaching or others' through
> video media, I have been thinking about the impact it has on people who
> have
> done it.  David  did it in the 60's and a couple more people who have
> participated in the discussion  mentioned videotaping themselves or others
> a
> long time ago and they still talk about it.  Or Janet who is using it in
> training.  To me, that was uplifting.  It is an experience that one never
> forgets and should be part of all teacher training programs.
> It was a requirement in the TESL program at Portland State University 20
> years ago when I got my certificate but it no longer is. ( I still have
> the
> tape- no comment)
> A colleague of mine just made it a class requirement/ task for her
> students
> in a MA TESOL program at Oregon State University.
> So... are there any paper FOB issues for this particular issue left? They
> could be sent to MA TESOL programs around the country and to state
> directors
> of Adult Basic Skills.  Just an idea...
> Great conversation.  An eye opener and a way of being connected.
>
> Dominique Brillanceau
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "e s" <e.b.shupe at lycos.com>
> To: "The Focus on Basics Discussion List" <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
> Sent: Wednesday, June 07, 2006 9:31 AM
> Subject: [FocusOnBasics 316] Re: Discussion: video as a prof. devlpmt
> tool.
>
>
> > Everyone,
> > I wanted to say a little more about the program that I am currently
> > enrolled and the videotaping requirement.  THis is an online certificate
> > program in English Language Teaching at The New School in NYC. THe
> nature
> > of distance learning requires the aid of technology to make the program
> > work and the videotaping of classroom instruction is purposeful in this
> > regard.  The type of feedback I will get about the teaching and learning
> > observations is unknown to me at this time, but I hope to have my own
> > purpose in viewing the tapes.  Jessica's article and comments from the
> > discussion will help me to ask the right questions.  I'll be sure to
> share
> > my experience with the list.
> >
> > On another note,  it's disheartening to me to read David's post and to
> > know that the practice of videotaping classroom dynamics has been around
> > for so long and yet is still not common practice for adult
> educators.  THe
> > issues are at least in part about funding but also about the lack of
> > connection that is experienced by many adult educators.  We for the most
> > part are a team of volunteers or part-timers with very little power in
> > determining, what if any PD is offered to us.  One of the continuing
> > discussions about adult education is the way we are separate from other
> > institutions of learning.  This in many ways gives us creative license
> but
> > in many significant ways is disempowering.  What do others think?
> > Esther
> >
> > --
> > _______________________________________________
> >
> > Search for businesses by name, location, or phone number.  -Lycos Yellow
> > Pages
> >
> >
> http://r.lycos.com/r/yp_emailfooter/http://yellowpages.lycos.com/default.asp?SRC=lycos10
> >
> > ----------------------------------------------------
> > National Institute for Literacy
> > Focus on Basics mailing list
> > FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
> > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
> > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
> >
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------
> National Institute for Literacy
> Focus on Basics mailing list
> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
>
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From mslaathaug at midco.net  Thu Jun  8 14:18:43 2006
From: mslaathaug at midco.net (Missy Slaathaug)
Date: Thu, 8 Jun 2006 13:18:43 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 325] Re: Video as aProfessional Development Tool
In-Reply-To: <s483f5c9.091@mail.jsi.com>
Message-ID: <005601c68b27$f9b2ae20$030ac90a@explorit3>
Greetings, 
We are working here in South Dakota to strengthen our teacher training
and ongoing professional development system.  One tool that we have
looked at is video-taping.  Some of us feel this would be an extremely
useful tool, especially given the distances between our centers and the
travel, time and funding barriers that arise to many other PD options,
like peer observation.  
We do feel, however, that there would be a great deal of resistance to
using video taping by many of our teachers.  
Does anyone have any ideas on how to overcome this negative perception
of using video-taping as a PD tool?  
Thank you.  
Missy Slaathaug
ESL State Specialist
South Dakota
mslaathaug at midco.net
  
-----Original Message-----
From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Julie McKinney
Sent: Monday, June 05, 2006 8:13 AM
To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 306] Discussion starts today: Video as
aProfessional Development Tool
Hi Everyone,
Welcome to our discussion with author Jessica Tomkins about her recent
FOB article:
Video as a Professional Development Tool
http://www.ncsall.net/index.php?id=1107
Please write in with any impressions, comments or questions you have
about the article! See below for some discussion questions.
Enjoy!
Julie
************************************
Discussion Questions
1. Have you ever seen a video of yourself teaching? If so, what was your
impression?  Did it affect your teaching? How?
>
> 2. What do you think you might gain from seeing yourself and your
students on video?
>
> 3. How might your students benefit from you reviewing such a video?
>
> 4. Have you ever used video as a professional development tool in your
program? If so, how did your group review and process the video in order
to share thoughts, give feedback and get the maximum benefit? How did
teachers receive this?
>
> 5. After reading this article, what unanswered questions stay with
you?
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
From EJacobson at air.org  Thu Jun  8 14:37:32 2006
From: EJacobson at air.org (Jacobson, Erik)
Date: Thu, 8 Jun 2006 11:37:32 -0700
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 326] Re: Discussion: video as a prof. devlpmt tool.
Message-ID: <E503E97032965943AD16C3494855FF320D0EEE@CA1EX01.air.org>
I think an archive could be useful and it would be great if it were
interactive. Looking at how the videos are uploaded to "You Tube" might
be helpful. Once a video is up at that site anybody that watches the
video can do three things. 
1. Give it a grade (not so useful in this case, maybe, because the
videos would probably be vetted to begin with)
2. Post a comment (and the comments are available for other people to
read and react to)
3. Tag the video with codes (e.g., Nirvana, grunge, Seattle). This code
helps people when they are searching through the 40,000 videos uploaded
to You Tube daily. 
The coding and comments could work together in a really instructive way.
For example, I could watch a video clip and tag it with a code - say,
teacher participation in pair work (a NCSALL study). I think this would
be helpful because any given clip of teaching could be used for many
type of examples (look at what the teacher is doing in terms of body
language, look at how the students are working together, what are the
materials used, etc.) I think having this flexibility would add to the
way people would use the resource. Yes, of course, you should be able to
search by standards and video clips to be attached to standards (i.e.,
here is an example of what has been defined as a best practice), but we
should also take advantage of the communal productive aspect of the
internet and allow for more democratic development of what is called
best practice.  
It would be even better if we could connect the comment section to the
code. So I could look at a clip that has gotten multiple codes - pair
work, intermediate ESL, present perfect progressive - and then click on
a comment section connected to one of those codes. This would help
organize the asynchronous conversation around the multiple topics the
clip would speak to.   
Erik 
From tarv at chemeketa.edu  Thu Jun  8 15:38:56 2006
From: tarv at chemeketa.edu (Virginia Tardaewether)
Date: Thu, 8 Jun 2006 12:38:56 -0700
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 327] Re: Discussion: video as a prof. devlpmt tool.
Message-ID: <D63A25821E9AE349ADBAB6BB1F0A766C75E311@cccmail2.chemeketa.network>
We're thinking of using video for our natural resource crew evaluations
this summer.  Pre test: their answers and manner on video.
Post test: same questions-answers and manner on video.
Va 
-----Original Message-----
From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Jacobson, Erik
Sent: Thursday, June 08, 2006 11:38 AM
To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 326] Re: Discussion: video as a prof. devlpmt
tool.
I think an archive could be useful and it would be great if it were
interactive. Looking at how the videos are uploaded to "You Tube" might
be helpful. Once a video is up at that site anybody that watches the
video can do three things. 
1. Give it a grade (not so useful in this case, maybe, because the
videos would probably be vetted to begin with)
2. Post a comment (and the comments are available for other people to
read and react to)
3. Tag the video with codes (e.g., Nirvana, grunge, Seattle). This code
helps people when they are searching through the 40,000 videos uploaded
to You Tube daily. 
The coding and comments could work together in a really instructive way.
For example, I could watch a video clip and tag it with a code - say,
teacher participation in pair work (a NCSALL study). I think this would
be helpful because any given clip of teaching could be used for many
type of examples (look at what the teacher is doing in terms of body
language, look at how the students are working together, what are the
materials used, etc.) I think having this flexibility would add to the
way people would use the resource. Yes, of course, you should be able to
search by standards and video clips to be attached to standards (i.e.,
here is an example of what has been defined as a best practice), but we
should also take advantage of the communal productive aspect of the
internet and allow for more democratic development of what is called
best practice.  
It would be even better if we could connect the comment section to the
code. So I could look at a clip that has gotten multiple codes - pair
work, intermediate ESL, present perfect progressive - and then click on
a comment section connected to one of those codes. This would help
organize the asynchronous conversation around the multiple topics the
clip would speak to.   
Erik 
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From djrosen at comcast.net  Thu Jun  8 15:56:44 2006
From: djrosen at comcast.net (David Rosen)
Date: Thu, 8 Jun 2006 15:56:44 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 328] Re: Video as aProfessional Development Tool
In-Reply-To: <005601c68b27$f9b2ae20$030ac90a@explorit3>
References: <005601c68b27$f9b2ae20$030ac90a@explorit3>
Message-ID: <5DCBF426-F1E3-418B-A06E-EA54FDDD192D@comcast.net>
Missy, you wrote:
> We are working here in South Dakota to strengthen our teacher training
> and ongoing professional development system.  One tool that we have
> looked at is video-taping.  Some of us feel this would be an extremely
> useful tool, especially given the distances between our centers and  
> the
> travel, time and funding barriers that arise to many other PD options,
> like peer observation.
>
> We do feel, however, that there would be a great deal of resistance to
> using video taping by many of our teachers.
>
> Does anyone have any ideas on how to overcome this negative perception
> of using video-taping as a PD tool?
>
> Thank you.
>
> Missy Slaathaug
> ESL State Specialist
> South Dakota
> mslaathaug at midco.net
Here are six suggestions:
1. Use videotaping in the context of a peer coaching model where two  
teachers from the same center (or if there is one, a nearby center)  
are paired, and use a structured process to help each other to  
improve their teaching.
2. Provide the equipment -- and training on how to use it --  
including the technical aspects, free.
3. Provide teachers with paid professional development time to do a  
peer-coaching project.
4. Make it clear that this is not part of their performance evaluation.
5. Provide articles (and videotapes?) on the process which they can  
look at before they decide whether or not to try it.
6. Let teachers know that you will provide a stipend and travel  
expenses for a (selected) pair of teachers who want to present their  
peer coaching project at a state, regional or national conference.
David J. Rosen
newsomeassociates.com
djrosen at comcast.net
From julie_mcKinney at worlded.org  Fri Jun  9 12:35:03 2006
From: julie_mcKinney at worlded.org (Julie  McKinney)
Date: Fri, 09 Jun 2006 12:35:03 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 329] Re: Discussion: video as a prof.	devlpmt tool.
Message-ID: <s4896b09.028@mail.jsi.com>
David mentioned a video collection for the field, and referenced, among
others, the Lab School in Portland, where they actually do have huge
collection of videos that can be accessed for research use, and probably
for PD efforts as well. Dominique, and/or anyone else from the Lab
School, can you tell us more about how this works with the video
collection? How can programs from around the country access this
collection? It seems like a very unique, and possibly underused
resource!
Read more about the lab school and their use of video in Volume 8A of
FOB:
The Lab School
http://www.ncsall.net/?id=987
This issue also has several articles about how teachers used the videos
for research in ESOL learning.
Julie
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
>>> djrosen at comcast.net 06/08/06 10:59 AM >>>
Aaron and others,
I would like to see our field have a large digital video collection  
of excellent examples of teaching.  These "learning objects," or  
relatively short classroom digital video clips, could demonstrate for  
example: a teaching approach, technique, or method; a way of  
organizing a classroom; a way to integrate technology; or a way to  
use certain materials. Each clip could be linked to a widely agreed- 
upon teaching quality standard.  It should be online, accessible free  
to teachers anytime, anywhere, and also to those who could use them  
in their online or face-to-face professional development courses or  
workshops.
Some examples of this exist in the area of integrating technology in  
the classroom.  In our field this began several years ago with the  
very well done, and still relevant "Captured Wisdom" project by Lynda  
Ginsburg, Jennifer Elmore and others [ http://www.ncrtec.org/pd/cw/ 
adultlit.htm ] . Current good work is being done in California by  
Marian Thacher and others at OTAN [ http://www.otan.us/Itap/index.cfm? 
fuseaction=videogallery ]. These are short classroom examples of  
teachers and students integrating technology well.  I  have learned a  
lot about how to integrate technology well from both Captured Wisdom  
and OTAN instructional Technology Assistance Project  videos.
There are also examples of digital videos on line from the Portland,  
Oregon National Labsite for Adult ESOL [http://www.labschool.pdx.edu/ 
video_demo.html ] , a FOB article on this at [ http://www.ncsall.net/? 
id=987 ] and an archived discussion which began on this list in  
February, 2006
[ http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/focusonbasics/2006/000157.html ].
Are there other online digital video examples of good adult education  
teaching?
I think we need a major, multiyear national project to build an  
online digital searchable database of "standards-based" examples of  
good teaching. Would this be useful to you as a teacher, tutor,  
administrator, or professional developer?  If so, what would you like  
to see in this database?
David J. Rosen
djrosen at comcast.net
On Jun 8, 2006, at 9:23 AM, Aaron Kohring wrote:
> Virginia,
>
> I'm glad you mentioned how students used video as a resource for
> themselves.  I remember observing a classroom that was doing a  
> series of
> lessons around speaking and listening with a goal of preparing for  
> work
> interviews.  The students really found video useful as an  
> assessment for
> how well they performed.
> Aaron
>
> At 01:44 PM 6/7/2006 -0700, you wrote:
>> I've used video on my own evaluation and had students use it for  
>> theirs.
>> It is a useful tool and helps one be objective about what really  
>> happens
>> in a group.  We used to set the video up and leave it on  
>> regularly, then
>> review what we noticed as a group (students and instructors).  We  
>> found
>> it a useful tool for program improvement.
>> Va
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov
>> [mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Dominique
>> Brillanceau
>> Sent: Wednesday, June 07, 2006 12:57 PM
>> To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List
>> Subject: [FocusOnBasics 318] Re: Discussion: video as a prof. devlpmt
>> tool.
>>
>> Greetings,
>> While I concur with Esther's comments on the disconnectedness of  
>> adult
>> educators and the barriers to sharing one's teaching or others'  
>> through
>> video media, I have been thinking about the impact it has on  
>> people who
>> have
>> done it.  David  did it in the 60's and a couple more people who have
>> participated in the discussion  mentioned videotaping themselves or
>> others a
>> long time ago and they still talk about it.  Or Janet who is using  
>> it in
>>
>> training.  To me, that was uplifting.  It is an experience that one
>> never
>> forgets and should be part of all teacher training programs.
>> It was a requirement in the TESL program at Portland State  
>> University 20
>>
>> years ago when I got my certificate but it no longer is. ( I still  
>> have
>> the
>> tape- no comment)
>>  A colleague of mine just made it a class requirement/ task for her
>> students
>> in a MA TESOL program at Oregon State University.
>> So... are there any paper FOB issues for this particular issue left?
>> They
>> could be sent to MA TESOL programs around the country and to state
>> directors
>> of Adult Basic Skills.  Just an idea...
>> Great conversation.  An eye opener and a way of being connected.
>>
>> Dominique Brillanceau
>>
>>
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "e s" <e.b.shupe at lycos.com>
>> To: "The Focus on Basics Discussion List" <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
>> Sent: Wednesday, June 07, 2006 9:31 AM
>> Subject: [FocusOnBasics 316] Re: Discussion: video as a prof. devlpmt
>> tool.
>>
>>
>>> Everyone,
>>> I wanted to say a little more about the program that I am currently
>>> enrolled and the videotaping requirement.  THis is an online
>> certificate
>>> program in English Language Teaching at The New School in NYC. THe
>> nature
>>> of distance learning requires the aid of technology to make the
>> program
>>> work and the videotaping of classroom instruction is purposeful in
>> this
>>> regard.  The type of feedback I will get about the teaching and
>> learning
>>> observations is unknown to me at this time, but I hope to have my  
>>> own
>>> purpose in viewing the tapes.  Jessica's article and comments  
>>> from the
>>
>>> discussion will help me to ask the right questions.  I'll be sure to
>> share
>>> my experience with the list.
>>>
>>> On another note,  it's disheartening to me to read David's post  
>>> and to
>>
>>> know that the practice of videotaping classroom dynamics has been
>> around
>>> for so long and yet is still not common practice for adult  
>>> educators.
>> THe
>>> issues are at least in part about funding but also about the lack of
>>> connection that is experienced by many adult educators.  We for the
>> most
>>> part are a team of volunteers or part-timers with very little  
>>> power in
>>
>>> determining, what if any PD is offered to us.  One of the continuing
>>> discussions about adult education is the way we are separate from
>> other
>>> institutions of learning.  This in many ways gives us creative  
>>> license
>> but
>>> in many significant ways is disempowering.  What do others think?
>>> Esther
>>>
>>> --
>>> _______________________________________________
>>>
>>> Search for businesses by name, location, or phone number.  -Lycos
>> Yellow
>>> Pages
>>>
>>>
>> http://r.lycos.com/r/yp_emailfooter/http://yellowpages.lycos.com/ 
>> default
>> .asp?SRC=lycos10
>>>
>>> ----------------------------------------------------
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>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
>>>
>>
>>
>> ----------------------------------------------------
>> National Institute for Literacy
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>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
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>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
>
> Aaron Kohring
> Coordinator, LINCS Literacy & Learning Disabilities Special Collection
> (http://ldlink.coe.utk.edu/)
> Moderator, National Institute for Literacy's Content Standards  
> Discussion
> List (http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/Contentstandards)
> Coordinator, Equipped for the Future Websites (http:// 
> eff.cls.utk.edu/)
>
> Center for Literacy Studies, University of Tennessee
> EFF Center for Training and Technical Assistance
> Phone:(865) 974-4109 main
>            (865) 974-4258 direct
> Fax:   (865) 974-3857
> e-mail: akohring at utk.edu
>
> ----------------------------------------------------
> National Institute for Literacy
> Focus on Basics mailing list
> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to  
> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
David Rosen
djrosen at comcast.net
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From julie_mcKinney at worlded.org  Fri Jun  9 13:57:28 2006
From: julie_mcKinney at worlded.org (Julie  McKinney)
Date: Fri, 09 Jun 2006 13:57:28 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 330] Discussion Questions for June 12 Discussion:
	Reading from the	Learner's Perspective
Message-ID: <s4897e6a.095@mail.jsi.com>
Hi Everyone,
Here are some discussion questions to think about for next week's
discussion with Alisa Belzer: Reading from the Learners Perspective:
Note that there are two different articles that we will discuss.
Influences on the Reading Practices of Adults in ABE
http://www.ncsall.net/index.php?id=1108
1. Have you ever evaluated how much reading your students do outside of
class time? If so, what were the results? What factors in their life do
you think affect how much outside reading they do?
2. According to the article, a learner's own belief in the value of
reading as a learning tool is important, as is family support, time to
read, and access to print materials at home. What can we do as teachers
to help those students who lack these factors? What program support
could help?
Learners on Learning to Read
http://www.ncsall.net/index.php?id=1110
1. What do you think of this reseacrch practice of asking the learners
themselves for input about effective teaching/learning strategies?
2. According to the learners, the following factors were cited as the
most important for successful reading development: "1) their own
motivation and determination, 2) program features, including
relationships with an instructor, instructional strategies and
materials, and structures and formats, 3) reading practice, and 4)
supports." How much do you agree or disagree, based on your own sense?
Reflect on these factors in your own classes and programs. How could
they be improved?
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
From e.b.shupe at lycos.com  Fri Jun  9 14:15:11 2006
From: e.b.shupe at lycos.com (e s)
Date: Fri, 09 Jun 2006 13:15:11 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 331] Re: Discussion: video as a prof. devlpmt tool.
Message-ID: <20060609181512.33293CA0BF@ws7-4.us4.outblaze.com>
Jessica and all,
Yes I agree, I think that videotaping could help teachers to connect, especially those of us who are on the periphery. 
Just a few thoughts on the uses of videotaping as PD for adult educators:
If you look at videotaping as a means of critical reflection, it could help raise the consciousness of teachers, helping them better identify and challenge the assumptions that drive their teaching practices.  For example, one goal might be toward a ?critical teaching? approach (I think coined by Shor).  One important goal of this approach is to begin to look at how teachers can help students to think more critically about their learning.  Videotaping the classroom dynamics could be of both the student and the teacher and the reflection part could take various different forms. One focus might be on the methodological practices that strengthen or weaken learner?s ability to think and act creatively in the classroom.  Many types of reflective questions in this area are already out there and available to use.
I can say from experience that many learners come to the classroom with preconceived notions about ?learning? developed from their K-12 experience.  The same is true of teachers.  Because many teachers working with adult learners are unaware of the different aspects of adult learner motivation, many lack the skills to approach teaching in a way from would facilitate greater insight for their adult learners.  
Visual aids are always a powerful tool in helping to to uncover hidden dynamics at work, As a result, helping teachers to create a more meaningful learning environment for their learners.  I know this would be a huge undertaking (money and time commitment on the part of the institution, teacher and student) further it would require that teachers be onboard in terms of being open to changing the way they approach teaching and learning, but I think it would be worth the effort and I know that I would be highly motivated to participate in this type of PD.
Esther
    
-- 
_______________________________________________
Search for businesses by name, location, or phone number.  -Lycos Yellow Pages
http://r.lycos.com/r/yp_emailfooter/http://yellowpages.lycos.com/default.asp?SRC=lycos10
From julie_mcKinney at worlded.org  Sat Jun 10 09:49:56 2006
From: julie_mcKinney at worlded.org (Julie  McKinney)
Date: Sat, 10 Jun 2006 09:49:56 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 332]  Thanks to Jessica and everyone!
Message-ID: <s48a95d5.048@mail.jsi.com>
Jessica, and everyone who contributed to this discussion,
Thank you! It was enriching to hear the idea of using video as a
professional development tool examined as closely and thoughtfully as
you have all done. 
You have documented a variety of benefits for teachers, both experienced
and new, and learners that can come from watching videos. You also
shared many suggestions, including:
- focus on the students and their behavior, both in filming and
reviewing
- have students also review the videos and comment
- don't be videotaped too many times
- use videos for students to evaluate themselves
- describe rather than judge when viewing videos
- use as a way to connect part-time teachers 
- use in study circles
- use for peer coaching
- develop and use a video database for our field
There is too much to summarize here, but I encourage you to look back at
the discussion to recall the points that resonate with you, and
hopefully some of you can further discuss this method of professional
development within your programs. You can find the discussion on the
Literacy Tent ALE Wiki at the following link:
http://wiki.literacytent.org/index.php/Video_as_a_Professional_Development_Tool
By the way, you can find many other useful resources and discussions on
this Wiki! The home page is at:
http://wiki.literacytent.org/index.php/Main_Page
Again Everyone, thanks for a great discussion! (And rest up--another one
starts on Monday!)
All the Best,
Julie
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
From julie_mcKinney at worlded.org  Mon Jun 12 08:54:08 2006
From: julie_mcKinney at worlded.org (Julie  McKinney)
Date: Mon, 12 Jun 2006 08:54:08 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 333] Welcome to our discussion: Reading from the
	Learner's	Perspective
Message-ID: <s48d2bc7.089@mail.jsi.com>
Hi Everyone,
Welcome to our discussion with FOB author Alisa Belzer, who will discuss
her two articles from the most recent FOB. See the links below with
discussion questions, and write in to share some thoughts!
Enjoy,
Julie
*****************************************
Influences on the Reading Practices of Adults in ABE
http://www.ncsall.net/index.php?id=1108
1. Have you ever evaluated how much reading your students do outside of
class time? If so, what were the results? What factors in their life do
you think affect how much outside reading they do?
2. According to the article, a learner's own belief in the value of
reading as a learning tool is important, as is family support, time to
read, and access to print materials at home. What can we do as teachers
to help those students who lack these factors? What program support
could help?
Learners on Learning to Read
http://www.ncsall.net/index.php?id=1110
1. What do you think of this reseacrch practice of asking the learners
themselves for input about effective teaching/learning strategies?
2. According to the learners, the following factors were cited as the
most important for successful reading development: "1) their own
motivation and determination, 2) program features, including
relationships with an instructor, instructional strategies and
materials, and structures and formats, 3) reading practice, and 4)
supports." How much do you agree or disagree, based on your own sense?
Reflect on these factors in your own classes and programs. How could
they be improved?
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
From julie_mcKinney at worlded.org  Mon Jun 12 10:30:48 2006
From: julie_mcKinney at worlded.org (Julie  McKinney)
Date: Mon, 12 Jun 2006 10:30:48 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 334]  Reading Outside of Class
Message-ID: <s48d4276.037@mail.jsi.com>
Hi Everyone,
Because we are discussing two different articles this week, I am setting
up two subject lines so that you can respond to the one that pertains to
your comments. That way, it will be easier for all of us to keep track
of the discussion.
Reply to this message (subject line: "Reading Outside of Class") if you
are commenting on the following article:
Influences on the Reading Practices of Adults in ABE
http://www.ncsall.net/index.php?id=1108
If you are commenting on the other article, reply to the message with
the subject line: "Learners on Learning to Read."
If your comments relate to both articles, then reply to the message with
the subject line: "Welcome to our discussion: Reading from the Learner's
Perspective.""
I hope this makes sense!
Julie
Learners on Learning to Read
http://www.ncsall.net/index.php?id=1110
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
From julie_mcKinney at worlded.org  Mon Jun 12 10:35:46 2006
From: julie_mcKinney at worlded.org (Julie  McKinney)
Date: Mon, 12 Jun 2006 10:35:46 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 335]  Learners on Learning to Read
Message-ID: <s48d4390.078@mail.jsi.com>
Hi Everyone,
Reply to this message (subject line: "Learners on Learning to Read") if
you are commenting on the following article:
Learners on Learning to Read
http://www.ncsall.net/index.php?id=1110
If you are commenting on the other article, reply to the message with
the subject line: "Reading Outside of Class."
If your comments relate to both articles, then reply to the message with
the subject line: "Welcome to our discussion: Reading from the Learner's
Perspective.""
Julie
P.S. I am setting up these two subject lines so that it will be easier
for all of us to keep track of the threads of the discussion.
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
From julie_mcKinney at worlded.org  Mon Jun 12 11:41:54 2006
From: julie_mcKinney at worlded.org (Julie  McKinney)
Date: Mon, 12 Jun 2006 11:41:54 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 336] Re: Learners on Learning to Read
Message-ID: <s48d531d.050@mail.jsi.com>
Hi Everyone,
I am passing on this response that I received from someone who asked me
to post it for them. It speaks to the question of getting feedback
directly from learners on the process of their learning.
Julie
***************************************
Julie -- I posed your questions to some practitioners here in Ohio--one 
answered me promptly.   Here are her thoughts about asking adults about 
their thoughts about teaching strategies and practices.  I think these 
would be interesting for the discussion list.   Robin Schwarz
Dear Robin,
I  just came across some materials I had when I taught GED classes in
2001. I initially asked students to fill out information about their
likes, dislikes, favorite hobbies, what they wanted to learn the first
week I started.
I was a brand new teacher for this population. ( I taught basic
English/ESL previously). I tried hard to learn their names and get to
know them as the wonder unique individuals they were/are.
I have to admit it was hard for me because I had to teach math
( not my best subject) and reading for levels 2nd to 9th grade in one
class. Learning the computer software was a challenge because of
starting as a teacher in the 2nd week of classes.
It was fortunate that I had a wonderful mentor to help me with the
class. I tried with a variety learning approaches: video, discussion,
hands-on. We had a set curricula to cover but I gave students learning
styles inventories in order to try to individualize my teaching
approaches with them. I also worked w/ those who asked/ I asked if they
need help on a one/one basis.
Midterm I asked students to evaluate what activities they liked the
best: working on the computer, class discussions, specific learning
modules I'd taught. I also asked what subjects they felt they still
needed help with.
I found they loved talking about math.. and liked reading/discussion
exercises involving music artists like George Benson and Ray Charles.
They also liked working on the computer re: Reading.
It was not "scientific" to me but maybe in reality it was...
In our society we ask "consumers" what they think of "products".
In research....WHy don't we ask adult learners what they want, need,
feel?
I think it's partially because of the barriers to writing and for ESL
students spoken language. However, I think this is not that hard to
address if our society is finally willing to reach out to people that
need education.
Re: student motivation....
One other major issue that we are addressing in our GED program is
identifying/eliminating barriers to attendance for adults. Poverty, no
food, no job, caring for families, childcare-especially for
infants,drug/alcohol problems, violence, unsupportive families, friends,
transportation,mental illnesses, domestic violence are all major issues.
In light of Time magazine's article on "Dropout Nation" and the growing
undereducated population it is very important that we ask our students
what they need, address their concerns and partner with research/policy
makers to help all our members of our society.
Cathleen McComas, Columbus State Community College
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
>>> julie_mcKinney at worlded.org 06/12/06 10:35 AM >>>
Hi Everyone,
Reply to this message (subject line: "Learners on Learning to Read") if
you are commenting on the following article:
Learners on Learning to Read
http://www.ncsall.net/index.php?id=1110
If you are commenting on the other article, reply to the message with
the subject line: "Reading Outside of Class."
If your comments relate to both articles, then reply to the message with
the subject line: "Welcome to our discussion: Reading from the Learner's
Perspective.""
Julie
P.S. I am setting up these two subject lines so that it will be easier
for all of us to keep track of the threads of the discussion.
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
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To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
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From belzera at rci.rutgers.edu  Tue Jun 13 21:26:24 2006
From: belzera at rci.rutgers.edu (Alisa Belzer)
Date: Tue, 13 Jun 2006 21:26:24 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 337]  learners on learning to read
Message-ID: <5.2.1.1.2.20060613212057.03a91918@rci.rutgers.edu>
Hello Everyone:
I'm very curious to know your reactions to this work.  As I was doing the 
research I found the learners words to be very compelling, heartfelt, well 
articulated, and interesting.  However, when I went to analyze the data, I 
wondered if their perceptions really shed light on the big questions of the 
day regarding teaching developing adult readers to read better.  I asked 
myself whether they gave me information that was new.  I guess two things 
really emerged for me.  One, that it was important to them that they be 
taught some technical skills and be given lots of opportunities to read 
interesting materials over extended periods of time (it seems like we have 
a tendency to emphasize one or the other depending on our own beliefs, but 
balance seems to be the key), and two, that they focused the discussion 
differently than teachers or researchers might do  Their focus makes clear 
that the starting place for success is within them.  It's not clear to me 
if teachers can create those conditions for learners or if they have to 
find a way to do it themselves.
Anyway, I'll be interested to know how this all strikes you.
Alisa
From belzera at rci.rutgers.edu  Tue Jun 13 21:31:58 2006
From: belzera at rci.rutgers.edu (Alisa Belzer)
Date: Tue, 13 Jun 2006 21:31:58 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 338]  reading outside of class
Message-ID: <5.2.1.1.2.20060613212650.03a45ed0@rci.rutgers.edu>
I found this study very interesting to work on.  In some ways it raised 
more questions than it answered.  One thing I wonder about is how this 
picture might all change for learners who have teachers who have found 
concrete ways to encourage extensive practice outside of class, and who 
have exposed their students both to lots of interesting texts and to 
strategies for reading independently (e.g., how to pick reading materials, 
what to do when stuck etc.).   The learners in this study hadn't gotten 
those kinds of supports and encouragements, but how does practice outside 
of class look different when they have?
Also, I think this study raises interesting questions regarding how to help 
adult learners make learning opportunities out of the day to day 
interactions with text that most adults take part in to some extent, 
regardless of reading level every day.  In other words, even low level 
readers have found ways to navigate their lives in our text bound 
culture.  Yet, these interactions don't necessarily help them improve their 
reading, maybe because the have found ways to "manage" without really 
actually reading very much.  How can these day to day, adult interactions 
with text that almost everyone has to deal with (signs, labels, etc.), 
actually be turned into explicit opportunities to practice?  Does it always 
have to be book reading?
Alisa
From lalumineuse at yahoo.com  Wed Jun 14 03:02:09 2006
From: lalumineuse at yahoo.com (Ujwala Samant)
Date: Wed, 14 Jun 2006 00:02:09 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 339] Re: reading outside of class
In-Reply-To: <5.2.1.1.2.20060613212650.03a45ed0@rci.rutgers.edu>
Message-ID: <20060614070209.29786.qmail@web55113.mail.re4.yahoo.com>
In my work in India, learners told me that they now
could read what they wanted to which included:
1. Road and other signs including bus numbers
2. The newspaper occasionally, especially around
election time
3. Notes sent from school.
4. Film magazines
5. Religious texts (all faiths stated that)
When I asked them if they would use a mobile library
or do extra reading, I was told:
1. They had very little time
2. They preferred to watch the telly or listen to the
radio
3. They did not feel the necessity
4. Told me they didn't want to turn into memsahibs of
leisure, which is how they saw people who 'sat around
and read'.... pretensions of intellectuality
A few asked me if reading beyond what they needed to
negotiate their lives, was a goal I had for them. And
yet, they used reading more than they did writing.
The last question threw me.... 
cheers
Ujwala
--- Alisa Belzer <belzera at rci.rutgers.edu> wrote:
> I found this study very interesting to work on.  In
> some ways it raised 
> more questions than it answered.  One thing I wonder
> about is how this 
> picture might all change for learners who have
> teachers who have found 
> concrete ways to encourage extensive practice
> outside of class, and who 
> have exposed their students both to lots of
> interesting texts and to 
> strategies for reading independently (e.g., how to
> pick reading materials, 
> what to do when stuck etc.).   The learners in this
> study hadn't gotten 
> those kinds of supports and encouragements, but how
> does practice outside 
> of class look different when they have?
> 
> Also, I think this study raises interesting
> questions regarding how to help 
> adult learners make learning opportunities out of
> the day to day 
> interactions with text that most adults take part in
> to some extent, 
> regardless of reading level every day.  In other
> words, even low level 
> readers have found ways to navigate their lives in
> our text bound 
> culture.  Yet, these interactions don't necessarily
> help them improve their 
> reading, maybe because the have found ways to
> "manage" without really 
> actually reading very much.  How can these day to
> day, adult interactions 
> with text that almost everyone has to deal with
> (signs, labels, etc.), 
> actually be turned into explicit opportunities to
> practice?  Does it always 
> have to be book reading?
> 
> Alisa
> 
> ----------------------------------------------------
> National Institute for Literacy
> Focus on Basics mailing list
> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings,
> please go to
> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
> 
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From e.b.shupe at lycos.com  Wed Jun 14 08:59:29 2006
From: e.b.shupe at lycos.com (e s)
Date: Wed, 14 Jun 2006 07:59:29 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 340] Re: reading outside of class
Message-ID: <20060614125930.046F93384B@ws7-3.us4.outblaze.com>
Everyone,
I concur with Ujwala that learners are eager and motivated to read if what they are reading is connected to their lives in a meaningful way. (And we as instructors learn quickly that learners get to define what is meaningful). 
On another note, I have been working with John for the past two years.  He graduated from a high school in New Jersey in 1972 through the special education department. When we met, John could not read.  Not at any level.  He lacked the concept of phoneme awareness, so we needed to start from the beginning. What was striking to me about John was the way he perceived himself as a learner.  He felt he couldn't do anything related to reading on his own.  As a way to uncover some "hidden" patterns at work for him we decided to write his "learner biography".  The story was incredible, very emotional.  Year after year in school his experience would be the same.  Because of his quiet nature, he would very often be ignored by teachers who were clearly overwhelmed by the needier students in the class.  Unfortunately the same pattern persisted at home.  He was one of nine children in his family.  He rarely came home with his books and almost never was given homework.  He said he never got the help he needed at home,, so he never did his homework. The teachers relented and stopped giving him take home work.   Two important themes emerged from this writing.  THe first was the need for John to create the space and time to ask questions and express concerns regarding his learning.  The second was for John to have more independence in his work at home.  Sort of an equilibrium if you will, between asking for help and learning strategies to work on your own. These two discoveries have enabled John to be more active in his own learning.  We are still a long way from the goals he has set for himself, but reflecting on his past experiences as a learner has allowed him to see more clearly alternative ways to approach learning as an adult.
Esther
-- 
_______________________________________________
Search for businesses by name, location, or phone number.  -Lycos Yellow Pages
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From lalumineuse at yahoo.com  Wed Jun 14 10:08:18 2006
From: lalumineuse at yahoo.com (Ujwala Samant)
Date: Wed, 14 Jun 2006 07:08:18 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 341] Re: reading outside of class
In-Reply-To: <20060614125930.046F93384B@ws7-3.us4.outblaze.com>
Message-ID: <20060614140818.18991.qmail@web55110.mail.re4.yahoo.com>
Hi everyone,
>>The story
> was incredible, very emotional.  Year after year in
> school his experience would be the same.  Because of
> his quiet nature, he would very often be ignored by
> teachers who were clearly overwhelmed by the needier
> students in the class.  Unfortunately the same
> pattern persisted at home.  He was one of nine
> children in his family.  He rarely came home with
> his books and almost never was given homework.   Two
important themes emerged
> from this writing.  THe first was the need for John
> to create the space and time to ask questions and
> express concerns regarding his learning.  The second
> was for John to have more independence in his work
> at home. <<
Absolutely! the women I worked with had to create a
safe space and time to ask questions and for help.
This is one of reasons for the failure of an
international campaign with a very catchy name "Each
one teach one" <sic> in India, where children (some as
young as 6/7) were to teach illiterate adults. Women
did not feel safe, and were afraid of being ridiculed
by children and hence the campaign sputtered along
until structures and training were added. Working with
small groups of women helped them with their
self-confidence and they said they did not feel quite
so foolish asking for help or making mistakes.
 >>Sort of an equilibrium if you will,
> between asking for help and learning strategies to
> work on your own. These two discoveries have enabled
> John to be more active in his own learning. <<
You've put it well. It must be very rewarding for
John!
 >>We are
> still a long way from the goals he has set for
> himself, but reflecting on his past experiences as a
> learner has allowed him to see more clearly
> alternative ways to approach learning as an adult.<<
That is inspiring...
Ujwala
__________________________________________________
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From l.cuttler at comcast.net  Wed Jun 14 10:31:53 2006
From: l.cuttler at comcast.net (Lucille Cuttler)
Date: Wed, 14 Jun 2006 10:31:53 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 342] Re: reading outside of class
In-Reply-To: <20060614125930.046F93384B@ws7-3.us4.outblaze.com>
Message-ID: <LOBBICLOAFKBEPDBHIAJAEFHGHAA.l.cuttler@comcast.net>
Very nice. Now can you share teaching strategies? Stroking, space,
solicitude for  learning must be supported by a structured systematic method
to teach the language.  Are the tutors totally prepared?  Lucille Cuttler
-----Original Message-----
From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov]On Behalf Of e s
Sent: Wednesday, June 14, 2006 8:59 AM
To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 340] Re: reading outside of class
Everyone,
I concur with Ujwala that learners are eager and motivated to read if what
they are reading is connected to their lives in a meaningful way. (And we as
instructors learn quickly that learners get to define what is meaningful).
On another note, I have been working with John for the past two years.  He
graduated from a high school in New Jersey in 1972 through the special
education department. When we met, John could not read.  Not at any level.
He lacked the concept of phoneme awareness, so we needed to start from the
beginning. What was striking to me about John was the way he perceived
himself as a learner.  He felt he couldn't do anything related to reading on
his own.  As a way to uncover some "hidden" patterns at work for him we
decided to write his "learner biography".  The story was incredible, very
emotional.  Year after year in school his experience would be the same.
Because of his quiet nature, he would very often be ignored by teachers who
were clearly overwhelmed by the needier students in the class.
Unfortunately the same pattern persisted at home.  He was one of nine
children in his family.  He rarely came home with his books and almost never
was given homework.  He said he never g
 ot the help he needed at home,, so he never did his homework. The teachers
relented and stopped giving him take home work.   Two important themes
emerged from this writing.  THe first was the need for John to create the
space and time to ask questions and express concerns regarding his learning.
The second was for John to have more independence in his work at home.  Sort
of an equilibrium if you will, between asking for help and learning
strategies to work on your own. These two discoveries have enabled John to
be more active in his own learning.  We are still a long way from the goals
he has set for himself, but reflecting on his past experiences as a learner
has allowed him to see more clearly alternative ways to approach learning as
an adult.
Esther
--
_______________________________________________
Search for businesses by name, location, or phone number.  -Lycos Yellow
Pages
http://r.lycos.com/r/yp_emailfooter/http://yellowpages.lycos.com/default.asp
?SRC=lycos10
----------------------------------------------------
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Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
From jw at weallcanread.com  Wed Jun 14 13:07:21 2006
From: jw at weallcanread.com (Jim Williams)
Date: Wed, 14 Jun 2006 13:07:21 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 342] Re: reading outside of class
In-Reply-To: <LOBBICLOAFKBEPDBHIAJAEFHGHAA.l.cuttler@comcast.net>
References: <LOBBICLOAFKBEPDBHIAJAEFHGHAA.l.cuttler@comcast.net>
Message-ID: <E9788797-B98D-4126-8A50-11B64795CAD0@weallcanread.com>
Yes, I agree. Emotional support and sensitivity to a learner's  
specific needs are important. But an overemphasis on this perspective  
can be detrimental to a student learning to become an independent  
reader. Many years ago I was a volunteer literacy tutor. Almost all  
of my training was in the area of making the student feel comfortable  
and safe, finding out what his interests were, and selecting reading  
materials that matched his interests, etc. I felt overwhelmed because  
in essence the volunteer tutor organization put all of the onus of  
finding suitable material for instruction on me. They expected me to  
find materials  that were meaningful to the student. But instruction  
on how to teach the nuts and bolts of basic reading skills was  
lacking. My student and I over time became friends, but I never felt  
I made much impact on his ability to improve as a reader. Really  
after two years I felt like I had wasted both his time and mine. Now  
thirty years later and after working as a remedial reading teacher at  
an inner-city high school and operating my own reading clinic and  
developing my own research-based program, I realize that if students  
are ever to become independent readers, they must be taught the  
specific skill strands identified by the National Reading Panel in  
their report Teaching Children to Read: phonemic awareness, phonics,  
fluency, and comprehension. There are some good, research-based  
programs for adults that focus on these skill strands. It is too much  
to ask tutors to go out and reinvent the wheel. But at least we now  
have empirical data which informs us as to how best focus our  
precious time when we are teaching.
Jim Williams
E-mail Address: jw at weallcanread.com
Web Address: www.weallcanread.com
On Jun 14, 2006, at 10:31 AM, Lucille Cuttler wrote:
> Very nice. Now can you share teaching strategies? Stroking, space,
> solicitude for  learning must be supported by a structured  
> systematic method
> to teach the language.  Are the tutors totally prepared?  Lucille  
> Cuttler
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov
> [mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov]On Behalf Of e s
> Sent: Wednesday, June 14, 2006 8:59 AM
> To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List
> Subject: [FocusOnBasics 340] Re: reading outside of class
>
>
> Everyone,
> I concur with Ujwala that learners are eager and motivated to read  
> if what
> they are reading is connected to their lives in a meaningful way.  
> (And we as
> instructors learn quickly that learners get to define what is  
> meaningful).
>
> On another note, I have been working with John for the past two  
> years.  He
> graduated from a high school in New Jersey in 1972 through the special
> education department. When we met, John could not read.  Not at any  
> level.
> He lacked the concept of phoneme awareness, so we needed to start  
> from the
> beginning. What was striking to me about John was the way he perceived
> himself as a learner.  He felt he couldn't do anything related to  
> reading on
> his own.  As a way to uncover some "hidden" patterns at work for  
> him we
> decided to write his "learner biography".  The story was  
> incredible, very
> emotional.  Year after year in school his experience would be the  
> same.
> Because of his quiet nature, he would very often be ignored by  
> teachers who
> were clearly overwhelmed by the needier students in the class.
> Unfortunately the same pattern persisted at home.  He was one of nine
> children in his family.  He rarely came home with his books and  
> almost never
> was given homework.  He said he never g
>  ot the help he needed at home,, so he never did his homework. The  
> teachers
> relented and stopped giving him take home work.   Two important themes
> emerged from this writing.  THe first was the need for John to  
> create the
> space and time to ask questions and express concerns regarding his  
> learning.
> The second was for John to have more independence in his work at  
> home.  Sort
> of an equilibrium if you will, between asking for help and learning
> strategies to work on your own. These two discoveries have enabled  
> John to
> be more active in his own learning.  We are still a long way from  
> the goals
> he has set for himself, but reflecting on his past experiences as a  
> learner
> has allowed him to see more clearly alternative ways to approach  
> learning as
> an adult.
> Esther
>
> --
> _______________________________________________
>
> Search for businesses by name, location, or phone number.  -Lycos  
> Yellow
> Pages
>
> http://r.lycos.com/r/yp_emailfooter/http://yellowpages.lycos.com/ 
> default.asp
> ?SRC=lycos10
>
> ----------------------------------------------------
> National Institute for Literacy
> Focus on Basics mailing list
> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------
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> Focus on Basics mailing list
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> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to  
> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
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From julie_mcKinney at worlded.org  Wed Jun 14 13:12:57 2006
From: julie_mcKinney at worlded.org (Julie  McKinney)
Date: Wed, 14 Jun 2006 13:12:57 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 343] June 19 Discussions on other lists: Math
	Assessment and Health	Literacy
Message-ID: <s4900b64.006@mail.jsi.com>
Hi Everyone,
Please excuse the interruption from the current discussion. I just want to tell you about two discussions next week on other Discussion Lists:
June 19-23 on the Health Literacy List: Using the Health Literacy Study Circles+
Please see the following link for more information:
http://wiki.literacytent.org/index.php/Health_Literacy#Discussions
June 10-23 on the Assessment List: 
Please see below for more information.
All the Best,
Julie
*******************************
June 19 * 23, 2006
 
Topic:  Assessment in Mathematics 
 
Guest:  Myrna Manly * please see Myrna's bio below.
 
Myrna will respond to your email posts once per day * feel free to send your post to the Assessment Discussion List, or to me so that I can post it for you (marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com).
 
Bio
Myrna Manly, a mathematics teacher with experience at many academic levels, retired in 2001 from a position as professor of mathematics at El Camino College.  In addition to instruction, she has been involved with the assessment of the mathematics proficiency of adults in various roles: as the Mathematics Specialist for the 1988 version of the GED test; as a member of the numeracy team for the Adult Literacy and Lifeskills Survey (ALL); and as the numeracy consultant for a similar international survey to be used in developing countries, the Literacy Assessment and Monitoring Programme (LAMP). She is the Past President of the Adult Numeracy Network (ANN), is the author of The GED Math Problem Solver, and also works with states and programs facilitating staff-development workshops aimed at improving mathematics instruction to adults. 
Myrna is presently writing a paper with Mary Jane Schmidt and Lynda Ginsburg on the components of numeracy for NCSALL (National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy). The paper reviews the literature, describes the fundamental elements of adult numeracy, and makes recommendations for further research, particularly with respect to curriculum and assessment.  Look for this resource soon from NCSALL.
 
Recommended preparations for this discussion
 
Myrna has provided several questions below to get you thinking about math assessment:
 
It is known that students and teachers come to value what is assessed.  What is your opinion of the influence that the standardized mathematics assessments (GED, TABE, CASAS) have in your classrooms? Are they assessing the mathematics that is important for the 21st century? Do you think that they all assess the same mathematics? What do you think is missing from each? 
Computation skills are easy to assess.  How can we assess other important aspects of mathematics like strategic problem solving, conceptual understanding, and reasoning? 
 
Describe instances where you have seen a student's "math anxiety" interfere with an accurate assessment of his/her abilities. Do you assess math anxiety in any way? What strategies have you used to reduce it? Any luck with them? 
 
Which classroom techniques do you recommend for informal, ongoing assessment of a student's progress in learning mathematics? 
 
In addition to the above questions to stimulate discussion, Myrna has provided these sites for math assessment.  Please take a look at these sites and post your questions and comments to the Discussion:
http://www.literacy.org/products/ncal/pdf/TR9805.pdf  Assessing Mathematical Knowledge of Adult Learners: Are We Looking at What Counts? This technical report from NCAL was written by Joy Cumming, Iddo Gal, and Lynda Ginsburg in 1998.  It discusses assessment principles and evaluates their implementation in common numeracy assessment tools.
http://www.ncsall.net/?id=573 The Inclusion of Numeracy in Adult Basic Education, Dave Tout and Mary Jane Schmitt, 2002.  This chapter from NCSALL's annual review contains a section on assessment that includes a description of assessments in adult education from Australia and The Netherlands. 
http://www.nctm.org/news/assessment/2005_12nb.htm Will This Be on the Test? This article discusses the importance of including significant mathematics on tests.  It includes a good example of a test item that goes beyond procedural skills. 
http://standards.nctm.org/document/chapter2/assess.htm  This document in an overview of NCTM's assessment principle for K-12 mathematics.  
Large-scale surveys of adult skills:
Adult Literacy and Lifeskills Survey (ALL)
Numeracy Framework (begins on p.137):
http://www.statcan.ca/cgi-bin/downpub/listpub.cgi?catno=89-552-MIE2005013 
First results: http://www.statcan.ca/english/freepub/89-603-XIE/2005001/pdf.htm 
 Data Tool: http://litdata.ets.org/ialdata/search.asp 
National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL)
 First results: http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2006470 
Hard Copy Resource:
Adult Numeracy Development: Theory, Policy and Practice, Iddo Gal, ed., 2000.  Hampton Press, Inc. This book has a section on numeracy assessment with one article discussing assessment issues and principles using examples from the US and Australia and another article describing the use of "Supermarket Strategy" materials for diagnosing the skills of individual learners in The Netherlands.
Thanks everyone, and I'm looking forward to seeing you all next week to chat about math assessment!
 
Marie Cora
Moderator
NIFL Assessment Discussion List
marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com
 
 
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
From e.b.shupe at lycos.com  Wed Jun 14 14:27:19 2006
From: e.b.shupe at lycos.com (e s)
Date: Wed, 14 Jun 2006 13:27:19 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 344] Re: reading outside of class
Message-ID: <20060614182719.791773384B@ws7-3.us4.outblaze.com>
Everyone,
I think in the telling of my experience with John, some concern has been raised in the area of "skills" instruction.  Of course, I agree that new adult readers must be taught skills that can help them to achieve success in reading.  The significance in this story, at least for me, is how ineffective patterns of learning established in early years can distinguish or severly limit one's ability to learn as an adult.  Making those patterns more accessable (through learner biographies) can facilitate greater more meaningful learning experiences.  In this case we are talking about "reading" but this is true for all learning experiences. 
Esther
-- 
_______________________________________________
Search for businesses by name, location, or phone number.  -Lycos Yellow Pages
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From e.b.shupe at lycos.com  Wed Jun 14 15:38:03 2006
From: e.b.shupe at lycos.com (e s)
Date: Wed, 14 Jun 2006 14:38:03 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 345] Re: reading outside of class
Message-ID: <20060614193803.8576A86B15@ws7-1.us4.outblaze.com>
In my post I say....The significance in this story, at least 
for me, is how ineffective patterns of learning established in early 
years can distinguish or severly limit one's ability to learn as an 
adult.  it should read ...  early years can extinguish or severely limit one's ability to learn as an adult.
thanks, Esther
-- 
_______________________________________________
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From jn at cloudworld.co.uk  Wed Jun 14 17:32:40 2006
From: jn at cloudworld.co.uk (John Nissen)
Date: Wed, 14 Jun 2006 22:32:40 +0100
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 346] Re: [LearningDisabilities 471] Adults Can't
	Learn to Read - by Tom Sticht
References: <2d4.8dbb7b3.31c0dc6e@aol.com>
Message-ID: <1a3801c68ffa$26dcac30$0202a8c0@Tomschoice>
Hello Rochelle,
Thanks for raising this issue.  I'm cross-posting to FocusOnBasics, because 
of a thread on learners views, and copying to Alan Wells at the UK Basic 
Skills Agency, mentioned in my postscript.
In the text you quote in your email, Tom Sticht discusses why many people 
believe that adults can't learn to read, and suggests it is because people 
tend to put nature before nurture.  But he does not consider that poor 
literacy of adults may be due to poor teaching of those adults as children. 
This is a very strong argument towards nurture!  Let me elaborate.
There is an underlying assumption that learning to read is difficult, and 
that many people with LD or dyslexia cannot be taught to read.  But the 
experience of the Clackmannanshire study was that 100% of school children in 
a deprived area of Scotland could be taught to read, given the right 
teaching method.  Is there any logical argument why adults could not all be 
taught to read by the same method - synthetic phonics?
The idea that you can "mix and match" methods according to the "learning 
style" of children, putting them in the right "learning environment" and 
addressing their "psychological needs", has been a failure, and now, after 
decades of failed teaching, we have one in five adults (in UK, US, Canada..) 
unable to read satisfactorily, costing the economy around 1% GDP.
What is more, when asked about their reading problems, the adults blame 
themselves!  To quote from another NIFL message (see FocusOnBasics 337 
learners on learning to read):  "Their focus makes clear that the starting 
place for success is within them."
So I'd reinforce Tom's message - keep on at the teaching.  But I would like 
to see a study on whether synthetic phonics works as well for adults, as it 
appears to do for kids.
Cheers,
John
P.S.  There has been some doubt on the merit of synthetic phonics (where 
segmentation and blending is done with individual phonemes) over other 
phonics methods.  In particular a paper by Torgerson et al. threw doubt on 
the supremecy of synthetic phonics over analytic phonics and other methods. 
This has raised doubts for others, such as the Basic Skills Agency in the 
UK, see:
 http://www.basic-skills.co.uk/site/page.php?cms=2&p=1723.
But the Torgerson document has been convincingly rebuffed by Diane 
McGuinness, see http://www.rrf.org.uk/Torgersonarticle.pdf, to quote:
"This is a dense document, with numerous tables and appendices, arcane 
discussions of statistical minutiae and issues regarding experimental 
design, etc., all to the end (it appears) of drawing a vague set of 
conclusions which lead the reader to believe that synthetic phonics 
programmes have not been proven to be effective beyond other methods by any 
margin sufficient to be trustworthy. The reality is, that every statement 
under the heading key findings is incorrect or seriously compromised by the 
true facts."
and later...
"When the results for onset-rime/analogy based phonics programmes were 
compared to those for phoneme-based synthetic phonics instruction, there was 
another parting of the ways. Rime/analogy programmes were singularly 
unsuccessful, producing an effect size of .28. The pooled data for the 
phoneme-based programmes on their own produced an effect-size shot of around 
1.0 (one-standard deviation advantage over the comparison groups). This 
effect is very large, and it is reliable."
-----
John Nissen
Cloudworld Ltd - http://www.cloudworld.co.uk
maker of the assistive reader, WordAloud.
Try WordAloud with synthetic phonics:
http://www.cloudworld.co.uk/teaching-synthetic-phonics.htm
Tel: +44 208 742 3170  Fax: +44 208 742 0202
Email: info at cloudworld.co.uk
----- Original Message ----- 
From: RKenyon721 at aol.com
To: learningdisabilities at nifl.gov
Sent: Wednesday, June 14, 2006 4:28 AM
Subject: [LearningDisabilities 471] Adults Can't Learn to Read - by 
TomSticht
Hello all,
If you have never read or attended a presentation delivered by Tom Sticht, 
you are in for a treat.  Below, please find a message that is being posted 
for him.
Rochelle Kenyon, Moderator
National Institute for Literacy Learning Disabilities Discussion List
RKenyon721 at aol.com
To subscribe:
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/Learningdisabilities
To view all archived messages from the LD Discussion List at:
http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/list_archives.html
June 12, 2006
Theoretically You Can?t Teach Adults to Read and Write:
But Just Keep On Doing It
Tom Sticht
International Consultant in Adult Education
Why is it so hard to get funding for adult literacy education? Innumerable
studies, reports, TV shows, and statistical surveys in most of the
industrialized nations of the world declare that their nation is being
brought to its economic knees because of widespread low basic skills
(literacy, numeracy) amongst the adult population. But repeated calls for 
funding commensurate with the size of the problem go unanswered. Why?
Beneath the popular pronouncements of educators, industry leaders, and 
government officials about the importance of adult basic skills development 
there flows an undercurrent of disbelief about the abilities of illiterates 
or the poorly literate to ever improve much above their present learning. 
This was encountered close to a hundred years ago when Cora Wilson Stewart 
started the Moonlight Schools of Kentucky in 1911. Her claim that adults 
could learn to read and write met with skepticism. As she reported, Quote: 
"Some educators, however, declared preposterous the claims we made that 
grown people were learning to read and write. It was contrary to the 
principles of psychology, they said."   End Quote
Today that undercurrent of disbelief still flows, but today it carries with
it the flotsam and jetsam of "scientific facts" from genetics science,
brain science, and psychological science. Look here at objects snatched
from the undercurrent of disbelief stretching back for just a decade and a
half.
2006. Ann Coulter is a major voice in the conservative political arena. In
her new book, Godless: The Church of Liberalism (Chapter 7 The Left?s War on 
Science: Burning Books to Advance "Science" pages 172-174)  she clearly 
defends the ideas given in Murray & Hernstein?s book The Bell Curve 
regarding the genetic basis of intelligence. By extension,  since The Bell 
Curve uses reading and math tests in the Armed Forces Qualification Test 
(AFQT), Coulter is discussing the genetic basis of literacy and numeracy. In 
her book she says about The Bell Curve book:
Quote: "Contrary to the party line denying that such a thing as IQ existed, 
the book methodically demonstrated that IQ exists, it is easily measured, it 
is heritable, and it is extremely important. ?Among many other things, IQ is 
a better predictor than socioeconomic status of poverty, unemployment, 
criminality, divorce, single motherhood, workplace injuries, and high school 
dropout rates.  ?Although other factors influence IQ, such as a good 
environment and nutrition, The Bell Curve authors estimated that IQ was 
about 40 to 80 percent genetic." (p. 173) End Quote
Coulter goes on to discuss the misuse of science in the same chapter in
relation to AIDS and homosexuality, feminism, trial-lawyers law suits, DDT 
and environmentalists, abortion and stem cell research, and other topics 
that are controversial among large segments of the population but of 
mainstream concern in the far right conservative base in the United States. 
Because of her position as a best-selling author and spokesperson for 
conservative groups, Ann Coulter?s ideas about the genetic basis of 
intelligence and high school dropouts can have a profound impact upon 
political thinking about basic skills education among adults who have not 
achieved well.
2005. The Nobel Prize winning economist James J. Heckman  in an interview at 
the Federal Reserve Bank region in Chicago discussed his ideas about 
cognitive skills and their malleability in later life with  members of a 
presidential commission consisting of  former U.S. senators, heads of 
federal agencies, tax attorneys and academic economists. Later in his 
interview he discusses what Adam Smith, in his The Wealth of Nations said 
and why he, Heckman, disagrees with Smith.
According to Heckman, Adam Smith said, Quote: "? people are basically born 
the same and at age 8 one can't really see much difference among them. But 
then starting at age 8, 9, 10, they pursue different fields, they
specialize and they diverge. In his mind, the butcher and the lawyer and
the journalist and the professor and the mechanic, all are basically the
same person at age 8." End Quote Heckman disagrees with this and says:
Quote: This is wrong. IQ is basically formed by age 8, and there are huge
differences in IQ among people. Smith was right that people specialize
after 8, but they started specializing before 8. On the early formation of
human skill, I think Smith was wrong, although he was right about many
other things. ? I think these observations on human skill formation are 
exactly why the job training programs aren't working in the United States 
and why many remediation programs directed toward disadvantaged young adults 
are so ineffective. And that's why the distinction between cognitive and 
noncognitive skill is so important, because a lot of the problem with 
children from disadvantaged homes is their values, attitudes and 
motivations. ?Cognitive skills such as IQ can't really be changed much after 
ages 8 to 10. But with noncognitive skills there's much more malleability. 
That's the point I was making earlier when talking about the prefrontal 
cortex. It remains fluid and adaptable until the early 20s. That's why 
adolescent mentoring programs are as effective as they are. Take a 
13-year-old. You're not going to raise the IQ of a 13-year-old, but you can 
talk the 13-year-old out of dropping out of school. Up to a point you can 
provide surrogate parenting. End Quote
Here Heckman seems to think of the IQ as something relatively fixed at an 
early age and not likely to be changed later in life. But if IQ is measured 
in The Bell Curve, a book in which Heckman found some merit, using the AFQT, 
which in turn is a literacy and numeracy test, then this would imply that 
Heckman thinks the latter may not be very malleable in later life. This 
seems consistent with his belief that remediation programs for adults are 
ineffective and do not make very wise investments.
2000. It is easy to slip from talking about adults with low literacy ability
to talking about adults with low intelligence. On October 2, 2000, Dan
Seligman, columnist at Forbes magazine, wrote about the findings of the
National Adult Literacy Survey (NALS) of 1993 and said, Quote: "But note
that what?s being measured here is not what you?ve been thinking all your 
life as "literacy." The cluster of abilities being examined is obviously a 
proxy for plain old "intelligence." End Quote He then goes on to argue that 
government programs won?t do much about this problem of low intelligence, 
and, by extension, of low literacy.
These types of popular press articles can stymie funding for adult literacy 
education. That is one reason why it is critical that when national
assessments of cognitive skills, including literacy, are administered, we
need to be certain about just what it is we are measuring. Unfortunately, 
that is not the case with the 1993 NALS or the more recent 2003 National 
Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL). These assessments leave open the 
possibility of being called "intelligence" tests leading some, like 
Seligman, to the general conclusion that the less literate are simply the 
less intelligent and society might as well cast them off ? their 
"intelligence genes" will not permit them to ever reach Level 3 or any other 
levels at the high end of cognitive tests.
1998.  Dr. G. Reid L yon of the National Institute of Child Health and Human 
Development provided an Overview of Reading and Literacy Initiatives to the 
U. S. Congress Committee on Labor and Human Resources on April 28, 1998. In 
his testimony he stated that in learning to read it is important for 
children to possess good abilities in phonemic analysis. He stated:
Quote: Difficulties in developing phoneme awareness can have genetic and 
neurobiological origins or can be attributable to a lack of exposure to
language patterns and usage during the preschool years?. It is for this
reason that the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development 
(NICHD) within the National Institutes of Health (NIH) considers reading 
failure to reflect not only an educational problem, but a significant public 
health problem as well. Within this context, a large research network 
consisting of 41 research sites in North America, Europe, and Asia are 
working hard to identify (1) the critical environmental, experiential, 
cognitive, genetic, neurobiological, and instructional conditions that 
foster strong reading development; (2) the risk factors that predispose 
youngsters to reading failure; and (3) the instructional procedures that can 
be applied to ameliorate reading deficits at the earliest possible time. End 
Quote
Discussing why some children may have difficulties learning to read, Lyon 
went on to say:
Quote: Children raised in poverty, youngsters with limited proficiency in
English, children with speech and hearing impairments, and children from 
homes where the parent's reading levels are low are relatively predisposed 
to reading failure. Likewise, youngsters with sub-average intellectual 
capabilities have difficulties learning to read, particularly in the reading 
comprehension domain. End Quote
Taken together, these statements by a senior government scientist advisor to 
both the President and the Congress of the United States indicates that the 
NICHD considers that in some cases low literacy may result from genetic, 
neurological, sub-average intellectual capability or a combination of these 
and other factors. Again, this may contribute to widespread beliefs that 
adults with low literacy may possess faulty genes, brains, and/or 
intellectual abilities and are unlikely to benefit from adult literacy 
education programs. From a policy perspective, then, policymakers may think 
that funding such programs may be regarded as a poor use of public funds.
1997. In a January 7, 1997 article in the Washington Times, a prominent
newspaper published in Washington, DC and read by many members of Congress, 
columnist Ken Adelman wrote:
Quotes: The age-old nature vs. nurture debate assumes immediacy as the new 
Congress and new administration gin up to address such issues as poverty, 
crime, drugs, etc. ?This, the most intellectually intriguing debate around, 
is moving far toward nature (and far from nurture) with new evidence 
presented by an odd pair - gay activist Chandler Burr and conservative 
scholar Charles Murray. ?In brief, their new findings show that 1) 
homosexuality and 2) educational-economic achievement are each largely a 
matter of genes ? not of upbringing. ?If true, as appears so, the scope of 
effective government programs narrows. Fate, working through chromosomes, 
bestows both sexual orientation and brainpower, which shape one's life and 
success. Little can be altered - besides fostering tolerance and helping in 
any narrow window left open - through even an ideally designed public 
program.   (page B-6) End Quotes
The juxtaposition of homosexuals and those of lower educational and economic 
achievement is an obvious rhetorical device meant to stir negative emotions 
about both groups, This is a rhetorical device brought back into play by 
Coulter in her 2006 book cited above.
1991. One of the beliefs in our culture is that the brain and its 
intellectual  capacity  is   developed   in   early   childhood. There is a
widespread belief that if children's early childhood development  is not
properly stimulated, then there is likely to be intellectual 
underdevelopment leading to academic  failures, low aptitude, and social 
problems such as criminal activity, teenage pregnancy and welfare. It will 
be difficult if not impossible to overcome the disadvantages of deficiencies 
in early childhood stimulation later in adulthood. So why invest much in 
adult education? We need instead to put billions of dollars into early 
childhood education.
That these beliefs about the consequence of early childhood development are 
widespread is revealed by articles written by prominent journalists in major 
newspapers. For instance, on Sunday, October 13, 1991 the San Diego Union 
newspaper reprinted an article by Joan Beck, a columnist for the Chicago 
Tribune , that  argued  for  early  childhood education because, Quote: 
"Half of adult intellectual capacity is already present by age 4 and 80 
percent by age 8, ... the opportunity to influence [a child's] basic 
intelligence - considered to be a stable characteristic by age 17 ? is 
greatest in early life." End Quote
A year earlier in the same newspaper on October 14, 1990  an adult family 
literacy educator was quoted as saying, Quote: "Between the ages of zero to 
4 we have learned half of everything we'll ever learn in our lives. Most of 
that has to do with language, imagination, and inquisitiveness." End Quote
This doesn?t hold out much hope for the adults in family literacy programs.
Joan Beck was quoting research by Benjamin Bloom in the 1960s. But Bloom did 
not show that half of one's intellect was achieved by age 4. Rather, he 
argued that IQ at age 4 was correlated +.70 with IQ at age 17. Since the 
square of .7 is .49, Bloom stated that half of the variance among a group of 
adults' IQ scores at age 17 could be predicted from their group of scores at 
age 4. But half of the variability among a group of people's IQ scores is a 
long way from the idea that half of a given person's IQ is developed by age 
4. This is not even conceptually possible because for one thing there is no 
universally agreed to understanding of what "intelligence" is. Further, even 
if we could agree on what "intelligence" is, there is no such thing as "half 
of one's intellect" because no one knows what 0 or 100 percent intelligence 
is. Without knowing the beginning and end of something we Can?t know when we 
have half of it.
1990. A report by the Department of Defense shows how these beliefs about 
the possibility of doing much for adults can affect government policy. After 
studying the job performance and post-service lives of "lower aptitude," 
less literate personnel, the report claimed that they had been failures both 
in and out of the military. Then,  on February 24, 1990, the Director of 
Accession Policy of the Department of Defense commented  in the Washington 
Post newspaper, Quote: "The lesson is that low-aptitude people, whether in 
the military or not, are always going to be at a disadvantage. That's a sad 
conclusion." End Quote
A similar report of the Department of Defense study was carried in the New 
York Times of March 12, 1990. Then on April 8, 1990.  Jack Anderson's column 
in the Washington Post quoted one of the Department of Defense researchers 
saying, Quote: "...by the age of 18 or 19, it's too late. The school system 
in early childhood is the only place to really help, and that involves heavy 
participation by the parents." End Quote
Regarding the news articles about the Department of Defense studies of "low 
aptitude" troops, the conclusions were based on analyses of the job
performance of hundreds of thousands of personnel in both the 1960s and 
1980s with Armed Forces Qualification Test (AFQT) scores between the 10th 
and the 30th percentiles, the range of scores which the Department of 
Defense studies called "low aptitude."
But contrary to what the Department of Defense researchers and accession 
policy maker stated, the actual data show that in both time periods, while 
the low aptitude personnel did not perform quite as well as those personnel 
with aptitudes above the 30th percentile, over 80 percent of the low 
aptitude personnel did, in fact, perform satisfactorily and many performed 
in an outstanding manner. As veterans they had employment rates and earnings 
far exceeding their rates and earnings at the beginning of the study. 
Further investigation by the media would have revealed these discrepancies 
between what the Department of Defense's researchers said and what the 
actual findings were. But as it stands, these popular media types of stories 
reinforce the stereotypes about adults with who score low on intelligence or 
aptitude tests and perform poorly on tests of the basic skills of literacy 
and numeracy.
We can find these pieces of scientific debris all the way back to the
Moonlight Schools of 1911.  Following her account of those educators and 
academics who declared that teaching grown people to read and write was 
contrary to the principles of psychology, Cora Wilson Stewart said, Quote: 
While they went around saying it couldn?t be done, we went on doing it. We 
asked the doubters this question, "When a fact disputes a theory, is it not 
time to discard the theory? There was no reply. End Quote
Today when we ask why the funding for adult literacy education is so little 
so late, there is still no reply. So we just keep on teaching adults to
read and write. And we do it on the cheap, even though it is theoretically
impossible.
Thomas G. Sticht
International Consultant in Adult Education
2062 Valley View Blvd.
El Cajon, CA 92019-2059
Tel/fax: (619) 444-9133
Email: tsticht at aznet.net
From lalumineuse at yahoo.com  Thu Jun 15 02:12:55 2006
From: lalumineuse at yahoo.com (Ujwala Samant)
Date: Wed, 14 Jun 2006 23:12:55 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 347] Re: reading outside of class
In-Reply-To: <LOBBICLOAFKBEPDBHIAJAEFHGHAA.l.cuttler@comcast.net>
Message-ID: <20060615061255.54364.qmail@web55113.mail.re4.yahoo.com>
It is very nice. And does not include the necessity of
a solid structured methodology. One of the reasons
that popular literacy campaigns fail (internationally)
is the lack of proper training, or an overemphasis on
one specific methodology: phonics vs whole language,
etc.
Ujwala
--- Lucille Cuttler <l.cuttler at comcast.net> wrote:
> Very nice. Now can you share teaching strategies?
> Stroking, space,
> solicitude for  learning must be supported by a
> structured systematic method
> to teach the language.  Are the tutors totally
> prepared?  Lucille Cuttler
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov
> [mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov]On Behalf Of
> e s
> Sent: Wednesday, June 14, 2006 8:59 AM
> To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List
> Subject: [FocusOnBasics 340] Re: reading outside of
> class
> 
> 
> Everyone,
> I concur with Ujwala that learners are eager and
> motivated to read if what
> they are reading is connected to their lives in a
> meaningful way. (And we as
> instructors learn quickly that learners get to
> define what is meaningful).
> 
> On another note, I have been working with John for
> the past two years.  He
> graduated from a high school in New Jersey in 1972
> through the special
> education department. When we met, John could not
> read.  Not at any level.
> He lacked the concept of phoneme awareness, so we
> needed to start from the
> beginning. What was striking to me about John was
> the way he perceived
> himself as a learner.  He felt he couldn't do
> anything related to reading on
> his own.  As a way to uncover some "hidden" patterns
> at work for him we
> decided to write his "learner biography".  The story
> was incredible, very
> emotional.  Year after year in school his experience
> would be the same.
> Because of his quiet nature, he would very often be
> ignored by teachers who
> were clearly overwhelmed by the needier students in
> the class.
> Unfortunately the same pattern persisted at home. 
> He was one of nine
> children in his family.  He rarely came home with
> his books and almost never
> was given homework.  He said he never g
>  ot the help he needed at home,, so he never did his
> homework. The teachers
> relented and stopped giving him take home work.  
> Two important themes
> emerged from this writing.  THe first was the need
> for John to create the
> space and time to ask questions and express concerns
> regarding his learning.
> The second was for John to have more independence in
> his work at home.  Sort
> of an equilibrium if you will, between asking for
> help and learning
> strategies to work on your own. These two
> discoveries have enabled John to
> be more active in his own learning.  We are still a
> long way from the goals
> he has set for himself, but reflecting on his past
> experiences as a learner
> has allowed him to see more clearly alternative ways
> to approach learning as
> an adult.
> Esther
> 
> --
> _______________________________________________
> 
> Search for businesses by name, location, or phone
> number.  -Lycos Yellow
> Pages
> 
>
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> ?SRC=lycos10
> 
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> 
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From lalumineuse at yahoo.com  Thu Jun 15 02:16:03 2006
From: lalumineuse at yahoo.com (Ujwala Samant)
Date: Wed, 14 Jun 2006 23:16:03 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 348] Re: reading outside of class
In-Reply-To: <20060614182719.791773384B@ws7-3.us4.outblaze.com>
Message-ID: <20060615061603.41841.qmail@web55115.mail.re4.yahoo.com>
Hello,
I did not think you were advocating some "flower
child/touchy feely" approach to teaching in your post.
There is no substitute for teaching skills to
learners.
regards,
Ujwala
--- e s <e.b.shupe at lycos.com> wrote:
> Everyone,
> I think in the telling of my experience with John,
> some concern has been raised in the area of "skills"
> instruction.  Of course, I agree that new adult
> readers must be taught skills that can help them to
> achieve success in reading.  The significance in
> this story, at least for me, is how ineffective
> patterns of learning established in early years can
> distinguish or severly limit one's ability to learn
> as an adult.  Making those patterns more accessable
> (through learner biographies) can facilitate greater
> more meaningful learning experiences.  In this case
> we are talking about "reading" but this is true for
> all learning experiences. 
> Esther
> 
> -- 
> _______________________________________________
> 
> Search for businesses by name, location, or phone
> number.  -Lycos Yellow Pages
> 
>
http://r.lycos.com/r/yp_emailfooter/http://yellowpages.lycos.com/default.asp?SRC=lycos10
> 
> ----------------------------------------------------
> National Institute for Literacy
> Focus on Basics mailing list
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From julie_mcKinney at worlded.org  Thu Jun 15 10:33:35 2006
From: julie_mcKinney at worlded.org (Julie  McKinney)
Date: Thu, 15 Jun 2006 10:33:35 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 348] Re: learners on learning to read
Message-ID: <s491378c.074@mail.jsi.com>
According to the learners in Alisa's article "Learners on Learning to
Read", the following factors were cited as the most important for
successful reading development: 
1) their own motivation and determination, 
2) program features, including relationships with an instructor,
instructional strategies and materials, and structures and formats
3) reading practice
4) supports
We have covered 2) and 3) in the other thread of this discussion, but
what about 1) and 2)?
1) Motivation and determination: Alisa said of the students that: "Their
focus makes clear that the starting place for success is within them. 
It's not clear to me if teachers can create those conditions for
learners or if they have to find a way to do it themselves." What do you
all think?
2) Supports: Think about this quote from the article: "Practitioners
cannot create family- or faith-based support where there is none, but
they can heed the importance of building informal support within the
program." How important is this? How much of a supportive community
evnironment do you think your classes are? What factors contribute to
it?
Julie
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
>>> belzera at rci.rutgers.edu 06/13/06 9:26 PM >>>
Hello Everyone:
I'm very curious to know your reactions to this work.  As I was doing
the 
research I found the learners words to be very compelling, heartfelt,
well 
articulated, and interesting.  However, when I went to analyze the data,
I 
wondered if their perceptions really shed light on the big questions of
the 
day regarding teaching developing adult readers to read better.  I asked
myself whether they gave me information that was new.  I guess two
things 
really emerged for me.  One, that it was important to them that they be 
taught some technical skills and be given lots of opportunities to read 
interesting materials over extended periods of time (it seems like we
have 
a tendency to emphasize one or the other depending on our own beliefs,
but 
balance seems to be the key), and two, that they focused the discussion 
differently than teachers or researchers might do  Their focus makes
clear 
that the starting place for success is within them.  It's not clear to
me 
if teachers can create those conditions for learners or if they have to 
find a way to do it themselves.
Anyway, I'll be interested to know how this all strikes you.
Alisa
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
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From julie_mcKinney at worlded.org  Thu Jun 15 10:36:17 2006
From: julie_mcKinney at worlded.org (Julie  McKinney)
Date: Thu, 15 Jun 2006 10:36:17 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 349]  reading outside of class
Message-ID: <s4913847.090@mail.jsi.com>
There is definitely a balance to strive for as we divide our time
between teaching the skills and creating an environment where learners
feel safe, comfortable and confident enough in their own skills to seek
out opportunitites to use their newly enhanced abilitites, reading and
otherwise. 
To get back to Alisa's article, I would like to hear more about how we
can encourage reading outside of class. What can do for students like
Juan (the young man in the article who reads almost nothing outside of
class, and has no print materials in his home)?
What have you done in your classes to encourage outside reading? (Maybe
we could augment the list at the end of the article with your ideas!)
Think about methods of encouragement as well as ideas for types of print
materials to suggest that will be engaging.
Has anyone ever offered a class library to your students? If so, how was
it received? If not, would this be feasible in your program? What
resources would you need?
Julie
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
From julie_mcKinney at worlded.org  Thu Jun 15 14:00:11 2006
From: julie_mcKinney at worlded.org (Julie  McKinney)
Date: Thu, 15 Jun 2006 14:00:11 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 350]  reading outside of class
Message-ID: <s4916810.031@mail.jsi.com>
I'm passing this on from Carol McDonnell.
Julie
******************************************
Putting meaningful books in students' hands seems to be one key to get
them reading. Offering interest driven options for Internet projects
also motivates students to read more. 
Our program uses abridged novels in class to encourage outside reading.
Some classes use novel "sets", so that all students read and discuss the
same material. Low level reading materials are also purchased on audio
tape.  Other classes form classroom "libraries". Does anyone remember
the concept of DEAR? (Drop Everything And Read) It works! We do see an
increase in outside reading when students enjoy books in class. Students
often ask to take books home. Last year, several students enjoyed A Tale
of Two Cities (abridged) so much that they checked out the full length
version from the library. One student rented the video.  
Some teachers ask students to choose a book for participation in a
literature circle.  The circles read and report out as a
group-discussing and answering a set of questions, offering a synopsis
to other students, and critiquing the story. I provide teachers with
various culminating activities that range from drawing and captioning a
scene from the book to charting character profiles. It's exciting to see
students animated in discussions, arguing points, sharing ideas, and
helping each other along.
Some of our year round classes have read full length books such as Think
Big by Dr. Ben Carson, and Life is So Good, the story of George Dawson.
Mr. Dawson's story is not only heartwarming and encouraging to emerging
readers, but offers an historical timeline from which many social
studies lessons can evolve. Dr. Carson actually spoke on one of our
campuses, and his message literally kept several of my students from
giving up. My team teaching partner and I presented those students with
a copy of his book. The talk also inspired several students to read
another title by this talented role model.
When we pilot a new title, the students are given the books to keep.
That seems to be another avenue to encourage reading. We also provide
books and dictionaries as "awards". 
Townsend Press has a wonderful offer on their website for low income
students. Students write a letter explaining their situation and can
request up to three books -free of cost- from a list of sixty. (Writing
a business letter is a skill that all students should learn. Receiving a
package is like icing on the cake.) Townsend offers many titles for one
dollar each! To keep costs down, they will Not honor requests from
entire classes or large groups.
Carol McDonnell 
Instructional specialist 
Center for Adult and Family Literacy 
The community College of Baltimore County 
cmcdonne at ccbcmd.edu 
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
From woodsnh at isp.com  Fri Jun 16 00:55:29 2006
From: woodsnh at isp.com (Woods)
Date: Fri, 16 Jun 2006 00:55:29 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 351] Re: learners on learning to read
In-Reply-To: <s491378c.074@mail.jsi.com>
References: <s491378c.074@mail.jsi.com>
Message-ID: <449239C1.5000904@isp.com>
Alisia's words validate my feelings on these matters.
>1) Motivation and determination: Alisa said of the students that: "Their
>focus makes clear that the starting place for success is within them. 
>It's not clear to me if teachers can create those conditions for
>learners or if they have to find a way to do it themselves." What do you
>all think?
>  
>
Motivation is like a seed that grows. I believe a teacher can plant and 
nurture the seed. Sometimes the seed doesn't grow. Usually it does. 
Sometimes it sits for a long time before showing signs of life. Teachers 
are not the only ones who plant seeds, of course.
I feel motivation is created through many little things in the 
environment. For example, respect the student's goals. Help the student 
formulate and refine his or her goals, but it always has to belong to 
the student. It is a very easy trap in which to fall of trying to get 
the student to accept your goals. It won't work. Other examples: giving 
frequent feedback on the progress a student is making towards a goal 
(e.g. certificates, credits, gold seals, etc.); making a big affair over 
accomplishment of large goals (e.g. commencement ceremonies, awards 
ceremonies, press releases);  create a structure within the edcuation 
program that makes completion requirements explicit and easy for the 
student to monitor; the teacher needs to be constantly talking about 
attaining goals, and helping students get there without wasting their time.
A book I find very instructive on motivation and education is Summerhill 
School, by A.S. Neill. He worked in the UK in the 1920's, with what we 
would today call severely emotionally disturbed students. In a somewhat 
counterintuitve way, Neill created conditions for motivation to develop 
in the most difficult students who had been rejected by all other 
schools. A hallmark of his approach was to accept if a student wanted to 
do absolutely nothing. He was prepared to wait until they were ready to 
do things on their own. He referred to this waiting period as "curing 
children of the toxic effects of their previous schooling." If I could, 
I would force all school teachers to read Summerhill.
>2) Supports: Think about this quote from the article: "Practitioners
>cannot create family- or faith-based support where there is none, but
>they can heed the importance of building informal support within the
>program." How important is this? How much of a supportive community
>evnironment do you think your classes are? What factors contribute to
>it?
>
>  
>
Supports can be extremely beneficial for several reasons. Students 
helping each other helps both the helpee and the helper. When students 
work together in a helping community, they are encouraging each other 
and showing each other how they are working towards educational goals, 
and this helps build motivation. It is in the supportive community of 
students and teachers that positive relationships are formed. Everything 
builds on everything else.
Working in corrections education, this is a big challenge for me. There 
has to be a lot of trust among students for them to be willing to risk 
exposing their weaknesses and accept help from another. There isn't a 
lot of trust in prisons. People there also tend not to get along well 
with others. Many prefer working alone. Our teachers provide a lot of 
individual support. We intentionally try to separate the prison 
community from the school community. We refer to them as students, for 
example, not inmates. When they bring their prison language and behavior 
to school , we ask them to leave it at the door because now, they are in 
school. We maintain confidentiality. These things create a higher level 
of trust and mutual respect. It helps strengthen teacher-student 
relationships. It makes the school a desirable place to be.
There is one more thing I want to share about teacher-student 
relationships. I was thinking about my own school days and about the 
teachers I had. I could not remember some of their names. I puzzled over 
why there were some whose names and faces and voices stuck in my mind, 
but others vanished. It didn't seem to have anything to do with WHAT I 
learned in the classes. The most valuable class I ever took was 7th 
grade typing, but I couldn't remember my teacher's name to save my life. 
Rather, it was all about the strength of the relationship I had with the 
teacher. I'm not sure whether it is absolutely essential for learning 
that there is a strong positive relationship (remember my typing 
teacher) but I did realize that if I want to be well remembered, I'd 
better have good relationships with my students.
Tom Woods
Community High School of Vermont
From julie_mcKinney at worlded.org  Fri Jun 16 13:39:40 2006
From: julie_mcKinney at worlded.org (Julie  McKinney)
Date: Fri, 16 Jun 2006 13:39:40 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 352] Re: learners on learning to read
Message-ID: <s492b4bf.020@mail.jsi.com>
Tom, 
I love your analogy of motivation being like a seed, and the several
points that connect the seed's situation to a learner's motivation: that
it needs to be both planted and nurtured; that it sometimes lies dormant
and then grows; and that there are different conditions as well as
different ways of nurturing that make it grow.
Julie
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
>>> woodsnh at isp.com 06/16/06 12:55 AM >>>
Alisia's words validate my feelings on these matters.
>1) Motivation and determination: Alisa said of the students that:
"Their
>focus makes clear that the starting place for success is within them. 
>It's not clear to me if teachers can create those conditions for
>learners or if they have to find a way to do it themselves." What do
you
>all think?
>  
>
Motivation is like a seed that grows. I believe a teacher can plant and 
nurture the seed. Sometimes the seed doesn't grow. Usually it does. 
Sometimes it sits for a long time before showing signs of life. Teachers
are not the only ones who plant seeds, of course.
I feel motivation is created through many little things in the 
environment. For example, respect the student's goals. Help the student 
formulate and refine his or her goals, but it always has to belong to 
the student. It is a very easy trap in which to fall of trying to get 
the student to accept your goals. It won't work. Other examples: giving 
frequent feedback on the progress a student is making towards a goal 
(e.g. certificates, credits, gold seals, etc.); making a big affair over
accomplishment of large goals (e.g. commencement ceremonies, awards 
ceremonies, press releases);  create a structure within the edcuation 
program that makes completion requirements explicit and easy for the 
student to monitor; the teacher needs to be constantly talking about 
attaining goals, and helping students get there without wasting their
time.
A book I find very instructive on motivation and education is Summerhill
School, by A.S. Neill. He worked in the UK in the 1920's, with what we 
would today call severely emotionally disturbed students. In a somewhat 
counterintuitve way, Neill created conditions for motivation to develop 
in the most difficult students who had been rejected by all other 
schools. A hallmark of his approach was to accept if a student wanted to
do absolutely nothing. He was prepared to wait until they were ready to 
do things on their own. He referred to this waiting period as "curing 
children of the toxic effects of their previous schooling." If I could, 
I would force all school teachers to read Summerhill.
>2) Supports: Think about this quote from the article: "Practitioners
>cannot create family- or faith-based support where there is none, but
>they can heed the importance of building informal support within the
>program." How important is this? How much of a supportive community
>evnironment do you think your classes are? What factors contribute to
>it?
>
>  
>
Supports can be extremely beneficial for several reasons. Students 
helping each other helps both the helpee and the helper. When students 
work together in a helping community, they are encouraging each other 
and showing each other how they are working towards educational goals, 
and this helps build motivation. It is in the supportive community of 
students and teachers that positive relationships are formed. Everything
builds on everything else.
Working in corrections education, this is a big challenge for me. There 
has to be a lot of trust among students for them to be willing to risk 
exposing their weaknesses and accept help from another. There isn't a 
lot of trust in prisons. People there also tend not to get along well 
with others. Many prefer working alone. Our teachers provide a lot of 
individual support. We intentionally try to separate the prison 
community from the school community. We refer to them as students, for 
example, not inmates. When they bring their prison language and behavior
to school , we ask them to leave it at the door because now, they are in
school. We maintain confidentiality. These things create a higher level 
of trust and mutual respect. It helps strengthen teacher-student 
relationships. It makes the school a desirable place to be.
There is one more thing I want to share about teacher-student 
relationships. I was thinking about my own school days and about the 
teachers I had. I could not remember some of their names. I puzzled over
why there were some whose names and faces and voices stuck in my mind, 
but others vanished. It didn't seem to have anything to do with WHAT I 
learned in the classes. The most valuable class I ever took was 7th 
grade typing, but I couldn't remember my teacher's name to save my life.
Rather, it was all about the strength of the relationship I had with the
teacher. I'm not sure whether it is absolutely essential for learning 
that there is a strong positive relationship (remember my typing 
teacher) but I did realize that if I want to be well remembered, I'd 
better have good relationships with my students.
Tom Woods
Community High School of Vermont
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
From julie_mcKinney at worlded.org  Fri Jun 16 15:35:04 2006
From: julie_mcKinney at worlded.org (Julie  McKinney)
Date: Fri, 16 Jun 2006 15:35:04 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 353]  Thanks to Alisa and Everyone
Message-ID: <s492cfc3.042@mail.jsi.com>
Hi Everyone,
The day is not over, and as always, we can continue the discussion as
long as we want. But I want to say thank you to Alisa for sharing your
articles and thoughts with us, and thanks, also, to those of you who
shared your insight and stories with us about supporting learners as
they learn to read.
Have a great weekend, and keep on commenting on this subject!
All the best,
Julie
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
From Janet_Isserlis at brown.edu  Sun Jun 18 19:15:00 2006
From: Janet_Isserlis at brown.edu (Janet Isserlis)
Date: Sun, 18 Jun 2006 19:15:00 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 354] Re: reading outside of class
In-Reply-To: <s4916810.031@mail.jsi.com>
Message-ID: <C0BB56B4.DD30%Janet_Isserlis@brown.edu>
another publisher to check out for a range of high interest books written
for adult new readers is Peppercorn Books and Press
http://www.peppercornbooks.com/catalog/
Janet Isserlis
From djrosen at comcast.net  Mon Jun 19 09:30:36 2006
From: djrosen at comcast.net (djrosen at comcast.net)
Date: Mon, 19 Jun 2006 13:30:36 +0000
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 355]  Adult Literacy Education (ALE) Wiki
Message-ID: <061920061330.14293.4496A6FB000D4DBB000037D52206998499020A9C019D060B@comcast.net>
Colleagues,
The Adult Literacy Education (ALE) Wiki now has 30 topics, a newly designed 
front page, over 730 pages of content, and more  than 600 subscribers.  Every week adult literacy educators add new content.
The ALE Wiki is a community of practice and a professional development 
treasurehouse.  Check it out -- or visit again -- at:
http://wiki.literacytent.org/index.php/Main_Page
For some of the topic areas we still nead Topic Area Leaders.  If you are interested in learning more about this, please email me.
David J. Rosen
djrosen at comcast.net
From julie_mcKinney at worlded.org  Mon Jun 19 10:08:19 2006
From: julie_mcKinney at worlded.org (Julie  McKinney)
Date: Mon, 19 Jun 2006 10:08:19 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 355]  Bridges to Opportunity Conference
Message-ID: <s49677a3.049@mail.jsi.com>
Hi Everyone, 
I'm passing this on from Suma Kurien:
Julie
**************************
Greetings, 
Please save the dates of October 27th and 28th 2006 for the upcoming
Bridges to Opportunity conference at LaGuardia Community College in Long
Island City, Queens, New York. Sponsored by the Center for Immigrant
Education and Training and the Center for Teaching and Learning of
LaGuardia Community College, the conference will offer professionals
from around the U.S. an opportunity to come together to:
*strategize how to develop effective systems to support workforce
development for English Language Learners
*share lessons we have learned from our work, and build a knowledge
base that can serve as a resource in this field, and  
*identify what works in workforce development for English Language
Learners and make recommendations for next steps. 
The conference is partly sponsored by USDOL-ETA High Growth
Initiataives and the keynote speaker, Heide Spruck Wrigley, Ph.D, 
renowned in the field. She is president of Literacy Work International,
a small social science research firm, specializing in issues affecting
language minority adults. She is currently key in two national literacy
projects in the United States and in Canada dealing with youth and
adults who are struggling readers.  Dr. Wrigley is the primary author of
"The Language of Opportunity: Expanding the Employment Prospects of
Adults with Limited English Skills," a publication of the Center for Law
and Social Policy. 
For more information on the Bridges to Opportunity conference, please
visit us online at:
http://www.lagcc.cuny.edu/ace/bridges/ 
Sincerely,
Suma Kurien
Director, Center for Immigrant Education and Training
LaGuardia Community College 
kuriens at lagcc.cuny.edu 
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
From julie_mcKinney at worlded.org  Mon Jun 19 10:24:14 2006
From: julie_mcKinney at worlded.org (Julie  McKinney)
Date: Mon, 19 Jun 2006 10:24:14 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 356] Discussion on Health Literacy List on FOB
	Article
Message-ID: <s4967b6e.084@mail.jsi.com>
Hi Everyone,
I know you've had two weeks of discussion, but I want to let you know,
in case you are interested, that there is one starting today on the
Health Literacy Discussion list about using the Heatlh Literacy Study
Circles+. 
In this discussion, Winston Lawrence and Lisa Soricone will discuss
their experience using this skills-based approach that they discussed in
their recent article in FOB:
A Conversation with FOB: Learning How to Teach Health Literacy 
http://www.ncsall.net/index.php?id=995 
You are welcome to subscribe to the Health Literacy Discussion list to
participate in this discussion. (You can easily unsubscribe after the
week.) To subscribe, go to:
www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/healthliteracy
All the best,
Julie
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
From amuro5 at epcc.edu  Tue Jun 20 12:14:42 2006
From: amuro5 at epcc.edu (Muro, Andres)
Date: Tue, 20 Jun 2006 10:14:42 -0600
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 357]  FOB article on slef esteem
Message-ID: <CA29C5E82B801844A7A967D109F117CF5DB5FE@svrascmail01>
I just received and gave a cursory glace at the Low Self Esteem article
on FOB. I am skeptical of the results. I do not believe that our
students live lives of failure as the article suggests that some
teachers may believe. In fact I believe that they live lives of
incredible sacrifices, successes, triumphs, and overcoming tremendous
difficulties. However, society portraits them as failures though
different mechanisms, ie, low literacy, poverty, difficulty with
academic environments, domestic violence, lack of employment, blue
collar work, lack of citizenship or residency, racism, poor health, etc.
These are the tools that mainstream society uses to evaluate success or
failure of individuals. 
 
While most of our students are extremely hard working, passionate,
dedicated, excellent family providers, etc., they do not measure
themselves in terms of these, but in terms of the mainstream society
markers. The mainstream society markers have very detrimental effects in
our student self esteem. 
 
We have found that through a lot of motivation, creative writing, and
success in academic pursuits we are able to help students to see
themselves as they truly are instead of the mainstream societal markers
of success. As a result, we see our students,\' self esteem improve. 
 
In a society where the dominant media dictates that success is measured
primarily by wealth, possessions, intellectual entitlements and looks,
the poor, the dispossessed, those without degrees and those who don't
meet the standard look will have poor self esteem. Fortunately, there
are alternatives to the media that can validate people based on other
things. However, the competition against the mainstream media is tough. 
 
Years ago, FOB published an article by Steve Reader that found no
resistance among ABE students contradicting what Quigley and others have
previously founds. This article finds no lack of self esteem among ABE
students. These two articles contradict the obvious. To me, this means
that the testing the statistical analysis, the questions asked, the
understanding of the theory or other elements of the testing instrument
are flawed.    
 
Add to this the fact that self esteem and resistance are very hard to
understand and assess concepts and often unconscious. Asking questions
such as: Do you resist? Or: Do you have a low self-esteem? May not be
accurate ways to assess self-esteem.
 
Opinions, discussion? 
 
Andres 
 
 
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From j-p-sinclair at worldnet.att.net  Tue Jun 20 15:06:00 2006
From: j-p-sinclair at worldnet.att.net (Judith Sinclair)
Date: Tue, 20 Jun 2006 14:06:00 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 358] Response to Andres Muro and FOB article on
	self-esteem
References: <CA29C5E82B801844A7A967D109F117CF5DB5FE@svrascmail01>
Message-ID: <00d801c6949c$91d85240$00154d0c@Dell>
Your ideas mirror some of my own, Andres. Yet it seems to me that research in self-esteem is generally a difficult task, although an interesting and important one.  And, I would add that I think all of this revolves around one's definitions of self-esteem, and also success, failure, and so on.  As you note, these American concepts may not be the same as the concepts of self-esteem, success, failure, and so on, as seen in other societies and cultures.  
 
And, there are differences in perspective from each of the social and other sciences investigating levels of self-esteem.  All in all, a tricky business.  For example, in psychology, we might look at self-esteem as self-worth, how a person's subjective appraisal of him or herself affects their moods, attitudes, and behaviors.  As illustration, Maslow looked at self-esteem in two ways, lower and higher, the lower the need for respect of others; the higher the need for respect for oneself.  In this lower group he included over the years the need for status, fame, glory, recognition, attention, appreciation, for example, along with other aspects.  He is simply one theorist and practitioner who has contributed to the research on this subject, and guided the work of many others.  And his is simply one perspective, albeit a good one.
 
In sociology, examining another perspective, we have only to look at the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, a widely used tool in sociologic research.  Rosenberg opined that self-esteem is a positive or negative orientation toward oneself, that is, a self-evaluation of one's worth or value.  Yet, he believed that self-esteem was only one component of the self-concept, however.  Other components included all of an individual's thoughts and feelings, if I recall correctly. 
 
So again we can see differences in concepts and definitions, assumptions and expressions, all coming from the social sciences.  And to add to the mix, we could include the legal, philosophic, theologic, and medical perspectives, all differing.  I would also add that often studies of self-esteem are troublesome research projects because so much of the data collected is in the form of self-reports.  There are inherent issues with self-reports, although they are great tools in the absence of other methods.
 
Finally, Andre, I appreciate your understanding of the role of economics in both defining and measuring self-esteem.  We make assumptions, it often seems, about the populations we are studying and/or treating, based on our own experiences and our own place in the general economic, social, and political thoroughfare. Too often we forget the tremendous impact poverty makes on the human psyche from the onset of its travel through time.  And conversely, the impact wealth makes.  
 
In my research projects as well as my own practice as a life management consultant specializing in education, aging, careers, and life transitions, I see evidence of how all this plays out.  For example, in my private practice some of my clients have had significant first and second language problems, and it has been interesting to see the interaction with their "perceived" and self-reported levels of self-esteem.  There is tremendous variance.  In the end, I too have learned that along with other investigations of human characteristics, inquiries of self-esteem are "slippery slopes."
 
Thanks again for your response, and I, too, look forward to hearing from others on such an interesting topic.  If anyone has any specific questions about my research or  private practice, please contact me directly and I will be glad to respond.
 
Dr. Judith Sinclair, PhD
Cognitive Psychologist
Research and Communications
Life Management Consultant:
   Career Development
   Education Achievement
   Transition Management
   Options in Aging
3003 Van Ness Street NW
Suite 411 West
Washington, DC  20008
Phone: 202-364-3893
Mobile: 202-236-9822
email: j-p-sinclair at att.net
 
 
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From amuro5 at epcc.edu  Tue Jun 20 16:09:15 2006
From: amuro5 at epcc.edu (Muro, Andres)
Date: Tue, 20 Jun 2006 14:09:15 -0600
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 359] Re: Response to Andres Muro and FOB article
	onself-esteem
In-Reply-To: <00d801c6949c$91d85240$00154d0c@Dell>
Message-ID: <CA29C5E82B801844A7A967D109F117CF5DB657@svrascmail01>
Judith: 
 
I agree that self esteem is generally a difficult think to research and
measure. That is why I find it important to question the research. I am
not sure of the way self esteem was measured, but to try to measure it
as some sort of variable or report it in terms of manipulation of
variables is questionable at best. I think that the best we could do
measure self esteem is to define it as a collection of behaviors, and
then try to observe those behaviors in different contexts. This is still
hard to do since it requires the observer to be familiar with the
contexts and the presence of certain behaviors and the immersion of the
observer in a culture. In other words, research on self esteem needs to
have an ethnographic character. Sometimes, non-action can be a
demonstration of low self-esteem and other times it may not be. 
 
To me, it is important to understand that human psychology in social and
cultural contexts cannot be explained through traditional scientific
testing. I am certain that that was not the intention of the researcher.
However, the moment an article is published that says that research
showed no difference in the self esteem of x vs. y, then people will
conclude that the research is valid. Both self esteem and resistance are
central to the understanding of behaviors, successes and failures of the
poor, minorities, and culturally marginalized groups in our society and
in the classroom. If the scientific research invalidates the presence of
these, we are in trouble. At best, these studies demonstrate the
inability of science to understand the human mind. 
 
Andres
 
 
________________________________
From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Judith Sinclair
Sent: Tuesday, June 20, 2006 1:06 PM
To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 358] Response to Andres Muro and FOB article
onself-esteem
 
Your ideas mirror some of my own, Andres. Yet it seems to me that
research in self-esteem is generally a difficult task, although an
interesting and important one.  And, I would add that I think all of
this revolves around one's definitions of self-esteem, and also success,
failure, and so on.  As you note, these American concepts may not be the
same as the concepts of self-esteem, success, failure, and so on, as
seen in other societies and cultures.  
 
And, there are differences in perspective from each of the social and
other sciences investigating levels of self-esteem.  All in all, a
tricky business.  For example, in psychology, we might look at
self-esteem as self-worth, how a person's subjective appraisal of him or
herself affects their moods, attitudes, and behaviors.  As illustration,
Maslow looked at self-esteem in two ways, lower and higher, the lower
the need for respect of others; the higher the need for respect for
oneself.  In this lower group he included over the years the need for
status, fame, glory, recognition, attention, appreciation, for example,
along with other aspects.  He is simply one theorist and practitioner
who has contributed to the research on this subject, and guided the work
of many others.  And his is simply one perspective, albeit a good one.
 
In sociology, examining another perspective, we have only to look at the
Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, a widely used tool in sociologic research.
Rosenberg opined that self-esteem is a positive or negative orientation
toward oneself, that is, a self-evaluation of one's worth or value.
Yet, he believed that self-esteem was only one component of the
self-concept, however.  Other components included all of an individual's
thoughts and feelings, if I recall correctly. 
 
So again we can see differences in concepts and definitions, assumptions
and expressions, all coming from the social sciences.  And to add to the
mix, we could include the legal, philosophic, theologic, and medical
perspectives, all differing.  I would also add that often studies of
self-esteem are troublesome research projects because so much of the
data collected is in the form of self-reports.  There are inherent
issues with self-reports, although they are great tools in the absence
of other methods.
 
Finally, Andre, I appreciate your understanding of the role of economics
in both defining and measuring self-esteem.  We make assumptions, it
often seems, about the populations we are studying and/or treating,
based on our own experiences and our own place in the general economic,
social, and political thoroughfare. Too often we forget the tremendous
impact poverty makes on the human psyche from the onset of its travel
through time.  And conversely, the impact wealth makes.  
 
In my research projects as well as my own practice as a life management
consultant specializing in education, aging, careers, and life
transitions, I see evidence of how all this plays out.  For example, in
my private practice some of my clients have had significant first and
second language problems, and it has been interesting to see the
interaction with their "perceived" and self-reported levels of
self-esteem.  There is tremendous variance.  In the end, I too have
learned that along with other investigations of human characteristics,
inquiries of self-esteem are "slippery slopes."
 
Thanks again for your response, and I, too, look forward to hearing from
others on such an interesting topic.  If anyone has any specific
questions about my research or  private practice, please contact me
directly and I will be glad to respond.
 
Dr. Judith Sinclair, PhD
Cognitive Psychologist
Research and Communications
Life Management Consultant:
   Career Development
   Education Achievement
   Transition Management
   Options in Aging
3003 Van Ness Street NW
Suite 411 West
Washington, DC  20008
Phone: 202-364-3893
Mobile: 202-236-9822
email: j-p-sinclair at att.net
 
 
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From amuro5 at epcc.edu  Tue Jun 20 16:14:39 2006
From: amuro5 at epcc.edu (Muro, Andres)
Date: Tue, 20 Jun 2006 14:14:39 -0600
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 360] Re: Response to Andres Muro and FOB article
	onself-esteem
In-Reply-To: <00d801c6949c$91d85240$00154d0c@Dell>
Message-ID: <CA29C5E82B801844A7A967D109F117CF5DB65C@svrascmail01>
Judith:
 
Here is something else that I wrote about self -esteem in the NLA
discussion:
 
Actually, self esteem or self worth is, historically an economic
measurement. With the advent of modernity, the value of man/woman ceases
to be given by inheritance, royalty, etc. It becomes the value of his
property. Hence man becomes homo-economicus. The estimation of an
individual (self-estimation-self-esteem) or the worth of an individual
is measured by the estimation of his/her property. 
 
The other estimation of value in Western society has been cultural
capital, measured by entitlements. So, the two big estimations of
success in our society are essentially economic and cultural capital. To
these, you can add others that the media have promoted, such as; beauty,
strength, health, etc. These are closely tied to economic success. 
 
Essentially, individuals who don't possess these attributes can work
towards achieving them, or can resist them by creating alternative
models of self worth. This is closely tied to the issue of resistance as
articulated by John Ogbu. When minority kids enter school, they are
asked to stop using their native languages and adopt the dominant
language model. They can either accept this and demonstrate academic
success or they can resist saying that it is tantamount to acting
"whitie" 
 
Resistance to the dominant model is a psychological accommodation to the
dominant model of self esteem. Since I am neither rich, nor I possess
entitlements of academic success, my self worth is low. However, if I
create alternatives to self worth, such as gang membership, toughness,
faithfulness, pride, etc., my self esteem will improve. This has been an
accommodation that many youth have embraced with the obvious negative
impact, dropping out of school and ending up in jail. 
 
However, this argument supports the idea that youth have low self esteem
measured from the academic model, since they reject it and create an
alternative model. Adults, in ABE classes may have not created an
alternative model of self worth. They have embraced the dominant model
of academic and economic entitlements and this is an important reason
for them to be there. When they fail, their self esteem naturally goes
down. This is exacerbated by the fact that society promotes the fact
that those who work hard can make it here. So, those who are not making
it are either lazy or dumb. 
 
Andres 
 
________________________________
From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Judith Sinclair
Sent: Tuesday, June 20, 2006 1:06 PM
To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 358] Response to Andres Muro and FOB article
onself-esteem
 
Your ideas mirror some of my own, Andres. Yet it seems to me that
research in self-esteem is generally a difficult task, although an
interesting and important one.  And, I would add that I think all of
this revolves around one's definitions of self-esteem, and also success,
failure, and so on.  As you note, these American concepts may not be the
same as the concepts of self-esteem, success, failure, and so on, as
seen in other societies and cultures.  
 
And, there are differences in perspective from each of the social and
other sciences investigating levels of self-esteem.  All in all, a
tricky business.  For example, in psychology, we might look at
self-esteem as self-worth, how a person's subjective appraisal of him or
herself affects their moods, attitudes, and behaviors.  As illustration,
Maslow looked at self-esteem in two ways, lower and higher, the lower
the need for respect of others; the higher the need for respect for
oneself.  In this lower group he included over the years the need for
status, fame, glory, recognition, attention, appreciation, for example,
along with other aspects.  He is simply one theorist and practitioner
who has contributed to the research on this subject, and guided the work
of many others.  And his is simply one perspective, albeit a good one.
 
In sociology, examining another perspective, we have only to look at the
Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, a widely used tool in sociologic research.
Rosenberg opined that self-esteem is a positive or negative orientation
toward oneself, that is, a self-evaluation of one's worth or value.
Yet, he believed that self-esteem was only one component of the
self-concept, however.  Other components included all of an individual's
thoughts and feelings, if I recall correctly. 
 
So again we can see differences in concepts and definitions, assumptions
and expressions, all coming from the social sciences.  And to add to the
mix, we could include the legal, philosophic, theologic, and medical
perspectives, all differing.  I would also add that often studies of
self-esteem are troublesome research projects because so much of the
data collected is in the form of self-reports.  There are inherent
issues with self-reports, although they are great tools in the absence
of other methods.
 
Finally, Andre, I appreciate your understanding of the role of economics
in both defining and measuring self-esteem.  We make assumptions, it
often seems, about the populations we are studying and/or treating,
based on our own experiences and our own place in the general economic,
social, and political thoroughfare. Too often we forget the tremendous
impact poverty makes on the human psyche from the onset of its travel
through time.  And conversely, the impact wealth makes.  
 
In my research projects as well as my own practice as a life management
consultant specializing in education, aging, careers, and life
transitions, I see evidence of how all this plays out.  For example, in
my private practice some of my clients have had significant first and
second language problems, and it has been interesting to see the
interaction with their "perceived" and self-reported levels of
self-esteem.  There is tremendous variance.  In the end, I too have
learned that along with other investigations of human characteristics,
inquiries of self-esteem are "slippery slopes."
 
Thanks again for your response, and I, too, look forward to hearing from
others on such an interesting topic.  If anyone has any specific
questions about my research or  private practice, please contact me
directly and I will be glad to respond.
 
Dr. Judith Sinclair, PhD
Cognitive Psychologist
Research and Communications
Life Management Consultant:
   Career Development
   Education Achievement
   Transition Management
   Options in Aging
3003 Van Ness Street NW
Suite 411 West
Washington, DC  20008
Phone: 202-364-3893
Mobile: 202-236-9822
email: j-p-sinclair at att.net
 
 
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From julie_mcKinney at worlded.org  Tue Jun 20 16:33:33 2006
From: julie_mcKinney at worlded.org (Julie  McKinney)
Date: Tue, 20 Jun 2006 16:33:33 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 361] Re: Response to Andres Muro and FOB	article
	onself-esteem
Message-ID: <s4982364.070@mail.jsi.com>
Andres, Judith and others interested in the self esteem research,
This area of research and the article itself is certainly worthy of some
interesting discussion! In fact, we are planning a discussion with the
author of the article, Ana Lipnevich, for sometime in September. I am
sure she would like to hear your comments. She is currently out of the
country with sporadic internet access, but please coninue, and stay
tuned for a formal discussion of this article in September. 
For others out there interested in self esteem, Andres is referring to
the following article:
Low Self Esteem: Myth or Reality?
http://www.ncsall.net/index.php?id=1105
All the best,
Julie
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
>>> j-p-sinclair at worldnet.att.net 06/20/06 3:06 PM >>>
Your ideas mirror some of my own, Andres. Yet it seems to me that
research in self-esteem is generally a difficult task, although an
interesting and important one.  And, I would add that I think all of
this revolves around one's definitions of self-esteem, and also success,
failure, and so on.  As you note, these American concepts may not be the
same as the concepts of self-esteem, success, failure, and so on, as
seen in other societies and cultures.  
 
And, there are differences in perspective from each of the social and
other sciences investigating levels of self-esteem.  All in all, a
tricky business.  For example, in psychology, we might look at
self-esteem as self-worth, how a person's subjective appraisal of him or
herself affects their moods, attitudes, and behaviors.  As illustration,
Maslow looked at self-esteem in two ways, lower and higher, the lower
the need for respect of others; the higher the need for respect for
oneself.  In this lower group he included over the years the need for
status, fame, glory, recognition, attention, appreciation, for example,
along with other aspects.  He is simply one theorist and practitioner
who has contributed to the research on this subject, and guided the work
of many others.  And his is simply one perspective, albeit a good one.
 
In sociology, examining another perspective, we have only to look at the
Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, a widely used tool in sociologic research. 
Rosenberg opined that self-esteem is a positive or negative orientation
toward oneself, that is, a self-evaluation of one's worth or value. 
Yet, he believed that self-esteem was only one component of the
self-concept, however.  Other components included all of an individual's
thoughts and feelings, if I recall correctly. 
 
So again we can see differences in concepts and definitions, assumptions
and expressions, all coming from the social sciences.  And to add to the
mix, we could include the legal, philosophic, theologic, and medical
perspectives, all differing.  I would also add that often studies of
self-esteem are troublesome research projects because so much of the
data collected is in the form of self-reports.  There are inherent
issues with self-reports, although they are great tools in the absence
of other methods.
 
Finally, Andre, I appreciate your understanding of the role of economics
in both defining and measuring self-esteem.  We make assumptions, it
often seems, about the populations we are studying and/or treating,
based on our own experiences and our own place in the general economic,
social, and political thoroughfare. Too often we forget the tremendous
impact poverty makes on the human psyche from the onset of its travel
through time.  And conversely, the impact wealth makes.  
 
In my research projects as well as my own practice as a life management
consultant specializing in education, aging, careers, and life
transitions, I see evidence of how all this plays out.  For example, in
my private practice some of my clients have had significant first and
second language problems, and it has been interesting to see the
interaction with their "perceived" and self-reported levels of
self-esteem.  There is tremendous variance.  In the end, I too have
learned that along with other investigations of human characteristics,
inquiries of self-esteem are "slippery slopes."
 
Thanks again for your response, and I, too, look forward to hearing from
others on such an interesting topic.  If anyone has any specific
questions about my research or  private practice, please contact me
directly and I will be glad to respond.
 
Dr. Judith Sinclair, PhD
Cognitive Psychologist
Research and Communications
Life Management Consultant:
   Career Development
   Education Achievement
   Transition Management
   Options in Aging
3003 Van Ness Street NW
Suite 411 West
Washington, DC  20008
Phone: 202-364-3893
Mobile: 202-236-9822
email: j-p-sinclair at att.net
 
 
From j-p-sinclair at worldnet.att.net  Tue Jun 20 17:53:00 2006
From: j-p-sinclair at worldnet.att.net (Judith Sinclair)
Date: Tue, 20 Jun 2006 16:53:00 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 362] Can science understand the human mind? Response
	to Andres idea.
References: <CA29C5E82B801844A7A967D109F117CF5DB657@svrascmail01>
Message-ID: <002d01c694b3$e64d72d0$15144d0c@Dell>
Andres, I would agree in part with what you write, but it is my idea coming from my own work as a cognitive scientist in research that--with very careful thought and preparation--we can begin to understand some of how the human mind works.  
In my own research and practice, and along with my colleagues, who with me are building upon years of other scientifically-based and thought-provoking research into the human mind, I am aware of the pitfalls at all times, and am as fastidious as my own humanness allows as I go about investigating various subjects that include, with some flexibility, the questions inherent in the definition(s) of self-esteem.  And, it appears that we have come a long way in being able to provide "some" answers to "some" questions along those lines, as any well-done and critical literature review will demonstrate.  
Again, I refer to my original response to you today wherein I discussed the problems dealing with definitions and assumptions.  Each finding must be viewed with regard to the way in which the investigator or research scientist posits the terms.  Each assumption must be noted, for all the obvious reasons.  This is part of the quintessential nature of scientific research, whether the measurements are qualitative or quantitative or mixed.  
With these factors in mind, going back to the last few lines of your response below, I would then say that it is not that "we are unable to understand the human mind" as you write; rather, that "we are making great strides in understanding the human mind, but have a good way to go."
In sum, and in my humble opinion, and with all due respect to the foibles inherent in scientific research and the science model, I must say that we have not learned everything, surely, but we have learned a lot.  And with great appreciation to all who have gone before me, and all who work along side of me in this difficult work, I see the results in my own research and in my own private practice and am grateful.  
Dr. Judith Sinclair, PhD
Cognitive Psychologist
Research and Communications
Life Management Consultant:
   Career Development
   Education Achievement
   Transition Management
   Options in Aging
3003 Van Ness Street NW
Suite 411 West
Washington, DC  20008
Phone: 202-364-3893
Mobile: 202-236-9822
email: j-p-sinclair at att.net
 
----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Muro, Andres 
  To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List 
  Sent: Tuesday, June 20, 2006 3:09 PM
  Subject: [FocusOnBasics 359] Re: Response to Andres Muro and FOB articleonself-esteem
  Judith: 
   
  I agree that self esteem is generally a difficult think to research and measure. That is why I find it important to question the research. I am not sure of the way self esteem was measured, but to try to measure it as some sort of variable or report it in terms of manipulation of variables is questionable at best. I think that the best we could do measure self esteem is to define it as a collection of behaviors, and then try to observe those behaviors in different contexts. This is still hard to do since it requires the observer to be familiar with the contexts and the presence of certain behaviors and the immersion of the observer in a culture. In other words, research on self esteem needs to have an ethnographic character. Sometimes, non-action can be a demonstration of low self-esteem and other times it may not be. 
   
  To me, it is important to understand that human psychology in social and cultural contexts cannot be explained through traditional scientific testing. I am certain that that was not the intention of the researcher. However, the moment an article is published that says that research showed no difference in the self esteem of x vs. y, then people will conclude that the research is valid. Both self esteem and resistance are central to the understanding of behaviors, successes and failures of the poor, minorities, and culturally marginalized groups in our society and in the classroom. If the scientific research invalidates the presence of these, we are in trouble. At best, these studies demonstrate the inability of science to understand the human mind. 
   
  Andres
   
   
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Judith Sinclair
  Sent: Tuesday, June 20, 2006 1:06 PM
  To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List
  Subject: [FocusOnBasics 358] Response to Andres Muro and FOB article onself-esteem
   
  Your ideas mirror some of my own, Andres. Yet it seems to me that research in self-esteem is generally a difficult task, although an interesting and important one.  And, I would add that I think all of this revolves around one's definitions of self-esteem, and also success, failure, and so on.  As you note, these American concepts may not be the same as the concepts of self-esteem, success, failure, and so on, as seen in other societies and cultures.  
   
  And, there are differences in perspective from each of the social and other sciences investigating levels of self-esteem.  All in all, a tricky business.  For example, in psychology, we might look at self-esteem as self-worth, how a person's subjective appraisal of him or herself affects their moods, attitudes, and behaviors.  As illustration, Maslow looked at self-esteem in two ways, lower and higher, the lower the need for respect of others; the higher the need for respect for oneself.  In this lower group he included over the years the need for status, fame, glory, recognition, attention, appreciation, for example, along with other aspects.  He is simply one theorist and practitioner who has contributed to the research on this subject, and guided the work of many others.  And his is simply one perspective, albeit a good one.
   
  In sociology, examining another perspective, we have only to look at the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, a widely used tool in sociologic research.  Rosenberg opined that self-esteem is a positive or negative orientation toward oneself, that is, a self-evaluation of one's worth or value.  Yet, he believed that self-esteem was only one component of the self-concept, however.  Other components included all of an individual's thoughts and feelings, if I recall correctly. 
   
  So again we can see differences in concepts and definitions, assumptions and expressions, all coming from the social sciences.  And to add to the mix, we could include the legal, philosophic, theologic, and medical perspectives, all differing.  I would also add that often studies of self-esteem are troublesome research projects because so much of the data collected is in the form of self-reports.  There are inherent issues with self-reports, although they are great tools in the absence of other methods.
   
  Finally, Andre, I appreciate your understanding of the role of economics in both defining and measuring self-esteem.  We make assumptions, it often seems, about the populations we are studying and/or treating, based on our own experiences and our own place in the general economic, social, and political thoroughfare. Too often we forget the tremendous impact poverty makes on the human psyche from the onset of its travel through time.  And conversely, the impact wealth makes.  
   
  In my research projects as well as my own practice as a life management consultant specializing in education, aging, careers, and life transitions, I see evidence of how all this plays out.  For example, in my private practice some of my clients have had significant first and second language problems, and it has been interesting to see the interaction with their "perceived" and self-reported levels of self-esteem.  There is tremendous variance.  In the end, I too have learned that along with other investigations of human characteristics, inquiries of self-esteem are "slippery slopes."
   
  Thanks again for your response, and I, too, look forward to hearing from others on such an interesting topic.  If anyone has any specific questions about my research or  private practice, please contact me directly and I will be glad to respond.
   
  Dr. Judith Sinclair, PhD
  Cognitive Psychologist
  Research and Communications
  Life Management Consultant:
     Career Development
     Education Achievement
     Transition Management
     Options in Aging
  3003 Van Ness Street NW
  Suite 411 West
  Washington, DC  20008
  Phone: 202-364-3893
  Mobile: 202-236-9822
  email: j-p-sinclair at att.net
   
   
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  ----------------------------------------------------
  National Institute for Literacy
  Focus on Basics mailing list
  FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
  To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
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From jn at cloudworld.co.uk  Tue Jun 20 18:05:30 2006
From: jn at cloudworld.co.uk (John Nissen)
Date: Tue, 20 Jun 2006 23:05:30 +0100
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 363] Re: Response to Andres Muro and FOB
	articleonself-esteem
References: <CA29C5E82B801844A7A967D109F117CF5DB65C@svrascmail01>
Message-ID: <01e101c694b5$a51cfe50$0502a8c0@Tomschoice>
Hi all,
I have just stumbled on this from a Nobel Laureate for Economics, Professor Amartya Sen:
"Illiteracy and a lack of numeracy are a greater threat to humanity than terrorism. Widening the coverage and effectiveness of adult education is a powerful tool in reducing insecurity, and enhancing the process of social cohesion."
It seems rather appropriate for this list, if not this thread.  He has other good quotes, see Wikipedia.
Cheers,
John
John Nissen
Cloudworld Ltd - http://www.cloudworld.co.uk
maker of the assistive reader, WordAloud.
Try WordAloud with synthetic phonics:
http://www.cloudworld.co.uk/teaching-synthetic-phonics.htm
Tel: +44 208 742 3170  Fax: +44 208 742 0202
Email: info at cloudworld.co.uk
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Muro, Andres 
  To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List 
  Sent: Tuesday, June 20, 2006 9:14 PM
  Subject: [FocusOnBasics 360] Re: Response to Andres Muro and FOB articleonself-esteem
  Judith:
   
  Here is something else that I wrote about self -esteem in the NLA discussion:
   
  Actually, self esteem or self worth is, historically an economic measurement. With the advent of modernity, the value of man/woman ceases to be given by inheritance, royalty, etc. It becomes the value of his property. Hence man becomes homo-economicus. The estimation of an individual (self-estimation-self-esteem) or the worth of an individual is measured by the estimation of his/her property. 
   
  The other estimation of value in Western society has been cultural capital, measured by entitlements. So, the two big estimations of success in our society are essentially economic and cultural capital. To these, you can add others that the media have promoted, such as; beauty, strength, health, etc. These are closely tied to economic success. 
   
  Essentially, individuals who don't possess these attributes can work towards achieving them, or can resist them by creating alternative models of self worth. This is closely tied to the issue of resistance as articulated by John Ogbu. When minority kids enter school, they are asked to stop using their native languages and adopt the dominant language model. They can either accept this and demonstrate academic success or they can resist saying that it is tantamount to acting "whitie" 
   
  Resistance to the dominant model is a psychological accommodation to the dominant model of self esteem. Since I am neither rich, nor I possess entitlements of academic success, my self worth is low. However, if I create alternatives to self worth, such as gang membership, toughness, faithfulness, pride, etc., my self esteem will improve. This has been an accommodation that many youth have embraced with the obvious negative impact, dropping out of school and ending up in jail. 
   
  However, this argument supports the idea that youth have low self esteem measured from the academic model, since they reject it and create an alternative model. Adults, in ABE classes may have not created an alternative model of self worth. They have embraced the dominant model of academic and economic entitlements and this is an important reason for them to be there. When they fail, their self esteem naturally goes down. This is exacerbated by the fact that society promotes the fact that those who work hard can make it here. So, those who are not making it are either lazy or dumb. 
   
  Andres 
   
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Judith Sinclair
  Sent: Tuesday, June 20, 2006 1:06 PM
  To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List
  Subject: [FocusOnBasics 358] Response to Andres Muro and FOB article onself-esteem
   
  Your ideas mirror some of my own, Andres. Yet it seems to me that research in self-esteem is generally a difficult task, although an interesting and important one.  And, I would add that I think all of this revolves around one's definitions of self-esteem, and also success, failure, and so on.  As you note, these American concepts may not be the same as the concepts of self-esteem, success, failure, and so on, as seen in other societies and cultures.  
   
  And, there are differences in perspective from each of the social and other sciences investigating levels of self-esteem.  All in all, a tricky business.  For example, in psychology, we might look at self-esteem as self-worth, how a person's subjective appraisal of him or herself affects their moods, attitudes, and behaviors.  As illustration, Maslow looked at self-esteem in two ways, lower and higher, the lower the need for respect of others; the higher the need for respect for oneself.  In this lower group he included over the years the need for status, fame, glory, recognition, attention, appreciation, for example, along with other aspects.  He is simply one theorist and practitioner who has contributed to the research on this subject, and guided the work of many others.  And his is simply one perspective, albeit a good one.
   
  In sociology, examining another perspective, we have only to look at the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, a widely used tool in sociologic research.  Rosenberg opined that self-esteem is a positive or negative orientation toward oneself, that is, a self-evaluation of one's worth or value.  Yet, he believed that self-esteem was only one component of the self-concept, however.  Other components included all of an individual's thoughts and feelings, if I recall correctly. 
   
  So again we can see differences in concepts and definitions, assumptions and expressions, all coming from the social sciences.  And to add to the mix, we could include the legal, philosophic, theologic, and medical perspectives, all differing.  I would also add that often studies of self-esteem are troublesome research projects because so much of the data collected is in the form of self-reports.  There are inherent issues with self-reports, although they are great tools in the absence of other methods.
   
  Finally, Andre, I appreciate your understanding of the role of economics in both defining and measuring self-esteem.  We make assumptions, it often seems, about the populations we are studying and/or treating, based on our own experiences and our own place in the general economic, social, and political thoroughfare. Too often we forget the tremendous impact poverty makes on the human psyche from the onset of its travel through time.  And conversely, the impact wealth makes.  
   
  In my research projects as well as my own practice as a life management consultant specializing in education, aging, careers, and life transitions, I see evidence of how all this plays out.  For example, in my private practice some of my clients have had significant first and second language problems, and it has been interesting to see the interaction with their "perceived" and self-reported levels of self-esteem.  There is tremendous variance.  In the end, I too have learned that along with other investigations of human characteristics, inquiries of self-esteem are "slippery slopes."
   
  Thanks again for your response, and I, too, look forward to hearing from others on such an interesting topic.  If anyone has any specific questions about my research or  private practice, please contact me directly and I will be glad to respond.
   
  Dr. Judith Sinclair, PhD
  Cognitive Psychologist
  Research and Communications
  Life Management Consultant:
     Career Development
     Education Achievement
     Transition Management
     Options in Aging
  3003 Van Ness Street NW
  Suite 411 West
  Washington, DC  20008
  Phone: 202-364-3893
  Mobile: 202-236-9822
  email: j-p-sinclair at att.net
   
   
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  ----------------------------------------------------
  National Institute for Literacy
  Focus on Basics mailing list
  FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
  To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
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From b.garner4 at verizon.net  Tue Jun 20 21:40:51 2006
From: b.garner4 at verizon.net (Barbara Garner)
Date: Tue, 20 Jun 2006 20:40:51 -0500 (CDT)
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 364] Re: Response to Andres Muro and
	FOB	article	onself-esteem
Message-ID: <9848775.2588701150854052976.JavaMail.root@vms169.mailsrvcs.net>
I urge everyone to read this article. I was a bit confused at Andres' posts. The research Ana reports on was prompted by her observations that a number of writers had described adult basic education learners as having low self esteem, but the writers provided no empirical evidence for these judgements. So she sought out empirical evidence. Finding none, she constructed a study to do so. 
She found that the learners she surveyed had self esteem similar to that of doctoral students: and it wasn't "low" at all. She suggests that those who work with adult basic education students reevaluate any preconceived notions they may have about their students.
One can certainly argue about the validity of studies that try to measure self esteem, but I think the point that Ana's work makes, that we all meet our learners with open minds rather than pre-conceived notions, is a good one.
Barb Garner
Editor, Focus on Basics
Boston
b.garner4 at verizon.net
=====================
From: Julie  McKinney <julie_mcKinney at worlded.org>
Date: Tue Jun 20 15:33:33 CDT 2006
To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 361] Re: Response to Andres Muro and FOB	article	onself-esteem
Andres, Judith and others interested in the self esteem research,
This area of research and the article itself is certainly worthy of some
interesting discussion! In fact, we are planning a discussion with the
author of the article, Ana Lipnevich, for sometime in September. I am
sure she would like to hear your comments. She is currently out of the
country with sporadic internet access, but please coninue, and stay
tuned for a formal discussion of this article in September. 
For others out there interested in self esteem, Andres is referring to
the following article:
Low Self Esteem: Myth or Reality?
http://www.ncsall.net/index.php?id=1105
All the best,
Julie
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
>>> j-p-sinclair at worldnet.att.net 06/20/06 3:06 PM >>>
Your ideas mirror some of my own, Andres. Yet it seems to me that
research in self-esteem is generally a difficult task, although an
interesting and important one.  And, I would add that I think all of
this revolves around one's definitions of self-esteem, and also success,
failure, and so on.  As you note, these American concepts may not be the
same as the concepts of self-esteem, success, failure, and so on, as
seen in other societies and cultures.  
 
And, there are differences in perspective from each of the social and
other sciences investigating levels of self-esteem.  All in all, a
tricky business.  For example, in psychology, we might look at
self-esteem as self-worth, how a person's subjective appraisal of him or
herself affects their moods, attitudes, and behaviors.  As illustration,
Maslow looked at self-esteem in two ways, lower and higher, the lower
the need for respect of others; the higher the need for respect for
oneself.  In this lower group he included over the years the need for
status, fame, glory, recognition, attention, appreciation, for example,
along with other aspects.  He is simply one theorist and practitioner
who has contributed to the research on this subject, and guided the work
of many others.  And his is simply one perspective, albeit a good one.
 
In sociology, examining another perspective, we have only to look at the
Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, a widely used tool in sociologic research. 
Rosenberg opined that self-esteem is a positive or negative orientation
toward oneself, that is, a self-evaluation of one's worth or value. 
Yet, he believed that self-esteem was only one component of the
self-concept, however.  Other components included all of an individual's
thoughts and feelings, if I recall correctly. 
 
So again we can see differences in concepts and definitions, assumptions
and expressions, all coming from the social sciences.  And to add to the
mix, we could include the legal, philosophic, theologic, and medical
perspectives, all differing.  I would also add that often studies of
self-esteem are troublesome research projects because so much of the
data collected is in the form of self-reports.  There are inherent
issues with self-reports, although they are great tools in the absence
of other methods.
 
Finally, Andre, I appreciate your understanding of the role of economics
in both defining and measuring self-esteem.  We make assumptions, it
often seems, about the populations we are studying and/or treating,
based on our own experiences and our own place in the general economic,
social, and political thoroughfare. Too often we forget the tremendous
impact poverty makes on the human psyche from the onset of its travel
through time.  And conversely, the impact wealth makes.  
 
In my research projects as well as my own practice as a life management
consultant specializing in education, aging, careers, and life
transitions, I see evidence of how all this plays out.  For example, in
my private practice some of my clients have had significant first and
second language problems, and it has been interesting to see the
interaction with their "perceived" and self-reported levels of
self-esteem.  There is tremendous variance.  In the end, I too have
learned that along with other investigations of human characteristics,
inquiries of self-esteem are "slippery slopes."
 
Thanks again for your response, and I, too, look forward to hearing from
others on such an interesting topic.  If anyone has any specific
questions about my research or  private practice, please contact me
directly and I will be glad to respond.
 
Dr. Judith Sinclair, PhD
Cognitive Psychologist
Research and Communications
Life Management Consultant:
   Career Development
   Education Achievement
   Transition Management
   Options in Aging
3003 Van Ness Street NW
Suite 411 West
Washington, DC  20008
Phone: 202-364-3893
Mobile: 202-236-9822
email: j-p-sinclair at att.net
 
 
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
From mjjerdems at yahoo.com  Thu Jun 22 09:44:50 2006
From: mjjerdems at yahoo.com (Mary Jane Jerde)
Date: Thu, 22 Jun 2006 06:44:50 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 365] Re: Video as aProfessional Development Tool
In-Reply-To: <005601c68b27$f9b2ae20$030ac90a@explorit3>
Message-ID: <20060622134450.86860.qmail@web54003.mail.yahoo.com>
I think that the best way to overcome initial resistance is to video  yourself and some others in a realistic way. Share the results, "good,  bad, and ugly," with some observations and room for others' comments.  Professional doesn't mean perfect; it means an openness to learn and to  apply what has been learned. When one person can approach it genuinely,  with some humor and appreciation for the process, it can really free up  others. 
  
  Mary Jane Jerde
  ESL Instructor 
  Howard Community College
  Columbia, MD 
Missy Slaathaug <mslaathaug at midco.net> wrote:  Greetings, 
We are working here in South Dakota to strengthen our teacher training
and ongoing professional development system.  One tool that we have
looked at is video-taping.  Some of us feel this would be an extremely
useful tool, especially given the distances between our centers and the
travel, time and funding barriers that arise to many other PD options,
like peer observation.  
We do feel, however, that there would be a great deal of resistance to
using video taping by many of our teachers.  
Does anyone have any ideas on how to overcome this negative perception
of using video-taping as a PD tool?  
Thank you.  
Missy Slaathaug
ESL State Specialist
South Dakota
mslaathaug at midco.net
  
-----Original Message-----
From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Julie McKinney
Sent: Monday, June 05, 2006 8:13 AM
To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 306] Discussion starts today: Video as
aProfessional Development Tool
Hi Everyone,
Welcome to our discussion with author Jessica Tomkins about her recent
FOB article:
Video as a Professional Development Tool
http://www.ncsall.net/index.php?id=1107
Please write in with any impressions, comments or questions you have
about the article! See below for some discussion questions.
Enjoy!
Julie
************************************
Discussion Questions
1. Have you ever seen a video of yourself teaching? If so, what was your
impression?  Did it affect your teaching? How?
>
> 2. What do you think you might gain from seeing yourself and your
students on video?
>
> 3. How might your students benefit from you reviewing such a video?
>
> 4. Have you ever used video as a professional development tool in your
program? If so, how did your group review and process the video in order
to share thoughts, give feedback and get the maximum benefit? How did
teachers receive this?
>
> 5. After reading this article, what unanswered questions stay with
you?
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
 		
---------------------------------
Yahoo! Groups gets better. Check out the new email design. Plus there?s much more to come.  
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From julie_mcKinney at worlded.org  Thu Jun 22 09:20:17 2006
From: julie_mcKinney at worlded.org (Julie  McKinney)
Date: Thu, 22 Jun 2006 09:20:17 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 366] Discussion next week: Shaping and Sustaining
	Learner	Engagement
Message-ID: <s49a60f7.082@mail.jsi.com>
Hi Everyone,
Next week we are pleased to have Hal Beder as a guest to discuss his
recent FOB article about learner engagement. Hal is a professor at
Rutgers University and has studied adult literacy for more than 30
years. He is the project director for NCSALL at Rutgers and for the
National Labsite for Adult Literacy Education.
Please read the article at the link below, and prepare any comments or
questions for Hal and other readers to send in on Monday.
Shaping and Sustaining Learner Engagement in Individualized Group
Instruction Classrooms
http://www.ncsall.net/index.php?id=1106
See you then,
Julie
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
From joellencoryell at yahoo.com  Fri Jun 23 16:01:33 2006
From: joellencoryell at yahoo.com (Joellen Coryell)
Date: Fri, 23 Jun 2006 15:01:33 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 367] Computer Assisted Instruction with Adult ELL's
	survey - Please Participate!!
Message-ID: <000c01c696ff$d4469460$6a01a8c0@inspiron700m>
Title of Study: Implementing Computer-Aided Instructional Components
with Adult English Language Learners
 
For Instructors
http://express.perseus.com/perseus/surveys/1734848031/55d5879.htm 
 
For Directors
http://express.perseus.com/perseus/surveys/1734848031/bef6126.htm 
 
 
Do you remember what it  was like when you and your program first
implemented a computer-mediated instructional component to your adult
English language learner curriculum? How did it go? What advice could
you offer others who are considering that venture (adventure!)? 
 
Hello! We are Dominique Chlup, Assistant Professor and Director of the
Texas Center for the Advancement of Literacy and Learning (TCALL), and
Joellen Coryell, Research Fellow for TCALL from Texas A&M University. As
directors and instructors of online and computer-mediated instruction of
adult English language learners, you are invited to participate in a
survey study we are conducting. The purpose of the research is to
investigate the experiences of adult English language learner (ELL)
instructors and directors in providing first-time computer-aided
instruction for their students. Hopefully, the findings of this study
will help other ELL instructors and directors in their future
implementations of such instruction.   
 
The survey is comprised of a few open-ended questions that ask you to
inform us of your demographic information, the proficiency levels of
students you teach online, your experiences implementing or beginning
your computer-aided / online ESOL component(s), your general experiences
with providing this instruction, and any advice you can give new online
ESOL instructional providers. The completion time for the survey is
about 30 minutes. The surveys and website are password protected, and
your data will be accessed only by the two of us. Your complete
confidentiality is secure, and any report of the findings will not
reveal specific information that could be linked back to you or your
specific program. Therefore, we hope you will be candid in your
responses. 
 
The research involves completion of online surveys available at: 
For Instructors
http://express.perseus.com/perseus/surveys/1734848031/55d5879.htm 
 
For Directors
http://express.perseus.com/perseus/surveys/1734848031/bef6126.htm 
 
 
If you choose to volunteer to participate, your completion of the survey
grants us your consent to use your data as part of our research. We will
request your email address and office phone number in the event that
response clarification is considered necessary. The analysis of the data
collected will be used in manuscripts intended for possible publication
and use by interested ESOL providers. We may also include the data and
interpretations in conference presentations. 
 
We offer our sincere gratitude, in advance, for your time, effort, and
consideration in participating in this research. Please do not hesitate
to contact us if you have any questions or specific clarification (see
the below information). 
 
This research study has been reviewed by the Institutional Review Board
- Human Subjects in Research, Texas A&M University. For research-related
problems or questions regarding subjects' rights, I can contact the
Institutional Review Board through Ms. Angelina M. Raines, Director of
Research Compliance, Office of the Vice President for Research at (979)
458-4067, araines at vprmail.tamu.edu. 
 
 
Sincerely,
 
Joellen Coryell
Research Fellow, Texas Center for the Advancement of Literacy and
Learning
Texas A&M University
jcoryell at neo.tamu.edu
210-313-7693
 
Dominique Chlup, Ph.D.
Director, Texas Center for the Advancement of Literacy and Learning
Educational Administration and Human Resource Development
Texas A&M University
dchlup at tamu.edu
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From julie_mcKinney at worlded.org  Mon Jun 26 10:08:44 2006
From: julie_mcKinney at worlded.org (Julie  McKinney)
Date: Mon, 26 Jun 2006 10:08:44 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 368]  Welcome to discussion of Learner Engagement!
Message-ID: <s49fb241.001@mail.jsi.com>
Hi Everyone,
I want to welcome our guest this week, Hal Beder, who will join us to
discuss his
recent FOB article: "Shaping and Sustaining Learner Engagement in
Individualized Group Instruction Classrooms". 
You can find the article at this link:
http://www.ncsall.net/index.php?id=1106
Hal is a professor at Rutgers University and has studied adult literacy
for more than 30 years. He is the project director for NCSALL at Rutgers
and for the National Labsite for Adult Literacy Education. We are very
pleased to have him with us.
I am going to open up the discussion with a few questions for you:
How many of you teach individualized group instruction? 
How do  you find that the three factors discussed in the article
(instructional system, teachers' roles, and classroom norms) affect your
learners? 
What other factors affect your learners' engagement?
I look forward to hearing from you!
Julie
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
From hbeder at rci.rutgers.edu  Mon Jun 26 12:10:02 2006
From: hbeder at rci.rutgers.edu (Hal Beder)
Date: Mon, 26 Jun 2006 12:10:02 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 368] Re: Welcome to discussion of Learner Engagement!
In-Reply-To: <s49fb241.001@mail.jsi.com>
References: <s49fb241.001@mail.jsi.com>
Message-ID: <6.2.3.4.2.20060626120619.02b80eb0@rci.rutgers.edu>
Hello everyone.  I think Julie's questions are excellent for 
beginning the discussion and I am ready to begin.  You can learn a 
bit more about me by clicking here:
http://gse.rutgers.edu/faculty/genFacultyProfileBiography~cguid~{F72274D9-ABAB-4190-8D3C-5333B284B4E5}~ciid~fac_1018.asp
At 10:08 AM 6/26/2006, you wrote:
>Hi Everyone,
>
>I want to welcome our guest this week, Hal Beder, who will join us to
>discuss his
>recent FOB article: "Shaping and Sustaining Learner Engagement in
>Individualized Group Instruction Classrooms".
>
>You can find the article at this link:
>http://www.ncsall.net/index.php?id=1106
>
>Hal is a professor at Rutgers University and has studied adult literacy
>for more than 30 years. He is the project director for NCSALL at Rutgers
>and for the National Labsite for Adult Literacy Education. We are very
>pleased to have him with us.
>
>I am going to open up the discussion with a few questions for you:
>
>How many of you teach individualized group instruction?
>
>How do  you find that the three factors discussed in the article
>(instructional system, teachers' roles, and classroom norms) affect your
>learners?
>
>What other factors affect your learners' engagement?
>
>I look forward to hearing from you!
>
>Julie
>
>
>
>Julie McKinney
>Discussion List Moderator
>World Education/NCSALL
>jmckinney at worlded.org
>
>----------------------------------------------------
>National Institute for Literacy
>Focus on Basics mailing list
>FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
>To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to 
>http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
Rutgers University
Graduate School of Education
10 seminary Pl.
New Brunswick, NJ 08901
732-932-7496 ext. 8213 
From valleypeters at tetonliteracy.org  Mon Jun 26 13:10:31 2006
From: valleypeters at tetonliteracy.org (Valley Peters)
Date: Mon, 26 Jun 2006 11:10:31 -0600
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 369] Re: Computer Assisted Instruction with Adult
	ELL's survey - Please Participate!!
In-Reply-To: <000c01c696ff$d4469460$6a01a8c0@inspiron700m>
References: <000c01c696ff$d4469460$6a01a8c0@inspiron700m>
Message-ID: <9AC41B2F-26E5-4D9A-8233-EB31F6D10741@tetonliteracy.org>
I will be very interested in the results of this study as I have just  
ordered a mobile learning lab from Apple that will be used to  
supplement instruction for our adult ELLs.
I'm glad to hear of this study!
Valley Peters
Director of Adult Services
valleypeters at tetonliteracy.org
307.733.9242
Teton Literacy Program provides literacy education and resources to  
open doors for individuals and families to achieve their personal,  
professional, and academic goals, as contributing members of our  
community.
On Jun 23, 2006, at 2:01 PM, Joellen Coryell wrote:
> Title of Study: Implementing Computer-Aided Instructional  
> Components with Adult English Language Learners
>
>
>
> For Instructors
>
> http://express.perseus.com/perseus/surveys/1734848031/55d5879.htm
>
>
>
> For Directors
>
> http://express.perseus.com/perseus/surveys/1734848031/bef6126.htm
>
>
>
>
>
> Do you remember what it  was like when you and your program first  
> implemented a computer-mediated instructional component to your  
> adult English language learner curriculum? How did it go? What  
> advice could you offer others who are considering that venture  
> (adventure!)?
>
>
>
> Hello! We are Dominique Chlup, Assistant Professor and Director of  
> the Texas Center for the Advancement of Literacy and Learning  
> (TCALL), and Joellen Coryell, Research Fellow for TCALL from Texas  
> A&M University. As directors and instructors of online and computer- 
> mediated instruction of adult English language learners, you are  
> invited to participate in a survey study we are conducting. The  
> purpose of the research is to investigate the experiences of adult  
> English language learner (ELL) instructors and directors in  
> providing first-time computer-aided instruction for their students.  
> Hopefully, the findings of this study will help other ELL  
> instructors and directors in their future implementations of such  
> instruction.
>
>
>
> The survey is comprised of a few open-ended questions that ask you  
> to inform us of your demographic information, the proficiency  
> levels of students you teach online, your experiences implementing  
> or beginning your computer-aided / online ESOL component(s), your  
> general experiences with providing this instruction, and any advice  
> you can give new online ESOL instructional providers. The  
> completion time for the survey is about 30 minutes. The surveys and  
> website are password protected, and your data will be accessed only  
> by the two of us. Your complete confidentiality is secure, and any  
> report of the findings will not reveal specific information that  
> could be linked back to you or your specific program. Therefore, we  
> hope you will be candid in your responses.
>
>
>
> The research involves completion of online surveys available at:
>
> For Instructors
>
> http://express.perseus.com/perseus/surveys/1734848031/55d5879.htm
>
>
>
> For Directors
>
> http://express.perseus.com/perseus/surveys/1734848031/bef6126.htm
>
>
>
>
>
> If you choose to volunteer to participate, your completion of the  
> survey grants us your consent to use your data as part of our  
> research. We will request your email address and office phone  
> number in the event that response clarification is considered  
> necessary. The analysis of the data collected will be used in  
> manuscripts intended for possible publication and use by interested  
> ESOL providers. We may also include the data and interpretations in  
> conference presentations.
>
>
>
> We offer our sincere gratitude, in advance, for your time, effort,  
> and consideration in participating in this research. Please do not  
> hesitate to contact us if you have any questions or specific  
> clarification (see the below information).
>
>
>
> This research study has been reviewed by the Institutional Review  
> Board ? Human Subjects in Research, Texas A&M University. For  
> research-related problems or questions regarding subjects? rights,  
> I can contact the Institutional Review Board through Ms. Angelina  
> M. Raines, Director of Research Compliance, Office of the Vice  
> President for Research at (979) 458-4067, araines at vprmail.tamu.edu.
>
>
>
>
>
> Sincerely,
>
>
>
> Joellen Coryell
>
> Research Fellow, Texas Center for the Advancement of Literacy and  
> Learning
>
> Texas A&M University
>
> jcoryell at neo.tamu.edu
>
> 210-313-7693
>
>
>
>
> Dominique Chlup, Ph.D.
>
> Director, Texas Center for the Advancement of Literacy and Learning
>
> Educational Administration and Human Resource Development
>
> Texas A&M University
>
> dchlup at tamu.edu
>
> ----------------------------------------------------
> National Institute for Literacy
> Focus on Basics mailing list
> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to  
> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
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From khinson71 at cox.net  Mon Jun 26 19:50:02 2006
From: khinson71 at cox.net (Katrina Hinson)
Date: Mon, 26 Jun 2006 19:50:02 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 370] Re: Welcome to discussion of Learner Engagement!
In-Reply-To: <s49fb241.001@mail.jsi.com>
References: <s49fb241.001@mail.jsi.com>
Message-ID: <7.0.1.0.0.20060626193055.01969968@cox.net>
At 10:08 AM 6/26/2006, you wrote:
>Hi Everyone,
>
>I want to welcome our guest this week, Hal Beder, who will join us to
>discuss his
>recent FOB article: "Shaping and Sustaining Learner Engagement in
>Individualized Group Instruction Classrooms".
>
>You can find the article at this link:
>http://www.ncsall.net/index.php?id=1106
>
>Hal is a professor at Rutgers University and has studied adult literacy
>for more than 30 years. He is the project director for NCSALL at Rutgers
>and for the National Labsite for Adult Literacy Education. We are very
>pleased to have him with us.
>
>I am going to open up the discussion with a few questions for you:
>
>How many of you teach individualized group instruction?
Until reading Hal's article, I'd have answered yes to this without 
hesitation. However, reading his article, I'm going to have to say, 
that it's probably a combination of group and individual instruction. 
All students are pre tested and placed based on their scores.  My 
students are predominantly on the higher end of the TABE scale - but 
not always. Students are all individually assessed to see where they 
are in terms of actual GED readiness and then together we work on a 
plan of individual lessons. In addition to that, I incorporate group 
activities such as oral reading, current events and critical thinking 
skills into the classroom.
>How do  you find that the three factors discussed in the article
>(instructional system, teachers' roles, and classroom norms) affect your
>learners?
With regards to the Instructional System: for me, this comes down to 
understanding my student needs. Some of my students can easily work 
on their own and at their own pace and only need me when they hit a 
wall, or need clarification. On the other hand, some of my students 
can't function this way. They need a dialogue and as they put it, 
they "want someone to instruct them."  For example, I was out the 
first week of this new summer session which began on May 22. I had a 
new student who came in during that time. She was very much put off 
by what she did not deem as helpful. She returned 2 weeks ago, in the 
middle of the class time when as we were doing an oral reading 
assignment on the novel Miracle's Boys. She waited patiently and I 
could read the excitement on her face. She was smiling from ear to 
ear. She looked at me and said "This is what I'm looking for. I want 
someone that's going to involve me, and teach me." I explained that 
the class wasn't like what she walked in all the time...that there 
was a balance. She's returned every day since.  I don't think there 
is any ONE instructional system that works for all students and I 
think instructors have to be flexible and adapt to the needs of the 
student.  I think this relates directly to the teacher's role. I 
think the teacher's role is to facilitate learning - provide access 
to learning and in some cases be a bridge between the "life" skills a 
student brings with them and the "academic" skills a student is 
trying to attain. Some of our students don't need to find the same 
"school" like environment in our adult classrooms that one would find 
in the public school system - at the same time, some of our students 
do. They are looking for structure in what is sometimes a very 
chaotic life. The instructor is there to give guidance and support 
and that can many, many forms - whether it's an in depth lesson on 
how to add fractions with unlike denominators or if it's a discussion 
on current events in the town they live in. Teachers are there to 
open the doors and in some cases help students find the right path or 
at least show them the options they have available. Teachers are 
sometimes the only helping hand a student might have.
Classroom norms is the area I struggle with. I would love it if my 
students all came in with the "Stick to business" attitude. Some do 
and some don't. Those that don't are often a distraction for those 
that do. It's a constant battle and one I'm not sure how to win, if 
winning is the right word. Those students that don't come in with 
that attitude are the ones that want to be finished yesterday but who 
aren't willing to do any of the work. School and the classroom are a 
social time. We do have rules and a policy of writing them up if the 
offense is bad enough - such as cursing at the instructor or 
repeatedly being late to class after break.  For the students who 
don't have the "stick to business" attitude, I can honestly say based 
on my class this semester, they just don't care about the rules. 
Personally, I'd like to know how the classes observed in the article 
got to a point where "engaging and maintaining engagement for the 
entire class was a commonly accepted behavior of the class. It was so 
ingrained that it hardly ever needed to be enforced."
>What other factors affect your learners' engagement?
Distractions from their outside of school life: fear of losing their 
job, fear of losing their daycare, how they're going to put gas in 
their car, pay for daycare, pay for the utilities, keep their food 
from spoiling in the heat, get their car fixed, what they're going to 
do on Friday night, relationship issues with boyfriend/girlfriend or 
mom and dad etc.
>I look forward to hearing from you!
>
>Julie
>
>
>
>Julie McKinney
>Discussion List Moderator
>World Education/NCSALL
>jmckinney at worlded.org
>
>----------------------------------------------------
>National Institute for Literacy
>Focus on Basics mailing list
>FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
>To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to 
>http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
>
>
>--
>No virus found in this incoming message.
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From marikeane at hotmail.com  Tue Jun 27 11:40:38 2006
From: marikeane at hotmail.com (marie keane)
Date: Tue, 27 Jun 2006 16:40:38 +0100
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 371] Re: FOB article on self-esteem
Message-ID: <BAY13-F30C6605BA49409496B486BC7E0@phx.gbl>
Andres,
I too am skeptical about the findings in the article on Low Self Esteem 
because the findings go against what I witness in my day to day practice.
When students attending our service were asked how they felt about returning 
to education many reported being nervous and fearful.  They cited meeting 
other students and feeling 'stupid' in class as their biggest fears.  The 
majority of students were ashamed of their literacy difficulty.  They had 
spent most of their lives hiding their literacy problems from their peers, 
their employers and even their families; especially their children.
With time the students 'found their feet' in the class and enjoyed the 
support of the other students and generally felt comfortable in class.  I 
have found that a student may overcome many of his/her self-esteem issues, 
especially in relation to learning, after spending time in a positive 
learning environment.  I wonder, therefore, how long the students, in 
Lipnevich's  study, had been attending classes when they completed the 
study's questionnaire?
Marie
>From: "Muro, Andres" <amuro5 at epcc.edu>
>Reply-To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
>To: <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
>Subject: [FocusOnBasics 357]  FOB article on self esteem
>Date: Tue, 20 Jun 2006 10:14:42 -0600
>
>I just received and gave a cursory glace at the Low Self Esteem article
>on FOB. I am skeptical of the results. I do not believe that our
>students live lives of failure as the article suggests that some
>teachers may believe. In fact I believe that they live lives of
>incredible sacrifices, successes, triumphs, and overcoming tremendous
>difficulties. However, society portraits them as failures though
>different mechanisms, ie, low literacy, poverty, difficulty with
>academic environments, domestic violence, lack of employment, blue
>collar work, lack of citizenship or residency, racism, poor health, etc.
>These are the tools that mainstream society uses to evaluate success or
>failure of individuals.
>
>
>
>While most of our students are extremely hard working, passionate,
>dedicated, excellent family providers, etc., they do not measure
>themselves in terms of these, but in terms of the mainstream society
>markers. The mainstream society markers have very detrimental effects in
>our student self esteem.
>
>
>
>We have found that through a lot of motivation, creative writing, and
>success in academic pursuits we are able to help students to see
>themselves as they truly are instead of the mainstream societal markers
>of success. As a result, we see our students,\' self esteem improve.
>
>
>
>In a society where the dominant media dictates that success is measured
>primarily by wealth, possessions, intellectual entitlements and looks,
>the poor, the dispossessed, those without degrees and those who don't
>meet the standard look will have poor self esteem. Fortunately, there
>are alternatives to the media that can validate people based on other
>things. However, the competition against the mainstream media is tough.
>
>
>
>Years ago, FOB published an article by Steve Reader that found no
>resistance among ABE students contradicting what Quigley and others have
>previously founds. This article finds no lack of self esteem among ABE
>students. These two articles contradict the obvious. To me, this means
>that the testing the statistical analysis, the questions asked, the
>understanding of the theory or other elements of the testing instrument
>are flawed.
>
>
>
>Add to this the fact that self esteem and resistance are very hard to
>understand and assess concepts and often unconscious. Asking questions
>such as: Do you resist? Or: Do you have a low self-esteem? May not be
>accurate ways to assess self-esteem.
>
>
>
>Opinions, discussion?
>
>
>
>Andres
>
>
>
>
>
>----------------------------------------------------
>National Institute for Literacy
>Focus on Basics mailing list
>FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
>To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to 
>http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
_________________________________________________________________
Find accommodation FAST with MSN Search! http://search.msn.ie/
From hbeder at rci.rutgers.edu  Tue Jun 27 13:35:40 2006
From: hbeder at rci.rutgers.edu (Hal Beder)
Date: Tue, 27 Jun 2006 13:35:40 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 372] Re: FOB article on self-esteem
In-Reply-To: <BAY13-F30C6605BA49409496B486BC7E0@phx.gbl>
References: <BAY13-F30C6605BA49409496B486BC7E0@phx.gbl>
Message-ID: <6.2.3.4.2.20060627131027.02b33e78@rci.rutgers.edu>
The students in Ana's study had been in the program various amounts 
of time.  Some were relatively new, some were old timers.  Most 
people are "nervous" when they undertake something new and 
difficult.  I suspect that everyone who reads this has experienced 
that kind of anxiety.  Indeed, as someone who teaches doctoral 
students, I know that even the most educated experience anxiety until 
they become familiar with the situation.  Initial anxiety is not the 
same as low self-esteem, however, as self-esteem is generally 
considered to be a relatively stable trait, not something that 
fluctuates.   Remember, the students in Ana's study were voluntary 
learners; they at least had enough self-confidence to 
participate.  Other research has shown that low-self esteem is a 
barrier to participation in adult literacy, so it may be that 
low-literate adults who lack self-esteem just don't enroll. I don't 
think the implication of Ana's work is that teachers should not be 
warm and supportive.  All adult educators, regardless of what and who 
they teach, should be supportive.  To me the implication is that 
beliefs that adult literacy students have abnormally low self-esteems 
because they have lived failed lives supports the stigma of adult 
literacy. In any case, Ana is out of the country now.  I hope that we 
can revisit this discussion when she returns.
At 11:40 AM 6/27/2006, you wrote:
>Andres,
>
>I too am skeptical about the findings in the article on Low Self Esteem
>because the findings go against what I witness in my day to day practice.
>
>When students attending our service were asked how they felt about returning
>to education many reported being nervous and fearful.  They cited meeting
>other students and feeling 'stupid' in class as their biggest fears.  The
>majority of students were ashamed of their literacy difficulty.  They had
>spent most of their lives hiding their literacy problems from their peers,
>their employers and even their families; especially their children.
>
>With time the students 'found their feet' in the class and enjoyed the
>support of the other students and generally felt comfortable in class.  I
>have found that a student may overcome many of his/her self-esteem issues,
>especially in relation to learning, after spending time in a positive
>learning environment.  I wonder, therefore, how long the students, in
>Lipnevich's  study, had been attending classes when they completed the
>study's questionnaire?
>
>Marie
>
>
>
> >From: "Muro, Andres" <amuro5 at epcc.edu>
> >Reply-To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
> >To: <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
> >Subject: [FocusOnBasics 357]  FOB article on self esteem
> >Date: Tue, 20 Jun 2006 10:14:42 -0600
> >
> >I just received and gave a cursory glace at the Low Self Esteem article
> >on FOB. I am skeptical of the results. I do not believe that our
> >students live lives of failure as the article suggests that some
> >teachers may believe. In fact I believe that they live lives of
> >incredible sacrifices, successes, triumphs, and overcoming tremendous
> >difficulties. However, society portraits them as failures though
> >different mechanisms, ie, low literacy, poverty, difficulty with
> >academic environments, domestic violence, lack of employment, blue
> >collar work, lack of citizenship or residency, racism, poor health, etc.
> >These are the tools that mainstream society uses to evaluate success or
> >failure of individuals.
> >
> >
> >
> >While most of our students are extremely hard working, passionate,
> >dedicated, excellent family providers, etc., they do not measure
> >themselves in terms of these, but in terms of the mainstream society
> >markers. The mainstream society markers have very detrimental effects in
> >our student self esteem.
> >
> >
> >
> >We have found that through a lot of motivation, creative writing, and
> >success in academic pursuits we are able to help students to see
> >themselves as they truly are instead of the mainstream societal markers
> >of success. As a result, we see our students,\' self esteem improve.
> >
> >
> >
> >In a society where the dominant media dictates that success is measured
> >primarily by wealth, possessions, intellectual entitlements and looks,
> >the poor, the dispossessed, those without degrees and those who don't
> >meet the standard look will have poor self esteem. Fortunately, there
> >are alternatives to the media that can validate people based on other
> >things. However, the competition against the mainstream media is tough.
> >
> >
> >
> >Years ago, FOB published an article by Steve Reader that found no
> >resistance among ABE students contradicting what Quigley and others have
> >previously founds. This article finds no lack of self esteem among ABE
> >students. These two articles contradict the obvious. To me, this means
> >that the testing the statistical analysis, the questions asked, the
> >understanding of the theory or other elements of the testing instrument
> >are flawed.
> >
> >
> >
> >Add to this the fact that self esteem and resistance are very hard to
> >understand and assess concepts and often unconscious. Asking questions
> >such as: Do you resist? Or: Do you have a low self-esteem? May not be
> >accurate ways to assess self-esteem.
> >
> >
> >
> >Opinions, discussion?
> >
> >
> >
> >Andres
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
>
>
> >----------------------------------------------------
> >National Institute for Literacy
> >Focus on Basics mailing list
> >FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
> >To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
> >http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
>
>_________________________________________________________________
>Find accommodation FAST with MSN Search! http://search.msn.ie/
>
>----------------------------------------------------
>National Institute for Literacy
>Focus on Basics mailing list
>FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
>To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to 
>http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
Rutgers University
Graduate School of Education
10 seminary Pl.
New Brunswick, NJ 08901
732-932-7496 ext. 8213 
From amuro5 at epcc.edu  Tue Jun 27 14:28:16 2006
From: amuro5 at epcc.edu (Muro, Andres)
Date: Tue, 27 Jun 2006 12:28:16 -0600
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 373] Re: FOB article on self-esteem
In-Reply-To: <6.2.3.4.2.20060627131027.02b33e78@rci.rutgers.edu>
Message-ID: <CA29C5E82B801844A7A967D109F117CF5DBC44@svrascmail01>
Hal Beder wrote: 
"To me the implication is that beliefs that adult literacy students have
abnormally low self-esteems because they have lived failed lives
supports the stigma of adult literacy."
I agree with his statement. However, I am making a slightly different
argument. I believe that adult literacy students have low self esteem
even though many lead very successful lives. This is because western
society and the media do not portrait their successes as true success.
Most media outlets, ie: TV, newspapers, books, magazines, schools,
leaders, etc tend to describe success in terms of economic capital,
cultural capital, looks and strength. Unless we take great steps to
battle these stereotypes and create alternative models of success,
students will measure themselves against the advertised models of
success. The indirect evidence of this is the investment that people
make to hide their poverty and limited literacy skills, the investments
that they make in trying to look like models, in diet plans, in schemes
to get rich, etc. they do this because they want to increase their self
esteem. Targets of schemes to get rich, to loose weight, etc are our
students and not doctoral students. You see ridiculous advertisements in
tabloid magazines not in research journals.     
Of course, doctoral students have esteem issues too. Their self esteem
is given by the ultimate entitlement, the Ph.D. However, in the esteem
scale of economic and cultural capital adult literacy students will
score a lot lower.
Ultimately, the point that I am trying to make is that the current way
society measures a person's value is all screwed up. This has a very
detrimental impact on the oppressed, the disenfranchised, the sidelined,
the marginalized, the abused, etc. In fact, the current scale is
directly responsible for the oppression, disenfranchisement,
marginalization, abuse, etc. So, we must work to change the measures of
a person's value rather than argue that our students do not have a low
self esteem. 
Andres
At 11:40 AM 6/27/2006, you wrote:
>Andres,
>
>I too am skeptical about the findings in the article on Low Self Esteem
>because the findings go against what I witness in my day to day
practice.
>
>When students attending our service were asked how they felt about
returning
>to education many reported being nervous and fearful.  They cited
meeting
>other students and feeling 'stupid' in class as their biggest fears.
The
>majority of students were ashamed of their literacy difficulty.  They
had
>spent most of their lives hiding their literacy problems from their
peers,
>their employers and even their families; especially their children.
>
>With time the students 'found their feet' in the class and enjoyed the
>support of the other students and generally felt comfortable in class.
I
>have found that a student may overcome many of his/her self-esteem
issues,
>especially in relation to learning, after spending time in a positive
>learning environment.  I wonder, therefore, how long the students, in
>Lipnevich's  study, had been attending classes when they completed the
>study's questionnaire?
>
>Marie
>
>
>
> >From: "Muro, Andres" <amuro5 at epcc.edu>
> >Reply-To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List
<focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
> >To: <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
> >Subject: [FocusOnBasics 357]  FOB article on self esteem
> >Date: Tue, 20 Jun 2006 10:14:42 -0600
> >
> >I just received and gave a cursory glace at the Low Self Esteem
article
> >on FOB. I am skeptical of the results. I do not believe that our
> >students live lives of failure as the article suggests that some
> >teachers may believe. In fact I believe that they live lives of
> >incredible sacrifices, successes, triumphs, and overcoming tremendous
> >difficulties. However, society portraits them as failures though
> >different mechanisms, ie, low literacy, poverty, difficulty with
> >academic environments, domestic violence, lack of employment, blue
> >collar work, lack of citizenship or residency, racism, poor health,
etc.
> >These are the tools that mainstream society uses to evaluate success
or
> >failure of individuals.
> >
> >
> >
> >While most of our students are extremely hard working, passionate,
> >dedicated, excellent family providers, etc., they do not measure
> >themselves in terms of these, but in terms of the mainstream society
> >markers. The mainstream society markers have very detrimental effects
in
> >our student self esteem.
> >
> >
> >
> >We have found that through a lot of motivation, creative writing, and
> >success in academic pursuits we are able to help students to see
> >themselves as they truly are instead of the mainstream societal
markers
> >of success. As a result, we see our students,\' self esteem improve.
> >
> >
> >
> >In a society where the dominant media dictates that success is
measured
> >primarily by wealth, possessions, intellectual entitlements and
looks,
> >the poor, the dispossessed, those without degrees and those who don't
> >meet the standard look will have poor self esteem. Fortunately, there
> >are alternatives to the media that can validate people based on other
> >things. However, the competition against the mainstream media is
tough.
> >
> >
> >
> >Years ago, FOB published an article by Steve Reader that found no
> >resistance among ABE students contradicting what Quigley and others
have
> >previously founds. This article finds no lack of self esteem among
ABE
> >students. These two articles contradict the obvious. To me, this
means
> >that the testing the statistical analysis, the questions asked, the
> >understanding of the theory or other elements of the testing
instrument
> >are flawed.
> >
> >
> >
> >Add to this the fact that self esteem and resistance are very hard to
> >understand and assess concepts and often unconscious. Asking
questions
> >such as: Do you resist? Or: Do you have a low self-esteem? May not be
> >accurate ways to assess self-esteem.
> >
> >
> >
> >Opinions, discussion?
> >
> >
> >
> >Andres
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
>
>
> >----------------------------------------------------
> >National Institute for Literacy
> >Focus on Basics mailing list
> >FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
> >To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
> >http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
>
>_________________________________________________________________
>Find accommodation FAST with MSN Search! http://search.msn.ie/
>
>----------------------------------------------------
>National Institute for Literacy
>Focus on Basics mailing list
>FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
>To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to 
>http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
Rutgers University
Graduate School of Education
10 seminary Pl.
New Brunswick, NJ 08901
732-932-7496 ext. 8213 
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
From bgiven at gmu.edu  Tue Jun 27 14:57:39 2006
From: bgiven at gmu.edu (Barbara K Given)
Date: Tue, 27 Jun 2006 14:57:39 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 374] Re: FOB article on self-esteem
In-Reply-To: <6.2.3.4.2.20060627131027.02b33e78@rci.rutgers.edu>
References: <BAY13-F30C6605BA49409496B486BC7E0@phx.gbl>
	<6.2.3.4.2.20060627131027.02b33e78@rci.rutgers.edu>
Message-ID: <f75ed4f0e224.44a14763@gmu.edu>
There is another consideration, as well. I've worked with adolescents and adults who experience high self-esteem when it comes to working on cars, playing the guitar, or cooking, etc., but when it comes to reading, it's an entirely different story. Self-esteem seems to fluctuate dependent upon how comfortable one is with his/her skills/attributes in that area. Just a thouoght. barb given
Barbara K. Given, Ph.D.
Director, Adolescent and Adult Learning Research Center
Krasnow Institute for Advanced Study, and
Director, Center for Honoring Individual Learning Diversity, an International Learning Styles Center 
George Mason University
Fairfax, VA 22030-4444
Fax: 703-993-4325
Ph:  703-993-4406
----- Original Message -----
From: Hal Beder <hbeder at rci.rutgers.edu>
Date: Tuesday, June 27, 2006 1:35 pm
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 372] Re: FOB article on self-esteem
> The students in Ana's study had been in the program various 
> amounts 
> of time.  Some were relatively new, some were old timers.  Most 
> people are "nervous" when they undertake something new and 
> difficult.  I suspect that everyone who reads this has experienced 
> that kind of anxiety.  Indeed, as someone who teaches doctoral 
> students, I know that even the most educated experience anxiety 
> until 
> they become familiar with the situation.  Initial anxiety is not 
> the 
> same as low self-esteem, however, as self-esteem is generally 
> considered to be a relatively stable trait, not something that 
> fluctuates.   Remember, the students in Ana's study were voluntary 
> learners; they at least had enough self-confidence to 
> participate.  Other research has shown that low-self esteem is a 
> barrier to participation in adult literacy, so it may be that 
> low-literate adults who lack self-esteem just don't enroll. I 
> don't 
> think the implication of Ana's work is that teachers should not be 
> warm and supportive.  All adult educators, regardless of what and 
> who 
> they teach, should be supportive.  To me the implication is that 
> beliefs that adult literacy students have abnormally low self-
> esteems 
> because they have lived failed lives supports the stigma of adult 
> literacy. In any case, Ana is out of the country now.  I hope that 
> we 
> can revisit this discussion when she returns.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> At 11:40 AM 6/27/2006, you wrote:
> >Andres,
> >
> >I too am skeptical about the findings in the article on Low Self 
> Esteem>because the findings go against what I witness in my day to 
> day practice.
> >
> >When students attending our service were asked how they felt 
> about returning
> >to education many reported being nervous and fearful.  They cited 
> meeting>other students and feeling 'stupid' in class as their 
> biggest fears.  The
> >majority of students were ashamed of their literacy difficulty.  
> They had
> >spent most of their lives hiding their literacy problems from 
> their peers,
> >their employers and even their families; especially their children.
> >
> >With time the students 'found their feet' in the class and 
> enjoyed the
> >support of the other students and generally felt comfortable in 
> class.  I
> >have found that a student may overcome many of his/her self-
> esteem issues,
> >especially in relation to learning, after spending time in a positive
> >learning environment.  I wonder, therefore, how long the 
> students, in
> >Lipnevich's  study, had been attending classes when they 
> completed the
> >study's questionnaire?
> >
> >Marie
> >
> >
> >
> > >From: "Muro, Andres" <amuro5 at epcc.edu>
> > >Reply-To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List 
> <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>> >To: <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
> > >Subject: [FocusOnBasics 357]  FOB article on self esteem
> > >Date: Tue, 20 Jun 2006 10:14:42 -0600
> > >
> > >I just received and gave a cursory glace at the Low Self Esteem 
> article> >on FOB. I am skeptical of the results. I do not believe 
> that our
> > >students live lives of failure as the article suggests that some
> > >teachers may believe. In fact I believe that they live lives of
> > >incredible sacrifices, successes, triumphs, and overcoming 
> tremendous> >difficulties. However, society portraits them as 
> failures though
> > >different mechanisms, ie, low literacy, poverty, difficulty with
> > >academic environments, domestic violence, lack of employment, blue
> > >collar work, lack of citizenship or residency, racism, poor 
> health, etc.
> > >These are the tools that mainstream society uses to evaluate 
> success or
> > >failure of individuals.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >While most of our students are extremely hard working, passionate,
> > >dedicated, excellent family providers, etc., they do not measure
> > >themselves in terms of these, but in terms of the mainstream 
> society> >markers. The mainstream society markers have very 
> detrimental effects in
> > >our student self esteem.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >We have found that through a lot of motivation, creative 
> writing, and
> > >success in academic pursuits we are able to help students to see
> > >themselves as they truly are instead of the mainstream societal 
> markers> >of success. As a result, we see our students,\' self 
> esteem improve.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >In a society where the dominant media dictates that success is 
> measured> >primarily by wealth, possessions, intellectual 
> entitlements and looks,
> > >the poor, the dispossessed, those without degrees and those who 
> don't> >meet the standard look will have poor self esteem. 
> Fortunately, there
> > >are alternatives to the media that can validate people based on 
> other> >things. However, the competition against the mainstream 
> media is tough.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >Years ago, FOB published an article by Steve Reader that found no
> > >resistance among ABE students contradicting what Quigley and 
> others have
> > >previously founds. This article finds no lack of self esteem 
> among ABE
> > >students. These two articles contradict the obvious. To me, 
> this means
> > >that the testing the statistical analysis, the questions asked, the
> > >understanding of the theory or other elements of the testing 
> instrument> >are flawed.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >Add to this the fact that self esteem and resistance are very 
> hard to
> > >understand and assess concepts and often unconscious. Asking 
> questions> >such as: Do you resist? Or: Do you have a low self-
> esteem? May not be
> > >accurate ways to assess self-esteem.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >Opinions, discussion?
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >Andres
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> >
> >
> > >----------------------------------------------------
> > >National Institute for Literacy
> > >Focus on Basics mailing list
> > >FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
> > >To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
> > >http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
> >
> >_________________________________________________________________
> >Find accommodation FAST with MSN Search! http://search.msn.ie/
> >
> >----------------------------------------------------
> >National Institute for Literacy
> >Focus on Basics mailing list
> >FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
> >To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to 
> >http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
> 
> Rutgers University
> Graduate School of Education
> 10 seminary Pl.
> New Brunswick, NJ 08901
> 732-932-7496 ext. 8213 
> 
> ----------------------------------------------------
> National Institute for Literacy
> Focus on Basics mailing list
> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to 
> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
From mnguyen at nifl.gov  Wed Jun 28 11:41:56 2006
From: mnguyen at nifl.gov (My Linh Nguyen)
Date: Wed, 28 Jun 2006 11:41:56 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 375] National Institute for Literacy Appoints New
	Staff
Message-ID: <20060628154156.F293846555@dev.nifl.gov>
Hello everyone,
My name is My Linh Nguyen, and I am the new Associated Director of
Communications for the National Institute for Literacy. I would like to take
this opportunity to introduce myself along with three other new hires at the
Institute. The press release below introduces each of the four new hires and
identifies our roles and backgrounds. Thank you, and I look forward to
working with all of you. 
       National Institute for Literacy Appoints New Staff
The National Institute for Literacy has appointed four new staff members to
expand its capacity to contribute to improvements in adult, adolescent,
childhood and early childhood literacy.  
Andrea Grimaldi has joined the Institute as Senior Project Officer
in Early Childhood Literacy. She will be responsible for planning and
managing the Institute's work on early childhood literacy. She will also
oversee dissemination of the National Early Literacy Panel Report, expected
to be released in late 2006. 
My Linh Nguyen has joined the Institute as Associate Director of
Communications. In this capacity, she will plan and manage communications
activities designed raise awareness of literacy issues and the Institute's
products and services. 
The two other new staffers will join the Institute in July. Susan
Boorse, who will serve as Executive Officer, will have responsibility for
budgetary and financial management activities as well as administrative
functions. Heather Wright has been selected to serve as Dissemination
Specialist. In this capacity, she will plan and oversee implementation of
the Institute's print and electronic products to ensure that they are widely
and easily available.
"The arrival of these four individuals signals an exciting new era for the
National Institute for Literacy," said Dr. Sandra Baxter, the Institute's
Director. "Each of them brings fresh ideas and new perspectives along with
their diverse backgrounds and expertise. Their presence will reenergize our
existing programs and help us carry out new efforts to better serve the
adult and childhood literacy communities."
All four new appointees have a wide variety of experience in their
fields.
Ms. Grimaldi has more than a decade of experience as an early
childhood education teacher, program manager, and trainer. Most recently,
she served as the training manager for professional development with the
Public Broadcasting Service's (PBS) five-year Ready To Learn Initiative to
prepare young children for success in school through educational television,
web-based media and training for parents and teachers.
Ms. Nguyen comes to the Institute from the Delaware River Port
Authority of Pennsylvania and New Jersey, where she served as manager of
corporate communications and public information officer. She is a former
general assignment reporter and copy editor for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Ms. Boorse served in the Peace Corps for eight years as an
administrative and budget officer. She also served four years as a VISTA
volunteer, working with a literacy program in Philadelphia, a rural school
district in Mississippi, and a fledgling Philadelphia Habitat for Humanity
affiliate. 
Ms. Wright comes to the Institute from the Montgomery County
Department of Public Libraries in Maryland, where, as Children's Librarian,
she was involved in early literacy programs for babies, toddlers,
preschoolers and elementary-school children. Her previous professional
background is in the field of marketing research, where she conducted many
research studies to measure the needs of customers and target markets, both
in the library setting and in the private sector. 
	
The National Institute for Literacy provides leadership on literacy
issues, including the improvement of reading instruction for children,
youth, and adults. In consultation with the U.S. Departments of Education,
Labor, and Health and Human Services, the Institute serves as a national
resource on current, comprehensive literacy research, practice, and policy.
My Linh Nguyen
Associate Director of Communications
National Institute for Literacy
(202) 233-2041
fax (202) 233-2050
mnguyen at nifl.gov
From julie_mcKinney at worlded.org  Wed Jun 28 13:38:23 2006
From: julie_mcKinney at worlded.org (Julie  McKinney)
Date: Wed, 28 Jun 2006 13:38:23 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 376] Re: Welcome to discussion of Learner	Engagement!
Message-ID: <s4a28674.066@mail.jsi.com>
Katrina brought up an interesting point about classroom norms. In Hal's
study it seemed that classroom norms were a major factor in engaging
learners, yet in his study classes the norm of "sticking to business"
seemed to be very smooth and unproblematic. My guess is that many
classroom situations have more of a mix, as Katrina describes. If this
is important in learner engagement, then we should discuss what we can
do to improve or enforce the classroom norms in those classes where they
are not consistent. 
How do we help everyone "stick to business"? Are there other classroom
norms besides "sticking to business" that are important?
Julie
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
>>> khinson71 at cox.net 06/26/06 7:50 PM >>>
At 10:08 AM 6/26/2006, you wrote:
>Hi Everyone,
>
>I want to welcome our guest this week, Hal Beder, who will join us to
>discuss his
>recent FOB article: "Shaping and Sustaining Learner Engagement in
>Individualized Group Instruction Classrooms".
>
>You can find the article at this link:
>http://www.ncsall.net/index.php?id=1106
>
>Hal is a professor at Rutgers University and has studied adult literacy
>for more than 30 years. He is the project director for NCSALL at
Rutgers
>and for the National Labsite for Adult Literacy Education. We are very
>pleased to have him with us.
>
>I am going to open up the discussion with a few questions for you:
>
>How many of you teach individualized group instruction?
Until reading Hal's article, I'd have answered yes to this without 
hesitation. However, reading his article, I'm going to have to say, 
that it's probably a combination of group and individual instruction. 
All students are pre tested and placed based on their scores.  My 
students are predominantly on the higher end of the TABE scale - but 
not always. Students are all individually assessed to see where they 
are in terms of actual GED readiness and then together we work on a 
plan of individual lessons. In addition to that, I incorporate group 
activities such as oral reading, current events and critical thinking 
skills into the classroom.
>How do  you find that the three factors discussed in the article
>(instructional system, teachers' roles, and classroom norms) affect
your
>learners?
With regards to the Instructional System: for me, this comes down to 
understanding my student needs. Some of my students can easily work 
on their own and at their own pace and only need me when they hit a 
wall, or need clarification. On the other hand, some of my students 
can't function this way. They need a dialogue and as they put it, 
they "want someone to instruct them."  For example, I was out the 
first week of this new summer session which began on May 22. I had a 
new student who came in during that time. She was very much put off 
by what she did not deem as helpful. She returned 2 weeks ago, in the 
middle of the class time when as we were doing an oral reading 
assignment on the novel Miracle's Boys. She waited patiently and I 
could read the excitement on her face. She was smiling from ear to 
ear. She looked at me and said "This is what I'm looking for. I want 
someone that's going to involve me, and teach me." I explained that 
the class wasn't like what she walked in all the time...that there 
was a balance. She's returned every day since.  I don't think there 
is any ONE instructional system that works for all students and I 
think instructors have to be flexible and adapt to the needs of the 
student.  I think this relates directly to the teacher's role. I 
think the teacher's role is to facilitate learning - provide access 
to learning and in some cases be a bridge between the "life" skills a 
student brings with them and the "academic" skills a student is 
trying to attain. Some of our students don't need to find the same 
"school" like environment in our adult classrooms that one would find 
in the public school system - at the same time, some of our students 
do. They are looking for structure in what is sometimes a very 
chaotic life. The instructor is there to give guidance and support 
and that can many, many forms - whether it's an in depth lesson on 
how to add fractions with unlike denominators or if it's a discussion 
on current events in the town they live in. Teachers are there to 
open the doors and in some cases help students find the right path or 
at least show them the options they have available. Teachers are 
sometimes the only helping hand a student might have.
Classroom norms is the area I struggle with. I would love it if my 
students all came in with the "Stick to business" attitude. Some do 
and some don't. Those that don't are often a distraction for those 
that do. It's a constant battle and one I'm not sure how to win, if 
winning is the right word. Those students that don't come in with 
that attitude are the ones that want to be finished yesterday but who 
aren't willing to do any of the work. School and the classroom are a 
social time. We do have rules and a policy of writing them up if the 
offense is bad enough - such as cursing at the instructor or 
repeatedly being late to class after break.  For the students who 
don't have the "stick to business" attitude, I can honestly say based 
on my class this semester, they just don't care about the rules. 
Personally, I'd like to know how the classes observed in the article 
got to a point where "engaging and maintaining engagement for the 
entire class was a commonly accepted behavior of the class. It was so 
ingrained that it hardly ever needed to be enforced."
>What other factors affect your learners' engagement?
Distractions from their outside of school life: fear of losing their 
job, fear of losing their daycare, how they're going to put gas in 
their car, pay for daycare, pay for the utilities, keep their food 
from spoiling in the heat, get their car fixed, what they're going to 
do on Friday night, relationship issues with boyfriend/girlfriend or 
mom and dad etc.
>I look forward to hearing from you!
>
>Julie
>
>
>
>Julie McKinney
>Discussion List Moderator
>World Education/NCSALL
>jmckinney at worlded.org
>
>----------------------------------------------------
>National Institute for Literacy
>Focus on Basics mailing list
>FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
>To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to 
>http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
>
>
>--
>No virus found in this incoming message.
>Checked by AVG Free Edition.
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6/25/2006
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To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
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From Janet_Isserlis at brown.edu  Wed Jun 28 17:05:52 2006
From: Janet_Isserlis at brown.edu (Janet Isserlis)
Date: Wed, 28 Jun 2006 17:05:52 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 377]  norms
In-Reply-To: <s4a28674.066@mail.jsi.com>
Message-ID: <C0C86770.E13B%Janet_Isserlis@brown.edu>
I'm not sure that classroom norms are *only* a concern for learners; what
about meetings where practitioners sometimes struggle to balance the work on
the table and the social pieces - not just chatter, but the relationship
building undergirding so much of the work we do?
Is the question more about how work/learning get done and about balance?
I'm not sure how completely different these issues are in classroom contexts
and in other contexts where people meet to accomplish some purpose or
another (learning, meeting, workshop, etc...)
Janet Isserlis
> From: Julie  McKinney <julie_mcKinney at worlded.org>
> Reply-To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
> Date: Wed, 28 Jun 2006 13:38:23 -0400
> To: <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
> Subject: [FocusOnBasics 376] Re: Welcome to discussion of Learner Engagement!
> 
> Katrina brought up an interesting point about classroom norms. In Hal's
> study it seemed that classroom norms were a major factor in engaging
> learners, yet in his study classes the norm of "sticking to business"
> seemed to be very smooth and unproblematic. My guess is that many
> classroom situations have more of a mix, as Katrina describes. If this
> is important in learner engagement, then we should discuss what we can
> do to improve or enforce the classroom norms in those classes where they
> are not consistent.
> 
> How do we help everyone "stick to business"? Are there other classroom
> norms besides "sticking to business" that are important?
> 
> Julie
From mjjerdems at yahoo.com  Thu Jun 29 07:35:50 2006
From: mjjerdems at yahoo.com (Mary Jane Jerde)
Date: Thu, 29 Jun 2006 04:35:50 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 378] Re: norms
In-Reply-To: <C0C86770.E13B%Janet_Isserlis@brown.edu>
Message-ID: <20060629113551.19865.qmail@web54006.mail.yahoo.com>
Good day, 
  
  This is certainly an interesting topic. 
  
  The dynamics aren't discernibly different to me, but as the paid  professional I'm responsible to ensure that a spoken and unspoken  groundrule is that the vehicle for communication will be English. In  some groups it's easier than in others. The best advocates and guides  for that norm can be those who learned English in that way. It helps  those tempted to make class a social gathering in their own language  realize that they really can learn to communicate in English.
  
  Mary Jane Jerde
  
Janet Isserlis <Janet_Isserlis at brown.edu> wrote:  I'm not sure that classroom norms are *only* a concern for learners; what
about meetings where practitioners sometimes struggle to balance the work on
the table and the social pieces - not just chatter, but the relationship
building undergirding so much of the work we do?
Is the question more about how work/learning get done and about balance?
I'm not sure how completely different these issues are in classroom contexts
and in other contexts where people meet to accomplish some purpose or
another (learning, meeting, workshop, etc...)
Janet Isserlis
> From: Julie  McKinney 
> Reply-To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List 
> Date: Wed, 28 Jun 2006 13:38:23 -0400
> To: 
> Subject: [FocusOnBasics 376] Re: Welcome to discussion of Learner Engagement!
> 
> Katrina brought up an interesting point about classroom norms. In Hal's
> study it seemed that classroom norms were a major factor in engaging
> learners, yet in his study classes the norm of "sticking to business"
> seemed to be very smooth and unproblematic. My guess is that many
> classroom situations have more of a mix, as Katrina describes. If this
> is important in learner engagement, then we should discuss what we can
> do to improve or enforce the classroom norms in those classes where they
> are not consistent.
> 
> How do we help everyone "stick to business"? Are there other classroom
> norms besides "sticking to business" that are important?
> 
> Julie
----------------------------------------------------
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Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
 		
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From hbeder at rci.rutgers.edu  Thu Jun 29 08:03:00 2006
From: hbeder at rci.rutgers.edu (hbeder at rci.rutgers.edu)
Date: Thu, 29 Jun 2006 08:03:00 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 379] Re: norms
In-Reply-To: <C0C86770.E13B%Janet_Isserlis@brown.edu>
References: <s4a28674.066@mail.jsi.com>
	<C0C86770.E13B%Janet_Isserlis@brown.edu>
Message-ID: <1493.68.197.19.12.1151582580.squirrel@webmail.rci.rutgers.edu>
For us the interesting thing about the norm sticking to business was that
it was established by both teachers and learners through mutual consensus.
It was part of the conetext of instruction rather than a set of imposed
rules.  These were voluntary learners who came pre-disposed to work. So I
think sticking to business comes naturally for adult learners.  If you
have a class where learners are not sticking to business, it may be a sign
that something is wrong.
> I'm not sure that classroom norms are *only* a concern for learners; what
> about meetings where practitioners sometimes struggle to balance the work
> on
> the table and the social pieces - not just chatter, but the relationship
> building undergirding so much of the work we do?
>
> Is the question more about how work/learning get done and about balance?
> I'm not sure how completely different these issues are in classroom
> contexts
> and in other contexts where people meet to accomplish some purpose or
> another (learning, meeting, workshop, etc...)
>
> Janet Isserlis
>
>
>> From: Julie  McKinney <julie_mcKinney at worlded.org>
>> Reply-To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
>> Date: Wed, 28 Jun 2006 13:38:23 -0400
>> To: <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
>> Subject: [FocusOnBasics 376] Re: Welcome to discussion of Learner
>> Engagement!
>>
>> Katrina brought up an interesting point about classroom norms. In Hal's
>> study it seemed that classroom norms were a major factor in engaging
>> learners, yet in his study classes the norm of "sticking to business"
>> seemed to be very smooth and unproblematic. My guess is that many
>> classroom situations have more of a mix, as Katrina describes. If this
>> is important in learner engagement, then we should discuss what we can
>> do to improve or enforce the classroom norms in those classes where they
>> are not consistent.
>>
>> How do we help everyone "stick to business"? Are there other classroom
>> norms besides "sticking to business" that are important?
>>
>> Julie
>
> ----------------------------------------------------
> National Institute for Literacy
> Focus on Basics mailing list
> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
>
From tamill2 at uky.edu  Thu Jun 29 10:06:21 2006
From: tamill2 at uky.edu (Toni-Ann Mills)
Date: Thu, 29 Jun 2006 10:06:21 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 380] Re: FOB article on self-esteem
In-Reply-To: <f75ed4f0e224.44a14763@gmu.edu>
References: <BAY13-F30C6605BA49409496B486BC7E0@phx.gbl>
	<6.2.3.4.2.20060627131027.02b33e78@rci.rutgers.edu>
	<f75ed4f0e224.44a14763@gmu.edu>
Message-ID: <6.0.1.1.2.20060629100011.01df4460@pop.uky.edu>
Hi
This is Toni-Ann from Kentucky.  It is interesting that we just had a 
similar discussion here yesterday with a number of people, including a 
legislator interested in how we tap the community who most needs literacy 
services.  One of the contributors to the discussion provided anecdotal 
evidence of people he has worked with who believed that they were the only 
people in their community who had literacy problems. He was convinced that 
it was not so much a self-esteem issue but more  that people viewed their 
lack of literacy skills like a taboo disease - something they should cover 
up, not talk about and not seek help through public areas.  Those with low 
levels of literacy often learn remarkable coping skills which for them are 
easier to build and maintain than it is to build and grow literacy skills.
So - what can be done to assure these people that they are not alone and 
that there are resources available that will provide more services to them 
than continuing to "hide" a problem that in their minds exist for them alone.
Toni-Ann
At 02:57 PM 6/27/2006, you wrote:
>There is another consideration, as well. I've worked with adolescents and 
>adults who experience high self-esteem when it comes to working on cars, 
>playing the guitar, or cooking, etc., but when it comes to reading, it's 
>an entirely different story. Self-esteem seems to fluctuate dependent upon 
>how comfortable one is with his/her skills/attributes in that area. Just a 
>thouoght. barb given
>
>Barbara K. Given, Ph.D.
>Director, Adolescent and Adult Learning Research Center
>Krasnow Institute for Advanced Study, and
>Director, Center for Honoring Individual Learning Diversity, an 
>International Learning Styles Center
>George Mason University
>Fairfax, VA 22030-4444
>Fax: 703-993-4325
>Ph:  703-993-4406
>
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: Hal Beder <hbeder at rci.rutgers.edu>
>Date: Tuesday, June 27, 2006 1:35 pm
>Subject: [FocusOnBasics 372] Re: FOB article on self-esteem
>
> > The students in Ana's study had been in the program various
> > amounts
> > of time.  Some were relatively new, some were old timers.  Most
> > people are "nervous" when they undertake something new and
> > difficult.  I suspect that everyone who reads this has experienced
> > that kind of anxiety.  Indeed, as someone who teaches doctoral
> > students, I know that even the most educated experience anxiety
> > until
> > they become familiar with the situation.  Initial anxiety is not
> > the
> > same as low self-esteem, however, as self-esteem is generally
> > considered to be a relatively stable trait, not something that
> > fluctuates.   Remember, the students in Ana's study were voluntary
> > learners; they at least had enough self-confidence to
> > participate.  Other research has shown that low-self esteem is a
> > barrier to participation in adult literacy, so it may be that
> > low-literate adults who lack self-esteem just don't enroll. I
> > don't
> > think the implication of Ana's work is that teachers should not be
> > warm and supportive.  All adult educators, regardless of what and
> > who
> > they teach, should be supportive.  To me the implication is that
> > beliefs that adult literacy students have abnormally low self-
> > esteems
> > because they have lived failed lives supports the stigma of adult
> > literacy. In any case, Ana is out of the country now.  I hope that
> > we
> > can revisit this discussion when she returns.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > At 11:40 AM 6/27/2006, you wrote:
> > >Andres,
> > >
> > >I too am skeptical about the findings in the article on Low Self
> > Esteem>because the findings go against what I witness in my day to
> > day practice.
> > >
> > >When students attending our service were asked how they felt
> > about returning
> > >to education many reported being nervous and fearful.  They cited
> > meeting>other students and feeling 'stupid' in class as their
> > biggest fears.  The
> > >majority of students were ashamed of their literacy difficulty.
> > They had
> > >spent most of their lives hiding their literacy problems from
> > their peers,
> > >their employers and even their families; especially their children.
> > >
> > >With time the students 'found their feet' in the class and
> > enjoyed the
> > >support of the other students and generally felt comfortable in
> > class.  I
> > >have found that a student may overcome many of his/her self-
> > esteem issues,
> > >especially in relation to learning, after spending time in a positive
> > >learning environment.  I wonder, therefore, how long the
> > students, in
> > >Lipnevich's  study, had been attending classes when they
> > completed the
> > >study's questionnaire?
> > >
> > >Marie
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > >From: "Muro, Andres" <amuro5 at epcc.edu>
> > > >Reply-To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List
> > <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>> >To: <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
> > > >Subject: [FocusOnBasics 357]  FOB article on self esteem
> > > >Date: Tue, 20 Jun 2006 10:14:42 -0600
> > > >
> > > >I just received and gave a cursory glace at the Low Self Esteem
> > article> >on FOB. I am skeptical of the results. I do not believe
> > that our
> > > >students live lives of failure as the article suggests that some
> > > >teachers may believe. In fact I believe that they live lives of
> > > >incredible sacrifices, successes, triumphs, and overcoming
> > tremendous> >difficulties. However, society portraits them as
> > failures though
> > > >different mechanisms, ie, low literacy, poverty, difficulty with
> > > >academic environments, domestic violence, lack of employment, blue
> > > >collar work, lack of citizenship or residency, racism, poor
> > health, etc.
> > > >These are the tools that mainstream society uses to evaluate
> > success or
> > > >failure of individuals.
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >While most of our students are extremely hard working, passionate,
> > > >dedicated, excellent family providers, etc., they do not measure
> > > >themselves in terms of these, but in terms of the mainstream
> > society> >markers. The mainstream society markers have very
> > detrimental effects in
> > > >our student self esteem.
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >We have found that through a lot of motivation, creative
> > writing, and
> > > >success in academic pursuits we are able to help students to see
> > > >themselves as they truly are instead of the mainstream societal
> > markers> >of success. As a result, we see our students,\' self
> > esteem improve.
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >In a society where the dominant media dictates that success is
> > measured> >primarily by wealth, possessions, intellectual
> > entitlements and looks,
> > > >the poor, the dispossessed, those without degrees and those who
> > don't> >meet the standard look will have poor self esteem.
> > Fortunately, there
> > > >are alternatives to the media that can validate people based on
> > other> >things. However, the competition against the mainstream
> > media is tough.
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >Years ago, FOB published an article by Steve Reader that found no
> > > >resistance among ABE students contradicting what Quigley and
> > others have
> > > >previously founds. This article finds no lack of self esteem
> > among ABE
> > > >students. These two articles contradict the obvious. To me,
> > this means
> > > >that the testing the statistical analysis, the questions asked, the
> > > >understanding of the theory or other elements of the testing
> > instrument> >are flawed.
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >Add to this the fact that self esteem and resistance are very
> > hard to
> > > >understand and assess concepts and often unconscious. Asking
> > questions> >such as: Do you resist? Or: Do you have a low self-
> > esteem? May not be
> > > >accurate ways to assess self-esteem.
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >Opinions, discussion?
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >Andres
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > >
> > >
> > > >----------------------------------------------------
> > > >National Institute for Literacy
> > > >Focus on Basics mailing list
> > > >FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
> > > >To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
> > > >http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
> > >
> > >_________________________________________________________________
> > >Find accommodation FAST with MSN Search! http://search.msn.ie/
> > >
> > >----------------------------------------------------
> > >National Institute for Literacy
> > >Focus on Basics mailing list
> > >FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
> > >To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
> > >http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
> >
> > Rutgers University
> > Graduate School of Education
> > 10 seminary Pl.
> > New Brunswick, NJ 08901
> > 732-932-7496 ext. 8213
> >
> > ----------------------------------------------------
> > National Institute for Literacy
> > Focus on Basics mailing list
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> > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
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>----------------------------------------------------
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>Focus on Basics mailing list
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>To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to 
>http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
Toni-Ann Mills
CCLD Director - Adult Education
Phone (859) 257-6127
Fax (859) 323 3963
email: tamill2 at uky.edu
Seize the day 
From meyer_j at ccsdistrict.org  Thu Jun 29 10:07:52 2006
From: meyer_j at ccsdistrict.org (Jane Meyer)
Date: Thu, 29 Jun 2006 10:07:52 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 381]  individualized workbook approach
Message-ID: <44A3DEB8.8000401@ccsdistrict.org>
Julie asked  "Are there other classroom norms besides "sticking to 
business" that are important?"
I was surprised when I read Hal's study on engaging learners that most 
of the classes in the study used an individualized workbook approach.  I 
have never found this approach to be very engaging.  I wonder what the 
students are engaged with.  Are they engaged in learning or getting 
through the workbook pages?  Do they struggle to make sure they 
understand the concepts or just plow through to get done?  When 
correcting their answers using the key in the back of the book do they 
think about where they went wrong and be sure they understand or do they 
just change their answer to the correct one?   I have seen students take 
a workbook home over the weekend and do the whole workbook and believe 
that they now have moved up a grade level in reading. I think there are 
much more engaging approaches than the individualized workbook approach. 
Jane Meyer
Canton City schools ABLE
From khinson at future-gate.com  Thu Jun 29 10:46:18 2006
From: khinson at future-gate.com (Katrina Hinson)
Date: Thu, 29 Jun 2006 16:46:18 +0200
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 382] Re: norms
Message-ID: <44A403DA020000A000002C7E@fgwiel01a.wie.de.future-gate.com>
I think it's a huge assumption to state "sticking to business comes
naturally for adult learners." That assumes that  that everyone that
enters an ABE program is an adult both in age, and attitude. The latter
being the key.  The assumption is that all the adult learners in an ABE
program WANT to be there and that's not always the case.  There is
nothing "natural" for the adult learner who is mandated by court or
other local, state or federal guidelines that require an ABE/GED course.
 
The program model you observed is an "ideal" for many of us, I would
hazard to say,especially for those of us who deal with younger students
just out of high school.   The key word you stressed below was
"voluntary;" great - what about those that aren't voluntary sitting in a
class with those who are? I have taught in Adult Education for 10 years
now, and the mixture is always there - those who want to be there vs
those who HAVE to be there. This makes "sticking to business" some days
next to impossible.  I can't throw students who don't stick to business
out of my class. I can ask that they be quiet, focus, try to work hard.
I can sit with them, etc. I can do many things to address the negative
behavior but it doesn't mean I can make the student "stick to business."
 Instructors are bound by both local and state regulations as to
discipline - at least here. We can have local policies in place but at
the same time, when everything is driven by FTE's and student
progression, EVERY student becomes critical to program success and
retaining those students who don't want to be there is as important as
retaining those studens who WANT to be there. In light of that, not
every class room is going to exemplify "sticking to business" as
highlighted in the article.  The "ideal" situation isn't what some of us
face day to day. The question really is how do you address the problem
to benefit all - those who want to be there, and those who HAVE to be
there.  ( I think this is also what happens in meetings etc, which Janet
asked about.  Those that want to be there are ready to get to work, get
it done and get back to business - those that have to be there, want to
talk about their trips to the beach, their families, the weekend etc -
anything to avoid what they didn't want to deal with in the first
place.)
Additionally, there is a time and place for building social skills and
teamwork through discourse in the adult classroom setting. Not all
instruction occurs via a text, a worksheet or a math problem to be
solved.  Some skills such as getting along with others, expressing
diverse view points, and listening to diverse view points can only be
learned when you don't strictly, "stick to business" but go beyond the
"business" of getting a GED And into the "business" of building a more
successful student in a wholistic manner.
Regards
Katrina Hinson
>>> <hbeder at rci.rutgers.edu> 06/29/06 5:03 AM >>>
For us the interesting thing about the norm sticking to business was
that
it was established by both teachers and learners through mutual
consensus.
It was part of the conetext of instruction rather than a set of imposed
rules.  These were voluntary learners who came pre-disposed to work. So
I
think sticking to business comes naturally for adult learners.  If you
have a class where learners are not sticking to business, it may be a
sign
that something is wrong.
> I'm not sure that classroom norms are *only* a concern for learners;
what
> about meetings where practitioners sometimes struggle to balance the
work
> on
> the table and the social pieces - not just chatter, but the
relationship
> building undergirding so much of the work we do?
>
> Is the question more about how work/learning get done and about
balance?
> I'm not sure how completely different these issues are in classroom
> contexts
> and in other contexts where people meet to accomplish some purpose or
> another (learning, meeting, workshop, etc...)
>
> Janet Isserlis
>
>
>> From: Julie  McKinney <julie_mcKinney at worlded.org>
>> Reply-To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List
<focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
>> Date: Wed, 28 Jun 2006 13:38:23 -0400
>> To: <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
>> Subject: [FocusOnBasics 376] Re: Welcome to discussion of Learner
>> Engagement!
>>
>> Katrina brought up an interesting point about classroom norms. In
Hal's
>> study it seemed that classroom norms were a major factor in engaging
>> learners, yet in his study classes the norm of "sticking to business"
>> seemed to be very smooth and unproblematic. My guess is that many
>> classroom situations have more of a mix, as Katrina describes. If
this
>> is important in learner engagement, then we should discuss what we
can
>> do to improve or enforce the classroom norms in those classes where
they
>> are not consistent.
>>
>> How do we help everyone "stick to business"? Are there other
classroom
>> norms besides "sticking to business" that are important?
>>
>> Julie
>
> ----------------------------------------------------
> National Institute for Literacy
> Focus on Basics mailing list
> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
>
----------------------------------------------------
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From khinson at future-gate.com  Thu Jun 29 10:52:42 2006
From: khinson at future-gate.com (Katrina Hinson)
Date: Thu, 29 Jun 2006 16:52:42 +0200
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 383] Re: individualized workbook approach
Message-ID: <44A4055A020000A000002C82@fgwiel01a.wie.de.future-gate.com>
I agree. We're struggling with this "workbook" approach in our own
setting - because some of the instructors think just giving a student  a
workbook is helpful  and it sets in place a series of events where a
student MIGHT learn enough to pass the GED or Improve a Level but at the
same time, may not retain what they have learned for the long term. This
becomes very problematic for students who want to puruse academic goals
beyond the GED/AHS environment - students who are then relegated to
developmental or remedial classes, grow frustrated and ultimately give
up. 
I think it's important to explain HOW a student is engaged in the
learning process when you're talking about a workbook approach to
things.  Administrators in my state would bristle at this concept but
they'd argue it flies in the face of "quality" instruction...that
somewhere there needs to be dialogue and discussion and interaction -
not just workbooks and worksheets.  
Regards
Katrina Hinson
>>> Jane Meyer <meyer_j at ccsdistrict.org> 06/29/06 7:07 AM >>>
Julie asked  "Are there other classroom norms besides "sticking to 
business" that are important?"
I was surprised when I read Hal's study on engaging learners that most 
of the classes in the study used an individualized workbook approach.  I
have never found this approach to be very engaging.  I wonder what the 
students are engaged with.  Are they engaged in learning or getting 
through the workbook pages?  Do they struggle to make sure they 
understand the concepts or just plow through to get done?  When 
correcting their answers using the key in the back of the book do they 
think about where they went wrong and be sure they understand or do they
just change their answer to the correct one?   I have seen students take
a workbook home over the weekend and do the whole workbook and believe 
that they now have moved up a grade level in reading. I think there are 
much more engaging approaches than the individualized workbook approach.
Jane Meyer
Canton City schools ABLE
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
From julie_mcKinney at worlded.org  Thu Jun 29 12:25:32 2006
From: julie_mcKinney at worlded.org (Julie  McKinney)
Date: Thu, 29 Jun 2006 12:25:32 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 384] Re: individualized workbook approach
Message-ID: <s4a3c6cd.095@mail.jsi.com>
In the article, Hal does talk about some ways that the individualized
group instruction (IGI) model supports and detracts from engagement, and
how teachers can improve engagement within this model (assigning
appropriate materials, having a good system for engaging those waiting
for help, and being effective with the one-on-one moments of giving
help.) 
The value of the IGI model over others is another question that is out
of the scope of the article, but may be worth discussing. The IGI model
that Hal decribes seems a bit more interactive than "just giving a
student a workbook".
It may be helpful to look at another article from this issue of FOB:
Instructional Practices of ABE and GED Teachers
http://www.ncsall.net/index.php?id=1109
I think it would be helpful to hear from Hal about why they chose the
IGI model for this study, how this model differed from small group
instruction in terms of learner engagement, and more about how this
model and the teachers using it can support engagement.
Julie
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
>>> khinson at future-gate.com 06/29/06 10:52 AM >>>
I agree. We're struggling with this "workbook" approach in our own
setting - because some of the instructors think just giving a student  a
workbook is helpful  and it sets in place a series of events where a
student MIGHT learn enough to pass the GED or Improve a Level but at the
same time, may not retain what they have learned for the long term. This
becomes very problematic for students who want to puruse academic goals
beyond the GED/AHS environment - students who are then relegated to
developmental or remedial classes, grow frustrated and ultimately give
up. 
I think it's important to explain HOW a student is engaged in the
learning process when you're talking about a workbook approach to
things.  Administrators in my state would bristle at this concept but
they'd argue it flies in the face of "quality" instruction...that
somewhere there needs to be dialogue and discussion and interaction -
not just workbooks and worksheets.  
Regards
Katrina Hinson
>>> Jane Meyer <meyer_j at ccsdistrict.org> 06/29/06 7:07 AM >>>
Julie asked  "Are there other classroom norms besides "sticking to 
business" that are important?"
I was surprised when I read Hal's study on engaging learners that most 
of the classes in the study used an individualized workbook approach.  I
have never found this approach to be very engaging.  I wonder what the 
students are engaged with.  Are they engaged in learning or getting 
through the workbook pages?  Do they struggle to make sure they 
understand the concepts or just plow through to get done?  When 
correcting their answers using the key in the back of the book do they 
think about where they went wrong and be sure they understand or do they
just change their answer to the correct one?   I have seen students take
a workbook home over the weekend and do the whole workbook and believe 
that they now have moved up a grade level in reading. I think there are 
much more engaging approaches than the individualized workbook approach.
Jane Meyer
Canton City schools ABLE
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
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To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
From jn at cloudworld.co.uk  Thu Jun 29 12:40:44 2006
From: jn at cloudworld.co.uk (John Nissen)
Date: Thu, 29 Jun 2006 17:40:44 +0100
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 385] Re: FOB article on self-esteem
References: <BAY13-F30C6605BA49409496B486BC7E0@phx.gbl><6.2.3.4.2.20060627131027.02b33e78@rci.rutgers.edu><f75ed4f0e224.44a14763@gmu.edu>
	<6.0.1.1.2.20060629100011.01df4460@pop.uky.edu>
Message-ID: <055701c69b9a$c411af40$0502a8c0@Tomschoice>
Perhaps we need an "illiterates anonymous".
Cheers from Chiswick,
John
John Nissen
Cloudworld Ltd - http://www.cloudworld.co.uk
maker of the assistive reader, WordAloud.
Try WordAloud with synthetic phonics:
http://www.cloudworld.co.uk/teaching-synthetic-phonics.htm
Tel: +44 208 742 3170  Fax: +44 208 742 0202
Email: info at cloudworld.co.uk
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Toni-Ann Mills" <tamill2 at uky.edu>
To: "The Focus on Basics Discussion List" <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
Sent: Thursday, June 29, 2006 3:06 PM
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 380] Re: FOB article on self-esteem
> Hi
> This is Toni-Ann from Kentucky.  It is interesting that we just had a
> similar discussion here yesterday with a number of people, including a
> legislator interested in how we tap the community who most needs literacy
> services.  One of the contributors to the discussion provided anecdotal
> evidence of people he has worked with who believed that they were the only
> people in their community who had literacy problems. He was convinced that
> it was not so much a self-esteem issue but more  that people viewed their
> lack of literacy skills like a taboo disease - something they should cover
> up, not talk about and not seek help through public areas.  Those with low
> levels of literacy often learn remarkable coping skills which for them are
> easier to build and maintain than it is to build and grow literacy skills.
> So - what can be done to assure these people that they are not alone and
> that there are resources available that will provide more services to them
> than continuing to "hide" a problem that in their minds exist for them 
> alone.
> Toni-Ann
>
> At 02:57 PM 6/27/2006, you wrote:
>>There is another consideration, as well. I've worked with adolescents and
>>adults who experience high self-esteem when it comes to working on cars,
>>playing the guitar, or cooking, etc., but when it comes to reading, it's
>>an entirely different story. Self-esteem seems to fluctuate dependent upon
>>how comfortable one is with his/her skills/attributes in that area. Just a
>>thouoght. barb given
>>
>>Barbara K. Given, Ph.D.
>>Director, Adolescent and Adult Learning Research Center
>>Krasnow Institute for Advanced Study, and
>>Director, Center for Honoring Individual Learning Diversity, an
>>International Learning Styles Center
>>George Mason University
>>Fairfax, VA 22030-4444
>>Fax: 703-993-4325
>>Ph:  703-993-4406
From tamill2 at uky.edu  Thu Jun 29 14:25:45 2006
From: tamill2 at uky.edu (Toni-Ann Mills)
Date: Thu, 29 Jun 2006 14:25:45 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 386]  self-esteem and learner engagement
In-Reply-To: <055701c69b9a$c411af40$0502a8c0@Tomschoice>
References: <BAY13-F30C6605BA49409496B486BC7E0@phx.gbl>
	<6.2.3.4.2.20060627131027.02b33e78@rci.rutgers.edu>
	<f75ed4f0e224.44a14763@gmu.edu>
	<6.0.1.1.2.20060629100011.01df4460@pop.uky.edu>
	<055701c69b9a$c411af40$0502a8c0@Tomschoice>
Message-ID: <6.0.1.1.2.20060629142508.01dcbae8@pop.uky.edu>
Well to get back to learner engagement - how does how the learners view 
themselves interact with all the other factors that Hal refers to? Given 
that the "context of the adult literacy education classroom shapes 
learners' engagement in instruction" is the context powerful enough to 
"overcome" what the learner brings especially if it is not something that 
the educators expect?
Toni-Ann
KentuckyAt 12:40 PM 6/29/2006, you wrote:
>Perhaps we need an "illiterates anonymous".
>
>Cheers from Chiswick,
>
>John
>
>John Nissen
>Cloudworld Ltd - http://www.cloudworld.co.uk
>maker of the assistive reader, WordAloud.
>Try WordAloud with synthetic phonics:
>http://www.cloudworld.co.uk/teaching-synthetic-phonics.htm
>Tel: +44 208 742 3170  Fax: +44 208 742 0202
>Email: info at cloudworld.co.uk
>
>
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Toni-Ann Mills" <tamill2 at uky.edu>
>To: "The Focus on Basics Discussion List" <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
>Sent: Thursday, June 29, 2006 3:06 PM
>Subject: [FocusOnBasics 380] Re: FOB article on self-esteem
>
>
> > Hi
> > This is Toni-Ann from Kentucky.  It is interesting that we just had a
> > similar discussion here yesterday with a number of people, including a
> > legislator interested in how we tap the community who most needs literacy
> > services.  One of the contributors to the discussion provided anecdotal
> > evidence of people he has worked with who believed that they were the only
> > people in their community who had literacy problems. He was convinced that
> > it was not so much a self-esteem issue but more  that people viewed their
> > lack of literacy skills like a taboo disease - something they should cover
> > up, not talk about and not seek help through public areas.  Those with low
> > levels of literacy often learn remarkable coping skills which for them are
> > easier to build and maintain than it is to build and grow literacy skills.
> > So - what can be done to assure these people that they are not alone and
> > that there are resources available that will provide more services to them
> > than continuing to "hide" a problem that in their minds exist for them
> > alone.
> > Toni-Ann
> >
> > At 02:57 PM 6/27/2006, you wrote:
> >>There is another consideration, as well. I've worked with adolescents and
> >>adults who experience high self-esteem when it comes to working on cars,
> >>playing the guitar, or cooking, etc., but when it comes to reading, it's
> >>an entirely different story. Self-esteem seems to fluctuate dependent upon
> >>how comfortable one is with his/her skills/attributes in that area. Just a
> >>thouoght. barb given
> >>
> >>Barbara K. Given, Ph.D.
> >>Director, Adolescent and Adult Learning Research Center
> >>Krasnow Institute for Advanced Study, and
> >>Director, Center for Honoring Individual Learning Diversity, an
> >>International Learning Styles Center
> >>George Mason University
> >>Fairfax, VA 22030-4444
> >>Fax: 703-993-4325
> >>Ph:  703-993-4406
>
>----------------------------------------------------
>National Institute for Literacy
>Focus on Basics mailing list
>FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
>To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to 
>http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
Toni-Ann Mills
CCLD Director - Adult Education
Phone (859) 257-6127
Fax (859) 323 3963
email: tamill2 at uky.edu
Seize the day 
From woodsnh at isp.com  Thu Jun 29 23:51:48 2006
From: woodsnh at isp.com (Woods)
Date: Thu, 29 Jun 2006 23:51:48 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 386] Re: individualized workbook approach
In-Reply-To: <s4a3c6cd.095@mail.jsi.com>
References: <s4a3c6cd.095@mail.jsi.com>
Message-ID: <44A49FD4.8020601@isp.com>
When I was doing my teacher preservice, the lesson was drilled into us, 
workbooks=BAD, experiential/hands-on=GOOD.
So it was with great relish that I developed courses for my students 
(aged 17-60+) that were rich in hands-on experiential learning. And it 
was with great consternation that I listened to one of my younger 
students say to me, "don't you just have some workbooks I can do?"
I think we have to be mindful that students have preferences and it's 
wrong to write off one mode of learning such as workbooks just because 
it doesn't fit with our own preferred mode, or those of 'experts' who 
know what's best. First of all, we have to take the student wherever he 
or she may be in terms of abilities, goals, and preferences. Then we try 
to get him or her to think differently about things. We can't actually 
change students' thinking, but we can give students things to think 
ABOUT. This, in turn, creates the conditions in which the students 
themselves will expand or alter their thinking. I believe it is risky to 
try to rush this process. If my student is ready for workbooks and I try 
to get him to do do other things, I risk scaring him off, or I risk 
trying to make him conform to MY goals, not his own. That's what was 
done to them when they were children. My students, who are mostly pretty 
alienated from school and education, are wise to this. Their radar goes 
up in a flash when they sense it.
While workbooks (or textbook chapters) are not my preferred way of 
learning, we do offer them to students who want them. American Guidance 
Service (AGS) publishes a wide variety of textbooks in the different 
subject areas, and they also sell CD roms with workbook pages, chapter 
tests, etc. They are quite comprehensive and while their scope is at the 
high school level, they are written at a lower reading level than 
regular high school texts. Students who choose this path do so because 
credit requirements are explicit. It is very highly structured; there 
are no surprises or guessing games. They can work at their own pace and 
they can work on their own time, often working far more productively 
than they could if they simply attended a class. It has always amazed me 
that I could never get my students to do 'homework' but I can give them 
one of those AGS text books and they will work 20 hours a day on it.
Is it the best way to learn? Not for me it isn't. But it's what the 
student wants, what the student is ready for presently. Maybe I will be 
able to make it a hook to entice the student to pursue some topic more 
deeply.
Tom Woods
Community High School of Vermont
From hbeder at rci.rutgers.edu  Fri Jun 30 08:18:06 2006
From: hbeder at rci.rutgers.edu (Hal Beder)
Date: Fri, 30 Jun 2006 08:18:06 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 387] Re: individualized workbook approach
In-Reply-To: <44A3DEB8.8000401@ccsdistrict.org>
References: <44A3DEB8.8000401@ccsdistrict.org>
Message-ID: <6.2.3.4.2.20060630080939.02bdf880@rci.rutgers.edu>
Very good question.  In one of the classes we studied the teacher 
emphasized getting the right answers on the worksheets and assumed 
that if students did get the right answers, they had mastered the 
material.  Understanding that getting the right answer was the name 
of the game, the learners developed strategies to increase their 
chances of getting the right answer that sometimes subverted the 
purpose of the exercise.  So in respect to this class, you may have 
identified a problem.  Yet in other classes, teachers orally quizzed 
learners while correcting their work to diagnose whether they really 
did understand and then helped them if they did not.  I do think it 
is possible for learners to get correct answers on some workbook 
exercises without really understanding what the exercise is designed 
to teach.  For that reason, the diagnosis step is quite important.
At 10:07 AM 6/29/2006, you wrote:
>Julie asked  "Are there other classroom norms besides "sticking to
>business" that are important?"
>
>I was surprised when I read Hal's study on engaging learners that most
>of the classes in the study used an individualized workbook approach.  I
>have never found this approach to be very engaging.  I wonder what the
>students are engaged with.  Are they engaged in learning or getting
>through the workbook pages?  Do they struggle to make sure they
>understand the concepts or just plow through to get done?  When
>correcting their answers using the key in the back of the book do they
>think about where they went wrong and be sure they understand or do they
>just change their answer to the correct one?   I have seen students take
>a workbook home over the weekend and do the whole workbook and believe
>that they now have moved up a grade level in reading. I think there are
>much more engaging approaches than the individualized workbook approach.
>Jane Meyer
>Canton City schools ABLE
>----------------------------------------------------
>National Institute for Literacy
>Focus on Basics mailing list
>FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
>To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to 
>http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
Rutgers University
Graduate School of Education
10 seminary Pl.
New Brunswick, NJ 08901
732-932-7496 ext. 8213 
From hbeder at rci.rutgers.edu  Fri Jun 30 08:40:03 2006
From: hbeder at rci.rutgers.edu (Hal Beder)
Date: Fri, 30 Jun 2006 08:40:03 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 388] Re: [Focusing 382] Re: norms
In-Reply-To: <44A403DA020000A000002C7E@fgwiel01a.wie.de.future-gate.com>
References: <44A403DA020000A000002C7E@fgwiel01a.wie.de.future-gate.com>
Message-ID: <6.2.3.4.2.20060630081916.02bee418@rci.rutgers.edu>
Of course you are right.  Learners who participate in adult literacy 
against their will have less motivation to "stick to business".  I 
say "less" motivation rather than "no" motivation because we had at 
least two court-mandated learners in the study who worked very hard 
and made good progress.  In respect to young learners, the Center was 
ideal in that the district had an alternative high school, and K-12 
students who were discipline problems were sent there rather than 
being dumped into adult classes.  Also, the Center did have a 
mandated welfare class but these learners had their own class and 
were not mainstreamed into the classes we studied. Your posting 
raises important policy questions.  In many ways the classes we 
studied at the center were ideal, but as literacy professionals, 
don't we deserve the ideal?
At 10:46 AM 6/29/2006, you wrote:
>I think it's a huge assumption to state "sticking to business comes
>naturally for adult learners." That assumes that  that everyone that
>enters an ABE program is an adult both in age, and attitude. The latter
>being the key.  The assumption is that all the adult learners in an ABE
>program WANT to be there and that's not always the case.  There is
>nothing "natural" for the adult learner who is mandated by court or
>other local, state or federal guidelines that require an ABE/GED course.
>
>
>The program model you observed is an "ideal" for many of us, I would
>hazard to say,especially for those of us who deal with younger students
>just out of high school.   The key word you stressed below was
>"voluntary;" great - what about those that aren't voluntary sitting in a
>class with those who are? I have taught in Adult Education for 10 years
>now, and the mixture is always there - those who want to be there vs
>those who HAVE to be there. This makes "sticking to business" some days
>next to impossible.  I can't throw students who don't stick to business
>out of my class. I can ask that they be quiet, focus, try to work hard.
>I can sit with them, etc. I can do many things to address the negative
>behavior but it doesn't mean I can make the student "stick to business."
>  Instructors are bound by both local and state regulations as to
>discipline - at least here. We can have local policies in place but at
>the same time, when everything is driven by FTE's and student
>progression, EVERY student becomes critical to program success and
>retaining those students who don't want to be there is as important as
>retaining those studens who WANT to be there. In light of that, not
>every class room is going to exemplify "sticking to business" as
>highlighted in the article.  The "ideal" situation isn't what some of us
>face day to day. The question really is how do you address the problem
>to benefit all - those who want to be there, and those who HAVE to be
>there.  ( I think this is also what happens in meetings etc, which Janet
>asked about.  Those that want to be there are ready to get to work, get
>it done and get back to business - those that have to be there, want to
>talk about their trips to the beach, their families, the weekend etc -
>anything to avoid what they didn't want to deal with in the first
>place.)
>
>Additionally, there is a time and place for building social skills and
>teamwork through discourse in the adult classroom setting. Not all
>instruction occurs via a text, a worksheet or a math problem to be
>solved.  Some skills such as getting along with others, expressing
>diverse view points, and listening to diverse view points can only be
>learned when you don't strictly, "stick to business" but go beyond the
>"business" of getting a GED And into the "business" of building a more
>successful student in a wholistic manner.
>
>Regards
>Katrina Hinson
>
>
> >>> <hbeder at rci.rutgers.edu> 06/29/06 5:03 AM >>>
>For us the interesting thing about the norm sticking to business was
>that
>it was established by both teachers and learners through mutual
>consensus.
>It was part of the conetext of instruction rather than a set of imposed
>rules.  These were voluntary learners who came pre-disposed to work. So
>I
>think sticking to business comes naturally for adult learners.  If you
>have a class where learners are not sticking to business, it may be a
>sign
>that something is wrong.
>
>
>
>
> > I'm not sure that classroom norms are *only* a concern for learners;
>what
> > about meetings where practitioners sometimes struggle to balance the
>work
> > on
> > the table and the social pieces - not just chatter, but the
>relationship
> > building undergirding so much of the work we do?
> >
> > Is the question more about how work/learning get done and about
>balance?
> > I'm not sure how completely different these issues are in classroom
> > contexts
> > and in other contexts where people meet to accomplish some purpose or
> > another (learning, meeting, workshop, etc...)
> >
> > Janet Isserlis
> >
> >
> >> From: Julie  McKinney <julie_mcKinney at worlded.org>
> >> Reply-To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List
><focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
> >> Date: Wed, 28 Jun 2006 13:38:23 -0400
> >> To: <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
> >> Subject: [FocusOnBasics 376] Re: Welcome to discussion of Learner
> >> Engagement!
> >>
> >> Katrina brought up an interesting point about classroom norms. In
>Hal's
> >> study it seemed that classroom norms were a major factor in engaging
> >> learners, yet in his study classes the norm of "sticking to business"
> >> seemed to be very smooth and unproblematic. My guess is that many
> >> classroom situations have more of a mix, as Katrina describes. If
>this
> >> is important in learner engagement, then we should discuss what we
>can
> >> do to improve or enforce the classroom norms in those classes where
>they
> >> are not consistent.
> >>
> >> How do we help everyone "stick to business"? Are there other
>classroom
> >> norms besides "sticking to business" that are important?
> >>
> >> Julie
> >
> > ----------------------------------------------------
> > National Institute for Literacy
> > Focus on Basics mailing list
> > FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
> > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
> > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
> >
>
>----------------------------------------------------
>National Institute for Literacy
>Focus on Basics mailing list
>FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
>To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
>http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
>
>----------------------------------------------------
>National Institute for Literacy
>Focus on Basics mailing list
>FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
>To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to 
>http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
Rutgers University
Graduate School of Education
10 seminary Pl.
New Brunswick, NJ 08901
732-932-7496 ext. 8213 
From melissa_monti at iu13.org  Fri Jun 30 09:01:16 2006
From: melissa_monti at iu13.org (Melissa Monti)
Date: 30 Jun 06 09:01:16 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 389]  [Focusing 382] Re: norms
Message-ID: <20060630130115.6EB46E808C@relay2.iu13.org>
         Reply to:   [Focusing 382] Re: norms
Working with mandated students in GED class as well as previously in drug and alcohol rehab I have been interested in this dilemma for some time. Research on motivation has shown that the issue of voluntary vs. involuntary "particpation" matters less than what happens once a student is IN the placement situation (classroom or therapeutic envrinoment, for example). The turn around is internal but it can be self-motivated or due to external pressure. The critical key is what happens to engage the student once they are a "captive audience". Not that this is easy by any means....
Forgive me for not citing specific research. I will try to do some homework to back this up. MM
Melissa Monti, Ed.M.
Professional Development Coordinator
IU-13/SEPDC
Instructional Services Dept.
1110 Enterprise Road
East Petersburg, PA 17520
tele. (717)519-1012
fax (717)560-6150
email: melissa_monti at iu13.org
visit our website at: https://www.iu13.org/aded_otda_main.shtml
"Those who can, do.  Those who believe others can also, teach." - John E. King 
Hal Beder wrote:
>
>Of course you are right.  Learners who participate in adult literacy >against their will have less motivation to "stick to business".  I >say "less" motivation rather than "no" motivation because we had at >least two court-mandated learners in the study who worked very hard >and made good progress.  In respect to young learners, the Center was >ideal in that the district had an alternative high school, and K-12 >students who were discipline problems were sent there rather than >being dumped into adult classes.  Also, the Center did have a >mandated welfare class but these learners had their own class and >were not mainstreamed into the classes we studied. Your posting >raises important policy questions.  In many ways the classes we >studied at the center were ideal, but as literacy professionals, >don't we deserve the ideal?
>
>
>
>At 10:46 AM 6/29/2006, you wrote:
>>I think it's a huge assumption to state "sticking to business comes
>>naturally for adult learners." That assumes that  that everyone that
>>enters an ABE program is an adult both in age, and attitude. The latter
>>being the key.  The assumption is that all the adult learners in an ABE
>>program WANT to be there and that's not always the case.  There is
>>nothing "natural" for the adult learner who is mandated by court or
>>other local, state or federal guidelines that require an ABE/GED course.
>>
>>
>>The program model you observed is an "ideal" for many of us, I would
>>hazard to say,especially for those of us who deal with younger students
>>just out of high school.   The key word you stressed below was
>>"voluntary;" great - what about those that aren't voluntary sitting in a
>>class with those who are? I have taught in Adult Education for 10 years
>>now, and the mixture is always there - those who want to be there vs
>>those who HAVE to be there. This makes "sticking to business" some days
>>next to impossible.  I can't throw students who don't stick to business
>>out of my class. I can ask that they be quiet, focus, try to work hard.
>>I can sit with them, etc. I can do many things to address the negative
>>behavior but it doesn't mean I can make the student "stick to business."
>>  Instructors are bound by both local and state regulations as to
>>discipline - at least here. We can have local policies in place but at
>>the same time, when everything is driven by FTE's and student
>>progression, EVERY student becomes critical to program success and
>>retaining those students who don't want to be there is as important as
>>retaining those studens who WANT to be there. In light of that, not
>>every class room is going to exemplify "sticking to business" as
>>highlighted in the article.  The "ideal" situation isn't what some of us
>>face day to day. The question really is how do you address the problem
>>to benefit all - those who want to be there, and those who HAVE to be
>>there.  ( I think this is also what happens in meetings etc, which Janet
>>asked about.  Those that want to be there are ready to get to work, get
>>it done and get back to business - those that have to be there, want to
>>talk about their trips to the beach, their families, the weekend etc -
>>anything to avoid what they didn't want to deal with in the first
>>place.)
>>
>>Additionally, there is a time and place for building social skills and
>>teamwork through discourse in the adult classroom setting. Not all
>>instruction occurs via a text, a worksheet or a math problem to be
>>solved.  Some skills such as getting along with others, expressing
>>diverse view points, and listening to diverse view points can only be
>>learned when you don't strictly, "stick to business" but go beyond the
>>"business" of getting a GED And into the "business" of building a more
>>successful student in a wholistic manner.
>>
>>Regards
>>Katrina Hinson
>>
>>
>> >>> <hbeder at rci.rutgers.edu> 06/29/06 5:03 AM >>>
>>For us the interesting thing about the norm sticking to business was
>>that
>>it was established by both teachers and learners through mutual
>>consensus.
>>It was part of the conetext of instruction rather than a set of imposed
>>rules.  These were voluntary learners who came pre-disposed to work. So
>>I
>>think sticking to business comes naturally for adult learners.  If you
>>have a class where learners are not sticking to business, it may be a
>>sign
>>that something is wrong.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> > I'm not sure that classroom norms are *only* a concern for learners;
>>what
>> > about meetings where practitioners sometimes struggle to balance the
>>work
>> > on
>> > the table and the social pieces - not just chatter, but the
>>relationship
>> > building undergirding so much of the work we do?
>> >
>> > Is the question more about how work/learning get done and about
>>balance?
>> > I'm not sure how completely different these issues are in classroom
>> > contexts
>> > and in other contexts where people meet to accomplish some purpose or
>> > another (learning, meeting, workshop, etc...)
>> >
>> > Janet Isserlis
>> >
>> >
>> >> From: Julie  McKinney <julie_mcKinney at worlded.org>
>> >> Reply-To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List
>><focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
>> >> Date: Wed, 28 Jun 2006 13:38:23 -0400
>> >> To: <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
>> >> Subject: [FocusOnBasics 376] Re: Welcome to discussion of Learner
>> >> Engagement!
>> >>
>> >> Katrina brought up an interesting point about classroom norms. In
>>Hal's
>> >> study it seemed that classroom norms were a major factor in engaging
>> >> learners, yet in his study classes the norm of "sticking to business"
>> >> seemed to be very smooth and unproblematic. My guess is that many
>> >> classroom situations have more of a mix, as Katrina describes. If
>>this
>> >> is important in learner engagement, then we should discuss what we
>>can
>> >> do to improve or enforce the classroom norms in those classes where
>>they
>> >> are not consistent.
>> >>
>> >> How do we help everyone "stick to business"? Are there other
>>classroom
>> >> norms besides "sticking to business" that are important?
>> >>
>> >> Julie
>> >
>> > ----------------------------------------------------
>> > National Institute for Literacy
>> > Focus on Basics mailing list
>> > FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
>> > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
>> > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
>> >
>>
>>----------------------------------------------------
>>National Institute for Literacy
>>Focus on Basics mailing list
>>FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
>>To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
>>http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
>>
From djrosen at comcast.net  Fri Jun 30 09:00:41 2006
From: djrosen at comcast.net (David Rosen)
Date: Fri, 30 Jun 2006 09:00:41 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 390] Re: individualized workbook approach
In-Reply-To: <44A49FD4.8020601@isp.com>
References: <s4a3c6cd.095@mail.jsi.com> <44A49FD4.8020601@isp.com>
Message-ID: <7DE025FE-F3A3-4538-B519-59E1B1DDB902@comcast.net>
Tom, Hal, and others
Tom has raised an issue which nearly every adult education (including  
ESOL) teacher who embraces experiential, hands-on, participatory,  
constructivist/project-based, and transformational learning faces:  
their view of good teaching/learning practice vs. their students'  
often more conservative textbook, workbook, lecture, and chalkboard  
notes model of teaching.  The answer, I believe is a negotiated  
approach, where the teacher agrees to use some textbook and/or  
workbook materials, and perhaps lectures or presentations,  and the  
students agree to try the teacher's chosen approaches.
Hal, I wonder if you have seen examples of this negotiation process  
and, if so, if you could tell us about them.
David
David J. Rosen
newsomeassociates.com
djrosen at comcast.net
On Jun 29, 2006, at 11:51 PM, Woods wrote:
> When I was doing my teacher preservice, the lesson was drilled into  
> us,
> workbooks=BAD, experiential/hands-on=GOOD.
>
> So it was with great relish that I developed courses for my students
> (aged 17-60+) that were rich in hands-on experiential learning. And it
> was with great consternation that I listened to one of my younger
> students say to me, "don't you just have some workbooks I can do?"
>
> I think we have to be mindful that students have preferences and it's
> wrong to write off one mode of learning such as workbooks just because
> it doesn't fit with our own preferred mode, or those of 'experts' who
> know what's best. First of all, we have to take the student  
> wherever he
> or she may be in terms of abilities, goals, and preferences. Then  
> we try
> to get him or her to think differently about things. We can't actually
> change students' thinking, but we can give students things to think
> ABOUT. This, in turn, creates the conditions in which the students
> themselves will expand or alter their thinking. I believe it is  
> risky to
> try to rush this process. If my student is ready for workbooks and  
> I try
> to get him to do do other things, I risk scaring him off, or I risk
> trying to make him conform to MY goals, not his own. That's what was
> done to them when they were children. My students, who are mostly  
> pretty
> alienated from school and education, are wise to this. Their radar  
> goes
> up in a flash when they sense it.
>
> While workbooks (or textbook chapters) are not my preferred way of
> learning, we do offer them to students who want them. American  
> Guidance
> Service (AGS) publishes a wide variety of textbooks in the different
> subject areas, and they also sell CD roms with workbook pages, chapter
> tests, etc. They are quite comprehensive and while their scope is  
> at the
> high school level, they are written at a lower reading level than
> regular high school texts. Students who choose this path do so because
> credit requirements are explicit. It is very highly structured; there
> are no surprises or guessing games. They can work at their own pace  
> and
> they can work on their own time, often working far more productively
> than they could if they simply attended a class. It has always  
> amazed me
> that I could never get my students to do 'homework' but I can give  
> them
> one of those AGS text books and they will work 20 hours a day on it.
>
> Is it the best way to learn? Not for me it isn't. But it's what the
> student wants, what the student is ready for presently. Maybe I  
> will be
> able to make it a hook to entice the student to pursue some topic more
> deeply.
>
> Tom Woods
> Community High School of Vermont
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------
> National Institute for Literacy
> Focus on Basics mailing list
> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to  
> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
From hbeder at rci.rutgers.edu  Fri Jun 30 09:05:46 2006
From: hbeder at rci.rutgers.edu (Hal Beder)
Date: Fri, 30 Jun 2006 09:05:46 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 391] Re: individualized workbook approach
In-Reply-To: <44A4055A020000A000002C82@fgwiel01a.wie.de.future-gate.com>
References: <44A4055A020000A000002C82@fgwiel01a.wie.de.future-gate.com>
Message-ID: <6.2.3.4.2.20060630084801.02bb2a10@rci.rutgers.edu>
Good point.  In another study we did that is reported in the same 
FOB, we found that IGI is more common in GED than in lower level 
classes.  In GED the goal is clear and concrete--pass the GED 
tests.  IGI materials articulate well with achieving this goal. 
Learners want to pass the tests as quickly as they possibly can and 
the teacher in the GED class we studied understood this.  Skills and 
knowledge that were not on the GED tests were seen as a 
deviation.  So the teaching/learning technology in the GED class was 
extremely efficient in helping learners to achieve the stated goal of 
the class, that being to achieve a GED.  But does GED instruction of 
this type prepare learners for post-secondary?   That's a real 
concern and I don't know the answer.  On one hand the learners in the 
GED class were truly in dependant learners and it could be that IGI 
supports the development of independant learning skills.  Yet did 
this GED instruction ignore other important skills that learners need 
to be successful in post secondary?  Perhaps. When you look at the 
NCSALL research on the economic benefits of obtaining a GED, the 
conclusion is that a GED alone does not get you much. So transition 
to, and success in, post secondary education is a huge issue.  In my 
view, adult literacy and achievement of the GED needs to be viewed as 
a beginning, not as an end point.
At 10:52 AM 6/29/2006, you wrote:
>I agree. We're struggling with this "workbook" approach in our own
>setting - because some of the instructors think just giving a student  a
>workbook is helpful  and it sets in place a series of events where a
>student MIGHT learn enough to pass the GED or Improve a Level but at the
>same time, may not retain what they have learned for the long term. This
>becomes very problematic for students who want to puruse academic goals
>beyond the GED/AHS environment - students who are then relegated to
>developmental or remedial classes, grow frustrated and ultimately give
>up.
>
>I think it's important to explain HOW a student is engaged in the
>learning process when you're talking about a workbook approach to
>things.  Administrators in my state would bristle at this concept but
>they'd argue it flies in the face of "quality" instruction...that
>somewhere there needs to be dialogue and discussion and interaction -
>not just workbooks and worksheets.
>
>Regards
>Katrina Hinson
>
> >>> Jane Meyer <meyer_j at ccsdistrict.org> 06/29/06 7:07 AM >>>
>Julie asked  "Are there other classroom norms besides "sticking to
>business" that are important?"
>
>I was surprised when I read Hal's study on engaging learners that most
>of the classes in the study used an individualized workbook approach.  I
>
>have never found this approach to be very engaging.  I wonder what the
>students are engaged with.  Are they engaged in learning or getting
>through the workbook pages?  Do they struggle to make sure they
>understand the concepts or just plow through to get done?  When
>correcting their answers using the key in the back of the book do they
>think about where they went wrong and be sure they understand or do they
>
>just change their answer to the correct one?   I have seen students take
>
>a workbook home over the weekend and do the whole workbook and believe
>that they now have moved up a grade level in reading. I think there are
>much more engaging approaches than the individualized workbook approach.
>
>Jane Meyer
>Canton City schools ABLE
>----------------------------------------------------
>National Institute for Literacy
>Focus on Basics mailing list
>FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
>To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
>http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
>
>----------------------------------------------------
>National Institute for Literacy
>Focus on Basics mailing list
>FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
>To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to 
>http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
Rutgers University
Graduate School of Education
10 seminary Pl.
New Brunswick, NJ 08901
732-932-7496 ext. 8213 
From melissa_monti at iu13.org  Fri Jun 30 09:25:48 2006
From: melissa_monti at iu13.org (Melissa Monti)
Date: 30 Jun 06 09:25:48 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 392]  motivational interviewing research
Message-ID: <20060630132548.E9F57E808C@relay2.iu13.org>
         Reply to:   motivational interviewing research
Here is some good research on Motivation Interviewing - a well-researched technique that does increase internal motivation for court-mandated clients in D&A programs. The first link is to a handbook that describes motivational interviewing, working with resistance, and "norming" changes, etc. I think it would be a good study model for adult educators.
1)  http://casacrenewal.com/CourseOutlines.html
These links below represent a very basic overview of the first wo pages of links I just did on Google using keywords: motivation, clients, mandated, treatment. Just basic recent research in D&A arena.
http://www.ibr.tcu.edu/pubs/newslet/04spring.html
http://www.counselormagazine.com/display_article.asp?aid=aug04SuccessfulMandatedClient.htm
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=12118626&dopt=Abstract
Melissa Monti, Ed.M.
Professional Development Coordinator
IU-13/SEPDC
Instructional Services Dept.
1110 Enterprise Road
East Petersburg, PA 17520
tele. (717)519-1012
fax (717)560-6150
email: melissa_monti at iu13.org
Hal Beder wrote:
>
>Of course you are right.  Learners who participate in adult literacy >against their will have less motivation to "stick to business".  I >say "less" motivation rather than "no" motivation because we had at >least two court-mandated learners in the study who worked very hard >and made good progress.  In respect to young learners, the Center was >ideal in that the district had an alternative high school, and K-12 >students who were discipline problems were sent there rather than >being dumped into adult classes.  Also, the Center did have a >mandated welfare class but these learners had their own class and >were not mainstreamed into the classes we studied. Your posting >raises important policy questions.  In many ways the classes we >studied at the center were ideal, but as literacy professionals, >don't we deserve the ideal?
>
>
>
>At 10:46 AM 6/29/2006, you wrote:
>>I think it's a huge assumption to state "sticking to business comes
>>naturally for adult learners." That assumes that  that everyone that
>>enters an ABE program is an adult both in age, and attitude. The latter
>>being the key.  The assumption is that all the adult learners in an ABE
>>program WANT to be there and that's not always the case.  There is
>>nothing "natural" for the adult learner who is mandated by court or
>>other local, state or federal guidelines that require an ABE/GED course.
>>
>>
>>The program model you observed is an "ideal" for many of us, I would
>>hazard to say,especially for those of us who deal with younger students
>>just out of high school.   The key word you stressed below was
>>"voluntary;" great - what about those that aren't voluntary sitting in a
>>class with those who are? I have taught in Adult Education for 10 years
>>now, and the mixture is always there - those who want to be there vs
>>those who HAVE to be there. This makes "sticking to business" some days
>>next to impossible.  I can't throw students who don't stick to business
>>out of my class. I can ask that they be quiet, focus, try to work hard.
>>I can sit with them, etc. I can do many things to address the negative
>>behavior but it doesn't mean I can make the student "stick to business."
>>  Instructors are bound by both local and state regulations as to
>>discipline - at least here. We can have local policies in place but at
>>the same time, when everything is driven by FTE's and student
>>progression, EVERY student becomes critical to program success and
>>retaining those students who don't want to be there is as important as
>>retaining those studens who WANT to be there. In light of that, not
>>every class room is going to exemplify "sticking to business" as
>>highlighted in the article.  The "ideal" situation isn't what some of us
>>face day to day. The question really is how do you address the problem
>>to benefit all - those who want to be there, and those who HAVE to be
>>there.  ( I think this is also what happens in meetings etc, which Janet
>>asked about.  Those that want to be there are ready to get to work, get
>>it done and get back to business - those that have to be there, want to
>>talk about their trips to the beach, their families, the weekend etc -
>>anything to avoid what they didn't want to deal with in the first
>>place.)
>>
>>Additionally, there is a time and place for building social skills and
>>teamwork through discourse in the adult classroom setting. Not all
>>instruction occurs via a text, a worksheet or a math problem to be
>>solved.  Some skills such as getting along with others, expressing
>>diverse view points, and listening to diverse view points can only be
>>learned when you don't strictly, "stick to business" but go beyond the
>>"business" of getting a GED And into the "business" of building a more
>>successful student in a wholistic manner.
>>
>>Regards
>>Katrina Hinson
>>
>>
>> >>> <hbeder at rci.rutgers.edu> 06/29/06 5:03 AM >>>
>>For us the interesting thing about the norm sticking to business was
>>that
>>it was established by both teachers and learners through mutual
>>consensus.
>>It was part of the conetext of instruction rather than a set of imposed
>>rules.  These were voluntary learners who came pre-disposed to work. So
>>I
>>think sticking to business comes naturally for adult learners.  If you
>>have a class where learners are not sticking to business, it may be a
>>sign
>>that something is wrong.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> > I'm not sure that classroom norms are *only* a concern for learners;
>>what
>> > about meetings where practitioners sometimes struggle to balance the
>>work
>> > on
>> > the table and the social pieces - not just chatter, but the
>>relationship
>> > building undergirding so much of the work we do?
>> >
>> > Is the question more about how work/learning get done and about
>>balance?
>> > I'm not sure how completely different these issues are in classroom
>> > contexts
>> > and in other contexts where people meet to accomplish some purpose or
>> > another (learning, meeting, workshop, etc...)
>> >
>> > Janet Isserlis
>> >
>> >
>> >> From: Julie  McKinney <julie_mcKinney at worlded.org>
>> >> Reply-To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List
>><focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
>> >> Date: Wed, 28 Jun 2006 13:38:23 -0400
>> >> To: <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
>> >> Subject: [FocusOnBasics 376] Re: Welcome to discussion of Learner
>> >> Engagement!
>> >>
>> >> Katrina brought up an interesting point about classroom norms. In
>>Hal's
>> >> study it seemed that classroom norms were a major factor in engaging
>> >> learners, yet in his study classes the norm of "sticking to business"
>> >> seemed to be very smooth and unproblematic. My guess is that many
>> >> classroom situations have more of a mix, as Katrina describes. If
>>this
>> >> is important in learner engagement, then we should discuss what we
>>can
>> >> do to improve or enforce the classroom norms in those classes where
>>they
>> >> are not consistent.
>> >>
>> >> How do we help everyone "stick to business"? Are there other
>>classroom
>> >> norms besides "sticking to business" that are important?
>> >>
>> >> Julie
>> >
From JSteinbauer at vermonthumanities.org  Fri Jun 30 09:45:49 2006
From: JSteinbauer at vermonthumanities.org (Jan Steinbauer)
Date: Fri, 30 Jun 2006 09:45:49 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 393] Re: individualized workbook approach
Message-ID: <148E0969224AD040923488CEA238BDB74B9E62@vhc-fs01.vermonthumanities.local>
HI, Tom, good to hear your voice again.  Once again you speak in such a
student-centered way.  I enjoy reading your input and perspectives.
Jan Steinbauer
Director of Literacy Programs
jsteinbauer at vermonthumanities.org
 
Vermont Humanities Council 
11 Loomis Street
Montpelier, VT 05602
802-262-2626    ~   FAX 802-262-2620
www.vermonthumanities.org
-----Original Message-----
From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Woods
Sent: Thursday, June 29, 2006 11:52 PM
To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 386] Re: individualized workbook approach
When I was doing my teacher preservice, the lesson was drilled into us, 
workbooks=BAD, experiential/hands-on=GOOD.
So it was with great relish that I developed courses for my students 
(aged 17-60+) that were rich in hands-on experiential learning. And it 
was with great consternation that I listened to one of my younger 
students say to me, "don't you just have some workbooks I can do?"
I think we have to be mindful that students have preferences and it's 
wrong to write off one mode of learning such as workbooks just because 
it doesn't fit with our own preferred mode, or those of 'experts' who 
know what's best. First of all, we have to take the student wherever he 
or she may be in terms of abilities, goals, and preferences. Then we try
to get him or her to think differently about things. We can't actually 
change students' thinking, but we can give students things to think 
ABOUT. This, in turn, creates the conditions in which the students 
themselves will expand or alter their thinking. I believe it is risky to
try to rush this process. If my student is ready for workbooks and I try
to get him to do do other things, I risk scaring him off, or I risk 
trying to make him conform to MY goals, not his own. That's what was 
done to them when they were children. My students, who are mostly pretty
alienated from school and education, are wise to this. Their radar goes 
up in a flash when they sense it.
While workbooks (or textbook chapters) are not my preferred way of 
learning, we do offer them to students who want them. American Guidance 
Service (AGS) publishes a wide variety of textbooks in the different 
subject areas, and they also sell CD roms with workbook pages, chapter 
tests, etc. They are quite comprehensive and while their scope is at the
high school level, they are written at a lower reading level than 
regular high school texts. Students who choose this path do so because 
credit requirements are explicit. It is very highly structured; there 
are no surprises or guessing games. They can work at their own pace and 
they can work on their own time, often working far more productively 
than they could if they simply attended a class. It has always amazed me
that I could never get my students to do 'homework' but I can give them 
one of those AGS text books and they will work 20 hours a day on it.
Is it the best way to learn? Not for me it isn't. But it's what the 
student wants, what the student is ready for presently. Maybe I will be 
able to make it a hook to entice the student to pursue some topic more 
deeply.
Tom Woods
Community High School of Vermont
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
From melissa_monti at iu13.org  Fri Jun 30 09:46:28 2006
From: melissa_monti at iu13.org (Melissa Monti)
Date: 30 Jun 06 09:46:28 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 394]  research - final citation
Message-ID: <20060630134629.82D31E808C@relay2.iu13.org>
         Reply to:   research - final citation
The original theorists/researchers of motivational interviewing are Drs. Rollnick and Miller. A keyword search provides extensive literature, including handbooks on Amazon and their website below - which has a nice biblio section.
http://www.motivationalinterview.org/
Melissa Monti, Ed.M.
Professional Development Coordinator
IU-13/SEPDC
Instructional Services Dept.
1110 Enterprise Road
East Petersburg, PA 17520
tele. (717)519-1012
fax (717)560-6150
email: melissa_monti at iu13.org
visit our website at: https://www.iu13.org/aded_otda_main.shtml
"Those who can, do.  Those who believe others can also, teach." - John E. King
From hbeder at rci.rutgers.edu  Fri Jun 30 10:45:29 2006
From: hbeder at rci.rutgers.edu (Hal Beder)
Date: Fri, 30 Jun 2006 10:45:29 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 395] Re: individualized workbook approach
In-Reply-To: <7DE025FE-F3A3-4538-B519-59E1B1DDB902@comcast.net>
References: <s4a3c6cd.095@mail.jsi.com> <44A49FD4.8020601@isp.com>
	<7DE025FE-F3A3-4538-B519-59E1B1DDB902@comcast.net>
Message-ID: <6.2.3.4.2.20060630102711.02b9f028@rci.rutgers.edu>
The Engagement Study that we are discussing here and the Classroom 
Dynamics study which we conducted perviously were both based on 
classroom observation. I would not be surprised if our team has 
observed more adult literacy education classes than any group in 
modern history.  Yet I can think of only two classes in all of that 
where the instructional approach was negotiated, and even in those 
two classes, negotiation was not common.  In general, teachers direct 
and learners acquiesce.  In Classroom Dynamics this was true for even 
the most participatory classes.
In participatory classes, participation occurred because teachers 
elicited it, not because the learners requested it.  There are cases 
where learners expressed a special need and teachers acknowledged 
it.  In one class in the Engagement Study, for example, a learner had 
to take the drivers exam and asked for help with the manual.  The 
teacher then used the manual as a authentic resource.  In Classroom 
Dynamics, there were a couple of classes that were organized around a 
theme such as employment.  In these classes learners had some say in 
the choice of theme. All in all, adult literacy education is a very 
much teacher-directed [and in some cases materials directed] enterprise.
At 09:00 AM 6/30/2006, you wrote:
>Tom, Hal, and others
>
>Tom has raised an issue which nearly every adult education (including
>ESOL) teacher who embraces experiential, hands-on, participatory,
>constructivist/project-based, and transformational learning faces:
>their view of good teaching/learning practice vs. their students'
>often more conservative textbook, workbook, lecture, and chalkboard
>notes model of teaching.  The answer, I believe is a negotiated
>approach, where the teacher agrees to use some textbook and/or
>workbook materials, and perhaps lectures or presentations,  and the
>students agree to try the teacher's chosen approaches.
>
>Hal, I wonder if you have seen examples of this negotiation process
>and, if so, if you could tell us about them.
>
>David
>
>David J. Rosen
>newsomeassociates.com
>djrosen at comcast.net
>
>
>On Jun 29, 2006, at 11:51 PM, Woods wrote:
>
> > When I was doing my teacher preservice, the lesson was drilled into
> > us,
> > workbooks=BAD, experiential/hands-on=GOOD.
> >
> > So it was with great relish that I developed courses for my students
> > (aged 17-60+) that were rich in hands-on experiential learning. And it
> > was with great consternation that I listened to one of my younger
> > students say to me, "don't you just have some workbooks I can do?"
> >
> > I think we have to be mindful that students have preferences and it's
> > wrong to write off one mode of learning such as workbooks just because
> > it doesn't fit with our own preferred mode, or those of 'experts' who
> > know what's best. First of all, we have to take the student
> > wherever he
> > or she may be in terms of abilities, goals, and preferences. Then
> > we try
> > to get him or her to think differently about things. We can't actually
> > change students' thinking, but we can give students things to think
> > ABOUT. This, in turn, creates the conditions in which the students
> > themselves will expand or alter their thinking. I believe it is
> > risky to
> > try to rush this process. If my student is ready for workbooks and
> > I try
> > to get him to do do other things, I risk scaring him off, or I risk
> > trying to make him conform to MY goals, not his own. That's what was
> > done to them when they were children. My students, who are mostly
> > pretty
> > alienated from school and education, are wise to this. Their radar
> > goes
> > up in a flash when they sense it.
> >
> > While workbooks (or textbook chapters) are not my preferred way of
> > learning, we do offer them to students who want them. American
> > Guidance
> > Service (AGS) publishes a wide variety of textbooks in the different
> > subject areas, and they also sell CD roms with workbook pages, chapter
> > tests, etc. They are quite comprehensive and while their scope is
> > at the
> > high school level, they are written at a lower reading level than
> > regular high school texts. Students who choose this path do so because
> > credit requirements are explicit. It is very highly structured; there
> > are no surprises or guessing games. They can work at their own pace
> > and
> > they can work on their own time, often working far more productively
> > than they could if they simply attended a class. It has always
> > amazed me
> > that I could never get my students to do 'homework' but I can give
> > them
> > one of those AGS text books and they will work 20 hours a day on it.
> >
> > Is it the best way to learn? Not for me it isn't. But it's what the
> > student wants, what the student is ready for presently. Maybe I
> > will be
> > able to make it a hook to entice the student to pursue some topic more
> > deeply.
> >
> > Tom Woods
> > Community High School of Vermont
> >
> >
> > ----------------------------------------------------
> > National Institute for Literacy
> > Focus on Basics mailing list
> > FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
> > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
> > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
>
>
>
>
>
>----------------------------------------------------
>National Institute for Literacy
>Focus on Basics mailing list
>FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
>To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to 
>http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
Rutgers University
Graduate School of Education
10 seminary Pl.
New Brunswick, NJ 08901
732-932-7496 ext. 8213 
From steve_quann at worlded.org  Fri Jun 30 11:39:34 2006
From: steve_quann at worlded.org (Steve Quann)
Date: Fri, 30 Jun 2006 11:39:34 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 396]   Re: individualized workbook approach
Message-ID: <s4a50d9e.036@mail.jsi.com>
David,
Good point. I have found the eclectic approach of integrating what
students' are accustomed to works well. And  after all  it's
learner-centered!
Steve Quann
World Education
44 Farnsworth Street
Boston, MA 
617.482.9485
>>> djrosen at comcast.net 06/30 9:00 AM >>>
Tom, Hal, and others
Tom has raised an issue which nearly every adult education (including 
ESOL) teacher who embraces experiential, hands-on, participatory,  
constructivist/project-based, and transformational learning faces:  
their view of good teaching/learning practice vs. their students'  
often more conservative textbook, workbook, lecture, and chalkboard  
notes model of teaching.  The answer, I believe is a negotiated  
approach, where the teacher agrees to use some textbook and/or  
workbook materials, and perhaps lectures or presentations,  and the  
students agree to try the teacher's chosen approaches.
Hal, I wonder if you have seen examples of this negotiation process  
and, if so, if you could tell us about them.
David
David J. Rosen
newsomeassociates.com
djrosen at comcast.net 
On Jun 29, 2006, at 11:51 PM, Woods wrote:
> When I was doing my teacher preservice, the lesson was drilled into 
> us,
> workbooks=BAD, experiential/hands-on=GOOD.
>
> So it was with great relish that I developed courses for my students
> (aged 17-60+) that were rich in hands-on experiential learning. And
it
> was with great consternation that I listened to one of my younger
> students say to me, "don't you just have some workbooks I can do?"
>
> I think we have to be mindful that students have preferences and
it's
> wrong to write off one mode of learning such as workbooks just
because
> it doesn't fit with our own preferred mode, or those of 'experts'
who
> know what's best. First of all, we have to take the student  
> wherever he
> or she may be in terms of abilities, goals, and preferences. Then  
> we try
> to get him or her to think differently about things. We can't
actually
> change students' thinking, but we can give students things to think
> ABOUT. This, in turn, creates the conditions in which the students
> themselves will expand or alter their thinking. I believe it is  
> risky to
> try to rush this process. If my student is ready for workbooks and  
> I try
> to get him to do do other things, I risk scaring him off, or I risk
> trying to make him conform to MY goals, not his own. That's what was
> done to them when they were children. My students, who are mostly  
> pretty
> alienated from school and education, are wise to this. Their radar  
> goes
> up in a flash when they sense it.
>
> While workbooks (or textbook chapters) are not my preferred way of
> learning, we do offer them to students who want them. American  
> Guidance
> Service (AGS) publishes a wide variety of textbooks in the different
> subject areas, and they also sell CD roms with workbook pages,
chapter
> tests, etc. They are quite comprehensive and while their scope is  
> at the
> high school level, they are written at a lower reading level than
> regular high school texts. Students who choose this path do so
because
> credit requirements are explicit. It is very highly structured;
there
> are no surprises or guessing games. They can work at their own pace 
> and
> they can work on their own time, often working far more productively
> than they could if they simply attended a class. It has always  
> amazed me
> that I could never get my students to do 'homework' but I can give  
> them
> one of those AGS text books and they will work 20 hours a day on it.
>
> Is it the best way to learn? Not for me it isn't. But it's what the
> student wants, what the student is ready for presently. Maybe I  
> will be
> able to make it a hook to entice the student to pursue some topic
more
> deeply.
>
> Tom Woods
> Community High School of Vermont
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------
> National Institute for Literacy
> Focus on Basics mailing list
> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to  
> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics 
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov 
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
From julie_mcKinney at worlded.org  Fri Jun 30 12:39:44 2006
From: julie_mcKinney at worlded.org (Julie  McKinney)
Date: Fri, 30 Jun 2006 12:39:44 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 396]  Any other thoughts on learner engagement?
Message-ID: <s4a51b9f.078@mail.jsi.com>
Hi Everyone,
As we continue to discuss norms, the IGI approach, and motivational
interviewing research, I want to invite people to bring up any other
thoughts or questions about Hal's article and the topic of "Shaping and
Sustaining Learner Engagement."
Julie
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
From julie_mcKinney at worlded.org  Fri Jun 30 13:36:53 2006
From: julie_mcKinney at worlded.org (Julie  McKinney)
Date: Fri, 30 Jun 2006 13:36:53 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 397] Thanks to Hal and Everyone for a great
	discussion!
Message-ID: <s4a52902.023@mail.jsi.com>
Hi Everyone,
This is the last day of our formal discussion, but as always, I hope you
will all continue to dicuss this topic here on the list. The day is not
over, and this is NOT a hint to curb further discussion this afternoon,
but in the hopes that some of you hardworking souls may be leaving early
for a nice long 4th of July weekend, I want to thank people now.
Thank you all for participating in this discussion, and special thanks
to Hal Beder for sharing his thoughts, expertise, and perspective about
learner engagement.
Have a great 4th of July weekend everyone!
All the best,
Julie
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
From julie_mcKinney at worlded.org  Mon Jul 10 13:03:17 2006
From: julie_mcKinney at worlded.org (Julie  McKinney)
Date: Mon, 10 Jul 2006 13:03:17 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 398] Discussion on Learner Persistence this week on
	Special Topics	list!
Message-ID: <s4b25028.005@mail.jsi.com>
Hi Everyone,
I'm sorry this is late, but here is a reminder from David Rosen about a
discussion on the Special Topics list with John Comings on Learner
Persistence STARTING TODAY! Please read on...
Julie
**********************************
Colleagues,
On the Special Topics discussion list from July 10th-18th, Dr. John  
Comings, Director of the National Center for the Study of Adult  
Learning and Literacy (NCSALL), will  be a guest to discuss his  
research on student persistence in adult literacy education.
John introduces the discussion this way:
"When a group of us at World Education were preparing to write the  
proposal for the funds that have supported NCSALL, we surveyed  
practitioners and policy makers around the country to help us design  
our research agenda. Almost 500 people participated in the survey. We 
asked the survey participants to send us the questions that they  
wanted answered to help them improve practice in ABE, ESOL, and GED  
programs. One question was at the top of the list for teachers and  
second on everyone else's list. One teacher phrased it this way,  
"Just when they begin to make progress, many students leave the  
program.   How can I keep those students long enough that they can  
meet their educational goals?"
That question formed the basis of a three-phase study of persistence. 
The first two phases are complete.  The first phase surveyed the  
literature, interviewed 150 students in the six New England states,  
and identified ways that programs were trying to support the  
persistence of their students. The report of that first phase can be  
found at:
<http://www.ncsall.net/fileadmin/resources/research/report12.pdf>
In the second phase, 9 library literacy programs were provided with  
funds to implement interventions that might help improve persistence, 
and our study team observed the programs and interviewed their staff  
and students. We also followed a cohort of 180 students for 14  
months.  The report of that second phase can be found at:
<http://www.mdrc.org/publications/401/overview.html>
We are prepared to implement the third phase, but NCSALL no longer  
has funding to begin a new research project. This next phase would  
test three interventions. One would add persistence supports to  
existing classroom programs, one would use a wide range of modes of  
learning (in programs and through self study on-line and in other  
ways) that more closely match the way adults manage their learning,  
and the third would combine these two approaches. I believe the third 
approach is a promising way to solve the persistence problem, as well 
as it can be solved.
I'm looking forward to your questions, but I would also be interested 
in practical ideas of how to build support to persistence and how to  
expand opportunities for learning."
-----
Special Topics is an intermittent discussion list.  The topics open  
and close throughout the year, so there are periods where there will  
be no discussion or postings. You can subscribe to the e-list for a  
particular topic of interest, and then unsubscribe, or you can stay  
subscribed throughout the year.  To participate in this topic, you  
can subscribe by going to:
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/specialtopics 
David J. Rosen
Special Topics Discussion List Moderator
djrosen at comcast.net 
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
From tarv at chemeketa.edu  Mon Jul 10 14:25:06 2006
From: tarv at chemeketa.edu (Virginia Tardaewether)
Date: Mon, 10 Jul 2006 11:25:06 -0700
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 399] Re: individualized workbook approach
In-Reply-To: <44A3DEB8.8000401@ccsdistrict.org>
Message-ID: <D63A25821E9AE349ADBAB6BB1F0A766C75E358@cccmail2.chemeketa.network>
I have to agree with Jane here.  Workbooks seem to give students
comfort, but skills gained by their use alone are marginal at best.  In
my experience, students who most want the workbook are the ones most
likely to succeed best with other modalities of study. For some reason
the workbook=student work in their minds.  Has anyone found a way to
shift this paradigm? 
Va
-----Original Message-----
From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Jane Meyer
Sent: Thursday, June 29, 2006 7:08 AM
To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 381] individualized workbook approach
Julie asked  "Are there other classroom norms besides "sticking to 
business" that are important?"
I was surprised when I read Hal's study on engaging learners that most 
of the classes in the study used an individualized workbook approach.  I
have never found this approach to be very engaging.  I wonder what the 
students are engaged with.  Are they engaged in learning or getting 
through the workbook pages?  Do they struggle to make sure they 
understand the concepts or just plow through to get done?  When 
correcting their answers using the key in the back of the book do they 
think about where they went wrong and be sure they understand or do they
just change their answer to the correct one?   I have seen students take
a workbook home over the weekend and do the whole workbook and believe 
that they now have moved up a grade level in reading. I think there are 
much more engaging approaches than the individualized workbook approach.
Jane Meyer
Canton City schools ABLE
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
From kabeall at comcast.net  Mon Jul 10 19:19:08 2006
From: kabeall at comcast.net (Kaye Beall)
Date: Mon, 10 Jul 2006 19:19:08 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 400]  New from NCSALL--Adult Student Persistence
Message-ID: <001501c6a477$3f163000$0202a8c0@your4105e587b6>
Study Circle Guide: Adult Student Persistence
 
Newly revised to include the second phase of the NCSALL research on adult
student persistence, this guide provides comprehensive instructions for
facilitating a 10?-hour study circle. It explores what the research says
about adult student persistence and ideas for how to apply what is learned
in classrooms and programs. The guide is based on a review of the NCSALL
research on adult student persistence conducted by John Comings and others,
summarized in an article entitled ?Supporting the Persistence of Adult Basic
Education Students? and other studies on student motivation and retention.
It includes articles, resources, and action research reports to help
practitioners consider strategies for increasing adult student persistence.
This guide provides all the necessary materials and clear instructions to
plan and facilitate a three-session study circle with an option for a
fourth. Each session lasts three-and-a-half hours.
 
To download the study circle guide, visit NCSALL?s Web site:
http://www.ncsall.net/?id=896
 
 
****************
Kaye Beall
Outreach Coordinator/NCSALL Dissemination Project
World Education
4401 S. Madison St.
Muncie, IN  47302
Tel: 765-717-3942
Fax: 208-694-8262
kaye_beall at worlded.org
http://www.ncsall.net
 
 
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From hbeder at rci.rutgers.edu  Tue Jul 11 10:39:53 2006
From: hbeder at rci.rutgers.edu (Hal Beder)
Date: Tue, 11 Jul 2006 10:39:53 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 401] Re: individualized workbook approach
In-Reply-To: <D63A25821E9AE349ADBAB6BB1F0A766C75E358@cccmail2.chemeketa.
	network>
References: <44A3DEB8.8000401@ccsdistrict.org>
	<D63A25821E9AE349ADBAB6BB1F0A766C75E358@cccmail2.chemeketa.network>
Message-ID: <6.2.3.4.2.20060711103815.02b30d40@rci.rutgers.edu>
I think that the most effective way to shift is by adopting Equipped 
for the Future (EFF).  Here is the link:
http://eff.cls.utk.edu/
At 02:25 PM 7/10/2006, you wrote:
>I have to agree with Jane here.  Workbooks seem to give students
>comfort, but skills gained by their use alone are marginal at best.  In
>my experience, students who most want the workbook are the ones most
>likely to succeed best with other modalities of study. For some reason
>the workbook=student work in their minds.  Has anyone found a way to
>shift this paradigm?
>Va
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov
>[mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Jane Meyer
>Sent: Thursday, June 29, 2006 7:08 AM
>To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List
>Subject: [FocusOnBasics 381] individualized workbook approach
>
>Julie asked  "Are there other classroom norms besides "sticking to
>business" that are important?"
>
>I was surprised when I read Hal's study on engaging learners that most
>of the classes in the study used an individualized workbook approach.  I
>
>have never found this approach to be very engaging.  I wonder what the
>students are engaged with.  Are they engaged in learning or getting
>through the workbook pages?  Do they struggle to make sure they
>understand the concepts or just plow through to get done?  When
>correcting their answers using the key in the back of the book do they
>think about where they went wrong and be sure they understand or do they
>
>just change their answer to the correct one?   I have seen students take
>
>a workbook home over the weekend and do the whole workbook and believe
>that they now have moved up a grade level in reading. I think there are
>much more engaging approaches than the individualized workbook approach.
>
>Jane Meyer
>Canton City schools ABLE
>----------------------------------------------------
>National Institute for Literacy
>Focus on Basics mailing list
>FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
>To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
>http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
>----------------------------------------------------
>National Institute for Literacy
>Focus on Basics mailing list
>FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
>To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to 
>http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
Rutgers University
Graduate School of Education
10 seminary Pl.
New Brunswick, NJ 08901
732-932-7496 ext. 8213 
From e.b.shupe at lycos.com  Tue Jul 11 10:47:14 2006
From: e.b.shupe at lycos.com (e s)
Date: Tue, 11 Jul 2006 09:47:14 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 402] Re: individualized workbook approach
Message-ID: <20060711144715.AA89C86B15@ws7-1.us4.outblaze.com>
Virgnia,
I think the issue that is being raised is part of parcel of what adult learners bring to learning experiences from their early K-12 experiences.  Sometimes it can be helpful to talk about alternative ways of learning in the classroom as adults. This isn't a quick and easy remedy reply but I wanted to raise the question of how we can as adult educators help learners explore alternative ways of learning in the classroom.  Pierre Dominice has explored the process of "learner biographies" with much success with graduate students. THis is a process of exploring learner experiences in learning situations both in classroom and out and some critical themes that have been forumulated as a result of these experiences.  I think this journey back to "roots of learning" can help learners identify ways in which they have been both successful/unsuccessful in learning.  What are some thoughts on this type of process for basic literacy/ESOL students?
Esther   
-- 
_______________________________________________
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From khinson71 at cox.net  Tue Jul 11 13:22:16 2006
From: khinson71 at cox.net (khinson71 at cox.net)
Date: Tue, 11 Jul 2006 13:22:16 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 403] Re: individualized workbook approach
Message-ID: <26496569.1152638536606.JavaMail.root@eastrmwml03.mgt.cox.net>
I asked this question earlier - why are these standards so much better than anything else?  Adopting standards won't necessarily change HOW teachers teach/don't teach in their classrooms. I think Esther made a good point.  An adult learner brings their past learning experiences to the adult classroom with them and one of the things we as instructors need to do is establish/discuss with the students what worked for them before vs what didn't work. To talk about where they are now as learners outside the class - what works and what doesn't.  Sometimes, the adult education instructor has no background and little knowledge or understanding of the differences between pedagogy and andragogy when it comes to the adult classroom; they may not know anything about learning style differences or how to implement activities  that address multiple learning styles. 
I just don't think the implementation of content standards like EFF is the only answer / way to address the problem of workbook only type instruction and its pitfalls and/or successes.
Regards,
Katrina Hinson
---- Hal Beder <hbeder at rci.rutgers.edu> wrote: 
> I think that the most effective way to shift is by adopting Equipped 
> for the Future (EFF).  Here is the link:
> http://eff.cls.utk.edu/
> 
> 
> At 02:25 PM 7/10/2006, you wrote:
> >I have to agree with Jane here.  Workbooks seem to give students
> >comfort, but skills gained by their use alone are marginal at best.  In
> >my experience, students who most want the workbook are the ones most
> >likely to succeed best with other modalities of study. For some reason
> >the workbook=student work in their minds.  Has anyone found a way to
> >shift this paradigm?
> >Va
> >
> >-----Original Message-----
> >From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov
> >[mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Jane Meyer
> >Sent: Thursday, June 29, 2006 7:08 AM
> >To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List
> >Subject: [FocusOnBasics 381] individualized workbook approach
> >
> >Julie asked  "Are there other classroom norms besides "sticking to
> >business" that are important?"
> >
> >I was surprised when I read Hal's study on engaging learners that most
> >of the classes in the study used an individualized workbook approach.  I
> >
> >have never found this approach to be very engaging.  I wonder what the
> >students are engaged with.  Are they engaged in learning or getting
> >through the workbook pages?  Do they struggle to make sure they
> >understand the concepts or just plow through to get done?  When
> >correcting their answers using the key in the back of the book do they
> >think about where they went wrong and be sure they understand or do they
> >
> >just change their answer to the correct one?   I have seen students take
> >
> >a workbook home over the weekend and do the whole workbook and believe
> >that they now have moved up a grade level in reading. I think there are
> >much more engaging approaches than the individualized workbook approach.
> >
> >Jane Meyer
> >Canton City schools ABLE
> >----------------------------------------------------
> >National Institute for Literacy
> >Focus on Basics mailing list
> >FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
> >To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
> >http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
> >----------------------------------------------------
> >National Institute for Literacy
> >Focus on Basics mailing list
> >FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
> >To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to 
> >http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
> 
> Rutgers University
> Graduate School of Education
> 10 seminary Pl.
> New Brunswick, NJ 08901
> 732-932-7496 ext. 8213 
> 
> ----------------------------------------------------
> National Institute for Literacy
> Focus on Basics mailing list
> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
From woodsnh at isp.com  Tue Jul 11 14:26:41 2006
From: woodsnh at isp.com (Woods)
Date: Tue, 11 Jul 2006 14:26:41 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 404] Re: individualized workbook approach
In-Reply-To: <26496569.1152638536606.JavaMail.root@eastrmwml03.mgt.cox.net>
References: <26496569.1152638536606.JavaMail.root@eastrmwml03.mgt.cox.net>
Message-ID: <44B3ED61.9050701@isp.com>
OK. You got me. What is the difference between pedagogy and andragogy? I 
was trained in K-12, but somehow ended up with a adults who are my 
students. I don't think I ever heard the term andragogy in my training, 
nor in my practice.
Tom Woods
Community High School of Vermont
khinson71 at cox.net wrote:
Sometimes, the adult education instructor has no background and little knowledge or understanding of the differences between pedagogy and andragogy when it comes to the adult classroom; 
From akohring at utk.edu  Tue Jul 11 16:07:49 2006
From: akohring at utk.edu (Aaron Kohring)
Date: Tue, 11 Jul 2006 16:07:49 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 405] Re: individualized workbook approach
In-Reply-To: <44B3ED61.9050701@isp.com>
References: <26496569.1152638536606.JavaMail.root@eastrmwml03.mgt.cox.net>
	<26496569.1152638536606.JavaMail.root@eastrmwml03.mgt.cox.net>
Message-ID: <5.1.0.14.2.20060711160643.04a03ba8@pop.utk.edu>
Tom,
Basically, pedagogy refers to teaching of children while andragogy refers 
to teaching of adults.
Aaron
At 02:26 PM 7/11/2006 -0400, you wrote:
>OK. You got me. What is the difference between pedagogy and andragogy? I
>was trained in K-12, but somehow ended up with a adults who are my
>students. I don't think I ever heard the term andragogy in my training,
>nor in my practice.
>Tom Woods
>Community High School of Vermont
>
>khinson71 at cox.net wrote:
>
>Sometimes, the adult education instructor has no background and little 
>knowledge or understanding of the differences between pedagogy and 
>andragogy when it comes to the adult classroom;
>
>
>----------------------------------------------------
>National Institute for Literacy
>Focus on Basics mailing list
>FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
>To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to 
>http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
Aaron Kohring
Coordinator, LINCS Literacy & Learning Disabilities Special Collection 
(http://ldlink.coe.utk.edu/)
Moderator, National Institute for Literacy's Content Standards Discussion 
List (http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/Contentstandards)
Coordinator, Equipped for the Future Websites (http://eff.cls.utk.edu/)
Center for Literacy Studies, University of Tennessee
EFF Center for Training and Technical Assistance
Phone:(865) 974-4109 main
           (865) 974-4258 direct
Fax:   (865) 974-3857
e-mail: akohring at utk.edu
From e.b.shupe at lycos.com  Tue Jul 11 16:27:34 2006
From: e.b.shupe at lycos.com (e s)
Date: Tue, 11 Jul 2006 15:27:34 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 406] Re: individualized workbook approach
Message-ID: <20060711202734.869473384C@ws7-3.us4.outblaze.com>
Hal,    this is your chance to promote the adult ed degree program at Rutgers.   Take it away.
Esther
-- 
_______________________________________________
Search for businesses by name, location, or phone number.  -Lycos Yellow Pages
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From trmay at hotmail.com  Tue Jul 11 16:30:43 2006
From: trmay at hotmail.com (Tracy Rosen)
Date: Tue, 11 Jul 2006 16:30:43 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 407]  pedagogy/andragogy
In-Reply-To: <44B3ED61.9050701@isp.com>
Message-ID: <BAY103-F17E8DB6A2BDCE8500329A1BC680@phx.gbl>
Hi everyone - my name is Tracy, I also was trained in k-12 but have worked 
with adults as well. I am presently finishing my MA in human systems 
intervention at Concordia University and am going to begin a new position in 
a few weeks at BJEC (the Bronfman Jewish Education Centre) as the special 
education coordinator for the schools in the Jewish education system in 
Montreal.
Nice to meet you all!
Here is a reference for andragogy:
"In practical terms, andragogy means that instruction for adults needs to 
focus more on the process and less on the content being taught. Strategies 
such as case studies, role playing, simulations, and self-evaluation are 
most useful. Instructors adopt a role of facilitator or resource rather than 
lecturer or grader." - taken from http://tip.psychology.org/knowles.html
I would argue, though, if you want to wordsmyth, that pedagogy can be 
synonymous with andragogy. At least it is in Quebec, where I work. The 
Quebec education program is now much more based in process rather than 
content and students (and teachers!) are being encouraged and trained to 
look at how they learn in order to facilitate the learning of content. 
Students are also being assessed on the 'how' as well as the 'what'. Most 
learning is becoming project-based so that learners are working in 
'real-life' scenarios and there is a large self-evaluation component as 
well. In fact, in elementary school most parent-teacher interviews have 
become student-led conferences.
I know that these kinds of reforms are happening in Ontario as well, and I 
am sure that this is going on elsewhere too. I am just not aware of it.
So, from my perspective, good pedagogy is learner-centered and focuses on 
process and therefore not different from andragogy.
Tracy Rosen
----Original Message Follows----
From: Woods <woodsnh at isp.com>
Reply-To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 404] Re: individualized workbook approach
Date: Tue, 11 Jul 2006 14:26:41 -0400
OK. You got me. What is the difference between pedagogy and andragogy? I
was trained in K-12, but somehow ended up with a adults who are my
students. I don't think I ever heard the term andragogy in my training,
nor in my practice.
Tom Woods
Community High School of Vermont
khinson71 at cox.net wrote:
Sometimes, the adult education instructor has no background and little 
knowledge or understanding of the differences between pedagogy and andragogy 
when it comes to the adult classroom;
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to 
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
From djrosen at comcast.net  Tue Jul 11 17:51:08 2006
From: djrosen at comcast.net (David Rosen)
Date: Tue, 11 Jul 2006 17:51:08 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 408]  Andragogy
In-Reply-To: <44B3ED61.9050701@isp.com>
References: <26496569.1152638536606.JavaMail.root@eastrmwml03.mgt.cox.net>
	<44B3ED61.9050701@isp.com>
Message-ID: <7C6B2405-6BBE-41B9-ACC6-BAFB2588674A@comcast.net>
Tom, and others,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andragogy
David J. Rosen
djrosen at comcast.net
On Jul 11, 2006, at 2:26 PM, Woods wrote:
> OK. You got me. What is the difference between pedagogy and  
> andragogy? I
> was trained in K-12, but somehow ended up with a adults who are my
> students. I don't think I ever heard the term andragogy in my  
> training,
> nor in my practice.
> Tom Woods
> Community High School of Vermont
>
> khinson71 at cox.net wrote:
>
> Sometimes, the adult education instructor has no background and  
> little knowledge or understanding of the differences between  
> pedagogy and andragogy when it comes to the adult classroom;
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------
From valleypeters at tetonliteracy.org  Tue Jul 11 19:00:21 2006
From: valleypeters at tetonliteracy.org (Valley Peters)
Date: Tue, 11 Jul 2006 17:00:21 -0600
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 409] Re: individualized workbook approach
In-Reply-To: <44B3ED61.9050701@isp.com>
References: <26496569.1152638536606.JavaMail.root@eastrmwml03.mgt.cox.net>
	<44B3ED61.9050701@isp.com>
Message-ID: <A152BDB1-FF5C-4714-A858-23EE30E3ABB9@tetonliteracy.org>
Hi Tom,
My understanding is that andragogy specifically applies to the  
methods/approaches/theories for teaching adults.
Valley Peters
Director of Adult Services
valleypeters at tetonliteracy.org
307.733.9242
Teton Literacy Program provides literacy education and resources to  
open doors for individuals and families to achieve their personal,  
professional, and academic goals, as contributing members of our  
community.
On Jul 11, 2006, at 12:26 PM, Woods wrote:
> OK. You got me. What is the difference between pedagogy and  
> andragogy? I
> was trained in K-12, but somehow ended up with a adults who are my
> students. I don't think I ever heard the term andragogy in my  
> training,
> nor in my practice.
> Tom Woods
> Community High School of Vermont
>
> khinson71 at cox.net wrote:
>
> Sometimes, the adult education instructor has no background and  
> little knowledge or understanding of the differences between  
> pedagogy and andragogy when it comes to the adult classroom;
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------
> National Institute for Literacy
> Focus on Basics mailing list
> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to  
> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
>
>
From Khinson at future-gate.com  Tue Jul 11 19:12:55 2006
From: Khinson at future-gate.com (Katrina Hinson)
Date: Wed, 12 Jul 2006 01:12:55 +0200
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 410]   Re: individualized workbook approach
In-Reply-To: <44B3ED61.9050701@isp.com>
References: <26496569.1152638536606.JavaMail.root@eastrmwml03.mgt.cox.net>
	<44B3ED61.9050701@isp.com>
Message-ID: <44B3F835.121D.00A0.0@future-gate.com>
Below is an excellent website that focuses on the differences between
Pedagogy and Andragogy. The first is "teacher" centered the latter is
"Student" centered - in short. I recommend you read the article on the
website.  Knowles is a good reference as well for andragogic learning
and the reasoning behind it. If you "google" Knowles, and Andragogy,
you'll probably pull up his research models.
http://agelesslearner.com/intros/andragogy.html 
Regards,
Katrina Hinson
>>> Woods <woodsnh at isp.com> 7/11/2006 2:26 pm >>>
OK. You got me. What is the difference between pedagogy and andragogy?
I 
was trained in K-12, but somehow ended up with a adults who are my 
students. I don't think I ever heard the term andragogy in my training,
nor in my practice.
Tom Woods
Community High School of Vermont
khinson71 at cox.net wrote:
Sometimes, the adult education instructor has no background and little
knowledge or understanding of the differences between pedagogy and
andragogy when it comes to the adult classroom; 
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov 
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
From woodsnh at isp.com  Tue Jul 11 23:26:57 2006
From: woodsnh at isp.com (Woods)
Date: Tue, 11 Jul 2006 23:26:57 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 411] Re: individualized workbook approach
In-Reply-To: <44B3F835.121D.00A0.0@future-gate.com>
References: <26496569.1152638536606.JavaMail.root@eastrmwml03.mgt.cox.net>	<44B3ED61.9050701@isp.com>
	<44B3F835.121D.00A0.0@future-gate.com>
Message-ID: <44B46C01.7050807@isp.com>
Katrina Hinson wrote:
http://agelesslearner.com/intros/andragogy.html 
Thank you Katrina. I can see how the two terms differentiated by age of learner, but I think the world would be a better place if they had not. There are many teaching concepts from K12 that would fit well in andragogy such as constructivism, student-centeredness, authentic materials, authentic assessment and self-assessment, but they often seem to get badly misinterpreted when put into practice. I think these things are imperiled even in adult education.
Perhaps a reason why is that teachers tend to teach the way they were taught. We are prisoners of our own experience. This is how educational traditions perpetuate. It is extremely difficult to break out, and when we do, we encounter students who say, "just give me the workbook." I guess students are prisoners of their experience too. 
Tom Woods
Community High School of Vermont
From andreawilder at comcast.net  Wed Jul 12 08:04:25 2006
From: andreawilder at comcast.net (Andrea Wilder)
Date: Wed, 12 Jul 2006 08:04:25 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 412] Re: pedagogy/andragogy
In-Reply-To: <BAY103-F17E8DB6A2BDCE8500329A1BC680@phx.gbl>
References: <BAY103-F17E8DB6A2BDCE8500329A1BC680@phx.gbl>
Message-ID: <283a23f248528e950b2c9be7c6d4a288@comcast.net>
I'm being picky--"androgogy"'s root is andr = male.  Personally, I 
avoid this word.
It was coined, I believe by an adult educator whose name I have 
temporarily forgotten--but someone else will know, I am sure.
Pedagogy in my pea-sized brain mesns teaching, or the art of teaching.  
I use this word.
Andrea
On Jul 11, 2006, at 4:30 PM, Tracy Rosen wrote:
> Hi everyone - my name is Tracy, I also was trained in k-12 but have 
> worked
> with adults as well. I am presently finishing my MA in human systems
> intervention at Concordia University and am going to begin a new 
> position in
> a few weeks at BJEC (the Bronfman Jewish Education Centre) as the 
> special
> education coordinator for the schools in the Jewish education system in
> Montreal.
> Nice to meet you all!
>
> Here is a reference for andragogy:
>
> "In practical terms, andragogy means that instruction for adults needs 
> to
> focus more on the process and less on the content being taught. 
> Strategies
> such as case studies, role playing, simulations, and self-evaluation 
> are
> most useful. Instructors adopt a role of facilitator or resource 
> rather than
> lecturer or grader." - taken from 
> http://tip.psychology.org/knowles.html
>
> I would argue, though, if you want to wordsmyth, that pedagogy can be
> synonymous with andragogy. At least it is in Quebec, where I work. The
> Quebec education program is now much more based in process rather than
> content and students (and teachers!) are being encouraged and trained 
> to
> look at how they learn in order to facilitate the learning of content.
> Students are also being assessed on the 'how' as well as the 'what'. 
> Most
> learning is becoming project-based so that learners are working in
> 'real-life' scenarios and there is a large self-evaluation component as
> well. In fact, in elementary school most parent-teacher interviews have
> become student-led conferences.
>
> I know that these kinds of reforms are happening in Ontario as well, 
> and I
> am sure that this is going on elsewhere too. I am just not aware of it.
>
> So, from my perspective, good pedagogy is learner-centered and focuses 
> on
> process and therefore not different from andragogy.
>
> Tracy Rosen
>
>
>
>
> ----Original Message Follows----
> From: Woods <woodsnh at isp.com>
> Reply-To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
> To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
> Subject: [FocusOnBasics 404] Re: individualized workbook approach
> Date: Tue, 11 Jul 2006 14:26:41 -0400
>
> OK. You got me. What is the difference between pedagogy and andragogy? 
> I
> was trained in K-12, but somehow ended up with a adults who are my
> students. I don't think I ever heard the term andragogy in my training,
> nor in my practice.
> Tom Woods
> Community High School of Vermont
>
> khinson71 at cox.net wrote:
>
> Sometimes, the adult education instructor has no background and little
> knowledge or understanding of the differences between pedagogy and 
> andragogy
> when it comes to the adult classroom;
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------
> National Institute for Literacy
> Focus on Basics mailing list
> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------
> National Institute for Literacy
> Focus on Basics mailing list
> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to 
> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
>
From akohring at utk.edu  Wed Jul 12 08:11:11 2006
From: akohring at utk.edu (Aaron Kohring)
Date: Wed, 12 Jul 2006 08:11:11 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 413] Re: individualized workbook approach
In-Reply-To: <44B46C01.7050807@isp.com>
References: <44B3F835.121D.00A0.0@future-gate.com>
	<26496569.1152638536606.JavaMail.root@eastrmwml03.mgt.cox.net>
	<44B3ED61.9050701@isp.com> <44B3F835.121D.00A0.0@future-gate.com>
Message-ID: <5.1.0.14.2.20060712080655.03265a28@pop.utk.edu>
Tom,
You've highlighted a lot of the terms that are so important to the EFF 
framework (http://eff.cls.utk.edu/fundamentals/default.htm): 
constructivism, student-centeredness, authentic materials, authentic 
assessment and self-assessment.
And Katrina- this is one of the reasons why I believe that the EFF 
standards are different (I'm not saying the only standards or the best) 
from many others because they build from many of these important concepts 
and are meaningful to the learners.
Aaron
At 11:26 PM 7/11/2006 -0400, you wrote:
>Katrina Hinson wrote:
>
>http://agelesslearner.com/intros/andragogy.html
>
>Thank you Katrina. I can see how the two terms differentiated by age of 
>learner, but I think the world would be a better place if they had not. 
>There are many teaching concepts from K12 that would fit well in andragogy 
>such as constructivism, student-centeredness, authentic materials, 
>authentic assessment and self-assessment, but they often seem to get badly 
>misinterpreted when put into practice. I think these things are imperiled 
>even in adult education.
>
>Perhaps a reason why is that teachers tend to teach the way they were 
>taught. We are prisoners of our own experience. This is how educational 
>traditions perpetuate. It is extremely difficult to break out, and when we 
>do, we encounter students who say, "just give me the workbook." I guess 
>students are prisoners of their experience too.
>
>Tom Woods
>Community High School of Vermont
>
>
>
>----------------------------------------------------
>National Institute for Literacy
>Focus on Basics mailing list
>FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
>To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to 
>http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
Aaron Kohring
Coordinator, LINCS Literacy & Learning Disabilities Special Collection 
(http://ldlink.coe.utk.edu/)
Moderator, National Institute for Literacy's Content Standards Discussion 
List (http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/Contentstandards)
Coordinator, Equipped for the Future Websites (http://eff.cls.utk.edu/)
Center for Literacy Studies, University of Tennessee
EFF Center for Training and Technical Assistance
Phone:(865) 974-4109 main
           (865) 974-4258 direct
Fax:   (865) 974-3857
e-mail: akohring at utk.edu
From e.b.shupe at lycos.com  Wed Jul 12 08:43:50 2006
From: e.b.shupe at lycos.com (e s)
Date: Wed, 12 Jul 2006 07:43:50 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 414] Re: individualized workbook approach
Message-ID: <20060712124350.9534F86B15@ws7-1.us4.outblaze.com>
Tom,
I agree with your commments.  I think that is why I feel it is so important for instructors to be critically reflective in their work. We need to explore some of the hidden beliefs that have helped formulate our ideological principles which in turn point us to our methods of teaching.  A few weeks past the list discussed videotaping as a form of Professional Development for adult ed instructors.  I believe that these types of PD opportunities for educators can help facilitate a better understanding of what impact (positive and negative) we are having with learners in the classroom, as well as help us to explore creative alternatives in learning situations. 
Esther
-- 
_______________________________________________
Search for businesses by name, location, or phone number.  -Lycos Yellow Pages
http://r.lycos.com/r/yp_emailfooter/http://yellowpages.lycos.com/default.asp?SRC=lycos10
From khinson at future-gate.com  Wed Jul 12 11:51:00 2006
From: khinson at future-gate.com (Katrina Hinson)
Date: Wed, 12 Jul 2006 17:51:00 +0200
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 415] Re: individualized workbook approach
Message-ID: <44B53684020000A000002D79@fgwiel01a.wie.de.future-gate.com>
You're welcome.
 I agree with you and the others on the list that have made reference to
the overlap of both terms. I think they do too. I also think that if
more "adult" learner practices were utilized in a traditional setting,
improvements might occurr in many areas.  I can also see the benefit of
many skills that cross over from K-12 that fit. I also see daily some
that don't. I can go and observe many k-12 classrooms in my own state 
where teachers still are focused on imparting their knowledge INTO a
student as if they were a sponge trying to soak it up.   I am very
thankful daily for the teachers I had growing  that were so out of the
box and very much student centered that it's never left me.  From them I
learned that learning occurs in a million ways and not all of them come
from a text book.  I was engaged from the moment I entered their doors
until I walked out.  That's not always the case though and for adult
learners especially; we have to make sure we don't make the mistake of
giving them just a workbook though...even if that's all they ask for. We
need to help them find ways to learn that incorporate what they know,
and how they have learned in the past, so that they have some sense of
ownership in their own learning. From my experience, ownership in the
learning process is something that rarely occurs in a traditional k-12
class. There are exceptions most assuredly,...but I don't think it's the
norm.   (None of that may have come out as well as it's racing through
my head. Busy day - so forgive me if it makes no sense.) 
 I also agree  that  authentic materials and authentic assesessment are
most assuredly central to adult learning in my opinion.    I have often
thought or wished I could use the model I use in my adult ed classroom
in a k-12 classroom just to highlight to policy makers and teachers who
do hold on to "traditions" that sometimes, traditions need to evolve and
change to meet the changing demands of the learners filling and leaving
the seats in public school.
>>> Woods <woodsnh at isp.com> 07/11/06 8:26 PM >>>
Katrina Hinson wrote:
http://agelesslearner.com/intros/andragogy.html 
Thank you Katrina. I can see how the two terms differentiated by age of
learner, but I think the world would be a better place if they had not.
There are many teaching concepts from K12 that would fit well in
andragogy such as constructivism, student-centeredness, authentic
materials, authentic assessment and self-assessment, but they often seem
to get badly misinterpreted when put into practice. I think these things
are imperiled even in adult education.
Perhaps a reason why is that teachers tend to teach the way they were
taught. We are prisoners of our own experience. This is how educational
traditions perpetuate. It is extremely difficult to break out, and when
we do, we encounter students who say, "just give me the workbook." I
guess students are prisoners of their experience too. 
Tom Woods
Community High School of Vermont
----------------------------------------------------
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From MMaralit at NIFL.gov  Wed Jul 12 10:08:47 2006
From: MMaralit at NIFL.gov (Maralit, Mary Jo)
Date: Wed, 12 Jul 2006 10:08:47 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 414] Persistence Among Adult Education Students
	Video and transcript
Message-ID: <4062487BDB6029428A763CAEF4E1FE5B0E59BC2A@wdcrobe2m03.ed.gov>
The National Institute for Literacy and the National Center for the Study of
Adult Learning and Literacy present Persistence Among Adult Education
Students Panel Discussion
This 30 minute video focuses on persistence in ABE, ESOL, and GED programs,
and features a NCSALL study entitled, "Supporting the Persistence of Adult
Basic Education Students."
Dr. John Cummings presentation examines student persistence in adult
education programs. He presents a working definition of persistence,
examines existing research, and describes NCSALL's three-phase study of the
factors that support and inhibit persistence. Other panelist include two
practitioners, Kathy Endaya and Ernest Best.  
You will find the video streamed and transcript by going to:
http://www.nifl.gov/nifl/webcasts/persistence/persistence_cast.html
You may need to cut and paste the whole web address in your browser,  
or you could try this shorter version: http://tinyurl.com/s6tcu
Macintosh users will need to select the Quicktime format for viewing  
the presentation.
The DVD of the panel will be available within the next two months, for more
information, contact info at nifl.gov.
Also, it is not too late to join in on the Special Topics list discussion
with Dr. Cummings, for more information, go to:
http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/specialtopics/2006/000088.html
Jo Maralit
National Institute for Literacy
mmaralit at nifl.gov
http://www.nifl.gov/  
From WinstonL at lacnyc.org  Wed Jul 12 13:23:07 2006
From: WinstonL at lacnyc.org (Winston Lawrence)
Date: Wed, 12 Jul 2006 13:23:07 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 415] Re: pedagogy/andragogy
Message-ID: <6E8BC13A30982C44BCD32B38FB8F5AB817319D@lac-exch.lacnyc.local>
Hi Andrea: This is interesting. You noted that the root of andragogy is
'male'. But pedagogy also has a root--' child' , like pediatrician -
(doctor for a child). As an adult educator, how do you reconcile that?
Winston
--------------------------------------------------------------
-----Original Message-----
From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Andrea Wilder
Sent: Wednesday, July 12, 2006 8:04 AM
To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 412] Re: pedagogy/andragogy
I'm being picky--"androgogy"'s root is andr = male.  Personally, I 
avoid this word.
It was coined, I believe by an adult educator whose name I have 
temporarily forgotten--but someone else will know, I am sure.
Pedagogy in my pea-sized brain mesns teaching, or the art of teaching.  
I use this word.
Andrea
On Jul 11, 2006, at 4:30 PM, Tracy Rosen wrote:
> Hi everyone - my name is Tracy, I also was trained in k-12 but have 
> worked
> with adults as well. I am presently finishing my MA in human systems
> intervention at Concordia University and am going to begin a new 
> position in
> a few weeks at BJEC (the Bronfman Jewish Education Centre) as the 
> special
> education coordinator for the schools in the Jewish education system
in
> Montreal.
> Nice to meet you all!
>
> Here is a reference for andragogy:
>
> "In practical terms, andragogy means that instruction for adults needs
> to
> focus more on the process and less on the content being taught. 
> Strategies
> such as case studies, role playing, simulations, and self-evaluation 
> are
> most useful. Instructors adopt a role of facilitator or resource 
> rather than
> lecturer or grader." - taken from 
> http://tip.psychology.org/knowles.html
>
> I would argue, though, if you want to wordsmyth, that pedagogy can be
> synonymous with andragogy. At least it is in Quebec, where I work. The
> Quebec education program is now much more based in process rather than
> content and students (and teachers!) are being encouraged and trained 
> to
> look at how they learn in order to facilitate the learning of content.
> Students are also being assessed on the 'how' as well as the 'what'. 
> Most
> learning is becoming project-based so that learners are working in
> 'real-life' scenarios and there is a large self-evaluation component
as
> well. In fact, in elementary school most parent-teacher interviews
have
> become student-led conferences.
>
> I know that these kinds of reforms are happening in Ontario as well, 
> and I
> am sure that this is going on elsewhere too. I am just not aware of
it.
>
> So, from my perspective, good pedagogy is learner-centered and focuses
> on
> process and therefore not different from andragogy.
>
> Tracy Rosen
>
>
>
>
> ----Original Message Follows----
> From: Woods <woodsnh at isp.com>
> Reply-To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
> To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
> Subject: [FocusOnBasics 404] Re: individualized workbook approach
> Date: Tue, 11 Jul 2006 14:26:41 -0400
>
> OK. You got me. What is the difference between pedagogy and andragogy?
> I
> was trained in K-12, but somehow ended up with a adults who are my
> students. I don't think I ever heard the term andragogy in my
training,
> nor in my practice.
> Tom Woods
> Community High School of Vermont
>
> khinson71 at cox.net wrote:
>
> Sometimes, the adult education instructor has no background and little
> knowledge or understanding of the differences between pedagogy and 
> andragogy
> when it comes to the adult classroom;
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------
> National Institute for Literacy
> Focus on Basics mailing list
> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------
> National Institute for Literacy
> Focus on Basics mailing list
> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to 
> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
>
----------------------------------------------------
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From Mhrsemh at omh.state.ny.us  Wed Jul 12 13:24:51 2006
From: Mhrsemh at omh.state.ny.us (Elizabeth Horvath)
Date: Wed, 12 Jul 2006 13:24:51 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 416]   Re: pedagogy/andragogy
In-Reply-To: <283a23f248528e950b2c9be7c6d4a288@comcast.net>
References: <BAY103-F17E8DB6A2BDCE8500329A1BC680@phx.gbl>
	<283a23f248528e950b2c9be7c6d4a288@comcast.net>
Message-ID: <44B4F822.43A9.0076.0@omh.state.ny.us>
According to my sources, the root is "From the Greek words "anere", for
adult and "agogus", the art and science of helping students learn" - 
(coined by American educator Malcolm Knowles )
I was surprised by this, as I too have associated the Andr root with
"male".
I wonder how the "d" got in there?
Beti Horvath
Beti Horvath, MLS
Library Services
Mid-Hudson Forensic Psychiatric Center
New Hampton NY 10958
mhrsemh at omh.state.ny.us
845-374-3171x3625
Fax 845-374-3171x4625
>>> andreawilder at comcast.net 7/12/2006 8:04 am >>>
I'm being picky--"androgogy"'s root is andr = male.  Personally, I 
avoid this word.
It was coined, I believe by an adult educator whose name I have 
temporarily forgotten--but someone else will know, I am sure.
Pedagogy in my pea-sized brain mesns teaching, or the art of teaching. 
I use this word.
Andrea
On Jul 11, 2006, at 4:30 PM, Tracy Rosen wrote:
> Hi everyone - my name is Tracy, I also was trained in k-12 but have 
> worked
> with adults as well. I am presently finishing my MA in human systems
> intervention at Concordia University and am going to begin a new 
> position in
> a few weeks at BJEC (the Bronfman Jewish Education Centre) as the 
> special
> education coordinator for the schools in the Jewish education system
in
> Montreal.
> Nice to meet you all!
>
> Here is a reference for andragogy:
>
> "In practical terms, andragogy means that instruction for adults
needs 
> to
> focus more on the process and less on the content being taught. 
> Strategies
> such as case studies, role playing, simulations, and self-evaluation
> are
> most useful. Instructors adopt a role of facilitator or resource 
> rather than
> lecturer or grader." - taken from 
> http://tip.psychology.org/knowles.html 
>
> I would argue, though, if you want to wordsmyth, that pedagogy can
be
> synonymous with andragogy. At least it is in Quebec, where I work.
The
> Quebec education program is now much more based in process rather
than
> content and students (and teachers!) are being encouraged and trained
> to
> look at how they learn in order to facilitate the learning of
content.
> Students are also being assessed on the 'how' as well as the 'what'.
> Most
> learning is becoming project-based so that learners are working in
> 'real-life' scenarios and there is a large self-evaluation component
as
> well. In fact, in elementary school most parent-teacher interviews
have
> become student-led conferences.
>
> I know that these kinds of reforms are happening in Ontario as well,
> and I
> am sure that this is going on elsewhere too. I am just not aware of
it.
>
> So, from my perspective, good pedagogy is learner-centered and
focuses 
> on
> process and therefore not different from andragogy.
>
> Tracy Rosen
>
>
>
>
> ----Original Message Follows----
> From: Woods <woodsnh at isp.com>
> Reply-To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List
<focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
> To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
> Subject: [FocusOnBasics 404] Re: individualized workbook approach
> Date: Tue, 11 Jul 2006 14:26:41 -0400
>
> OK. You got me. What is the difference between pedagogy and
andragogy? 
> I
> was trained in K-12, but somehow ended up with a adults who are my
> students. I don't think I ever heard the term andragogy in my
training,
> nor in my practice.
> Tom Woods
> Community High School of Vermont
>
> khinson71 at cox.net wrote:
>
> Sometimes, the adult education instructor has no background and
little
> knowledge or understanding of the differences between pedagogy and 
> andragogy
> when it comes to the adult classroom;
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------
> National Institute for Literacy
> Focus on Basics mailing list
> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov 
> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics 
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------
> National Institute for Literacy
> Focus on Basics mailing list
> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov 
> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to 
> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics 
>
----------------------------------------------------
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From tnash at windham.k12.me.us  Wed Jul 12 14:00:58 2006
From: tnash at windham.k12.me.us (Thomas Nash)
Date: Wed, 12 Jul 2006 14:00:58 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 416] Re: pedagogy/andragogy
Message-ID: <827AA3FA092C0C4AA3A0221EC9B83D080314EFE0@EX2K.ad.wsd.windham.k12.me.us>
Well the traditional methods of teaching or the processes - the lecture,
the project, the demonstration, drill and reviews, the Socratic question
and answer are still applicable to our world of adult education
"classrooms". It is how we as teachers or "facilitators" of learning
utilize the needs, goals, desires, capabilities and real life
experiences of our learners in the respective learning experience for
each individual learner. We can focus on the process and help adults
develop transferable "skills" that can be used in various "content"
areas...
If you haven't already done so, you may also want to check out the
Equipped for the Future conceptual framework that speaks to content AND
skills. It refers to a purposeful, transparent, contextualized and
constructivist learning experience for our adult learners...
And my 2c worth on the debate in referring to the adult education realm:
I would choose andragogy instead of pedagogy which has as a root,
"child".
Tom
Thomas A. Nash
Director of Adult Education
Windham Adult Education
406 Gray Road
Windham, ME 04062
(207) 892-1819
tnash at windham.k12.me.us
-----Original Message-----
From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Andrea Wilder
Sent: Wednesday, July 12, 2006 8:04 AM
To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 412] Re: pedagogy/andragogy
I'm being picky--"androgogy"'s root is andr = male.  Personally, I 
avoid this word.
It was coined, I believe by an adult educator whose name I have 
temporarily forgotten--but someone else will know, I am sure.
Pedagogy in my pea-sized brain mesns teaching, or the art of teaching.  
I use this word.
Andrea
On Jul 11, 2006, at 4:30 PM, Tracy Rosen wrote:
> Hi everyone - my name is Tracy, I also was trained in k-12 but have 
> worked
> with adults as well. I am presently finishing my MA in human systems
> intervention at Concordia University and am going to begin a new 
> position in
> a few weeks at BJEC (the Bronfman Jewish Education Centre) as the 
> special
> education coordinator for the schools in the Jewish education system
in
> Montreal.
> Nice to meet you all!
>
> Here is a reference for andragogy:
>
> "In practical terms, andragogy means that instruction for adults needs
> to
> focus more on the process and less on the content being taught. 
> Strategies
> such as case studies, role playing, simulations, and self-evaluation 
> are
> most useful. Instructors adopt a role of facilitator or resource 
> rather than
> lecturer or grader." - taken from 
> http://tip.psychology.org/knowles.html
>
> I would argue, though, if you want to wordsmyth, that pedagogy can be
> synonymous with andragogy. At least it is in Quebec, where I work. The
> Quebec education program is now much more based in process rather than
> content and students (and teachers!) are being encouraged and trained 
> to
> look at how they learn in order to facilitate the learning of content.
> Students are also being assessed on the 'how' as well as the 'what'. 
> Most
> learning is becoming project-based so that learners are working in
> 'real-life' scenarios and there is a large self-evaluation component
as
> well. In fact, in elementary school most parent-teacher interviews
have
> become student-led conferences.
>
> I know that these kinds of reforms are happening in Ontario as well, 
> and I
> am sure that this is going on elsewhere too. I am just not aware of
it.
>
> So, from my perspective, good pedagogy is learner-centered and focuses
> on
> process and therefore not different from andragogy.
>
> Tracy Rosen
>
>
>
>
> ----Original Message Follows----
> From: Woods <woodsnh at isp.com>
> Reply-To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
> To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
> Subject: [FocusOnBasics 404] Re: individualized workbook approach
> Date: Tue, 11 Jul 2006 14:26:41 -0400
>
> OK. You got me. What is the difference between pedagogy and andragogy?
> I
> was trained in K-12, but somehow ended up with a adults who are my
> students. I don't think I ever heard the term andragogy in my
training,
> nor in my practice.
> Tom Woods
> Community High School of Vermont
>
> khinson71 at cox.net wrote:
>
> Sometimes, the adult education instructor has no background and little
> knowledge or understanding of the differences between pedagogy and 
> andragogy
> when it comes to the adult classroom;
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------
> National Institute for Literacy
> Focus on Basics mailing list
> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------
> National Institute for Literacy
> Focus on Basics mailing list
> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to 
> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
>
----------------------------------------------------
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From trmay at hotmail.com  Wed Jul 12 14:32:51 2006
From: trmay at hotmail.com (Tracy Rosen)
Date: Wed, 12 Jul 2006 14:32:51 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 417] Re: pedagogy/andragogy
In-Reply-To: <6E8BC13A30982C44BCD32B38FB8F5AB817319D@lac-exch.lacnyc.local>
Message-ID: <BAY103-F118D5E04F08C00F14E03DBC690@phx.gbl>
What if we refer to what we do as educating? It seems less 
offensive/problematic. Educate comes from ex- out and ducere - lead. To lead 
out.
Or, we can forget all of this wordsmything and focus on teaching and 
learning because, when it comes down to it, I don't think that focusing on 
problems that may or may not have arisen due to the misuse of terminology is 
the issue.
Whether it is called pedagogy, androgogy, education, facilitation, teaching, 
learning...it seems that, from what I have read so far, everyone on this 
forum is interested in fostering learner success and is in agreement that in 
order to do so we need to meet the learner where she/he is at and create 
authentic learning activities that respond to the needs and experiences of 
that learner.
no?
----Original Message Follows----
From: "Winston Lawrence" <WinstonL at lacnyc.org>
Reply-To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
To: "The Focus on Basics Discussion List" <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 415] Re: pedagogy/andragogy
Date: Wed, 12 Jul 2006 13:23:07 -0400
Hi Andrea: This is interesting. You noted that the root of andragogy is
'male'. But pedagogy also has a root--' child' , like pediatrician -
(doctor for a child). As an adult educator, how do you reconcile that?
Winston
--------------------------------------------------------------
-----Original Message-----
From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Andrea Wilder
Sent: Wednesday, July 12, 2006 8:04 AM
To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 412] Re: pedagogy/andragogy
I'm being picky--"androgogy"'s root is andr = male.  Personally, I
avoid this word.
It was coined, I believe by an adult educator whose name I have
temporarily forgotten--but someone else will know, I am sure.
Pedagogy in my pea-sized brain mesns teaching, or the art of teaching.
I use this word.
Andrea
On Jul 11, 2006, at 4:30 PM, Tracy Rosen wrote:
 > Hi everyone - my name is Tracy, I also was trained in k-12 but have
 > worked
 > with adults as well. I am presently finishing my MA in human systems
 > intervention at Concordia University and am going to begin a new
 > position in
 > a few weeks at BJEC (the Bronfman Jewish Education Centre) as the
 > special
 > education coordinator for the schools in the Jewish education system
in
 > Montreal.
 > Nice to meet you all!
 >
 > Here is a reference for andragogy:
 >
 > "In practical terms, andragogy means that instruction for adults needs
 > to
 > focus more on the process and less on the content being taught.
 > Strategies
 > such as case studies, role playing, simulations, and self-evaluation
 > are
 > most useful. Instructors adopt a role of facilitator or resource
 > rather than
 > lecturer or grader." - taken from
 > http://tip.psychology.org/knowles.html
 >
 > I would argue, though, if you want to wordsmyth, that pedagogy can be
 > synonymous with andragogy. At least it is in Quebec, where I work. The
 > Quebec education program is now much more based in process rather than
 > content and students (and teachers!) are being encouraged and trained
 > to
 > look at how they learn in order to facilitate the learning of content.
 > Students are also being assessed on the 'how' as well as the 'what'.
 > Most
 > learning is becoming project-based so that learners are working in
 > 'real-life' scenarios and there is a large self-evaluation component
as
 > well. In fact, in elementary school most parent-teacher interviews
have
 > become student-led conferences.
 >
 > I know that these kinds of reforms are happening in Ontario as well,
 > and I
 > am sure that this is going on elsewhere too. I am just not aware of
it.
 >
 > So, from my perspective, good pedagogy is learner-centered and focuses
 > on
 > process and therefore not different from andragogy.
 >
 > Tracy Rosen
 >
 >
 >
 >
 > ----Original Message Follows----
 > From: Woods <woodsnh at isp.com>
 > Reply-To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
 > To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
 > Subject: [FocusOnBasics 404] Re: individualized workbook approach
 > Date: Tue, 11 Jul 2006 14:26:41 -0400
 >
 > OK. You got me. What is the difference between pedagogy and andragogy?
 > I
 > was trained in K-12, but somehow ended up with a adults who are my
 > students. I don't think I ever heard the term andragogy in my
training,
 > nor in my practice.
 > Tom Woods
 > Community High School of Vermont
 >
 > khinson71 at cox.net wrote:
 >
 > Sometimes, the adult education instructor has no background and little
 > knowledge or understanding of the differences between pedagogy and
 > andragogy
 > when it comes to the adult classroom;
 >
 >
 > ----------------------------------------------------
 > National Institute for Literacy
 > Focus on Basics mailing list
 > FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
 > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
 > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
 >
 >
 > ----------------------------------------------------
 > National Institute for Literacy
 > Focus on Basics mailing list
 > FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
 > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
 > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
 >
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
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FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
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From andreawilder at comcast.net  Wed Jul 12 15:57:49 2006
From: andreawilder at comcast.net (Andrea Wilder)
Date: Wed, 12 Jul 2006 15:57:49 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 418] Re: pedagogy/andragogy
In-Reply-To: <6E8BC13A30982C44BCD32B38FB8F5AB817319D@lac-exch.lacnyc.local>
References: <6E8BC13A30982C44BCD32B38FB8F5AB817319D@lac-exch.lacnyc.local>
Message-ID: <2ac9e676da64c4b7f37dc75aca895554@comcast.net>
I reconcile the problem by extending pedagogy to the adult--this is 
often used, as the meaning has been expanded.
Andrea
On Jul 12, 2006, at 1:23 PM, Winston Lawrence wrote:
> Hi Andrea: This is interesting. You noted that the root of andragogy is
> 'male'. But pedagogy also has a root--' child' , like pediatrician -
> (doctor for a child). As an adult educator, how do you reconcile that?
> Winston
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov
> [mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Andrea Wilder
> Sent: Wednesday, July 12, 2006 8:04 AM
> To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List
> Subject: [FocusOnBasics 412] Re: pedagogy/andragogy
>
> I'm being picky--"androgogy"'s root is andr = male.  Personally, I
> avoid this word.
>
> It was coined, I believe by an adult educator whose name I have
> temporarily forgotten--but someone else will know, I am sure.
>
> Pedagogy in my pea-sized brain mesns teaching, or the art of teaching.
> I use this word.
>
> Andrea
>
>
> On Jul 11, 2006, at 4:30 PM, Tracy Rosen wrote:
>
>> Hi everyone - my name is Tracy, I also was trained in k-12 but have
>> worked
>> with adults as well. I am presently finishing my MA in human systems
>> intervention at Concordia University and am going to begin a new
>> position in
>> a few weeks at BJEC (the Bronfman Jewish Education Centre) as the
>> special
>> education coordinator for the schools in the Jewish education system
> in
>> Montreal.
>> Nice to meet you all!
>>
>> Here is a reference for andragogy:
>>
>> "In practical terms, andragogy means that instruction for adults needs
>
>> to
>> focus more on the process and less on the content being taught.
>> Strategies
>> such as case studies, role playing, simulations, and self-evaluation
>> are
>> most useful. Instructors adopt a role of facilitator or resource
>> rather than
>> lecturer or grader." - taken from
>> http://tip.psychology.org/knowles.html
>>
>> I would argue, though, if you want to wordsmyth, that pedagogy can be
>> synonymous with andragogy. At least it is in Quebec, where I work. The
>> Quebec education program is now much more based in process rather than
>> content and students (and teachers!) are being encouraged and trained
>> to
>> look at how they learn in order to facilitate the learning of content.
>> Students are also being assessed on the 'how' as well as the 'what'.
>> Most
>> learning is becoming project-based so that learners are working in
>> 'real-life' scenarios and there is a large self-evaluation component
> as
>> well. In fact, in elementary school most parent-teacher interviews
> have
>> become student-led conferences.
>>
>> I know that these kinds of reforms are happening in Ontario as well,
>> and I
>> am sure that this is going on elsewhere too. I am just not aware of
> it.
>>
>> So, from my perspective, good pedagogy is learner-centered and focuses
>
>> on
>> process and therefore not different from andragogy.
>>
>> Tracy Rosen
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> ----Original Message Follows----
>> From: Woods <woodsnh at isp.com>
>> Reply-To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
>> To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
>> Subject: [FocusOnBasics 404] Re: individualized workbook approach
>> Date: Tue, 11 Jul 2006 14:26:41 -0400
>>
>> OK. You got me. What is the difference between pedagogy and andragogy?
>
>> I
>> was trained in K-12, but somehow ended up with a adults who are my
>> students. I don't think I ever heard the term andragogy in my
> training,
>> nor in my practice.
>> Tom Woods
>> Community High School of Vermont
>>
>> khinson71 at cox.net wrote:
>>
>> Sometimes, the adult education instructor has no background and little
>> knowledge or understanding of the differences between pedagogy and
>> andragogy
>> when it comes to the adult classroom;
>>
>>
>> ----------------------------------------------------
>> National Institute for Literacy
>> Focus on Basics mailing list
>> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
>>
>>
>> ----------------------------------------------------
>> National Institute for Literacy
>> Focus on Basics mailing list
>> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
>>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------
> National Institute for Literacy
> Focus on Basics mailing list
> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
> ----------------------------------------------------
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> Focus on Basics mailing list
> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to 
> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
>
From andreawilder at comcast.net  Wed Jul 12 16:00:17 2006
From: andreawilder at comcast.net (Andrea Wilder)
Date: Wed, 12 Jul 2006 16:00:17 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 419] Re: pedagogy/andragogy
In-Reply-To: <44B4F822.43A9.0076.0@omh.state.ny.us>
References: <BAY103-F17E8DB6A2BDCE8500329A1BC680@phx.gbl>
	<283a23f248528e950b2c9be7c6d4a288@comcast.net>
	<44B4F822.43A9.0076.0@omh.state.ny.us>
Message-ID: <a580c20280405b3c0c96f897b9b25888@comcast.net>
Ahem!  the "d" got in there because the root is andrr--check your 
dictionary.
Andrea
On Jul 12, 2006, at 1:24 PM, Elizabeth Horvath wrote:
> According to my sources, the root is "From the Greek words "anere", for
> adult and "agogus", the art and science of helping students learn" -
> (coined by American educator Malcolm Knowles )
>
> I was surprised by this, as I too have associated the Andr root with
> "male".
> I wonder how the "d" got in there?
>
> Beti Horvath
>
>
> Beti Horvath, MLS
> Library Services
> Mid-Hudson Forensic Psychiatric Center
> New Hampton NY 10958
> mhrsemh at omh.state.ny.us
> 845-374-3171x3625
> Fax 845-374-3171x4625
>
>
>>>> andreawilder at comcast.net 7/12/2006 8:04 am >>>
> I'm being picky--"androgogy"'s root is andr = male.  Personally, I
> avoid this word.
>
> It was coined, I believe by an adult educator whose name I have
> temporarily forgotten--but someone else will know, I am sure.
>
> Pedagogy in my pea-sized brain mesns teaching, or the art of teaching.
>
> I use this word.
>
> Andrea
>
>
> On Jul 11, 2006, at 4:30 PM, Tracy Rosen wrote:
>
>> Hi everyone - my name is Tracy, I also was trained in k-12 but have
>> worked
>> with adults as well. I am presently finishing my MA in human systems
>> intervention at Concordia University and am going to begin a new
>> position in
>> a few weeks at BJEC (the Bronfman Jewish Education Centre) as the
>> special
>> education coordinator for the schools in the Jewish education system
> in
>> Montreal.
>> Nice to meet you all!
>>
>> Here is a reference for andragogy:
>>
>> "In practical terms, andragogy means that instruction for adults
> needs
>> to
>> focus more on the process and less on the content being taught.
>> Strategies
>> such as case studies, role playing, simulations, and self-evaluation
>
>> are
>> most useful. Instructors adopt a role of facilitator or resource
>> rather than
>> lecturer or grader." - taken from
>> http://tip.psychology.org/knowles.html
>>
>> I would argue, though, if you want to wordsmyth, that pedagogy can
> be
>> synonymous with andragogy. At least it is in Quebec, where I work.
> The
>> Quebec education program is now much more based in process rather
> than
>> content and students (and teachers!) are being encouraged and trained
>
>> to
>> look at how they learn in order to facilitate the learning of
> content.
>> Students are also being assessed on the 'how' as well as the 'what'.
>
>> Most
>> learning is becoming project-based so that learners are working in
>> 'real-life' scenarios and there is a large self-evaluation component
> as
>> well. In fact, in elementary school most parent-teacher interviews
> have
>> become student-led conferences.
>>
>> I know that these kinds of reforms are happening in Ontario as well,
>
>> and I
>> am sure that this is going on elsewhere too. I am just not aware of
> it.
>>
>> So, from my perspective, good pedagogy is learner-centered and
> focuses
>> on
>> process and therefore not different from andragogy.
>>
>> Tracy Rosen
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> ----Original Message Follows----
>> From: Woods <woodsnh at isp.com>
>> Reply-To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List
> <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
>> To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
>> Subject: [FocusOnBasics 404] Re: individualized workbook approach
>> Date: Tue, 11 Jul 2006 14:26:41 -0400
>>
>> OK. You got me. What is the difference between pedagogy and
> andragogy?
>> I
>> was trained in K-12, but somehow ended up with a adults who are my
>> students. I don't think I ever heard the term andragogy in my
> training,
>> nor in my practice.
>> Tom Woods
>> Community High School of Vermont
>>
>> khinson71 at cox.net wrote:
>>
>> Sometimes, the adult education instructor has no background and
> little
>> knowledge or understanding of the differences between pedagogy and
>> andragogy
>> when it comes to the adult classroom;
>>
>>
>> ----------------------------------------------------
>> National Institute for Literacy
>> Focus on Basics mailing list
>> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
>>
>>
>> ----------------------------------------------------
>> National Institute for Literacy
>> Focus on Basics mailing list
>> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
>>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------
> National Institute for Literacy
> Focus on Basics mailing list
> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
>
>
> IMPORTANT NOTICE:  This e-mail is meant only for the use of the 
> intended
> recipient.  It may contain confidential information which is legally
> privileged or otherwise protected by law.  If you received this e-mail
> in error or from someone who was not authorized to send it to you, you
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From andreawilder at comcast.net  Wed Jul 12 16:02:08 2006
From: andreawilder at comcast.net (Andrea Wilder)
Date: Wed, 12 Jul 2006 16:02:08 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 420] Re: pedagogy/andragogy
In-Reply-To: <827AA3FA092C0C4AA3A0221EC9B83D080314EFE0@EX2K.ad.wsd.windham.k12.me.us>
References: <827AA3FA092C0C4AA3A0221EC9B83D080314EFE0@EX2K.ad.wsd.windham.k12.me.us>
Message-ID: <50ad3aac56ee264223aef359d8f87c51@comcast.net>
Yeah, well, I object to being left out of the disucssion, and so might 
your students who are female--choose another name, then.
Andrea
On Jul 12, 2006, at 2:00 PM, Thomas Nash wrote:
> Well the traditional methods of teaching or the processes - the 
> lecture,
> the project, the demonstration, drill and reviews, the Socratic 
> question
> and answer are still applicable to our world of adult education
> "classrooms". It is how we as teachers or "facilitators" of learning
> utilize the needs, goals, desires, capabilities and real life
> experiences of our learners in the respective learning experience for
> each individual learner. We can focus on the process and help adults
> develop transferable "skills" that can be used in various "content"
> areas...
> If you haven't already done so, you may also want to check out the
> Equipped for the Future conceptual framework that speaks to content AND
> skills. It refers to a purposeful, transparent, contextualized and
> constructivist learning experience for our adult learners...
> And my 2c worth on the debate in referring to the adult education 
> realm:
> I would choose andragogy instead of pedagogy which has as a root,
> "child".
>
>
> Tom
>
> Thomas A. Nash
> Director of Adult Education
> Windham Adult Education
> 406 Gray Road
> Windham, ME 04062
> (207) 892-1819
> tnash at windham.k12.me.us
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov
> [mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Andrea Wilder
> Sent: Wednesday, July 12, 2006 8:04 AM
> To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List
> Subject: [FocusOnBasics 412] Re: pedagogy/andragogy
>
> I'm being picky--"androgogy"'s root is andr = male.  Personally, I
> avoid this word.
>
> It was coined, I believe by an adult educator whose name I have
> temporarily forgotten--but someone else will know, I am sure.
>
> Pedagogy in my pea-sized brain mesns teaching, or the art of teaching.
> I use this word.
>
> Andrea
>
>
> On Jul 11, 2006, at 4:30 PM, Tracy Rosen wrote:
>
>> Hi everyone - my name is Tracy, I also was trained in k-12 but have
>> worked
>> with adults as well. I am presently finishing my MA in human systems
>> intervention at Concordia University and am going to begin a new
>> position in
>> a few weeks at BJEC (the Bronfman Jewish Education Centre) as the
>> special
>> education coordinator for the schools in the Jewish education system
> in
>> Montreal.
>> Nice to meet you all!
>>
>> Here is a reference for andragogy:
>>
>> "In practical terms, andragogy means that instruction for adults needs
>
>> to
>> focus more on the process and less on the content being taught.
>> Strategies
>> such as case studies, role playing, simulations, and self-evaluation
>> are
>> most useful. Instructors adopt a role of facilitator or resource
>> rather than
>> lecturer or grader." - taken from
>> http://tip.psychology.org/knowles.html
>>
>> I would argue, though, if you want to wordsmyth, that pedagogy can be
>> synonymous with andragogy. At least it is in Quebec, where I work. The
>> Quebec education program is now much more based in process rather than
>> content and students (and teachers!) are being encouraged and trained
>> to
>> look at how they learn in order to facilitate the learning of content.
>> Students are also being assessed on the 'how' as well as the 'what'.
>> Most
>> learning is becoming project-based so that learners are working in
>> 'real-life' scenarios and there is a large self-evaluation component
> as
>> well. In fact, in elementary school most parent-teacher interviews
> have
>> become student-led conferences.
>>
>> I know that these kinds of reforms are happening in Ontario as well,
>> and I
>> am sure that this is going on elsewhere too. I am just not aware of
> it.
>>
>> So, from my perspective, good pedagogy is learner-centered and focuses
>
>> on
>> process and therefore not different from andragogy.
>>
>> Tracy Rosen
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> ----Original Message Follows----
>> From: Woods <woodsnh at isp.com>
>> Reply-To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
>> To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
>> Subject: [FocusOnBasics 404] Re: individualized workbook approach
>> Date: Tue, 11 Jul 2006 14:26:41 -0400
>>
>> OK. You got me. What is the difference between pedagogy and andragogy?
>
>> I
>> was trained in K-12, but somehow ended up with a adults who are my
>> students. I don't think I ever heard the term andragogy in my
> training,
>> nor in my practice.
>> Tom Woods
>> Community High School of Vermont
>>
>> khinson71 at cox.net wrote:
>>
>> Sometimes, the adult education instructor has no background and little
>> knowledge or understanding of the differences between pedagogy and
>> andragogy
>> when it comes to the adult classroom;
>>
>>
>> ----------------------------------------------------
>> National Institute for Literacy
>> Focus on Basics mailing list
>> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
>>
>>
>> ----------------------------------------------------
>> National Institute for Literacy
>> Focus on Basics mailing list
>> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
>>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------
> National Institute for Literacy
> Focus on Basics mailing list
> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
> ----------------------------------------------------
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> Focus on Basics mailing list
> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to 
> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
>
From andreawilder at comcast.net  Wed Jul 12 16:06:02 2006
From: andreawilder at comcast.net (Andrea Wilder)
Date: Wed, 12 Jul 2006 16:06:02 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 421] Re: pedagogy/andragogy
In-Reply-To: <BAY103-F118D5E04F08C00F14E03DBC690@phx.gbl>
References: <BAY103-F118D5E04F08C00F14E03DBC690@phx.gbl>
Message-ID: <5ef40b0823de255e1a6b3bc363350b53@comcast.net>
I go for the simple stuff:  teacher, student, works for me.
I will continue to speak of adults who are undertaking a course of 
study as "students."
Andrea
On Jul 12, 2006, at 2:32 PM, Tracy Rosen wrote:
> What if we refer to what we do as educating? It seems less
> offensive/problematic. Educate comes from ex- out and ducere - lead. 
> To lead
> out.
>
> Or, we can forget all of this wordsmything and focus on teaching and
> learning because, when it comes down to it, I don't think that 
> focusing on
> problems that may or may not have arisen due to the misuse of 
> terminology is
> the issue.
>
> Whether it is called pedagogy, androgogy, education, facilitation, 
> teaching,
> learning...it seems that, from what I have read so far, everyone on 
> this
> forum is interested in fostering learner success and is in agreement 
> that in
> order to do so we need to meet the learner where she/he is at and 
> create
> authentic learning activities that respond to the needs and 
> experiences of
> that learner.
>
> no?
>
>
> ----Original Message Follows----
> From: "Winston Lawrence" <WinstonL at lacnyc.org>
> Reply-To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
> To: "The Focus on Basics Discussion List" <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
> Subject: [FocusOnBasics 415] Re: pedagogy/andragogy
> Date: Wed, 12 Jul 2006 13:23:07 -0400
>
> Hi Andrea: This is interesting. You noted that the root of andragogy is
> 'male'. But pedagogy also has a root--' child' , like pediatrician -
> (doctor for a child). As an adult educator, how do you reconcile that?
> Winston
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov
> [mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Andrea Wilder
> Sent: Wednesday, July 12, 2006 8:04 AM
> To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List
> Subject: [FocusOnBasics 412] Re: pedagogy/andragogy
>
> I'm being picky--"androgogy"'s root is andr = male.  Personally, I
> avoid this word.
>
> It was coined, I believe by an adult educator whose name I have
> temporarily forgotten--but someone else will know, I am sure.
>
> Pedagogy in my pea-sized brain mesns teaching, or the art of teaching.
> I use this word.
>
> Andrea
>
>
> On Jul 11, 2006, at 4:30 PM, Tracy Rosen wrote:
>
>> Hi everyone - my name is Tracy, I also was trained in k-12 but have
>> worked
>> with adults as well. I am presently finishing my MA in human systems
>> intervention at Concordia University and am going to begin a new
>> position in
>> a few weeks at BJEC (the Bronfman Jewish Education Centre) as the
>> special
>> education coordinator for the schools in the Jewish education system
> in
>> Montreal.
>> Nice to meet you all!
>>
>> Here is a reference for andragogy:
>>
>> "In practical terms, andragogy means that instruction for adults needs
>
>> to
>> focus more on the process and less on the content being taught.
>> Strategies
>> such as case studies, role playing, simulations, and self-evaluation
>> are
>> most useful. Instructors adopt a role of facilitator or resource
>> rather than
>> lecturer or grader." - taken from
>> http://tip.psychology.org/knowles.html
>>
>> I would argue, though, if you want to wordsmyth, that pedagogy can be
>> synonymous with andragogy. At least it is in Quebec, where I work. The
>> Quebec education program is now much more based in process rather than
>> content and students (and teachers!) are being encouraged and trained
>> to
>> look at how they learn in order to facilitate the learning of content.
>> Students are also being assessed on the 'how' as well as the 'what'.
>> Most
>> learning is becoming project-based so that learners are working in
>> 'real-life' scenarios and there is a large self-evaluation component
> as
>> well. In fact, in elementary school most parent-teacher interviews
> have
>> become student-led conferences.
>>
>> I know that these kinds of reforms are happening in Ontario as well,
>> and I
>> am sure that this is going on elsewhere too. I am just not aware of
> it.
>>
>> So, from my perspective, good pedagogy is learner-centered and focuses
>
>> on
>> process and therefore not different from andragogy.
>>
>> Tracy Rosen
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> ----Original Message Follows----
>> From: Woods <woodsnh at isp.com>
>> Reply-To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
>> To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
>> Subject: [FocusOnBasics 404] Re: individualized workbook approach
>> Date: Tue, 11 Jul 2006 14:26:41 -0400
>>
>> OK. You got me. What is the difference between pedagogy and andragogy?
>
>> I
>> was trained in K-12, but somehow ended up with a adults who are my
>> students. I don't think I ever heard the term andragogy in my
> training,
>> nor in my practice.
>> Tom Woods
>> Community High School of Vermont
>>
>> khinson71 at cox.net wrote:
>>
>> Sometimes, the adult education instructor has no background and little
>> knowledge or understanding of the differences between pedagogy and
>> andragogy
>> when it comes to the adult classroom;
>>
>>
>> ----------------------------------------------------
>> National Institute for Literacy
>> Focus on Basics mailing list
>> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
>>
>>
>> ----------------------------------------------------
>> National Institute for Literacy
>> Focus on Basics mailing list
>> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
>>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------
> National Institute for Literacy
> Focus on Basics mailing list
> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
> ----------------------------------------------------
> National Institute for Literacy
> Focus on Basics mailing list
> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------
> National Institute for Literacy
> Focus on Basics mailing list
> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to 
> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
>
From amuro5 at epcc.edu  Wed Jul 12 16:07:33 2006
From: amuro5 at epcc.edu (Muro, Andres)
Date: Wed, 12 Jul 2006 14:07:33 -0600
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 422] Re: pedagogy/andragogy
In-Reply-To: <283a23f248528e950b2c9be7c6d4a288@comcast.net>
Message-ID: <CA29C5E82B801844A7A967D109F117CF624AC8@svrascmail01>
Andrea:
Andragogy's coiner is Malcolm Knowles. Andra, as you know means male.
Peda means child. But pedagogy is the colloquially interpreted to mean
the science of education throughout many countries in the world. 
I am for andragynegogy. It applies to men, women and transgendered.
Andres
-----Original Message-----
From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Andrea Wilder
Sent: Wednesday, July 12, 2006 6:04 AM
To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 412] Re: pedagogy/andragogy
I'm being picky--"androgogy"'s root is andr = male.  Personally, I 
avoid this word.
It was coined, I believe by an adult educator whose name I have 
temporarily forgotten--but someone else will know, I am sure.
Pedagogy in my pea-sized brain mesns teaching, or the art of teaching.  
I use this word.
Andrea
On Jul 11, 2006, at 4:30 PM, Tracy Rosen wrote:
> Hi everyone - my name is Tracy, I also was trained in k-12 but have 
> worked
> with adults as well. I am presently finishing my MA in human systems
> intervention at Concordia University and am going to begin a new 
> position in
> a few weeks at BJEC (the Bronfman Jewish Education Centre) as the 
> special
> education coordinator for the schools in the Jewish education system
in
> Montreal.
> Nice to meet you all!
>
> Here is a reference for andragogy:
>
> "In practical terms, andragogy means that instruction for adults needs
> to
> focus more on the process and less on the content being taught. 
> Strategies
> such as case studies, role playing, simulations, and self-evaluation 
> are
> most useful. Instructors adopt a role of facilitator or resource 
> rather than
> lecturer or grader." - taken from 
> http://tip.psychology.org/knowles.html
>
> I would argue, though, if you want to wordsmyth, that pedagogy can be
> synonymous with andragogy. At least it is in Quebec, where I work. The
> Quebec education program is now much more based in process rather than
> content and students (and teachers!) are being encouraged and trained 
> to
> look at how they learn in order to facilitate the learning of content.
> Students are also being assessed on the 'how' as well as the 'what'. 
> Most
> learning is becoming project-based so that learners are working in
> 'real-life' scenarios and there is a large self-evaluation component
as
> well. In fact, in elementary school most parent-teacher interviews
have
> become student-led conferences.
>
> I know that these kinds of reforms are happening in Ontario as well, 
> and I
> am sure that this is going on elsewhere too. I am just not aware of
it.
>
> So, from my perspective, good pedagogy is learner-centered and focuses
> on
> process and therefore not different from andragogy.
>
> Tracy Rosen
>
>
>
>
> ----Original Message Follows----
> From: Woods <woodsnh at isp.com>
> Reply-To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
> To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
> Subject: [FocusOnBasics 404] Re: individualized workbook approach
> Date: Tue, 11 Jul 2006 14:26:41 -0400
>
> OK. You got me. What is the difference between pedagogy and andragogy?
> I
> was trained in K-12, but somehow ended up with a adults who are my
> students. I don't think I ever heard the term andragogy in my
training,
> nor in my practice.
> Tom Woods
> Community High School of Vermont
>
> khinson71 at cox.net wrote:
>
> Sometimes, the adult education instructor has no background and little
> knowledge or understanding of the differences between pedagogy and 
> andragogy
> when it comes to the adult classroom;
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------
> National Institute for Literacy
> Focus on Basics mailing list
> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------
> National Institute for Literacy
> Focus on Basics mailing list
> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to 
> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
>
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
From tnash at windham.k12.me.us  Wed Jul 12 17:34:28 2006
From: tnash at windham.k12.me.us (Thomas Nash)
Date: Wed, 12 Jul 2006 17:34:28 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 423] Re: pedagogy/andragogy
Message-ID: <827AA3FA092C0C4AA3A0221EC9B83D080314EFE9@EX2K.ad.wsd.windham.k12.me.us>
Yes, I went to the book shelf this am to review a couple of Mr. Knowles'
books. I don't mean to leave anyone out of the discussion and meant no
disrespect at all. I do agree that teaching is an art and we can help to
lead - or assist in learners in finding their own way. I kind of like
Andres'  "andragynegogy". That made me smile.
Thanks for the intellectual stimulation today. Be well everyone!
Tom
Thomas A. Nash
Director of Adult Education
Windham Adult Education
406 Gray Road
Windham, ME 04062
(207) 892-1819
tnash at windham.k12.me.us
-----Original Message-----
From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Muro, Andres
Sent: Wednesday, July 12, 2006 4:08 PM
To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 422] Re: pedagogy/andragogy
Andrea:
Andragogy's coiner is Malcolm Knowles. Andra, as you know means male.
Peda means child. But pedagogy is the colloquially interpreted to mean
the science of education throughout many countries in the world. 
I am for andragynegogy. It applies to men, women and transgendered.
Andres
-----Original Message-----
From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Andrea Wilder
Sent: Wednesday, July 12, 2006 6:04 AM
To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 412] Re: pedagogy/andragogy
I'm being picky--"androgogy"'s root is andr = male.  Personally, I 
avoid this word.
It was coined, I believe by an adult educator whose name I have 
temporarily forgotten--but someone else will know, I am sure.
Pedagogy in my pea-sized brain mesns teaching, or the art of teaching.  
I use this word.
Andrea
On Jul 11, 2006, at 4:30 PM, Tracy Rosen wrote:
> Hi everyone - my name is Tracy, I also was trained in k-12 but have 
> worked
> with adults as well. I am presently finishing my MA in human systems
> intervention at Concordia University and am going to begin a new 
> position in
> a few weeks at BJEC (the Bronfman Jewish Education Centre) as the 
> special
> education coordinator for the schools in the Jewish education system
in
> Montreal.
> Nice to meet you all!
>
> Here is a reference for andragogy:
>
> "In practical terms, andragogy means that instruction for adults needs
> to
> focus more on the process and less on the content being taught. 
> Strategies
> such as case studies, role playing, simulations, and self-evaluation 
> are
> most useful. Instructors adopt a role of facilitator or resource 
> rather than
> lecturer or grader." - taken from 
> http://tip.psychology.org/knowles.html
>
> I would argue, though, if you want to wordsmyth, that pedagogy can be
> synonymous with andragogy. At least it is in Quebec, where I work. The
> Quebec education program is now much more based in process rather than
> content and students (and teachers!) are being encouraged and trained 
> to
> look at how they learn in order to facilitate the learning of content.
> Students are also being assessed on the 'how' as well as the 'what'. 
> Most
> learning is becoming project-based so that learners are working in
> 'real-life' scenarios and there is a large self-evaluation component
as
> well. In fact, in elementary school most parent-teacher interviews
have
> become student-led conferences.
>
> I know that these kinds of reforms are happening in Ontario as well, 
> and I
> am sure that this is going on elsewhere too. I am just not aware of
it.
>
> So, from my perspective, good pedagogy is learner-centered and focuses
> on
> process and therefore not different from andragogy.
>
> Tracy Rosen
>
>
>
>
> ----Original Message Follows----
> From: Woods <woodsnh at isp.com>
> Reply-To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
> To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
> Subject: [FocusOnBasics 404] Re: individualized workbook approach
> Date: Tue, 11 Jul 2006 14:26:41 -0400
>
> OK. You got me. What is the difference between pedagogy and andragogy?
> I
> was trained in K-12, but somehow ended up with a adults who are my
> students. I don't think I ever heard the term andragogy in my
training,
> nor in my practice.
> Tom Woods
> Community High School of Vermont
>
> khinson71 at cox.net wrote:
>
> Sometimes, the adult education instructor has no background and little
> knowledge or understanding of the differences between pedagogy and 
> andragogy
> when it comes to the adult classroom;
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------
> National Institute for Literacy
> Focus on Basics mailing list
> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------
> National Institute for Literacy
> Focus on Basics mailing list
> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to 
> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
>
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
----------------------------------------------------
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To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
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From andreawilder at comcast.net  Thu Jul 13 08:01:06 2006
From: andreawilder at comcast.net (Andrea Wilder)
Date: Thu, 13 Jul 2006 08:01:06 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 424] Re: pedagogy/andragogy
In-Reply-To: <CA29C5E82B801844A7A967D109F117CF624AC8@svrascmail01>
References: <CA29C5E82B801844A7A967D109F117CF624AC8@svrascmail01>
Message-ID: <d048fbcf5c7087bfa3e45287c67b2136@comcast.net>
Good thought,
Andres.
Andrea
andrea
On Jul 12, 2006, at 4:07 PM, Muro, Andres wrote:
> Andrea:
>
> Andragogy's coiner is Malcolm Knowles. Andra, as you know means male.
> Peda means child. But pedagogy is the colloquially interpreted to mean
> the science of education throughout many countries in the world.
>
> I am for andragynegogy. It applies to men, women and transgendered.
>
> Andres
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov
> [mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Andrea Wilder
> Sent: Wednesday, July 12, 2006 6:04 AM
> To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List
> Subject: [FocusOnBasics 412] Re: pedagogy/andragogy
>
> I'm being picky--"androgogy"'s root is andr = male.  Personally, I
> avoid this word.
>
> It was coined, I believe by an adult educator whose name I have
> temporarily forgotten--but someone else will know, I am sure.
>
> Pedagogy in my pea-sized brain mesns teaching, or the art of teaching.
> I use this word.
>
> Andrea
>
>
> On Jul 11, 2006, at 4:30 PM, Tracy Rosen wrote:
>
>> Hi everyone - my name is Tracy, I also was trained in k-12 but have
>> worked
>> with adults as well. I am presently finishing my MA in human systems
>> intervention at Concordia University and am going to begin a new
>> position in
>> a few weeks at BJEC (the Bronfman Jewish Education Centre) as the
>> special
>> education coordinator for the schools in the Jewish education system
> in
>> Montreal.
>> Nice to meet you all!
>>
>> Here is a reference for andragogy:
>>
>> "In practical terms, andragogy means that instruction for adults needs
>
>> to
>> focus more on the process and less on the content being taught.
>> Strategies
>> such as case studies, role playing, simulations, and self-evaluation
>> are
>> most useful. Instructors adopt a role of facilitator or resource
>> rather than
>> lecturer or grader." - taken from
>> http://tip.psychology.org/knowles.html
>>
>> I would argue, though, if you want to wordsmyth, that pedagogy can be
>> synonymous with andragogy. At least it is in Quebec, where I work. The
>> Quebec education program is now much more based in process rather than
>> content and students (and teachers!) are being encouraged and trained
>> to
>> look at how they learn in order to facilitate the learning of content.
>> Students are also being assessed on the 'how' as well as the 'what'.
>> Most
>> learning is becoming project-based so that learners are working in
>> 'real-life' scenarios and there is a large self-evaluation component
> as
>> well. In fact, in elementary school most parent-teacher interviews
> have
>> become student-led conferences.
>>
>> I know that these kinds of reforms are happening in Ontario as well,
>> and I
>> am sure that this is going on elsewhere too. I am just not aware of
> it.
>>
>> So, from my perspective, good pedagogy is learner-centered and focuses
>
>> on
>> process and therefore not different from andragogy.
>>
>> Tracy Rosen
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> ----Original Message Follows----
>> From: Woods <woodsnh at isp.com>
>> Reply-To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
>> To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
>> Subject: [FocusOnBasics 404] Re: individualized workbook approach
>> Date: Tue, 11 Jul 2006 14:26:41 -0400
>>
>> OK. You got me. What is the difference between pedagogy and andragogy?
>
>> I
>> was trained in K-12, but somehow ended up with a adults who are my
>> students. I don't think I ever heard the term andragogy in my
> training,
>> nor in my practice.
>> Tom Woods
>> Community High School of Vermont
>>
>> khinson71 at cox.net wrote:
>>
>> Sometimes, the adult education instructor has no background and little
>> knowledge or understanding of the differences between pedagogy and
>> andragogy
>> when it comes to the adult classroom;
>>
>>
>> ----------------------------------------------------
>> National Institute for Literacy
>> Focus on Basics mailing list
>> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
>>
>>
>> ----------------------------------------------------
>> National Institute for Literacy
>> Focus on Basics mailing list
>> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
>>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------
> National Institute for Literacy
> Focus on Basics mailing list
> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
>
> ----------------------------------------------------
> National Institute for Literacy
> Focus on Basics mailing list
> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to 
> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
>
From julie_mcKinney at worlded.org  Thu Jul 13 11:17:16 2006
From: julie_mcKinney at worlded.org (Julie  McKinney)
Date: Thu, 13 Jul 2006 11:17:16 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 425] Re: pedagogy/andragogy
Message-ID: <s4b62bdd.024@mail.jsi.com>
Hi Everyone,
I am passing on this message from Tom Sticht>
Julie
**********************************************************
Colleagues: My Google search found that the term andragogy was
originally
formulated by a German teacher, Alexander Kapp, in 1833. He used it to
describe elements of Plato's education theory. Andragogy (andr- meaning
'man') could be contrasted with pedagogy (paid- meaning 'child' and
agogos
meaning 'leading'). Following is a long two part note that makes
distinctions between the cognitive processes of children and adults and
the
reasons why teaching methods for the former may not be generally
transferable to adults across the years. The first note calls attention
to
how the present government activities are pushing adult education more
and
more into the mold of childhood education. The second note illustrates
with
the National Assessment of Adult Literacy that it is not valid across
the
age range from 16 to 90 years. The human cognitive system changes
dramatically with age and this is one reason why approaches to education
based on children's approaches are not transferable across the life
span.
As children grow into adulthood pedagogy should be transformed into
andragogy (andra- considered now as meaning "adult" rather than "man" in
keeping with the idea that language constantly changes and new functions
are found for old forms).
Tom Sticht
Part 1. In Adult Literacy Education: Must Andragogy Recapitulate
Pedagogy?
In many industrialized nations today there appears to be a movement in
adult
basic skills education to have andragogy, defined as theories and
methods
for teaching adults, recapitulate pedagogy, defined as theories and
methods
for teaching children. This is suggested by many ideas and actions that
are
being initiated in adult literacy education.
For instance, in many cases adult literacy education is thought of as a
"second chance" at learning what should have been learned in the primary
grades of school. In this case, then, it seems to be assumed that adults
should be taught the "3 Rs" in the same way that children are taught
them.
Indeed, in the United States the National Institute for Literacy
(www.nifl.gov) includes web pages on the "scientific basis" for teaching
adults to read that are based primarily on research in the K-12 grade
school system. The focus is on teaching alphabetics (phonics, decoding,
word recognition) and reading comprehension in the same way that
children
are taught.
The U. S. Department of Education has created a National Reporting
System
for adult literacy education that has requirements for programs to show
how
adults learning literacy progress upward through levels of proficiency
with
each level being about equal to two "grade levels" of proficiency, as
though adults in literacy programs are recapitulating  grade school.
Such
an approach is also found in the United Kingdom with adults in basic
skills
education expected to progress up to the same sorts of skills as
children in
the primary grades acquire.
Further, adult literacy programs are often asked to measure progress in
adult learning in their programs using standardized tests that are based
on
methods used in measuring progress in the grade schools. In some cases,
adult literacy development is stated in terms of gain in reading grade
levels, as if adults were going to school for six hours a day for 180 or
so
days a years to make a year's gain in reading or other basic skills.
One consequence of this belief that andragogy should recapitulate
pedagogy
is that a great misunderstanding of adult literacy education occurs. In
particular, there is a tendency for policymakers and funding agencies to
think that adult literacy education is the same as children's literacy
education and that may lead to the idea that, instead of investing much
by
way of resources into adult literacy education, we will be better served
by
"stopping the problem at the source" and focussing instead upon young
children to prevent adult literacy problems.
However, such an approach fails to recognize that, in thirty years of
trying, and after spending over a trillion dollars in preventing
reading failure in the public schools, recent data from the U. S.
National
Center for Education Statistics for the years from 1971 to 2004 show
that
reading scores for 9, 13, and 17 years old have remained about the same,
with some up and down fluctuations over the years. So up to now, at
least
in  the U. S., there has not been much success in "stopping the problem
at
the source."
Also, the belief that andragogy ought to recapitulate pedagogy in
literacy
education fails to recognize that while the teaching of basic skills as
abstract "skills" may follow the same practices as for adults, the
"content" in which the basic skills instruction is embedded should not
be
the same as for children. Over one hundred years of adult literacy
practice
has provided professional wisdom indicating that adults should be taught
in
a "functional context," meaning that the content used to teach reading,
writing, and arithmetic ought to reflect the kinds of daily needs that
adults face.
This showed itself in World Wars I and II during which time soldiers
were
taught to read using materials that embedded basic skills instruction
with
important military information. This type of taking account of adult's
functional contexts does occur in many adult literacy programs today
where
materials of importance to adults, such as what to do in case of spousal
abuse, what kinds of health problems adults might be facing with
themselves
or their children, how to deal with consumer fraud, workplace demands
for
basic skills, and on and on are used to teach literacy.
The fact that the "content" of adult literacy programs is so different
from
that of primary grade children reflects attention to andragogy. But when
the focus is on abstract "skills" devoid of any particular content,
literacy instruction for adults begins to recapitulate the pedagogy of
children.
There is a need today for adult literacy educators to stand up for
andragogy
and to insist upon the rights of adult literacy students to have their
education focussed upon their current life circumstances. There is
evidence
to suggest that this will not only make adult literacy learning more
desirable and palatable for adults, it can also lead to greater rates of
participation, retention, better learning, and greater transfer from the
classroom to the world in which the adults live outside the classroom.
Part 2. Fluid and Crystallized Literacy Assessment and Development With
Adults:
Challenges to the Validity of the 2003 National Assessment of Adult
Literacy
(NAAL)
The disinction between the "skills' and "content" aspects of education
has
revealed itself in psychometric research on intelligence over the last
half
century. This research has
resulted in a trend to draw a distinction between the knowledge aspect
and
the processing skills aspects of intelligence. Beginning in the 1940s
and
continuing up to the 1990s, Raymond Cattell and various collaborators,
and
later many independent investigators, made the distinction between
"fluid
intelligence" and "crystallized intelligence." Cattell stated, "Fluid
intelligence is involved in tests that have very little cultural
content,
whereas crystallized intelligence loads abilities that have obviously
been
acquired, such as verbal and numerical ability, mechanical aptitude,
social
skills, and so on. The age curve of these two abilities is quite
different.
They both increase up to the age of about 15 or 16, and slightly
thereafter, to the early 20s perhaps. But thereafter fluid intelligence
steadily declines whereas crystallized intelligence stays high" (p. 23).
Cognitive psychologists have re-framed the "fluid" and "crystallized"
aspects of cognition into a model of a human cognitive system made-up of
a
long term memory which constitutes a knowledge base ("crystallized
intelligence") for the person, a working memory which engages various
processes ("fluid intelligence") that are going on at a given time using
information picked-up from both the long term memory's knowledge base
and
a sensory system that picks-up information from the external world that
the
person is in. Today, over forty years of research has validated the
usefulness of this simple three-part model for thinking about human
cognition.
The model is important because it helps to develop a theory of literacy
as
information processing skills (reading as decoding printed to spoken
language) and comprehension (using the knowledge base to create meaning)
that can inform the development of new knowledge-based assessment tools
and new approaches to adult education.
The International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS), the National Adult
Literacy Survey (NALS) of 1993 and the new 2003 National Assessment of
Adult
Literacy  (NAAL) all used "real world" tasks that are complex
information
processing
tasks that engage unknown mixtures of knowledge and processes. For this
reason it is not clear what they assess or what their instructional
implications are.
Colleagues and I used the simple model of the human cognitive system
given
above to analyze performance on the NALS. It was  concluded that the
NALS
places large demands on working memory processes  ("fluid intelligence")
and that is what may account for some of the large declines in
performance
by older adults. To test this hypothesis, an assessment of knowledge
("crystallized intelligence") was developed and
used to assess adult's cultural knowledge of vocabulary, authors,
magazines
and famous people.. The results showed clearly that  younger adults did
better on the NALS with its heavy emphasis on working memory processes
("fluid literacy") and older adults did better than younger adults on
the
knowledge base ("crystallized literacy") assessment .
Given the differences between younger and older adults on "fluid
literacy"
and "crystallized literacy"  there is reason to question the validity of
using "real world" tasks like those on the Prose, Document and
Quantitative
scales of the IALS, NALS, and  NAAL to represent the literacy abilities
of
adults. In general, when assessing the literacy of adults, it seems wise
to
keep in mind the differences between working memory or "fluid" aspects
of
literacy, such as fluency in reading with its emphasis upon efficiency
of
processing, and the "crystallized" or knowledge base aspects of reading.
It is also important to keep in mind these differences between fluid and
crystallized literacy in teaching and learning. While it is possible to
teach knowledge, such as vocabulary, facts, principles, concepts, and
rules, it is not possible to directly teach fluid processing. Fluidity
of
information processing, such as fluency in reading, cannot be directly
taught. Rather, it must be developed through extensive, guided, 
practice.
Though I know of no research on this theoretical framework regarding the
differences between fluid and crystallized literacy and instructional
practices in adult literacy programs, it can be hypothesized that all
learners are likely to make much faster improvements in crystallized
literacy than in fluid literacy, and this should be especially true for
older learners, especially those over 45 to 50 years of a
Note; For references to fluid and crystallized intelligence  see Beyond
2000
by Thomas Sticht downloadable online at
http://www.nald.ca/fulltext/beyond/Beyond.PDF
Thomas G. Sticht
International Consultant in Adult Education
2062 Valley View Blvd.
El Cajon, CA 92019-2059
Tel/fax: 96190 444-9133
Email: tsticht at aznet.net
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
From julie_mcKinney at worlded.org  Thu Jul 13 12:11:06 2006
From: julie_mcKinney at worlded.org (Julie  McKinney)
Date: Thu, 13 Jul 2006 12:11:06 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 426] Andragynegogy and the individualized workbook
	approach
Message-ID: <s4b63880.077@mail.jsi.com>
Everyone,
Now that we have gone back to the roots, explored some merits of child
vs. adult-based and teacher vs. student-based approaches, and come up
with a fair term, I would like to go back to Esther's original question:
"...how we can as adult educators help learners explore alternative ways
of learning in the classroom.  Pierre Dominice has explored the process
of "learner biographies" with much success with graduate students... I
think this journey back to "roots of learning" can help learners
identify ways in which they have been both successful/unsuccessful in
learning.  What are some thoughts on this type of process for basic
literacy/ESOL students?"
Has anyone used this kind of process, and with what kind of results?
Julie
P.S. See below for other comments from our recent discussion that are
relevant to this process:
************************************************************** 
Perhaps a reason why is that teachers tend to teach the way they were
taught. We are prisoners of our own experience. This is how educational
traditions perpetuate. It is extremely difficult to break out, and when
we do, we encounter students who say, "just give me the workbook." I
guess students are prisoners of their experience too. 
- Tom Woods
it is so important for instructors to be critically reflective in their
work. We need to explore some of the hidden beliefs that have helped
formulate our ideological principles which in turn point us to our
methods of teaching.  A few weeks past the list discussed videotaping as
a form of Professional Development for adult ed instructors.  I believe
that these types of PD opportunities for educators can help facilitate a
better understanding of what impact (positive and negative) we are
having with learners in the classroom, as well as help us to explore
creative alternatives in learning situations. 
- Esther
We need to help them find ways to learn that incorporate what they know,
and how they have learned in the past, so that they have some sense of
ownership in their own learning.
- Katrina
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
>>> e.b.shupe at lycos.com 07/11/06 10:47 AM >>>
Virgnia,
I think the issue that is being raised is part of parcel of what adult
learners bring to learning experiences from their early K-12
experiences.  Sometimes it can be helpful to talk about alternative ways
of learning in the classroom as adults. This isn't a quick and easy
remedy reply but I wanted to raise the question of how we can as adult
educators help learners explore alternative ways of learning in the
classroom.  Pierre Dominice has explored the process of "learner
biographies" with much success with graduate students. THis is a process
of exploring learner experiences in learning situations both in
classroom and out and some critical themes that have been forumulated as
a result of these experiences.  I think this journey back to "roots of
learning" can help learners identify ways in which they have been both
successful/unsuccessful in learning.  What are some thoughts on this
type of process for basic literacy/ESOL students?
Esther   
-- 
_______________________________________________
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Pages
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From andreawilder at comcast.net  Thu Jul 13 19:33:01 2006
From: andreawilder at comcast.net (Andrea Wilder)
Date: Thu, 13 Jul 2006 19:33:01 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 427] Re: pedagogy/andragogy
In-Reply-To: <s4b62bdd.024@mail.jsi.com>
References: <s4b62bdd.024@mail.jsi.com>
Message-ID: <d128b6bd12e8379e8635b57dbabeeed3@comcast.net>
Tom,
You are a clever person, so I think you could come up with an alternate 
to andragogy that would satisfy most of us,,"all of us" might be 
impossible. It is a truly aggravating word.  I hear it and I know that 
I and all like me, are excluded.
So, I must say, anyone who reads this email, will know that when they 
use the a-word,or hear the a-word,  they are leaving a lot of people 
out, namely all who are female.  "Way it goes.
Andrea
> Hi Everyone,
>
> I am passing on this message from Tom Sticht>
>
> Julie
>
> **********************************************************
> Colleagues: My Google search found that the term andragogy was
> originally
> formulated by a German teacher, Alexander Kapp, in 1833. He used it to
> describe elements of Plato's education theory. Andragogy (andr- meaning
> 'man') could be contrasted with pedagogy (paid- meaning 'child' and
> agogos
> meaning 'leading'). Following is a long two part note that makes
> distinctions between the cognitive processes of children and adults and
> the
> reasons why teaching methods for the former may not be generally
> transferable to adults across the years. The first note calls attention
> to
> how the present government activities are pushing adult education more
> and
> more into the mold of childhood education. The second note illustrates
> with
> the National Assessment of Adult Literacy that it is not valid across
> the
> age range from 16 to 90 years. The human cognitive system changes
> dramatically with age and this is one reason why approaches to 
> education
> based on children's approaches are not transferable across the life
> span.
> As children grow into adulthood pedagogy should be transformed into
> andragogy (andra- considered now as meaning "adult" rather than "man" 
> in
> keeping with the idea that language constantly changes and new 
> functions
> are found for old forms).
> Tom Sticht
>
> Part 1. In Adult Literacy Education: Must Andragogy Recapitulate
> Pedagogy?
>
> In many industrialized nations today there appears to be a movement in
> adult
> basic skills education to have andragogy, defined as theories and
> methods
> for teaching adults, recapitulate pedagogy, defined as theories and
> methods
> for teaching children. This is suggested by many ideas and actions that
> are
> being initiated in adult literacy education.
>
> For instance, in many cases adult literacy education is thought of as a
> "second chance" at learning what should have been learned in the 
> primary
> grades of school. In this case, then, it seems to be assumed that 
> adults
> should be taught the "3 Rs" in the same way that children are taught
> them.
> Indeed, in the United States the National Institute for Literacy
> (www.nifl.gov) includes web pages on the "scientific basis" for 
> teaching
> adults to read that are based primarily on research in the K-12 grade
> school system. The focus is on teaching alphabetics (phonics, decoding,
> word recognition) and reading comprehension in the same way that
> children
> are taught.
>
> The U. S. Department of Education has created a National Reporting
> System
> for adult literacy education that has requirements for programs to show
> how
> adults learning literacy progress upward through levels of proficiency
> with
> each level being about equal to two "grade levels" of proficiency, as
> though adults in literacy programs are recapitulating  grade school.
> Such
> an approach is also found in the United Kingdom with adults in basic
> skills
> education expected to progress up to the same sorts of skills as
> children in
> the primary grades acquire.
>
> Further, adult literacy programs are often asked to measure progress in
> adult learning in their programs using standardized tests that are 
> based
> on
> methods used in measuring progress in the grade schools. In some cases,
> adult literacy development is stated in terms of gain in reading grade
> levels, as if adults were going to school for six hours a day for 180 
> or
> so
> days a years to make a year's gain in reading or other basic skills.
>
> One consequence of this belief that andragogy should recapitulate
> pedagogy
> is that a great misunderstanding of adult literacy education occurs. In
> particular, there is a tendency for policymakers and funding agencies 
> to
> think that adult literacy education is the same as children's literacy
> education and that may lead to the idea that, instead of investing much
> by
> way of resources into adult literacy education, we will be better 
> served
> by
> "stopping the problem at the source" and focussing instead upon young
> children to prevent adult literacy problems.
>
> However, such an approach fails to recognize that, in thirty years of
> trying, and after spending over a trillion dollars in preventing
> reading failure in the public schools, recent data from the U. S.
> National
> Center for Education Statistics for the years from 1971 to 2004 show
> that
> reading scores for 9, 13, and 17 years old have remained about the 
> same,
> with some up and down fluctuations over the years. So up to now, at
> least
> in  the U. S., there has not been much success in "stopping the problem
> at
> the source."
>
> Also, the belief that andragogy ought to recapitulate pedagogy in
> literacy
> education fails to recognize that while the teaching of basic skills as
> abstract "skills" may follow the same practices as for adults, the
> "content" in which the basic skills instruction is embedded should not
> be
> the same as for children. Over one hundred years of adult literacy
> practice
> has provided professional wisdom indicating that adults should be 
> taught
> in
> a "functional context," meaning that the content used to teach reading,
> writing, and arithmetic ought to reflect the kinds of daily needs that
> adults face.
>
> This showed itself in World Wars I and II during which time soldiers
> were
> taught to read using materials that embedded basic skills instruction
> with
> important military information. This type of taking account of adult's
> functional contexts does occur in many adult literacy programs today
> where
> materials of importance to adults, such as what to do in case of 
> spousal
> abuse, what kinds of health problems adults might be facing with
> themselves
> or their children, how to deal with consumer fraud, workplace demands
> for
> basic skills, and on and on are used to teach literacy.
>
> The fact that the "content" of adult literacy programs is so different
> from
> that of primary grade children reflects attention to andragogy. But 
> when
> the focus is on abstract "skills" devoid of any particular content,
> literacy instruction for adults begins to recapitulate the pedagogy of
> children.
>
> There is a need today for adult literacy educators to stand up for
> andragogy
> and to insist upon the rights of adult literacy students to have their
> education focussed upon their current life circumstances. There is
> evidence
> to suggest that this will not only make adult literacy learning more
> desirable and palatable for adults, it can also lead to greater rates 
> of
> participation, retention, better learning, and greater transfer from 
> the
> classroom to the world in which the adults live outside the classroom.
>
>
> Part 2. Fluid and Crystallized Literacy Assessment and Development With
> Adults:
> Challenges to the Validity of the 2003 National Assessment of Adult
> Literacy
> (NAAL)
>
> The disinction between the "skills' and "content" aspects of education
> has
> revealed itself in psychometric research on intelligence over the last
> half
> century. This research has
> resulted in a trend to draw a distinction between the knowledge aspect
> and
> the processing skills aspects of intelligence. Beginning in the 1940s
> and
> continuing up to the 1990s, Raymond Cattell and various collaborators,
> and
> later many independent investigators, made the distinction between
> "fluid
> intelligence" and "crystallized intelligence." Cattell stated, "Fluid
> intelligence is involved in tests that have very little cultural
> content,
> whereas crystallized intelligence loads abilities that have obviously
> been
> acquired, such as verbal and numerical ability, mechanical aptitude,
> social
> skills, and so on. The age curve of these two abilities is quite
> different.
> They both increase up to the age of about 15 or 16, and slightly
> thereafter, to the early 20s perhaps. But thereafter fluid intelligence
> steadily declines whereas crystallized intelligence stays high" (p. 
> 23).
>
> Cognitive psychologists have re-framed the "fluid" and "crystallized"
> aspects of cognition into a model of a human cognitive system made-up 
> of
> a
> long term memory which constitutes a knowledge base ("crystallized
> intelligence") for the person, a working memory which engages various
> processes ("fluid intelligence") that are going on at a given time 
> using
> information picked-up from both the long term memory's knowledge base
> and
> a sensory system that picks-up information from the external world that
> the
> person is in. Today, over forty years of research has validated the
> usefulness of this simple three-part model for thinking about human
> cognition.
>
> The model is important because it helps to develop a theory of literacy
> as
> information processing skills (reading as decoding printed to spoken
> language) and comprehension (using the knowledge base to create 
> meaning)
> that can inform the development of new knowledge-based assessment tools
> and new approaches to adult education.
>
> The International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS), the National Adult
> Literacy Survey (NALS) of 1993 and the new 2003 National Assessment of
> Adult
> Literacy  (NAAL) all used "real world" tasks that are complex
> information
> processing
> tasks that engage unknown mixtures of knowledge and processes. For this
> reason it is not clear what they assess or what their instructional
> implications are.
>
> Colleagues and I used the simple model of the human cognitive system
> given
> above to analyze performance on the NALS. It was  concluded that the
> NALS
> places large demands on working memory processes  ("fluid 
> intelligence")
> and that is what may account for some of the large declines in
> performance
> by older adults. To test this hypothesis, an assessment of knowledge
> ("crystallized intelligence") was developed and
> used to assess adult's cultural knowledge of vocabulary, authors,
> magazines
> and famous people.. The results showed clearly that  younger adults did
> better on the NALS with its heavy emphasis on working memory processes
> ("fluid literacy") and older adults did better than younger adults on
> the
> knowledge base ("crystallized literacy") assessment .
>
> Given the differences between younger and older adults on "fluid
> literacy"
> and "crystallized literacy"  there is reason to question the validity 
> of
> using "real world" tasks like those on the Prose, Document and
> Quantitative
> scales of the IALS, NALS, and  NAAL to represent the literacy abilities
> of
> adults. In general, when assessing the literacy of adults, it seems 
> wise
> to
> keep in mind the differences between working memory or "fluid" aspects
> of
> literacy, such as fluency in reading with its emphasis upon efficiency
> of
> processing, and the "crystallized" or knowledge base aspects of 
> reading.
>
> It is also important to keep in mind these differences between fluid 
> and
> crystallized literacy in teaching and learning. While it is possible to
> teach knowledge, such as vocabulary, facts, principles, concepts, and
> rules, it is not possible to directly teach fluid processing. Fluidity
> of
> information processing, such as fluency in reading, cannot be directly
> taught. Rather, it must be developed through extensive, guided,
> practice.
> Though I know of no research on this theoretical framework regarding 
> the
> differences between fluid and crystallized literacy and instructional
> practices in adult literacy programs, it can be hypothesized that all
> learners are likely to make much faster improvements in crystallized
> literacy than in fluid literacy, and this should be especially true for
> older learners, especially those over 45 to 50 years of a
>
> Note; For references to fluid and crystallized intelligence  see Beyond
> 2000
> by Thomas Sticht downloadable online at
> http://www.nald.ca/fulltext/beyond/Beyond.PDF
>
> Thomas G. Sticht
> International Consultant in Adult Education
> 2062 Valley View Blvd.
> El Cajon, CA 92019-2059
> Tel/fax: 96190 444-9133
> Email: tsticht at aznet.net
>
>
>
>
> Julie McKinney
> Discussion List Moderator
> World Education/NCSALL
> jmckinney at worlded.org
>
> ----------------------------------------------------
> National Institute for Literacy
> Focus on Basics mailing list
> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to 
> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
>
From andreawilder at comcast.net  Thu Jul 13 20:01:54 2006
From: andreawilder at comcast.net (Andrea Wilder)
Date: Thu, 13 Jul 2006 20:01:54 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 428] Re: pedagogy/andragogy
In-Reply-To: <s4b62bdd.024@mail.jsi.com>
References: <s4b62bdd.024@mail.jsi.com>
Message-ID: <184ddb72df5989040484e0df681a6977@comcast.net>
OK, I want to tuck something in here, it is not quite a response to Tom 
because I don't yet have one.  But I will this fall, I hope.
The brain comes "online" at regular intervals up to I believe 25 years. 
A child's brain is very different from an adult's brain.  A lot has 
been made of the frontal lobe in adolescents--it hasn't matured yet, 
which "accounts'"f or aspects of adolescent thinking.
Beyond this, it seems that the speed of processing may increase up to 
60 years of age.  Speed is dependent on the  fatty coating of myelin 
around the  nerves--fat speeds  electro-chemical impulses.  We "think" 
using electrochemical neuron hook-ups.
Much conscious learning takes the form of puzzle solving.  This is true 
of how children learn to raad, I don't know if there is yet a 
description of how adults learn to read.  I DON'T mean all that stuff 
about  fluency, comprehension the way it  is usually talked about and 
measured.
I DO  mean the study by Ferreiro and Teberosky, "Literacy Before 
Schooling."  Andres, you manly fellow, listen up!  The research was 
done in Buenos Aries, from 1974-1976.
Fischer  et al has done studies of adult learning ( students who are 
adults) and come up with the same puzzle solving data.  Fischer can 
graph his stuff--computer modeling.
Andrea
On Jul 13, 2006, at 11:17 AM, Julie McKinney wrote:
> Hi Everyone,
>
> I am passing on this message from Tom Sticht>
>
> Julie
>
> **********************************************************
> Colleagues: My Google search found that the term andragogy was
> originally
> formulated by a German teacher, Alexander Kapp, in 1833. He used it to
> describe elements of Plato's education theory. Andragogy (andr- meaning
> 'man') could be contrasted with pedagogy (paid- meaning 'child' and
> agogos
> meaning 'leading'). Following is a long two part note that makes
> distinctions between the cognitive processes of children and adults and
> the
> reasons why teaching methods for the former may not be generally
> transferable to adults across the years. The first note calls attention
> to
> how the present government activities are pushing adult education more
> and
> more into the mold of childhood education. The second note illustrates
> with
> the National Assessment of Adult Literacy that it is not valid across
> the
> age range from 16 to 90 years. The human cognitive system changes
> dramatically with age and this is one reason why approaches to 
> education
> based on children's approaches are not transferable across the life
> span.
> As children grow into adulthood pedagogy should be transformed into
> andragogy (andra- considered now as meaning "adult" rather than "man" 
> in
> keeping with the idea that language constantly changes and new 
> functions
> are found for old forms).
> Tom Sticht
>
> Part 1. In Adult Literacy Education: Must Andragogy Recapitulate
> Pedagogy?
>
> In many industrialized nations today there appears to be a movement in
> adult
> basic skills education to have andragogy, defined as theories and
> methods
> for teaching adults, recapitulate pedagogy, defined as theories and
> methods
> for teaching children. This is suggested by many ideas and actions that
> are
> being initiated in adult literacy education.
>
> For instance, in many cases adult literacy education is thought of as a
> "second chance" at learning what should have been learned in the 
> primary
> grades of school. In this case, then, it seems to be assumed that 
> adults
> should be taught the "3 Rs" in the same way that children are taught
> them.
> Indeed, in the United States the National Institute for Literacy
> (www.nifl.gov) includes web pages on the "scientific basis" for 
> teaching
> adults to read that are based primarily on research in the K-12 grade
> school system. The focus is on teaching alphabetics (phonics, decoding,
> word recognition) and reading comprehension in the same way that
> children
> are taught.
>
> The U. S. Department of Education has created a National Reporting
> System
> for adult literacy education that has requirements for programs to show
> how
> adults learning literacy progress upward through levels of proficiency
> with
> each level being about equal to two "grade levels" of proficiency, as
> though adults in literacy programs are recapitulating  grade school.
> Such
> an approach is also found in the United Kingdom with adults in basic
> skills
> education expected to progress up to the same sorts of skills as
> children in
> the primary grades acquire.
>
> Further, adult literacy programs are often asked to measure progress in
> adult learning in their programs using standardized tests that are 
> based
> on
> methods used in measuring progress in the grade schools. In some cases,
> adult literacy development is stated in terms of gain in reading grade
> levels, as if adults were going to school for six hours a day for 180 
> or
> so
> days a years to make a year's gain in reading or other basic skills.
>
> One consequence of this belief that andragogy should recapitulate
> pedagogy
> is that a great misunderstanding of adult literacy education occurs. In
> particular, there is a tendency for policymakers and funding agencies 
> to
> think that adult literacy education is the same as children's literacy
> education and that may lead to the idea that, instead of investing much
> by
> way of resources into adult literacy education, we will be better 
> served
> by
> "stopping the problem at the source" and focussing instead upon young
> children to prevent adult literacy problems.
>
> However, such an approach fails to recognize that, in thirty years of
> trying, and after spending over a trillion dollars in preventing
> reading failure in the public schools, recent data from the U. S.
> National
> Center for Education Statistics for the years from 1971 to 2004 show
> that
> reading scores for 9, 13, and 17 years old have remained about the 
> same,
> with some up and down fluctuations over the years. So up to now, at
> least
> in  the U. S., there has not been much success in "stopping the problem
> at
> the source."
>
> Also, the belief that andragogy ought to recapitulate pedagogy in
> literacy
> education fails to recognize that while the teaching of basic skills as
> abstract "skills" may follow the same practices as for adults, the
> "content" in which the basic skills instruction is embedded should not
> be
> the same as for children. Over one hundred years of adult literacy
> practice
> has provided professional wisdom indicating that adults should be 
> taught
> in
> a "functional context," meaning that the content used to teach reading,
> writing, and arithmetic ought to reflect the kinds of daily needs that
> adults face.
>
> This showed itself in World Wars I and II during which time soldiers
> were
> taught to read using materials that embedded basic skills instruction
> with
> important military information. This type of taking account of adult's
> functional contexts does occur in many adult literacy programs today
> where
> materials of importance to adults, such as what to do in case of 
> spousal
> abuse, what kinds of health problems adults might be facing with
> themselves
> or their children, how to deal with consumer fraud, workplace demands
> for
> basic skills, and on and on are used to teach literacy.
>
> The fact that the "content" of adult literacy programs is so different
> from
> that of primary grade children reflects attention to andragogy. But 
> when
> the focus is on abstract "skills" devoid of any particular content,
> literacy instruction for adults begins to recapitulate the pedagogy of
> children.
>
> There is a need today for adult literacy educators to stand up for
> andragogy
> and to insist upon the rights of adult literacy students to have their
> education focussed upon their current life circumstances. There is
> evidence
> to suggest that this will not only make adult literacy learning more
> desirable and palatable for adults, it can also lead to greater rates 
> of
> participation, retention, better learning, and greater transfer from 
> the
> classroom to the world in which the adults live outside the classroom.
>
>
> Part 2. Fluid and Crystallized Literacy Assessment and Development With
> Adults:
> Challenges to the Validity of the 2003 National Assessment of Adult
> Literacy
> (NAAL)
>
> The disinction between the "skills' and "content" aspects of education
> has
> revealed itself in psychometric research on intelligence over the last
> half
> century. This research has
> resulted in a trend to draw a distinction between the knowledge aspect
> and
> the processing skills aspects of intelligence. Beginning in the 1940s
> and
> continuing up to the 1990s, Raymond Cattell and various collaborators,
> and
> later many independent investigators, made the distinction between
> "fluid
> intelligence" and "crystallized intelligence." Cattell stated, "Fluid
> intelligence is involved in tests that have very little cultural
> content,
> whereas crystallized intelligence loads abilities that have obviously
> been
> acquired, such as verbal and numerical ability, mechanical aptitude,
> social
> skills, and so on. The age curve of these two abilities is quite
> different.
> They both increase up to the age of about 15 or 16, and slightly
> thereafter, to the early 20s perhaps. But thereafter fluid intelligence
> steadily declines whereas crystallized intelligence stays high" (p. 
> 23).
>
> Cognitive psychologists have re-framed the "fluid" and "crystallized"
> aspects of cognition into a model of a human cognitive system made-up 
> of
> a
> long term memory which constitutes a knowledge base ("crystallized
> intelligence") for the person, a working memory which engages various
> processes ("fluid intelligence") that are going on at a given time 
> using
> information picked-up from both the long term memory's knowledge base
> and
> a sensory system that picks-up information from the external world that
> the
> person is in. Today, over forty years of research has validated the
> usefulness of this simple three-part model for thinking about human
> cognition.
>
> The model is important because it helps to develop a theory of literacy
> as
> information processing skills (reading as decoding printed to spoken
> language) and comprehension (using the knowledge base to create 
> meaning)
> that can inform the development of new knowledge-based assessment tools
> and new approaches to adult education.
>
> The International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS), the National Adult
> Literacy Survey (NALS) of 1993 and the new 2003 National Assessment of
> Adult
> Literacy  (NAAL) all used "real world" tasks that are complex
> information
> processing
> tasks that engage unknown mixtures of knowledge and processes. For this
> reason it is not clear what they assess or what their instructional
> implications are.
>
> Colleagues and I used the simple model of the human cognitive system
> given
> above to analyze performance on the NALS. It was  concluded that the
> NALS
> places large demands on working memory processes  ("fluid 
> intelligence")
> and that is what may account for some of the large declines in
> performance
> by older adults. To test this hypothesis, an assessment of knowledge
> ("crystallized intelligence") was developed and
> used to assess adult's cultural knowledge of vocabulary, authors,
> magazines
> and famous people.. The results showed clearly that  younger adults did
> better on the NALS with its heavy emphasis on working memory processes
> ("fluid literacy") and older adults did better than younger adults on
> the
> knowledge base ("crystallized literacy") assessment .
>
> Given the differences between younger and older adults on "fluid
> literacy"
> and "crystallized literacy"  there is reason to question the validity 
> of
> using "real world" tasks like those on the Prose, Document and
> Quantitative
> scales of the IALS, NALS, and  NAAL to represent the literacy abilities
> of
> adults. In general, when assessing the literacy of adults, it seems 
> wise
> to
> keep in mind the differences between working memory or "fluid" aspects
> of
> literacy, such as fluency in reading with its emphasis upon efficiency
> of
> processing, and the "crystallized" or knowledge base aspects of 
> reading.
>
> It is also important to keep in mind these differences between fluid 
> and
> crystallized literacy in teaching and learning. While it is possible to
> teach knowledge, such as vocabulary, facts, principles, concepts, and
> rules, it is not possible to directly teach fluid processing. Fluidity
> of
> information processing, such as fluency in reading, cannot be directly
> taught. Rather, it must be developed through extensive, guided,
> practice.
> Though I know of no research on this theoretical framework regarding 
> the
> differences between fluid and crystallized literacy and instructional
> practices in adult literacy programs, it can be hypothesized that all
> learners are likely to make much faster improvements in crystallized
> literacy than in fluid literacy, and this should be especially true for
> older learners, especially those over 45 to 50 years of a
>
> Note; For references to fluid and crystallized intelligence  see Beyond
> 2000
> by Thomas Sticht downloadable online at
> http://www.nald.ca/fulltext/beyond/Beyond.PDF
>
> Thomas G. Sticht
> International Consultant in Adult Education
> 2062 Valley View Blvd.
> El Cajon, CA 92019-2059
> Tel/fax: 96190 444-9133
> Email: tsticht at aznet.net
>
>
>
>
> Julie McKinney
> Discussion List Moderator
> World Education/NCSALL
> jmckinney at worlded.org
>
> ----------------------------------------------------
> National Institute for Literacy
> Focus on Basics mailing list
> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to 
> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
>
From amuro5 at epcc.edu  Fri Jul 14 12:08:30 2006
From: amuro5 at epcc.edu (Muro, Andres)
Date: Fri, 14 Jul 2006 10:08:30 -0600
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 429] Re: pedagogy/andragogy
In-Reply-To: <184ddb72df5989040484e0df681a6977@comcast.net>
Message-ID: <CA29C5E82B801844A7A967D109F117CF624C76@svrascmail01>
The discussion about calling the difference between children and adult
education different things is purely rhetorical. The question is not
about how to name the approach, but to determine what the differences
are. It really doesn't matter if we call it pedagogy, andragogy or adult
education. I prefer pedagogy for many reasons. One is that it is the
term most accepted worldwide. The other reason is because it is the term
used by Freirians whom I sympathize with. When Freire wrote the Pedagogy
of the Oppressed and subsequently many literacy campaigns were launched
in poor countries, the focus was on adult education.  
Regarding the differences between children and adults there are things
that remain a mystery. We know that the child's brain and the adult
brain are different because one is growing and the other fully formed.
We know that there is a critical time when children begin to acquire
language that is essential in language acquisition. However, beyond
that, we know some things may work with children. It is not clear if the
language acquisition processes that work with children apply to adults
because there hasn't been much research done with adults. However, we
can report from our experience and, scientifically, until our
experiences and finding for children are challenged by different
findings for adults, I will use some of the findings for children and
will try to apply them to adults. 
For example, the work done by Cummins on native and second language
acquisition and Basic interpersonal communication skills and cognitive
academic language skills (BICS vs CALPS) has been done with children.
However, I have used this model with adults with great success and
experiences from others who report on this clearly support Cummins.
Essentially the argument is that people can acquire academic skills in a
language after they have basic interpersonal communication skills in
that language. Academic skills from L1 can then transfer to L2. So,
after learning about this I switched from doing ESL to doing Spanish GED
with our Spanish speaking adults. The result has been that they quickly
acquire academic skills in Spanish and then they can transfer them to
ESL.
I think that the most comprehensive work on reading acquisition comes
from Frank Smith and it is based on children. However, w/o going into
detail, I've found most of Smiths work on reading acquisition certainly
applies to adults. 
Carol Chomsky's five stages of reading acquisition were formulated with
children. In my experience, they certainly apply to adults.  
Of course, there are sociological, physiological and psychological
factors that affect learning. These represent variables that are often
not accounted for when studying language acquisition and are variables
that are hard to isolate for scientific research. These include poverty,
race, gender, culture, disability, health, relationships, self esteem,
resistance, etc. 
When using a language acquisition model with a group of learners and it
doesn't work, we need to wonder if it didn't work because it wasn't the
appropriate model, or because a variable, not accounted for, interfered
with acquisition. Using one of Kozol's examples, if a child has a
toothache and doesn't learn with a given approach, is the approach
wrong? Or, maybe it is the fact that the pain does not allow him to
concentrate. Another example: If a battered woman is not learning, is
the approach a bad one, or the external circumstances are the obstacle.
Finally, considering these sort of variables, are interventions to
address these sort of variables elements that needs to be integrated
into the approach or are they separate from the approach. To me, the
greatest contribution of Freire and other critical pedagogists is the
idea that any approach must address variables in context. In fact the
intervention for the specific variable is the essence of any  approach.
In other words, the intervention for the specific variable may even be
more important than the approach itself. However, this is difficult to
study scientifically and requires that we step outside the confines of
positive science.   
What do you all think?
Andres
-----Original Message-----
From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Andrea Wilder
Sent: Thursday, July 13, 2006 6:02 PM
To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 428] Re: pedagogy/andragogy
OK, I want to tuck something in here, it is not quite a response to Tom 
because I don't yet have one.  But I will this fall, I hope.
The brain comes "online" at regular intervals up to I believe 25 years. 
A child's brain is very different from an adult's brain.  A lot has 
been made of the frontal lobe in adolescents--it hasn't matured yet, 
which "accounts'"f or aspects of adolescent thinking.
Beyond this, it seems that the speed of processing may increase up to 
60 years of age.  Speed is dependent on the  fatty coating of myelin 
around the  nerves--fat speeds  electro-chemical impulses.  We "think" 
using electrochemical neuron hook-ups.
Much conscious learning takes the form of puzzle solving.  This is true 
of how children learn to raad, I don't know if there is yet a 
description of how adults learn to read.  I DON'T mean all that stuff 
about  fluency, comprehension the way it  is usually talked about and 
measured.
I DO  mean the study by Ferreiro and Teberosky, "Literacy Before 
Schooling."  Andres, you manly fellow, listen up!  The research was 
done in Buenos Aries, from 1974-1976.
Fischer  et al has done studies of adult learning ( students who are 
adults) and come up with the same puzzle solving data.  Fischer can 
graph his stuff--computer modeling.
Andrea
On Jul 13, 2006, at 11:17 AM, Julie McKinney wrote:
> Hi Everyone,
>
> I am passing on this message from Tom Sticht>
>
> Julie
>
> **********************************************************
> Colleagues: My Google search found that the term andragogy was
> originally
> formulated by a German teacher, Alexander Kapp, in 1833. He used it to
> describe elements of Plato's education theory. Andragogy (andr-
meaning
> 'man') could be contrasted with pedagogy (paid- meaning 'child' and
> agogos
> meaning 'leading'). Following is a long two part note that makes
> distinctions between the cognitive processes of children and adults
and
> the
> reasons why teaching methods for the former may not be generally
> transferable to adults across the years. The first note calls
attention
> to
> how the present government activities are pushing adult education more
> and
> more into the mold of childhood education. The second note illustrates
> with
> the National Assessment of Adult Literacy that it is not valid across
> the
> age range from 16 to 90 years. The human cognitive system changes
> dramatically with age and this is one reason why approaches to 
> education
> based on children's approaches are not transferable across the life
> span.
> As children grow into adulthood pedagogy should be transformed into
> andragogy (andra- considered now as meaning "adult" rather than "man" 
> in
> keeping with the idea that language constantly changes and new 
> functions
> are found for old forms).
> Tom Sticht
>
> Part 1. In Adult Literacy Education: Must Andragogy Recapitulate
> Pedagogy?
>
> In many industrialized nations today there appears to be a movement in
> adult
> basic skills education to have andragogy, defined as theories and
> methods
> for teaching adults, recapitulate pedagogy, defined as theories and
> methods
> for teaching children. This is suggested by many ideas and actions
that
> are
> being initiated in adult literacy education.
>
> For instance, in many cases adult literacy education is thought of as
a
> "second chance" at learning what should have been learned in the 
> primary
> grades of school. In this case, then, it seems to be assumed that 
> adults
> should be taught the "3 Rs" in the same way that children are taught
> them.
> Indeed, in the United States the National Institute for Literacy
> (www.nifl.gov) includes web pages on the "scientific basis" for 
> teaching
> adults to read that are based primarily on research in the K-12 grade
> school system. The focus is on teaching alphabetics (phonics,
decoding,
> word recognition) and reading comprehension in the same way that
> children
> are taught.
>
> The U. S. Department of Education has created a National Reporting
> System
> for adult literacy education that has requirements for programs to
show
> how
> adults learning literacy progress upward through levels of proficiency
> with
> each level being about equal to two "grade levels" of proficiency, as
> though adults in literacy programs are recapitulating  grade school.
> Such
> an approach is also found in the United Kingdom with adults in basic
> skills
> education expected to progress up to the same sorts of skills as
> children in
> the primary grades acquire.
>
> Further, adult literacy programs are often asked to measure progress
in
> adult learning in their programs using standardized tests that are 
> based
> on
> methods used in measuring progress in the grade schools. In some
cases,
> adult literacy development is stated in terms of gain in reading grade
> levels, as if adults were going to school for six hours a day for 180 
> or
> so
> days a years to make a year's gain in reading or other basic skills.
>
> One consequence of this belief that andragogy should recapitulate
> pedagogy
> is that a great misunderstanding of adult literacy education occurs.
In
> particular, there is a tendency for policymakers and funding agencies 
> to
> think that adult literacy education is the same as children's literacy
> education and that may lead to the idea that, instead of investing
much
> by
> way of resources into adult literacy education, we will be better 
> served
> by
> "stopping the problem at the source" and focussing instead upon young
> children to prevent adult literacy problems.
>
> However, such an approach fails to recognize that, in thirty years of
> trying, and after spending over a trillion dollars in preventing
> reading failure in the public schools, recent data from the U. S.
> National
> Center for Education Statistics for the years from 1971 to 2004 show
> that
> reading scores for 9, 13, and 17 years old have remained about the 
> same,
> with some up and down fluctuations over the years. So up to now, at
> least
> in  the U. S., there has not been much success in "stopping the
problem
> at
> the source."
>
> Also, the belief that andragogy ought to recapitulate pedagogy in
> literacy
> education fails to recognize that while the teaching of basic skills
as
> abstract "skills" may follow the same practices as for adults, the
> "content" in which the basic skills instruction is embedded should not
> be
> the same as for children. Over one hundred years of adult literacy
> practice
> has provided professional wisdom indicating that adults should be 
> taught
> in
> a "functional context," meaning that the content used to teach
reading,
> writing, and arithmetic ought to reflect the kinds of daily needs that
> adults face.
>
> This showed itself in World Wars I and II during which time soldiers
> were
> taught to read using materials that embedded basic skills instruction
> with
> important military information. This type of taking account of adult's
> functional contexts does occur in many adult literacy programs today
> where
> materials of importance to adults, such as what to do in case of 
> spousal
> abuse, what kinds of health problems adults might be facing with
> themselves
> or their children, how to deal with consumer fraud, workplace demands
> for
> basic skills, and on and on are used to teach literacy.
>
> The fact that the "content" of adult literacy programs is so different
> from
> that of primary grade children reflects attention to andragogy. But 
> when
> the focus is on abstract "skills" devoid of any particular content,
> literacy instruction for adults begins to recapitulate the pedagogy of
> children.
>
> There is a need today for adult literacy educators to stand up for
> andragogy
> and to insist upon the rights of adult literacy students to have their
> education focussed upon their current life circumstances. There is
> evidence
> to suggest that this will not only make adult literacy learning more
> desirable and palatable for adults, it can also lead to greater rates 
> of
> participation, retention, better learning, and greater transfer from 
> the
> classroom to the world in which the adults live outside the classroom.
>
>
> Part 2. Fluid and Crystallized Literacy Assessment and Development
With
> Adults:
> Challenges to the Validity of the 2003 National Assessment of Adult
> Literacy
> (NAAL)
>
> The disinction between the "skills' and "content" aspects of education
> has
> revealed itself in psychometric research on intelligence over the last
> half
> century. This research has
> resulted in a trend to draw a distinction between the knowledge aspect
> and
> the processing skills aspects of intelligence. Beginning in the 1940s
> and
> continuing up to the 1990s, Raymond Cattell and various collaborators,
> and
> later many independent investigators, made the distinction between
> "fluid
> intelligence" and "crystallized intelligence." Cattell stated, "Fluid
> intelligence is involved in tests that have very little cultural
> content,
> whereas crystallized intelligence loads abilities that have obviously
> been
> acquired, such as verbal and numerical ability, mechanical aptitude,
> social
> skills, and so on. The age curve of these two abilities is quite
> different.
> They both increase up to the age of about 15 or 16, and slightly
> thereafter, to the early 20s perhaps. But thereafter fluid
intelligence
> steadily declines whereas crystallized intelligence stays high" (p. 
> 23).
>
> Cognitive psychologists have re-framed the "fluid" and "crystallized"
> aspects of cognition into a model of a human cognitive system made-up 
> of
> a
> long term memory which constitutes a knowledge base ("crystallized
> intelligence") for the person, a working memory which engages various
> processes ("fluid intelligence") that are going on at a given time 
> using
> information picked-up from both the long term memory's knowledge base
> and
> a sensory system that picks-up information from the external world
that
> the
> person is in. Today, over forty years of research has validated the
> usefulness of this simple three-part model for thinking about human
> cognition.
>
> The model is important because it helps to develop a theory of
literacy
> as
> information processing skills (reading as decoding printed to spoken
> language) and comprehension (using the knowledge base to create 
> meaning)
> that can inform the development of new knowledge-based assessment
tools
> and new approaches to adult education.
>
> The International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS), the National Adult
> Literacy Survey (NALS) of 1993 and the new 2003 National Assessment of
> Adult
> Literacy  (NAAL) all used "real world" tasks that are complex
> information
> processing
> tasks that engage unknown mixtures of knowledge and processes. For
this
> reason it is not clear what they assess or what their instructional
> implications are.
>
> Colleagues and I used the simple model of the human cognitive system
> given
> above to analyze performance on the NALS. It was  concluded that the
> NALS
> places large demands on working memory processes  ("fluid 
> intelligence")
> and that is what may account for some of the large declines in
> performance
> by older adults. To test this hypothesis, an assessment of knowledge
> ("crystallized intelligence") was developed and
> used to assess adult's cultural knowledge of vocabulary, authors,
> magazines
> and famous people.. The results showed clearly that  younger adults
did
> better on the NALS with its heavy emphasis on working memory processes
> ("fluid literacy") and older adults did better than younger adults on
> the
> knowledge base ("crystallized literacy") assessment .
>
> Given the differences between younger and older adults on "fluid
> literacy"
> and "crystallized literacy"  there is reason to question the validity 
> of
> using "real world" tasks like those on the Prose, Document and
> Quantitative
> scales of the IALS, NALS, and  NAAL to represent the literacy
abilities
> of
> adults. In general, when assessing the literacy of adults, it seems 
> wise
> to
> keep in mind the differences between working memory or "fluid" aspects
> of
> literacy, such as fluency in reading with its emphasis upon efficiency
> of
> processing, and the "crystallized" or knowledge base aspects of 
> reading.
>
> It is also important to keep in mind these differences between fluid 
> and
> crystallized literacy in teaching and learning. While it is possible
to
> teach knowledge, such as vocabulary, facts, principles, concepts, and
> rules, it is not possible to directly teach fluid processing. Fluidity
> of
> information processing, such as fluency in reading, cannot be directly
> taught. Rather, it must be developed through extensive, guided,
> practice.
> Though I know of no research on this theoretical framework regarding 
> the
> differences between fluid and crystallized literacy and instructional
> practices in adult literacy programs, it can be hypothesized that all
> learners are likely to make much faster improvements in crystallized
> literacy than in fluid literacy, and this should be especially true
for
> older learners, especially those over 45 to 50 years of a
>
> Note; For references to fluid and crystallized intelligence  see
Beyond
> 2000
> by Thomas Sticht downloadable online at
> http://www.nald.ca/fulltext/beyond/Beyond.PDF
>
> Thomas G. Sticht
> International Consultant in Adult Education
> 2062 Valley View Blvd.
> El Cajon, CA 92019-2059
> Tel/fax: 96190 444-9133
> Email: tsticht at aznet.net
>
>
>
>
> Julie McKinney
> Discussion List Moderator
> World Education/NCSALL
> jmckinney at worlded.org
>
> ----------------------------------------------------
> National Institute for Literacy
> Focus on Basics mailing list
> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to 
> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
>
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
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To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
From e.b.shupe at lycos.com  Fri Jul 14 13:52:13 2006
From: e.b.shupe at lycos.com (e s)
Date: Fri, 14 Jul 2006 12:52:13 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 430] Re: Andragynegogy and the individualized
 workbook approach
Message-ID: <20060714175213.934E086B15@ws7-1.us4.outblaze.com>
Katrina and all,
I was looking over the discussion and noticed your comment about learners coming away from experiences with a sense of "ownership" of the material.  This I believe is very significant, but is difficult to create or hold the space for unless instructors are open to the negotiation process that occur in learning situations.  We do not all have the same context or frame of reference therefore learners are always negotiating "what's real" or applicable for them. Unfortunately the K-12 system doesn't facilitate this kind of process and many learners shut down because they just can't reconcile all of the inconsistencies. Down the road, many of these learners come into our programs and they continue to feel detached from material. 
 
The "learner biography" process gives learners the time and space to look at all of those earlier learning experiences, and to search for significant themes that have emerged from these experiences.  It is a very powerful process and having gone through this myself in graduate school, I know that the outcome can be quite significant.  I would be willing to be involved in a research project that could look more closely at this process for basic literacy learners if there is an opportunity to support this kind of research.  What do others think?
Esther
-- 
_______________________________________________
Search for businesses by name, location, or phone number.  -Lycos Yellow Pages
http://r.lycos.com/r/yp_emailfooter/http://yellowpages.lycos.com/default.asp?SRC=lycos10
From leellington at vcu.edu  Fri Jul 14 16:13:06 2006
From: leellington at vcu.edu (Lauren E Ellington/FS/VCU)
Date: Fri, 14 Jul 2006 16:13:06 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 431] Re: pedagogy/andragogy
In-Reply-To: <s4b62bdd.024@mail.jsi.com>
Message-ID: <OF643CF4E5.0BDC0D29-ON852571AB.006EE1A3-852571AB.006F55CF@vcu.edu>
I found an interesting paragraph in an article that I am reading on 
andragogy and pedagogy.  The whole article may be found at: 
http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/JOTS/Summer-Fall-2000/holmes.html but 
the text of the paragraph I liked is below.
"Mohring (1989) took issue with both andragogy and pedagogy. She contended 
that the terms andragogy (implying the education of adults) and pedagogy 
(meaning the education of children) are etymologically inaccurate. 
Although pedagogy is derived from paid, meaning "child," from antiquity it 
has also stood for education in general-without reference to learners' 
ages. Andragogy is derived from aner, meaning adult male and not adult of 
either sex, therefore excluding women. In view of efforts to purge English 
of sexist words, she proposed the use of a new term, teliagogy. Based on 
the Greek teleios, meaning "adult," it would include both sexes. "
**************************************************************
Lauren Ellington
Online Training Specialist, 
Learning Disabilities Specialist, and
Writer of Update and Update on LD
Virginia Adult Learning Resource Center
Virginia Commonwealth University
817 W. Franklin Street, Room 221  |  P.O. Box 842037
Richmond, VA  23284-2037
Phone:  1-800-237-0178 or  804-828-6158 
Fax:  804-828-7539
www.valrc.org
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From woodsnh at isp.com  Sat Jul 15 00:53:46 2006
From: woodsnh at isp.com (Woods)
Date: Sat, 15 Jul 2006 00:53:46 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 432] Re: pedagogy/andragogy
In-Reply-To: <CA29C5E82B801844A7A967D109F117CF624C76@svrascmail01>
References: <CA29C5E82B801844A7A967D109F117CF624C76@svrascmail01>
Message-ID: <44B874DA.8040102@isp.com>
It must be summer vacation time or something. Otherwise we wouldn't have 
time to contemplate the vagaries of our terminology. Still, this 
discussion has been enlightening for me because it has exposed the roots 
of some of our educational traditions and assumptions. For instance, 
there is the gender issue. There is the idea that children need to be 
treated differently than adults when it comes to educating them. There 
is the idea of "leading" towards greater knowledge, implying an active 
role for a teacher and placing the teacher out in front.
I find these assumptions rather troubling, although they help me 
understand how our present educational system has gotten where it is. 
What I find troubling is that both pedagogy and andragogy are used to 
signify the study of teaching rather than the study of learning. My 
personal philosophy of education defines learning as growth and that 
learning, not teaching, is the most important thing. I prefer to see my 
role as being one of helper, not leader. I can help students shape their 
goals; I can provide resources and experiences that will help them reach 
their goals. But I feel it is extremely important for me, and my 
students, to remember they are not MY goals.
It is so easy to get on the wrong track and begin to try to get the 
student to adopt the teacher's or the institution's goals. It could look 
like enrolling a student in a class that doesn't have enough students in 
it to make it viable. It could look like "teaching to the test" in order 
to show measurable progress. It could take any of dozens of other forms.
The study of teaching automatically puts the activity of the teacher 
front and center. I believe the study of learning puts the focus where 
it belongs, on the learner. It has been my experience that when you can 
center on learning and on the student, it cures a host of ills. Maybe 
the term epistemology, is closer to what I'm after.
Tom Woods
Community High School of Vermont
 Muro, Andres wrote:
>The discussion about calling the difference between children and adult
>education different things is purely rhetorical. The question is not
>about how to name the approach, but to determine what the differences
>are. It really doesn't matter if we call it pedagogy, andragogy or adult
>education. I prefer pedagogy for many reasons. One is that it is the
>term most accepted worldwide. The other reason is because it is the term
>used by Freirians whom I sympathize with. When Freire wrote the Pedagogy
>of the Oppressed and subsequently many literacy campaigns were launched
>in poor countries, the focus was on adult education.  
>
>Regarding the differences between children and adults there are things
>that remain a mystery. We know that the child's brain and the adult
>brain are different because one is growing and the other fully formed.
>We know that there is a critical time when children begin to acquire
>language that is essential in language acquisition. However, beyond
>that, we know some things may work with children. It is not clear if the
>language acquisition processes that work with children apply to adults
>because there hasn't been much research done with adults. However, we
>can report from our experience and, scientifically, until our
>experiences and finding for children are challenged by different
>findings for adults, I will use some of the findings for children and
>will try to apply them to adults. 
>
>For example, the work done by Cummins on native and second language
>acquisition and Basic interpersonal communication skills and cognitive
>academic language skills (BICS vs CALPS) has been done with children.
>However, I have used this model with adults with great success and
>experiences from others who report on this clearly support Cummins.
>Essentially the argument is that people can acquire academic skills in a
>language after they have basic interpersonal communication skills in
>that language. Academic skills from L1 can then transfer to L2. So,
>after learning about this I switched from doing ESL to doing Spanish GED
>with our Spanish speaking adults. The result has been that they quickly
>acquire academic skills in Spanish and then they can transfer them to
>ESL.
>
>I think that the most comprehensive work on reading acquisition comes
>from Frank Smith and it is based on children. However, w/o going into
>detail, I've found most of Smiths work on reading acquisition certainly
>applies to adults. 
>
>Carol Chomsky's five stages of reading acquisition were formulated with
>children. In my experience, they certainly apply to adults.  
>
>Of course, there are sociological, physiological and psychological
>factors that affect learning. These represent variables that are often
>not accounted for when studying language acquisition and are variables
>that are hard to isolate for scientific research. These include poverty,
>race, gender, culture, disability, health, relationships, self esteem,
>resistance, etc. 
>
>When using a language acquisition model with a group of learners and it
>doesn't work, we need to wonder if it didn't work because it wasn't the
>appropriate model, or because a variable, not accounted for, interfered
>with acquisition. Using one of Kozol's examples, if a child has a
>toothache and doesn't learn with a given approach, is the approach
>wrong? Or, maybe it is the fact that the pain does not allow him to
>concentrate. Another example: If a battered woman is not learning, is
>the approach a bad one, or the external circumstances are the obstacle.
>Finally, considering these sort of variables, are interventions to
>address these sort of variables elements that needs to be integrated
>into the approach or are they separate from the approach. To me, the
>greatest contribution of Freire and other critical pedagogists is the
>idea that any approach must address variables in context. In fact the
>intervention for the specific variable is the essence of any  approach.
>In other words, the intervention for the specific variable may even be
>more important than the approach itself. However, this is difficult to
>study scientifically and requires that we step outside the confines of
>positive science.   
>
>What do you all think?
>
>Andres
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov
>[mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Andrea Wilder
>Sent: Thursday, July 13, 2006 6:02 PM
>To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List
>Subject: [FocusOnBasics 428] Re: pedagogy/andragogy
>
>OK, I want to tuck something in here, it is not quite a response to Tom 
>because I don't yet have one.  But I will this fall, I hope.
>
>The brain comes "online" at regular intervals up to I believe 25 years. 
>A child's brain is very different from an adult's brain.  A lot has 
>been made of the frontal lobe in adolescents--it hasn't matured yet, 
>which "accounts'"f or aspects of adolescent thinking.
>
>Beyond this, it seems that the speed of processing may increase up to 
>60 years of age.  Speed is dependent on the  fatty coating of myelin 
>around the  nerves--fat speeds  electro-chemical impulses.  We "think" 
>using electrochemical neuron hook-ups.
>
>Much conscious learning takes the form of puzzle solving.  This is true 
>of how children learn to raad, I don't know if there is yet a 
>description of how adults learn to read.  I DON'T mean all that stuff 
>about  fluency, comprehension the way it  is usually talked about and 
>measured.
>
>I DO  mean the study by Ferreiro and Teberosky, "Literacy Before 
>Schooling."  Andres, you manly fellow, listen up!  The research was 
>done in Buenos Aries, from 1974-1976.
>
>Fischer  et al has done studies of adult learning ( students who are 
>adults) and come up with the same puzzle solving data.  Fischer can 
>graph his stuff--computer modeling.
>
>Andrea
>
>
>On Jul 13, 2006, at 11:17 AM, Julie McKinney wrote:
>
>  
>
>>Hi Everyone,
>>
>>I am passing on this message from Tom Sticht>
>>
>>Julie
>>
>>**********************************************************
>>Colleagues: My Google search found that the term andragogy was
>>originally
>>formulated by a German teacher, Alexander Kapp, in 1833. He used it to
>>describe elements of Plato's education theory. Andragogy (andr-
>>    
>>
>meaning
>  
>
>>'man') could be contrasted with pedagogy (paid- meaning 'child' and
>>agogos
>>meaning 'leading'). Following is a long two part note that makes
>>distinctions between the cognitive processes of children and adults
>>    
>>
>and
>  
>
>>the
>>reasons why teaching methods for the former may not be generally
>>transferable to adults across the years. The first note calls
>>    
>>
>attention
>  
>
>>to
>>how the present government activities are pushing adult education more
>>and
>>more into the mold of childhood education. The second note illustrates
>>with
>>the National Assessment of Adult Literacy that it is not valid across
>>the
>>age range from 16 to 90 years. The human cognitive system changes
>>dramatically with age and this is one reason why approaches to 
>>education
>>based on children's approaches are not transferable across the life
>>span.
>>As children grow into adulthood pedagogy should be transformed into
>>andragogy (andra- considered now as meaning "adult" rather than "man" 
>>in
>>keeping with the idea that language constantly changes and new 
>>functions
>>are found for old forms).
>>Tom Sticht
>>
>>Part 1. In Adult Literacy Education: Must Andragogy Recapitulate
>>Pedagogy?
>>
>>In many industrialized nations today there appears to be a movement in
>>adult
>>basic skills education to have andragogy, defined as theories and
>>methods
>>for teaching adults, recapitulate pedagogy, defined as theories and
>>methods
>>for teaching children. This is suggested by many ideas and actions
>>    
>>
>that
>  
>
>>are
>>being initiated in adult literacy education.
>>
>>For instance, in many cases adult literacy education is thought of as
>>    
>>
>a
>  
>
>>"second chance" at learning what should have been learned in the 
>>primary
>>grades of school. In this case, then, it seems to be assumed that 
>>adults
>>should be taught the "3 Rs" in the same way that children are taught
>>them.
>>Indeed, in the United States the National Institute for Literacy
>>(www.nifl.gov) includes web pages on the "scientific basis" for 
>>teaching
>>adults to read that are based primarily on research in the K-12 grade
>>school system. The focus is on teaching alphabetics (phonics,
>>    
>>
>decoding,
>  
>
>>word recognition) and reading comprehension in the same way that
>>children
>>are taught.
>>
>>The U. S. Department of Education has created a National Reporting
>>System
>>for adult literacy education that has requirements for programs to
>>    
>>
>show
>  
>
>>how
>>adults learning literacy progress upward through levels of proficiency
>>with
>>each level being about equal to two "grade levels" of proficiency, as
>>though adults in literacy programs are recapitulating  grade school.
>>Such
>>an approach is also found in the United Kingdom with adults in basic
>>skills
>>education expected to progress up to the same sorts of skills as
>>children in
>>the primary grades acquire.
>>
>>Further, adult literacy programs are often asked to measure progress
>>    
>>
>in
>  
>
>>adult learning in their programs using standardized tests that are 
>>based
>>on
>>methods used in measuring progress in the grade schools. In some
>>    
>>
>cases,
>  
>
>>adult literacy development is stated in terms of gain in reading grade
>>levels, as if adults were going to school for six hours a day for 180 
>>or
>>so
>>days a years to make a year's gain in reading or other basic skills.
>>
>>One consequence of this belief that andragogy should recapitulate
>>pedagogy
>>is that a great misunderstanding of adult literacy education occurs.
>>    
>>
>In
>  
>
>>particular, there is a tendency for policymakers and funding agencies 
>>to
>>think that adult literacy education is the same as children's literacy
>>education and that may lead to the idea that, instead of investing
>>    
>>
>much
>  
>
>>by
>>way of resources into adult literacy education, we will be better 
>>served
>>by
>>"stopping the problem at the source" and focussing instead upon young
>>children to prevent adult literacy problems.
>>
>>However, such an approach fails to recognize that, in thirty years of
>>trying, and after spending over a trillion dollars in preventing
>>reading failure in the public schools, recent data from the U. S.
>>National
>>Center for Education Statistics for the years from 1971 to 2004 show
>>that
>>reading scores for 9, 13, and 17 years old have remained about the 
>>same,
>>with some up and down fluctuations over the years. So up to now, at
>>least
>>in  the U. S., there has not been much success in "stopping the
>>    
>>
>problem
>  
>
>>at
>>the source."
>>
>>Also, the belief that andragogy ought to recapitulate pedagogy in
>>literacy
>>education fails to recognize that while the teaching of basic skills
>>    
>>
>as
>  
>
>>abstract "skills" may follow the same practices as for adults, the
>>"content" in which the basic skills instruction is embedded should not
>>be
>>the same as for children. Over one hundred years of adult literacy
>>practice
>>has provided professional wisdom indicating that adults should be 
>>taught
>>in
>>a "functional context," meaning that the content used to teach
>>    
>>
>reading,
>  
>
>>writing, and arithmetic ought to reflect the kinds of daily needs that
>>adults face.
>>
>>This showed itself in World Wars I and II during which time soldiers
>>were
>>taught to read using materials that embedded basic skills instruction
>>with
>>important military information. This type of taking account of adult's
>>functional contexts does occur in many adult literacy programs today
>>where
>>materials of importance to adults, such as what to do in case of 
>>spousal
>>abuse, what kinds of health problems adults might be facing with
>>themselves
>>or their children, how to deal with consumer fraud, workplace demands
>>for
>>basic skills, and on and on are used to teach literacy.
>>
>>The fact that the "content" of adult literacy programs is so different
>>from
>>that of primary grade children reflects attention to andragogy. But 
>>when
>>the focus is on abstract "skills" devoid of any particular content,
>>literacy instruction for adults begins to recapitulate the pedagogy of
>>children.
>>
>>There is a need today for adult literacy educators to stand up for
>>andragogy
>>and to insist upon the rights of adult literacy students to have their
>>education focussed upon their current life circumstances. There is
>>evidence
>>to suggest that this will not only make adult literacy learning more
>>desirable and palatable for adults, it can also lead to greater rates 
>>of
>>participation, retention, better learning, and greater transfer from 
>>the
>>classroom to the world in which the adults live outside the classroom.
>>
>>
>>Part 2. Fluid and Crystallized Literacy Assessment and Development
>>    
>>
>With
>  
>
>>Adults:
>>Challenges to the Validity of the 2003 National Assessment of Adult
>>Literacy
>>(NAAL)
>>
>>The disinction between the "skills' and "content" aspects of education
>>has
>>revealed itself in psychometric research on intelligence over the last
>>half
>>century. This research has
>>resulted in a trend to draw a distinction between the knowledge aspect
>>and
>>the processing skills aspects of intelligence. Beginning in the 1940s
>>and
>>continuing up to the 1990s, Raymond Cattell and various collaborators,
>>and
>>later many independent investigators, made the distinction between
>>"fluid
>>intelligence" and "crystallized intelligence." Cattell stated, "Fluid
>>intelligence is involved in tests that have very little cultural
>>content,
>>whereas crystallized intelligence loads abilities that have obviously
>>been
>>acquired, such as verbal and numerical ability, mechanical aptitude,
>>social
>>skills, and so on. The age curve of these two abilities is quite
>>different.
>>They both increase up to the age of about 15 or 16, and slightly
>>thereafter, to the early 20s perhaps. But thereafter fluid
>>    
>>
>intelligence
>  
>
>>steadily declines whereas crystallized intelligence stays high" (p. 
>>23).
>>
>>Cognitive psychologists have re-framed the "fluid" and "crystallized"
>>aspects of cognition into a model of a human cognitive system made-up 
>>of
>>a
>>long term memory which constitutes a knowledge base ("crystallized
>>intelligence") for the person, a working memory which engages various
>>processes ("fluid intelligence") that are going on at a given time 
>>using
>>information picked-up from both the long term memory's knowledge base
>>and
>>a sensory system that picks-up information from the external world
>>    
>>
>that
>  
>
>>the
>>person is in. Today, over forty years of research has validated the
>>usefulness of this simple three-part model for thinking about human
>>cognition.
>>
>>The model is important because it helps to develop a theory of
>>    
>>
>literacy
>  
>
>>as
>>information processing skills (reading as decoding printed to spoken
>>language) and comprehension (using the knowledge base to create 
>>meaning)
>>that can inform the development of new knowledge-based assessment
>>    
>>
>tools
>  
>
>>and new approaches to adult education.
>>
>>The International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS), the National Adult
>>Literacy Survey (NALS) of 1993 and the new 2003 National Assessment of
>>Adult
>>Literacy  (NAAL) all used "real world" tasks that are complex
>>information
>>processing
>>tasks that engage unknown mixtures of knowledge and processes. For
>>    
>>
>this
>  
>
>>reason it is not clear what they assess or what their instructional
>>implications are.
>>
>>Colleagues and I used the simple model of the human cognitive system
>>given
>>above to analyze performance on the NALS. It was  concluded that the
>>NALS
>>places large demands on working memory processes  ("fluid 
>>intelligence")
>>and that is what may account for some of the large declines in
>>performance
>>by older adults. To test this hypothesis, an assessment of knowledge
>>("crystallized intelligence") was developed and
>>used to assess adult's cultural knowledge of vocabulary, authors,
>>magazines
>>and famous people.. The results showed clearly that  younger adults
>>    
>>
>did
>  
>
>>better on the NALS with its heavy emphasis on working memory processes
>>("fluid literacy") and older adults did better than younger adults on
>>the
>>knowledge base ("crystallized literacy") assessment .
>>
>>Given the differences between younger and older adults on "fluid
>>literacy"
>>and "crystallized literacy"  there is reason to question the validity 
>>of
>>using "real world" tasks like those on the Prose, Document and
>>Quantitative
>>scales of the IALS, NALS, and  NAAL to represent the literacy
>>    
>>
>abilities
>  
>
>>of
>>adults. In general, when assessing the literacy of adults, it seems 
>>wise
>>to
>>keep in mind the differences between working memory or "fluid" aspects
>>of
>>literacy, such as fluency in reading with its emphasis upon efficiency
>>of
>>processing, and the "crystallized" or knowledge base aspects of 
>>reading.
>>
>>It is also important to keep in mind these differences between fluid 
>>and
>>crystallized literacy in teaching and learning. While it is possible
>>    
>>
>to
>  
>
>>teach knowledge, such as vocabulary, facts, principles, concepts, and
>>rules, it is not possible to directly teach fluid processing. Fluidity
>>of
>>information processing, such as fluency in reading, cannot be directly
>>taught. Rather, it must be developed through extensive, guided,
>>practice.
>>Though I know of no research on this theoretical framework regarding 
>>the
>>differences between fluid and crystallized literacy and instructional
>>practices in adult literacy programs, it can be hypothesized that all
>>learners are likely to make much faster improvements in crystallized
>>literacy than in fluid literacy, and this should be especially true
>>    
>>
>for
>  
>
>>older learners, especially those over 45 to 50 years of a
>>
>>Note; For references to fluid and crystallized intelligence  see
>>    
>>
>Beyond
>  
>
>>2000
>>by Thomas Sticht downloadable online at
>>http://www.nald.ca/fulltext/beyond/Beyond.PDF
>>
>>Thomas G. Sticht
>>International Consultant in Adult Education
>>2062 Valley View Blvd.
>>El Cajon, CA 92019-2059
>>Tel/fax: 96190 444-9133
>>Email: tsticht at aznet.net
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>Julie McKinney
>>Discussion List Moderator
>>World Education/NCSALL
>>jmckinney at worlded.org
>>
>>----------------------------------------------------
>>National Institute for Literacy
>>Focus on Basics mailing list
>>FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
>>To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to 
>>http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
>>
>>    
>>
>
>----------------------------------------------------
>National Institute for Literacy
>Focus on Basics mailing list
>FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
>To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
>http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
>
>----------------------------------------------------
>National Institute for Literacy
>Focus on Basics mailing list
>FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
>To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
>
>
>  
>
From andreawilder at comcast.net  Sat Jul 15 18:44:40 2006
From: andreawilder at comcast.net (Andrea Wilder)
Date: Sat, 15 Jul 2006 18:44:40 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 433] Re: pedagogy/andragogy
In-Reply-To: <44B874DA.8040102@isp.com>
References: <CA29C5E82B801844A7A967D109F117CF624C76@svrascmail01>
	<44B874DA.8040102@isp.com>
Message-ID: <dd4ec3f2380219b35e7e6b4686c3818c@comcast.net>
Hello, Tom!
Yup, it is definitely summer vacation.
I think you are right, too, about putting  the focus on learning.  
Learning is actually growth, up through a series of cognitive steps, 
down which the student falls  when  a new problem to be solved comes 
along.  Growth really does mean going from  the  concrete to the more 
abstract.  Every new problem, it's  the same.  We're all like that when 
we try to solve problems.
Happy summer.
Andrea
On Jul 15, 2006, at 12:53 AM, Woods wrote:
> It must be summer vacation time or something. Otherwise we wouldn't 
> have
> time to contemplate the vagaries of our terminology. Still, this
> discussion has been enlightening for me because it has exposed the 
> roots
> of some of our educational traditions and assumptions. For instance,
> there is the gender issue. There is the idea that children need to be
> treated differently than adults when it comes to educating them. There
> is the idea of "leading" towards greater knowledge, implying an active
> role for a teacher and placing the teacher out in front.
>
> I find these assumptions rather troubling, although they help me
> understand how our present educational system has gotten where it is.
> What I find troubling is that both pedagogy and andragogy are used to
> signify the study of teaching rather than the study of learning. My
> personal philosophy of education defines learning as growth and that
> learning, not teaching, is the most important thing. I prefer to see my
> role as being one of helper, not leader. I can help students shape 
> their
> goals; I can provide resources and experiences that will help them 
> reach
> their goals. But I feel it is extremely important for me, and my
> students, to remember they are not MY goals.
>
> It is so easy to get on the wrong track and begin to try to get the
> student to adopt the teacher's or the institution's goals. It could 
> look
> like enrolling a student in a class that doesn't have enough students 
> in
> it to make it viable. It could look like "teaching to the test" in 
> order
> to show measurable progress. It could take any of dozens of other 
> forms.
>
> The study of teaching automatically puts the activity of the teacher
> front and center. I believe the study of learning puts the focus where
> it belongs, on the learner. It has been my experience that when you can
> center on learning and on the student, it cures a host of ills. Maybe
> the term epistemology, is closer to what I'm after.
>
> Tom Woods
> Community High School of Vermont
>
>  Muro, Andres wrote:
>
>> The discussion about calling the difference between children and adult
>> education different things is purely rhetorical. The question is not
>> about how to name the approach, but to determine what the differences
>> are. It really doesn't matter if we call it pedagogy, andragogy or 
>> adult
>> education. I prefer pedagogy for many reasons. One is that it is the
>> term most accepted worldwide. The other reason is because it is the 
>> term
>> used by Freirians whom I sympathize with. When Freire wrote the 
>> Pedagogy
>> of the Oppressed and subsequently many literacy campaigns were 
>> launched
>> in poor countries, the focus was on adult education.
>>
>> Regarding the differences between children and adults there are things
>> that remain a mystery. We know that the child's brain and the adult
>> brain are different because one is growing and the other fully formed.
>> We know that there is a critical time when children begin to acquire
>> language that is essential in language acquisition. However, beyond
>> that, we know some things may work with children. It is not clear if 
>> the
>> language acquisition processes that work with children apply to adults
>> because there hasn't been much research done with adults. However, we
>> can report from our experience and, scientifically, until our
>> experiences and finding for children are challenged by different
>> findings for adults, I will use some of the findings for children and
>> will try to apply them to adults.
>>
>> For example, the work done by Cummins on native and second language
>> acquisition and Basic interpersonal communication skills and cognitive
>> academic language skills (BICS vs CALPS) has been done with children.
>> However, I have used this model with adults with great success and
>> experiences from others who report on this clearly support Cummins.
>> Essentially the argument is that people can acquire academic skills 
>> in a
>> language after they have basic interpersonal communication skills in
>> that language. Academic skills from L1 can then transfer to L2. So,
>> after learning about this I switched from doing ESL to doing Spanish 
>> GED
>> with our Spanish speaking adults. The result has been that they 
>> quickly
>> acquire academic skills in Spanish and then they can transfer them to
>> ESL.
>>
>> I think that the most comprehensive work on reading acquisition comes
>> from Frank Smith and it is based on children. However, w/o going into
>> detail, I've found most of Smiths work on reading acquisition 
>> certainly
>> applies to adults.
>>
>> Carol Chomsky's five stages of reading acquisition were formulated 
>> with
>> children. In my experience, they certainly apply to adults.
>>
>> Of course, there are sociological, physiological and psychological
>> factors that affect learning. These represent variables that are often
>> not accounted for when studying language acquisition and are variables
>> that are hard to isolate for scientific research. These include 
>> poverty,
>> race, gender, culture, disability, health, relationships, self esteem,
>> resistance, etc.
>>
>> When using a language acquisition model with a group of learners and 
>> it
>> doesn't work, we need to wonder if it didn't work because it wasn't 
>> the
>> appropriate model, or because a variable, not accounted for, 
>> interfered
>> with acquisition. Using one of Kozol's examples, if a child has a
>> toothache and doesn't learn with a given approach, is the approach
>> wrong? Or, maybe it is the fact that the pain does not allow him to
>> concentrate. Another example: If a battered woman is not learning, is
>> the approach a bad one, or the external circumstances are the 
>> obstacle.
>> Finally, considering these sort of variables, are interventions to
>> address these sort of variables elements that needs to be integrated
>> into the approach or are they separate from the approach. To me, the
>> greatest contribution of Freire and other critical pedagogists is the
>> idea that any approach must address variables in context. In fact the
>> intervention for the specific variable is the essence of any  
>> approach.
>> In other words, the intervention for the specific variable may even be
>> more important than the approach itself. However, this is difficult to
>> study scientifically and requires that we step outside the confines of
>> positive science.
>>
>> What do you all think?
>>
>> Andres
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov
>> [mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Andrea Wilder
>> Sent: Thursday, July 13, 2006 6:02 PM
>> To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List
>> Subject: [FocusOnBasics 428] Re: pedagogy/andragogy
>>
>> OK, I want to tuck something in here, it is not quite a response to 
>> Tom
>> because I don't yet have one.  But I will this fall, I hope.
>>
>> The brain comes "online" at regular intervals up to I believe 25 
>> years.
>> A child's brain is very different from an adult's brain.  A lot has
>> been made of the frontal lobe in adolescents--it hasn't matured yet,
>> which "accounts'"f or aspects of adolescent thinking.
>>
>> Beyond this, it seems that the speed of processing may increase up to
>> 60 years of age.  Speed is dependent on the  fatty coating of myelin
>> around the  nerves--fat speeds  electro-chemical impulses.  We "think"
>> using electrochemical neuron hook-ups.
>>
>> Much conscious learning takes the form of puzzle solving.  This is 
>> true
>> of how children learn to raad, I don't know if there is yet a
>> description of how adults learn to read.  I DON'T mean all that stuff
>> about  fluency, comprehension the way it  is usually talked about and
>> measured.
>>
>> I DO  mean the study by Ferreiro and Teberosky, "Literacy Before
>> Schooling."  Andres, you manly fellow, listen up!  The research was
>> done in Buenos Aries, from 1974-1976.
>>
>> Fischer  et al has done studies of adult learning ( students who are
>> adults) and come up with the same puzzle solving data.  Fischer can
>> graph his stuff--computer modeling.
>>
>> Andrea
>>
>>
>> On Jul 13, 2006, at 11:17 AM, Julie McKinney wrote:
>>
>>
>>
>>> Hi Everyone,
>>>
>>> I am passing on this message from Tom Sticht>
>>>
>>> Julie
>>>
>>> **********************************************************
>>> Colleagues: My Google search found that the term andragogy was
>>> originally
>>> formulated by a German teacher, Alexander Kapp, in 1833. He used it 
>>> to
>>> describe elements of Plato's education theory. Andragogy (andr-
>>>
>>>
>> meaning
>>
>>
>>> 'man') could be contrasted with pedagogy (paid- meaning 'child' and
>>> agogos
>>> meaning 'leading'). Following is a long two part note that makes
>>> distinctions between the cognitive processes of children and adults
>>>
>>>
>> and
>>
>>
>>> the
>>> reasons why teaching methods for the former may not be generally
>>> transferable to adults across the years. The first note calls
>>>
>>>
>> attention
>>
>>
>>> to
>>> how the present government activities are pushing adult education 
>>> more
>>> and
>>> more into the mold of childhood education. The second note 
>>> illustrates
>>> with
>>> the National Assessment of Adult Literacy that it is not valid across
>>> the
>>> age range from 16 to 90 years. The human cognitive system changes
>>> dramatically with age and this is one reason why approaches to
>>> education
>>> based on children's approaches are not transferable across the life
>>> span.
>>> As children grow into adulthood pedagogy should be transformed into
>>> andragogy (andra- considered now as meaning "adult" rather than "man"
>>> in
>>> keeping with the idea that language constantly changes and new
>>> functions
>>> are found for old forms).
>>> Tom Sticht
>>>
>>> Part 1. In Adult Literacy Education: Must Andragogy Recapitulate
>>> Pedagogy?
>>>
>>> In many industrialized nations today there appears to be a movement 
>>> in
>>> adult
>>> basic skills education to have andragogy, defined as theories and
>>> methods
>>> for teaching adults, recapitulate pedagogy, defined as theories and
>>> methods
>>> for teaching children. This is suggested by many ideas and actions
>>>
>>>
>> that
>>
>>
>>> are
>>> being initiated in adult literacy education.
>>>
>>> For instance, in many cases adult literacy education is thought of as
>>>
>>>
>> a
>>
>>
>>> "second chance" at learning what should have been learned in the
>>> primary
>>> grades of school. In this case, then, it seems to be assumed that
>>> adults
>>> should be taught the "3 Rs" in the same way that children are taught
>>> them.
>>> Indeed, in the United States the National Institute for Literacy
>>> (www.nifl.gov) includes web pages on the "scientific basis" for
>>> teaching
>>> adults to read that are based primarily on research in the K-12 grade
>>> school system. The focus is on teaching alphabetics (phonics,
>>>
>>>
>> decoding,
>>
>>
>>> word recognition) and reading comprehension in the same way that
>>> children
>>> are taught.
>>>
>>> The U. S. Department of Education has created a National Reporting
>>> System
>>> for adult literacy education that has requirements for programs to
>>>
>>>
>> show
>>
>>
>>> how
>>> adults learning literacy progress upward through levels of 
>>> proficiency
>>> with
>>> each level being about equal to two "grade levels" of proficiency, as
>>> though adults in literacy programs are recapitulating  grade school.
>>> Such
>>> an approach is also found in the United Kingdom with adults in basic
>>> skills
>>> education expected to progress up to the same sorts of skills as
>>> children in
>>> the primary grades acquire.
>>>
>>> Further, adult literacy programs are often asked to measure progress
>>>
>>>
>> in
>>
>>
>>> adult learning in their programs using standardized tests that are
>>> based
>>> on
>>> methods used in measuring progress in the grade schools. In some
>>>
>>>
>> cases,
>>
>>
>>> adult literacy development is stated in terms of gain in reading 
>>> grade
>>> levels, as if adults were going to school for six hours a day for 180
>>> or
>>> so
>>> days a years to make a year's gain in reading or other basic skills.
>>>
>>> One consequence of this belief that andragogy should recapitulate
>>> pedagogy
>>> is that a great misunderstanding of adult literacy education occurs.
>>>
>>>
>> In
>>
>>
>>> particular, there is a tendency for policymakers and funding agencies
>>> to
>>> think that adult literacy education is the same as children's 
>>> literacy
>>> education and that may lead to the idea that, instead of investing
>>>
>>>
>> much
>>
>>
>>> by
>>> way of resources into adult literacy education, we will be better
>>> served
>>> by
>>> "stopping the problem at the source" and focussing instead upon young
>>> children to prevent adult literacy problems.
>>>
>>> However, such an approach fails to recognize that, in thirty years of
>>> trying, and after spending over a trillion dollars in preventing
>>> reading failure in the public schools, recent data from the U. S.
>>> National
>>> Center for Education Statistics for the years from 1971 to 2004 show
>>> that
>>> reading scores for 9, 13, and 17 years old have remained about the
>>> same,
>>> with some up and down fluctuations over the years. So up to now, at
>>> least
>>> in  the U. S., there has not been much success in "stopping the
>>>
>>>
>> problem
>>
>>
>>> at
>>> the source."
>>>
>>> Also, the belief that andragogy ought to recapitulate pedagogy in
>>> literacy
>>> education fails to recognize that while the teaching of basic skills
>>>
>>>
>> as
>>
>>
>>> abstract "skills" may follow the same practices as for adults, the
>>> "content" in which the basic skills instruction is embedded should 
>>> not
>>> be
>>> the same as for children. Over one hundred years of adult literacy
>>> practice
>>> has provided professional wisdom indicating that adults should be
>>> taught
>>> in
>>> a "functional context," meaning that the content used to teach
>>>
>>>
>> reading,
>>
>>
>>> writing, and arithmetic ought to reflect the kinds of daily needs 
>>> that
>>> adults face.
>>>
>>> This showed itself in World Wars I and II during which time soldiers
>>> were
>>> taught to read using materials that embedded basic skills instruction
>>> with
>>> important military information. This type of taking account of 
>>> adult's
>>> functional contexts does occur in many adult literacy programs today
>>> where
>>> materials of importance to adults, such as what to do in case of
>>> spousal
>>> abuse, what kinds of health problems adults might be facing with
>>> themselves
>>> or their children, how to deal with consumer fraud, workplace demands
>>> for
>>> basic skills, and on and on are used to teach literacy.
>>>
>>> The fact that the "content" of adult literacy programs is so 
>>> different
>>> from
>>> that of primary grade children reflects attention to andragogy. But
>>> when
>>> the focus is on abstract "skills" devoid of any particular content,
>>> literacy instruction for adults begins to recapitulate the pedagogy 
>>> of
>>> children.
>>>
>>> There is a need today for adult literacy educators to stand up for
>>> andragogy
>>> and to insist upon the rights of adult literacy students to have 
>>> their
>>> education focussed upon their current life circumstances. There is
>>> evidence
>>> to suggest that this will not only make adult literacy learning more
>>> desirable and palatable for adults, it can also lead to greater rates
>>> of
>>> participation, retention, better learning, and greater transfer from
>>> the
>>> classroom to the world in which the adults live outside the 
>>> classroom.
>>>
>>>
>>> Part 2. Fluid and Crystallized Literacy Assessment and Development
>>>
>>>
>> With
>>
>>
>>> Adults:
>>> Challenges to the Validity of the 2003 National Assessment of Adult
>>> Literacy
>>> (NAAL)
>>>
>>> The disinction between the "skills' and "content" aspects of 
>>> education
>>> has
>>> revealed itself in psychometric research on intelligence over the 
>>> last
>>> half
>>> century. This research has
>>> resulted in a trend to draw a distinction between the knowledge 
>>> aspect
>>> and
>>> the processing skills aspects of intelligence. Beginning in the 1940s
>>> and
>>> continuing up to the 1990s, Raymond Cattell and various 
>>> collaborators,
>>> and
>>> later many independent investigators, made the distinction between
>>> "fluid
>>> intelligence" and "crystallized intelligence." Cattell stated, "Fluid
>>> intelligence is involved in tests that have very little cultural
>>> content,
>>> whereas crystallized intelligence loads abilities that have obviously
>>> been
>>> acquired, such as verbal and numerical ability, mechanical aptitude,
>>> social
>>> skills, and so on. The age curve of these two abilities is quite
>>> different.
>>> They both increase up to the age of about 15 or 16, and slightly
>>> thereafter, to the early 20s perhaps. But thereafter fluid
>>>
>>>
>> intelligence
>>
>>
>>> steadily declines whereas crystallized intelligence stays high" (p.
>>> 23).
>>>
>>> Cognitive psychologists have re-framed the "fluid" and "crystallized"
>>> aspects of cognition into a model of a human cognitive system made-up
>>> of
>>> a
>>> long term memory which constitutes a knowledge base ("crystallized
>>> intelligence") for the person, a working memory which engages various
>>> processes ("fluid intelligence") that are going on at a given time
>>> using
>>> information picked-up from both the long term memory's knowledge base
>>> and
>>> a sensory system that picks-up information from the external world
>>>
>>>
>> that
>>
>>
>>> the
>>> person is in. Today, over forty years of research has validated the
>>> usefulness of this simple three-part model for thinking about human
>>> cognition.
>>>
>>> The model is important because it helps to develop a theory of
>>>
>>>
>> literacy
>>
>>
>>> as
>>> information processing skills (reading as decoding printed to spoken
>>> language) and comprehension (using the knowledge base to create
>>> meaning)
>>> that can inform the development of new knowledge-based assessment
>>>
>>>
>> tools
>>
>>
>>> and new approaches to adult education.
>>>
>>> The International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS), the National Adult
>>> Literacy Survey (NALS) of 1993 and the new 2003 National Assessment 
>>> of
>>> Adult
>>> Literacy  (NAAL) all used "real world" tasks that are complex
>>> information
>>> processing
>>> tasks that engage unknown mixtures of knowledge and processes. For
>>>
>>>
>> this
>>
>>
>>> reason it is not clear what they assess or what their instructional
>>> implications are.
>>>
>>> Colleagues and I used the simple model of the human cognitive system
>>> given
>>> above to analyze performance on the NALS. It was  concluded that the
>>> NALS
>>> places large demands on working memory processes  ("fluid
>>> intelligence")
>>> and that is what may account for some of the large declines in
>>> performance
>>> by older adults. To test this hypothesis, an assessment of knowledge
>>> ("crystallized intelligence") was developed and
>>> used to assess adult's cultural knowledge of vocabulary, authors,
>>> magazines
>>> and famous people.. The results showed clearly that  younger adults
>>>
>>>
>> did
>>
>>
>>> better on the NALS with its heavy emphasis on working memory 
>>> processes
>>> ("fluid literacy") and older adults did better than younger adults on
>>> the
>>> knowledge base ("crystallized literacy") assessment .
>>>
>>> Given the differences between younger and older adults on "fluid
>>> literacy"
>>> and "crystallized literacy"  there is reason to question the validity
>>> of
>>> using "real world" tasks like those on the Prose, Document and
>>> Quantitative
>>> scales of the IALS, NALS, and  NAAL to represent the literacy
>>>
>>>
>> abilities
>>
>>
>>> of
>>> adults. In general, when assessing the literacy of adults, it seems
>>> wise
>>> to
>>> keep in mind the differences between working memory or "fluid" 
>>> aspects
>>> of
>>> literacy, such as fluency in reading with its emphasis upon 
>>> efficiency
>>> of
>>> processing, and the "crystallized" or knowledge base aspects of
>>> reading.
>>>
>>> It is also important to keep in mind these differences between fluid
>>> and
>>> crystallized literacy in teaching and learning. While it is possible
>>>
>>>
>> to
>>
>>
>>> teach knowledge, such as vocabulary, facts, principles, concepts, and
>>> rules, it is not possible to directly teach fluid processing. 
>>> Fluidity
>>> of
>>> information processing, such as fluency in reading, cannot be 
>>> directly
>>> taught. Rather, it must be developed through extensive, guided,
>>> practice.
>>> Though I know of no research on this theoretical framework regarding
>>> the
>>> differences between fluid and crystallized literacy and instructional
>>> practices in adult literacy programs, it can be hypothesized that all
>>> learners are likely to make much faster improvements in crystallized
>>> literacy than in fluid literacy, and this should be especially true
>>>
>>>
>> for
>>
>>
>>> older learners, especially those over 45 to 50 years of a
>>>
>>> Note; For references to fluid and crystallized intelligence  see
>>>
>>>
>> Beyond
>>
>>
>>> 2000
>>> by Thomas Sticht downloadable online at
>>> http://www.nald.ca/fulltext/beyond/Beyond.PDF
>>>
>>> Thomas G. Sticht
>>> International Consultant in Adult Education
>>> 2062 Valley View Blvd.
>>> El Cajon, CA 92019-2059
>>> Tel/fax: 96190 444-9133
>>> Email: tsticht at aznet.net
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Julie McKinney
>>> Discussion List Moderator
>>> World Education/NCSALL
>>> jmckinney at worlded.org
>>>
>>> ----------------------------------------------------
>>> National Institute for Literacy
>>> Focus on Basics mailing list
>>> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
>>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>> ----------------------------------------------------
>> National Institute for Literacy
>> Focus on Basics mailing list
>> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
>>
>> ----------------------------------------------------
>> National Institute for Literacy
>> Focus on Basics mailing list
>> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to 
>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------
> National Institute for Literacy
> Focus on Basics mailing list
> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to 
> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
>
From julie_mcKinney at worlded.org  Mon Jul 17 11:49:04 2006
From: julie_mcKinney at worlded.org (Julie  McKinney)
Date: Mon, 17 Jul 2006 11:49:04 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 434] Discussion on Assessment List: ESOL Level
	Decriptors in NRS
Message-ID: <s4bb799c.021@mail.jsi.com>
Hi Everyone,
There is an informal discussion on the Assessment list this week about the changes in ESOL Level Descriptors.
To subscribe to the Assessment Discussion List, go to:  http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/Assessment
See below for a description from Marie Cora.
All the best
Julie
****************************
Good morning, afternoon, and evening to you all.  I hope this email finds you well.
I wanted to let everyone know that during this week, Larry Condelli from AIR (American Institutes of Research), who works with the NRS, and Sarah Young, from CAL (Center for Applied Linguistics) who works with BEST Plus will be available to answer any questions you might have regarding the changes in ESOL Level Descriptors, which go into effect this summer (this month I believe).  I also encourage anyone who has questions regarding other ESOL tests (CASAS or EFF for example) to join in this Q&A.  Because the Level Descriptors have been adjusted, the tests used to track learning gains also have undergone some shifting and it is important that we understand what these changes are.  
Larry and Sarah will be present on the List during this week, but perhaps intermittently *?? replies may not come immediately.  I encourage you to post your question to the List, or to send your question to me for posting, if you prefer that.  
Larry, Sarah, and others working with any of the ESOL tests *?? feel free to jump in and give us a thumbnail sketch of what the changes are and how they might affect our work in programs and with students.
The NRS homepage is located at:  http://www.nrsweb.org/
To view information on the NRS Level Descriptors, please go to:  http://www.nrsweb.org/reports/NewESLdescriptors.pdf
At the bottom of the NRS homepage, see also:  NRS Changes for Program Year 2006
Thanks so much *?? I*??m looking forward to understanding this information, and hearing what folks questions are regarding the changes.
Marie T. Cora
Assessment Discussion List Moderator
marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com
 
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
From valleypeters at tetonliteracy.org  Mon Jul 17 13:48:54 2006
From: valleypeters at tetonliteracy.org (Valley Peters)
Date: Mon, 17 Jul 2006 11:48:54 -0600
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 435] Re: Andragynegogy and the individualized
	workbook approach
In-Reply-To: <20060714175213.934E086B15@ws7-1.us4.outblaze.com>
References: <20060714175213.934E086B15@ws7-1.us4.outblaze.com>
Message-ID: <B9AC073D-D389-4E8C-8F28-8FB50C5F0FCD@tetonliteracy.org>
Esther,
I have a great interest in reflection and use reflective practice  
with the teachers I train.  In the past, I have also asked English  
Language Learners to do reflective tasks, such as writing their  
history of learning English.  What guiding questions have you used in  
your "learner biography"?
Valley Peters
Director of Adult Services
valleypeters at tetonliteracy.org
307.733.9242
Teton Literacy Program provides literacy education and resources to  
open doors for individuals and families to achieve their personal,  
professional, and academic goals, as contributing members of our  
community.
On Jul 14, 2006, at 11:52 AM, e s wrote:
> Katrina and all,
> I was looking over the discussion and noticed your comment about  
> learners coming away from experiences with a sense of "ownership"  
> of the material.  This I believe is very significant, but is  
> difficult to create or hold the space for unless instructors are  
> open to the negotiation process that occur in learning situations.   
> We do not all have the same context or frame of reference therefore  
> learners are always negotiating "what's real" or applicable for  
> them. Unfortunately the K-12 system doesn't facilitate this kind of  
> process and many learners shut down because they just can't  
> reconcile all of the inconsistencies. Down the road, many of these  
> learners come into our programs and they continue to feel detached  
> from material.
>
> The "learner biography" process gives learners the time and space  
> to look at all of those earlier learning experiences, and to search  
> for significant themes that have emerged from these experiences.   
> It is a very powerful process and having gone through this myself  
> in graduate school, I know that the outcome can be quite  
> significant.  I would be willing to be involved in a research  
> project that could look more closely at this process for basic  
> literacy learners if there is an opportunity to support this kind  
> of research.  What do others think?
> Esther
>
> -- 
> _______________________________________________
>
> Search for businesses by name, location, or phone number.  -Lycos  
> Yellow Pages
>
> http://r.lycos.com/r/yp_emailfooter/http://yellowpages.lycos.com/ 
> default.asp?SRC=lycos10
>
> ----------------------------------------------------
> National Institute for Literacy
> Focus on Basics mailing list
> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to  
> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
>
>
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From amuro5 at epcc.edu  Mon Jul 17 17:13:41 2006
From: amuro5 at epcc.edu (Muro, Andres)
Date: Mon, 17 Jul 2006 15:13:41 -0600
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 436] Re: Andragynegogy and the
	individualizedworkbook approach
In-Reply-To: <B9AC073D-D389-4E8C-8F28-8FB50C5F0FCD@tetonliteracy.org>
Message-ID: <CA29C5E82B801844A7A967D109F117CF624E27@svrascmail01>
We have classes for migrant workers. Last year we started to have them
write their own stories which we published. You can see them at
http:bordersenses.com/memorias.
It was an incredible project. Some students had very limited literacy.
One woman only had 2nd grade education from Mexico, and she earned her
GED. She became a published author together with many other students. 
 
We are about to publish the second issue of memorias. If we get some of
the funding that we are expecting, we will continue to do this.
Publishing student stories is a powerful motivational tool for the
entire family.
 
Andres
 
 
________________________________
From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Valley Peters
Sent: Monday, July 17, 2006 11:49 AM
To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 435] Re: Andragynegogy and the
individualizedworkbook approach
 
Esther,
I have a great interest in reflection and use reflective practice with
the teachers I train.  In the past, I have also asked English Language
Learners to do reflective tasks, such as writing their history of
learning English.  What guiding questions have you used in your "learner
biography"?
 
Valley Peters
Director of Adult Services
valleypeters at tetonliteracy.org
307.733.9242
 
Teton Literacy Program provides literacy education and resources to open
doors for individuals and families to achieve their personal,
professional, and academic goals, as contributing members of our
community.
 
 
 
On Jul 14, 2006, at 11:52 AM, e s wrote:
Katrina and all,
I was looking over the discussion and noticed your comment about
learners coming away from experiences with a sense of "ownership" of the
material.  This I believe is very significant, but is difficult to
create or hold the space for unless instructors are open to the
negotiation process that occur in learning situations.  We do not all
have the same context or frame of reference therefore learners are
always negotiating "what's real" or applicable for them. Unfortunately
the K-12 system doesn't facilitate this kind of process and many
learners shut down because they just can't reconcile all of the
inconsistencies. Down the road, many of these learners come into our
programs and they continue to feel detached from material. 
 
The "learner biography" process gives learners the time and space to
look at all of those earlier learning experiences, and to search for
significant themes that have emerged from these experiences.  It is a
very powerful process and having gone through this myself in graduate
school, I know that the outcome can be quite significant.  I would be
willing to be involved in a research project that could look more
closely at this process for basic literacy learners if there is an
opportunity to support this kind of research.  What do others think?
Esther
 
-- 
_______________________________________________
 
Search for businesses by name, location, or phone number.  -Lycos Yellow
Pages
 
http://r.lycos.com/r/yp_emailfooter/http://yellowpages.lycos.com/default
.asp?SRC=lycos10
<http://r.lycos.com/r/yp_emailfooter/http:/yellowpages.lycos.com/default
.asp?SRC=lycos10> 
 
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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From david at collings.com  Tue Jul 18 10:53:45 2006
From: david at collings.com (David Collings)
Date: Tue, 18 Jul 2006 10:53:45 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 437] Re: Andragynegogy and theindividualizedworkbook
	approach
In-Reply-To: <CA29C5E82B801844A7A967D109F117CF624E27@svrascmail01>
Message-ID: <20060718145347.8E58E286CF@nb-207.win.net>
Andres, 
 
I just can't express how encouraging it is to hear that this project is
continuing.  For all of us in the adult education community, it is a joy to
know that such a collaboration is possible.  I know that I am straying from
the topic of "individualized approach," but I think it is important to
emphasize this success story.  The college and the community have joined to
support a project where individual learners also have a stake in a public
product.  In the process each contributor shares cultural specifics, but
also illuminates personal struggle, which is common to us all.  I want to
jump up and scream about how great this is.
 
It would probably work best as a new discussion thread, but I think many
people would like to know more about these personal successes and what was
needed to make each of them work.
 
David
 
 
David Collings
Technology Coordinator
Delaware Adult and Community Education Network
david at collings.com
  _____  
From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov]
On Behalf Of Muro, Andres
Sent: Monday, July 17, 2006 5:14 PM
To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 436] Re: Andragynegogy and theindividualizedworkbook
approach
We have classes for migrant workers. Last year we started to have them write
their own stories which we published. You can see them at
http:bordersenses.com/memorias.
It was an incredible project. Some students had very limited literacy. One
woman only had 2nd grade education from Mexico, and she earned her GED. She
became a published author together with many other students. 
 
We are about to publish the second issue of memorias. If we get some of the
funding that we are expecting, we will continue to do this. Publishing
student stories is a powerful motivational tool for the entire family.
 
Andres
 
 
  _____  
From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov]
On Behalf Of Valley Peters
Sent: Monday, July 17, 2006 11:49 AM
To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 435] Re: Andragynegogy and the
individualizedworkbook approach
 
Esther,
I have a great interest in reflection and use reflective practice with the
teachers I train.  In the past, I have also asked English Language Learners
to do reflective tasks, such as writing their history of learning English.
What guiding questions have you used in your "learner biography"?
 
Valley Peters
Director of Adult Services
valleypeters at tetonliteracy.org
307.733.9242
 
Teton Literacy Program provides literacy education and resources to open
doors for individuals and families to achieve their personal, professional,
and academic goals, as contributing members of our community.
 
 
 
On Jul 14, 2006, at 11:52 AM, e s wrote:
Katrina and all,
I was looking over the discussion and noticed your comment about learners
coming away from experiences with a sense of "ownership" of the material.
This I believe is very significant, but is difficult to create or hold the
space for unless instructors are open to the negotiation process that occur
in learning situations.  We do not all have the same context or frame of
reference therefore learners are always negotiating "what's real" or
applicable for them. Unfortunately the K-12 system doesn't facilitate this
kind of process and many learners shut down because they just can't
reconcile all of the inconsistencies. Down the road, many of these learners
come into our programs and they continue to feel detached from material. 
 
The "learner biography" process gives learners the time and space to look at
all of those earlier learning experiences, and to search for significant
themes that have emerged from these experiences.  It is a very powerful
process and having gone through this myself in graduate school, I know that
the outcome can be quite significant.  I would be willing to be involved in
a research project that could look more closely at this process for basic
literacy learners if there is an opportunity to support this kind of
research.  What do others think?
Esther
 
-- 
_______________________________________________
 
Search for businesses by name, location, or phone number.  -Lycos Yellow
Pages
 
http://r.lycos.com/r/yp_emailfooter/http://yellowpages.lycos.com/default.asp
?SRC=lycos10
<http://r.lycos.com/r/yp_emailfooter/http:/yellowpages.lycos.com/default.asp
?SRC=lycos10> 
 
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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From julie_mcKinney at worlded.org  Tue Jul 18 11:58:33 2006
From: julie_mcKinney at worlded.org (Julie  McKinney)
Date: Tue, 18 Jul 2006 11:58:33 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 438]  Student stories and memorias
Message-ID: <s4bccd19.041@mail.jsi.com>
Good idea, David,
I think it would be great to hear from others who have done similar
projects, so here's the thread! And you talk about how this was a
collaboration between the college and the community. Can you tell us
about how this collaboration worked? Andres, you too.
Have others of you done similar projects? Please tell us about them.
All the best,
Julie
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
From steve_quann at worlded.org  Tue Jul 18 18:53:34 2006
From: steve_quann at worlded.org (Steve Quann)
Date: Tue, 18 Jul 2006 18:53:34 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 439] Re: Student stories and memorias
Message-ID: <s4bd2e3e.072@mail.jsi.com>
Well, I agree with Andres.  Publishing student wortk is powerful. Not
only for the learner but for the teacher as well. Below are few sites
teachers and students have worked on under the auspices of World
Education with a grant from NIFL. Teachers from Connecticut and Vermont
participated in workshops covering best practices for project-based
activities using the Web and the basics of designing a Web site.
Teachers then returned to their classes to see what interests students
had and involved them where possible in the creation of websites. Mind
you, these were on free hosting sites so they are not free of banners
and so nowhere near as beautiful as Memorias del Silencio, but the
content is wonderful and shows a great first effort by teachers. 
http://nicholsonesl.tripod.com/
http://ttc-student.tripod.com/
http://plainvilleesl.tripod.com/
http://welearntogether.tripod.com/id31.html
Regards,
Steve Quann
World Education
44 Farnsworth Street
Boston, MA 
617.482.9485
>>> julie_mcKinney at worlded.org 07/18/06 11:58 AM >>>
Good idea, David,
I think it would be great to hear from others who have done similar
projects, so here's the thread! And you talk about how this was a
collaboration between the college and the community. Can you tell us
about how this collaboration worked? Andres, you too.
Have others of you done similar projects? Please tell us about them.
All the best,
Julie
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
From e.b.shupe at lycos.com  Wed Jul 19 09:24:53 2006
From: e.b.shupe at lycos.com (e.b.shupe)
Date: Wed, 19 Jul 2006 09:24:53 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 440] [RE] Andragynegogy and the individualized
	workbook approach
Message-ID: <20060719092453.HM.00000000000006B@e.b.shupe.bos-mail-wwl15.bos.lycos.com.lycos.com>
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
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From valleypeters at tetonliteracy.org  Wed Jul 19 14:57:45 2006
From: valleypeters at tetonliteracy.org (Valley Peters)
Date: Wed, 19 Jul 2006 12:57:45 -0600
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 441] Re: [RE] Andragynegogy and the individualized
	workbook approach
In-Reply-To: <20060719092453.HM.00000000000006B@e.b.shupe.bos-mail-wwl15.bos.lycos.com.lycos.com>
References: <20060719092453.HM.00000000000006B@e.b.shupe.bos-mail-wwl15.bos.lycos.com.lycos.com>
Message-ID: <AFD04C3C-39C4-44E7-9A57-973B1DF42C91@tetonliteracy.org>
Esther,
I appreciate your response and hope to use this process with our  
intermediate and advanced ESOL students as well as our ABE  
learners.    We have few ABE students and they work one-on-one with  
tutors, but I want to introduce this idea to tutors.  I can see  
having a workshop with tutors and students where we all explore this  
together!
Thank you,
Valley
Valley Peters
Director of Adult Services
valleypeters at tetonliteracy.org
307.733.9242
Teton Literacy Program provides literacy education and resources to  
open doors for individuals and families to achieve their personal,  
professional, and academic goals, as contributing members of our  
community.
On Jul 19, 2006, at 7:24 AM, e.b.shupe wrote:
> I'm sorry for such a delayed reply to Valley's email but my email  
> set-up changed and there was a delay in the postings to me. In  
> answer to your question about "reflection questions" used in the  
> process. THe learner biography process starts in group format  
> (orally) with discussion about early learning experiences. THe  
> exchange is quite open ended with freedom to talk about both formal  
> and informal types of learning experiences. It then moves into a  
> more formal stage of the process, which is the writing part. Once  
> the group (inclusive of the learner) has identified one or more  
> pervasive theme/s the learner can begin to write his/her story as  
> it relates to theme identified. It is in the writing that the  
> learner gains both the awareness and distance to see the ways in  
> which his/her identity as a learner had been shaped by those  
> experiences. I may or may not have answered your question directly  
> but you can find more information about this process in "learning  
> from our live! s" by Pierre Dominice. If you do decide to  
> facilitate this process, I would love to hear more about your  
> experiences, and I would be happy to share more with you off-line.
> thanks,
> Esther
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> ---------[ Received Mail Content ]----------
>
> Subject : [FocusOnBasics 426] Andragynegogy and the individualized  
> workbook	approach
>
> Date : Thu, 13 Jul 2006 12:11:06 -0400
>
> From : "Julie McKinney" <julie_mcKinney at worlded.org>
>
> To : <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
>
>
>
> Everyone,
>
>
>
> Now that we have gone back to the roots, explored some merits of child
>
> vs. adult-based and teacher vs. student-based approaches, and come up
>
> with a fair term, I would like to go back to Esther's original  
> question:
>
>
>
> "...how we can as adult educators help learners explore alternative  
> ways
>
> of learning in the classroom. Pierre Dominice has explored the process
>
> of "learner biographies" with much success with graduate students... I
>
> think this journey back to "roots of learning" can help learners
>
> identify ways in which they have been both successful/unsuccessful in
>
> learning. What are some thoughts on this type of process for basic
>
> literacy/ESOL students?"
>
>
>
> Has anyone used this kind of process, and with what kind of results?
>
>
>
> Julie
>
>
>
> P.S. See below for other comments from our recent discussion that are
>
> relevant to this process:
>
> **************************************************************
>
> Perhaps a reason why is that teachers tend to teach the way they were
>
> taught. We are prisoners of our own experience. This is how  
> educational
>
> traditions perpetuate. It is extremely difficult to break out, and  
> when
>
> we do, we encounter students who say, "just give me the workbook." I
>
> guess students are prisoners of their experience too.
>
> - Tom Woods
>
>
>
> it is so important for instructors to be critically reflective in  
> their
>
> work. We need to explore some of the hidden beliefs that have helped
>
> formulate our ideological principles which in turn point us to our
>
> methods of teaching. A few weeks past the list discussed  
> videotaping as
>
> a form of Professional Development for adult ed instructors. I believe
>
> that these types of PD opportunities for educators can help  
> facilitate a
>
> better understanding of what impact (positive and negative) we are
>
> having with learners in the classroom, as well as help us to explore
>
> creative alternatives in learning situations.
>
> - Esther
>
>
>
> We need to help them find ways to learn that incorporate what they  
> know,
>
> and how they have learned in the past, so that they have some sense of
>
> ownership in their own learning.
>
> - Katrina
>
>
>
>
>
> Julie McKinney
>
> Discussion List Moderator
>
> World Education/NCSALL
>
> jmckinney at worlded.org
>
>
>
> >>> e.b.shupe at lycos.com 07/11/06 10:47 AM >>>
>
> Virgnia,
>
> I think the issue that is being raised is part of parcel of what adult
>
> learners bring to learning experiences from their early K-12
>
> experiences. Sometimes it can be helpful to talk about alternative  
> ways
>
> of learning in the classroom as adults. This isn't a quick and easy
>
> remedy reply but I wanted to raise the question of how we can as adult
>
> educators help learners explore alternative ways of learning in the
>
> classroom. Pierre Dominice has explored the process of "learner
>
> biographies" with much success with graduate students. THis is a  
> process
>
> of exploring learner experiences in learning situations both in
>
> classroom and out and some critical themes that have been  
> forumulated as
>
> a result of these experiences. I think this journey back to "roots of
>
> learning" can help learners identify ways in which they have been both
>
> successful/unsuccessful in learning. What are some thoughts on this
>
> type of process for basic literacy/ESOL students?
>
> Esther
>
>
>
> -- 
>
> _______________________________________________
>
>
>
> Search for businesses by name, location, or phone number. -Lycos  
> Yellow
>
> Pages
>
>
>
> http://r.lycos.com/r/yp_emailfooter/http://yellowpages.lycos.com/ 
> default.asp?SRC=lycos10
>
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------
>
> National Institute for Literacy
>
> Focus on Basics mailing list
>
> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
>
> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
>
> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
>
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------
>
> National Institute for Literacy
>
> Focus on Basics mailing list
>
> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
>
> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to  
> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
>
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------
> National Institute for Literacy
> Focus on Basics mailing list
> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to  
> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
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From b.garner4 at verizon.net  Thu Jul 20 16:21:13 2006
From: b.garner4 at verizon.net (Barbara Garner)
Date: Thu, 20 Jul 2006 15:21:13 -0500 (CDT)
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 442]  Literacy Vacancy, Ghana
Message-ID: <26992479.302421153426873427.JavaMail.root@vms068.mailsrvcs.net>
There's an interesting job available for a k-12 literacy specialist in Ghana. Please share the information below with anyone you think might be suitable. 
Thanks, Barb Garner
b.garner4 at verizon.net
The position, with EDC, requires 
&#61607;	An advanced degree, or equivalent experience, in education, with a focus on curriculum development;
&#61607;	At least 10 years experience designing and implementing literacy programs, preferably in Africa;
&#61607;	Demonstrated success in participatory management and team building; and
&#61607;	Experience working within the USAID environment.
The full description is available at
http://notes.edc.org/EDC/jobs.nsf/wzCluster/255B0A50A3CDE23F852571B00054284E
From julie_mcKinney at worlded.org  Fri Jul 21 10:28:26 2006
From: julie_mcKinney at worlded.org (Julie  McKinney)
Date: Fri, 21 Jul 2006 10:28:26 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 443]  Learner biography process
Message-ID: <s4c0ac6c.066@mail.jsi.com>
Has anyone else out there used the kind of learner biography process
that Esther describes as a way to explore past learning experiences? 
Valley talked of training tutors to use this approach...has anyone done
a training in this approach?
Esther and all, after the writing, how do you process the past
experiences to connect them to the here-and-now? How does the past guide
the learner's present and future learning experience?
Julie
***********************************
I'm sorry for such a delayed reply to Valley's email but my email set-up
changed and there was a delay in the postings to me. In answer to your
question about "reflection questions" used in the process. THe learner
biography process starts in group format (orally) with discussion about
early learning experiences. THe exchange is quite open ended with
freedom to talk about both formal and informal types of learning
experiences. It then moves into a more formal stage of the process,
which is the writing part. Once the group (inclusive of the learner) has
identified one or more pervasive theme/s the learner can begin to write
his/her story as it relates to theme identified. It is in the writing
that the learner gains both the awareness and distance to see the ways
in which his/her identity as a learner had been shaped by those
experiences. I may or may not have answered your question directly but
you can find more information about this process in "learning from our
live! s" by Pierre Dominice. If you do decide to facilitate this
process, I would love to hear more about your experiences, and I would
be happy to share more with you off-line. 
thanks, 
Esther 
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
>>> e.b.shupe at lycos.com 07/19/06 9:24 AM >>>
From julie_mcKinney at worlded.org  Fri Jul 21 10:50:11 2006
From: julie_mcKinney at worlded.org (Julie  McKinney)
Date: Fri, 21 Jul 2006 10:50:11 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 444] Guest discussion on Workplace Literacy List
	next week
Message-ID: <s4c0b182.067@mail.jsi.com>
Hi Everyone, 
Please see Donna Brian's announcement below if you are interested in Workplace Literacy!
All the best,
Julie
**************************************
Guest Discussion: Workplace Literacy 
 
Monday, July 24  -  Friday, July 28
 
Guest: Alison Campbell - please see Alison's bio below 
 
To subscribe to the Workplace List, go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/Workplace/ 
 
 
Colleagues,
 
Next week, Monday July 24 - Friday July 28, we are privileged to have ,  as a guest on the Workplace Literacy Discussion List ,  Alison Campbell of the Conference Board of Canada. Many of you already know of her work, but for those of you who don't, she has 3 websites that I consider sister sites of the Workforce Education site. Where our Workforce site is geared more toward adult education instructors with a workforce focus, her sites are geared more toward business and industry employers who want and/or need to upgrade their workers' literacy skills. The Conference Board is also responsible for quite a lot of good research which Alison has been a part of. 
 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
Bio
Alison Campbell
       
Alison Campbell is a Senior Research Associate with the Education and Learning practice at The Conference Board of Canada. She acts as lead researcher, author and web site manager on various research projects in the area of workplace education and learning. This year, Alison is also managing the Conference Board?s International Workplace Education and Learning Conference: Sharing Global Solutions (Toronto, December 5-6, 2006).
 
In 2005, Alison authored Profiting from Literacy: Creating a Sustainable Workplace Literacy Program and co-authored Literacy, Life and Employment: An Analysis of Canadian International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS) Microdata. In 2003, Alison authored Strength from Within: Overcoming the Barriers to Workplace Literacy Development as part of a national research study on the challenges employers face in designing and implementing workplace literacy and basic skills programs. In 2002, she co-managed a national study in the U.S. on the impacts of joint labor-management education programs. She co-authored the final report: Success by Design: What Works in Workforce Development. Alison currently manages a pilot project on the benefits of a national credit review service to improve credentialing opportunities for workplace education. 
 
Her work on workplace literacy and basic skills development extends beyond Canada to the United States. Alison manages and makes updates to www.work-basedlearning.org, www.scorecardforskills.com and www.workplacebasicskills.com * a suite of web sites funded by the U.S. Department of Education that act as free resources to American employers and their partners who wish to improve employees? skills.
 
 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
As you can tell from her bio, Alison has expertise in many areas of workplace literacy.  Attached to this message is a complete listing of her publications and presentations, which are available for free download on the Conference Board site.  You must, however, register with the site to access them. (Sign in at http://www.conferenceboard.ca/boardwiseii/Signin.asp and when you have the option, browse documents by "author" choosing "Campbell, Alison.")  Access to the web sites does not require registration, and they are linked in her bio above. Alison is willing to discuss with us any of the areas of workplace literacy on her web sites or in her publications. It should be a wide-ranging discussion!  I hope you will be able to participate!
 
Donna
Donna Brian, moderator
Workplace Literacy Discussion List
Center for Literacy Studies at The University of Tennessee
djgbrian at utk.edu
 
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
From e.b.shupe at lycos.com  Sat Jul 22 11:01:37 2006
From: e.b.shupe at lycos.com (e.b.shupe)
Date: Sat, 22 Jul 2006 11:01:37 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 445]  [RE] Learner biography process
Message-ID: <20060722110137.HM.00000000000007c@e.b.shupe.bos-mail-wwl15.bos.lycos.com.lycos.com>
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From hsnow at cougar.kean.edu  Sun Jul 23 14:28:47 2006
From: hsnow at cougar.kean.edu (Hugh D. Snow)
Date: Sun, 23 Jul 2006 13:28:47 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 446] Re: [RE] Learner biography process
Message-ID: <e5b9ca4e.ca4ee5b9@kean.edu>
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National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
From e.b.shupe at lycos.com  Mon Jul 24 09:30:28 2006
From: e.b.shupe at lycos.com (e.b.shupe)
Date: Mon, 24 Jul 2006 09:30:28 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 447]  [RE] Re: [RE] Learner biography process
Message-ID: <20060724093028.HM.00000000000008L@e.b.shupe.bos-mail-wwl15.bos.lycos.com.lycos.com>
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From valleypeters at tetonliteracy.org  Mon Jul 24 12:19:16 2006
From: valleypeters at tetonliteracy.org (Valley Peters)
Date: Mon, 24 Jul 2006 10:19:16 -0600
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 448] Re: [RE] Learner biography process
In-Reply-To: <20060722110137.HM.00000000000007c@e.b.shupe.bos-mail-wwl15.bos.lycos.com.lycos.com>
References: <20060722110137.HM.00000000000007c@e.b.shupe.bos-mail-wwl15.bos.lycos.com.lycos.com>
Message-ID: <0F5A3687-6DC3-44B5-8002-650A2B3A295E@tetonliteracy.org>
Hi,
As I was thinking about how to train tutors to do this, I thought one  
of the best ways would be to guide them through the same experience.   
I used to ask tutors to write about a learning experience and we  
would identify what helped and what hindered that person's learning.   
I can see expanding this in the way that Esther talks about below.  I  
think it also would be useful to offer our ELL students, who speak  
Spanish, a chance to write about this in their native language.
Has anyone tried to use this process when working in the student's  
native language?
Valley
On Jul 22, 2006, at 9:01 AM, e.b.shupe wrote:
> Hi Everyone,
> Since we generally identify learning and growth in terms of change,  
> the learner biography process through discussion, and writing, help  
> learners to gain more insight into behavior patterns that have kept  
> them from moving forward as well as the freedom to bring about  
> change and growth. For example, if in the process you discover that  
> early experiences in learning spurned exploration or investigation,  
> the result would be a learner identity that would be reticent to  
> reach out and ask questions. I might add that not all experiences  
> that learners recall are from formal learning but informal  
> experiences as well. Consequently many ABE learners come to classes  
> with a distorted image of themselves as learners. They carry with  
> them past experiences and knowledge from those experiences that  
> keep them from active participation in their own learning as well  
> as the power to contribute to other ways of knowing. And so the  
> result for many learners is lack of persistence. Many commun! ity  
> colleges have in place a "student success seminar" that highlights  
> ways in which "at risk" students can learn about successful  
> learning behavior patterns. This is only part of what is needed for  
> many learners. THe approach needs to be centered around the learner  
> and his/her experiences and ways in which learners can themselves  
> "re-story" or reframe those experiences to reflect a more positive  
> change in future learning. They key is in the restorying of the  
> experiences. Instead of coming away feeling inadequate or  
> deficient, we come away with a larger understanding of covert  
> forces that help shape our identities.
> I would be interested to hear what others think. thanks, Esther
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> ---------[ Received Mail Content ]----------
>
> Subject : [FocusOnBasics 443] Learner biography process
>
> Date : Fri, 21 Jul 2006 10:28:26 -0400
>
> From : "Julie McKinney"
>
> To :
>
>
>
> Has anyone else out there used the kind of learner biography process
>
> that Esther describes as a way to explore past learning experiences?
>
>
>
> Valley talked of training tutors to use this approach...has anyone  
> done
>
> a training in this approach?
>
>
>
> Esther and all, after the writing, how do you process the past
>
> experiences to connect them to the here-and-now? How does the past  
> guide
>
> the learner's present and future learning experience?
>
>
>
> Julie
>
>
>
> ***********************************
>
> I'm sorry for such a delayed reply to Valley's email but my email  
> set-up
>
> changed and there was a delay in the postings to me. In answer to your
>
> question about "reflection questions" used in the process. THe learner
>
> biography process starts in group format (orally) with discussion  
> about
>
> early learning experiences. THe exchange is quite open ended with
>
> freedom to talk about both formal and informal types of learning
>
> experiences. It then moves into a more formal stage of the process,
>
> which is the writing part. Once the group (inclusive of the  
> learner) has
>
> identified one or more pervasive theme/s the learner can begin to  
> write
>
> his/her story as it relates to theme identified. It is in the writing
>
> that the learner gains both the awareness and distance to see the ways
>
> in which his/her identity as a learner had been shaped by those
>
> experiences. I may or may not have answered your question directly but
>
> you can find more information about this process in "learning from our
>
> live! s" by Pierre Dominice. If you do decide to facilitate this
>
> process, I would love to hear more about your experiences, and I would
>
> be happy to share more with you off-line.
>
> thanks,
>
> Esther
>
> Julie McKinney
>
> Discussion List Moderator
>
> World Education/NCSALL
>
> jmckinney at worlded.org
>
>
>
> >>> e.b.shupe at lycos.com 07/19/06 9:24 AM >>>
>
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------
>
> National Institute for Literacy
>
> Focus on Basics mailing list
>
> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
>
> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to  
> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
>
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------
> National Institute for Literacy
> Focus on Basics mailing list
> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to  
> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
Valley Peters
Director of Adult Services
valleypeters at tetonliteracy.org
307.733.9242
Teton Literacy Program provides literacy education and resources to  
open doors for individuals and families to achieve their personal,  
professional, and academic goals, as contributing members of our  
community.
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From kabeall at comcast.net  Mon Jul 24 11:19:43 2006
From: kabeall at comcast.net (Kaye Beall)
Date: Mon, 24 Jul 2006 11:19:43 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 449]  New from NCSALL--Training Guides
Message-ID: <002701c6af34$9752e430$0202a8c0@your4105e587b6>
Practitioner Research Training Guide: Research-based Adult Reading
Instruction
This practitioner research training guide provides comprehensive
instructions for facilitating a 31-hour training that guides practitioners
through an investigation of a problem related to reading. The practitioners
conduct the research in their own classrooms. This guide provides all the
necessary materials and clear instructions to plan and facilitate a
four-session practitioner research training. The sessions vary in length.
To download the training guide, go to
http://www.ncsall.net/index.php?id=1143
 
Training Guide: Study Circle Facilitators
This training guide provides comprehensive instructions for preparing
experienced adult education practitioners to facilitate NCSALL study
circles. The training focuses on the NCSALL study circle, Research-based
Adult <http://www.ncsall.net/?id=892>  Reading Instruction. However, the
training can be adapted to prepare facilitators for NCSALL study circles in
general or on another topic. The guide provides all the necessary materials
and clear instructions to plan and facilitate a one-day, study circle
facilitators training. The training is six hours in length.
To download the training guide, go to
http://www.ncsall.net/index.php?id=1137
 
 
****************
Kaye Beall
Outreach Coordinator/NCSALL Dissemination Project
World Education
4401 S. Madison St.
Muncie, IN  47302
Tel: 765-717-3942
Fax: 208-694-8262
kaye_beall at worlded.org
http://www.ncsall.net
 
 
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From robinschwarz1 at aol.com  Tue Jul 25 22:20:27 2006
From: robinschwarz1 at aol.com (robinschwarz1 at aol.com)
Date: Tue, 25 Jul 2006 22:20:27 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 450] Re: [RE] Learner biography process
In-Reply-To: <0F5A3687-6DC3-44B5-8002-650A2B3A295E@tetonliteracy.org>
References: <20060722110137.HM.00000000000007c@e.b.shupe.bos-mail-wwl15.bos.lycos.com.lycos.com>
	<0F5A3687-6DC3-44B5-8002-650A2B3A295E@tetonliteracy.org>
Message-ID: <8C87E7131642560-E74-1635@mblk-r34.sysops.aol.com>
Valley, I believe writing in the student's native language was 
addressed in an issue of TESOL Matters last year sometime.  Look 
through their archives-- I could be having a senior moment and it was 
FOB, but I don't think so.  It is a WONDERFUL idea.  I am really 
entranced with this idea in any form, but for ELL's it would be 
especially positive.  The article, as I remember,  actually talked 
about having  ELL's write about something meaningful in their native 
language to help them feel less helpless as learners.  Then the 
suggestion was to begin to help them acquire the English to be able to 
speak or write about what they wrote about in their language.   I was 
struck by how respectful that process would be of learners who are 
often regarded as unable to express themselves about anything.
This Learner biography is something I will be anxious to pursue when I 
get a chance.
Robin Lovrien
-----Original Message-----
From: valleypeters at tetonliteracy.org
To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
Sent: Mon, 24 Jul 2006 12:19 PM
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 448] Re: [RE] Learner biography process
Hi,As I was thinking about how to train tutors to do this, I thought 
one of the best ways would be to guide them through the same 
experience.? I used to ask tutors to write about a learning experience 
and we would identify what helped and what hindered that person's 
learning.? I can see expanding this in the way that Esther talks about 
below.? I think it also would be useful to offer our ELL students, who 
speak Spanish, a chance to write about this in their native language.
Has anyone tried to use this process when working in the student's 
native language?
Valley
On Jul 22, 2006, at 9:01 AM, e.b.shupe wrote:
Hi Everyone,
Since we generally identify learning and growth in terms of change, the 
learner biography process through discussion, and writing, help 
learners to gain more insight into behavior patterns that have kept 
them from moving forward as well as the freedom to bring about change 
and growth. For example, if in the process you discover that early 
experiences in learning spurned exploration or investigation, the 
result would be a learner identity that would be reticent to reach out 
and ask questions. I might add that not all experiences that learners 
recall are from formal learning but informal experiences as well. 
Consequently many ABE learners come to classes with a distorted image 
of themselves as learners. They carry with them past experiences and 
knowledge from those experiences that keep them from active 
participation in their own learning as well as the power to contribute 
to other ways of knowing. And so the result for many learners is lack 
of persistence. Many commun! ity colleges have in place a "student 
success seminar" that highlights ways in which "at risk" students can 
learn about successful learning behavior patterns. This is only part of 
what is needed for many learners. THe approach needs to be centered 
around the learner and his/her experiences and ways in which learners 
can themselves "re-story" or reframe those experiences to reflect a 
more positive change in future learning. They key is in the restorying 
of the experiences. Instead of coming away feeling inadequate or 
deficient, we come away with a larger understanding of covert forces 
that help shape our identities.
I would be interested to hear what others think. thanks, Esther
---------[ Received Mail Content ]----------
Subject : [FocusOnBasics 443] Learner biography process
Date : Fri, 21 Jul 2006 10:28:26 -0400
>From : "Julie McKinney"
To :
Has anyone else out there used the kind of learner biography process
that Esther describes as a way to explore past learning experiences?
Valley talked of training tutors to use this approach...has anyone done
a training in this approach?
Esther and all, after the writing, how do you process the past
experiences to connect them to the here-and-now? How does the past 
guide
the learner's present and future learning experience?
Julie
***********************************
I'm sorry for such a delayed reply to Valley's email but my email 
set-up
changed and there was a delay in the postings to me. In answer to your
question about "reflection questions" used in the process. THe learner
biography process starts in group format (orally) with discussion about
early learning experiences. THe exchange is quite open ended with
freedom to talk about both formal and informal types of learning
experiences. It then moves into a more formal stage of the process,
which is the writing part. Once the group (inclusive of the learner) 
has
identified one or more pervasive theme/s the learner can begin to write
his/her story as it relates to theme identified. It is in the writing
that the learner gains both the awareness and distance to see the ways
in which his/her identity as a learner had been shaped by those
experiences. I may or may not have answered your question directly but
you can find more information about this process in "learning from our
live! s" by Pierre Dominice. If you do decide to facilitate this
process, I would love to hear more about your experiences, and I would
be happy to share more with you off-line.
thanks,
Esther
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
>>> e.b.shupe at lycos.com 07/19/06 9:24 AM >>>
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to 
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to 
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
Valley Peters
Director of Adult Services
valleypeters at tetonliteracy.org
307.733.9242
Teton Literacy Program provides literacy education and resources to 
open doors for individuals and families to achieve their personal, 
professional, and academic goals, as contributing members of our 
community.
=
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
________________________________________________________________________
Check out AOL.com today. Breaking news, video search, pictures, email 
and IM. All on demand. Always Free.
From dbaycich at literacy.kent.edu  Thu Jul 27 19:03:40 2006
From: dbaycich at literacy.kent.edu (Dianna Baycich)
Date: Thu, 27 Jul 2006 19:03:40 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 451]  student stories and memorias
Message-ID: <00b701c6b1d0$e9be13e0$f5607b83@Hebe>
Sorry - a bit late on my response to this thread. For the past nine years we
have published student authors in a book titled _Beginnings_. Students in
adult literacy programs send us their writing, a group of teachers and
students rate these pieces of writing using a rubric, the pieces that score
high enough are published in _Beginnings_. In the spring we have a
conference/celebration for the published student authors where they listen
to authors (we've had Brandon Marie Miller and Angela Johnson), eat a lavish
lunch, receive tons of recognition, and have the chance to read their piece
to the other authors and their guests. This is definitely a "wow" project
for all involved. The _Beginnigs_ books are also on line at
http://literacy.kent.edu/Oasis/Pubs/beginnings.html
 
Dianna Baycich
Ohio Literacy Resource Center
Research 1 - 1100 Summit Street,
P.O. Box 5190
Kent State University
Kent, OH 44242-0001
330.672.7841  330.672.4841 (fax)
 
"So please, oh PLEASE, we beg, we pray/Go throw your TV set away/And in its
place you can install/A lovely bookshelf on the wall."
- Roald Dahl
 
-------------- next part --------------
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From beth_hennessey at yahoo.com  Fri Jul 28 14:42:30 2006
From: beth_hennessey at yahoo.com (Beth Hennessey)
Date: Fri, 28 Jul 2006 11:42:30 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 452] Re: student stories and memorias
In-Reply-To: <00b701c6b1d0$e9be13e0$f5607b83@Hebe>
Message-ID: <20060728184230.99939.qmail@web52407.mail.yahoo.com>
Hi, Dianna,
Your response came right on time for me, as I will be
working in a new literacy program starting this fall. 
I am wondering, would it be possible for you to share
the rubric that you use to evaluate the pieces
submitted by the student authors?  I think the staff
and students at my center would be very receptive to
this kind of endeavor.
Thank you.
bh
--- Dianna Baycich <dbaycich at literacy.kent.edu> wrote:
> Sorry - a bit late on my response to this thread.
> For the past nine years we
> have published student authors in a book titled
> _Beginnings_. Students in
> adult literacy programs send us their writing, a
> group of teachers and
> students rate these pieces of writing using a
> rubric, the pieces that score
> high enough are published in _Beginnings_. In the
> spring we have a
> conference/celebration for the published student
> authors where they listen
> to authors (we've had Brandon Marie Miller and
> Angela Johnson), eat a lavish
> lunch, receive tons of recognition, and have the
> chance to read their piece
> to the other authors and their guests. This is
> definitely a "wow" project
> for all involved. The _Beginnigs_ books are also on
> line at
> http://literacy.kent.edu/Oasis/Pubs/beginnings.html
>  
> Dianna Baycich
> Ohio Literacy Resource Center
> Research 1 - 1100 Summit Street,
> P.O. Box 5190
> Kent State University
> Kent, OH 44242-0001
> 330.672.7841  330.672.4841 (fax)
>  
> "So please, oh PLEASE, we beg, we pray/Go throw your
> TV set away/And in its
> place you can install/A lovely bookshelf on the
> wall."
> - Roald Dahl
> 
>  
> >
----------------------------------------------------
> National Institute for Literacy
> Focus on Basics mailing list
> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings,
> please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam?  Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around 
http://mail.yahoo.com 
From dbaycich at literacy.kent.edu  Sat Jul 29 17:55:47 2006
From: dbaycich at literacy.kent.edu (Dianna Baycich)
Date: Sat, 29 Jul 2006 17:55:47 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 453] Re: student stories and memorias
In-Reply-To: <20060728184230.99939.qmail@web52407.mail.yahoo.com>
Message-ID: <001a01c6b359$c2b1c7d0$f5607b83@Hebe>
Hi Beth,
I would be happy to share the rubric we use to evaluate the _Beginnings_
submissions. We use a likert scale from 1 to 5 with 5 being the best. The
questions on the rubric are:
1. How clear is the content (message) of the writing?
2. Is the organization/structure of the writing acceptable?
3. How creative or original is the piece of writing? Does it interest the
reader?
4. Are mechanical errors (spelling, grammar, punctuation, and
capitalization) prevalent in the piece of writing? That is, do they get in
the way of the writing's meaning?
5. Overall, how would you rate this piece of writing?
We also leave room for comments.
If you have more questions let me know either on or off list.
Dianna B.
dbaycich at literacy.kent.edu
-----Original Message-----
From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov]
On Behalf Of Beth Hennessey
Sent: Friday, July 28, 2006 2:43 PM
To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 452] Re: student stories and memorias
Hi, Dianna,
Your response came right on time for me, as I will be
working in a new literacy program starting this fall. 
I am wondering, would it be possible for you to share
the rubric that you use to evaluate the pieces
submitted by the student authors?  I think the staff
and students at my center would be very receptive to
this kind of endeavor.
Thank you.
bh
--- Dianna Baycich <dbaycich at literacy.kent.edu> wrote:
> Sorry - a bit late on my response to this thread.
> For the past nine years we
> have published student authors in a book titled
> _Beginnings_. Students in
> adult literacy programs send us their writing, a
> group of teachers and
> students rate these pieces of writing using a
> rubric, the pieces that score
> high enough are published in _Beginnings_. In the
> spring we have a
> conference/celebration for the published student
> authors where they listen
> to authors (we've had Brandon Marie Miller and
> Angela Johnson), eat a lavish
> lunch, receive tons of recognition, and have the
> chance to read their piece
> to the other authors and their guests. This is
> definitely a "wow" project
> for all involved. The _Beginnigs_ books are also on
> line at
> http://literacy.kent.edu/Oasis/Pubs/beginnings.html
>  
> Dianna Baycich
> Ohio Literacy Resource Center
> Research 1 - 1100 Summit Street,
> P.O. Box 5190
> Kent State University
> Kent, OH 44242-0001
> 330.672.7841  330.672.4841 (fax)
>  
> "So please, oh PLEASE, we beg, we pray/Go throw your
> TV set away/And in its
> place you can install/A lovely bookshelf on the
> wall."
> - Roald Dahl
> 
>  
> >
----------------------------------------------------
> National Institute for Literacy
> Focus on Basics mailing list
> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings,
> please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam?  Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around 
http://mail.yahoo.com 
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
From e.b.shupe at lycos.com  Sat Jul 29 22:12:43 2006
From: e.b.shupe at lycos.com (e.b.shupe)
Date: Sat, 29 Jul 2006 22:12:43 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 454]  [RE] student stories and memorias
Message-ID: <20060729221243.HM.0000000000000AW@e.b.shupe.bos-mail-wwl15.bos.lycos.com.lycos.com>
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
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From beth_hennessey at yahoo.com  Mon Jul 31 14:54:42 2006
From: beth_hennessey at yahoo.com (Beth Hennessey)
Date: Mon, 31 Jul 2006 11:54:42 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 455] Re: student stories and memorias
In-Reply-To: <001a01c6b359$c2b1c7d0$f5607b83@Hebe>
Message-ID: <20060731185442.94480.qmail@web52409.mail.yahoo.com>
Thanks, Dianna.  This is a wonderful help.
b
--- Dianna Baycich <dbaycich at literacy.kent.edu> wrote:
> Hi Beth,
> I would be happy to share the rubric we use to
> evaluate the _Beginnings_
> submissions. We use a likert scale from 1 to 5 with
> 5 being the best. The
> questions on the rubric are:
> 1. How clear is the content (message) of the
> writing?
> 2. Is the organization/structure of the writing
> acceptable?
> 3. How creative or original is the piece of writing?
> Does it interest the
> reader?
> 4. Are mechanical errors (spelling, grammar,
> punctuation, and
> capitalization) prevalent in the piece of writing?
> That is, do they get in
> the way of the writing's meaning?
> 5. Overall, how would you rate this piece of
> writing?
> We also leave room for comments.
> If you have more questions let me know either on or
> off list.
> Dianna B.
> dbaycich at literacy.kent.edu
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov
> [mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov]
> On Behalf Of Beth Hennessey
> Sent: Friday, July 28, 2006 2:43 PM
> To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List
> Subject: [FocusOnBasics 452] Re: student stories and
> memorias
> 
> 
> Hi, Dianna,
> 
> Your response came right on time for me, as I will
> be
> working in a new literacy program starting this
> fall. 
> I am wondering, would it be possible for you to
> share
> the rubric that you use to evaluate the pieces
> submitted by the student authors?  I think the staff
> and students at my center would be very receptive to
> this kind of endeavor.
> Thank you.
> bh
> 
> --- Dianna Baycich <dbaycich at literacy.kent.edu>
> wrote:
> 
> > Sorry - a bit late on my response to this thread.
> > For the past nine years we
> > have published student authors in a book titled
> > _Beginnings_. Students in
> > adult literacy programs send us their writing, a
> > group of teachers and
> > students rate these pieces of writing using a
> > rubric, the pieces that score
> > high enough are published in _Beginnings_. In the
> > spring we have a
> > conference/celebration for the published student
> > authors where they listen
> > to authors (we've had Brandon Marie Miller and
> > Angela Johnson), eat a lavish
> > lunch, receive tons of recognition, and have the
> > chance to read their piece
> > to the other authors and their guests. This is
> > definitely a "wow" project
> > for all involved. The _Beginnigs_ books are also
> on
> > line at
> >
> http://literacy.kent.edu/Oasis/Pubs/beginnings.html
> >  
> > Dianna Baycich
> > Ohio Literacy Resource Center
> > Research 1 - 1100 Summit Street,
> > P.O. Box 5190
> > Kent State University
> > Kent, OH 44242-0001
> > 330.672.7841  330.672.4841 (fax)
> >  
> > "So please, oh PLEASE, we beg, we pray/Go throw
> your
> > TV set away/And in its
> > place you can install/A lovely bookshelf on the
> > wall."
> > - Roald Dahl
> > 
> >  
> > >
> ----------------------------------------------------
> > National Institute for Literacy
> > Focus on Basics mailing list
> > FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
> > To unsubscribe or change your subscription
> settings,
> > please go to
> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
> 
> 
> __________________________________________________
> Do You Yahoo!?
> Tired of spam?  Yahoo! Mail has the best spam
> protection around 
> http://mail.yahoo.com 
> ----------------------------------------------------
> National Institute for Literacy
> Focus on Basics mailing list
> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings,
> please go to
> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
> 
> ----------------------------------------------------
> National Institute for Literacy
> Focus on Basics mailing list
> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings,
> please go to
> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
> 
__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam?  Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around 
http://mail.yahoo.com 
From julie_mcKinney at worlded.org  Tue Aug  1 11:52:45 2006
From: julie_mcKinney at worlded.org (Julie  McKinney)
Date: Tue, 01 Aug 2006 11:52:45 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 456]  Student stories and learner biographies
Message-ID: <s4cf40ba.050@mail.jsi.com>
Hi Folks,
Here are some links to FOB articles that relate to the practice of
having students write memorias, as well as the more specific practice of
processing their written accounts of learning experiences in order to
adopt better learning strategies.
Rediscovering Themselves: Learning to Read for Survival
http://www.ncsall.net/?id=458
This describes a process of taking learners through life reflection that
could be done with a focus on their learning history, as Esther
describes.
How I Wish I was Taught to Write
http://www.ncsall.net/?id=340
One learner-turned-teacher describes what she learned from reviewing her
learning history.
"I Can't Learn This!" An MI Route Around Resistance
http://www.ncsall.net/?id=372
How multiple intelligences theory can help adjust teaching strategies to
fit with indidvidual learning styles.
Understanding Multiple Intelligences: Understanding the Theory Behind
the Practice
http://www.ncsall.net/?id=373
Describes the theory of multiple intelligenges.
It seems to me that the theory of multiple intelligences could be
helpful in the learner bigraphy process, because it offers an
explanation of why certain learning experiences have or have not worked
for certain individuals. It also shows what kind of teaching styles
could be a better fit for certain learners. What do you all think?
Julie
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
From Mylinh.Nguyen at ed.gov  Tue Aug  8 17:02:54 2006
From: Mylinh.Nguyen at ed.gov (Nguyen, My Linh)
Date: Tue, 8 Aug 2006 17:02:54 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 457] NIFL Hosts Live Webcast on NAAL Findings for
	Below Basic & Basic Adults
Message-ID: <CB4082E7B582144084C72EC6C98D4959101193E2@wdcrobe2m04.ed.gov>
Join the National Institute for Literacy for a LIVE webcast on:
Adults with Basic and Below Basic Literacy Levels: Findings from NAAL and
Implications for Practice.
Featuring Dr. Sheida White, Dr. John Strucker, & Brian Bosworth, and
moderated by Lori Aratani
WHEN: August 15, 2006 
1:30 p.m. - 3:15 p.m. EST 
The webcast can be viewed from your computer. We encourage you to register
in advance. To register for this webcast go to:
<http://w.on24.com/r.htm?e=26758&s=1&k=EC4046F499FFDA3117E9FDB1758666EB>
For more information about this webcast, go to: <http://www.nifl.gov/>
 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
The National Institute for Literacy is hosting a live webcast on Tuesday,
August 15 at 1:30 p.m. to discuss the results of the National Assessement of
Adult Literacy (NAAL) 2003, specifically relating to Americans who tested in
the Below Basic and Basic literacy levels. The webcast will feature Dr.
Sheida White, of the National Center for Education Statistics, who served as
project officer for the NAAL, who will present the findings of the NAAL for
Below Basic and Basic levels. In addition, there will be a panel of
subject-matter experts who will discuss what implications the NAAL findings
for Below Basic and Basic adults will have on programs. The panelists
include John Strucker, of the National Center for Adult Literacy and
Learning, will discuss basic skills; and Brian Bosworth, of the consulting
firm FutureWorks, will discuss implications for workforce programs.
 
The live webcast will feature: 
*	Dr. Sheida White directs the National Assessment of Adult Literacy
at the National Center for Education Statistics (or NCES). After working as
a full-time reading researcher for 6 years, she joined NCES in 1991.  During
the first 8 years at NCES, she monitored the National Assessment of
Education Progress (NAEP).  Since 1999, she has been directing the NAAL
project. Her articles have appeared in journals such as Language in Society
and Reading Research Quarterly.
*	John Strucker, Ed.D., is a Lecturer in Education and Research
Associate at the National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and
Literacy (NCSALL) at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. He teaches a
laboratory practicum course at Harvard, "Developing Reading in Adults and
Older Adolescents," and he has been the principal investigator on two
large-scale assessment projects, NCSALL's Adult Reading Components Study
(ARCS) and the joint NCSALL/ETS Level 1 Study.  
*	Brian Bosworth is the founder and President of FutureWorks, a
private consulting and public policy research firm in Belmont,
Massachusetts, that builds regional institutions and strategies for economic
growth, workforce education, and civic improvement.  
The webcast will be moderated by Lori Aratani, Education Staff Writer at the
Washington Post.  
My Linh Nguyen
Associate Director of Communications
National Institute for Literacy
(202) 233-2041
fax (202) 233-2050
mnguyen at nifl.gov
From julie_mcKinney at worlded.org  Wed Aug  9 13:05:33 2006
From: julie_mcKinney at worlded.org (Julie  McKinney)
Date: Wed, 09 Aug 2006 13:05:33 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 458]  Ignore the messages with 'dev.nifl.gov'
Message-ID: <s4d9dda3.049@mail.jsi.com>
Hello Everyone,
Yesterday, you may have received some mailman messages from addresses
ending in 'dev.nifl.gov'.  These messages were sent out as a result of
an error on a National Institute for Literacy server.  Please disregard
these messages.
The error has been fixed, and you should no longer see any messages from
addresses ending in 'dev.nifl.gov'.
Sorry for any confusion! Thank you.
Julie
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
From Mylinh.Nguyen at ed.gov  Mon Aug 14 09:52:26 2006
From: Mylinh.Nguyen at ed.gov (Nguyen, My Linh)
Date: Mon, 14 Aug 2006 09:52:26 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 459] Reminder NIFL Webcast on NAAL findings for
	Basic & Below Basic Adults
Message-ID: <CB4082E7B582144084C72EC6C98D4959101194B9@wdcrobe2m04.ed.gov>
Hi All,
Just a reminder to join the National Institute for Literacy for a LIVE
webcast on:
Adults with Basic and Below Basic Literacy Levels: Findings from NAAL and
Implications for Practice.
Featuring Dr. Sheida White, Dr. John Strucker, & Brian Bosworth, and
moderated by Lori Aratani
WHEN: August 15, 2006
1:30 p.m. - 3:15 p.m. EDT
We encourage you to register in advance. To register for this webcast go to:
<http://w.on24.com/r.htm?e=26758&s=1&k=EC4046F499FFDA3117E9FDB1758666EB>
For more information about this webcast, go to: <http://www.nifl.gov/>
 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
The National Institute for Literacy is hosting a live webcast on Tuesday,
August 15 at 1:30 p.m. EASTERN TIME to discuss the results of the National
Assessement of Adult Literacy (NAAL) 2003, specifically relating to
Americans who tested in the Below Basic and Basic literacy levels. The
webcast will feature Dr. Sheida White, of the National Center for Education
Statistics, who served as project officer for the NAAL, who will present the
findings of the NAAL for Below Basic and Basic levels. In addition, there
will be a panel of subject-matter experts who will discuss what implications
the NAAL findings for Below Basic and Basic adults will have on programs.
The panelists include John Strucker, of the National Center for  Adult
Literacy and Learning, will discuss basic skills; and Brian Bosworth, of the
consulting firm FutureWorks, will discuss implications for workforce
programs.
The live webcast will feature:
*	Dr. Sheida White directs the National Assessment of Adult Literacy
at the National Center for Education Statistics (or NCES). After working as
a full-time reading researcher for 6 years, she joined NCES in 1991.  During
the first 8 years at NCES, she monitored the National Assessment of
Education Progress (NAEP). Since 1999, she has been directing the NAAL
project. Her articles have appeared in journals such as Language in Society
and Reading Research Quarterly.
*	Dr. John Strucker is a lecturer at the Harvard Graduate School of
Education whose research for NCSALL has focused on adult reading
development. He previously taught and assessed adults with reading
difficulties at the Community Learning Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
*	Brian Bosworth is the founder and President of FutureWorks, a
private consulting and public policy research firm in Belmont,
Massachusetts, that builds regional institutions and strategies for economic
growth, workforce education, and civic improvement.
The webcast will be moderated by Lori Aratani, Education Staff Writer at the
Washington Post.
Please note: For anyone unable to view the webcast live, the National
Institute for Literacy will be archiving this webcast on its website
www.nifl.gov approximately one week later. 
My Linh Nguyen
Associate Director of Communications
National Institute for Literacy
(202) 233-2041
fax (202) 233-2050
mnguyen at nifl.gov
From Mylinh.Nguyen at ed.gov  Wed Aug 16 08:54:57 2006
From: Mylinh.Nguyen at ed.gov (Nguyen, My Linh)
Date: Wed, 16 Aug 2006 08:54:57 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 460]  NAAL Webcast to be Archived
Message-ID: <CB4082E7B582144084C72EC6C98D4959101194FD@wdcrobe2m04.ed.gov>
On behalf of the National Institute for Literacy, thank you to everyone who
tuned in to yesterday's live webcast on the results of the NAAL findings for
adults who scored in the Basic and Below Basic categories. And thank you to
our panelists: Dr. Sheida White of the National Center for Education
Statistics, Dr. John Strucker of the National Center for the Study of Adult
Learning and Literacy, and Mr. Brian Bosworth of FutureWorks. For those who
missed the live webcast or would like to see it again, we will be archiving
the webcast on our website www.nifl.gov in about one week. We'll send an
announcement when it is ready. Thank you.
My Linh Nguyen
Associate Director of Communications
National Institute for Literacy
(202) 233-2041
fax (202) 233-2050
mnguyen at nifl.gov
From julie_mcKinney at worlded.org  Fri Aug 18 17:50:27 2006
From: julie_mcKinney at worlded.org (Julie  McKinney)
Date: Fri, 18 Aug 2006 17:50:27 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 461]  Vacation
Message-ID: <s4e5fe1a.005@mail.jsi.com>
Hi Everyone,
I just wanted to let you know that I'll be away until labor day. I have
another moderator checking the postings and passing them through to the
list, so the flow of messages will still happen. If there's anything
else you need from me, I will be back after labor day and will get on it
then.
Have a good end of August!
All the best,
Julie
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
From djgbrian at utk.edu  Wed Aug 23 09:10:26 2006
From: djgbrian at utk.edu (Brian, Dr Donna J G)
Date: Wed, 23 Aug 2006 09:10:26 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 462]  Job Posting: Special Projects Coordinator,
	Adult Learner Program, Queens Library, NY
Message-ID: <6A5CE13D731DE249BC61CB8C5C474B0A13CF123F@UTKFSVS1.utk.tennessee.edu>
-------------------------------------------------------
Special Projects Coordinator
Queens Library
Adult Learner Program
This is a temporary grant funded position.
The Adult Learner Program (ALP) Special Projects Coordinator is
responsible for administration and implementation of ALP's special
projects. Responsible for development of distance learning instruction
via video teleconferencing to increase use of technology throughout the
Adult Learner Programs; manages the Wireless Computer Centers;
supervises the Basic Computer Literacy and Health Literacy classes;
revises and maintains Computer Literacy and Health Literacy curricula;
writes all reporting required for grant funded projects; hires and
trains staff for special projects; visits classes and evaluates
classroom instruction. Performs other duties as required. 
The schedule for this position will include Saturdays and evenings as
required.
Requires a Master's Degree in Education or related area, and/or ESOL
Certification. Adult Education experience required, at least two years
working with literacy and/or ESOL programs. Knowledge of current trends
in literacy and ESOL instruction. Must have knowledge of Computer
Assisted Instruction such as Internet, educational software, and MS
Office Software. Experience in staff /curriculum development and
supervision preferred. Excellent written and verbal communication
skills. Ability to work with diversified community. Must be able to
complete multiple projects with competing deadlines. 
About Queens Library:  Situated in New York City, the Queens Library has
one of the highest circulations of any library in the world and serves
more than two million people in one of the most ethnically diverse
counties in the United States.  The Library pulses with the
multiculturalism and excitement of life in "the greatest city in the
world".
Queens County is one of the five boroughs of New York City.  Situated
across the East River from Manhattan, Queens enjoys 7,000 acres of
beautiful parks, 196 miles of waterfront and an excellent mass transit
system.  Queens has diverse and charming neighborhoods, excellent
shopping and a wealth of ethnic eateries and shops reflecting the unique
multicultural mosaic that defines Queens. 
To apply, please send your resume with cover letter to:
QUEENS LIBRARY
Human Resources Department
89-11 Merrick Boulevard, Jamaica, NY 11432
Fax: 718-658-2919
E-mail:  employment at queenslibrary.org
The Queens Library is an Equal Opportunity Employer
www.queenslibrary.org
From djgbrian at utk.edu  Thu Aug 24 17:52:18 2006
From: djgbrian at utk.edu (Brian, Dr Donna J G)
Date: Thu, 24 Aug 2006 17:52:18 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 463] Content Standards Guest Discussion Next Week
	-CASAS basic skills Content Standards Project
Message-ID: <6A5CE13D731DE249BC61CB8C5C474B0A13F57C4C@UTKFSVS1.utk.tennessee.edu>
 The following announcement is posted at the request of Aaron Kohring,
moderator of the Content Standards Discussion List.
*************************************
Greetings colleagues,
Next week, Monday, August 28 thru Friday, September 1, the Content
Standards Discussion List will be hosting a guest discussion on the
CASAS Basic Skills Content Standards Project.  Our guests will be Jane
Eguez, Jim Harrison, and Linda Taylor from CASAS.
Please read the introductory information below which includes a link to
the CASAS website to help prepare you for the discussion.
To participate, sign up for the list at:
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/Contentstandards
Aaron
Aaron Kohring
Moderator, National Institute for Literacy's Content Standards
Discussion List (http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/Contentstandards)
************************************
Since its inception, CASAS (Comprehensive Adult Student Assessment
System) has focused on teaching and assessing basic skills in contexts
that are relevant and important to adult learners. CASAS has developed
and continues to refine a highly formalized hierarchy of competencies,
the application of basic skills that adults need to be fully functional
and productive members of society. 
In the past few years, at the request of the CASAS National Consortium,
representing approximately 30 states, CASAS has begun development of
basic skills content standards as a formal part of the CASAS system.
This enhancement of the CASAS system is intended to assist and encourage
teachers to more fully integrate basic skills content standards and
functional competencies in instruction.
The basic skills content standards for Reading and Listening contain
simple, clearly stated, detailed statements that are leveled according
to the NRS Educational Functioning Levels, and are also related to CASAS
test items in several CASAS test series. The statements are divided into
Categories to assist teachers to navigate through the standards. 
In the past two years, CASAS has worked with Iowa and California to
pilot these standards with teachers in a variety of adult education
programs. A number of useful teacher worksheets and other tools have
emerged from these efforts.
We invite you to learn more about the CASAS basic skills Content
Standards Project and to ask questions about it during the listserv
discussion next week. To prepare for this discussion, we refer you to
the CASAS website where you will find more detailed information about
the development of the standards, the standards themselves, worksheets
for teachers, and information about the pilot project in Iowa. Go to
http://www.casas.org/DirctDwnlds.cfm?mfile_id=4504&selected_id=1720&wtar
get=body 
We look forward to engaging with you in this discussion next week.
Jane Eguez (jeguez at casas.org) , Jim Harrison (jharrison at casas.org ) and
Linda Taylor (ltaylor at casas.org ), CASAS
From kabeall at comcast.net  Wed Aug 30 07:55:34 2006
From: kabeall at comcast.net (Kaye Beall)
Date: Wed, 30 Aug 2006 07:55:34 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 464]  New from NCSALL--NCSALL by Role
Message-ID: <004701c6cc2b$33a502b0$0202a8c0@your4105e587b6>
NCSALL by Role <http://www.ncsall.net/?id=787>  
This new section of NCSALL's Web site offers a variety of professional
development ideas on:
*         adult multiple intelligences
*         adult student persistence
*         authentic context
*         General Educational Development (GED)
*          reading
 
Professional developers and program administrators access guides for
facilitating half-day seminars and multi-session study circles. 
 
Policymakers read relevant research articles and reflect on policy-related
questions. 
 
Teachers and tutors access self-studies that invite them to (1) read the
related research, (2) reflect on this research and their practice, and (3)
focus on an aspect of their practice.
 
Check out NCSALL by Role at http://www.ncsall.net/?id=787. 
 
 
****************
Kaye Beall
Outreach Coordinator/NCSALL Dissemination Project
World Education
4401 S. Madison St.
Muncie, IN  47302
Tel: 765-717-3942
Fax: 208-694-8262
kaye_beall at worlded.org
http://www.ncsall.net
 
 
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From Mylinh.Nguyen at ed.gov  Wed Aug 30 13:17:30 2006
From: Mylinh.Nguyen at ed.gov (Nguyen, My Linh)
Date: Wed, 30 Aug 2006 13:17:30 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 465]  NIFL Webcast Now Available in Archive
Message-ID: <CB4082E7B582144084C72EC6C98D495911889562@wdcrobe2m04.ed.gov>
Hi Everyone,
The National Institute for Literacy has now made available an archived
version of its latest webcast: "Adults with Basic and Below Basic Literacy
Levels: Findings from NAAL and Implications for Practice" from August 15,
2006. 
We have made the entire webcast available (include transcript and slides for
download) on our website at www.nifl.gov. Look under the heading "What's
New."
Thank you.
My Linh Nguyen
Associate Director of Communications
National Institute for Literacy
(202) 233-2041
fax (202) 233-2050
mnguyen at nifl.gov
From djgbrian at utk.edu  Thu Aug 31 11:59:11 2006
From: djgbrian at utk.edu (Brian, Dr Donna J G)
Date: Thu, 31 Aug 2006 11:59:11 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 466] FW: [Moderators 957] International Community
	Virtual Visit Project
Message-ID: <A6B32D41E04B2F43807EC42DA182C21818EA9D@UTKFSVS5.utk.tennessee.edu>
Colleagues,
Here's a great opportunity for your students to expand their horizons by
having contact with other adult learners in other countries.  Check out
the projects from previous years to understand better what it is all
about.
Donna Brian
djgbrian at utk.edu
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The International Classroom and School Virtual Visit (Virtual School)
project is beginning its eighth year, linking classrooms across the
world to enable students to meet each other virtually, share information
about their cultures, their classrooms, and their communities, and to
build cultural understanding. Classes can include English as a Second or
Other Language (ESOL/ESL), Adult Basic Education (ABE, GED),  elementary
or secondary education, or family literacy.  Students can be from age
seven to adult.
As in past years, we hope classes will engage in lively written
discussion, and possibly choose a film, book or current event to
discuss. This year we have set up a free wiki, so classes don't have to
create their own web pages, and we will help teachers to use free
Internet telephony so their classes can talk to each other if they can
find a time that works to do that.
If you would like to participate in this year's project,
1. Sign up on the I.C.V.V. e-list  by going to:
        http://lists.literacytent.org/mailman/listinfo/icvv
        Scroll down the page to choose an ID and password.  That's it,
easy and free.
2. Once you receive confirmation that you are on the I.C.V.V. e-list,
send an e-mail to:
          icvv at lists.literacytent.org
indicating your interest in participating this year.  Be sure to
describe your class, when it will begin, and what age group or
nationality you would prefer to partner with.
If you would like to look at classroom virtual visit projects from
previous years go to:
        http://www.otan.us/webfarm/emailproject/school.htm
and then choose
      http://www.otan.us/webfarm/emailproject/school2003.htm
We look forward to your joining the project.  Let one of us know if you
have questions.
And please pass this information on -- by e-mail or electronic list
-- to teachers who you think might be interested.
All the best,
David J. Rosen
djrosen at comcast.net
Susan Gaer
sgaer at yahoo.com
From djgbrian at utk.edu  Thu Aug 31 12:01:12 2006
From: djgbrian at utk.edu (Brian, Dr Donna J G)
Date: Thu, 31 Aug 2006 12:01:12 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 467] Special Topic: Formative Assessment
	inInternational Education
Message-ID: <A6B32D41E04B2F43807EC42DA182C21818EAA1@UTKFSVS5.utk.tennessee.edu>
The following announcement of a new special topics discussion is posted
at the request of David Rosen, the moderator.
Donna Brian
djgbrian at utk.edu
-------
Colleagues,
In preparation for celebrating International Literacy Day, on September
5th-7th the Special Topics Discussion List is pleased to welcome  Ms.
Janet Looney representing the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and
Development(OECD).  Janet is the leader of the Centre for Educational
Research and Innovation program known as What Works in Innovation in
Education. Its current focus is formative assessment.  The discussion
will serve to introduce some of OECD's work in international education.
The primary focus of the discussion will be on the value of formative
assessment for promoting higher levels of learner achievement, greater
equity of outcomes, and the development of "learning to learn" skills.
Not a term widely known in the U.S., formative assessment refers to what
teachers and learners do in the classroom to assess learning progress.
An assessment is _formative_ when information gathered in the assessment
process is used to modify teaching and learning activities.  It's an
assessment _for_ learning  not just _of_ learning.
Between 2002 and 2004, the What Works program explored formative
assessment in lower secondary classrooms in eight international systems
[see Formative Assessment: Improving Learning in Secondary Classrooms
(2005)].  OECD will publish a second study addressing formative
assessment for adult basic skill learners in 2007.
Together, the two studies are intended to strengthen understanding of
effective approaches to lifelong learning.
FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT IN LOWER SECONDARY SCHOOLS
While many teachers incorporate aspects of formative assessment into
their teaching, it is not often practiced systematically.  The What
Works study, Formative Assessment: Improving Learning in Secondary
Classrooms (2005), features exemplary cases from secondary schools in
eight systems and international research reviews, and relates these to
the broader policy environment.  The study shows how teachers have
addressed barriers to systematic practice, and how school and policy
leaders may apply the principles of formative assessment to promote
constructive cultures of assessment and evaluation throughout education
systems.
FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT IN ADULT BASIC SKILL PROGRAMS
Formative approaches may be particularly appropriate for adults with  
basic skill needs, the focus of the current What Works study.   
Instructors using formative approaches are able to tailor instruction
more closely to the needs of diverse adult learners.  Formative
approaches also place an explicit focus on identifying and building upon
learners' prior knowledge and skills - whether gained in formal
education settings, or informal work or other settings.
The OECD study on "Improving Teaching and Learning for Adults with Basic
Skill Needs through Formative Assessment" , now underway, is:
1. Developing studies of exemplary teaching and assessment practice for
adults with basic skill needs 2. Bringing together international
scholarship on teaching and assessment for adults with basic skill needs
3. Identifying effective policy levers for improving the quality of
provision in the adult basic skills sector, and 4. Creating
opportunities for policy officials, researchers and practitioners to
exchange insights and ideas on promoting effective teaching, assessment
and evaluation.
We look forward to your subscribing to this three-day discussion.  To do
so, go to:
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/SpecialTopics
David J. Rosen
Special Topics Discussion List Moderator djrosen at comcast.net
_______________________________________________
National Institute for Literacy
Moderators mailing list: Moderators at nifl.gov
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/moderators
Moderator's Resource Page: http://www.nifl.gov/lincs_dlms/contents.html
Moderator's List Archive page:
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/private/moderators
From Mylinh.Nguyen at ed.gov  Tue Sep  5 09:44:42 2006
From: Mylinh.Nguyen at ed.gov (Nguyen, My Linh)
Date: Tue, 5 Sep 2006 09:44:42 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 468] National Institute for Literacy Launches
	International Perspective Webpages
Message-ID: <CB4082E7B582144084C72EC6C98D4959118895CD@wdcrobe2m04.ed.gov>
Just in time for International Literacy Day on September 8, the National
Institute for Literacy has launched a series of webpages on its website
(www.nifl.gov) to highlight worldwide efforts to address and combat literacy
problems. The International Perspectives webpages allow American adult
literacy and English language teachers and students quick access to
information about:
	*	adult literacy education in other countries and cultures,
including both developing and industrialized countries, and including
curriculum and outcomes standards for adult education in other countries 
	*	international comparative studies of adult literacy and
PreK-12 education, and 
	*	international efforts to raise literacy levels (e.g.UNESCO,
International Reading Association, and the Venezuelan and Argentinian
literacy campaigns) 
The Institute plans to continue to build on the information on the
International Perspective pages
(<http://www.nifl.gov/nifl/international/intro.html>) as they develop into a
central site for worldwide literacy resources.
	The National Institute for Literacy provides leadership on literacy
issues, including the improvement of reading instruction for children,
youth, and adults. In consultation with the U.S. Departments of Education,
Labor, and Health and Human Services, the Institute serves as a national
resource on current, comprehensive literacy research, practice, and policy.
My Linh Nguyen
Associate Director of Communications
National Institute for Literacy
(202) 233-2041
fax (202) 233-2050
mnguyen at nifl.gov
From MMaralit at NIFL.gov  Wed Sep  6 15:27:05 2006
From: MMaralit at NIFL.gov (Maralit, Mary Jo)
Date: Wed, 6 Sep 2006 15:27:05 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 469] Re: The Health Literacy of America's Adults:
	Results from the 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy
Message-ID: <4062487BDB6029428A763CAEF4E1FE5B0B93313A@wdcrobe2m03.ed.gov>
The following announcement is posted on behalf of The National Center for
Education Statistics:
The Health Literacy of America's Adults: Results from the 2003 National
Assessment of Adult Literacy (9/6/2006) 
Results from the Health Literacy component of the 2003 National Assessment
of Adult Literacy (NAAL) were just released. The health literacy findings
are based on the first large-scale national assessment designed specifically
to measure the health literacy of adults living in America. This report
measures health literacy among American adults including their ability to
read, understand, and apply health-related information in English. 
Findings include:
*	The majority of American adults (53 percent) had Intermediate health
literacy. Fewer than 15 percent of adults had either Below Basic or
Proficient health literacy. 
*	Women had higher average health literacy than men. 
*	Adults who were ages 65 and older had lower average health literacy
than younger adults. 
*	Hispanic adults had lower average health literacy than adults in any
other racial/ethnic group. 
To download, view and print the publication as a PDF file, please visit:
<http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2006483>
To view other NAAL reports and for more information, visit
<http://nces.ed.gov/naal>
Jaleh Behroozi Soroui
Education Statistics Services Institute (ESSI-Stat)
American Institutes for Research 
1990 K Street, NW Suite 500 
Washington, DC 20006
Phone: 202/403-6958
email: jsoroui at air.org
From miriam at cal.org  Fri Sep  8 14:07:35 2006
From: miriam at cal.org (Miriam Burt)
Date: Fri, 8 Sep 2006 14:07:35 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 470]  New from CAELA: brief on transitions
Message-ID: <7E0B624DDF68104F92C38648A4D93D8FF6AB4E@MAIL.cal.local>
Hello, everyone,
 
The latest brief from CAELA, Supporting Adult English Language Learners'
Transitions to Postsecondary Education, by Julie Mathews-Aydinli, is now
availabe on line at
http://www.cal.org/caela/esl_resources/briefs/transition.html
<http://www.cal.org/caela/esl_resources/briefs/transition.html> . 
 
Adult immigrants studying English in the United States have diverse
educational backgrounds. Some have earned graduate degrees, while others
have had little or no access to education. Their goals and expectations
for future education and employment are also diverse. 
 
This CAELA brief focuses on transitions from adult ESL programs
postsecondary education. For a discussion of classroom-level (e.g., how
to develop vocabulary needed for academic classes, types of reading to
do in class, etc.) and programmatic (e.g., orientation needed,
suggestions for how the adult ESL programs can collaborate with the
associated postsecondary institutions, etc.) approaches that can further
such transitions, read the brief at
http://www.cal.org/caela/esl_resources/briefs/transition.html
<http://www.cal.org/caela/esl_resources/briefs/transition.html> . 
 
 
 
Coming this fall: briefs on content standards for the adult English
language classroom and integrating instruction, content standards, and
assessment in the adult ESL classroom.
 
Miriam
 
**********
Miriam Burt
Center for Adult English Language Acquisition (CAELA)
Center for Applied Linguistics
4646 40th Street NW
Washington, DC 20016
(202) 362-0700
(202) 363-7204 (fax)
miriam at cal.org 
 
 
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From b.garner4 at verizon.net  Fri Sep 15 15:13:42 2006
From: b.garner4 at verizon.net (Barbara Garner)
Date: Fri, 15 Sep 2006 14:13:42 -0500 (CDT)
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 471]  Where oh where is FOB 8C?
Message-ID: <25309773.1834691158347622173.JavaMail.root@vms074.mailsrvcs.net>
The gestation period of the next issue of Focus on Basics is abnormally long...but it's coming! I hope to get it to you in early December. It will have articles on adapting the literacy classroom to the realities of the learner, home study, health and literacy, and more...
In the meantime, curl up with a back issue of "FOB"...the first one, on research, was one of my favorites... 
at http://www.ncsall.net/index.php?id=166
Barb Garner, Editor of FOB
b.garner4 at verizon.net
Sharon, MA
 
From jepperly at columbiabasin.edu  Fri Sep 15 17:52:20 2006
From: jepperly at columbiabasin.edu (Julia Epperly)
Date: Fri, 15 Sep 2006 13:52:20 -0800
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 472] Re: New from CAELA: brief on transitions
Message-ID: <s50ab02c.084@mail.columbiabasin.edu>
Thanks
>>> miriam at cal.org 09/08/06 10:07AM >>>
Hello, everyone,
 
The latest brief from CAELA, Supporting Adult English Language Learners'
Transitions to Postsecondary Education, by Julie Mathews-Aydinli, is now
availabe on line at
http://www.cal.org/caela/esl_resources/briefs/transition.html 
<http://www.cal.org/caela/esl_resources/briefs/transition.html> . 
 
Adult immigrants studying English in the United States have diverse
educational backgrounds. Some have earned graduate degrees, while others
have had little or no access to education. Their goals and expectations
for future education and employment are also diverse. 
 
This CAELA brief focuses on transitions from adult ESL programs
postsecondary education. For a discussion of classroom-level (e.g., how
to develop vocabulary needed for academic classes, types of reading to
do in class, etc.) and programmatic (e.g., orientation needed,
suggestions for how the adult ESL programs can collaborate with the
associated postsecondary institutions, etc.) approaches that can further
such transitions, read the brief at
http://www.cal.org/caela/esl_resources/briefs/transition.html 
<http://www.cal.org/caela/esl_resources/briefs/transition.html> . 
 
 
 
Coming this fall: briefs on content standards for the adult English
language classroom and integrating instruction, content standards, and
assessment in the adult ESL classroom.
 
Miriam
 
**********
Miriam Burt
Center for Adult English Language Acquisition (CAELA)
Center for Applied Linguistics
4646 40th Street NW
Washington, DC 20016
(202) 362-0700
(202) 363-7204 (fax)
miriam at cal.org 
 
 
From julie_mcKinney at worlded.org  Mon Sep 18 11:29:32 2006
From: julie_mcKinney at worlded.org (Julie  McKinney)
Date: Mon, 18 Sep 2006 11:29:32 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 473] Starts today: Discussion on ELL in the workplace
Message-ID: <s50e832f.049@mail.jsi.com>
Hi Everyone,
I'm sorry for the late notice, but there is a joint discussion starting today on the Workplace and ELL Discussion lists. You can join either list to participate. Please read the information below if you are interested.
Julie
*****************************************************************
Announcing a discussion on ELL in the workplace!
 One issue that has been of interest on the Workplace Literacy Discussion List has been serving the needs and goals of employers while at the same time serving the needs of adult immigrants on the job and in their lives. On the Adult English Language Discussion List, issues related to workplace and adult English language learners have been discussed for many years. Workplace ESOL classes are not new, but, as more workplaces throughout the country hire immigrants who may not be proficient in English, new teachers come on board and new needs (and funding sources) arise. New questions also arise.  
We have home-grown expertise on both the Workplace and ELL Discussion Lists. Subscribers on both lists have been involved in managing state and federal workplace grants, developing curricula and materials, teaching or training other teachers in workplace contexts.  We could all learn a lot from sharing questions and experiences.    Lynda Terrill, moderator of the English Language Learner Discussion List and  Donna Brian, moderator of the Workplace Literacy Discussion List,  invite you to  access this combined expertise in a cross-list discussion: a focused, simultaneous, shared discussion on both lists on issues related to the workplace and adult immigrants.  We hope that you will  join us in sharing  philosophies, approaches, and techniques*lessons learned*with each other in a week long dialogue combining the two lists. We have set next week*September 18-22*as the time scheduled for this shared discussion to take place. 
Discussion Questions
Some important questions we hope may be addressed in the discussion are: 
What are effective ways of planning, implementing, and evaluating (adult ESL) workplace classes? 
What types of workplace classes have proven most effective and why? 
How can teachers and administrators develop curricula and materials that meet the needs and goals of the learners in class as well as the needs and expectations of employers? 
What are effective and appropriate approaches for teaching issues related to culture, civil rights, and responsibilities on the job? 
Background Reading and Resources 
Below is a small sample of the best available materials we know of. We hope subscribers will suggest others that have been useful to them:
Issues in Improving Immigrant Workers' English Language Skills (Burt, M., 2003, Washington, DC: Center for Applied Linguistics)
http://www.cal.org/caela/esl_resources/digests/Workplaceissues.html. 
ESOL in the Workplace: A Training Manual for ESOL Supervisors and Instructors. (Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development Office of Adult Education and University of Tennessee Center for Literacy Studies, 2003). 
http://www.cls.utk.edu/pdf/esol_workplace/Tenn_ESOL_in_the_Workplace.pdfGetting to Work: A Report on How Workers with Limited English Skills Can Prepare for New Jobs (Working for America Institute) http://www.workingforamerica.org/documents/PDF/GTW50704.pdf
Getting to Work: A Report on How Workers with Limited English Skills Can Prepare for New Jobs (Working for America Institute) http://www.workingforamerica.org/documents/PDF/GTW50704.pdf
Steps to Employment in Ontario. 
http://209.121.217.200/main.html
You may take part in the discussion by subscribing to either list :
Adult English Language list http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/Englishlanguage
Workplace Literacy list: http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/Workplace/
We look forward to hearing your experiences, questions, and advice!
Donna Brian  and Lynda Terrill, Moderators 
Workplace Literacy Discussion List  and 
English Language Learners Discussion List
 
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
From julie_mcKinney at worlded.org  Mon Sep 18 11:50:02 2006
From: julie_mcKinney at worlded.org (Julie  McKinney)
Date: Mon, 18 Sep 2006 11:50:02 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 474] The Adult Literacy Education (ALE) Wiki - A
	Community of	Practice for us all
Message-ID: <s50e8839.008@mail.jsi.com>
Hi Everyone,
I am passing on this information about the ALE Wiki for those of you who
have not yet checked it out. Please read the message below from David
Rosen, organizer of the Wiki, and take a look at the Wiki!
All the best,
Julie
**********************************************************
Colleagues,
The Adult Literacy Education Wiki (now with over 750 pages and nearly  
700 registered users) is becoming a very useful resource for teachers  
and other practitioners in adult literacy education.  It includes 30  
topics linking research, professional wisdom, and practice.  It  
offers easy-to-read archived discussions that were held on this and  
other discussion lists, links to research and other resources,  
questions (and sometimes answers) from teachers and other  
practitioners and researchers, a comprehensive adult literacy  
glossary, and more.  It's free, and it's designed for you.  Best of  
all, it's not only a set of informative web pages.  It's a community  
of practice.  You -- and your colleagues -- can easily add to and  
improve it. It's a wiki!
To check out the ALE wiki, go to:
http://wiki.literacytent.org/index.php/Main_Page
You will see that some ALE topics need to be nurtured, and to grow.  
They need a Topic Leader.  Perhaps you would be the right person to  
be a Topic Leader. To see a list of topics and leaders, go to
http://wiki.literacytent.org/index.php/Topic_Leaders
If you are interested in being a (volunteer) Topic Leader for an  
existing topic, or if you would like to help develop a new topic, e- 
mail me and tell me about yourself and your interest.
David J. Rosen
ALE Wiki Organizer and Wikiteer
djrosen at comcast.net
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
From julie_mcKinney at worlded.org  Mon Sep 18 11:55:07 2006
From: julie_mcKinney at worlded.org (Julie  McKinney)
Date: Mon, 18 Sep 2006 11:55:07 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 475] Discussion on Special Topics List about
	Corrections Education
Message-ID: <s50e8924.076@mail.jsi.com>
Hi Again,
There is a discussion starting today about corrections education on the
Special Topics Discussion List. Please read on if you are interested in
joining it.
Sorry again for the late notice!
Julie
*************************
Dear Colleagues,
Beginning today, on the Special Topics Discussion List, we are  
pleased to have a panel of expert guests in corrections education.  
The topic will focus on research and professional wisdom in  
corrections family literacy, and on the transition from corrections  
education to community education for inmates who have been released.
Our guests are:
John Linton, Correctional Education, Office of Safe and Drug Free  
Schools, U.S. Department of Education
John is the program officer for two correctional education grant  
programs ("Lifeskills for State and Local Prisoners" and "Grants to  
States for Workplace and Community Transition Training for  
Incarcerated Youth Offenders") in the Office of Safe and Drug Free  
Schools of the U. S. Department of Education.  John formerly served  
the State of Maryland as the director of adult correctional education  
programs.  He has been with the federal agency since 2001, originally
with the Office of Vocational and Adult Education.
Stephen J. Steurer, Ph.D., Executive Director, Correctional Education  
Association. The Correctional Education Association is a professional  
organization
of educators who work in prisons, jails and juvenile settings.
William R. Muth, PhD, Assistant Professor, Reading Education and  
Adult Literacy, Virginia Commonwealth University
Bill is an Assistant Professor of Adult and Adolescent Literacy at  
Virginia Commonwealth University. Until August 2005, he was the  
Education Administrator for the Federal Bureau of Prisons. Other  
positions with the FBOP included: reading teacher, principal, and  
Chief of the Program Analysis Branch. In 2004 Bill earned his  
doctorate in adult literacy from George Mason University. His  
dissertation, "Performance and Perspective: Two Assessments of  
Federal Prisoners in Literacy Programs" won the College Reading  
Association's Dissertation of the Year Award. His research interests  
include Thirdspace and Reading Components theories, especially as  
these apply to prison-based family literacy programs and children of  
incarcerated parents.
===========================================
To subscribe to the Special Topics Discussion List, go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/specialtopics ,
fill in your name, email address and pick a password.
After you have subscribed you will receive an email
asking you to confirm your subscription.  Please
reply immediately.
===========================================
The following readings are recommended by the panelists as background  
for the discussion:
1. "Locked Up and Locked Out, An Educational Perspective on the US  
Prison Population," Coley, Richard J. and Barton, Paul E., 2006
Available on line at the ETS web site:
http://tinyurl.com/qmzfa (short URL)
2. "Learning to Reduce Recidivism: A 50-state analysis of  
postsecondary correctional education policy," Institute for Higher  
Education Policy, Erisman, Wendy and Contardo, Jeanne B., 2005.  
Available on line at the IHEP web site:
http://tinyurl.com/pj2sh (short URL)
3. "Understanding California Corrections" from the California Policy  
Research Center, U of C. (Chapter 4)
http://www.ucop.edu/cprc/documents/understand_ca_corrections.pdf
John Linton believes that California is a watershed state in  
corrections issues and policies , and that how things unfold there  
has great national significance.  He says that this is a thoughtful  
and well-informed report on the "overview" of the corrections  
situation in California -- including the role of treatment programs.
Education is not presented as a central issue, but it has a place --  
as a piece of a bigger puzzle.
4. An article by Bill Muth in Exploring Adult Literacy can be found at
http://literacy.kent.edu/cra/2006/wmuth/index.html
The article contains other on-line links related to prison-based  
intergenerational programs. He recommends especially the link to the  
Hudson River Center's excellent publication, Bringing Family Literacy  
to Incarcerated Settings: An Instructional Guide at:
http://www.hudrivctr.org/products_ce.htm
David J. Rosen
Special Topics Discussion Moderator
djrosen at comcast.net
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
From julie_mcKinney at worlded.org  Tue Sep 19 10:05:29 2006
From: julie_mcKinney at worlded.org (Julie  McKinney)
Date: Tue, 19 Sep 2006 10:05:29 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 475] Discussion next week: Low Self Esteem: Myth or
	Reality?
Message-ID: <s50fc110.083@mail.jsi.com>
Hi Everyone,
Next week we are pleased to have Anastasiya Lipnevich as a guest to
discuss her
recent FOB article about self esteem in adult learners. 
Anastasiya is a PhD student in educational psychology at Rutgers
University. She has a master's degree in counseling psychology from
Rutgers University and a master's degree in psychology and education
from the University of Minsk. Her research interests include
self-esteem, motivation, and self-regulation. 
There was some discussion on the list about this article during the
summer, but Anastasiya was out of the country. I hope we can rekindle
the issues and comments that came up at that time. Please read the
article at the link below, and prepare any comments or questions for
Anastasiya and other readers to send in on Monday. 
Low Self-Esteem: Myth or Reality?
http://www.ncsall.net/index.php?id=1105
I will send out some discussion questions to think about tomorrow.
Julie
P.S. Please pass on this announcement to anyone you know who may be
interested in this discussion. They can join the FOB discussion list at
the following address:
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
(Be sure to reply to the confirmation e-mail to complete the process.)
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
From julie_mcKinney at worlded.org  Tue Sep 19 10:17:23 2006
From: julie_mcKinney at worlded.org (Julie  McKinney)
Date: Tue, 19 Sep 2006 10:17:23 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 476] Guest Speaker on Content Standards List next
	week
Message-ID: <s50fc3d0.022@mail.jsi.com>
Hi Everyone,
It looks like next week will be abuzz with discussions! Read on for
information about a discussion on the Content Standards List:
Julie
****************************************************************
Greetings colleagues,
Next week, Monday, September 25 through Friday, September 29, the
Content Standards Discussion List will be hosting a discussion on the
U.S. Department of Education's efforts to support state-level adoption
and institutionalization of content standards for adult learning.  Our
guest will be Ronna Spacone from the Department's Office of Vocational
and Adult Education (OVAE), Division of Adult Education and Literacy
(DAEL).
Please read the introductory information below, which includes a link to
the Adult Education Content Standards Warehouse Website, to help prepare
you for the discussion.  
You may begin posting your questions to Ronna this week.  I will collect
the questions together and re-post when the discussion starts next week.
To participate in the discussion, sign up for the list at:
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/Contentstandards
Aaron
Aaron Kohring
Moderator, National Institute for Literacy's Content  
Discussion List (http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/Contentstandards)
********************************************************************************************
For the past several years, the U.S. Department of Education, OVAE, has
used National Leadership Activity funds to provide technical assistance
and support to states already committed to standards-based education
reform.  
OVAE's efforts to promote the implementation of state-level content
standards began with the Adult Education Content Standards Warehouse
Project, operated by the American Institutes of Research (AIR),
2003-2005.  The project included:
Technical assistance and networking for state collaborative working
groups or consortia in 14 states,
 
The development and publication of "A Process Guide for Establishing
State Adult Education Content Standards" and
 
The development of the Adult Education Content Standards Warehouse
(AECSW) Website.  The AECSW site provides universal access to existing
state standards as well as nationally developed content standards in the
areas of reading, mathematics, and English language acquisition.  Since
it was launched in May 2005, eleven states and CASAS and Equipped for
the Future have contributed their standards for posting.  The site also
serves to disseminate the "Process Guide for Establishing State Adult
Education Content Standards" as well as the professional development
materials that were developed for the State Standards Consortia project.
 In preparation for our listserv discussion next week, I invite you to
please visit the AECSW Website located at:
(http://www.adultedcontentstandards.org), which AIR continues to operate
with OVAE. 
 
In September 2005, with the conclusion of the State Standards Consortia
activities, OVAE funded a new activity to identify how best to continue
to support states committed to the implementation of standards.  A
six-month planning project was then conducted by MPR Associates, Inc.,
along with partner organizations Design Perspectives and World
Education.  Planning activities included a literature review of
noteworthy practices, an evaluation of the electronic warehouse, and an
assessment of the needs of states to support standards-based education. 
Twenty-four states chose to participate in the project.  Based on the
results, OVAE has moved ahead and made plans for a new project scheduled
to begin next month.
As in the past, the new activities will provide opportunities for
interested states to work together and learn about standards-based
education.  The project is expected to focus especially on the
implementation of standards, including: how to translate standards into
classroom instruction and curriculum and how to assess the
implementation of standards to guide instructional improvement and
program practice. 
I invite you to learn more about the Department of Education's efforts
to promote state-level adoption of content standards and to ask
questions about these activities during the listserv discussion.  Please
refer to the various sections of the AECSW Website
(http://www.adultedcontentstandards.org) including the Guide, Warehouse,
and Field Resources as well as the OVAE DAEL Website located at:
(http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ovae/pi/AdultEd/index.html). 
I look forward to an interesting, engaging discussion and appreciate the
opportunity to take part.  Thanks.
Ronna Spacone
Education Program Specialist
Office of Vocational and Adult Education
U.S. Department of Education
Ronna.spacone at ed.gov 
 
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
From julie_mcKinney at worlded.org  Wed Sep 20 18:51:16 2006
From: julie_mcKinney at worlded.org (Julie  McKinney)
Date: Wed, 20 Sep 2006 18:51:16 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 477] Discussion Questions for "Low Self-Esteem: Myth
	or Reality?"
Message-ID: <s5118dbe.005@mail.jsi.com>
Hi Everyone,
Our discussion on the FOB article "Low Self-Esteem: Myth or Reality?"
will be next week, September 25-29. See below for some questions to
think about. 
Link to the article (in Volume 8B)
http://www.ncsall.net/index.php?id=1105 
Discussion Questions for "Low Self-Esteem: Myth or Reality?
1.  How much do you and your programs presume low self-esteem among your
learners? 
2.  How do you think this presumption affects the delivery of education
to adult learners? 
3.  The findings of this study may conflict with some people's notions
of adult learners. How does this article affect your thoughts about the
self-esteem of learners in your program?
4.  How might you adjust your teaching or delivery of services if your
learners had a higher self-esteem than you thought?
5.  There was some discussion of science's ability to "understand the
human mind", and of the validity of research on a concept such as
self-esteem. It is a broad and variably-defined concept, which may be
affected by many external factors related to one's situation in life.
How do we, as consumers of research, handle this question? 
I hope you can join us!
Julie
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
From Mylinh.Nguyen at ed.gov  Wed Sep 20 13:19:35 2006
From: Mylinh.Nguyen at ed.gov (Nguyen, My Linh)
Date: Wed, 20 Sep 2006 13:19:35 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 478] CROSS-POSTED: Tips to handling multiple postings
Message-ID: <CB4082E7B582144084C72EC6C98D49591188976E@wdcrobe2m04.ed.gov>
From: My Linh Nguyen
National Institute for Literacy
CROSSPOSTED: Tips to handling multiple postings 
As you know, the National Institute for Literacy's Discussion Lists are very
active. In addition to messages directly related to the subject of each
Discussion List, often we have announcements that are posted to all the
lists. If you are subscribed to two, three or all lists, you may receive
multiple copies of one post - this is called "cross-posting." We do this to
ensure that the maximum number of subscribers receives the messages -
usually an announcement that may be of interest to subscribers on more than
one list. While this can be cumbersome, this is done to ensure that you, our
subscribers, are kept up-to-date on the latest news, guest speakers, etc.
Here are a few tips to help you manage the number of repeat emails into your
inbox.
	1)	Change your subscriber settings to receive postings in
digest format. 
	2)	Disable mail delivery from the lists while you are away. You
still remain subscribed to the list, but will not receive postings while you
are away. When you return, you can review the archives for posts that you
missed while you were away.
	3)	You do not have to subscribe to a list to benefit from a
discussion. Discussions are archived at the Institute's website and can be
sorted by thread, date, and author, and can also be searched by keyword.
	4)	When sending a message to multiple lists, start with
CROSS-POSTED in the subject line, so that other subscribers can recognize
that it is a cross-post that they may have already received.
For information and instructions on changing your subscriber settings please
visit our Discussion List Help page at
<http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/help/help_mailman.html>
To access Discussion List archives, visit
<http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/list_archives.html>
We hope that these tips will help you reduce the number of emails you
receive every day, while still keeping you well-informed. Thank you for your
continued support and participation in the National Institute for Literacy's
Discussion Lists.
My Linh Nguyen
Associate Director of Communications
National Institute for Literacy
(202) 233-2041
fax (202) 233-2050
mnguyen at nifl.gov
From julie_mcKinney at worlded.org  Mon Sep 25 09:39:49 2006
From: julie_mcKinney at worlded.org (Julie  McKinney)
Date: Mon, 25 Sep 2006 09:39:49 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 479] Welcome to our discussion of "Low Self-Esteem:
	Myth or	Reality?"
Message-ID: <s517a405.035@mail.jsi.com>
Hi Everyone,
Welcome to our discussion with Anastasiya Lipnevich about her article
"Low Self-Esteem: Myth or Reality?"
To read the article, go to:
http://www.ncsall.net/index.php?id=1105 
See below for the discussion questions, and we open the floor for
comments, questions and thoughts!
All the best,
Julie
********************************************************
Discussion Questions for "Low Self-Esteem: Myth or Reality?
1.  How much do you and your programs presume low self-esteem among
your
learners? 
2.  How do you think this presumption affects the delivery of
education
to adult learners? 
3.  The findings of this study may conflict with some people's notions
of adult learners. How does this article affect your thoughts about
the
self-esteem of learners in your program?
4.  How might you adjust your teaching or delivery of services if your
learners had a higher self-esteem than you thought?
5.  There was some discussion of science's ability to "understand the
human mind", and of the validity of research on a concept such as
self-esteem. It is a broad and variably-defined concept, which may be
affected by many external factors related to one's situation in life.
How do we, as consumers of research, handle this question? 
*******************************************************************
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
From ana at optimaltec.com  Sun Sep 24 17:15:15 2006
From: ana at optimaltec.com (Anastasiya A. Lipnevich)
Date: Sun, 24 Sep 2006 17:15:15 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 480]  Low Self-esteem: Myth or Reality?
Message-ID: <4516F563.9030509@optimaltec.com>
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From amuro5 at epcc.edu  Wed Sep 20 19:39:21 2006
From: amuro5 at epcc.edu (Muro, Andres)
Date: Wed, 20 Sep 2006 17:39:21 -0600
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 481] Re: Discussion Questions for "Low Self-Esteem:
	Mythor Reality?"
In-Reply-To: <s5118dbe.005@mail.jsi.com>
Message-ID: <CA29C5E82B801844A7A967D109F117CF79E634@svrascmail01>
Hi, I read the article and I have problems with it and on how the
question about self esteem was explored. The issue of self esteem is
hard to measure as an independent variable and compare it to another
controlled group. 
The concept of self esteem is historically rooted in the ideas of the
enlightenment and economic ideals of capitalism. Hume has defined us as
Homo-Economicus, as men whose worth is measured by wealth. This was a
shift from the idea that the worth of a man was inherited as it was
previously believed. 
In modern society there are markers that define the esteem of a person.
These are usually wealth, looks, possessions, titles, job status,
cultural capital, etc. These are things that we all use to measure our
value and based on these, we evaluate ourselves. 
Usually, our students are in the low end of the scale in terms of these
measures. There are other things that societies can consider in terms of
valuing a person's esteem. Unfortunately, ours has identified the above
markers. We need to recognize and struggle to challenge this. However,
if a study tells us that there are no self esteem problems among the
poor, the oppressed, or those with limited academic skills then we won't
need to challenge our cultural views on self esteem.
Problem with measuring self esteem as an empirically independent
variable that can be isolated, is that it is not an empirical or
observable variable that can be isolated. Self esteem is tied to our
habitus and as such, it needs to be understood and researched within the
context of our habitus. Moreover, a concept such as self esteem is not
an isolatable concept with life of its own. It is a contextual mental
construct that defines the mental state of a person within specific
social, cultural and historical contexts. Blah, blah, blah, blah.....
Andres    
-----Original Message-----
From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Julie McKinney
Sent: Wednesday, September 20, 2006 4:51 PM
To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 477] Discussion Questions for "Low Self-Esteem:
Mythor Reality?"
Hi Everyone,
Our discussion on the FOB article "Low Self-Esteem: Myth or Reality?"
will be next week, September 25-29. See below for some questions to
think about. 
Link to the article (in Volume 8B)
http://www.ncsall.net/index.php?id=1105 
Discussion Questions for "Low Self-Esteem: Myth or Reality?
1.  How much do you and your programs presume low self-esteem among your
learners? 
2.  How do you think this presumption affects the delivery of education
to adult learners? 
3.  The findings of this study may conflict with some people's notions
of adult learners. How does this article affect your thoughts about the
self-esteem of learners in your program?
4.  How might you adjust your teaching or delivery of services if your
learners had a higher self-esteem than you thought?
5.  There was some discussion of science's ability to "understand the
human mind", and of the validity of research on a concept such as
self-esteem. It is a broad and variably-defined concept, which may be
affected by many external factors related to one's situation in life.
How do we, as consumers of research, handle this question? 
I hope you can join us!
Julie
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
From Gina.Lobaccaro at state.de.us  Mon Sep 25 09:56:12 2006
From: Gina.Lobaccaro at state.de.us (Lobaccaro Gina (DOC))
Date: Mon, 25 Sep 2006 09:56:12 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 482] Re: Welcome to our discussion of "Low
	Self-Esteem:Myth or	Reality?"
In-Reply-To: <s517a405.035@mail.jsi.com>
Message-ID: <A7439902C13D6C459A2217AB22A386FBDF0C0E@DOVERSCLS01N1.state.de.us>
I read your article, and it is very interesting.  I wonder if the numbers might be different if the students were polled in correctional education programs.  Perhaps, these students DO have lower levels of self esteem - which also might have impacted their criminal behavior.
Just a thought...
Might it be another researt project.. and if it is found that a large group of the students DO have low self esteem, how might teachers influence that issue.
Gina Lobaccaro
"For business reasons, I must preserve the outward sign of sanity." --Mark Twain 
Gina Lobaccaro 
Sussex Correctional Institution 
Prison Education Department 
PO Box 500 
Georgetown, DE 19947 
Office (302) 856-5282 x 6204
Fax (302) 856-5642 
gina.lobaccaro at state.de.us 
-----Original Message-----
From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov]On Behalf Of Julie McKinney
Sent: Monday, September 25, 2006 9:40 AM
To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 479] Welcome to our discussion of "Low
Self-Esteem:Myth or Reality?"
Hi Everyone,
Welcome to our discussion with Anastasiya Lipnevich about her article
"Low Self-Esteem: Myth or Reality?"
To read the article, go to:
http://www.ncsall.net/index.php?id=1105 
See below for the discussion questions, and we open the floor for
comments, questions and thoughts!
All the best,
Julie
********************************************************
Discussion Questions for "Low Self-Esteem: Myth or Reality?
1.  How much do you and your programs presume low self-esteem among
your
learners? 
2.  How do you think this presumption affects the delivery of
education
to adult learners? 
3.  The findings of this study may conflict with some people's notions
of adult learners. How does this article affect your thoughts about
the
self-esteem of learners in your program?
4.  How might you adjust your teaching or delivery of services if your
learners had a higher self-esteem than you thought?
5.  There was some discussion of science's ability to "understand the
human mind", and of the validity of research on a concept such as
self-esteem. It is a broad and variably-defined concept, which may be
affected by many external factors related to one's situation in life.
How do we, as consumers of research, handle this question? 
*******************************************************************
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
From j-p-sinclair at worldnet.att.net  Mon Sep 25 11:26:16 2006
From: j-p-sinclair at worldnet.att.net (Judith Sinclair)
Date: Mon, 25 Sep 2006 10:26:16 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 483] Re: Low Self-esteem: Myth or Reality?
References: <4516F563.9030509@optimaltec.com>
Message-ID: <004101c6e0b6$f26e6a70$150b4d0c@Dell>
Hello, All:
With great interest I am reading and learning from the postings, including Ms. Lipnevich, regarding the community's perception of the relationship of self-esteem to literacy.  I would like to add my own experience.  For many years I have worked as a teacher, tutor, and advocate with people of all ages and backgrounds, in groups and in individual consultation, who are struggling in some way with issues of literacy.  Sometimes they are new arrivals to the USA, with English language skills ranging from emergent through expert.  At other times they are long time residents or citizens of this country, and again with varying degrees of American English language accomplishment.  And sometimes they are native-born Americans, who struggle with our language in some way, from the basics to a more advanced understanding.  From the onset of this work it was my idea that there was a direct relationship between self-esteem and literacy.
During my years in graduate school, I remained interested in the relationship between self-esteem and literacy, yet found in my research and that of others that opinions regarding this relationship widely varied. Nevertheless, from my own ongoing work including my final research and dissertation I found again that there was a direct relationship between self-esteem and literacy, and that this relationship existed across all populations, cultures, and ages.
Now, as a practicing cognitive psychologist and educator, and as a life and career management services consultant, with more experienced and education gained, I have found no instance where these two variables are not present in some critical relationship, at least to some degree.  The evidence of this relationship presents in a variety of forms, and with a variety of forces: economic, social, political, cultural, and so on.  The presentation may be explicit, in that my client(s) tell me and demonstrate that they have low self esteem, or implicit, but there is, in my opinion, always evidence for this relationship. The evidence also takes many forms, but most simply can be seen in their change of self-perspective as they improve their communication and English language skills and go on to accomplish their goals.  The model that I have established for my practice is also based to some degree on this idea: that there is a direct relationship between self-esteem and literacy.  
Low literacy denies to people of all ages and backgrounds many aspects of life and career management.  Moderate-to-high literacy allows people to negotiate American society's processes and institutions with at least some quantifiable measure of success.  Are there other variables that assist in determining life and career success?  Of course, and they are integrated into my own practice, and reviewed in my other professiorial activities.  But the relationship does exist, and occurs in my experience with many people over many years.
Thanks for providing this forum. I enjoy the discussions and hope to hear from anyone interested.
Judith Sinclair, PhD
Cognitive Psychologist & Educator
Life & Career Management Services Consultant
The Sinclair Center
3003 Van Ness Street NW
Suite 411 West
Washington, DC  20008
Phone: 202-364-3893
Mobile: 202-236-9822
email: j-p-sinclair at att.net
www.sinclairsystem.com
----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Anastasiya A. Lipnevich 
  To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov 
  Sent: Sunday, September 24, 2006 4:15 PM
  Subject: [FocusOnBasics 480] Low Self-esteem: Myth or Reality?
  Dear All,
  First of all, I would like to thank everyone for very insightful comments concerning issues addressed in the article. I was very pleased that my work sparked such a lively discussion. As I noted in the paper, I did expect some skepticism since the findings run counter to what seems to be a commonly accepted belief in the field. I will try to dissolve it to the best of my ability; it is not my main goal, however.  Let me quickly describe the premises of the research and what these findings mean to me. 
   Since my very first encounter with the adult literacy literature, I noticed that many writers had described adult basic education learners as having detrimentally low self esteem. Similarly, many researchers showed that teachers saw their role as that of raising students self esteem. Being a student in an educational psychology program with a heavy emphasis on statistics, I always seek empirical evidence for every claim made. In the case of adult literacy students' low self esteem, I found none. Therefore, I suggested conducting a study that would shed some light on the matter. This study was going to be a part of a larger study, so it was decided to administer a self-esteem questionnaire along with other measures. 
   I agree with those of you who pointed at the possible flaws of the self-report. Ideally, I would back up my findings with other methods (e.g. interviews, observations). In case converging results are found, such triangulation would solidify my conclusions. I haven't gotten to it quite yet. However, careful construction of the questionnaire under the supervision of savvy adult education researchers and good psychometric characteristics of the measure suggest that this way of measuring self-esteem is at the very least acceptable. Students seem to have provided meaningful answers to the questions. 
   I do agree that self-esteem is influenced by many variables, e.g. economic status. This is an important factor to consider, but it doesn't change the way we interpret the findings. In psychological research, we measure self-esteem, motivation, self-regulation and what not, keeping in mind that they do not operate in isolation. However, it does give us useful information about the level of certain phenomena and helps us refine ways we interact with our students. Therefore, I do not necessarily see why difficulty with measuring self-esteem should deter us from doing it.
   For those of you who wondered why PhD students were chosen for comparison, here is my rationale. In the absence of self-esteem norms for the adult students' population, I needed a comparison group. PhD students are similar to adult learners in that they have voluntarily enrolled in their respective educational programs. Even though doctoral students and adult learners are at different educational levels, they had to believe they could succeed when they joined the program and they may have the same doubts about their potential success as they progress in the program. Additionally, societal views on PhD and adult literacy students as being a sea apart on the SE vector served as a good concurrent validity estimate.
   Having found no differences, Hal Beder and I concluded that those who work with adult basic education students should reevaluate any preconceived notions they may have about their students. Adult learners need no more praise than PhD students, and teachers' focus should be on helping learners acquire skills, strategies and knowledge, rather than working on the elusive goal of raising self-esteem. Again, my findings do not mean that adult students have high SE - it means only that they do not differ from PhD students in the levels they have.
   Having said this, I am looking forward to your comments. I will try to address your comments every night - my schedule prevents me from doing it more often. Thank you so much!
  Ana Lipnevich.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  ----------------------------------------------------
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From hbeder at rci.rutgers.edu  Mon Sep 25 13:06:56 2006
From: hbeder at rci.rutgers.edu (Hal Beder)
Date: Mon, 25 Sep 2006 13:06:56 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 484] Re: Low Self-esteem: Myth or Reality?
In-Reply-To: <004101c6e0b6$f26e6a70$150b4d0c@Dell>
References: <4516F563.9030509@optimaltec.com>
	<004101c6e0b6$f26e6a70$150b4d0c@Dell>
Message-ID: <6.2.3.4.2.20060925130333.02b88cf8@rci.rutgers.edu>
Although there may be a relationship between 
adult literacy and self-esteem, it is important 
to note that the subjects of the study were adult 
literacy students, a select 
population.  Nationally, only about 8% of those 
eligible for adult literacy attend programs.  It 
may be that low-literates with the lowest self-esteem simply do not attend.
At 11:26 AM 9/25/2006, you wrote:
>Hello, All:
>
>With great interest I am reading and learning 
>from the postings, including Ms. Lipnevich, 
>regarding the community's perception of the 
>relationship of self-esteem to literacy.  I 
>would like to add my own experience.  For many 
>years I have worked as a teacher, tutor, and 
>advocate with people of all ages and 
>backgrounds, in groups and in individual 
>consultation, who are struggling in some way 
>with issues of literacy.  Sometimes they are new 
>arrivals to the USA, with English language 
>skills ranging from emergent through expert.  At 
>other times they are long time residents or 
>citizens of this country, and again with varying 
>degrees of American English language 
>accomplishment.  And sometimes they are 
>native-born Americans, who struggle with our 
>language in some way, from the basics to a more 
>advanced understanding.  From the onset of this 
>work it was my idea that there was a direct 
>relationship between self-esteem and literacy.
>
>During my years in graduate school, I remained 
>interested in the relationship between 
>self-esteem and literacy, yet found in my 
>research and that of others that opinions 
>regarding this relationship widely varied. 
>Nevertheless, from my own ongoing work including 
>my final research and dissertation I found again 
>that there was a direct relationship between 
>self-esteem and literacy, and that this 
>relationship existed across all populations, cultures, and ages.
>
>Now, as a practicing cognitive psychologist and 
>educator, and as a life and career management 
>services consultant, with more experienced and 
>education gained, I have found no instance where 
>these two variables are not present in some 
>critical relationship, at least to some 
>degree.  The evidence of this relationship 
>presents in a variety of forms, and with a 
>variety of forces: economic, social, political, 
>cultural, and so on.  The presentation may be 
>explicit, in that my client(s) tell me and 
>demonstrate that they have low self esteem, or 
>implicit, but there is, in my opinion, always 
>evidence for this relationship. The evidence 
>also takes many forms, but most simply can be 
>seen in their change of self-perspective as they 
>improve their communication and English language 
>skills and go on to accomplish their goals.  The 
>model that I have established for my practice is 
>also based to some degree on this idea: that 
>there is a direct relationship between self-esteem and literacy.
>
>Low literacy denies to people of all ages and 
>backgrounds many aspects of life and career 
>management.  Moderate-to-high literacy allows 
>people to negotiate American society's processes 
>and institutions with at least some quantifiable 
>measure of success.  Are there other variables 
>that assist in determining life and career 
>success?  Of course, and they are integrated 
>into my own practice, and reviewed in my other 
>professiorial activities.  But the relationship 
>does exist, and occurs in my experience with many people over many years.
>
>Thanks for providing this forum. I enjoy the 
>discussions and hope to hear from anyone interested.
>
>Judith Sinclair, PhD
>Cognitive Psychologist & Educator
>Life & Career Management Services Consultant
>The Sinclair Center
>3003 Van Ness Street NW
>Suite 411 West
>Washington, DC  20008
>Phone: 202-364-3893
>Mobile: 202-236-9822
>email: <mailto:j-p-sinclair at att.net>j-p-sinclair at att.net
>www.sinclairsystem.com
>
>
>
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: <mailto:ana at optimaltec.com>Anastasiya A. Lipnevich
>To: <mailto:focusonbasics at nifl.gov>focusonbasics at nifl.gov
>Sent: Sunday, September 24, 2006 4:15 PM
>Subject: [FocusOnBasics 480] Low Self-esteem: Myth or Reality?
>
>Dear All,
>
>First of all, I would like to thank everyone for 
>very insightful comments concerning issues 
>addressed in the article. I was very pleased 
>that my work sparked such a lively discussion. 
>As I noted in the paper, I did expect some 
>skepticism since the findings run counter to 
>what seems to be a commonly accepted belief in 
>the field. I will try to dissolve it to the best 
>of my ability; it is not my main goal, 
>however.  Let me quickly describe the premises 
>of the research and what these findings mean to me.
>
>  Since my very first encounter with the adult 
> literacy literature, I noticed that many 
> writers had described adult basic education 
> learners as having detrimentally low self 
> esteem. Similarly, many researchers showed that 
> teachers saw their role as that of raising 
> students self esteem. Being a student in an 
> educational psychology program with a heavy 
> emphasis on statistics, I always seek empirical 
> evidence for every claim made. In the case of 
> adult literacy students? low self esteem, I 
> found none. Therefore, I suggested conducting a 
> study that would shed some light on the matter. 
> This study was going to be a part of a larger 
> study, so it was decided to administer a 
> self-esteem questionnaire along with other measures.
>
>  I agree with those of you who pointed at the 
> possible flaws of the self-report. Ideally, I 
> would back up my findings with other methods 
> (e.g. interviews, observations). In case 
> converging results are found, such 
> triangulation would solidify my conclusions. I 
> haven?t gotten to it quite yet. However, 
> careful construction of the questionnaire under 
> the supervision of savvy adult education 
> researchers and good psychometric 
> characteristics of the measure suggest that 
> this way of measuring self-esteem is at the 
> very least acceptable. Students seem to have 
> provided meaningful answers to the questions.
>
>  I do agree that self-esteem is influenced by 
> many variables, e.g. economic status. This is 
> an important factor to consider, but it doesn?t 
> change the way we interpret the findings. In 
> psychological research, we measure self-esteem, 
> motivation, self-regulation and what not, 
> keeping in mind that they do not operate in 
> isolation. However, it does give us useful 
> information about the level of certain 
> phenomena and helps us refine ways we interact 
> with our students. Therefore, I do not 
> necessarily see why difficulty with measuring 
> self-esteem should deter us from doing it.
>
>  For those of you who wondered why PhD students 
> were chosen for comparison, here is my 
> rationale. In the absence of self-esteem norms 
> for the adult students? population, I needed a 
> comparison group. PhD students are similar to 
> adult learners in that they have voluntarily 
> enrolled in their respective educational 
> programs. Even though doctoral students and 
> adult learners are at different educational 
> levels, they had to believe they could succeed 
> when they joined the program and they may have 
> the same doubts about their potential success 
> as they progress in the program. Additionally, 
> societal views on PhD and adult literacy 
> students as being a sea apart on the SE vector 
> served as a good concurrent validity estimate.
>
>  Having found no differences, Hal Beder and I 
> concluded that those who work with adult basic 
> education students should reevaluate any 
> preconceived notions they may have about their 
> students. Adult learners need no more praise 
> than PhD students, and teachers? focus should 
> be on helping learners acquire skills, 
> strategies and knowledge, rather than working 
> on the elusive goal of raising self-esteem. 
> Again, my findings do not mean that adult 
> students have high SE ? it means only that they 
> do not differ from PhD students in the levels they have.
>
>  Having said this, I am looking forward to your 
> comments. I will try to address your comments 
> every night ? my schedule prevents me from 
> doing it more often. Thank you so much!
>
>Ana Lipnevich.
>
>
>----------
>----------------------------------------------------
>National Institute for Literacy
>Focus on Basics mailing list
>FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
>To unsubscribe or change your subscription 
>settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
>
>----------------------------------------------------
>National Institute for Literacy
>Focus on Basics mailing list
>FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
>To unsubscribe or change your subscription 
>settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
Rutgers University
Graduate School of Education
10 seminary Pl.
New Brunswick, NJ 08901
732-932-7496 ext. 8213 
From tarv at chemeketa.edu  Mon Sep 25 14:38:14 2006
From: tarv at chemeketa.edu (Virginia Tardaewether)
Date: Mon, 25 Sep 2006 11:38:14 -0700
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 485] Re: Low Self-esteem: Myth or Reality?
In-Reply-To: <004101c6e0b6$f26e6a70$150b4d0c@Dell>
Message-ID: <D63A25821E9AE349ADBAB6BB1F0A766C0205BDA9@cccmail2.chemeketa.network>
Some comments of what I've noticed in 30 plus years of teaching adults.
1)      Many gang members have noticeable low self esteem
2)      Many people who are incarcerated have low self esteem/self worth
issues
Have you all noticed this?
Va
________________________________
From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Judith Sinclair
Sent: Monday, September 25, 2006 8:26 AM
To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 483] Re: Low Self-esteem: Myth or Reality?
 
Hello, All:
 
With great interest I am reading and learning from the postings,
including Ms. Lipnevich, regarding the community's perception of the
relationship of self-esteem to literacy.  I would like to add my own
experience.  For many years I have worked as a teacher, tutor, and
advocate with people of all ages and backgrounds, in groups and in
individual consultation, who are struggling in some way with issues of
literacy.  Sometimes they are new arrivals to the USA, with English
language skills ranging from emergent through expert.  At other times
they are long time residents or citizens of this country, and again with
varying degrees of American English language accomplishment.  And
sometimes they are native-born Americans, who struggle with our language
in some way, from the basics to a more advanced understanding.  From the
onset of this work it was my idea that there was a direct relationship
between self-esteem and literacy.
 
During my years in graduate school, I remained interested in the
relationship between self-esteem and literacy, yet found in my research
and that of others that opinions regarding this relationship widely
varied. Nevertheless, from my own ongoing work including my final
research and dissertation I found again that there was a direct
relationship between self-esteem and literacy, and that this
relationship existed across all populations, cultures, and ages.
 
Now, as a practicing cognitive psychologist and educator, and as a life
and career management services consultant, with more experienced and
education gained, I have found no instance where these two variables are
not present in some critical relationship, at least to some degree.  The
evidence of this relationship presents in a variety of forms, and with a
variety of forces: economic, social, political, cultural, and so on.
The presentation may be explicit, in that my client(s) tell me and
demonstrate that they have low self esteem, or implicit, but there is,
in my opinion, always evidence for this relationship. The evidence also
takes many forms, but most simply can be seen in their change of
self-perspective as they improve their communication and English
language skills and go on to accomplish their goals.  The model that I
have established for my practice is also based to some degree on this
idea: that there is a direct relationship between self-esteem and
literacy.  
 
Low literacy denies to people of all ages and backgrounds many aspects
of life and career management.  Moderate-to-high literacy allows people
to negotiate American society's processes and institutions with at least
some quantifiable measure of success.  Are there other variables that
assist in determining life and career success?  Of course, and they are
integrated into my own practice, and reviewed in my other professiorial
activities.  But the relationship does exist, and occurs in my
experience with many people over many years.
 
Thanks for providing this forum. I enjoy the discussions and hope to
hear from anyone interested.
Judith Sinclair, PhD
Cognitive Psychologist & Educator
Life & Career Management Services Consultant
The Sinclair Center
3003 Van Ness Street NW
Suite 411 West
Washington, DC  20008
Phone: 202-364-3893
Mobile: 202-236-9822
email: j-p-sinclair at att.net
www.sinclairsystem.com
 
 
 
 
----- Original Message ----- 
	From: Anastasiya A. Lipnevich <mailto:ana at optimaltec.com>  
	To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov 
	Sent: Sunday, September 24, 2006 4:15 PM
	Subject: [FocusOnBasics 480] Low Self-esteem: Myth or Reality?
	 
	Dear All,
	First of all, I would like to thank everyone for very insightful
comments concerning issues addressed in the article. I was very pleased
that my work sparked such a lively discussion. As I noted in the paper,
I did expect some skepticism since the findings run counter to what
seems to be a commonly accepted belief in the field. I will try to
dissolve it to the best of my ability; it is not my main goal, however.
Let me quickly describe the premises of the research and what these
findings mean to me. 
	 Since my very first encounter with the adult literacy
literature, I noticed that many writers had described adult basic
education learners as having detrimentally low self esteem. Similarly,
many researchers showed that teachers saw their role as that of raising
students self esteem. Being a student in an educational psychology
program with a heavy emphasis on statistics, I always seek empirical
evidence for every claim made. In the case of adult literacy students'
low self esteem, I found none. Therefore, I suggested conducting a study
that would shed some light on the matter. This study was going to be a
part of a larger study, so it was decided to administer a self-esteem
questionnaire along with other measures. 
	 I agree with those of you who pointed at the possible flaws of
the self-report. Ideally, I would back up my findings with other methods
(e.g. interviews, observations). In case converging results are found,
such triangulation would solidify my conclusions. I haven't gotten to it
quite yet. However, careful construction of the questionnaire under the
supervision of savvy adult education researchers and good psychometric
characteristics of the measure suggest that this way of measuring
self-esteem is at the very least acceptable. Students seem to have
provided meaningful answers to the questions. 
	 I do agree that self-esteem is influenced by many variables,
e.g. economic status. This is an important factor to consider, but it
doesn't change the way we interpret the findings. In psychological
research, we measure self-esteem, motivation, self-regulation and what
not, keeping in mind that they do not operate in isolation. However, it
does give us useful information about the level of certain phenomena and
helps us refine ways we interact with our students. Therefore, I do not
necessarily see why difficulty with measuring self-esteem should deter
us from doing it.
	 For those of you who wondered why PhD students were chosen for
comparison, here is my rationale. In the absence of self-esteem norms
for the adult students' population, I needed a comparison group. PhD
students are similar to adult learners in that they have voluntarily
enrolled in their respective educational programs. Even though doctoral
students and adult learners are at different educational levels, they
had to believe they could succeed when they joined the program and they
may have the same doubts about their potential success as they progress
in the program. Additionally, societal views on PhD and adult literacy
students as being a sea apart on the SE vector served as a good
concurrent validity estimate.
	 Having found no differences, Hal Beder and I concluded that
those who work with adult basic education students should reevaluate any
preconceived notions they may have about their students. Adult learners
need no more praise than PhD students, and teachers' focus should be on
helping learners acquire skills, strategies and knowledge, rather than
working on the elusive goal of raising self-esteem. Again, my findings
do not mean that adult students have high SE - it means only that they
do not differ from PhD students in the levels they have.
	 Having said this, I am looking forward to your comments. I will
try to address your comments every night - my schedule prevents me from
doing it more often. Thank you so much!
	Ana Lipnevich.
	
	
	 
	
________________________________
	----------------------------------------------------
	National Institute for Literacy
	Focus on Basics mailing list
	FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
	To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go
to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
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From amuro5 at epcc.edu  Mon Sep 25 16:36:57 2006
From: amuro5 at epcc.edu (Muro, Andres)
Date: Mon, 25 Sep 2006 14:36:57 -0600
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 486] Re: Discussion Questions for "Low
	Self-Esteem:Mythor Reality?"
In-Reply-To: <001101c6e0ac$59468b70$87b2bf42@D3CRV351>
Message-ID: <CA29C5E82B801844A7A967D109F117CF79EA79@svrascmail01>
Bryan:
Of the top of my head I cannot think of too many bibliographical
resources. My comments are based on readings on anthropology, sociology
and pedagogy and my years of experience with students. Some references
that I can think of are that relate to the subject are:
Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paolo Freire
Cultural Diversity and the School Experience (Article by John Ogbu)
Teacher's as Intellectuals by Henry Giroux
-----Original Message-----
From: Bryan [mailto:baw234 at bellsouth.net] 
Sent: Monday, September 25, 2006 8:10 AM
To: 'The Focus on Basics Discussion List'; Muro, Andres
Subject: RE: [FocusOnBasics 481] Re: Discussion Questions for "Low
Self-Esteem:Mythor Reality?"
Amuro,
	Your brief discussion seems to ring very true to my experience
in
working with a sub-population of the severely emotionally disabled high
school students. I am not working in the education profession at this
time,
but am very interested in this topic.
	If you would be so kind as to send me a bibliography of primary
resources concerning this issue, I would be very grateful.
e[n agapevn tou' Cristou',
 Bryan
-----Original Message-----
From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov]
On Behalf Of Muro, Andres
Sent: Wednesday, September 20, 2006 7:39 PM
To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 481] Re: Discussion Questions for "Low
Self-Esteem:Mythor Reality?"
Hi, I read the article and I have problems with it and on how the
question about self esteem was explored. The issue of self esteem is
hard to measure as an independent variable and compare it to another
controlled group.
The concept of self esteem is historically rooted in the ideas of the
enlightenment and economic ideals of capitalism. Hume has defined us as
Homo-Economicus, as men whose worth is measured by wealth. This was a
shift from the idea that the worth of a man was inherited as it was
previously believed.
In modern society there are markers that define the esteem of a person.
These are usually wealth, looks, possessions, titles, job status,
cultural capital, etc. These are things that we all use to measure our
value and based on these, we evaluate ourselves.
Usually, our students are in the low end of the scale in terms of these
measures. There are other things that societies can consider in terms of
valuing a person's esteem. Unfortunately, ours has identified the above
markers. We need to recognize and struggle to challenge this. However,
if a study tells us that there are no self esteem problems among the
poor, the oppressed, or those with limited academic skills then we won't
need to challenge our cultural views on self esteem.
Problem with measuring self esteem as an empirically independent
variable that can be isolated, is that it is not an empirical or
observable variable that can be isolated. Self esteem is tied to our
habitus and as such, it needs to be understood and researched within the
context of our habitus. Moreover, a concept such as self esteem is not
an isolatable concept with life of its own. It is a contextual mental
construct that defines the mental state of a person within specific
social, cultural and historical contexts. Blah, blah, blah, blah.....
Andres
-----Original Message-----
From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Julie McKinney
Sent: Wednesday, September 20, 2006 4:51 PM
To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 477] Discussion Questions for "Low Self-Esteem:
Mythor Reality?"
Hi Everyone,
Our discussion on the FOB article "Low Self-Esteem: Myth or Reality?"
will be next week, September 25-29. See below for some questions to
think about.
Link to the article (in Volume 8B)
http://www.ncsall.net/index.php?id=1105
Discussion Questions for "Low Self-Esteem: Myth or Reality?
1.  How much do you and your programs presume low self-esteem among your
learners?
2.  How do you think this presumption affects the delivery of education
to adult learners?
3.  The findings of this study may conflict with some people's notions
of adult learners. How does this article affect your thoughts about the
self-esteem of learners in your program?
4.  How might you adjust your teaching or delivery of services if your
learners had a higher self-esteem than you thought?
5.  There was some discussion of science's ability to "understand the
human mind", and of the validity of research on a concept such as
self-esteem. It is a broad and variably-defined concept, which may be
affected by many external factors related to one's situation in life.
How do we, as consumers of research, handle this question?
I hope you can join us!
Julie
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
From sreid at workbase.org.nz  Mon Sep 25 16:33:39 2006
From: sreid at workbase.org.nz (Susan Reid)
Date: Tue, 26 Sep 2006 08:33:39 +1200
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 487] Re: Low Self-esteem: Myth or Reality?
Message-ID: <14794889A1E3AF419042F64CC5425A1E23C5A8@secure.workbase.org.nz>
Hello there 
 
I work in workplace literacy programmes and in professional development with tutors who often describe that their learners have developed 'more confidence or self-esteem' and my question is always how do you know.
Is  it because they can do more or different  things or use or articulate different strategies or do they have different knowledge forms.  In my experience learners are always able to specify what the differences are 
 
NIACE in the UK did a small scale research project on adult learners and confidence which makes interesting reading 
Here is a short summary of the project 
http://www.literacytrust.org.uk/socialinclusion/adults/confidence.html
 
and here is another summary which includes guidance for tutors on using a grid for discussions with and amongst learners which was a key part of the project 
http://niace.rcthosting.com/en/newsdetail.asp?Section=4&Ref=894
 
To download the full report (75pages) see 
http://www.niace.org.uk/funds/aclf/Catching-Confidence-Final-Report.pdf#search=%22catching%20confidence%20%22
 
Regards Susan Reid 
Manager Professional Development 
Workbase the New Zealand Centre for Workforce Literacy Development 
www.workbase.org.nz
see also NZ Literacy Portal 
www.nzliteracyportal.org.nz
 
 
 
 
________________________________
From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov on behalf of Hal Beder
Sent: Tue 26/09/2006 5:06 a.m.
To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 484] Re: Low Self-esteem: Myth or Reality?
Although there may be a relationship between
adult literacy and self-esteem, it is important
to note that the subjects of the study were adult
literacy students, a select
population.  Nationally, only about 8% of those
eligible for adult literacy attend programs.  It
may be that low-literates with the lowest self-esteem simply do not attend.
At 11:26 AM 9/25/2006, you wrote:
>Hello, All:
>
>With great interest I am reading and learning
>from the postings, including Ms. Lipnevich,
>regarding the community's perception of the
>relationship of self-esteem to literacy.  I
>would like to add my own experience.  For many
>years I have worked as a teacher, tutor, and
>advocate with people of all ages and
>backgrounds, in groups and in individual
>consultation, who are struggling in some way
>with issues of literacy.  Sometimes they are new
>arrivals to the USA, with English language
>skills ranging from emergent through expert.  At
>other times they are long time residents or
>citizens of this country, and again with varying
>degrees of American English language
>accomplishment.  And sometimes they are
>native-born Americans, who struggle with our
>language in some way, from the basics to a more
>advanced understanding.  From the onset of this
>work it was my idea that there was a direct
>relationship between self-esteem and literacy.
>
>During my years in graduate school, I remained
>interested in the relationship between
>self-esteem and literacy, yet found in my
>research and that of others that opinions
>regarding this relationship widely varied.
>Nevertheless, from my own ongoing work including
>my final research and dissertation I found again
>that there was a direct relationship between
>self-esteem and literacy, and that this
>relationship existed across all populations, cultures, and ages.
>
>Now, as a practicing cognitive psychologist and
>educator, and as a life and career management
>services consultant, with more experienced and
>education gained, I have found no instance where
>these two variables are not present in some
>critical relationship, at least to some
>degree.  The evidence of this relationship
>presents in a variety of forms, and with a
>variety of forces: economic, social, political,
>cultural, and so on.  The presentation may be
>explicit, in that my client(s) tell me and
>demonstrate that they have low self esteem, or
>implicit, but there is, in my opinion, always
>evidence for this relationship. The evidence
>also takes many forms, but most simply can be
>seen in their change of self-perspective as they
>improve their communication and English language
>skills and go on to accomplish their goals.  The
>model that I have established for my practice is
>also based to some degree on this idea: that
>there is a direct relationship between self-esteem and literacy.
>
>Low literacy denies to people of all ages and
>backgrounds many aspects of life and career
>management.  Moderate-to-high literacy allows
>people to negotiate American society's processes
>and institutions with at least some quantifiable
>measure of success.  Are there other variables
>that assist in determining life and career
>success?  Of course, and they are integrated
>into my own practice, and reviewed in my other
>professiorial activities.  But the relationship
>does exist, and occurs in my experience with many people over many years.
>
>Thanks for providing this forum. I enjoy the
>discussions and hope to hear from anyone interested.
>
>Judith Sinclair, PhD
>Cognitive Psychologist & Educator
>Life & Career Management Services Consultant
>The Sinclair Center
>3003 Van Ness Street NW
>Suite 411 West
>Washington, DC  20008
>Phone: 202-364-3893
>Mobile: 202-236-9822
>email: <mailto:j-p-sinclair at att.net>j-p-sinclair at att.net
>www.sinclairsystem.com
>
>
>
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: <mailto:ana at optimaltec.com>Anastasiya A. Lipnevich
>To: <mailto:focusonbasics at nifl.gov>focusonbasics at nifl.gov
>Sent: Sunday, September 24, 2006 4:15 PM
>Subject: [FocusOnBasics 480] Low Self-esteem: Myth or Reality?
>
>Dear All,
>
>First of all, I would like to thank everyone for
>very insightful comments concerning issues
>addressed in the article. I was very pleased
>that my work sparked such a lively discussion.
>As I noted in the paper, I did expect some
>skepticism since the findings run counter to
>what seems to be a commonly accepted belief in
>the field. I will try to dissolve it to the best
>of my ability; it is not my main goal,
>however.  Let me quickly describe the premises
>of the research and what these findings mean to me.
>
>  Since my very first encounter with the adult
> literacy literature, I noticed that many
> writers had described adult basic education
> learners as having detrimentally low self
> esteem. Similarly, many researchers showed that
> teachers saw their role as that of raising
> students self esteem. Being a student in an
> educational psychology program with a heavy
> emphasis on statistics, I always seek empirical
> evidence for every claim made. In the case of
> adult literacy students' low self esteem, I
> found none. Therefore, I suggested conducting a
> study that would shed some light on the matter.
> This study was going to be a part of a larger
> study, so it was decided to administer a
> self-esteem questionnaire along with other measures.
>
>  I agree with those of you who pointed at the
> possible flaws of the self-report. Ideally, I
> would back up my findings with other methods
> (e.g. interviews, observations). In case
> converging results are found, such
> triangulation would solidify my conclusions. I
> haven't gotten to it quite yet. However,
> careful construction of the questionnaire under
> the supervision of savvy adult education
> researchers and good psychometric
> characteristics of the measure suggest that
> this way of measuring self-esteem is at the
> very least acceptable. Students seem to have
> provided meaningful answers to the questions.
>
>  I do agree that self-esteem is influenced by
> many variables, e.g. economic status. This is
> an important factor to consider, but it doesn't
> change the way we interpret the findings. In
> psychological research, we measure self-esteem,
> motivation, self-regulation and what not,
> keeping in mind that they do not operate in
> isolation. However, it does give us useful
> information about the level of certain
> phenomena and helps us refine ways we interact
> with our students. Therefore, I do not
> necessarily see why difficulty with measuring
> self-esteem should deter us from doing it.
>
>  For those of you who wondered why PhD students
> were chosen for comparison, here is my
> rationale. In the absence of self-esteem norms
> for the adult students' population, I needed a
> comparison group. PhD students are similar to
> adult learners in that they have voluntarily
> enrolled in their respective educational
> programs. Even though doctoral students and
> adult learners are at different educational
> levels, they had to believe they could succeed
> when they joined the program and they may have
> the same doubts about their potential success
> as they progress in the program. Additionally,
> societal views on PhD and adult literacy
> students as being a sea apart on the SE vector
> served as a good concurrent validity estimate.
>
>  Having found no differences, Hal Beder and I
> concluded that those who work with adult basic
> education students should reevaluate any
> preconceived notions they may have about their
> students. Adult learners need no more praise
> than PhD students, and teachers' focus should
> be on helping learners acquire skills,
> strategies and knowledge, rather than working
> on the elusive goal of raising self-esteem.
> Again, my findings do not mean that adult
> students have high SE - it means only that they
> do not differ from PhD students in the levels they have.
>
>  Having said this, I am looking forward to your
> comments. I will try to address your comments
> every night - my schedule prevents me from
> doing it more often. Thank you so much!
>
>Ana Lipnevich.
>
>
>----------
>----------------------------------------------------
>National Institute for Literacy
>Focus on Basics mailing list
>FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
>To unsubscribe or change your subscription
>settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
>
>----------------------------------------------------
>National Institute for Literacy
>Focus on Basics mailing list
>FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
>To unsubscribe or change your subscription
>settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
Rutgers University
Graduate School of Education
10 seminary Pl.
New Brunswick, NJ 08901
732-932-7496 ext. 8213
----------------------------------------------------
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From atoops at ohioliteracynetwork.org  Mon Sep 25 21:37:05 2006
From: atoops at ohioliteracynetwork.org (alan toops)
Date: Mon, 25 Sep 2006 21:37:05 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 488] Re: Welcome to our discussion of "Low
 Self-Esteem:Myth or Reality?"
In-Reply-To: <A7439902C13D6C459A2217AB22A386FBDF0C0E@DOVERSCLS01N1.state.de.us>
Message-ID: <C13DFC81.12157%atoops@ohioliteracynetwork.org>
To support both Virginia's observations, and respond to Gina's question, I
have been a classroom instructor, building principal and assistant
superintendent in a correctional education system for over 30 years.
Low esteem in this population is the norm not the exception. Past failures
in education, the impact of poverty, a fractured home life all contribute to
this issue.
Ruby Payne's work on poverty clearly demonstrates the impact that low self
esteem plays in childhood. At risk youth and adults in our prisons and jails
simply serve to add a pointed commentary to that sad fact.
Alan Toops
Executive Director
Ohio Literacy Network
(614) 505-0717
atoops at ohioliteracynetwork.org
http://www.ohioliteracynetwork.org
On 9/25/06 9:56 AM, "Lobaccaro Gina (DOC)" <Gina.Lobaccaro at state.de.us>
wrote:
> I read your article, and it is very interesting.  I wonder if the numbers
> might be different if the students were polled in correctional education
> programs.  Perhaps, these students DO have lower levels of self esteem - which
> also might have impacted their criminal behavior.
> Just a thought...
> Might it be another researt project.. and if it is found that a large group of
> the students DO have low self esteem, how might teachers influence that issue.
> Gina Lobaccaro
> 
> "For business reasons, I must preserve the outward sign of sanity." --Mark
> Twain 
> 
> Gina Lobaccaro 
> Sussex Correctional Institution
> Prison Education Department
> PO Box 500 
> Georgetown, DE 19947
> Office (302) 856-5282 x 6204
> Fax (302) 856-5642
> gina.lobaccaro at state.de.us
> 
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov
> [mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov]On Behalf Of Julie McKinney
> Sent: Monday, September 25, 2006 9:40 AM
> To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
> Subject: [FocusOnBasics 479] Welcome to our discussion of "Low
> Self-Esteem:Myth or Reality?"
> 
> 
> Hi Everyone,
> 
> Welcome to our discussion with Anastasiya Lipnevich about her article
> "Low Self-Esteem: Myth or Reality?"
> 
> To read the article, go to:
> http://www.ncsall.net/index.php?id=1105
> 
> See below for the discussion questions, and we open the floor for
> comments, questions and thoughts!
> 
> All the best,
> Julie
> ********************************************************
> 
> Discussion Questions for "Low Self-Esteem: Myth or Reality?
> 
> 1.  How much do you and your programs presume low self-esteem among
> your
> learners? 
> 2.  How do you think this presumption affects the delivery of
> education
> to adult learners?
> 3.  The findings of this study may conflict with some people's notions
> of adult learners. How does this article affect your thoughts about
> the
> self-esteem of learners in your program?
> 4.  How might you adjust your teaching or delivery of services if your
> learners had a higher self-esteem than you thought?
> 5.  There was some discussion of science's ability to "understand the
> human mind", and of the validity of research on a concept such as
> self-esteem. It is a broad and variably-defined concept, which may be
> affected by many external factors related to one's situation in life.
> How do we, as consumers of research, handle this question?
> *******************************************************************
> 
> 
> Julie McKinney
> Discussion List Moderator
> World Education/NCSALL
> jmckinney at worlded.org
> 
> ----------------------------------------------------
> National Institute for Literacy
> Focus on Basics mailing list
> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
> ----------------------------------------------------
> National Institute for Literacy
> Focus on Basics mailing list
> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
> 
From ana at optimaltec.com  Mon Sep 25 22:17:44 2006
From: ana at optimaltec.com (Anastasiya A. Lipnevich)
Date: Mon, 25 Sep 2006 22:17:44 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 489] Low Self-Esteem: Myth or Reality? Some comments
Message-ID: <45188DC8.6040803@optimaltec.com>
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From robinschwarz1 at aol.com  Tue Sep 26 01:44:21 2006
From: robinschwarz1 at aol.com (robinschwarz1 at aol.com)
Date: Tue, 26 Sep 2006 01:44:21 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 490] Re: Low Self-esteem: Myth or Reality?
In-Reply-To: <004101c6e0b6$f26e6a70$150b4d0c@Dell>
References: <4516F563.9030509@optimaltec.com>
	<004101c6e0b6$f26e6a70$150b4d0c@Dell>
Message-ID: <8C8AF45F332475C-D70-36D2@MBLK-M29.sysops.aol.com>
Judith-- an interesting take on the literacy and self-esteem issue--and 
one I do not think was intended in this discussion.  Literacy in 
English as opposed to no literacy at all are rather different 
situations.  Of course it boosts an English learner's self esteem in 
the language learning and use situation when their English improves, 
but I do not think it is wise to make this analogous to self esteem 
issues of those who have never gained literacy in their native language 
and have remained, perhaps, marginalized as a result.     Robin Lovrien 
Schwarz
-----Original Message-----
From: j-p-sinclair at worldnet.att.net
To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
Sent: Mon, 25 Sep 2006 10:26 AM
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 483] Re: Low Self-esteem: Myth or Reality?
Hello, All:
?
With great interest I am reading and learning from the postings, 
including Ms. Lipnevich,?regarding the community's perception of the 
relationship of self-esteem to literacy.? I would like to add my own 
experience.? For many years I have worked as a teacher, tutor, and 
advocate with people of all ages and backgrounds, in groups and in 
individual consultation,?who?are struggling in some way with issues of 
literacy.? Sometimes they?are new arrivals to the USA, with English 
language skills ranging from emergent through expert.? At other times 
they?are long time residents or citizens of this country, and again 
with varying degrees of American English language accomplishment.? And 
sometimes they?are native-born Americans, who struggle with our 
language in some way, from the basics to a more advanced 
understanding.? From the onset of this work it was my idea that there 
was a direct relationship between self-esteem and literacy.
?
During my years in graduate school, I remained interested in the 
relationship between self-esteem and literacy, yet found in my research 
and that of others that opinions regarding this relationship widely 
varied.?Nevertheless, from my own ongoing work including my final 
research and dissertation I found again that?there was?a direct 
relationship between self-esteem and literacy, and that this 
relationship existed across all populations, cultures, and ages.
?
Now,?as a practicing cognitive psychologist and educator, and as a life 
and career management services consultant, with more experienced and 
education gained, I have found no instance where these two 
variables?are not present in some critical relationship, at least to 
some degree.? The evidence of this relationship presents in a variety 
of forms, and with a variety of forces: economic, social, political, 
cultural, and so on.? The presentation may be explicit, in that my 
client(s) tell me and demonstrate that they have low self esteem, or 
implicit, but there is, in my opinion, always evidence for this 
relationship.?The evidence also takes many forms, but most simply can 
be seen in their change of self-perspective as they improve their 
communication and English language skills and go on to accomplish their 
goals.? The model that I have established for my practice is also based 
to some degree on this idea: that there is a direct relationship 
between self-esteem and literacy.?
?
Low literacy denies to people of all ages and backgrounds many aspects 
of life and career management.? Moderate-to-high literacy allows people 
to negotiate American society's processes and institutions with at 
least some quantifiable measure of success.? Are there other variables 
that assist in determining life and career success?? Of course, and 
they are integrated into my own practice, and reviewed in my other 
professiorial activities.? But the relationship does exist, and occurs 
in my experience with many people over many years.
?
Thanks for providing this forum.?I enjoy the discussions and hope to 
hear from anyone interested.
Judith Sinclair, PhD
Cognitive Psychologist & Educator
Life & Career Management Services Consultant
The Sinclair Center
3003 Van Ness Street NW
Suite 411 West
Washington, DC? 20008
Phone: 202-364-3893
Mobile: 202-236-9822
email: j-p-sinclair at att.net
www.sinclairsystem.com
?
?
?
?
----- Original Message -----
From: Anastasiya A. Lipnevich
To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
Sent: Sunday, September 24, 2006 4:15 PM
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 480] Low Self-esteem: Myth or Reality?
Dear All,
First of all, I would like to thank everyone for very insightful 
comments concerning issues addressed in the article. I was very pleased 
that my work sparked such a lively discussion. As I noted in the paper, 
I did expect some skepticism since the findings run counter to what 
seems to be a commonly accepted belief in the field. I will try to 
dissolve it to the best of my ability; it is not my main goal, however. 
?Let me quickly describe the premises of the research and what these 
findings mean to me.
?Since my very first encounter with the adult literacy literature, I 
noticed that many writers had described adult basic education learners 
as having detrimentally low self esteem. Similarly, many researchers 
showed that teachers saw their role as that of raising students self 
esteem. Being a student in an educational psychology program with a 
heavy emphasis on statistics, I always seek empirical evidence for 
every claim made. In the case of adult literacy students? low self 
esteem, I found none. Therefore, I suggested conducting a study that 
would shed some light on the matter. This study was going to be a part 
of a larger study, so it was decided to administer a self-esteem 
questionnaire along with other measures.
?I agree with those of you who pointed at the possible flaws of the 
self-report. Ideally, I would back up my findings with other methods 
(e.g. interviews, observations). In case converging results are found, 
such triangulation would solidify my conclusions. I haven?t gotten to 
it quite yet. However, careful construction of the questionnaire under 
the supervision of savvy adult education researchers and good 
psychometric characteristics of the measure suggest that this way of 
measuring self-esteem is at the very least acceptable. Students seem to 
have provided meaningful answers to the questions.
?I do agree that self-esteem is influenced by many variables, e.g. 
economic status. This is an important factor to consider, but it 
doesn?t change the way we interpret the findings. In psychological 
research, we measure self-esteem, motivation, self-regulation and what 
not, keeping in mind that they do not operate in isolation. However, it 
does give us useful information about the level of certain phenomena 
and helps us refine ways we interact with our students. Therefore, I do 
not necessarily see why difficulty with measuring self-esteem should 
deter us from doing it.
?For those of you who wondered why PhD students were chosen for 
comparison, here is my rationale. In the absence of self-esteem norms 
for the adult students? population, I needed a comparison group. PhD 
students are similar to adult learners in that they have voluntarily 
enrolled in their respective educational programs. Even though doctoral 
students and adult learners are at different educational levels, they 
had to believe they could succeed when they joined the program and they 
may have the same doubts about their potential success as they progress 
in the program. Additionally, societal views on PhD and adult literacy 
students as being a sea apart on the SE vector served as a good 
concurrent validity estimate.
?Having found no differences, Hal Beder and I concluded that those who 
work with adult basic education students should reevaluate any 
preconceived notions they may have about their students. Adult learners 
need no more praise than PhD students, and teachers? focus should be on 
helping learners acquire skills, strategies and knowledge, rather than 
working on the elusive goal of raising self-esteem. Again, my findings 
do not mean that adult students have high SE ? it means only that they 
do not differ from PhD students in the levels they have.
?Having said this, I am looking forward to your comments. I will try to 
address your comments every night ? my schedule prevents me from doing 
it more often. Thank you so much!
Ana Lipnevich.
--------
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to 
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
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From b.garner4 at verizon.net  Tue Sep 26 08:23:45 2006
From: b.garner4 at verizon.net (Barbara Garner)
Date: Tue, 26 Sep 2006 07:23:45 -0500 (CDT)
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 491] Re: Low Self-Esteem: Myth or Reality? Some
	comments
Message-ID: <28129788.4115001159273425754.JavaMail.root@vms168.mailsrvcs.net>
This discussion is rich and fascinating. 
I'm very taken with Anastasiya's research, particularly since her findings resonate with much of my classroom experience. Of course, it is only one study and certainly needs to be replicated with similar and different populations to see how robust the findings are. 
In the meantime, I wonder how tied we are as teachers to the idea that our students have low self esteem. What role does that idea have in our views of ourselves as teachers?
Barb Garner
Editor, Focus on Basics
=====================
From: "Anastasiya A. Lipnevich" <ana at optimaltec.com>
Date: 2006/09/25 Mon PM 09:17:44 CDT
To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 489] Low Self-Esteem: Myth or Reality? Some comments
  
Dear All,
?Thank youfor such a great discussion. Below I will try to address some of yourcomments.
__________________
?Andres,
It lookslike we are coming from different research paradigms, and our views onresearchin general and measurement in particular somewhat diverge. Here is mytake onsome of the issues you raised.
1. I haveto disagree with your conceptualization of self-esteem. I believe thatwhat youdescribe is actually socio-economic status (e.g. possessions, wealth,jobstatus), a construct commonly regarded as conceptually different fromself-esteem. There are studies that show a high correlation betweenself-esteemand SES, therefore, the two are, in fact, closely tied. 
Is itreally possible and/or meaningful to tease them apart? I do think so.Scientific method and characteristics thereof drive us towardsconceptualparsimony when operationalizing and actually measuring constructs ofinterest.It doesn?t mean that self esteem (or motivation, or engagement, etc)stand ontheir own. They are closely related to numerous variables, however, acorpus ofliterature demonstrates that attempts to measure them as separateconstructs doyield meaningful results and help advance our understanding of humannature. 
Additionally,what immediately comes to mind is that some components ofsocio-economic status(i.e. financial well-being) of PhD students may be worse than that ofworkingadult literacy students. So, the findings of the present study do notnecessarily contradict your take on the matter.
?
2. Inpsychological research, self-esteem is typically defined in terms ofhow weevaluate ourselves and our characteristics, the "personal judgment ofworthiness that is expressed in the attitudes the individual holdstoward himself,"in the words of Coopersmith, a pioneering researcher in the field. Itis afuzzy construct but a certain consensus has developed. Many seem toagree thatself esteem can be differentiated into global and specific self esteem.Globalrepresents a general attitude towards oneself, and can be considered atraitself-esteem, whereas specific self-esteems concern particular areas ofpeople?slives. 
?Self-affirmation theory (Steel,1988) suggests that people cope with negative outcomes in one domain byfocusing on their achievements in other, unrelated domains. This meansthat individualswith high global self-esteem would feel overall quite competent evenwhen theiracademic self-esteem is low. Low-literate adults who have failedacademicallybut succeed in other aspects of their lives may have a high generalself-esteemthat will allow them to lead full, not deficient, lives. Adult literacylearners often look at themselves as competent workers, parents, andcitizens,which may partially compensate for their lack of literacy. Talkingabout adultliteracy students in terms of their deficiencies and abnormally lowself-esteemjust adds to the existing stigma. 
?3. This study doesn?t suggest thatself-esteem of adult students is high. Rather, that it doesn?t differsignificantly from the self-esteem of the PhD students. Since we don?tconsiderraising self-esteem of the latter group to be our primary goal,focusing onraising self esteem of the former group represents a logical skew withpotential pernicious corollaries, with the most dangerous one being, asHal and Isuggested in our report, that it may strengthen the existing stigma.Self-esteem is crucial for success in academic settings for bothgroups; but perhapsit is best addressed through strong pedagogy by helping studentssucceed intheir academic pursuits. 
?___________________
Gina andVirginia raised a question about self-esteem of learners incorrectionaleducational programs. Unfortunately, I am not familiar with existingliteratureon the matter. However, during my recent presentation at the AERAconference,one of the attendees who teaches in a prison described her students ashavinghigh self-esteem. I cannot judge the validity of her conclusions sincetheywere based solely on her observations; it?s just interesting toconsider. 
___________________________
Thanksagain to everyone ? I am really enjoying this discussion.
?Ana.
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
From bdsunmt at sbcglobal.net  Tue Sep 26 10:13:09 2006
From: bdsunmt at sbcglobal.net (Bonnita Solberg)
Date: Tue, 26 Sep 2006 07:13:09 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 492] Re: Low Self-Esteem: Myth or Reality? Some
	comments
In-Reply-To: <28129788.4115001159273425754.JavaMail.root@vms168.mailsrvcs.net>
Message-ID: <20060926141309.28346.qmail@web83114.mail.mud.yahoo.com>
This posting has jogged my memory about a study that
was done in Oakland CA with the teachers of Asian
students in Oakland High School.  As I recall,
students from families that were in the higher
socio-economic strata in their country of origin as
well as students from families in the lowest
socio-economic strata, in this case the grave diggers'
families, out performed their fellow students of all
racial backgrounds.  The study concluded this was
largely due to teacher expectation--teachers expected
Asian students to do well in school and interacted
with them accordingly, another factor to consider when
discussing student self esteem.  If I can find the
study, I will share with the discussion group.  I
believe it was conducted by the University of
California, Berkeley.  Bonnita  
--- Barbara Garner <b.garner4 at verizon.net> wrote:
> This discussion is rich and fascinating. 
> 
> I'm very taken with Anastasiya's research,
> particularly since her findings resonate with much
> of my classroom experience. Of course, it is only
> one study and certainly needs to be replicated with
> similar and different populations to see how robust
> the findings are. 
> 
> In the meantime, I wonder how tied we are as
> teachers to the idea that our students have low self
> esteem. What role does that idea have in our views
> of ourselves as teachers?
> Barb Garner
> Editor, Focus on Basics
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> =====================
> From: "Anastasiya A. Lipnevich" <ana at optimaltec.com>
> Date: 2006/09/25 Mon PM 09:17:44 CDT
> To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List
> <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
> Subject: [FocusOnBasics 489] Low Self-Esteem: Myth
> or Reality? Some comments
> 
>   
> Dear All,
> ?Thank youfor such a great discussion. Below I will
> try to address some of yourcomments.
> __________________
> 
> ?Andres,
> It lookslike we are coming from different research
> paradigms, and our views onresearchin general and
> measurement in particular somewhat diverge. Here is
> mytake onsome of the issues you raised.
> 1. I haveto disagree with your conceptualization of
> self-esteem. I believe thatwhat youdescribe is
> actually socio-economic status (e.g. possessions,
> wealth,jobstatus), a construct commonly regarded as
> conceptually different fromself-esteem. There are
> studies that show a high correlation
> betweenself-esteemand SES, therefore, the two are,
> in fact, closely tied. 
> Is itreally possible and/or meaningful to tease them
> apart? I do think so.Scientific method and
> characteristics thereof drive us
> towardsconceptualparsimony when operationalizing and
> actually measuring constructs ofinterest.It doesn?t
> mean that self esteem (or motivation, or engagement,
> etc)stand ontheir own. They are closely related to
> numerous variables, however, acorpus ofliterature
> demonstrates that attempts to measure them as
> separateconstructs doyield meaningful results and
> help advance our understanding of humannature. 
> Additionally,what immediately comes to mind is that
> some components ofsocio-economic status(i.e.
> financial well-being) of PhD students may be worse
> than that ofworkingadult literacy students. So, the
> findings of the present study do notnecessarily
> contradict your take on the matter.
> ?
> 2. Inpsychological research, self-esteem is
> typically defined in terms ofhow weevaluate
> ourselves and our characteristics, the "personal
> judgment ofworthiness that is expressed in the
> attitudes the individual holdstoward himself,"in the
> words of Coopersmith, a pioneering researcher in the
> field. Itis afuzzy construct but a certain consensus
> has developed. Many seem toagree thatself esteem can
> be differentiated into global and specific self
> esteem.Globalrepresents a general attitude towards
> oneself, and can be considered atraitself-esteem,
> whereas specific self-esteems concern particular
> areas ofpeople?slives. 
> ?Self-affirmation theory (Steel,1988) suggests that
> people cope with negative outcomes in one domain
> byfocusing on their achievements in other, unrelated
> domains. This meansthat individualswith high global
> self-esteem would feel overall quite competent
> evenwhen theiracademic self-esteem is low.
> Low-literate adults who have failedacademicallybut
> succeed in other aspects of their lives may have a
> high generalself-esteemthat will allow them to lead
> full, not deficient, lives. Adult literacylearners
> often look at themselves as competent workers,
> parents, andcitizens,which may partially compensate
> for their lack of literacy. Talkingabout
> adultliteracy students in terms of their
> deficiencies and abnormally lowself-esteemjust adds
> to the existing stigma. 
> ?3. This study doesn?t suggest thatself-esteem of
> adult students is high. Rather, that it doesn?t
> differsignificantly from the self-esteem of the PhD
> students. Since we don?tconsiderraising self-esteem
> of the latter group to be our primary goal,focusing
> onraising self esteem of the former group represents
> a logical skew withpotential pernicious corollaries,
> with the most dangerous one being, asHal and
> Isuggested in our report, that it may strengthen the
> existing stigma.Self-esteem is crucial for success
> in academic settings for bothgroups; but perhapsit
> is best addressed through strong pedagogy by helping
> studentssucceed intheir academic pursuits. 
> ?___________________
> Gina andVirginia raised a question about self-esteem
> of learners incorrectionaleducational programs.
> Unfortunately, I am not familiar with
> existingliteratureon the matter. However, during my
> recent presentation at the AERAconference,one of the
> attendees who teaches in a prison described her
> students ashavinghigh self-esteem. I cannot judge
> the validity of her conclusions sincetheywere based
> solely on her observations; it?s just interesting
> toconsider. 
> ___________________________
> Thanksagain to everyone ? I am really enjoying this
> discussion.
> ?Ana.
> 
> ----------------------------------------------------
> National Institute for Literacy
> Focus on Basics mailing list
> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings,
> please go to
> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
> 
> ----------------------------------------------------
> National Institute for Literacy
> Focus on Basics mailing list
> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings,
> please go to
> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
> 
From julie_mcKinney at worlded.org  Tue Sep 26 13:24:46 2006
From: julie_mcKinney at worlded.org (Julie  McKinney)
Date: Tue, 26 Sep 2006 13:24:46 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 493]  X-post: Next week on PD list: Action Research
Message-ID: <s5192a46.054@mail.jsi.com>
Hi Everyone, 
Please excuse the interruption of our discussion about self-esteem, but
I want to announce a discussion next week on the Professional
Development list. See below for the announcement from Jackie Taylor, and
note that one of the suggested readings to prepare ofor this discussion
is the first issue of Focus on Basics, which Barb recently reminded us
about!
Best,
Julie
***********************************************************
>From Jackie:
I am very pleased to announce an exciting discussion lined up for the
Adult Literacy Professional Development List, beginning this Monday,
October 2nd, on "Action Research as Professional Development."
University researchers from the University of the District of Columbia
and at least five of the 17 teacher researchers will be joining us to
share their rich experiences with the practice of action research as a
vehicle for teacher change.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Discussion Topic: Action Research as Professional Development
Discussion Dates: October 2 - 9, 2006
To Participate: Subscribe by visiting:
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/Professionaldevelopment 
To Prepare: View this short streaming video for background about action
research in the District of Columbia
http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/professionaldevelopment/webcast_ac
tion.html  (or try: http://tinyurl.com/krah5 )
General Overview: Join our guests from the University of the District of
Columbia and teacher researchers (listed below) on the Adult Literacy
Professional Development Discussion List to discuss a broad range of
topics related to action research in adult literacy professional
development (PD), including:
* Defining action research
* Problems/questions from instruction that could become action research
* Teachers' experiences with action research
* Action Research in Adult Basic Education in the District of Columbia
* Using practitioner inquiry as professional development
* Ancillary support systems for action research
* Tools that give teachers different modes for examining their practice
and to build a PD community
* Role of action research in "evidence-based practice"
* Action research as a transformative professional development
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GUESTS:
Teacher Researchers:
Patricia DeFerrari works for Academy of Hope which runs several adult
education programs including ABE/GED classes.  Her research was on the
use of authentic materials to improve attendance in ABE reading class.
Adrienne Jones works for Catholic Charities GED program.  Her research
was on how daily interactive, self-paced computer learning and
discussion time with peers and the instructor effect written posttest
scores in science, reading and social studies.
Kris Garvin works for Notre Dame Adult Education Center.  Her research
was on using authentic material to improve social studies scores in GED.
Her research also focused on building, highlighting, and reinforcing
personal connections learners have to community, history, and current
events.
Cheryl Jackson works as an independent consultant teaching workplace
education classes for the District Department of Transportation
employees.  Her research topic focused on how computer technology could
be used to improve reading comprehension and word recognition skills for
low-level readers participating in a workplace education program.
Chenniah Randolph works for Metropolitan Delta GED program.  Her
research was on the instructional gap between CASAS assessment
instrument and GED instructional materials.
University of the District of Columbia Researchers:
Maigenet Shifferraw, Ph.D., Associate Professor and Coordinator of the
Graduate Certificate Program in Adult Education, Department of
Education, University of the District of Columbia
Dr. Shifferraw is the Principal Investigator for the Action Research
project in Adult Basic Education at the University of the District of
Columbia.  The actual researchers are the adult education teachers who
are teaching in community based organization, but we (the team) is also
responsible for evaluating the benefits of guided action research to
enhancing the professional development of adult education teachers.
Janet Burton, DSW, Professor and Director, Social Work Program,
University of the District of Columbia
As a member of the Action research team, Dr. Janet Burton provides
consultation on research particularly related to social factors and
adult education.  She is conducting a study that examines how social
factors impact participation in adult basic education. 
George W. Spicely, Adjunct Professor, Department of Education,
University of the District of Columbia; and Education Consultant
Professor George Spicely coordinates the work of the Action Research
Project Team and provides support to the participating
teacher-researchers.  Specifically, he coordinates planning,
implementation and follow-up of project activities, and leads research
related discussion on administrative and research issues using
Blackboard software.
Supplemental Materials:
Streaming Video: Action Research in Adult Basic Education in the
District of Columbia
http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/professionaldevelopment/webcast_ac
tion.html  (or try: http://tinyurl.com/krah5 ) 
(b)     About the D.C. Action Research Project:
http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/professionaldevelopment/action.htm
l 
(c)     "What is Research?"    Focus on Basics,   Volume 1, Issue A:
February 1997,
National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy:
http://www.ncsall.net/index.php?id=166 
Includes articles:   "Research with Words:  Qualitative Inquiry"
http://www.ncsall.net/?id=468  
"Knowing, Learning,  Doing: Participatory Action Research 
http://www.ncsall.net/?id=479  
(d)     "Learning from Practice"
http://www.pde.state.pa.us/able/cwp/view.asp?a=215&Q=110064 
A Project of the Pennsylvania ABLE Lifelong Learning 
    Shares information on Project's three Learning from Practice Models
        o Pennsylvania Action Research Network (PAARN)
        o Pennsylvania Adult Literacy Practitioner Inquiry Network
        o Agency Research Projects
(e)     New! The Action Research Topic Area of the ALE Wiki:
       http://wiki.literacytent.org/index.php/Action_Research  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To Subscribe, Visit:
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/Professionaldevelopment 
I hope you will join us! Jackie
Jackie Taylor, Adult Literacy Professional Development List Moderator,
jataylor at utk.edu
National Institute for Literacy http://www.nifl.gov/ 
Association of Adult Literacy Professional Developers
http://www.aalpd.org/ 
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
From amuro5 at epcc.edu  Tue Sep 26 14:37:39 2006
From: amuro5 at epcc.edu (Muro, Andres)
Date: Tue, 26 Sep 2006 12:37:39 -0600
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 494] Re: Low Self-Esteem: Myth or Reality? Some
	comments
In-Reply-To: <45188DC8.6040803@optimaltec.com>
Message-ID: <CA29C5E82B801844A7A967D109F117CF79EBA8@svrascmail01>
Hi Ana: Thinking about this issue is going to drive me nuts and keep me
out of my work, but here I go again. You define self -esteem as: 
"In psychological research, self-esteem is typically defined in terms of
how we evaluate ourselves and our characteristics, the personal judgment
of worthiness that is expressed in the attitudes the individual holds
toward himself," in the words of Coopersmith, a pioneering researcher in
the field. It is a fuzzy construct but a certain consensus has
developed. Many seem to agree that self esteem can be differentiated
into global and specific self esteem. Global represents a general
attitude towards oneself, and can be considered a trait self-esteem,
whereas specific self-esteems concern particular areas of people's
lives. "
What I wonder is if this feeling of self-worth is caused by genetics, or
is it caused by certain experiences. It is possible that self esteem is
inherited. If so, then, self esteem reporting, would be similar
regardless of group. However, if the environment has something to do
with self esteem, the question to me would be what factors influence
self-worth. 
If genetics are a predictor of self esteem, and we can identify the gene
that determines self esteem, then there is no reason to work on the self
esteem of the students. It is possible that self esteem can be
associated with dopamine, serotonin activity in the brain and that there
is a gene that influences the presence or absence of these substances.
If such is the case, then, we may be able to prescribe prozac to those
with low self-esteem and, most likely, there is probably something to
this
I assume that most of us believe that there are causes in the
environment that can influence self-worth. For example, there was an in
your face Sprite commercial that used to say "Image is Everything". I
assume that the makers of the commercial believe that people's self
worth has to do with their image and that people would do anything to
improve their image which would lead to an improve self-worth. I am not
sure if this is true or not, but a whole field of advertising has been
developed on this premise. The purpose of advertising is to make people
feel bad about themselves and to feel that they will feel better by
acquiring a given product. In fact, the poor seem to be the biggest
target of predatory type of advertising that banks on their low self
worth. 
>From this I get that while there is not that much direct evidence that
the self worth of the poor is worse than the self worth of the
wealthier, there is indirect evidence. The indirect evidence is the
extent and success of the predatory advertising to make the poor
consumers of things that they do not need, but are marketed as means to
improve their self worth. 
So, if we assume that the environment has something to do with
self-esteem, then I would try to identify the elements in the
environment that influence self esteem. I would hypothesize that self
esteem will increase with the accomplishment of something that I want to
achieve. So, if I achieve something, then I will feel that I fulfill my
goals or I became self actualized, as Maslow articulates. 
I think that the problem rests in the things that will make us feel self
actualized and the difference between what different groups can do to
become self actualized. Ideally, we would have control in the things
that we chose to do. Unfortunately, institutions in the community and
the media shape those choices. In a capitalist community where success
is measured in terms of wealth, the need to show socioeconomic success
has to be important. So, those who determine that they want to succeed
economically will become fulfilled by economic success. Hence, they will
become self-actualized and their perception of themselves, their self
worth will improve. 
At the same time, there are limitations to the things that we can do
that are mediated by economics. If, for example, my kid has a cold, I
may need to take her to the doctor or buy medication. My ability to do
this may very well depend on my economic status. Providing for my child
becomes a way to become self actualized, but the possibility of me
becoming self actualized is tied to my financial situation. The same has
to do with going to school, sending children to school, finding
employment, practicing my art, etc. In our society the means to become
self actualized, even if they are our choices, may be tied to economic
forces. 
Because I don't believe that economic success is an important marker of
self worth, I want to challenge this with my students. But, to do this,
we need to find other makers of success and help them explore these.
These may lead to self actualization and improved self worth. Being a
good mother, helping a friend, writing a story, etc, can be means of
self actualization. However, these models compete with the powerful
advertising and marketing models that plague the lives of most of our
students. But I don't believe that my students' self esteem has been
lowered by society's established markers of self worth and society's
established vehicles for self actualization, then I have no reason to
create alternative models. I think that we all do, and we work on this
which leads to our students becoming self actualized. However, we are
always competing with Walmart. 
There are other issues tied to consciousness of history that Freire
explores that are tied to oppressor/oppressed status, hegemony, etc. I
will not get into them right now. However, I still believe that
self-esteem is something very complex that cannot be looked at as some
isolated independent variable that can be reported. 
Andres 
 
  
 
 
 
 
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From ana at optimaltec.com  Tue Sep 26 18:51:07 2006
From: ana at optimaltec.com (Anastasiya A. Lipnevich)
Date: Tue, 26 Sep 2006 18:51:07 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 495] Re: Low Self-Esteem: Myth or Reality? Some
	comments
Message-ID: <4519AEDB.7090103@optimaltec.com>
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From ana at optimaltec.com  Tue Sep 26 20:36:16 2006
From: ana at optimaltec.com (Anastasiya A. Lipnevich)
Date: Tue, 26 Sep 2006 20:36:16 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 496] Re: Low Self-Esteem: Myth or Reality? Some
 comments
In-Reply-To: <20060926141309.28346.qmail@web83114.mail.mud.yahoo.com>
References: <20060926141309.28346.qmail@web83114.mail.mud.yahoo.com>
Message-ID: <4519C780.7040904@optimaltec.com>
Bonnita,
This is a really great point. Many of us are familiar with a similar 
study conducted by Rosenthal in 1968 who found that when teachers expect 
students to do well and show intellectual growth, they do; when teachers 
do not have such expectations, performance and growth are not so 
encouraged and may in fact be discouraged in a variety of ways. This is 
one of the reasons why we believe that demonstrating that adult 
learners' self-esteem is not detrimentally low is crucial. Teachers, who 
believe that learners suffer from an inadequate sense of self-worth may 
involuntarily contribute to it. Association between poverty and low 
literacy and low self-esteem is quite strong, so we really need to work 
towards making this conceptual shift occur -- it is much healthier to 
really believe that students who enroll into an adult education program 
do that to solve one of their problems (as opposed to believing that 
they came with a deficit that needs to be treated).
Ana.
Bonnita Solberg wrote:
> This posting has jogged my memory about a study that
> was done in Oakland CA with the teachers of Asian
> students in Oakland High School.  As I recall,
> students from families that were in the higher
> socio-economic strata in their country of origin as
> well as students from families in the lowest
> socio-economic strata, in this case the grave diggers'
> families, out performed their fellow students of all
> racial backgrounds.  The study concluded this was
> largely due to teacher expectation--teachers expected
> Asian students to do well in school and interacted
> with them accordingly, another factor to consider when
> discussing student self esteem.  If I can find the
> study, I will share with the discussion group.  I
> believe it was conducted by the University of
> California, Berkeley.  Bonnita  
>   
From ana at optimaltec.com  Tue Sep 26 21:46:38 2006
From: ana at optimaltec.com (Anastasiya A. Lipnevich)
Date: Tue, 26 Sep 2006 21:46:38 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 497] Re: Low Self-Esteem: Myth or Reality? Some
 comments
In-Reply-To: <CA29C5E82B801844A7A967D109F117CF79EBA8@svrascmail01>
References: <CA29C5E82B801844A7A967D109F117CF79EBA8@svrascmail01>
Message-ID: <4519D7FE.5090400@optimaltec.com>
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From info at gaming-pc.net  Wed Sep 27 07:36:31 2006
From: info at gaming-pc.net (Craig Alinder)
Date: Wed, 27 Sep 2006 05:36:31 -0600
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 498] Re: Low Self-Esteem: Myth or Reality?
	Somecomments
References: <4519AEDB.7090103@optimaltec.com>
Message-ID: <018901c6e229$2e81c1b0$6401a8c0@VAIODesktop>
In my experience with Montessori education unqualified praise will actually rob a child of their efforts and lead them to believe they should not do things for their own worth, but solely for the external praise. Personally, I believe the same applies to those educating adults. Any attempt to falsely raise someone's self-esteem without any effort or reason for the praise, will undercut any real attempt at praise when something significant is accomplished. Praise loses its worth when it is doled out constantly. It must be reserved for those moments of success through effort, even if the successes are small ones. I have a feeling there is probably a statistical bell curve of educators based on what is considered a "successful moment" deserving praise. It seems instincts and experience are the guides at this point.
What I feel is important to point out, is that the work that the educator must carefully consider what level of work to give each individual to ensure success is possible. In this sense, self-esteem is taken into consideration, as the student must feel they have a chance of success to even make an attempt at completing the task at hand. Those are my thoughts on the subject.
Craig
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Craig Alinder
Escuela del Sol Montessori
1114 Seventh St. NW
Albuquerque, NM 87110
http://www.merchant-reviews.com 
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Anastasiya A. Lipnevich 
  To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List 
  Sent: Tuesday, September 26, 2006 4:51 PM
  Subject: [FocusOnBasics 495] Re: Low Self-Esteem: Myth or Reality? Somecomments
Hi Barb! You raised intriguing questions and I would love to hear educators' thoughts on this matter. 
>From my personal observations, informal conversations, and formal interviews with adult literacy teachers, I noticed that educators could be roughly split into two groups: those who believe that one of the key concerns of adult literacy is to raise learners' self-esteem because it's very low, and unless they do it, students cannot succeed, and those who think that teachers need to teach students skills and knowledge, and that self-esteem will naturally follow. If we look at Bandura's research, he believed that the relationship between self-efficacy (a concept, similar to self-esteem) and achievement follows the latter pattern -- you learn to do something well and your feeling of self-efficacy goes up, which, in turn, affects what you do in the future. Years of research showed that attempts to artificially build up students' self-esteem by praising every little thing they do (playing a "cheerleaders' role", as Hal puts it) and such, are very unlikely to lead to increas
ed sense of competence and self-worth. Therefore, starting off from the assumption about learners' low self-esteem would seem to be not quite as beneficial to students as simply trying to help them learn. 
The study definitely needs replication -- we can't really generalize our findings since only one adult learning center was used as our research setting. I have been recently contacted by a GED instructor from one of the Illinois colleges, who is interested in replicating my study. I am really looking forward to hear about the findings. If they are similar to mine, it will certainly make the case stronger. 
Thank you for your comments!
Ana.
This discussion is rich and fascinating. 
I'm very taken with Anastasiya's research, particularly since her findings resonate with much of my classroom experience. Of course, it is only one study and certainly needs to be replicated with similar and different populations to see how robust the findings are. 
In the meantime, I wonder how tied we are as teachers to the idea that our students have low self esteem. What role does that idea have in our views of ourselves as teachers?
Barb Garner
Editor, Focus on Basics
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From b.garner4 at verizon.net  Wed Sep 27 08:05:25 2006
From: b.garner4 at verizon.net (Barbara Garner)
Date: Wed, 27 Sep 2006 07:05:25 -0500 (CDT)
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 499] Re: Low Self-Esteem: Myth or Reality?
	Some	comments
Message-ID: <3115409.6785261159358726012.JavaMail.root@vms063.mailsrvcs.net>
Good points. 
There are our attitudes as teachers and the impact they have on learners' success, and then there are the techniques we choose.
 
This may be making a wild leap, but your comments make me think of the NCSALL study in which ABE teachers used Multiple Intelligence techniques with their students (see Focus on Basics Vol 3A, http://www.ncsall.net/index.php?id=161).
 Howard Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences proposes that there are eight ---spatial, linguistic, interpesonal, bodily/kinesthetic, musical, naturalist, intrapersonal --- and maybe more identifiable intelligences. THe teachers  helped learners determine their "intelligence" and created lessons that enabled the learners to use it to build their academic skills. Teachers found this to be a very successful way to engage learners. It certainly would be a way to value learners'strengths genuinely.
Barb Garner 
Barb Garner  
=====================
From: "Anastasiya A. Lipnevich" <ana at optimaltec.com>
Date: 2006/09/26 Tue PM 05:51:07 CDT
To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 495] Re: Low Self-Esteem: Myth or Reality? Some	comments
  Hi Barb! You raised intriguing questions and I would love to hear educators' thoughts on this matter. >From my personal observations, informal conversations, and formal interviews with adult literacy teachers, I noticed that educators could be roughly split into two groups: those who believe that one of the key concerns of adult literacy is to raise learners' self-esteem <i>because it's very low, and unless they do it, students cannot succeed, and those who think that teachers need to teach students skills and knowledge, and that self-esteem will naturally follow. If we look at Bandura's research, he believed that the relationship between self-efficacy (a concept, similar to self-esteem) and achievement follows the latter pattern -- you learn to do something well and your feeling of self-efficacy goes up, which, in turn, affects what you do in the future. Years of research showed that attempts to artificially build up students' self-esteem by praising every little thing they do (playing a "cheerleaders' role", as Hal puts it) and such, are very unlikely to lead to increased sense of competence and self-worth. Therefore, starting off from the assumption about learners' low self-esteem would seem to be not quite as beneficial to students as simply trying to help them learn. The study definitely needs replication -- we can't really generalize our findings since only one adult learning center was used as our research setting. I have been recently contacted by a GED instructor from one of the Illinois colleges, who is interested in replicating my study. I am really looking forward to hear about the findings. If they are similar to mine, it will certainly make the case stronger. Thank you for your comments!Ana.This discussion is rich and fascinating. I'm very taken with Anastasiya's research, particularly since her findings resonate with much of my classroom experience. Of course, it is only one study and certainly needs to be replicated with similar and different populations to see how robust the findings are. In the meantime, I wonder how tied we are as teachers to the idea that our students have low self esteem. What role does that idea have in our views of ourselves as teachers?Barb GarnerEditor, Focus on Basics
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
From hbeder at rci.rutgers.edu  Wed Sep 27 08:21:00 2006
From: hbeder at rci.rutgers.edu (Hal Beder)
Date: Wed, 27 Sep 2006 08:21:00 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 500] Re: Low Self-Esteem: Myth or Reality? Some
 comments
In-Reply-To: <CA29C5E82B801844A7A967D109F117CF79EBA8@svrascmail01>
References: <45188DC8.6040803@optimaltec.com>
	<CA29C5E82B801844A7A967D109F117CF79EBA8@svrascmail01>
Message-ID: <6.2.3.4.2.20060927082053.02bed008@rci.rutgers.edu>
Andres, I am not aware of any evidence to the 
affect that self-esteem is influenced by 
genetics.  By and large it is a product of life 
experience.  As you point out, some--Freire for 
example--believe that low self-esteem is a social 
construction.  It is one of those mechanisms that 
keep the oppressed in a state of 
oppression.  Others would focus more on the 
family.  To me, however, the most important point 
is that low-self esteem can be treated.  The 
question is how.  One school would argue that 
lots of social support and positive feedback is 
the way.  The problem with this is that it can 
lead to a very condescending attitude, a focus on 
deficit, and indirect reinforcement of the 
literacy stigma.  The other way to "treat" 
low-self-esteem is simply by helping learners to 
be successful.  Success is the most powerful antidote to low self-esteem.
Over thirty years ago, Last gamble on Education 
(Mezirow, Darkenwald & Knox) found that the 
characteristic that directors most sought in 
hiring teachers was a warm, pleasant 
personality.  It mattered less whether they could 
TEACH.  I think this is true today to a certain 
extent.  In my view, this value is misplaced.  If 
we want to enhance self-esteem the way to do it 
is to hire teachers who care more than anything 
about their learners progress and know how to produce it.
At 02:37 PM 9/26/2006, you wrote:
>Content-class: urn:content-classes:message
>Content-Type: multipart/alternative;
>         boundary="----_=_NextPart_001_01C6E19A.D8C6745C"
>
>Hi Ana: Thinking about this issue is going to 
>drive me nuts and keep me out of my work, but 
>here I go again. You define self ?esteem as:
>?In psychological research, self-esteem is 
>typically defined in terms of how we evaluate 
>ourselves and our characteristics, the personal 
>judgment of worthiness that is expressed in the 
>attitudes the individual holds toward himself," 
>in the words of Coopersmith, a pioneering 
>researcher in the field. It is a fuzzy construct 
>but a certain consensus has developed. Many seem 
>to agree that self esteem can be differentiated 
>into global and specific self esteem. Global 
>represents a general attitude towards oneself, 
>and can be considered a trait self-esteem, 
>whereas specific self-esteems concern particular areas of people?s lives. ?
>What I wonder is if this feeling of self-worth 
>is caused by genetics, or is it caused by 
>certain experiences. It is possible that self 
>esteem is inherited. If so, then, self esteem 
>reporting, would be similar regardless of group. 
>However, if the environment has something to do 
>with self esteem, the question to me would be 
>what factors influence self-worth.
>If genetics are a predictor of self esteem, and 
>we can identify the gene that determines self 
>esteem, then there is no reason to work on the 
>self esteem of the students. It is possible that 
>self esteem can be associated with dopamine, 
>serotonin activity in the brain and that there 
>is a gene that influences the presence or 
>absence of these substances. If such is the 
>case, then, we may be able to prescribe prozac 
>to those with low self-esteem and, most likely, 
>there is probably something to this
>I assume that most of us believe that there are 
>causes in the environment that can influence 
>self-worth. For example, there was an in your 
>face Sprite commercial that used to say ?Image 
>is Everything?. I assume that the makers of the 
>commercial believe that people?s self worth has 
>to do with their image and that people would do 
>anything to improve their image which would lead 
>to an improve self-worth. I am not sure if this 
>is true or not, but a whole field of advertising 
>has been developed on this premise. The purpose 
>of advertising is to make people feel bad about 
>themselves and to feel that they will feel 
>better by acquiring a given product. In fact, 
>the poor seem to be the biggest target of 
>predatory type of advertising that banks on their low self worth.
> From this I get that while there is not that 
> much direct evidence that the self worth of the 
> poor is worse than the self worth of the 
> wealthier, there is indirect evidence. The 
> indirect evidence is the extent and success of 
> the predatory advertising to make the poor 
> consumers of things that they do not need, but 
> are marketed as means to improve their self worth.
>So, if we assume that the environment has 
>something to do with self-esteem, then I would 
>try to identify the elements in the environment 
>that influence self esteem. I would hypothesize 
>that self esteem will increase with the 
>accomplishment of something that I want to 
>achieve. So, if I achieve something, then I will 
>feel that I fulfill my goals or I became self 
>actualized, as Maslow articulates.
>I think that the problem rests in the things 
>that will make us feel self actualized and the 
>difference between what different groups can do 
>to become self actualized. Ideally, we would 
>have control in the things that we chose to do. 
>Unfortunately, institutions in the community and 
>the media shape those choices. In a capitalist 
>community where success is measured in terms of 
>wealth, the need to show socioeconomic success 
>has to be important. So, those who determine 
>that they want to succeed economically will 
>become fulfilled by economic success. Hence, 
>they will become self-actualized and their 
>perception of themselves, their self worth will improve.
>At the same time, there are limitations to the 
>things that we can do that are mediated by 
>economics. If, for example, my kid has a cold, I 
>may need to take her to the doctor or buy 
>medication. My ability to do this may very well 
>depend on my economic status. Providing for my 
>child becomes a way to become self actualized, 
>but the possibility of me becoming self 
>actualized is tied to my financial situation. 
>The same has to do with going to school, sending 
>children to school, finding employment, 
>practicing my art, etc. In our society the means 
>to become self actualized, even if they are our 
>choices, may be tied to economic forces.
>Because I don?t believe that economic success is 
>an important marker of self worth, I want to 
>challenge this with my students. But, to do 
>this, we need to find other makers of success 
>and help them explore these. These may lead to 
>self actualization and improved self worth. 
>Being a good mother, helping a friend, writing a 
>story, etc, can be means of self actualization. 
>However, these models compete with the powerful 
>advertising and marketing models that plague the 
>lives of most of our students. But I don?t 
>believe that my students? self esteem has been 
>lowered by society?s established markers of self 
>worth and society?s established vehicles for 
>self actualization, then I have no reason to 
>create alternative models. I think that we all 
>do, and we work on this which leads to our 
>students becoming self actualized. However, we 
>are always competing with Walmart.
>There are other issues tied to consciousness of 
>history that Freire explores that are tied to 
>oppressor/oppressed status, hegemony, etc. I 
>will not get into them right now. However, I 
>still believe that self-esteem is something very 
>complex that cannot be looked at as some 
>isolated independent variable that can be reported.
>Andres
>
>
>
>
>
>
>----------------------------------------------------
>National Institute for Literacy
>Focus on Basics mailing list
>FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
>To unsubscribe or change your subscription 
>settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
Rutgers University
Graduate School of Education
10 seminary Pl.
New Brunswick, NJ 08901
732-932-7496 ext. 8213 
From bdsunmt at sbcglobal.net  Wed Sep 27 10:10:12 2006
From: bdsunmt at sbcglobal.net (Bonnita Solberg)
Date: Wed, 27 Sep 2006 07:10:12 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 501] Re: Low Self-Esteem: Myth or Reality?
	Somecomments
In-Reply-To: <018901c6e229$2e81c1b0$6401a8c0@VAIODesktop>
Message-ID: <20060927141012.26834.qmail@web83109.mail.mud.yahoo.com>
One way an educator can focus on success without
unwarranted external praise is a collaboration between
teacher and student to set individual goals for the
student's participation in the program.  The result is
a reasonable, definable and practical measure for
success that is backed by a student portfolio which
includes test results, samples of class work, ESL
Diary, etc.  All this feedback, together with
anonymous student evaluation of tasks assigned by the
teacher. informs the instructional process, thereby
insuring that teaching methods and goals are meeting
the needs of the students.  We also give certificates
when stduents are advanced to the next level and
generally have a celebration to acknowledge their
success.  Some students have commented that they have
never received any recognition, including a
certificate.  I for one use "smiley faces
reinforcement" only rarely so the impact is greater
than if used on a daily basis, although I do "smile"
often during class and use humor as often as
appropriate.  Bonnita  
--- Craig Alinder <info at gaming-pc.net> wrote:
> In my experience with Montessori education
> unqualified praise will actually rob a child of
> their efforts and lead them to believe they should
> not do things for their own worth, but solely for
> the external praise. Personally, I believe the same
> applies to those educating adults. Any attempt to
> falsely raise someone's self-esteem without any
> effort or reason for the praise, will undercut any
> real attempt at praise when something significant is
> accomplished. Praise loses its worth when it is
> doled out constantly. It must be reserved for those
> moments of success through effort, even if the
> successes are small ones. I have a feeling there is
> probably a statistical bell curve of educators based
> on what is considered a "successful moment"
> deserving praise. It seems instincts and experience
> are the guides at this point.
> 
> What I feel is important to point out, is that the
> work that the educator must carefully consider what
> level of work to give each individual to ensure
> success is possible. In this sense, self-esteem is
> taken into consideration, as the student must feel
> they have a chance of success to even make an
> attempt at completing the task at hand. Those are my
> thoughts on the subject.
> 
> Craig
> 
> 
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> Craig Alinder
> Escuela del Sol Montessori
> 1114 Seventh St. NW
> Albuquerque, NM 87110
> http://www.merchant-reviews.com 
>   ----- Original Message ----- 
>   From: Anastasiya A. Lipnevich 
>   To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List 
>   Sent: Tuesday, September 26, 2006 4:51 PM
>   Subject: [FocusOnBasics 495] Re: Low Self-Esteem:
> Myth or Reality? Somecomments
> 
> 
> Hi Barb! You raised intriguing questions and I would
> love to hear educators' thoughts on this matter. 
> >From my personal observations, informal
> conversations, and formal interviews with adult
> literacy teachers, I noticed that educators could be
> roughly split into two groups: those who believe
> that one of the key concerns of adult literacy is to
> raise learners' self-esteem because it's very low,
> and unless they do it, students cannot succeed, and
> those who think that teachers need to teach students
> skills and knowledge, and that self-esteem will
> naturally follow. If we look at Bandura's research,
> he believed that the relationship between
> self-efficacy (a concept, similar to self-esteem)
> and achievement follows the latter pattern -- you
> learn to do something well and your feeling of
> self-efficacy goes up, which, in turn, affects what
> you do in the future. Years of research showed that
> attempts to artificially build up students'
> self-esteem by praising every little thing they do
> (playing a "cheerleaders' role", as Hal puts it) and
> such, are very unlikely to lead to increas
> ed sense of competence and self-worth. Therefore,
> starting off from the assumption about learners' low
> self-esteem would seem to be not quite as beneficial
> to students as simply trying to help them learn. 
> 
> The study definitely needs replication -- we can't
> really generalize our findings since only one adult
> learning center was used as our research setting. I
> have been recently contacted by a GED instructor
> from one of the Illinois colleges, who is interested
> in replicating my study. I am really looking forward
> to hear about the findings. If they are similar to
> mine, it will certainly make the case stronger. 
> Thank you for your comments!
> 
> Ana.
> 
> 
> 
> This discussion is rich and fascinating. 
> 
> I'm very taken with Anastasiya's research,
> particularly since her findings resonate with much
> of my classroom experience. Of course, it is only
> one study and certainly needs to be replicated with
> similar and different populations to see how robust
> the findings are. 
> 
> In the meantime, I wonder how tied we are as
> teachers to the idea that our students have low self
> esteem. What role does that idea have in our views
> of ourselves as teachers?
> Barb Garner
> Editor, Focus on Basics
> 
>
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> 
>  
> ----------------------------------------------------
>   National Institute for Literacy
>   Focus on Basics mailing list
>   FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
>   To unsubscribe or change your subscription
> settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics>
----------------------------------------------------
> National Institute for Literacy
> Focus on Basics mailing list
> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings,
> please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
From info at gaming-pc.net  Wed Sep 27 11:13:11 2006
From: info at gaming-pc.net (Craig Alinder)
Date: Wed, 27 Sep 2006 09:13:11 -0600
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 502] Re: Low Self-Esteem: Myth or
	Reality?Somecomments
References: <20060927141012.26834.qmail@web83109.mail.mud.yahoo.com>
Message-ID: <023a01c6e247$735a7020$6401a8c0@VAIODesktop>
Well Said Bonnita. I agree that involving the student in goal setting and evaluation is an essential part of a successfull, collaborative educational experience. This has the added bonus of teaching goal setting skills at the same time as you teach your specific subject area. I also think it is important to celebrate success when goals are reached.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Craig Alinder
Escuela del Sol Montessori
1114 Seventh St. NW
Albuquerque, NM 87110
http://www.merchant-reviews.com 
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Bonnita Solberg" <bdsunmt at sbcglobal.net>
To: "The Focus on Basics Discussion List" <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
Sent: Wednesday, September 27, 2006 8:10 AM
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 501] Re: Low Self-Esteem: Myth or Reality?Somecomments
> One way an educator can focus on success without
> unwarranted external praise is a collaboration between
> teacher and student to set individual goals for the
> student's participation in the program.  The result is
> a reasonable, definable and practical measure for
> success that is backed by a student portfolio which
> includes test results, samples of class work, ESL
> Diary, etc.  All this feedback, together with
> anonymous student evaluation of tasks assigned by the
> teacher. informs the instructional process, thereby
> insuring that teaching methods and goals are meeting
> the needs of the students.  We also give certificates
> when stduents are advanced to the next level and
> generally have a celebration to acknowledge their
> success.  Some students have commented that they have
> never received any recognition, including a
> certificate.  I for one use "smiley faces
> reinforcement" only rarely so the impact is greater
> than if used on a daily basis, although I do "smile"
> often during class and use humor as often as
> appropriate.  Bonnita  
> 
> --- Craig Alinder <info at gaming-pc.net> wrote:
> 
>> In my experience with Montessori education
>> unqualified praise will actually rob a child of
>> their efforts and lead them to believe they should
>> not do things for their own worth, but solely for
>> the external praise. Personally, I believe the same
>> applies to those educating adults. Any attempt to
>> falsely raise someone's self-esteem without any
>> effort or reason for the praise, will undercut any
>> real attempt at praise when something significant is
>> accomplished. Praise loses its worth when it is
>> doled out constantly. It must be reserved for those
>> moments of success through effort, even if the
>> successes are small ones. I have a feeling there is
>> probably a statistical bell curve of educators based
>> on what is considered a "successful moment"
>> deserving praise. It seems instincts and experience
>> are the guides at this point.
>> 
>> What I feel is important to point out, is that the
>> work that the educator must carefully consider what
>> level of work to give each individual to ensure
>> success is possible. In this sense, self-esteem is
>> taken into consideration, as the student must feel
>> they have a chance of success to even make an
>> attempt at completing the task at hand. Those are my
>> thoughts on the subject.
>> 
>> Craig
>> 
>> 
>> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>> Craig Alinder
>> Escuela del Sol Montessori
>> 1114 Seventh St. NW
>> Albuquerque, NM 87110
>> http://www.merchant-reviews.com 
>>   ----- Original Message ----- 
>>   From: Anastasiya A. Lipnevich 
>>   To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List 
>>   Sent: Tuesday, September 26, 2006 4:51 PM
>>   Subject: [FocusOnBasics 495] Re: Low Self-Esteem:
>> Myth or Reality? Somecomments
>> 
>> 
>> Hi Barb! You raised intriguing questions and I would
>> love to hear educators' thoughts on this matter. 
>> >From my personal observations, informal
>> conversations, and formal interviews with adult
>> literacy teachers, I noticed that educators could be
>> roughly split into two groups: those who believe
>> that one of the key concerns of adult literacy is to
>> raise learners' self-esteem because it's very low,
>> and unless they do it, students cannot succeed, and
>> those who think that teachers need to teach students
>> skills and knowledge, and that self-esteem will
>> naturally follow. If we look at Bandura's research,
>> he believed that the relationship between
>> self-efficacy (a concept, similar to self-esteem)
>> and achievement follows the latter pattern -- you
>> learn to do something well and your feeling of
>> self-efficacy goes up, which, in turn, affects what
>> you do in the future. Years of research showed that
>> attempts to artificially build up students'
>> self-esteem by praising every little thing they do
>> (playing a "cheerleaders' role", as Hal puts it) and
>> such, are very unlikely to lead to increas
>> ed sense of competence and self-worth. Therefore,
>> starting off from the assumption about learners' low
>> self-esteem would seem to be not quite as beneficial
>> to students as simply trying to help them learn. 
>> 
>> The study definitely needs replication -- we can't
>> really generalize our findings since only one adult
>> learning center was used as our research setting. I
>> have been recently contacted by a GED instructor
>> from one of the Illinois colleges, who is interested
>> in replicating my study. I am really looking forward
>> to hear about the findings. If they are similar to
>> mine, it will certainly make the case stronger. 
>> Thank you for your comments!
>> 
>> Ana.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> This discussion is rich and fascinating. 
>> 
>> I'm very taken with Anastasiya's research,
>> particularly since her findings resonate with much
>> of my classroom experience. Of course, it is only
>> one study and certainly needs to be replicated with
>> similar and different populations to see how robust
>> the findings are. 
>> 
>> In the meantime, I wonder how tied we are as
>> teachers to the idea that our students have low self
>> esteem. What role does that idea have in our views
>> of ourselves as teachers?
>> Barb Garner
>> Editor, Focus on Basics
>> 
>>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> 
>> 
>>  
>> ----------------------------------------------------
>>   National Institute for Literacy
>>   Focus on Basics mailing list
>>   FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
>>   To unsubscribe or change your subscription
>> settings, please go to
> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics>
> ----------------------------------------------------
>> National Institute for Literacy
>> Focus on Basics mailing list
>> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings,
>> please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
> ----------------------------------------------------
> National Institute for Literacy
> Focus on Basics mailing list
> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
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From Janet_Isserlis at brown.edu  Wed Sep 27 11:15:31 2006
From: Janet_Isserlis at brown.edu (Janet Isserlis)
Date: Wed, 27 Sep 2006 11:15:31 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 503]  praise
In-Reply-To: <018901c6e229$2e81c1b0$6401a8c0@VAIODesktop>
Message-ID: <C1400DD3.10A97%Janet_Isserlis@brown.edu>
Another thing about praise is that most people sense and know when it is
being given meaninglessly and when it actually has to do with something done
well.  This can range from positive feedback about asking a question,
self-correcting, answering a question (just by saying thank you), getting
something right (e.g.. after being confused about ?there? and ?their? using
these words correctly) - any specific thing that is done well.  The absence
of harsh criticism vs. useful correction also figures here in the larger
picture of giving learners feedback that helps them do/learn whatever it is
they?re working on.
Janet Isserlis
In my experience with Montessori education unqualified praise will actually
rob a child of their efforts and lead them to believe they should not do
things for their own worth, but solely for the external praise. Personally,
I believe the same applies to those educating adults. Any attempt to falsely
raise someone's self-esteem without any effort or reason for the praise,
will undercut any real attempt at praise when something significant is
accomplished. Praise loses its worth when it is doled out constantly. It
must be reserved for those moments of success through effort, even if the
successes are small ones. I have a feeling there is probably a statistical
bell curve of educators based on what is considered a "successful moment"
deserving praise. It seems instincts and experience are the guides at this
point.
 
What I feel is important to point out, is that the work that the educator
must carefully consider what level of work to give each individual to ensure
success is possible. In this sense, self-esteem is taken into consideration,
as the student must feel they have a chance of success to even make an
attempt at completing the task at hand. Those are my thoughts on the
subject.
 
Craig
 
 
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From amuro5 at epcc.edu  Wed Sep 27 12:04:13 2006
From: amuro5 at epcc.edu (Muro, Andres)
Date: Wed, 27 Sep 2006 10:04:13 -0600
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 504] Re: Low Self-Esteem: Myth or Reality? Some
	comments
In-Reply-To: <6.2.3.4.2.20060927082053.02bed008@rci.rutgers.edu>
Message-ID: <CA29C5E82B801844A7A967D109F117CF79EC9E@svrascmail01>
Hal:
Hal: 
I agree with you 100%. The issue to me is what examples of student
successes are and how to create the possibility for true success. This
is very Hegelian. IE: The worker recognizes herself in the product of
her work. So, the person who makes the chair is proud of making a good
quality chair. However, factory work takes away the relationship between
the worker and the chair. The worker only nails a nail and never sees
the chair. He becomes alienated form his own work and we end up needing
a socialist revolution   ;-) You can give him a certificate for doing
good work, but the certificate is meaningless praise.
The same and more is the case with ABE students. Learning needs to
result in a meaningful outcome so that students may recognize themselves
in their work. At the same time, we must create tasks that allow
students to be able to be productive so they can have something that
they identify with. 
Our students just published a collection of short stories. This is the
second publication and it is available on line at:
http://bordersenses.com/memorias
Actually, the second volume is not available yet. However, you can see
the first volume and get an idea of the project. In terms of the issue
of creating possibilities for success I wrote something specifically
about this in the intro to the second volume. Below is an excerpt:
"Our pedagogical approach is grounded in the idea that GED instruction
requires good reading and writing skills. However, many of our students
have had little exposure to reading and writing. So, developing these
skills, a challenge in itself, becomes more challenging when the
students are uninterested in the subject and have little familiarity
with it. However, if students can build their reading and writing skills
by documenting and reading their own experiences, they will be familiar
with the knowledge and they will relate to it. Moreover, they will feel
validated if their knowledge and experiences are documented for
posterity.  Once they build their reading and writing skills, they will
be able to apply these skills to new knowledge and new academic and real
life problems."
This is both Freirian and Deweyian.
Andres 
-----Original Message-----
From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Hal Beder
Sent: Wednesday, September 27, 2006 6:21 AM
To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 500] Re: Low Self-Esteem: Myth or Reality? Some
comments
Andres, I am not aware of any evidence to the 
affect that self-esteem is influenced by 
genetics.  By and large it is a product of life 
experience.  As you point out, some--Freire for 
example--believe that low self-esteem is a social 
construction.  It is one of those mechanisms that 
keep the oppressed in a state of 
oppression.  Others would focus more on the 
family.  To me, however, the most important point 
is that low-self esteem can be treated.  The 
question is how.  One school would argue that 
lots of social support and positive feedback is 
the way.  The problem with this is that it can 
lead to a very condescending attitude, a focus on 
deficit, and indirect reinforcement of the 
literacy stigma.  The other way to "treat" 
low-self-esteem is simply by helping learners to 
be successful.  Success is the most powerful antidote to low
self-esteem.
Over thirty years ago, Last gamble on Education 
(Mezirow, Darkenwald & Knox) found that the 
characteristic that directors most sought in 
hiring teachers was a warm, pleasant 
personality.  It mattered less whether they could 
TEACH.  I think this is true today to a certain 
extent.  In my view, this value is misplaced.  If 
we want to enhance self-esteem the way to do it 
is to hire teachers who care more than anything 
about their learners progress and know how to produce it.
At 02:37 PM 9/26/2006, you wrote:
>Content-class: urn:content-classes:message
>Content-Type: multipart/alternative;
>         boundary="----_=_NextPart_001_01C6E19A.D8C6745C"
>
>Hi Ana: Thinking about this issue is going to 
>drive me nuts and keep me out of my work, but 
>here I go again. You define self -esteem as:
>"In psychological research, self-esteem is 
>typically defined in terms of how we evaluate 
>ourselves and our characteristics, the personal 
>judgment of worthiness that is expressed in the 
>attitudes the individual holds toward himself," 
>in the words of Coopersmith, a pioneering 
>researcher in the field. It is a fuzzy construct 
>but a certain consensus has developed. Many seem 
>to agree that self esteem can be differentiated 
>into global and specific self esteem. Global 
>represents a general attitude towards oneself, 
>and can be considered a trait self-esteem, 
>whereas specific self-esteems concern particular areas of people's
lives. "
>What I wonder is if this feeling of self-worth 
>is caused by genetics, or is it caused by 
>certain experiences. It is possible that self 
>esteem is inherited. If so, then, self esteem 
>reporting, would be similar regardless of group. 
>However, if the environment has something to do 
>with self esteem, the question to me would be 
>what factors influence self-worth.
>If genetics are a predictor of self esteem, and 
>we can identify the gene that determines self 
>esteem, then there is no reason to work on the 
>self esteem of the students. It is possible that 
>self esteem can be associated with dopamine, 
>serotonin activity in the brain and that there 
>is a gene that influences the presence or 
>absence of these substances. If such is the 
>case, then, we may be able to prescribe prozac 
>to those with low self-esteem and, most likely, 
>there is probably something to this
>I assume that most of us believe that there are 
>causes in the environment that can influence 
>self-worth. For example, there was an in your 
>face Sprite commercial that used to say "Image 
>is Everything". I assume that the makers of the 
>commercial believe that people's self worth has 
>to do with their image and that people would do 
>anything to improve their image which would lead 
>to an improve self-worth. I am not sure if this 
>is true or not, but a whole field of advertising 
>has been developed on this premise. The purpose 
>of advertising is to make people feel bad about 
>themselves and to feel that they will feel 
>better by acquiring a given product. In fact, 
>the poor seem to be the biggest target of 
>predatory type of advertising that banks on their low self worth.
> From this I get that while there is not that 
> much direct evidence that the self worth of the 
> poor is worse than the self worth of the 
> wealthier, there is indirect evidence. The 
> indirect evidence is the extent and success of 
> the predatory advertising to make the poor 
> consumers of things that they do not need, but 
> are marketed as means to improve their self worth.
>So, if we assume that the environment has 
>something to do with self-esteem, then I would 
>try to identify the elements in the environment 
>that influence self esteem. I would hypothesize 
>that self esteem will increase with the 
>accomplishment of something that I want to 
>achieve. So, if I achieve something, then I will 
>feel that I fulfill my goals or I became self 
>actualized, as Maslow articulates.
>I think that the problem rests in the things 
>that will make us feel self actualized and the 
>difference between what different groups can do 
>to become self actualized. Ideally, we would 
>have control in the things that we chose to do. 
>Unfortunately, institutions in the community and 
>the media shape those choices. In a capitalist 
>community where success is measured in terms of 
>wealth, the need to show socioeconomic success 
>has to be important. So, those who determine 
>that they want to succeed economically will 
>become fulfilled by economic success. Hence, 
>they will become self-actualized and their 
>perception of themselves, their self worth will improve.
>At the same time, there are limitations to the 
>things that we can do that are mediated by 
>economics. If, for example, my kid has a cold, I 
>may need to take her to the doctor or buy 
>medication. My ability to do this may very well 
>depend on my economic status. Providing for my 
>child becomes a way to become self actualized, 
>but the possibility of me becoming self 
>actualized is tied to my financial situation. 
>The same has to do with going to school, sending 
>children to school, finding employment, 
>practicing my art, etc. In our society the means 
>to become self actualized, even if they are our 
>choices, may be tied to economic forces.
>Because I don't believe that economic success is 
>an important marker of self worth, I want to 
>challenge this with my students. But, to do 
>this, we need to find other makers of success 
>and help them explore these. These may lead to 
>self actualization and improved self worth. 
>Being a good mother, helping a friend, writing a 
>story, etc, can be means of self actualization. 
>However, these models compete with the powerful 
>advertising and marketing models that plague the 
>lives of most of our students. But I don't 
>believe that my students' self esteem has been 
>lowered by society's established markers of self 
>worth and society's established vehicles for 
>self actualization, then I have no reason to 
>create alternative models. I think that we all 
>do, and we work on this which leads to our 
>students becoming self actualized. However, we 
>are always competing with Walmart.
>There are other issues tied to consciousness of 
>history that Freire explores that are tied to 
>oppressor/oppressed status, hegemony, etc. I 
>will not get into them right now. However, I 
>still believe that self-esteem is something very 
>complex that cannot be looked at as some 
>isolated independent variable that can be reported.
>Andres
>
>
>
>
>
>
>----------------------------------------------------
>National Institute for Literacy
>Focus on Basics mailing list
>FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
>To unsubscribe or change your subscription 
>settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
Rutgers University
Graduate School of Education
10 seminary Pl.
New Brunswick, NJ 08901
732-932-7496 ext. 8213 
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
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To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
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From amuro5 at epcc.edu  Wed Sep 27 12:22:14 2006
From: amuro5 at epcc.edu (Muro, Andres)
Date: Wed, 27 Sep 2006 10:22:14 -0600
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 505] Re: Low Self-Esteem: Myth or Reality? Some
	comments
In-Reply-To: <6.2.3.4.2.20060927082053.02bed008@rci.rutgers.edu>
Message-ID: <CA29C5E82B801844A7A967D109F117CF79ECA9@svrascmail01>
Hal: While there may not be studies relating genes to self esteem, there
is evidence that Genes trigger flow of neurotransmitters between
neurons. We know that there is some connection between the presence of
serotonin and dopamine between neurons and depression. Now, what is
depression? It is a state of mind like self esteem. In fact, poor self
esteem could be a form of depression. 
One of the questions that needs to be answered is if the flow of
neurotransmitter is triggered by the environment, or if this is
inherited. It seems that there may be a bit of both.  
I suffer from depression and take Effexor. I know that my depression
attacks were originally triggered by the environment, but currently they
happen w/o me being conscious of environmental triggers. In fact, if I
don't take Effexor, I start getting depressed within 4 to 5 months. In
my case, my depression is not associated with poor self esteem though.
However, I know people that get depressed because of this. 
The Genome, by Ridley is a great airplane read, short and sweet. It
seems that genetics controls a lot more than people think.
Andres
-----Original Message-----
From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Hal Beder
Sent: Wednesday, September 27, 2006 6:21 AM
To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 500] Re: Low Self-Esteem: Myth or Reality? Some
comments
Andres, I am not aware of any evidence to the 
affect that self-esteem is influenced by 
genetics.  By and large it is a product of life 
experience.  As you point out, some--Freire for 
example--believe that low self-esteem is a social 
construction.  It is one of those mechanisms that 
keep the oppressed in a state of 
oppression.  Others would focus more on the 
family.  To me, however, the most important point 
is that low-self esteem can be treated.  The 
question is how.  One school would argue that 
lots of social support and positive feedback is 
the way.  The problem with this is that it can 
lead to a very condescending attitude, a focus on 
deficit, and indirect reinforcement of the 
literacy stigma.  The other way to "treat" 
low-self-esteem is simply by helping learners to 
be successful.  Success is the most powerful antidote to low
self-esteem.
Over thirty years ago, Last gamble on Education 
(Mezirow, Darkenwald & Knox) found that the 
characteristic that directors most sought in 
hiring teachers was a warm, pleasant 
personality.  It mattered less whether they could 
TEACH.  I think this is true today to a certain 
extent.  In my view, this value is misplaced.  If 
we want to enhance self-esteem the way to do it 
is to hire teachers who care more than anything 
about their learners progress and know how to produce it.
At 02:37 PM 9/26/2006, you wrote:
>Content-class: urn:content-classes:message
>Content-Type: multipart/alternative;
>         boundary="----_=_NextPart_001_01C6E19A.D8C6745C"
>
>Hi Ana: Thinking about this issue is going to 
>drive me nuts and keep me out of my work, but 
>here I go again. You define self -esteem as:
>"In psychological research, self-esteem is 
>typically defined in terms of how we evaluate 
>ourselves and our characteristics, the personal 
>judgment of worthiness that is expressed in the 
>attitudes the individual holds toward himself," 
>in the words of Coopersmith, a pioneering 
>researcher in the field. It is a fuzzy construct 
>but a certain consensus has developed. Many seem 
>to agree that self esteem can be differentiated 
>into global and specific self esteem. Global 
>represents a general attitude towards oneself, 
>and can be considered a trait self-esteem, 
>whereas specific self-esteems concern particular areas of people's
lives. "
>What I wonder is if this feeling of self-worth 
>is caused by genetics, or is it caused by 
>certain experiences. It is possible that self 
>esteem is inherited. If so, then, self esteem 
>reporting, would be similar regardless of group. 
>However, if the environment has something to do 
>with self esteem, the question to me would be 
>what factors influence self-worth.
>If genetics are a predictor of self esteem, and 
>we can identify the gene that determines self 
>esteem, then there is no reason to work on the 
>self esteem of the students. It is possible that 
>self esteem can be associated with dopamine, 
>serotonin activity in the brain and that there 
>is a gene that influences the presence or 
>absence of these substances. If such is the 
>case, then, we may be able to prescribe prozac 
>to those with low self-esteem and, most likely, 
>there is probably something to this
>I assume that most of us believe that there are 
>causes in the environment that can influence 
>self-worth. For example, there was an in your 
>face Sprite commercial that used to say "Image 
>is Everything". I assume that the makers of the 
>commercial believe that people's self worth has 
>to do with their image and that people would do 
>anything to improve their image which would lead 
>to an improve self-worth. I am not sure if this 
>is true or not, but a whole field of advertising 
>has been developed on this premise. The purpose 
>of advertising is to make people feel bad about 
>themselves and to feel that they will feel 
>better by acquiring a given product. In fact, 
>the poor seem to be the biggest target of 
>predatory type of advertising that banks on their low self worth.
> From this I get that while there is not that 
> much direct evidence that the self worth of the 
> poor is worse than the self worth of the 
> wealthier, there is indirect evidence. The 
> indirect evidence is the extent and success of 
> the predatory advertising to make the poor 
> consumers of things that they do not need, but 
> are marketed as means to improve their self worth.
>So, if we assume that the environment has 
>something to do with self-esteem, then I would 
>try to identify the elements in the environment 
>that influence self esteem. I would hypothesize 
>that self esteem will increase with the 
>accomplishment of something that I want to 
>achieve. So, if I achieve something, then I will 
>feel that I fulfill my goals or I became self 
>actualized, as Maslow articulates.
>I think that the problem rests in the things 
>that will make us feel self actualized and the 
>difference between what different groups can do 
>to become self actualized. Ideally, we would 
>have control in the things that we chose to do. 
>Unfortunately, institutions in the community and 
>the media shape those choices. In a capitalist 
>community where success is measured in terms of 
>wealth, the need to show socioeconomic success 
>has to be important. So, those who determine 
>that they want to succeed economically will 
>become fulfilled by economic success. Hence, 
>they will become self-actualized and their 
>perception of themselves, their self worth will improve.
>At the same time, there are limitations to the 
>things that we can do that are mediated by 
>economics. If, for example, my kid has a cold, I 
>may need to take her to the doctor or buy 
>medication. My ability to do this may very well 
>depend on my economic status. Providing for my 
>child becomes a way to become self actualized, 
>but the possibility of me becoming self 
>actualized is tied to my financial situation. 
>The same has to do with going to school, sending 
>children to school, finding employment, 
>practicing my art, etc. In our society the means 
>to become self actualized, even if they are our 
>choices, may be tied to economic forces.
>Because I don't believe that economic success is 
>an important marker of self worth, I want to 
>challenge this with my students. But, to do 
>this, we need to find other makers of success 
>and help them explore these. These may lead to 
>self actualization and improved self worth. 
>Being a good mother, helping a friend, writing a 
>story, etc, can be means of self actualization. 
>However, these models compete with the powerful 
>advertising and marketing models that plague the 
>lives of most of our students. But I don't 
>believe that my students' self esteem has been 
>lowered by society's established markers of self 
>worth and society's established vehicles for 
>self actualization, then I have no reason to 
>create alternative models. I think that we all 
>do, and we work on this which leads to our 
>students becoming self actualized. However, we 
>are always competing with Walmart.
>There are other issues tied to consciousness of 
>history that Freire explores that are tied to 
>oppressor/oppressed status, hegemony, etc. I 
>will not get into them right now. However, I 
>still believe that self-esteem is something very 
>complex that cannot be looked at as some 
>isolated independent variable that can be reported.
>Andres
>
>
>
>
>
>
>----------------------------------------------------
>National Institute for Literacy
>Focus on Basics mailing list
>FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
>To unsubscribe or change your subscription 
>settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
Rutgers University
Graduate School of Education
10 seminary Pl.
New Brunswick, NJ 08901
732-932-7496 ext. 8213 
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
From amuro5 at epcc.edu  Wed Sep 27 12:37:50 2006
From: amuro5 at epcc.edu (Muro, Andres)
Date: Wed, 27 Sep 2006 10:37:50 -0600
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 506] Re: Low Self-Esteem: Myth or
	Reality?Somecomments
In-Reply-To: <20060927141012.26834.qmail@web83109.mail.mud.yahoo.com>
Message-ID: <CA29C5E82B801844A7A967D109F117CF79ECB6@svrascmail01>
Bonnita et al:
Regarding your question about Asian students and success, there is
research done by John Ogbu about this. Ogbu argues that there different
kind of minority groups. He refers to voluntary and involuntary
minorities. Voluntary minorities are those that came into the US
voluntarily in search of a better life. Children from Voluntary
minorities tend to do very well in school. Parents tend to push the kids
to succeed. Usually, children of immigrants from other countries tend to
do very well in school. They will do even better if they were already
doing well in school in their native countries.  
Involuntary minorities are those that were born into a devalued minority
status in the US. Ogbu identifies Chicanos and blacks as examples of two
involuntary minorities. According to Ogbu, when Chicano and black
children go to school, they face a dilemma. If they learn the standard
English and they learn the rules of hegemonic America, they have to
unlearn the language and culture of their families and community. This
puts children in a dilemma. They either begin to act "whitie" and
succeed in hegemonic America, or reject the hegemonic values and stick
to their own sociocultural group. 
There are other reasons for certain groups to do better than others in
school. I will not get into the details right now, but they are more
complex than just praise. 
Andres
From julie_mcKinney at worlded.org  Wed Sep 27 13:01:40 2006
From: julie_mcKinney at worlded.org (Julie  McKinney)
Date: Wed, 27 Sep 2006 13:01:40 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 507]  Self-Esteem and teacher expectations
Message-ID: <s51a7658.029@mail.jsi.com>
Hi Everyone,
It's interesting that many of our conversations come around to teacher
expectations and involving the students in setting their goals. Take a
look back at an exchange from the list back in March for some thoughts
on this. 
Go to:
http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/focusonbasics/2006/date.html
and scroll down to March 9th and 10th to see the conversation.  See
excerpt below with a recommended reference:
************************************
Excerpt from earlier conversation about teacher expectations:
A new study just came out, The Color of Success, by Gilberto Conchas. 
He's a sociologist who studied an urban high school which is successful 
at getting minority students to graduate and go on to college. What he 
found is that detracking, career academies and high teacher and parent 
expectations were key to the success of these students. 
The high achievement of the Vietnamese students was the most surprising,
as these students had none of the educational or economic advantages 
usually associated with Asian students. However, they were still 
treated as "the model minority" by the school and rose to meet the high 
expectations placed on them. 
Barb Linek 
University of Illinois Extension 
***************************************
Julie
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
From hbeder at rci.rutgers.edu  Wed Sep 27 13:24:22 2006
From: hbeder at rci.rutgers.edu (Hal Beder)
Date: Wed, 27 Sep 2006 13:24:22 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 508] Re: Low Self-Esteem: Myth or Reality? Some
 comments
In-Reply-To: <CA29C5E82B801844A7A967D109F117CF79EC9E@svrascmail01>
References: <6.2.3.4.2.20060927082053.02bed008@rci.rutgers.edu>
	<CA29C5E82B801844A7A967D109F117CF79EC9E@svrascmail01>
Message-ID: <6.2.3.4.2.20060927132025.02bb8b90@rci.rutgers.edu>
Hey, I am tremendously gratified.  I can't remember the last time 
anyone agreed with me 100%.  Neither can I remember you agreeing with 
anyone 100%.  Must be chance and will probably never happen again.  Cheers.
At 12:04 PM 9/27/2006, you wrote:
>Hal:
>
>Hal:
>
>I agree with you 100%. The issue to me is what examples of student
>successes are and how to create the possibility for true success. This
>is very Hegelian. IE: The worker recognizes herself in the product of
>her work. So, the person who makes the chair is proud of making a good
>quality chair. However, factory work takes away the relationship between
>the worker and the chair. The worker only nails a nail and never sees
>the chair. He becomes alienated form his own work and we end up needing
>a socialist revolution   ;-) You can give him a certificate for doing
>good work, but the certificate is meaningless praise.
>
>The same and more is the case with ABE students. Learning needs to
>result in a meaningful outcome so that students may recognize themselves
>in their work. At the same time, we must create tasks that allow
>students to be able to be productive so they can have something that
>they identify with.
>
>Our students just published a collection of short stories. This is the
>second publication and it is available on line at:
>http://bordersenses.com/memorias
>
>Actually, the second volume is not available yet. However, you can see
>the first volume and get an idea of the project. In terms of the issue
>of creating possibilities for success I wrote something specifically
>about this in the intro to the second volume. Below is an excerpt:
>
>"Our pedagogical approach is grounded in the idea that GED instruction
>requires good reading and writing skills. However, many of our students
>have had little exposure to reading and writing. So, developing these
>skills, a challenge in itself, becomes more challenging when the
>students are uninterested in the subject and have little familiarity
>with it. However, if students can build their reading and writing skills
>by documenting and reading their own experiences, they will be familiar
>with the knowledge and they will relate to it. Moreover, they will feel
>validated if their knowledge and experiences are documented for
>posterity.  Once they build their reading and writing skills, they will
>be able to apply these skills to new knowledge and new academic and real
>life problems."
>
>This is both Freirian and Deweyian.
>
>Andres
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov
>[mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Hal Beder
>Sent: Wednesday, September 27, 2006 6:21 AM
>To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List
>Subject: [FocusOnBasics 500] Re: Low Self-Esteem: Myth or Reality? Some
>comments
>
>Andres, I am not aware of any evidence to the
>affect that self-esteem is influenced by
>genetics.  By and large it is a product of life
>experience.  As you point out, some--Freire for
>example--believe that low self-esteem is a social
>construction.  It is one of those mechanisms that
>keep the oppressed in a state of
>oppression.  Others would focus more on the
>family.  To me, however, the most important point
>is that low-self esteem can be treated.  The
>question is how.  One school would argue that
>lots of social support and positive feedback is
>the way.  The problem with this is that it can
>lead to a very condescending attitude, a focus on
>deficit, and indirect reinforcement of the
>literacy stigma.  The other way to "treat"
>low-self-esteem is simply by helping learners to
>be successful.  Success is the most powerful antidote to low
>self-esteem.
>
>Over thirty years ago, Last gamble on Education
>(Mezirow, Darkenwald & Knox) found that the
>characteristic that directors most sought in
>hiring teachers was a warm, pleasant
>personality.  It mattered less whether they could
>TEACH.  I think this is true today to a certain
>extent.  In my view, this value is misplaced.  If
>we want to enhance self-esteem the way to do it
>is to hire teachers who care more than anything
>about their learners progress and know how to produce it.
>
>
>
>
>At 02:37 PM 9/26/2006, you wrote:
> >Content-class: urn:content-classes:message
> >Content-Type: multipart/alternative;
> >         boundary="----_=_NextPart_001_01C6E19A.D8C6745C"
> >
> >Hi Ana: Thinking about this issue is going to
> >drive me nuts and keep me out of my work, but
> >here I go again. You define self -esteem as:
> >"In psychological research, self-esteem is
> >typically defined in terms of how we evaluate
> >ourselves and our characteristics, the personal
> >judgment of worthiness that is expressed in the
> >attitudes the individual holds toward himself,"
> >in the words of Coopersmith, a pioneering
> >researcher in the field. It is a fuzzy construct
> >but a certain consensus has developed. Many seem
> >to agree that self esteem can be differentiated
> >into global and specific self esteem. Global
> >represents a general attitude towards oneself,
> >and can be considered a trait self-esteem,
> >whereas specific self-esteems concern particular areas of people's
>lives. "
> >What I wonder is if this feeling of self-worth
> >is caused by genetics, or is it caused by
> >certain experiences. It is possible that self
> >esteem is inherited. If so, then, self esteem
> >reporting, would be similar regardless of group.
> >However, if the environment has something to do
> >with self esteem, the question to me would be
> >what factors influence self-worth.
> >If genetics are a predictor of self esteem, and
> >we can identify the gene that determines self
> >esteem, then there is no reason to work on the
> >self esteem of the students. It is possible that
> >self esteem can be associated with dopamine,
> >serotonin activity in the brain and that there
> >is a gene that influences the presence or
> >absence of these substances. If such is the
> >case, then, we may be able to prescribe prozac
> >to those with low self-esteem and, most likely,
> >there is probably something to this
> >I assume that most of us believe that there are
> >causes in the environment that can influence
> >self-worth. For example, there was an in your
> >face Sprite commercial that used to say "Image
> >is Everything". I assume that the makers of the
> >commercial believe that people's self worth has
> >to do with their image and that people would do
> >anything to improve their image which would lead
> >to an improve self-worth. I am not sure if this
> >is true or not, but a whole field of advertising
> >has been developed on this premise. The purpose
> >of advertising is to make people feel bad about
> >themselves and to feel that they will feel
> >better by acquiring a given product. In fact,
> >the poor seem to be the biggest target of
> >predatory type of advertising that banks on their low self worth.
> > From this I get that while there is not that
> > much direct evidence that the self worth of the
> > poor is worse than the self worth of the
> > wealthier, there is indirect evidence. The
> > indirect evidence is the extent and success of
> > the predatory advertising to make the poor
> > consumers of things that they do not need, but
> > are marketed as means to improve their self worth.
> >So, if we assume that the environment has
> >something to do with self-esteem, then I would
> >try to identify the elements in the environment
> >that influence self esteem. I would hypothesize
> >that self esteem will increase with the
> >accomplishment of something that I want to
> >achieve. So, if I achieve something, then I will
> >feel that I fulfill my goals or I became self
> >actualized, as Maslow articulates.
> >I think that the problem rests in the things
> >that will make us feel self actualized and the
> >difference between what different groups can do
> >to become self actualized. Ideally, we would
> >have control in the things that we chose to do.
> >Unfortunately, institutions in the community and
> >the media shape those choices. In a capitalist
> >community where success is measured in terms of
> >wealth, the need to show socioeconomic success
> >has to be important. So, those who determine
> >that they want to succeed economically will
> >become fulfilled by economic success. Hence,
> >they will become self-actualized and their
> >perception of themselves, their self worth will improve.
> >At the same time, there are limitations to the
> >things that we can do that are mediated by
> >economics. If, for example, my kid has a cold, I
> >may need to take her to the doctor or buy
> >medication. My ability to do this may very well
> >depend on my economic status. Providing for my
> >child becomes a way to become self actualized,
> >but the possibility of me becoming self
> >actualized is tied to my financial situation.
> >The same has to do with going to school, sending
> >children to school, finding employment,
> >practicing my art, etc. In our society the means
> >to become self actualized, even if they are our
> >choices, may be tied to economic forces.
> >Because I don't believe that economic success is
> >an important marker of self worth, I want to
> >challenge this with my students. But, to do
> >this, we need to find other makers of success
> >and help them explore these. These may lead to
> >self actualization and improved self worth.
> >Being a good mother, helping a friend, writing a
> >story, etc, can be means of self actualization.
> >However, these models compete with the powerful
> >advertising and marketing models that plague the
> >lives of most of our students. But I don't
> >believe that my students' self esteem has been
> >lowered by society's established markers of self
> >worth and society's established vehicles for
> >self actualization, then I have no reason to
> >create alternative models. I think that we all
> >do, and we work on this which leads to our
> >students becoming self actualized. However, we
> >are always competing with Walmart.
> >There are other issues tied to consciousness of
> >history that Freire explores that are tied to
> >oppressor/oppressed status, hegemony, etc. I
> >will not get into them right now. However, I
> >still believe that self-esteem is something very
> >complex that cannot be looked at as some
> >isolated independent variable that can be reported.
> >Andres
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >----------------------------------------------------
> >National Institute for Literacy
> >Focus on Basics mailing list
> >FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
> >To unsubscribe or change your subscription
> >settings, please go to
>http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
>
>Rutgers University
>Graduate School of Education
>10 seminary Pl.
>New Brunswick, NJ 08901
>732-932-7496 ext. 8213
>
>----------------------------------------------------
>National Institute for Literacy
>Focus on Basics mailing list
>FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
>To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
>http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
>----------------------------------------------------
>National Institute for Literacy
>Focus on Basics mailing list
>FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
>To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to 
>http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
Rutgers University
Graduate School of Education
10 seminary Pl.
New Brunswick, NJ 08901
732-932-7496 ext. 8213 
From julie_mcKinney at worlded.org  Wed Sep 27 14:12:45 2006
From: julie_mcKinney at worlded.org (Julie  McKinney)
Date: Wed, 27 Sep 2006 14:12:45 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 509]  Self-esteem stigma and Student Success
Message-ID: <s51a86f7.004@mail.jsi.com>
I agree that we should be thinking about how our programs can create
success for our students in different ways, and I can see how labeling
them as having "low self-esteem" can "strengthen the existing stigma"
(Ana) rather than help. 
So we are now looking at two ideas: 
1. How can we minimize the detrimental effects that can come from a
presumption of low self-esteem? So far we have talked about low
expectations, false praise and devaluing strong teaching in favor of
efforts to boost self-esteem. Are there other things we should stop
doing?
 2. What can our programs do to facilitate student successes? Should we
make more effort to "hire teachers who care more than anything about
their learners progress and know how to produce it"? (Hal) What other
measures of success can we aim for?
I'd love to hear others' thoughts on these two points! Any of you who
haven't commented yet...? Here's mine:
Re: 2.) I like Andres' example of having something like the stories to
mark students' successes. Years ago I was involved with a project called
HEAL (Health Education and Adult Literacy), which was a curriculum that
taught learners about breast and cervical cancer, screenings, and
prevention. The program pushed learners to improve their literacy skills
enough to seek health information and services and communicate
confidently with health providers. But it went beyond that by also
pushing for an action. They had to teach others in their community and
actually make appointments with health providers. I believe that this
action enhanced the power of the literacy skills alone to boost their
measures of their own success within their families and communitites.
Julie
say "you have to be clear with me" to health providersbeyond learningA
big part of the curriculum involved taking action in their community 
there was a lot of empowering going on by learning about taking action
for health and .
Do we, as literacy teachers, help to make this change happen, and if so,
how?
of I'd love to hear people's thoughts on these two things:
 
********************************************
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
>>> amuro5 at epcc.edu 09/27/06 12:04 PM >>>
Hal:
Hal: 
I agree with you 100%. The issue to me is what examples of student
successes are and how to create the possibility for true success. This
is very Hegelian. IE: The worker recognizes herself in the product of
her work. So, the person who makes the chair is proud of making a good
quality chair. However, factory work takes away the relationship between
the worker and the chair. The worker only nails a nail and never sees
the chair. He becomes alienated form his own work and we end up needing
a socialist revolution   ;-) You can give him a certificate for doing
good work, but the certificate is meaningless praise.
The same and more is the case with ABE students. Learning needs to
result in a meaningful outcome so that students may recognize themselves
in their work. At the same time, we must create tasks that allow
students to be able to be productive so they can have something that
they identify with. 
Our students just published a collection of short stories. This is the
second publication and it is available on line at:
http://bordersenses.com/memorias
Actually, the second volume is not available yet. However, you can see
the first volume and get an idea of the project. In terms of the issue
of creating possibilities for success I wrote something specifically
about this in the intro to the second volume. Below is an excerpt:
"Our pedagogical approach is grounded in the idea that GED instruction
requires good reading and writing skills. However, many of our students
have had little exposure to reading and writing. So, developing these
skills, a challenge in itself, becomes more challenging when the
students are uninterested in the subject and have little familiarity
with it. However, if students can build their reading and writing skills
by documenting and reading their own experiences, they will be familiar
with the knowledge and they will relate to it. Moreover, they will feel
validated if their knowledge and experiences are documented for
posterity.  Once they build their reading and writing skills, they will
be able to apply these skills to new knowledge and new academic and real
life problems."
This is both Freirian and Deweyian.
Andres 
-----Original Message-----
From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Hal Beder
Sent: Wednesday, September 27, 2006 6:21 AM
To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 500] Re: Low Self-Esteem: Myth or Reality? Some
comments
Andres, I am not aware of any evidence to the 
affect that self-esteem is influenced by 
genetics.  By and large it is a product of life 
experience.  As you point out, some--Freire for 
example--believe that low self-esteem is a social 
construction.  It is one of those mechanisms that 
keep the oppressed in a state of 
oppression.  Others would focus more on the 
family.  To me, however, the most important point 
is that low-self esteem can be treated.  The 
question is how.  One school would argue that 
lots of social support and positive feedback is 
the way.  The problem with this is that it can 
lead to a very condescending attitude, a focus on 
deficit, and indirect reinforcement of the 
literacy stigma.  The other way to "treat" 
low-self-esteem is simply by helping learners to 
be successful.  Success is the most powerful antidote to low
self-esteem.
Over thirty years ago, Last gamble on Education 
(Mezirow, Darkenwald & Knox) found that the 
characteristic that directors most sought in 
hiring teachers was a warm, pleasant 
personality.  It mattered less whether they could 
TEACH.  I think this is true today to a certain 
extent.  In my view, this value is misplaced.  If 
we want to enhance self-esteem the way to do it 
is to hire teachers who care more than anything 
about their learners progress and know how to produce it.
At 02:37 PM 9/26/2006, you wrote:
>Content-class: urn:content-classes:message
>Content-Type: multipart/alternative;
>         boundary="----_=_NextPart_001_01C6E19A.D8C6745C"
>
>Hi Ana: Thinking about this issue is going to 
>drive me nuts and keep me out of my work, but 
>here I go again. You define self -esteem as:
>"In psychological research, self-esteem is 
>typically defined in terms of how we evaluate 
>ourselves and our characteristics, the personal 
>judgment of worthiness that is expressed in the 
>attitudes the individual holds toward himself," 
>in the words of Coopersmith, a pioneering 
>researcher in the field. It is a fuzzy construct 
>but a certain consensus has developed. Many seem 
>to agree that self esteem can be differentiated 
>into global and specific self esteem. Global 
>represents a general attitude towards oneself, 
>and can be considered a trait self-esteem, 
>whereas specific self-esteems concern particular areas of people's
lives. "
>What I wonder is if this feeling of self-worth 
>is caused by genetics, or is it caused by 
>certain experiences. It is possible that self 
>esteem is inherited. If so, then, self esteem 
>reporting, would be similar regardless of group. 
>However, if the environment has something to do 
>with self esteem, the question to me would be 
>what factors influence self-worth.
>If genetics are a predictor of self esteem, and 
>we can identify the gene that determines self 
>esteem, then there is no reason to work on the 
>self esteem of the students. It is possible that 
>self esteem can be associated with dopamine, 
>serotonin activity in the brain and that there 
>is a gene that influences the presence or 
>absence of these substances. If such is the 
>case, then, we may be able to prescribe prozac 
>to those with low self-esteem and, most likely, 
>there is probably something to this
>I assume that most of us believe that there are 
>causes in the environment that can influence 
>self-worth. For example, there was an in your 
>face Sprite commercial that used to say "Image 
>is Everything". I assume that the makers of the 
>commercial believe that people's self worth has 
>to do with their image and that people would do 
>anything to improve their image which would lead 
>to an improve self-worth. I am not sure if this 
>is true or not, but a whole field of advertising 
>has been developed on this premise. The purpose 
>of advertising is to make people feel bad about 
>themselves and to feel that they will feel 
>better by acquiring a given product. In fact, 
>the poor seem to be the biggest target of 
>predatory type of advertising that banks on their low self worth.
> From this I get that while there is not that 
> much direct evidence that the self worth of the 
> poor is worse than the self worth of the 
> wealthier, there is indirect evidence. The 
> indirect evidence is the extent and success of 
> the predatory advertising to make the poor 
> consumers of things that they do not need, but 
> are marketed as means to improve their self worth.
>So, if we assume that the environment has 
>something to do with self-esteem, then I would 
>try to identify the elements in the environment 
>that influence self esteem. I would hypothesize 
>that self esteem will increase with the 
>accomplishment of something that I want to 
>achieve. So, if I achieve something, then I will 
>feel that I fulfill my goals or I became self 
>actualized, as Maslow articulates.
>I think that the problem rests in the things 
>that will make us feel self actualized and the 
>difference between what different groups can do 
>to become self actualized. Ideally, we would 
>have control in the things that we chose to do. 
>Unfortunately, institutions in the community and 
>the media shape those choices. In a capitalist 
>community where success is measured in terms of 
>wealth, the need to show socioeconomic success 
>has to be important. So, those who determine 
>that they want to succeed economically will 
>become fulfilled by economic success. Hence, 
>they will become self-actualized and their 
>perception of themselves, their self worth will improve.
>At the same time, there are limitations to the 
>things that we can do that are mediated by 
>economics. If, for example, my kid has a cold, I 
>may need to take her to the doctor or buy 
>medication. My ability to do this may very well 
>depend on my economic status. Providing for my 
>child becomes a way to become self actualized, 
>but the possibility of me becoming self 
>actualized is tied to my financial situation. 
>The same has to do with going to school, sending 
>children to school, finding employment, 
>practicing my art, etc. In our society the means 
>to become self actualized, even if they are our 
>choices, may be tied to economic forces.
>Because I don't believe that economic success is 
>an important marker of self worth, I want to 
>challenge this with my students. But, to do 
>this, we need to find other makers of success 
>and help them explore these. These may lead to 
>self actualization and improved self worth. 
>Being a good mother, helping a friend, writing a 
>story, etc, can be means of self actualization. 
>However, these models compete with the powerful 
>advertising and marketing models that plague the 
>lives of most of our students. But I don't 
>believe that my students' self esteem has been 
>lowered by society's established markers of self 
>worth and society's established vehicles for 
>self actualization, then I have no reason to 
>create alternative models. I think that we all 
>do, and we work on this which leads to our 
>students becoming self actualized. However, we 
>are always competing with Walmart.
>There are other issues tied to consciousness of 
>history that Freire explores that are tied to 
>oppressor/oppressed status, hegemony, etc. I 
>will not get into them right now. However, I 
>still believe that self-esteem is something very 
>complex that cannot be looked at as some 
>isolated independent variable that can be reported.
>Andres
>
>
>
>
>
>
>----------------------------------------------------
>National Institute for Literacy
>Focus on Basics mailing list
>FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
>To unsubscribe or change your subscription 
>settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
Rutgers University
Graduate School of Education
10 seminary Pl.
New Brunswick, NJ 08901
732-932-7496 ext. 8213 
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
From ana at optimaltec.com  Wed Sep 27 22:22:31 2006
From: ana at optimaltec.com (Anastasiya A. Lipnevich)
Date: Wed, 27 Sep 2006 22:22:31 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 510]    Instructional practices leading to success
Message-ID: <451B31E7.4020308@optimaltec.com>
This has been a great day of discussion.
Many touched upon the issue of assessment and how it affects students' 
perceptions of their performance. Julie raised a question about 
instructional practices leading to students' success. I believe 
assessment may be one of the key areas of pedagogy to consider, and here 
are some thoughts on it.
A significant portion of the teacher?s time is devoted to the evaluation 
of students? performance. Ideally, such assessment of products or 
behavior should provide students with the necessary information that 
would allow them to adjust their learning strategies, get rid of 
existing misconceptions, correct mistakes, increase (or sustain) 
motivation, and, ultimately, move them closer to the desired goals. That 
is, it should facilitate student successes not just provide teachers 
with information about what is learned. However, research has shown that 
very often the impact of assessment on students? performance and 
motivation has the opposite ? adverse ? effect. Possible reasons for 
such a quandary are hidden in specific attributes of evaluative 
practices, with the quality and type of feedback being among the most 
important ones. Our understanding of differential effects of assessment 
in general and feedback in particular on students? learning is crucial 
to ensure optimal outcomes of education.
I recently conducted a literature review on the effect of feedback on 
leaning and motivation. What most studies show is that the key role of 
teachers in every classroom from kindergarten to the most advanced 
educational setting is to provide information about the gap between 
students current performance and the desired performance (as identified 
by teacher, student, and/or curriculum). Some of the main findings are: 
1) The more frequent the feedback, the more effective it is. 2) 
Informative feedback comprised of explanations of mistakes and 
suggestions for corrective measures, is much more effective than a 
simple statement of correct or incorrect. 3) Feedback should focus on 
the task not the learner, or attention to the self depletes cognitive 
resources and compromises learning. For instance, criticism should be 
about the task, not the learner. In this case, the students' self-esteem 
will be able to weather the corrective nature of the feedback and they 
won't be discouraged. 4) Grades and numerical scores , even if presented 
along with comments, were found to reduce motivation and short circuit 
the learning process (when you get the score of a game, you don't want 
to watch it).
To provide good feedback is really time consuming.
So what are your thoughts about the best assessment practice in the 
adult literacy classroom?
Looking forward to your comments.
Ana.
From bdsunmt at sbcglobal.net  Thu Sep 28 02:53:20 2006
From: bdsunmt at sbcglobal.net (Bonnita Solberg)
Date: Wed, 27 Sep 2006 23:53:20 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 511] Re: Instructional practices leading to success
In-Reply-To: <451B31E7.4020308@optimaltec.com>
Message-ID: <20060928065320.93292.qmail@web83103.mail.mud.yahoo.com>
In our Adult Ed department, administration is focusing
on excellence in assessment in the formal teacher
evaluation process this year.  The main thrust of this
focus is to establish clear learning goals that begin
with needs and skill level assessment.  It is expected
that the instructor will use a variety of assessments
embedded in the instruinal process through backward
planning.  Assessments are aligned to curriculum and
standards and guide lesson planning.  Instructors use
not only formal testing measures, but also student
constructed assessments, when appropriate, and an
informal, routine check for understanding during the
lesson presentation.  Students know how and when they
will be assessed; teachers give timely, accurate and
constructive feedback to students while providing time
for students to reflect.  Students track their own
progress and look forward to assessments, thereby
taking ownership of their progress and goals.
This is a huge undertaking for both adminsitration and
staff.  To my way of thinking, assessment should
inform instruction as well as informing the student of
his/her progress.  Clear learning goals that are
communicated to the students and revisited frequently
during the course of instruction is key to student and
teacher success. 
--- "Anastasiya A. Lipnevich" <ana at optimaltec.com>
wrote:
> This has been a great day of discussion.
> Many touched upon the issue of assessment and how it
> affects students' 
> perceptions of their performance. Julie raised a
> question about 
> instructional practices leading to students'
> success. I believe 
> assessment may be one of the key areas of pedagogy
> to consider, and here 
> are some thoughts on it.
> A significant portion of the teacher?s time is
> devoted to the evaluation 
> of students? performance. Ideally, such assessment
> of products or 
> behavior should provide students with the necessary
> information that 
> would allow them to adjust their learning
> strategies, get rid of 
> existing misconceptions, correct mistakes, increase
> (or sustain) 
> motivation, and, ultimately, move them closer to the
> desired goals. That 
> is, it should facilitate student successes not just
> provide teachers 
> with information about what is learned. However,
> research has shown that 
> very often the impact of assessment on students?
> performance and 
> motivation has the opposite ? adverse ? effect.
> Possible reasons for 
> such a quandary are hidden in specific attributes of
> evaluative 
> practices, with the quality and type of feedback
> being among the most 
> important ones. Our understanding of differential
> effects of assessment 
> in general and feedback in particular on students?
> learning is crucial 
> to ensure optimal outcomes of education.
> 
> I recently conducted a literature review on the
> effect of feedback on 
> leaning and motivation. What most studies show is
> that the key role of 
> teachers in every classroom from kindergarten to the
> most advanced 
> educational setting is to provide information about
> the gap between 
> students current performance and the desired
> performance (as identified 
> by teacher, student, and/or curriculum). Some of the
> main findings are: 
> 1) The more frequent the feedback, the more
> effective it is. 2) 
> Informative feedback comprised of explanations of
> mistakes and 
> suggestions for corrective measures, is much more
> effective than a 
> simple statement of correct or incorrect. 3)
> Feedback should focus on 
> the task not the learner, or attention to the self
> depletes cognitive 
> resources and compromises learning. For instance,
> criticism should be 
> about the task, not the learner. In this case, the
> students' self-esteem 
> will be able to weather the corrective nature of the
> feedback and they 
> won't be discouraged. 4) Grades and numerical scores
> , even if presented 
> along with comments, were found to reduce motivation
> and short circuit 
> the learning process (when you get the score of a
> game, you don't want 
> to watch it).
> To provide good feedback is really time consuming.
> So what are your thoughts about the best assessment
> practice in the 
> adult literacy classroom?
> Looking forward to your comments.
> Ana.
> ----------------------------------------------------
> National Institute for Literacy
> Focus on Basics mailing list
> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings,
> please go to
> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
> 
From dnord at jflp.org  Thu Sep 28 11:57:39 2006
From: dnord at jflp.org (Doris Nord)
Date: Thu, 28 Sep 2006 11:57:39 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 512] Re: Low Self-Esteem: Myth or
	Reality?Somecomments
Message-ID: <28834C55D521C745A988265F437DD09B0ABBF9@jflpgp.jflp.org>
I would argue that there is a difference in working with adults,
particularly those with traumatic histories.  
 
I work with women trapped in multi-generational poverty.  Most of them
come with a legacy of poor health, addiction, and violence.  Many have
been convinced of their inability to succeed through decades of being
called stupid and worthless, and existing in a society that confirms
their lack of self worth.  Largely, they have "become" their mistakes,
instead of being able to move forward in life.  I believe they are in
need of constant praise, whether it is for getting 100% on a math test
or simply showing up for school on a rainy day.  It takes a lot of
positive reinforcement to undo so many years of negativity.  
 
Dorrie Nord,
GED Coordinator
Julie's Family Learning Program
133 Dorchester Street
South Boston, MA
 
________________________________
From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Craig Alinder
Sent: Wednesday, September 27, 2006 7:37 AM
To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 498] Re: Low Self-Esteem: Myth or
Reality?Somecomments
 
In my experience with Montessori education unqualified praise will
actually rob a child of their efforts and lead them to believe they
should not do things for their own worth, but solely for the external
praise. Personally, I believe the same applies to those educating
adults. Any attempt to falsely raise someone's self-esteem without any
effort or reason for the praise, will undercut any real attempt at
praise when something significant is accomplished. Praise loses its
worth when it is doled out constantly. It must be reserved for those
moments of success through effort, even if the successes are small ones.
I have a feeling there is probably a statistical bell curve of educators
based on what is considered a "successful moment" deserving praise. It
seems instincts and experience are the guides at this point.
 
What I feel is important to point out, is that the work that the
educator must carefully consider what level of work to give each
individual to ensure success is possible. In this sense, self-esteem is
taken into consideration, as the student must feel they have a chance of
success to even make an attempt at completing the task at hand. Those
are my thoughts on the subject.
 
Craig
 
 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Craig Alinder
Escuela del Sol Montessori
1114 Seventh St. NW
Albuquerque, NM 87110
http://www.merchant-reviews.com 
	----- Original Message ----- 
	From: Anastasiya A. Lipnevich <mailto:ana at optimaltec.com>  
	To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List
<mailto:focusonbasics at nifl.gov>  
	Sent: Tuesday, September 26, 2006 4:51 PM
	Subject: [FocusOnBasics 495] Re: Low Self-Esteem: Myth or
Reality? Somecomments
	 
	Hi Barb! You raised intriguing questions and I would love to
hear educators' thoughts on this matter. 
	>From my personal observations, informal conversations, and
formal interviews with adult literacy teachers, I noticed that educators
could be roughly split into two groups: those who believe that one of
the key concerns of adult literacy is to raise learners' self-esteem
because it's very low, and unless they do it, students cannot succeed,
and those who think that teachers need to teach students skills and
knowledge, and that self-esteem will naturally follow. If we look at
Bandura's research, he believed that the relationship between
self-efficacy (a concept, similar to self-esteem) and achievement
follows the latter pattern -- you learn to do something well and your
feeling of self-efficacy goes up, which, in turn, affects what you do in
the future. Years of research showed that attempts to artificially build
up students' self-esteem by praising every little thing they do (playing
a "cheerleaders' role", as Hal puts it) and such, are very unlikely to
lead to increas
	ed sense of competence and self-worth. Therefore, starting off
from the assumption about learners' low self-esteem would seem to be not
quite as beneficial to students as simply trying to help them learn. 
	 
	The study definitely needs replication -- we can't really
generalize our findings since only one adult learning center was used as
our research setting. I have been recently contacted by a GED instructor
from one of the Illinois colleges, who is interested in replicating my
study. I am really looking forward to hear about the findings. If they
are similar to mine, it will certainly make the case stronger. 
	Thank you for your comments!
	 
	Ana.
	 
	 
	 
	This discussion is rich and fascinating. 
	 
	I'm very taken with Anastasiya's research, particularly since
her findings resonate with much of my classroom experience. Of course,
it is only one study and certainly needs to be replicated with similar
and different populations to see how robust the findings are. 
	 
	In the meantime, I wonder how tied we are as teachers to the
idea that our students have low self esteem. What role does that idea
have in our views of ourselves as teachers?
	Barb Garner
	Editor, Focus on Basics
	
________________________________
	----------------------------------------------------
	National Institute for Literacy
	Focus on Basics mailing list
	FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
	To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go
to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
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From tarv at chemeketa.edu  Thu Sep 28 13:28:21 2006
From: tarv at chemeketa.edu (Virginia Tardaewether)
Date: Thu, 28 Sep 2006 10:28:21 -0700
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 513] Re: Low Self-Esteem: Myth orReality?Somecomments
In-Reply-To: <28834C55D521C745A988265F437DD09B0ABBF9@jflpgp.jflp.org>
Message-ID: <D63A25821E9AE349ADBAB6BB1F0A766C0205BDEF@cccmail2.chemeketa.network>
Honestly pointing out a person's strengths can be a daily gift:  for you
and for them.
Va
 
________________________________
From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Doris Nord
Sent: Thursday, September 28, 2006 8:58 AM
To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 512] Re: Low Self-Esteem: Myth
orReality?Somecomments
 
I would argue that there is a difference in working with adults,
particularly those with traumatic histories.  
 
I work with women trapped in multi-generational poverty.  Most of them
come with a legacy of poor health, addiction, and violence.  Many have
been convinced of their inability to succeed through decades of being
called stupid and worthless, and existing in a society that confirms
their lack of self worth.  Largely, they have "become" their mistakes,
instead of being able to move forward in life.  I believe they are in
need of constant praise, whether it is for getting 100% on a math test
or simply showing up for school on a rainy day.  It takes a lot of
positive reinforcement to undo so many years of negativity.  
 
Dorrie Nord,
GED Coordinator
Julie's Family Learning Program
133 Dorchester Street
South Boston, MA
 
________________________________
From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Craig Alinder
Sent: Wednesday, September 27, 2006 7:37 AM
To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 498] Re: Low Self-Esteem: Myth or
Reality?Somecomments
 
In my experience with Montessori education unqualified praise will
actually rob a child of their efforts and lead them to believe they
should not do things for their own worth, but solely for the external
praise. Personally, I believe the same applies to those educating
adults. Any attempt to falsely raise someone's self-esteem without any
effort or reason for the praise, will undercut any real attempt at
praise when something significant is accomplished. Praise loses its
worth when it is doled out constantly. It must be reserved for those
moments of success through effort, even if the successes are small ones.
I have a feeling there is probably a statistical bell curve of educators
based on what is considered a "successful moment" deserving praise. It
seems instincts and experience are the guides at this point.
 
What I feel is important to point out, is that the work that the
educator must carefully consider what level of work to give each
individual to ensure success is possible. In this sense, self-esteem is
taken into consideration, as the student must feel they have a chance of
success to even make an attempt at completing the task at hand. Those
are my thoughts on the subject.
 
Craig
 
 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Craig Alinder
Escuela del Sol Montessori
1114 Seventh St. NW
Albuquerque, NM 87110
http://www.merchant-reviews.com 
	----- Original Message ----- 
	From: Anastasiya A. Lipnevich <mailto:ana at optimaltec.com>  
	To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List
<mailto:focusonbasics at nifl.gov>  
	Sent: Tuesday, September 26, 2006 4:51 PM
	Subject: [FocusOnBasics 495] Re: Low Self-Esteem: Myth or
Reality? Somecomments
	 
	Hi Barb! You raised intriguing questions and I would love to
hear educators' thoughts on this matter. 
	>From my personal observations, informal conversations, and
formal interviews with adult literacy teachers, I noticed that educators
could be roughly split into two groups: those who believe that one of
the key concerns of adult literacy is to raise learners' self-esteem
because it's very low, and unless they do it, students cannot succeed,
and those who think that teachers need to teach students skills and
knowledge, and that self-esteem will naturally follow. If we look at
Bandura's research, he believed that the relationship between
self-efficacy (a concept, similar to self-esteem) and achievement
follows the latter pattern -- you learn to do something well and your
feeling of self-efficacy goes up, which, in turn, affects what you do in
the future. Years of research showed that attempts to artificially build
up students' self-esteem by praising every little thing they do (playing
a "cheerleaders' role", as Hal puts it) and such, are very unlikely to
lead to increas
	ed sense of competence and self-worth. Therefore, starting off
from the assumption about learners' low self-esteem would seem to be not
quite as beneficial to students as simply trying to help them learn. 
	 
	The study definitely needs replication -- we can't really
generalize our findings since only one adult learning center was used as
our research setting. I have been recently contacted by a GED instructor
from one of the Illinois colleges, who is interested in replicating my
study. I am really looking forward to hear about the findings. If they
are similar to mine, it will certainly make the case stronger. 
	Thank you for your comments!
	 
	Ana.
	 
	 
	 
	This discussion is rich and fascinating. 
	 
	I'm very taken with Anastasiya's research, particularly since
her findings resonate with much of my classroom experience. Of course,
it is only one study and certainly needs to be replicated with similar
and different populations to see how robust the findings are. 
	 
	In the meantime, I wonder how tied we are as teachers to the
idea that our students have low self esteem. What role does that idea
have in our views of ourselves as teachers?
	Barb Garner
	Editor, Focus on Basics
	
________________________________
	----------------------------------------------------
	National Institute for Literacy
	Focus on Basics mailing list
	FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
	To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go
to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
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From julie_mcKinney at worlded.org  Thu Sep 28 14:04:44 2006
From: julie_mcKinney at worlded.org (Julie  McKinney)
Date: Thu, 28 Sep 2006 14:04:44 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 514] Re: Low Self-Esteem: Myth
	or	Reality?Somecomments
Message-ID: <s51bd6a7.013@mail.jsi.com>
Dorrie's comment reminded me of another example of the value of praise for small things. See link or excerpt below from Robin Schwarz' Article from FOB 8A: "Taking a Closer Look at Struggling ESOL Learners."
http://www.ncsall.net/index.php?id=994
How can we know to dish out praise appropriately? On one hand it can dilute real accomplishment, and on the other hand some people need to be encouraged for small steps...
Julie
*****************************
Excerpt from "Taking a Closer Look at Struggling ESOL Learners":
"...Henri, an older Haitian man...had sat for nearly a month in his beginning ESOL literacy class without responding or doing anything. Once the door was closed for our interview and I told him his teacher was concerned, Henri poured out a touching story about prostate problems that totally preoccupied him. His daughter wanted him to learn English, he said, and he came to class only to make her happy. Knowing why Henri was making slow progress helped his teacher to feel less frustrated and more positive about him. His teacher started to provide careful encouragement, congratulating him for being in class at all and for any effort he made to participate, rather than focusing on Henri?s comparative lack of progress. Tiny successes * completing an activity in class with another student; participating in an oral activity successfully * helped Henri to be more engaged while he wrestled with his health problem."
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
>>> dnord at jflp.org 09/28/06 11:57 AM >>>
I would argue that there is a difference in working with adults,
particularly those with traumatic histories.  
 
I work with women trapped in multi-generational poverty.  Most of them
come with a legacy of poor health, addiction, and violence.  Many have
been convinced of their inability to succeed through decades of being
called stupid and worthless, and existing in a society that confirms
their lack of self worth.  Largely, they have "become" their mistakes,
instead of being able to move forward in life.  I believe they are in
need of constant praise, whether it is for getting 100% on a math test
or simply showing up for school on a rainy day.  It takes a lot of
positive reinforcement to undo so many years of negativity.  
 
Dorrie Nord,
GED Coordinator
Julie's Family Learning Program
133 Dorchester Street
South Boston, MA
 
________________________________
From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Craig Alinder
Sent: Wednesday, September 27, 2006 7:37 AM
To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 498] Re: Low Self-Esteem: Myth or
Reality?Somecomments
 
In my experience with Montessori education unqualified praise will
actually rob a child of their efforts and lead them to believe they
should not do things for their own worth, but solely for the external
praise. Personally, I believe the same applies to those educating
adults. Any attempt to falsely raise someone's self-esteem without any
effort or reason for the praise, will undercut any real attempt at
praise when something significant is accomplished. Praise loses its
worth when it is doled out constantly. It must be reserved for those
moments of success through effort, even if the successes are small ones.
I have a feeling there is probably a statistical bell curve of educators
based on what is considered a "successful moment" deserving praise. It
seems instincts and experience are the guides at this point.
 
What I feel is important to point out, is that the work that the
educator must carefully consider what level of work to give each
individual to ensure success is possible. In this sense, self-esteem is
taken into consideration, as the student must feel they have a chance of
success to even make an attempt at completing the task at hand. Those
are my thoughts on the subject.
 
Craig
 
 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Craig Alinder
Escuela del Sol Montessori
1114 Seventh St. NW
Albuquerque, NM 87110
http://www.merchant-reviews.com 
	----- Original Message ----- 
	From: Anastasiya A. Lipnevich <mailto:ana at optimaltec.com>  
	To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List
<mailto:focusonbasics at nifl.gov>  
	Sent: Tuesday, September 26, 2006 4:51 PM
	Subject: [FocusOnBasics 495] Re: Low Self-Esteem: Myth or
Reality? Somecomments
	 
	Hi Barb! You raised intriguing questions and I would love to
hear educators' thoughts on this matter. 
	>From my personal observations, informal conversations, and
formal interviews with adult literacy teachers, I noticed that educators
could be roughly split into two groups: those who believe that one of
the key concerns of adult literacy is to raise learners' self-esteem
because it's very low, and unless they do it, students cannot succeed,
and those who think that teachers need to teach students skills and
knowledge, and that self-esteem will naturally follow. If we look at
Bandura's research, he believed that the relationship between
self-efficacy (a concept, similar to self-esteem) and achievement
follows the latter pattern -- you learn to do something well and your
feeling of self-efficacy goes up, which, in turn, affects what you do in
the future. Years of research showed that attempts to artificially build
up students' self-esteem by praising every little thing they do (playing
a "cheerleaders' role", as Hal puts it) and such, are very unlikely to
lead to increas
	ed sense of competence and self-worth. Therefore, starting off
from the assumption about learners' low self-esteem would seem to be not
quite as beneficial to students as simply trying to help them learn. 
	 
	The study definitely needs replication -- we can't really
generalize our findings since only one adult learning center was used as
our research setting. I have been recently contacted by a GED instructor
from one of the Illinois colleges, who is interested in replicating my
study. I am really looking forward to hear about the findings. If they
are similar to mine, it will certainly make the case stronger. 
	Thank you for your comments!
	 
	Ana.
	 
	 
	 
	This discussion is rich and fascinating. 
	 
	I'm very taken with Anastasiya's research, particularly since
her findings resonate with much of my classroom experience. Of course,
it is only one study and certainly needs to be replicated with similar
and different populations to see how robust the findings are. 
	 
	In the meantime, I wonder how tied we are as teachers to the
idea that our students have low self esteem. What role does that idea
have in our views of ourselves as teachers?
	Barb Garner
	Editor, Focus on Basics
	
________________________________
	----------------------------------------------------
	National Institute for Literacy
	Focus on Basics mailing list
	FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
	To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go
to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
From rebecca.halcomb at kctcs.edu  Thu Sep 28 14:19:51 2006
From: rebecca.halcomb at kctcs.edu (Halcomb, Becky (Southeast))
Date: Thu, 28 Sep 2006 14:19:51 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 515] Re: Low Self-Esteem: Myth orReality?Somecomments
In-Reply-To: <D63A25821E9AE349ADBAB6BB1F0A766C0205BDEF@cccmail2.chemeketa.network>
Message-ID: <312A3F3E8BF8ED4E9F99C70433A37D8703D0B4CA@KCTCSMBX1.messaging.ds.kctcs.edu>
Every person is different and unique, so dealing with the self-esteem
issue is going to be even more diverse. But, generally working with the
person on a daily basis the instructor will get to know them and be able
to understand what would help them improve on the person a whole. I
think this will help raise self-esteem as well as other attributes of
the person.
 
________________________________
From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Virginia
Tardaewether
Sent: Thursday, September 28, 2006 1:28 PM
To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 513] Re: Low Self-Esteem: Myth
orReality?Somecomments
 
Honestly pointing out a person's strengths can be a daily gift:  for you
and for them.
Va
 
________________________________
From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Doris Nord
Sent: Thursday, September 28, 2006 8:58 AM
To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 512] Re: Low Self-Esteem: Myth
orReality?Somecomments
 
I would argue that there is a difference in working with adults,
particularly those with traumatic histories.  
 
I work with women trapped in multi-generational poverty.  Most of them
come with a legacy of poor health, addiction, and violence.  Many have
been convinced of their inability to succeed through decades of being
called stupid and worthless, and existing in a society that confirms
their lack of self worth.  Largely, they have "become" their mistakes,
instead of being able to move forward in life.  I believe they are in
need of constant praise, whether it is for getting 100% on a math test
or simply showing up for school on a rainy day.  It takes a lot of
positive reinforcement to undo so many years of negativity.  
 
Dorrie Nord,
GED Coordinator
Julie's Family Learning Program
133 Dorchester Street
South Boston, MA
 
________________________________
From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Craig Alinder
Sent: Wednesday, September 27, 2006 7:37 AM
To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 498] Re: Low Self-Esteem: Myth or
Reality?Somecomments
 
In my experience with Montessori education unqualified praise will
actually rob a child of their efforts and lead them to believe they
should not do things for their own worth, but solely for the external
praise. Personally, I believe the same applies to those educating
adults. Any attempt to falsely raise someone's self-esteem without any
effort or reason for the praise, will undercut any real attempt at
praise when something significant is accomplished. Praise loses its
worth when it is doled out constantly. It must be reserved for those
moments of success through effort, even if the successes are small ones.
I have a feeling there is probably a statistical bell curve of educators
based on what is considered a "successful moment" deserving praise. It
seems instincts and experience are the guides at this point.
 
What I feel is important to point out, is that the work that the
educator must carefully consider what level of work to give each
individual to ensure success is possible. In this sense, self-esteem is
taken into consideration, as the student must feel they have a chance of
success to even make an attempt at completing the task at hand. Those
are my thoughts on the subject.
 
Craig
 
 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Craig Alinder
Escuela del Sol Montessori
1114 Seventh St. NW
Albuquerque, NM 87110
http://www.merchant-reviews.com 
	----- Original Message ----- 
	From: Anastasiya A. Lipnevich <mailto:ana at optimaltec.com>  
	To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List
<mailto:focusonbasics at nifl.gov>  
	Sent: Tuesday, September 26, 2006 4:51 PM
	Subject: [FocusOnBasics 495] Re: Low Self-Esteem: Myth or
Reality? Somecomments
	 
	Hi Barb! You raised intriguing questions and I would love to
hear educators' thoughts on this matter. 
	>From my personal observations, informal conversations, and
formal interviews with adult literacy teachers, I noticed that educators
could be roughly split into two groups: those who believe that one of
the key concerns of adult literacy is to raise learners' self-esteem
because it's very low, and unless they do it, students cannot succeed,
and those who think that teachers need to teach students skills and
knowledge, and that self-esteem will naturally follow. If we look at
Bandura's research, he believed that the relationship between
self-efficacy (a concept, similar to self-esteem) and achievement
follows the latter pattern -- you learn to do something well and your
feeling of self-efficacy goes up, which, in turn, affects what you do in
the future. Years of research showed that attempts to artificially build
up students' self-esteem by praising every little thing they do (playing
a "cheerleaders' role", as Hal puts it) and such, are very unlikely to
lead to increas
	ed sense of competence and self-worth. Therefore, starting off
from the assumption about learners' low self-esteem would seem to be not
quite as beneficial to students as simply trying to help them learn. 
	 
	The study definitely needs replication -- we can't really
generalize our findings since only one adult learning center was used as
our research setting. I have been recently contacted by a GED instructor
from one of the Illinois colleges, who is interested in replicating my
study. I am really looking forward to hear about the findings. If they
are similar to mine, it will certainly make the case stronger. 
	Thank you for your comments!
	 
	Ana.
	 
	 
	 
	This discussion is rich and fascinating. 
	 
	I'm very taken with Anastasiya's research, particularly since
her findings resonate with much of my classroom experience. Of course,
it is only one study and certainly needs to be replicated with similar
and different populations to see how robust the findings are. 
	 
	In the meantime, I wonder how tied we are as teachers to the
idea that our students have low self esteem. What role does that idea
have in our views of ourselves as teachers?
	Barb Garner
	Editor, Focus on Basics
	
________________________________
	----------------------------------------------------
	National Institute for Literacy
	Focus on Basics mailing list
	FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
	To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go
to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
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From jgordon at fortunesociety.org  Thu Sep 28 14:27:30 2006
From: jgordon at fortunesociety.org (John Gordon)
Date: Thu, 28 Sep 2006 14:27:30 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 516] Re: Low Self-Esteem: Myth orReality?Somecomments
Message-ID: <FCE5A738D738724AB9ED7A61D3E733F00345AE01@mail.fortunesociety.org>
Dorrie raises an issue that has been on my mind as I have followed this
discussion (cursorily I'm sorry to say, due to my time constraints). I
am somewhat troubled by the term "self-esteem" and never really use it
myself. For me, it implies that your feelings about yourself come from
within and ignores the dynamic between the individual and society and
the way that race, class, and gender combine to shape people's
perceptions of themselves.
 
To what extent do we internalize society's definitions of us? To what
extent do students in A.B.E. programs internalize the society's labels
for them? And how easy is it to disentangle the literacy labels from
those that have to do with being poor (for those students who are poor)
or with being black or latino (for those who.....) or with being a
woman, etc.
 
One place this thinking leads me is to the idea that people's
perceptions of themselves, their self-confidence, might benefit more
from a critical look at the way class, gender, and race have played out
in their lives than from praise (though I am all for praise). Perhaps
this is some of what goes on with the stories Andres has written about.
 
john
  _____  
From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Doris Nord
Sent: Thursday, September 28, 2006 11:58 AM
To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 512] Re: Low Self-Esteem: Myth
orReality?Somecomments
I would argue that there is a difference in working with adults,
particularly those with traumatic histories.  
 
I work with women trapped in multi-generational poverty.  Most of them
come with a legacy of poor health, addiction, and violence.  Many have
been convinced of their inability to succeed through decades of being
called stupid and worthless, and existing in a society that confirms
their lack of self worth.  Largely, they have "become" their mistakes,
instead of being able to move forward in life.  I believe they are in
need of constant praise, whether it is for getting 100% on a math test
or simply showing up for school on a rainy day.  It takes a lot of
positive reinforcement to undo so many years of negativity.  
 
Dorrie Nord,
GED Coordinator
Julie's Family Learning Program
133 Dorchester Street
South Boston, MA
 
  _____  
From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Craig Alinder
Sent: Wednesday, September 27, 2006 7:37 AM
To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 498] Re: Low Self-Esteem: Myth or
Reality?Somecomments
 
In my experience with Montessori education unqualified praise will
actually rob a child of their efforts and lead them to believe they
should not do things for their own worth, but solely for the external
praise. Personally, I believe the same applies to those educating
adults. Any attempt to falsely raise someone's self-esteem without any
effort or reason for the praise, will undercut any real attempt at
praise when something significant is accomplished. Praise loses its
worth when it is doled out constantly. It must be reserved for those
moments of success through effort, even if the successes are small ones.
I have a feeling there is probably a statistical bell curve of educators
based on what is considered a "successful moment" deserving praise. It
seems instincts and experience are the guides at this point.
 
What I feel is important to point out, is that the work that the
educator must carefully consider what level of work to give each
individual to ensure success is possible. In this sense, self-esteem is
taken into consideration, as the student must feel they have a chance of
success to even make an attempt at completing the task at hand. Those
are my thoughts on the subject.
 
Craig
 
 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Craig Alinder
Escuela del Sol Montessori
1114 Seventh St. NW
Albuquerque, NM 87110
http://www.merchant-reviews.com 
	----- Original Message ----- 
	From: Anastasiya A. Lipnevich <mailto:ana at optimaltec.com>  
	To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List
<mailto:focusonbasics at nifl.gov>  
	Sent: Tuesday, September 26, 2006 4:51 PM
	Subject: [FocusOnBasics 495] Re: Low Self-Esteem: Myth or
Reality? Somecomments
	 
	Hi Barb! You raised intriguing questions and I would love to
hear educators' thoughts on this matter. 
	>From my personal observations, informal conversations, and
formal interviews with adult literacy teachers, I noticed that educators
could be roughly split into two groups: those who believe that one of
the key concerns of adult literacy is to raise learners' self-esteem
because it's very low, and unless they do it, students cannot succeed,
and those who think that teachers need to teach students skills and
knowledge, and that self-esteem will naturally follow. If we look at
Bandura's research, he believed that the relationship between
self-efficacy (a concept, similar to self-esteem) and achievement
follows the latter pattern -- you learn to do something well and your
feeling of self-efficacy goes up, which, in turn, affects what you do in
the future. Years of research showed that attempts to artificially build
up students' self-esteem by praising every little thing they do (playing
a "cheerleaders' role", as Hal puts it) and such, are very unlikely to
lead to increas
	ed sense of competence and self-worth. Therefore, starting off
from the assumption about learners' low self-esteem would seem to be not
quite as beneficial to students as simply trying to help them learn. 
	 
	The study definitely needs replication -- we can't really
generalize our findings since only one adult learning center was used as
our research setting. I have been recently contacted by a GED instructor
from one of the Illinois colleges, who is interested in replicating my
study. I am really looking forward to hear about the findings. If they
are similar to mine, it will certainly make the case stronger. 
	Thank you for your comments!
	 
	Ana.
	 
	 
	 
	This discussion is rich and fascinating. 
	 
	I'm very taken with Anastasiya's research, particularly since
her findings resonate with much of my classroom experience. Of course,
it is only one study and certainly needs to be replicated with similar
and different populations to see how robust the findings are. 
	 
	In the meantime, I wonder how tied we are as teachers to the
idea that our students have low self esteem. What role does that idea
have in our views of ourselves as teachers?
	Barb Garner
	Editor, Focus on Basics
	
  _____  
	----------------------------------------------------
	National Institute for Literacy
	Focus on Basics mailing list
	FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
	To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go
to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
-------------- next part --------------
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From hbeder at rci.rutgers.edu  Thu Sep 28 15:16:11 2006
From: hbeder at rci.rutgers.edu (Hal Beder)
Date: Thu, 28 Sep 2006 15:16:11 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 517] Re: Self-esteem stigma and Student Success
In-Reply-To: <s51a86f7.004@mail.jsi.com>
References: <s51a86f7.004@mail.jsi.com>
Message-ID: <6.2.3.4.2.20060928150643.02b95b50@rci.rutgers.edu>
One way to promote success would be to develop a series of meaningful 
benchmarks and recognition markers when the benchmarks have been 
achieved.  I would pattern them on real life tasks so there is also 
reinforcement from solving a real problem with newly acquired 
literacy skills.  For example. a benchmark for lower-level students 
might to write a grocery list and use it to do shopping.  Other tasks 
might be developed from the items on the NAAL test.  That way we 
would know their degree of difficulty.  For low level readers who 
want the GED, the final payoff is so far distant,and in many cases 
the incremental benchmarks are so vague, that the power of feeling 
successful just is not there.
At 02:12 PM 9/27/2006, you wrote:
>I agree that we should be thinking about how our programs can create
>success for our students in different ways, and I can see how labeling
>them as having "low self-esteem" can "strengthen the existing stigma"
>(Ana) rather than help.
>
>So we are now looking at two ideas:
>
>1. How can we minimize the detrimental effects that can come from a
>presumption of low self-esteem? So far we have talked about low
>expectations, false praise and devaluing strong teaching in favor of
>efforts to boost self-esteem. Are there other things we should stop
>doing?
>
>  2. What can our programs do to facilitate student successes? Should we
>make more effort to "hire teachers who care more than anything about
>their learners progress and know how to produce it"? (Hal) What other
>measures of success can we aim for?
>
>I'd love to hear others' thoughts on these two points! Any of you who
>haven't commented yet...? Here's mine:
>
>Re: 2.) I like Andres' example of having something like the stories to
>mark students' successes. Years ago I was involved with a project called
>HEAL (Health Education and Adult Literacy), which was a curriculum that
>taught learners about breast and cervical cancer, screenings, and
>prevention. The program pushed learners to improve their literacy skills
>enough to seek health information and services and communicate
>confidently with health providers. But it went beyond that by also
>pushing for an action. They had to teach others in their community and
>actually make appointments with health providers. I believe that this
>action enhanced the power of the literacy skills alone to boost their
>measures of their own success within their families and communitites.
>
>Julie
>
>
>
>say "you have to be clear with me" to health providersbeyond learningA
>big part of the curriculum involved taking action in their community
>there was a lot of empowering going on by learning about taking action
>for health and .
>Do we, as literacy teachers, help to make this change happen, and if so,
>how?
>
>
>of I'd love to hear people's thoughts on these two things:
>
>
>********************************************
>
>Julie McKinney
>Discussion List Moderator
>World Education/NCSALL
>jmckinney at worlded.org
>
> >>> amuro5 at epcc.edu 09/27/06 12:04 PM >>>
>Hal:
>
>Hal:
>
>I agree with you 100%. The issue to me is what examples of student
>successes are and how to create the possibility for true success. This
>is very Hegelian. IE: The worker recognizes herself in the product of
>her work. So, the person who makes the chair is proud of making a good
>quality chair. However, factory work takes away the relationship between
>the worker and the chair. The worker only nails a nail and never sees
>the chair. He becomes alienated form his own work and we end up needing
>a socialist revolution   ;-) You can give him a certificate for doing
>good work, but the certificate is meaningless praise.
>
>The same and more is the case with ABE students. Learning needs to
>result in a meaningful outcome so that students may recognize themselves
>in their work. At the same time, we must create tasks that allow
>students to be able to be productive so they can have something that
>they identify with.
>
>Our students just published a collection of short stories. This is the
>second publication and it is available on line at:
>http://bordersenses.com/memorias
>
>Actually, the second volume is not available yet. However, you can see
>the first volume and get an idea of the project. In terms of the issue
>of creating possibilities for success I wrote something specifically
>about this in the intro to the second volume. Below is an excerpt:
>
>"Our pedagogical approach is grounded in the idea that GED instruction
>requires good reading and writing skills. However, many of our students
>have had little exposure to reading and writing. So, developing these
>skills, a challenge in itself, becomes more challenging when the
>students are uninterested in the subject and have little familiarity
>with it. However, if students can build their reading and writing skills
>by documenting and reading their own experiences, they will be familiar
>with the knowledge and they will relate to it. Moreover, they will feel
>validated if their knowledge and experiences are documented for
>posterity.  Once they build their reading and writing skills, they will
>be able to apply these skills to new knowledge and new academic and real
>life problems."
>
>This is both Freirian and Deweyian.
>
>Andres
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov
>[mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Hal Beder
>Sent: Wednesday, September 27, 2006 6:21 AM
>To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List
>Subject: [FocusOnBasics 500] Re: Low Self-Esteem: Myth or Reality? Some
>comments
>
>Andres, I am not aware of any evidence to the
>affect that self-esteem is influenced by
>genetics.  By and large it is a product of life
>experience.  As you point out, some--Freire for
>example--believe that low self-esteem is a social
>construction.  It is one of those mechanisms that
>keep the oppressed in a state of
>oppression.  Others would focus more on the
>family.  To me, however, the most important point
>is that low-self esteem can be treated.  The
>question is how.  One school would argue that
>lots of social support and positive feedback is
>the way.  The problem with this is that it can
>lead to a very condescending attitude, a focus on
>deficit, and indirect reinforcement of the
>literacy stigma.  The other way to "treat"
>low-self-esteem is simply by helping learners to
>be successful.  Success is the most powerful antidote to low
>self-esteem.
>
>Over thirty years ago, Last gamble on Education
>(Mezirow, Darkenwald & Knox) found that the
>characteristic that directors most sought in
>hiring teachers was a warm, pleasant
>personality.  It mattered less whether they could
>TEACH.  I think this is true today to a certain
>extent.  In my view, this value is misplaced.  If
>we want to enhance self-esteem the way to do it
>is to hire teachers who care more than anything
>about their learners progress and know how to produce it.
>
>
>
>
>At 02:37 PM 9/26/2006, you wrote:
> >Content-class: urn:content-classes:message
> >Content-Type: multipart/alternative;
> >         boundary="----_=_NextPart_001_01C6E19A.D8C6745C"
> >
> >Hi Ana: Thinking about this issue is going to
> >drive me nuts and keep me out of my work, but
> >here I go again. You define self -esteem as:
> >"In psychological research, self-esteem is
> >typically defined in terms of how we evaluate
> >ourselves and our characteristics, the personal
> >judgment of worthiness that is expressed in the
> >attitudes the individual holds toward himself,"
> >in the words of Coopersmith, a pioneering
> >researcher in the field. It is a fuzzy construct
> >but a certain consensus has developed. Many seem
> >to agree that self esteem can be differentiated
> >into global and specific self esteem. Global
> >represents a general attitude towards oneself,
> >and can be considered a trait self-esteem,
> >whereas specific self-esteems concern particular areas of people's
>lives. "
> >What I wonder is if this feeling of self-worth
> >is caused by genetics, or is it caused by
> >certain experiences. It is possible that self
> >esteem is inherited. If so, then, self esteem
> >reporting, would be similar regardless of group.
> >However, if the environment has something to do
> >with self esteem, the question to me would be
> >what factors influence self-worth.
> >If genetics are a predictor of self esteem, and
> >we can identify the gene that determines self
> >esteem, then there is no reason to work on the
> >self esteem of the students. It is possible that
> >self esteem can be associated with dopamine,
> >serotonin activity in the brain and that there
> >is a gene that influences the presence or
> >absence of these substances. If such is the
> >case, then, we may be able to prescribe prozac
> >to those with low self-esteem and, most likely,
> >there is probably something to this
> >I assume that most of us believe that there are
> >causes in the environment that can influence
> >self-worth. For example, there was an in your
> >face Sprite commercial that used to say "Image
> >is Everything". I assume that the makers of the
> >commercial believe that people's self worth has
> >to do with their image and that people would do
> >anything to improve their image which would lead
> >to an improve self-worth. I am not sure if this
> >is true or not, but a whole field of advertising
> >has been developed on this premise. The purpose
> >of advertising is to make people feel bad about
> >themselves and to feel that they will feel
> >better by acquiring a given product. In fact,
> >the poor seem to be the biggest target of
> >predatory type of advertising that banks on their low self worth.
> > From this I get that while there is not that
> > much direct evidence that the self worth of the
> > poor is worse than the self worth of the
> > wealthier, there is indirect evidence. The
> > indirect evidence is the extent and success of
> > the predatory advertising to make the poor
> > consumers of things that they do not need, but
> > are marketed as means to improve their self worth.
> >So, if we assume that the environment has
> >something to do with self-esteem, then I would
> >try to identify the elements in the environment
> >that influence self esteem. I would hypothesize
> >that self esteem will increase with the
> >accomplishment of something that I want to
> >achieve. So, if I achieve something, then I will
> >feel that I fulfill my goals or I became self
> >actualized, as Maslow articulates.
> >I think that the problem rests in the things
> >that will make us feel self actualized and the
> >difference between what different groups can do
> >to become self actualized. Ideally, we would
> >have control in the things that we chose to do.
> >Unfortunately, institutions in the community and
> >the media shape those choices. In a capitalist
> >community where success is measured in terms of
> >wealth, the need to show socioeconomic success
> >has to be important. So, those who determine
> >that they want to succeed economically will
> >become fulfilled by economic success. Hence,
> >they will become self-actualized and their
> >perception of themselves, their self worth will improve.
> >At the same time, there are limitations to the
> >things that we can do that are mediated by
> >economics. If, for example, my kid has a cold, I
> >may need to take her to the doctor or buy
> >medication. My ability to do this may very well
> >depend on my economic status. Providing for my
> >child becomes a way to become self actualized,
> >but the possibility of me becoming self
> >actualized is tied to my financial situation.
> >The same has to do with going to school, sending
> >children to school, finding employment,
> >practicing my art, etc. In our society the means
> >to become self actualized, even if they are our
> >choices, may be tied to economic forces.
> >Because I don't believe that economic success is
> >an important marker of self worth, I want to
> >challenge this with my students. But, to do
> >this, we need to find other makers of success
> >and help them explore these. These may lead to
> >self actualization and improved self worth.
> >Being a good mother, helping a friend, writing a
> >story, etc, can be means of self actualization.
> >However, these models compete with the powerful
> >advertising and marketing models that plague the
> >lives of most of our students. But I don't
> >believe that my students' self esteem has been
> >lowered by society's established markers of self
> >worth and society's established vehicles for
> >self actualization, then I have no reason to
> >create alternative models. I think that we all
> >do, and we work on this which leads to our
> >students becoming self actualized. However, we
> >are always competing with Walmart.
> >There are other issues tied to consciousness of
> >history that Freire explores that are tied to
> >oppressor/oppressed status, hegemony, etc. I
> >will not get into them right now. However, I
> >still believe that self-esteem is something very
> >complex that cannot be looked at as some
> >isolated independent variable that can be reported.
> >Andres
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >----------------------------------------------------
> >National Institute for Literacy
> >Focus on Basics mailing list
> >FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
> >To unsubscribe or change your subscription
> >settings, please go to
>http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
>
>Rutgers University
>Graduate School of Education
>10 seminary Pl.
>New Brunswick, NJ 08901
>732-932-7496 ext. 8213
>
>----------------------------------------------------
>National Institute for Literacy
>Focus on Basics mailing list
>FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
>To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
>http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
>----------------------------------------------------
>National Institute for Literacy
>Focus on Basics mailing list
>FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
>To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
>http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
>
>----------------------------------------------------
>National Institute for Literacy
>Focus on Basics mailing list
>FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
>To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to 
>http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
Rutgers University
Graduate School of Education
10 seminary Pl.
New Brunswick, NJ 08901
732-932-7496 ext. 8213 
From woodsnh at isp.com  Thu Sep 28 18:58:45 2006
From: woodsnh at isp.com (Woods)
Date: Thu, 28 Sep 2006 18:58:45 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 518] Re: Low Self-Esteem: Myth or
	Reality?	Somecomments
In-Reply-To: <018901c6e229$2e81c1b0$6401a8c0@VAIODesktop>
References: <4519AEDB.7090103@optimaltec.com>
	<018901c6e229$2e81c1b0$6401a8c0@VAIODesktop>
Message-ID: <451C53A5.7060106@isp.com>
A few observations about this praise/self-esteem question:
In my school I have become somewhat infamous among the students because 
whenever anyone passes by I say, "How's my favorite student doing 
today?" or "how is my most advanced student today?" Once a student 
called me on it and said, "how can he be your favorite if I'm your 
favorite?" I replied to him, "Does a father tell his daughter that he 
likes her sister better?"
I don't know if this meets Craig's definition of unqualified praise. I 
started doing it because when I was in school myself, a professor told 
me and a group of other students that we were his "advanced" group. 
Clearly, we all knew it was false, but it didn't seem to matter. In my 
own school now, when I say it to someone, another student who may be 
present will look knowingly at the other and say, "Oh, are you his 
favorite too?" I hope it sends a message to everyone that I like them 
and I care about them.
Our school has a very attractive document that we call a transcript, 
which lists all the credits a student earned. It has a nice emblem of 
our school on it and an embossed gold seal, signed by the principal. 
Every time a student earns credit he or she gets a new copy with the new 
credit added to the list. Maybe sometimes there's a smile or a pat on 
the back that comes with it when we pass them out, but I think the 
transcripts themselves do more to boost self-esteem than praise does. 
The transcripts represent accomplishment.
When I look introspectively at that thing I call self-esteem in myself, 
it seems to stem from my sense of accomplishment and of knowing that I'm 
doing something important. Praise makes me feel good and it encourages 
me to work more. Any good manager knows about that. It is easy to spot 
praise that is not genuine and the first thing I do when I receive 
praise that I sense is not genuine is to look at the motives of the 
person giving it out. But I don't think praise has much to do with 
self-esteem.
Tom Woods
Craig Alinder wrote:
> In my experience with Montessori education unqualified praise will 
> actually rob a child of their efforts and lead them to believe they 
> should not do things for their own worth, but solely for the external 
> praise. Personally, I believe the same applies to those educating 
> adults. Any attempt to falsely raise someone's self-esteem without any 
> effort or reason for the praise, will undercut any real attempt at 
> praise when something significant is accomplished. Praise loses its 
> worth when it is doled out constantly. It must be reserved for those 
> moments of success through effort, even if the successes are small 
> ones. I have a feeling there is probably a statistical bell curve of 
> educators based on what is considered a "successful moment" deserving 
> praise. It seems instincts and experience are the guides at this point.
>  
> What I feel is important to point out, is that the work that the 
> educator must carefully consider what level of work to give each 
> individual to ensure success is possible. In this sense, self-esteem 
> is taken into consideration, as the student must feel they have a 
> chance of success to even make an attempt at completing the task at 
> hand. Those are my thoughts on the subject.
>  
> Craig
>  
>  
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> Craig Alinder
> Escuela del Sol Montessori
> 1114 Seventh St. NW
> Albuquerque, NM 87110
> http://www.merchant-reviews.com
>
>     ----- Original Message -----
>     *From:* Anastasiya A. Lipnevich <mailto:ana at optimaltec.com>
>     *To:* The Focus on Basics Discussion List
>     <mailto:focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
>     *Sent:* Tuesday, September 26, 2006 4:51 PM
>     *Subject:* [FocusOnBasics 495] Re: Low Self-Esteem: Myth or
>     Reality? Somecomments
>
>Hi Barb! You raised intriguing questions and I would love to hear educators' thoughts on this matter. 
>>From my personal observations, informal conversations, and formal interviews with adult literacy teachers, I noticed that educators could be roughly split into two groups: those who believe that one of the key concerns of adult literacy is to raise learners' self-esteem /because it's very low, /and unless they do it, students cannot succeed, and those who think that teachers need to teach students skills and knowledge, and that self-esteem will naturally follow. If we look at Bandura's research, he believed that the relationship between self-efficacy (a concept, similar to self-esteem) and achievement follows the latter pattern -- you learn to do something well and your feeling of self-efficacy goes up, which, in turn, affects what you do in the future. Years of research showed that attempts to artificially build up students' self-esteem by praising every little thing they do (playing a "cheerleaders' role", as Hal puts it) and such, are very unlikely to lead to increas
>ed sense of competence and self-worth. Therefore, starting off from the assumption about learners' low self-esteem would seem to be not quite as beneficial to students as simply trying to help them learn. 
>
>The study definitely needs replication -- we can't really generalize our findings since only one adult learning center was used as our research setting. I have been recently contacted by a GED instructor from one of the Illinois colleges, who is interested in replicating my study. I am really looking forward to hear about the findings. If they are similar to mine, it will certainly make the case stronger. 
>Thank you for your comments!
>
>Ana.
>
>
>
>This discussion is rich and fascinating. 
>
>I'm very taken with Anastasiya's research, particularly since her findings resonate with much of my classroom experience. Of course, it is only one study and certainly needs to be replicated with similar and different populations to see how robust the findings are. 
>
>In the meantime, I wonder how tied we are as teachers to the idea that our students have low self esteem. What role does that idea have in our views of ourselves as teachers?
>Barb Garner
>Editor, Focus on Basics
>
>     ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>     ----------------------------------------------------
>     National Institute for Literacy
>     Focus on Basics mailing list
>     FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
>     To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
>     http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
>
>------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>----------------------------------------------------
>National Institute for Literacy
>Focus on Basics mailing list
>FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
>To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
>
From julie_mcKinney at worlded.org  Fri Sep 29 09:43:37 2006
From: julie_mcKinney at worlded.org (Julie  McKinney)
Date: Fri, 29 Sep 2006 09:43:37 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 519]  Observations vs. research
Message-ID: <s51ceadc.093@mail.jsi.com>
One thing I found interesting about Ana's work  is that she took a
common assumption about adult learners, found that there was no real
evidence to back it up, and tested it with the best available tools. 
Her research turned up results that surprised most of us, and may
improve our practices. I think this is a bold and necessary step.
I hear a lot of opinions based on observation that people seem to take
as fact, and this work reminds us that our assumptions may actually
prove to be incorrect or incomplete. Of course, some skepticism is
healthy, but if we base our teaching practices on unverified
assumptions, might that impede the educational process?
What do people think about this?
Julie
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
From bdsunmt at sbcglobal.net  Fri Sep 29 10:22:11 2006
From: bdsunmt at sbcglobal.net (Bonnita Solberg)
Date: Fri, 29 Sep 2006 07:22:11 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 520] Re: Observations vs. research
In-Reply-To: <s51ceadc.093@mail.jsi.com>
Message-ID: <20060929142211.70069.qmail@web83106.mail.mud.yahoo.com>
I was honored and pleased to be one of two teachers
chosen to represent California at the Northwest
Practitioner and Research Knowledge Institute at
Portland State University two years ago.  Research
from the University Lab School was presented;
practitioners were encouraged to use research results
in their classroom.  The research I was most
interested in was small group interactions; the
results stated that when a teacher enters a small
learning group the students make one of two
adjustments: either they return to the easiest part of
the task or they interrupt the task to ask the teacher
a question.  My observations in the classroom did not
support those findings; they are published in Research
Brief No.5/Teacher Research at
http://www.calpro-online,org/. 
The Pair Work Web Log is at 
http://calpronwpkipairtwork.blogspot.com/
 I am convinced that practitioner wisdom has an equal
footing with research in guiding strategies, theory
and methods, and that published research can and
should be informed by Practitioner Knowledge. 
Teachers in the classroom are obligated to look at
research results with a critical eye and to question
results that do not match their experience.  To do so
is also a bold and necessary step that, together with
research results, will enrich the field.  Bonnita
Solberg  
--- Julie  McKinney <julie_mcKinney at worlded.org>
wrote:
> One thing I found interesting about Ana's work  is
> that she took a
> common assumption about adult learners, found that
> there was no real
> evidence to back it up, and tested it with the best
> available tools. 
> Her research turned up results that surprised most
> of us, and may
> improve our practices. I think this is a bold and
> necessary step.
> 
> I hear a lot of opinions based on observation that
> people seem to take
> as fact, and this work reminds us that our
> assumptions may actually
> prove to be incorrect or incomplete. Of course, some
> skepticism is
> healthy, but if we base our teaching practices on
> unverified
> assumptions, might that impede the educational
> process?
> 
> What do people think about this?
> 
> Julie
> 
> Julie McKinney
> Discussion List Moderator
> World Education/NCSALL
> jmckinney at worlded.org
> 
> ----------------------------------------------------
> National Institute for Literacy
> Focus on Basics mailing list
> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings,
> please go to
> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
> 
From julie_mcKinney at worlded.org  Fri Sep 29 11:32:59 2006
From: julie_mcKinney at worlded.org (Julie  McKinney)
Date: Fri, 29 Sep 2006 11:32:59 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 521] Re: Observations vs. research
Message-ID: <s51d0497.060@mail.jsi.com>
Very well said, Bonnita.
I did not mean at all to imply that teacher experience and observation
were not to be counted and valued, but to discuss how they can work
together with research. I hope my comment did not come out that way!
Julie
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
>>> bdsunmt at sbcglobal.net 09/29/06 10:22 AM >>>
I was honored and pleased to be one of two teachers
chosen to represent California at the Northwest
Practitioner and Research Knowledge Institute at
Portland State University two years ago.  Research
from the University Lab School was presented;
practitioners were encouraged to use research results
in their classroom.  The research I was most
interested in was small group interactions; the
results stated that when a teacher enters a small
learning group the students make one of two
adjustments: either they return to the easiest part of
the task or they interrupt the task to ask the teacher
a question.  My observations in the classroom did not
support those findings; they are published in Research
Brief No.5/Teacher Research at
http://www.calpro-online,org/. 
The Pair Work Web Log is at 
http://calpronwpkipairtwork.blogspot.com/
 I am convinced that practitioner wisdom has an equal
footing with research in guiding strategies, theory
and methods, and that published research can and
should be informed by Practitioner Knowledge. 
Teachers in the classroom are obligated to look at
research results with a critical eye and to question
results that do not match their experience.  To do so
is also a bold and necessary step that, together with
research results, will enrich the field.  Bonnita
Solberg  
--- Julie  McKinney <julie_mcKinney at worlded.org>
wrote:
> One thing I found interesting about Ana's work  is
> that she took a
> common assumption about adult learners, found that
> there was no real
> evidence to back it up, and tested it with the best
> available tools. 
> Her research turned up results that surprised most
> of us, and may
> improve our practices. I think this is a bold and
> necessary step.
> 
> I hear a lot of opinions based on observation that
> people seem to take
> as fact, and this work reminds us that our
> assumptions may actually
> prove to be incorrect or incomplete. Of course, some
> skepticism is
> healthy, but if we base our teaching practices on
> unverified
> assumptions, might that impede the educational
> process?
> 
> What do people think about this?
> 
> Julie
> 
> Julie McKinney
> Discussion List Moderator
> World Education/NCSALL
> jmckinney at worlded.org
> 
> ----------------------------------------------------
> National Institute for Literacy
> Focus on Basics mailing list
> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings,
> please go to
> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
> 
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
From julie_mcKinney at worlded.org  Fri Sep 29 17:29:03 2006
From: julie_mcKinney at worlded.org (Julie  McKinney)
Date: Fri, 29 Sep 2006 17:29:03 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 522] Thanks to Ana and Everyone for a lively
	discussion!
Message-ID: <s51d5803.005@mail.jsi.com>
Hi Everyone,
Thank you for participating in this discussion in such a thoughtful way.
I know there were a lot of other list discussions going on this week as
well, so I'm sure many of you were very busy. 
Thanks especially to Ana, for responding to everyone's comments and
issues with such grace and thoroughness. It was a pleasure to have you
as guest speaker!
Please everyone feel free to continue this discussion. For those of you
busy with other list discussions, we welcome your thoughts into next
week and beyond. I will check for postings this weekend as well. 
Thanks again,
Julie
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
From woodsnh at isp.com  Fri Sep 29 21:40:41 2006
From: woodsnh at isp.com (Woods)
Date: Fri, 29 Sep 2006 21:40:41 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 523] Re: Observations vs. research
In-Reply-To: <s51ceadc.093@mail.jsi.com>
References: <s51ceadc.093@mail.jsi.com>
Message-ID: <451DCB19.8090907@isp.com>
Julie McKinney wrote:
>I hear a lot of opinions based on observation that people seem to take
>as fact, and this work reminds us that our assumptions may actually
>prove to be incorrect or incomplete. Of course, some skepticism is
>healthy, but if we base our teaching practices on unverified
>assumptions, might that impede the educational process?
>What do people think about this?
>
If we base our teaching practices on unverified assumptions, we may 
surely waste a lot of time, or worse. I would argue we need a lot more 
than just "some" skepticism.
Today, with all the emphasis on practices based on research, it is 
important to know that research, including scientific research, can be 
flawed. It can yield incorrect conclusions. Much educational research 
relies on extremely powerful statistical analysis of observable facts to 
establish correlations or to determine cause and effect. The accuracy of 
such analyses depends on two huge assumptions at are often overlooked, 
sometimes conveniently overlooked. First is the assumption that the data 
is normal, that is it fits a perfect bell curve.  Second is the 
assumption that the types of data we wish to analyze are suitable for 
the statistical procedure we wish to use. If they are not, the 
conslusions we draw from them will be incorrect.
One of the more useful graduate courses I took was an educational 
research methods course, in which I learned to look critically at 
research. Some of the important lessons I learned were:
-Research is not about getting closer to the truth. It's about 
supporting or refuting a point of view.
-Designing really good scientific research is extremely difficult, if 
not almost impossible, in educational settings.
-You can never "prove" an assertion with research; you can only add 
support to it, or disprove it.
-A correlation does not suggest cause (however the popular press almost 
always mistakes the former for the latter).
-Every piece of research is susceptible to inherent biases, 
unreliability, and questionable validity which lead to questions about 
its conclusions. and;
-There is a lot of bad research floating around out there, especially in 
the area of educational research.
I don't mean to suggest that educational research should not be 
conducted or used. I do think it is vital to know about its weaknesses 
so that we can interpret it wisely so that our opinions will not be 
based, as Julie wrote, on incorrect or incomplete assumptions.
Tom Woods
From miriam at cal.org  Fri Sep 29 16:17:35 2006
From: miriam at cal.org (Miriam Burt)
Date: Fri, 29 Sep 2006 16:17:35 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 524] New from CAELA: Brief on Adult ESL Content
	Standards xpost on several lists
Message-ID: <7E0B624DDF68104F92C38648A4D93D8F01B81D77@MAIL.cal.local>
 
Hello, everyone:
 
The latest brief from the Center for Adult English Language Acquisition
(CAELA), "Understanding Adult ESL Content Standards," by CAELA staff
member Sarah Young and by Cristine Smith from the National Center for
the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy (NCSALL), has been released and
can be found on the Web site at
http://www.cal.org/caela/esl_resources/briefs/contentstandards.html. It
can be downloaded in both html and in pdf formats. 
 
This brief defines different types of standards and describes the
instructional benefits of using adult ESL content standards. It also
describes uses of content standards in the adult ESL field and discusses
research about the implementation of content standards. 
 
Coming this fall: Another brief on content standards, Aligning Content
Standards with Instruction and Assessment for Adult ESL Instruction, by
Kirsten Schaetzel and Sarah Young.
 
Thanks.
 Miriam
*******
Miriam Burt
CAELA
Center for Applied Linguistics
4646 40th Street NW
Washington, DC 20016
(202) 362-0700, ext 556
(202) 363-7204 (fax)
miriam at cal.org 
 
From amuro5 at epcc.edu  Sat Sep 30 16:56:49 2006
From: amuro5 at epcc.edu (Muro, Andres)
Date: Sat, 30 Sep 2006 14:56:49 -0600
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 525] Re: Observations vs. research
References: <s51ceadc.093@mail.jsi.com> <451DCB19.8090907@isp.com>
Message-ID: <CA29C5E82B801844A7A967D109F117CF278C2E@svrascmail01>
Tom:
 
I agree with you. In fact, another way to state what you say is that scientific experiments do not prove anything to be true. Rather they falsify or are unable to falsify a claim. So, the research does not prove that there is no difference in the self esteem of the two groups looked at. Rather, the researcher could not find evidence to disprove the claim that there is a difference. Or, the researcher could not falsify the claim that there is no difference between the two groups. 
 
Moreover, the claim that science is objective is subjective. the judgements are subjective, the reseach instruments are subjective. In other words, before the scientist makes the experiment, she must develop questions. The questions are not given in nature, rather she develops them using logic. The issues to be researched is also slelected by the means of logic and making a judgement. That means that the mind is making subjective judgements to conceive the experiment and during the performance of the experiment. 
 
this is not to say that science is useless. It simply means, as as Bonita, tom and Julie suggest, that research results have to be understood in context and within the limitations of science. while applying practitioner's wisdom to them. By the same time token, practitioner's wisdom does not mean any wild guess that a teacher may want to make or any illogical analisis. It means that teachers' critical and well founded analises have value in understanding research in the context of practice.
 
Andres
________________________________
From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov on behalf of Woods
Sent: Fri 9/29/2006 7:40 PM
To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 523] Re: Observations vs. research
Julie McKinney wrote:
>I hear a lot of opinions based on observation that people seem to take
>as fact, and this work reminds us that our assumptions may actually
>prove to be incorrect or incomplete. Of course, some skepticism is
>healthy, but if we base our teaching practices on unverified
>assumptions, might that impede the educational process?
>What do people think about this?
>
If we base our teaching practices on unverified assumptions, we may
surely waste a lot of time, or worse. I would argue we need a lot more
than just "some" skepticism.
Today, with all the emphasis on practices based on research, it is
important to know that research, including scientific research, can be
flawed. It can yield incorrect conclusions. Much educational research
relies on extremely powerful statistical analysis of observable facts to
establish correlations or to determine cause and effect. The accuracy of
such analyses depends on two huge assumptions at are often overlooked,
sometimes conveniently overlooked. First is the assumption that the data
is normal, that is it fits a perfect bell curve.  Second is the
assumption that the types of data we wish to analyze are suitable for
the statistical procedure we wish to use. If they are not, the
conslusions we draw from them will be incorrect.
One of the more useful graduate courses I took was an educational
research methods course, in which I learned to look critically at
research. Some of the important lessons I learned were:
-Research is not about getting closer to the truth. It's about
supporting or refuting a point of view.
-Designing really good scientific research is extremely difficult, if
not almost impossible, in educational settings.
-You can never "prove" an assertion with research; you can only add
support to it, or disprove it.
-A correlation does not suggest cause (however the popular press almost
always mistakes the former for the latter).
-Every piece of research is susceptible to inherent biases,
unreliability, and questionable validity which lead to questions about
its conclusions. and;
-There is a lot of bad research floating around out there, especially in
the area of educational research.
I don't mean to suggest that educational research should not be
conducted or used. I do think it is vital to know about its weaknesses
so that we can interpret it wisely so that our opinions will not be
based, as Julie wrote, on incorrect or incomplete assumptions.
Tom Woods
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
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From ana at optimaltec.com  Sun Oct  1 20:57:41 2006
From: ana at optimaltec.com (Anastasiya A. Lipnevich)
Date: Sun, 01 Oct 2006 20:57:41 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 526] Re: Observations vs. research
Message-ID: <45206405.5030405@optimaltec.com>
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From robinschwarz1 at aol.com  Mon Oct  2 11:29:12 2006
From: robinschwarz1 at aol.com (robinschwarz1 at aol.com)
Date: Mon, 02 Oct 2006 11:29:12 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 527] Re: Low Self-Esteem: Myth or Reality? Some
	comments
In-Reply-To: <20060926141309.28346.qmail@web83114.mail.mud.yahoo.com>
Message-ID: <8C8B44EA5C9482F-BF8-1137@webmail-da16.sysops.aol.com>
This reminds me of a study out of Kentucky not too long ago where a new 
science teaching program was being tried out on two classes in a high 
school.   THe two teachers were given the same training and for all 
intents and purposes, the students were of similar background and 
education--they were not divided for the purposes of the trial of the 
program.   At the end of the year, one class had done extremely well on 
the program, while the other had done rather poorly.  Those studying 
the situation finally concluded that the only factor that differed 
signficantly between the two classes was the attitudes/expectations of 
the teachers-- the teacher of the successful class expected that her 
students would do well with the new program, while the other teacher 
had openly expressed her doubt that her students would be able to 
manage it--and they didn't.    This is known in psychology, I believe, 
as the Pygmalion effect-- you become what your teacher expects you to 
become.    Robin Lovrien Schwarz  ( I am in the throes of moving and 
cannot dig up that reference just now--will do so if anyone is 
interested-- try me in 2 weeks.  Robin )
-----Original Message-----
From: bdsunmt at sbcglobal.net
To: b.garner4 at verizon.net; focusonbasics at nifl.gov
Sent: Tue, 26 Sep 2006 9:13 AM
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 492] Re: Low Self-Esteem: Myth or Reality? Some 
comments
This posting has jogged my memory about a study that
was done in Oakland CA with the teachers of Asian
students in Oakland High School.  As I recall,
students from families that were in the higher
socio-economic strata in their country of origin as
well as students from families in the lowest
socio-economic strata, in this case the grave diggers'
families, out performed their fellow students of all
racial backgrounds.  The study concluded this was
largely due to teacher expectation--teachers expected
Asian students to do well in school and interacted
with them accordingly, another factor to consider when
discussing student self esteem.  If I can find the
study, I will share with the discussion group.  I
believe it was conducted by the University of
California, Berkeley.  Bonnita
--- Barbara Garner <b.garner4 at verizon.net> wrote:
> This discussion is rich and fascinating.
>
> I'm very taken with Anastasiya's research,
> particularly since her findings resonate with much
> of my classroom experience. Of course, it is only
> one study and certainly needs to be replicated with
> similar and different populations to see how robust
> the findings are.
>
> In the meantime, I wonder how tied we are as
> teachers to the idea that our students have low self
> esteem. What role does that idea have in our views
> of ourselves as teachers?
> Barb Garner
> Editor, Focus on Basics
>
>
>
>
>
> =====================
> From: "Anastasiya A. Lipnevich" <ana at optimaltec.com>
> Date: 2006/09/25 Mon PM 09:17:44 CDT
> To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List
> <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
> Subject: [FocusOnBasics 489] Low Self-Esteem: Myth
> or Reality? Some comments
>
>
> Dear All,
> ?Thank youfor such a great discussion. Below I will
> try to address some of yourcomments.
> __________________
>
> ?Andres,
> It lookslike we are coming from different research
> paradigms, and our views onresearchin general and
> measurement in particular somewhat diverge. Here is
> mytake onsome of the issues you raised.
> 1. I haveto disagree with your conceptualization of
> self-esteem. I believe thatwhat youdescribe is
> actually socio-economic status (e.g. possessions,
> wealth,jobstatus), a construct commonly regarded as
> conceptually different fromself-esteem. There are
> studies that show a high correlation
> betweenself-esteemand SES, therefore, the two are,
> in fact, closely tied.
> Is itreally possible and/or meaningful to tease them
> apart? I do think so.Scientific method and
> characteristics thereof drive us
> towardsconceptualparsimony when operationalizing and
> actually measuring constructs ofinterest.It doesn?t
> mean that self esteem (or motivation, or engagement,
> etc)stand ontheir own. They are closely related to
> numerous variables, however, acorpus ofliterature
> demonstrates that attempts to measure them as
> separateconstructs doyield meaningful results and
> help advance our understanding of humannature.
> Additionally,what immediately comes to mind is that
> some components ofsocio-economic status(i.e.
> financial well-being) of PhD students may be worse
> than that ofworkingadult literacy students. So, the
> findings of the present study do notnecessarily
> contradict your take on the matter.
> ?
> 2. Inpsychological research, self-esteem is
> typically defined in terms ofhow weevaluate
> ourselves and our characteristics, the "personal
> judgment ofworthiness that is expressed in the
> attitudes the individual holdstoward himself,"in the
> words of Coopersmith, a pioneering researcher in the
> field. Itis afuzzy construct but a certain consensus
> has developed. Many seem toagree thatself esteem can
> be differentiated into global and specific self
> esteem.Globalrepresents a general attitude towards
> oneself, and can be considered atraitself-esteem,
> whereas specific self-esteems concern particular
> areas ofpeople?slives.
> ?Self-affirmation theory (Steel,1988) suggests that
> people cope with negative outcomes in one domain
> byfocusing on their achievements in other, unrelated
> domains. This meansthat individualswith high global
> self-esteem would feel overall quite competent
> evenwhen theiracademic self-esteem is low.
> Low-literate adults who have failedacademicallybut
> succeed in other aspects of their lives may have a
> high generalself-esteemthat will allow them to lead
> full, not deficient, lives. Adult literacylearners
> often look at themselves as competent workers,
> parents, andcitizens,which may partially compensate
> for their lack of literacy. Talkingabout
> adultliteracy students in terms of their
> deficiencies and abnormally lowself-esteemjust adds
> to the existing stigma.
> ?3. This study doesn?t suggest thatself-esteem of
> adult students is high. Rather, that it doesn?t
> differsignificantly from the self-esteem of the PhD
> students. Since we don?tconsiderraising self-esteem
> of the latter group to be our primary goal,focusing
> onraising self esteem of the former group represents
> a logical skew withpotential pernicious corollaries,
> with the most dangerous one being, asHal and
> Isuggested in our report, that it may strengthen the
> existing stigma.Self-esteem is crucial for success
> in academic settings for bothgroups; but perhapsit
> is best addressed through strong pedagogy by helping
> studentssucceed intheir academic pursuits.
> ?___________________
> Gina andVirginia raised a question about self-esteem
> of learners incorrectionaleducational programs.
> Unfortunately, I am not familiar with
> existingliteratureon the matter. However, during my
> recent presentation at the AERAconference,one of the
> attendees who teaches in a prison described her
> students ashavinghigh self-esteem. I cannot judge
> the validity of her conclusions sincetheywere based
> solely on her observations; it?s just interesting
> toconsider.
> ___________________________
> Thanksagain to everyone ? I am really enjoying this
> discussion.
> ?Ana.
>
> ----------------------------------------------------
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> Focus on Basics mailing list
> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings,
> please go to
> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
>
> ----------------------------------------------------
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From robinschwarz1 at aol.com  Mon Oct  2 11:58:05 2006
From: robinschwarz1 at aol.com (robinschwarz1 at aol.com)
Date: Mon, 02 Oct 2006 11:58:05 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 528] Re: Low Self-Esteem: Myth orReality?Somecomments
In-Reply-To: <D63A25821E9AE349ADBAB6BB1F0A766C0205BDEF@cccmail2.chemeketa.network>
Message-ID: <8C8B452AE9B069F-BF8-13C7@webmail-da16.sysops.aol.com>
It's even more of a gift to have that person daily confirm his or her 
own strengths --my experience in working with a lot of adult learners 
is that they don't believe they have any--you ask what their strengths 
are and they say "I don't have any."  Everyone has strengths--having 
someone tell you is nice, but knowing it and being able to name 
them--no matter what they are--is even more powerful for the learner.  
Robin Lovrien Schwarz
-----Original Message-----
From: tarv at chemeketa.edu
To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
Sent: Thu, 28 Sep 2006 12:28 PM
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 513] Re: Low Self-Esteem: Myth 
orReality?Somecomments
Honestly pointing out a person?s strengths can be a daily gift:? for 
you and for them.
Va
?
--------
 From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov 
[mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Doris Nord
Sent: Thursday, September 28, 2006 8:58 AM
To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 512] Re: Low Self-Esteem: Myth 
orReality?Somecomments
?
I would argue that there is a difference in working with adults, 
particularly those with traumatic histories.?
?
I work with women trapped in multi-generational poverty. ?Most of them 
come with a legacy of poor health, addiction, and violence.? Many have 
been convinced of their inability to succeed through decades of being 
called stupid and worthless, and existing in a society that confirms 
their lack of self worth.? Largely, they have ?become? their mistakes, 
instead of being able to move forward in life.? I believe they are in 
need of constant praise, whether it is for getting 100% on a math test 
or simply showing up for school on a rainy day.? It takes a lot of 
positive reinforcement to undo so many years of negativity.?
?
Dorrie Nord,
GED Coordinator
Julie?s Family Learning Program
133 Dorchester Street
South Boston, MA
?
--------
 From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov 
[mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Craig Alinder
Sent: Wednesday, September 27, 2006 7:37 AM
To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 498] Re: Low Self-Esteem: Myth or 
Reality?Somecomments
?
In my experience with Montessori education unqualified praise will 
actually rob a child of their efforts and lead them to believe they 
should not do things for their own worth, but solely for the external 
praise. Personally, I believe the same applies to those educating 
adults. Any attempt to falsely raise someone's self-esteem without any 
effort or reason for the praise, will undercut any real attempt at 
praise when something significant is accomplished. Praise loses its 
worth when it is doled out constantly. It must be reserved for those 
moments of success through effort, even if the successes are small 
ones. I have a feeling there is probably a statistical?bell curve of 
educators based on what is considered a "successful moment" deserving 
praise. It seems instincts and experience are the guides at this point.
?
What I feel is important to point out, is that the work that the 
educator must carefully consider what level of work to give each 
individual to ensure success is possible. In this sense, self-esteem is 
taken into consideration, as the student must feel they have a chance 
of success to even make an attempt at completing the task at hand. 
Those are my thoughts on the subject.
?
Craig
?
?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Craig Alinder
Escuela del Sol Montessori
1114 Seventh St. NW
Albuquerque, NM 87110
http://www.merchant-reviews.com
----- Original Message -----
From: Anastasiya A. Lipnevich
To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List
Sent: Tuesday, September 26, 2006 4:51 PM
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 495] Re: Low Self-Esteem: Myth or Reality? 
Somecomments
?
Hi Barb! You raised intriguing questions and I would love to hear 
educators' thoughts on this matter. >From my personal observations, 
informal conversations, and formal interviews with adult literacy 
teachers, I noticed that educators could be roughly split into two 
groups: those who believe that one of the key concerns of adult 
literacy is to raise learners' self-esteem because it's very low, and 
unless they do it, students cannot succeed, and those who think that 
teachers need to teach students skills and knowledge, and that 
self-esteem will naturally follow. If we look at Bandura's research, he 
believed that the relationship between self-efficacy (a concept, 
similar to self-esteem) and achievement follows the latter pattern -- 
you learn to do something well and your feeling of self-efficacy goes 
up, which, in turn, affects what you do in the future. Years of 
research showed that attempts to artificially build up students' 
self-esteem by praising every little thing they do (playing a 
"cheerleaders' role", as Hal puts it) and such, are very unlikely to 
lead to increased sense of competence and self-worth. Therefore, 
starting off from the assumption about learners' low self-esteem would 
seem to be not quite as beneficial to students as simply trying to help 
them learn. ?The study definitely needs replication -- we can't really 
generalize our findings since only one adult learning center was used 
as our research setting. I have been recently contacted by a GED 
instructor from one of the Illinois colleges, who is interested in 
replicating my study. I am really looking forward to hear about the 
findings. If they are similar to mine, it will certainly make the case 
stronger. Thank you for your comments!?Ana.???This discussion is rich 
and fascinating. ?I'm very taken with Anastasiya's research, 
particularly since her findings resonate with much of my classroom 
experience. Of course, it is only one study and certainly needs to be 
replicated with similar and different populations to see how robust the 
findings are. ?In the meantime, I wonder how tied we are as teachers to 
the idea that our students have low self esteem. What role does that 
idea have in our views of ourselves as teachers?Barb GarnerEditor, 
Focus on Basics--------
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
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From robinschwarz1 at aol.com  Mon Oct  2 12:06:57 2006
From: robinschwarz1 at aol.com (robinschwarz1 at aol.com)
Date: Mon, 02 Oct 2006 12:06:57 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 529] Re: Self-esteem stigma and Student Success
In-Reply-To: <6.2.3.4.2.20060928150643.02b95b50@rci.rutgers.edu>
References: <s51a86f7.004@mail.jsi.com>
	<6.2.3.4.2.20060928150643.02b95b50@rci.rutgers.edu>
Message-ID: <8C8B453EBCD2F41-BF8-1490@webmail-da16.sysops.aol.com>
I agree, Hal, that large, distant goals do not provide evidence of 
success that discouraged learners so dearly need.  The observation from 
the NCSALL  persistence report that learners need and want clear, 
obtainable goals underscores that.  When learners begin to understand, 
with structured guidance, that completing short term goals in a short 
time--two weeks, for example, is the way to gradual progress toward 
larger, longer term goals, their sense of success builds very quickly.  
Training in such goal setting and in knowing what one needs to do to 
compensate for learning challenges in the process has been known to 
help learners gain the self esteem and confidence they need to continue 
towards that distant GED or college or whatever other goal the learner 
has held deep inside for a lifetime.  Robin Lovrien Schwarz
-----Original Message-----
From: hbeder at rci.rutgers.edu
To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
Sent: Thu, 28 Sep 2006 2:16 PM
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 517] Re: Self-esteem stigma and Student Success
One way to promote success would be to develop a series of meaningful
benchmarks and recognition markers when the benchmarks have been
achieved.  I would pattern them on real life tasks so there is also
reinforcement from solving a real problem with newly acquired
literacy skills.  For example. a benchmark for lower-level students
might to write a grocery list and use it to do shopping.  Other tasks
might be developed from the items on the NAAL test.  That way we
would know their degree of difficulty.  For low level readers who
want the GED, the final payoff is so far distant,and in many cases
the incremental benchmarks are so vague, that the power of feeling
successful just is not there.
At 02:12 PM 9/27/2006, you wrote:
>I agree that we should be thinking about how our programs can create
>success for our students in different ways, and I can see how labeling
>them as having "low self-esteem" can "strengthen the existing stigma"
>(Ana) rather than help.
>
>So we are now looking at two ideas:
>
>1. How can we minimize the detrimental effects that can come from a
>presumption of low self-esteem? So far we have talked about low
>expectations, false praise and devaluing strong teaching in favor of
>efforts to boost self-esteem. Are there other things we should stop
>doing?
>
>  2. What can our programs do to facilitate student successes? Should 
we
>make more effort to "hire teachers who care more than anything about
>their learners progress and know how to produce it"? (Hal) What other
>measures of success can we aim for?
>
>I'd love to hear others' thoughts on these two points! Any of you who
>haven't commented yet...? Here's mine:
>
>Re: 2.) I like Andres' example of having something like the stories to
>mark students' successes. Years ago I was involved with a project 
called
>HEAL (Health Education and Adult Literacy), which was a curriculum that
>taught learners about breast and cervical cancer, screenings, and
>prevention. The program pushed learners to improve their literacy 
skills
>enough to seek health information and services and communicate
>confidently with health providers. But it went beyond that by also
>pushing for an action. They had to teach others in their community and
>actually make appointments with health providers. I believe that this
>action enhanced the power of the literacy skills alone to boost their
>measures of their own success within their families and communitites.
>
>Julie
>
>
>
>say "you have to be clear with me" to health providersbeyond learningA
>big part of the curriculum involved taking action in their community
>there was a lot of empowering going on by learning about taking action
>for health and .
>Do we, as literacy teachers, help to make this change happen, and if 
so,
>how?
>
>
>of I'd love to hear people's thoughts on these two things:
>
>
>********************************************
>
>Julie McKinney
>Discussion List Moderator
>World Education/NCSALL
>jmckinney at worlded.org
>
> >>> amuro5 at epcc.edu 09/27/06 12:04 PM >>>
>Hal:
>
>Hal:
>
>I agree with you 100%. The issue to me is what examples of student
>successes are and how to create the possibility for true success. This
>is very Hegelian. IE: The worker recognizes herself in the product of
>her work. So, the person who makes the chair is proud of making a good
>quality chair. However, factory work takes away the relationship 
between
>the worker and the chair. The worker only nails a nail and never sees
>the chair. He becomes alienated form his own work and we end up needing
>a socialist revolution   ;-) You can give him a certificate for doing
>good work, but the certificate is meaningless praise.
>
>The same and more is the case with ABE students. Learning needs to
>result in a meaningful outcome so that students may recognize 
themselves
>in their work. At the same time, we must create tasks that allow
>students to be able to be productive so they can have something that
>they identify with.
>
>Our students just published a collection of short stories. This is the
>second publication and it is available on line at:
>http://bordersenses.com/memorias
>
>Actually, the second volume is not available yet. However, you can see
>the first volume and get an idea of the project. In terms of the issue
>of creating possibilities for success I wrote something specifically
>about this in the intro to the second volume. Below is an excerpt:
>
>"Our pedagogical approach is grounded in the idea that GED instruction
>requires good reading and writing skills. However, many of our students
>have had little exposure to reading and writing. So, developing these
>skills, a challenge in itself, becomes more challenging when the
>students are uninterested in the subject and have little familiarity
>with it. However, if students can build their reading and writing 
skills
>by documenting and reading their own experiences, they will be familiar
>with the knowledge and they will relate to it. Moreover, they will feel
>validated if their knowledge and experiences are documented for
>posterity.  Once they build their reading and writing skills, they will
>be able to apply these skills to new knowledge and new academic and 
real
>life problems."
>
>This is both Freirian and Deweyian.
>
>Andres
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov
>[mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Hal Beder
>Sent: Wednesday, September 27, 2006 6:21 AM
>To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List
>Subject: [FocusOnBasics 500] Re: Low Self-Esteem: Myth or Reality? Some
>comments
>
>Andres, I am not aware of any evidence to the
>affect that self-esteem is influenced by
>genetics.  By and large it is a product of life
>experience.  As you point out, some--Freire for
>example--believe that low self-esteem is a social
>construction.  It is one of those mechanisms that
>keep the oppressed in a state of
>oppression.  Others would focus more on the
>family.  To me, however, the most important point
>is that low-self esteem can be treated.  The
>question is how.  One school would argue that
>lots of social support and positive feedback is
>the way.  The problem with this is that it can
>lead to a very condescending attitude, a focus on
>deficit, and indirect reinforcement of the
>literacy stigma.  The other way to "treat"
>low-self-esteem is simply by helping learners to
>be successful.  Success is the most powerful antidote to low
>self-esteem.
>
>Over thirty years ago, Last gamble on Education
>(Mezirow, Darkenwald & Knox) found that the
>characteristic that directors most sought in
>hiring teachers was a warm, pleasant
>personality.  It mattered less whether they could
>TEACH.  I think this is true today to a certain
>extent.  In my view, this value is misplaced.  If
>we want to enhance self-esteem the way to do it
>is to hire teachers who care more than anything
>about their learners progress and know how to produce it.
>
>
>
>
>At 02:37 PM 9/26/2006, you wrote:
> >Content-class: urn:content-classes:message
> >Content-Type: multipart/alternative;
> >         boundary="----_=_NextPart_001_01C6E19A.D8C6745C"
> >
> >Hi Ana: Thinking about this issue is going to
> >drive me nuts and keep me out of my work, but
> >here I go again. You define self -esteem as:
> >"In psychological research, self-esteem is
> >typically defined in terms of how we evaluate
> >ourselves and our characteristics, the personal
> >judgment of worthiness that is expressed in the
> >attitudes the individual holds toward himself,"
> >in the words of Coopersmith, a pioneering
> >researcher in the field. It is a fuzzy construct
> >but a certain consensus has developed. Many seem
> >to agree that self esteem can be differentiated
> >into global and specific self esteem. Global
> >represents a general attitude towards oneself,
> >and can be considered a trait self-esteem,
> >whereas specific self-esteems concern particular areas of people's
>lives. "
> >What I wonder is if this feeling of self-worth
> >is caused by genetics, or is it caused by
> >certain experiences. It is possible that self
> >esteem is inherited. If so, then, self esteem
> >reporting, would be similar regardless of group.
> >However, if the environment has something to do
> >with self esteem, the question to me would be
> >what factors influence self-worth.
> >If genetics are a predictor of self esteem, and
> >we can identify the gene that determines self
> >esteem, then there is no reason to work on the
> >self esteem of the students. It is possible that
> >self esteem can be associated with dopamine,
> >serotonin activity in the brain and that there
> >is a gene that influences the presence or
> >absence of these substances. If such is the
> >case, then, we may be able to prescribe prozac
> >to those with low self-esteem and, most likely,
> >there is probably something to this
> >I assume that most of us believe that there are
> >causes in the environment that can influence
> >self-worth. For example, there was an in your
> >face Sprite commercial that used to say "Image
> >is Everything". I assume that the makers of the
> >commercial believe that people's self worth has
> >to do with their image and that people would do
> >anything to improve their image which would lead
> >to an improve self-worth. I am not sure if this
> >is true or not, but a whole field of advertising
> >has been developed on this premise. The purpose
> >of advertising is to make people feel bad about
> >themselves and to feel that they will feel
> >better by acquiring a given product. In fact,
> >the poor seem to be the biggest target of
> >predatory type of advertising that banks on their low self worth.
> > From this I get that while there is not that
> > much direct evidence that the self worth of the
> > poor is worse than the self worth of the
> > wealthier, there is indirect evidence. The
> > indirect evidence is the extent and success of
> > the predatory advertising to make the poor
> > consumers of things that they do not need, but
> > are marketed as means to improve their self worth.
> >So, if we assume that the environment has
> >something to do with self-esteem, then I would
> >try to identify the elements in the environment
> >that influence self esteem. I would hypothesize
> >that self esteem will increase with the
> >accomplishment of something that I want to
> >achieve. So, if I achieve something, then I will
> >feel that I fulfill my goals or I became self
> >actualized, as Maslow articulates.
> >I think that the problem rests in the things
> >that will make us feel self actualized and the
> >difference between what different groups can do
> >to become self actualized. Ideally, we would
> >have control in the things that we chose to do.
> >Unfortunately, institutions in the community and
> >the media shape those choices. In a capitalist
> >community where success is measured in terms of
> >wealth, the need to show socioeconomic success
> >has to be important. So, those who determine
> >that they want to succeed economically will
> >become fulfilled by economic success. Hence,
> >they will become self-actualized and their
> >perception of themselves, their self worth will improve.
> >At the same time, there are limitations to the
> >things that we can do that are mediated by
> >economics. If, for example, my kid has a cold, I
> >may need to take her to the doctor or buy
> >medication. My ability to do this may very well
> >depend on my economic status. Providing for my
> >child becomes a way to become self actualized,
> >but the possibility of me becoming self
> >actualized is tied to my financial situation.
> >The same has to do with going to school, sending
> >children to school, finding employment,
> >practicing my art, etc. In our society the means
> >to become self actualized, even if they are our
> >choices, may be tied to economic forces.
> >Because I don't believe that economic success is
> >an important marker of self worth, I want to
> >challenge this with my students. But, to do
> >this, we need to find other makers of success
> >and help them explore these. These may lead to
> >self actualization and improved self worth.
> >Being a good mother, helping a friend, writing a
> >story, etc, can be means of self actualization.
> >However, these models compete with the powerful
> >advertising and marketing models that plague the
> >lives of most of our students. But I don't
> >believe that my students' self esteem has been
> >lowered by society's established markers of self
> >worth and society's established vehicles for
> >self actualization, then I have no reason to
> >create alternative models. I think that we all
> >do, and we work on this which leads to our
> >students becoming self actualized. However, we
> >are always competing with Walmart.
> >There are other issues tied to consciousness of
> >history that Freire explores that are tied to
> >oppressor/oppressed status, hegemony, etc. I
> >will not get into them right now. However, I
> >still believe that self-esteem is something very
> >complex that cannot be looked at as some
> >isolated independent variable that can be reported.
> >Andres
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >----------------------------------------------------
> >National Institute for Literacy
> >Focus on Basics mailing list
> >FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
> >To unsubscribe or change your subscription
> >settings, please go to
>http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
>
>Rutgers University
>Graduate School of Education
>10 seminary Pl.
>New Brunswick, NJ 08901
>732-932-7496 ext. 8213
>
>----------------------------------------------------
>National Institute for Literacy
>Focus on Basics mailing list
>FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
>To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
>http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
>----------------------------------------------------
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>To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
>http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
>
>----------------------------------------------------
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>Focus on Basics mailing list
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>To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
>http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
Rutgers University
Graduate School of Education
10 seminary Pl.
New Brunswick, NJ 08901
732-932-7496 ext. 8213
----------------------------------------------------
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From tarv at chemeketa.edu  Mon Oct  2 16:03:17 2006
From: tarv at chemeketa.edu (Virginia Tardaewether)
Date: Mon, 2 Oct 2006 13:03:17 -0700
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 528] Re: Low Self-Esteem: Myth orReality?Somecomments
In-Reply-To: <8C8B452AE9B069F-BF8-13C7@webmail-da16.sysops.aol.com>
Message-ID: <D63A25821E9AE349ADBAB6BB1F0A766C0205BE08@cccmail2.chemeketa.network>
This is what I meant, exactly!  The joy of the exchange is fire in your belly. I didn't mean for it to sound one-way.  Working on resumes is a great way to uncover the hidden talents...students really don't see their strengths and often we don't see ours either. Discovery and putting it out for view, etc- I find that students enjoy sharing strengths with each other too, just as any other adult would.  We have lots of assets within a class and students find ways to use their strengths to help each other.  I am not the most important person in the classroom, only the facilitator until students can run the show themselves.
va
-----Original Message-----
From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of robinschwarz1 at aol.com
Sent: Monday, October 02, 2006 8:58 AM
To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 528] Re: Low Self-Esteem: Myth orReality?Somecomments
It's even more of a gift to have that person daily confirm his or her 
own strengths --my experience in working with a lot of adult learners 
is that they don't believe they have any--you ask what their strengths 
are and they say "I don't have any."  Everyone has strengths--having 
someone tell you is nice, but knowing it and being able to name 
them--no matter what they are--is even more powerful for the learner.  
Robin Lovrien Schwarz
-----Original Message-----
From: tarv at chemeketa.edu
To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
Sent: Thu, 28 Sep 2006 12:28 PM
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 513] Re: Low Self-Esteem: Myth 
orReality?Somecomments
Honestly pointing out a person's strengths can be a daily gift:? for 
you and for them.
Va
?
--------
 From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov 
[mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Doris Nord
Sent: Thursday, September 28, 2006 8:58 AM
To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 512] Re: Low Self-Esteem: Myth 
orReality?Somecomments
?
I would argue that there is a difference in working with adults, 
particularly those with traumatic histories.?
?
I work with women trapped in multi-generational poverty. ?Most of them 
come with a legacy of poor health, addiction, and violence.? Many have 
been convinced of their inability to succeed through decades of being 
called stupid and worthless, and existing in a society that confirms 
their lack of self worth.? Largely, they have "become" their mistakes, 
instead of being able to move forward in life.? I believe they are in 
need of constant praise, whether it is for getting 100% on a math test 
or simply showing up for school on a rainy day.? It takes a lot of 
positive reinforcement to undo so many years of negativity.?
?
Dorrie Nord,
GED Coordinator
Julie's Family Learning Program
133 Dorchester Street
South Boston, MA
?
--------
 From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov 
[mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Craig Alinder
Sent: Wednesday, September 27, 2006 7:37 AM
To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 498] Re: Low Self-Esteem: Myth or 
Reality?Somecomments
?
In my experience with Montessori education unqualified praise will 
actually rob a child of their efforts and lead them to believe they 
should not do things for their own worth, but solely for the external 
praise. Personally, I believe the same applies to those educating 
adults. Any attempt to falsely raise someone's self-esteem without any 
effort or reason for the praise, will undercut any real attempt at 
praise when something significant is accomplished. Praise loses its 
worth when it is doled out constantly. It must be reserved for those 
moments of success through effort, even if the successes are small 
ones. I have a feeling there is probably a statistical?bell curve of 
educators based on what is considered a "successful moment" deserving 
praise. It seems instincts and experience are the guides at this point.
?
What I feel is important to point out, is that the work that the 
educator must carefully consider what level of work to give each 
individual to ensure success is possible. In this sense, self-esteem is 
taken into consideration, as the student must feel they have a chance 
of success to even make an attempt at completing the task at hand. 
Those are my thoughts on the subject.
?
Craig
?
?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Craig Alinder
Escuela del Sol Montessori
1114 Seventh St. NW
Albuquerque, NM 87110
http://www.merchant-reviews.com
----- Original Message -----
From: Anastasiya A. Lipnevich
To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List
Sent: Tuesday, September 26, 2006 4:51 PM
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 495] Re: Low Self-Esteem: Myth or Reality? 
Somecomments
?
Hi Barb! You raised intriguing questions and I would love to hear 
educators' thoughts on this matter. >From my personal observations, 
informal conversations, and formal interviews with adult literacy 
teachers, I noticed that educators could be roughly split into two 
groups: those who believe that one of the key concerns of adult 
literacy is to raise learners' self-esteem because it's very low, and 
unless they do it, students cannot succeed, and those who think that 
teachers need to teach students skills and knowledge, and that 
self-esteem will naturally follow. If we look at Bandura's research, he 
believed that the relationship between self-efficacy (a concept, 
similar to self-esteem) and achievement follows the latter pattern -- 
you learn to do something well and your feeling of self-efficacy goes 
up, which, in turn, affects what you do in the future. Years of 
research showed that attempts to artificially build up students' 
self-esteem by praising every little thing they do (playing a 
"cheerleaders' role", as Hal puts it) and such, are very unlikely to 
lead to increased sense of competence and self-worth. Therefore, 
starting off from the assumption about learners' low self-esteem would 
seem to be not quite as beneficial to students as simply trying to help 
them learn. ?The study definitely needs replication -- we can't really 
generalize our findings since only one adult learning center was used 
as our research setting. I have been recently contacted by a GED 
instructor from one of the Illinois colleges, who is interested in 
replicating my study. I am really looking forward to hear about the 
findings. If they are similar to mine, it will certainly make the case 
stronger. Thank you for your comments!?Ana.???This discussion is rich 
and fascinating. ?I'm very taken with Anastasiya's research, 
particularly since her findings resonate with much of my classroom 
experience. Of course, it is only one study and certainly needs to be 
replicated with similar and different populations to see how robust the 
findings are. ?In the meantime, I wonder how tied we are as teachers to 
the idea that our students have low self esteem. What role does that 
idea have in our views of ourselves as teachers?Barb GarnerEditor, 
Focus on Basics--------
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
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FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to 
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
________________________________________________________________________
Check out the new AOL.  Most comprehensive set of free safety and 
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----------------------------------------------------
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To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
From macorley1 at earthlink.net  Mon Oct  2 16:15:33 2006
From: macorley1 at earthlink.net (Mary Ann Corley)
Date: Mon, 2 Oct 2006 16:15:33 -0400 (GMT-04:00)
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 529] Full Schedule for Meeting of Minds II Symposium
 Now Available on Web Site
Message-ID: <6239961.1159820133052.JavaMail.root@elwamui-polski.atl.sa.earthlink.net>
Dear List Subscribers:
 
I'm writing to let you know that the full conference schedule for the Meeting of the Minds II Symposium is now available at www.researchtopractice.org. This is a national adult education practitioner-researcher conference, the goal of which is to create dialogue between adult education researchers and adult education teachers and administrators, with the aim of enhancing literacy practice. The Symposium is scheduled for November 30 through December 2, 2006, at the Sheraton Grand Hotel, Sacramento, California.
 
Participating researchers are from the National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy (NCSALL), from the American Institutes for Research (AIR), as well as from various universities and non-profit organizations. The opening plenary session on Thurday morning will feature Mark Kutner from AIR, who will present results of the National Assessment of Adult Literacy and the Health Literacy Survey, and John Comings, who will provide an overview of what NCSALL has learned from 10 years of research in adult literacy. 
 
A plenary session on Friday afternoon will feature a discussion on "how research has influenced adult literacy education policy at the national and state levels." Hal Beder from Rutgers University will provide an overview of the topic and moderate this session. Panelists include Cheryl Keenan, Director, Division of Adult Education and Literacy, US Department of Eduation; Sandra Baxter, Director of the National Institute for Literacy; and three state-level administrators: Bob Bickerton from Massachusetts; Jean Scott from California; and Israle Mendoza from Washington state. 
 
The three-day schedule is structured to include six strands of six concurrent sessions each, for a total of 36 sessions. Each session consists of a presentation of research, followed by a brief discussion/reaction from two practitioners, followed by an activity that involves session attendees, in small groups, in brainstorming implications of the research for practice, policy, and further research. CALPRO will post the list of implications to the Symposium Web site following the Symposium. 
 
Deadline for registering for the Symposium is November 15, 2006. There is no on-site registration.
Deadline for registering for a hotel room at the Sheraton Grand (at the CA staterate of $84/night) is November 9, 2006. The Symposium Web site, www.researchtopractice.org, will take you to registration links for both the symposium and the hotel.
 
Plan to attend this Symposium, network with other practitioners and researchers, and consider implications of research for your delivery of adult literacy education! Hope to see you in Sacramento in November!!
 
-Mary Ann Corley, Ph.D.
CALPRO Director and Symposium Coordinator
American Institutes for Research   
      
 
From woodsnh at isp.com  Tue Oct  3 21:15:07 2006
From: woodsnh at isp.com (Woods)
Date: Tue, 03 Oct 2006 21:15:07 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 529] Re: Low Self-Esteem: Myth or Reality? Some
 comments
In-Reply-To: <8C8B44EA5C9482F-BF8-1137@webmail-da16.sysops.aol.com>
References: <8C8B44EA5C9482F-BF8-1137@webmail-da16.sysops.aol.com>
Message-ID: <45230B1B.2080508@isp.com>
I find expectations to be an extremely slippery slope. On one hand I 
know about this research (and many other studies) that suggest that 
students will perform to their teachers' high expectations. This has to 
be tempered with  realism though. A severely reading disabled individual 
may never learn to read very well, and expectations, no matter how high, 
will change that. I have have found, too, that students will often only 
perform to the expectation and no higher. It is better to enter into 
your relationship with your student with no expectations --not high, not 
low -- and be prepared to accept and honor whatever the student is able 
to attain. I have also come to realize that my setting of expectations, 
if I'm not extremely careful in how I do it,  can define failure for a 
student, if he or she does not measure up to the expectation, and that 
is not something I want to do as a teacher.  I find I can't help but 
enter into a relationship with at least a minimum of expectations (e.g. 
the student WILL learn, we both will treat each other respectfully, and 
soforth). But I try not to set an expectation that a student will learn 
a certain thing or reach a certain level. Rather I encourage students to 
set their own expectations for themselves, as high as they can make 
them. It is my job to help them try to reach their expectations.
Tom Woods
robinschwarz1 at aol.com wrote:
>This reminds me of a study out of Kentucky not too long ago where a new 
>science teaching program was being tried out on two classes in a high 
>school.   THe two teachers were given the same training and for all 
>intents and purposes, the students were of similar background and 
>education--they were not divided for the purposes of the trial of the 
>program.   At the end of the year, one class had done extremely well on 
>the program, while the other had done rather poorly.  Those studying 
>the situation finally concluded that the only factor that differed 
>signficantly between the two classes was the attitudes/expectations of 
>the teachers-- the teacher of the successful class expected that her 
>students would do well with the new program, while the other teacher 
>had openly expressed her doubt that her students would be able to 
>manage it--and they didn't.    This is known in psychology, I believe, 
>as the Pygmalion effect-- you become what your teacher expects you to 
>become.    Robin Lovrien Schwarz  ( I am in the throes of moving and 
>cannot dig up that reference just now--will do so if anyone is 
>interested-- try me in 2 weeks.  Robin )
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: bdsunmt at sbcglobal.net
>To: b.garner4 at verizon.net; focusonbasics at nifl.gov
>Sent: Tue, 26 Sep 2006 9:13 AM
>Subject: [FocusOnBasics 492] Re: Low Self-Esteem: Myth or Reality? Some 
>comments
>
>This posting has jogged my memory about a study that
>was done in Oakland CA with the teachers of Asian
>students in Oakland High School.  As I recall,
>students from families that were in the higher
>socio-economic strata in their country of origin as
>well as students from families in the lowest
>socio-economic strata, in this case the grave diggers'
>families, out performed their fellow students of all
>racial backgrounds.  The study concluded this was
>largely due to teacher expectation--teachers expected
>Asian students to do well in school and interacted
>with them accordingly, another factor to consider when
>discussing student self esteem.  If I can find the
>study, I will share with the discussion group.  I
>believe it was conducted by the University of
>California, Berkeley.  Bonnita
>
>--- Barbara Garner <b.garner4 at verizon.net> wrote:
>
>  
>
>>This discussion is rich and fascinating.
>>
>>I'm very taken with Anastasiya's research,
>>particularly since her findings resonate with much
>>of my classroom experience. Of course, it is only
>>one study and certainly needs to be replicated with
>>similar and different populations to see how robust
>>the findings are.
>>
>>In the meantime, I wonder how tied we are as
>>teachers to the idea that our students have low self
>>esteem. What role does that idea have in our views
>>of ourselves as teachers?
>>Barb Garner
>>Editor, Focus on Basics
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>=====================
>>From: "Anastasiya A. Lipnevich" <ana at optimaltec.com>
>>Date: 2006/09/25 Mon PM 09:17:44 CDT
>>To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List
>><focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
>>Subject: [FocusOnBasics 489] Low Self-Esteem: Myth
>>or Reality? Some comments
>>
>>
>>Dear All,
>> Thank youfor such a great discussion. Below I will
>>try to address some of yourcomments.
>>__________________
>>
>> Andres,
>>It lookslike we are coming from different research
>>paradigms, and our views onresearchin general and
>>measurement in particular somewhat diverge. Here is
>>mytake onsome of the issues you raised.
>>1. I haveto disagree with your conceptualization of
>>self-esteem. I believe thatwhat youdescribe is
>>actually socio-economic status (e.g. possessions,
>>wealth,jobstatus), a construct commonly regarded as
>>conceptually different fromself-esteem. There are
>>studies that show a high correlation
>>betweenself-esteemand SES, therefore, the two are,
>>in fact, closely tied.
>>Is itreally possible and/or meaningful to tease them
>>apart? I do think so.Scientific method and
>>characteristics thereof drive us
>>towardsconceptualparsimony when operationalizing and
>>actually measuring constructs ofinterest.It doesn?t
>>mean that self esteem (or motivation, or engagement,
>>etc)stand ontheir own. They are closely related to
>>numerous variables, however, acorpus ofliterature
>>demonstrates that attempts to measure them as
>>separateconstructs doyield meaningful results and
>>help advance our understanding of humannature.
>>Additionally,what immediately comes to mind is that
>>some components ofsocio-economic status(i.e.
>>financial well-being) of PhD students may be worse
>>than that ofworkingadult literacy students. So, the
>>findings of the present study do notnecessarily
>>contradict your take on the matter.
>> 
>>2. Inpsychological research, self-esteem is
>>typically defined in terms ofhow weevaluate
>>ourselves and our characteristics, the "personal
>>judgment ofworthiness that is expressed in the
>>attitudes the individual holdstoward himself,"in the
>>words of Coopersmith, a pioneering researcher in the
>>field. Itis afuzzy construct but a certain consensus
>>has developed. Many seem toagree thatself esteem can
>>be differentiated into global and specific self
>>esteem.Globalrepresents a general attitude towards
>>oneself, and can be considered atraitself-esteem,
>>whereas specific self-esteems concern particular
>>areas ofpeople?slives.
>> Self-affirmation theory (Steel,1988) suggests that
>>people cope with negative outcomes in one domain
>>byfocusing on their achievements in other, unrelated
>>domains. This meansthat individualswith high global
>>self-esteem would feel overall quite competent
>>evenwhen theiracademic self-esteem is low.
>>Low-literate adults who have failedacademicallybut
>>succeed in other aspects of their lives may have a
>>high generalself-esteemthat will allow them to lead
>>full, not deficient, lives. Adult literacylearners
>>often look at themselves as competent workers,
>>parents, andcitizens,which may partially compensate
>>for their lack of literacy. Talkingabout
>>adultliteracy students in terms of their
>>deficiencies and abnormally lowself-esteemjust adds
>>to the existing stigma.
>> 3. This study doesn?t suggest thatself-esteem of
>>adult students is high. Rather, that it doesn?t
>>differsignificantly from the self-esteem of the PhD
>>students. Since we don?tconsiderraising self-esteem
>>of the latter group to be our primary goal,focusing
>>onraising self esteem of the former group represents
>>a logical skew withpotential pernicious corollaries,
>>with the most dangerous one being, asHal and
>>Isuggested in our report, that it may strengthen the
>>existing stigma.Self-esteem is crucial for success
>>in academic settings for bothgroups; but perhapsit
>>is best addressed through strong pedagogy by helping
>>studentssucceed intheir academic pursuits.
>> ___________________
>>Gina andVirginia raised a question about self-esteem
>>of learners incorrectionaleducational programs.
>>Unfortunately, I am not familiar with
>>existingliteratureon the matter. However, during my
>>recent presentation at the AERAconference,one of the
>>attendees who teaches in a prison described her
>>students ashavinghigh self-esteem. I cannot judge
>>the validity of her conclusions sincetheywere based
>>solely on her observations; it?s just interesting
>>toconsider.
>>___________________________
>>Thanksagain to everyone ? I am really enjoying this
>>discussion.
>> Ana.
>>
>>----------------------------------------------------
>>National Institute for Literacy
>>Focus on Basics mailing list
>>FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
>>To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings,
>>please go to
>>http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
>>
>>----------------------------------------------------
>>National Institute for Literacy
>>Focus on Basics mailing list
>>FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
>>To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings,
>>please go to
>>http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
>>
>>    
>>
>----------------------------------------------------
>National Institute for Literacy
>Focus on Basics mailing list
>FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
>To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
>http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
>
>________________________________________________________________________
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>across the web, free AOL Mail and more.
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>
From gspangenberg at caalusa.org  Mon Oct  9 10:26:25 2006
From: gspangenberg at caalusa.org (Gail Spangenberg)
Date: Mon, 9 Oct 2006 10:26:25 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 530] Launch of National Commission on Adult Literacy
	(cross posted)
Message-ID: <B9D50A49-A360-4C09-862F-B34929D94E91@caalusa.org>
Friends,
I think you will be pleased by the attached news release, issued  
jointly today by Dollar General Corporation and CAAL. This has been  
in the making for some months. I hope it will bring a new sense of  
hope and possibility to those who toil in the adult education and  
literacy trenches of service, planning, and policy development and  
who appreciate the findings of the 2003 NAALs. Should you be unable  
to access the PDF attachment, you can see essentially the same  
information at the CAAL website (www.caalusa.org).
?
Gail Spangenberg
President
Council for Advancement of Adult Literacy
1221 Avenue of the Americas - 46th Fl
New York, NY 10020
212-512-2362, F: 212-512-2610
www.caalusa.org
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From kabeall at comcast.net  Tue Oct 10 08:29:09 2006
From: kabeall at comcast.net (Kaye Beall)
Date: Tue, 10 Oct 2006 08:29:09 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 531]  Back Issues of Focus on Basics Available
Message-ID: <002a01c6ec67$b84b5850$0202a8c0@your4105e587b6>
After ten years of research and development, the National Center for the
Study of Adult Learning and Literacy (NCSALL) project is coming to an end.
NCSALL's dissemination efforts will end in March 2007.  The Web site
(www.ncsall.net) will remain available for free downloading of NCSALL
materials.  
 
NCSALL is happy to offer printed copies of our magazine, Focus on Basics.
Attached is a list of the back issues of Focus on Basics that are available
either free (for orders of less than 100 copies) or for minimal shipping
costs (for orders of more than 100 copies).
 
Order Requirements:
Due to staffing, we will only accept orders on a first-come, first-served
basis with the following requirements:
- Minimum quantity per order: 50 copies
- Minimum quantity per issue: 10 copies
- Orders of more than 100 copies will be charged a minimal shipping cost;
see order form for details.
 
Order Instructions:
E-mail Caye Caplan at ccaplan at worlded.org with order information:
Volume and Issue, Quantity per Issue, Mailing Address (provide street
address), and Shipping Payment Method (if applicable).
Or
Fill out the attached "Comp FOB Order Form", 
Fax to: 617 482-0617 attn: NCSALL/ Caye Caplan   or,
Mail to:  Caye Caplan, NCSALL/World Education, 44 Farnsworth St., Boston, MA
02210
 
Shipment will be UPS Ground; please provide street address (physical
address, "NO" PO Box please!).  
 
Allow 4 - 5 weeks for delivery. 
 
Please forward this e-mail to interested programs / parties.
 
 
 
Caye Caplan
Coordinator of NCSALL Dissemination
World Education
44 Farnsworth Street
Boston, MA  02210-1211
Tel: (617) 482-9485
Fax: (617) 482-0617
E-mail: ccaplan at worlded.org
Web-site: www.ncsall.net
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From bdsunmt at sbcglobal.net  Tue Oct 17 10:05:14 2006
From: bdsunmt at sbcglobal.net (Bonnita Solberg)
Date: Tue, 17 Oct 2006 07:05:14 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 532] Re: [LearningDisabilities 685] CROSSPOSTING -
	National Institute for Literacy Launches International
	Perspective Webpages
In-Reply-To: <002e01c6f130$2b72b5e0$0402a8c0@Tomschoice>
Message-ID: <20061017140514.78237.qmail@web83107.mail.mud.yahoo.com>
Hello All:  I have a different take on the Director
General's remarks.  It seems evident that the
"commitment of national governments" is vital for a
literacy program to move forward.  Given that some or
all of the governments have established methods and
ideas of schooling, it appears essential that any
UNESCO program begin with what is in place to "give
space for methods and approaches to develop at local
level, with full input from learners themselves." 
Experience in the US with students from a variety of
countries, pre-literate through literate students in
both an alphabet and non-alphabet based
languages--students who have experienced a variety of
methods and ideas of schooling--we have come to
understand, sometimes painfully, that student
expectations of classroom experiences cannot be
ignored, or we will lose them in the process.  It may
takes years of exposure to alternate methods, and most
often building a sense in the classroom that students
have valid input into their educational process,
before students begin to accept and profit from
alternate methods.  I for one would not want to deny
full input from the learners themselves.  For example,
moving from an authoritative classroom leadership to
inclusion of students in decisions that affect their
learning process is a major, and hard won, victory for
ESL teachers.  I view the Director General's statement
as a diplomacy guide for UNESCO providers of literacy
that will reap rewards by inclusion rather than
exclusion of the population to be served.  Respect for
people and the rich culture they bring to the
classroom is a basic if literacy programs are to be
successful.
Bonnita Solberg, Teacher
Oakalnd Unified School District
 
.
--- John Nissen <jn at cloudworld.co.uk> wrote:
> 
> Hi all,
> 
> Following up on the NIFL webpages, I looked up the
> UNESCO initiative to 
> reduce illiteracy in the UN Literacy Decade, 2003 -
> 2012, and read this in 
> the message* from the Director General:
> 
> 
> Literacy is best acquired in ways that are consonant
> with the local context; 
> in our efforts to make literacy universally
> available, therefore, we must be 
> careful not to propose solutions which impose one
> way of acquiring literacy. 
> With the unreserved commitment of national
> governments, the Decade must give 
> space for methods and approaches to develop at local
> level, with full input 
> from learners themselves. The notion of 'literacy as
> freedom' points to the 
> way that the acquisition and practice of literacy
> can enhance the capacity 
> to lead a free and more fulfilled life.
> 
> 
> It seems that this notion that different methods of
> teaching literacy must 
> be used in different contexts, and depend on input
> from learners, is 
> accepted at the highest levels.  Yet it is a l> good
methods and bad methods, period.  A good method
> trains the brain for 
> effective reading skills.  A bad method fails to
> train for effective reading 
> skills.  The best method is the method which
> produces the most effective 
> reading skills for the greatest proportion of
> learners.  And mixing a good 
> method with a bad method produces a bad method,
> because it confuses.
> 
> While the people at the top are not recognising this
> common sense, the 
> United Nations Literacy Decade has little chance of
> success.
> 
> Cheers from Chiswick,
> 
> John
> 
> * 
>
http://portal.unesco.org/education/en/ev.php-URL_ID=27158&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html
> has link to the Directory General's message, see
> bottom of page.
> 
> John Nissen
> Cloudworld Ltd - http://www.cloudworld.co.uk
> maker of the assistive reader, WordAloud.
> Try WordAloud with synthetic phonics:
>
http://www.cloudworld.co.uk/teaching-synthetic-phonics.htm
> Tel: +44 208 742 3170  Fax: +44 208 742 0202
> Email: info at cloudworld.co.uk
> 
> 
> 
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Nguyen, My Linh" <Mylinh.Nguyen at ed.gov>
> To: "Aaace-Nla discussion group (E-mail)" 
> <aaace-nla at lists.literacytent.org>; "Assessment"
> <assessment at nifl.gov>; 
> "Content Standards" <contentstandards at nifl.gov>;
> "English Language Learners" 
> <englishlanguage at nifl.gov>; "Family Literacy"
> <familyliteracy at nifl.gov>; 
> "Focus on Basics" <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>; "Health
> Literacy" 
> <healthliteracy at nifl.gov>; "Learning Disabilities" 
> <learningdisabilities at nifl.gov>; "Poverty & Race" 
> <povertyliteracy at nifl.gov>; "Professional
> Development" 
> <professionaldevelopment at nifl.gov>; "Program
> Leadership" 
> <programleadership at nifl.gov>; "Special Topics"
> <specialtopics at nifl.gov>; 
> "Technology" <technology at nifl.gov>; "Women Literacy"
> 
> <womenliteracy at nifl.gov>; "Workplace"
> <workplace at nifl.gov>
> Sent: Tuesday, September 05, 2006 2:44 PM
> Subject: [LearningDisabilities 624] National
> Institute for Literacy 
> LaunchesInternational Perspective Webpages
> 
> 
> > Just in time for International Literacy Day on
> September 8, the National
> > Institute for Literacy has launched a series of
> webpages on its website
> > (www.nifl.gov) to highlight worldwide efforts to
> address and combat 
> > literacy
> > problems. The International Perspectives webpages
> allow American adult
> > literacy and English language teachers and
> students quick access to
> > information about:
> > * adult literacy education in other countries and
> cultures,
> > including both developing and industrialized
> countries, and including
> > curriculum and outcomes standards for adult
> education in other countries
> > * international comparative studies of adult
> literacy and
> > PreK-12 education, and
> > * international efforts to raise literacy levels
> (e.g.UNESCO,
> > International Reading Association, and the
> Venezuelan and Argentinian
> > literacy campaigns)
> > The Institute plans to continue to build on the
> information on the
> > International Perspective pages
> >
>
(<http://www.nifl.gov/nifl/international/intro.html>)
> as they develop into 
> > a
> > central site for worldwide literacy resources.
> > The National Institute for Literacy provides
> leadership on literacy
> > issues, including the improvement of reading
> instruction for children,
> > youth, and adults. In consultation with the U.S.
> Departments of Education,
> > Labor, and Health and Human Services, the
> Institute serves as a national
> > resource on current, comprehensive literacy
> research, practice, and 
> > policy.
> >
> >
> > My Linh Nguyen
> > Associate Director of Communications
> > National Institute for Literacy
> > (202) 233-2041
> > fax (202) 233-2050
> > mnguyen at nifl.gov
> >
> >
> ----------------------------------------------------
> > National Institute for Literacy
> > Learning Disabilities mailing list
> > LearningDisabilities at nifl.gov
> > To unsubscribe or change your subscription
> settings, please go to 
> >
>
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/learningdisabilities
> > 
> 
> ----------------------------------------------------
> National Institute for Literacy
> Learning Disabilities mailing list
> LearningDisabilities at nifl.gov
> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings,
> please go to
>
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/learningdisabilities
> Message sent to bdsunmt at sbcglobal.net.
> 
From julie_mcKinney at worlded.org  Tue Oct 17 16:20:02 2006
From: julie_mcKinney at worlded.org (Julie  McKinney)
Date: Tue, 17 Oct 2006 16:20:02 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 533]  Welcome to another year on the FOB list!
Message-ID: <s53502c0.075@mail.jsi.com>
Hi Everyone, 
This is the beginning of our yearly cycle on the discussion lists, and I
want to welcome you all to another year of discussing the wealth of
Focus on Basics articles, sharing resources, and being part of this
online community!  
As you know, NCSALL's funding has not been continued, and we are all sad
to see that new issues of FOB will not keep coming as they have for the
past 9 years. We are still trying to find funding to continue FOB as an
online publication, and in the meantime we do have funding for another
year of this discussion list!  
There have been 33 issues of FOB, each with 6-8 articles about rigorous
research on adult education strategies, interventions and teaching
methods, written specifically to encourage practitioners to use the
information to improve teaching practices. I see this as a treasure
trove of material that we can share and discuss. While our usual plan
for this list is to discuss articles from new issues (and there is
another one due in December!), part of our plan for this year is to
review the collection of past Focus on Basics issues, and tie together
some themes from the entire collection. 
To help facilitate this review, we will have FOB Article-of-the-week:
every Tuesday, I will promote a past article and ask if anyone has any
comments or experience using this article that they would like to share.
  
PLEASE E-MAIL ME DIRECTLY WITH SUGGESTIONS OF AN ARTICLE-OF-THE-WEEK,
and I will use them in the weeks to come. Tell me your favorite article,
one that you have used in trainings, one that has improved your teaching
or program strategies, or one that just opened your eyes to a new idea. 
Thanks for being part of this community. I look forward to this year
ahead, and welcome any suggestions you have for improving the list!  
All the best,
Julie 
P.S. Please pass this on to anyone who may be interested in joining the
list and reviewing the treasure trove with us! They can subscribe at:
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics  
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
From julie_mcKinney at worlded.org  Tue Oct 17 16:33:28 2006
From: julie_mcKinney at worlded.org (Julie  McKinney)
Date: Tue, 17 Oct 2006 16:33:28 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 534]  1st FOB Article-of-the-week!
Message-ID: <s53505ed.004@mail.jsi.com>
Hi Everyone,
In my last message, I described the new FOB Article-of-the-week, and
here is our first one. It is from the very first issue of FOB, Vol. 1A
from 1997, which explored the question: "What is Research?"
Understanding Quantitative Research on Adult Literacy
by Thomas Valentine
http://www.ncsall.net/index.php?id=470 
This goes back to the basics and describes common purposes of research,
basic underlying concepts, common statistical procedures, and suggests
questions to ask yourself when reading educational research.
If you can, read this and let us know how it may have helped you, or how
you could use this article in your program.
Julie
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
From Mylinh.Nguyen at ed.gov  Wed Oct 18 11:42:20 2006
From: Mylinh.Nguyen at ed.gov (Nguyen, My Linh)
Date: Wed, 18 Oct 2006 11:42:20 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 535]  CROSSPOSTED: Update on Discussion Lists
Message-ID: <CB4082E7B582144084C72EC6C98D495911889A54@wdcrobe2m04.ed.gov>
			Dear Discussion List subscribers,
			As the National Institute for Literacy begins a new
fiscal year, we have taken steps to streamline the way we deliver
professional development to our discussion list members. We would like to
let you know about some changes ahead for some of the National Institute for
Literacy Discussion Lists. The changes affect the Women and Literacy List;
Poverty, Race, and Literacy List; Content Standards List; and Program
Leadership and Improvement List.
			First, effective October 30, 2006, we will be
closing the Content Standards and Program Leadership & Improvement lists. We
have chosen to close these two lists because we recognize that many of the
issues that impact Content Standards and Program Leadership & Improvement
carry across all the subject areas of our other Discussion Lists. 
			Second, effective November 6, 2006, we will be
merging of the Poverty, Race and Literacy List with the Women and Literacy
List. We have chosen to combine the two lists because we recognize that many
of the issues that impact one group also affect the other group, and believe
that many of the topics discussed on one list can benefit the other list.
Race and gender issues often intersect, and it is most both practical and
appropriate to have them intersect on one combined list.
			We will continue to provide access to discussion
archives on our website.
			Thank you for your active participation in the
Institute's lists. We invite you to explore all of our lists for to help you
further your own professional development.
			The Institute's lists include:
			Adult Literacy Professional Development 
			Assessment 
			Adult English Language Learners
			Family Literacy 
			Focus on Basics 
			Health & Literacy 
			Learning Disabilities 
			Poverty, Race, Women and Literacy
			Special Topics 
			Technology & Literacy 
			Workplace Literacy
			Descriptions and instructions on how to register for
the Institute's Discussion Lists can be found at
http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/discussions.html
My Linh Nguyen
Associate Director of Communications
National Institute for Literacy
(202) 233-2041
fax (202) 233-2050
mnguyen at nifl.gov
From julie_mcKinney at worlded.org  Thu Oct 19 12:52:11 2006
From: julie_mcKinney at worlded.org (Julie  McKinney)
Date: Thu, 19 Oct 2006 12:52:11 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 536]  FOB and the ALE Wiki
Message-ID: <s5377510.069@mail.jsi.com>
Hi Everyone,
Part of my hope for this list in the coming year is to connect more with
the ALE Wiki. For those of you who haven't seen it, please read David
Rosen's update below, and check it out at:
http://wiki.literacytent.org/index.php/Main_Page
There is a Topic Area on the Wiki called "Research to Practice, Practice
to Research", which shares a purpose with Focus on Basics, and I hope to
connect with this area to enrich our discussions of FOB's past and
present issues.
Let me know if you have any ideas for this collaboration, and at least
take a look at the current incarnation of this growing resource!
All the best,
Julie
*********************
>From David Rosen:
Colleagues,
The Adult Literacy Education Wiki (now with over 750 pages and nearly  
700 registered users) is becoming a very useful resource for teachers  
and other practitioners in adult literacy education.  It includes 30  
topics linking research, professional wisdom, and practice.  It  
offers easy-to-read archived discussions that were held on this and  
other discussion lists, links to research and other resources,  
questions (and sometimes answers) from teachers and other  
practitioners and researchers, a comprehensive adult literacy  
glossary, and more.  It's free, and it's designed for you.  Best of  
all, it's not only a set of informative web pages.  It's a community  
of practice.  You -- and your colleagues -- can easily add to and  
improve it. It's a wiki!
To check out the ALE wiki, go to:
http://wiki.literacytent.org/index.php/Main_Page
You will see that some ALE topics need to be nurtured, and to grow.  
They need a Topic Leader.  Perhaps you would be the right person to  
be a Topic Leader. To see a list of topics and leaders, go to
http://wiki.literacytent.org/index.php/Topic_Leaders
If you are interested in being a (volunteer) Topic Leader for an  
existing topic, or if you would like to help develop a new topic, e- 
mail me and tell me about yourself and your interest.
David J. Rosen
ALE Wiki Organizer and Wikiteer
djrosen at comcast.net
******************************************************
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
From julie_mcKinney at worlded.org  Fri Oct 20 11:34:58 2006
From: julie_mcKinney at worlded.org (Julie  McKinney)
Date: Fri, 20 Oct 2006 11:34:58 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 537] Methodologies of teaching reading: See EL list
Message-ID: <s538b480.045@mail.jsi.com>
Hi Everyone,
There is a discussion happening on the English Language Learners
discussion list that may interest some of you. People are comparing the
value in teaching reading of using a variety of approaches vs. an
approach based purely on phonemic awareness and decoding skills. 
The following FOB Article is cited in this debate:
The Neurobiology of Reading and Dyslexia
http://www.ncsall.net/?id=278
Even if you are not subscribed to this list, you can read the current
discussion at this link:
http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/englishlanguage/2006/date.html 
It starts with post #766, and then continues under the subject:
"one-size-fits-all methodology".
All the best,
Julie 
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
From julie_mcKinney at worlded.org  Tue Oct 24 12:14:34 2006
From: julie_mcKinney at worlded.org (Julie  McKinney)
Date: Tue, 24 Oct 2006 12:14:34 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 538]  FOB Article-of-the-Week
Message-ID: <s53e03c8.050@mail.jsi.com>
Hi Everyone,
This week's FOB Article -of-the-Week is from Volume 4D, which is about
Research to Practice.
Connecting Research and Practice
http://www.ncsall.net/index.php?id=290 
The article looks at what is known about research utilization and what
NCSALL does in that regard. Use this to help you think about how you
personally use research in your own practice. This article is from 5
years ago. In what ways has the conception of research to practice
changed since then?
Please read this and share some thoughts about it on the list.
Thanks,
Julie
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
From baera at floridaliteracy.org  Tue Oct 24 16:05:30 2006
From: baera at floridaliteracy.org (Alyssa Baer)
Date: Tue, 24 Oct 2006 16:05:30 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 539]  2007 Florida Literacy Conference
Message-ID: <003d01c6f7a7$c24c3090$1e02a8c0@floridaliteracy.org>
Please join us for the 2007 Florida Literacy Conference!  
 
Dates:  May 2-4, 2007, with May 1, 2007 pre-conference
Location: Orlando Marriott, Lake Mary, Florida
 
One of Florida's premier literacy events, this three day annual conference
offers a wide range of training and networking opportunities to literacy
practitioners and volunteers.  
 
Full Conference Early Bird: postmarked by March 9: Member $170 /Non-Member
$195        
Full Conference: postmarked by April 13: Member $195 / Non-Member $220    
Full Conference: on-site, after April 13: $235                    
Full Conference: Adult Learner: $70 (no fee for adult learners attending May
2nd only)
 
                         
Call for Presenters!  
To help make the 2007 Conference a success, the Florida Literacy Coalition
seeks session proposals throughout the state and nation in the following
topic ideas:  
Adult Learner, Corrections, Family Literacy, English Literacy, Learning
Disabilities, Library Literacy, Program Management, Reading, Technology,
Volunteers in Literacy and Workforce Education (ABE, GED and adult high
school).
  
We welcome your participation and encourage you to propose a session by
December 13 by downloading the Call for Presenters form from
www.floridaliteracy.org.
 
On behalf of the Florida Literacy Coalition, thank you and we hope to see
you in May.
 
Alyssa Baer, AmeriCorps*VISTA Member
Florida Literacy Coalition
 <mailto:baera at floridaliteracy.org> baera at floridaliteracy.org
Telephone: 407.246.7110 extension 207
Facsimile: 407.246.7104
934 North Magnolia Avenue, Suite 104
Orlando, Florida 32803
 <http://www.floridaliteracy.org/> www.floridaliteracy.org
 
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From kabeall at comcast.net  Fri Oct 27 11:24:49 2006
From: kabeall at comcast.net (Kaye Beall)
Date: Fri, 27 Oct 2006 11:24:49 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 540]  New from NCSALL
Message-ID: <007601c6f9dc$0b8402c0$0202a8c0@your4105e587b6>
Research on the Economic Impact of the GED Diploma Panel
The National Institute for Literacy (Institute) and the National Center for
the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy (NCSALL) announce the Research on
the Economic Impact of the GED Diploma Panel, a 30-minute video produced by
the Institute. This panel discussion focuses on the economic benefits that
accrue to holders of the General Educational Development (GED) credential.
It is based on a review by John Tyler of eight recent (published and
working) research papers on the GED.  Several of these papers were authored
by John Tyler, Richard Murnane, and John Willett, researchers with NCSALL
whose work has influenced what we know about the economic benefits of the
GED.  Presenters include John Tyler, Sara Fass, and Sue Snider; the
moderator is David Rosen.
To view in streaming format, go to:
http://www.nifl.gov/nifl/webcasts/ged/webcast_ged.html
To order in DVD for $5.00 from NCSALL, go to: www.ncsall.net/?id=675 
To order DVD version from NIFL, send request with mailing address to:
info at nifl.gov 
Transitioning Adults to College: Adult Basic Education Program Models
by Cynthia Zafft, Silja Kallenbach, and Jessica Spohn
This NCSALL Occasional Paper describes five models that the staff at the New
England Literacy Resource Center at World Education, Inc., categorized
through a survey of adult education centers with transition components from
around the United States. This NCSALL Occasional Paper describes the five
models-Advising, GED-Plus, ESOL, Career Pathways, and College
Preparatory-and themes and recommendations that others contemplating adult
transition services might find helpful. It also chronicles the experiences
of four states (Connecticut, Kentucky, Maine, and Oregon) in their efforts
to institutionalize transitions for adults. To download the paper, go to
http://www.ncsall.net/?id=26
Beyond the GED: Making Conscious Choices About the GED and Your Future
Newly revised to include new data and information on the Internet, this
guide for GED instructors offers lesson plans and helps teachers develop as
professionals. It also gives adult learners an opportunity to practice
writing, use graphs, read charts, and analyze research findings on the
economic impact of the GED. To download the guide, go to
http://www.ncsall.net/?id=35. 
 
 
****************
Kaye Beall
Outreach Coordinator/NCSALL Dissemination Project
World Education
4401 S. Madison St.
Muncie, IN  47302
Tel: 765-717-3942
Fax: 208-694-8262
kaye_beall at worlded.org
http://www.ncsall.net
 
 
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From kabeall at comcast.net  Sat Oct 28 19:16:27 2006
From: kabeall at comcast.net (Kaye Beall)
Date: Sat, 28 Oct 2006 19:16:27 -0400
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 541]  Counselors/counseling services
Message-ID: <003301c6fae7$194a0ab0$0202a8c0@your4105e587b6>
Can anyone help with these questions?  As NCSALL's Outreach Coordinator, I
recently received this message. Do you know of any states that fund
counselors?  
Thanks, Kaye
************
 
Hi Kaye,
 
I was hoping you could help me out. Presently, I am a Doctoral candidate
trying to formulate my proposal. My topic is Counselor/counseling within
Adult Basic Education. I am having the most difficult time coming up with
national information. 
 
Could you either post my questions on your list serve or call me if you know
who I could speak to about this subject.
 
My questions are:
What states require a counselor on staff within their literacy programs?
Is the role of Adult Basic Educational counselor defined state-by-state or
is there a generic counselor role definition?
Is there a national organization that speaks to the role of counselor (as
advisor) within literacy programs (not post-secondary)
 
Thank you for your support
Michele Forlizzi
 
 
 
****************
Kaye Beall
Outreach Coordinator/NCSALL Dissemination Project
World Education
4401 S. Madison St.
Muncie, IN  47302
Tel: 765-717-3942
Fax: 208-694-8262
kaye_beall at worlded.org
http://www.ncsall.net
 
 
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From dgeorge at cabell.lib.wv.us  Mon Oct 30 12:47:26 2006
From: dgeorge at cabell.lib.wv.us (Dee George)
Date: Mon, 30 Oct 2006 12:47:26 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 542] Re: Counselors/counseling services
In-Reply-To: <003301c6fae7$194a0ab0$0202a8c0@your4105e587b6>
Message-ID: <PKEKJCKOCECDOMGMJAKNKEIHCHAA.dgeorge@cabell.lib.wv.us>
In many states, ABE and Literacy Programs are 2 different programs.  As far
as I know, Literacy Councils don not require or have
a counselor on staff.  Many are lucky just to be able to afford one or two
employees.  ABE Programs, on the hand, under the state
Dept. or Education, usually have a counselor available through the local
post-secondary vocational school.
Deidra (Dee) M. George, Director
Tri-State Literacy Council
455 9th St. Plaza
Cabell County Public Library
Huntington, WV 25701
phone (304)528-5700, fax (304)528-5701
dgeorge at cabell.lib.wv.us
www.cabell.lib.wv.us
  -----Original Message-----
  From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov]On Behalf Of Kaye Beall
  Sent: Saturday, October 28, 2006 7:16 PM
  To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
  Subject: [FocusOnBasics 541] Counselors/counseling services
  Can anyone help with these questions?  As NCSALL's Outreach Coordinator, I
recently received this message. Do you know of any states that fund
counselors?
  Thanks, Kaye
  ************
  Hi Kaye,
  I was hoping you could help me out. Presently, I am a Doctoral candidate
trying to formulate my proposal. My topic is Counselor/counseling within
Adult Basic Education. I am having the most difficult time coming up with
national information.
  Could you either post my questions on your list serve or call me if you
know who I could speak to about this subject.
  My questions are:
  What states require a counselor on staff within their literacy programs?
  Is the role of Adult Basic Educational counselor defined state-by-state or
is there a generic counselor role definition?
  Is there a national organization that speaks to the role of counselor (as
advisor) within literacy programs (not post-secondary)
  Thank you for your support
  Michele Forlizzi
  ****************
  Kaye Beall
  Outreach Coordinator/NCSALL Dissemination Project
  World Education
  4401 S. Madison St.
  Muncie, IN  47302
  Tel: 765-717-3942
  Fax: 208-694-8262
  kaye_beall at worlded.org
  http://www.ncsall.net
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From b.garner4 at verizon.net  Mon Oct 30 14:48:13 2006
From: b.garner4 at verizon.net (Barbara Garner)
Date: Mon, 30 Oct 2006 13:48:13 -0600 (CST)
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 543] Re:
 =?iso-8859-1?q?=A0Counselors/counseling_services?=
Message-ID: <27791333.778861162237694430.JavaMail.root@vms061.mailsrvcs.net>
I can't answer all those questions, but Volume 6, Issue A, (www.ncsall.net/?id=219) of Focus on Basics is on Counseling. Cathy Coleman did a quick national scan, trying to find out what states were doing to support counselors. While the article dates from 2002, much of the information is valid today.
Barb Garner
=====================
From: Kaye Beall <kabeall at comcast.net>
Date: 2006/10/28 Sat PM 06:16:27 CDT
To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 541]  Counselors/counseling services
Can anyone help with these questions?? As NCSALL?sOutreach Coordinator, I recently received this message. Do you know of anystates that fund counselors?? 
Thanks, Kaye
************
?
Hi Kaye,
?
I was hoping you could help me out. Presently, I am aDoctoral candidate trying to formulate my proposal. My topic isCounselor/counseling within Adult Basic Education. I am having the mostdifficult time coming up with national information. 
?
Could you either post my questions on your list serve orcall me if you know who I could speak to about this subject.
?
My questions are:
What states require a counselor on staff within theirliteracy programs?
Is the role of Adult Basic Educational counselor definedstate-by-state or is there a generic counselor role definition?
Is there a national organization that speaks to the role ofcounselor (as advisor) within literacy programs (not post-secondary)
?
Thank you for your support
Michele Forlizzi
?
?
?
****************
Kaye Beall
Outreach Coordinator/NCSALL Dissemination Project
World Education
4401 S. Madison  St.
Muncie, IN? 47302
Tel: 765-717-3942
Fax: 208-694-8262
kaye_beall at worlded.org
http://www.ncsall.net
?
?
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
From tarv at chemeketa.edu  Mon Oct 30 15:00:45 2006
From: tarv at chemeketa.edu (Virginia Tardaewether)
Date: Mon, 30 Oct 2006 12:00:45 -0800
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 544] Re: Counselors/counseling services
In-Reply-To: <PKEKJCKOCECDOMGMJAKNKEIHCHAA.dgeorge@cabell.lib.wv.us>
Message-ID: <D63A25821E9AE349ADBAB6BB1F0A766C0345E1A5@cccmail2.chemeketa.network>
The community college counselors and advising specialists are available
to our literacy and ABE/GED/ESL populations with academic advising,
career counseling and school planning.  In 30+ years in this work, I've
never been at a place that had a special counselor available for this
population.  The students have the same access as any other student
within the system.
va
 
________________________________
From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Dee George
Sent: Monday, October 30, 2006 9:47 AM
To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 542] Re: Counselors/counseling services
 
In many states, ABE and Literacy Programs are 2 different programs.  As
far as I know, Literacy Councils don not require or have
a counselor on staff.  Many are lucky just to be able to afford one or
two employees.  ABE Programs, on the hand, under the state
Dept. or Education, usually have a counselor available through the local
post-secondary vocational school.
 
Deidra (Dee) M. George, Director
Tri-State Literacy Council
455 9th St. Plaza
Cabell County Public Library
Huntington, WV 25701
phone (304)528-5700, fax (304)528-5701
dgeorge at cabell.lib.wv.us
www.cabell.lib.wv.us 
	-----Original Message-----
	From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov]On Behalf Of Kaye Beall
	Sent: Saturday, October 28, 2006 7:16 PM
	To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
	Subject: [FocusOnBasics 541] Counselors/counseling services
	Can anyone help with these questions?  As NCSALL's Outreach
Coordinator, I recently received this message. Do you know of any states
that fund counselors?  
	Thanks, Kaye
	************
	 
	Hi Kaye,
	 
	I was hoping you could help me out. Presently, I am a Doctoral
candidate trying to formulate my proposal. My topic is
Counselor/counseling within Adult Basic Education. I am having the most
difficult time coming up with national information. 
	 
	Could you either post my questions on your list serve or call me
if you know who I could speak to about this subject.
	 
	My questions are:
	What states require a counselor on staff within their literacy
programs?
	Is the role of Adult Basic Educational counselor defined
state-by-state or is there a generic counselor role definition?
	Is there a national organization that speaks to the role of
counselor (as advisor) within literacy programs (not post-secondary)
	 
	Thank you for your support
	Michele Forlizzi
	 
	 
	 
	****************
	Kaye Beall
	Outreach Coordinator/NCSALL Dissemination Project
	World Education
	4401 S. Madison St.
	Muncie, IN  47302
	Tel: 765-717-3942
	Fax: 208-694-8262
	kaye_beall at worlded.org
	http://www.ncsall.net
	 
	 
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From Charlene.Brown at Jefferson.kyschools.us  Mon Oct 30 15:22:45 2006
From: Charlene.Brown at Jefferson.kyschools.us (Brown, Charlene)
Date: Mon, 30 Oct 2006 15:22:45 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 545] Re: Counselors/counseling services
In-Reply-To: <PKEKJCKOCECDOMGMJAKNKEIHCHAA.dgeorge@cabell.lib.wv.us>
Message-ID: <60E2F869F45DE34DBC8609D255E8357A081FB6F0@ED275X1.jefferson.ketsds.net>
In Kentucky, we do not have access to actual counselors.  Each program
may choose to spend funding to hire one, but to may knowledge, and I am
fairly active in the state, no program has been able to afford one.  In
Kentucky, we have what the state calls sole providers of literacy and
ABE/GED services.
 
-----Original Message-----
From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Dee George
Sent: Monday, October 30, 2006 12:47 PM
To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 542] Re: Counselors/counseling services
 
In many states, ABE and Literacy Programs are 2 different programs.  As
far as I know, Literacy Councils don not require or have
a counselor on staff.  Many are lucky just to be able to afford one or
two employees.  ABE Programs, on the hand, under the state
Dept. or Education, usually have a counselor available through the local
post-secondary vocational school.
 
Deidra (Dee) M. George, Director
Tri-State Literacy Council
455 9th St. Plaza
Cabell County Public Library
Huntington, WV 25701
phone (304)528-5700, fax (304)528-5701
dgeorge at cabell.lib.wv.us
www.cabell.lib.wv.us 
-----Original Message-----
From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov]On Behalf Of Kaye Beall
Sent: Saturday, October 28, 2006 7:16 PM
To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 541] Counselors/counseling services
Can anyone help with these questions?  As NCSALL's Outreach Coordinator,
I recently received this message. Do you know of any states that fund
counselors?  
Thanks, Kaye
************
 
Hi Kaye,
 
I was hoping you could help me out. Presently, I am a Doctoral candidate
trying to formulate my proposal. My topic is Counselor/counseling within
Adult Basic Education. I am having the most difficult time coming up
with national information. 
 
Could you either post my questions on your list serve or call me if you
know who I could speak to about this subject.
 
My questions are:
What states require a counselor on staff within their literacy programs?
Is the role of Adult Basic Educational counselor defined state-by-state
or is there a generic counselor role definition?
Is there a national organization that speaks to the role of counselor
(as advisor) within literacy programs (not post-secondary)
 
Thank you for your support
Michele Forlizzi
 
 
 
****************
Kaye Beall
Outreach Coordinator/NCSALL Dissemination Project
World Education
4401 S. Madison St.
Muncie, IN  47302
Tel: 765-717-3942
Fax: 208-694-8262
kaye_beall at worlded.org
http://www.ncsall.net
 
 
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From miriam at cal.org  Mon Oct 30 16:57:12 2006
From: miriam at cal.org (Miriam Burt)
Date: Mon, 30 Oct 2006 16:57:12 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 546] Annotated bibliography on working with
	Literacy-level English language learners (xpost from ESL list)
Message-ID: <7E0B624DDF68104F92C38648A4D93D8F01B81FD6@MAIL.cal.local>
Hello, everyone:
New on the Web site of the Center for Adult English Language Acquisition
is an annotated bibliography
on working with beginning and literacy level adult English Language
learners.  It is available at
http://www.cal.org/caela/esl_resources/bibliographies/literacy.html
The resources in this collection were selected because they are
evidence-based and provide suggestions and materials for practitioners
working with adult English language learners. The voices of researchers
(e.g., Condelli & Wrigely, Nichols & Sangster); teachers, program
managers, curriculum writers, and trainers (e.g., Brod, Holt, and
Spiegel); and students (by way of an article by Florez  from Focus on
Basics) are included in this bibliography.
Miriam
************
Center for Adult English Language Acquisition
Miriam Burt
Center for Applied Linguistics
4646 40th Street NW
Washington, DC 20016
(202) 362-0700
(202) 363-7204 (fax)
miriam at cal.org 
 
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From KHinson at future-gate.com  Mon Oct 30 19:42:52 2006
From: KHinson at future-gate.com (Katrina Hinson)
Date: Tue, 31 Oct 2006 01:42:52 +0100
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 547]   Re: Counselors/counseling services
In-Reply-To: <PKEKJCKOCECDOMGMJAKNKEIHCHAA.dgeorge@cabell.lib.wv.us>
References: <003301c6fae7$194a0ab0$0202a8c0@your4105e587b6>
	<PKEKJCKOCECDOMGMJAKNKEIHCHAA.dgeorge@cabell.lib.wv.us>
Message-ID: <454655BE.121C.00A0.0@future-gate.com>
I also think you'll find that the states are going to differ from state
to state on "counselors". Some community college programs in NC have a
counselor for their ABE/AHS/GED program but then some do not and are
told to utilize curriculum counselors where the student may or may not
get the same kind of understanding and support needed.
Katrina
>>> "Dee George" <dgeorge at cabell.lib.wv.us> 10/30/2006 12:47 pm >>>
In many states, ABE and Literacy Programs are 2 different programs.  As
far
as I know, Literacy Councils don not require or have
a counselor on staff.  Many are lucky just to be able to afford one or
two
employees.  ABE Programs, on the hand, under the state
Dept. or Education, usually have a counselor available through the
local
post-secondary vocational school.
Deidra (Dee) M. George, Director
Tri-State Literacy Council
455 9th St. Plaza
Cabell County Public Library
Huntington, WV 25701
phone (304)528-5700, fax (304)528-5701
dgeorge at cabell.lib.wv.us 
www.cabell.lib.wv.us 
  -----Original Message-----
  From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov 
[mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov]On Behalf Of Kaye Beall
  Sent: Saturday, October 28, 2006 7:16 PM
  To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov 
  Subject: [FocusOnBasics 541] Counselors/counseling services
  Can anyone help with these questions?  As NCSALL's Outreach
Coordinator, I
recently received this message. Do you know of any states that fund
counselors?
  Thanks, Kaye
  ************
  Hi Kaye,
  I was hoping you could help me out. Presently, I am a Doctoral
candidate
trying to formulate my proposal. My topic is Counselor/counseling
within
Adult Basic Education. I am having the most difficult time coming up
with
national information.
  Could you either post my questions on your list serve or call me if
you
know who I could speak to about this subject.
  My questions are:
  What states require a counselor on staff within their literacy
programs?
  Is the role of Adult Basic Educational counselor defined
state-by-state or
is there a generic counselor role definition?
  Is there a national organization that speaks to the role of counselor
(as
advisor) within literacy programs (not post-secondary)
  Thank you for your support
  Michele Forlizzi
  ****************
  Kaye Beall
  Outreach Coordinator/NCSALL Dissemination Project
  World Education
  4401 S. Madison St.
  Muncie, IN  47302
  Tel: 765-717-3942
  Fax: 208-694-8262
  kaye_beall at worlded.org 
  http://www.ncsall.net 
From bdsunmt at sbcglobal.net  Mon Oct 30 23:34:14 2006
From: bdsunmt at sbcglobal.net (Bonnita Solberg)
Date: Mon, 30 Oct 2006 20:34:14 -0800 (PST)
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 548] Re: Counselors/counseling services
In-Reply-To: <003301c6fae7$194a0ab0$0202a8c0@your4105e587b6>
Message-ID: <20061031043414.96128.qmail@web83108.mail.mud.yahoo.com>
I am forwarding this requrest to the counselor that
works in one of our High School Subjects, ABE programs
in Oakland.  This adult ed school has a counselor
because of the HHS component and ABE students get the
benefit.  ABE programs at other AE schools do not have
counselors.  Bonnita
--- Kaye Beall <kabeall at comcast.net> wrote:
> Can anyone help with these questions?  As NCSALL's
> Outreach Coordinator, I
> recently received this message. Do you know of any
> states that fund
> counselors?  
> 
> Thanks, Kaye
> 
> ************
> 
>  
> 
> Hi Kaye,
> 
>  
> 
> I was hoping you could help me out. Presently, I am
> a Doctoral candidate
> trying to formulate my proposal. My topic is
> Counselor/counseling within
> Adult Basic Education. I am having the most
> difficult time coming up with
> national information. 
> 
>  
> 
> Could you either post my questions on your list
> serve or call me if you know
> who I could speak to about this subject.
> 
>  
> 
> My questions are:
> 
> What states require a counselor on staff within
> their literacy programs?
> 
> Is the role of Adult Basic Educational counselor
> defined state-by-state or
> is there a generic counselor role definition?
> 
> Is there a national organization that speaks to the
> role of counselor (as
> advisor) within literacy programs (not
> post-secondary)
> 
>  
> 
> Thank you for your support
> 
> Michele Forlizzi
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> ****************
> 
> Kaye Beall
> 
> Outreach Coordinator/NCSALL Dissemination Project
> 
> World Education
> 
> 4401 S. Madison St.
> 
> Muncie, IN  47302
> 
> Tel: 765-717-3942
> 
> Fax: 208-694-8262
> 
> kaye_beall at worlded.org
> 
> http://www.ncsall.net
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> >
----------------------------------------------------
> National Institute for Literacy
> Focus on Basics mailing list
> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings,
> please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
From Charlene.Brown at Jefferson.kyschools.us  Tue Oct 31 11:16:42 2006
From: Charlene.Brown at Jefferson.kyschools.us (Brown, Charlene)
Date: Tue, 31 Oct 2006 11:16:42 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 549] Re: Counselors/counseling services
In-Reply-To: <454655BE.121C.00A0.0@future-gate.com>
Message-ID: <60E2F869F45DE34DBC8609D255E8357A08365202@ED275X1.jefferson.ketsds.net>
Katrina,
I think that you have pinpointed a critical aspect of counseling for
adult basic education students.  There is a difference between adult
basic education students (particularly the literacy and pre-GED
students),  and even community college students.  Community College
counselors are trained to encourage and facilitate students interested
in college.  For many of the lower level students, that is a long term
and iffy goal.  
-----Original Message-----
From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Katrina Hinson
Sent: Monday, October 30, 2006 7:43 PM
To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 547] Re: Counselors/counseling services
I also think you'll find that the states are going to differ from state
to state on "counselors". Some community college programs in NC have a
counselor for their ABE/AHS/GED program but then some do not and are
told to utilize curriculum counselors where the student may or may not
get the same kind of understanding and support needed.
Katrina
>>> "Dee George" <dgeorge at cabell.lib.wv.us> 10/30/2006 12:47 pm >>>
In many states, ABE and Literacy Programs are 2 different programs.  As
far
as I know, Literacy Councils don not require or have
a counselor on staff.  Many are lucky just to be able to afford one or
two
employees.  ABE Programs, on the hand, under the state
Dept. or Education, usually have a counselor available through the
local
post-secondary vocational school.
Deidra (Dee) M. George, Director
Tri-State Literacy Council
455 9th St. Plaza
Cabell County Public Library
Huntington, WV 25701
phone (304)528-5700, fax (304)528-5701
dgeorge at cabell.lib.wv.us 
www.cabell.lib.wv.us 
  -----Original Message-----
  From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov 
[mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov]On Behalf Of Kaye Beall
  Sent: Saturday, October 28, 2006 7:16 PM
  To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov 
  Subject: [FocusOnBasics 541] Counselors/counseling services
  Can anyone help with these questions?  As NCSALL's Outreach
Coordinator, I
recently received this message. Do you know of any states that fund
counselors?
  Thanks, Kaye
  ************
  Hi Kaye,
  I was hoping you could help me out. Presently, I am a Doctoral
candidate
trying to formulate my proposal. My topic is Counselor/counseling
within
Adult Basic Education. I am having the most difficult time coming up
with
national information.
  Could you either post my questions on your list serve or call me if
you
know who I could speak to about this subject.
  My questions are:
  What states require a counselor on staff within their literacy
programs?
  Is the role of Adult Basic Educational counselor defined
state-by-state or
is there a generic counselor role definition?
  Is there a national organization that speaks to the role of counselor
(as
advisor) within literacy programs (not post-secondary)
  Thank you for your support
  Michele Forlizzi
  ****************
  Kaye Beall
  Outreach Coordinator/NCSALL Dissemination Project
  World Education
  4401 S. Madison St.
  Muncie, IN  47302
  Tel: 765-717-3942
  Fax: 208-694-8262
  kaye_beall at worlded.org 
  http://www.ncsall.net 
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
From cynthia_zafft at worlded.org  Tue Oct 31 12:49:23 2006
From: cynthia_zafft at worlded.org (Cynthia Zafft)
Date: Tue, 31 Oct 2006 12:49:23 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 550]  Counselor/counseling services
Message-ID: <s54747b9.081@mail.jsi.com>
Dear FOBers:
The National College Transition Network produces practices that are
geared toward the counseling role in transition programs.  See
http://www.collegetransition.org/promising/practice.html 
Practices 1, 2, 5, & 6 are for counselors.  As well as several of the
Research-to-Practice Briefs:
http://www.collegetransition.org/promising/rp.html 
The counseling practices were developed as a specialty niche for
programs that find funding for a transition component (not always easy
but one area that local businesses/employers/foundations seem to be
interested in funding).  And, the practices have a more general career
development application.  Also, we have a adult student website that
could support counseling work with students.  See:
http://www.collegeforadults.org 
Cynthia Zafft, Director
National College Transition Network (NCTN)
World Education, Inc.
44 Farnsworth Street
Boston, MA 02210
(617) 482-9485
www.collegetransition.org
From julie_mcKinney at worlded.org  Tue Oct 31 15:13:44 2006
From: julie_mcKinney at worlded.org (Julie  McKinney)
Date: Tue, 31 Oct 2006 15:13:44 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 551]  FOB Article-of-the-Week: Counseling
Message-ID: <s54769fe.005@mail.jsi.com>
Hi Everyone,
While we're talking about counseling, let's read the following FOB
Article-of-the-Week:
Who Helps the Helpers? Supporting Counselors in Adult Basic Education
by Cathy Coleman
http://www.ncsall.net/?id=219
This article discusses role definition and issues that stem from a lack
thereof, how to build relationships with learners, what role referrals
play, and more. 
I look forward to hearing your thoughts,
Julie
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
From j-p-sinclair at worldnet.att.net  Thu Nov  2 13:00:26 2006
From: j-p-sinclair at worldnet.att.net (Judith Sinclair)
Date: Thu, 2 Nov 2006 12:00:26 -0600
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 552] Re: Counselors/counseling services
References: <20061031043414.96128.qmail@web83108.mail.mud.yahoo.com>
Message-ID: <007701c6fea8$c7143930$74134d0c@Dell>
Hello, all:
As usual, I am very interested in what all of you have to say about the 
issues of counselors and counseling.  As some of you know, as part of my 
professional activities I am a Life and Career Management Services 
Consultant.  (You can find out more about this work on my website if you are 
interested: www.sinclairsystem.com.)  I would say that the majority of my 
clients have told me that they did not receive proper counseling or in some 
cases any counseling at all in their high school, and if applicable college, 
years.  As a result, they are often unclear about what they are about, that 
is, what they really want to do and how to go about finding and getting what 
they really want out of their school and work, and life in general.
I have done some research in this area, and in fact a few years ago while 
providing college preparedness advising to a group basic through AP high 
school seniors ran a few studies that were for my own interest but that have 
certainly informed what I do now.  During these studies I learned that our 
students, the most needy as well as the best and the brightest included, do 
not feel as if they are prepared for college or work.  The high school 
students also told me that they rarely went to the counselors as they 
believed them to be indifferent and/or inept.  This dovetails with my 
research in first and second year community college students, also basic 
through advanced, who also told me they felt that way.  The community 
college students also told  me that they believe the counseling facilities 
at their highly-touted facility are woefully inadequate.
Again, this response underscores my own experience when, a few years ago as 
I was finishing my doctorate in cognitive psychology and education, I worked 
as a community college advisor and counselor.  It was there I learned that 
many students, again basic through advanced, go to these counseling and 
advising centers unwillingly, and often as a last resort.  The reason?  They 
told me that they were often given wrong information, or incomplete 
information, and that in some cases this cost the students considerable loss 
in terms of tuition money and "wasted semesters."  On the other side of the 
coin I learned from my colleagues (and from my own experience) that the 
counseling and advising facilities at the community college were not what 
they might be.  As I recall, we advisors/counselors were in a "round-robin" 
kind of arrangement, where the emphasis was on how many students you saw in 
one hour, as opposed to how many students were advised/counseled correctly. 
There were also many discrepancies between what I knew to be "best practice" 
and what I saw going on.  And, it was at this same place that I saw with my 
own eyes the fallout from poor counseling in the form of student angst, 
depression, and so on--some of it most serious.
It is my idea now (and especially in light of the disappearing traditional 
American family system) that counseling/advising should begin in the early 
years of education, and indeed during the 8 years of my pilot studies with 
several area public elementary schools I provided just that.  I was 
responding in some part to the argument of whether schools should take on 
the roles of family and parenting.  It was my idea that this argument was 
moot, as the schools were already in that position--for better or worse. 
Therefore, as part of my program, I incorporated a counseling/advisement 
module to my model for 2nd, 3rd, and 4th graders, although the emphasis was 
on the 3rd grade.  The result was significant and impressive, for the very 
young students saw for themselves the road before them, and among other 
things learned about making wise choices.  Now, in my practice, I help my 
adolescent and adult clients revisit the territory that might have been 
covered by counselors and advisors at an earlier time.  The details or our 
success rate are fascinating, and again support my earlier theories and 
findings.
Thanks again for sharing your information.  Again, I invite you to review my 
work and website for additional information on what I do and how my 
background and education now services my community.
All best,
Judith P. Sinclair, PhD
Cognitive Psychologist and Educator
www.sinclairsytem.com
j-p-sinclair at att.net
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Bonnita Solberg" <bdsunmt at sbcglobal.net>
To: "The Focus on Basics Discussion List" <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
Sent: Monday, October 30, 2006 10:34 PM
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 548] Re: Counselors/counseling services
>I am forwarding this requrest to the counselor that
> works in one of our High School Subjects, ABE programs
> in Oakland.  This adult ed school has a counselor
> because of the HHS component and ABE students get the
> benefit.  ABE programs at other AE schools do not have
> counselors.  Bonnita
>
> --- Kaye Beall <kabeall at comcast.net> wrote:
>
>> Can anyone help with these questions?  As NCSALL's
>> Outreach Coordinator, I
>> recently received this message. Do you know of any
>> states that fund
>> counselors?
>>
>> Thanks, Kaye
>>
>> ************
>>
>>
>>
>> Hi Kaye,
>>
>>
>>
>> I was hoping you could help me out. Presently, I am
>> a Doctoral candidate
>> trying to formulate my proposal. My topic is
>> Counselor/counseling within
>> Adult Basic Education. I am having the most
>> difficult time coming up with
>> national information.
>>
>>
>>
>> Could you either post my questions on your list
>> serve or call me if you know
>> who I could speak to about this subject.
>>
>>
>>
>> My questions are:
>>
>> What states require a counselor on staff within
>> their literacy programs?
>>
>> Is the role of Adult Basic Educational counselor
>> defined state-by-state or
>> is there a generic counselor role definition?
>>
>> Is there a national organization that speaks to the
>> role of counselor (as
>> advisor) within literacy programs (not
>> post-secondary)
>>
>>
>>
>> Thank you for your support
>>
>> Michele Forlizzi
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> ****************
>>
>> Kaye Beall
>>
>> Outreach Coordinator/NCSALL Dissemination Project
>>
>> World Education
>>
>> 4401 S. Madison St.
>>
>> Muncie, IN  47302
>>
>> Tel: 765-717-3942
>>
>> Fax: 208-694-8262
>>
>> kaye_beall at worlded.org
>>
>> http://www.ncsall.net
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> >
> ----------------------------------------------------
>> National Institute for Literacy
>> Focus on Basics mailing list
>> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings,
>> please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
> ----------------------------------------------------
> National Institute for Literacy
> Focus on Basics mailing list
> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to 
> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
> 
From Charlene.Brown at Jefferson.kyschools.us  Fri Nov  3 09:02:37 2006
From: Charlene.Brown at Jefferson.kyschools.us (Brown, Charlene)
Date: Fri, 3 Nov 2006 09:02:37 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 553] Re: Counselors/counseling services
In-Reply-To: <007701c6fea8$c7143930$74134d0c@Dell>
Message-ID: <60E2F869F45DE34DBC8609D255E8357A087B245E@ED275X1.jefferson.ketsds.net>
YES!  YES!  Thank you for eloquently stating and quantifyinbg what I
have observed first as a student, then a teacher, and as a parent of
three.  The counseling departments are critical at all phases of
education, but are never really supported by the powers that be.  They
are treated as luxuries with bare minimum expenditures.  
I believe that inadequate counseling is the main reason students do not
complete studies.  
Some colleges seem to have the attitude that a student semester is never
wasted--he/she learns something.  What they refuse to understand is that
their philosophy is short-sighted in that most students do not have a
trust fund that allows them the luxury of taking an unlimited number of
courses.  Therefore, they end up having to drop out without completing a
degree to verify what they have learned.  
I really feel that federal legislation should be passed that requires
reimbursement for "wasted" courses that are the result of poor advising
on the part of the college, and that a penalty fee be paid to the
student that is equal to 1/2 the average first-year salary of what
he/she would have earned if employed.  This might move the emphasis to
properly staffing and supporting counselors. 
By the way this opinion is my own and does not reflect that of my
employer.
-----Original Message-----
From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Judith Sinclair
Sent: Thursday, November 02, 2006 1:00 PM
To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 552] Re: Counselors/counseling services
Hello, all:
As usual, I am very interested in what all of you have to say about the 
issues of counselors and counseling.  As some of you know, as part of my
professional activities I am a Life and Career Management Services 
Consultant.  (You can find out more about this work on my website if you
are 
interested: www.sinclairsystem.com.)  I would say that the majority of
my 
clients have told me that they did not receive proper counseling or in
some 
cases any counseling at all in their high school, and if applicable
college, 
years.  As a result, they are often unclear about what they are about,
that 
is, what they really want to do and how to go about finding and getting
what 
they really want out of their school and work, and life in general.
I have done some research in this area, and in fact a few years ago
while 
providing college preparedness advising to a group basic through AP high
school seniors ran a few studies that were for my own interest but that
have 
certainly informed what I do now.  During these studies I learned that
our 
students, the most needy as well as the best and the brightest included,
do 
not feel as if they are prepared for college or work.  The high school 
students also told me that they rarely went to the counselors as they 
believed them to be indifferent and/or inept.  This dovetails with my 
research in first and second year community college students, also basic
through advanced, who also told me they felt that way.  The community 
college students also told  me that they believe the counseling
facilities 
at their highly-touted facility are woefully inadequate.
Again, this response underscores my own experience when, a few years ago
as 
I was finishing my doctorate in cognitive psychology and education, I
worked 
as a community college advisor and counselor.  It was there I learned
that 
many students, again basic through advanced, go to these counseling and 
advising centers unwillingly, and often as a last resort.  The reason?
They 
told me that they were often given wrong information, or incomplete 
information, and that in some cases this cost the students considerable
loss 
in terms of tuition money and "wasted semesters."  On the other side of
the 
coin I learned from my colleagues (and from my own experience) that the 
counseling and advising facilities at the community college were not
what 
they might be.  As I recall, we advisors/counselors were in a
"round-robin" 
kind of arrangement, where the emphasis was on how many students you saw
in 
one hour, as opposed to how many students were advised/counseled
correctly. 
There were also many discrepancies between what I knew to be "best
practice" 
and what I saw going on.  And, it was at this same place that I saw with
my 
own eyes the fallout from poor counseling in the form of student angst, 
depression, and so on--some of it most serious.
It is my idea now (and especially in light of the disappearing
traditional 
American family system) that counseling/advising should begin in the
early 
years of education, and indeed during the 8 years of my pilot studies
with 
several area public elementary schools I provided just that.  I was 
responding in some part to the argument of whether schools should take
on 
the roles of family and parenting.  It was my idea that this argument
was 
moot, as the schools were already in that position--for better or worse.
Therefore, as part of my program, I incorporated a counseling/advisement
module to my model for 2nd, 3rd, and 4th graders, although the emphasis
was 
on the 3rd grade.  The result was significant and impressive, for the
very 
young students saw for themselves the road before them, and among other 
things learned about making wise choices.  Now, in my practice, I help
my 
adolescent and adult clients revisit the territory that might have been 
covered by counselors and advisors at an earlier time.  The details or
our 
success rate are fascinating, and again support my earlier theories and 
findings.
Thanks again for sharing your information.  Again, I invite you to
review my 
work and website for additional information on what I do and how my 
background and education now services my community.
All best,
Judith P. Sinclair, PhD
Cognitive Psychologist and Educator
www.sinclairsytem.com
j-p-sinclair at att.net
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Bonnita Solberg" <bdsunmt at sbcglobal.net>
To: "The Focus on Basics Discussion List" <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
Sent: Monday, October 30, 2006 10:34 PM
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 548] Re: Counselors/counseling services
>I am forwarding this requrest to the counselor that
> works in one of our High School Subjects, ABE programs
> in Oakland.  This adult ed school has a counselor
> because of the HHS component and ABE students get the
> benefit.  ABE programs at other AE schools do not have
> counselors.  Bonnita
>
> --- Kaye Beall <kabeall at comcast.net> wrote:
>
>> Can anyone help with these questions?  As NCSALL's
>> Outreach Coordinator, I
>> recently received this message. Do you know of any
>> states that fund
>> counselors?
>>
>> Thanks, Kaye
>>
>> ************
>>
>>
>>
>> Hi Kaye,
>>
>>
>>
>> I was hoping you could help me out. Presently, I am
>> a Doctoral candidate
>> trying to formulate my proposal. My topic is
>> Counselor/counseling within
>> Adult Basic Education. I am having the most
>> difficult time coming up with
>> national information.
>>
>>
>>
>> Could you either post my questions on your list
>> serve or call me if you know
>> who I could speak to about this subject.
>>
>>
>>
>> My questions are:
>>
>> What states require a counselor on staff within
>> their literacy programs?
>>
>> Is the role of Adult Basic Educational counselor
>> defined state-by-state or
>> is there a generic counselor role definition?
>>
>> Is there a national organization that speaks to the
>> role of counselor (as
>> advisor) within literacy programs (not
>> post-secondary)
>>
>>
>>
>> Thank you for your support
>>
>> Michele Forlizzi
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> ****************
>>
>> Kaye Beall
>>
>> Outreach Coordinator/NCSALL Dissemination Project
>>
>> World Education
>>
>> 4401 S. Madison St.
>>
>> Muncie, IN  47302
>>
>> Tel: 765-717-3942
>>
>> Fax: 208-694-8262
>>
>> kaye_beall at worlded.org
>>
>> http://www.ncsall.net
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> >
> ----------------------------------------------------
>> National Institute for Literacy
>> Focus on Basics mailing list
>> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings,
>> please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
> ----------------------------------------------------
> National Institute for Literacy
> Focus on Basics mailing list
> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to 
> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
> 
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
-------------- next part --------------
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From julie_mcKinney at worlded.org  Fri Nov  3 13:18:35 2006
From: julie_mcKinney at worlded.org (Julie  McKinney)
Date: Fri, 03 Nov 2006 13:18:35 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 553] Re: Counselors/counseling services
Message-ID: <s54b43b8.017@mail.jsi.com>
Thanks, everyone for sharing your thoughts about counseling in literacy
programs. I think that in ABE programs, particlarly for pre-GED and ESOL
learners, the role of the counselor is quite different than in community
colleges, where it is mostly focused on schooling, course selection and
transitioning to work or higher learning. 
Where I used to work as an ESOL teacher, there were counselors who were
responsible for helping the students in any way necessary to help them
come to class. This meant referrals for childcare, transportation
vouchers, tutoring if needed, further testing for learning issues,
housing issues, domestic violence support, or even just a phone call to
remind them to come. This kind of suppport is essential for many adult
students who have lives that make the logistics of schooling very
difficult. This is very different than what we've talked about so far.
How do the states and programs support these kinds of counselors? How
worthwhile is it to do so?
We've talked about the following article before. It shows other examples
of how sitting down with a couselor can uncover key issues that affect
the student's learning.
Taking a Closer Look at Struggling ESOL Learners
http://www.ncsall.net/index.php?id=994 
All the best,
Julie
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
>>> Charlene.Brown at Jefferson.kyschools.us 11/03/06 9:02 AM >>>
YES!  YES!  Thank you for eloquently stating and quantifyinbg what I
have observed first as a student, then a teacher, and as a parent of
three.  The counseling departments are critical at all phases of
education, but are never really supported by the powers that be.  They
are treated as luxuries with bare minimum expenditures.  
I believe that inadequate counseling is the main reason students do not
complete studies.  
Some colleges seem to have the attitude that a student semester is never
wasted--he/she learns something.  What they refuse to understand is that
their philosophy is short-sighted in that most students do not have a
trust fund that allows them the luxury of taking an unlimited number of
courses.  Therefore, they end up having to drop out without completing a
degree to verify what they have learned.  
I really feel that federal legislation should be passed that requires
reimbursement for "wasted" courses that are the result of poor advising
on the part of the college, and that a penalty fee be paid to the
student that is equal to 1/2 the average first-year salary of what
he/she would have earned if employed.  This might move the emphasis to
properly staffing and supporting counselors. 
By the way this opinion is my own and does not reflect that of my
employer.
-----Original Message-----
From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Judith Sinclair
Sent: Thursday, November 02, 2006 1:00 PM
To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 552] Re: Counselors/counseling services
Hello, all:
As usual, I am very interested in what all of you have to say about the 
issues of counselors and counseling.  As some of you know, as part of my
professional activities I am a Life and Career Management Services 
Consultant.  (You can find out more about this work on my website if you
are 
interested: www.sinclairsystem.com.)  I would say that the majority of
my 
clients have told me that they did not receive proper counseling or in
some 
cases any counseling at all in their high school, and if applicable
college, 
years.  As a result, they are often unclear about what they are about,
that 
is, what they really want to do and how to go about finding and getting
what 
they really want out of their school and work, and life in general.
I have done some research in this area, and in fact a few years ago
while 
providing college preparedness advising to a group basic through AP high
school seniors ran a few studies that were for my own interest but that
have 
certainly informed what I do now.  During these studies I learned that
our 
students, the most needy as well as the best and the brightest included,
do 
not feel as if they are prepared for college or work.  The high school 
students also told me that they rarely went to the counselors as they 
believed them to be indifferent and/or inept.  This dovetails with my 
research in first and second year community college students, also basic
through advanced, who also told me they felt that way.  The community 
college students also told  me that they believe the counseling
facilities 
at their highly-touted facility are woefully inadequate.
Again, this response underscores my own experience when, a few years ago
as 
I was finishing my doctorate in cognitive psychology and education, I
worked 
as a community college advisor and counselor.  It was there I learned
that 
many students, again basic through advanced, go to these counseling and 
advising centers unwillingly, and often as a last resort.  The reason?
They 
told me that they were often given wrong information, or incomplete 
information, and that in some cases this cost the students considerable
loss 
in terms of tuition money and "wasted semesters."  On the other side of
the 
coin I learned from my colleagues (and from my own experience) that the 
counseling and advising facilities at the community college were not
what 
they might be.  As I recall, we advisors/counselors were in a
"round-robin" 
kind of arrangement, where the emphasis was on how many students you saw
in 
one hour, as opposed to how many students were advised/counseled
correctly. 
There were also many discrepancies between what I knew to be "best
practice" 
and what I saw going on.  And, it was at this same place that I saw with
my 
own eyes the fallout from poor counseling in the form of student angst, 
depression, and so on--some of it most serious.
It is my idea now (and especially in light of the disappearing
traditional 
American family system) that counseling/advising should begin in the
early 
years of education, and indeed during the 8 years of my pilot studies
with 
several area public elementary schools I provided just that.  I was 
responding in some part to the argument of whether schools should take
on 
the roles of family and parenting.  It was my idea that this argument
was 
moot, as the schools were already in that position--for better or worse.
Therefore, as part of my program, I incorporated a counseling/advisement
module to my model for 2nd, 3rd, and 4th graders, although the emphasis
was 
on the 3rd grade.  The result was significant and impressive, for the
very 
young students saw for themselves the road before them, and among other 
things learned about making wise choices.  Now, in my practice, I help
my 
adolescent and adult clients revisit the territory that might have been 
covered by counselors and advisors at an earlier time.  The details or
our 
success rate are fascinating, and again support my earlier theories and 
findings.
Thanks again for sharing your information.  Again, I invite you to
review my 
work and website for additional information on what I do and how my 
background and education now services my community.
All best,
Judith P. Sinclair, PhD
Cognitive Psychologist and Educator
www.sinclairsytem.com
j-p-sinclair at att.net
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Bonnita Solberg" <bdsunmt at sbcglobal.net>
To: "The Focus on Basics Discussion List" <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
Sent: Monday, October 30, 2006 10:34 PM
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 548] Re: Counselors/counseling services
>I am forwarding this requrest to the counselor that
> works in one of our High School Subjects, ABE programs
> in Oakland.  This adult ed school has a counselor
> because of the HHS component and ABE students get the
> benefit.  ABE programs at other AE schools do not have
> counselors.  Bonnita
>
> --- Kaye Beall <kabeall at comcast.net> wrote:
>
>> Can anyone help with these questions?  As NCSALL's
>> Outreach Coordinator, I
>> recently received this message. Do you know of any
>> states that fund
>> counselors?
>>
>> Thanks, Kaye
>>
>> ************
>>
>>
>>
>> Hi Kaye,
>>
>>
>>
>> I was hoping you could help me out. Presently, I am
>> a Doctoral candidate
>> trying to formulate my proposal. My topic is
>> Counselor/counseling within
>> Adult Basic Education. I am having the most
>> difficult time coming up with
>> national information.
>>
>>
>>
>> Could you either post my questions on your list
>> serve or call me if you know
>> who I could speak to about this subject.
>>
>>
>>
>> My questions are:
>>
>> What states require a counselor on staff within
>> their literacy programs?
>>
>> Is the role of Adult Basic Educational counselor
>> defined state-by-state or
>> is there a generic counselor role definition?
>>
>> Is there a national organization that speaks to the
>> role of counselor (as
>> advisor) within literacy programs (not
>> post-secondary)
>>
>>
>>
>> Thank you for your support
>>
>> Michele Forlizzi
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> ****************
>>
>> Kaye Beall
>>
>> Outreach Coordinator/NCSALL Dissemination Project
>>
>> World Education
>>
>> 4401 S. Madison St.
>>
>> Muncie, IN  47302
>>
>> Tel: 765-717-3942
>>
>> Fax: 208-694-8262
>>
>> kaye_beall at worlded.org
>>
>> http://www.ncsall.net
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> >
> ----------------------------------------------------
>> National Institute for Literacy
>> Focus on Basics mailing list
>> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings,
>> please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
> ----------------------------------------------------
> National Institute for Literacy
> Focus on Basics mailing list
> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to 
> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
> 
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
From mjjerdems at yahoo.com  Fri Nov  3 16:22:29 2006
From: mjjerdems at yahoo.com (Mary Jane Jerde)
Date: Fri, 3 Nov 2006 13:22:29 -0800 (PST)
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 554] Re: Counselors/counseling services
In-Reply-To: <s54b43b8.017@mail.jsi.com>
Message-ID: <20061103212229.41952.qmail@web54005.mail.yahoo.com>
The only programs I know of in my area where this kind of support occurs is in Even Start Family Literacy Programs and when students are being sponsored by faith based organizations with some dedicated volunteers.
Mary Jane Jerde
Maryland
Julie  McKinney <julie_mcKinney at worlded.org> wrote: Thanks, everyone for sharing your thoughts about counseling in literacy
programs. I think that in ABE programs, particlarly for pre-GED and ESOL
learners, the role of the counselor is quite different than in community
colleges, where it is mostly focused on schooling, course selection and
transitioning to work or higher learning. 
Where I used to work as an ESOL teacher, there were counselors who were
responsible for helping the students in any way necessary to help them
come to class. This meant referrals for childcare, transportation
vouchers, tutoring if needed, further testing for learning issues,
housing issues, domestic violence support, or even just a phone call to
remind them to come. This kind of suppport is essential for many adult
students who have lives that make the logistics of schooling very
difficult. This is very different than what we've talked about so far.
How do the states and programs support these kinds of counselors? How
worthwhile is it to do so?
We've talked about the following article before. It shows other examples
of how sitting down with a couselor can uncover key issues that affect
the student's learning.
Taking a Closer Look at Struggling ESOL Learners
http://www.ncsall.net/index.php?id=994 
All the best,
Julie
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
>>> Charlene.Brown at Jefferson.kyschools.us 11/03/06 9:02 AM >>>
YES!  YES!  Thank you for eloquently stating and quantifyinbg what I
have observed first as a student, then a teacher, and as a parent of
three.  The counseling departments are critical at all phases of
education, but are never really supported by the powers that be.  They
are treated as luxuries with bare minimum expenditures.  
I believe that inadequate counseling is the main reason students do not
complete studies.  
Some colleges seem to have the attitude that a student semester is never
wasted--he/she learns something.  What they refuse to understand is that
their philosophy is short-sighted in that most students do not have a
trust fund that allows them the luxury of taking an unlimited number of
courses.  Therefore, they end up having to drop out without completing a
degree to verify what they have learned.  
I really feel that federal legislation should be passed that requires
reimbursement for "wasted" courses that are the result of poor advising
on the part of the college, and that a penalty fee be paid to the
student that is equal to 1/2 the average first-year salary of what
he/she would have earned if employed.  This might move the emphasis to
properly staffing and supporting counselors. 
By the way this opinion is my own and does not reflect that of my
employer.
-----Original Message-----
From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Judith Sinclair
Sent: Thursday, November 02, 2006 1:00 PM
To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 552] Re: Counselors/counseling services
Hello, all:
As usual, I am very interested in what all of you have to say about the 
issues of counselors and counseling.  As some of you know, as part of my
professional activities I am a Life and Career Management Services 
Consultant.  (You can find out more about this work on my website if you
are 
interested: www.sinclairsystem.com.)  I would say that the majority of
my 
clients have told me that they did not receive proper counseling or in
some 
cases any counseling at all in their high school, and if applicable
college, 
years.  As a result, they are often unclear about what they are about,
that 
is, what they really want to do and how to go about finding and getting
what 
they really want out of their school and work, and life in general.
I have done some research in this area, and in fact a few years ago
while 
providing college preparedness advising to a group basic through AP high
school seniors ran a few studies that were for my own interest but that
have 
certainly informed what I do now.  During these studies I learned that
our 
students, the most needy as well as the best and the brightest included,
do 
not feel as if they are prepared for college or work.  The high school 
students also told me that they rarely went to the counselors as they 
believed them to be indifferent and/or inept.  This dovetails with my 
research in first and second year community college students, also basic
through advanced, who also told me they felt that way.  The community 
college students also told  me that they believe the counseling
facilities 
at their highly-touted facility are woefully inadequate.
Again, this response underscores my own experience when, a few years ago
as 
I was finishing my doctorate in cognitive psychology and education, I
worked 
as a community college advisor and counselor.  It was there I learned
that 
many students, again basic through advanced, go to these counseling and 
advising centers unwillingly, and often as a last resort.  The reason?
They 
told me that they were often given wrong information, or incomplete 
information, and that in some cases this cost the students considerable
loss 
in terms of tuition money and "wasted semesters."  On the other side of
the 
coin I learned from my colleagues (and from my own experience) that the 
counseling and advising facilities at the community college were not
what 
they might be.  As I recall, we advisors/counselors were in a
"round-robin" 
kind of arrangement, where the emphasis was on how many students you saw
in 
one hour, as opposed to how many students were advised/counseled
correctly. 
There were also many discrepancies between what I knew to be "best
practice" 
and what I saw going on.  And, it was at this same place that I saw with
my 
own eyes the fallout from poor counseling in the form of student angst, 
depression, and so on--some of it most serious.
It is my idea now (and especially in light of the disappearing
traditional 
American family system) that counseling/advising should begin in the
early 
years of education, and indeed during the 8 years of my pilot studies
with 
several area public elementary schools I provided just that.  I was 
responding in some part to the argument of whether schools should take
on 
the roles of family and parenting.  It was my idea that this argument
was 
moot, as the schools were already in that position--for better or worse.
Therefore, as part of my program, I incorporated a counseling/advisement
module to my model for 2nd, 3rd, and 4th graders, although the emphasis
was 
on the 3rd grade.  The result was significant and impressive, for the
very 
young students saw for themselves the road before them, and among other 
things learned about making wise choices.  Now, in my practice, I help
my 
adolescent and adult clients revisit the territory that might have been 
covered by counselors and advisors at an earlier time.  The details or
our 
success rate are fascinating, and again support my earlier theories and 
findings.
Thanks again for sharing your information.  Again, I invite you to
review my 
work and website for additional information on what I do and how my 
background and education now services my community.
All best,
Judith P. Sinclair, PhD
Cognitive Psychologist and Educator
www.sinclairsytem.com
j-p-sinclair at att.net
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Bonnita Solberg" 
To: "The Focus on Basics Discussion List" 
Sent: Monday, October 30, 2006 10:34 PM
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 548] Re: Counselors/counseling services
>I am forwarding this requrest to the counselor that
> works in one of our High School Subjects, ABE programs
> in Oakland.  This adult ed school has a counselor
> because of the HHS component and ABE students get the
> benefit.  ABE programs at other AE schools do not have
> counselors.  Bonnita
>
> --- Kaye Beall  wrote:
>
>> Can anyone help with these questions?  As NCSALL's
>> Outreach Coordinator, I
>> recently received this message. Do you know of any
>> states that fund
>> counselors?
>>
>> Thanks, Kaye
>>
>> ************
>>
>>
>>
>> Hi Kaye,
>>
>>
>>
>> I was hoping you could help me out. Presently, I am
>> a Doctoral candidate
>> trying to formulate my proposal. My topic is
>> Counselor/counseling within
>> Adult Basic Education. I am having the most
>> difficult time coming up with
>> national information.
>>
>>
>>
>> Could you either post my questions on your list
>> serve or call me if you know
>> who I could speak to about this subject.
>>
>>
>>
>> My questions are:
>>
>> What states require a counselor on staff within
>> their literacy programs?
>>
>> Is the role of Adult Basic Educational counselor
>> defined state-by-state or
>> is there a generic counselor role definition?
>>
>> Is there a national organization that speaks to the
>> role of counselor (as
>> advisor) within literacy programs (not
>> post-secondary)
>>
>>
>>
>> Thank you for your support
>>
>> Michele Forlizzi
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> ****************
>>
>> Kaye Beall
>>
>> Outreach Coordinator/NCSALL Dissemination Project
>>
>> World Education
>>
>> 4401 S. Madison St.
>>
>> Muncie, IN  47302
>>
>> Tel: 765-717-3942
>>
>> Fax: 208-694-8262
>>
>> kaye_beall at worlded.org
>>
>> http://www.ncsall.net
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> >
> ----------------------------------------------------
>> National Institute for Literacy
>> Focus on Basics mailing list
>> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings,
>> please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
> ----------------------------------------------------
> National Institute for Literacy
> Focus on Basics mailing list
> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to 
> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
> 
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
 
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From julie_mcKinney at worlded.org  Wed Nov  8 09:09:44 2006
From: julie_mcKinney at worlded.org (Julie McKinney)
Date: Wed, 08 Nov 2006 09:09:44 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 555] FOB Article-of-the-Week: Differentiated and
	Multilevel	Instruction
Message-ID: <45519ED80200002D00000019@mail.jsi.com>
Hi Everyone,
Sorry I'm a day late, but here is this week's FOB Article-of-the-week.
It is actually a pair this week, and they are from Volume 7C , which is
all about modes of delivery.
Differentiated Instruction: Adjusting to the Needs of All Learners
By Mary Ann Corley
http://www.ncsall.net/index.php?id=736 
Differentiating Instruction for a Multilevel Class
by Catherine Saldana
http://www.ncsall.net/index.php?id=735
I know that most teachers face classes with a variety of levels, and
must figure out ways to teach to all of them effectively. I hope that
this pair of articles can invite you to share ideas and strategies for
this challenge.
All the best,
Julie
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
-------------- next part --------------
An embedded message was scrubbed...
From: " Julie McKinney  " <julie_mcKinney at worlded.org>
Subject: FOB Article-of-the Week: Differentiated and Multilevel
	Instruction
Date: Wed, 08 Nov 2006 09:05:42 -0500
Size: 2398
Url: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/focusonbasics/attachments/20061108/3ee0c45c/attachment.mht 
From julie_mcKinney at worlded.org  Fri Nov 10 09:21:46 2006
From: julie_mcKinney at worlded.org (Julie McKinney)
Date: Fri, 10 Nov 2006 09:21:46 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 556] Re: FOB Article-of-the-Week:	Differentiated and
	Multilevel	Instruction
Message-ID: <455444AE0200002D0000004D@mail.jsi.com>
Hey, has anyone read (or re-read) these articles? The first describes
differentiated instruction, with examples, references and a list of web
resources. The second describes one teacher's successful experience
using differentiated instruction with an extremely multilevel class. 
What forms of differentiated instruction have worked for you?
Julie
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
>>> "Julie McKinney" <julie_mcKinney at worlded.org> 11/08/06 9:09 AM >>>
Hi Everyone,
Sorry I'm a day late, but here is this week's FOB Article-of-the-week.
It is actually a pair this week, and they are from Volume 7C , which is
all about modes of delivery.
Differentiated Instruction: Adjusting to the Needs of All Learners
By Mary Ann Corley
http://www.ncsall.net/index.php?id=736 
Differentiating Instruction for a Multilevel Class
by Catherine Saldana
http://www.ncsall.net/index.php?id=735
I know that most teachers face classes with a variety of levels, and
must figure out ways to teach to all of them effectively. I hope that
this pair of articles can invite you to share ideas and strategies for
this challenge.
All the best,
Julie
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
From julie_mcKinney at worlded.org  Mon Nov 13 11:27:19 2006
From: julie_mcKinney at worlded.org (Julie McKinney)
Date: Mon, 13 Nov 2006 11:27:19 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 557]  CROSSPOSTED: New List: Poverty, Race,
	Women and Literacy
Message-ID: <4558567B0200002D00000088@bostongwia.jsi.com>
Hi Everyone,
I am passing on this announcement about a new Discussion List from the
National Institute for Literacy: Poverty, Race, Women and Literacy. 
If you are interested in subscribing, please to do so by going to:
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/PovertyRaceWomen
All the best,
Julie
**********************************************************
Here is the announcement from the list's moderator, Daphne Greenberg:
The purpose of this list is to provide an on-going professional
development forum for providers, advocates, researchers, learners,
policy makers, and all other persons who are interested in exploring the
linkages between poverty, race, women and literacy. Examples of topics
include: the relationships among poverty, race, women and literacy in
the United States and in other countries; health as it pertains to women
and poverty issues; the hidden rules of persons living with the effects
of poverty, the intersection of these effects with gender and race, and
the misunderstandings these can cause in the teaching/learning process;
the role of women's literacy in family literacy programs, and the
assumptions about race and poverty often made in these programs;
domestic violence and its intersection with poverty, race, and literacy;
women's literacy levels and its ties to economics and welfare of
families; access to literacy in different cultures based on gender,
racial, and economic status; connection between women's literacy, race,
poverty and public policy; identification of supportive communication
networks; and discussion of action steps addressing women, race, poverty
and literacy.
If the above description interests you, please go to the following
address to subscribe:
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/PovertyRaceWomen . The list opens
on November 6th.
Thanks,
Daphne
Daphne Greenberg
Assistant Professor
Educational Psych. & Special Ed.
Georgia State University
P.O. Box 3979
Atlanta, Georgia 30302-3979
phone: 404-651-0127
fax:404-651-4901
dgreenberg at gsu.edu
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
From julie_mcKinney at worlded.org  Mon Nov 13 13:40:12 2006
From: julie_mcKinney at worlded.org (Julie McKinney)
Date: Mon, 13 Nov 2006 13:40:12 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 558]  FOB Article-of-the-Week: Adult Development
Message-ID: <455875A60200002D0000009C@bostongwia.jsi.com>
Hi Everyone,
This week's FOB Article-of-the-Week is from Volume 5B. Last week we
looked at Differential Instruction, and to follow that, this article
looks at different theories of adult learning and development, and what
this means in terms of instruction.
Four Adult Development Theories and Their Implications for Practice
by Lisa M. Baumgartner
http://www.ncsall.net/index.php?id=268
I know the list has been very quiet. I'd love to hear if people are
looking at these articles, and to get some suggestions for future
Articles-of-the-Week! 
All the best,
Julie
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
From julie_mcKinney at worlded.org  Tue Nov 21 18:45:24 2006
From: julie_mcKinney at worlded.org (Julie McKinney)
Date: Tue, 21 Nov 2006 18:45:24 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 559]  FOB Article-of-the-Week: Class,
	Race and Gender in ABE
Message-ID: <456349440200002D00000236@mail.jsi.com>
Hi Everyone,
Some FOB articles are called "A Conversation With FOB", and are
interviews or conversationss with a teacher or researcher who is doing
something unique. This week's FOB Article-of-the-Week is an example of
this type of article.
A Conversation With FOB: Addressing Racism, Classism and Gender in ABE
http://www.ncsall.net/index.php?id=206
This brings out teacher Jereann King's efforts to address these issues
with ABE students, and what she feels adult basic educators can do to
address power differentials that interfere with best teaching practices.
The article includes a list of  resources that were helpful to her.
Has anyone out there addressed these issues with students? Please tell
us about your experiences, or your response to this article!
All the best,
Julie
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
From julie_mcKinney at worlded.org  Mon Nov 27 16:48:14 2006
From: julie_mcKinney at worlded.org (Julie McKinney)
Date: Mon, 27 Nov 2006 16:48:14 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 560] Re: FOB Article-of-the-Week: Class,
	Race	and Gender in ABE
Message-ID: <456B16CA0200002D000002BC@mail.jsi.com>
Hi Everyone,
Last Week's FOB Article-of-the-Week was also posted on the Poverty Race
Women and Literacy Discussion List, and I am passing on a response from
someone on that list:
Any other comments?
Julie
*********************************************
Concerning the FOB article Daphne posted last week (see below for her
original post):
I think that understanding group and individual differences and how
these
differences can affect the learning process is an absolute necessity for
all
educators at all levels. It's not an easy task, though, to tell people
that
they have certain beliefs and values that bias their teaching and may
even
serve as an obstacle to their students' learning. And, I'm sure we all
know
that it's not easy hearing people tell us that our teaching is biased in
any
way. In the FOB article, Jereann King mentions a couple of her "ah ha"
moments that helped her understand the teachers she was working with;
one of
them was her learning about identity development. In the article, she
says
she learned that, "identities really do develop; you're not born with
them.
Life takes you through stages. When it comes down to race and class,
those
developments can shift: from not paying attention to race to wanting to
recognize how society builds on and exploits race."
These comments made me remember a couple of "ah ha" moments I have had.
The
first one was when I learned about Milton J. Bennett's Developmental
Model
of Intercultural Sensitivity. What I liked about his model was that it
addressed one's ability to understand and deal with cultural differences
as
a developmental process based on experience. It also says that,
depending on
one's experience, a person can move forward or backwards through the
phases.
(For a brief explanation, go to
http://www.library.wisc.edu/EDVRC/docs/public/pdfs/SEEDReadings/intCulSens.p
df). This was taught in the context of dealing with ESL students, so
culture
was always the emphasis.
My other "ah ha" moment happened a few years later when I was introduced
to
the concept of "the other." What I liked about this concept was that it
looked at more than cultural differences, which I thought was necessary
in a
classroom setting, especially considering that we all belong to more
than
one group, which is what makes us individuals. I sort of attached this
concept onto Bennett's continuum of cultural development because it
seemed
to fit.  
I may have oversimplified this a little, but from these two "ah ha"
moments,
I have come to believe that our ability to deal with our perceptions of
"the
other" (regardless of what we consider "the other" to be at any given
time)
develops in the same way that our identities develop: by the experiences
we
have in our lives. I think it's important to make sure that people know
that
this is a transformative process that takes time to develop. Also, I
think
it is important for people to begin this process by trying to understand
how
their own perceptions and expectations of others are based on their
experiences and that what they think they know about others is clouded
by
those perceptions and could even become a barrier to their students'
learning. 
I've had several classes that discuss diversity issues, but they were in
the
context of teaching ESL. I'm just wondering what kind of training, if
any,
ABE teachers have in this area. Also, which groups are identified in the
training- culture, gender, religious, SES, race, etc.? And, how are you
told
to deal with diversity in the classroom?
Ryan
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
>>> "Julie McKinney" <julie_mcKinney at worlded.org> 11/21/06 6:45 PM >>>
Hi Everyone,
Some FOB articles are called "A Conversation With FOB", and are
interviews or conversationss with a teacher or researcher who is doing
something unique. This week's FOB Article-of-the-Week is an example of
this type of article.
A Conversation With FOB: Addressing Racism, Classism and Gender in ABE
http://www.ncsall.net/index.php?id=206
This brings out teacher Jereann King's efforts to address these issues
with ABE students, and what she feels adult basic educators can do to
address power differentials that interfere with best teaching practices.
The article includes a list of  resources that were helpful to her.
Has anyone out there addressed these issues with students? Please tell
us about your experiences, or your response to this article!
All the best,
Julie
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
From julie_mcKinney at worlded.org  Tue Nov 28 11:36:24 2006
From: julie_mcKinney at worlded.org (Julie McKinney)
Date: Tue, 28 Nov 2006 11:36:24 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 561]  Racism, classism and gender in ABE
Message-ID: <456C1F370200002D000002E1@mail.jsi.com>
Hi Everyone,
There is a little bit of discussion on the Poverty, Race, Women and
Literacy Discussion List about last week's FOB Article-of-the-Week. You
can read the messages at the following link:
http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/povertyracewomen/2006/date.html
I have also received a few personal e-mails from people who have
appreciated this article and the topic. For those who haven't seen it,
here is the link again:
A Conversation with FOB: Addressing Racism, Gender, and Classism in ABE
http://www.ncsall.net/?id=206
All the best,
Julie
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
From julie_mcKinney at worlded.org  Tue Nov 28 12:39:51 2006
From: julie_mcKinney at worlded.org (Julie McKinney)
Date: Tue, 28 Nov 2006 12:39:51 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 562]  FOB Article-of-the-Week: GED and Prison
Message-ID: <456C2E150200002D000002E9@mail.jsi.com>
Hi Everyone,
It's time again for FOB Article-of-the-Week! In last week's article,
Jereann King mentioned the statistic about 1 in 4 African-American men
being in prison, and it reminded me of the following study, along with
some striking unaswered questions.
What are the Economic Effects of Earning a GED in Prison?
http://www.ncsall.net/?id=822
This short article from issue 7D describes a study that looked at the
economic impact of earning a GED while in prison, and the differences
between the impact on white vs. minority ex-offenders.
The article ends with a series of questions. Can anyone shed any light
on them?
I hope you all had a nice Thanksgiving!
All the best,
Julie
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
From julie_mcKinney at worlded.org  Wed Nov 29 10:40:32 2006
From: julie_mcKinney at worlded.org (Julie McKinney)
Date: Wed, 29 Nov 2006 10:40:32 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 563]  Discussion of GED/Prison on PovRaceWomen List
Message-ID: <456D63AD0200002D00000327@mail.jsi.com>
Hi Everyone,
If you are interested, there is some discussion on the Poverty Race
Women and Literacy List about this week's article. You can follow it at
this link:
http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/povertyracewomen/2006/date.html
All the best,
Julie
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
From b.garner4 at verizon.net  Wed Nov 29 12:01:03 2006
From: b.garner4 at verizon.net (Barbara Garner)
Date: Wed, 29 Nov 2006 11:01:03 -0600 (CST)
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 564]  Focus on Basics information
Message-ID: <19828709.8992951164819664569.JavaMail.root@vms069.mailsrvcs.net>
After ten years of research and development, the National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy (NCSALL) project is coming to an end.  NCSALL's dissemination efforts will end in March 2007.  The Web site (www.ncsall.net) will remain available for free downloading of NCSALL materials.
Due to our limited budget, we have discontinued the production of Focus on Basic:  
&#61607;	Volume 8, Issue B, ?Learners? Experiences? was the last issue published in print.  
Subscribers: Your subscription(s) of "Focus on Basics" ends with this issue and we will issue a refund for undelivered issue(s). You will receive an email from Caye Caplan that will explain how to file for a refund.
&#61607;	Volume 8, Issue C, ?Self-Study, Health, GED to Postsecondary, Disseminating Research? is the last issue of Focus on Basics. It is the only issue to be "internet only". It is posted on NCSALL?s Web site only at http://www.ncsall.net/fileadmin/resources/fob/2006/fob_8c.pdf.
&#61607;	All issues of "Focus on Basics" will continue to be available on the NCSALL website at http://www.ncsall.net/index.php?id=31.  
We would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your support throughout the years.  We hope that you find "Focus on Basics" useful and will continue to use it as a staff development tool and for program design guidance.  If you have any questions about the refund process, please contact Caye Caplan at ccaplan at worlded.org.
Barb Garner
Editor, "Focus on Basics"
From b.garner4 at verizon.net  Wed Nov 29 12:25:03 2006
From: b.garner4 at verizon.net (Barbara Garner)
Date: Wed, 29 Nov 2006 11:25:03 -0600 (CST)
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 565]  New Focus on Basics Available!
Message-ID: <13580769.9001921164821103810.JavaMail.root@vms069.mailsrvcs.net>
It?s with pleasure and sadness that I announce that there?s a new issue of ?Focus on Basics? now available at http://www.ncsall.net/index.php?id=1150
The pleasure? It?s a great issue. The sadness, it?s the last issue.
It includes articles from a variety of NCSALL researchers on their research:
--John Strucker on the need for curriculum structure
--Steve Reder and Clare Strawn on the tendency for adults without high school diplomas to study on there own, and what that means for adult basic education. (Molly Robertson and Lauri Schoneck write about programs that capitalize on the motivation to ?self-study?)
--John Tyler on whether GED attainers are entering postsecondary education at a rate on par with regular high school completers
--Rima Rudd and Jennie Anderson on why it?s so hard to find your way around in healthcare facilities and what we can do about it
--Cristine Smith, Mary Beth Bingman, and Kaye Beall on lessons learned from ten years of disseminating research
Enjoy!
Barb Garner
Editor
From kelleyterr at yahoo.com  Thu Nov 30 00:20:32 2006
From: kelleyterr at yahoo.com (Terrence Kelley)
Date: Wed, 29 Nov 2006 21:20:32 -0800 (PST)
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 566] Re: Focus on Basics information
In-Reply-To: <19828709.8992951164819664569.JavaMail.root@vms069.mailsrvcs.net>
Message-ID: <161920.49021.qm@web90411.mail.mud.yahoo.com>
Dear Barb: 
The demise of FOB is, indeed, a sad thing.  Speaking
for myself and for my colleagues at Missoula Adult
Basic & Literacy education, I can say that FOB has
been a valuable, awaited source of information much of
which we have incorporated into our discussions and/or
into our respective classrooms. 
My FOB editorial board experience was also a high
point experientially - as much for the work involved
as for meeting you and the other members of the then
board. 
I sincerely hope that you lead other such significant,
worthwhile endeavors as FOB in the future. You have
style.
Sincerely, 
Terrence L Kelley 
ESOL Coordinator 
Missoula Adult Basic & Literacy Education 
310 S. Curtis
Missoula MT 59801
--- Barbara Garner <b.garner4 at verizon.net> wrote:
> After ten years of research and development, the
> National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and
> Literacy (NCSALL) project is coming to an end. 
> NCSALL's dissemination efforts will end in March
> 2007.  The Web site (www.ncsall.net) will remain
> available for free downloading of NCSALL materials.
> 
> Due to our limited budget, we have discontinued the
> production of Focus on Basic:  
> &#61607;	Volume 8, Issue B, ?Learners? Experiences?
> was the last issue published in print.  
> Subscribers: Your subscription(s) of "Focus on
> Basics" ends with this issue and we will issue a
> refund for undelivered issue(s). You will receive an
> email from Caye Caplan that will explain how to file
> for a refund.
> &#61607;	Volume 8, Issue C, ?Self-Study, Health, GED
> to Postsecondary, Disseminating Research? is the
> last issue of Focus on Basics. It is the only issue
> to be "internet only". It is posted on NCSALL?s Web
> site only at
>
http://www.ncsall.net/fileadmin/resources/fob/2006/fob_8c.pdf.
> &#61607;	All issues of "Focus on Basics" will
> continue to be available on the NCSALL website at
> http://www.ncsall.net/index.php?id=31.  
> 
> We would like to take this opportunity to thank you
> for your support throughout the years.  We hope that
> you find "Focus on Basics" useful and will continue
> to use it as a staff development tool and for
> program design guidance.  If you have any questions
> about the refund process, please contact Caye Caplan
> at ccaplan at worlded.org.
> 
> Barb Garner
> Editor, "Focus on Basics"
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ----------------------------------------------------
> National Institute for Literacy
> Focus on Basics mailing list
> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings,
> please go to
> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
> 
 
____________________________________________________________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Everyone is raving about the all-new Yahoo! Mail beta.
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From b.garner4 at verizon.net  Thu Nov 30 08:24:21 2006
From: b.garner4 at verizon.net (Barbara Garner)
Date: Thu, 30 Nov 2006 07:24:21 -0600 (CST)
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 567] Re:
 =?iso-8859-1?q?=A0Focus_on_Basics_information?=
Message-ID: <32932554.579491164893061369.JavaMail.root@vms070.mailsrvcs.net>
Terrence,
Thanks so much. As I wrote in the editor's letter this issue, working with each and every writer and editor has been an honor.
To demystify the workings of "Focus on Basics" a bit: the articles were, for the most part, commissioned. Once we at NCSALL chose a theme, I scoured the country for writers who were doing relevant programmatic work or research on that theme. I advertised on this list for editors, and always got many more qualified people eager to participate than we could accommodate. (Note: we could only have six at most, or we couldn't all be on the conference call system at the same time.) I tried hard to make sure every state was represented at least once.
Thanks to everyone who participated in the making of "Focus on Basics" over the years. Editors read, commented, read, commented, and read and commented some more, writers drafted, revised and revised again. For six or seven years, Miriam Burt of the Center for Applied Linguistics participated as the only recurring editorial board member, ensuring that issues relevant to ESOL were addressed. And for each issue, artist Mary White came up with provocative illustrations to draw us into the stories.
All the issues are still available and largely relevant, so don't stop using them!
Barb Garner
=====================
From: Terrence Kelley <kelleyterr at yahoo.com>
Date: 2006/11/29 Wed PM 11:20:32 CST
To: b.garner4 at verizon.net, 
	The Focus on Basics Discussion List <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
Subject: Re: [FocusOnBasics 564]  Focus on Basics information
Dear Barb: 
The demise of FOB is, indeed, a sad thing.  Speaking
for myself and for my colleagues at Missoula Adult
Basic & Literacy education, I can say that FOB has
been a valuable, awaited source of information much of
which we have incorporated into our discussions and/or
into our respective classrooms. 
My FOB editorial board experience was also a high
point experientially - as much for the work involved
as for meeting you and the other members of the then
board. 
I sincerely hope that you lead other such significant,
worthwhile endeavors as FOB in the future. You have
style.
Sincerely, 
Terrence L Kelley 
ESOL Coordinator 
Missoula Adult Basic & Literacy Education 
310 S. Curtis
Missoula MT 59801
--- Barbara Garner <b.garner4 at verizon.net> wrote:
> After ten years of research and development, the
> National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and
> Literacy (NCSALL) project is coming to an end. 
> NCSALL's dissemination efforts will end in March
> 2007.  The Web site (www.ncsall.net) will remain
> available for free downloading of NCSALL materials.
> 
> Due to our limited budget, we have discontinued the
> production of Focus on Basic:  
> &#61607;	Volume 8, Issue B, ?Learners? Experiences?
> was the last issue published in print.  
> Subscribers: Your subscription(s) of "Focus on
> Basics" ends with this issue and we will issue a
> refund for undelivered issue(s). You will receive an
> email from Caye Caplan that will explain how to file
> for a refund.
> &#61607;	Volume 8, Issue C, ?Self-Study, Health, GED
> to Postsecondary, Disseminating Research? is the
> last issue of Focus on Basics. It is the only issue
> to be "internet only". It is posted on NCSALL?s Web
> site only at
>
http://www.ncsall.net/fileadmin/resources/fob/2006/fob_8c.pdf.
> &#61607;	All issues of "Focus on Basics" will
> continue to be available on the NCSALL website at
> http://www.ncsall.net/index.php?id=31.  
> 
> We would like to take this opportunity to thank you
> for your support throughout the years.  We hope that
> you find "Focus on Basics" useful and will continue
> to use it as a staff development tool and for
> program design guidance.  If you have any questions
> about the refund process, please contact Caye Caplan
> at ccaplan at worlded.org.
> 
> Barb Garner
> Editor, "Focus on Basics"
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ----------------------------------------------------
> National Institute for Literacy
> Focus on Basics mailing list
> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings,
> please go to
> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
> 
 
____________________________________________________________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Everyone is raving about the all-new Yahoo! Mail beta.
http://new.mail.yahoo.com
From Janet_Isserlis at brown.edu  Thu Nov 30 11:34:23 2006
From: Janet_Isserlis at brown.edu (Janet Isserlis)
Date: Thu, 30 Nov 2006 11:34:23 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 568] Re:
 =?iso-8859-1?q?=A0_Focus_on_Basics_information?=
In-Reply-To: <32932554.579491164893061369.JavaMail.root@vms070.mailsrvcs.net>
Message-ID: <C194723F.12772%Janet_Isserlis@brown.edu>
Thanks, too, to you, Barb and to all the contributors.  I know there have
been a number of articles I've used in workshops, given to practitioners and
otherwise learned from over the years.
Thanks to all
Janet
> From: Barbara Garner <b.garner4 at verizon.net>
> Reply-To: <b.garner4 at verizon.net>, The Focus on Basics Discussion List
> <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
> Date: Thu, 30 Nov 2006 07:24:21 -0600 (CST)
> To: Terrence Kelley <kelleyterr at yahoo.com>, <b.garner4 at verizon.net>, The Focus
> on Basics Discussion List <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
> Subject: [FocusOnBasics 567] Re: ?Focus on Basics information
> 
> Terrence,
> Thanks so much. As I wrote in the editor's letter this issue, working with
> each and every writer and editor has been an honor.
> 
> To demystify the workings of "Focus on Basics" a bit: the articles were, for
> the most part, commissioned. Once we at NCSALL chose a theme, I scoured the
> country for writers who were doing relevant programmatic work or research on
> that theme. I advertised on this list for editors, and always got many more
> qualified people eager to participate than we could accommodate. (Note: we
> could only have six at most, or we couldn't all be on the conference call
> system at the same time.) I tried hard to make sure every state was
> represented at least once.
> 
> Thanks to everyone who participated in the making of "Focus on Basics" over
> the years. Editors read, commented, read, commented, and read and commented
> some more, writers drafted, revised and revised again. For six or seven years,
> Miriam Burt of the Center for Applied Linguistics participated as the only
> recurring editorial board member, ensuring that issues relevant to ESOL were
> addressed. And for each issue, artist Mary White came up with provocative
> illustrations to draw us into the stories.
> 
> All the issues are still available and largely relevant, so don't stop using
> them!
> Barb Garner
> 
> 
> =====================
> From: Terrence Kelley <kelleyterr at yahoo.com>
> Date: 2006/11/29 Wed PM 11:20:32 CST
> To: b.garner4 at verizon.net,
> The Focus on Basics Discussion List <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
> Subject: Re: [FocusOnBasics 564]  Focus on Basics information
> 
> Dear Barb: 
> 
> The demise of FOB is, indeed, a sad thing.  Speaking
> for myself and for my colleagues at Missoula Adult
> Basic & Literacy education, I can say that FOB has
> been a valuable, awaited source of information much of
> which we have incorporated into our discussions and/or
> into our respective classrooms.
> 
> My FOB editorial board experience was also a high
> point experientially - as much for the work involved
> as for meeting you and the other members of the then
> board. 
> 
> I sincerely hope that you lead other such significant,
> worthwhile endeavors as FOB in the future. You have
> style.
> 
> Sincerely, 
> 
> Terrence L Kelley
> ESOL Coordinator 
> Missoula Adult Basic & Literacy Education
> 310 S. Curtis
> Missoula MT 59801
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> --- Barbara Garner <b.garner4 at verizon.net> wrote:
> 
>> After ten years of research and development, the
>> National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and
>> Literacy (NCSALL) project is coming to an end.
>> NCSALL's dissemination efforts will end in March
>> 2007.  The Web site (www.ncsall.net) will remain
>> available for free downloading of NCSALL materials.
>> 
>> Due to our limited budget, we have discontinued the
>> production of Focus on Basic:
>> &#61607; Volume 8, Issue B, ?Learners? Experiences?
>> was the last issue published in print.
>> Subscribers: Your subscription(s) of "Focus on
>> Basics" ends with this issue and we will issue a
>> refund for undelivered issue(s). You will receive an
>> email from Caye Caplan that will explain how to file
>> for a refund.
>> &#61607; Volume 8, Issue C, ?Self-Study, Health, GED
>> to Postsecondary, Disseminating Research? is the
>> last issue of Focus on Basics. It is the only issue
>> to be "internet only". It is posted on NCSALL?s Web
>> site only at
>> 
> http://www.ncsall.net/fileadmin/resources/fob/2006/fob_8c.pdf.
>> &#61607; All issues of "Focus on Basics" will
>> continue to be available on the NCSALL website at
>> http://www.ncsall.net/index.php?id=31.
>> 
>> We would like to take this opportunity to thank you
>> for your support throughout the years.  We hope that
>> you find "Focus on Basics" useful and will continue
>> to use it as a staff development tool and for
>> program design guidance.  If you have any questions
>> about the refund process, please contact Caye Caplan
>> at ccaplan at worlded.org.
>> 
>> Barb Garner
>> Editor, "Focus on Basics"
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> ----------------------------------------------------
>> National Institute for Literacy
>> Focus on Basics mailing list
>> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings,
>> please go to
>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
>> 
> 
> 
> 
>  
> ______________________________________________________________________________
> ______
> Do you Yahoo!?
> Everyone is raving about the all-new Yahoo! Mail beta.
> http://new.mail.yahoo.com
> 
> ----------------------------------------------------
> National Institute for Literacy
> Focus on Basics mailing list
> FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
From LWright at weta.com  Thu Nov 30 12:31:10 2006
From: LWright at weta.com (Layla Wright-Contreras)
Date: Thu, 30 Nov 2006 12:31:10 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 569]  Disseminating FOB information
In-Reply-To: <C194723F.12772%Janet_Isserlis@brown.edu>
References: <C194723F.12772%Janet_Isserlis@brown.edu>
Message-ID: <fc.0010c7b204d53b363b9aca00326ed265.4d53b99@weta.com>
Hello,
In an effort to continue disseminating the great information available on
FOB, I'd invite anyone on this list to suggest resources we can point to
through ColorinColorado.org -- I am re-vamping our resources area and am
compiling links to resources educators find particularly useful. While the
scope of the Web site is K-12, I had subscribed to this list looking for
information useful, or applicable, to middle and high school students. 
?Colorin Colorado! is a free bilingual Web site from PBS station WETA,
supported by the American Federation of Teachers. It's aimed at parents and
educators of English language learners. You can learn more at:
www.ColorinColorado.org/about
Thank you for all your interesting posts over time!
Sincerely,
Layla
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Layla Wright-Contreras
Manager, ?Color?n Colorado!
WETA Public Broadcasting - Learning Media
2775 S. Quincy St. | Arlington, VA 22206
lwright at weta.com | 703-998-2218
ColorinColorado.org -- Helping English language learners read... and succeed!
FREE! Professional development webcasts: www.ColorinColorado.org/webcasts
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From sreid at workbase.org.nz  Thu Nov 30 13:49:04 2006
From: sreid at workbase.org.nz (Susan Reid)
Date: Fri, 1 Dec 2006 07:49:04 +1300
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 570] Re: Focus on Basics information
Message-ID: <14794889A1E3AF419042F64CC5425A1E3EA3CD@secure.workbase.org.nz>
Hello Barbara
Here in New Zealand I have always looked forward to the new issue of Focus on Basics. Even though the contexts might be slightly different from our own there was much to share and ponder about the stories and voices that populated Focus on Basics.
I have always forwarded on Focus on Basics through Workbase's electronic monthly newsletter and through the New Zealand Literacy portal.
I have used the articles in both internal and external professional development and for my own reflection  
Thank you so much for all your hard work and the time that contributors and editors gave to this important endeavour 
 
It is indeed a sad time for the sector not just in the US but internationally 
 
Kind regards Susan Reid 
Workbase the New Zealand Centre for Workforce Literacy Development 
www.workbase.org.nz <http://www.workbase.org.nz> 
________________________________
From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov on behalf of Barbara Garner
Sent: Thu 30/11/2006 6:01 a.m.
To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 564] Focus on Basics information
After ten years of research and development, the National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy (NCSALL) project is coming to an end.  NCSALL's dissemination efforts will end in March 2007.  The Web site (www.ncsall.net) will remain available for free downloading of NCSALL materials.
Due to our limited budget, we have discontinued the production of Focus on Basic: 
&#61607;        Volume 8, Issue B, "Learners' Experiences" was the last issue published in print. 
Subscribers: Your subscription(s) of "Focus on Basics" ends with this issue and we will issue a refund for undelivered issue(s). You will receive an email from Caye Caplan that will explain how to file for a refund.
&#61607;        Volume 8, Issue C, "Self-Study, Health, GED to Postsecondary, Disseminating Research" is the last issue of Focus on Basics. It is the only issue to be "internet only". It is posted on NCSALL's Web site only at http://www.ncsall.net/fileadmin/resources/fob/2006/fob_8c.pdf.
&#61607;        All issues of "Focus on Basics" will continue to be available on the NCSALL website at http://www.ncsall.net/index.php?id=31. 
We would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your support throughout the years.  We hope that you find "Focus on Basics" useful and will continue to use it as a staff development tool and for program design guidance.  If you have any questions about the refund process, please contact Caye Caplan at ccaplan at worlded.org.
Barb Garner
Editor, "Focus on Basics"
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
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From julie_mcKinney at worlded.org  Thu Nov 30 16:51:40 2006
From: julie_mcKinney at worlded.org (Julie McKinney)
Date: Thu, 30 Nov 2006 16:51:40 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 571] Re: Focus on Basics information
Message-ID: <456F0C1E0200002D000003A1@mail.jsi.com>
Hi Everyone,
It is really nice to hear how useful Focus on Basics has been for you (even in New Zealand!) and to recognize the fantastic work that Barb Garner has done over the years to produce so many high-quality issues. (When I pass out copies of FOB at conferences, they disappear faster than the candy!) And it is also nice to hear about how you use them for training and pass on information about them to other lists.
Amid the sad feelings as this last issue comes out, I want to remind you that we do have another year of the Focus on Basics Discussion List, and have plans already for discussions with the authors of at least three of the articles from the new issue. We also plan to re-discover the past 30 issues, through FOB Article-of-theWeek, and other guest events. Please continue to share news of FOB with colleagues, and invite them to join the list if they want to discuss current articles or journey with us through the collection of past articles.
Our hope is to keep the usefulness of FOB alive for years to come. Please let me know if you have a suggestion for FOB Article-of-the-Week, so we can share your experiences with others.
All the best,
Julie
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
>>> "Susan Reid" <sreid at workbase.org.nz> 11/30/06 1:49 PM >>>
Hello Barbara
Here in New Zealand I have always looked forward to the new issue of Focus on Basics. Even though the contexts might be slightly different from our own there was much to share and ponder about the stories and voices that populated Focus on Basics.
I have always forwarded on Focus on Basics through Workbase's electronic monthly newsletter and through the New Zealand Literacy portal.
I have used the articles in both internal and external professional development and for my own reflection  
Thank you so much for all your hard work and the time that contributors and editors gave to this important endeavour 
 
It is indeed a sad time for the sector not just in the US but internationally 
 
Kind regards Susan Reid 
Workbase the New Zealand Centre for Workforce Literacy Development 
www.workbase.org.nz <http://www.workbase.org.nz> 
________________________________
From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov on behalf of Barbara Garner
Sent: Thu 30/11/2006 6:01 a.m.
To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 564] Focus on Basics information
After ten years of research and development, the National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy (NCSALL) project is coming to an end.  NCSALL's dissemination efforts will end in March 2007.  The Web site (www.ncsall.net) will remain available for free downloading of NCSALL materials.
Due to our limited budget, we have discontinued the production of Focus on Basic: 
?        Volume 8, Issue B, "Learners' Experiences" was the last issue published in print. 
Subscribers: Your subscription(s) of "Focus on Basics" ends with this issue and we will issue a refund for undelivered issue(s). You will receive an email from Caye Caplan that will explain how to file for a refund.
?        Volume 8, Issue C, "Self-Study, Health, GED to Postsecondary, Disseminating Research" is the last issue of Focus on Basics. It is the only issue to be "internet only". It is posted on NCSALL's Web site only at http://www.ncsall.net/fileadmin/resources/fob/2006/fob_8c.pdf.
?        All issues of "Focus on Basics" will continue to be available on the NCSALL website at http://www.ncsall.net/index.php?id=31. 
We would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your support throughout the years.  We hope that you find "Focus on Basics" useful and will continue to use it as a staff development tool and for program design guidance.  If you have any questions about the refund process, please contact Caye Caplan at ccaplan at worlded.org.
Barb Garner
Editor, "Focus on Basics"
----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
To unsubsttp://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics
From julie_mcKinney at worlded.org  Tue Dec  5 14:44:02 2006
From: julie_mcKinney at worlded.org (Julie McKinney)
Date: Tue, 05 Dec 2006 14:44:02 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 572] FOB Article-of-the-Week: Structure and
	Turbulence
Message-ID: <457585AE0200002D0000047D@mail.jsi.com>
Hi Everyone,
Well, we must celebrate FOB's newest and last issue (8C) by proposing
its cover article for this week's FOB Article-of-the-Week. 
More Curriculum Structure: A Response to "Turbulence."
by John Strucker
http://www.ncsall.net/fileadmin/resources/fob/2006/fob_8c.pdf
This explores the all-to-frequent "attendance turbulence", and the
possible solution of offering a more structured syllabus-like curriculum
to allow ABE students to know what they miss and keep up when they have
to be absent.
This issue is newly available and only online. The above link is to the
PDF. 
What do people think of this propsed solution to "attendance
turbulence"? Do some of you use this type of structured curriculum
already with ABE classes? Do you think it helps when students have to
miss classes?
Let us know!
All the best,
Julie
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
From julie_mcKinney at worlded.org  Tue Dec 12 17:14:17 2006
From: julie_mcKinney at worlded.org (Julie McKinney)
Date: Tue, 12 Dec 2006 17:14:17 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 573] FOB Article-of-the-Week: Navigating Healthcare
Message-ID: <457EE3640200002D0000058E@mail.jsi.com>
Hi Everyone,
This week we will highlight another article from the new issue of Focus
on Basics, which looks at how easy it is for adult literacy students to
find their way around in hospitals and clinics.
Navigating Helathcare
by Jennie Anderson and Rima Rudd
http://www.ncsall.net/index.php?id=1156
This looks at the findings of teams of adult literacy teachers and
students, along with graduate students and others who tried to look for
certain places in hospitals and recorded the students responses to the
signs and maps leading them. Researchers also looked at the reading
level of signs and instructions along the way. Read about this unique
approach to studying the navigation of a system with significant
literacy-related barriers, and about the implications for adult
educators and medical professionals as they work to make healthcare more
accessible to all.
Enjoy!
Julie
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
From kabeall at comcast.net  Mon Dec 18 14:21:44 2006
From: kabeall at comcast.net (Kaye Beall)
Date: Mon, 18 Dec 2006 14:21:44 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 574]  New from NCSALL
Message-ID: <00b601c722d9$c1d57d30$0302a8c0@your4105e587b6>
How
<http://www.ncsall.net/fileadmin/resources/research/op_content_biblio.pdf>
Do You Teach Content in Adult Education? An Annotated Bibliography (PDF) by
Elizabeth M. Zachary and John P. Comings
The occasional paper provides sources of research and professional wisdom
that are useful to the design of evidence-based instruction. This annotated
bibliography is divided into seven subsections that focus on reading,
writing, math and numeracy, English as a second language, GED, adult
learning theory, and technology. Each section presents adult education
sources and then additional resources based on K-12 research, instruction,
and professional development resources. 
To download the paper, go to: http://www.ncsall.net/?id=26#content
 
Using <http://www.ncsall.net/fileadmin/resources/teach/using_GBGED.pdf>
Going Beyond the GED (PDF)
This 4-hour seminar introduces teachers and tutors to Going
<http://www.ncsall.net/fileadmin/resources/teach/beyond_ged_revised.pdf>
Beyond the GED: Making Conscious Choices about the GED and Your Future
(PDF), a set of classroom materials designed for use in GED classrooms. The
materials provide learners with practice in graph and chart reading,
calculation, information analysis, and writing, while they examine the labor
market, the role of higher education and the economic impact of the GED.
To download the seminar, go to:
http://www.ncsall.net/?id=597#using_going_beyond_GED
 
 
****************
Kaye Beall
World Education
4401 S. Madison St.
Muncie, IN  47302
Tel: 765-717-3942
Fax: 208-694-8262
kaye_beall at worlded.org
http://www.worlded.org
 
 
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From gspangenberg at caalusa.org  Tue Dec 19 09:23:33 2006
From: gspangenberg at caalusa.org (Gail Spangenberg)
Date: Tue, 19 Dec 2006 09:23:33 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 575] Document from National Commission on Adult
	Literacy
Message-ID: <72D5C30B-C91D-418D-A0A3-655DA1CE971B@caalusa.org>
Colleagues,
 From time to time over the next couple of years, the National  
Commission on Adult Literacy, which CAAL manages, will make  
background papers developed for the Commission available to the   
general public. The first set of four papers -- all summary  
information papers on the role of the federal government in adult  
literacy -- have been pulled together into an informal publication  
that can be downloaded from the CAAL website (www.caalusa.org).
The papers were written for the Commission by Lennox McLendon,  
Garrett Murphy, and Jim Parker. They are titled as follows:
1.  Adult Education and Literacy Legislation and Its Effects on the  
Field (McLendon)
2.  Adult Education & Literacy in the Unites States: Need for  
Services, What the Current Delivery System Looks Like (Murphy)
3.  Introduction to Main Strands of Federal Adult Literacy  
Programming (Parker)
4.  Federal Role in Adult Literacy, FY05-06 (Murphy)
The combined document is quite large (2.2 MB) but it will download  
quickly for those with high speed connections.  For those who prefer,  
CAAL can make copies available by regular mail at $25 per copy plus  
postage (contact bheitner at caalusa.org for ordering instructions).
Happiest of holidays to you all, and a wonderful new year --
Gail Spangenberg
President
Council for Advancement of Adult Literacy
1221 Avenue of the Americas - 46th Fl
New York, NY 10020
212-512-2362, F: 212-512-2610
www.caalusa.org
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From julie_mcKinney at worlded.org  Tue Dec 19 11:15:40 2006
From: julie_mcKinney at worlded.org (Julie McKinney)
Date: Tue, 19 Dec 2006 11:15:40 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 576]  FOB Article-of-the-Week: Stopping Out
Message-ID: <4587C9DC0200002D0000064F@bostongwia.jsi.com>
Hi Everyone,
A couple weeks ago, we featured John Strucker's article about
"attendance turbulence", looking at the prevalence of students stopping
class for a period of time, and a proposed support for this habit. This
stop-and-go attendance pattern has been studied for some years now, and
we will be discussing this concept in a guest discussion in January with
Steve Reder about his article "Concepts of Participation and Program
Support". To help prepare for this topic, I thought it might be
interesting to look at some research from 1998 and look back at an
article from issue 2A, which looks at Learner Motivation from different
angles.
Stopping Out, Not Dropping Out: 
Students and teachers may perceive withdrawing from a program
differently
by Alisa Belzer
http://www.ncsall.net/?id=417
This describes a study which followed learners until they dropped out
for a while and looked at their and the teachers perceptions of dropping
out. Please take a look at this and let us know what your impressions
are!
All the best,
Julie
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
From julie_mcKinney at worlded.org  Tue Dec 19 10:44:47 2006
From: julie_mcKinney at worlded.org (Julie McKinney)
Date: Tue, 19 Dec 2006 10:44:47 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 577] Navigating Healthcare article discussed on
	Health Literacy	List
Message-ID: <4587C29F0200002D00000649@bostongwia.jsi.com>
Hi Everyone,
Last week's FOB Article-of-the-Week has created a bit of discussion on
the Health Literacy Discussion List. You can see the recent messages
even if you are not subscribed. If you are interested, go to:
http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/healthliteracy/2006/date.html
...and read the messages with "Navigating Healthcare" in the subject
line.
Julie
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
From gspangenberg at caalusa.org  Wed Dec 20 17:00:03 2006
From: gspangenberg at caalusa.org (Gail Spangenberg)
Date: Wed, 20 Dec 2006 17:00:03 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 578]  A Holiday Bon Bon for Everyone
Message-ID: <AC0A46C4-7FB8-4547-ABCF-18CCE41DCD1E@caalusa.org>
Friends, I am pleased to share this wonderful bon bon with you. It is  
authored by Samuel Halperin, who was in on the founding of our adult  
education system. Sam is a member of the new National Commission on  
Adult Literacy and, I am proud to say, a member of CAAL'S board of  
directors. Enjoy, remember, and dare to hope. Merry Holidays and  
Happy New Year. Gail Spangenberg
REFLECTIONS ON THE FORTIETH BIRTHDAY OF THE ADULT
EDUCATION ACT OF 1966
Samuel Halperin
  December 22, 2006
In November 1966, the United States took a small, but potentially  
momentous, legislative step to support a federally aided network of  
adult education providers under the Adult Education Act of 1996.  
(Technically, the Act is Title III of the Elementary and Secondary  
Education Act of 1965 (ESEA), as amended).
Who would have guessed then that this relatively unheralded act would  
spur a national network providing education and literacy services to  
over 2.5 million adult learners annually, including one million 16-24  
year-olds, about half of whom study English as a second language?
With hindsight, making sure that adults have a second chance to raise  
their literacy skills and continue their education beyond high school  
would seem to be clearly in the public interest. Yet, this obvious no- 
brainer required no less than a massive realignment of Congressional  
attitudes, a perceived serious threat to national security, and quite  
possibly a presidential assassination to turn a simple idea into  
legislative reality.
The legislative paths to enactment of the Adult Education Act merit  
reflection in this 40th anniversary year because they demonstrate how  
extremely malleable, porous, and often quirky is the process of  
making our laws, and also because it illuminates the many  
opportunities for advocates who perceive opportunities and know how  
to seize them to make progress in the public interest.
Here are brief personal memories of those early days, as viewed from  
my experience as an executive branch ?lobbyist? for Presidents John  
F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson:*
In the early 1960s, adult educators were barely a presence in the  
halls of Congress.
?None of its advocates,? notes veteran educator Thomas Sticht, ?was  
having much success getting adult education or adult literacy  
education implemented in federal legislation.?**
Ever since the demands of World War I had revealed how poorly  
prepared for military service were so many potential recruits --  
intellectually through very low literacy as well as physically, an  
Adult Basic Education bill (ABE) had been intermittently introduced  
in Congress beginning in 1918, and then promptly ignored.
In a Congress long dominated by southern conservatives, ?adult basic  
education? became conflated with efforts by liberals and the growing  
civil rights movement to teach ?Negroes? how to pass the literacy  
tests that southern states had erected as effective barriers to the  
exercise of voting rights.  (Southerners also noted with suspicion  
that the U.S. Office of Education?s small adult education branch was  
headed, and almost exclusively staffed, by a de facto segregated  
staff of distinguished African American educators in a federal agency  
where Black senior executives were notable mostly by their absence.)
After the defeat of President Kennedy?s education proposals in  
1961-62, his Administration devised an omnibus education bill, the  
National Education Improvement Act of 1963 (NEIA), consisting of 14  
parts and incorporating everything from teacher salaries, vocational  
education, public libraries, student financial aid, higher education  
construction, and several long-languishing proposals, including adult  
basic education.  Commissioner of Education Francis Keppel, leading  
the NEIA legislative effort, knew that the entire 14-part package  
would not survive the church-state hurdles that had doomed earlier  
Kennedy proposals, but hoped that it might reduce the internecine  
warfare then prevailing among Washington?s many diverse and  
fragmented education associations.
Through hard work by House and Senate education committees headed,  
respectively, by Rep. Adam Clayton Powell and Sen. Wayne Morse, major  
parts of NEIA advanced in early 1963. But progress soon stalled as  
House and Senate chairs and various education associations quarreled  
and checkmated each other.
It took the shock of President Kennedy?s assassination and Lyndon  
Johnson?s rise to vigorous leadership to open the legislative  
floodgates.  By year?s end, major bills for vocational and higher  
education were signed into law.  Indeed, by the end of 1964, 12 of  
the less controversial parts of the NEIA had become law.
During that period, too, several developments made it conceivable  
that adult education, with its anti-poverty focus, could at last get  
attention on Capitol Hill.  In 1963, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, then an  
assistant secretary in the U.S. Department of Labor, was struck by  
the fact that among potential draftees under the Selective Service  
System at least one-third were found unfit for induction due to poor  
health or mental limitations, that is very low levels of literacy.   
(Analysts believed that if all 18 year-olds had been examined, fully  
one-half would be found unfit.). At the urging of Moynihan, Secretary  
of Labor Willard Wirtz, Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, and  
General Lewis Hershey of the Selective Service System, President  
Kennedy ordered a Task Force on Manpower Conservation to develop  
appropriate plans for federal action.  The Task Force report, One- 
Third of a Nation, was delivered to President Johnson on January 1,  
1964.  The report did not call for immediate legislation, nor is  
there any evidence that it led to Congressional action. Nevertheless,  
the critical connections between low literacy, national security, and  
poverty were given new and high-level visibility in the Nation?s  
Capital.  A mood was fast developing that some kind of federal action  
was long overdue.
Then, in May 1964, President Johnson committed his administration to  
wage War on Poverty.  He directed federal agencies to suggest what  
they could contribute to the development of what soon became the  
Economic Opportunity Act of 1964 and its new federal agency, the  
Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO).
Assigned as the Department of Health, Education and Welfare?s liaison  
to the OEO legislative task force headed by Adam Yarmolinsky, I  
argued there that several parts of the still-pending NEIA bill had  
relevance for any effort to combat poverty, and that such  
Administration proposals as adult basic education (ABE), libraries  
and college work study could be appropriately incorporated in the  
emerging OEO bill.
Future OEO director Sargent Shriver and Yarmolinsky, however,  
rejected any targeted earmarking of anti-poverty funds, preferring to  
wield the broadest possible blanket authority to wage war on poverty  
in all its forms.  Moreover, OEO people wanted nothing to do with a  
state grant program like ABE that would, they argued, be administered  
by unsympathetic, possibly even racist, state and local officials.   
Knowing that passage of the OEO bill in the Congress depended on  
gaining the support of southerners, many of whom saw ABE as a wedge  
to undercut state literacy voting laws, ABE would have no place in  
the fast-developing OEO bill.
But legislative possibilities changed dramatically when Congress  
passed the historic Voting Rights Act of 1964.  The power of state  
literacy tests to thwart voting by Blacks would sharply decline, if  
not entirely disappear.  The mood and tactics among southern  
lawmakers shifted accordingly.  As one leading southern senator said  
in closed caucus, ?If we are going to have to let ?them? vote, we had  
better be sure they can at least read.?
In the House of Representatives, responsibility for overseeing the  
contents of the draft Economic Opportunity bill was assigned to a  
subcommittee chaired by Carl Perkins, the ranking majority member on  
the House Education and Labor Committee, who represented an East  
Kentucky district characterized by high poverty and even higher  
illiteracy.  During a meeting of Committee members and our HEW  
legislative staff to consider the provisions of the draft OEO bill, I  
raised with Mr. Perkins the relevance of including HEW?s proposals  
for ABE and college work-study.  Mr. Perkins immediately and  
enthusiastically embraced incorporating both provisions in the OEO  
bill when it was reported to the House of Representatives for its  
approval.  Despite opposition from OEO to these inclusions, Perkins  
argued that the added provisions would strengthen support for the  
overall bill.  Thus, when President Johnson signed the Economic  
Opportunity Act on August 20, 1964 (Public Law 88-452), its Title  
IIB, the Adult Basic Education Act, authorized OEO to make grants to  
state education agencies to advance adult literacy. OEO promptly  
assigned administration of the two new programs to the U.S. Office of  
Education.
On March 1, 1966, ABE and the college work-study legislative  
authorizations were formally transferred from OEO to the Office of  
Education.  These transfers were much less the result of adult  
educators? lobbying efforts than of  OEO?s desire to rid itself of an  
unwelcome burden and, more especially, of the energetic campaign of  
Edith Green of Oregon, subcommittee chairman for higher education  
issues on the House Committee on Education and Labor.  Mrs. Green, a  
formidable education leader, was strongly critical of President  
Johnson?s war on poverty and, particularly, of the powers and funds  
it conferred on the new OEO ?super-czar agency? to intervene in the  
traditional operations of many levels of government, including  
schools. Amid mounting sharp criticism of OEO?s initial ventures in  
community action and legal services, Mrs. Green met scant resistance  
to ?returning? HEW?s original proposals to the U.S. Office of Education.
Thus, forty years ago, the Adult Education Act was born, a small but  
durable foundation stone on which to build a much-needed adult  
learning system for the American people.
Today, however, research shows that 93 million Americans over age 16  
lack the literacy and skill levels needed to function effectively in  
a globally competitive, economically challenging world, one  
characterized by massive in-immigration of low-literacy workers. We  
must question whether a 40 year-old, generally under-funded adult  
education ?system,? staffed 80 percent by part-time instructors and  
often detached from the needs of cutting-edge economic developments,  
is even faintly adequate to meeting the challenges of the 21st Century.
This is clearly not America?s moment to rest on the anniversary  
laurels of 1966. Rather, we must forge ahead to help our nation?s  
children and adults become the most skilled, the most literate, and  
the most empowered generations in our national history.
* As Assistant U.S. Commissioner of Education for Legislation and  
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Legislation in the Department of  
Health, Education and Welfare during the years 1961-1969.
** Sticht, T. (2002). The Rise of the Adult Education and Literacy  
System of the United States: 1600-2000, in
J. Comings, B. Garner and C. Smith (eds.) Annual Review of Adult  
Learning and Literacy, vol. 3, San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, pp.10-43.
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From julie_mcKinney at worlded.org  Fri Dec 22 12:39:58 2006
From: julie_mcKinney at worlded.org (Julie McKinney)
Date: Fri, 22 Dec 2006 12:39:58 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 579]  Happy Holidays!
Message-ID: <458BD21E0200002D000006D0@bostongwia.jsi.com>
Hi Everyone,
I hope you all have a happy and rejuvenating holiday weekend! As you take a break from your work, please give yourself praise for doing the type of work that really makes a difference in the lives of so many others!
All the best,
Julie
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
From PHCSJean.34425698 at bloglines.com  Fri Dec 22 13:57:34 2006
From: PHCSJean.34425698 at bloglines.com (PHCSJean.34425698 at bloglines.com)
Date: 22 Dec 2006 18:57:34 -0000
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 580] What would you put on an ABE learner's computer?
Message-ID: <1166813854.1661689625.14188.sendItem@bloglines.com>
Hi all.
My program has been blessed with a bunch of used computer donations
from the Cristina Foundation. Before you get excited, these are older computers
from companies and individuals who have upgraded. For more info, go to cristina.org
if you'd like to get some for your program.
We initially used them to set
up a lab in our center, and have been giving the extras away. Since I still
have extras, I would like to give some to my pre-literate Liberian refugee
senior citizen ABE students to practice their skills when they are away from
class.
We typically reformat the computers with Windows and Microsoft Works
and an antivirus/spyware program. They will have a standard internet connection,
which we'll have to show the learners how to use.
What I'm looking for
from you are some recommendations of websites or freeware you use in your
center with your most basic level adults. If you know of some fabulous program
that costs money, let me know about it and I'll see what I can scrounge up
in the way of grant money. We are working as an all volunteer, no budget organization
so I'm ideally looking for website recommendations or better still, stand
alone software so they just need to point and click and won't need to deal
with the internet.
Thanks for your ideas!
Jean Marrapodi
Providence Assembly
of God Learning Center
Providence, RI
From PDuffleyRenow at aol.com  Fri Dec 22 19:23:48 2006
From: PDuffleyRenow at aol.com (PDuffleyRenow at aol.com)
Date: Fri, 22 Dec 2006 19:23:48 EST
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 581] Re: What would you put on an ABE learner's
	computer?
Message-ID: <c0a.bfcacb2.32bdd114@aol.com>
Jean,
Read Please is a free program you can download and then cut and paste text  
into it and it will read it. This company also makes a program called Reading  
Bar. This software costs about $129.00. It is wonderful.
Also, Google has a tool called language tools. It can transcribe any web  
page or text. It's free.
I have more resources email me at _pduffleyrenow at aol.com_ 
(mailto:pduffleyrenow at aol.com)   if you would  like more.
Patricia Duffley-Renow
 
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From sylviap at westman.wave.ca  Sat Dec 23 18:15:20 2006
From: sylviap at westman.wave.ca (Sylvia Provenski)
Date: Sat, 23 Dec 2006 17:15:20 -0600
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 582] Re: FocusOnBasics Digest, Vol 15, Issue 7
In-Reply-To: <mailman.3.1166893201.21126.focusonbasics@nifl.gov>
Message-ID: <000f01c726e8$37dae8f0$6601a8c0@D4TWM391>
Jean
Check out the following link to a great Canadian site that has a host of
shareware and freeware that has been evaluated by adult literacy learners
and practioners. Some of the software is for older computers such as those
you have described. There are lots of great programs to choose from.
Enjoy!
Sylvia Provenski
Director
Assiniboine Community College Adult Collegiate
Brandon, Manitoba, Canada
-----Original Message-----
From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov]
On Behalf Of focusonbasics-request at nifl.gov
Sent: December 23, 2006 11:00 AM
To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
Subject: FocusOnBasics Digest, Vol 15, Issue 7
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Today's Topics:
   1. [FocusOnBasics 579]  Happy Holidays! (Julie McKinney)
   2. [FocusOnBasics 580] What would you put on an ABE learner's
      computer? (PHCSJean.34425698 at bloglines.com)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Message: 1
Date: Fri, 22 Dec 2006 12:39:58 -0500
From: "Julie McKinney" <julie_mcKinney at worlded.org>
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 579]  Happy Holidays!
To: <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>, <healthliteracy at nifl.gov>
Message-ID: <458BD21E0200002D000006D0 at bostongwia.jsi.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
Hi Everyone,
I hope you all have a happy and rejuvenating holiday weekend! As you take a
break from your work, please give yourself praise for doing the type of work
that really makes a difference in the lives of so many others!
All the best,
Julie
Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org
------------------------------
Message: 2
Date: 22 Dec 2006 18:57:34 -0000
From: PHCSJean.34425698 at bloglines.com
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 580] What would you put on an ABE learner's
	computer?
To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov
Message-ID: <1166813854.1661689625.14188.sendItem at bloglines.com>
Content-Type: text/plain;charset="utf-8"
Hi all.
My program has been blessed with a bunch of used computer donations
from the Cristina Foundation. Before you get excited, these are older
computers
from companies and individuals who have upgraded. For more info, go to
cristina.org
if you'd like to get some for your program.
We initially used them to set
up a lab in our center, and have been giving the extras away. Since I still
have extras, I would like to give some to my pre-literate Liberian refugee
senior citizen ABE students to practice their skills when they are away from
class.
We typically reformat the computers with Windows and Microsoft Works
and an antivirus/spyware program. They will have a standard internet
connection,
which we'll have to show the learners how to use.
What I'm looking for
from you are some recommendations of websites or freeware you use in your
center with your most basic level adults. If you know of some fabulous
program
that costs money, let me know about it and I'll see what I can scrounge up
in the way of grant money. We are working as an all volunteer, no budget
organization
so I'm ideally looking for website recommendations or better still, stand
alone software so they just need to point and click and won't need to deal
with the internet.
Thanks for your ideas!
Jean Marrapodi
Providence Assembly
of God Learning Center
Providence, RI
------------------------------
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National Institute for Literacy
Focus on Basics mailing list
FocusOnBasics at nifl.gov
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End of FocusOnBasics Digest, Vol 15, Issue 7
********************************************
From kabeall at comcast.net  Wed Dec 27 19:51:37 2006
From: kabeall at comcast.net (Kaye Beall)
Date: Wed, 27 Dec 2006 19:51:37 -0500
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 583]  New from NCSALL
Message-ID: <007601c72a1a$561ac620$0302a8c0@your4105e587b6>
The Components of Numeracy by Lynda Ginsburg, Myrna Manly, and Mary Jane
Schmitt
This occasional paper attempts to describe the complex nature of numeracy as
it exists today. While there are large-scale assessments, standards
documents, and position papers, there has not been a field- and
research-based synthesis of the components required for adults to be
numerate, to act numerately, and to acquire numeracy skills. This paper
attempts to identify and clarify the nature of these components with the
hope that such identification and clarification will guide instruction,
contribute to the design of assessments, frame research, and inform policy. 
To download the paper, go to:  <http://www.ncsall.net/?id=26#numeracy>
http://www.ncsall.net/?id=26#numeracy
 
 
****************
Kaye Beall
World Education
4401 S. Madison St.
Muncie, IN  47302
Tel: 765-717-3942
Fax: 617-482-0617
kaye_beall at worlded.org
http://www.worlded.org
 
 
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From bcmrose at telus.net  Thu Dec 28 02:36:27 2006
From: bcmrose at telus.net (Marg Rose)
Date: Wed, 27 Dec 2006 23:36:27 -0800
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 584] learner reviewed software to use on donated
	computers
In-Reply-To: <mailman.3.1167238801.706.focusonbasics@nifl.gov>
Message-ID: <NIBBJOMGKLCFFJPIEBKGCEDLDFAA.bcmrose@telus.net>
Sylvia is too modest, but if you go to this page on the Canadian equivalent
to NIFL, you will link to learner-reviewed software, and shareware, and
freeware in a project she directed at her literacy program a few years ago
and then posted it to the National Adult Literacy Database at www.nald.ca
HEre is the exact page, but there are many more resources, links to
programs, and full text documents on that site as well, as she said:
http://www.nald.ca/tools/practitioner/practitioner.htm
Many websites also have great programs for learners to use:
www.abc-canada.org has a Math Literacy website with lots of ideas and games
and tip sheets and trivia facts on numeracy
www.healthyroadsmedia.org has a multi-media presentation of common health
topics in seven languages!
Lots more...
-
********************************************