1

EFF HOTtopics

An Introduction to the Ten-Step Cycle 

EQUIPPED FOR as an Important Learning Tool for You THE FUTURE 

IS AN INITIATIVE OF 

THE NATIONAL

INSTITUTE FOR

LITERACY

ON THE INSIDE 

MANY PRACTITIONERS think of the

teaching process as a three-step

cycle: plan, teach/learn, assess. In this issue

we introduce a ten-step process (pages 6 -

7) and a spiral to represent the teaching/learning cycle. This ten-step

cycle is built on the experience of practitioners

working with EFF to

develop learning activities. This new cycle also

incorporates learning

from our field research

partners as they build

the assessment framework.

This work brought home to

us that talking about planning,

teaching, and assessing as if they are three

separate steps is misleading since good

planning and teaching depend on assessment throughout the cycle. The ten-step

cycle conveys the ways in which assessment

gets integrated throughout the cycle.

We see this ten-step cycle as a tool for

you to use as you develop learning activities

with your students. We have included not

only the ten steps but also guiding questions and sample tools for each step of the

process. The new ten-step cycle also

includes several on-going practices for you

to keep in mind as you move through the

process.

To illustrate how teachers use the teaching/learning cycle, two teachers share 

examples from their experience 

in the classroom. Sally Cook

and one of her students

from a South Carolina

family literacy program explain how

they used the Standard Plan in developing a learning

activity. Colleen

Comidy and two of

her ESL students from

the state of Washington

describe a learning activity that

focused on Speak So Others Can Understand. As you read their examples, you will

notice that they used variations of the steps

as they moved from planning to teaching to

assessing. You will also notice that they

embedded assessment throughout the process rather than just at the end.

We encourage you to think about your

own teaching in light of these steps and

hope you let us know what works for you.

Editorial Board

CAROLYN BEIERS

Program Manager,

Family Learning Team

School District of

Greenville County

Greenville, SC

TERRY KINZEL

Director,

Families That Work 

Big Bend Community

College

Moses Lake, WA

• An ESL Class

Develops a

Learning Activity,

page 4

• A Family Literacy

Class Develops a

Learning Activity, 

page 8

• A Look at the

Steps of the EFF

Teaching/Learning

Cycle, pages 2-3

• The EFF Teaching/

Learning Cycle,

pages 6-7

• Joan Benz:

Dedicated 

Teacher and EFF

Facilitator, page 11

• Online Resources,

page 12

VOL. 2, NO. 1 SPRING 2002

A

S

SESSING

TEACHING & LEARNING

PLAN

NIN

G

Assessment is vital to good planning and teaching

and is integrated throughout the cycle.
2 EFF HOT topics

Determine individual goals

and purposes.

Identify standards 

that would help learners

achieve their goals.

Find out what learners

already know.

Come to consensus on a

shared priority that focuses

the learning activity if

working in a group.

Design a learning activity 

to address the shared 

priority of the learners.

Develop a plan to capture

evidence and report learning.

Carry out the activity.

Observe, document, evaluate,

and report evidence of performance on the standard.

Reflect on how what was

learned is transferable to

other real-life situations.

Determine next steps to help

learners meet their goals.

Steps 1-3 are related to individual students. Based on their goals and purposes,

you begin to think about what standards would be useful for the students to

work on to help them move closer to achieving their goals. To do so, you also

need to consider what they already know and can do. Sometimes these first

steps happen early on in class. Once you and your students have begun

developing learning activities based on a particular standard, you may not

have to revisit the first three steps each time (but be aware that students’

needs and goals will evolve over time).

Step 4 is called out to specifically address a classroom environment rather

than a one-to-one tutoring situation. In this step, you and the students see

commonalities and together come to agreement on a shared focus.

This shared focus is used to design a learning activity (Step 5) that meets

the needs of the students and addresses a particular standard.

Step 6 is a key part of the planning stage. By building a strategy for capturing evidence of learning early on, both you and your students clearly know

what the end target is – what is expected for good performance – before 

actually doing the activity.

Step 7 is the actual performing of the activity designed by you and your 

students.

Step 8 – 10 reflect the assessment phase. These steps lead right back to the

planning phase. During these steps, you need to document performance, but you

also need to have students reflect on what they’ve learned and think about how

to move forward.

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

A Look at the Steps of the 

EFF Teaching/Learning Cycle

1

A

S

SESSING

TEACHING & LEARNING

PLAN

NIN

G

Although the ten steps of the teaching/learning cycle are written as discrete steps,

you may not always follow the steps in this order, and there may be times when you

combine steps. And, although the steps are written down the column, the

teaching/learning cycle is actually designed to move students upward, hence the

spiral rather than the circular representation.

Let’s take a look at the steps of the EFF Teaching/Learning Cycle to see how it

compares to the Plan/Teach/Assess Cycle. (On pages 6-7, you’ll find these same ten

steps along with guiding questions and sample tools to help you address each step of

the process.) The EFF Teaching/Learning Cycle with guiding questions is available

to download from the EFF Special Collection at: http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/

collections/eff/eff_masters.html
Spring 2002 3

Determine next steps

Reflect on learning

Observe and document

Carry out activity

Develop a plan

Design learning activity

Come to consensus on priority

Find out knowledge, skills

Identify standards

Determine goals/purpose

10

9

8

6

5

4

3

2

1

Assessing

Teaching

Planning

7
4 EFF HOT topics

Colleen Comidy’s students participate in her class to improve basic

English communication skills (stressing speaking and listening), learn

workplace vocabulary, improve pronunciation and improve job performance. Often, because of anxiety about

speaking and heavy accents, their conversation is barely intelligible. Their

ability to understand, however, exceeds

their ability to communicate.

Students said that speaking on the

telephone is difficult for them because

of problems with pronunciation,

grammar, and sentence structure. They

also reported that they often avoid

calling a supervisor because of their

fear of speaking in English on the telephone. Supervisors agreed that when

the students have called, they were

unable to understand them.

Colleen developed a learning activity so that students could practice

using the telephone to call their supervisor to report unexpected problems in

performing their jobs. The activity was

designed to have students work on the

EFF Standard Speak So Others Can

Understand, using the Common

Activity Work Together. The learning

activity involved four steps: a) brainstorming the problems that can

prevent students from performing

their job duties; b) writing out sample

dialogues; c) role-playing the dialogues; and d) critiquing the dialogues.

Since both students and supervisors

expressed a need for the students to

improve their ability to communicate

by telephone, they clearly saw how this

activity could serve a real-life purpose.

Students stated that they were anxious

about making telephone calls in

general, not just at work. Role-playing

telephone calls could remove some of

the fears students face and clear up

confusion they have about what kind

of information they need to communicate. Role-playing would also give

them the opportunity to practice

correct grammar and pronunciation in

the classroom – a safe, anxiety-free

environment.

Practicing telephone calls and becoming comfortable with the protocol

of telephone calls is valuable in helping

students become more independent

and self-sufficient. The students held

discussions on the importance of

improving telephone speech in general

and the value of being able to speak so

others can understand in many different contexts.

The overall plan for the task was to

start with discussions on using the telephone during work hours, including

whom they call and why and who calls

them and why. They also discussed

instances where they called supervisors

and reflected on whether or not they

felt their communication was successful. (According to their supervisors,

students were usually not successful;

the students often were not aware of

this.) The teacher and students then

discussed basic telephone vocabulary.

Speak So Others Can Understand:

An ESL Class Develops a Learning Activity

Colleen designed a learning activity to address 

the shared priority of the 

students. They addressed

the question, “How can we

plan an activity that will help

us develop and practice the

skills we need in order to

achieve our goals?” 

Students share what 

they need to do in 

their lives. They all seem to

have the same concern

about speaking.

I

n designing the learning 

activity, Colleen had to

determine the students’

background knowledge and

skills. She did this through 

class discussion and 

informal observation. 

Colleen answered the 

question, “What other

skills do my students need 

to know or learn in order to

carry out this learning 

activity? How will I help 

them gain these skills?”

Colleen Comidy teaches literacy/beginning ESL in a workplace

program at the Seattle Parks Department through Seattle (Washington)

Central Community College. For the past two years she has been involved in

field research focused on developing the EFF Assessment Framework. The

following account of a learning activity Colleen carried out with her students follows the steps articulated in the field research protocol. These steps

are similar to the 10-step process described on pages 6-7.
They worked on general telephone

vocabulary, proper word choice, word

order and sentence structure. They discussed elements of a telephone call and

telephone protocol. They also worked

on basic information to provide and

questions to ask in order to get basic

information: greetings, identifying self,

asking to whom they are speaking,

asking to speak to someone specific,

ending a telephone call.

Through the context of the activity,

the students also spent time in lessons

on basic grammar (present simple,

past simple), question structure, pronunciation and intonation, and workplace vocabulary. Students received

instruction in these foundational subskills to perform this activity effectively. These are also necessary subskills for speaking in other situations.

After the general discussions, they

concentrated on work-related telephone calls. They brainstormed issues

at work and reasons to call a supervisor. As students gave the reasons to call

a supervisor, the teacher listed them on

overhead projector transparencies. The

students then copied them onto worksheets. Later, the students showed their

lists to their supervisors and asked for

additional suggestions.

Using the brainstormed list along

with supervisor’s suggestions, the students selected three scenarios and

created telephone dialogues as the

teacher wrote their dialogues on overhead transparencies. The sentences

they dictated often were not correct

grammatically, which inspired discussion on grammar. Then they made

appropriate changes.

When the students were satisfied

that the dialogue was complete and

correct, they copied it onto worksheets

and practiced it through choral repetition. The students then practiced the

dialogue numerous times (reading

from their worksheets or from the

overhead projector screen) with each

student performing both roles. They

practiced speaking slowly, clearly, and

loudly and worked on pronunciation.

After they were able to perform well

reading from worksheets or from the

screen, they practiced doing the dialogues without reading (by covering

parts or all of it). They repeated the

practice numerous times using the

three scenarios during five consecutive

lessons.

Determine the purpose for

communicating. 

Organize and relay 

information to effectively

serve the purpose, context,

and listener. 

Pay attention to conventions

of oral English communication, including grammar, 

word choice, register, 

pace, and gesture in order to

minimize barriers to listener’s

comprehension. 

Use multiple strategies to

monitor the effectiveness of

the communication. 

Speak So Others Can Understand

Students will identify 2-3 situations in which

they will need to call a supervisor for help.

Students will elaborate problems that will

prevent them from performing their jobs.

They will organize information that pertains

to the problem in a clear, succinct manner for

communicating it to supervisor.

Students will write out dialogues using

correct grammar and vocabulary. They will

practice dialogues paying attention to register,

pace, and pronunciation.

Students will listen to and critique each other.

They will practice and then role-play both

sides of the conversation and complete forms

with the information pertaining to the

problem. Students will evaluate themselves

and classmates by using a checklist.

Students and teacher 

agreed on what good

performance looked like 

so that they knew what 

was expected of them.

Colleen provided 

support to ensure 

that every student could

practice, gain confidence,

and improve in using the

standard. 

An ESL Class(Continued from page 4)

Continued on page 10

Students learned skills 

in one context in order 

to apply them immediately.

These skills can then be

transferred to other 

activities in other roles. I

n order to address 

ongoing assessment 

and reflection, Colleen used

a variety of strategies.

Spring 2002 5

Components of Performance How the Activity Addresses Them
Guiding Questions 

What do individual learners say they want or need to do in their everyday lives? What knowledge, skills, and learning strategies do learners need to meet their goals?Which EFF Standards would help learners make progress toward their goals? What do learners already know and what can they do in relation to the standards that would help them in pursuit of their goals?What tools and activities can I use to find out what they know and can do? What is the class as a group excited or concerned about?How can we come to consensus on shared priorities that can focus our work as a group?What can I do to help learners see how working toward theseshared goals can help them meet their individual needs? What do learners and I need to do to plan a meaningful learning activity that will help them develop and practice theknowledge, skills, and strategies we have identified?Which standard will we decide to focus on for this learning activity?What opportunities can we build into the activity to allow students to develop and practice all the components ofperformance (COPS) for the standard?What else will my learners need to know or learn to carry out this learning activity? 

Sample Tools*EFF Standards; Role Maps;Goal-setting forms EFF Standards;Individual and group discussion EFF Standards; Role Maps;Common Activities;Diagnostic use ofperformance assessments;Informal assessments byteacher and learners;Goal-setting activities Group discussion;Consensus-building activitiesEFF Standards 

• Work with learners to

continually revisit andrevise their goals.

• Engage learners,

throughout, in identifying and applyingtheir prior experienceand knowledge to new learning.

• Make sure throughout

that learners clearlyunderstand what theyare learning and why.

• Build in opportunities

throughout the activityfor learners to reflect onand monitor their owndeveloping knowledge,skills, and learningstrategies.

• Adjust the learning

activity to reflect emerging goals andlearning needs.

StepsDetermine individualgoals and purposes. Identify standards thatwould help learnersachieve their goals. Find out what learnersalready know.Come to consensus ona shared priority (reallife concern) that focuses the learning activityif working in a group. Design a learning activity to address theshared priority (real life concern) of the learners. 

The EFF Teaching/Learning Cycle

Ongoing Practices

12345

6 EFF HOT topics
Develop a plan to

capture evidence andreport learning. Carry out the learningactivity. Observe, document,evaluate, and reportevidence ofperformance on thestandard. Reflect on how what was learned istransferable to otherreal life situations. Determine next stepsto help learners meettheir goals. 

What is the purpose of assessment for this activity?What level of documentation/reporting is necessary for thisactivity?In what ways will I build assessment into the on-going teachingand learning process?What criteria will we use to judge and interpret the evidence oflearner performance?What can I do to make sure learners have a clear understandingof these criteria for good performance?How do I ensure that learners can use the criteria to understandwhen they are doing well and what still needs improvement?What assessment guides, rubrics, and other tools do learnersand I need to develop for this learning activity? What can I do to help learners understand the connectionbetween the skill-building steps and the overall purpose of the learning activity?In what ways can I help learners to identify learning strategiesthey already use, develop new ones, and choose the most appropriate ones for their purpose?What support do I need to provide to allow every learner towork on all the components of performance at a level that ischallenging for him or her? In what ways will we observe and document evidence of learner performance on the standard?How will learners and I use the results of the assessment process?In what ways will the results be shared with others?What links can learners make between what they have learned,how it addresses their goals, and how it can be used in otherparts of their lives?How do I help learners transfer skills and strategies from one role to another? What additional learning and practice do learners need in order to use their skills fluently, independently,in a range of situations? 

EFF Standards;Performance-based assessment tools (including teacher andlearner developed assessments and rubrics)EFF Standards;Discussion;On-going informalassessmentsEFF Standards;Performance-based assessment toolsEFF Standards;Role Maps;Common Activities;Goal-setting forms;Tools for reflectionEFF Standards;Performance assessments;Discussion of assessment results; Planning forms;Role Maps 

* An EFF Tool Kit with a variety of sample tools for each step of the EFF Teaching/Learning Cycle will be available by Fall 2002.

This Tool Kit will provide you with examples of how teachers use various tools to address each step.

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10

Spring 2002 7
8 EFF HOT topics

Sally Cook’s class had decided that

they needed to have a healthier lifestyle. As part of making New Year’s resolutions, they all had identified that their

families should lose weight and exercise

more to have a healthier heart. The class

knew of three people who had recently

died of heart attacks. Together they

looked at the Family Member Role Map.

They focused on the broad area of

responsibility: Promote Family Members’ Growth and Development, then

chose the key activity under that: Make

and Pursue Plans for Self-improvement.

Students brainstormed what they

already knew about a having a healthy

heart. One student wrote down the

class’s brainstorming on a blank overhead transparency for everyone to see.

The class realized that together, they

knew quite a lot. They then generated

questions they had about having a

healthy heart, such as: What is cholesterol? What types of exercise are best?

What is heart disease?

Sally then asked the students how

they would like to find out about a

healthy heart and starting an exercise

program for themselves and their families. They divided up the questions they

generated about heart disease. Students

who had difficulty with the readings

created vocabulary lists, while the other

students researched how the heart functions and what factors contribute to

heart disease. All information was

shared, and together, they incorporated

the input from each student into a class

report.

Students identified the EFF Standard

Plan as most helpful to them. They had

been introduced to this standard earlier

in the year when they had done goalsetting activities. Students decided they

were not comfortable enough with all

the components of performance yet to

move to a new standard. They felt this

activity would be a good opportunity to

test their use of the standard in another

way – thus increasing their range,

fluency, and independence.

Students talked about exercise plans,

and each student created an exercise

plan, timeline and class check-in points.

They knew that their goal, their plan,

had to be measurable and achievable

with a timeline. Each student created a

chart to monitor her exercise regimen

and time spent exercising. They agreed

that they were using the EFF Common

Activity Manage Resources. They were

managing the time to include exercise

into their busy lives.

Since Sally had been working with

many of her students for several

months, she knew a good bit about

them through listening to their converA Family Literacy Class 

Develops a Learning Activity

Because Sally’s class 

was already a community of learners, the 

students were used to

working together to come to 

consensus on a shared 

priority. The role map helped

them clarify their goals.

Sally needed to know 

about her students’

background knowledge and

skills. She asked, “What do

my students already know 

in relation to what they 

want to do? What can they

already do? What will they

need to learn to address

their real-life concern?”

I

n designing the learning 

activity, Sally wanted to 

be sure that all students

could contribute to and 

learn from the activity.

Students and teacher 

came to agreement on

which standard to focus on

for the activity. Students 

had already reflected and

self-assessed.

Sally and the students 

had to consider early on

how they would capture 

evidence of performance of

the standard. Together they

talked about what an 

effective plan looked like so 

everyone was clear what 

was expected.

Sally Cook from Plum Branch, South Carolina, was one of several

practitioners participating in the SC Even Start EFF Mentoring Project.

She was coached by Shirley Wright, National Training Coordinator for

the EFF National Center, and Carolyn Beiers, EFF SC mentor, on how to

begin to incorporate EFF into the classroom. They suggested a series of

questions to guide each step of the process for developing learning activities with students. The questions used by South Carolina teachers are

similar to those posed in our 10-step process on pages 6-7. Sally said that

the questions “helped pull it all together” so that she could teach in a more

structured way. The following example illustrates how Sally and her students used questions to plan, teach, and assess a lesson in a Family

Literacy/GED program.
sations and seeing their work in class.

She knew that many in the class did not

know what the heart did, how it worked

and what it looked like. She also knew

she had a very wide range of levels. She

worked with the class to be sure that

those students who were acquiring

knowledge to help them achieve their

ultimate goal (GED or high school

diploma) had opportunities to obtain

that knowledge. They had to compile a

report on the heart and learn about the

biology of the heart and circulatory

system.

Students not yet ready for the GED

also learned new vocabulary. They generated and asked questions of the other

students so that they too were learning

about the heart and how it functions.

All students had to plan how they were

going to accomplish their tasks, and

they all had to plan their exercise

regimen based on what they had

learned about which exercises were

most beneficial to having a healthy

heart. The teacher and students agreed

to use charts, and she taught them how

to do that.

Students computed the percent of

time they actually exercised vs. what

they had planned and then computed

the class aggregate time. Sally continually had the class refer to the components of performance for the EFF

Standard Plan to make sure they were

learning the process of planning.

Students all had their exercise charts in

class, and reviewed them once a week to

monitor the plan’s progress while considering any need to adjust the plan.

Sally collected evidence of her students using the Standard Plan by building in formative assessments along the

way: GED level students had to show

their planning process for their report

on the heart. Other students had to

show their planning process for generating vocabulary words and questions.

To check whether their knowledge

about hearts had increased, all students

took a quiz Sally designed. Those students who had trouble reading the quiz

were asked the questions orally since the

goal was not to assess their reading

ability but rather to assess whether they

had learned the content. The higher

level students took a practice test about

the circulatory system from a GED

workbook so they could see the connection between what they were learning in

class and the GED test.

Students wrote reflections for each

part of the activity. They reflected on

what they had learned, and how it

related to their overall plan to learn

about a healthy heart and develop an

exercise plan. Part of their reflection

was to identify how they were using the

Standard Plan in other ways in their

lives. Students also reviewed the other

role maps to see how they could use the

Standard Plan and the Common Activity Manage Resources in other aspects of

their lives.

Students felt more comfortable using

the Standard Plan after this learning

activity. They identified what they had

learned compared to what they knew

when they began the activity. They

Students documented 

their own learning, and

Sally worked with them to

monitor their progress.

Sally questioned, 

“How do I ensure that 

my students reflect upon

what they are learning? 

How do I make sure they

connect their learning to

their other roles as well 

as to their goals?”

How to plan, how to write SMART goals:

“It has helped me to be a better parent...”

Tasha is one of the students in Sally Cook’s class. She has been in the

program for four years. Although her long-term goal is to get her GED

and then go to technical school, she says that what she’s learning right now

is helping her be a better parent to her twin seven-year-old daughters. She

likes using the EFF role maps “because it helps you out, helps you see what

kind of role you want to be; things I maybe didn’t think about. It has helped

me to be a better parent, like reading to my little girls and helping them with

their homework.”

“When Mrs. Cook [Sally] taught us about how to plan, she also made us

write ‘smart’ goals . . . like I want to learn to write better so I can write an

essay for the GED. I had to set a time line for improving, think about what

parts of my writing I would work on so that I could see if I was making fewer

mistakes. Even things that I’m learning about my writing I can bring home

and share with my little girls.”

I

n carrying out the activity, 

Sally considered several

questions: “Are students

‘stuck’? If so, how do I help

them get ‘unstuck’? 

Are all levels of students

engaged and learning? 

Are students using all the

components of performance

of the standard?”

Spring 2002 9

Continued on page 11
Colleen: When you talk to other

people do you think about why you

are talking to them and try to

organize what you want to say?

And do you think about using good

word order and putting the sentence together correctly?

Dong: For me speaking face to face

is better, but I’m talking better on

the telephone, too. Yes, I’m thinking

and speaking.

Mal: I can speak better.

Colleen: When we practiced calling a supervisor, did using our

worksheets help you understand

what you needed to learn so you

can speak better?

Dong: Yes, now I’m talking more

fluently but I still need more help

with pronunciation and putting

words together.

Mal: Yes, everything we did in class

helped to learn more. Now I speak

better on the telephone. Two weeks

ago Peggy [his supervisor] called me

on my cell phone. She said “Mal,

when are you coming back to headquarters?” I tell her, “One more

comfort station [restroom], then I

come back.” Because we practiced in

class I can understand her and give

her [a] good answer.

Colleen: When you are learning

something new, how do you know

when to ask for help?

Dong: I ask for help for pronouncing words and for putting words

together.

Mal: I don’t hear well, so I ask

teacher to say again. Reading I can

understand OK. Hearing is most

difficult for me. If I don’t understand something, I ask [the] teacher,

“What does it mean?”

Mal, of the Seattle Parks Department.

Dong, of the Seattle Parks Department

“I’m talking better on the telephone...”

Reflections from Students about 

Speak So Others Can Understand

An ESL Class 

(Continued from page 5)

10 EFF HOT topics

Acouple of months after class had ended, Colleen saw two of her students,

Dong and Mal, who had participated in the telephone practice activity

and others designed to help them speak so others can understand. She asked

them about their learning:

At various times the teacher had the

students self evaluate. As she wrote the

dialogues on the overhead transparencies she would ask the students if what

they dictated was correct. She would

ask them to make the corrections;

sometimes she would need to prompt

them. When practicing the dialogues

the teacher would ask them to say if

they thought they were speaking

loudly enough and if their pronunciation was clear. She also asked them to

provide feedback to each other. A

supervisor sat in during one lesson and

also provided feedback.

Colleen shared her reflections about

her teaching: “I think my teaching has

become more intentional using such a

detailed process. Doing the performance task* helped to better ‘pre-assess’

my students and better design my

lessons to meet their needs. I needed to

pre-assess my students and make sure

that the learning activities would help

them to acquire the knowledge they

would need to adequately perform the

task. At times, during the performance

task activities, I let them work more

independently and do more self-evaluation, which was quite good for them. I

think learning in this way has helped

them to clarify what they know and

what they want and need to know. I’m

teaching a workplace class and the EFF

framework is ideal for the setting and

needs of my students.”

* As part of the assessment research

work, Colleen designs performance

tasks in order to gather detailed

descriptions of students’ performance on a selected EFF Standard.

Teachers doing EFF research use a

process somewhat similar to the EFF

Teaching/Learning Cycle in developing their performance tasks.
Spring 2002 11

identified how they were able to use the

Standard Plan more fluently, independently and in other contexts. They felt

that they had learned a lot about having

a healthy heart, and wanted to tackle

cooking nutritious, low fat, healthy

meals next. They developed a plan to do

that.

While this example illustrates just

one use of the Standard Plan, Sally’s

class spent most of the semester continuing to build competency in this 

standard by participating in further

learning activities that allowed them to

develop comfort and confidence in

using the standard in varied situations.

Sally reflects on her own learning

about EFF:

“While the questions served as a

road map to help organize my teaching, what was even more helpful was

having the EFF Standards Guide to

use as a tool. EFF is what has allowed

me to tie in the four components of

Even Start. Also, I have students who

have as a goal the GED. EFF has

helped me link Family Literacy and

GED together. Doing activities such

as the one above allows all my students (from non-readers to GED

level) to participate in a classroom

activity. This is important since

learning is a social activity.”

I FIRST MET JOAN several years

ago when I participated in the

Oregon summer conference for

adult basic education practitioners. My first impression of her

never changed: here was a person

eager to explore ideas, reflect on

her teaching, and try out different

approaches to working with her

students. She had a spark about

her – a combination of an outgoing, up-beat personality, a great

sense of humor, a sharp questioning mind that made connections

and leaps, and an ability to connect

with others.

Over the past couple of years, as

we worked together on the development of the EFF assessment

framework (she was a teacherresearcher, then the Oregon field

assistant) and as EFF Facilitators (I

was her mentor), I had many more

opportunities to see Joan in action

and to talk through the challenging

work we have been involved in. She

always made a contribution – not a

glib, glossy comment here or there,

but a substantive contribution to

the work at hand.

Her insights helped us shape

changes to the field research

process and her experience developing educational opportunities

for her peers helped shape the EFF

professional development system.

Joan was creative – she was

always thinking up ways to make

ideas come alive or to be presented

in an enjoyable way that others

could understand.

Joan was optimistic and liked to

have fun while working – she

laughed at herself, laughed with

others, and found humor in difficult situations.

Joan left her mark on me

through her enthusiasm for life

and her commitment to improving

opportunities for others. I can only

hope to remember and honor her

by keeping her “spark” alive in my

own life.

A Family 

Literacy Class

Continued from page 9

Sally knew that, in 

order for the students 

to develop fluency, 

independence, and range

with the standard, they

would have to continue to

work with the standard with

different activities.

This issue of the HOT Topics is dedicated to Joan Benz, teacher, EFF

facilitator, and, most importantly, a friend to many of us working on the

EFF initiative. Joan died July 4, 2001 after a valiant struggle against a recurrence of breast cancer. Brenda Bell, Research Coordinator at the Center for

Literacy Studies at the University of Tennessee, shared her thoughts about

Joan:

Joan Benz:

Dedicated

Teacher and

EFF Facilitator
EFF HOT topics

1775 I Street, NW

Suite 730

Washington, DC 20006-2401

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Penalty for Private Use $300

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OF EDUCATION

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Online Resources

• LINCS is the NIFL’s online one-stop connection to adult literacy

information. Regional technology center staff is available to connect

state and local organizations, practitioners, researchers, and learners.

The site address is: www.nifl.gov/lincs/. Also check out subjectorganized resources at: www.nifl.gov/lincs/collections.

• The Equipped for the Future website is a LINCS Special Collection.

Visit this site to learn more about EFF, the NIFL’s standards-based system reform 

initiative. The EFF website will provide you with information on such topics as:

the history of EFF, the Content Framework and Standards, EFF publications, EFF

resources, and EFF training events. The site address is: www.nifl.gov/lincs/collections/eff.

• The Equipped for the Future Online Discussionfeatures targeted

discussion about the EFF initiative. Subscribe to the discussion, or read the archived

messages for this or previous years. This online forum is the logical place to turn for

EFF information and resources, and to join in the ongoing conversation about EFF 

by people using EFF. The site address is: www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/nifl4eff/equipped_for_future. You can also subscribe to the list by sending an e-mail

message to: listproc @literacy.nifl.gov. (Leave the subject line blank. In the body 

of the message type: Subscribe NIFL-4EFF your first name your last name.)

• Equipped for the Future Publications may be ordered from the 

ED Pubs Clearinghouse. EFF publications are free of charge, unless otherwise noted.

Online versions of the documents can be accessed directly, including the EFF Content

Standards, the EFF Voice Newsletter, the EFF Assessment Report, and the EFF

Evaluation Report. For the complete list of EFF publications and products, go to:

www.nifl.gov/lincs/collections/eff/eff_publications.

EFF HOT Topics

(Highlights On Teaching Topics) 

is a publication of the EFF National

Center. Each issue concentrates on

a specific topic of interest, highlighting examples of actual practice and

offering strategies and tools for

using EFF in the classroom.

We encourage submission of

letters, articles, and other items of

interest from the field of adult 

education. Please direct all 

correspondence, including 

editorial comments, to:

Donna Curry 

Publications Coordinator

EFF National Center

5766 Shibles Hall

University of Maine

Orono, Maine 04469-5766

207-581-2402, ext. 13

donnac@clinic.net

National Institute 

for Literacy

1775 I Street, NW 

Suite 730 

Washington, DC 

20006-2401

Tel: 202-233-2025

Fax: 202-233-2050

Web: www.nifl.gov

ê