September R&W Newsletter

LINCS Reading and Writing
Community of Practice (CoP)
Newsletter
September 2017

Classroom joke

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Do you agree? It takes a village to raise a good teacher! We are a village!

yes Welcome New Members!

We have had four new members join us in August: Todd Evans, Margie Domingo, Merry Tigert, and Janette Lawrence. Welcome!

yes Profile Setters!

                                   Todd Evans         

New member Todd Evans is Director of Program Management with ProLiteracy, a very robust, effective organization that provides online instructional resources in Adult Education. Now there’s someone whose brain you can pick on a number of topics. If you are not familiar with ProLiteracy, check it out! Get to know Todd better on Facebook and, hopefully, here!
https://www.facebook.com/todd.evans.7927) or Twitter ( https://twitter.com/ToddEvansProLit)

You are invited to complete your profile right away. When you do so, let me know so that I can feature you in our next edition!

yes Hot Topics: LINCS Reading and Writing CoP

We covered the following topics in August. Those remain open, along with others in past months. If any of them tickle your fancy, click on the discussion under the “Discussions” tab and add your thoughts! There is also a “Search” link that allows you to find discussions posted using a key word. Otherwise, just start a discussion of your own. There are many great Adult Ed minds in our CoP! Let us hear from you. Let’s talk!

  1. Google Maps and More for Instruction!
  2. Study links hearing words to reading ability for first time 
  3. Free Online GED Classes
  4. How do you use volunteers? 
  5. Integrate It! 
  6. Charlottesville Freedom of Speech
  7. Storytelling!
  8. Creating and Maintaining PD Systems
  9. August 2017 Reading and Writing Community Newsletter
  10. Is memorizing a good thing?
  11. HyperDocs for adult basic skills education -- have you made one? Would you like to make one?
  12. Learner Asking for Help with Spelling
  13. Looking for Easy-to-Read Newspapers
  14. Position openings at Penn State
  15. Lots and lots of E-Books
  16. ABE Drop-In Center Networks
  17. Adult Education Drop-In Centers
  18. Reading is popular among ESL students
  19. Webinar today! Learn how to deliver a LINCS writing training as part of the Summer Training Series
  20. Fall courses for Penn State's Online Family Literacy Certificate
  21. Fall courses for Penn State's Online Certificate in Adult Basic Education

yes LINCS Corner

Course: Teaching Energy Literacy to Adult Learners https://courses.lincs.ed.gov/1/course/view.php?id=127

Can you resist this LINCS title? Can your students? From Malcom Knowles to the most recent research on how adults learn, integrated instruction remains at the center of all advice. This LINCS course, developed by Energy.gov, provides rich content for reading and writing development, while providing critical and timely information regarding Energy Literacy: Essential Principles and Fundamental Concepts for Energy Education.

From Energy.gov: What is Energy Literacy? Energy Literacy is an understanding of the nature and role of energy in the world and daily lives accompanied by the ability to apply this understanding to answer questions and solve problems. An energy-literate person:

  • Can trace energy flows and think in terms of energy systems.
  • Knows how much energy they use, for what purpose, and where the energy comes from.
  • Can assess the credibility of information about energy.
  • Can communicate about energy and energy use in meaningful ways.
  • Is able to make informed energy use decisions based on an understanding of impacts and consequences.

You are invited to participate in a discussion this week, Energy Literacy in Adult Ed,  where you and others can reflect together on how to use this resources with students. I hope that some of you will take at least parts for the course and then go to that forum and let us know what you thought. How will you use the content with students? What do you think of the level? What did you learn from the content?

Be sure drop in weekly to review the exciting announcements on our LINCS Home page, https://lincs.ed.gov and on our Community page, https://community.lincs.ed.gov/https://community.lincs.ed.gov .

Announcements

Our PIAAC Literacy Circle micro group, which starts on September 11, had such a high enrollment that we have closed the process for this month. Those who enroll from now on will be notified as to the date for a second round the PIAAC Literacy Circle, hopefully soon after this project ends. We are hoping to share the reading and writing activities developed by this Circle with everyone toward the end of October.

yes Featured Resources/Articles

ReadWorks

I suspect that many of you already use https://www.readworks.org. If so, comment on your experience with its online reading resources, which are rich.

The ReadWorks articles are interesting and offer a variety of contexts. Each article also provides two tabs: (1) to reinforce and clarify Vocabulary and (2) to have students respond to Question Sets. The articles are graded. For example, the article, “Understanding Learning Disabilities” is written at the 6th-grade level. The information is accurate and provides very helpful clarification on LD.

“…So let's start by saying what a learning disability... isn't. Having a learning disability does not mean you are stupid, lazy, or unable to learn. It does not mean you won't be able to get a good job when you grow up.

“Most people who have LD have average to above-average intelligence. In fact, many people with LD show special talent in some area. They may be terrific painters, dancers, athletes, or computer wizards. But because their brains are "wired" differently, they have trouble learning in school.”

In my work educating people about LD, I have often found that they are amazed and grateful when they understand the "condition." All of the sudden, things make sense to them. Many learning-disabled adults end up in our Adult Ed programs because they didn’t fit the “learning menus” offered to them in school. Why not use this article to educate them and others about them? There is often no need to have a formal diagnosis to plan instruction for LD students. Once they understand their challenges, they can tell us what they need!

A lower-level (3rd grade) article, Venus: Earth's Dangerous Neighbor, provides good food for reflection on how lucky we are to live on Earth, the importance of water, and the need for ideal temperatures for human life.

As with all resources, instructors need to read the content carefully since the last thing we want to do is to give our adults childish content. I found that in most cases, articles on this site are likely to engage adults as well as younger generations. What do you think? Comment below.

What other reading sites can you contribute to our community?

Google and More

Control Alt Achieve provides extraordinary help to educators who want to use technology for learning. Its home page lists the most recent tools with clear details on how they are used. For example, it lists “What's New in Google? - Summer 2017,” posted on September 3rd. That box includes the recorded video from the August Google User Meeting, with Google Apps updates and “loads of Google resources for your class.” The box below that title, provides very a very intriguing resource, “Using Named Versions in Docs to Track Writing Drafts.” “Students should not just write their essay, paper, report, or story once, then turn it in and be finished with it. A critical part of writing is getting feedback, making changes, adding new content, and trimming out what is not needed. And then doing it again. And again.” Other resources follow.

One captivating page on the site lists “30 Fee Google Drawings Graphic Organizers,” which includes tutorials for creating them. The images that follow will provide beginning or more advanced writers with many choices on how to outline their thoughts.

And for those many students in our programs who thrive on images before words, the site includes a page on “Google Drawings Resources.” The list is long, and ends with “Drawings for Writing.” Those links include the following:

  • Blog Post - "Wintertime Magnetic Poetry with Google Drawings"
  • Wintertime Magnetic Poetry Template
  • Blog Post - "Valentine's Magnetic Poetry with Google Drawings"
  • Valentine's Magnetic Poetry Template
  • Compose a Tweet Template

Never again will we hear our learners claim that writing is booooooring. Au contraire, mes ami!

yes Tips/Resources for Encouraging Reading and Writing Practice: HSE Prep

365 Creative Writing Prompts: http://thinkwritten.com/365-creative-writing-prompts/ - “If you want to become a better writer, the best thing you can do is practice writing every single day. But we know sometimes it can be hard to think of what to write about! So we put together this list of 365 creative writing prompts to give you something to write about daily. Whether you write short stories, poems, or like to keep a journal – these will stretch your imagination and give you some ideas on what to write about!”

50 Writing Prompts for All Grade Levels: Check out the High-School Level Prompts. https://www.edutopia.org/article/50-writing-prompts-all-grade-levels-todd-finley

From Poets and Writers : Writing Prompts around poetry, fiction, and non-fiction. A different approach to developing prompts.  https://www.pw.org/writing-prompts-exercises

yes Social Media Tips

From Live Tiles, “6 Fun Social Media Projects to Assign in the Classroom,” by Jon Lisi – “Let’s face it: nearly every teenager uses social media in one way or another. Social media has changed the way teenagers communicate and the way they consume information. There is understandably some concern about this, as teachers and parents worry that their children will experience cyber-bullying or become addicted to their mobile devices. While these concerns are reasonable, social media is like any other technological tool, and it can be used for good or bad. We show how teachers can integrate social media into the classroom to engage students in the learning process and train them to use digital technology in productive ways." The projects lend themselves nicely to adults, as well!

yes Member Contribution

This section is awaiting your contribution. Share a practice, a resource, a tip, anything that you would like featured in this section! Email me, and you’ll be in our next newsletter!

yes Brain Games and Fun Things

What phrases do the images represent? Share them with your students!  If you solve the “word puzzles,” post your answer in this forum. I will no longer post the answers in the newsletter.

1.   Chipoori puzzle  2. youcont puzzle

I love games (used very briefly and wisely) as a way to promote critical thinking. How do you use them? Comment below.

Did you play hangman growing up? Go to http://www.billsgames.com/hangman/index.html and have students enjoy it, too. They can make their own hangman games, too, of course. Easy as pie. I would suggest having games that relate to specific contexts or vocabulary learning.

And yes, PowerPoint has gotten a bad rep, not because of what it does but because of what others do with it. PowerPoint is a powerful educational tool because of its interactive characteristics. One nice thing about it is that templates abound. Go to Free PowerPoint Game Templates for Teachers and have students create fun games for the plans you implement!

https://www.thebalance.com/free-powerpoint-games-for-teachers-1358169

yes Comments

To respond to any of the items in this newsletter, simply add a comment to this post, as with all discussion threads.

Let’s talk some more! Leecy Wise
leecy@reconnectioncompany.com