Hello Reading and Writing Colleagues,
I want to call your attention to a new article entitled Fieldnotes: Reflections from an Adult Education Instructor on Research and Practice, an Instutute for Educational Sciences interview with Marcus Hall,
I believe Marcus Hall is a member of this group. He is asked about and, in my view, he accurately describes how practitioners, including those who are interested in research, often perceive researchers.
Are you a practitioner who values research? Does Marcus Hall's' description align with your experiences or not? How do you think researchers and practitioners work together to improve practice, for example in reading and writing?
Are you a researcher? What are your thoughts about how researchers and practitioners can work more closely together?
Are there specific comments in Marcus' interview that resonate with you?
Perhaps you, like Marcus, have benefited from the Adult Reading Components research that, I understand, influenced the development of the STAR training for adult education reading teachers. Are there lessons learned from this research-to-practice initiative that might help improve other areas of adult basic skills research to (and from) practice in adult basic skills education?
David J. Rosen
djrosen123@gmail.com
Comments
David,
Many thoughts come to mind as I read this article - adult educators asked to teach unfamiliar subjects, lack of professional development, mostly part-time teachers. All of these points validate the importance of research for adult educators. As a reading specialist and an adult literacy instructor, I specifically attended to Mr. Hall's reference to evidence-based reading instruction, and his use of component assessments and explicit instructional strategies. You are correct in that the STAR (STudent Achievement in Reading) initiative was influenced by the ARC research. This research and the STAR initiative provides adult educators with the capacity to effectively provide reading instruction to struggling adult education students.
I also paid particular attention to Mr. Hall's reference to the need for trauma-informed care practices in adult education. This is an important topic for adult educators because, no matter how much subject matter research and content area professional development we may engage with, we can not effectively reach students who enter our classrooms with unresolved trauma. I would be very interested in TIC research in the field of adult education.
Thank you for bring our attention to this article, David. I look forward to others' views.
Jeri