Today! Family Literacy Models for Engaging Adult Learners with Children

Date: Friday, September 13 – Wednesday, September 18, 2019 Time:  Ongoing   What The LINCS Community Reading and Writing Group will host a discussion on family literacy that will feature three family literacy programs: Polytech Family Literacy Program, in Kent County, Delaware, Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters (HIPPY USA), which sponsors projects worldwide and is based in Arkansas, and Briya Public Charter School in Washington, DC.   When The discussion will start on September 13, 2019, and continue for six days.    Where The LINCS Community Reading and Writing Group.   Description Family Literacy Models for Engaging Adult Learners with Children will introduce and incorporate family literacy and parenting elements into the adult education classroom as a new way for instructors to engage adult learners. Participants will learn how to teach adult learners to teach their own children.   The moderator and guests will facilitate a dialogue about successfully engaging adult learners with children in learning. Participants and guests will explore the three literacy models and programs. Participants and moderators will add suggestions and activities discussed in the forum into the discussion thread during the activity. The discussion will be ongoing in the Reading and Writing Group over the course of six days.   Target Audience(s) Instructors and program managers   Target Population(s) English language learners, adult basic education, adult secondary education, workforce, and career pathways students   Presenter(s) Dr. Betsy Jones is the director of Poly Tech Family Literacy. Dr. Jones has over 25 years of experience in adult education program development and leadership. She leads the adult division and supervises Polytech Adult Education’s literacy and workforce development programming. She holds a graduate degree in school counseling and a doctorate in Innovation and Leadership in addition to multiple state certifications for school counseling and administration. She has been the Director of Adult Education in the Polytech School District for the past 10 years and has overseen the expansion of programming to include 10 satellite locations in Kent County, Delaware.    Staci Croom-Raley is the executive director for HIPPY USA, an evidence-based home visiting program that empowers parents to become their child’s first great teacher by giving them the tools to teach their kids and prepare them for kindergarten and beyond. Prior to joining HIPPY USA, Staci served as Vice President of Workforce Development at Goodwill Industries of Arkansas.   Kirsten Wittkowski is an Adult Education Coordinator and Instructor at Briya Public Charter School. Kirsten has eight years of experience teaching ESOL to adults in private, community college, and family literacy programs in the Washington, DC, area. She teaches ESOL and Child Development to immigrant parents and coordinates two-generation curricular programming at one of Briya’s four sites.   Moderator(s) Jeri Gue, the moderator of the Reading and Writing Group, will facilitate this activity.   Featured Resources   Pre-activity Prior to the first day of discussion, the moderator will post an introduction to the guest experts and ask participants to reflect on a few questions relating to their knowledge and experience working with parents of small children in their programs. Participants will be encouraged to post these reflections in advance of the first day.   Participation Instructions To participate in this activity, attendees must be a member of the LINCS Community and a member of the host group. (Current LINCS Community and group members can simply log in to their account.)   To participate:
  1. Join the LINCS Community
  2. Join the host group:
    1. LINCS Community Reading and Writing Group
  3. Access the group’s discussion thread:
    1. LINCS Community Reading and Writing Group: Discussion
  Post Activity/Follow-up Materials A summary of the discussion and any follow-up materials will be posted in the online discussion post-activity thread after the activity concludes.     Keep Learning! The LINCS Team