February 2009 Volume 10, Issue 7

 

More Sites for Soaring Eyes

  • http://marshalladulteducation.org/ - Thank you, Sheri Durman, for this great resource from Marshall, MN! The section on "Reading Skills for Today's Adults" has content that is rare on the Internet - reading passages that are written for low-level readers. I think they would also work for ESL learners. The page on ESL and ABE Scope and Sequence provides a good table for others to adopt or adapt. The Family Literacy page is full of great pictures. Our parents love to see themselves and their kids online!
  • http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2008/12/top-10-modern-s.html  - (From Doug Glynn?). Watch the top ten space videos online. What can they do after watching? Wow! Your imagination or that of your student is the limit!
  • http://tech.worlded.org/weitechreport.pdf  -  "Technology in Today's ABE Classroom: A Look at the Technology Practices and Preferences of Adult Basic Education Teachers" (2003) - This article is a great review of the topic. Use in to develop a technology vision and plan. Examine the chart on page 6 and let me know if that matches your interests as well!

 

  • http://tech.worlded.org/docs/maththing/ny1home.htm  - They say it best: "When an adult admits to 'having problems with math' the empathy we feel may be based on our own experience that math was dreary, rote ridden, mysterious, and much of it not terribly relevant. As teachers our task is to provide our adults with experiences  which best promote learning in a positive classroom atmosphere. .. latest research into learning theory confirms that adults learn best that which is most timely, non-threatening, enjoyable, and readily applied; it is our hope that through this WEB page we are able to present teacher trainers (and teachers too) with workshop plans, activities, and experiences that are models for instruction which will help develop that positive atmosphere for our adults." Their home page is worth checking out, as well! http://tech.worlded.org/

  • http://www.abeflorida.org/pdf/Resource_Guides/Resource_Guide_TABE05.pdf  - A Florida Resource Guide. Take a look at pages 226-227: Matching Instructional Lessons that Relate to the TABE Objectives and beyond for great ideas!

  • http://sda.doe.louisiana.gov/Lists/FAQs/DispForm.aspx?ID=18  - From Louisiana - What do you tell students who ask, "What does this activity have to do with what I want and need?" This site lists some foundation skills that are worth integrating into a review of what is accomplished at the end of a session. (SCANS skills are also great for that!). The page is for learning, or otherwise disabled, students, but it also applies to a wider population.

  • http://www.able.state.pa.us/able/cwp/view.asp?a=2&Q=39980&g=175&ableNav=|2619|2898|&ableNav=|2762|  - From the Pennsylvania Department of Education - "Take a look at these key Web sites containing a wealth of information and resources related to adult basic and literacy education. Can't list EVERYTHING here, but these will surely get you started, as many contain additional links of interest. For many more Web resources, go to the ABLE Resource Center."

Tech Ladder Workshops

This month's gaming workshop, scheduled in Glenwood Springs, was cancelled due to low registration. Thank you Nancy Hays for so willingly and generously setting up the lab and permissions to allow us to schedule time there. If we have enough people wanting to reschedule, we may do so at a later time.

The third, and final, Tech Ladder workshop was planned for the Four Corners, to cover Second Life for adult educators. Given the limited interest shown regarding the Glenwood plan, we are reconsidering the last event.

Susan Harris, Coordinator for SCPD Resource Center at Trinidad State Jr. College and publisher of our Life Jacket, has offered to put together a video-conferencing workshop in her neck of the woods. We are looking at April or May for that event. That workshop would cover a number of online tools to get people playing and creating educational games that support what research tells us about our 21st Century student population. Interested? Let us know. We are here to support you. The more you tell us about your needs and interests, the better we can accommodate you!

Lunch and Learn (LL)

The next Lunch and Learn session is scheduled for Friday, February 27th, Noon - 1PM. We have changed the topic for that session. Instead of "Tracking Student Progress with Technology," we will cover the exciting potential of Hot Potatoes and other supportive interactive tools, like Audacity, for ESL and other adult learners.

The Hot Potatoes suite includes six applications, enabling you to create interactive multiple-choice, short-answer, jumbled-sentence, crossword, matching/ordering and gap-fill exercises for the World Wide Web. Hot Potatoes is not freeware, but it is free of charge for those working for publicly-funded non-profit-making educational institutions, who make their pages available on the web. Other users must pay for a licence.

Offering that instruction will be John Horbacz, ESL instructor in Colorado Springs, who has created some very nifty activities for his students using those tools. We'll look at what John has created and follow the steps for creating more activities!

We had a very supportive group of instructors join the last LL session on Tools that Help Identify and Monitor Student Goals.

Upcoming LL sessions are likely to change topics, as Colorado instructors are willing to "strut their stuff" in Elluminate. I am inviting other Colorado adult ed instructors to moderate future session featuring what they do best with technology.

Reminder: All resources related to topics discussed in past and future LL sessions, statewide workshops, and Tech Ladder certification are posted on your wiki! Go to http://www.chiresources.pbwiki.com. If you would like to help expand those resources, you are cordially and vehemently invited to do so. When you get to the wiki page, simply sign up to become a writer, and I'll add you to the team. The more, the merrier!

You'll find links on the first page of your wiki, which lead to numerous activities that you can immediately implement with students.

Think Again

A.  Fast Multiplication

Rapidly multiply by 1.5, 2.5, 3.5, etc. or, in fact, any any number ending in 5.
(From Edward H. Julius, "Rapid MathTricks and Tips (30 Days to Number Power, John Wiley and Sons, Inc, N.Y, 1992)

Double both the divisor and the dividend to (probably) convert the parts into whole numbers, which are easier to divide. Example:

28 ÷ 3.5

  1. 28 x 2 = 56
  2. 3.5 x 2 = 7
  3. 56 ÷ 7 = 8 (the answer)

BWord Circle
(From Derrick Niederman et al, Brain Teasers, Sterling Publishing CO, Inc, 2005)

Place three letters in the three empty circles so that the longest possible word, which may be more than 8 digits long) can be spelled out by reading around the circles. You can choose your starting position and the direction in which the word is read.

CLICK FOR ANSWER

 


Your feedback, suggestions, questions and error reports are most appreciated! Let us make you famous!

CONTACT ME: leecy@coloradoadulted.org
970-562-4418
http://chiresources.pbwiki.com
http://ww.coloradoadulted.org