May 20, 2017

A Successful Career Pathways Project at CCIU's Family Literacy Program

To an immigrant with limited English and limited formal education, the notion of a full-fledged career pathway in the U.S. may be daunting, but it is one that the students in the CCIU’s Family Literacy program have unmistakably faced head on.  Instead of simply studying a job-themed vocabulary set or decontextualized grammar, students earnestly engaged in a purposeful, scaffolded project, building meaningful career awareness step by step. 

The project began simply enough with brainstorming, discussions, and writing activities related to job interests, skills, and experiences.  Then, in order to  gain a deeper understanding of a focused and personally meaningful career option, students were placed in groups based on mutual interest in jobs such as nurse, childcare worker, and accountant.  After the teacher modeled her own presentation on the career of a university professor, students were given a rubric to begin researching and crafting their own posters detailing essential, though often unexamined information like educational requirements, expected salary, and local employers.  One especially helpful source was the U.S. Department of Labor’s comprehensive career database: www.onetonline.org.

When presentation day arrived, the results proved to be an impressive culmination of students’ hard work.  Not only were the oral reports a showcase of sustained speaking in English, they elicited genuine questions from the audience, as classmates continued to push one another to clarify and comprehend the nuances of the various careers. For example, the differences among Certified Nursing Assistants and Aides, Licensed Practical Nurses, and Registered Nurses turned out to be an area for further investigation. As a follow-up to the presentations, students then participated in a gallery walk activity, taking notes and leaving questions and comments on sticky notes for each poster hung up on the walls around the classroom.  This close analysis allowed for even richer class discussion as careers were compared and contrasted and their advantages and disadvantages were debated. 

As the famous Chinese proverb states, “a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step,” and students in the Family Literacy program can now be proud to have taken a solid first step toward a fulfilling career.

See a description of and the rubric for the project. 

Teaching Tips and Resources
Four resources for preventing summer slide in family literacy
You may not know what "summer slide" is, but you have probably seen it. Summer slide is when a student seems to "unlearn" things when they step away from their education over the summer months. K-12 teachers worry about summer slide and it happens in adult education also. The Family Literacy staff recently shared four resources that you can use to keep your students' families and their children pushing forward in their learning instead of sliding back. Read more...
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Formative assessment: According to The Glossary of Education Reform, the term refers to methods teachers use to evaluate their students’ comprehension, learning needs and progress during class time. Access the article to read more about examples of formative assessments and how they can accelerate the achievements of all students. The Teaching Channel offers some great resources including articles and videos describing formative assessment. Teaching Excellence in Adult Literacy (TEAL) has a fact sheet about formative assessment that can be found on the LINCS site, connecting many of the suggestions to our adult students. Improve the quality of your instruction and boost your students’ outcomes by learning about some of these techniques for formative assessment.
Deepen comprehension with these four questions
An article from Edutopia gives teachers four questions that can help students to deepen their understanding of any reading. Comprehension of virtually any text can be enhanced by thinking about and discussing four simple questions. Not only that, but you can use these questions to assess your students' understanding and use that to tailor your further discussion and teaching. This article explains and gives examples of each question. 
Professional Development Opportunities
Literacy Trivia from COABE 
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Webinar: Adopting a Growth Mindset
How On Friday, May 19th, 10:00AM-12:00PM, Meg Ashenden and Joy Zamierowski will host a webinar titled, Adopting a Growth Mindset. This is brought to you by the Adult Literacy Basic and Secondary Education Division (ALBSE) of PAACE. You can register online
State and National Adult Education News
Dramatic play center "trunks" a success in Reading, PA
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New Pennsylvania Career Guide
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Grants and Scholarships
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As part of the Grant Writing for Beginners series, GetEdFunding.com has a new article about designing and presenting a timeline in a grant proposal. A timeline will keep your team on task and show your funder that you are ready to accomplish your goals. Simple and to the point, this article suggests a list of things to include and a list of tips to keep in mind.  
PA Adult Education Resources
Visit  www.paadultedresources.org  for the latest PA adult education news and resources. Recent additions to the site include:
Upcoming State and National Conferences
State and National Newsletters
These are state or national organizations' newsletters that may be of interest to you. To receive the most recent editions by email, please subscribe directly to the newsletter
 
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OCTAE Connection,  US Department of Education, Office of Career, Technical, & Adult Education
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