...yes, you can...

One of my deaf students in the literacy class (the only one remaining out of three, actually; one is very self-conscious and doesn't come, and the second had to move out of town and has no transportation) just called me via deaf relay service. I've never done this before, but it involves speaking slowly and clearly so the typist can transcribe the conversation. He called to ask me when class was -- and to tell me to travel safely. That's very moving.

Since I'm taking basic classes..."Learn ASL." You can CTRL-F for words you need to see signed, and a little Quicktime pops up to show you. Awesome.

After a whirlwind second week, I have new fans, new detractors and a new serving of busy joy to be put on my plate starting next week.  (As a side note, it also makes the program look good to have a teacher who can sign on staff, and while ML hasn't mentioned the possibility, I think we could get more grant money for it.)

So. Next week begins the Monday-night class. That means I'll be out of pocket Tuesday, Thursday, Friday mornings and Monday, Tuesday, Thursday  nights. Then, Saturday I have content standards training all day (till 4, is rumored), and then Monday the 24th I begin classes in the the second GED classroom. That puts me up to five mornings and three nights a week out of pocket.

In addition to this, I'm doing The Artist's Way, which is turning out to be quite involved but also quite necessary to getting my emotional self together. I had a bit of strife this week from K in my reading class, who was the one who wanted me to buy more books to write a new curriculum. I realize I've set a precedent for allowing people their heads and following their desires, but I need to acknowledge that there's a limit to which I will let them crawl over me and make demands. ML backed me on it and told me I had every right to ask K to leave the class if she didn't like what I had going; I don't think the situation called for all that, but I told K she needed to trust me. As I mentioned in a previous post, if she can't do that, then I really can't help her at all. I didn't appreciate the implication that she's learning more with her third-grade son than she is in my class. If that's the case, why come? Hell's bells, I sure wouldn't get out of bed to come to a class that wasn't doing anything for me.

Then, today, I had a breakthrough with three of my students, one an upper-level ESL learner and the other two struggling to  make the connection between auditory patterns and phonetic spelling. I'm going to be employing a lot more oral work, and we had fun playing bingo in class with vowel sounds. One of my students couldn't remember/make sense of the difference between long and short vowel sounds, so we're working that out as we go. M keeps asking for math, but then she's always asked for math. I told her it was more important for the time being for her to learn to understand the math directions, and to that end she needs reading.

I now have nine students in one GED class, a possible 12-15 in the other, depending on who all shows up from orientation, and eight in literacy class. I'm just now clambering on top of the paperwork pile and getting people's test scores into a manageable shape that allows me to apply them to the curriculum, and thank all the gods for that, since I'm about to fire up another class. One of my local GED students said she was glad I was her teacher "because she prayed for a good one."  Today, the secretary of the program and the data entry lady both told me that regardless of what I think of my own work, I'm far more on top of it than a lot of seasoned teachers, and that...whew. I really needed that. It's been a roller coaster this week, and encouragement from various sources has helped me not lose my mind.

So...yeah. *cracks knuckles* Bring it.

What a crazy week. Literacy class is shaping up well; they are taking very well to challenging writing prompts (Tuesday we used pictures; today it was "Teach someone how to...."). I am trying to encourage some thinking outside the box on this; one of the students wrote her piece -- the prompt was a picture of a red- and pine-colored chair -- about using the chair to tame a lion.

The local GED class has eight people in it as of tonight. EIGHT. I've never had that many in that GED class. I seldom have that many in literacy, which tends to sport higher numbers. These guys are going to fly, too; almost half of the local students are going to be ready to start testing by the time the next cycle rolls around.

Picture prompts for essays in GED class: Find a picture in a magazine, newspaper, etc. and write a story/essay about it. I got some good responses on that, and I can see the problem areas distinctly. I can always tell so much more from written pieces than I can from test scores.

http://www.everydayspelling.com/

• Compile lists of frequently misspelled words.
• Cover spelling rules and common exceptions.
• Emphasize dictionary usage.

(need benchmark info and standards)

Possibilities: story prompts, bingo, vocabulary from fiction.

(from Texas Center for the Advancement of Literacy and Learning [TCALL])

NRS Standards-based adult ed lesson plans

I don't know if any other teachers out there can use these, but there is some very good material. For example, I am going to use this in my literacy class to encourage students to write for a local free artisan paper:

Before you begin

Title: Written Story Exchange

Setting: ABE/ASE

NRS Level(s): Level 2: Beginning Basic Education

Level 3: Low Intermediate Basic Education

Open entry/exit: No

Context: Academic Standard(s): ABE/ASE Convey Ideas in Writing Benchmark(s): 1.2, 2.3, 3.3, 4.3

Objective: To improve students’ ability to write in response to a prompt.

Materials: Writing prompt, chalkboard, chalk, paper, pencils

Estimated time needed to prepare for this lesson plan: 15 minutes

Estimated time needed to complete this lesson plan: 1 hour

The Lesson Plan

Introduce the lesson:
As a class, discuss how reading to another person and sharing ideas is one way to improve communication skills. Emphasize how sharing what one writes with another person often leads to improving writing skills.

Teach the lesson:
Write the following prompt on the board: “Describe a day you will always remember. Include details about the day and why it was so memorable.” Each student is to write a paper that responds to this prompt. After making sure each student understands the prompt, give the class sufficient time to finish their writing. When each student has finished, divide the class into pairs. Give each group straws to help determine which student goes first. The “first” student reads his/her memory to the other. After he/she is finished, the partner asks any questions he/she has and makes suggestions to make the writing better. Exercise continues until both have read their stories and all questions have been asked and suggestions made.

Practice the lesson:
Each student will revise their story and re-read to his/her partner. When stories are in their final form, students will turn them in to the teacher for review. They will also turn in their “drafts” so that teacher can see the progression.

Assess the lesson:
Each student will be assessed based on teacher feedback and feedback from peer.

Apply the lesson to the real world:
This lesson should assist students in managing writing tasks at work and preparing for the GED essay.

Submitted by: Melanie Mayeaux

teachertube.com

I started rearranging my classroom today, beginning with culling out 20 years' worth of educational dreck and leftovers. They gave me a new desktop in addition to the laptop, so the whole room's a little off as I try to find places for everything and get rid of everything that doesn't have a place. It'll be good, though. Really didn't need 1968's version of several different reading class sets.

Also, I mailed out postcards. We're gearing up for real now. I realized today that however unprepared I think I am this year, I was ten times so last year, so it's all good. I am Zen.

Ideas for the literacy class for this year: Play-doh and measuring cups for hands-on fractions, multiplication skills while playing dominoes, definition-based word bingo. Also, Ripley's Believe It Or Not / similar weird and crazy real-life stories for comprehension and writing prompts.

One thing I forgot in my desire to get people reading at home is the fact that we can use class time for that as well. Whatever literacy level the student operates within, she can choose a book off the shelf and read it just for fun, right there at the desk. What a concept.

Tonight, I taught the GED class the beginning of fractions. Not with the pie, and not with adding or reducing or raising. I started with multiplication. In multiplication of fractions you don't do anything to the fractions. You just go straight across.  1/4 x 1/2 = 1/8. Cake.

Then we covered canceling. I can't illustrate that here as above, but if you click this, there is an explanation of how to cancel fractions.

That is so much easier than starting with reduction. By the time we get to reduction, it will already be old hat because we've been doing it all along without really doing it.

So, for future reference, fractions will go thusly:

1) Concepts and terms: Proper, improper, mixed

2) Multiplication (no reducing)

3) Multiplication with canceling (no reducing)

4) Division ("flip" second fraction and multiply, cancel if necessary, no reducing)

5) Mixed numbers to improper fractions and back again

6) (unsure at this juncture; possibly  addition comes next; it will depend on the students' competency and mastery levels)