Summer, 2010

Supplementary Articles for Classroom Use Person Centered Planning: A Tool for Transition Use of a person-centered planning process with young adults with disabilities as they go through transition can unite formal and informal systems of support. By combining resources and working intentionally toward a common goal, families and professionals can achieve more positive outcomes for youth with disabilities, while at the same time putting long-term community supports in place. Learning to Think, Learning to Learn: What the Science of Thinking and Learning Has To Offer Adult Education This resource was developed for adult educators who teach or tutor reading in General Educational Development (GED) classrooms and for teacher trainers, and contains 18 fact sheets on learning and thinking, each about 10 pages long. The following fact sheets are included: (1) Literature Is Not Science; (2) Making Connections; (3) Mental Models; (4) Thinking about Thinking; (5) Getting Information into Memory; (6) Memory and Learning; (7) Working Memory and Learning; (8) Long-Term Memory and Learning; (9) How Thinking Develops, Part 1--General and School-Based Development; (10) How Thinking Develops, Part 2--Changes in Strategies; (11) How Thinking Develops, Part 3--Experience Makes Some Difference for Adults; (12) The Importance of Teaching Content; (13) What Does Good Thinking Look Like; (14) Critical Thinking; (15) Active Learning; (16) Problem-Based Learning; (17) Supporting Good Thinking; and (18) Adult Learning. The fact sheets incorporate learning methods based on cognitive research, including questions for teacher reflection; and quotes from teachers, learners, and researchers that show how the information presented is relevant to teaching. Strategies to Facilitate Reading Comprehension in College Transition Students Difficulties in reading comprehension are common for students transitioning to college, and the need to provide students with concrete strategies in approaching reading tasks is well documented. Research in reading comprehension has studied the different reading processes of good readers and poor readers to determine how good readers come to understand and retain what they have read. SARC Literacy Activities Handbook: Supporting Literacy for People with Intellectual/Developmental Challenges This document is intended as a handbook for literacy practitioners working with adults with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities. Included in the handbook's 10 sections: (1) introductory materials and guidelines for using the handbook); (2) some instructional strategies (information on teaching approaches, choosing literacy activities, learning styles); (3) literacy activities (puzzle, television, photograph, telephone, time concept, newspaper, card-playing, flashcard, and vocabulary activities); (4) additional literacy activities (activities devoted to reading, writing, numeracy, currency, and phonics); (5) concluding materials (quotes for tutors, literacy jokes, an evaluation form); (6) acknowledgments; (7) profiles of seven literacy programs for developmentally disabled adults; (8) a 69-item annotated bibliography of printed materials, online documents, websites, newsgroups, and software and list of 15 publishers; (9) 36 readings by and for literacy learners; and (10) literacy activity master sheets. Please email GK-Henderson@wiu.edu if you'd like a copy of any or all of these articles.

Web Spotlight Health Savvy: A Flexible Framework For Enhancing Health Literacy Through Adult Education sites.google.com/site/pkwyael/Home/health-literacy-resources Health Savvy is a framework for using the resources of adult education to address key areas relevant to improved health literacy in both ABE/ASE and ESL classes and, conversely, for using the highly relevant areas of health information and health literacy to improve students' engagement and persistence in acquiring the skills for which they entered adult education classes. The focus of Health Savvy is to promote awareness of health issues and individuals’ role in their own health, with primary attention to wellness and critical thinking/decision making. Empowerment -- to stay well, to make appropriate use of the health care system in the U.S. for both preventive and sick care, and to recognize and overcome barriers in the health context -- is the goal of the framework.

Dear Friends in Adult Education, I want to let you know that I am returning to teaching in the classroom and have resigned from CIAESC. I have mixed emotions with this decision. I have been so lucky to get to work with you and your programs as well as all the wonderful people at CIAESC. All of you have been very welcoming and encouraging to me. Thank you. You have also been amazing in your tenacity and resilience in working to improve student experiences with decreasing funds. You are a wonderful team, all working diligently for the students! As many of you know, the classroom is also close to my heart. I look forward to working with students more directly and more regularly. I will miss you. Working with you has been a pleasure and a privilege. Sincerely, Debbe Rigney-Hays drhays@fastmail.fm

CIAESC Resource Library Picks

CIAESC maintains a lending resource library of professional and classroom materials (books, videos, audiotapes, disk software and CD-ROMs) and makes the resources available at no cost to all adult education program staff in the Illinois Service Center Network service region. To check out materials listed below or to customize your search for additional resources, please go to our web site, www.cait.org/ciaesc and click on the Resource Library graphic. To find one of the titles listed below, type the title in the search form title field and begin search. Directions to conduct your own search and to check out materials via the online shopping cart are provided. Patrons are encouraged to utilize the online system. If you do not have access to the Internet, please call (800) 572-9033 to arrange for check out. RECENTLY ADDED TRANSITION RESOURCES! Integrating Career Awareness into the ABE & ESOL Classroom The goal of this curriculum is to help adult education teachers and counselors guide adult learners through a comprehensive career planning process that promotes a full range of life skills. The curriculum contains lessons and classroom activities to introduce the three phases of career planning: self-exploration, occupational exploration, and education and career planning. Developed by the Massachusetts System for Adult Basic Education Support (SABES) and the National College Transition Network. (2009) The College Transition Toolkit The College Transition Toolkit was written for adult education programs and their college partners to assist with the development of college transition services. The CD Toolkit is a comprehensive guide to program planning and implementation that draws on the expertise of practitioners from the New England ABE-to-College Transition Project and around the country. Chapter topics include: Program Models, Partnerships and Collaborations, Recruitment, Assessment, Counseling, Curriculum and Instruction, Planning, and Using Data for Program Development. Each chapter contains: Planning Tools: develop and implement your program, Lessons from the Field: first hand accounts from college transition practitioners, and Additional Printable and Web Resources. (2008) Success at Work Transitions to Employment DVD Success at Work Transitions to Employment Student Work Guide Success at Work Transitions to Employment Teacher Lesson Planner This complete program facilitates students' transition from high school to the world of work through multimedia materials including an engaging DVD, a well-structured Student Work Guide and an extensive Teacher Lesson Planner. Six high school students/graduates with learning disabilities and/or ADHD discuss their successful transition to work. In an unscripted interview format, they talk about their learning strengths and needs, the power of acceptance, how they prepared to enter the workforce, and the importance of self-advocacy at work. An inspiring and motivational resource for teaching self-determination. (2003)