What’s new in the Lake County Library System Adult Literacy Program …

2010 is quickly approaching and we continue to evolve and explode, aren’t we all?! I wanted to share with you some of the exciting things that we have been juggling – some new, some old standbys.

Conversation Classes – “Talk About It…in English”. These classes have been a brilliant addition to our adult literacy arsenal! We are so happy to have multiple classes meeting across the county. Currently, there are 7 groups meeting in 6 locations with more than 50 learners having joined us so far. Where possible, we have encouraged co-facilitators to lead the groups to ensure coverage during vacations and unexpected conflicts. The tutors are truly enjoying this opportunity – no lesson planning or monthly reports, what could be better? They are making great progress.

Citizenship Classes. What a great somewhat new addition to our program! We have had 3 classes so far and the tutor facilitators and learners have done an amazing job. Many learners have gone on to pass the test! We are using the New Readers Press Citizenship series – it has been an excellent multi-media tool - and is well received by both tutors and learners. The current class will soon be done and the next class is scheduled to start in March 2010.

Fast Track Reading System. We are ecstatic that 2 tutors stepped up to the plate and offered to launch our first phonics class for English language learners! The class will start on March 2, 2010 and is scheduled to run 2 nights per week for 13 weeks. This curriculum was developed by the Jacksonville Public Library (JPL) with the support of the Florida Department of State, Division of Library and Information Services. It focuses on using syllable division and syllable types as a way to strengthen the word attack skills of new readers. Thank you Sharon Jaskula, JPL Center for Adult Learning Coordinator, for sharing this tool with us.

Adult Learner Computer Lab. We have finally had the opportunity to offer a computer lab – facilitated by a lab assistant! Space with computer access has always been an issue and we are thrilled that we have a location that can support the creation of our first computer lab! Rosetta Stone, USA Learns, dvd and cd-rom series, guided learning and self-paced studies are now an option for our learners! Can’t wait to see how it develops.

Tutor Training. We are so very fortunate to have an incredible pool of volunteer tutors and more coming every day! The November graduating class is hard at work and the upcoming January training is nearly full! We are working towards reducing the ‘sit’ time and tapping into more online training options to meet the needs of our diverse volunteers. The next step is creating an interactive online learning component accessible from the adult literacy area of our Library website. Work has begun and I am hopeful that tutors will be able to take advantage of it by Spring 2010!

Professional Development Workshops. We have developed some new topics to be added to our ‘catalogue of training’ for our tutor team. Topics for upcoming face-to-face workshops include: learning disabilities - assessing challenges and developing a plan; working with a beginning ELL – a training on LWE and Oxford Picture Dictionary series; computer skills; goal setting (we thought we successfully covered in the initial training, but…); and learner transition.

Learner and Tutor Mentors. We are excited to be entering the 2nd year of this remarkable component of our adult literacy program. We would not be as successful without the continued support and dedication of our mentors!

I look forward to hearing what you are doing in your adult literacy programs!

Erika L. Greene, Literacy Coordinator

Free Book for English Language Learners

The discussion on The Adult English Language Acquisition Discussion List (englishlanguage@nifl.gov)is on serving preliterate English Language Learners. The book, Making It Real, was recommended. It is free to download. I took a look at it and it is full of the basic strategies to use with low level learners. It was created by Literacy NOW (literacynow.org) in Washington State Click on the link below and it will download as a pdf file.

If you are looking for cheap ways to provide training, take a look at this book and see if it could be used as one of the handouts in your ELL volunteer training workshop. Download the book.

Description from the post:
Making it Real: Teaching Pre-literate Adult Refugee Students
Alysan Croydon. 2005, 108 p. FREE!

Recently, refugee families have been arriving from Somalia, Liberia, Sudan, Ethiopia, and Thailand to begin their new lives in communities across Washington State. Many of the adults have never had an opportunity to attend school, so they are not literate in their first language. Some have never lived in homes with electricity and plumbing or towns with buses and shopping malls. As a result, they face many challenges during their resettlement process. As they enter beginning level ESL classes, their teachers, too, are finding the task of teaching them challenging.

With funding from the Refugee and Immigrant Assistance Section, the Tacoma Community House Training Project has developed this book containing a wealth of successful strategies and techniques for teaching both beginning literacy and speaking skills. The richly illustrated text includes:

A list of survival competencies for speaking, listening, reading, and writing

A plethora of activities for introducing, practicing, and applying these new skills to the students’ lives

Strategies for teaching pre-literate refugees in a multi-level ESL class

Reading and Writing Discussion List and your Cell Phone

Did you know you could use your cell phone to read a book. You can also use it to practice literacy skills, books are even being written for the cell phone:
Of 2007’s ten best-selling novels in Japan, "five were originally
cellphone novels, mostly love stories written in the short sentences
characteristic of text messaging but containing little of the plotting
or character development found in traditional novels.

This is a post on the new reading and writing discussion list. To learn more about the list go to http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/readwrite/2009/000000.html and read an archives of recent posts.

To sign up for the list go to http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/subscribe_all.html and select reading and reading, one of several discussion lists.

Selecting Books as Gifts for Children

The National Center for Family Literacy has released their own holiday book list. You can download it as a pdf. It is somewhat more accessible than the typical list and has short tips for parents. But it is still not on a very low level. The list is grouped by age level of the child.

Tutors could go with their students to a bookstore and use the list to help them Christmas shop for their children. To get the list go to NCFL. and select download list.

Or, if money is tight, learners could take the list to the library and ask the childrens' librarian to pull titles they could borrow for free. If the exact title is not there, the librarian can be asked to select similar titles.

Using Videos in Lessons

There is now a wealth of video clips on You Tube. Just type in ESL Lessons to get more traditional instructional videos.

Another way you could do it, is show a clip on a topic of interest to a student. This real life instruction has been proven to enhance learning and motivation.

Use a video about 2 minutes long. Before viewing, do some prereading activities.
First use still pictures from the video and ask your student to predict language and content. Find something for your student to read that introduces the content on the video. Discuss vocabulary which you think the student may not know. Also, tell the student why they are watching the video-- to learn workforce skills etc.

Free Web Pictures for Lessons

Are you looking for free material to jazz up your lessons? Then check out this review of web sites. The review describes each site and includes ideas of how to use it in instruction.

Mixing in Math

If you want a fun idea for adding math activities to a family literacy program, check out our wiki page on doing more with less. A December calendar is posted with math activities a parent can use with their child. It is available in Spanish as well as English.

LSTA Grant Workshop Series: Grant Overview

If writing a library grant is a mystery, attend the following:

Monday, December 7, 2009 from 2:00 p.m. to 3:15 p.m. ET
Wednesday, January 6, 2010 from 10:00 a.m. to 11:15 a.m. ET

In the online classroom

There is a series of online workshops that will assist publicly supported libraries with the preparation of Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) grants for the 2010 application cycle. These workshops are provided free of charge and are intended to help with the grant writing process for LSTA grants.

The first of the series is a Grant Overview, which will be held twice. Dorothy Frank and Marian Deeney from the State Library and Archives of Florida will provide an overview of the LSTA guidelines and application process.

Topics to be covered in the Overview include:

· Eligibility requirements for the LSTA grant program

· LSTA grant review and funding process

· Grant categories

· Components of a proposal

The next three workshops in the series will be specific discussions on How to Establish Your Need; How to Write an Outcomes Plan; and How to Write an Action Plan and Budget Narrative. You may take as many of them as you would like and you do not need to take prior sessions in order to take later ones.

For more information about these sessions, contact Dorothy Frank at 850.245.6631 or dafrank@dos.state.fl.us. For more about writing a literacy grant contact Sandy Newell at 850.245.6624 or snewell@dos.state.fl.us

Registration information:

Register for these sessions

Once your registration has been processed, you will receive a confirmation e-mail with instructions for joining the session(s). (This should occur within 24 hours.)

For additional information regarding registration, contact: Stephanie Race at sfrace@dos.state.fl.us or 850.245.6630 or Melissa Hooke at mhhooke@dos.state.fl.us or 850.245.6632

Registration is also available for

How to Establish Your Need

How to Write an Outcomes Plan

How to Write an Action Plan and Budget Narrative

The Florida Literacy Coalition History and New Address

The Florida Literacy Coalition formed in 1985. Anita Rogers was their first administrator, and Greg Smith is the current executive director. One of our VALF board members, Jack Newell, was a founding board member representing volunteer literacy groups in Florida on the Coalition board.

Originally the Coalition board was made up of representatives of literacy groups and others interested in literacy. Now the Coalition has an operating board of business people and others advised by a board of literacy representatives. The majority of their funding comes from the Florida Department of Education grants supplemented by other sources.

The Coalition provides a wide variety of support for volunteer groups and adult literacy programs. VALF holds our annual meeting at the Coalition Conference scheduled for Captiva in May. Check out their web site for information on the conference and to learn the latest.

The Florida Literacy Coalition has recently moved. They are still in Orlando but are located at the Old Southern Bank Building in downtown Orlando. As of December 1, 2009 their address is:

250 N. Orange Ave.
Suite 11W
Orlando, FL 32801

Post by Sandy Newell, VALF President
literacyflorida@hotmail.com
850.245.6624

Recruiting Volunteers

I just read that one classroom based literacy program recruits volunteers through libraries and Craig's List. I am not surprised about using libraries but didn't know about using Craig's List. Has anyone used it or other unique ways of recruiting volunteers?

Family Literacy Stories

When I was tutoring, one of my students was a 24 year old Mom who, along with her husband, owned a Gym. I really admired her strength. She had been in a car accident and was told she would not be able to walk, but she did. Her motivation to learn was to be able to read picture books to her daughter.

I remember the tutoring session where she learned about word patterns, a fun skill for picture books. It was just like Thanksgiving and Christmas rolled into one for her.

Please share your student stories about parents with us. Send your story toliteracyflorida@hotmail.com and we will post them on our blog and wiki. Let's celebrate Family Literacy Month by letting others know about the impact of volunteer literacy on families.
Sandy Newell, VALF President

NCFL Book for Volunteers

Planning for Volunteers in Literacy: A Guidebook is available from
NCFL Look under Life Literacies which also includes health, technology and other free resources. A lot in this guidebook will not be new to established programs, but the unique aspect is how to work with families. The book can be downloaded and covers such topics as assessment, cost/benefit, developing staff, roles, recruitment etc.

Some volunteer programs find they need to go into the home to work with the full family. One, very well trained volunteer, can provide the four components. The tutor can more easily model PACT, parent and child together time in the home. Some of the best learning is by seeing and doing. Home visits work well for babies and toddlers.

Family literacy is challenging for volunteer programs. Most find it easier to add components, based on the goals of the parents. So, if a parent said his/her goal was to help their child with literacy, a tutor could add a PACT component working with the child. Of course, before that the tutor must provide a parenting session covering strategies for the parents. This works well in small groups. Parents enjoy learning and advising each other, if they have the time to get together.
Sandy Newell, President, VALF

ESL List of Resources for Educatiors

This list is maintained by a literacy provider in New York. I don't think it has the latest. If you know of good lists of adult literacy material, please put the link in comments.
http://www.lacnyc.org/resources/adult/printresources.htm

Comprehensive Family Literacy

I spoke a little too fast yesterday about community leaders lack of knowledge about the reading level of parents. After I wrote my post, I read an article in the Tallahassee newspaper from the St. Pete Times. In the story,a principal invited 10 parents to have dinner with him. Five came.

The purpose was to increase parent involvement. But, what I really liked was that he gave the parents a clear set of instructions on how to interact with their child. It wasn't how to be the child's teacher. It was about listening to their child and demonstrating an interest in their learning. The article clearly indicated that the principal understood that it was possible that some of the parents couldn't read. How did he know? He grew up in such a family!

So, what is family literacy? A FL program has 4 components: 1. child learning 2. parent learning 3. parenting in the context of helping their child learn and last, but certainly not least 4. parent and child together time (PACT) When a parent takes his child to the library and the child plays in the library, browsing books and the parent goes along with the child... Guess what that is a family doing PACT, but it is often a middle class mom or dad with their child. PACT is what the principal was modeling! More about family literacy....

Family Literacy Blog and Adult Literacy

The National Center for Family Literacy (NCFL) has their own blog
http://www.famlit.org/blog

I am getting tired of adult literacy being left out of the debate over the dropout rate for kids. Consistently the talk is that parents must be more involved. They said it again on one of this Sunday's news programs. When this is mentioned, they rarely (almost never) acknowledge that parents who can not read well and lack a diploma, just don't have the skills or knowledge of how to work with children. That's 43% of the US adults who read at basic or below basic level.

NCFL gets it, but many other kid focused literacy programs don't.

So, what is comprehensive family literacy? More about this in my next post.

Sandy Newell
Presdient, VALF

Library Literacy Grants due March 15, 2010

It is grant writing time again. Library Services and Technology Act grants for Florida are due March 15, 2010. There will be an online session about the program. Information about this is on the VALF wiki at

http://literacyflorida.wikispaces.com/Agenda+June+6%2C+2008

If you want to know more about writing a library literacy grant, contact Sandy Newell at 850.245.6624 or snewell@dos.state.fl.us. Any publicly funded library can apply for this grant.

Libraries may also partner with literacy programs to apply for a grant to help the partner provide adult literacy services.

Adult Literacy Statistics on November 12--to be rescheduled

Due to some technical problems, this session will be rescheduled.

Putting Numbers to Faces: an Introduction to Adult Literacy Statistics is a free online session sponsored by Volunteers for Adult Literacy in Florida (VALF) on November 12, Thursday, at 1:00 p.m. ET.  The issue of adult literacy is often invisible.  This session will provide the facts to back up the stories volunteers hear every day as they tutor adult learners.

To register email VALF at mailto:literacyflorida@hotmail.com by November 10.Include your name, organization, phone number and email address. We will send you the link to connect to the session by November 11.

If you want to know where to find and understand the latest adult literacy statistics and learn how to use this data to make the case for your grant application, support your request for funding or need for volunteers, attend this session. This session is for those new to adult literacy and volunteer program managers. It will also benefit clubs interested in literacy, and organizations who want to partner with or start up volunteer literacy programs. Those attending will learn a base of information to understand the problem.

Meet Our New VALF Board Member

Pat Bauer joined the Volunteers for Adult Literacy Board in May 2009.  We want you to know more about her.

Patricia Thomas Bauer, recipient of the USF Jean Key Gates Distinguished Alumni Award for 2007, is a Florida native who earned her BA in Education from Stetson University, her MA in Library Science from the University of South Florida and her PhD in Library and Information Studies from Florida State University.

Dr. Bauer served as a classroom teacher for 10 years and school media specialist for 15 years before joining the SLIS faculty at USF in 1999. She has been active in community and professional organizations which offer opportunities to serve as an advocate for quality library service for children in both school and public library settings.

Currently Dr. Bauer serves on the Board of Directors of the Pinellas Public Library Cooperative, the Literacy Council of Upper Pinellas, and Volunteers for Adult Literacy in Florida. Since her retirement from full time teaching she is an adjunct professor for the USF School of Library and Information Science. Pat lives in Dunedin with Tom Bauer, her husband of 40 years. Their son, Edward Bauer, is an attorney in Tallahassee.

Adult Education and Family Literacy

Adult Literacy Statistics

• 20% of adults in Florida read at third-grade level or lower.

• That is, more than 2.6 million adults in Florida have difficulty finding a program in a TV guide or reading an instruction sheet from their doctor.

For more information about adult literacy statistics, attend our free VALF online session on November 12, Thursday at 1 pm ET.  

To register email your name, title, organization, phone and email to literacyflorida@hotmail.com.

Shop for A Cause-- Unemployment Rate and Friday Workshop.....

Today is Macy's Shop for a Cause.  VALF has been giving the discount coupons to those who contribute $5 or more to VALF.  Today Glenda Norvel and Sandy Newell, VALF board members, will be staffing a table for VALF at the Tallahassee Macy's.  Come by and donate $5 to get your coupon from us.  The contributions will go to our grant program.  To learn how you can donate to our grant program, email literacyflorida@hotmail.com.

Today's newspaper reported a 11% unemployment rate for Florida.  Our volunteer literacy program know this means more people without jobs need help with their basic reading skills.  It is bringing more business to our programs while the dollars are shrinking.

Attend Friday's free Fast Track Reading Program on Friday in Leesburg.  To learn more read the earlier posts in this blog.  To register email literacyflorida@hotmail.com today.

Family Literacy Month and NCFL Founder

"Literacy is the stem of the flower.  If you don't have a strong stem, none of the other petals of learning (work skills, reading to your child, getting a driver's license and more) can happen"  So says Sharon Darling, the founder of the National Center for Family Literacy in the video about her life below.  Watch this 17 minute video to learn what family literacy is all about.  It is one of 4 videos below about adult literacy in our link to U-tube productions available in VALF's blog.

Volunteer literacy programs can celebrate November as Family Literacy Month in small and big ways.  Here are examples:

• Provide literacy lesson using picture books this month.  Help parents learn to read words while getting tips on how to read to their child.  The parent can then take the book home to share with their child.
• If you are working with a very low literate parent or with someone who does not read English, use wordless picture books or bilingual books.  This makes sharing stories easier.
  
• Hold a family festival night.  Invite parents who are students to  come with their children to enjoy stories and books together.  Provide food, make crafts, give books away and more...
  
• Invite your library staff to provide a program and tour of the library for your families.
• Write a letter to your newspaper's editor or post on the paper's electronic publication highlighting the problem of adult literacy in the context of the family.  Share your learner's success stories as related to their children.
• Share other ways in the comments for this blog post....
  

 Most volunteer programs lack the resources to provide a comprehensive family literacy program, but many can provide special activities to encourage families learning together.   A comprehensive program has 4 components (Children are learning, Parents learn how to work with their children as related to literacy, Parent and Children Interaction Time also called PACT where children and parents play and read together and an area that is most important, ADULTS LEARNING BASIC LITERACY SKILLS. You can learn more about all components at the link to NCFL.

So much of the time, schools, libraries and many others tell parents to read to their child forgetting that many parents of struggling readers can not read very well themselves.  If a parent lacks the skills to read, they are often embarrassed about it and can not read to their child. 

Volunteer literacy programs are vital because they help parents gain these basic skills which will be passed on to their children!

Register Today for Free Workhop on October 23

Fast Track Reading System for Volunteer Tutors

Register today for the Fast Track Reading System for Volunteer Tutors Workshop on October 23, Friday in Leesburg. For times and location go to our wiki. The brochure posted on the wiki has more details.  E-mail literacyflorida@hotmail.com to register.

National Writing Day -- October 20

National Writing Day is October 20. If you would like a fun way to encourage your learners to write, go to FloridaMemory.com and try out the State Library of Florida's writing tool. Florida memory is full of pictures around many Florida topics. A subset of these have been pulled together around short stories, books and topics like Dogs, Key West, Flight, Hurricanes and more.

A writer can select one of the pictures and then write their short story about it. You end up with a word document with a Florida picture. You need to save the story to your computer. The site does not save it.

If your literacy programs would like specific pictures based on your community or a topic, email snewell@dos.state.fl.us.

Health Literacy Month

Happy Health Literacy Month.... There are many resources for Health Literacy. One is a private consultant who has some free resources on her site, including a health literacy logo.

Here is a good resource for easy to read material.. It is the Institute for Health Literacy Advancement.

List Serve as In-Service for ELL Tutors

The National Institute for Literacy (NIFL) has a very busy discussion list for serving English Language Learners. Your volunteer literacy group may want to set up one email account for a volunteer to monitor discussion lists like this one.

Also, this discussion list is a good way for volunteers to get in-service. To sign up for the list go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/Englishlanguage/

Fast Track Reading System for Volunteer Tutors

Register today for the Fast Track Reading System for Volunteer Tutors Workshop on October 23, Friday in Leesburg. For times and location go to our wiki. The brochure posted on the wiki has more details.

Explore the “Fast Track Reading” course developed specifically for lower-level readers by the Jacksonville Public Library. The system incorporates a unique, accelerated approach to reading instruction that focuses on syllable division, syllable types, and other word attack strategies.

VALF is hosting this free workshop. The library has found proven instructional strategies that work with basic reading students who have not succeeded in other programs. Sharon Hastings Jaskula, long time manager of the Jacksonville Public Library’s award winning literacy program, is the program presenter. Register today by sending your name, program name, telephone number, fax number and e-mail to literacyflorida@hotmail.com. Also include your title (Program Manager, Tutor Trainer, Tutor, Teacher etc.)

The Jacksonville Public Library developed this program with funding from a Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA), a federal grant administered by the State Library and Archives of Florida.

Literacy Videos

Have you had a chance to take a look at the literacy videos on U Tube. If not, we've made it easy for you. Scroll down toward the end of this blog. We have some that you can click on to watch. These are random, based on the term adult literacy. At some point, we'll review some of these. Some are appropriate for tutor training. Nova Scotia has some good ones.

Tutor Training and In-Service

Here is a free resource that can be used in the basic reading tutor training workshop or for in-service.  

Applying Research in Reading Instruction for Adults: First Steps for Teachers

http://www.nifl.gov/publications/pdf/applyingresearch.pdf

It was published 4 years ago and is classroom oriented, but can be adapted for volunteers with help from your tutor trainer and experienced tutors.  It includes all of the basic concepts and includes specific instructional strategies.  Taken as a whole, it could be intimidating for volunteers.  But, with your help, it can be served up in bites --that tutors will find useful.  

Here are a few ideas on using this freely available tool.  Please post your own suggestions or ways you train tutors initially or provide them ongoing in-service.

• Assign short readings from it to a group of tutors.  Encourage tutors to share their learnings and questions online in a wiki, on your blog or over lunch.
• When you contact the tutor to provide tutor support, find out what their student is struggling with.  Then assign the pages that relate back to the skill such as decoding, fluency or phonics.  Touch base again to see if it helped.
  
• Post a question of the week on your blog, and ask tutors to read related sections and post their observations.

Please share your thoughts and ideas in comments on this blog.

Books for Adult Learners

The Ohio Literacy Resource Center has published two lists of books reviewed by adult literacy professionals and recommended for use in adult literacy programs. Many of the books are for new adult learners and can be found in your local library.

When you go into the site, you can select categories such as historical fiction, photographic, biography, wordless, easy reading and more.  There are also titles based on the GED test subject areas.  Easy reading  lists titles for low level readers. At the bottom of the page, you can select the type of reader to help find the "right" book.

Libraries could help their local literacy program by adding subject categories for each of these titles they own into their automated catalog.  If they add a consistent heading, it would help tutors and students find these books.

Ideally, all libraries across the United States would have one consistent heading for their adult literacy collection.  Everyone uses something different which makes it difficult to find these titles.

Statistics and Our Survey

Go to literacy statistics at our wiki to learn more about adolescent literacy.  Also, you just have 4 days to complete our survey.  Please complete it today.  Right now topics with the most votes include tutors support, collections and statistics.

Tutor In-Service

Tutor training is the heart of a quality volunteer literacy program and ongoing opportunities are a must.  But, in this busy world, it is hard to get tutors together for face to face tutor in-service.   

What is a volunteer program manager to do???? First, don't give up.  Be creative.    

Tutors must be supported to be effective, and training is one of the most important tools you have. Tutors may quit if they feel they don't know enough to do the job. 


There are many ways you can support tutors.  Share magazine articles electronically with  those who work away from your main office.  Provide a paper file and bulletin board at sites where several tutors work.  Your library can help you find articles.    Encourage tutors to participate in list serves or similar online discussions.  Match a newer tutor with an experienced tutor.  Ask them to connect regularly by phone, over lunch or even by Twitter!  

Tell them about online trainings appropriate for your program.  Then, reward them for taking the training.  As part of your recognition, award those who attend the most in-service.

Check out videos and other free resources on the Internet, including this VALF blog and our WIKI. 


Utilize online training sessions in a consistent way.  Work with each tutor to develop an in-service training plan.  Keep track of trainings tutors attend.  Some might say this is just as important as documenting student attendance and hours of instruction.  Include a way for tutors to discuss what they read or learn.  Remember, tutors, like students, learn best if they have ways to discuss tutoring techniques with others to help internalize what they learn.



Go to our wiki for ideas and links to tutor support and online instruction available.  We just added a link to short online videos on comprehension.  


Please add comments about what tutor in-service you have found effective.  Also recommend online instruction your tutors have found most effective.

Books for Adult Learners

Grassroots Press is again adding to the collection of interesting titles for adult learners.  This time Canadian authors are writing stories for adults at an accessible reading level.  These titles won't be available until next year, but they do have books from England and other fun reads meant for those who are getting into the pleasure of reading for the first time. 

Complete Survey

Only about a week for you to complete our survey....

Fundraisers Happening

Literacy Volunteers of Collier County held their largest fundraisng event of the year last week.  Take a look at their pictures on their facebook page.  Gadsden County's literacy program held their annual literacy summit in Quincy on Saturday.  Gadsden's county's home is the public library. Let us know what activities you held this month in our comments.

History of Literacy Statistics

Many of you want to know more about literacy statistics, according to our training survey.  Here is some background information.   For links to literacy statistics, go to our wiki.

Background
Back in the 1970's when I got involved in literacy, the only figures available  for Florida were based on the Census.  I generally used adults 18 and older with less than 8th grade education as evidence of low literacy. I still see this as one benchmark figure, because in the United States, you cannot drop out of school until you are 16.  This means many adults eventually get to 8th grade before dropping out.  I also said that, older adults, with an 8th grade education often could read pretty well because that was a standard level of completion in their day.  This was before testing was required to move up grade levels.  I would like to hear whether this trend is changing.

I believe a survey had been done in late 1970's or early 1980's of adults in Texas.  It found that about 20% of the population were functionally illiterate, and this figure was often used nationally.  This was the first time a survey actually documented reading levels.  Finally in 1992, a similar, more comprehensive national survey was conducted and Florida participated.  This was the first time Florida got actual figures of reading levels. It documented what many running volunteer literacy programs knew.  Many adults with traditional high school diplomas could not read very well. 

A new version of a similar survey was done in 2002, but Florida did not participate.  Because of this there was no Florida data immediately available.  For the first time literacy was divided up by type of reading.  It included prose, document and quantitative literacy.  The survey recognized that what we read impacts how well we are able to read.  But the prose literacy data is the figure which tends to be used to track traditional literacy skills.

Finally, in January 2009 figures were released for Florida's counties.  These are estimates based on the 2002 survey and each county's demographics.  So, at this point, this the most recent survey data. 

Go to our wiki. for statistics.

Please post you questions, observations and thoughts on literacy rates in our comments section on the blog.
Sandy Newell
President, VALF

ELL Assessments

BEST is one of several English Language Literacy Tests.  More can be found from a post we put on our wiki.

Student Support and Counseling

Tutors often play a counseling role in volunteer programs, and some use administrative volunteers or paid staff to provide student support.  Some call this person a Persistence and Transition Specialist.

At last week's program management workshop sponsored by VALF, the question came up from a tutor, "How much time should I spend talking with my student during the tutor session?"  What do you think?  Add your comments here.  To post a comment, click on the word in small print below "comments" and share your thoughts on this.

To get readings on counseling, go to our wiki.

Complete our Survey

Please fillout our suvey by the end of September.
Thanks,
Sandy Newell

Adult Education Conference (ACE) Next Week

Next week is the Adult and Community Education Conference at the Daytona Beach Hilton.  In the past, most sessions have been very school/classroom focused, but it is a good place to see publishers.  You probably could visit the publishers without registering.  It is pretty pricey...  The event runs September 20-23.  This is one of two conferences for programs serving those without a high school diploma.

Learner Persistence

Persistence was a hot topic at VALF's program management workshop last Saturday.  A new web site compiles many resources on persistence including a program assessment worksheet.  Take time to evaluate your program using the research based persistence worksheet at the site.

Math Lessons and Literacy

The newest Mixing In Math newsletter is about activities librarians and parents can do with their children that focus on math activities.  This one is all about building and becoming an engineer. Tutors could build literacy lessons around the newsletter, and a parent could go home and replicate the activities with their child.  There is even a certificate for each activity that parents could give their children.

If you need to know more about the GED Math test, take a look at this fact sheet.  It has information on the calculator and links to other math sites on the Internet.

Complete our poll today... Let us know your training needs.  Also, add comments to our blog with more specifics.  Do you need to know about math and the GED?  Let us know.

Social Networking Tools and Literacy

On Saturday VALF presented a workshop on program management.  One topic covered was communication and the need to use a variety of tools because we all have a favorite ways to send out and get information.  If our programs use different methods more tutors, administrative volunteers and students will be reached.  Some of us still favor old tools like phone, e-mail, letters.  Others, especially younger folks use tools like this blog, facebook, wikis...  If you want to know more about social networking, go to our wiki .  Also, please add comments here about how you use (or don't use) various ways of communicating.  Please include links to examples you have found...
Sandy Newell,
President, VALF

Student Involvement

Let us know about your training needs by completing our survey by the end of September.

The Florida Literacy Coalition is sponsoring their student ambassador program for another year.  Travel and training is free for this November 6 training in Orlando.  Give your students an opportunity to give back to your program.  They can speak to groups, recruit students and tutors and raise funds and more.  We posted the announcement about this training on our wiki at http://literacyflorida.wikispaces.com/Student+Stories.

Students can play a variety of roles in addition to ambassador.  They can evaluate your program, coordinate student support groups, buy books, call students to provide support and more.  Please share how students are your involved in your program in the comments section of this blog.

Calendar for Fall

Please complete our poll....

As fall starts up, there are a number of training opportunities statewide.  Here is a calendar provided by ACE of Florida, the association representing adult education programs serving those with less than a high school diploma. These programs are usually state and federally funded using paid teachers and more of a classroom format.
http://www.aceofflorida.org/Calendar.aspx  The ACE conference is the last week in September and is a great way to visit adult education publisher exhibits.

New US Department of Education Leader--what does it mean???

Here are several quotes from a recent speech by the new head of Department of Education.  Earlier in the speech he noted 1/3 of students drop out of high school.  We know Florida has a rate that is worse and that volunteer literacy groups, along with the adult education programs run by schools and colleges strive to fill the gap.  Most of the speech seems to be from the k-12 perspective, but you and I know, adult education providers --including our volunteer literacy programs MUST be on board to really make a difference. More...

What does the Obama Administration Think?

 Please, complete our poll by mid-September

There was a post this week which summarized a report by the 

Obama Administration. 

One concept, our quality volunteer literacy programs do is 

blending literacy with learning in context of jobs. 

Another part of the report (and earlier discussions on 

the family literacy list serve) highlights the importance of 

non-cognitive skills, things like motivation.

 

For the full post, go to trends on our wiki at

http://literacyflorida.wikispaces.com/Adult+Literacy+Trends+in+Florida

Poll of Your Needs

We are field testing a poll of your needs. Please complete by October 1.  In the comments section of this blog post, add additional comments on the topics or list items that are not in our poll.  VALF wants to find out how we can better serve volunteer adult literacy programs in Florida.
Thanks,
Sandy Newell, President

Fun Ideas for Reading and Writing

Earlier in this blog, I shared with you how comics were used in WWII to improve literacy skills of our troops.  Comics are still a fun way to tell stories and practice reading and writing with adults.  Tutors and learners can end up with a comic book of their life or of their families stories! 

Do try out the site today at  http://www.makebeliefscomix.com/   The well reviewed web site Make Believe Comics has easy tools to write comics.  As tutors browse the site you will see lots of ideas for literacy instruction, story prompts and more.  Stories can even be written in different languages.  Here is the cartoon you can get http://literacyflorida.wikispaces.com/Comic

Once you create your comic, print it or email it to yourself .  You can also create a "picture" of the comic using screen grab tools.  If you are new to screen grab or other technology, borrow a kid to teach you. It is not an obvious part of the site.  A plug in, Flash, has to be enabled on the computer.  Many interesting sites need flash. This shouldn't be a problem with our smaller volunteer programs who control their own technology.  Libraries and schools may have more trouble because of security.  But, it is worth it to make sure flash is on your literacy machines.  

There are many ways this could be folded into instruction or be "homework" for learners.  Use a variation of language experience.  This language experience link has lots of tips for tutors on all types of instruction, including how to do language experience.

Now back to comics... As you know, language experience, at the basic level, is where a learner tells his story and the tutor writes it down and uses the student's exact words to teach.  The comic book format requires short dialog.  But it is short which works well for lower level learners.  Once you get somewhat familar with the site, you and your learner can learn more of how it works together.

As you start, talk together about a story that might fit this format.  This is always the first step of language experience or any writing--thinking and talking through a potential story.  After you talk, ask your learner to tell you their story by first selecting characters and then telling you the character's words (the script).  For very low students, you write.  But, the sooner, a learner starts writing the better.  This tool makes it fun.  When a writer selects the character, he chooses their emotions.  He then selects a cartoon thought or speaking balloon.  The background color can be added (not a big selection) and more.   It will take a little time to learn how many words a cartoon character can say (very short).  Each scene can only be 4 frames.  After that you have to email or print the story.  (Or take a picture of it via screen grab).

English Language Speakers can practice dialogs using this format.

The characters are limited.  I was trying to tell a story from the early 1900's and the modern images just didn't convey the farm life.  There is a girl in a wheelchair.  The site is aimed at all ages but does still come across, to some degree as child focused.  There are no pix of people that you would see in today's adult graphic novels. Nothing gritty here,,, but still can be fun.  It was for me.
Sandy Newell

Free Audio Stories

Here are some free audio stories that can be downloaded on an mp3 to help enhance the instructional process.

Literacy Month

Starting each fall, many literacy programs celebrate literacy days and months. UNESCO set September 8 as the International Literacy Day, and programs often host activities throughout the month. This is a good opportunity for your adult learners to tell their success stories.

October is Health Literacy Month and November is Family Literacy Month.

This can be an opportunity for libraries to promote their media, learning software and online health subscriptions. The Florida Electronic Library allows customers to down load articles to their mp3 player and also listen to the audio on their computer. This feature makes the information universally accessible to those who prefer to learn by listening including low level readers.

The Florida Literacy Coalition recently updated the booklet, Getting Started in Adult Literacy. It provides a good overview for those new to all aspects of adult literacy.

Student Persistence

The Florida Department of Education uses federal funds for taskforces who developed a variety of resources for adult education classrooms this year. One of the resources is a student persistence toolkit. Even though it is aimed at school programs, some of the material, concepts and stratagies should work with volunteer literacy programs. Take a look a the resources and let us know what you think would be most useful.

http://mail.live.com/default.aspx?wa=wsignin1.0

GED and the Role of the Library

Volunteer literacy programs often get learners who are there to, eventually, get their high school diploma. This is happening even more lately as people lose their jobs. Libraries are one of the places people go to get GED books.

This can be an opportuntiy for referrals. Make sure your librarian knows about your program. You may also want to provide them this list of tips that I just posted on ALA Connect . There is a link in my post to GED Fact Sheets which will also be useful for tutors and their learners who are interested in taking the GED.

This ALA Connect, community of interest, is a new site for anyone working on adult literacy in a library or for their literacy partners. You can see posts and can also become a member of the site. It is open to non ALA members and has a Committee on Literacy. (ALA stands for the American Library Association)
Post by Sandy Newell, President of VALF

Library Literacy

There is a new literacy community on the American Library Association social networking site called ALA Connect. Connect is similar to Facebook but it is dedicated to the library community. Members can set up "communities" which are also accessible to non-members.

This new community focuses on public library literacy best practices. It is the one place that the public library community can have conversations around library literacy programs.

A recent post includes the California State Library guidelines for literacy programs. If you are administering or volunteering in a library literacy program, go and add your comments and suggestions on library literacy program management.

VALF helped created library literacy tip sheets which are a good resource for library literacy programs. The one that has not been completed is "Why Library Literacy". We would love to hear more from you on why a library should be involved in adult literacy. Post your comments here and do join the library literacy community on ALA Connect.
Post by Sandy Newell, President VALF

New Address

Our VALF address:

Volunteers for Adult Literacy in Florida (VALF)
Literacy Florida! Inc.
P.O. Box 180396
Tallahassee, Florida 32318

Our email is valflorida@hotmail.com

Free Workshop on Program Management

Read the post on Evaluating Your Program to get more information about our VALF free workshop in September. Please register today.

More on Partnerships

One of the best way to develop partnerships to get support for your program is to get more involved in civic groups. For example, when I was starting up my first volunteer literacy program in Panama City, I also joined Altrusa. At that time it was the women's group -- which, to some degree, mirrored Rotary. Literacy is still one of their priorities.

Through my work with the group, we got financial support, tutors and tutor trainers. As you grow your collaborations, you will need to invest your time in other causes to help attract support to your program. One of the roles of volunteer literacy board members to reach out to other groups, to raise the awareness of adult literacy and the work of your own organization.

Please comment about your partnership experiences.

Sandy Newell,
VALF President

Partnerships and Rotary

Partnerships have always been part of volunteer literacy, but in these difficult times they are vital. Civic clubs are logical partners, and many, like Rotary, have literacy as a priority. Pat Bauer, a VALF board member, is active in Rotary and created a power point on Rotary and literacy. We have posted it on our wiki on our page with cost saving ideas.

Take a look at it to get more ideas on how to partner and to better understand how Rotary works. This is the time of year that civic clubs are planning for their new year. Go ahead and touch base with Rotary to speak about your program. As your local club gets to know you and your literacy program, they may contribute funds. Often these groups think of literacy in the context of children. It is up to you to put a face on adult literacy.
Posting by Sandy Newell, President, VALF

Lake County Library System --Citizenship Class

Jim Briggs and Kitty Adler, Literacy Tutors, celebrate with some of the learners

14 learners, 17 classes, and 2 tutors equals a winning combination at the Cagan Crossings Community Library! It has been an amazing journey that has already resulted in 1 learner passing the citizenship test, others submitting their applications & awaiting their appointments, and the rest preparing to complete their applications over the next few months.

Between the efforts of Jim Briggs and Kitty Adler, citizenship tutor team, the support of the other Cagan tutors, and Maria Martino, Literacy Contact, the citizenship class was a great success. The participants were all smiles on their last night but, admittedly, sad that they would no longer be coming together as a group – they have become friends and enjoyed it tremendously! It doesn’t end here, though, they are excitedly awaiting the launch of a conversation group so that they can continue to improve their English skills. Congratulations to all!!

Interested in the materials this class used? This is the first LCLS citizenship class to use the Citizenship - Passing The Test series, a New Readers Press publication. It contains 3 workbooks, audio cd-roms, and teachers guide. Combining the U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services (http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis) flash cards and other downloadable resources and this series made for an amazingly interactive and fun class. The tutors felt very comfortable facilitating the group and the learners were fully engaged from beginning to end!

Music, Cartoons and Literacy

I just saw a post about the history of music, cartoons and literacy in WWI and WWII. I would like to hear your comments on how you use music and cartoons in teen and adult literacy instruction. Do any of you use graphic novels? If so, which titles?



Many soldiers did not have basic skills, and thus the Army provided instruction using cartoons and songs. Below is part of a post by Thomas G. Sticht on the National Institute for LiteracyAdult English Language Learners mailing list EnglishLanguage@nifl.gov. It is a busy list. To subscribe go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/englishlanguage



Here is part of the post:

One innovation introduced in the literacy training programs was the use of a cartoon strip featuring fictional soldiers Private Pete and his sidekick Daffy. These cartoons were usually two page spreads in a special newspaper for literacy students called Our War. Our War editors understood that the hearts and minds of the troops were on family and friends, often girl friends, back home. The cartoons sometimes told stories about visits with girl friends and included scenes in which Private Pete and friends were singing songs. One popular song of the time was aimed at making separations between the soldiers and their sweethearts more bearable. In the August 1943 issue of Our War the cartoon strip was about a letter Private Pete got from another soldier friend of his who told about how he was going overseas. A cartoon frame shows him and a group ofhis buddies travelling in the back of an Army truck singing a song called



Don't Sit Under the Apple Tree:

Don't sit under the apple tree with anyone else but me

Anyone else but me, anyone else but me

No! No! No!Don't sit under the apple tree with anyone else but me

Till I come marchin' home



Don't go walkin' down Lover's Lane with anyone else but me

Anyone else but me, anyone else but me

No! No! No!Don't go walkin' down Lover's Lane with anyone else but me

Till I come marchin' home



I do remember this song and "hear" it my head as I read the words. If you are interested in old cartoons go to http://www.barnaclepress.com/
Today's Blog Post is by Sandy Newell, President of VALF

Evaluating Your Program

Two years ago VALF implemented a persistence and retention study of five volunteer literacy programs in Florida. We learned that retention of students was challenging, a fact backed up by other studies and observations by program managers.


We also explored how volunteer programs could do a better job at keeping students and volunteers. We learned that ongoing support for students and volunteers was extremely important.


If you want to know more about how to improve your program, attend this free workshop.


Balancing Act: Volunteer Adult Literacy Program Management Workshop

Learn how quality volunteer literacy programs manage all aspects of running a program. Find out how they pay equal attention to both support as well as to intake of volunteers and students.
Learn concrete strategies to help plan, manage and package your literacy program in challenging times.
The workshop is based on the experience of VALF members, the book, Maintaining the Balance: A Guide to 50/50 Management and the 2007-2008 VALF student retention and persistence study.


Location: Duneden Public Library
223 Douglas Avenue, Dunedin, FloridaDunedin Florida 34698
Date: September 12, 2009
Time: 9:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m. ET

REGISTER TODAY!
at literacyflorida@hotmail.com, 850-245-6624

Difficult times call for creativity!

I am sure that you will be able to relate to one of the struggles we have been experiencing in the volunteer adult literacy arena – increased demand and fewer resources to train volunteer tutors quickly enough. Recently there has been much discussion surrounding volunteer tutor training. There are many literacy groups discussing how many hours sufficiently prepares a new volunteer; do you train before or after the tutor starts tutoring; should you train on a single curriculum or incorporate realia and a sampling of tools; and what type of follow-up program should you have for your volunteer tutor team? As we decide what makes sense and serves our community best there might be a few immediate gratification options out there for us! Do I have your attention?

Self-paced learning sites…Of course! They are not appropriate for all of our adult learners but they may offer just what you and the learners need. Let’s consider the pros and cons:

Pros –

· Provides immediate access to literacy learning for programs with a waiting list;

· Offers additional learning opportunities for dedicated learners craving more than the face-to-face tutoring can offer;

· Offers an alternative approach for those learners who enjoy using the computer;

· Ensures learning doesn’t stop when a tutor goes on vacation or is temporarily unavailable or even if the learner is unavailable – they can study on their own from home!

Cons –

· Learners must have access to a computer and, if using the library, the computer must be in a location that the learner can practice speaking skills (if that is their goal);

· Learners need to have basic computer skills;

· Not very effective if the learner has very limited English skills or needs direct guidance or direction;

· May have to consider having a tutor available to assist learners when/if they get ‘stuck’.

Here are a few websites that we think are excellent resources:

USALearns
http://USALearns.org
U.S. Department of Education just launched U.S.A. Learns, a free Web site to help immigrants learn English. This site is an easily accessible Internet learning tool providing instructional materials developed to teach basic English skills and help adults improve their English proficiency.

Activities for ESoL Learners
http://a4esl.org/
This site has over 1,000 quizzes, exercises and puzzles to help you study English as a Second Language.

Pumarosa - English for Spanish Learners
http://www.pumarosa.com
This website is designed for Spanish-speaking learners. It has beginner and intermediate levels. It has grammar lessons that are visual as well as auditory. The words are written as well as said if you have speakers. It offers the Spanish version too.

ESL Desk - Learn English as a Second Language
http://www.esldesk.com/
A site for ESL students who want to learn English online. "I am not an ESL teacher or a professional linguist. In fact, English is my second language and I am still learning it." quote from site manager.

Dave's ESL Cafe
http://www.eslcafe.com
Resources for you as a tutor and interesting learning opportunities for the learners. Links include: idioms; tip of the day; phrasal verbs; quizzes; slang; and much more. Learner friendly!

ESL Resource Center
http://www.eslus.com/eslcenter.htm
A website for learners and teachers of English. FREE ENGLISH - ESL LESSONS. This may also be good for beginner or low-intermediate basic literacy learners.

English Daily
http://www.englishdaily626.com/
Links to Idioms; common mistakes in English; English Grammar; American English slang; TOEFL Vocabulary...and more.

Workforce Education LAB
http://slincs.coe.utk.edu/gtelab/
The LAB collects and distributes high-quality learning activities that focus on the basic skills and knowledge adults need to be effective in the 21st Century workplace. Learner friendly!

Visual Dictionary Online
http://visual.merriam-webster.com/index.php
From Merriam-Webster and QA International, an interactive dictionary with an innovative approach that will help ESL students to learn English in a visual and accessible way. A quick glance at the index is all it takes to connect words with images. Or students can explore the 15 major themes to access more than 6,000 images and see words like never before. Additional features include a Game of the Week, played by associating words with images, and audio pronunciations spoken by real voices.

English Club
http://www.englishclub.com/index.htm
A FREE site to help you learn English or teach English as a second language. You'll find everything from lessons for students to jobs for teachers, including interactive pages such as forums, games, quizzes, chat, help and penpals.

Many Things
http://www.manythings.org/
A fun study site for learners of English as a Second Language. Word games, puzzles, quizzes, exercises, slang, proverbs and much more.

Livemocha: learn languages...
http://www.livemocha.com/
Community--Livemocha is the first-of-its-kind online language-learning community. Lessons -- Fun and interactive lessons that move at the right pace for you. Motivation -- Track your progress and reach your goals with Livemocha tools. Interesting perspective -- online, chat room, peer interaction...might be just right for some of the learners!

English Exercises
http://www.edhelper.com/language/language.html?gclid=CO_3vfbAr4UCFQxrNAodrV44vA
More than 200 online quizzes, organized by themes and topics (reading, spelling, grammar, vocabulary, parts of speech, punctuation, & other language skills), allow learners to get instant feedback and keep a running tally of their scores.

So there you have it…quite a few choices that should engage and satisfy many different learners with a multitude of goals! We have found that directing learners to these websites has been extremely useful and enabled us to provide extra learning activities as well as provide a stop gap measure for those locations with waiting lists and/or snowbird tutors.

I hope you find it as useful.