GCF Learns Fun Reading Lessons

GCF Learns is a free, yes I said FREE!, online site to learn basic reading and speaking skills. You can learn other skills too, like microsoft products. The basic reading site focuses on 1,000 words with a variety of activities for different learning styles. It has a section for ELL and another for basic reading.

If your student is comfortable with games, he or she will like the reading game activities. This site is available on a smart phone. This means students can learn on the go, standing in line or waiting in the car to pick up their child and more.

Many lessons include video and/or audio. A student can use it even if they have lower reading skills. There is even a lesson on how to bake a cake.

Options for getting a GED in Florida

Librarians and adult literacy tutors need to warn students they can not earn a GED online. A company has just been found guilty of making millions of dollars by duping adults into thinking they can pay for a high school diploma with very little work required.  If it is too good to be true --it is. Tell adults this fact.

Here is the state link to information on taking the GED test in Florida.

Banned Books Week: Using Graphic Novels in Adult Literacy

The American Library Association just shared this press release about banned books week starting Monday. Graphic novels  can make reading more interesting for low level readers are highlighted by ALAthis year.  

Here are why (source ) graphic novels work with people with lower literacy.

Reading graphic novels:

• Engages reluctant readers & ESL patrons.
• Increases reading comprehension and vocabulary.
• Can provide a bridge between low and high levels of reading.
• Presents an approach to reading that embraces the multimedia nature of today’s culture, as 2/3 of a story is conveyed visually.
• Provides scaffolding for struggling readers.
• Presents complex material in readable text.
• Helps patrons understand global affairs.
• Offers another avenue through which individuals can experience art.

Here is the ALA press release. It lists the ten most banned graphic novels. Literacy tutors should  visit their library  with their student to browse the graphic collection together. The drawings will make it easier for a student to select one or more titles to read during tutoring and as practice between lessons. 

Share popular titles used in lessons with your student on this blog.

http://www.oif.ala.org/oif/?p=5133

It may surprise some to find out there are hundreds of reported attempts to ban books every year in the United States. It may be even more astounding for them to hear that since 1990, the American Library Association’s (ALA) Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) has received reports of more than 18,000 attempts to remove materials in schools and libraries for content deemed by some as inappropriate, controversial or even dangerous.

Banned Books Week, Sept. 21 – 27, 2014, reminds Americans about the importance of preventing censorship and ensuring everyone’s freedom to read any book they choose. According to ALA’s OIF, for every banned book reported, there are many more that are not.

This year’s Banned Books Week is spotlighting graphic novels because, despite their literary merit and popularity as a format, they are often subject to censorship.

DOS Hispanic Heritage Month

Florida Department of State Honors Hispanic Heritage Month

TALLAHASSEE— Secretary of State Ken Detzner joins Governor Rick Scott and First Lady Ann Scott to honor National Hispanic Heritage Month September 15 through October 15.  The Department of State encourages citizens to learn about Florida’s rich Hispanic history and cultural heritage during this time.

“Florida’s strength is found in our diversity,” said Secretary of State Ken Detzner. “As we celebrate and honor Hispanic Heritage Month, I hope all Floridians take the opportunity to learn more about the many cultures that make the Sunshine Sate such an incredible place to live the American Dream.”

This year, Governor Scott and the First Lady are celebrating Hispanic Heritage with the theme "Hispanic Culture: Living the American Dream in Florida." Maria Elena Elvira "Manena" was selected as the featured artist for Governor Rick Scott’s Hispanic Heritage Month celebration. Manena was born in Medellín, Colombia and was recognized for her drawing skills at a young age. In 2002 she moved to Bogota, and eventually to Miami. In Florida, Manena has studied art at Miami Dade College and continues to create works of art. She has had numerous national and international exhibitions from the Carrousel du Louvre in Paris to New York's ArtExpo, from Houston to Miami, from Colombia to Belgium. Her artwork is on display in the R.A. Gray Building lobby in Tallahassee through October 15.

The Department of State will be adding to the national #HispanicHeritageMonth conversation on social media with historical and event information specific to Florida.

Find out more about Hispanic Heritage Month here.

Stages in Writing

Stages in Writing

Writing, Rewriting & Mechanics

Tips for you and to share with your student….

There are four stages in the writing process.

Step 1: Planning

ü  Before you start writing you have to think about what you want to say. Why are you writing and who is your audience? Create an outline, make a list, or write notes as you plan what to write.

Step 2: Drafting

ü  As you write your first draft, put all ideas into sentences, and then organize sentences in paragraph form.

ü   Concentrate on explaining and supporting your ideas fully.

ü  Begin to connect your ideas and supporting points.

ü   Don’t pay too much attention to grammar, punctuation, and spelling at this stage.

Step 3: Revising

ü  After writing your draft, revise your writing. Eighty per cent of writing is revising. Revising focuses on the meaning of your writing, not on grammar, spelling, and punctuation—they come later. At this stage, make sure your writing says what you intend to say. You are continuing to focus on content, what you want to say.

ü  Have a system to mark the draft as you read it for the purpose of revising your writing. Here are examples:

Hispanice Heritage Month -- September 15 - November 15

 Public Library Celebrations in Florida

 

Programming Librarian: Resources for libraries to celebrate National Hispanic Heritage Month

http://www.programminglibrarian.org/library/events-celebrations/national-hispanic-heritage-month#.VAn-m2P_52M

Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month at Mandel Public Library of West Palm Beach! Enjoy a live salsa performance, on September 30, 2:00 pm, with the international and versatile Florida Latin Beat band! http://wpb.org/mycitylibrary/

  

Deep Reading on Digital Devices

Those of us who enjoy reading and who grew up with books printed on paper, may not see reading online as real reading.  But, that doesn't have to be true.  We know that reading levels have dropped, even for those in college, but once you understand why that does not have to the case.

Kids and adults learning to read and comprehend today don't know how to read deeply, but studies show they can learn.

Quotes from Being A Better Online Reader, July 16, 2014 The New Yorker 

The shift from print to digital reading may lead to more than changes in speed and physical processing. It may come at a cost to understanding, analyzing, and evaluating a text. Much of Mangen’s research focusses on how the format of reading material may affect not just eye movement or reading strategy but broader processing abilities. One of her main hypotheses is that the physical presence of a book—its heft, its feel, the weight and order of its pages—may have more than a purely emotional or nostalgic significance.

Deep reading defined: It’s the “sophisticated comprehension processes,” as Wolf calls it,......
“Reading is a bridge to thought,” she says. “And it’s that process that I think is the real endangered aspect of reading.

In a new study, the introduction of an interactive annotation component helped improve comprehension and reading strategy use in a group of fifth graders. It turns out that they could read deeply. They just had to be taught how.