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
Saturday, August 29, 2009
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
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
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Free Audio Stories
Here are some free audio stories that can be downloaded on an mp3 to help enhance the instructional process.
Saturday, August 22, 2009
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.
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.
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
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
http://mail.live.com/default.aspx?wa=wsignin1.0
Sunday, August 16, 2009
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
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
Saturday, August 15, 2009
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
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
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)