Hi Everyone,
Some of you may already be familiar with Thinkfinity www.Thinkfinity.org - a free, educational website providing resources for literacy instruction and lifelong learning for everyone, funded by the Verizon Foundation. This website is loaded with resources for the educator, the student, the parent and for after school (helping children learn outside the classroom.)
On December 9, 2008, ProLiteracy, the world's largest organization of adult literacy and basic education programs posted a press release on their website http://www.proliteracy.org/ about the Thinkfinity Literacy Network (TLN). TLN is the adult and family literacy partner of Verizon's Thinkfinity.org website. Individual and organizational members of ProLiteracy who have used TLN say "the network has helped them to become better tutors and teachers and has made it possible for program directors to offer more professional development to staff and volunteers." Check out TLN at http://literacynetwork.verizon.org/TLN/ and read about their great teaching ideas and suggestions used with adult learners.
Take some time to read and learn about all of the valuable, top-quality educational resources at Thinkfinity and let me know how it has influenced your tutoring and teaching.
Happy reading!
Hazel
Monday, January 26, 2009
Literacy Lagniappe Tip #5: Opportunity to Attend Virtual Conference
Hi Everyone,
I would like to share an opportunity for you to attend a free, virtual conference February 3 - 5, 2009. Please see the information below if you would like to sign up for a session. Your fellow Literacy AmeriCorps member, Adrian McGrath and I will be doing a session on the creation of the Literacy Lagniappe blog and how we have used it as a communication tool to share literacy resources and activities.
Happy reading!
Hazel
Read. Write. Act Conference
This year, in order to reduce our carbon footprint and reach more participants, SCALE decided to offer our annual Read.Write. Act. Conference as a “virtual” event. The registration for this year’s event will be FREE! We see this year as a pilot event and hope you will join us to explore new ways to learn and come together as a community.
A few things about registration:
Go to the link on our website and register. http://www.readwriteact.org/rwa/registration_2009.htm
Set aside time at work, school, or home to participate in webinars on February 3rd, 4th, or 5th.
Next week, we will send you a survey and ask you to sign up for individual workshops on one or all of the days.
Workshops will be scheduled between 11am and 6pm EST.
After you return the workshop survey, we will send you links to the events you’ve selected and participant “how-to” attend basics.
We look forward to learning with you at SCALE’s first Read.Write. Act. Virtual Conference!
The mission of SCALE is to mobilize and support college students and campus-based programs to address the literacy needs of this country. Through a dynamic partnership between campus and community, SCALE develops leaders who are agents of social change.
I would like to share an opportunity for you to attend a free, virtual conference February 3 - 5, 2009. Please see the information below if you would like to sign up for a session. Your fellow Literacy AmeriCorps member, Adrian McGrath and I will be doing a session on the creation of the Literacy Lagniappe blog and how we have used it as a communication tool to share literacy resources and activities.
Happy reading!
Hazel
Read. Write. Act Conference
This year, in order to reduce our carbon footprint and reach more participants, SCALE decided to offer our annual Read.Write. Act. Conference as a “virtual” event. The registration for this year’s event will be FREE! We see this year as a pilot event and hope you will join us to explore new ways to learn and come together as a community.
A few things about registration:
Go to the link on our website and register. http://www.readwriteact.org/rwa/registration_2009.htm
Set aside time at work, school, or home to participate in webinars on February 3rd, 4th, or 5th.
Next week, we will send you a survey and ask you to sign up for individual workshops on one or all of the days.
Workshops will be scheduled between 11am and 6pm EST.
After you return the workshop survey, we will send you links to the events you’ve selected and participant “how-to” attend basics.
We look forward to learning with you at SCALE’s first Read.Write. Act. Virtual Conference!
The mission of SCALE is to mobilize and support college students and campus-based programs to address the literacy needs of this country. Through a dynamic partnership between campus and community, SCALE develops leaders who are agents of social change.
Reminder About Completing Assessments with Learners
Hi Literacy AmeriCorps members!
Just a reminder that we will review and discuss our questionnaire and assessments during Friday's training at Loyola. These are the items we discussed during the last LAC training:
Administer the following to a minimum of two learners at your literacy site:
1. Learner Questionnaire
(This was optional is there was something similar already in the learner's file.)
2. San Diego Quick Assessment
(This determines the independent, instructional and frustration reading level of your learner.)
3. Timed oral reading test (This assesses fluency - accuracy and rate.)
If you have any questions that need to be addressed before the meeting Friday, send me an email. During the meeting, we will review the assessments so please be prepared to share your experience with the group.
Happy reading!
Hazel
Just a reminder that we will review and discuss our questionnaire and assessments during Friday's training at Loyola. These are the items we discussed during the last LAC training:
Administer the following to a minimum of two learners at your literacy site:
1. Learner Questionnaire
(This was optional is there was something similar already in the learner's file.)
2. San Diego Quick Assessment
(This determines the independent, instructional and frustration reading level of your learner.)
3. Timed oral reading test (This assesses fluency - accuracy and rate.)
If you have any questions that need to be addressed before the meeting Friday, send me an email. During the meeting, we will review the assessments so please be prepared to share your experience with the group.
Happy reading!
Hazel
Monday, January 12, 2009
Literacy Lagniappe Tip #4: Strengthening Fluency With Your Learners
Hello Everyone,
The oral timed reading assessment you are administering will provide helpful, instructional information about your learners' fluency. Fluency is determined by accuracy, rate and phrasing or expression. One way to develop a lesson that works on improving fluency is to model fluency for your learner. This may be achieved through paired reading and alternating reading.
Before you do a paired reading or an alternating reading, it would be helpful if you read the passage aloud one time by yourself, having the learner follow along on his/her own copy of the text while you read aloud following your copy of the text. The learner will be able to hear your modeled reading, with expression and intonation. It also allows the learner to hear the pronunciation of words in the passage that may be unknown or difficult.
Paired Reading
When you do a paired reading, you are reading the passage aloud together, in unison. You read aloud at the same speed you would read as if reading a book aloud, observing punctuation and reading with expression and clarity. (Your speed may need adjusting if your learner is struggling to keep up with you.) You may scan your finger below the words while reading aloud to help the learner keep his/her place. It is helpful to sit side by side one another. Paired reading is extremely helpful to learners who do not feel comfortable reading aloud. It allows them to read aloud but with someone else reading along with them.
Alternating Reading
When you are alternating reading, you are reading a sentence or paragraph, then the learner reads the next sentence or paragraph. If the learner is struggling to read his/her sentence or paragraph, model reading the sentence/paragraph and then ask the learner to reread that same paragraph/sentence. Then return to taking turns reading a sentence/paragraph. It is helpful to ask a few comprehension questions after reading a paragraph to check for understanding. Alternating reading may be used during instruction with learners who are more at ease and comfortable with reading aloud.
Happy reading!
Hazel
The oral timed reading assessment you are administering will provide helpful, instructional information about your learners' fluency. Fluency is determined by accuracy, rate and phrasing or expression. One way to develop a lesson that works on improving fluency is to model fluency for your learner. This may be achieved through paired reading and alternating reading.
Before you do a paired reading or an alternating reading, it would be helpful if you read the passage aloud one time by yourself, having the learner follow along on his/her own copy of the text while you read aloud following your copy of the text. The learner will be able to hear your modeled reading, with expression and intonation. It also allows the learner to hear the pronunciation of words in the passage that may be unknown or difficult.
Paired Reading
When you do a paired reading, you are reading the passage aloud together, in unison. You read aloud at the same speed you would read as if reading a book aloud, observing punctuation and reading with expression and clarity. (Your speed may need adjusting if your learner is struggling to keep up with you.) You may scan your finger below the words while reading aloud to help the learner keep his/her place. It is helpful to sit side by side one another. Paired reading is extremely helpful to learners who do not feel comfortable reading aloud. It allows them to read aloud but with someone else reading along with them.
Alternating Reading
When you are alternating reading, you are reading a sentence or paragraph, then the learner reads the next sentence or paragraph. If the learner is struggling to read his/her sentence or paragraph, model reading the sentence/paragraph and then ask the learner to reread that same paragraph/sentence. Then return to taking turns reading a sentence/paragraph. It is helpful to ask a few comprehension questions after reading a paragraph to check for understanding. Alternating reading may be used during instruction with learners who are more at ease and comfortable with reading aloud.
Happy reading!
Hazel
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Learner Questionnaire & Reading Assessments
Hello Literacy AmeriCorps Members,
Happy New Year! I just wanted to remind everyone about assessing at least two learners at your site during this month. For those of you who may have forgotten what to do during the holidays or were not present when I talked about the assessments December 19th, this is a recap:
If you missed part or all of the Dec. 12th and/or Dec. 19th training and need assistance, please email me and I would be happy to set up a time to meet with you. -Hazel
Happy New Year! I just wanted to remind everyone about assessing at least two learners at your site during this month. For those of you who may have forgotten what to do during the holidays or were not present when I talked about the assessments December 19th, this is a recap:
- Choose at least two learners at your site.
- Using the materials from the daylong reading training at UNO, administer the Learner Questionnaire, the San Diego Quick Assessment and the timed oral reading test.
- You may complete the questionnaire and the San Diego Quick Assessment in one sitting and then the timed oral reading test in another sitting.
- You may do it all at one time if the learner is not tired and you have access to the Internet to retrieve the timed readings from the Marshall Adult Education website.
- *Remember, you are using the grade equivalent obtained from the San Diego Quick Assessment to choose the appropriate leveled reading (from the Marshall Adult Education website) to administer the timed oral reading.
- If there is already a learner questionnaire in the learner's file, it is not necessary to do another one. However, it may be helpful to ask some of the questions that do not appear on the questionnaire in the learner's file.
- Please keep all of these documents in a folder because we will talk about the assessments during the January 30th training and I will collect them.
If you missed part or all of the Dec. 12th and/or Dec. 19th training and need assistance, please email me and I would be happy to set up a time to meet with you. -Hazel
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