Southeast ABE Fall Regional Workshop

Friday, October 24, 2008
Hawthorne Education Center
700 - 4th Avenue SE, Rochester, MN  55904

The Southeast Regional ABE Professional Development Coordinator of the Minnesota Department of Education and the ATLAS program at Hamline University are pleased to offer this workshop for professional development.  CEU’s indicating attendance will be provided.

Agenda

9:00     Registration
9:30     Welcome; Keynote Address – An Overview of Your Students’ Cultural Values 
            Carstens Smith, Adjunct Faculty, Hamline University, St. Paul, MN
10:45   Concurrent Session 1 (choose one):

1) Computer Literacy “Show and Tell” – Ric Dwyer, ABE/ESL Instructor, Rochester (Computer Lab–Rm. 217)  Come share your favorite educational websites and ideas for integrating technology in the classroom.
2) Cultural Competencies in the Classroom – Carstens Smith (Rm. 208)  How do you develop a shared classroom culture when your students are from six (or more!) different countries?
3) A+dvancer – Tiffany Anderson, Rochester Community and Technical College Enrollment Services (Rm. 207)  This session will discuss the A+dvancer, an online tutorial program to help prospective college students enhance their skill levels and improve placement levels.

12:00   Lunch
12:45   Concurrent Session 2 (choose one):

1) GED-I Discussion Circle – Theresa Luther-Dolan, Manager, Hiawatha Valley ABE (Rm. 207)  How is the new GED-i on-line program working in your consortium?  What’s been working well and what are you seeing as major challenges in marketing and integrating the new curriculum into current GED programming?
2) Bring Your Students to the CASAS: Identifying Testing Obstacles and Creating Instruction to Overcome Them – Kara Schommer, Literacy Program Manager, Neighborhood House, and Garrett LePage, Accountability Coordinator, Minnesota Literacy Council (Rm. 208)  This session will explore common issues that students face when taking exams and the basic skill sets needed to perform well on exams.  Garrett and Kara will discuss test-prep strategies and classroom activities to incorporate testing structure into curriculum instruction.
3) Computer Literacy “Show and Tell”– Ric Dwyer (Rm. 217) Repeat from Session 1

1:50   Concurrent Session 3 (choose one):

1) Literacy Minnesota Professional Issues focus group – Kara Schommer and Britta Youmans (Rm. 207)  Join members of Literacy Minnesota’s Professional Issues Committee in a discussion about the primary issues facing Adult Basic Education practitioners.  Voice your ideas and concerns and suggest ways the committee can provide resources and support to the ABE field.
2) ABE State Grant narrative application process – Julie Nigon, Manager, Rochester Adult and Family Literacy Program  (Rm. 201)  If your consortium is set to write the narrative for the State ABE grant next year, come talk with someone who has done it!  Julie will talk about areas of programming that you can work on now to be ready for the annual grant application in the spring.
3) Whatdje say?: Pronunciation Tools – Rosemary Starkey, retired ABE specialist (Rm.208) Pronunciation is an essential element of language learning; however, in many adult English language programs it gets little attention. This presentation will describe components of pronunciation instruction and demonstrate practical and effective techniques to help learners improve pronunciation.

2:50   Closing/CEU’s/Door Prizes (Gym)

Workshop Information

• Workshop cost: $12 (includes meals and materials)
• Please address any event questions to Britta Youmans, SE Regional Professional Development Coordinator 
• For questions concerning registration, please contact: Marisa Squadrito Geisler, ATLAS Program Assistant

NOTE: Registrations must be received by FRI. OCT. 17, 2008

 Registration Form:  Word / PDF     Register Online     Print Map