Hello everyone,

I must add a voice of agreement with Micki's post. 
The Lessons from the Holocaust training is the most
memorable experiences I've had in teaching as well.  

This program provides the materials and topics to
study and talk about what happened in the Holocaust
and how that parallels with events taking place today.
 These lessons provide the opportunity for teachers
and students to examine aspects of diverisity. 

Most of the time, I teach history, geography, reading,
and writing with the lessons provided in the Toolkit,
but other teachers use art and poetry.  The context
and teaching possiblitie are endless.

Each time I teach a unit or lesson using the Lessons
from the Holocaust toolkit, the students are affected
in some way.  I believe it promotes tolerance as well
as respect.  

Much thanks to the Center for Literacy Studies and the
United States Holocaust Museum.  Please read the post
by Gail Cope for more information.

Lisa Mullins
ABE/GED teacher, Hawkins County Adult Education
Rogersville, Tennessee



--- Micki Greer <mickiflips at hotmail.com> wrote:


---------------------------------

Jackie and all,

Participating in the Holocaust/diversity training was
one of the most memorable experiences I've had as a
teacher. The Holocaust lessons were meaningful and
interesting. Diversity "education" was presented in a
non-provoking manner.  I think even the most skeptical
person would have had to realize the importance of
tolerance and appreciation of diversity after the
experience.  Likewise, my students thoroughly enjoyed
the unit on the Holocaust and learned much about
history as well as tolerance.

Micki  Greer Jaggars



---------------------------------
From: "Taylor, Jackie" <jataylor at utk.edu>
Reply-To: The Adult Literacy Professional Development
Discussion List<professionaldevelopment at nifl.gov>
To: "The Adult Literacy Professional Development
Discussion List"<professionaldevelopment at nifl.gov>
Subject: [ProfessionalDevelopment 844] Questions &
Recap of RecentDiscussions
Date: Wed, 31 Jan 2007 11:15:26 -0500

p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal,
div.MsoNormal{margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;font-size:12.0pt;font-family:'Times
New Roman';}a:link,
span.MsoHyperlink{font-family:'Times New
Roman';color:blue;text-decoration:underline;}a:visited,
span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed{font-family:'Times New
Roman';color:purple;text-decoration:underline;}strong{font-family:'Times
New Roman';}tt{font-family:'Courier
New';}span.EmailStyle171{font-family:Verdana;color:windowtext;text-decoration:none;}span.EmailStyle201{font-family:Verdana;color:blue;text-decoration:none;}span.EmailStyle21{font-family:Verdana;color:blue;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;text-decoration:none
none;}@page Section1{size:8.5in 11.0in;margin:1.0in
1.25in 1.0in
1.25in;}div.Section1{page:Section1;}ol{margin-bottom:0in;}ul{margin-bottom:0in;}
PD List Colleagues:

It’s great to hear from folks on the list! For those
of you who are new or catching up with these
discussions, here is a recap on recent threads, &
questions for all (Scroll down to find your topic of
interest). 

 

New to the PD List? To engage in any of these
discussions, reply to an existing email or send one
to: professionaldevelopment at nifl.gov . (If you reply
to this email, please adjust the subject line to
reflect the specific topic):

 

 

I. Hard-to-Reach Adults with Low Literacy Skills

 

David Rosen asked a few questions about hard-to-reach
adults with low literacy skills, because he was asked
to present on the topic. He asked:

 

“So, from your experience, who are "hard-to-reach"
low-literate adults, and what has been effective in
recruiting and enrolling them?” 

Which books or movies (or scenes from movies) do you
believe authentically capture the experience of an
adult learning to read, write or compute? Which ones
ring true and which ones’ don’t?

 


>From these questions, several discussions ensued

(http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/professionaldevelopment/2007/date.html)
and we heard various stories of struggle and success.

 

Questions:

 

1)     David, will there be some components of your
presentation that you could share back with the list?
Perhaps let us know how the session went, what was
learned, and any next steps?

 

2)     Cece, Barbara, and John, and others on the PD
List:

 

David Rosen and Erik Jacobson have created a “Wiki”
web page where adult learners can share their story
with the adult literacy community. I wonder what you
think about that idea. Please visit: 

 

http://wiki.literacytent.org/index.php/Learner_Perspectives


 

3)  Erik and David, what are next steps with the
“Learner Perspectives” wiki page? How would you like
us to proceed?

 

 

II. Teaching Tolerance in Teacher PD

 

Nadia, you have been gathering resources in designing
a teacher workshop for teaching tolerance in Teacher
PD. When you are through, will you share back with the
PD List the list of resources you gathered, and let us
know what you learned from this experience that might
be useful to others who provide PD? Also, I hope you
will consider posting your workshop agenda or a
facilitator agenda in the Professional Development
Registry so that others who struggle with similar
questions may learn from it:
http://www.aalpd.org/pdregistry/index.html 

 

(For those wanting to read the questions that prompted
this discussion, visit: 

http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/professionaldevelopment/2007/000816.html


and
http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/professionaldevelopment/2007/000822.html
)

 

 

III. Polarized Classroom

Bonnie Odiorne wrote, “A faculty member described it
this way: "Polarized Classroom means for me a teaching
environment with students exhibiting extremes relating
to skills, interests and academic approaches. It makes
teaching very difficult. As [a] professor you might
feel [you] have to choose....whom to support." I'm
wondering, in my own ignorance of pedagogical theory,
if this issue has been addressed by the literature,
and, if so, is there another more commonly accepted
name for it?”  What do others think?
(http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/professionaldevelopment/2007/000830.html)


 

 

IV. Books and Movies that Inspire Teachers

 

Several weeks ago David Rosen asked about books and
movies that inspired you as a teacher. We had a rich
and interesting discussion that produced a terrific
list that he has since archived on the Adult Literacy
Education Wiki:

http://wiki.literacytent.org/index.php/Books_and_Films_which_Inspire_Teachers

 

Keep these resources coming


 

 

V. Freedom Writers and Diversity

 

So who went to see Freedom Writers this past weekend?
Did your opinions match those that have been posted on
this List? Among the variety of opinions shared, here
are at least two that have inspired more questions for
me:

 

Micki Greer-Jaggars wrote, “I believe all teachers,
and especially adult education teachers, should see
this movie. In addition, I believe seeing this film
would encourage adult ed. students to persevere with
their education. Based on a true story, the teacher in
the movie uses lessons from the Holocaust to ignite a
desire for tolerance, change, and success in the lives
of her students. (Students are from dysfunctional
homes, various cultures, gangs, etc. in California). 
As a former participant in the Holocaust training in
Adult Ed., I was especially moved by the events in the
story.  Now, I want to read the actual publication
(Freedom Writers). Has anyone else seen the movie?
What were your thoughts? It was one of the best movies
I've seen in ages! And...based on true events.”

 

 

Donna Chambers felt differently: “I felt that "Freedom
Writers" was very cliché and certainly sent the wrong
message to school administrators. To fix the problems
in our school system, all we have to do is have more
teachers who are willing to put up their own money and
time, etc. and everything will turn out right. Adult
educators know that it doesn't happen this way,
because we have been putting up our own money, time
and passion for years. 
 As the writer of the article
points out, let us not trivialize what is needed for
educational reform. It is not about hero teachers, but
really about long overdue systemic change.”

 

Questions:

 

1)     Micki, because you recommended it, I went to go
see it – thanks! You also noted you were a former
participant in the Holocaust training in Adult Ed.
This training was “diversity training,” yes? I hope
you will tell us what that experience was like for
you. 

 

2)        Micki and other teachers: In a related
thread, Nadia tells us she is currently designing
diversity training for teacher colleagues
(http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/professionaldevelopment/2007/000816.html).
What recommendations do you or other Holocaust
training participants have for Nadia? Her questions
include how does one approach diversity training with
other teachers “
in a most careful way so that the
message gets through?” Any insights or advice about
how to do that? 

 

3)        Professional developers and teachers: Jeff
Fantine had asked us, “What more can professional
development do to inspire, prepare and support
instructors to create the types of learning
environments provided by projects like Freedom Writers
and the Paper Clip Project?”
(http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/professionaldevelopment/2007/000756.html)
 What (if any) professional development efforts
address both affective and instructional issues that
teachers face? What are your thoughts as to what’s
needed?

 

4)  School and state administrators: what stood out to
you about this movie? What was the take-home message
for you?

 

5)  Teachers, do you have authentic stories of
inspiration to share? What is a story you are most
proud of in your work, or a story in which the actions
of a fellow colleague brings you pride in our
profession? 

 

 

(Don’t forget to adjust the subject line if you reply
to this email!)

 

All for now! Best, Jackie

 

Jackie Taylor, List Moderator, Adult Literacy
Professional Development, jataylor at utk.edu 

 

 

 

 




>----------------------------------------------------

>National Institute for Literacy

>Adult Literacy Professional Development mailing list

>ProfessionalDevelopment at nifl.gov

>To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings,

please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/professionaldevelopment

>

>Professional Development section of the Adult

Literacy Education Wiki

>http://wiki.literacytent.org/index.php/Adult_Literacy_Professional_Development






---------------------------------
 FREE online classifieds from Windows Live Expo – buy
and sell with people you know >
----------------------------------------------------

> National Institute for Literacy

> Adult Literacy Professional Development mailing list

> ProfessionalDevelopment at nifl.gov

> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings,

> please go to

>

http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/professionaldevelopment

> 

> Professional Development section of the Adult

> Literacy Education Wiki 

>

http://wiki.literacytent.org/index.php/Adult_Literacy_Professional_Development



 
____________________________________________________________________________________
It's here! Your new message!  
Get new email alerts with the free Yahoo! Toolbar.
http://tools.search.yahoo.com/toolbar/features/mail/