Return-Path: <nifl-aalpd@literacy.nifl.gov> Received: from literacy (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by literacy.nifl.gov (8.10.2/8.10.2) with SMTP id j3FK7pG24364; Fri, 15 Apr 2005 16:07:51 -0400 (EDT) Date: Fri, 15 Apr 2005 16:07:51 -0400 (EDT) Message-Id: <4273D105@webmail.utk.edu> Errors-To: listowner@literacy.nifl.gov Reply-To: nifl-aalpd@literacy.nifl.gov Originator: nifl-aalpd@literacy.nifl.gov Sender: nifl-aalpd@literacy.nifl.gov Precedence: bulk From: jataylor <jataylor@utk.edu> To: Multiple recipients of list <nifl-aalpd@literacy.nifl.gov> Subject: [NIFL-AALPD:2045] Background on BLAST and VALUE X-Listprocessor-Version: 6.0c -- ListProcessor by Anastasios Kotsikonas X-Mailer: Infinite Mobile Delivery (Hydra) SMTP v3.62.01 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Type: text/plain; charset="ISO-8859-1" Status: O Content-Length: 4154 Lines: 75 Hi All, Will Grant, National VALUE Trainer, will be joining us next week as a guest participant to explore several questions with us regarding the role of adult students leading teacher training. Will has provided us a bit of background information below about BLAST and VALUE, but to be honest, this is just barely touches the surface! I am very excited about this unexpected opportunity for NIFL-AALPD. I hope you will find the upcoming discussions of learner leadership rewarding in many ways. Several guests will be joining us in next week's discussion as well. I will send out a complete list of guests and background information on Monday morning. Have a wonderful weekend! Jackie ============================================ William Grant is a VALUE National Trainer, Director of Education for Voz, Inc., a statewide professional development provider for New Mexico Adult Education, and Co-founder of BLAST, New Mexico's student leadership project. For the past nine years, student leaders from BLAST have been involved in teacher training in New Mexico. They have led workshops for ABE teachers at their state conference, regional professional development workshops and program in-services. The VALUE (www.valueusa.org) Core Leadership training has a project template for teacher training that they wrote based on the BLAST system for students teaching teachers. BLAST students present student perspectives on the ABE classroom. Their goal is to give teachers an understanding of who adult students are, where they come from, and how that affects the classroom. They talk about teaching methodologies, communication between students and teachers and classroom dynamics. The issues range from the tiny details of making students comfortable to the difference between teaching kids and teaching adults. Teachers in New Mexico have loved it. It gives them a chance to talk in-depth with students about their questions about teaching adults. BLAST's teacher training workshops lets teachers hear from students who have had the time to think deeply about their education, and the training to put their thoughts into words. VALUE created its Core Student Leadership training through a three year process. It was created from the best practices of student leadership from across the US, student leaders with a decade of experience at the national level, World Education, and Union workplace initiatives. The training was co-designed with a nationally recognized curriculum designer. After that, we pilot tested it in 5 states and then spent 6 more months on development. Finally, it was re-written by experts in easy-reader formats and plain language who had worked for New Readers Press. The training has been implemented in Massachussetts, Delaware, Pennsylvania, California, Texas, Washington D.C., and Vermont. Will Grant has spent 15 years learning from student leaders. He co-founded the BLAST project in New Mexico with men and women from ESL, GED, and Literacy classes. Working as a collective, BLAST has spent the past 9 years training student leaders and working with educators to integrate student voice into ABE. Student leadership is has reached every level of the ABE system in New Mexico, from the classroom up to the state level. Students have positions on the statewide policy board and in the professional development system. They run several projects including: - Nuestras Voces -- a spanish language leadership project); - he Welfare-to-Work Peer Mentors program - The Social Impact Theater -- where students write and perform plays based on their lives - The Student Voice Network -- a statewide system of students and teachers in 22 ABE programs that has co-created student leadership curricula, trainings, videos, and action research projects. In 2001, Will helped found Voz, inc, a non-profit organization that supports BLAST and other projects that develops the voice of people and communities that are not usually heard in our society. Voz is funded as a .223 leadership provider for the New Mexico ABE system. =======================================================
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