Return-Path: <nifl-esl@literacy.nifl.gov> Received: from literacy (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by literacy.nifl.gov (8.10.2/8.10.2) with SMTP id f0JLMX928857; Fri, 19 Jan 2001 16:22:33 -0500 (EST) Date: Fri, 19 Jan 2001 16:22:33 -0500 (EST) Message-Id: <B24038C0D3E160419E320030D92C22DE247F70@hobbes.cal.org> Errors-To: listowner@literacy.nifl.gov Reply-To: nifl-esl@literacy.nifl.gov Originator: nifl-esl@literacy.nifl.gov Sender: nifl-esl@literacy.nifl.gov Precedence: bulk From: "MaryAnn Florez" <maryann@cal.org> To: Multiple recipients of list <nifl-esl@literacy.nifl.gov> Subject: [NIFL-ESL:5448] Guest Speaker on NIFL-Family X-Listprocessor-Version: 6.0c -- ListProcessor by Anastasios Kotsikonas Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Content-Type: text/plain; Status: O Content-Length: 5173 Lines: 121 The following is an announcement from the moderator of the NIFL-Family listserv about an upcoming guest. _________________________________________________________ Hi all. Beginning next Wednesday, January 24, Jeri Levesque will be our guest discussion leader on the NIFL-Family list. The discussion will focus on, "Can family literacy programs prepare families for a technology-driven society?" Jeri just recently addressed this very question in the last issue of "Focus on Basics." Following this message, I will post another message that has this article from the "Focus on Basics" quarterly publication. Please read this article and be prepared to ask questions, make comments, agree/disagree, and join in a great time of sharing with Jeri. I asked her to give us some personal information about herself so you would be able to identify with her more closely. I know many of you know her already from all the work she has done, so this will feel like "chatting" with a good friend. So, here is her introduction: I'm a reading specialist via a long ago high school social studies teacher from NE Connecticut. I've got a doctorate in Educational Leadership from the University of Missouri-St. Louis. I'm an Associate Professor at Webster University where I've taught since 1989, I'm an early bird to family literacy dating back to my first funded (ABE Special Demonstration 353) project in 1989 called The PAPER Project (Parents and Preschoolers: Emerging Readers) an intergenerational emerging literacy curriculum based on children's literature. What followed was one of the country's first Student Literacy Corps where we recruited, trained, and supervised university tutors in community settings. Nearly 12 years later, I opened a new semester today and placed one student in a family literacy program. We did a 3 year Corporation for National Service grant to have a family literacy, school based, teen parents, high school and university tutors and community agencies project in urban St. Louis. (there's a nice article on this in the Reading Teacher) Later, we (LIFT/Webster/ UMO) were funded for Missouri READS, under the America Reads Challenge. We were cited by the Fed for promising and innovative practices by using reading teachers as online mentors to model and support reflective practice for our university tutors. (we're in the guide So Every Child Can Read...) We've used the same model successfully for the past two summers with our Americorps*VISTA summer associates program with university tutors and community based settings. I founded a graduate family literacy course and then received NCFL Basic and Advanced Training. Then Webster formed a partnership with LIFT-Missouri and I was loaned for 2 years to develop, direct and/or evaluate family literacy, adult literacy and LD, health literacy and workplace literacy projects. In addition to this. in early 2000 I worked with the Children's Librarian at the St. Louis Public Library where we completed a two year US Department of Education project with OERI to establish a family literacy program. I served as a project evaluator. The President of Webster, Dr. Richard Meyers has just announced his plan to establish a new Center for Literacy Study and Advancement in a 150 year old massive building affectionately called the Old Post Office in an urban renewal center of metropolitan St. Louis. I am within hours past accepting a full time administrative appointment to lead this effort to establish a midAmerican center for literacy studies. Meanwhile, will continue to act as Project Director for the Missouri Statewide Even Start Family Literacy Initiative, present PACT workshops statewide for practitioners concerned with technology and its use with parents and their young children, and continue to promote and support continuous local program improvement through collaborative action research and evaluation. I'm also developing a Workplace Literacy curriculum for unemployed youth (17-22) centered on substance abuse issues. I am currently conducting an action research study with 2 Even Start projects to apply the findings from the National Reading Panel's Preventing Reading Difficulties study to family literacy. I am mother to a 24 year old med student, a graduating college senior with a pile of law school applications, a 15 year old daughter with a driver's permit, a great husband who has managed for 29 1/2 years to support a very busy academic, scholar, practitioner, evaluator etc. ... So, everyone, be sure to join in this discussion. Later, in the next few months, we will also have some other "greats" in the field of family literacy, adult education, and parenting education: Laura Bercovitz, Doug Powell, Jennifer Cromley, Meta Potts, and Diane D'Angelo, so stay tuned. This list is getting ready to really take off in some neat discussions with our guests. Nancy Sledd, Training Specialist NIFL-Family List Moderator National Center for Family Literacy 325 W. Main St., Ste 200 Louisville, KY 40202 Phone: 502-584-1133 x 142 Fax: 502-584-0172 Internet: http://www.famlit.org/ <http://www.famlit.org/> Committed to Excellence in Family Literacy Services
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