I am familiar with these statistics on bored students. Left out of the research is "What does 'bored' mean?". People are most often bored when they put little effort into what they are supposed to learn. If someone is making zero effort he/she gets more and more bored.  Many "Let's make the GED exciting" classes just keep the students from doing the work. In order to pass the test, students must make a big personal effort. They have to bring their reading comprehension way up, get used to the type of test, bring up their math and their grammar and writing. A class where the teacher is spending most of the time talking will not work, though, because students must grapple with the GED material, and sometimes the most interesting teachers make the worst GED teachers because they keep the students from doing what needs to be done to pass the test. Encouraging students, calling them when they don't come, keeping track of their progress, and making that personal connection -- being persistent is what makes a good GED teacher. Students are not bored when they are succeeding and they succeed when the teacher takes an interest in their progress. Also, individualizing instruction is important in getting students through the GED. Computer labs with programs such as Plato and Contemporary's PreGED are great. A GED teacher must be fixated on the progress of each student and the best way to do that is to keep a notebook where student progress is recorded. Then phone calls to absent students are easier to make because the teacher can discuss the next step more easily with the student: "Oh, you need to come in for your Social Studies Pretest", etc.



----------------------------------------> Date: Fri, 12 Oct 2007 06:29:14 -0500> From: anson.green at twc.state.tx.us> To: assessment at nifl.gov> Subject: [Assessment 956] Re: Assessing Creative GED Programs>>> Hi folks:> I was catching up on the posts last night and wanted to make some> observations related to providing more than just test prep in GED> programs. Many of you have identified very salient points and are doing> great things it sounds like.>> I'll just toss out some ideas in an email or two to keep the> conversation churning.>> The first one is on program retention. Adult education struggles with> persistence and retention issues, sometimes mightily. I have seen the> research that speaks to the outside reasons (family, work, illness) that> students leave, but one that is not written about as much is that> students sometimes just get bored.>> If we consider just one large and growing population in adult education,> recent public school leavers (AKA drop outs), consider that one of the> main reasons they identify as for dropping out is that they were bored.> A Gates Foundation report last year (The Silent Epidemic) found that:>> "nearly half (47 percent) said a major reason for dropping out was that> classes were not interesting. These young people reported being bored> and disengaged from high school. Almost as many (42 percent) spent time> with people who were not interested in school. These were among the top> reasons selected by those with high GPAs and by those who said they were> motivated to work hard.">> The report found that 88% of high school leavers had passing grades; 70%> were confident they could have graduated; and 81% understood that> graduating was vital to their success.>> This being said, how can programs aim to provide anything BUT programs> that are engaging, relevant and have a future focus --on higher> education and work?>> As the respondents on this list have identified (I'm preaching to the> choir) there are multiple instructional reasons for providing a> "creative" GED class. As to the notion of performance, consider that if> students stay in class (because they are challenged and not bored),> performance should benefit. I'm some ways, providing GED "test prep"> tracks in programs only really seems to reinforce a message that the> program is delivering at 'just the minimum" ----prep for a test. It> seems that, at least for out of school youth, they are looking for much> more.>> Saying that, I always thought there was great benefit in viewing> students as our customers ( we are providing a service after all). Some> will come and are on a fast track to get somewhere, they really just> want to "take the test." They have their mind set on another goal and> that is what we want. Fine. Make sure we provide them with that> option. Others are looking for more and are undecided as to what> direction they want to go, to training or to a better job for example.> Programs need to provide both customers with these options. Doing so> will position us toward better outcomes and better retention.>> So that is my first observation.>> Anson> -------------------------------> National Institute for Literacy> Assessment mailing list> Assessment at nifl.gov> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment> Email delivered to macsimoin at hotmail.com

_________________________________________________________________
Help yourself to FREE treats served up daily at the Messenger Café. Stop by today.
http://www.cafemessenger.com/info/info_sweetstuff2.html?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_OctWLtagline