This message is posted on behalf of Katrina Hinson.  Any comments or feedback?
Aaron

**************************************************************


>Date: Sun, 19 Feb 2006 16:34:09 -0800

>From: Katrina Hinson <khinson at future-gate.com>

>Subject: Re: [ProfessionalDevelopment] FW: teacher professional development

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>I'm a huge proponent of having trained teachers and professional 

>development and in light of one of Robin's coments below - I"m curious - 

>how many states actually have some kind of certification or training 

>that's required of ABE/Adult Educators beyond a Bachelors degree of some kind?

>

>What kind of training is out there for Adult Educators to become certified 

>and how/where would a state begin to even implement such a process?

>

>As an additional question - how many states actually have ABE Standards or 

>ESL standards in terms of what is taught as well as guidellines and 

>resources that lend itself to actually teaching the material?

>

>Regards

>Katrina Hinson

>

> >>> jataylor at utk.edu 02/19/06 5:39 PM >>>

>PD Colleagues:

>This message was posted by Guest Participant Robin Schwarz to the Focus On

>Basics Discussion List. It is part of an ongoing discussion of Struggling 

>ESOL

>Learners. In light of our recent PD discussions, I thought you might find it

>of interest.

>

>Comments, anyone? Jackie

>

> >===== Original Message From The Focus on Basics Discussion List

><focusonbasics at nifl.gov> =====

>Hi --this is in response to the person from Oregon or Washington and to Janet

>Isserlis on another list, both of whose topic was teacher professional

>development and the fear of overloading teachers with information.

>

>This topic is near and dear to my heart. As I indicated in another posting

>today, it is surprising to me that the field of ESL does not seem to prepare

>teachers for the sort of really hard-core learning problems that several

>readers and responders have mentioned.

>

>In another message on one of the NIFL lists the notion of profesisonal

>development qualification standards for teachers in adult education was

>mentioned.

>

>Frankly, what I often see is that it is too common that teachers in adult

>education and adult ESOL education are woefully unqualified to do what they

>do. Then learners suffer. My article in FOB indicated that in some of those

>cases, teachers were simply not prepared to ask the right questions or to

>consider the key issues in adult ESOL learners' situations that significantly

>impact the learners' progress in their settings.

>

>Those of you who know me, know that I get pretty passionate on this topic. I

>believe, as do my business partners, Laura Weisel and Al Toops, we are

>supposed to be in business for the learners, not for the tutors and teachers

>in our programs. In other words, it is not the needs and limitations of the

>teachers or tutors that should drive decisions or policies about how our

>programs run but rather the needs of our learners. I have advocated for years

>that there need to be minimal qualifications for hiring teachers or tutors to

>teach adult ESOL learners. I can write an entire book-- and someday will-- of

>stories like those in the article where the learner was somehow blamed for no

>progress when in truth the learner's teacher had no idea how to address the

>learner's real needs.

>

>I agree strongly with Janet that it is essential that the nature of learning

>challenges-- of all kinds, including language learning challenges-- be

>constantly put out to teachers and required reading for them. Though I am 

>sure

>no program is going to fire its tutors because I say so, I certainly hope you

>will consider a far more stringent approach to requiring that those 

>already in

>your employ inform themselves about adult learners and adult ESOL learning,

>about the very most basic principles of language instruction, about the

>culture of their learners. etc. Also, program administrators have everything

>to gain by requiring more training for tutors and better experience and

>qualifications for teachers. In the end, they will be more effective and

>programs with have better outcomes. The NCSALL research project on learner

>persistence (2005 --at NCSCALL.net) indicated that when tutors were better

>trained, not only were learners happier and tended to persist longer, but

>tutors also persisted because they did not feel so helpless in helping those

>with significant learning needs.

>

>Somewhere recently I saw reference to the suggestion or proposal that adult

>education teachers be subject to qualification much as K-12 teachers are. 

>This

>can only be a good thing for our learners.

>

>And as for LD issues, I know for a well-documented fact that having a 

>tutor or

>teacher who is well meant and kind but does not "get" LD and language 

>learning

>challenges is actually worse for the learner than just sitting in a class and

>trying to absorb something.

>

>Just as for learners, having high expectations for teachers and tutors is

>critical to having an effective program.

>

>As a start for ESOL and learning challengs, programs might want to look at 

>the

>handbook : Taking Action: A Handbook for Instructors of Adult ESOL Learners

>with Learning Dissablities" produced and distrbuted by the Minnesota Learning

>Disabilities Association (visit www.ldaminnesota.org to find it). This walks

>teachers through the topic of LD and an approach to determining if other

>problems might be at the root of learning difficulties.

>

>There is also a great handbook for tutors teaching reading to 

>English-speaking

>adults called The Adult Reading Toolkit ( ART)

>

>Both of these are designed for tutors and teachers who have little prior

>knowledge on the topic--and they are extremely user-friendly and beautifully

>thought out. --And no, I don't have any financial interest in them......

>

>

>Robin

>

>

>

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Aaron Kohring
Coordinator, LINCS Literacy & Learning Disabilities Special Collection 
(http://ldlink.coe.utk.edu/)
Moderator, National Institute for Literacy's Content Standards Discussion 
List (http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/Contentstandards)
Coordinator, Equipped for the Future Websites (http://eff.cls.utk.edu/)

Center for Literacy Studies, University of Tennessee
EFF Center for Training and Technical Assistance
Phone:(865) 974-4109 main
           (865) 974-4258 direct
Fax:   (865) 974-3857
e-mail: akohring at utk.edu