Bonnie and all,
FYI - more info for those working with adult English language learners
in mutlilevel settings:

The ERIC digest cited below by David Rosen on working with multilevel
English language learners is called "Teaching Multilevel Adult ESL
Classes," by Cathy Shank and Lynda Terrill. It "lives" on the CAELA Web
site at http://www.cal.org/caela/esl_resources/digests/SHANK.html. It's
a good one, published in 1995. 

Another resource on the CAELA Web site is a recent brief (published
2006) on this topic entitled "Promoting the Success of Multilevel ESL
Classes: What Teachers and Administrators Can Do," by Julie
Mathews-Aydinli and Regina Van Horne. This article is available at 
http://www.cal.org/caela/esl_resources/briefs/multilevel.html. This
newer article has links to other resources for those working with adult
English language learners including other CAL and NCSALL articles as
well as resources on the Virginia Adult Learning Resource Center Web
site.

Miriam 
******
Miriam Burt
Center for Applied Linguistics
4646 40th Street NW
Washington, DC 20016
(202) 362-0700, ext 556
(202) 363-7204 (fax)
miriam at cal.org 



-----Original Message-----
From: professionaldevelopment-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:professionaldevelopment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of David
Rosen
Sent: Monday, January 29, 2007 11:19 PM
To: The Adult Literacy Professional Development Discussion List
Subject: [ProfessionalDevelopment 829] Re: New strand: "polarized
classroom."

Bonnie,

A typical characterization of this challenge in adult literacy education
and English Language Learning is The Multilevel Classroom.  
A group of teachers and professional developers in Boston, led by lenore
Balliro and Martha Merson, investigated the "multi" challenges in a1997
journal of the Adult Literacy Resource Institute called "Multilevel
Classes". You will find this at:

http://tech.worlded.org/docs/connections/tableofcontents.htm

There are many other resources , too, for example:

Focus on Basics did an issue on this:
http://www.ncsall.net/index.php?id=446

There's an ERIC Digest
http://www.ericdigests.org/1996-1/adult.htm



David  J. Rosen
djrosen at comcast.net


On Jan 29, 2007, at 10:31 PM, Bonnie Odiorne wrote:


> Hello, PDers,

> I couldn't figure out any way to start a new topic than this, so my 

> apologies. The recent conversations on diversity and marketing 

> education certainly resonate with things my own institution is doing.

> One recent initiative is a kind of "Team Oriented problem solving"  

> approach

> involving QC typed techniques and a very business-oriented vocabulary 

> in terms of how the teams are to function and how results will be 

> measured. The group I found myself on almost unbeknownst, since in 

> actuality I'm neither "faculty" (adjunct) nor full-time staff, but 

> combine both in a full- time commitment to the university, is this: 

> "eliminate the polarized classroom."

> I'm not sure how the facilitator derived the terminology, since the 

> discussion from which it derived went beyond multi-level to a seeming 

> abyss between students with adequate skills, motivation and the like, 

> and those who do not. 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? I'll keep my own reservations to myself



> for the moment about the whole subject for the sake of just needing 

> information. But let it be understood that I'm in no way "buying into"



> the fact that this "problem" is well stated or conceived in terms of 

> responsible pedagogy. And I think a lot of the social discourse we've 

> just been discussing is implicit in this kind of formulation.... but 

> please, just give me the accepted terminology for a wide 

> skills/motivation/ expectations gap in the classroom and best 

> practices for dealing with it (I'll not comment on the desire to 

> "eliminate" it...) Grateful in advance for your help, Bonnie Odiorne, 

> Ph.D. Writing Center Director and Adjunct Professor Post University 

> Waterbury, CT

>

> -----Original Message-----

> From: professionaldevelopment-bounces at nifl.gov

> [mailto:professionaldevelopment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Nadia 

> and Kevin Colby

> Sent: Monday, January 29, 2007 4:43 PM

> To: The Adult Literacy Professional Development Discussion List

> Subject: [ProfessionalDevelopment 825] Re: Help! Teaching tolerance 

> inteacher PD

>

> Hello Susan:

>

> Could you elaborate a bit more on the origins of Ecotonos, the 

> objectives and the steps to make the

> workshop successful?   Also, what do you think about

> Social Marketing in the context of recruiting students for colleges?

>

> Nadia

> --- Susan Kidd <SKidd at sbctc.ctc.edu> wrote:

>

>> I have had success with a simulation for multi-cultural communication



>> and problem solving called Ecotonos. The simulation was designed for 

>> multiple audiences (business, social service,

>> education...) and has been used in numerous countries in several 

>> languages.

>>

>> Participants create "cultures" and then work on a task, first as a 

>> mono-cultural unit and then in different culturally diverse groups. 

>> Unlike many sims, this one is quite transparent (participants know, 

>> not just what they will do, but also the purpose of the sim) which 

>> reduces anxiety. It can also be fun and at the same time quite 

>> effective in raising issues of how people make decisions and 

>> communicate. I have used it with basic skills faculty, staff, and 

>> partner agencies.

>>

>> Susan

>>

>> SUSAN KIDD

>> ABE Professional Development Coordinator State Board for Community & 

>> Technical Colleges

>> 509-682-6968

>> cell phone: 509-630-4520

>>

>>

>>

>> ________________________________

>>

>>

>>

>>

>>

>>

>>

>> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

>>

>> -----

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David J. Rosen
djrosen at comcast.net



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