David--
This is an interesting question, since adult literacy often seems to focus on ABCs and basics. 

I worked one summer with a group of middle school and high school ESL learners, and found their favorite activity was one that released tremendous creative powers--working to create HyperStudio presentations that were presented at the final potluck banquet to their family and friends. They took responsibility for their product, shared across cultures, and grew in many ways, including literacy.

Interestingly, these hands-on, minds-on projects in groups also freed me up to connect with students on a more personal level than any direct "instruction" could have. So it was a very satisfying experience for me as a teacher also.

Elizabeth Hanson-Smith
Professor Emeritus, CSU, Sacramento
Computers for Education
http://www.geocities.com/ehansonsmi


professionaldevelopment-request at nifl.gov wrote:
Date: Mon, 7 May 2007 22:27:24 -0400
From: "David J. Rosen" 
Subject: [ProfessionalDevelopment 1032]  Creativity and Innovation,
 Fabric of History, Shakespeare in Jail
To: The Adult Literacy Professional Development Discussion List
 

Message-ID: 
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="windows-1252"

PD Colleagues,

In March of this year, I posted some questions here about nourishing  
creativity and innovation:

If you are a teacher, does your program or school nourish creativity
and innovation? If so, how does this happen?

If you are a professional developer, how do your professional
development efforts nourish creativity and innovation?

Does your state ABE system nourish these? If so, how?

How do _you_ nourish creativity and innovation in your work and in
the work of your colleagues?

You will find at

http://wiki.literacytent.org/index.php/Creativity_and_Innovation

a list of possible sources ? and examples ? of teacher creativity
and innovation in adult literacy education.

What other sources and examples are you aware of?

To contribute your ideas of sources or examples, reply to this
message on the Professional Development discussion list and/or add
them to the above wiki page.

The Adult Literacy Education Wiki page,

http://wiki.literacytent.org/index.php/Creativity_and_Innovation

has been updated, and now includes, among other things:

+ a link to the Fabric of History, a creative American History  
curriculum that builds on students' interest in clothing and fashion  
statements by helping them develop a framework of important dates and  
events in U.S. history through an exploration of clothing and style  
in the years 1600-1980. The curriculum includes timelines, pictures,  
readings, formal and informal writing assignments, multiple choice  
practice, and suggestions for interpreting and synthesizing new  
information through visual, kinesthetic, and interpersonal activities.

+ a link to Shakespeare in Jail, a two-part article about an exciting  
program in a women's correction institution through which teaching  
Shakespeare came alive for students through film, reading and  
discussion.

I hope you will visit -- and add other examples to -- the Creativity  
and Innovation Wiki page.

David J. Rosen
djrosen at comcast.net




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