Greetings to all--

I have not had a chance to read all of the postings yet, but as a new teacher of ESL, I have been searching for checklists of standards or competencies so that my students can document their own progress, and to encourage them to take a more active roll in their own education, such as: What do I need to learn next? 

Since most of the ESL courses in the country have similar competencies or standards, do we not have these checklists in place?? 

With adults, learner persistence needs to come from within the students. We cannot require them to attend. 
Many of our adult learners were not successful as students the first time around, or they never had the opportunity to continue their education beyond 3rd to 6th grade. Therefore, they do not always know how to direct their own education or how to learn. 

Many of them view education as something that is done to them, rather than something that they are able to and need to actively pursue and work on. They do not know how to educate themselves, therefore, it is our job to teach them how to actively learn English and what ever else they want to learn. 

Recently, I took a course that made me realize that assessments were necessary to guide our instruction appropriately, beyond the quarterly CASAS tests. Formative assessments can be both a teaching mechanism as well as an assessment that guides both the student and the teacher. 

For new teachers, more explicit guidelines and examples of how to design formative assessments within lesson plans are needed. 

If you or your schools have existing plans that have formative assessments, I would love to hear more about them. I currently teach a Mulit-level ESL class, with most of my students in the Beg. Literacy to low Intermediate levels. 

Thank you for the great discussions.
Linda Selover


 

> 

> Greetings David and all,

> 

> I have been following this weeks discussion with great interest. Here  

> in Vermont we have been focusing on "learner persistence" and how we  

> might improve it.  We have a number of adult learners who enroll with  

> our learning programs, but fail to follow through on their stated  

> learning objectives.

> 

> It has occurred to me that if we designed learning plans, curricula,  

> and courses that allowed the participants to experience progress in  

> increments that were meaningful and useful to them, this might  

> contribute to their remaining in the program and completing their  

> goals.  Formative assessments that are built into the learning plans  

> seem to be an effective way to promote learner persistence by giving  

> the learner a sense of what they've already accomplished and what must  

> still be mastered in order to succeed in their efforts.

> 

> Carroll Collins

> Community Learning Teacher

> Northeast Kingdom Learning Services

> St. Johnsbury Adult Learning Center

> 364 Railroad Street

> St. Johnsbury, VT 05819

> (802) 748-5624

> 

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