MARSHALL ABE

 

1.  During the Holiday Break, the office will be closed on Friday, December 23rd, Monday, December 26th, and Monday, January 2nd.  There will be No classes on December 23rd, 26th, or January .  Teachers may use their discretion whether or not to hold classes during the rest of the week.  As a note of interest, Vickie, Shaunna and Paula will not be holding classes during the last week of December.  Stephanie will have class.  Please advise the office if you will or will not be having class.

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2.  Starting the 2nd week of January, we will  offer a Civics ESL Class.  This class is for higher level ESL students and will be funded through the Civics Grant.  We will be scheduling the class from 6:30/7:00 to 9:00 p.m. for 4 days per week.  The class will run for 22 weeks.  If anyone is interested in teaching this class, please contact Pat.

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MARSHALL CONSORTIUM

3.  The Date for the next consortium staff meeting is January 14, 2006.   Many of you requested that Marn Frank return so you could participate in the Reading Session you were not able to attend at the last meeting. We asked Marn if she would return and she graciously said yes.  Now, in order to make her trip worth while, we again need to know which session you are interested in attending.  Time is running out!  If you have not indicated which session you wish to attend, please let Barb know by ASAP which session you will attend.  You can signup for the meeting on-line.  Click on the link below to signup. 

http://www.marshalladulteducation.org/sign-up.html

You can read more about the meeting including what Marn has sent as descriptions of the session at this link.

http://www.marshalladulteducation.org/01_14_consortium_mtg.htm

 

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4.  We are looking for suggestions for computer training at the next consortium meeting.  If you have an idea or suggestions for the training session, please email me.  (If I don't hear from anyone, we may be talking about Designing and Implementing OLAP Solutions Using Microsoft SQL, XML and nano-technology - and I don't even know what that is!!!).

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5.  Staff Reviews:  I will begin setting up visits with each staff in the Marshall Region in December to do a Performance Self Review.  At this time we will also review the Student Level Change data for students you have served since May 1st.   Again I would encourage you to consider your student's  progress and post test them if you feel they can demonstrate a level change.  You can find the Performance Self Review with the link below.  You can fill the form out on-line or email it.  ~Pat

http://www.marshalladulteducation.org/self_evaluation.htm

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SOUTHWEST ABE

6.  The December 2005 issue of the Minnesota Literacy Council Literacy Landscape Online has been post on the MLC website.  Topics covered in this issue are:

• MLC Welcomes A New Trainer
• Prepare for 2006 Legislative Session
• Volunteer Management Conference a Success
• 2005 ProLiteracy Worldwide Annual Conference Review
• Upcoming Trainings

To subscribe to the newsletter, send an e-mail to MLCLL@theMLC.org.  Please include your e-mail address, full name, telephone number and literacy organization.

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7.  The Minnesota Literacy Council is seeking entries for the 2006 edition of To Open Your Mind, our annual publication of writing by adult learners.  Learners, volunteers and teachers consistently note the power of this publication to motivate and recognize learners. The material in To Open Your Mind is great for ABE teachers to use in class because it is interesting to adult learners and relevant to their lives. ABE teachers use the publication to help students work on their writing, reading comprehension, fluency and vocabulary. A Teacher’s Guide to using To Open Your Mind will be printed in the back of the publication (it is also printed in the back of your 2005 edition).

Last year's publication was our biggest ever, with 676 submissions from 88 adult literacy programs across the state, and we are looking forward to another great year.

 

The deadline for submissions of original stories, essays, poems and drawings is Friday, February 3, 2006. We strongly encourage electronic submissions and typed rather than handwritten submissions.  Please see the guidelines and entry form for more details.

http://www.themlc.org/TOYM2005.html

 

If you have questions or need help, please contact Guy Haglund at ghaglund@theMLC.org or 651-645-2277 ext. 201 or 800-225-7323. Thank you for contributing to the success of To Open Your Mind in 2006!

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8.  From Paulette Hanson:   I attended a MN OSHA Safety and Health Workshop this week.  Here are some websites and materials that you may use as resources for your learners if they approach you with an on-the-job health or safety issue: 

• National website for Dept. of Labor and Industry - http://www.dol.gov/
• MN Dept. of Labor and Industry - http://www.doli.state.mn.us/ 
• John Stiffin, Community Services Representative(serving minority employees) for MN Dept. of Labor and Industry-phone (651) 284-5245 or e-mail john.stiffin@state.mn.us   
• Worker’s Comp Hotline is 1-800-342-5354. 

Parental Leave Law Brochures, Minimum Wage Law Brochures, and Know Your Rights (for employees) in Somali, Spanish, and English will be in the Marshall ABE Office starting next week. The English versions are also available in Acrobat Reader format (.pdf) on our website - click on the link below.

http://www.marshalladulteducation.org/osha_brochures.htm

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GENERAL

 

10.  Bridging Refugee Youth and Children's Services (BRYCS)  is a national technical assistance project working to broaden the scope of information and collaboration among service providers - in order to strengthen services to refugee youth, children and their families.   They have an excellent website which is an excellent resource.  Check it out here.

http://www.brycs.org/

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11.   From Barry Shaffer:   Here is the first article that I've seen regarding the study that is being released today on adult literacy in the US.  I expect to see many articles emerge from the national media today.
11M U.S. Adults Can't Read English - Yahoo! News
Thanks to Scott Wallner for sharing this website:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051215/ap_on_go_ot/adult_literacy

The main website of the NAAL study is:  http://nces.ed.gov/naal
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12.  Check out the new PowerPoint presentation, "Adult Basic Education:  Changing in response to the needs of today’s workforce."  It's pretty neat!
http://www.marshalladulteducation.org/partnership.htm
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13.  The non-confidential job postings that Job Service shares with us are posted on the ABE Website each week.  Check them out here. 
http://www.marshalladulteducation.org/job_listings.htm
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14.  From the Trivia Department:  Homework Spot - this site is for students, parents, or teachers who want help or ideas on doing a homework assignment.  It is a huge site with a gazillion links and resources - check it out.
http://www.homeworkspot.com/
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15.  Thought for the week:   An interesting twist in life - Kermit the Frog said this:  "Time's fun when you are having flies."
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16.  TECH TIP:  The Start Menu in Windows XP
There are many ways to customize Windows XP.  The Start Menu can be customized to look like the “Classic Start” menu in earlier versions of Windows (Windows 98, MD, or 2000).  Or it can have a new look – the Windows XP Start Menu. 

 

Well, some people don’t take to change very well (me included), and the like the way the Start menu in earlier Windows operating systems looked so they have the option of returning to that look.  Here’s how to customize the Start Menu to the Classic view.

 

1. Right-click on the Start menu in the bottom left-hand corner of the screen.  Click on Properties.
2. The first thing you see is the two options to choose from:  Start Menu or Classic Start Menu.
3. To try out the Classic Start Menu, click on the round button next to Classic Start menu.
4. (Remember, you can always go back to the new Start menu if you don’t like this view).
5. OK – go ahead and click the Start menu in the lower left hand corner of the screen to see this new (old) Classic view.  You will notice that there are 2 sections to the list – the top section contains shortcuts to programs, folders or internet sites.  The bottom section contains :links” to the various
6. Now click on the Customize button.

In this window, you
▪  Add items to the Start menu
▪  Remove items from the start menu
▪  Click on the Advanced button to use Windows Explorer to add or remove items to the start menu
▪  You can sort (Alphabetize) the Start Menu.
▪  You can clear the list of recently used documents that have been added to the Documents menu.  (Note:  If you click on Documents in the Start Menu, you will see a list of all documents that you have used (or accessed) recently.
▪  And last – you can select other options from a long list to include in to customized Start menu

 

Next week - more on the Start Menu - we will go through the various options you can select from to further customize the Start menu.

 

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Marshall ABE Links

 

Southwest ABE - home page for Granite Falls, Jackson, Marshall, and Worthington consortiums.

http://southwestabe.org/

 

Marshall ABE Bookmarks - tons of cool bookmarks - educational and non-educational
http://ikeepbookmarks.com/marshallabe

 

Tech Tips - Read new and old Tech Tips here.

http://www.marshalladulteducation.org/techtips.htm

 

Reading Skills for Today's Adults - new stories posted regularly 

http://www.marshalladulteducation.org/reading_skills.htm

 

Announcements - Weekly announcements are posted here each week on Friday.

http://www.marshalladulteducation.org/announcements.htm