Announcements

ANNOUNCEMENTS
January 25th, 2008

Problems with links in your email? - Copy and paste into your web browser:
http://www.marshalladulteducation.org/announcements.htm Select the newsletter that you are interested in.

Remember - all correspondence needs to be addressed to:
marshallabe@starpoint.net

SW ABE - MARSHALL REGION

1. Time Sheets

* Time sheets for January 16th to 31st should be turned in by Friday noon, February 1st.

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2. January Attendance/Intakes/CASAS

* These are due in the office on Monday, February 4th. Once I have January's hours entered, you will receive information on exiting students you have not seen during November, December & January.

* Be sure you are keeping current with your CASAS testing. Try to post test all students at least once during the year.

* If you have any questions from the CASAS training, be sure to ask. AND, thanks to all who attended. I think we came away knowing we are pretty much on track with our testing.

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3. February Dates/ Holidays

* Tuesday, February 5th - MN Caucus Day - No classes after 6 p.m.

* Monday, February 18th - Presidents Day Holiday - No classes!

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4. AN OPPORTUNITY TO CELEBRATE SOMETHING PRETTY AMAZING!

Last Friday the curriculum we created........Reading Skills for Today's Adults.... was referenced in a national Webinar done by the National Institute for Literacy. Two of our staff participated in it and were they surprised when our curriculum and website came up on the powerpoint as a suggested resource to use!! If you go to www.nifl.gov and then click on the Part 2 Webinar presentation, Slides 28 and 29 gives our curriculum as the Free Fluency Resource! At the end they even talked about the website again and said it is extraordinary program!

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5. Pat - "I received this recently from Marty Olsen:"

I was reading Larry Ferlazzo's Blog and noted that Marshall Adult Education, Reading Skills stories made it as his #1 ranked "Best Websites for Beginning Older Readers." In case you haven't seen it, the link is http://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/2008/01/23/the-best-websites-for-beginning-older-readers/

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6. Barry - "Please see the attachment explaining the state's position on ABE classes during Minnesota caucus night."

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7. Since 2003, Bella Hanson has coordinated a supplemental services project that promotes evidence-based practice in Minnesota ABE programs. One of the primary activities of this project has been to disseminate research briefs that summarize current research in adult basic education and second language education. These research briefs are now posted on the MDE-ABE website: http://mnabe.themlc.org/Research_Briefs.html. They are organized by topic so that you choose the ones that match your interest areas. Research briefs are ideal for use in individual or group professional development – you may want to incorporate them into your staff meetings, professional learning communities, or study circles. New briefs will be posted on a regular basis, so be sure to check back often!

Astrid Liden
ABE Professional Development Coordinator
Minnesota Department of Education
Adult Basic Education (ABE)
1500 Highway 36 West
Roseville, MN 55113-4266
Phone: 651-582-8424
Fax: 651-634-5154
Email: astrid.liden@state.mn.us

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8. Check our ABE calendar for recent updates: http://mnabe.themlc.org/ABEcalendar.html , and bookmark it for future reference. You’ll find information about regional, statewide, and national events related to Adult Basic Education posted here. If you know of other events that should be posted on the calendar, please send a brief description to Astrid.Liden@state.mn.us.

Astrid Liden
ABE Professional Development Coordinator
Minnesota Department of Education
Adult Basic Education (ABE)
1500 Highway 36 West
Roseville, MN 55113-4266
Phone: 651-582-8424
Fax: 651-634-5154
Email: astrid.liden@state.mn.us

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9. "I want to take this opportunity to provide the ABE field with information about our newest supplemental services provider, the ATLAS program – a new program within Hamline University. As most of you know, the state ABE office has redesigned the delivery of state and regional level professional development services and a significant part of our new approach has been the addition of Hamline University to our supplemental services providers cadre. Hamline has an impressive history of working with ABE on ESL issues over many years and is eager to develop and enhance their involvement with ABE in other areas.

Below you will find introductory information provided by the ATLAS program about their services, and a more descriptive brochure. I look forward to hearing from the field about your experiences with ATLAS. Please share this information with your colleagues in ABE. " Barry

Greetings!

I'd like to officially introduce ATLAS, the ABE Teaching and Learning Advancement System. Housed at Hamline University, ATLAS will partner with MDE to support and facilitate professional development to ABE teachers, staff and administrators across the state.

Attached is a one-page flyer that shares highlights of the ATLAS initiatives for our first year. Please take a look to learn more about who we are, what we are doing, and how we can work with you. Our ATLAS team includes:
Kimberly Johnson - ATLAS Coordinator
Betsy Parrish - ATLAS Advisor
Marisa Squadrito Geisler - ATLAS Program Assistant

Our contact information is on the flyer. Please call or email if you have any questions, comments, or ideas to share with us. We are always interested in what you have to say and we look forward to working with you!

ESPECIALLY FOR THOSE INTERESTED IN TRANSITIONS TO POST-SECONDARY:
ATLAS is involved in many aspects of the transitions initiative, and we are interested in finding a way to coordinate all of the many great things that are already happening in the field (and to prevent people from re-inventing wheels). We'll be doing curriculum alignment work and mentoring with teachers, among other things. If you are currently teaching transitions courses and/or would like to be part of what ATLAS is doing with transitions, please contact Kim.

All the best,
Kim
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Kimberly A. Johnson, PhD
Assistant Professor/ATLAS Coordinator
-Resources and Professional Development for Adult Educators
Center for Second Language Teaching and Learning, Graduate School of Education
Hamline University
1536 Hewitt Ave., St. Paul, MN 55104
phone: 651.523.2646
fax: 651.523.3083
email: kjohnson60@hamline.edu

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***** If you've missed an announcement from a previous week, you can always find it on the Announcements page. All announcements are archived at:
http://www.marshalladulteducation.org/announcements.htm ******

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_home.htm

Announcements - Weekly announcements are posted here each week on Friday.
http://www.marshalladulteducation.org/announcements

Barb Glaeser
SW ABE - Marshall
607 West Main
Marshall, MN 56258
507-537-7046
marshallabe@starpoint.net