December Volunteer Hours: 189 |
|
School Year to Date: 3232
|
|
|
Welcome back! We hope you had a wonderful new year and stayed safe during the ice storm. In case it happens again, we want to make sure you are aware of our snow policy.
At the center, we're back in the swing of things! Classes are in session - and bigger than ever: we have 212 students enrolled this quarter! We had sixty-six new students (up from fifty-four last year), and 34% of our center-based students are enrolled in an in-person class. With all these students, our volunteers are as important as ever, so it's wonderful that we have fifty classroom volunteers and sixty tutors! WOW. It's so wonderful to know that every students that needs it can get that additional partnership and personalized attention that we know is critical.
Along with our growing roster of in-person classes, we are offering a new class this quarter: Beginning Computers. We are all aware just how important digital literacy is, especially with the increased focus on accessing everything online since Covid, so we are pleased to be able to work with students as they increase these skills.
And what are our students up to this quarter? GED classes will be focusing on Earth science, Ready To Work is doing solving problems at work and pathway planning, and the Citizenship class is continuing US history with the Civil War, Black History month, and the constitution, as well as working on difficult vocabulary from the application.
As you can see, we have a busy and exciting year ahead! Thank you so much for everything you do for our students.
In community,
Liz Wurster
Communications Coordinator
|
|
Have you ever struggled to convey to friends and family the importance of the work you do at Literacy Source? While people may intuitively understand the importance of basic skills in creating a more equitable society, they may not fully understand how it infiltrates so many aspects of an individual's life, as well as perpetuating a system where everyone does not have access to the same opportunities.
January is literacy advocacy month, so we thought it was a good time to highlight one of the biggest players in the game, and an important partner of Literacy Source: ProLiteracy. Many of you are familiar Proliteracy, as it's the largest adult literacy and basic education membership organization in the United States, and you have no doubt done at least a few trainings that they offer. We've also co-led webinars with them (including this one about converting to distance learning amidst Covid), received critical funding from them via their Mobile Learning Fund to start our Voxy EnGen class, and we often participate in their national conference. Additionally, their publishing arm, New Readers Press, is one of the few publishers making relevant texts for ABE/ESOL/Citizenship that are community focused. They're also responsible for distilling the facts in a way that make clear the importance of Community Based Organizations like ourselves are doing.
For example, did you know?
-
1 in 6 adults in Washington State lack the basic literacy skills needed to get a livable wage job.
-
38 million adults in the U.S. are not able to read well enough to read a simple story to a child.
-
50% percent of the 2 million immigrants that come to the U.S. each year lack high school education and proficient English language skills.
-
Half of the adults with low literacy levels are living in poverty.
-
75% of state prison inmates did not complete high school or can be classified as low literate.
-
Low literacy’s effects cost the U.S. $225 billion or more each year in non-productivity in the workforce, crime, and loss of tax revenue due to unemployment.
Hopefully this information can inform your conversations with those around you to ensure that they know how valuably your time is spent partnering with our students to to create new opportunities for themselves, their families, and the community.
|
|
TUTOR TRAININGS: New and Matched Tutors
January 21st, 10am – 12:30pm
New Tutor Training:
January 28th, 10am – 12:30pm
Matched & Experienced Tutors:
A quarterly more in-depth teaching support for tutors already working with a student (all levels). Please join the Matched/Experienced Google Classroom to sign-up, find the Zoom link and complete the pre-activities (due Mon. 1/23).
OTHER UPCOMING TRAININGS
You are also encouraged to attend the following Literacy Minnesota upcoming webinars. These are excellent free trainings to hone your teaching skills and best practices. You are welcome to attend any of the free webinars but we highly recommend completing these two:
January 25th, 4:30 - 6:30pm (PST)
Literacy Minnesota Core Module # 4
Instructional Best Practices (online): Working with Materials
Topics include:
Scaffolding lessons
Checking for Comprehension
Introducing Activities using the Gradual Release Responsibility model: I Do – We Do – You Do
January 25th, 2023 6 – 7pm (PST)
Citizenship Practice Interview Training
The culmination of all the hard work to becoming a U.S. Citizen is the Naturalization Interview and Test. Needless to say it is the most daunting part of the process for individuals whose first language is not English, and our students want to practice. We are offering a training for any volunteer who would like to take on the role of an immigration officer and give a practice test. The sessions usually take an hour, can be online or in-person and are on an "as needed" basis. Questions include the 100 History and Civics questions as well as ones from their application, plus they need to be able to read and write a sentence in English. Please join the Citizenship Volunteers Google Classroom to sign-up, find the Zoom link and complete the pre-activity.
February 10th, 11am - 1pm (PST)
Solidarity not Charity: Challenging the White Savior Complex
What is “white saviorism” and how does it show up in adult education? During this session, participants will explore a shared definition of the term “white savior complex.” We will strategize ways to address this concept both in the context of working with adult learners and on a personal level. Through the use of educational anecdotes, scenarios, and personal introspection, participants will consider how perspectives on this topic have evolved in recent years and the impact of white savior complex on our learners. Register here
Join Literacy Source staff for an in-house roundtable discussion about the webinar.
|
|
Teaching Tip: Google Classroom |
|
Welcome to Google Classroom: What, Why & How
You may have noticed that we are transitioning all our volunteer trainings to the Google Classroom class-organization platform.
What is it? Widely used in schools and education, Google Classroom is an easy-to-use (similar to Canvas/Blackboard) online teaching and learning tool. It offers a more streamlined and efficient way for us to manage, track, and enrich the learning and on-boarding experience at Literacy Source.. Think of it as a one-stop-shop for all your learning as we have separate classrooms for each program accessible from the Main Volunteer Training Classroom.
Why are we using it? All the students (except ESOL 1) are using the Google Classroom to access their homework, submit their assignments and track their projects, so it is useful for volunteers to have the skills to help support students with their work.
How do I use it? You do not need a Gmail account to access any classroom, click here for instructions on how to access a classroom without a Gmail account.
If you are new to using Google Classroom please watch this video to help you get started.
Still need help? Please contact Caroline
|
|
Congratulations - and thank you! - to the following volunteers for reaching a year of service with Literacy Source!
|
|
Proliteracy Resources: Notebook |
|
We want to share with you the Winter 2023 issue of Notebook: Resources for the Adult Educator, a ProLiteracy membership publication.
In this issue:
-
Speaking: Preparing Students for Citizenship Test Small Talk
-
Writing: Using MakeBeliefsComix.com to Prompt More Writing from ELLs, Basic Literacy Students
-
Classroom Management: Encouraging Self-Reflection on Lessons
-
Professional Development: 9 Tips to Help Students With Test Anxiety
-
Tutor Profile: Shining Hope on Opportunities and a Better Life for New Arrivals
|
|
Due to the holiday season, there were no new citizens this month. Check back in next month!
|
|
Staff Reads: Classroom Resources |
|
January 25, 7:30pm (Town Hall Seattle, $5-$20)
How can we better sow the seeds for fruitful conversation and grow meaningful change? In a new adaptation of Dr. Robin DiAngelo’s best-selling book White Fragility, anti-racist educators Toni Graves Williamson and Ali Michael explain the concept of systemic racism to young adult readers and how to recognize it in themselves and the world around them. Along the way, Williamson and Michael provide tools for taking action to challenge systems of inequity and racism as they move into adulthood. Filled with personal stories from the multiracial creators, discussion prompts, illustrations, and profiles of scholars and activists, this reimagined book gives young adults (and older readers, too!) the tools to ask questions, engage in dialogue, challenge their ways of thinking, and take action to create a more racially just world.
Thursday, Jan. 26, 7 – 8 p.m. (Online presented by Seattle Public Library, FREE)
Award-winning staff from The Seattle Times will present photographs and videos from 2022 and discuss the story and technique behind them.
Friday Jan 27, 7:00pm - 8:00pm (Elliot Bay Book Company, FREE)
Tonight, we welcome our friends at Seattle Arts & Lectures for a group reading featuring Aamina Mughal, Abby Skeel, Kyle Gerstel, Keegan York, and Bayla Cohen-Knott. Seattle Arts & Lectures has an active youth programs that includes Writers in the Schools (WITS) and the WITS Year-End Digital Gallery. SAL also guides Seattle’s Youth Poet Laureate Project, which tonight brings some of this year’s cohort to the Elliott Bay stage to read from their work.
Saturday, January 28, Noon-3:30pm (North City Elementary, Shoreline, FREE)
Celebrate the year of the rabbit with lanterns, music, spectacular Lion Dance and Kung Fu performances by Mak Fai Kung Fu Dragon & Lion Dance Association and the Kathmandu MoMoCha food truck featuring famous Himalayan Dumplings from Nepal. The event is free and everyone is welcome to attend.
|
|
Please help us spread the word!
Our next New Volunteer Orientation (via Zoom) will be on February 1 at either 1pm or 7pm. Potential volunteers are invited to register online here.
|
|
Winter Term runs from January 17th – March 16th 2023.
|
|
Miss any of our past volunteer newsletters? You can access archived newsletters at the bottom of the Volunteer Resources of our webpage.
|
|
Literacy Source acknowledges that we are on the unceded ancestral land of the Coast Salish people, the land which touches the shared waters of all tribes and bands within the Suquamish, Tulalip, Duwamish and Muckleshoot nations. Indigenous people are still here and continue to honor and bring light to their lived histories. We affirm Native American sovereignty and acknowledge the sacrifices and contributions of Indigenous people of Puget Sound. We acknowledge the ongoing disparities, racism, and political erasure they face today and pledge to donate, promote resources, and educate about the struggles of the Coast Salish tribes. We raise our hands to honor Chief Seattle’s Duwamish tribe of Indigenous peoples past, present, and future. |
|
Literacy Source | 206-782-2050 | 3200 NE 125th St. Seattle, WA 98125 | www.literacysource.org |
|
|
|
|
|
|
