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Here are a few things you may want to check out if you are interested in some of the successful practices at our school.

Our Basic Skills Library Component

Our Skills for Success Program

Our Math Center Component

Our Writing Center Component

Recent Posts:

BSI Institute

Study Circles

Promising Practices in Adult ESL Literacy by the Writing Study Circle

Using journals to teach writing and build self confidence

Social Identity and the Adult ESL Classroom by Pat Davidson

Leveling The Playing Field by John Tashima

A Fieldtrip for Every Class! by Malena Copeland

The Sensitivity Jazz Chant by Thomas Gault

Culture: Ways of Understanding Our Students and Ourselves by Thomas Gault

The Adult ESL Writer : The Process and the Context - Rita Serretti

An Effective Way to Teach, Compliments of Brain Research - Malena Copeland

Developing Writing Skills for the New Language by Jayshree Lederman

Watch Videos of Grace Tanaka, Karen Dennis, Stewart Case, Sue Mendizza, Jennifer Feeney, Rob Jenkins and Nilo Lipiz being interviewed about basic skills in the ESL classroom

BSI Summer Institute

Several representatives from Santa Ana College School of Continuing Education went to the Basic Skills Summer Institute August 10-13. This institute was offered by the California State Academic Senate. Just under 300 instructors, 4 of 5 adjunct, participated in general sessions and several very productive breakout sessions. Our team consisting of Rob Jenkins, Malena Copeland, Carlos Perez, Dorothy Hoyt, and John Tashima are all very excited about what we learned and the implications to our program.

I-Best Washington State

Isreal David Mendoza and a team representing schools and instructors from Washington discussed the Career Technical Education plan of the state. I was very impressed with the statistical data about the improvement in the programs that are incorporating this model. The state saw the very low literacy needs and poor performance of graduates in their programs and the fact that many vocational positions in the state were not being filled because of the lack of qualified applicants. They designed i-Best programs in different pilot schools

Perhaps in an oversimplification, the program is “team teaching”. The state pays i-Best courses at 1.75 times the regular FTE rate to help pay for the additional instructor in the room. It is designed with the assumption that you don’t need to wait to put students on a career path. You have one teacher in the class that is a content teacher for a career path like say accounting. Then your other teacher in the room is an ESL teacher. This isn’t tutoring or supplemental instruction and the second instructor shares the lime light. They team teach. Statistically, they showed how CASAS scores and all benchmarks were remarkably improved in all basic skills with these classes when compared to others. I spoke to John Lindem who is the BSI coordinator for continiung education in San Diego. They have sent many people to see the Washington program and they have done something similar in their program. This team teaching can take many different forms. I will invite others to describe the different types of team teaching styles.

I see great potentential for courses like this in our school. We have been struggling to figure out how we might include Vocational Ed, Office Prep, Parenting Ed, Older Adult, etc. in basic skills. This would be a great way to include more instructors and students and add additional support to our students. Another thought would be to offer college courses at CEC when we get our new facilities and create a team teaching circumstance with our instructors. Or we could supply the second instructor for courses at SAC. We have a lot of additional information on this program and we need to investigate its merits.

Learning Communities

Barbara Illowsky and Anniqua Rana walked us through learning communities. To synthesize several ideas from several workshops, I see three different ways to support instruction:

Team Teaching (See discussion)
Learning Communities
Supplemental Instruction

All of these have benefits. The learning communities are two or more classes that have the same students in all of them forming a community of learners. The different courses can be very related or slightly related. The obvious connection would be any content course combined with an ESL or Basic Skills course. For us, I think that forming communities taking BSI reading, writing, and math would be an easy thing to arrange. However, we could form communities with Business Skills, Vocational classes, Older Adult, and/or Parenting Ed with BSI courses. The BSI courses would carry some of the content of the content course and share some of the curriculum. This is harder than the team teaching idea in some ways because the instructors have to coordinate more to make sure they know what each of them are doing. Julia, I spoke to Shelley from LA Valley for doing this with noncredit. Since you know so much about htis already, you might ant to talk to her personally.

Non-Credit Consortiuum

After running into John Lindem of San Diego Community College Continuing Education, Shelly Baseri of LA Valley College, and Candace Lynch-Thompson of North Orange County Non Credit, we all agreed that there should be some kind of communication with non-credit on our unique issues and BSI. I spoke with Mark Lieu who will be sending me all the non-credit programs who are participating and we will attempt to put together a non-credit BSI consortiuum. I am excited by the response of those non-credit people I talked to at the conference.

SLO and Rubrics

Bob Pacheco really clarified a lot about SLO’s for me. I am happy to report that I finally understand what I never quite understood before. I feel very comfortable (finally) in discussing it although I still have a few questions that he has promised to help me with. What was very important from his workshop and our 45 minute discussion afterward is the purpose of SLO’s. The WASC concern before 2002 was that grades were becoming meaningless because people were graduating and still not achieving the basic skills necessary to function in many jobs they supposedly qualified for. Grades are often inflated or don’t really reflect proficiency. Some teachers have gotten into the habit of giving extra points for a variety of things like attending a school football game or doing some task that isn’t directly related to the objectives of the course. Hence the establishment of SLO’s.

SLO’s or Student Learning Outcomes are NOT evaluations and SHOULD NOT be used to help give a grade to a student or identify the skill or ability of the teacher. It is NOT an assessment. SLO’s are to help us become better teachers. We have a rubric. We help students know what the rubric is. We establish a baseline or benchmark based on a 15 minute task at the beginning of the course. We do “intervention” (instruction) and near the middle of the course, we do another sample and check the task with the rubric. Then we do a final one. We don’t do this with all of our SLO’s every semester. We do it with one or maybe two as a sample. We take what we learn from it and change instruction. The students also participate in completing a rubric for themselves and then meet with the instructor to compare notes. This is how the instructor learns. The objective is not to have all perfect points on the rubric. There is no pressure from management to “cook” the books or to “teach to the test”. This is not used to generate a grade. It seems that it should be removed from the “assessment” realm and placed in the “professional development” and the “program improvement” realm because its purpose is to initiate change, not issue grades.

I also learned there are three layers to SLO’s. 1) Course SLO’s. There are only 2-4 per course. These are not objectives. They are overreaching outcomes. I am thinking they relate more to the CASAS Performance Indicators type language. 2) Program SLO’s. These are SLO’s that relate to all courses in the program and 3) Institution SLO’s. These are SLO’s that go across the curriculum no mattrer the discipline. These are more like SCANS or EFF standards like working on a team or using technology. I still have trouble understanding the clear difference between an SLO and course objectives. Bob is sending me various examples and activities to help me better understand this. I will share what he sends to me.

Faculty Development

An idea came to me while participating in the coordinator meeting on Monday. I think it would be a great idea in fall to concentrate on a BSI Mentor Certification which would be a series of workshops (maybe like On Course) that instructors complete over September, October, and November. When they complete all the trainings (as many as 6) they qualify to be trainers in the spring for all faculty. Some schools have this type of certificate but it isn’t to qualify mentors. They pay anywhere form $1000-$1500 or give step salary credit, or give flex credit. I love this idea. We could train 20 in spring who in turn would be available to train all disciplines and also do special modules or series of modules for instructors.

Question of the Week:

What resources do you use in your classroom other than your textbooks? What are some of the best materials that you have used to supplement your curriculum? Talk about specific activities you have done with your class.

(click here to respond and read comments from other instructors)

Why Blog?

…………………………………………………

The purpose of this blog is to facilitate the implementation of a program that prepares students to matriculate successfully to ABE, GED, HSS and credit courses by emphasizing basic skills (reading, writing and math). This will be realized through the discussion and explanation of research and study of best practices. For more about the blog click here.

See what the buzz is about!

See what’s being learned!

What are Study Circles?

Find the answers!

Join the discussion

Click here for Study Circle Information

Eric Gasner won movie tickets and Jennifer Gaudet won See’s Candy.

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Authored by basicskills. Hosted by Edublogs.]]> http://basicskills.edublogs.org/feed/ http://basicskills.edublogs.org/cec-videos/more-videos/ http://basicskills.edublogs.org/cec-videos/more-videos/#comments Sun, 04 May 2008 23:18:47 +0000 Malena Copeland http://basicskills.edublogs.org/cec-videos/more-videos/ Laura Menendez interviews Jennifer Finney

Posted by MalenaCopeland at TeacherTube.com.

Rob Jenkins is interviewed by Tim Vo

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Part 2

Part 3

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purchased by the Basic Skills Initiative

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Merry Draffan Interviews Sue Mendizza

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Karen Dennis explains Basic Skills

in an interview by Malena Copeland

Part 1

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Part 2

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Malena Copeland interviews Nilo Lipiz

Posted by MalenaCopeland at TeacherTube.com.

Laura Menendez interviews Stewart Case

Brain Research

Culture

Goals

Reading/Literacy

Student Success

Writing

https://casas.org/home/index.cfm

E L Civics

https://www.casas.org/elc/

Learning Styles

http://www.infed.org/thinkers/gardner.htm

Education World

educationworld.com

Henry Kim: Balancing Checkbook website

http://www.ianrpubs.unl.edu/epublic/live/g1764/build/g1764.pdf

Henry Kim: Math Practice Site

http://www.cuna.org/download/youth_sharedraft.pdf

Marian Thatcher’s Blog

marianthacher.blogspot.com

Model Standards for Adult Education

www.otan.dni.us/webfarm/emailproject/standard.pdf

Newport-Mesa Adult School Blog

adultedmatters.wordpress.com

Purdue Online Writing Lab

owl.english.purdue.edu

Randall’s Cyber Listening Lab

esl-lab.com

Rob Jenkins’ Blog

teacherresource.wordpress.com

Susan Gaer Collaborative Projects Website

susangaer.com/studentprojects

Susan Gaer’s ESL Website

susangaer.com

Malena Copeland’s Blog

The U.S. Citizenship Interview Experience

ESL Questions

Conversation Topics

Getting into College

Transitioning into College for students

Touch Point Math 

https://www.touchmath.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=WYT.welcome&page=AboutTouchMath

Malena Copeland Yes. This project can help all of our students. By participating in the blog and communicating needs, our faculty and staff will shape the direction of our research, curriculum and professional development. Students of all levels will be addressed in not only ESL classes, but throughout our entire program. So if your students have specific needs in math, reading and writing areas, this is the forum to address those needs, find out what works best in the classroom, and explore ways to implement these ideas.

ESL Teacher:

I think that the ESL required staff meeting at the beginning of the year is a good starting point for communication between the faculty, staff and administration, but there needs to be more communication and education about the roles of administrators. I would like to see a “Dear Administrator or Dear Dean” column much like the “Dear Abby” column. It would also be nice to have a place where teachers and staff can see what the responsibilities of each dean and administrator are. Many teachers don’t even know who their dean is. If there’s an issue teachers are more likely to talk to the union than an administrator.

Nilo E. Lipiz:

I like the idea of an administrator column where faculty and staff can ask questions or make comments regarding anything related to SAC SCE. We can set this up and start talking.
I also think posting administrative flow charts would show each administrator’s current areas of responsibility. This will be easy to accomplish.
In regards to receiving training on how to utilize the equipment available to instructors in the classroom or from the Resource Center, we have part-time coordinators who will be able to assist anyone on how to incorporate the use of technology in their classrooms. This service may be arranged by contacting Susan Gaer at CEC.
Thank you for posting your comments!

Joyce Basch:

I hope the Basic Skills material will fit into the El Civics topics because there is not sufficient time in a semester to do text work, El Civics, and Casas. FANTASY………It would be marvelous if funds could be used to expand the physical size of the rooms so that more computers would fit into the rooms. Then, more students would have the opportunity, each class time, to use, study and learn on the computer. I do not need a reply!

Malena Copeland:

You get a reply anyway 8). Joyce, thank you for participating on the blog! Your comments are very much appreciated. Fitting in core curriculum in addition to EL Civics and Casas, can be quite challenging. We must always be mindful that our number one aim should be to improve the lives and education of our students. The focus of this project is not in any way meant to add more work to our wonderfully dedicated faculty and staff, but rather to help us incorporate 26 effective practices that will enhance the way that we implement our lessons and run our institution. This blog provides us with the means to explore these practices and share our experiences as well as our creative innovations. It’s also a place to express our concerns about our school, the best practices and this project. Here, we can discuss the way we have implemented these 26 best practices, and learn about what works best for our classes.

By creating a collaborative environment, the Basic Skills Initiative will facilitate communication in our institution and provide us with an outlet to voice our opinions and try new strategies. It will also provide new technology, equipment, books, classes, and much more. I thank you again for contributing to the blog and encourage you and everyone to participate often, because your experience and involvement is valuable to the institution, and most especially, to our students.

What worked for you when you were a student? How did you learn? What made you persevere? What helped you fulfill your academic goals?

Sharon Chidester:

I want to answer those questions, Julia. They are: What worked for you when you were a student? How did you learn? What made you persevere? What helped you fulfill your academic goals?What worked for me was my teachers were available to me for questions when I got stuck, and they genuinely cared that their students learned. I learned by listening, taking notes, and hands-on. I persevered because when I came to difficult times, I looked for alternate ways to stay on task, and asked friends and instructors for help with those alternate ways or for ideas of how to persevere. The biggest thing that helped me fulfill my academic goals was that my teachers believed I could, even at times when I doubted myself.I believe as a teacher, that I have the duty and responsibility to my students to care that they succeed, be available to them for questions, and show them that I believe in them. Most student success depends on us as teachers giving them the support they need.

Maribel:

Personally, what I think worked for me as a student was to have mentors, be persistence in completing my academic goal regardless of the presented obstacles. Also I always looked for available resources that would provide assistance for academic and personal matters. In regards to my learning style, I believe was important to provide visual tools for my academic success. I also participated in student organizations and leadership programs. Therefore, as part of the basic skills initiative it is important to incorporate learning styles, counseling, peer mentoring, and list of campus resources and leadership opportunities.

What mechanisms do we have at our institution to facilitate communication and coordination between the faculty and staff in different developmental disciplines as well as with student services?

ESL Teacher:

I think that the ESL required staff meeting at the beginning of the year is a good starting point for communication between the faculty, staff and administration, but there needs to be more communication and education about the roles of administrators. I would like to see a “Dear Administrator or Dear Dean” column much like the “Dear Abby” column. It would also be nice to have a place where teachers and staff can see what the responsibilities of each dean and administrator are. Many teachers don’t even know who their dean is. If there’s an issue teachers are more likely to talk to the union than an administrator.

Chris Robinson:

Dept. mtgs. are always great. (I remember the monthly ones I attended while in C-BET for 2 years.) My own thought for improvement was echoed by the contribution above with regard to a forum (e.g. flex workshops, or even an accessible web despcription - a map or flow chart - demonstrating the interrelations among adminstrative functions. (Maybe this is something I’ll need to get in a graduate program, but it would be convenient. Or, if someone could let me know of some resources to find such info, that’d be “swell.”

What are the best reading, writing and math websites that you use?

Susan McClellan//March 9, 2008 at 8:09 am
Sunday’s LA Times (3/9/08) has a front page feature article on Singapore Math. To read the story:http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-math9mar09,0,1449785.story. For more information on the Singapore Curriculum: http://www.sgbox.com/singaporecurriculum.html

Denise Dowling //Mar 7, 2007 at 12:56 AM
This webpage is a collection of power point presentations that I use to make grammar intersting, promotes converstion and can lead to reading and writing.
http://www2.bakersfieldcollege.edu/jhart/Main%20Page/ENSL%20B55/Textbook%20Aids.htm
Adrianna Gonzalez // Mar 1st 2008 at 11:40 amThe best site that I use is education world. www.educationworld.comI particularly like this site to teach ABE because there is a variety of worksheets and teacher instructional materials that can easily be printed and used with students. The best is that it fits their reading level perfectly.

Adrianna Gonzalez // Mar 1st 2008 at 11:42 amThis is a great website given that it has printable worksheets and teaching ideas that can easily be integrated at the ABE level.

Susan McClellan // Mar 1st 2008 at 12:23 pmI usually access ESL websites. I like this one, from Purdue university for grammar (the link provided) and for other writing-related topics. However, since I teach beginners, I usually revise material I find on this site.
Susan
http://owl.english.purdue.edu

malenacopeland // Mar 1st 2008 at 4:40 pmGreat input. I really enjoyed both the Purdue as well as the Education World websites. These websites are very different but can be used in all levels if you use a little creativity. What lessons have you used from these sites?At Education World, I found the writing bugs interesting and useful. This is something I will definitely try with my students. There weren’t many, but I like the idea of giving a writing prompt each week, and having students build on it.From the Purdue site, I liked the explanations of the different components of writing. I think my students could really benefit from basic lessons on the writing process. These sites are very interesting. Thank you for the links.

Tim Chavez // Mar 3rd 2008 at 9:32 amThe first site I thought of was The OWL at Purdue but I see Susan already posted it…it’s a good one. There is a site I like for listening exercises. Randall’s ESL Cyber Listening Lab–http://www.esl-lab.com/. This site has various levels of difficulty and will display the text with the audio. It offers a comprehension quiz and a cloze exercise with the listening exercise.
basicskills // Mar 3rd 2008 at 10:02 pmTim: The Cyber Listening Lab works great with a variety of levels. It has excellent content and can be used with a number of areas that meet the competencies of our core texts. It might be an idea to develop some ESL podcasts of our own to put on our blog site. We appreciate your suggestions. Perhaps I can post them to the links page for our colleagues to see. Thanks again.
Jolene ShieldsThis is a great website for lower level reading. The site integrates vocabulary, spelling and reading comprehension. http://cdlponline.org/

10 Mar 2008 at 2:15 pm2 Malena Copeland I really find this site to be useful. Students can read interesting stories and then listen to them aloud. Thank you for this great link.
10 Mar 2008 at 9:18 pm3 Henry Kim This is a great site to use copyrighted materials for checks, balancing, registers, etc. Students can read, write, and practice math: I have used this for beginning 3 students and they enjoy it.http://www.cuna.org/download/youth_sharedraft.pdfI was trying to find step-by-step activities to practice balancing checkbooks with students and it looks like this site is more packed than the last time I used it, you might explore the links:
http://www.ianrpubs.unl.edu/epublic/live/g1764/build/g1764.pdfBoth sites come from longman.com/readytogo
Have fun.
11 Mar 2008 at 8:03 am4 Danna Weber OTAN (Online Technical Assistance Network for Adult Educators) offers a world of good reference resources, written by teachers of adult students. Search the site at http://www.otan.us, or Google OTAN.
11 Mar 2008 at 3:24 pm6 Donna Minick When I’m stressing a certain pronunciation feature, such as the th sound, I like to bring this site up on the Smart Board, with that sound isolated as it illustrates the mouth movements and pronounces several words to illustrate the sound. Then I follow up with some additional pronunciation practice.
11 March 2008 at 4:50 pm Vincent Nunez
Like Donna M, I use our classroom’s Smartboard in conjunction with specific websites. For my beginning students I use sites with simple sentences and narrative photos, like at http://www.elcivics.com/esl-lifeskills-lessons.html In my presentations I will also involve students in “the show” by using sites such as (for shopping) http://www.rif.org/readingplanet/gamestation/content/supermarket_spree.mspx and (for money) http://www.aplusmath.com/cgi-bin/flashcards/money and (for health) http://www.bgfl.org/bgfl/custom/resources_ftp/client_ftp/ks1/science/body_parts_p/english.htm and et cetera! … By the way, great blog here! But you probably know I’m just here for a shot at those movie tickets.
I.V. I want to share this great website www.mywritinglab.com: Students have to pay about $20/year to use this. This helps to enhance grammar and writing skills.
malenacopeland:

These are fantastic sites. I have always wanted a site specifically for the mechanics of pronunciation to show my students. Thank you for that wonderful suggestion, Donna. I also love the specific recommendations by Vincent for shopping, money and body parts. Henry, the check writing site is a great resource for teaching math in the ESL classroom. What a great link! It’s wonderful to have these great resources available in our wonderful world of technology. It is so nice that teachers don’t have to reinvent the wheel each time we teach a new lesson. It’s already out there, we just need to know where to look for it.

14 Mar 2008 at 7:21 am10 Marianne LowI have used the www.owl.english.purdue.com website and think it is great. They even have online testing you can have the students do right on the computer. We did a lot of work in spelling rules from here.

14 Mar 2008 at 1:57 pm11 Tim VoBeing a third grade teacher at an elementary school, I have noticed that even though websites such as Starfall.com and the likes are designed for young children, they can benefit the adults as well in reading fluency, comprehension and phonics. My ESL students always have a great time when I show them a passage on the computer and have them practice reading with it.

17 Mar 2008 at 8:07 pm12 DebbieHello
I’m Debbie a counselor.
I am so excited about this new program and the students it will serve.
I have located information on the Teachers College, Columbia University, N.Y.
The article is in the Hispanic Outlook March 10, 2008 edition. More information to follow.
Debbie

17 Mar 2008 at 9:20 pm13 Malena CopelandThank you so much. I’m looking forward to reading more about this.

18 Mar 2008 at 4:03 pm14 Erik GasnerI use englishclub.com-esl quizzes and susangaer.com. If students are exposed to language in all areas-reading, writing, speaking and listening and are able to learn they will progress.

Basic skills are those foundation skills in reading, writing,

mathematics, and English as a Second Language, as well as

learning skills and study skills which are necessary for students

to succeed in college-level work.

Effective Practices:

“ Effective practices” refer to organizational, administrative, instructional,

or support activities engaged in by highly successful programs, as validated by research and

literature sources relating to developmental education.

26 Effective Practices

A. Organizational and Administrative Practices

A.1. Developmental education is a clearly stated institutional priority.

A.2. A clearly articulated mission based on a shared, overarching philosophy drives the developmental education program. Clearly specified goals and objectives are established for developmental courses and programs.

A.3. The developmental education program is centralized or is highly coordinated.

A.4. Institutional policies facilitate student completion of necessary developmental coursework as early as possible in the educational sequence.

A.5. A comprehensive system of support services exists, and is characterized by a high degree of integration among academic and student support services.

A.6. Faculty who are both knowledgeable and enthusiastic about developmental education are recruited and hired to teach in the program.

A.7. Institutions manage faculty and student expectations regarding developmental education.

B. Program Components

B.1. Orientation, assessment, and placement are mandatory for all new students.

B.2. Regular program evaluations are conducted, results are disseminated widely, and data are used to improve practice.

B.3. Counseling support provided is substantial, accessible, and integrated with academic courses/programs.

B.4. Financial aid is disseminated to support developmental students. Mechanisms exist to ensure that developmental students are aware of such opportunities, and are provided with assistance to apply for and acquire financial aid.

C. Staff Development

C.1. Administrators support and encourage faculty development in basic skills, and the improvement of teaching and learning is connected to the institutional mission.

C.2. The faculty play a primary role in needs assessment, planning, and implementation of staff development programs and activities in support of basic skills programs.

C.3. Staff development programs are structured and appropriately supported to sustain them as ongoing efforts related to institutional goals for the improvement of teaching and learning.

C.4. Staff development opportunities are flexible, varied, and responsive to developmental needs of individual faculty, diverse student populations, and coordinated programs/services.

C.5. Faculty development is clearly connected to intrinsic and extrinsic faculty reward structures.

D. Instructional Practices

D.1. Sound principles of learning theory are applied in the design and delivery of courses in the developmental program.

D.2. Curricula and practices that have proven to be effective within specific disciplines are employed.

D.3. The developmental education program addresses holistic development of all aspects of the student. Attention is paid to the social and emotional development of the students as well as to their cognitive growth.

D.4. Culturally Responsive Teaching theory and practices are applied to all aspects of the developmental instructional programs and services.

D.5. A high degree of structure is provided in developmental education courses.

D.6. Developmental education faculty employ a variety of instructional methods to accommodate student diversity.

D.7. Programs align entry/exit skills among levels and link course content to college-level performance requirements.

D.8. Developmental education faculty routinely share instructional strategies.

D.9. Faculty and advisors closely monitor student performance.

D.10. Programs provide comprehensive academic support mechanisms, including the use of trained tutors.

Webmaster-Eric Glicker: ericglicker@hotmail.com

Communications and Development (Blog) Team Coordinator-Malena Copeland: mcopeland4@socal.rr.com

Curriculum Team Coordinator-Jolene Shields: Shields_Jolene@sac.edu

Studies Team Coordinator-Denise Dowling: DeniseBasicSkills@gmail.com

Basic Skills Initiative Faculty Development Coordinator-Rob Jenkins:Jenkins_Rob@sac.edu

Goal Setting & Student Success Coordinator-Carlos Perez: rubric2010@yahoo.com

Would you like to register as a contributor to our blog? This will give you the ability to edit your posts after they have already been submitted. Here are the directions for getting an account on edublogs:

Go to http://edublogs.org and click on sign up now. Type your first and last names in lowercase letters with no spaces in the field that says username. Enter your email address. Click I agree. Type the verification number and click where it says just a username please. Don’t forget to activate your account by verifying the email they send you.

Send me an email with your username and then I can designate you as an contributor on our site.

What resources do you use in your classroom other than your textbooks? What are some of the best materials that you have used to supplement your curriculum? Talk about specific activities you have done with your class.

Respond at the bottom of the page ↓

Respond at the bottom of the page ↓

Do you prefer to address reading, writing and vocabulary using a whole language literature based process or thematically by singling out a specific topic or skill? Do you think students learn best when the vocabulary and grammar structure are tied to literature? Is it best to teach vocabulary in thematic units such as occupation or household items? How were you taught? What are the pros and cons of each?

Responses at the bottom of the page ↓

Responses at the bottom of the page ↓

Responses 9-10 at the bottom of the page ↓

Michele Volz:

I like to use the questions we’ve been practicing in the chapter. (I’m using Side by Side right now).
I have a smart board in my class, so I write my personal response on the board and we read that. Then, using that as an example, the students write their own. We also sometimes write our responses, and questions, to another class-a level up or the same level. They respond, which makes it fun!

Ann Bernal:

I think that the basic skills classes should have one class for advanced GED students as they study the advanced reading/vocabulary in the GED books and have to learn to write an essay and advanced math….or will there be classes that will be appropriate for them? ( I teach GED and the students who are really ready for these advanced classes are mostly on their own now since they are lumped in with students who are not as advanced.

I can already tell you there are many, but 26 practices are considered the “best.” So, what are these practices? Are these practices part of our every day teaching already? Will learning more about these practices actually make a difference in our students’ lives? Let’s look at the research! You don’t need to read gobs and gobs of material (unless you want to). We’ll try to make the info concise, directional and interesting! My and Malena’s job along with our teams, is to help break this research down to how it applies, or can apply, to our students. The research isn’t a “one size fits all” kind of thing. We need you to help discover what does fit. Providing information for information-sake is not effective. Let’s read, think, talk and learn together about what works best for our students!

We’d love it if you could spend a little time looking at the information provided on the blog as often as you can. “Blog” is an odd little name, but we are working hard on it. It is simply the place to go via Internet to read, get information and comment if you like. There is so much more on the blog too! Malena will be updating it constantly. PLEASE make suggestions. We want to make this a real group effort among ALL our instructors and staff.

There are other ways you can participate as well. Malena and I have plenty of ideas and would like even more!

At your service,

Denise Dowling

Karen Dennis

Basic Skills Faculty Coordinator

Karen Dennis is the former ESL Coordinator at Santa Ana College School of Continuing Education (SAC SCE). She is now the Basic Skills Coordinator for non-credit, and she and the other Basic Skills Core Team members are busily designing a new Learning Center for CEC as Phase 1 of the Basic Skills plan. MEC will be the focus of Phase 2. Karen has been deeply involved in the field of ESL for over 25 years. She believes that reading is the key to success and happiness, and she is excited about this new Basic Skills Initiative that provides funds for the many new projects now happening. She is past president of CATESOL (California Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages), and currently serves as president of the CATESOL Education Foundation.

Luis Dorado

Administrator/Basct Team Member

Laura Franklin

Administrator/Basct Team Member

Rob Jenkins

Basic Skills Faculty Development Coordinator

Rob Jenkins has been teaching ESL at the college since 1992. He also serves as the Faculty Development Coordinator for continuing education. Rob has a Master’s Degree in TESOL from California State University, Fullerton. For the past two years, he has also served as the Orange County center manager for CALPRO (California Adult Literacy Professional Development Project), a leadership project of the Department of Education for adult education. Rob is the co-author of the six-level ESL textbook series, Stand Out. Before entering into the teaching profession as a full-time instructor, Rob worked in the textbook publishing field.

Nilo Lipiz

Administrator/Basct Team Member

Nilo Lipiz has served as Dean of Instruction and Student Services at Santa Ana College School of Continuing Education since 1999. His areas of responsibility have included Adult Basic Education, the High School Diploma Program, Counseling, the Career Center, Outreach, the Student Transition Program, Citizenship, the Disabled Student Program and Services, and classes for developmental adults. He is now the administrator in charge of our ESL, ESL Family Literacy, and Parent Education programs. He possesses a master’s degree in Educational Leadership/Administration from California State University, Los Angeles as well as a second master’s degree in Secondary Education/TESOL from the same university. He taught ESL, Spanish and Social Studies at the high school level for 14 years before becoming an academic administrator.

Sue Mendizza

Basic Skills ABE Representative

Sue Mendizza has been the ABE/GED Coordinator since 2007. Prior to this assignment, she taught in the HSS, ABE/GED and ESL Departments. Other Coordinating positions formerly include: Inmate Education and Older Adult Coordinator, Workplace Resource Learning Center Coordinator and Bilingual Eligibility Technician Coordinator. Sue is very excited about the Basic Skills Initiative projects and the opportunity to integrate disciplines and best practices with instruction in ABE and GED.

Melanie Mowrer

Basct Team Member

Melanie Mowrer has been the High School Subjects Diploma Program coordinator since 2007. Prior to working in the high school department, she served as the coordinator of English Literacy Civics and Citizenship. Her professional experience includes teaching language arts on the secondary level as well as all levels of ESL. She received state and federal recognition for the citizenship program she established at Centennial and is the creator of The New Citizens’ Celebration, a student recognition ceremony that honors new U.S. citizens. Melanie is really enjoying working on the basic skills project with her colleagues and is looking forward to the grand opening of the new reading/writing and math centers.

Joanne Shields

Curriculum Development Coordinator

My name is Jolene Shields. I have been working in SAC’s School of Continuing Education for four years, teaching in ABE/GED and High School Subjects. I have developed or aligned more than twenty curriculum projects including four technology based English courses. In 2005 I opened the High School Subjects program at Marketplace Education Center. The program started with two students and has grown to over two-hundred students and boasting fifteen graduates last May. I have a Bachelor of Arts in Spanish from the University of California, Irvine and this May will graduate with a Master in Educational and Instructional Technology from National University.

Sergio Sotelo

Administrative Advisor/Fiscal Officer

Dr. Sergio Sotelo has worked with community colleges for 27 years. He began his career as an instructional assistant with the original CEC in the mid-1970s. Dr. Sotelo is a Santa Ana College alumnus, graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Sociology from Cal State Fullerton. He has a Master’s degree in Counseling from San Diego State University and a doctorate in Higher Education from UCLA. Dr. Sotelo’s work experience ranges from ESL instructor, counselor, Title V Director and Academic Director. He is currently a Dean of Instruction and Student Services with Continuing Education. Dr. Sotelo has also served as a consultant/evaluator for Hispanic Serving Institutions’ Title V Grant Projects with several campuses

Julia Vercelli

Counseling Representative Coordinator

Malena Copeland

Blog and Communications Coordinator

Malena Copeland taught at Saddleback High School, Sepulveda Elementary School and has been teaching at Santa Ana College School of Continuing Education for more than ten years. She is currently a Citizenship teacher and has taught all levels of ESL. She has also been a technology mentor at Centennial Education Center. She has run her own internet-based company and been the coordinator at two educational agencies for foreign students. She worked as a lobbyist for education and is heavily involved in community organizations.

Denise Dowling

Studies Coordinator

My name is Denise Dowling. Starting out as an elementary and high school teacher in Santa Ana lead me to discover the deep desire many parents have to empower themselves to help their children succeed by learning English and improving their education. I’ve taught ESL at Santa Ana College School of Continuing Education since 1993. As part of the freeway flyer club of teachers, I’m also an ESL and Composition instructor at Long Beach City College. I have a BA in English and a teaching credential from Vanguard University, CA and a TESOL certificate from UCI. I later completed an MA in English at California State University, Long Beach.

Eric Glicker

Web Designer/ Blog/Wiki Specialist

Eric Glicker grew up nearby & has been at Santa Ana College School of Continuing Education for 15 years. He’s currently an ESL teacher & has taught all levels of ESL, Citizenship, Writing, Pronunciation & VESL. He’s been Adult Education Chair for CATESOL; taught High School & acted as a Technology Mentor at the Centennial Ed Center. He’s been published in CATESOL Journal & is completing his PhD. in Composition and TESOL. He enjoys teamwork & has co-authored four ESL Curricula. He’s taught English abroad; served in the military; & volunteers with two community organizations. One group participates in building homes for families.

Carlos Perez

Goals and Student Success Coordinator

Carlos Perez is a Southern California native, originally from Compton, California. He moved with his family to Santa Ana in 1986. He graduated from Santa Ana High School and Santa Ana College with an A.A. in liberal arts. Next door to Santa Ana, he graduated from Vanguard University of Southern California in Costa Mesa with a B.A. in sociology. He then went on to earn a Master of Education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education in Cambridge, MA. Carlos also earned an adult education teaching credential from California State University, Long Beach. He is currently a part-time student in a Ph.D. in Education program at Chapman University in Orange, CA. He has taught various courses, including ESL, for RSCCD and NOCCCD, Schools of Continuing Education.