Events

REGISTRATION DEADLINE: THU. 1/29/26 (NOTE: You must register for EACH day you plan to attend)

If you require ASL Interpretation, contact Gail Rutan at [email protected]

TENTATIVE AGENDA:

GENERAL SESSIONS: 

General Session A: Designing for Difference: Scaffolds that Support Adult Learners’ Voice and Choice, presented by Jayme Adelson-Goldstein 

Session Description: Adult learners bring a spectrum of goals, strengths, and needs into every learning space. With this variability in mind, we can intentionally design instruction that amplifies learner agency and provides multiple pathways to engage with lesson content. By embedding scaffolds and differentiation strategies into instructional routines, it’s possible to balance structure with learner autonomy and thrive in the process. In this webshop, we’ll reflect on the role scaffolds and differentiation play in deepening learners’ understanding of core content and collaborate to use instructional routines (including choice boards) that increase learners’ connection to that content and to each other.

Jayme Adelson-Goldstein has over 40 years of experience as an instructional designer, teacher educator, and instructional coach. She focuses on refining instructional practices in ways that respect and differentiate for the needs of multilingual learners and the teachers, tutors, and instructional leaders who serve them. In her work as Lighthearted Learning, she provides in-person and virtual professional learning opportunities that emphasize instructional approaches which contextualize, scaffold, and customize adult learning while fostering learner agency. She has served as a subject matter expert on federal projects including Digital Resilience in the American Workforce (DRAW), Teaching the Skills That Matter (TSTM), and LINCS ESL Pro, and is the recipient of the 2025 Ideal Consortium Impact Award for Innovating Digital Education for Adult Learners. Her publications include The Oxford Picture Dictionary, Step Forward, and numerous open educational resources for adult instructors.

General Session B: The Power of Talk: Building Literacy and Career Readiness Through Oral Language

In this workshop, we explore how harnessing and strengthening oral language can act as a springboard for literacy development and career readiness. Using the Teaching & Learning Cycle, which scaffolds academic and professional writing through deep and critical thinking tasks, academic discussions, interactive reading, and language development, instructors can connect seamlessly to the CCR Shifts in Complexity/Evidence/Knowledge. Learn how structured academic conversations serve to build and deepen content knowledge; see how using mentor texts can move adult learners to constructing complex texts of their own while supporting ideas with evidence. This workshop will benefit teachers both of English learners as well as learners whose primary language is English.

Betsy Parrish is Professor in the TESOL Program at Hamline University. She has worked for over 35 years as an English language teacher, teacher educator, and consultant in the US, Bangladesh, Costa Rica, France, India, Russia, and Vietnam. She is a frequent presenter at state, national, and international conferences on adult education issues, including academic and career readiness, innovative PD models, and learner-centered teaching practices. As co-founder of ATLAS, Betsy participated in the development of the Minnesota Transitions Integration Framework (TIF). She has been a subject matter expert on several OCTAE-funded projects, including ESL Pro, Teaching the Skills that Matter in Adult Education (TSTM) Civics Toolkit, the LINCS course on Principles and Practices for Meeting Adult EL needs, and trainings for the English Language Proficiency Standards for Adult Education. Betsy is the author of Teaching Adult ESL:English Language Learners: A Practical Introduction (Cambridge 2019).