ATLAS ABE

PELSB Cultural Competency Training - PART 2
2023-02-24 08:30 - 12:00 (America/Chicago) | Online
Registration Deadline: THU. 2/9/23
You MUST attend and register for BOTH February 10 and February 24
Register for February 10 >>
If you require ASL Interpretation, please contact Gail Rutan at grutan01@hamline.edu

Eligibility: Minnesota adult education practitioners only

This Cultural Competency training is only open to Minnesota adult educators. Our apologies if you are located outside of Minnesota! Please note that you are welcome to access our Cultural Competency resource library.

Training Description:
Facilitated by Dr. Rose Wan-Mui Chu and Andrea Echelberger, this online PELSB-approved competency training is aligned to state statute and provides Minnesota adult educators the opportunity to engage in dialogue, activities, and reflective practices to increase their cultural awareness and competency. The training also takes a deeper look at the role race equity plays in creating culturally responsive classroom teaching and learning spaces.
Per MN Statutes 122A.181 and 122A.182, and MN Administrative Rule 8710.7100, every teacher in Minnesota who is seeking relicensure needs to complete the cultural competency training requirement. This PELSB-approved cultural competency training is aligned to MN Administrative Rule 8710.0310 Subpart 1D.
Note: This is a two-part training taking place via Zoom from 8:30 am – 12:00 pm on BOTH February 10 and February 24. You must attend both days in full to meet the PELSB requirement. The training will not be recorded.

Dr. Rose Wan-Mui Chu has dedicated her professional life to the tireless pursuit of education equity and excellence for children and youth. Rose brings almost 30 years of rich and diverse cross-sector experiences.
Founder and President of Plum Blossom Strategy LLC, Dr. Chu is an experienced educator and consultant, a fierce advocate for elevating, demystifying and strengthening the teaching profession. Rose has a diverse professional portfolio: such as designing and facilitating community engagement activities or Minnesota state-approved Cultural Competency Training for educators, supporting community based organizations in youth development efforts, and being a thought partner for organizational leaders on systems thinking and systems change.
A first generation immigrant from Hong Kong and a first generation college graduate, Rose’s original Industrial Engineering background and work experience, coupled with her most honored role as a classroom teacher have continued to ground her life’s work in educational reform and transformation. She is professor emerita at Metropolitan State University​, where she has previously been a faculty and department chair at the Urban Teacher Program. Rose also held executive leadership positions as Assistant Commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Education, and as interim Dean of Urban Education at Metropolitan State University.
Rose was elected to the school board of the Roseville Area Schools and began her first term in January 2020..

In 2004, Andrea Echelberger began a two-year AmeriCorps position in St. Paul teaching adult refugees and immigrants English, and she’s never looked back. Throughout her teaching career, she has worked with a wide variety of cultural backgrounds and language levels, and while she’s loved every class that she’s taught, literacy level learners are her favorite group to teach. After five years of teaching with Literacy Minnesota, she left in 2013 to work with the U.S. English Language Fellowship program in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Andrea returned in the fall of 2015 to take up a position teaching the Basic English Class at the Open Door Learning Center – Lake Street. In 2016, Andrea became the ESL Training Coordinator at Literacy Minnesota, where she conducts interactive and engaging professional development for Minnesota teachers and tutors. She received her MAESL from Hamline University and holds an ABE Minnesota Teaching License from the University of Minnesota.
Andrea is continuously humbled and inspired by the lessons and stories that she hears from her learners every day, and is passionate about helping the people that she works with develop their voices in English so that they and their families are able to thrive in Minnesota.

EBRI Webinar Series - 2 of 6
2023-02-24 13:00 - 14:30 | Online
Registration Deadline: FRI. 2/24/23
If you require ASL interpretation, please contact Gail Rutan
Join Marn Frank this winter and spring for the EBRI Webinar Series! There are 6 webinars, each on Friday from 1:00-2:30pm CST. Participants may choose to attend some or all of the webinars.
This 6-part series of webinars will provide the background of Evidence-Based Reading Instruction or EBRI, tools and processes for assessing readers’ strengths and weaknesses, crucial skills for all four reading components, and practitioner-tried routines for teaching them across ABE and ESL levels. The meetings focus on the following topics or questions:

February 24 – Webinar 2: What is the value of diagnostic reading assessment (DRA)? What are the purposes and processes for assessing word reading skills, phonics knowledge, fluency and comprehension levels? How are the results used to plan effective reading instruction?

REGISTER for Webinar 2 >>

March 3 – Webinar 3: What are evidence-based incentives, routines, and resources for teaching alphabetics (phonics and multisyllabic word decoding) across ABE and ESL levels?

REGISTER for Webinar 3 >>

March 17 – Webinar 4: What are evidence-based incentives, routines, and resources for teaching vocabulary (Tier 1-3 word knowledge) across ABE and ESL levels?

REGISTER for Webinar 4 >>

April 14 – Webinar 5: What are evidence-based incentives, routines, and resources for teaching fluency (text accuracy, rate, and prosody) across ABE and ESL levels?

REGISTER for Webinar 5 >>

May 5 – Webinar 6: What are evidence-based incentives, routines, and resources for teaching comprehension (text engagement strategies) across ABE and ESL levels?

REGISTER for Webinar 6 >>

Reading Activities for Beginning Literacy and Beginning English Language Learners
2023-02-24 13:00 - 15:00 | Online
Registration Deadline: FRI. 2/24/23
Teaching and tutoring very beginning level ESL readers can be intimidating for volunteers and professional teachers alike. Attend this webinar to get practical activities and ideas for one-on-one, remote and in-person instruction with tech and no-tech options. Leave feeling ready to provide your learners with meaningful and effective reading activities.

ABE Best Practice Briefs Webinar
2023-02-27 15:00 - 16:00 | Online
Registration Deadline: MON. 2/27/23
Learn about best practices in the adult ed field in Minnesota and how you can promote ABE programming! MDE worked with the Minnesota Association of Workforce Boards to develop three briefs which detail successful practices utilizing:

Adult Career Pathways
Integrated Education and Training
Workplace Literacy

These briefs can be helpful tools for you promote your programming, develop partnerships, and advocate for ABE to legislators and stakeholders.

Burlington English Lunch and Learn: Modeling an In-Class Lesson
2023-02-28 12:30 - 13:15 | Online
Registration Deadline: TUE. 2/28/23
In this session, we will take a look at a Burlington English lesson plan paired with an In-Class Lesson. Xue will model how to present different strategies for how to complete the activities and how you might complete them in your classroom. Feel free to come with questions and problems you’ve been experiencing and we can brainstorm how you might overcome them!
NOTE: Attendees must have current login credentials for their BE account.

ACES Webinars "TIFfy Tuesdays" - Using Instructional Routines to Support ACES/TIF
2023-02-28 13:30 - 15:00 | Online
Registration Deadline: TUE. 2/28/23
In this webinar, we will look at using routines to support the development of ACES/TIF skills. Participants will have a chance to learn about some new ACES routines that were developed as part of the TIF 2.0 initiative and hear from a teacher who is successfully implementing them in her classroom. We will also be joined by Andrea Echelberger, who will talk about how routines can be an integral part of trauma-informed teaching. Join us for a look at how implementing instructional routines can benefit both teachers and learners and leave with ideas that you can put to use during your next class session.

EBRI Webinar Series - 3 of 6
2023-03-03 13:00 - 14:30 | Online
Registration Deadline: FRI. 3/3/23
If you require ASL interpretation, please contact Gail Rutan
Join Marn Frank this winter and spring for the EBRI Webinar Series! There are 6 webinars, each on Friday from 1:00-2:30pm CST. Participants may choose to attend some or all of the webinars.
This 6-part series of webinars will provide the background of Evidence-Based Reading Instruction or EBRI, tools and processes for assessing readers’ strengths and weaknesses, crucial skills for all four reading components, and practitioner-tried routines for teaching them across ABE and ESL levels. The meetings focus on the following topics or questions:

March 3 – Webinar 3: What are evidence-based incentives, routines, and resources for teaching alphabetics (phonics and multisyllabic word decoding) across ABE and ESL levels?

REGISTER for Webinar 3 >>

March 17 – Webinar 4: What are evidence-based incentives, routines, and resources for teaching vocabulary (Tier 1-3 word knowledge) across ABE and ESL levels?

REGISTER for Webinar 4 >>

April 14 – Webinar 5: What are evidence-based incentives, routines, and resources for teaching fluency (text accuracy, rate, and prosody) across ABE and ESL levels?

REGISTER for Webinar 5 >>

May 5 – Webinar 6: What are evidence-based incentives, routines, and resources for teaching comprehension (text engagement strategies) across ABE and ESL levels?

REGISTER for Webinar 6 >>

Burlington English Lunch and Learn: Xue's Office Hour
2023-03-07 12:30 - 13:15 | Online
Registration Deadline: TUE. 3/7/23
You will be able to join Xue’s open office hour to come with any questions or issues that you have. If you need help with a technical issue, Xue will be able to walk you through and train you in how to resolve the issue. If you need teaching tips or strategies, we can brainstorm in this session. If you need training in a specific area of Burlington English, Xue will be able to help you navigate through the features.

Understanding and Interrupting Microaggressions
2023-03-13 10:00 - 12:00 | Online
Registration Deadline: MON. 3/13/23
This class will expose how institutional racism and stereotypes can lead to microaggressions. The session will provide learners with a framework for understanding, identifying and disrupting microaggressions. Participants will be introduced to the various types of microaggressions and how to use interventions to promote safer and more equitable environments.
Learning objectives:

Articulate the connection between institutional racism and microaggressions.
Examine the connection between white privilege and white fragility and microaggressions.
Understand the different types of microaggressions.
Develop interventions for disrupting microaggressions.

Burlington English Lunch and Learn: Using the Prepare for CASAS/Test Prep Tool to Increase MSGs
2023-03-14 12:30 - 13:15 | Online
Registration Deadline: TUE. 3/14/23
In this session, we will explore the functions of the Prepare for CASAS/Test Prep tool and tie it back to how you can use this into your curriculum to help increase your student’s CASAS scores to make measurable skill gains. We will go over the In-Class lessons targeted for competency topics, explore student testing tools, and navigate how you can interpret the test data.
NOTE: Attendees must have current login credentials for their BE account.

Be Rational! Get Real! An Exploration of Number Categories
2023-03-14 14:30 - 16:00 | Online
Registration Deadline: TUE. 3/14/2023
brokrek, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
In this webinar, we will be investigating what makes a number fit into a particular category (Counting, Whole, Integer, Rational, Irrational, Real – We will not be covering Imaginary or Complex). The focus will be on the common characteristics of numbers in different categories, including the reason for rules that we have for operations with integers and how we know that irrational numbers are irrational. We will see a few ways that ℼ was estimated and will talk about how accurate we really need to be with ℼ. Let’s play on ℼ day!
CCRS Connection: Students are asked to work with formulas involving ℼ in levels D and E. Deepening our own understanding of numbers – and specifically ℼ – will only enhance our teaching as we help students prepare for HSE diplomas. PLUS students all the way from level A to level E need an understanding of number categories!
If you require ASL Interpretation, please contact Gail Rutan at grutan01@hamline.edu.

EBRI Webinar Series - 4 of 6
2023-03-17 13:00 - 14:30 | Online
Registration Deadline: FRI. 3/17/23
If you require ASL interpretation, please contact Gail Rutan
Join Marn Frank this winter and spring for the EBRI Webinar Series! There are 6 webinars, each on Friday from 1:00-2:30pm CST. Participants may choose to attend some or all of the webinars.
This 6-part series of webinars will provide the background of Evidence-Based Reading Instruction or EBRI, tools and processes for assessing readers’ strengths and weaknesses, crucial skills for all four reading components, and practitioner-tried routines for teaching them across ABE and ESL levels. The meetings focus on the following topics or questions:

March 17 – Webinar 4: What are evidence-based incentives, routines, and resources for teaching vocabulary (Tier 1-3 word knowledge) across ABE and ESL levels?

REGISTER for Webinar 4 >>

April 14 – Webinar 5: What are evidence-based incentives, routines, and resources for teaching fluency (text accuracy, rate, and prosody) across ABE and ESL levels?

REGISTER for Webinar 5 >>

May 5 – Webinar 6: What are evidence-based incentives, routines, and resources for teaching comprehension (text engagement strategies) across ABE and ESL levels?

REGISTER for Webinar 6 >>

Text Complexity: What? Why? How? (rescheduled from February 9)
2023-03-20 15:00 - 16:30 | Online
Registration Deadline: MON. 3/20/23
Let’s spend a bit of time together talking about text complexity! What is it, and why is it important for our students? We’ll talk about pre-teaching with complex texts and about effective scaffolds to make these texts accessible to students. We’ll also talk about text sets, including what they are and how to build them to help students engage with complex texts, collect evidence and build knowledge around an essential question.

ACES Webinars "TIFty Tuesdays": Creating More Diverse and Equitable ABE Classrooms
2023-03-21 13:30 - 15:00 | Online
Registration Deadline: TUE. 3/21/23
Coming in winter and spring 2023, please join us for three webinars that will help MN ABE practitioners become more familiar with the newly updated TIF. We will look at the new lesson plans and ACES Routines and explore some great resources. These webinars will be an opportunity for ABE teachers and administrators to learn about the changes to ACES/TIF and connect with others who have been involved in this work. ACES/TIF is one of the three sets of MN ABE Content Standards, and you won’t want to miss out on getting some fresh ideas for bringing these critical Transitions skills into your classroom.
On March 21, ACES Coordinator Stephanie Sommers will be joined by two special guests: Sudie Whalen, the LINCS (Literacy Information and Communication System) director of online learning, and Cydnee Sanders, MA TESOL, whose previous work in this area includes developing the Antiracist Praxis Study Circle for ATLAS. Cydnee is currently a Fulbright Scholar in South Africa, where she is continuing her education in antiracist teaching.
In addition to learning from our special guests, webinar participants will have the opportunity to look at newly updated TIF 2.0 lessons in two categories.

Trauma-Informed Teaching Practices for Adult Learners
2023-03-24 13:00 - 15:00 | Online
Registration Deadline: FRI. 3/24/23
Learning new languages and skills as an adult is a challenge for most people, and that challenge grows when trauma and stress are present. Trauma and chronic stress can come in many forms, and impact people’s ability to learn new skills and process information in a variety of different ways. In this webinar, learn how stress and trauma can manifest in the adult education classroom, and learn about healing-centered teaching practices that can help to support positive learning behaviors and increase retention and learner comfort.

Comprehension Strategies for Intermediate-Level Readers
2023-03-28 18:30 - 20:30 | Online
Registration Deadline: TUE. 3/28/23
Research shows that explicitly teaching a set of comprehension strategies is a great way to help intermediate-level readers maximize their understanding of texts. Come learn a handful of great comprehension tools that will help students develop critical thinking skills and comprehension skills.

Phonics in Adult ESL: Recommendations, Activities and Resources
2023-03-29 18:30 - 20:30 | Online
Registration Deadline: WED. 3/29/23
Phonics–the knowledge of the sounds letters make when they are combined to make words–is essential to beginning literacy and beginning level English language instruction. But, many teachers and tutors lack the knowledge, confidence and resources to teach the topic. Attend this session to learn why phonics instruction is important and leave with several ideas for phonics activities and resources to bring back to your teaching and tutoring sessions.
This session will be most useful to tutors and teachers working with beginning literacy, low beginning and high beginning English language learners.

ABE-Dev Ed Affinity Group Meeting
2023-03-30 14:00 - 15:15, 2023-03-31 10:00 - 11:15 | Online
Mark your calendar NOW, for this school year’s online ABE-Dev Ed Affinity Group meetings. Attendees are provided two meeting options to discuss the same content, allowing for greater practitioner engagement. The upcoming meeting options are:

Thursday, March 30 (2-3:15pm) or Friday, March 31 (10-11:15am)

Affinity Group meetings are facilitated by Lesley Blicker and Russ Fraenkel.
Registration
For more information, or to register for Affinity Group meeting participation, contact Russ Fraenkel at rwfraenkel@gmail.com

What is the ABE-Dev Ed Affinity Group?
Developing and advancing effective ABE-Dev Ed classroom partnerships is the business of ABE and Minnesota State educators working together through periodic Affinity Group (AG) meetings throughout the 2022-23 academic year. The Affinity Group – attended by ABE and Dev Ed instructors and administrators, as well as system-level administrators – continues to meet in its third academic year to ensure Minn State developmental education students are provided access to educator expertise and resources to help them complete their Dev Ed coursework in the most expeditious fashion possible.
The 75-minute AG virtual meetings provide the opportunity for educators to learn about and discuss partnership best practices. Previous AG engagement has led to:

the development of a Dev Ed/ABE Toolkit (https://atlasabe.org/dev-ed-abe-toolkit/)
many statewide and national presentations
continuation grants from Minn State and ABE
a 2023 work plan that features learning circles
a statewide symposium to occur the morning of February 16, 2023 (stay tuned)!

Core Training Module 1: Overview of Minnesota Adult Education and Program Accountability
2023-04-03 18:30 - 20:30 | Online
Registration Deadline: MON. 4/3/23
Participants learn about Adult Basic Education programming in Minnesota, demographics of learners, instructional content standards as well as initial and on-going assessment. This session wraps up with learner motivations, barriers and persistence.

Burlington English Lunch and Learn: Exploring the Readers
2023-04-04 12:30 - 13:15 | Online
Registration Deadline: TUE. 4/4/23
In this session, we will explore the Burlington English Readers and brainstorm different ways to use them in class and outside of class. We will go through ways of introducing the Readers into your class and activities you can do with your students.
NOTE: Attendees must have current login credentials for their BE account.

Teaching Online: Support and Idea Swap
2023-04-06 14:30 - 15:30 | Online
Registration Deadline: THU. 4/6/23
This will be the first of three Teaching Online: Support and Idea Swap sessions. Participants can attend any or all of these sessions; there’s no requirement to attend all three. Participants should be prepared to articulate their current and urgent instructional issues and questions, as well as be willing to provide their expertise and advice, and share resources with others. Consider these sessions as a informal support group for teachers from which you’ll leave with advice, resources, and a productive perspective. Possible topics for support and discussion during these sessions include:

Accessibility options for classroom students and online lessons
Integrating browser extensions in your teaching
Teaching digital literacy skills to participate in blended and online classes
Locating classroom ready lessons online
The state of broadband updates and digital equity planning
Setting up and/or best practices for using Chromebooks
Best practices and tips & tricks using instructional tech tools
Making and using instructional screencasts

Jason Brazier (DL Team/Literacy Minnesota) will be facilitating and hosting these sessions.
Two subsequent sessions are scheduled for Thursday, May 4, and Thursday, May 18. You can get the links to attend on the ATLAS Events page: https://atlasabe.org/events/

Writing Activities for Beginning Literacy and Beginning English Language Learners
2023-04-07 10:00 - 12:00 | Online
Registration Deadline: FRI. 4/7/23
While most in our society take the ability to write for granted, it can be laborious for ESL learners with little experience with this skill. Attend this webinar to learn about and try out engaging, interactive activities for English Language Learners in Beginning Literacy and Beginning level classes. Ideas for in-person, remote, one-on-one, all-class, as well as low-tech and no-tech options will be covered.

Burlington English Lunch and Learn: Xue's Office Hour
2023-04-11 12:30 - 13:15 | Online
Registration Deadline: TUE. 4/11/23
You will be able to join Xue’s open office hour to come with any questions or issues that you have. If you need help with a technical issue, Xue will be able to walk you through and train you in how to resolve the issue. If you need teaching tips or strategies, we can brainstorm in this session. If you need training in a specific area of Burlington English, Xue will be able to help you navigate through the features.

Evaluating CCRS Alignment of Lessons, Units & Resources
2023-04-11 14:30 - 16:00 | Online
Registration Deadline: TUE. 4/11/23
The CCRS Evaluation and Rating Tool and CCRS High Value Action Tool were designed to help instructors evaluate their own lessons, units and resources for alignment to the standards. Based on feedback from the field, we’ve:
(1) combined these TWO tools into ONE tool (yay!) and
(2) revamped Criterion 4 by adding content that will help teachers assess how learner-centered and inclusive their instruction and instructional materials are.
Join us as we dig into this revised tool and explore how it connects to our own instructional practices.

Teaching Reading Vocabulary Remotely or In Person
2023-04-11 18:30 - 20:30 | Online
Registration Deadline: TUE. 4/11/23
Vocabulary is everyone’s favorite reading component! And helping students master reading vocabulary is a key to helping them master comprehension.
But how many words should you teach? And which words are the most important? What strategies are best for helping students learn new words? How do you get students to make new words part of their receptive and productive vocabularies? This webinar will focus on the theory and best practice behind choosing, teaching and reviewing reading vocabulary. You’ll get a chance to learn about (and practice) a variety of activities that can be done remotely or in person. Links to great online resources will also be provided.
This workshop will be most useful for instructors working with low-intermediate to advanced readers.

Working with Literacy and Beginning Level ESL Learners
2023-04-12 18:30 - 20:30 | Literacy Minnesota – main office, 700 Raymond Ave., Ste. 180, Saint Paul, MN, 55114, United States
Registration Deadline: WED. 4/12/23
Learners with limited English and literacy skills have unique needs for in-person and remote instruction. Participants will learn best practices and tips for success at this level. They’ll also get several ideas for routines, activities and resources to use in their tutoring sessions.

Burlington English Lunch and Learn: The Admin Zone & Teacher's Zone
2023-04-18 12:30 - 13:15 | Online
Registration Deadline: TUE. 4/18/23
This session is open to both admin staff and teacher staff. In this session, we will go over the functions of the Admin Zone where you can manage classes and accounts in your program. We will then transition over to the teacher’s functions in the Teacher’s Zone.
NOTE: Attendees must have current login credentials for their BE account.

ACES Webinars "TIFty Tuesdays": Social-Emotional Learning (SEL)
2023-04-18 13:30 - 15:00 | Online
Registration Deadline: TUE. 4/18/23
Coming in winter and spring 2023, please join us for three webinars that will help MN ABE practitioners become more familiar with the newly updated TIF. We will look at the new lesson plans and ACES Routines and explore some great resources. These webinars will be an opportunity for ABE teachers and administrators to learn about the changes to ACES/TIF and connect with others who have been involved in this work. ACES/TIF is one of the three sets of MN ABE Content Standards, and you won’t want to miss out on getting some fresh ideas for bringing these critical Transitions skills into your classroom.
On April 18, we’ll be focusing on Social-Emotional Learning. Just as we understand that our adult learners need transitions skills in order to be successful in all areas of their lives, we also understand that being an adult educator means nurturing the whole person: body, mind, and spirit. We recognize that adults need to understand and take care of their emotional health in order to be successful and reach their goals, and this is what SEL is all about.
Dr. Jamie Kreil will be our special guest, and we will share ideas for ways to support SEL while also incorporating ACES/TIF in your instruction.

Tutoring with Northstar Digital Literacy
2023-04-18 18:30 - 20:30 | Online
Registration Deadline: TUE. 4/18/23
You don’t need to be a computer expert in order to teach computer skills! Come learn how help students build their digital literacy skills using Northstar Digital Literacy.
In the webinar, participants will learn:

The features of Northstar Digital Literacy.
How to help learners set digital literacy learning goals.
How to help learners navigate Northstar Digital Literacy assessments.
How to guide learners through the Northstar Digital Literacy Online Learning Modules.

The training will be appropriate for tutors working one-to-one with learners or assisting in a computer lab.
If you are not familiar with Northstar Digital Literacy Assessments, please go to digitalliteracyassessment.org and take the Computer Basics assessment prior to the training.
