Teaching Strategies
Recent Newsletter Articles
Speaking and Listening Opportunities for Beginning ESL: Phone Instruction with Worksheets
Remote learning and instruction by telephone automatically lends itself to several rich opportunities for speaking and listening. Using this mode of instruction provides unique learning opportunities to the student that may not be readily available in the traditional classroom setting, and it can be achieved by utilizing the same worksheets already used in class. Read More
An Introduction to Blended Learning with CommonLit: Part 2
This is Part 2 of a three-part series introducing Blended Learning using the state-approved platform CommonLit. Part 1 provided practitioners a simple exemplar of what instruction would look like with Blended Learning. In Part 2 we delve more deeply into the "how" and "why" of using CommonLit for Blended Instruction. Read More
Re-Imagining Instruction Part 1: Independent Learning with Technology
As we look to lessons learned from the past 8+ months of Emergency Remote Teaching, now is a great opportunity to reflect as a field about what we’ve learned and how we can continue to innovate our practice to better serve adult learners both within and beyond our classrooms. In this 2-part series, Joey Lehrman proposes a few options for how we might leverage this moment to rethink and enhance the ways we engage students in meaningful learning. Read More
Teaching the Skills that Matter
Would you like to have access to over 25 free, ready-to-use lessons that were developed by national experts and have been field tested by ABE practitioners in several states? If that sounds good to you, let me introduce you to Teaching Skills That Matter. Read More
An Introduction to Blended Learning with CommonLit: Part 1
This is Part 1 of a three-part series introducing Blended Learning using the state-approved platform CommonLit. It provides practitioners a simple exemplar of what instruction would look like with Blended Learning. There will be two follow-up articles to delve into the "how" and "why" of using CommonLit for Blended Instruction. Read More
Developmental Word Study: Part 2
Do you teach transitional or upper level adult readers? Part 2 of this series describes their characteristics and offers more ideas and resources for remote reading instruction! Read More
Developmental Word Study: Part 1
Do you teach emergent or beginning adult readers? Learn more about their characteristics and gain ideas and resources for remote instruction! Read More
Beginning ESL Teachers Share Caffeine and Great Ideas!
Virtual coffee (and tea!) breaks have been a staple getting us all through 2020 and the learning curve of the last several months. Great things happen when we all get together to share our challenges and successes! Check out what we learned at our recent Beginning ESL Coffee Break, including helpful resources your colleagues are using with their students. Read More
In Their Own Words: ABE Students Talk About Success Strategies – Part 2
This fall I started working on a project to gather student voices and hear what they had to say about remote learning during COVID-19. In this two-part article, I will explain the process that I went through to document talking with the students, as well as the main takeaways from doing the project. Read More
Election Lessons Shouldn’t (and Don’t) End on November 3rd! – Part 2
While teachers often pivot away from political themes after an election, we have a great opportunity to continue the discussion and teach some of those often overlooked topics that correspond to events that start happening on November 4 - such as the Electoral College, transition of power, the first 100 days, and the presidency. Read More