Reading Skills for Healthcare Workers – CNA Training
Career Field: Health
Adult Career Pathway: Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) / General Healthcare
Type: Free online career pathway literacy curriculum
Prepares Students for: CNA Training
Target Student Population: TABE Reading 5.5 to 8.5
Access Curriculum: View Materials
Course Description: Not designed as a course, but as a reading resource for a healthcare career pathway. Designed for online independent study, learners can choose from 175 2-page stories organized by reading level. Stories are all related to health care situations and contexts. Focus is on high utility academic vocabulary and healthcare content vocabulary. Sound recordings are provided with each reading, at three (increasing) speeds, to assist in fluency development.
Duration: Self-paced. Stories are self-contained and need not all be completed. Students may take an hour or more per story if they do all three speeds of reading, write / type responses to pre-reading and post-reading questions, and work on vocabulary mastery.
Curriculum Description: Simple slideshow orientation to the curriculum is provided on the homepage. Clearly labeled buttons for each of 8 reading levels also appear on the homepage. Each story includes pre-reading questions with option to write responses; a list of key vocabulary with definitions; post-reading text-dependent questions; and two writing prompts (one text-dependent, one more open-ended).
May be used as a supplement to a pre-CNA class, CNA class, or other general healthcare class; for fluency practice with a volunteer/tutor; as reading/writing practice with teacher feedback on comprehension and writing responses; and/or as online independent fluency and vocabulary-building practice.
Curriculum Pluses: Readability of stories is measured by ATOS for College and Career Readiness Standards (CCRS) alignment. Questions and writing prompts are text-dependent, promoting CCR standards. Healthcare-related content motivates learners interested in healthcare careers to build strong literacy skills and provides extensive information about work in the healthcare field. Easy navigation. Format is the same for each reading, so independent learners can become familiar with and manage the learning tasks on their own.
Curriculum Drawbacks: The website is still under construction. Some stories have incorrect audio and are denoted with an (NC) in the menu. Lacks adequate instruction to independent student learner about how to use the site (e.g., Must stories be done in order? How do I know the reading level to choose?). These issues will be resolved by June 2017.
Author: Kristine Kelly, for Southwest ABE – Marshall Region
Published: 2016
Contact:
See Moua-Leske, Southwest ABE – Marshall Region
[email protected]
Kristine Kelly
Adult Literacy Specialist & Project Lead for Curriculum Development
[email protected]