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PhET – Biology
PhET provides a suite of free, online simulations in a variety of different science disciplines. There are also links to additional resources such as lesson plans and student worksheets. The Natural Selection simulation offers students an opportunity to explore concepts of evolution, natural selection, extinction, and the impact of genetic mutations on a population.
PhET – Physical Science
PhET provides a suite of free, online simulations in a variety of different science disciplines. There are also links to additional resources such as lesson plans and student worksheets. The activities highlighted here are great for HSE (high school equivalency) students interested in biological or physical sciences.
PBS NewsHour Classroom
PBS NewsHour Classroom provides simple, content-specific lessons in the form of current events. Lesson plans typically include a short video, followed by activity suggestions including readings, hands-on activities, and discussion.
Culturally Responsive Teaching Examples
In response to a question in the ATLAS Antiracist Praxis Study Circle, this document was made as a companion to Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain by Zaretta Hammond. Even if you haven’t read the book, hopefully you can still follow along the list to see some examples of Culturally Responsive Teaching in action.
The Biology Corner
The Biology Corner is a resource site for introductory to more advanced levels in biology. Student handouts, quizzes, and PowerPoint presentations reinforce science concepts. Simple lab investigations give students the opportunity to observe, collect and analyze data, and draw conclusions, all skills for scientific thinking.
How to Use Interesting Photos to Help Students Become Better Writers
Two teachers explain their routine for English language learners to use “What’s Going On in This Picture?” from The New York Times. This routine helps students learn how to create a claim and support that claim with evidence found in a photograph. They also engage in academic conversations that stimulate academic vocabulary development and critical thinking skills.
Tar Heel Reader
This collection of free, easy-to-read, and accessible books on a wide range of topics. Each book can be speech enabled and accessed using multiple interfaces. Teachers can write their own books using pictures from the huge collection at Flickr or pictures they upload.
ESL Conversation Questions
Find conversation questions grouped by topic or by grammar point. The site also contains ideas for icebreakers and additional online resources for teachers.
Print Discuss
This relatively new website contains printable lists of conversation questions arranged by topic or grammar point. Most conversation lists contain simple warm-up questions and a vocabulary word list.
Arlington Education and Employment Program
This site has extensive resources for teachers and learners, including a full life skills-based curriculum, interactive story links for beginners, and collections of links on a variety of topics including typing, pronunciation, and citizenship.
Beyond Citizenship: True Stories for the Civics Class
These true stories allow students to benefit from other students’ experiences by using the approach of using real life situations as material in the classroom. Each story is accompanied by pre-reading questions, new vocabulary, and post-reading activities to assist students in applying the situation in the story to their own life experiences.
Listen in English
On this website, find short clips of TV shows, movies, news, and academic stories accompanied by vocabulary building activities and listening comprehension questions from beginning to advanced levels. Learners and teachers can make free accounts in order to access expanded discussion activities.
Federal Reserve Education – Critical Thinking
This is an excellent resource for teaching financial literacy and personal finance skills. The collection can be searched using keywords or by applying filters for audience, type, topic, or standards. No account is needed to access all the resources.
Federal Reserve Education – Navigating Systems
This is an excellent resource for teaching financial literacy and personal finance skills. The collection can be searched using keywords or by applying filters for audience, type, topic, or standards. No account is needed to access all the resources.
Story by Story (2008)
Story by Story was developed for Beginning ABE students needing (and wanting) systematic and contextual phonics instruction. However, it has been successfully used with many Beginning-Intermediate ESL students as well. This website provides 12 printable Story by Story lessons that each include the story text, a word study, and sentence-writing exercises.
How to Be a Successful Online Student
ESL instructor Dan Bruski describes how he led his low-intermediate ESL students through a project-based learning activity around composing a list of rules and expectations for their online class. The culmination of the lesson was the creation of a video on "How to be a successful online student," which has an authentic use for orienting new students.
Total Physical Response (TPR): A Curriculum for Adults
Learn about the "how" and "why" of using TPR in the classroom and explore a lesson routine that can be used for a wide variety of TPR topics. A great resource for teachers who are new to incorporating TPR into their lessons.
8 Strategies for Building Relationships with ELLs in Any Learning Environment
Learn how educators can build authentic relationships with ELLs in virtual and hybrid settings, as well as how they can connect students' experiences to meaningful instruction. This article was written for a K-12 audience, but ABE teachers will find the recommendations to be helpful and easily implemented with adult learners.
New Resources
Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility in Adult Foundational Education
This 2023 brief from the CREATE Adult Skills Network sheds light on diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility conditions, opportunities, and challenges as they manifest in adult basic education across the country.
Community Interpreter Credential
Resources related to Community Interpreter have been collected by an ATLAS Credential Specialist experienced in this field. The PDF includes information on the credential including testing, ABE and non-ABE providers that offer training, curriculum links, potential participants, Minnesota wage and outlook information and additional certifications on this career pathway.
Certified Nursing Assistant Credential
Resources related to Certified Nursing Assistant have been collected by an ATLAS Credential Specialist experienced in this field. The PDF includes information on the credential including testing, ABE and non-ABE providers that offer training, curriculum links, potential participants, Minnesota wage and outlook information and additional certifications on this career pathway.
Presenter Information
Get information about stipends, reimbursements, and other instructions for presenters.
MN ABE YouTube Channel
The MN ABE YouTube Channel is a free online PD resource that you can use to explore teaching techniques and classroom ideas in action! Find out more in this MN ABE Connect newsletter article.
Upcoming ABE Events
April 23, 2024
12:00 pm–1:30 pm
Online
Administrator Webinar: Leading ABE Programs with a Trauma-Informed Lens
Online
Registration Deadline: TUE. 4/23/24 As leaders of ABE programs, coordinators and administrators can do much to create organizations and learning environments that are trauma-informed and healing-centered. In this webinar, join Lucille Rosario, a nationally-known social worker and educator, as she walks us through how leaders can directly impact… Learn More
Online
April 23, 2024
12:30 pm–1:15 pm
Online
Burlington English Lunch and Learn: Strategies to Teach to a Multi-Level Classroom
Online
Registration Deadline: TUE. 4/23/24 In this session, we will explore the challenges and advantages of teaching a multi-level classroom, share ideas on how to overcome these challenges, and brainstorm other strategies that we can use in the classroom. NOTE: Attendees must have current login credentials… Learn More
Online
April 23, 2024
1:00 pm–3:00 pm
Online
Developing and Practicing Reading Fluency
Online
Registration Deadline: TUE. 4/23/24 Come and review the important role of fluency in reading instruction. We will discuss the three key components of reading fluency and look at a variety of activities tutors and teachers can try. We will talk about the mechanics of doing fluency practice via… Learn More
Online