Adult Literacy Blogs

Where can you find blogs for and by adult literacy practitioners? Here’s a short list, some of the annotations for which appeared in a Web Scan column I wrote for the Adult Basic Education and Literacy Journal .

Adult Literacy Practitioner Blogs

1) Adult Literacy Education (this blog)

http://davidjrosen.wordpress.com/

A compilation of postings that David J. Rosen has made, over the years, to electronic discussion lists and wikis. The topics all have to do with adult literacy education and technology, primarily in the U.S.

David J. Rosen has been working in adult literacy education as a teacher, program administrator, education professional developer, trainer, curriculum developer, researcher and consultant since 1982. You will find his resume at http://www.newsomeassociates.com

2) National Coalition for Literacy advocacy

http://blog.ncladvocacy.org

The National Coalition for Literacy has an online blog forum to engage NCL members in cultivating and supporting public policy advocates, assisting advocates with questions asked by the press and the public, and expanding the number of active advocates in support of adult and family literacy.

The NCL posts frequent public policy updates, as well as key information and resources pertinent to the current federal public policy landscape. Additionally, they plan to host  2-4 blog discussions with NCL members who are federal advocacy experts (http://www.ncladvocacy.org/abtnclmembers.html) during critical times for advocacy.

3) Adult Education Matters

http://adultedmatters.wordpress.com/

Martha Rankin, the author of this blog, is the assistant principal at the Newport-Mesa Adult School in California. Since the fall of 2007 she has been writing a  “professional-learning-community blog focused on the matters of adult education” such as (from the blog):

* Increasing student motivation, retention, and persistence

* Identifying and meeting student goals

* Guiding students to the appropriate programs, courses, and levels

* Sharing best practices

* Collaborating to increase student achievement

* Providing literacy and job-skills training

* Helping working-age adults get high school equivalency and  enroll in postsecondary programs

* Using innovative delivery systems like distance learning

* Sustaining professional learning communities

* Delivering professional development for adult education

and others.  The blog is tailored to the professional development needs of the Newport-Mesa adult school staff, but many of the blog articles will be of interest to a broader audience.  These include: designing site-based professional development; resources for family literacy, ESOL; GED prep; nutrition education; formative and summative assessments; integrating technology in the classroom; how to create your own (free) blog; Paolo Freire’s vision of education, and others.

This is a great example, for other program professional development leaders, of a blog designed for an adult school or program that provides leadership in professional development.

4) Adult Education and Technology

http://Marianthacher.blogspot.com

Marian Thacher is the Director of OTAN in California, the Sacramento County Office of Education project that is responsible for adult education technology professional development across California. According to one of the articles on Marian Thacher’s blog, the secret to getting good help in learning technology is cookies, not the kind you turn on our off in your browser, the kind you bake for the tech support person at your school or program. Marian looks at new technology applications with the eye of an adult ed teacher or administrator: would this be useful in the classroom or program, and how could it be best used? Marian’s blog introduced me to a.viary, for example, a free web site that allows you to edit images. I recommend this to all adult ed practitioners who what to sue technology better.

5) AlphaPlus Blog (Canada)

http://blog.alphaplus.ca/ The AlphaPlus Centre is an organization in Toronto, in Canada that focuses on adult literacy in the province of Ontario. They have been “providing information, research, and print and electronic resources to the Adult Literacy field in Ontario for over 15 years” and havedone many wonderful projects with distance learning. The AlphaPlus Blog might be of interested to U.S. Educators, as well as other North Americans. It includes short articles, for example, resources for International Womens’ Day, the Adult Literacy Education Wiki, the New Zealand Literacy Portal, Google Calendar and Google Notebook, Learners’ Perspectives on progress, and more.

6) Tech4ESL

http://tech4esl.blogspot.com/ and http://www.pacoimaesl.blogspot.com/ These two blogs are by California adult ESOL practitioner, Barry Bakin. Who teaches at the  Pacoima Skills Center, part of the Division of Adult and Career Education of the Los Angeles Unified School District. The first is for teachers, the second for students in an ESOL low intermediate class.

Student Blogs

Here are two examples of adult learner blog sites. Both have interesting articles by students. I am sure the students who wrote these articles would love to have other students read and comment on them. Maybe that activity would spark some interest in your students writing their own blog!

1)    The first is a blog for ESOL students, developed in Sydney, Australia http://ourenglishclass2.blogspot.com/ It is rich in text, images, slide shows and other media.

2)    The second is from Ontario, Canada. http://alphastory.blogspot.com/ I especially like the Hemingway-inspired 6-word memoirs.