What’s Going On?
- National Women’s Health Week
- GED to College Open Houses
- College Transition Call for Papers
- Family Literacy/Early Childhood Initiative
- Family Literacy Student Speakers Wanted
- Call for Writing
- CCNY MA in Language & Literacy
- NYC Website on government benefits
- Bookbinders softball game
National Women’s Health Week: May 11-17, 2008
This is National Women’s Health Week. Women constitute a majority of learners in adult literacy programs. This is a wonderful time to re-emphasize the importance of health literacy and the challenges that women face in securing their own health as well as that of their families. The official site is at http://www.4woman.gov/whw/.
GED to College Open Houses
CUNY is sponsoring two open houses for GED students considering college. The first is at Hostos College on Thursday, May 22, and the second is at La Guardia College on Thursday, May 29. For more information, click here
College Transition Network Call for Papers
The National College Transition Network at World Education invites you to submit a proposal to present at its conference on Effective Transitions in Adult Education to be held on November 17-18, 2008 in Providence, RI.
If you wish to submit a proposal, please visit http://collegetransition.org/callforpresenters08.html to complete and submit the online form. You will receive an email from NCTN confirming the receipt of your proposal within 48 hours of submission. Please click on the above link for more details about the proposal submission process. The submission deadline is May 30, 2008.
Opportunities for Early Literacy Programs and Adult Students
The National Center for Family Literacy is accepting applications from early childhood programs to participate in an innovative initiative based on the findings of the National Early Literacy Panel (NELP), which will be released later this year.
Three to five programs will be selected to receive parent workshops at their sites and materials created by NCFL, funded by the Dollar General Literacy Foundation. The deadline to complete the online application is noon Eastern Time, June 22.
This initiative will translate findings from the National Early Literacy Panel’s report into practical guidance for early literacy practitioners and parents, which will result in improved literacy practices and support for preschool children.
The NELP report will provide the most comprehensive synthesis to date of scientific research on the development of early literacy in young children.
Selected programs will be notified by July 15.
For more information, go to www.famlit.org/nelp.
National Conference on Family Literacy Seeks Student Speakers
The National Conference on Family Literacy invites adult students from family literacy programs to share their personal journeys with educators at its18th annual conference in Orlando, Florida, to be held March 1-3, 2009.
Selected student speakers will receive a scholarship to attend the conference in Orlando. In addition, information about speakers’ programs will be included in press materials about the conference.
Please encourage your students to submit their success story at www.famlit.org/SubmitYourStory.
Call for Writings from ABE Practitioners
What’s your experience of working with women in ABE/ESOL? We’d like to know….
Empowering Women through Literacy:Views from Experience
Edited by Mev Miller, Ed.D. and Kathleen King, Ed.D.
We invite practitioners working in adult basic/literacy education—classroom teachers, educators, tutors, administrators, and researchers—to make a proposal for what you’d like to contribute to a book of writings and artwork by adult basic education teachers/educators addressing women’s literacy issues.
We’re very interested in receiving personal stories and reflections (or community stories and solutions). Though we will include scholarly writing, our goal is to make this a collection of teachers’ voices in all sorts of expressions.
Topics explored: barriers and challenges to discussing women’s issues in literacy classes or addressing them in programs; experiences empowering women in literacy; contextual approaches for empowering women in literacy.
Deadline for Proposals: May 30, 2008. For more details and form, please visit: http://www.litwomen.org/educators/newbook.html
CCNY Masters in Language & Literacy
Applications for admission to the CCNY MA in Language & Literacy are being accepted through August 2008 for the Fall 2008 Semester. To apply for matriculated status, prospective students should submit applications by May 1st. Applications for non-degree status will be accepted through mid-August 2008.
MASTER OF ARTS IN LANGUAGE & LITERACY
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT, CITY COLLEGE OF NEW YORK, CUNY
Contact Barbara Gleason, Program Director, for information.
Office Phone: 212-650-6329 E-Mail: bgleason@ccny.cuny.edu
CCNY Home Page: http://www1.ccny.cuny.edu/
Application Forms available on-line and from the CCNY Admissions Office.
Emphasizing adult learners & education, the MA in Language & Literacy combines professional graduate education with the study of literature and writing in an English Department. Language & Literacy faculty are active teacher-scholars whose courses combine theoretical knowledge with professional expertise and whose publications are widely influential in their fields. MA alumni have won educational fellowships and professional awards and found employment as teachers, program administrators, editors, and writers. Two former students won the 2007 Literacy Assistance Center’s “Outstanding Literacy Practitioners” award; another recently won a scholarship to study at a university in China. A distinguishing feature of this program is its dual focus on teaching both students whose first language is English and students who are learning English as a second language or are bilingual.
July 2008 Graduate Course (4 weeks/3 credits)
Community Colleges as Sites for New Literacy
Professor Lynn Quitman Troyka
Monday/Wednesday 6-9:15pm
Course Description:
In only the past half century, community colleges have proliferated, offering US college students robust alternatives to four-year and university educations. Community colleges now attract more than half of all college freshmen for their first two years of higher education, which usually include classes in writing, ESL, and literature. This course delves into the distinctive and varied missions of community colleges, the sorts of faculty most often hired, the diversities of student bodies served, and the variety of degrees and certificates offered. This course also investigates major innovative pedagogies commonly found in these unique institutions.
NYC Information about Government Benefits
New York City has created a new website, ACCESS NYC, to “promote self-sufficiency among New York City’s residents by providing greater access to benefit programs offered by City, State, and Federal government agencies.” Although this site could use plain language editing, this is an important step in the effort to get benefit information to those who need it. The url is https://a858-ihss.nyc.gov/ihss1/en_US/IHSS_homePage.do
Bookbinders’ Guild of New York Annual Softball Game
The Bookbinders’ Guild held another very successful softball game on August 18, 2007, raising thousands of dollars for New York City literacy programs. For a copy of the program, click here.