All posts by Kate Brandt

About Kate Brandt

Kate Brandt is a Professional Developer in the adult literacy field in New York City and she loves her job. She loves her job so much that she commutes 2 hours per day, from her suburban home in Shrub Oak, New York, to get to work. She loves working in adult literacy because she gets to work with people who are smart, kind, and dedicated.

Improve your Science Literacy Game in Minutes: Educator Resources from the American Museum of Natural History

ABE, ESOL, HSE, Pre-HSE, Reading, Science, ,
American Museum of Natural History: Integrating Literacy Strategies into Science Instruction
· Appropriate for: Building teacher background knowledge, Knowledge of teaching · Available: Videos, Hands On Activities · Readiness: Resources can be used as they are · Engagement: 3 = very engaging

As ABE/HSE teachers, we face the continual dilemma of so much to teach, and so little time to teach it—that is why it makes sense for us to teach literacy strategies in the process of helping students acquire content knowledge.  One of the main ways we can do this is through reading.

The Integrating Literacy Strategies into Science Instruction series from the American Museum of Natural History is a very helpful tool for this purpose.  The series consists of videos, 5-10 minutes in length, on particular reading strategies—paraphrasing, summarizing, read alouds, vocabulary, and interactive reading guides—that are accompanied by the tools used along with the videos.

Continue reading Improve your Science Literacy Game in Minutes: Educator Resources from the American Museum of Natural History →

Reading Fluency, Anyone?

ABE, ESOL, Reading
ESL-Bits
· Appropriate for: Use in class, For student independent work · Available: Texts/Readings · Readiness: Resources can be used as they are · Engagement: 3 = very engaging

One of the main barriers to students’ progress as readers is fluency. If you have ever taught a class in which some students finish a reading selection at lightning speed while others labor along sounding out the text word by word, you have experienced the fluency gap. The comprehension of students who read slowly and laboriously often suffers. These students are putting so much effort into decoding the words, they cannot focus on the overall “message” of the text.

Continue reading Reading Fluency, Anyone? →

Science Videos You Can Understand and Use in Class

ABE, ESOL, HSE, Pre-HSE, Science
Stated Clearly
· Appropriate for: Building teacher background knowledge, Use in class, For student independent work · Available: Videos · Readiness: Resources can be used as they are · Engagement: 2 = engaging

Short videos can be a great way to introduce or review content learned in the classroom. One of the problems I always face as a teacher, though, is finding videos that are simple, clear, and adult-friendly. In my experience, websites like Khan Academy are too technical and move too quickly to be very helpful to students unless they already know the material quite well and just need a quick brush-up. On the other hand, some of the videos from other sites, such as the Amoeba Sisters, are just too juvenile to appeal to adults.

So I was thrilled to stumble upon the Stated Clearly series of videos on YouTube. These videos are generally short (3-5 minutes or so) and, true to their name, do state concepts very clearly. When it comes to science, my rule of thumb is to teach students what they really need to know, and leave out extraneous information when possible. Stated Clearly videos do just that. The content is served in bite-sized, digestible chunks, and the videos they have put out are nicely aligned with the Life Science concepts tested on HSE tests–cells, DNA, chromosomes, natural selection, evidence for evolution, photosynthesis and cellular respiration, etc.

Stated Clearly: check it out!

Actively Learn

ABE, ESOL, HSE, Pre-HSE, Reading, Science, Social Studies
Actively Learn
· Appropriate for: Use in class, For student independent work · Available: Lessons, Texts/Readings, Videos, Assessments · Readiness: Resources can be used as they are · Engagement: 3 = very engaging

Move over, Newsela. Move over, Commonlit.org… There is a new website in town, and it is devouring the competition. Shout out to Katti Wachs at the LaGuardia Community College Adult Learning Center for calling my attention to Actively Learn.

Continue reading Actively Learn →

Commonlit.org: Uncommonly Helpful

ABE, Classes, HSE, Pre-HSE, Reading, Science, Social Studies, Subjects,
Commonlit.org
· Appropriate for: Use in class, For student independent work · Available: Lessons, Texts/Readings, Assessments · Readiness: Resources can be used as they are · Engagement: 3 = very engaging

The last decade in the adult literacy field has been one challenge after another. The latest is the new TABE 11/12 (coming to New York State in July 2019). If you are an ELA teacher, you probably know by now that the TABE 11/12 has more than double the amount of reading as the 9/10, with more than twice the testing time, and new, much more complex question types.

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