Hundreds of Challenging Math Problems Worth Solving

The Mathematical Practices that are in the College and Career Readiness Standards for Adult Education define what it means to be a mathematically proficient student. As adult education instructors, our job is to help our students navigate over the swells in the tempest of their angst until they get to the point where they have enough confidence in their own abilities to weather the sea of mathematics.   
Continue reading Hundreds of Challenging Math Problems Worth Solving

CUNY Webinar: Teaching High Emphasis/High Utility Math Content

On February 8th, 2017 Eric Appleton and I hosted a webinar to explore the math content on the TASC test, focusing our attention on the most recent GHI forms of the exam. We were joined by content and TASC assessment experts Tim Jones (Associate for Instructional Services from the New York State Education Department) and Deedra Arvin (Test Development Program Manager from Data Recognition Corporation/CTB). Tim and Deedra also joined us last summer when we explored the TASC science item specifications. Continue reading CUNY Webinar: Teaching High Emphasis/High Utility Math Content

Do you have students who are parents? (Learn science while reading to kids)

I have a 4 year old daughter and she asks a lot of questions about the world. Sometimes she asks questions that I can only kind of answer. It is sometimes challenging to break these big concepts down in ways she can engage with. As a result, we take a lot of children’s science books out of the library. As we read, I often appreciate how well the authors use pictures and simple explanations to make foundational science concepts interesting and accessible. It also occurred to me that these books would be a great way to support our students who are parents (or who have young people in their lives) to develop their own science background knowledge while reading to young children.  Continue reading Do you have students who are parents? (Learn science while reading to kids)

Teaching about the Election

If you’re like me, you’re compulsively reading news about the candidates for president, thinking about the state of our democracy and anxiously waiting for Election Day. Recent news has probably come up in discussion among your students as well. This is a great opportunity to connect your curriculum with the issues at play in this election, but it’s important to have appropriate materials and advice for handling these discussions.

Luckily, the New England Literacy Resource Center (NELRC) has put out a great collection of resources on teaching the election in adult literacy, HSE and ESOL. Continue reading Teaching about the Election

Byte the Bullet! Teach Grammar!

The GED RLA  test requires that students understand basic sentence structures, punctuation marks that are used with these structures, and an understanding of certain types of grammatical errors.  Grammar Bytes has a wealth of resources to help both teachers and students develop a firm grasp of these often tricky points.  And, it can actually be fun!

Here are some of the GED emphases for grammar:

  • Sentence-combining;
  • Proper use of commas;
  • Parallel structure;
  • Active and passive voice.

Grammar Bytes has the following resources to help students “conquer” these grammar points: Continue reading Byte the Bullet! Teach Grammar!