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[ProfessionalDevelopment 2219] Re: What do we mean by studentinvolvement and critical thinking?VALUE, Inc. info at valueusa.orgTue Jul 8 22:25:09 EDT 2008
To Kim Bosworth/Natasha Worthington My name is Marty Finsterbusch. I would like to share with you some secrets to successful student involvement that include critical thinking skills, organizing skills and diversity training. To start, think about a project. For projects to succeed, they must have these parts: there must be a need/want for the project and the group or person sponsoring the project must get some kind of return. Your project will not succeed or last long without these elements. For example, students have identified childcare as a need for them to participate in a literacy program; therefore, childcare is the need. The literacy council will benefit by providing child care in that more people can participate in adult literacy classes because they know that their children will be cared for during their class; therefore, the program also benefits. It really does not matter what the project is, as long as it meets the needs of the two groups. The critical thinking is not taught while doing the project, it is in the pre-planning. What does the group want to accomplish? Who do you need to talk to, to make this project work? How long will this project take? Who would be responsible for each part of the project? This is a good opportunity to teach time lines, program structure, assigning of various tasks and goal setting. It doesn't really matter what the various reading levels are, most of this can be done through group discussion and visual aids. I would like to give an example of a project, but remember it can be any issue: healthcare literacy, day care issues, community violence, or lack of books in the programs or in the schools. Both the students and the practitioners of a literacy program have agreed that a newsletter is needed. After your preplanning and discussion sessions, you have identified the various tasks to be completed. If the students are the reporters and the topics of the newsletter are picked during your planning session, the students will learn about your program, the program will learn about the students, and writing skills can be improved; we all know the positive benefits to students when they see their writing in print. Editing, layout, proofreading, computer skills are all tools used to make the newsletter a success. What about printing? Is the letter going to be printed in house? Now the students have the opportunity to learn about printing and what is involved in putting together a newsletter. The adult learners have learned critical thinking skills, organizing skills and have the opportunity to interact with other people they may have never interacted with before; hence, diversity issues are being addressed. All of these skills are transferable skills to be taken into the workforce and all other areas of the adult learners' life. The program gets a newsletter, PR, and it frees up the literacy council staff from having to do the entire newsletter. I would like to hear from others who have done projects that have made a difference to the students and what difference have these projects made to your program. Marty Marty Finsterbusch Executive Director VALUE, Inc. www.valueusa.org strengthening adult literacy efforts in the USA through learner involvement and leadership -----Original Message----- From: professionaldevelopment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:professionaldevelopment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Taylor, Jackie Sent: Monday, July 07, 2008 10:11 AM To: The Adult Literacy Professional Development Discussion List Subject: [ProfessionalDevelopment 2180] What do we mean by studentinvolvement and critical thinking? Hello All, I'd like to welcome Cynthia Peters, Editor of The Change Agent, and Marty Finsterbusch, Executive Director of Voice of Adult Learners United to Educate (VALUE) to the list. Thank you for helping us to explore issues, strategies, and resources on Student Involvement and Critical Thinking in Adult Literacy. I see that we already have some questions from subscribers. That's great! I hope to see more coming. In the meantime, I also have a couple of questions as we get started. Both student involvement and critical thinking in adult literacy can mean many things to many people. What do we mean when we say we're teaching critical thinking? How do you teach critical thinking? What is student involvement? Where does critical thinking come in? Thanks, Jackie Jackie Taylor, Adult Literacy Professional Development List Moderator, jataylor at utk.edu -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/professionaldevelopment/attachments/20080708/3ba52245/attachment.html
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