Adult Education Teaching Tools Resources

Motivating Students:

One huge way that I motivate students in our correctional system is by giving them choices (they are not afforded many) in what they are learning.  If they help choose the materials or topics that we cover, they will show up ready to roll!  We are dealing with ladies that have such low self that if they have one success, they feel on top of the world!  I have never worked with a group of ladies that cry so often when they are happy!

I'll go first... here's a great website on motivating students...

http://honolulu.hawaii.edu/intranet/committees/FacDevCom/guidebk/teachtip/teachtip.htm#motivating

What we do now that works:

Works 1:

  “Hands on” in connection with “worksheets” helped the students learn to work with fractions.

The students were having difficultly in grasping the units on fractions so it was decided to make bars and change the fractions by making one and a half recipe. Even the cutting of the bars was a lesson in proportions. It turned out to be a fun lesson in life skills with the reward of the goodies. The lesson became something real or tangible.

     In looking back one could have incorporated several subject areas: 1) Science - chemistry of leavening agents, 2)writing/reading unit on food nutrition etc. The whole idea could have taken many different routes. The students got the responsibility of preparing and collaborating. AND best of all - the “lunch”. This dates back to country grade school when the teacher brought apples to teach us fractions.

    Had the class not been small this could have poised a challenge.

Works 2:

Since the only adults that I have taught so far were teachers at  in-services,  I will talk about some strategies I used.  Everyone tends to sit next to their friends, so changing groups every so often by counting off, or drawing a card so that all the fours sit at one table helps allow for different groupings. I needed to be well prepared and I shared with the group what my goals were for that lesson.  I try to find prior knowledge to start with.  I identify vocabulary that is essential to the lesson to presented.  As I teach a concept, I have an outline to follow that requires responses.  I model the lesson and then allow both group practice and individual practice.  The use of visuals or manipulatives enhance the lesson.  Then the lesson was closed with them giving a short summary.

Problems occurred when the learners were talking instead of listening or didn't participate.  The way I tried to solve this was to spend less time lecturing and put  more responsibility on them.  

Works 3:

I believe that positive repetition leads to good habits which create long-term learning. 

An example of this is my writing assignment that each student must complete each class period.

I have a pre-selected topic on a paper which requires a range of one to three paragraphs to complete.  These topics vary from questions that require only simple thought to more complex topics that require higher thinking skills. 

In the beginning most of the students say "I can't do this." but as a group, we use a writing web and cover the five steps of writing slowly, we complete the assignment as a class and then I ask them to do a very simple topic on their own.  When I see them stalled I give one-on-one help on rethinking their ideas, paraphrasing thier ideas, and then allow them to put that information on paper.  Together, we edit that paper.  This allows them to see that they were capable of writing but  afraid that they couldn't do it.

I quickly learned not to use the phrase "write as you speak" because their verbal expression skills, at times, are as weak as their writing skills.  Now I tell them to speak and think as thier teachers spoke to them in school and as their bosses speak to them at work.

After several writing assignments like this my students are eager to do more and want their work evaluated immediately.  They also become so confident that they enjoy helping newer students when they are just learning this technique.  As a whole  the class are relaxed enough to share and help each other in all areas of writing.

When this happens, I can step back as a teacher and be a facilitator.

Works 4:

Since most of our students come with the intention of getting a GED, many of our teachers use this exercise:  They complete a form with reasons of "Why I Want to Get My GED."  After everyone has listed at least 3 things, the reasons are all tallied (by class members), ranked, and charted (as a group).  They also must compute what percentage a certain answer received and design a pie chart.  It's an interesting assignment with LOTS of unexpected answers.  The math lesson involved really opens the eyes of many.

Works 5: 

This is a lesson I recommend all classes do at the beginning of the semester.  Students ask one another, "Where do you use (speak, read, write) English outside of class?"  The answers are put on a class grid.  The next questions include, "What do you have to say to your child's teacher?  What do you have to write at work?  What do you want to say to your neighbor?"  Etc.  This is supposed to help ELA (English Language Acquisition) teachers create the lessons from student needs and interests.  They get the topics from the students, then use the standards for their levels to develop lessons in the four language skills. 

Assumptions: Students need encouragement to use English outside of class; teachers need to find out why students want to learn English; this is a concrete approach for teachers to get the topics from students since we don't have prescriptive books for our courses; this makes the learning of and practicing of English relevant, real-life, authentic, and immediately applicable.

Problems: Teachers do the grids, but they don't always have the skills to ask the next questions to build the curriculum from there.  Teachers cannot always merge the Arizona ELA Standards with the topics they get from students.  Some students complain that they need a book and exercise sheets to learn/study English.  I'm worried the classes are not rigorous enough.

Steps taken to solve the problem: I have done lots of trainings on these topics.  We have two learning communities of ELA teachers that have been working on 1) creating classroom-based assessments to help students see what they are learning 2) creating authentic materials for the classroom. 

Works 6:

It is very hard to bring in games, etc...because of the pieces and the lack of secure storage, so I stick to using paper and pencil for most of the classes.  I have had to become a little more creative in using those materials to teach math.  I often use visuals and personal examples to incorporate in each lesson.  I have a managed enrollment for my math classes, as they have a beginning and an ending.  I have added a "quiz day" each week and allowed the inmates to bring one sheet of paper that they have made to "cheat" on their quiz with.  It is amazing what I see on those pieces of paper. Each day,  I have them come up with examples of real life use for each type of math that we do.  I have found that if I let them lead the learning and I am there to introduce and provide the repetition, things go very well. We are now into Geometry and the drawings are becoming very well developed.  I incorporate as much color as possible and allow them to do the same.  Because so many of the ladies are here for only 90 days, I have to keep the pace moving along quite quickly.  It is imperative that we get through one topic each week.  The quizzes have also made them feel like they are in REAL school.  I am not allowed to do stickers or anything like that, so I use shape paper to deliver the scores to them.  They like to see and A, B, or C on their paper (I usually throw in a good curve if it was very hard).

Works 7:

I have several levels in my ESL class. I find what works best are " hands on" activities---Money Bingo, Scrabble (they are encouraged to use the vocabulary we have been working on),  flash cards, and street maps.  Of course, we have had to build a comfortable environment before these activities are useful. They are afraid to make mistakes at the beginning.  My higher level students are so helpful and patient with the newcomers----- and with me.

They wanted to work on reading and writing skills but hated long passages---I used short passages and creative questioning techniques to make the reading and writing a little more enjoyable.  They like reading passages that apply to their lives or culture. 

I am never sure what works until I see the progress the students are making. Small steps--one at a time.   I find myself assessing every assignment trying to see how I can improve it for the next session.  What works this time may not work the next.

Works 8:

I'm so new to ABE that I'm not really sure what's working.  What hasn't worked is my assumptions about my students personal lives. Their lives are in fact chaotic, dangerous (abusive spouses, neighborhood gang activity).  Making them feel safe and spending some time in each lesson bucking up their motivation is a must.  How me and another ABE teacher have done this is to try to provide as much individual attention as possible and make adjustments in the lesson for the day, in light of their changing individual circumstances.  I think the upside to this is the student is better able to focus; they are a bit more calm.  The down side is the basic education information is very slow going and I'm afraid of students not feeling a sense of concrete progress - towards employment or GED.     

Works 9:

I have a large ESL class and the first thing that I have to do is find a place to start.  Even though their goal is to learn English, I have to find out just what level of intermediate/ advanced they are. We talk about them. Some think that the class is to hard on the first night. Some think it is to easy. I urge them to give the class three times before they quit and at the end of that time I will find another class for them. I have to get them to trust me or they won't come back. We do goal setting.  We do needs assessments.  We do ice breakers and introductions. I'm sure GED teachers do all of this as well. I always do a lesson of some kind on the first night so that they have something to take home that they have finished.  I don't know if this is exactly what I was supposed to post but I feel that what I  have to do right  with ESL students is make them feel comfortable and come back before I can teach them anything.

Works 10:

I had this great hands on activity that involved, listening, writing, creativity, cutting, stapling, sharing ideas, using resources, and ultimately creating a 3-D figure.  My plan was great  (or so I thought); the problem - most of them were not auditory learners, and I did not provide a completed product for them to see.  I wanted them to come to the conclusion themselves or to predict what they were making.  Several were frustrated and others got it quite quickly.  What was an unexpected result were the "failures."  No one would let someone get by with a floppy 3-D figure.  Without being told, those who were good with hands-on came to the rescue of those who were more creatiave with words, and vice versa.

It was a very chaotic afternoon.  I will do the activity in the future and change it.  I will probably write the steps down and have the students work in  groups of twos.

So, what worked?  The students who helped another.  What was underestimated was my students' level of understanding the verbal instructions.     

Works 11:

Am often asked by my students, " why do we have to learn this?"  Therefore I like to make learning fun and use a lot of hands on  activities and allow the activity lead into class discussions.  I take a concept for example Percents.  We study the hows and whys.  Near the end of the allotted math time we pretend to have a cafe and each student takes turns being the water or waitress.  They must take the order and total the ticket.  The customer must check his ticket and add a tip.  With out knowledge of percents they could not do this.  If their answers are different we discuss why.  This is fun and allows both small and large group participation.

Works 12:

With my students I feel at times I am just spinning my wheels. I have so many levels to deal with. The best thing I have found that works is repetitive learning. Some of my students know the work by heart and have gotten a bit bored. But I have found that by sitting them by students on lower levels and asking them to help them. It has not only helped the student that needed the extra help but also helped the student that is on a higher level by improving his self worth and giving him a purpose. They now ask me for extra worksheets to do in their cells and bring them back finished and excited to be finally getting it. I also found some math puzzles online and printed them off. At first some of them complained, it was to hard etc. But once they got into it they enjoyed the challenge and really got engaged.

Works 13:

When teaching new math concepts, I do all the problems orally together with the class, modeling the steps, repeating over and over the same information.  I have the students talk through the steps.  After I think they are comfortable with the lesson, I have the students come up to the board one at a time and walk the other students through the problem.  We did adding and subtracting mixed numbers.  This concept is difficult for students.  After a week, I gave them a worksheet to do independently.  Many did not know how to do it well.  I found a fraction bingo game.  It had adding and subtracting fractions and mixed numbers.  I bought candy bars for prizes.  We played this game a few times.  The problems were done orally together on the board, going over the steps as each problem was worked.  Then the students would mark the answer on their bingo card.  They really paid attention well.  They were competitive.  They wanted a prize.  They had fun and learned.  They were able to do it after that.