MY ROLE: Teacher-In-Training, Recipient of a Certificate in the NYSED Adult Literacy Education Core Curriculum (ALECC)
TRAINING SITE: The Literacy Assistance Center
Program Description: A rigorous, 7-month, 100-hour program providing the foundations and core concepts of Adult Education for ABE, HSE, and ESOL instructors. The Adult Literacy Education Core Curriculum (ALECC) was developed for New York State’s Adult Education and Workforce Development Department and was mandated for all NY adult educators and practitioners prior to the adoption of the Common Core Standards.
The LAC's ALECC Certificate Program included 27 hours of on-site instruction covering 7 modules on the following topics:
- the philosophies of adult education
- standards for adult education
- digital literacy
- strategies-based teaching of reading, numeracy, and ESOL to adult students
- Indicators for Program Quality.
The program also included 80 hours of online coursework, including reading and writing assignments, 7 in-person meetings with a study partner, and a written report summarizing observations and reflections for each study partner meeting.
Teaching Philosophy: A key goal: to design activities to engage multiple learning styles (Kolb's Experiential Learning Theory), multiple intelligences (Gardner's Theory of Multiple Intelligences), and students' diverse cultural backgrounds and life experience (Malcolm S. Knowles, Maxine Greene, John Dewey, C. Rodgers, among others).
The Literacy Assistance Center is a nonprofit organization providing professional development training for adult literacy educators. Housed in the midtown branch of the New York Public Library, the LAC works in partnership with the New York City Department of Youth and Community Development to provide support and training to over 70 of its literacy instruction sites.
A Quote From My Final Paper:
"One of the most valuable things I’ve learned during the Literacy Assistance Center’s ALECC training has been the importance of reflection, sitting down and posing the hard questions to myself: What is my preferred learning style? Where am I less comfortable as a learner? How can I use this information to improve my work as a teacher? What are my values and how do they shape my philosophy of education? In seven months of asking myself these questions, I’ve had the opportunity to delve more deeply into the motivations and beliefs that drive my work as a learner and as a teacher. The end result affirms my belief in an education model that is based on this same process. Asking questions, problem-solving, gathering evidence, all inspire a kind of learning that’s ongoing, that doesn’t end with getting the answers right on the test, and encourages student agency, engagement, and imagination."