Video/Webinar
Training and support for tutors and teachers working with basic literacy students, who want to use their published materials more effectively.
Most tutors and teachers receive quality training before they start working with students. However, once they begin their teaching experience, they have little access to additional training and support.
Teacher Training Plus, funded by the Dollar General Literacy Foundation, is a webinar series that presents best-practice instructional strategies. These video recordings are of the first round of webinars presented in the fall of 2022 and the winter and spring of 2023.
We’ve identified three areas of need when using published materials and have designed webinars to address each. We’ve designed these webinars to focus on common characteristics of published materials and generic strategies for adapting them.
Using Published Materials in an Open Entry/Exit Classroom
While open entry and exit classrooms are common in many Adult Education programs, most published materials aren’t designed to accommodate them. In this workshop we will discuss some innovative ways to adapt published materials to effectively captivate and teach students who are entering and exiting consistently.
Using Published Materials in a Virtual Instructional Setting
Virtual learning was not a pandemic fix – it is becoming the face of education. But, the virtual learning environment requires us to rethink how we use our traditional printed instructional materials. In this workshop we will learn about virtual pedagogy for Adult Education and discover techniques to teach students using published materials.
Using Published Materials in a Multi-level Group or Class
Multi-level classrooms can be an awesome learning environment for everyone from the student to the instructor. However, many published materials are not designed to take advantage of this great learning opportunity. In this workshop, participants will learn strategies that make the most of published materials in a multi-level environment.
About the Presenters
Ann Marie Barter is an educator with over 30 years of experience in teaching, training, curriculum development, and administration in Maine and Illinois. She currently implements new family literacy programs for Catholic Extension after previously serving as the Senior Director of Curriculum and Training for the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy.
Ann Marie gained extensive expertise in standards-based education and evaluation practices, curriculum development, and professional development while serving as Distinguished Educator for the Maine Department of Education, as a National Trainer and Coach for the United States Department of Education’s Student Achievement in Reading initiative, and as an instructor of continuing education and graduate level courses for the Center for Adult Learning and Literacy at the University of Maine, Orono.
Ann Marie is a past recipient of the Maine State Director’s Award for Outstanding Leadership and the Maine Adult Education Association’s Outstanding Teacher of the Year. She holds a master’s degree from the University of Southern Maine and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
Kara Krawiec, originally from Pittsburgh, PA, earned her Master of Arts degree in Literature from John Carroll University in Cleveland, OH. Upon graduation, she became an adjunct professor at John Carroll University, Lakeland Community College, and Cuyahoga Community College, teaching developmental reading and writing courses to non-traditional learners. In 2017, she found Seeds of Literacy, an adult literacy non-profit in Cleveland, OH. Following her passion, she now serves as the Site Coordinator for the organization’s East side location. During her time at Seeds, she has worked tirelessly to help her students – focusing not only on students’ individual needs, but the need for a strong learning community as well.
To build that sense of community and to share her love of reading with students, Kara launched a Book Club, for which she received international acclaim. In 2018, Kara accepted the inaugural ProLiteracy Hero Award on behalf of Seeds of Literacy in recognition of their achievement in the adult education field. Kara’s dedication to creating a strong learning community extends beyond the classroom and has driven her to share her experience and expertise with her fellow educators by presenting at several local, state, and national conferences.