I hope you enjoy reading our tutor and student testimonies each month. To me, they powerfully capture the heart and soul of what we do at the Literacy Council. Eirly, Ha, James, Jamal, and Eric are spotlighted in our October newsletter and will be appearing soon on this website, so please take a moment to learn more about each of them and their tutors.
Any adult or out-of-school youth in Anne Arundel County can receive free reading, writing, math, or speaking English instruction from the Literacy Council to achieve personal goals such as earning a job, a better-paying job, or a GED. There is no charge for the tutoring or the books, and we can meet in any public location, including all 15 county libraries.
If you know of anyone who could benefit from our free literacy program, please share the good news and encourage them to call our office to get started.
Best regards,
Lisa Vernon, Executive Director
Lisa Vernon
Director, Anne Arundel County Literacy Council
410-269-4419 (office)
301-523-6750 (cell)
There is freedom waiting for you,
On the breezes of the sky,
And you ask, “What if I fall?”
Oh, but my darling, What if you fly?
~written by Erin Hanson
We were very fortunate to have Tad Johnston, Mathematics Education Consultant for the American Institutes for Research in Washington, DC, as the teacher/trainer for a recent Math Workshop for AACLC tutors on October 1, 2015. This program was part of our ongoing effort to equip our tutors with as many skills and tools as possible to meet the various needs of their students.
Adult learners bring their experiences and common sense to math problems. If they view math as only symbol manipulation, a reasonable answer often gets lost. Education research has shown that students who represent problems with diagrams have greater success in solving them.
In this session, participants worked with tape diagrams to visually represent a variety of word problem types. Tape diagrams are quick to draw, are applicable to many problem types, and look like “adult” (back of the envelope) mathematics. The goal of the workshop was to help tutors learn to use these diagrams with their students to help them use their common sense as mathematical problem solvers.
Tad Johnston
About Tad Johnston:
Tad is employed as a Mathematics Education Consultant for the American Institutes for Research (AIR) in Washington D.C., one of the largest behavioral and social science research organizations in the world. Their mission is to conduct and apply the best behavioral and social science research and evaluation towards improving peoples’ lives, with a special emphasis on the disadvantaged.
Tad has 17 years of teaching experience in middle and high school and has taught mathematics education courses at both undergraduate and graduate levels. He has experience as a professional developer, curriculum leader and instructional coach at the school, district and regional levels and consulted nationally on mathematics standards projects.
Diymond Mosely passed the Reading section for her GED. Congratulations, Diymond! Diymond is above with her Tutor Sarah Gardner
The following students received summer internships:
- Dillyn Fitzgerald: H2O Summer Program Intern
- Carlester Bert: Salvation Army Glen Burnie Intern
- Jameil Brown: Housing Authority Annapolis Summer Camp Intern
- Diymand Mosley: Highly Favored Hair Salon Intern
- Angela Colbert: Housing Authority Annapolis Summer Camp Intern
Lajuan Young and Math Tutor Dave Houston
- Kayla Foskey: AA Community Community College Intern
Brittney Butler: AA Community Community College Intern
- Dewayne Williams: AA County Police Intern
- Lajuan Young: AA County Medical Center Intern
- Angel Amos: BYT Summer Camp Intern
The Student listed below has completed advanced training:
- Quaeisha Cook: Administrative Secretary Training
Math Tutor Denise Ayer and Dewayne Williams
The following students will receive advanced training at Anne Arundel Community College in the fall:
- Dillyn Fitzgerald: Sign Language
- Brittney Butler: Dental Assistant/Radiology
- Kayla Foskey: Dental Assistant/Radiology
You can get news stories written in three levels sent to you by email each week. The website News in Levels: World News for Students of English has helpful information on how to improve your English skills through reading, writing, listening and speaking. Please scroll to the bottom of the webpage to get the hints.
Save the dates! September 26 and October 10, 2015
Great opportunity! Our next 2 day tutor training isscheduled for September 26th & October 10th, 9:00 am to 4:00 pm, at Woods Memorial Presbyterian Church in Severna Park, and will include Basic Literacy, Math, and English Language Learner instruction. We have a class size limit of 35. If you, or someone you know, would be interested in attending this training, please email director@aaclc.org or call 410-798-0408 as soon as possible to reserve a seat.
Are you as passionate about reading as I am?
Reading drives me into comfy corners with cups of tea, chocolate, and dog eared volumes of Austen, Wilde, Twain, and Tolstoy.
I will write reviews and record audio extracts from my favorite Literary Classics – fiction, drama, and poetry. In May and June, I included works by Jane Austen, William Shakespeare, Omar Khayyám, Françoise Sagan, Bram Stoker, and Eudora Welty…to name but a few.
HOW TO JOIN:
Please click the following link (or type it in your browser), enter your email address in the sidebar, and click the gray “Join Copley Classics” button. That’s it! You will then receive one literary review a week.
copleyclassics.com
Tutor Sarah M. Fredericks
Hattie McCullers beamed as she walked through the Chase-Lloyd House.
A cook at historic Maryland Avenue mansion for the last nine years, McCullers has spent the majority of her time at the home preparing meals for the women who live there.
She’s spicing things up.
McCullers has curated the Chase Home Residents’ Art Exhibit featuring the artwork of two former Chase-Lloyd House residents. It’s on display at the home for the remainder of the month.
Chase Home
“Most of the time, when we do something, it’s always about the house,” McCullers said. “I wanted to show some of the talent that has come here through the years.” To read the entire story, please click on this link:
http://www.capitalgazette.com/lifestyle/ph-ac-ls-chase-lloyd-house-0621-2-20150621-story.html
Literacy Council volunteer Bonnie Wright has tutored Hattie in reading and writing for the past year and a half, and has worked with Hattie to help her create and document a work plan for the Chase-Lloyd open house (her interviews, customers contacts, projects, donations, finances, venues of publicity, etc.). Hattie also has plans to write a children’s book and has been working on a project to create a book of family history for her granddaughter Natalie, who was born in March.
Tutor John Haig and Charles Winston
Tutor David Cook and Angel Amos
We have received TABE test results for 8 of our out-of-school youth in the Youth Health Works program. Of the students who have been retested, 7 of the 8 students showed improvements of a grade level or higher in their reading and/or math scores, and 2 of the students, Angel Amos and Charles Winston, each improved their reading by 2 Educational Functioning Levels! Each Functioning Level covers 2 grade levels.
- Carlester Bert: Chosen for an internship at John Hopkins hospital in Baltimore.
- Diymond Mosely: Passed the Reading portion for her GED.
- Dillyn Fitzgerald: Accepted into the CVS Pharmacy Technician training program.
- Quaeisha Cook: Accepted into the Medical Office Assistant Training Program at Anne Arundel Community College.
- Lajuan Young: Chosen for the Clatanoff Temporary Position at Arundel Medical Center.
Tutor Perinaaz Gandhi and Carlester Bert
A tremendous thanks goes out to the 35 volunteer tutors and assessors involved with this out-of-school youth program this year. Your steadfast commitment and dedication to these students has been inspirational.
