They come because they have to.
Any of these people may have mandated students to your adult education class: the judge or their parole officer; their lawyer, hoping to make a good impression at a sentencing hearing; their social worker, financial aid worker, workers’ compensation officer, or other professional with the power to deny their request for benefits; parents who say if they want to live at home they have to go to school.
Unlike other students in your class, they are not self motivated; their motivation comes from someone outside the class, someone you have little influence on. Continue reading
How to say “No” to your teacher introduces students to a seven-step process for saying “No,” gives them some practice using prepared scripts based on common situations, and then assigns them the task of saying “No” to each other, and to me, at least once in the following week. (
As August slips by, I’m reminded of activities that start the new year, which I put under the heading of “How to manage your teacher,” an essential skill for every student, at whatever level.
It was Mary Ann’s turn to read her story to the group. She stood up, took a deep breath and started. “The bottle was my friend for a long time.”
At the end of the first week of class I did a round, asking people what surprised them about the first week.
The question of standard English is a thorny one for those of us who work with adult learners, and you will hear many opinions about how we should teach students who come from communities who use non-standard English.
have taught many times, to help students understand and remember the spelling of “to,” “too,” and “two.”
I worry that the emotional student may go off like a time bomb and be totally outside my control, highjack my session and require that I take care of him/her, or in some way act like a counsellor, which I don’t want to be, and am not trained for. Or that my own emotions will overwhelm me and prevent me from acting as my “best self.” Emotions are so messy.
Intelligence is a concept that is the opposite of messy. I think of a number. 122. 101. 145. 92. Not one number up or down, but exact and set in stone. Even when I think of multiple intelligences, I think about being smart in some ways, and not-so-smart in other ways. Intelligence has a hard edge to it. If I’m not smart enough, I can’t get smarter.
Working in Adult Literacy 