November 2007 Calendar Archive

A list of local, state, and national professional development events of interest to adult & family literacy practitioners in Texas. If you know of other professional development opportunities or important dates of interest to Texas practitioners, please submit them to our Calendar Committee for consideration. For more information join one of our email discussion groups so you will always hear about the latest training opportunities. Click on "Discussion Lists" to read about these discussion lists and how to join.

November 2007

October 31 - November 2, 2007: Special Learning Needs Training Series conducted by Neil Sturomski and Nancie Payne begins with this first of four 3-day (9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. daily) training events. For more information on this series, contact Tracy Hendrix at Texas LEARNS or email Ken Appelt at TCALL.

November 1, 2007: National Family Literacy Day. Sponsored by National Center for Family Literacy, this annual observance has been celebrated since 1994. National Family Literacy Day is a time to celebrate the impact parents have on their child's learning and the foundation of the family in education. For ideas on unique and creative ways to observe on November 1st and the days and weeks that surround it, visit the National Center for Family Literacy website.

November 1, 2007: The Elements of Language Acquisition will be held from 6:00 pm - 9:00 pm at Tyler Junior College located at 1530 SSW Loop 323, Room 120 in Tyler. For more information, please contact Jim Ratliff at (936) 435-8330 or jratliff@esc6.net

November 2, 2007:  Math Workshop will be held from 9 to 12 noon at Texas State Technical College-Waco, 3801 Campus Drive, Waco, TX 76705. This event is hosted by McLennan Community College.  Room to be determined.  Facilitated by Mary Alice Carlson.  This workshop will provide ABE/GED teachers with the information needed to recognize area of mathematics with which students are having the most difficulty.  Teachers will learn how to adapt their instructional practices in order to help students perform better on the GED mathematics test.   Central registration form. For information please contact Mario Mokarzel mm64@txstate.edu or 1-877-798-5522.

November 2, 2007: ESOL Academy II will be held from 1:00 p.m.- 4:00 p.m. to be held at Terrazas Branch Public Library Meeting Room, Austin, 76702.   Heide Spruck Wrigley will facilitate.  This first of three 3 hour face-to-face sessions will include demonstration lessons and hands-on activities that can be used directly in the adult ESL classroom. Strategy-based lessons designed around peer to peer and small group interaction will be used to increase students’ oral communication and reading comprehension skills. Participants will work with a mentor teacher between face-to-face sessions with the facilitator. (Session is Closed).

November 3, 2007: ESOL Academy II will be held from 10:00 a.m.- 1:00 p.m. to be held at Austin Community College in Austin, Highland Business Center, Room 209, 5930 Middle Fiskville Road, Austin, TX  78752.   Linda Muñoz will facilitate.  This first of three 3 hour face-to-face sessions will include demonstration lessons and hands-on activities that can be used directly in the adult ESL classroom. Strategy-based lessons designed around peer to peer and small group interaction will be used to increase students’ oral communication and reading comprehension skills. Participants will work with a mentor teacher between face-to-face sessions with the facilitator. (Session is Closed).

November 3, 2007: ESOL Academy: Techniques for Teaching Adult ESOL will be held from 9 AM to 4 PM at Austin Community College – Highland Business Center, Room 103.2, Austin, 78751. This twenty-four (24) hour course, held from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm on four Saturdays - and led by Dr. Heide Wrigley - is for ESOL teachers who want to “beef up” their everyday teaching skills and for newer teachers of Adult ESOL. You will learn about and practice developing new strategies, activities, and lessons that will support your students’ learning. This workshop will let you increase your repertoire of skills and make it easier to make informed decisions about what to teach and why. After participation in the Academy and engagement with the ideas presented, you will know why some activities and approaches are more effective than others in fostering second language acquisition and promoting deeper learning. Session II of IV. Future sessions will be January 12 and March 29, 2008. Must register to attend. Central registration form. For information please contact Mario Mokarzel mm64@txstate.edu or 1-877-798-5522.

November 3, 2007: Content Standards will be held from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., at Houston READ Comission, 5400 Griggs Road, Conference B, Houston, Texas 77021. The Presenter is Christine Spin. This training course is for any one interested in learning more about the Texas Adult Education Content Standards and Benchmarks (TAESB). The main objectives of the training are to familiarize the audience with the TAESB and to develop lesson plans using the standards and benchmarks. Target audience members would include full-time and part-time adult education teachers (ABE, GED, ESL), and adult education program administrators. Please use these numbers to register: CABEA 6800139, registration number 59893, and section number CY 172. Coastal Registration form. For additional information, please email: CoastalCF@nhmccd.edu

November 3, 2007: BEST Plus Administrators’ Training will be held from 9:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m. at Pickle Elementary School, 1101 Wheatley, Austin, 78752, Yolanda DelaCruz will facilitate. Participants attending will complete BEST Plus Administrators’ certification. Must register to attend. Central registration form. For information please contact Mario Mokarzel mm64@txstate.edu or 1-877-798-5522.

November 03, 2007: Content Standards- ESL will be held from 8:30 a.m.-3: 30 p.m. at the Pharr Adult Learning Center, Room 106 (previously the Workforce Development Center), 1100 E. Highway 83, Pharr 78577. The instructor will be Sandi Schneider. South Registration Form.

November 7, 2007: I am in the house…now what? will be held from 9:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at Halpin Early Childhood Center, 10901 Sandpiper Drive, Houston 77096. Once a Home Visit is scheduled, what strategies can you implement to make the visit educational, practical, and fun?  Many Parent Educators and Home Visit teams are often not ready to teach due to distractions, parents’ resistance, and limited engagement during the planned activities.  This training will provide you with tools to develop individualized and research based literacy activities parents will find practical and fun. Target Audience: Home Visitors, Parent Educators, Early Childhood Teachers, ILA Coordinators, and Program Directors. The Presenter is Sheila Pope. To register, please contact Chris Longoria at 832-482-1036 or e-mail CoastalCF@nhmccd.edu

November 7, 2007: Tutoring Adults Who Learn Differently will be held from 6:00 pm - 9:00 pm at Tyler Junior College located at 1530 SSW Loop 323 in Tyler. For more information, please contact Jim Ratliff at (936) 435-8330 or jratliff@esc6.net

 November 7-8, 2007: BEST Plus Training will be held from 4:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. 100 Market Street, Presidio.  Trainer is Bobby Jackson.  Please contact Samuel Carrasco for further information (432) 229-2722 or scarrasco@presidio-isd.net. You must register to attend. West Registration Form.

November 7-10, 2007: ProLiteracy Worldwide Annual Conference 2007 will be held in Alexandria, VA at the Hilton Alexandria Mark Center. This annual event offers state of the art training for literacy practitioners. Keynote speaker will be author Nora Roberts. For more information, call (315) 422-9121 ext. 352. or visit the ProLiteracy Worldwide Annual Conference 2007 website.

November 8-9, 2007: National Conference on Effective Transitions in Adult Education. The National College Transition Network at World Education, in partnership with the Nellie Mae Education Foundation, will host this conference at the Crowne Plaza at the Crossings in Providence, Rhode Island. For more information, visit the conference web page or contact Priyanka Sharma (617-482-9485 or nctn@worlded.org).

November 9-10, 2007: EL Civics Academy I: ESL Strategies for Navigating a New Culture, Session 2 - Teachers in this course will learn how to create and use activities for EL Civics that engage students, improve language and literacy skills, and build civic involvement. Presenters will demonstrate research-based instructional strategies and will offer hands-on practice for teachers to help students create civic mini-projects using digital photography and video. Participants must have attended first session of Academy. Training will take place at Socorro Community Learning Center, 313 S. Rio Vista, El Paso. Please join us on Friday (11/2) from 4:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., and Saturday (11/3) from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Please email farwestg@farwestgreat.org if you have any questions or call (915) 937-1725.

November 10, 2007: BEST Plus will be held from 8:30 a.m.-3: 30 p.m.at the Pharr Workforce Development Center, 1100 E. Highway 83, Pharr 78577. The instructor is Yvette Sanchez. South Registration Form.

November 10, 2007: Multi-Level ESL Training will be held from 9:00 am - 12:00 pm at Trinity Valley Community College located at 100 Cardinal Street, Suite 108 in Athens. For more information, please contact Jim Ratliff at (936) 435-8330 or jratliff@esc6.net

November 10, 2007: NEW BEST Literacy Test Training will be held from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. at Harris County Department of Education Irvington Learning Center, 626 Lindale, Houston 77022. Presenter is Judy Bowman. This training is the UPDATED BEST Literacy and is intended for anyone who administers or scores the BEST Literacy Test. Using the NEW manual, participants will investigate proper test administration and scoring procedures, practice scoring writing samples, and acquire a basic knowledge of the content. By the end of the session participants should be able to use the writing rubric for scoring writing samples and follow the NEW manual mandates for accurate scoring on the other sections. Participants should bring the NEW BEST Literacy Test Manual to the training session. Please use these numbers to register: CABEA 6800141, registration number 61059, and section number CY 175. Coastal Registration form. For additional information, please email: CoastalCF@nhmccd.edu

November 12, 2007: Transitioning ESL Students to GED training will be held from 9-12 Noon at Austin Community College – Highland Business Center, Room 301.7, 5930 Middle Fiskville Road, Austin, 78752. Must register to attend. Central registration form. For information please contact Mario Mokarzel mm64@txstate.edu or 1-877-798-5522.

November 14-16, 2007: 11th Annual Texas Workforce Conference. Hosted by Texas Workforce Commission in Houston at the Westin Galleria/Westin Oaks, the conference theme will be “Building Tomorrow’s Workforce -- A Partnership with Education, Economic Development and Workforce”. For more information, contact Susan Ruiz at 512-936-0466.

November 14-17, 2007: International Dyslexia Association Annual Conference 2007 will be held in Dallas. The International Dyslexia Association is a scientific, and educational nonprofit organization concerned with specific language disability/dyslexia. The Annual Conference focuses on the latest advances in dyslexia, related language difficulties and related fields. Individual sessions are geared towards educators and educational administrators, educational diagnosticians and therapists, parents, speech and language pathologists and of course, individuals with dyslexia and their families. For more information, visit the International Dyslexia Association organization's website.

 November 16, 2007:  Portfolio Training will be held from 9:00 am - 4:00 pm (6 hr. training with one hr. for lunch) at  Howard College - San Angelo, 1100 Martin Luther King, San Angelo.  Please contact Gordon Peterson for futher information at (325) 481-8324 or gpeterson@howardcollege.edu. This training has been cancelled.

November 16-17, 2007: ESL Workforce Academy II will be held from Noon to 5:00 p.m. on November 16 and from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on November 17 at The Tremont House - A Wyndham Historic Hotel, 2300 Mechanic Street, Galveston 77550. Please contact Tina Washco for more information at tina.washco@nhmccd.edu. Registration is closed for this session

November 17, 2007:  New Teacher Academy V - Session 2: This Academy is targeted to new teachers in the Adult Education field.  The facilitator will provide resources to lesson plans, classroom activities, and brainstorming sessions that will assist the attendees in exploring new methods to address classroom needs.  A mentoring component is included in the Academy that will connect an experienced teacher with a novice.  This session will be held on Saturday from 8:30 am - 3:30 pm at the El Paso Community College - Valle Verde Campus. The room number will be forwarded to all registrants prior to the training date.  This is the second of four workshops (remaining sessions Jan. 19 and March 8).  Please email farwestg@farwestgreat.org if you have any questions or call (915) 937-1725.

November 17, 2007: Retention Strategies workshop will be held from 8:30 a.m.-3: 30 p.m. at South West Texas Junior College, 2401 Garner Field Road, Uvalde.  The instructor is Dr. Ron Porter. South Registration Form.

November 17, 2007: Using Technology for Professional Development will be held from 8:30 a.m.-3: 30 p.m. at South West Texas Junior College, 2401 Garner Field Road, Uvalde.  The instructors are Robert Duenez and Juan Carlos Rodriguez. South Registration Form.

November 17, 2007: Content Standards - GED will be held from 8:30 a.m.-3: 30 p.m. at the Pharr Workforce Development Center, 1100 E. Highway 83, Pharr 78577. The instructor is TBA. South Registration Form.

November 17, 2007: Content Standards will be held from 9:00 am - 4:00 pm at the Education Service Center, Region VI located at 3332 Montgomery Road in Huntsville. For more information, please contact Jim Ratliff at (936) 435-8330 or jratliff@esc6.net

 November 17, 2007: Content Standards Training will be held from 9:00 am 4:00 pm (6 hr. training with one hr. for lunch) at 1001 Birdwell Lane, Big Spring, TX. Trainer is Sue Ferguson. Please contact Debbie Klepper for further information 432-264-5014 or dklepper@howardcollege.edu. You must register to attend. West Registration Form.

November 20, 2007: Higher Education: Ensuring America’s Competitive Edge. This free broadcast from 7:00 to 8:00 p.m. Central Time is part of the U.S. Department of Education “Education News Parents Can Use” television series about ways to ensure children's educational success. Satellite coordinates for each broadcast are provided free of charge to all broadcast stations and outlets but requires pre-registration for the 2007-2008 season at http://registerevent.ed.gov.

November 27, 2007: National Leadership Excellence Academy continues with a one-hour Web cast, contact Sheryl Jefferson at Texas Learns or Ken Appelt at TCALL

November 28 - December 1, 2007: National Reading Conference. Austin, Texas will be the site of this annual conference of NRC -- a professional organization for individuals who share an interest in research and the dissemination of information about literacy and literacy instruction. The program consists of keynote addresses by distinguished speakers, symposia, paper sessions, research reviews of current trends and issues, and alternative format sessions. Location is the Hyatt Regency Austin on Town Lake. For more information, call 414-908-4924 or visit the National Reading Conference website.

November 29, 2007: Effective Teaching Strategies for Multilevel ESL Classrooms, Session I will be held from 6:00 to 9:00 at Pickle Elementary School, 1101 Wheatley, Austin, 78752, This is Session 1 of 2 sessions totaling 9 hours. The workshop focuses on appropriate lesson planning strategies, group strategies and effective multilevel activities for use in ESL classrooms. Follow-up opportunities will be available for teachers to practice activities and strategies. Trainer will be Linda Munoz. Must register to attend. Central registration form. For information please contact Mario Mokarzel mm64@txstate.edu or 1-877-798-5522.

November 30, 2007: TEAMS training for Data Entry Staff will be held from 9:00 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Houston ISD Administration Building, 4400 West 18th St. Computer Lab 2C07 Houston 77092. Presenters are Brenda Forrest & Kay Brooks. This session provides basic TEAMS training to familiarize users with the procedure for accessing the Texas Educating Adults Management System, entering and editing data, and printing reports for the analysis of data. Please use these numbers to register: CABEA 6800071, registration number 63534, and section number CY176. Coastal Registration form. For additional information, please email: CoastalCF@nhmccd.edu

November 30 - December 1, 2007: 5th Annual El Paso Adult Learning and Literacy Conference. The conference theme is Raising the Bar: Improving Student Performance in Adult Education and will focus on all aspects of adult basic education and family literacy such as ESOL, EL Civics, GED strategies, and workplace issues.  The Conference will take place at the University of Texas at El Paso - Union Building, 500 W. University Ave., El Paso.  The official hotel for the conference is Hilton Garden Inn El Paso, 111 W. University Ave., El Paso 79902. For more information, contact the Far West Region GREAT Center