Proliteracy Notebook

Proliteracy, the national organization supporting organizations like ours, has a quarterly newsletter that I it highly recommend. The spring issue of Notebook has articles about using show-and-tell in a classroom, "Nine Ways to Give Effective Feedback to Language learners," and many others. A numeracy article that focuses on financial issues surrounding credit.

A particularly good article for tutors who are helping learners write essays for the GED or other purposes describes the use of an essay map. Below is a partially completed map that plans out an essay on the topic of Helen Keller. Simplicity is usually the best place to start from in general. For adults beginning to read and write for communication in English it is a must. This map starts with an introduction, and from there it hangs three main ideas. For each main idea some supporting details follow.

 

This model shows a fair amount of flexibility, also.  It could form the skeleton of a learner's first resume. It could map out the structure of an application essay or a letter to the editor. Start with a message. Lay out the main ideas. Add details for each one. This map holds it all together.

One note about Notebook— you may click here to visit the page where back issues of the publication are kept. When you open the link to one of the past issues, a small pop-up window appears with the text and pictures. I found this window hard to read. For an easier reading experience you might try clicking the 'zoom in' button or downloading the PDF for viewing at your convenience. These buttons are not obvious in the pop-up window, so here is a picture that shows you where to find them: