Teachers are always planning, and I want to make that planning a little easier. Here is another blog entry presenting a few resources that may be useful to the Adult Basic Educator.
First, it is important to begin workforce lesson planning with full awareness that Adult Basic Education is funded through the
Workforce Investment Act (link is to the Federal law). WIA is intended to support people with low literacy on to the next step of employment or post-secondary training. Of course, there are many
issues surrounding how this has been done since the Act began in 1998 and how it should continue to address the employ-ability and vocational training of people with low-literacy-about
14.5% of the nation's population, but that is a discussion for another entry.
Many good resources for workforce lesson planning are available through the Pennsylvania Department of Education's Bureau of Adult Basic Literacy Education's
Workforce Education Recourse Center (WERC). The most basic element of workforce education is development of the soft skills of employment, which can be addressed using WERC's
Foundation Skills Framework.
Educators can begin workforce lessons by emphasizing the need for
basic employ-ability skills,
basic workplace knowledge, and
basic workplace skills.
In adult literacy, a lot of time is spent helping people with basic workplace skills like being able to
read with understanding,
compute and solve problems, and
use technology. Teachers may not even realize they are already doing workforce education!
As a teacher, you may spend time implementing project-based learning situations. These can easily help students develop basic employ-ability skills like being able to
make decisions,
work in teams, and
self-manage. However, for some teachers, it may be new to promote basic workplace knowledge like
quality consciousness,
working within structures,
understanding finances, and understanding
concepts of health and safety as well as
processes and products or services. This is a 'big picture' perspective of how people in different roles function as part of a whole and how we can work independently as well as together to improve quality and maintain a safe and productive work environment. Seeing the big picture can motivate people to perform as well as help them foresee and address issues, which makes them efficient and independent workers.
If an educator wants to implement a strong workforce education lesson, he/she will focus on
specific vocational skills or knowledge. Instead of speaking generally about the foundation skills, the teacher can emphasize how a basic literacy skill, basic employ-ability skill, or basic workplace knowledge will fit into a specific job and career path.
For example, information technology. Many jobs require workers to be able to use your standard office suite of programs and moderate typing skills. Teachers may take students into a computer lab and show them the basics of MS Word, so they can type a paragraph to demonstrate their ability to write clearly and concisely. Some teachers may also make use of one of a
typing program to help their students gain the skills to complete the task.
(There are also free typing instruction games online!)To make this example even more of a workforce lesson, the teacher could begin with a discussion using information on the tasks of
Receptionists gathered from
O*NET's Code Connector. O*Net is a resource center describing occupations and careers developed by the U.S. Department of Labor and Industry.
Writing clearly and concisely takes on a more meaning for the adult learner when it is placed in the
context of workforce application. Typing and clear written expression are important vocational skills. More information on the development of this career can be found on the O*NET Resource Center link to
Career Ladders and Latices.
This is just a sample of how adult basic literacy lessons can become workforce lessons. And, yes, many students will not be interested in job as a receptionist. This is where small groups can break out to explore O*Net to learn more about the tasks and skills required of jobs they may find of interest.
For those who are not sure what job they want, students can explore
Career Cruising. Connect with a representative from your local CareerLink (r) to get a password. Students can also explore the
Commonwealth Workforce Development System (CWDS) to find out what jobs are out there as well as what training opportunities are available.
Please keep in mind that we can not think of workforce education or the acquirement of information technology skills to be as simple as following a laundry list of skills, like being able to use MS Word and surf the net. Lessons must be linked to express how isolated skills fit together, to learn more about how, try reading,
Eisenburg and Johnson 2002. In 1992, Einsenburg and Berkowtiz first wrote their informational literacy curriculum, the
Big6, which is a type of
triarchic instruction that engages analytic, creative, and practical skills.
Please try these websites for your lesson planning. Feel free to post the results!
Posts
