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"Our
mission is to teach English literacy skills to adults and to raise literacy
awareness throughout the Roanoke Valley."
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SCRABBLE Alert!

Get ready…The
Third Annual Scrabble Tournament presented by Literacy Volunteers of
Roanoke Valley and the Roanoke Library Foundation is scheduled to be held
in Fitzpatrick Hall at Jefferson Center on Thursday evening, March 20,
2008. Mark your calendars now. We promise good food, stimulating
competition, great prizes, and lots of laughs. Plan now to be there!
Check out the the fun we had last year by clicking on the LVRV Pics button
on the navigation bar to the right. For further information on our
upcoming tournament, please call us
at 265-9339.
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LVRV CELEBRATES NEW DIGS

to
Anna Karbassiyoon, Bre Sawyer and team members Todd Burns,
Carolyn Riddleberger, Sally Rugaber, Gray Turner and Sheila Umberger
for making this Open House a wonderful success!
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A
YEAR OF TRANSITION
In July
we moved to the downtown library (see article on page 2 regarding our
September 5th Open House), said goodbye and good luck to Susie
Boxley, and welcomed Pam Adams to our program staff. Bill Van Velzer became
our new program manager, and he and Pam have teamed up to provide excellent
program support to both learners and tutors during a time of lively
transition.
Last year at this time, this column focused on Standards-Based Instruction
and described the work of the Virginia Content Standards Steering Committee,
a group of dedicated adult education professionals who guided the process of
writing, piloting, and revising both the Virginia General Educational
Development Content Standards and the Virginia
ESOL Content Standards.
The six
levels of English proficiency (the levels our learners are placed in when
they begin our program) guide the content standards for Virginia’s Adult
English Language Learner population. Within each of these levels, standards
have been developed for the components of Speaking, Listening, Reading, and
Writing. These standards represent what our learners should know and be
able to do upon completion of each level. The standards provide a
checklist for instructors to make sure that their learners have the
knowledge and skills to leave that level.
With this
uniform framework and an eye toward continuous program improvement, LVRV is
transitioning to align instruction, assessment, accountability, and
professional development to the content standards.
This
year, all of our learners are being pre-tested using the CASAS assessment
which takes approximately two hours for the learner to complete. In addition
to determining the learner’s educational functioning level, this test has
provided us with valuable information about each learner’s strengths and
weaknesses. Pam and Bill have been sharing this information with tutors
while providing guidance in lesson planning that meets individual needs.
In
addition, Bill is training fifteen individuals in our current tutor training
class in a totally revised curriculum that places special emphasis on
learning styles and student- centered lesson planning. Tutor training will
continue to change as this year moves forward. Additional segments on
reading, word study and writing will be forthcoming.
So, thank
you for bearing with us! All of these changes consume an incredible amount
of time and effort, but we believe they are critical to quality program
improvement. By June 30th we will look back and celebrate the
dedicated work of our tutors and the achievements of the many learners we
will have touched this year.
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WHAT'S IN THE NEWS |
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..is an initiative of Governor Mark Warner and is a vital part of his Education for a Lifetime program. The goal of Race to GED is to
double the number of Virginians passing the General Educational Development (GED) Test.
Click image above for more information. |
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OOUR
WEBSITE IS COMING BACK!
Thank you, one and all, for
your patience during the past few weeks while our Web page endured a
much-needed change in hosting services. Like so many other aspects of our
recent move, maintaining and updating the LVRV site has been more
problematic than expected. Completion of the updates will take time, but
we're finally on our way. Keep checking back, as you're bound to find
something new. You might want to take a look at the Program Notes and
Tutor/Volunteer sections below for starters. |
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PROGRAM
NOTES |
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ENGLISH LITERACY/CIViCS |
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New Fiscal Year
Assessments
Bill and
Pam have completed the new pre-assessments that will set learner
benchmarks for the 07-08 fiscal year. The move to CASAS (Comprehensive
Adult Student Assessment System) is now complete. We are using this
reading assessment system for both ABE and ESOL learners, while also
retaining the BestPlus listening assessment for ESOL learners only. CASAS
has already proven very helpful in targeting learner needs as part of our
ongoing efforts to provide instructional support to our tutors.
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EL/Civics Home
Complete Lesson Plan Index
Curriculum and Pacing Guide Index |
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TUTOR/VOLUNTEER CORNER |
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Writing From
the Heart, 2006

Our annual learner
publication Writing from the Heart 2006 debuted at the annual
awards ceremony. Click the cover to read what's inside.
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New Tutor Training Dates
New tutor training
orientation: Thurs., Jan. 10, 6-7 p.m.
in the Brody Room of the
Main Roanoke City Library, across from the new LVRV office. Call 265-9339 for
more information.
Dates for next tutor
training session: Jan 17th, 24th, 31st & Feb. 7th, 6-9 p.m.
in the
Main Roanoke City Library,
across from the new LVRV office.
Welcome New Tutors!
Rose Bayly,
Jan Bruster,
Alison Drennan,
Faye Fisher,
Jennifer Harriot,
Anna Herrera,
Mauro Lemus,
Emily Mason, Carol Rowlett,
John Sanzo,
Tilinia Williams and
Kathy Young
Another GED!
Congratulations are in order
for Marsha Crowe and her tutor, Claire Blake for a job well done. Once
again, there's no substitute for hard work and commitment to a goal.
Awesome! |
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