Charboneau Learning Center of The Literacy Project 15 Bank Row, Greenfield, MA 01301 413-774-3935

Learning at Charboneau

English Language Arts Social Studies Math Science & Health Job Readiness

The Literacy Project provides educational programs and opportunities that support participants to engage fully in the economic, social, and political life of their communities.

Adult Basic Education (ABE)

The ABE field is typically divided into two broad areas: basic literacy and English language proficiency. As a site of "The Literacy Project" we focus on the first. Our community partners (CNA and ILI) focus on teaching English language skills. "ABE" also has a second meaning where it is used as a compliment to ASE (Adult Secondary Education: often equivalent to G.E.D instruction. In this case the difference depends on grade levels.)

Literacy (and Numeracy)

"Reading, 'Rriting, and 'Rithmatic" or "The ability to understand, use, and create meaning with symbols"?

One definition does not exclude the other. We can't stray too far from the basics, but it's also hard for us not to take a very broad view of literacy. The ABE field includes Health Literacy, Family Literacy, and Economic Literacy. Thus the Literacy Project's mission is to help learners develop skills to guide their functioning as family members, citizens and economic actors. Also, more and more vital tasks in our society are dependent on Technological Literacy and so we use computers as writing and research tools.

Teaching

As teachers, our responsibility is to develop and maintain productive learning environments in all our classes. Together we have almost 25 years of Adult Basic Education experience and over 30 years of teaching experience.

Work Habits and Attitudes

Attending regularly, arriving on time, cooperating with the group, doing one's best, and asking for (and accepting) help appropriately . . .These types of skills are fundamental for success in life as well as in any job or any Adult Education class. At Charboneau they are the basic foundation for higher skill building. Meaningful engagement, good work habits and effective social skills are mutually reinforcing. At Charboneau we work in a classroom, but there are a lot of ways a classroom can help people develop good Job Readiness skills.

Higher Order Thinking Skills

These include analysis, synthesis, critical thinking, strategies, and methods for checking yourself. The ability to explain "why" a certain series of steps was chosen to solve a particular problem involves all kinds of thinking and communication skills. The ability to change a procedure to make it apply to a given situation is one criteria for "true" understanding. These types of skills are often essential in how the education process can transform an individual, and how individuals transform their world. They are also considered fundamental to passing the G.E.D.

Constructivism

Constructivists believe that learning is an active process. They focus on how individuals and groups create meaning when learning occurs. Our definition of "literacy" may influence yours, but YOUR definition is what will guide your efforts and understanding.

Group, Collaborative and Cooperative Learning

Classes rarely exceed 10 learners, and are often much smaller. We believe that learning is most effective in small collaborative groups. We work to make each class a productive "Learning Community."

Participatory Education and Popular Education

Cycles of "Action and Reflection" are an important part of both approaches to Adult Education. The two approaches also emphasize the transformative nature of the learning process. The focus is on developing critical consciousness as well as a more developed sense of responsibility as learners grow in competence and confidence. Not surprisingly, both approaches view "Ownership" and "Control" as key to meaningful change.

"Participatory Education" tends to focus on learners "owning and controlling" the learning process. In its ideal form, the instructor is a co-learner with the class.

"Popular Education" incorporates all of the above while stressing how education can transform society.

Individual Learning Time

Learners need time for solitary practice, study, and reflection. They also need time for individual attention from a teacher to help them master new skills and concepts. Individual Learning time is also necessary for students to develop and pursue their own learning goals during class time.

Thematic Units

There's gotta be ways to put it all together! It seems important to make connections between what we learned yesterday, what we are studying today, and what we will do tomorrow. Building many lessons, activities, discussions, and presentations around a single theme is one way making such connections.

Goals

Serious and realistic goals imply the ability to think clearly and systematically about one's own assets and needs. A particular goal may depend on specific skills, steps, and processes. If we are successful, we help learners develop a more systematic way of thinking about and working on their own goals.

Students are asked about their goals when they first meet us. As part of regular counseling we strategize about breaking goals down into measurable objectives and action steps. These objectives and action steps then become an Individual Learning Plan that guides how students use their Individual Learning Time. It also helps teachers plan and organize group activities and lessons.

Assessment

The simplest definition of "Assessment" might be "checking to see that your goals are really being met." A meaningful approach to assessment necessarily takes account of student goals even as it helps develop them.

Assessment is the best way of being realistic about goals, and we take assessment seriously for individual learners, for whole classes, and as a program.

Progress is checked in regular counseling sessions and in monthly progress reports. We are also developing "Career and College Portfolios" where learners keep their resumes and examples of their best work.

We work with learners to help them develop methods of evaluating their own skills at communicating and solving problems. We respect that the vast majority of our learners come to us with "Getting A GED" as their main goal. But focusing our classroom assessment on Math and Writing helps us create many vibrant and challenging activities around a wide variety of interest areas around some common goals.

We also administer regular standardized tests that allow learners to judge their progress while giving the Department of Education a way to help us evaluate our own educational programming.

The Massachusetts Department of Education has a computer system that helps them track the progress of Adult Learners all across the commonwealth. When someone gets their GED, gets a better job, or becomes the first one in their family to go to college, our whole community is enriched. Registering to vote, increasing one's ability to help their child with homework, and finding safe, stable housing are also steps that benefit individuals and their communities.