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Winter 2005-06

Program Update

Our September 19 and 20, 2005 Tutor Training was a great group of volunteers eager and ready to help the literacy cause. Many are already involved as tutors and volunteers, and the others will find their niche within our program. New students are always coming forth. Many of them are interested in obtaining their G.E.D. (General Education Development): one of the fastest growing parts of the literacy program, second only to ESL (English as a Second Language). The remainder of our clients are ABE (Adult Basic Education). We are fortunate to have our super-special volunteers and the steady flow of new students. We are blessed to live in a wonderful country where freedom to learn and achieve is available to all at our community library. And the icing on this cake--our volunteers.

Future Dates

(Please mark your calendar!)

Tuesday, November 8, 2005 --
7 p.m. Tutor Support Meeting Assessment --pre and post testing, TABE, BEST, informal and standardized tests--assessment committee members present.

Tuesday, December 6, 2005 -- 7 p.m. Tutor Support Meeting --Tutoring Tips-Master tutors available to answer questions.

Wednesday, March 15, 2006 -- 7 p.m. Tutor Support Meeting --Health Literacy-how we can help ABE and ESL students--guest speaker from the medical profession.

Tuesday, April 11, 2006 -- 7 p.m. Learning Styles --how do we learn, how do our students learn, and “This Works for Me.”

Monday, April 17, 2006 -- 6:30 – 8:45 p.m. and Tuesday, April 18, 2006 -- 6:30-8:45 p.m.
Spring Tutor Training. Both nights mandatory!

Wednesday, May 10, 2006 -- 7 p.m. Tutor Support Meeting New materials for ABE, GED, ESL

Wednesday, June 14, 2006 — 7:30 p.m. Tutor-Student Reception , gala reception to honor all tutors and students. Plan to come!

Project Progress

Adult Literacy Advisory Board - Representatives of Abington Free Library, Abington Memorial Hospital , Eastern Center for Art and Technology, Penn State Abington, Abington Township Schools and Rydal Park Retirement Community comprise this committee. Library representatives are Nancy Hammeke Marshall, Doranne Smith and Marlyn Cohen.

Assessment Committee - Lois Bachman, Doris Kalan, Marcia Klafter, Marcia Jacoby and Marlyn Cohen oversee procedures for the TABE and BEST TESTS. Test outcomes are analyzed and reported. The Pennsylvania Department of Education requires administration of these standardized tests. Selma Dafilou and Arlene Franco are committee members.

Citizenship Committee - Doris Kalan, Chairperson will lead U.S. Citizenship candidates through the process from green card to citizenship. She is available to answer questions about U.S requirements. Call 215-885-5183

Conversation Please! - The daytime class meets Tuesday mornings, 10:30 till noon , under the supervision of two volunteer teachers. Ann Gaugler and Edis Hall welcome ESL students and help them feel comfortable while they learn the language and culture of America . Sara Chernoff and Jackie Cohen joined the staff.

Conversation Please! - On Monday evenings at 7:15 , Beverly Willett, Doranne Smith and Donna Hower lead an "English as a Second Language" class for foreign-born students at the library. Many countries are represented, and only English is spoken.

E-Quality Program Improvement Committee Lois Bachman, Selma Dafilou, Arlene Franco, Doris Kalan, Marcia Klafter, Marcia Jacoby and Marlyn Cohen work together toward program improvement. How can our tutors and students be served better?

Family Literacy - A 6-week program in the fall and spring for 3-4 year olds meets Friday mornings at 10 a.m. at Jenkintown Day Nursery. Led by Family Literacy Committee members. Head Start meets on Wednesday morning in Crestmont, led by Edith Lane , Rena Spratt and Lillian Gibson.

Help With Homework - Each Thursday afternoon 3:30-4:30 kindergarten through sixth-graders from Abington and Cheltenham School Districts meet tutors from Stern High School in Philadelphia at the library. Led by Rebecca Damsker, literacy, the library, the tutors and students work together to help the tutors accomplish community service and the children achieve in school.

Literacy Live - A talented group of performers who are eager to spread the literacy word via a live, script-in-hand performance at your club, service organization, school, church or synagogue. What does it take to be a volunteer, how does a student feel about needing help, how can we help as tutors? Our group is talented and inspirational. Please call 885-5183 to volunteer your talents or inquire about a performance.

Master Tutors --Three Master Tutors (Lois Bachman, Marcia Klafter and Doris Kalan) are available to answer your questions regarding students, programs, materials and all literacy matters. Please utilize this great resource for any special needs. Call 885-5183

Technology Committee ( Learning Center ) -Computers, TV-VCR, and cassettes are all available in the literacy office. Our "techies", Marcia Jacoby and Joan Schwerin, are ready to help. Call 215-885-5183.

Tutor Support Committee - We are fortunate to have a dedicated group of volunteers who mail the Literacy Link and call the tutors regarding meetings, special events and program information. We meet once a month on Mondays and have a delightful time.

Workplace - Rydal Park Retirement Community is the site of a Tuesday afternoon class for employees who need literacy help. Doranne Smith, Peg Cheney and Ingrid Rivel work together to produce fine results in the workplace.

Write It Right - Students in need of extra help with grammar and writing skills are welcome Thursday afternoon from 1-2:30. Judi Rosen will lead this class, and individual instruction is available when needed. She is assisted by Marcia Spitofsky

Classifieds: Help Wanted, Help Given and Orchids!

Orchids --to Marcia Jacoby and Beverly Willett for their attendance at a Volunteer Fair at Penn State Abington in September where they recruited student volunteers for literacy and served as Abington Free Library Adult Literacy representatives. Many thanks for their time and effort!

Orchids --to Mimi Satterthwaite, Head of the Reference Department, who provided a tour of the collection to new literacy tutors. Well done, Mimi!

Orchids --to the circulation staff for serving as couriers and messengers on behalf of our tutors and students. They relay important information when there is a real need.

Orchids --to the children's department staff for their literacy cooperation-occasionally a special message or a key! Thank you Carolyn, Andy and Trudy.

Orchids --to Marcia Jacoby for her attendance at a recent advisory board meeting for Southeastern Pennsylvania Department of Education at Won Community Church in Glenside. A delicious Korean luncheon was an additional treat enjoyed by all.

Orchids --to Joan Schwerin for the terrific brochure and map she developed for Career Link which contains all the Montgomery County literacy organizations and their locations for anyone seeking literacy help. She is a vital member of Career Link which meets monthly to coordinate and develop literacy activities for the county.

Orchids --to our Master Tutors--Lois Bachman, Marcia Klafter and Doris Kalan for being available to answer all the difficult program questions. Please call them whenever necessary at 885-5183.

Orchids --to Lois Bachman, our GED chairperson, advisor, test scorer for all standardized testing and presenter at GED Tutor Support recent meeting. For any and all GED queries, call 885-5183.

Orchids --to Marcia Jacoby and Joan Schwerin for their computer expertise and their willingness to share their knowledge of hardware and software. They expertly collect program data and provide the Pennsylvania Department of Education with required information. Call on them for computer help.

Orchids --To Nancy Hammeke Marshall, Jeanette Andrews, Karen Burnham and Rick Guyton for editing, typing, laying out and printing the Literacy Link. Super job!

Orchids --to Pennsylvania Department of Education for providing an annual grant which makes the Abington Free Library Adult Literacy Program possible.

Orchids --to our exemplary tutors for their extraordinary efforts in improving their clients' lives. Our program couldn't exist without you.

Orchids --to Judi Rosen for leading the “Write It Right” class, Thursdays 1:00-2:30 , helping foreign-born students improve English writing skills, GED candidates with their essays and all students with writing needs. Also, thank you to Marcia Spitofsky for her assistance.

Orchids --to our Tutor Support Committee--Marla Benjamin, Beverly Willett, Arlene Franco, Donna Hower, Ann Gaugler, Lois Bachman, Peg Cheney, Marcia Klafter and Maria Delatorre. They mail our Literacy Link and make phone calls about important literacy news. They deserve kudos.

Orchids --to our conscientious and loyal classroom teachers of “Conversation Please!” and Rydal Park Workplace. They help ESL students at the library on Monday evenings and Tuesday mornings and at the workplace class (ESL and ABE) on Tuesdays. Beverly Willett, Doranne Smith, Donna Hower, Ann Gaugler, and Edis Hall head the library classes. Peg Cheney, Ingrid Rivel, and Doranne Smith are the special Rydal Park teachers.

Orchids --to our Abington Free Library staff--reference, circulation, children's and office staff. You make our work a pleasure.

Orchids --to our incoming tutors, volunteers and students. The library doors are open, and all are welcome.

Orchids --to Rebecca Damsker and her students from Stern High School for the “Help with Homework” class on Thursdays. What a wonderful community project! Many thanks.

Help Wanted --Committee members for literacy program projects are always needed. If you would like to volunteer, please call 885-5183. Your help would be greatly appreciated.

Help Wanted --please sign out all materials in the brown sign-out book on the office desk under the first letter of your name. When returned, cross out. Please return any manuals and re-usable materials so that others may use them.

Help Wanted --please mark your calendars for future dates through June. Come to Tutor Support Meetings as often as possible. Program continuing education credit is given.

Help Wanted --Call 885-5183 with any special news, any changes, goals reached, anecdotal accounts, problems and questions. Please keep the lines of communication open. If you need an answer, we will reply.

Help Wanted --call the library’s main number 885-5180 for information re/library closings during inclement weather and/or national holidays and for library hours. If the library is closed or hours shortened, please inform your student ASAP.

Help Wanted --Please sign in at the circulation desk on the date you and your student are meeting. Those hours are calculated and recorded for the library statistics. We need your monthly attendance sheets for program data for hours and outcomes.

Tutoring Tidbits

by Marcia Klafter
WALKING THE FINE LINE- BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS WHILE MAINTAINING BOUNDARIES

One of the tremendous benefits for both tutors and adult students are the positive, trusting, and supportive relationships that develop as the weeks go by. These relationships serve as a powerful motivating force for learning. We build these through:

However, establishing the fine line between the tutor's role as "teacher" and being a counselor, social worker or friend is often hard to maintain. A student may want:

For the most part, these expectations are not part of the tutor/adult student relationship. Once a tutor takes on these roles and gives advice or support, the message given is that these expectations are acceptable and the relationship may go beyond the comfort level. The best bet is to refer the person to someone else and to keep your role and expertise clear to your student. What do you think? We'd like to hear from you.

Recent Fall Tutor Training Graduates--Welcome!

Beth Pronovost
Rashmi Iyer
Colleen Cole
Jane Taft
Jo Ann Foley
Zoey Reese
Mara Wai
Hyun-ki Kang
Lorette Lefebure
Sherry Kennedy
Dee Nathans
Cheryl Karabell
Bennett Lear Fairorth
Ralph V. Wilkes
Anna Prinzo
Karen Hart
Lee Bercilosky
Barbara Cooperberg
Lillian Gibson
Jim Cook
Dulce Fisher
Kate Heron
...and others.

The Long and Short of It

If you saw the film " F.A.T. City --Frustration, Anxiety and Tension" at our latest Tutor Support Meeting, you came away with a greater understanding of learning disability and how we can apply that to learning in adults. Be flexible, slow down, reinforce and listen: these are several ways to improve teaching. Above all, the film sensitized us to the differences in learning and how we can adjust our style to help our clients

New and Noteworthy

Program Improvement Planning has focused on monthly attendance sheets so that hours and achievements are recorded by each tutor for their student. We have greatly improved in that area. There is a need to further improve so that our rating at the adult literacy division of Pennsylvania Department of Education continues to improve. The assessment area continues to improve, too! As each student enters our program, they are pre-tested with the TABE or BEST test. After approximately 50 hours of teaching they are post-tested. Our percentages are climbing, and we are working to further improve the process.

Marlyn Cohen
Program Supervisor

Next Literacy Link April 2006