Resources for Practitioners

If you need help or ideas for using digital technology for learning or program administration, please contact us at AlphaPlus. If you have ideas for resources that we can add to Resources pages, please contact Tracey .

Tracey would LOVE to hear about how your practice has changed under social-distancing conditions and the cool stuff LBS practitioners and learners are doing to keep learning happening, so please stay in touch.

AlphaPlus did a survey in November that looked at how people working in Ontario’s Literacy and Basic Skills (LBS) system responded to COVID-19 shutdowns in the spring of 2020: alphaplus.ca/the-sudden-shift-to-remote-delivery-in-lbs

The QUILL Network collected all the good ideas from community-based literacy agencies in the Western Region of Ontario tasked with continuing to deliver literacy programming during the COVID-19 pandemic: https://www.quillnetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Best-Practices-Report-March-22-2021.pdf

Learning and Teaching

Remote Learning Online (to incorporate into your program)

The Resources for Learners page has activities that literacy learners can do at home.

The Learning Centres at Simcoe County District School Board have created a website with online learning resources and activities organized into topics and by level.

The Literacy Group instructors Julie and Johanna have created a website with lists of good places to learn online.

Open Educational Resources (Online Textbooks)

Workbooks and Activity Sheets that are freely available in digital formats to cut down on scanning and converting time for instructors.

There are many free, customizable, and editable resources for adult educators and their learners. By using Open Educational Resources (OER) in the classroom and online, teachers and agencies can save money, revise and refresh curriculum, and give learners an opportunity to customize their learning.

*These resources were recommended to AlphaPlus by instructors at the Toronto District School Board.

Reading and Writing

Adult Literacy Fundamental English Series from BC Reads

  • Are you looking for free online reading resources for adults working on their reading skills? You can find great, made-in-BC content in the BC Reads: Adult Literacy Fundamental English series. Written by Shantel Ivits, this set of six readers includes original, high interest stories written for adults. Each reader is available to download in several electronic formats, including editable formats you can customize. They are also available to purchase in hardcopy. Each reader has an accompanying Course Pack that includes audio recordings and exercises.

  • These books are also available on the eCampus Pressbooks site. You can find them by putting adult literacy fundamental english into the search.

*Changing Lanes: English as a Second Language Reading Series

  • Emerging reader texts with appropriate graphics for adults (no caterpillars or bunnies). It's for low level 1 learners so there's only a few sentences on each page. Because it's an ESL resource, it's more situational vocabulary-based (lots of sight words) rather than boosting phonemic-awareness in approach, so this may or may not meet the needs of the learners you're working with.


Numeracy

*eTextbooks: Adult Education from Open School BC

  • These foundation-level resources are helpful for adult learners to prepare for assessment testing, post-secondary programs or career training. They’re also useful for students in Grades 7 to 10. There are 4 levels of math textbooks and one science text book.

Adult Literacy Fundamental Math Series from BC Reads

  • Available on the eCampus Pressbooks site. You can find them by putting adult literacy fundamentals math into the search.

  • These fundamental mathematics books are for adult learners and include a Table of Contents, Glossary, Grades Records, Self Tests, Practice Tests, and Unit Tests. Each book is available to download in several electronic formats, including editable formats you can customize. They are also available to purchase in hardcopy.

*My Math Path: 4, 5 and 6 from Decoda Literacy

  • This is an e-learning textbook for adults who want to upgrade their basic math skills, and for teachers or tutors looking for math resources they can use with students. The first section covers decimals in general, with specific reference to place value; mathematical operations with decimals; and order of operations. The second section of the textbook covers fractions and includes material on operations with fractions; equivalent fractions; converting between fractions and decimals; and estimation. The third section is subdivided into modules on ratios and proportions; percent; powers and roots; and statistics. Each section or module begins with a statement of learning outcomes; a glossary of terms used; numerous math exercises; and a practice test and solutions.

*Problem of the Week from Centre for Education in Mathematics and Computing at the University of Waterloo

  • Math word problems in PDFs. These are designed for students in Grade 3 and up. The graphics and content mostly seem appropriate for adult learners as well as younger students. Instructors working with adults may want to change some of the elements in the scenarios slightly.

  • The Problem of the Week is designed to provide students with an ongoing opportunity to solve mathematical problems. Each week, problems from various areas of mathematics will be posted here for use with their students from grades 3 and up.

  • You can subscribe. to the problems - the problem will be emailed to you and the solution will be emailed a week later. You can download a booklets with all past problems organized into strands (topics).

30 Free Google Drawings Graphic Organizers by Eric Curts

  • Plus directions for how to make your own.

  • Graphic organizers are a great tool to share information, explain a concept, or illustrate a relationship using elements including images, shapes, text, colors, and connecting lines. They can be used in education with any age group or subject area.



Building Remote Learning "Classrooms"

Getting ready for remote learning

If you are wondering if your students are ready for online learning, you can use this questionnaire as a template to find out. Sandra Martinez from Centennial College LBS kindly shared this with us so that we could share it with you.

Here is a list of considerations and suggestions for supporting learners making the switch to remote learning: bit.ly/APready4remote

Planning remote learning

We made this planning guide for instructors making the pivot: bit.ly/toolboxplan This planning guide was used as part of a reflective practice process to building a digital toolbox for remote learning. If you want to see more about what we did, look through the Google Drive folder we used with the group from the Toronto District School Board: bit.ly/TDSBplanning If you are interested in a facilitated version of these workshops, please contact Tracey.

You may find the curated lists in the Blended Learning Toolbox helpful when thinking about what tools to use.

School Virtually has a planning guide here: schoolvirtually.org/educators It is designed for teachers who work with children but a lot of the planning tools will work well for adult education instructors.

AlphaPlus Tip Sheets - Resources for remote learning

Here are two easy-to-use online resources that are free and do not require accounts. They are good places to create, communicate and collaborate with groups or individuals.

Getting ready for remote learning

Padlet - bit.ly/APPadlet

AnswerGarden - bit.ly/APanswergarden

Here are some tips for building community in video conference classes.

Building Community - bit.ly/APbuildcommunity


QUILL Network Tip Sheets

Communicating with Learners

Help Learners Access Devices and Internet

Learning Resources


Silver Linings Café - Tips for how to use Zoom in adult basic education

The Silver Linings Café was created by the Metro Toronto Movement for Literacy to help instructors with the pivot to remote learning and took place from April to June 2020. AlphaPlus supported the development of the Café and co-facilitated the sessions.

MTML created a set of "manuals with step-by-step instructions and practitioner tips on how to use Zoom, as well as highlights of some of the features that Silver Lining Café participants have told us are useful in making the most of their Zoom meetings with learners."


More

These collections may have some good information for programs connecting remotely with learners.

If you find a resource here that is particularly useful to you, get in touch and let us know how you are using it so we can highlight it here.

Professional Learning (more places to learn)

Here are tips from the QUILL Network:

Professional Development

Engaging Volunteers

Here are some links that may help if you are working remotely with learners and some professional development resources if you have time for that while you are working from home.

AlphaPlus Web Index

AlphaPlus Useful Apps

Computer Basics

Digital Technology for Learning

Digital Resources for Personalized Learning

Reflective Practice

Learn to Code

Numeracy Resources

Blended Learning Paper

Digital Divide

Life, Rights and Health

Life During a Pandemic

Life During a Pandemic

If you are helping people learn about Corona Virus, these resources might help:

Laubach Literacy Ontario is posting OALCF Task-based Activity Ideas each week. The theme for Week 1 is Life During a Pandemic.

Rights and Benefits During a Pandemic

Rights and Benefits During a Pandemic

If you are helping people navigate their rights during COVID-19, these resources might help:


Health During a Pandemic

QUILL Network Tip Sheet

Mental Health

Mental Health During a Pandemic

If you are helping people find Mental Health resources, these might help:

Practitioner Health During a Pandemic

Hope Matters

  • Mays Imad offers 10 teaching strategies to support students and help them continue to learn during this time of uncertainty. This article makes me think of LBS practitioners and how you bring compassion, hope and resilience to the work that you do.

Teacher, Interrupted: Leaning into Social-Emotional Learning Amid the COVID-19 Crisis

  • This is not a snow day. It’s not a holiday break. It’s a crisis. So what can we do to support ourselves and our students in getting through these difficult times?

'Panic-gogy': Teaching Online Classes During The Coronavirus Pandemic

  • "I think the first thing is we are not building online courses or converting your face to face courses to online learning. Really, what we're doing is we are trying to extend a sense of care to our students and trying to build a community that's going to be able to work together to get through the learning challenges that we have."

from the British Council: Managing teacher well-being while teaching remotely

Other resource pages: