Literacy Coalition of Colorado Mini-Conference

February 6 & 7, 2015

The Literacy Coalition of Colorado is a network of literacy organizations within
Colorado, which intends to provide training and networking opportunities to literacy teachers,
administrators, tutors, and volunteers. This two-day conference was a very beneficial use of my
time as an ESL instructor. I attended seven sessions total and made many contacts and
connections with fellow ESL instructors. The following is a synopsis of what I learned from each
session.
The first main session was led by Jane C. Miller, the Profession Development
Coordinator at the Colorado Department of Education (CDE) Adult Education and Family
Literacy Office. Her session highlighted each individuals professional development experiences
and how diverse and useful each one can be for educators. She pinpointed four types of
knowledge that teachers need: awareness for resources, knowledge of learning and teaching
strategies, change of practice through implementation of strategies, and changing theories and
assumptions about specific strategies for particular learners. The core features of Professional
Development include: content focus, active learning, coherence, duration, and collective
participation. She related these features to the audience of educators by asking two questions.
Which PD experiences typically give teachers a mere passing acquaintance with new concepts?
Which have the potential to create long-term change in practice (Miller, J., 2015)? This session
helped me to focus more intently on the conference, specifically regarding what I will take from
this conference and apply to my teaching practice.
The second main session was presented by Philip Trejo, a former public school
superintendent, school turnaround specialist, reading interventionist, and college director of

faculty development. His topic was about incorporating academic resiliency strategies into
education programs to improve student motivation, prevent anxiety, and creating a growth
mindset to be successful. The presenters main emphasis was that for students to achieve
successful results academically, instructors must recognize that mindset comes before mastery
of content (Trejo, P., 2015). Trejo explained that academic resiliency directly connects to
students self-belief, control, persistence, and reduces anxiety. By targeting individual students in
dealing with setbacks, stress, and academic pressures, instructors can better support their
academic success. I appreciate this presentations emphasis on motivational, non-cognitive
needs, such as emotional and affective issues, which hinder a students academic progress if they
are not addressed.
The third session I attended was Scaffolding Lessons to Teach Critical Thinking Skills.
This session was one of the most useful sessions at the conference due to the way it provided
helpful examples of scaffolds that I can apply to my lesson plans. It also provided examples of
how to incorporate critical thinking skills into lesson plans for all levels of English learners. The
presenters cited helpful critical thinking rubrics and resources for scaffolding techniques. They
also demonstrated these techniques in a listening/speaking and reading/writing lesson. I hope to
utilize the handout with 19 scaffolding techniques. The session helped me to come up with a
scaffolding template I can use in my writing lessons, which entails an outline to help students
with paragraph writing. It seems simple, but students need prompts to complete complex
activates such as paragraph writing.
The next session I attended was a helpful introduction to viewing math as a physical
reality known as Embodied cognition. This was useful to me personally, as I tutor a 5th grade
student who is struggling with her math skills and has some physical-cognitive disabilities. This

session opened my eyes to perceiving numbers on a page as physical representations. Using a

visual number-line and rhythm, the presenter helped me understand the space relationships of
integers. I will be able to apply this knowledge directly to my student. The presenter provided
ample handouts and templates to practice this form of spacial math that I will be able to bring
into my tutoring sessions.
The 5th session I attended was somewhat helpful in providing various ESL activities.
Unfortunately, many of the activities were meant for very low level learners and would be
difficult to adapt to high level or academic ESL students. For example, TPR is used with more
basic English students, but it is a useful method. Ive used it with intermediate level in teaching
human body vocabulary and prepositions. The presenters shared some useful websites, games
and activity books that I may use, such as Bananagrams, Oxford Picture Dictionary Activities,
and worksheetgenius.com.
The 6th session I attended, Androgogy: The Science of Adult Learning, was extremely
informative as it was about the principles of adult learners. As adult learners are my targeted
audience of learners, I found this presentation very insightful. The presenter introduced Malcolm
Shepherd Knowless conceptualization of Androgogy, the study of how adults learn, including
his six principles of adult learning: motivation and self-direction, life experiences and
knowledge, goal oriented and purpose driven, relevancy oriented, practical and problem solving,
and respect as an adult learner. The presenter also incorporated puzzles of practice, which are
dilemmas or challenges in teaching adult learners (diverse age groups in one class, cultural
diversity, language diversity). In small groups, instructors discussed such puzzles and ways to
resolve or work through such challenges. This presentation will make me more aware of the

characteristics of adult learners and the specific factors that I need to keep in mind when
planning lessons and interacting with adult learners.
The final session I attended focused on using storytelling and story creation as a tool for
literacy in ESL. The presenter first acknowledged how story telling is a natural, ancient tradition
of language and that many cultures use it in communicating lessons, values, history, and problem
solving skills. It also provides a way for parents to connect to their children, takes people out of a
place of fear/anxiety, cultivates imagination, and teaches cause/effect and critical thinking skills.
The presenter also mentioned that story telling is a great way for students to explain their
character, values and identity to employers in job interviews. This session introduced four useful
story-telling activities that I will use with my students. Strip stories are a great way to utilize
critical thinking skills in story organization and place/time order. Jar stories provide characters,
settings, and problems for small groups to create their stories. They also provide a way to
practice target language, vocabulary, and grammar. Picture-file stories and realia/props both
provide a prompt for students to create an imaginary world. Groups then demonstrated these
prompts. My group selected a prop which was a porcelain dog. We developed a story about the
dog rescuing a sick child by retrieving medicine from a local village. We then collaboratively
wrote a limerick about the prompt. This limerick, below, is entitled Chester the Rescue Dog.
There once was a sled dog named Chester,
Who saved a baby named Lester,
The baby caught croup, and they sent a message with chief Kalup,
So the illness wouldnt fester.

The snow in the woods was piled,

They were stuck out in the wild,
A musher came by and told Chester to fly,
To the village for a cure for the child.

Chester was covered from head to toe in fur,

Though he wondered if he could endure,
He had frozen paws, yet never forgot his cause,
But arrived safely with the cure.