Announcements

ANNOUNCEMENTS
June 16, 2006

MARSHALL ABE

1. PAY ROLL As you all know we are transitioning to a new schedule for pay dates. Beginning July 1st, pay dates will be on the 1st and 15th of each month. In preparation for this, there is be one short pay period. This short period is June 12 - June 15th (this week). I will need time sheets for these four days turned in on Friday, June 16th. You should receive your pay check for these four days on July 3rd.

The next pay period will cover June 16 - June 30th, with time sheets due on July 3rd, and pay day being July 14th.

ALL HOURS WORKED THROUGH THE END OF JUNE, MUST BE TURNED IN BY JULY 3RD TO ENSURE PAYMENT FOR THESE HOURS!!

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2. ALL Requests for Reimbursement should be turned in to the office by June 26 to ensure that payment is made during this Fiscal Year.

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3. Week of July 3-8th - There will be no classes held at the courthouse during this week. However, the office will remain open. Classes at other locations within the consortium will be at the instructor's discretion. Please advise the office of your plans.

MARSHALL CONSORTIUM

4. PRIORITY! Later on in the announcements, there is information about the Summer Institute (formerly Summer Intensive Training) that will be held the first week of August. If you are interested in attending, please let the office know by June 15th.

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5. There will not be a Consortium Staff Meeting in July. The next such meeting is tenatatively planned for Saturday, September 9th. Please send any items you would like placed on the agenda.

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6. Later on in the announcements, there is information about the Summer Institute (formerly Summer Intensive Training) that will be held the first week of August. If you are interested in attending, please let the office know by June 15th.

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SOUTHWEST ABE

7. Sally Belgum-Blad is representing SW - ABE Marshall Region at the National Head Start Family Literacy Center's 2006 Curriculum Advisory Committee meeting in Washington D.C. on Thursday. In August of 2005, Pat/SW - ABE Marshall Region was asked to submit a letter of support and commitment to partner with the National Family Literacy Training and Technical Assistance Center and Sally was asked to submit a similar letter of support serving as the Reading Skills for Today's Adults Consultant by the now Director of the National Head Start Family Literacy Center.

According to the Director, Thursday's meeting will consist of "picking the brains" of the collected group of committee members to help guide the Center as it moves forward with curriculum over the next 4 years. This may lead to family literacy programs nationwide utilizing the Reading Skills for Today's Adults programs, as well as other valuable resources on our website. Small programs, such as ours, can create some "big" opportunities for learners nationwide! (Note: See next announcement)

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8. From Pat: I thought you might be interested in reading an e-mail we received last week via our website. We receive these types of E-mails frequently from all over the country............just thought you might like to read one. (Note *: I have deleted some personal information from the submitted form)

01_name: Gail *
02_address: *
03_city: Springvale
04_state: ME
05_zip: 04083
06_email: *

07_message: I'm an ESL teacher in Maine who stumbled on your Website. Just wanted you to know how wonderful it is. We use the student lessons almost every day for lower level students and the stories for higher levels. One non-ESL teacher at our school is using those too. Thank you for all your work.
Form: Submit.
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9. Below is the website for the Summer Institute – conference description and registration materials. MCEA will be handling the registrations. You may want to hit the PRINT button for the brochure, or turn your head 90 degrees to the right to view. On a fun note, I hope to host a Mini-Bass Tournament at the conference for an hour on Thursday evening. I understand that a limited number of canoes (7) are on hand and I will arrange for those to be available. Fish as an individual or a team of two. Bass only. Largest fish wins a trophy. Instructions about sign-up will be forthcoming. ~Barry Shaffer

http://www.literacyminnesota.org/Summer_Institute.html

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10. A "Whoops" at the last legislative session..............Information comes from Barry Shaffer and MCEA describing the fact that when the legislative folks passed the 3% increase to the ABE base....it was not included in a budget line item. The 1.25 million for each year for ESL services for the next 2 years was passed correctly. Click on the link below to read the information from Barry. If you have any questions regarding this..........please give me a call. Pat

http://www.marshalladulteducation.org/leg_oversight.htm

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11. From Pat: I received this information from Barry Shaffer - Please let me know if this information if helpful to you.

Steck Vaughn has 3 correlations that may be of value to you as you assist your students to achieve their learning goals. Correlations are a great way to find the specific materials your students will need depending upon the results of these assessment tools. The correlations are:
     TABE outcomes to Steck Vaughn materials
     CASAS outcomes to Steck Vaughn materials
     GED Official Practice Test to Steck Vaughn Materials (for forms PA through PE)

Here are the directions to download them from our website
     Go to www.harcourtachieve.com
     Click on the large green tab in the center that says Steck Vaughn
     On the left side is a list of Resources. Click on Correlations
     On the left, within the box is a search feature. Under Correlations, click on the drop-down menu and select Adult
     Skip the rest of the features, and click on Search
     Scroll down to select the correlation you need. It’s a big list, so you may need to scroll a bit!Let me know if you need any assistance or have problems with the web site.

If you have any questions, or if I may be of assistance, please call or email anytime. Have a great summer and hope to see you soon!!
Ann Beeson, M.Ed.
Secondary & Adult Sales Consultant for
Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin
Steck-Vaughn, A Harcourt Achieve Imprint
Eden Prairie, MN
ann.beeson@harcourt.com
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GENERAL

12. Here is correspondence from the ILCM sent to us from Diane Pecoraro.

I am writing to offer an excellent service for your immigrant students. I am the Education Coordinator at the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota (ILCM). At the ILCM, we offer an education service to immigrants by giving presentations on citizenship, immigration law like deportation, and immigrant rights (documented or undocumented). We present to all immigrants of all ages and organizations who have interest in immigration.

I am currently looking to help ABE schools because most youth and public schools do not run throughout the summer, so my time can be more focused on ABE students. Please take advantage of a great opportunity for your students to understand immigration law and have a resource to answer their questions.

This information is vital to the immigrant community. I am hoping with your help I can get in contact with ABE schools to offer this non-profit service. It would be most helpful if you could forward this e-mail to ABE teachers and/or provide a list so that I can attempt to connect with teachers.

I appreciate any help you can offer!

Trang

Trang Nguyen
Immigrant Law Center
Education Coordinator
651.641.1011
trang.nguyen@ilcm.org

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13. Here is a neat site from the Adult Literacy Media Alliance. There are student lessons and activities in reading, writing, vocabularly, math and genral interest topics. Check it out here:

http://www.tv411.org/index.shtml

There are many other great links on our Resources Page - check them out here:

http://www.marshalladulteducation.org/resources.htm

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14. From Lois Schmidt: Here is the web address for an article on immigrants as assets from the Iowa State University Rural Development News that may be of interest to some.
http://www.ag.iastate.edu/centers/rdev/newsletter/Vol28No3-2006/immigrants.htm

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15. From the Trivia Department: Snopes.com is one of the best urban legend debunking sites. I read almost all the urban legends in the Computer category - it's amazing what people are falling for!

http://www.snopes.com/

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16. NEW on the website: Missed a site from the Trivia Department - or can't remember the address? You can now see all the Trivia Sites previously posted on the web site at:

http://www.marshalladulteducation.org/trivia.htm

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17. Thought for the week: Learn as though you would never be able to master it; hold it as though you would be in fear of losing it. ~Confucius

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18. Tech Tip: Windows Vista

A new version of Microsoft Windows is right around the corner. It is called Windows Vista. Windows Vista Beta 2 is actually available for anyone to download and try out. I wouldn’t suggest you do that unless you put it on a computer that is not your primary workstation.

But before you do that, you should know the system requirements to run this new OS. The new “sys-reqs” will eliminate some people from running this OS on their current computers.

Here are the minimum requirements:

· 1 GHz processor.

· 1 GB of memory.

· A graphics processor that runs Windows Aero2 (the name for the new graphical user interface or gui).

· 128 MB of graphics memory.

· 40 GB of hard drive capacity with 15 GB free; a DVD drive, speakers, and Internet access.

OK – so that eliminates a lot of computers right off the bat. Even some slightly older computers may not even have the ability to be upgraded to reach those minimum requirements. And these are minimum – in the computer specs world, more is better.

Windows Vista has a release date of January, 2007. So if you are shopping for a new computer these days, be sure that the computer you are considering purchasing will have the capability of running this new operating system. OR – just wait until they begin shipping computers with the new system pre-installed.

And there are other considerations. Be aware that when you install this new operating system, or buy a new computer with the system pre-installed, some of your old software may not work. You may need to upgrade some of your favorite software packages. This website has a review of Windows Vista and lists some software that may or may not be compatible with Vista.

http://www.winsupersite.com/reviews/winvista_beta2_04.asp

Want to do a little of your own research? Check out the Windows Vista homepage:

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/

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Marshall ABE Links

Southwest ABE - home page for Granite Falls, Jackson, Marshall, and Worthington consortiums.

http://southwestabe.org/

Marshall ABE Bookmarks - tons of cool bookmarks - educational and non-educational
http://ikeepbookmarks.com/marshallabe

Tech Tips - Read new and old Tech Tips here.

http://www.marshalladulteducation.org/techtips.htm

Reading Skills for Today's Adults - new stories posted regularly

http://www.marshalladulteducation.org/reading_skills_home.htm

Announcements - Weekly announcements are posted here each week on Friday.

http://www.marshalladulteducation.org/announcements.htm