1-2-3, “WASC”

School-wide staff met together to begin the WASC self-study process. New Mission Statement Adopted.

This past Friday afternoon, September 8th, Room 403 on the Norwalk campus was nearly filled to capacity with staff members from all departments. The occasion for the gathering was our 2017 WASC kickoff.

The main activity target of the meeting was providing an overview of the WASC self-study process and to begin the process o f a d o p t i n g o u r M i s s i o nStatement and School-wide Learner Outcomes (SLOs). While the time expired before the p r o p o s e d S LO s c o u l d b e addressed, the following Mission Statement was adopted:

Norwalk - La Mirada Adult School equips adults to thrive in an ever-changing economic and social environment.

Wellness Contest

NLMAS Wellness Rep., Debbie Van Driesen, encourages colleagues to focus on the Five Pillars Of Health.

NLMUSD is proud to announce the 2017-18 Wellness Contest. T h e c o n t e s t e n c o u r a g e s employees to take steps to improve the five pillars of health: Career, Mental/Emotional/Social, Financial, Physical, and Community.

Last year, we were i n s p i r e d b y Manuel “Manny“ Lopez from our m a i n t e n a n c e department who earned third place in the district’s weight loss contest. Congratulations Manny! We are so proud of your shining example of good health.

Contact Debbie Van Driesen, for more details about this.

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In This Issue: A N A R O M O ’ S P A T H T O S U C C E S S

Ana Romo reflects on her path to success from entering our program as a level 2 ESL student to earning her high school diploma and beyond!

H O W T O G E T R E A D Y F O R T H E B I G O N E !

Five things NLMAS staff can do to become WASC ready.

H A V E Y O U T R I E D I T Y E T ?

Why NLMAS teachers and students are getting excited about Google Docs and Google Drive!

N O R W A L K - L A M I R A D A A D U LT S C H O O L

N L M A S . O R G

NLMAS n.o.t.e.s

A Place Where We Can Connect

News

Opportunities for growth

Team Collaborations

Employee-wide

Student focused

S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 7

New CTEC Department Chair

Ellie Bassie named new CTEC Department Chair

Ellie Bassie has been chosen as the new CTEC department chair. Ellie joined NLMAS in 2012 and has remained a valued member of the team ever since.

Ell ie is recognized for her professionalism and willingness to take the lead on special projects for the good of the students and entire CTEC team.

Congratulations Ellie!

NLMAS welcomes Denise Strong and CTEC staff members

New Admin team member joins NLMAS and brings an impressive list of Career Tech classes with her.

You’ve probably noticed all of the new Career Tech classes that are being offered in our Fall catalog. This exciting line-up has been added to our program at a time when our responsibility to equip students to thrive in the workplace has never been greater.

In the coming months, we look forward to learning more about Denise and all of the exciting programs and teachers that she has the privilege to lead.

NLMAS Teachers to Speak at Regional PAACE Conference

HSD and ESL Professional Learning Community leads are invited to share the experiences of their teams at the upcoming PAACE conference in Cerritos, CA.

During the 2016-17 school year, the HSD and ESL departments began the process of forming Professional Learning Communities as an approach to collaborative data analysis. Both teams had a great first year and are proud to have been invited to share the experiences of their entire teams.

Elma Barajas (HSD PLC) and Rob Tully, (ESL PLC) will be sharing their experiences and those of their team members at this conference on Saturday, September 23rd, at the Sheraton Hotel in Cerritos, CA. They will also be talking about their plans in 2017-18 to begin to identify the most essential standards that all of our students must know and do to thrive.

The conference is sponsored by the SouthEast Los Angeles Partnership for Adult Academic and Career Education (PAACE).

NLMAS Teacher to Speak at CATESOL Conference.

Tana Mobley has been invited to present a lecture titled Digital Literacy For Adults.

Tana Mobley, who is currently teaching Reading and Writing Improvement on our Norwalk campus, has been invited to speak at this year’s CATESOL ( Ca l i f o r n i a A s s o c i a t i o n o f Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages) conference which will be held in Santa Clara, California in October.

Tana has been a valuable member of our ESL and HSD departments and is a passionate a d v o c a t e f o r t h e u s e o f technology in the classroom. Tana has been instrumental in leading the effort to make the use of Google Docs a norm in our classrooms and in our collaborative professional efforts. She willingly shares what she learns with her colleagues and has made great contributions to making the use of technology a part of our school culture.

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Ana Romo’s Path To Success. by Deanna Gross and Ana Romo

When asked to share a success story from a former ESL student, Ana Romo immediately came to mind. Ana is a bright young woman whom I had the privilege of teaching in ESL 5. She is a great example of a student utilizing various programs at our Adult School that best meet the current needs of her educational goals while also meeting the needs of her family. I asked Ana to share with us her experience at the Adult School. The f o l l o w i n g a r e h e r words:

When I first started in this program it was 2014, with Mrs. Kohatsu in ESL 2. I came here with a lot of goals to a c c o m p l i s h e v e n though sometimes I felt like it was too much, but my family supported me and gave me motivation. As a mother of two kids, sometimes it was too hard to leave them with my husband at home, but I have the desire to learn English and be a good model for them.

Months later, I improved my

English and went to level 3 with the same teacher. Three months later, I went to level 4 with Mr. Rockhill and then to level 5. I spent almost one year with him at night. After that, I switched to the morning classes because this school began to offer child care. With this program, I’m able to take classes in the morning and spend time with them in the afternoon. This program is indeed a great help for mothers like me that want to study.

Months later, Mrs. Gross told me that I was ready to get my high school diploma. Even though I felt like I was not ready, I took that challenge. It took me less than a year to graduate from high school because the counselor g a v e m e c r e d i t f r o m m y transcripts that I brought from Mexico.

I am now currently enrolled in the child development class at night, general math in the morning and also I decided to come back to ESL classes to keep practicing my English before my youngest son enters kindergarten.

I am very happy and thankful with this school because they offer the right tools and teachers to help people like me that want to progress and be successful in life.

Next year, when her youngest child enters kindergarten, Ana plans to attend classes at Cerritos Community College. She intends to work toward her ultimate goal o f b e c o m i n g a p re s c h o o l teacher.

Roy Bennett once said, “… But with hard work, perseverance and self-belief there is no limit to what you can achieve.” Ana has all t h e s e q u a l i t i e s , a n d I a m confident she will go on to achieve great things.

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“I am very happy and thankful with this school because they offer the right tools and teachers to help people like me that want to progress and be successful in life.”

ONE: Integrate the Mission Statement and Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs) into your daily lesson plans.

‣ Become very familiar with the Mission Statement and SLOs. Work with your Home Group (Department PLCs) to develop a clear understanding of our school’s Mission Statement and each of the SLOs.

‣ Plan class activities, develop DLTs and use assessments that clearly connect to the Mission Statement a n d S L O s a n d t h a t a r e measurable.

TWO: Actively participate in your Focus Group.

‣ All teachers and staff members will be part of a Focus Group. Work with your Focus Group Chair(s) to do the following:

‣ Focus Group members wi l l candidly respond to specific self-study criterion questions in face to face meetings, emails and o t h e r f o r m s o f o n l i n e communication.

‣ Focus Group members wi l l participate in class observations and conduct student interviews.

‣ Focus Group members will meet w i t h t h e W A S C V i s i t i n g Committee to discuss the specific criterion for their Focus Group.

THREE: Actively participate in your Home Group.

All teachers and support staff will be part of a Home Group. Work with your Home Group/PLC Chair(s) to do the following:

‣ Home Group members wi l l participate in PLCs that allow teachers and staff to develop lessons, class activities and assessments that directly connect to our Mission Statement and SLOs.

‣ Home Group members may be asked to respond to self-study criterion questions by Focus Groups.

‣ Home Group members will meet w i t h t h e W A S C V i s i t i n g Committee to discuss parts of the self-study that relate to their home group/department.

FOUR: Gather evidence related to the WASC Self-Study.

‣ The WASC Visiting Committee will want to see evidence of lessons, assessments, etc. that relate to our Mission Statement and SLOs.

‣ Work with your Focus Group and Home Group chairs to collect and store evidence (both online and in hard copies). This can include lesson plans, pictures and/or videos of your students, student

work and more.

FIVE: Participate in the creation of the WASC Self-Study Action Plan.

‣ Based on the findings of our WASC self-study, our school must create one or more Action Plans which will serve as our guide between WASC visits (Our goal is to receive the maximum of 6 years accreditation) and upon which the WASC Visiting Committee will measure our improvement . Therefore, teacher and staff input into the Action Plans is critical.

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G E T T I N G R E A D Y F O R T H E B I G O N E

5 Things Staff Members Should Do To Get WASC Ready!

By Elma Barajas, WASC Co-Chair

Looking for a great way to use technology to help our students collaborate more effectively? For many of us, the answer is, ‘Yes!” Many teachers are on the hunt for a new way to use technology to help our students perform practice exercises, learn new information, create projects a n d p r e s e n t a t i o n s , a n d collaborate with other learners.

While Google Docs can’t exactly be described as new technology, it’s generating a lot of buzz around our Norwalk and La Mirada campuses. Teachers a re s ta r t ing to discover what an incredible tool it is for creating, storing, and collaborating with other users on a single document.

Tana Mobley, who is currently teaching Reading and Writing Improvement, has begun to require our students in her class to create a Gmail account and use Google Docs to submit class assignments. By using this tool, Tana’s students are able to submit papers for grading and feedback, and collaborate with other students who’ve also shared their files online. Tana’s enthusiasm for u s i n g t h i s c o l l a b o r a t i v e technology has now gone

beyond our four walls. She has recent ly been inv i ted to present a workshop titled, Digital Literacy For Adult L e a r n e r s , a t t h e a n n u a l CATESOL conference that will be held in October in Santa Clara, California.

Another teacher who is starting

to utilize Google Docs on a regular basis for instruction with our Basic Computer students is Inaam Zakaria. Inaam said that she has started transitioning to Google Docs out of a desire to provide our students with more electronic copies and less paper. “Our planet is in trouble” she said. “We need to conserve more and waste less. Just think about how much paper we could save in just one week, if we were a l l shar ing our documents through tools like Google Drive.” Inaam is proud

to say that she already notices using the copy machine less as she is starting to provide more of her handouts in a digital format stored and shared for free on Google Drive.

When asked how she learned to use Google Docs, she revealed that she actually

googled the words, Google training for educators, and it brought up a series of free lessons that she was able to use to learn and practice all of the basics. The free website Inaam is referring to can be found by going to:

edutrainingcenter.withgoogle.com

In addit ion to c lassroom instruction, the ESL team is using Google Docs during their Professional Development sessions to collaborate more effectively on a variety of projects. Rob Tully, the ESL department chair, states that “Google Docs allow our team to work in a more efficient manner because we can have the members of our team collaboratively edit the same document on separate devices in real time.”

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Why are NLMAS teachers and students getting excited about Google Docs and Drive?