 
The STAPLE (Supplemental Training for Practitioners in Literacy Education) Project was launched in Alberta in 1993, the result of which has been the development of a training program for adult literacy coordinators and tutors available on CD-ROM. STAPLE Volume 1 contains five modules entitled: Introduction to Assessment, Reading Assessment, Teaching Reading, Writing Assessment and Teaching Writing. Through interactive exercises, photographs, audio clips, animation and text displays you will learn how to administer, score and interpret an informal reading inventory. The reading and writing assessment tools described in STAPLE help you to identify a student’s learning strengths and weaknesses and the reading and writing strategies’ modules show you teaching strategies that relate back to the assessment you have completed. The teaching strategies are described, demonstrated and then you are given the opportunity to practice. Delivering this training on multimedia CD allows you to learn at your own rate and the flexible navigation within the program, allows you to pick and choose among topics. Certificates of completion are available for each STAPLE module. Upon completing a module in STAPLE, contact Literacy Services of Canada 780 413-6491 to order the corresponding certificate of completion test for $20.00 + GST. Your test will be marked and a certificate of completion mailed to you. Beginning September 1996, the University of Alberta Faculty of Extension includes STAPLE Volume 1 as a full credit elective in CACE (Certificate in Continuing Adult and Career Education). Students who are enrolled in CACE in any of the Western provinces, may complete STAPLE Volume 1 and the five certificate of completion exams and receive credit for one elective course. STAPLE Volume 2 was released in 1998. It contains three new modules: Let’s Talk About Literacy, Building a Foundation for Literacy and Math, and Lesson Planning. Let’s Talk About Literacy introduces you to a variety of definitions of literacy, explores some of the myths of literacy and shows you how to deal with the media. It also includes a section on the support available to literacy practitioners and an in-depth segment on literacy statistics based on the International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS). Assessment and teaching strategies introduced in STAPLE Volume 1 are aimed at learners who have some reading and writing skills. In the module, Building a Foundation for Literacy and Math in STAPLE Volume 2, you will learn how to assess students who are at very basic levels and learn about strategies that are most effective with this group of students. The Lesson Planning module introduces you to the Progress Profile, a wonderful tool that can help a student/tutor pair set goals, plan instruction and evaluate progress during their lessons. You will also learn about selecting resources with students and explore some of the ethical dilemmas that confront student/tutor pairs. For information and to order STAPLE CDs in Canada, contact: |