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Featured Teacher
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Vickie Rose
Tapping into Treasures to Build Skills
Program Title:
Treasures of the Sunken City
Subject(s): English, History
Grade Level: Adult Education
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Vickie Rose, right, reviews a final poster project with its author, Shirley
Hall.
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Students in rural Kentucky may be thousands of miles away from the Seven
Wonders of the Ancient World but they don't have to go any farther than the
Olive Hill Adult Learning Center in Kentucky to explore these famous
landmarks.
Adult educator Vickie Rose uses the Seven Wonders to inspire and teach reading
and writing skills to her upper level reading and writing students. On the
first day of a new session, Rose introduces students to the Wonders unit. Rose
meets individually with students, who range in age from 16 to in their 50s, to
help them identify their own goals for the eight-week session. Students'
objectives include preparing to complete a GED, getting ready for college, or
working to improve workplace skills. While students follow a defined syllabus
and curriculum, Rose
uses
individualized assignments to tailor the program to each student's goals.
Following the syllabus, students access NOVA's "Treasures of the Sunken City"
interactive, Seven Wonders—Get Clued In, which features a series
of science, geography, and history clues that help users identify each Wonder.
By answering a series of questions Rose provides, students learn their way
around the site before selecting one of the seven Wonders for further research
using Web sites and resources in the learning center's community library.
After students have selected their Wonder, they work individually, in pairs, or
in small teams to learn more about their chosen topic. At the end of the
two-month session, students present their project, choosing the form that best
meets their original goals: a student completing their GED might write an essay
while someone in the college preparation program might write a research
article.
Rose, who has been an adult educator for 11 years and currently supervises
programs at the center, says NOVA resources enable her to customize programs
for learners. She says that in adult education it is especially critical for
students to have individualized plans to meet their specific goals.
Rose says the NOVA Web site also helps students learn more about the world,
stay informed about current events, and gain an appreciation for diversity. One
student said, "The ...Wonder that I chose to research was the Hanging Gardens
of Babylon. By using the NOVA site I got to see the awesome sight of the
gardens suspended in the air that surrounds plenty of vegetation out in the
middle of the desert. I didn't know about this marvelous sight until I
researched in class. Thanks for giving me the opportunity to travel to this
Wonder."
For more information, Rose can be contacted at:
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