Developed as a point of departure to help Virginia ESL educators make sense of EFF Content Standards:

• 4 Purposes of Instruction - Access, Voice, Independant Action, Bridge to the Future
• 3 Role Maps - Community, Family, Workforce
• 16 Content Standards - (4 categories) Communication, Interpersonal, Problem-solving, Life-long Learning

Remember the Big Picture

1. EFF Content Standards are tools to give learners what they have said they need.
2. Adult learners have real lives w/ multiple roles carrying responsibilities to:
   • Family (role)
   • Community (role)
   • Work (role)
   • Themselves
3. Let yourself Acquire (Krashen-style) fluency w/ EFF terminology.

Goals as stated by this site:
After teachers study this document they will be able to:

• summarize the goals of the Equipped for the Future ContentStandards;
• understand the parts and the whole of a fully integrated EFF lesson;
• decide if their current lessons really focus on what adults have told us they need to know;
• begin to incorporate the EFF Standards into their daily lessons and units.

• Remember an 'Aha' moment that refreshed your enthusiasm for teaching.
• EFF standards add an extra dimension to such moments.
  1. Consider the Standard itself
     • How does the lesson relate to the standard(s)?
     • Do students see relevance to their real lives?
  2. Consider the Standard w/in students' lives and the EFF Framework
     • Relevancy? - student-negotiated needs assessment
     • Purposes of Instruction - Access, Voice, Independant Action, Bridge to the Future
     • Roles: community member, family memeber, worker
• Be realisitic, and gradually phase in activities to target EFF Standards

EFF terminology can be confusing, but learning a few key concepts will greatly facilitate deeper understanding.

Four Purposes of instruction (from survey of adult learners)

• Access - to information so adults can orient themselves to the world
• Voice - to be able to express ideas and opinions with the confidence that they will be heard and taken into account.
• Independent Action - to be able to solve problems and make decisions on one's own, acting independently, without having to rely on others.
• Bridge to the Future - learn how to learn so adults can keep up with the world as it changes.

• Citizen/Community Member
• Parent/Family Member
• Worker

• Communication Skills
  • Read with Understanding
  • Convey Ideas in Writing
  • Speak So Others Can Understand
  • Listen Actively
  • Observe Critically
• Decision-Making Skills
  • Solve Problems and Make Decisions
  • Plan
  • Use Math to Solve Problems and Communicate
• Interpersonal Skills
  • Cooperate With Others
  • Guide Others
  • Advocate and Influence
  • Resolve Conflict and Negotiate
• Lifelong Learning Skills
  • Take Responsibility for Learning
  • Learn Through Research
  • Reflect and Evaluate
  • Use Information and Communications Technology

• Look for similarities w/ your current practice
• Remember the role you intend to target
• Consider the standard and it's components - remember that targetting one Content Standard gives opportunities to practice other Skills; there's intentionally alot of overlap.
• Contextualize the standard(s) in learners lives
  • Relevancy: Realisitic, practical applications outside of class.
  • Four Purposes (access, voice, independant action, bridge to the future)
  • Learners' roles (family, community, & workforce)
  • Try to integrate all of these as much as possible
  Consider NIFL's list of Common Activities: http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/collections/eff/common_activities.html

• They said:
  • unit of instruction
  • target student population
  • meta-instructional piece showing thought processes involved in pursuing goal achievement
• They deliver: objectives & a good set of handouts. Apparently the rest of the site is the meta-instructional piece.