Has anyone taught/tutored community college GED classes?

[Walking-Iris]

Our local community college seems to be a mess.

 

My Husband interviewed and landed a GED teaching position. He was referred to the interview because he substitutes and a coworker mentioned it. At first it was to fill a need. They needed part time help in the evenings for 6 weeks and for a month in the mornings. My dh said yes. He was initially told there was a syllabus available and he would need to travel for one training session. NOW he is getting scheduled to go to several meetings, has to register and complete an online training, and they have asked him to think about fall and summer classes, AND they have asked him to turn in a rough draft of his syllabus. They took what was interviewed as a part time (similar to substituting) position and dropped full time GED teacher in his lap.

 

My front room has a pile of 3 inch binders that he was told he needed to use to plan his lessons and write his syllabus. We were going over them together and they are so disjointed and unorganized: badly scanned and copied pages from powerpoint presentations, random print outs from various about.com websites, copies of sample student essays (handwritten) with no explanation as to what the essay was referring to. And on and on. It is really tortuous to look through and make sense out of it all.

 

He was very upfront that he was not strong in math, and that he would essentially be re-teaching himself some of the math as he went along. They didn't seem to care. We find it odd because these particular students are being "fast tracked" to go into the college's healthcare program---phlebotomist, cna, and so on.

 

They really don't seem to see the disconnect of a substitute teacher with a business degree, who is very upfront about his doubts, teaching these adults. They also told him that some of these adults have a reading level of 5th-8th grade. These are our healthcare workers? They also threw it out there "like it was no big deal" that they could lose some funding if these adults don't show improvement in their reading scores. Again --they hired a substitute teacher who is backpedaling and telling them his doubts to do this? He says it has become them nearly begging him to do it. Apparently there isn't a ton of people lined up to be GED teachers. They were required to interview 3 people and they admitted one interviewee was not real, just to fill that quota.

 

We have just started a home business and that takes up quite a bit of my dh's time. He's conflicted. He didn't mind when it was a part time job to help, and he admits to be being intrigued with the challenge. He's a smart guy and people like him and I have no doubts that he's going to do a good job. He's competitive and takes up challenges easily. It could be helpful to have that extra income since the home business is new and not reliable yet. We're just bothered with the state of disorganization of all the materials they are giving him. And we're bothered by how they seem to just want to get these people through the doors and the system as fast as possible.

 

My homeschooling curriculum is better organized and makes better sense than these stacks of binders they keep giving him to use. They truly are terrible. Has anyone done this work? Advice?

[Kareni]

Bumping for you.

 

My husband did some GED training at an alternative school some years ago. He was not given any materials and simply cobbled materials together himself.

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Frances]

I have taught at a community college, although not GED prep. It sounds like the materials he's been given are useless and would be a waste of time to sort through. I would just read reviews of GED test prep books and choose the best one and base the syllabus on it. Many students prepare for the test on their own using prep books, so there must be some tried and true ones out there. It would seem that having the students do lots of reading of all different types of genres outside of class and then discussing some of it in class would be the most important prep and the best way to raise reading scores. Additionally, regular math and writing exercises would be key. If he starts with a basic syllabus, then he can flesh out lessons as the class progresses and he gets a better idea of the students' strengths, weaknesses, interests, and learning styles.

[astrid]

I teach GED, and I actually do professional development for adult education (ABE, GED, ESL) teachers at the state and national level.

Can I ask what state you're in? The GED is changing drastically in January 2014, and therefore so is the entire curriculum. It's being built around the Common Core Standards and going completely online. Not all states are/have opted to go with the GED (which is a trade name) however, so that's why I wondered what state you're in.

 

Do you know if he'll have access to a computer lab with his students? I could send you TONS of resources if you'd like.

 

astrid

[Garga]

Colleges expect adjuncts/professors to develop their own class. It's rare that you'd be given anything useful to work with. Most people dom't take the time to create a class, just to hand it off to someone else.

 

It's odd that they're dumping this in a substitute's lap, however. He's not actually an adjunct in their eyes, is he?

[Walking-Iris]

I teach GED, and I actually do professional development for adult education (ABE, GED, ESL) teachers at the state and national level.

Can I ask what state you're in? The GED is changing drastically in January 2014, and therefore so is the entire curriculum. It's being built around the Common Core Standards and going completely online. Not all states are/have opted to go with the GED (which is a trade name) however, so that's why I wondered what state you're in.

 

Do you know if he'll have access to a computer lab with his students? I could send you TONS of resources if you'd like.

 

astrid

 

We're in Illinois. We already got two GED prep books and a few Math books for adult education. He was also told he needed to assign them a book to read and discuss throughout the class and he gets to pick it, so he's excited by that. The last meeting he was told to tell them if there were any resources they wanted them to order for him, so that's a glimmer of hope. If you have ideas, sure, we could use them. The binders of stuff they gave are terrible and I have no experience with materials for adults. He will have access to computers and a smartboard and he was told that he needed to get them using technology.

 

 

 

 

 

Colleges expect adjuncts/professors to develop their own class. It's rare that you'd be given anything useful to work with. Most people dom't take the time to create a class, just to hand it off to someone else.

 

It's odd that they're dumping this in a substitute's lap, however. He's not actually an adjunct in their eyes, is he?

 

 

I'm not exactly sure what they are considering him. But he hasn't had one class yet, just many meetings, and they keep offering and implying more and more responsibility.

[Dana]

Colleges expect adjuncts/professors to develop their own class. It's rare that you'd be given anything useful to work with. Most people dom't take the time to create a class, just to hand it off to someone else.

 

It's odd that they're dumping this in a substitute's lap, however. He's not actually an adjunct in their eyes, is he?

 

While that's generally true at the university level, at the cc level (at least in our state), the departments have standardized courses where everyone uses the same text and has the same departmental syllabus. I know English classes have more freedom as far as which selections to read from the reader, but in the math department, we all cover the same topics from the same text and have common finals in the lower level courses.

 

My concern is that it's getting to be more cookie cutter where they are mandating even more specifics and just handing off a course with assignments already set up and canned lectures on the software. When that becomes the norm, I'll stop teaching for them. I imagine there's a market for homeschool math classes ;)

[ElizabethB]

Some of my adult students that I taught to read also needed help preparing for the GED. I just looked through the GED prep guide (as Francis suggested above) and worked through weak areas.

 

For remedial reading, I suggest the materials on my how to tutor page and then Marcia Henry's Words. With Words, you can print out worksheets for your whole class, very easy, it will build up spelling, vocab, and reading. (It says 3 - 8 grade level, but by the end most of the words are high school level. The samples are from early on, it gets more difficult.)

 

Many of my adult students also had no clue how to write a basic letter or basic paragraph or basic essay, I stepped them through that process. It was funny, my first student, a 33 year old woman, said "I had no idea that is all there is to writing an essay, that's easier than I thought."

 

There is some kind of remedial math book that works up through algebra that is mentioned on the high school board from time to time, I would ask there for that or something similar.

 

I personally think it's easier to develop and use your own materials, then you can use what works for you and change things around if need be.

[Garga]

My dh is an adjunct at a cc and while they say, "we have it all worked out fornyou, just step in and teach," they lie :)

 

He's had to create all his classes from scratch. They tell him what textbook to use and then he's on his own.

[Garga]

Oh, and when I called to find out about teaching a summer class for homeschoolers, they didn't ask if I have any degrees (hs diploma only), told me, "the homeschoolers like when we offer writing classes" and that was IT. I asked if there was anything left from the previous writing teacher. Nope. I was supposed to come up with everything from scratch. Granted, that's not a class for a degree, but it was still something the public would have paid for, and you'd think they'd want some sort of standards. Nope!

 

This could just be how academia works. I find the whole thing bizarre.

[Alexandra]

I taught GED last year and I liked the Steck-Vaughn material. It is my understanding that they are the publishers of the actual GED test and that gave me an added sense of confidence that the material was well thought out. You can buy it on Amazon. I also am not very strong in math. I did 1-2 hours of homework each night to prepare for the Algebra section. The regular math and Geometry stuff was fine - actually fun! GED is a tough gig, especially if you have little court ordered teenagers. It was an education for me too. Good luck to your husband.

[Walking-Iris]

The GED prep book we have is Steck-Vaughn. It is pretty interesting. Thanks ElizabethB for the Words resource.

 

Turns out that my dh is considered support staff, not a contractual professor/employee. That's good. The GED position won't interfere with his high school subbing or our home business.

 

He's starting to feel a little better since after dumping all these binders on him he was then told he could do what he liked and they would order any materials for him.

 

He feels more comfortable knowing he doesn't have to make sense of all those unorganized and badly copied papers. He also may teach a GED prep English course. He's a pretty well liked substitute teacher, so he is almost guaranteed to have former students in these GED classes.

 

He's feeling better about taking on the challenge. We just started a home business around Xmas and then this new GED position presented itself, so lots of changes in employment and self-identity this winter.

[mommymilkies]

While that's generally true at the university level, at the cc level (at least in our state), the departments have standardized courses where everyone uses the same text and has the same departmental syllabus. I know English classes have more freedom as far as which selections to read from the reader, but in the math department, we all cover the same topics from the same text and have common finals in the lower level courses.

 

 

That is not true in any cc I have ever been to as a student, and my dh is a cc professor who has interviewed at and taught at many colleges. That must be local to you! They have a list of topics needing covered, but no department text or syllabus. That is up to the teachers.

[Dana]

That is not true in any cc I have ever been to as a student, and my dh is a cc professor who has interviewed at and taught at many colleges. That must be local to you! They have a list of topics needing covered, but no department text or syllabus. That is up to the teachers.

 

Interesting....

 

I've only taught in this one state. We have common course descriptions at all the cc's in the state, so all the courses cover the same general material at any of the cc's in the state. Each cc I'm aware of (2 I've taught at and a couple others where I've had friends teach) has a departmental text and syllabus for all courses. Instructors can adjust to some degree.... for instance in the math department, I can assign my own weighting for assignments, but in the developmental department, percentages are fixed by the department.

 

Even at the university here, they have common departmental texts for lower level math courses and a common list of chapters and sections covered.

[regentrude]

That is not true in any cc I have ever been to as a student, and my dh is a cc professor who has interviewed at and taught at many colleges. That must be local to you! They have a list of topics needing covered, but no department text or syllabus. That is up to the teachers.

 

My friend teaches at CC, and she too develops all her own courses.

[skimomma]

I am sure this varies widely by state and school. I am an adjunct at a university. When I was first hired, I taught a class that every student in certain degree programs had to take. It was pretty canned and I was given a syllabus, outline, and slides to work from. I changed them to suit me but I had to cover roughly the same things on the same days as the other sections. The students took common exams and did a common semester project that all of the instructors developed together. We even used the same grading rubrics for the exams and project. Later, I started teaching more unique classes and am now expected to create all of my own materials unless I am teaching one of those common mega-classes. I see the merit in the common method for widely-taught classes that utilize a lot of less-experiences adjuncts.

 

BUT, I was approach by our local cc to teach chemistry a few years ago. I considered it, even though I nearly failed chemistry in college. I was pretty shocked that they were willing to toss me in without asking if I had even TAKEN chemistry, let alone done well in it. They never asked for an application or resume. They knew I taught at the university and apparently that was enough for them. In the end I turned down the job. The more I asked, the more I came to realize that it was highly disorganized. They did not really care what I did and there was to be no support provided. The classes were to be taught in a local high school at night and I was supposed to (on my own) work with the school to figure out how to use the lab. What? I am not hanging out in an empty high school building with a crowd of possibly-disgruntled students trying to figure out how to use the lab! I am not even ALLOWED to hold office hours/meet students at my university position unless it is during school hours and others will be in the building. I have dealt with enough unhappy students to know that this is not a safe situation. On top of that, they offered me.....wait for it......8 times less per credit hour compensation than my current university pay. I know they are not funded as well and I was not expecting it to be the same but I calculated that I was going to make significantly less than minimum wage once I factored in prep and grading time.....not even including the time I would spend learning the chemistry I barely passed 20 years ago..... No thanks. The experience has drastically changed my opinion on ccs in general and certainly my local cc.