2011 AALL Awards
Gary Eyre Lifetime Achievement Award - Miriam Kroeger
No matter where Miriam has worked, no matter what her title and official duties have been, she has always given of herself to others. Within Arizona, she has contributed in more ways than can be remembered. Here are some of them. Miriam served on the board of the Arizona Association for Lifelong Learning (AALL) for many, many years, starting in 1994, including a stint as president. Miriam was a past Central Area Representative of AZ-TESOL. In 1997 the Arizona Division of Adult and Family Literacy Education began a long-term project to create and implement statewide adult education standards. Miriam was an important player in this vital project from the beginning. She was a member of the Operational and Design Teams, part of the Steering Committees for Content Standards and Professional Development, and served many years in the role of a Standards Specialist in which she was responsible for helping specific ABE programs throughout Arizona implement content and performance standards in their programs. During her many years working in Arizona Adult Education Services as an Education Program Specialist, Miriam became the state expert on NRSPro, starting with the work she did with Derrick helping him modify it to meet the needs of Arizona Adult Basic Education, to the ongoing training and guidance she provided to all Arizona ABE Programs. She was truly the go-to person whenever any program had data base questions. Miriam was also an authority on standardized testing, whether the TABE, BEST, or CLAS-E. Over the years, Miriam gave many trainings on these tests, benefiting the entire state. When a conference needed to be planned Miriam never shied away. She served on the planning committee for the 1997 and 1999 Arizona Adult Education State Conferences, and in 2001, when I was the MPAEA President and I needed to find someone to head up the 2002 MPAEA Conference in Phoenix, guess who I turned to for help? Who else but Miriam! By the way, eight years later, Miriam again assisted with the production of the Arizona MPAEA Conference by serving as a conference tri-chair. And speaking of MPAEA, Miriam contributed to lifelong learning on a regional level by serving as one of two Arizona MPAEA board members.You might be wondering how someone like Miriam has not been recognized with awards in the past. Well, the truth is she has. In 1988 she was one of five teachers in Arizona to be named Outstanding Teacher. In 1989 Rio Salado College recognized her for providing outstanding educational service, and in 1996 she received the MPAEA Award of Commendation, now called the Award of Excellence. In 2002 MPAEA bestowed on Miriam their highest honor, the Award of Merit. But in spite of these previous accolades Miriam has received, I believe it is impossible to thank and recognize someone like her for everything she has done for the past thirty-nine years in the field of lifelong learning, but selecting her for AALL’s Lifetime Achievement Award would be a step in the right direction. Lifelong Learning Advocate Award - Jeff Hall
Jeff has had a positive impact on lifelong learning in a number of ways, as a middle school teacher; an instructor, advisor, and administrator at a university located at an Air Force Base in Alaska; as a private preschool director; and as an instructor and supervisor in adult education. He even served as a supervisor for a fire department, teaching in and administering their employee training program.
While with Rio Salado College’s ABE Program, Jeff has been in charge of one of the ABE Learning Centers, as well as a couple of community class sites. Part of his responsibility includes attending monthly Program Management meetings at which important operational decisions are made regarding how the ABE Program serves the thousands of students in its program every year. Beyond his main duties, Jeff has regularly volunteered for a number of program special projects such as the National Adult Education Honor Society Induction, GED Graduation, the Technology Integration Project, PDLA, and LEA, which you will read more about below. On top of all this, Jeff has served on the AALL and MPAEA boards. Jeff proudly shares with students at his center that he, himself, is a GED Graduate. During the time Jeff has worked for Rio Salado College he has proven to be a willing volunteer. Rio’s ABE Program has always been a leader in regards to the National Adult Education Honor Society (NAEHS). Rio takes its annual inductions very seriously and every year a committee is formed to plan and carry out the induction. Jeff has served as the committee chair numerous years. Not surprisingly, Jeff has also actively engaged his instructors in nominating their students. Similarly, Rio’s ABE Program has a very large and professional GED Graduation every May. Once Jeff became aware of this he volunteered to assist at the graduation, and he also encouraged many of his instructors to come and help out. He has assisted every year since, and has taken on the important volunteer role of graduation lead marshal. As technology is increasingly important in the world today, it has also become a bigger part of Rio’s ABE Program. Rio ABE formed a group of Educational Technology Facilitators (ETFs) the first year the project was available. After one of our original ETFs left the program to return to college we were short one person. The program immediately thought of Jeff as he had demonstrated a good level of technology competence during his time with the program. Since Jeff embraces the volunteer spirit so much, he, of course, agreed to add this to his list of tasks. He proved to be a great addition to the ETFs as he immediately helped the group redesign a technology survey, and provided technology training to teachers on various topics. Last year he volunteered to run a pilot project at his learning center to test out a different type of instructional software in one of his GED classrooms to see how effective it would be and how willing the students would be to participate in this type of GED class. Award of Excellence - Maureen Hoyt
During
Maureen’s many years of service to Adult Basic Education in Arizona, she has
worked as a teacher and program administrator.
At Rio Salado College, she was first a classroom teacher and then a supervisor
for its ABE Program. She taught GED at
several locations. As a supervisor,
Maureen was responsible for overseeing the Rio Salado’s GED classes in the
Maricopa County Jails. This task was
made more challenging due to the security restrictions in place at the
jails. One of Maureen’s other Rio Salado
College GED class locations was at a Maricopa County JTPA center. JTPA was the predecessor to the federal
Workforce Investment Act. She worked in
tandem with case managers and job developers to provide an assortment of
services in an effort to help the students become employed. This experience later led Maureen to obtain
employment at Arizona Call-A-Teen Youth Resources (ACYR) as a GED instructor
where she served 14-21 year old students in a program designed to help them
find employment. Maureen has continued
to work at ACYR but she has worked her way up to the position of program
director, a position she has held for a number of years. ACYR exists as a City of Phoenix One Stop
Satellite Site, specializing in serving youth.
Over the years, Maureen has provided a very strategic, broader-based service to the entire field of ABE in Arizona through her work on the AALL board for more years than can be counted. Maureen could always be counted on to head up the board’s advocacy and awareness efforts. In fact, without Maureen, the board would have been dead in the water. Not only did Maureen chair this committee, she was the board’s main organizer of the legislative visits and advocacy rallies in the spring. This even included setting up on the grounds of the legislature and tearing down afterwards. It was because of Maureen’s efforts that a special edition AALL newsletter, designed to increase legislative awareness of what ABE Programs do in Arizona, got done for Arizona Adult Literacy Week. And, sometimes it was Maureen herself, who delivered them to the legislator’s mail boxes. Another way Maureen has helped Arizona ABE greatly for several years is her volunteering to be a part of the Arizona Literacy Alert Network (ALAN). ALAN helps share important federal and state adult literacy information with ABE practitioners in Arizona. And finally, Maureen was always an active participant on the many Standards Task Forces.I shouldn’t neglect to mention that Maureen is a past-AALL Board President, has been the long-standing newsletter editor for all editions, has assisted with the planning of many AALL conferences, and has helped with awards and marketing. You name it; Maureen has done it, with the goal of increasing access for students to ABE Programs. Educator of the Year Elisabeth Goodwin
Elisabeth Goodwin displays quiet, competent, in-depth professional
leadership. She is very knowledgeable in a variety of areas, and she knows how
to share her knowledge in a way that makes others feel good about their own abilities
while building self-confidence.
As a high school principal and technology captain at several school districts in her native Sweden, Elisabeth gained a wealth of experience in supervision, designing professional development, and team-building. Her many years of educational experience also include being an Advanced Program Coordinator for Pima Community College’s Green Valley locations, as well as being an adjunct faculty member at the University of Arizona. Elisabeth became PCCAE’s Distance Learning Program instructor in February of 2010. Since that time, she has tripled the size of Pima College Adult Education’s Distance Learning program from 170 student hours to 3524 hours and progress tested 67% of students compared to 18% the year before, an amazing result since all distance learning students have to test in person, not online. Of those students she tested, 65% made educational gains. 46% of Elisabeth’s students who set the goal of getting a GED got their GED. Several of her students have commented that they had tried to get their GED before and had given up, but Elisabeth was able to convince them to keep going. Despite her already-heavy workload, Elisabeth is always a team player, and is always willing to help her students and colleagues, or participate on committees that will improve Adult Education in Arizona and nationwide. In the past year, Elisabeth has been a state team member for the Technology Standards revision and participated in the TIAN Institute. The high standards that Elisabeth has set for herself are also becoming part of the national model for distance learning in Adult Education. On one conference call with the Arizona Department of Education, the Adult Education Services representative, comparing PCCAE’s distance learning outcomes before Elisabeth started to the outcomes she achieved in less than one year, asked Elisabeth if she would write down some best practices of what she does to achieve these outcomes. What Elisabeth thought would be a 1 or 2 page memo turned into a 38-page manual. The state representative was so impressed with the manual that she has since asked if she could share it with other distance learning programs. Elisabeth’s work has and, I believe, will continue to have a significant impact, not only on distance learning instruction, but in the field of Adult Education. Rookie of the Year Kim Marchbanks
Rookie of the Year
Kim Marchbanks
Kim is very detail-oriented and organized, but you wouldn’t think about how well orchestrated everything is when you walk into her classroom. You would only see people chatting in English, playing games, having fun, and learning every second. I think this ease of learning that Kim’s students display is the biggest achievement any teacher can desire. Kim is also very data driven, analyzing test results for each student in order to help them progress at a high speed. She helps other instructors and is driven to make sure she grows as a teacher and others do too. Kim is an exceptional instructor. She teaches the lowest level of ELAA at Rio Salado’s Orangewood Adult Learning Center. This is the most difficult level to teach, and she does it with grace, pleasure, and incredible results. Kim’s classes always have excellent retention. She takes pride in what she does and sets very high standards for herself. When Kim’s students first walk into her classroom, they are rarely able to speak, read, or write much in English. When they walk out of the classroom for the last time (when they are moved up a level), they can express their thoughts, write and read essential things, and do so with a lot of confidence. Kim’s laid back and fun class takes the threat out of learning. Her students start using their skills immediately because she presents material in a way that is not just theory-based, but contextualized and easy to grasp. All of this is done while students laugh and chat and don’t even realize that they have just spent 3 hours talking to a person who does not share their native tongue. All of this is possible because of the time and effort Kim puts into preparing her classes, and the respect she has for her students and her profession.
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Recipients |
Volunteer of the Year Brian Agnew
Brian has been a member of the Pima College Adult Education team since he began as a full-time Americorps member two years ago. Brian was assigned to support instruction in our self-paced learning lab at El Pueblo Liberty Learning Center. Brian was new to Adult Education, and was not very familiar with the GED exam. He immediately took the initiative to collect every GED preparation book he could find, and he pored over them for hours on end. Then he took both the TABE and the Official Practice Tests, to ensure he was familiar with the material. In a matter of a few months, Brian had become an expert tutor. By his second quarter in the learning lab, he had reorganized all of the paper and computer files and had refined the system to ensure better support for each student. Although there was always a paid instructor in the lab, students regularly referred to Brian as their teacher for the class.
In addition to his service at El Pueblo Liberty Learning Center, Brian also supported more than 20 8-hour GED student orientations each year for the past two years. His dependability and initiative was recognized by all members of the orientation team.
Brian’s impact on Pima College Adult Education has been huge. He is an extremely compassionate person who has a natural ability to connect with our ABE/ASE students, and almost never misses a day of class.
As a member of Pima Adult and Family Literacy AmeriCorps team, Brian participated in many trainings and service projects. Through his service, he has raised the profile of our small AmeriCorps program within the College by making an impact on staff and students alike. His high levels of compassion, initiative, and dedication have resulted in Brian becoming a bit of an internal ambassador for our AmeriCorps program.
Although Brian has completed his time with AmeriCorps, he has chosen to stay on as a volunteer at El Pueblo Liberty. Brian is currently in the process of getting his Adult Education Teacher Certification, and is exploring the possibility of becoming a paid Adult Education Instructor in the future.
In addition to his service at El Pueblo Liberty Learning Center, Brian also supported more than 20 8-hour GED student orientations each year for the past two years. His dependability and initiative was recognized by all members of the orientation team.
Brian’s impact on Pima College Adult Education has been huge. He is an extremely compassionate person who has a natural ability to connect with our ABE/ASE students, and almost never misses a day of class.
As a member of Pima Adult and Family Literacy AmeriCorps team, Brian participated in many trainings and service projects. Through his service, he has raised the profile of our small AmeriCorps program within the College by making an impact on staff and students alike. His high levels of compassion, initiative, and dedication have resulted in Brian becoming a bit of an internal ambassador for our AmeriCorps program.
Although Brian has completed his time with AmeriCorps, he has chosen to stay on as a volunteer at El Pueblo Liberty. Brian is currently in the process of getting his Adult Education Teacher Certification, and is exploring the possibility of becoming a paid Adult Education Instructor in the future.
