Strategies for Contextualizing
Writing in the Adult Basic
Education Classroom
Laurie Weston
Chair, Transitional Studies
Pitt Community College
PO Drawer 7007
Greenville, NC 27835-7007
(252) 493-7439 lweston@email.pittcc.edu

• Hands-on
• Experience-based
• Relevant to work, home, community
• Real Life
• Addresses personal interests, goals

“A set of teaching, learning and assessment practices that: are aimed directly at developing the skills and knowledge that adults need to deal with specific situations or perform specific
tasks, and that they have identified as important and
meaningful to themselves ‘right now’ in their everyday lives…..
In addition, rather than focus only on the
possession of basic skills and knowledge, contextualized instruction focuses on the
active application of those skills and that knowledge ‘in a context.’ (And this context should be as ‘real-world’ as is feasible.)”
A collection of practices that “relates subject matter content to real world situations; motivates students to make connections between knowledge and its applications to their lives as family members, citizens, and workers; and encourages student persistence.” http://0347dbd.netsolhost.com/wpcontent/uploads/2012/05/Abstractforwebsite.pdf
(Motheread/Wake Tech Research Project on
Contextual Teaching, retrieved 10/22/13) http://efftips.wordpress.com/2012/05/29/faqwhat-iscontextualizedinstruction/?blogsub=confirming#blog_subscription-2
(Equipped for the Future, retrieved 10/22/13)

• To Be or Not To Be?
• Pardon Me…..
• SnapShot Bio
• Parts of Speech??
• Silly Proverbs
• Where I’m From Poem

Pardon Me, but your Participle appears to be dangling.

• Riding along on my bicycle, the dog knocked me over.
• Donna saw the ball walking by the lake.
• I found a dollar walking home.
• He made a table for his aunt with wooden legs.
• The young girl was walking the dog in a short skirt.
• The dog was chasing the boy with the spiked collar.
• The library has several books about dinosaurs in our school.
• While camping, I saw a bear in my pajamas.

• Provides the opportunity to examine personal experiences with culture, family, history, and identity
• Connects writing with social networks, websites, and the Internet in an unthreatening way
• Provides experience with technology
• Contextualizes learning
• Inspires creativity
• Promotes community within classroom
• Provides a basic framework for beginning essay writing

Twas brillig and the slithey toves did gyre and gimble in the wabe.
All mimsy were the borogoves and the momeraths outgrabe.

• Birds of a feather flock together.
• Birds of a feather make light work .
• Great minds think alike.
• Great minds are not always what they seem.
• Bad news travels fast.
• The early bird travels fast.
Silly Proverbs Game subject/verb agreement

• Collaborative groups or individual
• Competitive or display
• Career oriented or topic of students’ choosing
• Make writing a component of the project
• Depending on student level, include a template for scoring or feedback
• Connects with student goals, interests, needs

lweston@email.pittcc.edu
(252) 493-7439