Instructors of basic-skills courses at Beaufort County Community College recently attended a workshop to learn to bring real-life and work-related examples into their classrooms.
The workshop, Contextualized Instruction: Keeping it Real at Work, was funded by a grant awarded by Wells Fargo to BCCC earlier this year.
The $4,187 grant also will cover the costs of Career Readiness Certifications of at least 16 students enrolled in basic-skills classes, according to Laurie Weston, basic-skills coordinator at BCCC.
This is the second grant awarded to BCCC’s basic-skills program by Wells Fargo. A $1,200 grant awarded to the college last year provided basic-skills instructors with professional development workshops once a month, Weston said.
As a result of the grants, BCCC’s basic-skills instructors have been able to provide more real-life and work-related examples to students as part of their course work, she said.
Because many of the college’s basic-skills instructors work part-time, during different hours and at different locations, it was often hard for them to meet and compare notes of different techniques that were successful in their classrooms.
Thanks to the grants, BCCC was able to offer professional development workshops at different times during the day and pay a stipend to those instructors who attended the workshops, she said.
“BCCC needed more opportunity for staff development for our teachers,” she said. “We hope our basic-skills students will be motivated to complete their course work, achieve their goals and be better able to enter the workforce as a result of the instruction their teachers have received.”
Some 33 full- and part-time teachers and staff members were invited to participate in the professional development workshops.
The mission of the basic-skills program is to provide educational opportunities for those 16 years or older who are out of school, who do not have a high school diploma or who lack sufficient mastery of basic education skills to enable them to function effectively in society.
The basic-skills program provides educational opportunities for adults to improve their reading, writing, mathematics and communication skills through four major programs offered at BCCC: adult basic education, general educational development, English as a second language and compensatory education.
For more information, interested persons may contact Laurie Weston, BCCC basic-skills coordinator, at (252) 940-6322 or by email at lauriew@beaufortccc.edu.