Upcoming EBLI Trainings + Reflections from a new EBLI-ite

28Sep11

By Hannah Chahbazi

If you’ve been waiting to get trained in EBLI (Evidence Based Literacy Instruction), you have several options in the upcoming months.  We will be holding three trainings at Ounce of Prevention Reading Center in Flushing, MI between now and January as follows:

Nov. 14 and 21: 2 day Secondary Training (for content area secondary teachers)

Dec. 5, 6, 7: 3 day Training (for 2nd – 12th grade classroom, 1:1, special ed, small group teachers/instructors)

Jan. 23, 24, 25: 3 day Training (for K – 1st grade classroom)

To sign up or learn more about the trainings, you can call us at 810.732.4810 or email us at info@ebli.org.  Also feel free to visit our website: www.ebli.org.

In addition to presenting our newest trainings, I also wanted to briefly reflect on my first month working for EBLI.  I spent much of my young adulthood learning about, advocating for, and using EBLI.  Only since September 1, however, has EBLI become my full-time work.  Here’s why I’m pumped about it:

The growth that occurs with EBLI is not solely in literacy skills.  The other day I was watching Cricket work with a second grader at the Reading Center while sitting with his mom.  She told me that last school year he cried every day for the first three weeks of school and that it wasn’t happening this year.  She said his confidence was drastically improved.  I felt so uplifted by her words, and that moment made me realize that EBLI instruction does more than just give learners the tools necessary to read at their highest potential; it also truly changes lives.

I get to work with an incredible team.  Along with having the privilege of working closely with Nora (creator and president of EBLI), I also get to spend my days learning from Cricket, Shannon, Alissa, and LouCyndra.  They are a group of exceptional ladies who are constantly cultivating a judgment-free zone for learners, parents, educators, and everyone else who walks through our doors.  Already in my first month they’ve offered me insight and feedback on my teaching style as well as guided me as I started learning the ropes.  I am fortunate to work in a place where my co-workers feel like family and everyone is on board for the same mission of teaching the world to read.

We’re not alone in wanting to make illiteracy a thing of the past, not by a long shot.  There are so many people out there who are making changes in education.  From our good friend John Corcoran, who learned to read in his late 40s and has since devoted his life to literacy, to everyone at the Hacking Education dinner, to those learning to use EBLI strategies in their schools and organizations, I have already met dozens of people who are making a difference.  Their enthusiasm is contagious, and experiencing that enthusiasm serves to bring out my own.

As a recent college graduate, I’d had high hopes over the past 4 years for my first real job, and working for EBLI has exceeded them.  Despite the obligatory new job bumbles (not knowing how the credit card machine works, being asked “How old ARE you?” by one of my first students), the last month has been both rewarding and really fun, and I’m looking forward to many more.

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