[audio logo]

Announcer: OTAN-- Outreach and Technical Assistance Network.

Kenya Bratton: My name is Kenya Bratton, and I am the program manager of the Disability and Access Resource Center located in San Diego is Chula Vista, California, but San Diego, California.

And I'm going to-- what I'm going to do today, I'm doing a couple of two different things because we don't want to be stuck, like Dr. Marquez said, right?

One, explain to-- give you context of our center. So that kind of helps you understand how we actually provide the services for adults with disabilities, then I'm going to explain a little bit about our structure and how we deliver the services.

Then we're going to talk-- then I'm going to have some students to come in to tell you about their experiences. Then after that, we're going to go through maybe three or four specific high impact strategies that work, that don't require money. All it requires you is just to engage the student, and these are very, very effective.

How do we know? We've been doing it now for three years, so we know that there are high impact, and they deliver. You can hear.

OK, so our learning intentions and impact. So our aim is to challenge the misconception that adults with disabilities cannot access technology on an equal or equitable basis as others.

We are committed-- and we would be our DART team and how we service our schools. We are committed to presenting effective solutions that enhance access, equity, and inclusion for adults with disabilities.

These solutions are designed not only to improve their immediate quality of life but also to positively affect future generations. These strategies that I share today can work for any continuum of adults with disabilities, but today, I am highlighting invisible disabilities, dyslexia, dyscalculia, memory, attention, anxiety.

So when I'm presenting-- it does work for all students, but I really wanted to capture that oftentimes when people hear the word disabilities, they think of our more significant adults with disabilities.

And so I've been doing this same workshop for the last two years, and I'm like, I'm not capturing the audience that's really important because this is an audience where the gaps in services are.

If you have a more significant disability, there are a lot of agencies and resources that can connect with you and provide support. So I just want to use that as a caveat.

OK. So the Disability Access Resource Center started in 2021. Are any of you familiar with Sweetwater Adult Education? OK. So we have four different schools located in different areas of South Bay.

A total of maybe about-- I don't know. When it-- pre-pandemic was about 20,000 students came through our doors for a whole year. Now, when the pandemic happened, it went down to maybe about 4,000 or 5,000. Now, I think we're back up to 9,000 to 11,000. So in 2021 was our first year.

We started online with a Disability and Access Resource Center. We are a central department, which never existed since Sweetwater Adult Education has existed-- since 1933 or 1930, '33. It's one of them.

So this is exciting for us, all right? So our team includes myself as a program manager. We have a count-- I'm a program manager, and I have 28 years experience in education. And of that 28, 22 has been with adults with-- I'm sorry, with disability population from kindergarten all the way to high school.

Well, 22, were now adults. You get where I'm going with this. But my last four years have specifically been with adult education. Then our counselor has been in adult education for 32 years, and she has previous experience as a counselor as well.

My background is school psychology. Then we have an education specialist, who's been part of special education. She's a math specialist for 17 years, and then we have an instructional assistant, who has been part of special education from k through 12, and then he transitioned over for like 10 years.

So we honestly have nine years of experience, right? When you think about all of it. And we actually like what we do, and we make sure we stay up with innovative approaches without overdoing it but also what's trending without overdoing it.

And our main belief is every student that walks through our doors, every time you meet with a student, they must leave with something they can use. We don't do just conversations.

We're not hanging out, and it's not because we don't want to. Adults are with us for a very limited amount of time. And so we have to make sure we have high impact services while they're there.

So that's our team. Now, the question you might have is we're never going to get four people to address our demographic of adults with disabilities. Every strategy that you will learn today can work. If you're a team of one or a team of 100.

Then we're going to go through common myths with adults with disabilities. We're going to have some student stories that's going to happen here at about 11 when the students available. We're going to talk about how do we define technology for adults with disabilities.

We're going to go through the ONET and why that's highly effective for workplace employment, exploration, and finding jobs for adults with disabilities. And I'm going to share with you the formula for ChatGPT that you can practice.

I know some people are uncomfortable with it, or others believe that the demand is following them with ChatGPT. I don't think demand is concerned about teaching people but just if that's you, that's OK. You can use someone else's account.

But I'm going to show you some tips to use on how to really maximize ChatGPT as a learner. And the other exciting part about ChatGPT is even though you are all brilliant teachers, see chat is nosy and knows everybody's academic experience, and knowledge, and pedagogy, and geography, and all of that.

So all you have to do is just put in a prompt, and you'll just get a hub of different ideas to add to your repertoire. And then I would take your email. I did create a booklet for-- it's a booklet that you would get once I receive your email, et cetera, on solutions for adults with disabilities, OK?

OK. So we first begin with an infographic. So this is part of the structure of our Disability and Access Research Center. What we learned is that when we were at an office, people would come in and have to wait.

And adults don't have time to wait. Not because they're impatient. It's just when you're speaking with someone, you don't know how long you will be. So because we love technology-- students learn technology immediately that first day. So that's one of the myths with adults with disabilities.

So they have to complete an interest form. Well, the QR code really is full, but anyway-- so they do it-- either there with us. Type in a tiny URL. We never want them to forget the information of what we provide.

So this QR code downloads the infographic because they forget because we're talking so much and so fast. Then this QR code is the interest form. So after the student complete that interest form, it goes immediately to the calendar, to the counselor, so they book an appointment immediately.

So you don't have to wait for a call back. You don't have to try to figure out who's going to return my calls. You don't have to be upset waiting. This is your structured time.

And when she meets with you, she does a complete intake. So that intake includes what are your barriers to adult education, who are you, what is your goal, why are you here, what classes you need to have, what classes do you want to take, what future classes you want to take. She digs in deep.

Then she tree urges to either myself or the adult education specialist. And so what I primarily do, besides program development, is also testing and accommodations.

OK, so in presentations-- I do a lot of stuff, but if she's triaging, it's usually accommodations, or a student is thinking about that they want to have a learning disability testing, which we know is a gap, or it could be a student who needs educational advising.

So she's our primary person. Why do we do that? Because when we were each doing it-- all of our meetings, we're talking about the same thing every meeting. Why are we still talking about the same thing in this meeting? Inefficient meetings.

Then we're talking about the same students. Then the student is confused. I just talked to X about that. Oh, I talked to me about that. So one day after I forget I was reading a business book. Probably a blog. I was probably reading a blog, not a book, and it just talked about streamlining.

And so I said, OK. Sat with the team. Are we comfortable with our own roles? We should know what's happening, but we have to be a little bit more efficient. So that's what happens in that role, so just to help with your understanding.

So students receive help almost immediately. Click on that link. We get immediate help. So our overall services include disability access, educational advising workshops. We have flexible scheduling, testing, accommodations, learning, disability testing, growth mindset, and more.

So we actually teach an academic development class, which will be similar to a personal development class and community college. This class is two hours a week either Monday, Wednesday, or Tuesday, Thursday.

In that two hours, each module is 9 weeks, and these are the modules. Built confidence learning, reading, writing, math strategies, test taking study strategies, learning strengths inventory, which is a DARC. We will review that today in one on one meetings with DARC staff.

So and we have open enrollment up into two weeks before school is out. And when the students come in on a module, our teacher also records her teachings, her modules, so students are never behind. They can go back and learn the material.

In addition to that, she does not teach reading, writing, and math. We strongly believe in metacognitive strategies. How do you maximize your learning? So it's not necessarily about what am I reading, but what can you use as a how to read it and understand it and improve faster learning.

It does exist, so that's kind of what we do. And then we have Employment Development Services, so anyone who wants a resume or cover letter or practice interviewing, they come through my doors.

And one of the things that I have been gifted with is thought play. So if a student is coming in, looking for a job-- they are like, oh, let me give you an example.

I've a gentleman. He's a construction superintendent. He does not have a GED. He's been a superintendent for 10 years. However, the son took over the company, and the son said, we noticed you don't have your GED or high school diploma, and we want someone who's a little bit more skillful with technology.

So he was released. So he's looking for a job. He is stuck on I want a job that's a superintendent. Now, he really didn't do the superintendent job that you think of as a construction superintendent.

So what we did was went to indeed.com, and we looked at three job descriptions for construction superintendent. I had them read them. Do you do this? Do you do that? So he had to calculate.

No, I don't do this. I don't do that. I don't do this. I don't do that. OK. How come you align your skills with what you actually have? Then we look at assistant superintendent, and we're talking about the construction industry.

OK. Now, what's been happening when you're trying to get a job? I'm not getting interviews. I'm not getting any job. So I know how to do a lot of wordplay with the resume and cover letter-- maintaining the one page, high impact skills. We're not going to put GED.

I can get you an interview easy. I can get you an interview, but you have to work the panel to get the job. And he has consistently-- he has interview after interview, but because he doesn't have the GED or high school diploma, that's why he's not getting hired.

And that's what they say to him. We just need to have that piece of paper. So I teach them how they also can write their own resume and cover letter because we know Google has how many examples? Millions. Millions of examples.

But what word do you use? Do you know the tracking application system? Do you know the words that you have to use in the application? Do you know how to pull from a position you're seeking? Put it in the resume so when the tracking system looks at your resume, it picks it up and say that you're a good match.

So that's not knowledge most people have. They just say, oh, just do a great resume. Well, it's a little bit more than that. So I teach them how to do that while I'm reviewing the resume and cover letter.

Any questions? OK. Wanderings? OK. All right. So some common myths with adults with disabilities are they're afraid of technology and refuse to engage. Have any of you ever heard that one?

OK. What about they don't know how to navigate through digital learning? What about they don't know how to complete a digital application? Because they're still asking. I'll even know how to get online. And remember, the demographics are talking about dyslexia, dyscalculia, anxiety.

It might be orthopedic-- orthopedic impairment. Might be diabetes. We're talking about not more significant disabilities. They forget any one-on-one help and can't really use technology for learning.

And their needs are greater than my knowledge. We're so excited about today. We're going to address all of these myths with some tools you can walk away with and use today.

OK. So Joel will be checking in at 11:00, so I'm going to move through. Let me just give you a little bit background. So when I submitted for this presentation, all three of the students were presenting online, but because they're so great Sarah received a promotion, and she can't be here today.

And Luis started a new job, and he's moving up in the ranks, and it's a Saturday. And he works in corrections, so he can't be here today. But I have their stories to share. So I'll go through Sarah first, but Joel will be here, so that's great.

But I was so excited because I'm like, they need to hear from the students, and these are not hand-picked students. I could have picked over literally 500 students, and we would be here all day.

It was just most recent students. And I'm like, oh, who could I ask? That's kind of how it happened. But Sarah has a very fascinating story.

This is Sarah. So I love this story. So Sarah came to us. She had HiSET credits as well as-- OK. She was at an impasse between GED and HiSET and didn't know how to decide.

So one semester, she would do GED. Change your mind, do HiSET. So this is before she came through the DARC doors. And how we get our audience, we do a lot of presentations.

I go through all of the adult schools, do presentations in class. All of the teachers have that infographic I showed you on their Google Classroom. I've written scripts for teachers to use because they're afraid of the word disability.

They're afraid of the word. You're a slower learner. I have no idea what it is because if you simply connect with the student and just say, I see that you're struggling in math, how can I support you, I think eventually you can get through to our services.

But I don't know. Maybe that's difficult too, but nonetheless, all the teachers have it in their Google Classroom. We have it. QR code-- the secretaries. When you first come in with the secretaries, and you answer a question, do you have a disability-- we even have a creative script that the secretaries have on the desk.

Oh, thank you for sharing that. That must have been difficult. Well, we have a lot of support for that if you would like to get some help. And we keep it confidential, blah, blah, blah, and then that's how we get some of our students.

The other thing, too, is let me just emphasize this. We take anyone-- diagnosed disability, not a diagnosed disability, struggling learner, returning back to school. I don't know if they have a disability. Just kind of curious. Anyone could walk through our doors and get services.

So we do not-- we have no barriers. If you just say, hey, I'm just curious, you just come on in, and we talk about it. So that's the other thing too in terms of how we deliver services. So getting back to Sarah-- that was a side note, but that was important.

So Sarah comes in-- a lot of anxiety. Sarah says-- so of course, she finishes the HiSet. The moment she meets us, she had already been there like a year and some change.

She gets through it within like a semester with us. High anxiety. She's like, I don't really want to be around people. She has four children, but she also has to have employment.

So she starts with us. She goes through the Google calendaring with our education specialists. Her and I did the ONET, and then she learned Cornell Notes and then Google Docs through our calendaring. So that's already-- yeah.

Audience: What is HiSet? I'm sorry.

Kenya Bratton: The high school equivalency.

Audience: OK. Thank you. But different opportunities too. OK I know what--

Kenya Bratton: It has five tests instead of the four.

Audience: OK I'm a special ed.

Kenya Bratton: OK. Awesome. Yeah. So, like, your students who are 13th graders, and they don't have a lot of--

Audience: I'm continuing ed-- OK.

Kenya Bratton: They would probably go all the way there. I want to help every single student. So Google Applied skills or ASCII-- have any of you heard of that?

Audience: Heard what?

Kenya Bratton: Google Applied Skills.

Audience: Oh, yes.

Kenya Bratton: OK. Right? ASCII. So if you have not, we are going to do a quick-- I'm going to show you that as a demo to teach digital literacy, and you don't even have to teach it because the lessons are already created.

All the student or teacher need is a Google account. A Google account and voila. It is really that simple. You just have to just take time to see what it offers.

So she went through our Google Digital Skills platform to learn Google calendaring. OK. Now to come to that. is this. So Sarah is like, I know I need to get a job. There's certain-- she whole list of jobs she would not do.

So I said, let's do the ONET. I mean, are you familiar with the ONET? So that's-- the ONET is a federal-funded it's a-- so every job-- about 10,000 jobs are in the database of ONET.

So they have a work profile inventory you can take, then they have short little infographics that tells you about the job, short videos about the job, what's required in terms of employment. They list all of the jobs, skills, responsibilities, and training. They even connect to California schools.

More in California actually. Actually [muffled voice] in California. Schools, if you are interested in becoming a medical assistant, you can click on a link, and it'll tell you all the schools that have medical assistant.

We're going to do a demonstration today as well. It's free. So everything we're talking about today is free. So we completed the ONET. Now, the ONET for some people-- if you don't do a deep dive, you're kind of like, I don't even know how to figure this whole database out.

But I love technology and doing that kind of learning. So we specifically went to the work profile inventory. So she completed the questionnaire. It's about 80 questions. Then what it does it generates a work profile. R-I-A-S-E-C-- Realistic, Investigative, Social, Enterprising, Conventional.

Then you click on a tab, and it list all these jobs that are aligned with your work profile. Sarah, her number one was mortician. So she's high anxiety.

I absolutely am not going to work with these mortician. What is that? It's freaking out. Hey, it's just a question-- you're not doing it right now. It's just a questionnaire. Let's take it down a notch, right?

But Sarah is a walking heart. If anyone is going through a situation where there's grieving, or someone has transitioned, you want to talk to Sarah. You don't want to talk to someone who's just trying to get down to business.

I'm sorry about your loss. Do you want a package A, B or C? But Sarah, you listen. And she doesn't absorb what she listens to. Does anyone have a friend that absorbs everything?

My goodness. You're not going to survive too much longer. I got one of those friends. Constantly hit ignore, but nonetheless, I'm like, Sarah, this is good for you. You don't have to be an actual mortician, though, right?

You can just work. Be the clerk. You could work at the desk. You can work at the back. I mean, so just consider it. And you are always stressed about getting laid off.

I doubt you will ever be laid off in this industry, unless it's your personality that gets you in trouble. So about a month later, she was like, no, miss Brighton. That's crazy. So she started looking at-- it was office assistant in a dental office. OK.

I'll support you with that too. You could change your mind. You could change your mind in the one hour session. Whatever you choose, I'm going to help you with. And I'm also going to help you consider some other strengths that you may not have considered to be successful in that career.

Month later, Sarah says, oh, Ms. Bratton, you're not going to believe it. I'm doing office assistant at Glen Abbey Funeral Home. What? You actually did it? Yes, I did it.

So she's there a month, and her daughter, who loves makeup, decides to go through the-- I don't know that exact term but not embalming school. The ones that do the mortician type-- they have some kind of apprenticeship. Her daughter starts to work there.

So here we are in December when I ask her to be here today. She emails me or texts me a few days ago, oh, I got promoted to funeral director. So this is a wonderful story. This is why because we did the DARC. You learn about that. That's an early inventory.

She started her digital skills with scanning a QR code that she created her own appointment and calendaring.

She learned how to take notes with Cornell Notes using Google Docs. We did the ONET, which is digital, and now, that's what she does there. I'm going to read to you something she shared.

I'll paraphrase it while I look for it, but she said that because we taught her the Google platform, she was able to transfer those skills to the Microsoft platform at her job.

So we tell students, you really need to learn digital skills-- some kind of platform because it's transferable. But many of our students will still say, oh, I don't have those skills, or no, I don't know how to use it.

But they're not thinking because they're trained on Google platform that you can say, yes, you understand technology when you're on a job. The other thing she said was--

I did send students a series of questions, but we know our students so well. OK. She said, the DARC program and the staff at MOA-- MOA is our Montgomery Adult Education-- have been a true blessing. Their help and dedication doesn't go unnoticed.

Above all, their willingness to help others and watch them succeed-- I will forever be grateful for each and every one of them. So then I asked her-- I asked questions such as, how has DARC services improved your technology skills? And her response was, it wasn't one of my strongest assets.

So we're saying just within just two years ago, but now that I have this new role at my job, I'm on the computer all day. And to be quite honest, I don't think I would have gotten the position if it wasn't for good technology skills.

So having to learn Cornell Notes, log on a virtual meeting, open Google Docs or other online resources. I wouldn't be as efficient as I am now and boosted my confidence. So these are the wonderful stories that we get rewarded with, honestly, every day. Every day is high impact.

All right, Joe. So I'm going to go through the list of the questions. All right. Thank you. So if you could just share a little bit about your background. Your name, your background, and why are you in adult education.

Audience: All right. My name is Joe Flores. I'm studying at San Isidro Adult School. To finish-- to-- well to finish my GED, so I can have a better job or at least one of the jobs that I wish to have.

Kenya Bratton: OK, and how did you come to learn about the DARC center?

Audience: Well, the teachers telling me-- they asked me, do you have any disabilities? Especially the counselor. She asked me, do you have any disability? And when I said yes, they told me, all right. We will help you with that.

Kenya Bratton: And can you talk a little bit about what services you're receiving from the DARC program right now?

Audience: Of course. Firstly, teachers are trying to give me the environment that I need.

Kenya Bratton: What do you mean by that?

Audience: For example, they know what type of-- I get distracted sometimes. That I-- sometimes I need to take a fresh air or walk from-- they told me, hey, do you need a walk? You're feeling like not comfortable? You can take a walk.

Kenya Bratton: And does that help you refocus?

Audience: Of course.

Kenya Bratton: So Joel and I were in the middle of testing. He has to take a break. All right. But I'm like, this is a little bit too long for number two. So I go outside, and I don't know what he's doing on his phone.

And I'm just like, dude, OK, Joel. Because it's like 8-- like, 14 minutes. And I'm like, Joel, you know we're in the middle of testing. We kind of have a flow or whatever.

He's like OK, but his distraction is legitimate. Sometimes adults who have distraction-- because every adult is distracted. But especially if they have not done any training of the mind to a specific task over some years.

So many of your students are going to say they have ADHD. They self diagnosed themselves. They went through the DMV website. They looked at Google search and the TikTok. So they have all of these TikTok and YouTube diagnoses.

And so the first thing I ask them is, what do you do that's concentrated in structure? Do you read just 20 minutes a day uninterrupted? A book? Reading? Do you take notes? No, no, no.

So let's first see if there truly is a disability, so we do the VARK-- V-A-R-K, and you will get experience with that later-- to find out their learning preference before we go straight to disability. OK?

Joel, can you tell us why is it important for your teachers-- I'm sorry. Why did you decide to disclose that you had a disability?

Audience: Mainly because when I was studying in Mexico, nobody asked me. Nobody told me, hey, you have a disability. If you had a disability, they never noticed.

Kenya Bratton: What would they do instead?

Audience: They will just go with the flow you could say. Teachers would act normal-- act like themselves.

Kenya Bratton: But I don't think the word disabilities exists, though, in Mexico. Is that true or not true?

Audience: It's still like a myth you could say.

Kenya Bratton: All right. What is it-- I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

Audience: No, of course.

Kenya Bratton: You were saying [overlapping voices].

Audience: Sorry?

Kenya Bratton: You were saying that it's still a myth in Mexico about disabilities?

Audience: You could say so because the term disability-- it's like you need to seriously-- you need to have a real disability, or you have to show it, or you have to have a high-level disability, so they can notice it. But if not, they consider you normal. You're normal, and they do nothing about it.

Kenya Bratton: So now that you say that, what about some adults in school? How would a teacher know? Like, some students won't disclose their disability like you have.

So what might be important for a teacher to know if the adult decided I don't want the teacher to know I have a disability? What are some strategies a teacher can use to help a student that may be struggling?

Audience: OK. Mainly try to make an environment and ask.

Kenya Bratton: But I don't want to say I have a disability, so what could the teacher maybe ask?

Audience: Do you need any help? Not like for disability, but like, for example, do you need need a VARK questionnaire maybe?

Kenya Bratton: Right. That's our learning strengths inventory. Now, in terms of technology, what are you learning regarding technology that has helped you so far?

Audience: The program Aztec. The program Reading Plus and Learning Upgrade.

Kenya Bratton: Have you used these before? Adult education?

Audience: Not before. Not before.

Kenya Bratton: Was it hard to learn?

Audience: Not quite.

Kenya Bratton: OK. And so is there anything you would like to share because we're around a group of a lot of teachers right now that would really be impactful when they leave to go back to work next week.

Audience: All right. Something that can share-- well, for me, it's been easy to learn through Aztec and Reading Plus, for example. Aztec I've been using it more for math, and Reading Plus for my language, arts, and reading comprehension.

I've been using them in the when before I have done nothing. I have not read a book or watched videos of how to get my GED. But now, learning that Aztec exists because I didn't even know that Aztec exist.

So I started using it, and for me, it's like normal because I like it. It's has been a habit for me to open Aztec, complete a class or a-- you know, complete an assignment, like for homework, for example. And for me, it's not boring.

Kenya Bratton: Now, I know you're in the Academic Development Class. Is that-- or do you see-- are you seeing the teacher by appointment only?

Audience: No. I'm in the academic class.

Kenya Bratton: OK. Can you share a little bit of that experience?

Audience: Of course. I'm in the adult school, so the environment is pretty good for me. For example, there's not a lot of screaming inside the class. There's not a lot of talking inside the class. Mostly they're respectful.

Yes. There's going to be the person that one of the million that as well-- we could say it has a disability probably. Well, that's where my opinion because that's what they talk in class. They do stuff that for me is distracting. But sometimes, it's just me and one or two classmates or just me.

Kenya Bratton: What technology are you learning?

Audience: Technology? Firstly, mainly I'm learning how to use my laptop. I'm learning how to log in to Aztec. I learned how to log in to Reading Plus and how to log in to Learning Upgrade.

Kenya Bratton: Excellent.

Audience: And as well I learned how to share my homework or my assignments. The teachers tell me through Google Docs, and Google Meet-- the Google Classroom.

Kenya Bratton: Yes. The math program is called Aztec-- A-Z-T-E-C. That's what we use with Sweetwater Adult Education for the GED platform. Joel, you're going to-- you could stay for the rest of the workshop, but I don't know if someone has a question. Do you mind taking one or two questions"

Audience: Of course. I'm here for any doubts. Any questions, I'm here for it.

Kenya Bratton: Yes, we have one.

Audience: Joel, you are very respectful, and your presence on the Zoom is amazing. I am grateful you've done well in your schooling and all your teachers. You're excellent. You're like a prized student. I appreciate you being so respectful. Very good.

Audience: Thank you.

Kenya Bratton: Yes. And we see that every day. We were in a class. We were in the middle of testing, and a student comes in who speaks Spanish because I've been doing Google translate-- and I'm going to share that experience too. I cannot believe how productive I am with Google Translate.

I'm just-- I just think I'm great. This is kind of amazing. But anyway, and I was taking out my phone to start the Google Translate. And Joel says, oh, no worry, Ms. Bratton. Let me help you.

Let me help a student. And Eddie just helped the student, figured it out, and I was just like, man, winning. This guy is winning. So, Joel, it's always a pleasure to be in your presence.

Audience: Thank you. I'm glad to be as well in your meeting, you know. Not in like a funny wise, but like, I see there's more-- there's a lot of adults my age, younger, and older that need help, especially from the DARC program.

And yes, I feel like they need help. They feel that they don't, but they need help. I see it in my classmates. There's people that I see or I think that they-- they don't know that they have a disability.

But when they go to DARC-- they go to the DARC program teachers, they help him. I see it.

Kenya Bratton: Thank you, Joel. Appreciate it. Was there a question on Zoom chat or--

Audience: No. Thank you.

Kenya Bratton: Thank you, Joel. You're welcome to stay, and you can also leave-- whichever one you choose.

Audience: All right. I might go out, so thank you for having me. Any questions, I'm glad to be here with you guys.

Kenya Bratton: And even our most challenging students that walk through our doors-- like, we currently have one young lady. She has a lot happening every day, so she typically gets-- if she's speaking to any adult or student-- she's in the culinary pathway-- it's going to be an argument.

And so she-- and she people shops. So listen to me, so I can tell you this long story. I'm not saying trauma is not real. I'm not saying drama is not real. But look, girl, we got 36 weeks. You know, 18 weeks, 36 weeks to get you to where you need to be.

So and I met with her, and while we're in the moment, she's just talking about everything under the sun and changing the world and blah, blah, blah, blah, et cetera. And I say to her, let's just take a moment. Let's just chill.

So when you're speaking with people, are there any moments where you just listen? And how can we use our physiology to do more listening? And how do we know that someone's there to not help us or to help us to support-- I mean, you just had this great conversation.

Like, I just need you to settle down, and any time you need help, come through our doors. Sometimes what happens is students need help, and because they're adults, they'll just start asking a lot of people. Then they get confused and frustrated, then we don't hear from them.

And we always say to them, we tell you to come through our doors-- like because we won't-- we have so many people on our team that won't understand adult education, understand all the programs, understand disabilities, understand community connections.

Teachers don't always have all that knowledge at one time. So if you decide to shop, you could possibly get confused and reroute it. So now that we have our back on track-- you know, she settled down. She hasn't been in a school environment for decades, so we can't just go off on people.

But that's just how I am. No, that's not how you're going to be here. How about that? People are here to help you, support you, but we're not going to be cussing out everyone that you engage with.

So this is what the education classroom environment looks like-- that I go through the essential skills. We're all familiar with this workplace, essential skills-- communication, listening,

So OK, OK-- I know you know these skills, and we have to practice them here. So sometimes when people have a very colorful personality, other folks work around that colorful personality, but their personality can be detrimental to themselves.

So I was not trying to be the one to of put her on notice, but I had to let her know that type of colorfulness has to be shifted in a more productive manner. All right. So let's talk about Luis.

Thank you all for supporting Joe and Sarah, and here's Luis. So Luis was-- we have a poly system.

Audience: --one of the biggest compliments, I think, he sent to you.

Kenya Bratton: Pardon.

Audience: One of the biggest compliments he said in that I like that.

Kenya Bratton: Yes.

Audience: That's something that kids connect with and makes sense. I like it. That's a main compliment to the program I think.

Kenya Bratton: Now, I'll tell you, I get rewarded every day. When I worked in K through 12, I was drained, discombobulated. I didn't know why I was in education. We would take our breaks and the whole break I'm just trying to recalibrate, rejuvenate. It was just terrible for the spirit.

But when I came to adult ed, every day I'm fed. Boom, boom, boom, fed. Anyway, so here's Luis. Luis was a security officer on the trolley.

Woke up one day. I want to be a Sheriff. Went to look at the Sheriff application. Says you must have a GED or a high school diploma. So you started adult ed. We did a presentation. That's how he learned about us.

He started the-- completed the interest form. Had no technology skills besides the ticket thing. Where's your pass? Don't have it. You're getting a ticket. Besides that, right?

So he needed testing. Now, I want to be clear. There's two of us on the team that are credentialed and licensed to do learning disability testing. It is absolutely not part of our job description.

But I tell you, we get compelled. Oh, my gosh. I cannot leave this adult hanging. So what I did was when-- I adopted the training through community college and universities. I looked at all the requirements from Harvard, then I looked at Cal State University.

I've created all of-- like a report because this report has to follow them. And so what's the minimum we can do and some maximum benefit as well. So in that report, I include the learning styles.

I'll also include the diagnosis, and I'll also include the career profile workforce development profile. Of course, the testing as well. So that's how we started to do the testing.

But when someone comes in, and want testing just because it's a good idea, we typically say no. Well, we don't say no. We reroute them in a different direction. But if a student is there for more than a semester, I kind of would do it.

Because it only honestly takes me four appointments, but it's not part of the job description. And I'm not saying that to toot our horns. I'm just letting you know. It's not like we have someone who was hired specifically for that purpose.

So first time he knew that he had some kind of disability. Could never get it figured out. Try to get private testing, which is like three grand. So that wasn't going to happen. So we did the testing. He has a diagnosis in memory.

This is two years ago. Last year-- yeah, two years. So he finished the GED. His claim to fame for digital highlights is the VARK, Docs, and Video conference appointments, and email.

So what we did was after that first year, he completed each sections of the testing, passed the GED. Started-- he started at Southwestern Community College. He was still applying to become a Sheriff, but he couldn't get through the test.

And the Sheriff's department told him that you can't use accommodations. And I'm like, dude, like, we're not going to try to do this lawsuit. What do you want to do? We can restructure how we teach you some of the strategies since you have experience with the test because he had failed the first time.

So about-- what do you say? Like, four-- he did present as a guest speaker at our graduation, and he did disclose he had a disability at the graduation. And three weeks ago, we had a student walk in the doors and said that boy-- that man that spoke said he had a disability, and that's why I'm here.

So it was just incredible. So what happens is he gets a call from his uncle in Wisconsin. His uncle says it's a small rural town. So we know how they-- well, I don't want to offend anyone from a rural town, but it's a small rural town, and they were hiring for a Sheriff-- correctional Sheriff.

He got the job. He's been there three months now. So not only did he achieve the GED. Also went from security officer to a Sheriff. He goes through the academy. He'll be back in San Diego in July.

He said to start the Sheriff Academy in San Diego. So in a short period of time-- and I know. I'm not saying that humans can't propel themselves. But it's like what Doctor Marquez said today in the keynote.

You almost have to be-- you almost have to be the intrinsic motivation for the adult to get started. They have to know that you're there to be their cheerleader, and eventually, they carry on. We all need encouragement, honestly, every day.

If I don't encourage myself today, I'm probably never going to hear it. So you guys get where I'm going, right? So how is technology-- video conference appointments and email.

All right. So many of our students may not have done video conferencing before. We won't let them get out of counseling appointment. So do you want me to call you? Do you want me to text you? Do you need a smoke fire Morse code?

You're not getting out of this appointment. And so what happens is-- OK, if you want to video conference, then you stay on the phone, and I video conference. Or you video conference me, and I stay on the phone.

So that's how we actually use technology to get something done fast. That's meaningful. That's what I mean. Anytime they meet with us, something is happening. Then what happens-- like, I have this student now who has a little bit more-- he has an intellectual disability, although he's high functioning.

And at the end of every meeting, he goes, can you send-- can you send me a summary of what we talked about so I can send to my parents? Absolutely not. But you could-- let me help you create an email.

And then you write what we talked about. I'm not going to be able to write this. You can do speech to text, and I'll help you with the capitalization and whatnot. And then you can send it to your parents.

So they learn in that moment because I'm not going to remember anyway. But still that's important because you might have to use that on your job because you have an intellectual disability. So you may have to say to your supervisor, I like to do a summary, read it back, and then get corrected in that moment, and that's how he uses technology through text and email.

Many of you who may go through the GED platform, it's sometimes very complicated. Has any of you done accommodations on the GED platform? OK. It's really complicated and frustrating because if you hit the wrong button, now, you got to call the people.

You're on hold for an hour. That could turn to two hours. The next day you got to call the tech. You get my drift, right? And literally, I'll be on the phone. What is the upper right corner say that's a teal colored line?

What does the lower left corner say? So I won't even-- I won't remember your password. Every time they do a password, get out your phone. Go to-- Create a contact, GED ID. Put in your GED number.

Under Notes, put in your password but not all of it. Hit Save. Now, I'm just going to do a screenshot. No, we're not going to be sitting here doing this all day in my meeting. All right?

So those are the little tips that are very important. So this is what we learn about how to facilitate digital literacy. The instructor needs to learn and practice it. You must prepare the materials in advance.

Students will try to get out of it. Oh, no. I'll just wait till another appointment. Oh, no. I'll come see you in person. And three weeks go by, and I will know. I'm going to have to call me, and we're going to work through it together with your mobile phone or your iPad, et cetera.