June

Text Resources on Race &

 Anti-Racism

Thank you to Dr. Jay Marks of Oakland Schools for sharing this organized list. 

Educators:

1. Your Black Colleagues May Look Like They’re Okay — Chances Are They’re Not
2. Books About Race That Everyone Should Be Reading Right Now
3. Anti-Racism Resource     
4. Framing Brave Conversations About Race and Ethnicity
5. Teaching as Activism, Teaching as Care

 

Students:     

1. Teaching About Race, Racism and Police Violence
2. Black Lives Matter Still Matters       
3. Let’s Talk! Facilitating Critical Conversations with Students 
4. Let’s Talk About It!

 

Parents:

1. George Floyd. Ahmaud Arbery. Breonna Taylor. What do we tell our children?
2. Raising Race Conscious Children
3. Your Kids Aren’t Too Young to Talk About Race: Roundup Resources 
4. Talking to Children After Racial Incidents 
5. Books About Race That Everyone Should Be Reading Right Now

Teaching Lessons Learned

On May 19th, both the SOEL & IDLL networks came together via Zoom for one last meeting of the year. Over the 2019-2020 year, our face-to-face meetings included a guest teaching artist from UMS, researchers from UM, visits to Washtenaw County schools, the UMMA and EMU C2W.  When we shifted to distance teaching and learning, we wanted to reflect on where we were and where we are going. 

A theme we noticed from our discussions in May was engagement in literacy. Here:

• a SOEL teacher highlights one way she engaged 3rd graders in a shared text, 
• an IDLL English teacher highlights a way she engaged high school students in storytelling, 
• and an ELL SOEL teacher shares how her teacher research and book study turned into professional learning for her colleagues. 

The Use of an Interactive Storyboard Engaged Third-grade Students in an Asynchronous Read Aloud of Grace Lin’s Where the Mountain Meets the Moon

by SOEL teacher Stephanie Burnstein

 

As students embarked on this epic journey with the main character, Minli,  through nightly read alouds posted to Seesaw, they posted comments identifying any newly introduced story elements. Their challenge was to make predictions about and connections between characters, symbolic objects, setting changes, and story arcs within the frame story and the embedded folk tales. These would then be added to an oversized storyboard that was organized by chapter and comprised of color-coordinated Post-it notes. Red string was used to show the interwoven connections students identified, and the storyboard eventually included a kite with red strings that led to the Old Man of the Moon perched atop a mountain in the clouds. 

As the journey progressed, students realized that the storyboard’s red strings, or borrowed lines, represented the “strings of destiny” from the novel’s “Book of Fortune” and that many of the symbolic objects and characters showed up again and again in slightly different forms, thus tying together all of the embedded stories into one intricately woven tale. 

Using Flipgrid to Storytell

by IDLL Teacher Shelly Venema

Keeping students engaged in remote learning is challenging. In fact, teaching the way we used to has pointed out what should and should not be done. So, one successful way I taught writing and telling stories involved an authentic experience, Google docs, Flipgrid, and peer critiques. This is a project I would repeat!

Raising Expectations and Instructional Rigor For English Learners Through Effective Instructional Practice

by SOEL Teacher Rhoshawda Miller

For my TESOL program at Eastern Michigan University I created a proposal and powerpoint based on the book No More Low Expectations For English Learners that I read for my for my Teacher Action Research. The materials focus on the topic: Raising Expectations and Instructional Rigor For English Learners Through Effective Instructional Practice, to help classroom teachers best meet the needs of English learners in their classrooms. The powerpoint is for a professional development for teachers and with the  Empowering Diverse Voices for the 2020 MITESOL conference in mind.

May

Why is Diverse Literature Important in All Classrooms?

A start to our diverse books lending library: picture books on top,
upper EL and MS in the middle, HS on the bottom. 

Thoughtful conversations and planning with SOEL and IDLL teachers, guidance on text selection from guest speaker Dr. Laura Jimenez from our Responsive Teaching Institutes, a wish and a book list from the late YCS teacher Caroline Jacob, and ongoing collaboration with Dr. Shayla Griffin, Culture and Diversity Consultant at WISD, are all part of helping us build and shape a county-wide lending library for diverse books.  After selecting some K-12 diverse texts, SOEL met with Dr. Griffin to help understand and communicate why diverse and multicultural literature is important in all classrooms. Dr. Griffin says:

 1. Multicultural books act as mirrors that affirm, validate, and celebrate our children’s identities and lived experiences and the contributions people like them have made to the world.

Dr. Shayla R. Griffin, PhD. 2018

2. Multicultural books act as windows that expose students to the diversity of the broader world. 

3. Multicultural books can help students and educators interrupt bias and prejudice. 



Stay tuned for more on the Caroline Jacob Memorial Diverse Lending Library available in the 2019-2020 school year for Washtenaw County educators. 

What are We Reading to Learn? 

SOEL Teachers summarize, review and recommend books from
professional reading time this year

Professional books, and the time to read them, has always been part of SOEL since we formed in 2013. 
A few of our titles this year were:

• Every Child a Super Reader: Seven Strengths to Enter a World of Possible, by Ernest Morrell and Pam Allyn, was a favorite for a second year in a row.   Centered on Belonging, Curiosity, Friendship, Kindness, Confidence, Courage and Hope as Super Reader strengths, this book will certainly be on our SOEL list again next year, as it connects specifically to Essentials #1 and #10. 

• Interactive Writing Across Grades: A Small Practice with Big Results PreK-5  by Kate Roth and Joan Dobrowski.  Connecting to Essential #6, this text is highly engaging for the reader with many practical, immediate applications of the interactive writing practice.  This was voted to be a SOEL selection again next year as well.

• The Literacy Teacher's Playbook, K-2: Four Steps for Turning Assessment Data into Goal Directed Instruction, by Jennifer Seravallo. Connecting to Essentials #3 and #9, this coaching text directs teachers in using formative assessment to meet every child's literacy needs.  This text, as well as the grades 3-6 edition, was voted for offering again in SOEL next year. 

Upcoming Learning Opportunities

Essential Instructional Practices in Literacy- One Day Overviews

 August 1st for grades K-3 at WISD 8:30-3:30

August 2nd for grades 4-5 at WISD 8:30-3:30

At the end of each session, registrants will be invited to join the SOEL network for the 2019-2020 school year. 

Disciplinary Writing InstituteJune 24-25 at EMU

Register here- Disciplinary Writing Institute 

Participants will be given an invitation to join the IDLL network after completing the institute. 

March

SOEL Explores Sound and Rhthym in Early Literacy Learning

Through our SOEL at WISD collaboration with the University Musical Society at UM, teaching artist Marcia Daft demonstrated Sound Writing- Exploring Rhythm, Reading and Writing.  First graders at Perry ELC in Ypsilanti participated in rhythm activities for identifying syllables in classmate's names, and ease of movement for classroom transitions. 

Marcia then came to our SOEL meeting at WISD to work with teachers on incorporating rhythm into reading and writing in the classroom.

Celebrating March is Reading Month  

    Our friends at EMU's Campus and Community Writing (C2W) are celebrating March is Reading Month and the connections between reading and writing. Students, teachers, and family members are encouraged to conduct interviews with each other about their reading habits—and write up what they discover.  You can use the interview questions linked HERE to get you started.  If you share your writing with EMU C2W, along with signed permission forms, they will publish the pieces on their website and even select a few to be featured in their social media platforms. 

Spring Professional Learning Opportunities

March 13th- Instructional Agility to Foster Student Investment 

Join the Assessment Literacy and SOEL Networks in learning more about how to structure learning environments that better allow teachers to accurately assess and respond to student learning and make real-time decisions that foster student investment. Educators will be able to identify the classroom conditions to set up instructional agility and student investment, describe key components of instructional agility, learn key strategies for developing student investment through instructional agility, reflect on current instructional agility and student investment practices to determine next steps. 

FREE at WISD - Register HERE 

March 14th- Responsive Teaching Institute

Join all network teachers in learning about applying culturally relevant pedagogy across content areas. Participants will examine how the integration of content areas can further engage students in learning. 

Presenters include:

Dr. Laura Jimenez on selecting culturally responsive books 
Yolanda Sealey-Ruiz on critical English education, Culturally Relevant Pedagogy, racial literacy in urban teacher education.

Dr. Dorinda Carter Andrews- the role of leadership on culturally responsive schools 

Dr. Donna Ford, Culturally Relevant Teaching in AP, Honors courses 

Dr. Sandra Crespo, Culturally Responsive Teaching mathematics   

FREE at EMU- Register HERE

May 1- Overview of Essential Instructional Practices in Literacy, Grades 4 & 5

This is a one day overview of the Grades 4&5 Essential Instructional Practices in Literacy . Teachers, literacy coaches, or administrators who seek a general overview or a refresher are welcome.  

FREE at WISD- Register  HERE

May 9-  Overview of Essential Instructional Practices in Literacy, Grades K-3

This is a one day overview of the Grades K-3 Essential Instructional Practices in Literacy . Teachers, literacy coaches, or administrators who seek a general overview or a refresher are welcome.  

FREE at LESA- Register  HERE

June

Summer Resources for Students

Michigan residents have free access to many resources through the Michigan eLibrary.  Families can find resources to help ease the summer slide, read eBooks, conduct research, create reading lists, and prepare for college, careers, and high stakes tests like the SATⓇ.

There is a playlist on the MeL YouTube Channel (https://goo.gl/fDC4Be) and a 2017 Summer Resources Letter that can be either emailed (or printed and sent home) to Michigan K-12 families.  Please help distribute this letter to as many schools and families as possible.  You may also want to subscribe to the MeL YouTube Channel, so you keep up to date on the latest with the Michigan eLibrary!

The letter is available in the following formats:

• Google Doc: https://goo.gl/63jnW5
• Word Doc: https://goo.gl/gMMb3m
• PDF: https://goo.gl/B5CuVs

Summer Professional Learning Opportunities

 

Personalize Your Learning  A New Professional Development Opportunity 

E​ducators now have the ability to participate in nine self-paced modules drawn from the 21 Things 4 Teachers content​. Each self-contained module covers current educational topics that make connections between curriculum, technology and best practice strategies. ​It takes about ten hours to complete a module.​

The complete list of modules can be found on the 21 Things 4 Teacher website. Here are two examples: Media Literacy: Real or Fake, educators can learn the difference between real and fake news. In Creating Efficiency & Productivity learn how using technology can actually increase and improve classroom productivity, efficiency and organization.
D​istricts may use the modules​ internally for professional development.

​Educators can earn 10 SCECH for each completed module and up to 90 SCECHs if they complete all nine. The modules can be started and completed between May 1 – June 30 and July 1- September 5. An instructor facilitates each course. More information can be found at https://www.smore.com/2sgdk