March

 Read Across America

March is Reading Month, but we know that EVERY month is reading month!   NEA's Read Across America celebrates reading all year round with recommendations and resources promoting diversity and inclusion through reading.  The resources include options for face-to-face and virtual classrooms:

• Book recommendations for the month of March include:
• Elementary- Tiara's Hat Parade
• Middle School- Each Tiny Spark
• High School- They Called Us Enemy (available in our WISD Diverse Lending Library!) 

• 9 Ideas for Virtually Celebrating NEAs Read Across America 

• KidLit TV Read Out Loud Program- with videos of authors, actors and illustrators reading picture books aloud. 

• Books by Theme to support lessons and units (some also available in the WISD Diverse Lending Library) 

• Free Materials- both hard copy and digital

Upcoming Professional Learning

March 2- Cultivating Genius with Dr. Gholdy Muhammad

In this session Dr. Gholdy Muhammad will engage teachers in unpacking culture. Together, culture will be explored and revisited in deep, multifaceted ways. We will discuss our own cultural identities and approaches to learning the cultures of students. 

By the end of this session, the teachers will understand culture and engage in a self-identity work. 

Outcomes: 

1. Educators will learn equity, anti-bias, and culturally responsive instruction. 

2. Educators will learn how CHRE can be used to improve their teaching practices 

3. Educators will explore their own cultural identities and ideologies for teaching and learning. 

For IN COUNTY registrants ONLY please use the discount code of CRMT.

4:00-6:00 Virtual

March 4th- The Necessity of Diverse Books

**Prerequisite: Justice Leaders Core Course**

Are you a preschool or elementary teacher wanting more guidance on how to incorporate diverse, inclusive, and socially just picture books in your classroom? Join us to explore why diverse books are important, the various categories of diverse books (with great examples from Shayla's own home library!), how to prepare yourself to read more diverse books to your students, and what challenges and pitfalls may arise in your efforts.
Date: Thursday, March 4, 2021, 10am-12pm
-No Charge for public, private, and charter school staff in Washtenaw County; WISD staff; or Washtenaw County Youth serving organization. Districts will be responsible for any necessary sub costs.
All others, $25 per person.

March 11 and 17- Analyzing Propaganda and Teaching Media Literacy

FREE TWO SESSION VIRTUAL EVENT from the Holocaust Memorial Center hosted by WISD

4:00-6:00

Media literacy skills have become essential for young people to successfully navigate and critically assess the ever-increasing amount of information they receive throughout their day - on social media, advertisements, television, and film. Therefore, it is crucial for students to comprehend and identify how media, both historically and in contemporary society, can be used as a tool to incite hate and violence against certain groups. 

This learning opportunity examines the events of the Holocaust through the lens of media, by examining propaganda deployed by the Nazis to discriminate against Jews and other minorities. Educators will gain the tools to facilitate classroom discussions on the role and impact of Nazi propaganda during the Holocaust and support their students to critically analyze media in today’s world.

March 24 -Lesson Planning in the Cultivating Genius Framework

Have you read Cultivating Genius by Dr. Gholdy Muhammad and now would like to lesson plan with other teachers? Join us March 24th from 4:00-6:00 to put your learning into action. With resources and templates from Dr. Muhammad, you'll have time to think and plan with other teachers. Bring your books and ideas!  

Virtual 4:00-6:00
  *SCHECHS not available. Books not provided.

April 22- Linguistic Justice with Dr. April Baker-Bell

Free for Washtenaw County educators. PART 2, follow-up from December 10 Workshop. Virtual. 5:00-7:00

In this workshop, participants will have an opportunity to engage in more intimate conversations about Anti-Black Linguistic Racism and how they can implement Antiracist Language Pedagogies in their respective classrooms. Participants will also have opportunities to ask specific questions about their teaching philosophies of language, language policies, curriculum, practices, syllabi, assignments, etc. Baker-Bell will share sample syllabi, assignments, and activities. 

Out of county registration

February

World Read Aloud Day is February 5! 

LitWorld founded World Read Aloud Day in 2010 for people all over the world to celebrate the joy of reading aloud and to advocate for literacy as a fundamental human right.  Join in the Day by visiting their site to register, download free resources, and access activity guides. Resources include tips on how to host a community event, create stickers and decorations, and read aloud tips to share with participants.  We'd love to see how World Read Aloud Day is celebrated in Washtenaw County, share to Twitter with #WRAD@WashISD

Upcoming Professional Learning Opportunities

Creating Context for Teaching Night

February 20th, 2020 WISD 8:30-3:30 FREE
*Most applicable to secondary ELA teachers.

The Holocaust Memorial Museum presents Creating Context for Teaching Night. 

The workshop will include: 

• How to teach Night within the larger historical framework of the Holocaust; 

• A history of antisemitism for context prior to reading Night;

• An exploration of materials and instructional strategies available in Echoes and Reflections to support effective teaching of the memoir; 

• The use of interdisciplinary materials including art work, photographs, poetry and personal narratives; 

• Identifying significant themes of the memoir

*SCHECHs Pending   REGISTER HERE

It's All About Inquiry: Understanding the Social Studies Standards, C3 Framework and Literacy Essentials

This is a three day training free to all Washtenaw County Educators

In this three day session, we work with educators to build background knowledge of the three documents through a short history and purpose, connecting through the thread of inquiry, and planning for long term work in instruction and assessment in social studies classrooms.

February 27, March 5, March 26

At Milan Middle School Librarium, Milan, MI
REGISTER HERE

The Diverse Lending Library at WISD

Don't forget about the Diverse Lending Library available to all Washtenaw County educators. E-mail me to check out books or ask questions about our books! 

For questions on anything in this Literacy Newsletter- please contact Melissa Brooks-Yip at mbrooksyip@washtenawisd.org 

July & August

Light Summer Reads

As we end July, and I see school supplies show up in stores, I start thinking of the first days of school! I appreciate some light reads with new ideas that are offered in Choice Literacy:

• For Instructional Coaches on Building Coach-Teacher Relationships

• Building Routines in the Early Elementary Classroom

• Voice and Choice in the Middle School Classroom

• You may also want to check Literacy Updates from MDE

Upcoming Professional Learning

Teaching the Holocaust, Empowering Students

July 31 8:30-3:30 at WISD

Register HERE

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. 

**Also, don't forget about the online modules for the PreK and K-3 Essentials

June

SOEL Celebrates Another Year of Learning!

As the 2018-2019 school year comes to a close, SOEL teachers took time in our last meetings to reflect on and share what they learned about literacy instruction, the changes they made in teaching because of that learning, and how that, in turn, resulted in student learning. 
*Please see our charts from PreK SOEL and K-3 SOEL and our quick visual summary below:

IDLL and the Disciplinary Literacy Essentials! 

After giving feedback three years ago, studying them for two, and being a pilot county for one, The Essential Practices for Disciplinary Literacy Instruction in Secondary Classrooms have finally been publicly released.  In 2019-2020, our Inquiry into Disciplinary Literacy and Learning will continue to study disciplinary literacy through book studies, school visits, and collaborations with EMU and UM.

2019 Reading Book Lists from ILA

Just in time for summer reading, The International Literacy Association released the Choices Reading Lists. Each year, thousands of children, young adults, and educators around the United States select their favorite recently published books for the Choices reading lists. These lists are used in classrooms, libraries, and homes to help readers of all ages find books they will enjoy. Check them out for yourself and the children in your life:

Teacher's Choice

Children's Choice

Young Adult Choices

Summer Learning Opportunities

Disciplinary Writing Institute
 9:00-3:00  at EMU
June 24-25

Register HERE

*This connects to the newly released 6-12 Disciplinary Literacy Essential Instructional Practices and our IDLL network here at WISD

Teaching the Holocaust, Empowering Students

July 31 8:30-3:30 at WISD

Register HERE

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. 

**Also, don't forget about the online modules for the PreK and K-3 Essentials

February

World Read Aloud Day! 

While today, February 1, is officially World Read Aloud Day, we know it is really EVERY day!  

Visit LitWorld for resources such as bookmarks, booklists, and events, but especially for their Read Aloud Guide to get started now and continue in the future. 

SOEL and Essential Instructional Practices in Early Literacy

We did end up cancelling our January SOEL meetings due to the #polarvortex2019, but let's not forget that we can always see many SOEL teachers demonstrating Essential Instructional Practices in Literacy on the LiteracyEssentials.org site.

In this video, you'll see longtime SOEL member, Roshawda Miller talk about coaching reading in small groups.

Responsive Teaching Institutes

On January 17th, the AI Team of WISD welcomed several guest speakers to another Responsive Teaching Institute.  With over 70 educators attending, many saw Dr. Ernest Morrell present on Critical Media Pedagogy: Culturally Responsive Pedagogies for Diverse Classrooms. 

Join us February 14th  8:30-3:30 at Saline Liberty School to process learning and plan forward for Culturally Relevant Teaching as part of our next Planning and Implementation Day.  Also, save the date for the next Responsive Teaching Institute on March 14th at EMU when we will host Dr. Dorinda Carter Andrews, Dr. Laura Jimenez, Dr. Terry Flennaugh, and Kimberly Wardell Stone.  

Teacher Action Research

Are you interested in learning about Teacher Action Research?  The 4th in our SOEL Teacher Action Research Webinar Series with Dr. Cathy Fleischer will be on February 13th at 4:00.    

No registration is necessary. 

Join us at:  https://zoom.us/j/189529059

**If you missed previous webinars, catch up HERE!

Echoes and Reflections 

Echoes & Reflections is dedicated to reshaping the way that teachers and students understand, process, and navigate the world through the events of the Holocaust. The Holocaust is more than a historical event; it’s part of the larger human story. Educating students about its significance is a great responsibility. We partner with educators to help them introduce students to the complex themes of the Holocaust and to understand its lasting effect on the world.

Join us February 25th 4:30-8:30 or March 5th 8:30-3:30
FREE.      Register HERE

September

Start Your School Year with Authentic Relationship and Community Building 

Teaching Tolerance provides 20 Face to Face Advisories

In these activities, students greet each other respectfully and then share interesting, meaningful activities that draw them together while practicing speaking and listening skills.

 They become more open to diverse people and cultures, ready to take a stand for equity. Such connections and understandings help create the optimal social emotional conditions for learning. They foster awareness of social biases and reveal possibilities for transforming them. 

       The activities are grouped by the domains of Teaching Tolerance’s Anti-bias Framework: Identity, Diversity, Justice and Action, with five advisories in each domain. 

See the entire guide HERE.

Powerful Literacy

Dr. Ernest Morrell, Professor of English at Notre Dame, and frequent guest speaker for SOEL and Responsive Mathematics, talks here about Powerful Literacy.  In listening to his definition we can see what is often lost among our mandates, programs, and test scores when it comes to thinking about what it means to be a literate individual. 

Upcoming Professional Learning Opportunities

Echoes and Reflections: Holocaust Professional Learning

Supporting educators and their students with the courage to question the past and the knowledge to impact the future.  

Join us October 9 & 10 at WISD from 9:00-3:00

• Meet the public act requirement for teaching the Holocaust and other genocides.
• Discover and utilize classroom-ready digital lesson plans, visual history testimonies, and additional primary source materials.
• Align the curriculum to your school improvement plan strategies and district needs.
• Make connections with what you are already do in your classrooms.
• Enhance personal knowledge about the Holocaust and other genocides.

REGISTER HERE

October

No Longer Invisible: How Diverse Literature Helps Children Find Themselves in Books, and Why it Matters

The National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) Council Chronicle published this piece last month. It showcases K-12 teachers around the country who have worked to include diverse literature in their classrooms and what a difference this is making in teaching and learning.   Also included is a resource list for teachers seeking to use more diverse texts.  See the article HERE.

Upcoming Professional Learning for October and November

September

K-12 Digital Resources for Text

Check out CommonLit for texts for upper level students.  Users can search by Lexile, grade level, genre, and theme. There are also paired texts and each passage includes text-dependent questions. 

Another wonderful free resource for text comes from MeL.org.  

Administered by the Library of Michigan in partnership with Michigan's libraries of all types, the Michigan eLibrary (http://mel.org) will provide all Michigan residents with free access to online full-text articles, full-text books, digital images, and other valuable research information at any time via the Internet; and provide an easy-to-use interlibrary loan system to allow Michigan residents to borrow books and other library materials for free from participating Michigan libraries.

Fall Professional Learning Opportunities

Middle and High School Teachers!

IDLL begins September 22! 

The Inquiry into Disciplinary Literacy and Learning is a professional learning network for secondary teachers of all subject areas. 

Through book study, lesson study, guest speakers and teacher practice, we will examine:

• What reading, writing, speaking and listening looks like in the disciplines.  
• What we can do to best prepare students to meet the disciplinary demands of college and career reading and writing, with attention to standards.
• Dates: September 22, October 27, January 26, March 23, May 25

Register HERE

Life's Better...When You Blend

October 5, 2016    $25

Register HERE  and see more information
*This session, for grades 6-12 teachers of all content areas, will evaluate how blended learning can be used to personalize learning for students. 

Writing Collaborative Three Day Workshop

October 13, 14 and November 3   $125   Register HERE and see full description *This is most useful for grades 4-12 teachers of all subject areas.  It is centered on writing in the content areas. SCHECHs available

Essentials Instructional Practices in Early Literacy 

October 26, 2016 

PreK-3 Administrators, Literacy Coaches, and Literacy Leaders-

join us for learning about the Essential Instructional Practices in Early Literacy!

There is considerable interest across the United States in increasing the number of children who are reading at grade level by the end of third grade (e.g., Rose, 2012). Some responses to this interest, such as mandatory retention policies, are not supported by the weight of research evidence (e.g., Reschly & Christenson, 2013). In contrast, research offers substantial support for the impact of professional development, coaching, and specific instructional practices on literacy growth (e.g., Carlisle & Berebitsky, 2011; Purcell-Gates, Duke, & Stouffer, in press; Yoon, Duncan, Lee, Scarloss, & Shapley, 2007).

In Michigan, an Early Literacy Task Force has been formed to support professional development, coaching, and the use of research-supported instructional practices statewide.

The Essentials rely heavily on research and focus on high-utility instructional practices. Participants will get an awareness of the Essentials and determine the strengths and challenges of literacy instruction in their own schools in relation to these. 

** See flyer and register HERE

Echoes and Reflections & Wiesel's Night

November 2, 2016  $25 Register HERE and see full description *This is most useful for middle and high school ELA  and social studies teachers. SCHECHs available

Writing Collaborative:  SAT Essay Edition

November 17    $25 Register HERE and see more information *High school ELA and Social Studies teachers  will understand SAT writing in order to support students. SCHECHs available ********************************  STAY TUNED for Winter Professional Learning offerings! Reading Apprenticeship 3-Day Training  (interest survey)

**********************************************************

Click to find out! 

June

It's June!  

How do you Keep Calm and Teach On at this time of year? 
K-12 Teachers from our literacy networks shared many suggestions in our May meetings that keeps kids engaged so you can teach on:

• Get outside!  This is a good time for students to write using the five senses, nature observations, the health benefits of being outdoors or a myriad of other things that come to us with a change of scenery. 

• Reflect!  Teachers and students need to reflect upon all the hard work done throughout the year.  Take some time to review all of that and write reflection letters to yourselves or parents.  

• Storytelling!    If you feel you didn't read aloud as much as you wanted to this year, or your students like oral storytelling, make time for that now. It's engaging for all age groups.

• Try a new tool!  Exercise skills learned throughout the year with a new tool:
• Pinterest for creating food groups/healthy meal boards
• This I Believe writing
• Kahoot game based learning
• Aurasma presentations for augmented reality
• Wonderopolis to explore the many questions kids have.

Summer Reading

Keep your students reading this summer with these SUMMER READING LISTS 
and SUMMER READING PROGRAMS.   

Summer Professional Development

  Writing Collaborative

June 16, 17, 18     WISD     8:30-3:00     Open to all grade 4-12 teachers      $125

REGISTER HERE

 Helping teachers and students understand writing in the content areas in order to make explicit the processes and strategies needed to improve student writing.

**All trainings are three days in length: 

 Lunch not provided.  SCHECHS available.

*******************************

The Study of Early Literacy  

 August 3-7    8:30-3:30  WISD   FREE

 ( Open to PreK-3 Livingston and Washtenaw Educators only) 

The Study of Early Literacy (SOEL) is a committed group of PreK-3 educators learning, researching, and applying best practices in the teaching of early literacy.  While SOEL gears up for our third year, we are pleased that our work has led to a publication in the Michigan Reading Journal.  

Interested in joining us this summer and for the 2015-2016 school year?  Read and complete this form or contact me at mbrooksyip@washtenawisd.org or 734-994-8100 ext. 1266.

****************************

Echoes and Reflections:  Holocaust Education

August 27, 2015   8:30-3:30 at WISD. 

Open to ALL Social Studies teachers in grades 6-12  FREE SCHECHS availableLunch not provided.

Echoes and Reflections is a comprehensive Holocaust education program that delivers professional development and a rich array of resources for middle and high school teachers. Echoes and Reflections prepares educators to teach about the Holocaust in a way that stimulates engagement and critical thinking while providing opportunities for students to see the relevance of this complex history to their own lives. 
See more information HERE 

REGISTER HERE