As we prepare for another school year, the third now impacted by the pandemic, I find myself looking for inspiration to focus on what's possible (instead of what's impossible) how we can grow, and how we can help others to grow toward a purpose. I've gathered quotes, advice, and plans from trusted sources. Where are you finding inspiration and purpose as you start this school year?
Upcoming Literacy Professional Learning Opportunities
Join The Study of Early Literacy(SOEL) in it's 9th year! This professional learning network is designed for PreK-5 teachers to learn more about literacy instructional practices through book studies and guest speakers. This fall, we'll meet virtually, once per month via Zoom from 4:00-5:30, with September 30th as our kick off. See our timeline here for a history, and our flyer to registerfor the kick-off and topics for fall meetings. Our Winter/Spring times TBD by the group.
Building Equity-Based Disciplinary Literacies
Designed for middle and high school teachers of all subject areas,
Building Equity-Based Disciplinary Literacies is a collaboration between WISD and Eastern Michigan University to meet the changing needs and the growing understanding of disciplinary literacies at the secondary level. We want to be responsive to educator learning needs, and the last 18 months have affirmed that building equity through disciplinary literacies takes the sustained collaboration and community that this will provide.
Throughout this school year, we’ll build
our foundational understandings of equity and literacy through the creation of our own personal syllabus that can include relevant readings from our field, interviews with community members and experts in the disciplines, and collaborations between secondary classroom teachers and EMU professors. You design your learning path; we’ll help you get there.
You can expect support in these ways:
Partnering with an EMU professor
Reading and discussing professional texts
Participating in professional development activities
Talking with other secondary and university colleagues within and across disciplines
Applying your learning in lesson planning, unit planning and/or teacher research
Earning an Equity Based Disciplinary Literacy Badge
Book studies were very popular last school year, as well as over the summer. As you look into this next school year, what do you want to read and learn to improve your practice? Take this quick survey to help us plan what to offer for our upcoming Book Studies.
Just create an account, and you can search the libraryfor books to check out. After reserving, you can arrange pick-up or delivery to your school in Washtenaw County. Our picture books can be checked out individually. Books for middle and high school classrooms can be checked out as a larger set for up to six weeks. We have many new titles including: Sulwe, Say Something, Drawn Together, Julian is a Mermaid, Outside, Inside, We are Water Protectors, Butterfly Yellow, They Called Us Enemy, You Should See Me in a Crown, Kindred, Dark Sky Rising, Three Keys and The Dragonflies.
Here you’ll find great resources about the performing arts for students in grades K-12. Check out our videos featuring UMS teaching artists performing and talking about their craft. You can join them to begin your own journey! To learn more, explore accompanying slides and worksheets.
These resources are for educational use only, and are free to everyone. Children are encouraged to explore resources with the guidance of teachers, parents, or on their own.
Part of our professional learning networks involves reading at least one practitioner book per year. This year SOEL 1, focused on Equity, Engagement and Motivation, is reading Every Child a Super Reader by Pam Allyn and Ernest Morrell.
Every Child a Super Reader is geared toward K-8 teachers and is organized around a strength based framework, detailing the seven strengths inherent in super readers: belonging, curiosity, friendship, kindness, confidence, courage, and hope. Listen to the authors speak on the importance of a strength based (vs. a deficit model) instructional framework.
SOEL and Responsive Mathematics is hosting Dr. Ernest Morrell again on January 18th at EMU. Everyone is welcome. See our flyer for details.
IDLL is reading Argument in the Real World: Teaching Adolescents to Read and Write Digital Texts
From Heineman.com
Every day, our students are inundated by information—as well as opinions and misinformation—on their devices. These digital texts influence what they buy, who they vote for, and what they believe about themselves and their world. Crafting and analyzing arguments in a digital world could be our greatest possibility to improve dialogue across cultures and continents… or it could contribute to bitter divides.
IDLL hosted Dr. Hicks on October 26th to learn teaching strategies and tools for crafting arguments in our digital world, such as StoryMap.Follow our learning here.
