September 27, 2024 · event
Happy Friday (and almost end of September)! I hope everyone's back to school season is going as smoothly as possible. We are so excited to be hosting an event with Katy Swalwell . Please join us for our first-ever Educator Pitch-In Collective ! We're hosting a Zoom hangout on Tuesday, October 15 from 5:30-6:30 CT for educators to share concerns, ideas, and resources for teaching the 2024 election. We are focusing on elementary as there are so few resources out there, but everyone is welcome! We'll also share a vetted resource pack as a "party favor." Register by 10/8 at www.tinyurl.com/EPIC1election . FREE event, donations appreciated. Please spread the word and share with any educators you know. Also, happy Hispanic Heritage Month! Read more ideas for how to recognize this month (and why it starts on September 15th) in our post from last year
electionteacherseventprofessional development
June 30, 2022 · conferences
Happy July! I (Nina) hope you’ve had some time to rest and reflect on the school year. I’m home with a baby, so no summer professional development (PD) for me this year, but traditionally summer is the time for me to learn about something new, attend a conference, talk to other teachers, and get new ideas and inspiration. If you had a really rough school year (or just a “regular” school year because teaching is so hard!) and you need time away from teaching however that might look for you, I also completely understand that. One other thing to mention is that a lot of professional development is really expensive and it can be hard to get a spot. These two things combined make it inaccessible for so many teachers. As a private school teacher, I’m lucky to work at a school that has a budget for PD and pays for travel, accommodation, meals allowance, etc. We are also permitted to request
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May 14, 2019 · conferences
Participants’ drawings during our activity Last month, I had the opportunity to present at the Capital Area Progressive Schools (CAPS) Conference! The theme of the conference was Responsive Practice: Diversity, Equity, and Differentiation. This conference takes place every two years and all CAPS members faculty and staff are invited to join. This year, my school had the day off for students so everyone could attend and it seemed like most other schools did so as well. It was so lovely that so many schools were able to do this so we had so many other teachers (and faculty and staff) to meet! Coming from a small school with only one class per grade, it’s always very exciting to have a chance to talk to other 3rd grade teachers. My (new) co-teacher and I presented our W hat continent do you think they are from? drawing humans activity that Gabby and I designed as part of our 3rd grade
Capitol Area Progressive Schoolsconferencesprofessional developmentworkshopsocial justice education
December 15, 2018 · conferences
Late last month, I had the honor of participating on a panel presentation at the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) annual convention. I was sharing details about our beloved storytelling unit on a panel about cultural relevancy, the arts, and student voice! I was lucky to be paired up with an excellent co-presenter (the panel ended up just being the two of us!) and loved sharing details about what still is one of my favorite units to teach. I was originally slated to be on a panel with four other people, but as it worked out, only two of us were able to present. We were both able to share more details about our work and had more time for questions (which is often my favorite part). Not surprisingly, the highlight of my presentation really was the video of a student performance from our Final Stage show where every single one of our students performed a true story about
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August 13, 2018 · conferences
Posters we made about children's developmental stage at different ages. This past week, I had the opportunity to attend a Responsive Classroom Course for Elementary Educators. I was introduced to Responsive Classroom in college as part of my elementary educator training, but it was wonderful (as always) to engage with other teachers and have some valuable review and even more important reminders. Some things I took away and am still thinking about are: Yardsticks (Child and Adolescent Development Ages 4-14) by Chip Wood: I love this resource! We give out the 3rd grade related pamphlets to families at back to school night, and the book is a great gift for new parents (of 4 year olds and up). Asking what is developmentally appropriate for a specific age is always a good question and a great place to start. This information is so valuable for so many reasons. If something in your class
professional developmentworkresponsive classroomsocial emotional learning
July 17, 2018 · conferences
Last week, I was fortunate enough to attend the National Presbyterian School Diversity Institute featuring Rosetta Lee . I first encountered Rosetta when we were both presenting (about microaggressions) at the Asian Educators Alliance in 2016 , and have been a big fan ever since! I also loved attending a local conference and meeting many early childhood educators who also work in the DC Metro area. There were so many things to love about this institute. I especially appreciated being able to attend a session for early childhood (PK-3rd) educators, as so many diversity or social justice workshops seem to be geared for middle school and up. There is nothing like being surrounded by early childhood social justice educators to make you feel vindicated for all the times you insisted that third graders (or even fifth graders) are most definitely NOT “too young for this work!” I also was so
curriculumprofessional developmentanti-biasconferences
November 1, 2016 · conferences
We went to beautiful Portland, Oregon to present at the Northwest Teaching for Social Justice conference (NWTSJ) . This conference is unique in that it is organized BY teachers and mainly run by volunteers. It was our first time in Portland and at this conference, and we were loved both (the sun even came out specially for our visit)! The keynote speaker, Kevin Kumashiro, Dean of the University of San Francisco School of Education, reminded us that education is a social movement and the purpose of a social movement is to change the status quo and the dominant or “common sense” way of thinking. His rhetoric around “common sense” resonated with us as we often tell our students that saying something is obvious or common is NOT an argument. Historically, it was “obvious” (to those in power) for a long time that white men were superior. It also speaks to the relevance of identity and
conferencesprofessional developmentcurriculum
August 18, 2016 · conferences
Enjoying the sunset over the ocean! We were very fortunate to join a group of educators for a Friends Beyond Borders Social Justice Tour through the Dominican Republic earlier this summer. We loved exploring and learning more about a stunningly beautiful country as well as getting to know and collaborating with other educators. Our trip covered so much ground and inspired a lot of reflection, so we will most likely be coming back to it in many future blog posts. For now, here are a few key takeaways: Diverse authors: My main context for background information about Dominican history and culture came from Junot Diaz books. This background helped me make connections and build upon previous knowledge. This is why diverse authors and voices are so important! Also, (sidenote) why do I know so little about a country the US has occupied twice in the last century? Once starting on May 5, 1916
professional developmentexperiential learningdiverse voices
July 26, 2016 · conferences
Gabby here! I am so grateful to have been given the opportunity to learn a great deal at the National SEED Project this past week. SEED charges itself with "creating conversational communities that drive change" and then trains facilitators. The newly trained facilitators (now me!) go back to their communities and continue the work of creating a space for intentional conversations. I had an incredible time spending a week with the facilitators of SEED. There are so many layers to the program and so much that I am processing that I am not currently able to explain. However, below are some key takeaways that I will be bringing back to my classroom (and life) from all of the amazing people and the awesome work we did at SEED Seattle 2016! 1. "Windows" and "Mirrors" SEED uses windows as a way of seeing into a perspective that is new to you, and mirrors as getting to see yourself. We used
professional developmentanti-biassocial justice education
July 20, 2016 · conferences
Hello and happy July! We are writing to you from the SDE 2016 Differentiated Instruction Conference in Las Vegas, where we are learning as much as we can about differentiated instruction! When we are not wondering about how the temperature can be 115 degrees or why there is a fake sky inside, we have found numerous takeaways we can't wait to bring back to the classroom. Below are a few different reminders and insights we would like to share with you! They cover a range of tips from the vast world of differentiation. 1. We (still) love Pop-up Debates ! We do these in our classroom and we loved hearing about how others do debates in their rooms/schools. We are re-committed to using these as a way to talk through news articles, get content moving, and especially excited to keep using debates before our Persuasive Essay unit. We were reminded to use templates to give students practice for
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