ELA, SS, and Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Other Technical Subjects Summer 2020
Here are some of the latest PD opportunities and resources!
Summer Brain Gain- Keep the Learning Going
Be sure to check out the summer learning opportunities that include free courses for students, recommended websites, community partner activities, and much more.
Here is the main website where more information will continue to be populated starting the the week of June 8, 2020. Please be sure to check back often.
Interested in possibly facilitating a course for the summer please consider filling out this form. Here is the official application form for teachers to sign up to offer summer learning courses for students in Kent County! Please feel free to fill out the form or please pass this on to teachers you know might be interested in the opportunity?
Literacy Leaders and Coaches Network is a premier educational community in West Michigan providing ongoing professional learning to connect leaders, enhance practice, and improve literacy.
What to Expect: Content
The theme of the Literacy Leaders & Coaches Network this year will be “How might we move from research to practice?” We will be using LLCN this year to support professional learning to understand and implement research based practices. We will have the opportunity to delve deeper into this topic through exploring and analyzing the research of nationally known authors. You as the LLCN participant will get to choose one path of learning you would like to follow in LLCN. Whichever path you select you will receive that speaker’s book as the feature book for your LLCN experience:
Elena Aguilar - Onward: Cultivating Emotional Resilience in Educators
Releah Cossett Lent - This is Disciplinary Literacy: Reading, Writing, Thinking, and Doing...Content Area by Content Area
Debbie Miller - What’s the Best That Could Happen? New Possibilities for Teachers and Readers
David Kilpatrick - Equipped for Reading Success
Your LLCN sessions will delve deeper into the work of your chosen author. The learning will not stop there, as an LLCN participant you will also be able to participate in an additional session of your choice during the LLCN day to learn additional strategies to understand and implement research based practices. We look forward to working with you to support your learning in reflecting on and enhancing your practice in growing all learners.
What Might LLCN Look Like in the 2020-2021 School Year?
We know next year will most likely not be a traditional year in terms of face-to-face learning in our classrooms and in regards to professional development. With that in mind, LLCN sessions will be adapted to meet the needs of our participants as we go through the year.
Performance Assessments of Social Studies Thinking (PASST) Assessment Building - Registration will open soon . . .
This state-wide, project based, year long training (consisting of four sessions and some online work) will focus on equipping teachers of 3rd Grade, 4th Grade, High School Government, High School Economics, and more this year . . . . with the knowledge and skills necessary to create and evaluate assessments that are similar to those being produced by the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium.The training will focus on understanding:
depth of knowledge
text complexity
question writing that assesses skills AND content
scoring Smarter Balanced-like items
Participants will collaboratively create an extensive end-of-course assessment for their grade level (3, 4, HS Economics, or HS Government, ). Spatial and temporal thinking skills will be infused within the skills demanded of the C3 Framework and CCSS ELA literacy standards for history/social studies.
New this year even with 3rd Grade, 4th Grade, HS Economics, HS Government as the focus we will keep all grade levels in Social Studies open. The true nature of the work is about exploring the standards and using that analysis to drive assessment and instruction. With the potential of the new standards likely many grade levels will be interested in this work. Feel free to reach out with any questions you might have at markraffler@kentisd.org.
Disciplinary Literacy Professional Learning Offerings for the 2020-2021 School Year
The 6-12 Disciplinary Literacy Task Force is proud to announce two learning opportunities for secondary English, Mathematics, Science, Social Studies, Career Tech, Visual/Performing Arts, and World Languages teachers, as well as building leaders, instructional coaches, and educators at higher education institutions. These opportunities have been designed with flexibility and relevancy in mind. We can't wait to learn with you!
Learn how to prepare students to read and understand Night within the larger historical framework of the Holocaust.
Examine Jewish life in Eastern Europe to provide cultural context for Night.
Examine the history of antisemitism to provide context before students read Night.
Discuss and identify themes, life lessons and the current relevance of Night.
Explore the use of multimedia assets including using visual history testimonies and other primary sources and materials to support the effective teaching of Night.
Creating Context for Teaching the Diary of Anne Frank
Provide Michigan ELA teachers with strategies and resources to create context for teaching one of the most frequently-taught Holocaust texts: Anne Frank's Diary of a Young Girl.
Understand and apply pedagogical principles of effective Holocaust education to the teaching of Anne Frank's diary.
Explore the historical and cultural context within which Anne Frank and her family lived.
Explore and learn how to use a variety of resources, including visual history testimonies and other primary sources and materials, to teach Anne Frank's diary.
Bring your own book or books will be available to borrow for the training.
Teachers! Want to help make your students even more effective and meaningful agents of change? Join us for a year of supported professional learning through Project Citizen. Enhance and nourish your love for public policy and community change and bring a curriculum ready for students for in person, hybrid, or virtual learning.
A summer virtual institute will kick off July 20 followed by fall and spring seminars and supported mentorship throughout the year.
As social studies teachers implement principles from The C3 Framework and blend disciplinary, digital, and critical literacy skills into their instruction, MCSS offers a unique, one-week intensive workshop to jump start the 2020-21 academic year.
And, even though we will be meeting via Zoom and using a number of tech tools, we will continue to ground our work together in effective instructional strategies for social studies, and provide the tech support (and encouragement) that you need to fully engage in the institute experience! Through our time together, you will become more informed and engaged with inquiry-driven, literacy-rich, and digitally-enhanced best practices for your social studies teaching.
Write Your College Essay Workshop - an online workshop for high school students applying to college in the fall
July 27 – August 10, 2020 | 10 Hours, 5 Sessions
Write Your College Essay Workshop is an online workshop for high school students applying to college in the fall. The workshop includes 10 hours of group and individualized instruction and feedback. Each student will finish the workshop with a completed Common App essay that will be ready to apply to colleges. The workshop will be facilitated through Google Classroom and Zoom video calls. Students will have to do work outside of designated class times to get the most from the sessions.
Our workshop leaders have nearly 30 years of teaching experience and have helped hundreds of students successfully apply to such colleges as UofM, Michigan State, Harvard, Northwestern, Stanford, Vanderbilt, and Yale.
We invite you to join a community of passionate teachers and literacy leaders dedicated to professional growth through summer book study. This is our 4th year! We will be reading and discussing books that help all teachers create equitable classrooms where all students become inspired and passionate readers and writers.
There will be many opportunities for professional development including live discussions with well regarded educators and authors that continue throughout the school year. Learn more by reading below and watching videos by Penny Kittle and Clare Landrigan ... and if you still have questions, click here.
Every dollar we raise funds classroom libraries for teachers just like you! In the last seven years we have given $500,000 to support 200 teachers in the United States and Canada.
Mark Raffler
Kent Intermediate School District
Educational Consultant
2930 Knapp NE
Grand Rapids, MI 49525
