Culturally responsive teaching stresses the importance of connecting students’ identity and lived experiences to the classroom in order to enhance their learning. With book banning and curriculum censorship at an all time high, students feel powerless. They feel as if their voices don’t matter, often leading to the question “Why do I need to know this?” By understanding the communities from which our students come, we are better able to create engaging lessons and find literature that all students can relate to. Creating a welcoming and culturally responsive classroom will decrease student apathy and, in turn, increase student engagement. Not sure how to get started? This session will provide you with a multitude of resources, ranging from beginning of the year “Get to Know You” activities to giving students voice and choice on literature.
Session materials: Slides
Generative artificial intelligence (genAI) is disrupting, if not overthrowing, five thousand years of human communication, encompassing the entire existence of the English language. ELA educators must clearly understand the role genAI will play in our classrooms and adapt to technological trends in a vigilant yet open manner.
This session will highlight numerous areas of genAI and how they correspond with English education. Additionally, the presentation will discuss and question our current understanding of genAI and how that affects our understanding of what it means to educate students.
One of the main goals of the presentation is to critically examine the correct role for genAI in ELA education and tangle with the philosophical implications of this moment, and seek the middle ground between accepting all technological innovations without thought and living in a neo-luddite, sequestered classroom space.
Session materials: Slides
As we are navigating “contentious times” in the ELA field, a high-interest and non-threatening approach to moving our students towards engaging in social justice issues is using diverse children’s picture books as a jumping-off point for students to choose topics for required research papers. We encourage teachers to use a mentor text to lead students through the process of engaging with diverse picture books for children, critically examining the texts that capture their attention, and then using a single text to lead their higher-level research and study of visual media. This approach is a highly motivating and non-threatening way to engage students in important discussions, concerns and eventual research about culturally diverse topics. Teachers will come away from this session understanding the research that supports a move towards this type of unit, as well as with practical tools and lists of texts to use immediately in their lessons.
Session Materials: PDF
In March of 2021, the Illinois State Board of Education adopted a set of Culturally Responsive Teaching and Leading Standards for the purpose of better preparing future teachers to create culturally rich spaces and curricula that are welcoming and supportive for all students. While the new standards are an important tool for teacher education programs, there does not seem to exist a similar set of standards for practicing teachers in Illinois. While research suggests that culturally responsive teaching is a practice of many high school English teachers regardless of a required set of standards, we wanted to determine the extent to which this is happening using the CRP standards as a lens for teachers to consider the ways in which they are already embracing culturally responsive practices.
Specifically, our session will first share the results from a survey and interview with several high school English teachers in Illinois about their perspectives on and teaching habits related to the CRP standards. Then, we will share a repertoire of resources that we have curated and created to support teachers in their continued implementation of the CRP standards and culturally responsive practices in general.
As educators, our primary goal is not only to impart academic knowledge but also to nurture the holistic development of our students. Recently, there has been a growing conversation around the importance of social-emotional learning in the classroom space. By infusing SEL skills and techniques into our classroom environment, we have the opportunity to support the whole child, fostering their self-esteem and creating a conducive atmosphere for optimal learning. Ultimately, the goal of this session is to look at how by recognizing and nurturing the social-emotional well-being of our students, we empower them to thrive academically and personally. I aim to equip educators with the knowledge, skills, and support they need to effectively integrate daily practices into their teaching, ultimately fostering a more compassionate and resilient learning community.
This presentation will take a look at teaching consent through various books. We will define consent, look at songs that both ask for and ignore consent, and dive into books that allow readers to see the four aspects of consent for this unit. Teachers will leave with a unit of work that is valuable and engaging.
In non-fiction writing, there are only four basic “moves” a writer can make. An acronym to help student writers remember them is CEIT, for claim, explain, illustrate, and tie-back. First, you can make a claim. This claim may be called a thesis, a topic sentence, a theme, or a main idea. Second, you can explain that claim. Third, you can illustrate the claim. In literary criticism, this would be evidence from the story that supports your claim. Finally, you can tie the example back to the original claim. That is, you can briefly analyze how this example illustrates your theme. In addition to making these four basic moves, you can also signal them. “In other words,” signals explanation. “For instance,” signals an illustration. “This is an example of wisdom because” signals a tie back. When a thesis statement includes multiple parts, those parts can be made the core of subtopic sentences in a single-paragraph essay, or topic sentences in a multiple-paragraph essay. Each subtopic section can be explained, illustrated, and tied back to the subtopic sentence’s idea. In addition to the signals mentioned above, time or order signals can further clarify structure, such as first, second, finally, and so on. Once students become adept with the CEIT paradigm, they can choose which features to use and which to leave out. This presentation will thoroughly explain the CEIT paradigm and use student examples to show how it applies both simpler and more complex essays.
Session materials: Handout
What can teachers do when students balk at doing the assigned reading? Why do so many students have difficulty staying with a book for more than a few minutes? In this workshop Carol Jago will demonstrate instructional moves that can help students increase their stamina and develop greater confidence in themselves as readers. Based upon current research in adolescent literacy, the session offers texts and tasks designed to engage today’s young readers.
