We all know that teachers cannot “pour from an empty cup.” This rhetoric of self-care is all too common. But amid the fast pace of the school system, what are we actually supposed to do to refill our cups? The obstacles to self-care are made worse because much of what the dominant culture calls “self-care” simply helps us cope within antiquated systems rather than truly promote sustained well-being. This cultural confusion around self-care keeps teachers stuck in cycles of exhaustion, overwork, and disconnect. The steeply increasing rate of teachers’ chronic stress and burnout makes clear that we must prioritize real self-care practices—boundaries, self-compassion, power, and processing feelings of guilt. Centering our humanity in this way creates the groundwork for life-giving teaching practices, classrooms, and communities.
Drawing on ten years of teaching English in Illinois public high schools and the work of Paulo Freire, bell hooks, and Pooja Lakshmin, Sarah Bland holds space for teachers to use reflective writing to create a real self-care plan that will support their well-being throughout the school year. Further, participants will be invited to practice short guided meditations to foster self-compassion. Engaging with reflective writing and guided meditation in this way is an act of self-care, community care, and love that naturally shifts how we engage with ourselves, our students, our curriculum, and our school communities.
Session materials:
Suggested: Bring a laptop with Google Suite
Together we will explore a curriculum rooted in identity for middle school students that empowers them to not only critically craft their own identities, but more thoroughly develop critical thinking skills in order to enact social change. The curriculum integrates social emotional learning with common core, while being non-linear and revolutionary. Texts, skills, and activities centered on identity allow students of color, in particular, to take control over their identity formation, and also allows white students the chance to authentically reflect and understand their own positions of privilege in contrast. Paired with seminars, collaborative writing, and individual reflections through an active revision process, this cyclical curriculum engages students by returning to concepts and skills in order to deepen their holistic development throughout the year. The intersection of SEL, ELA, and equity is of utmost importance as our students, and the world around us, continue to recover from the upheaval of a global pandemic. Corrine Ulmer has over a decade of direct experience developing and implementing advanced middle school curriculum that offers practical takeaways from Elise Zerega’s background in pedagogical research that explores the intersection of SEL and academic achievement.
Healing from trauma can be scary, messy, and complicated. Fortunately, the power of story can help. We have been passing stories on to each other for centuries. Stories of hope and resilience are the best ones to share with each other. This session will cover some of the basics regarding trauma, including a review of the physiological responses (fight, flight, freeze).
The session will include discussion about how the vicarious experiences of fictional characters help a reader know they are not alone, introduce new coping mechanisms, and provide a safe place to approach traumatic experiences. The presenter knows that all books are not created equal. Not only will she explain how some “bibliotherapy” books miss the mark, but she will introduce books that are much more effective.
Expect lively read-alouds and group discussions about how the books can be used to teach SEL goals in general or toward healing from trauma. You will receive a link to a comprehensive book list, but you might also start filling your bookstore cart during the presentation!
During this session, teachers will learn how to combine SEL behaviors and ELA curriculum. We will explore ways to take an SEL framework and use it as a lens for analyzing literature.
After a brief overview of how ChatGPT works, we’ll talk about ways to design assignments that deter students from using AI generated texts. This is NOT a session on how to catch, police, or punish the use of AI, but to design more holistic and process-oriented tasks that ask students to do their own thinking.After a brief overview of how ChatGPT works, we’ll talk about ways to design assignments that deter students from using AI generated texts. This is NOT a session on how to catch, police, or punish the use of AI, but to design more holistic and process-oriented tasks that ask students to do their own thinking.
For teachers who teach argumentation. In addition to effective argument processes (claim, evidence, warrant; logos, ethos, pathos), the way a speaker frames an argument can determine a speaker’s success with an audience. This frame is built with a speaker’s discourse–deliberate and purposeful language choices of a speaker to present an argument. Effective deployment of a particular discourse can redraw the moral and ethical lines that make an argument appealing. This session will provide teachers with a vocabulary and knowledge base for teaching the concept of discourse and the way a speaker’s choice of discourse frames an argument.
A session to empower and celebrate the vocation of professional educator. We will celebrate what we do, brainstorm ways to celebrate young teachers (in particular) and brainstorm ways to keep young teachers in the field of education.
Session materials: Slides
This session will discuss the findings of a three-year dissertation study about the reasons for and rhetoric surrounding book challenges and bans. The presentation will discuss how this rhetoric interrupts culturally responsive teaching practices and silences marginalized voices. This session will also present effective ways of discussing these challenges with stakeholders.
Much has been written about students’ and pre-service teachers’ fear of poetry; heck, there’s even a scientific name for the fear of poetry: metrophobia. Thankfully, there have been some great books to guide teachers and teacher educators in suffusing their classrooms with positive poetry experiences—books like John O’Connor’s 2004 Wordplaygrounds and the new Whispering in the Wind by Linda Rief and A Poetry Pedagogy for Teachers by Pindyck and Vinz. And yet, it can be hard to make sufficient time for poetry in high school and methods courses, where teachers and teacher educators are often bound by curriculum and time constraints. The presenter will describe her project to infuse both her high school classroom and, later, her writing methods course with poetry in an attempt to create fear-free poetry experiences—as well as to capitalize on poetry’s power to enhance content knowledge, collaboration, communication, and creativity. In the process, she will outline a literacy autobiography assignment she has done with high school and college students which enlists writers in creating snapshots of their most formative literacy experiences: engaging in writing workshops, reflecting on the implications of their and peers’ experience, and celebrating each other’s voices through publishing parties. Attendees will be invited to share some of their own literacy experiences and play with poetry as well.
Session materials: Slides
