Educator Innovator

For this conversation, we are joined by Kira Baker Doyle, author of the new book, Transformative Teachers: Teacher Leadership and Learning in a Connected World, which follows civic-minded educators who are using twenty-first-century participatory practices and connected technologies to organize change from the ground up. This is the 2nd episode in a 3-part series, where we explore what it means to be a transformative teacher, along with how and why educators are instrumental in the creation of a more just and equitable future.

Summer is a lovely time to reflect on the past school year and (after a lengthy break) start thinking about the Fall. Making lasting changes to practice and systems is one of the toughest goals to reach. In order to tackle those challenges, questions are a lovely place to start, and inquiry is one of the best tools. Join Diana Laufenberg and friends/colleagues to discuss the questions posed by James Ryan in Wait, What? as a frame to think about changes in your schools and classrooms.

For this conversation, we are joined by Kira Baker Doyle, author of the new book, Transformative Teachers: Teacher Leadership and Learning in a Connected World, which follows civic-minded educators who are using twenty-first-century participatory practices and connected technologies to organize change from the ground up. In this 3-part series, we explore what it means to be a transformative teacher, along with how and why educators are instrumental in the creation of a more just and equitable future.

For this conversation, we are joined by Bronwyn Clare LaMay, author of Personal Narrative, Revised: Writing Love and Agency in the High School Classroom (2016, Teachers College Press and National Writing Project). Guests explore how students and teachers can bring their whole selves to the classroom and how drawing on their personal experiences via narrative writing can lead to a richer exploration of literature and other academic subjects. We dive deeper into Chapter 5 of the book, titled "Revising Narrative Truth," in collaboration with the organizers of Marginal Syllabus; this conversation kicked off a week-long “annotathon” hosted by Marginal Syllabus.

Join Kim Jaxon, Tom Fox, and writing mentors, Brittany DeLacy and Geoff Bogan, as they explain, theorize, and discuss why large, epic learning spaces are not only just as good, but perhaps even better learning environments than smaller courses. We offer two examples—a large, freshman composition course and a large scale writing program—to argue the affordances of designing for epic learning environments.

Recognizing that teacher leadership has become a hot educational topic, and that many organizations are working to grow and foster it and to put it to work to improve teaching and learning, the National Writing Project hosts this conversation with leaders from three teacher leadership development organizations in order to explore key questions about teacher leadership: what is it? How is it fostered? And what good does it do in the world?

In today’s world, how do we best build and maintain democratic societies that are pluralistic, open, and resilient to violence? What can we learn from history to help us in this inquiry? Join staff and teachers of Facing History and Ourselves in a conversation about lessons for democracy today from a case study on the Holocaust.

Last month, in an Educator Innovator webinar titled “Growing Up American-Muslim: Challenges and Opportunities in the Classroom & Beyond,” teachers and youth convened to discuss the experiences of American-Muslim students and teachers across geographic and educational contexts. In this webinar we are joined by authors of By Any Media Necessary: The New Youth Activism (2016, NYU Press) and dive deeper into this topic by looking at a related chapter called “Storytelling and Surveillance: The Precarious Public of American Muslim Youth.”

The term “fake news” has been dominating the media, but what does it mean and why does it matter for youth? In this interactive webinar, experts from The LAMP, a nationally-recognized leader in media literacy education, breaks down key terms and ideas for understanding “fake news” with basic media literacy principles. We also introduce some free tools and activities that educators can use to help students deconstruct and critique “fake news” stories in the media.

We live in contentious and divisive times that have affected specific communities in very real ways. In particular, rampant stereotyping of Muslims in the United States today, coupled with surveillance and privacy concerns, have the power to paralyze, damage and isolate young American Muslim in classroom settings. Inadequate understanding of Islam also makes it difficult for educators to help students move past such stereotyping in productive ways. In this webinar, educators, scholars and students convene to discuss the experiences of American Muslim students and teachers inside and out of the classroom. Participants will consider the impact of Islamophobia, how—and if—to tackle politics in the classroom, how to create safe spaces for students from all backgrounds, and ways to support diverse learning.

Did you love Letters to the Next President? Are you looking for ways to keep students energized about issues that matter to them? Join us for a discussion with educators who are using the first 100 days of the new administration to continue (and start!) conversations, projects and civic action around issues important to students. The first 100 days goes through the end of April, so there’s plenty of time to get inspired.

How can you engage teens to be Changemakers? KidsTales.org, a nonprofit founded by a kid for kids, presents their changemaking story and explores how to create, engage, and sustain teen changemakers. Kidstales.org brings creative writing workshops, taught by teen instructors, to 8 to 12 year old kids that do not have access to writing experiences outside of school. During a Kids Tales workshop, kids spend a week creating their very own short story. At the end of the week, the stories are assembled in a collection and self-published as a real, physical anthology. This past summer Kids Tales taught workshops in five countries, serving 400 kids and engaging 100 teen writing instructors.

This webinar highlights strategies for representing multiple perspectives and addressing difficult topics, and discusses criteria for selecting and using primary sources in instruction, including thinking about audience, historical context, and point of view.

In this webinar, education experts model how to use visible thinking strategies to enhance the power of primary sources in your classroom. A wide variety of easy-to-use routines are modeled and discussed.

Image, Sound, and Story is a professional development program from the Jacob Burns Film Center preparing teachers in grades 5-10 to integrate viewing and creating media into their classroom culture and literacy instruction. The curriculum will eventually expand to reach Pre-K – 12. In addition to sharing excerpts of the unique and innovative approach of Image, Sound, and Story, the webinar shares some brief case studies of how it is being implemented in 5th-10th grade classrooms. Teachers’ lesson plans and student work illustrate how visual thinking skills can influence reading and writing literature, nonfiction, and persuasive texts, all while supporting the Common Core Standards. With accessible technology, engaging content, and seamless integration amongst traditional and contemporary meaning-making, participants will understand how close-reading and critical thinking skills can be developed and applied in a culture dominated by the moving image.

Museum educators and teachers from Philadelphia share some of the things they have learned from designing learning for middle school youth in out-of-school time spaces at the intersections of science, literacy, gaming, and making. This webinar discusses experiences and questions that emerge from the GAME ON! Philadelphia project through which youth explore the nature of gaming alongside natural science concepts. The discussion also focuses on youth creating their own games that integrate new science knowledge and that can be shared with public audiences.

In this webinar, guests explore what the Library of Congress has for teachers, including lesson plans and primary source sets, webinars and professional development opportunities, social media channels, and more. They also share their top tips and favorite resources.

This webinar explores how writing can support students in (1) strengthening conceptual understanding of scientific phenomena, (2) engaging in practices related to thinking and communicating like scientists, and (3) moving science knowledge and practices beyond subject and school boundaries into action in local and global communities. The webinar also includes a discussion about writing in science classrooms with an eye toward audience, purpose, genre, mode, argument, evidence, inquiry, and text.

How do teachers invite students to both be themselves and become a community in these times? Alan Singer has been sharing suggestions at Huffington Post for teachers during this election season, writing, "Our obligation is not to maintain some abstract form of 'balance' in the classroom, but to help students become critical thinkers who learn to listen to others, evaluate their statements carefully and respectfully, and support conclusions with evidence." Participants in this webinar explored this assertion further and discussed how this election season can be a time to uncover students' passions and interests and learn together how to live in community. This hangout was produced in support of Letters to the Next President 2.0, a project engaging youth in civic participation on issues and topics that matter to them in the US Presidential Election. It was also co-streamed at connectedlearning.tv.

Youth’s research into civic issues that engage their interests and ignite their passions can represent powerful learning experiences. Yet the genre of the academic research paper isn’t the most effective means for engaging in civic advocacy. In this session, the National Writing Project introduced a draft of its Civically Engaged Writing Analysis Continuum (CEWAC), comprised of two interconnected rubrics - one focused on research about civic issues and the second on public arguments. Teacher-leaders engaged in this work shared their students’ writing and considered the implications of these tools for teaching and learning, focusing primarily on youth’s public arguments. This hangout was produced in support of Letters to the Next President 2.0, a project engaging youth in civic participation on issues and topics that matter to them in the US Presidential Election. It was also co-streamed at connectedlearning.tv.