Kent ISD is proud to welcome Ellin Oliver Keene and Dr. Gholdy Muhammad to our 2021-2022 Professional Development line up!

As this unprecedented school year comes to an end, you may be feeling a sense of relief that it’s over, a sense of pride for all you’ve accomplished under the incredibly difficult circumstances of teaching in a pandemic, and even a sense of nostalgia for the relationships you’ve built with your students in a year like no other.

You might also be feeling an increasing sense of fatigue from the emphasis on teaching isolated skills that students struggle to engage with and remember. Many teachers have said they feel the joy has been sucked out of teaching as a result of the push to march students through a checklist of isolated skills that leave no time for authentic, real-world, sometimes spontaneous, and always engaging learning. 

As we emerge from the pandemic and look with hope to next school year, it is the perfect time to rethink and reimagine how we teach. Kent ISD is pleased to be offering two professional development opportunities next school year to help you and your students reignite the joy in teaching and learning. 

Ignite Engagement: Literacy Studio Institute

In September, Ellin Oliver Keene, author of several books including her soon to be published book: The Literacy Studio: Rethinking Reader’s and Writer’s Workshop, will be in Grand Rapids for a full day event – The Literacy Studio Institute.

This is a unique opportunity to get a sneak peak into Ellin’s upcoming new book! Literacy Studio is an approach to teaching reading, writing, and oral language that seamlessly integrates all three. It provides students with real-world, meaningful purposes for their learning which helps to deepen their understanding and critical thinking abilities as well as increase their engagement. It also gives students significantly more time to practice authentic reading and writing, which research shows is the single most important factor in student growth. 

“By integrating reading and writing we provide tools for the learners to comprehend better what they are learning.”

(Tierney and Pearson, 1983)

Benefits of Attending The Literacy Studio Institute

There are also considerable benefits to Literacy Studio for teachers!

• Saves Time and Improves Efficiency: It greatly increases teachers’ time to confer with students and meet with small groups.
• Integrates Cross Disciplinary Literacies: The focus on real-world, authentic content enhances teachers’ ability to integrate science and social studies into literacy instruction.
• Reignites Joy in Teaching and Learning: Teachers who have experienced and adopted Literacy Studio have discovered it brings the joy back into teaching by moving us beyond checklists of skills!

In this one day Institute, Ellin Keene will be sharing the structure of Literacy Studio and how to plan for Literacy Studio lessons. She will share sample lesson plans, student work samples from Grand Rapids area students, and reflections from teachers who have adopted Literacy Studio. Plus, she will model a live Literacy Studio lesson with a group of students! 

Cultivating Genius and Joy with Dr. Gholdy Muhammad

On March 24, 2022, Dr. Gholdy Mumammad, author of Cultivating Genius: An Equity Framework for Culturally and Historically Responsive Literacy will be in Grand Rapids for a full day workshop with educators. She will help us reignite the joy in teaching and learning by guiding us through her Culturally and Historically Responsive Literacy Framework, expanding our focus beyond skills-only teaching and learning.

The power in Dr. Gholdy Muhammad’s framework is that it allows us to expand ALL of our lessons beyond just teaching skills in order to teach in a way that is inclusive of each child’s identity. It brings deep thinking and perspective bending into our classroom discourse and elevates the joy in both what is being learned and in the learning itself. 

Dr. Gholdy Muhammad will help us refocus our lessons to include each of the following pursuits:

1. Identities – Teaching students to know their histories and identities while also learning the truth and knowledge about others who are different from their own identities. This also involves teaching students to make sense of their own values and beliefs.
2. Skills -Skills are central to the ways in which we “do school” today and typically define achievement standards. Skills are also central in designing the learning standards that govern teaching and learning in schools. Each content area has its own descriptions and set of skills that youth are expected to master and teachers are expected to teach.
3. Intellect – The capacity for knowledge—is what we learn or understand about various topics and ideals. Intellect is knowledge into action and involves learning to think deeply.
4. Criticality – The ability to understand power, oppression, anti-racism, and anti-oppression. Criticality calls for teachers and students to understand the ideologies and perspectives of marginalized communities and their ways of knowing and experiencing the world.
5. Joy – Advancing students’ happiness and triumphs by elevating beauty and truth in themselves and within other people, stories, and histories.

In this one day workshop, Dr. Gholdy Muhammad will introduce educators to the model of culturally and historically responsive education (CHRE). Educators will learn practical considerations for writing equitable lessons and unit plans. Throughout the session, culture will be explored and revisited in deep, multifaceted ways. By the end of this session, participating educators will understand culture, equity, antiracism, and culturally & historically responsive education.

Reserve Your Spot Now – Space is Limited!

Attendance for these events is limited, so don’t wait! Register now by clicking the links below. 

• Literacy Studio Institute – September 21, 2021 (In-person workshop)
• Literacy Studio Institute Webinar Series– October 11, 2021 (online workshop)
• Cultivating Genius and Joy with Dr. Gholdy Muhammad  – March 24, 2022 (In-person workshop)

Enjoy a More Personalized Experience

Kent ISD has embarked on a journey with local educators in Kent County over the past two years with Ellin Oliver Keene to Ignite Engagement. During this time, Ellin has worked closely with many educators and helped them to find success in their classrooms. As we head into our third year of this cohort, we are excited to announce that not only will our 2021-2022 cohort members get to work with Ellin Oliver Keene, but we have arranged for a special presentation with Dr. Gholdy Muhammad.

One past cohort members said, “Prior to this school year, my passion faded for teaching. The demands of the teaching profession made me feel as though my hands were tied on so many levels. I felt that I didn’t have the autonomy I desired to provide students with meaningful, authentic, engaging experiences that they could connect with and learn deeply from. I’m so pleased to say that being a part of the Ignite Engagement cohort has relit my teacher heart. This year I’ve been so grateful to have the opportunity to play with my art of teaching to better-serve my students through the lens of engagement!”

If you would like to embark on this journey to “Reignite Your Joy of Teaching and Student Learning,” consider applying to become an Ignite Engagement Cohort member. We are now accepting applications for Elementary and Middle School Teachers.

#CulturallyResponsiveTeaching #Diversity #Equity #Inclusion #Belonging #Literacy #IgniteEngagement #KentISDpd #WeLeadLearning

This blog post was written by Diane Titche, Early Literacy Coach for Kent ISD and edited by Amanda Walma, Professional Development Coordinator and Sara Sefcik, PD Hub Intern for Kent ISD.