Saturday, February 6, 2016

Welcome to the Winter 2016 EMWP Edition!



 Opportunities Unfolding &  Experiences Shared: 
EMWP Still Going Strong!

EMWP Summer Institute: Initiatives in Writing...July 11-22 

EMWP Summer Institute: Telling Our Stories... July 26-28 

Literacy Coaching Institutes  (Introductory & Advanced ) 

EdCamp 2015: A Camp Collage 

Digital Conferencing During the Writing Process 





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EdCamp 2015: A Collage

Registration
The Big Choice
EdCamp--EMWP 101

Getting the pitch: This will be awesome!
Gathering Freebees

Morning Session

Peddling Literacy


EdCamp Perpetrators
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Telling Our Stories/Raising Our Voices:
From Anecdote to Action

An Eastern Michigan Writing Project Summer Institute
                       July 26-28, 2016          9am – 3pm each day
McKenny Hall, Alumni and Tower Rooms, EMU Campus


Sadly, the ongoing conversation about school reform too often leaves out the voices of teachers—those who are most intimately acquainted with the day-to-day issues that impact students and their learning. We believe that these voices are essential ones for policy makers to hear, but we recognize as well the pressures on teachers to remain silent.

How can teachers safely enter the conversation?  In this workshop, we’ll help you become part of that conversation as you learn how to develop your personal stories into a more public narrative, starting from anecdotes and building toward an action plan.  By the end of day 3, you should have an action plan to take back to your classroom and school.

The workshop is facilitated by Dr. Cathy Fleischer, EMWP co-director and author of Teachers Organizing for Change.

Who can apply? To apply, please feel out the accompanying form by May 1, 2016.  If more than 25 apply, teachers will be selected based on three criteria: (1) commitment to the topic; (2) school and subject area representation (i.e., diversity in grade level; school location; school size, etc.); and (3) connection to the NWP network.

Is there a cost?  The Institute costs $75 for the three days and is limited to 25 participants.


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In Medias Res: Meeting the Students Where & When They Need It

How to support young writers while they draft outside of class? A collaborative googledoc and chat stream can offer reassurance, immediate feedback, and collective empowerment. 

So what does it look like?  The first night students are assigned to draft,  advertise evening on-line hours and identify the Googledoc students should access. Across the top of the page will be an icon for each student as they access the page.  Once there, they can ask questions in the sidebar chat or post samples of their work on the page to workshop together. 



The "editing suggestion" button marks the teacher's suggestions in green while retaining the students' original phrasing. For others, you may choose to highlight a phrase and use the "comment" button which places the suggestions to the side of the document.

Anyone can quickly post links to specific resources or screencastify videos. You can even invite different students to share their thoughts on one student's question allowing you to not be the sage on the stage but just one of several "writers" in the group.

The first night tutoring session I was pleased to find 15-20 students checking in during the time period. What I hadn't anticipated was that multiple Google chats would spring up. Having the resources accessible online allowed for the students from different classes to bump into each other and strike up authentic talk about the directions, their topics, and craft.

I'm sure there may be other conferencing software out there to discover, but for now, Googledocs is where I'll be meeting to support my students when and where they need it.

For the full blog, visit 
Michelle McLemore is a 1997 EMWP TC. She currently teaches English and Social Studies at Onsted High School and recently taught online for Michigan Virtual University this fall.  Read more!

Do You Have a Budding Future as a Literacy Coach?

The Groundhog says it's going to be an early spring, and with that comes the fun in planning how the plants will grow and what summer adventures will surprise us. But there's no surprise that EMWP is running multiple cohorts of its Literacy Coaching Institutes for 2016. With the initiatives and funding allocated for training high-quality literacy coaches for Michigan's elementary (and secondary) schools, EMWP is taking its institutes center-stage to be a leader in providing coaching collaborations that center around literacy instruction and support for teachers.

1. As an introduction to understanding coaching mindsets and practices, the Basic Literacy Coaching Institutes will focus on basic knowledge of coaching to enhance learning in classrooms and in professional settings. Using research-based information and literacy-based protocols to engage participants, teachers, staff developers, school improvement teams, department chairs, coaches, and administrators will see how the features of coaching opportunities are at every corner of education. Participants will have time to practice coaching and reflective writing related to the beginning of their journey as highly-effective coach. This session is offered twice during the summer with a registration fee of $265/person, which also includes parking and morning refreshments. 

June 20 & 21 from 8:30 to 3:30 pm at McKenny Hall
August 3 & 4 from 8:30 to 3:30 pm at McKenny Hall

2. For the educator with some prior knowledge of coaching and seeking to Build a Sustainable Coaching Network at the District Level, participants can register for our new institute, which allows them to engage in a deeper understanding of adult learning, theories of change, and coaching principles that support these effective learning practices at the school level.

This institute will also address the accountability measures outlined for Michigan schools related to managing early literacy practices and assessments as well as protocols that build the longitudinal and horizontal supports for the district. Well-suited for coaches and administrators looking for collaborative insight into coaching networks that work and the multiple means of assessing professional learning, the two-day institute acknowledges the need for teachers, coaches, and administrators to be like-minded in practices and philosophies of high-quality job-embedded learning. 

Teacher leaders, administrators, coaches, and staff developers will practice coaching with other participants and engage in constructive dialogue about the positive culture, systematic approaches, and data-based outcomes that coaching offers educators and students. Time will be devoted to designing coaching plans, coaching evaluations, and coaching protocols. At $285/person, EMWP will offer reduced-rate coaching supports for the 2016-2017 academic year for schools who enroll in this institute. Parking is included as well as morning refreshments.

August 15 & 16 from 8:30 to 3:30 pm at McKenny Hall

For further information, please contact Julia Keider, Lead Instructional and Literacy Coach for the Institutes at juliakeider@gmail.com

Registration of the Institutes are available on the EMWP website at http://www.emichwp.org/professional-learning/coaching
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EMWP Summer Institute: Initiatives in Writing


Eastern Michigan University – Student Center 320;
 July 11 – 22, 2016, 9 a.m.–3 p.m., Monday- Friday

We invite all teachers of writing, pre-K-college to join us for two weeks of

• Writing, as well as responding to each other’s writing
• Reading and talking about current research in the teaching of writing
·   Exploring the possible roles of literacy leadership
• Developing research questions about teaching writing (wonderings about our contexts)

To bring our questions into our classrooms, we will schedule five Continuity Meetings during the school year, including a final showcase of teacher research.

Tuition and fees: $1,987.90 for three graduate credits. Other fees may apply.
[+ One credit for Continuity].
Non-credit participation is $500; all participants receive a $400 scholarship from the National Writing Project.  50 State Clock Hours available. 
Send (attached) pre-registration to Bill Tucker, facilitator, by March 1. Billing will follow.

Spread the word!

Access the Registration Form 

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