Advocacy Workshop: Telling Our Stories/Raising Our Voice

By Cathy Fleischer

For the past two summers, committed teachers who are frustrated with the public narrative about teaching have spent three days learning to become Everyday Advocates: discovering ways to frame their stories, experiences, and knowledge into messages and actions that help change the minds of others.  These teachers have begun to shift the conversation in their schools and communities about the best ways to teach reading and writing, the problems inherent in mandated assessment, the structure of middle school curriculum, and more—and have done so in ways that are smart, safe, and savvy. 

This summer, we’ll continue the journey to make Everyday Advocacy a part of even more teachers’ lives as a new group will participate in another three day training:  July 26-28 on EMU’s campus.  We already have teachers from around the country joining us, and there are just a few more spaces left.  Contact Cathy Fleischer at cathy.fleischer@emich.edu for more information or check out the application form at http://www.emichwp.org/research-advocacy/advocacy.

And if you can’t make the workshop, but are interested in this new way of thinking about teacher professionalism, be sure to look at the new Everyday Advocacy website that Cathy is developing for NCTE.  (https://teachertoolkitblog.wordpress.com/) The website prominently  features  the work we’ve being doing, with examples from some of the amazing teachers who have participated over the past two years.