Our 8th Annual Eastern Illinois Writing Project Institute Day was a huge success last Friday. With its focus on teaching argument across disciplines and grade levels, it offered a variety of teachers and students resources they can take with them to their classrooms (or future teaching).
Our Keynotes,
Dr. Tim Taylor and Dr. Fern Kory, facilitated a workshop and discussion highlighting
new ways of approaching argument. As Dominic Delli Carpini explains in Composing
a Life’s Work “Too often, research, is defined simply as a search
for ‘sources’ and inspired by little more than fulfilling requirements. To
develop as a student and a professional, you must go beyond this limited (and
limiting) understanding of research and treat it as a sincere desire to learn
more about a topic.“ (301) These events addressed “Real research” that is motivated
by a sincere need to learn more about a topic so as to speak or write credibly
about it, and to draw substantive and reasonable conclusions; finding
information is a means to that end.” (306) Drs. Taylor and Kory also led a
luncheon discussion and resource share session.
We also had a choice of breakout sessions led by seasoned teachers who had completed our EIWP Summer Institute!
Here's a taste of our breakouts:
10:00 a.m. Breakout
Session I
“Poster Strategies for Nonfiction
Literacy with Kristy Kash Rodriguez (DFAC 0340: One of the
strategies brought up in Reading Nonfiction: Notice & Note Stances,
Signposts, and Strategies by Kylene Beers and Robert E. Probst is the
Poster Strategy. This session will briefly explain what the Poster Strategy is
along with a demonstration lesson that applies the Poster Strategy and examples
created by my students in class. This session is most appropriate for middle
school and high school teachers.
“Technology Resources for
Literacy Across Disciplines” with Kendall Huffman (DFAC 1620): In this
session attendees will learn about technology tools to bring their class into
the 21st century. Using the 4 C's of 21st century learning, this session will
provide an opportunity to discover apps, extensions, or websites to
engage our students.
“Getting Gritty With It: Developing a Mindset for Success!” with Angie Kelly and Kim Duckett (DFAC 0435): A student's belief
in dedication and hard work can transform their performance in school.
When they are able to change their thinking, they grow to become resilient,
successful students. In this session, we will be sharing strategies that
require minimal effort, but provide maximum outcomes for all students. In this
session, we will share the 4 outcomes of mindset in the classroom. These
non-cognitive skills put all children on a level playing field.
“An Introduction to the Evidence-Based Reading, Writing, and Essay
Portions of the SAT” with Tiffany Mumm
and Dannette Williamson
(DFAC 1518): On July
11, ISBE announced that SAT will replace PARCC at the
high school level. This news struck terror in the hearts of many high
school English
teachers across the state. But, fear not! Attend this session and
Tiffany Mumm and
Dannette Williamson will provide a condensed overview of the
Evidence-Based
Reading, Writing, and Essay portions of the SAT exam. Attendees will
leave with
knowledge of the exam structure including key features of the SAT
Reading, SAT
Writing and Language, and SAT Essay sections along with resources for
students to
utilize inside and outside of classroom.
“Editorial Writing and Cartoons: An Effective Way to Introduce
Students to Building Argument for Common Core”
with Carol Smith, Amanda Bright, and Sally Renaud (DFAC 1524): In this session,
we will show examples of historically influential political cartoons,
demonstrate the difference between persuasive and argumentative writing, and
plan lessons for the participants to practice and use with their students.
11:00 a.m.
Breakout Session II
“Teaching Nonfiction with Actively Learn”
with Traci Becker (DFAC 1620): Actively Learn is an interactive
reading platform that provides students and teachers with a vast catalog of
nonfiction works like current events, high-interest nonfiction, primary source
documents, and Readworks passages. This session will show teachers how to
assign passages to their students wherein the students can answer prepopulated
questions or write paragraphs and more. This user-friendly program allows
teachers to write their own questions, and the free version is all you need!
“Footnotes to Literature and Cyberguides” with Kristin Runyon (DFAC 0340):
Research,
primary sources, nonfiction, and connections have been buzzing around ELA for
some time. As teachers we burn out from doing all the research and trying to
find a catchy way to provide background knowledge. With these activities, the
responsibility is on the students: 1) Before reading a novel, teachers create a
set of footnote activities to encourage active learning. 2) While reading a
novel, students create a cyberguide to demonstrate their research skills and
assist their classmates.
“Digital Student Portfolios with Weebly” with Amber Laquet (DFAC 0435): In
this session, Weebly will be demonstrated as a platform for students to create
and publish digital writing portfolios. We will be exploring the creation
of webpages for students to publish projects and blogs for daily/weekly writing
assignments. Previous experience with Weebly is not necessary for the
workshop (although helpful!).
“Facilitating Students’ Diverse Writing About Eleanor Roosevelt, The Conscience of a Generation” with
Molly Bickford and Jay Bickford (DFAC 1518): Common
Core and PARCC have shifted English/language arts teachers’ practice by
increasing non-fiction content and students’ text-based writing. The educational initiatives, though, have not
provided curricula for teachers who must meet an increasingly diverse range of
students’ abilities. We offer a
carefully-organized curricula in a sequential format that enables students to
form emergent interpretations, consider new information that compels
reconsideration, and refine and articulate text-based understandings. We integrate text with task, reading with
writing, primary with secondary source, and new evidence with prior knowledge
so each pair acts in unison to evoke students’ curiosity and compelling
reflection throughout. We selected the
most historically consequential woman of the 20th century, Eleanor
Roosevelt.
