Eastern Illinois Writing Project Institute Day 2016 a Succes!

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 20^th century, Eleanor Roosevelt.