May 2021 IL Newsblast No images? Click here Teach Plus Illinois Congratulates New Golden Apple Recipients, Maddi Bodine and Ashley McCallCongratulations to Early Childhood Education Policy Senior Fellow, Maddi Bodine, and Teaching Policy Fellow Alum and Teach Plus Board Member, Ashley McCall! Maddi and Ashley are 2 of ten teachers selected for the prestigious award in Illinois. The two recipients were selected from a competitive pool of 708 candidate nominations. Ashley and Maddi will receive a $5,000, a semester-long sabbatical and be added to Fellows of the Golden Apple Academy of Educators for their dedicated and timeless service to teaching. Congratulations, Maddi and Ashley! From Teach Plus Illinois Josh Kaufmann, Executive Director, Teach Plus Illinois Dear Teachers, Every teacher that I’ve spoken to in the last two weeks -- which included Teacher Appreciation Week -- was tired beyond belief so I’ll keep this short. There’s promising news about funding for schools for next year and beyond and opportunities for teachers to weigh in on how those dollars are spent. First, last week Governor Pritzker announced that he would be requesting $350m to go into Illinois’ Evidence-Based Funding, which directs the new dollars to districts that need it the most, after flat-funding the model last year. This is great news, but our work is not over just yet. Join us in thanking Gov. Pritzker and urging the General Assembly to keep up the momentum and approve a budget that gets us back on track to fully fund EBF. Let’s give our students the education they rightfully deserve. Also, here are a couple of quick Twitter actions you can take right now:
Second, the Covid relief packages passed by Congress between March 2020 and March 2021 present a great opportunity to make critical, one-time investments in our education system. Taken together, the three packages provide $7.8 billion to Illinois, 90% of which goes directly to Title I districts. You can see how much your district is receiving here. Moreover, the most recent relief package requires districts to get input from teachers as they develop their plans for the remaining dollars! Watch in the coming days for new research from Teach Plus Illinois Fellows about what teachers around the state are saying about how to use these dollars. Finally, I know this is a hard time of year and there are a million things on your plate, but we have a bunch of great opportunities for teachers listed below this month, including our Chicago Change Agent Program and Project Spark, an Innovation Competition offering prizes for new ideas you’ve used this year! Check them out below, and hang in there! Summer is just around the corner -- and not a minute too soon! Josh OpportunitiesChicago Change Agent Fellowship Applications: DUE May 16th, 2021 Are you a Chicago teacher whose school is starting to think about what next year is going to look like? Do you have ideas for how to address post-COVID issues such as SEL support, assessment & differentiation, or any other systems creation/implementation needs? Teach Plus Illinois is accepting applications for the Chicago Change Agent Fellowship program. The program spans the 2021-22 school year and offers selected Chicago teachers a generous stipend for their time and work. Apply now to be a Change Agent! The deadline to apply to the fellowship is May 16th, 2021 at 11:59 p.m. For this program, we are seeking cohorts of excellent teachers who reflect the cultural, linguistic, and geographic diversity of our students. Additionally, applicants:
For more information about Chicago Change Agent, please email Kristen Ciciora at kciciora@teachplus.org. Apply today! An Innovation Opportunity! Applications DUE May 16, 2021 Project Spark: Teach Plus Illinois is partnering with the Illinois State Teachers of the Year to solicit great ideas from educators to recognize and elevate this classroom innovation. We’re offering $10,000 in prizes to Illinois educators whose ideas have not only helped to serve students over the past year, but also offer significant promise for continued, sustainable impact in the years to come. Submissions will be accepted in two categories: innovations that have already had meaningful impact for students, and promising ideas that have yet to be implemented or have limited evidence of impact so far. Visit teachplus.org/innovation for official rules and entry form. Ends 5/1621. Virtual Poetry Teachers Institute is Seeking Applicants! Complete form by May 15th, 2021 The Virtual Poetry Teachers Institute is hosting a four-day event that will include tailored seminars, hands-on workshops, and small break-out sessions delivered through Zoom. The theme for the 2021 Institute is “Poetry in an Antiracist Classroom.” To apply for a spot in either of the offered weeks in July, please fill out this Google Form by May 15th, 2021! Chicago Foundation For Education: 2021 Virtual Study Group Coach Grant, Applications DUE May 17th, 2021 Apply to be a virtual coach with CFE! This is CFE's second year offering its Virtual Study Group Program. Participants will create an online Resource Kit, a group syllabus, a meeting schedule, and an introductory video. A Letter of Support is required from your principal, assistant principal, or other school administrator with whom you work closely along with your application. The letter should reference the following:
2021-22 Student Advisory Council Application Now Available! The 2021-22 ISBE Student Advisory Council (SAC) Application is now available! ISBE is accepting applications from eligible high school students interested in serving as a member of the SAC. Students must be entering the fall semester as a sophomore, junior, or senior to be eligible to serve on SAC. Access the application and a complete list requirements, here. Application closes May 31, 2021. CPS is seeking Multi-Classroom Leaders! Apply by June 6th, 2021 The CPS Empowered Schools Team is working on providing a robust pool of Multi-Classroom Leader (MCL) candidates to Empowered Schools principals which will be pivotal in their work toward building distributed leadership practices in their schools. The Multi-Classroom Leader (MCL) role is a school-based formal leadership role for CPS teachers seeking to exercise leadership from the classroom. MCLs teach part of the day and lead a small team of other teachers the other part of the day. MCLs receive classroom release time to coach and lead teachers on their team, leadership coaching, professional learning sessions with other MCLs, and a stipend of $7,500 or $11,000 on top of their salary. To qualify, CPS candidates must have a valid Illinois teaching license, at least 3 years teaching experience, and demonstrate excellence in teaching. To apply, applicants can submit their resume by visiting the Empowered Schools webpage and click “GET STARTED”. Resumes must be submitted by June 6, 2021 to be considered for this role for the 2021-2022 school year. Good Reads 2020-21 Teaching Policy Fellow Dillin Randolph shares in his op-ed: Black lives ain’t never gon’ matter in the classroom until Black English does: "My mother was my first teacher. One of her first lessons was how to “play the game” of speaking “proper English.” She taught me, as her father taught her, that knowledge is power and if one presents themselves as knowledgeable, they will be perceived as capable. Since Black people are often seen as incapable, we weren’t allowed to plant that doubt or change anyone’s mind about our abilities. " Read more... Teach Plus Nevada Policy Fellow alumna Sheila Weathers shares the need for black history in all classrooms in her op-ed: Why Every School District Should be Required to Teach Multicultural Education, Specifically Black History: "When we say “Black Lives Matter,” we must do more than use these words as a ‘woke’ slogan on our social media platforms. We must change our pedagogy to make sure that we honor the diversity in our classrooms. If we fail to do so, historical atrocities stand to be repeated, and we will continue to be faced with reckoning after reckoning." Read more... 2020-21 Illinois State Teacher of the Year Policy Fellow Veronica Rodriguez shares her story on advocating for her son's 504 plan and how other parents can be empowered to do the same. Read her piece Even as an Insider, I Didn’t Have a Say in My Son’s 504 Plan: "During my first Section 504 meeting at his school, I came prepared to share everything I was doing to help my son at home. I thought there would be an opportunity to discuss and collaborate on a plan. Instead, I learned that the accommodations were already set, and it would be another year before they were reviewed again. I signed the many documents handed to me and left with a pit in my stomach, feeling like a bystander instead of a member of the decision-making team." Fellows in the News 2020-2021 Illinois Early Childhood Policy Fellow Denise Romero testified during a Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday, April 15 to advocate on behalf of equitable early childhood educator compensation! 2020-2021 Illinois Early Childhood Policy Senior Fellow Maddi Bodine's Golden Apple award presentation was captured by WTVO WQRF's Eyewitness News. Watch the moment Maddi received her award here! 2020-2021 Illinois Teaching Policy Fellow Maria Gandara was featured in a Chalkbeat article explaining the tiring, mental load of navigating police killings to her students, and processing the death of Chicago student and victim, Adam Toledo. Read her featured story here. |