February 2023 Teach Plus IL Newsblast No images? Click here Teach Plus Illinois Honors Black History MonthTeach Plus Illinois recognizes the continuous efforts, accomplishments and contributions from Black educators, leaders and allies. We appreciate those that continue to push for equity, foster students' successes, and be outstanding pillars for the community. Thank you! From Teach Plus Illinois Good afternoon! To help get us through the doldrums of February, I’ve got three pieces of great news to share with you today!
We also have a gaggle of opportunities for teachers below. Hopefully you can curl up with some Valentine’s candy and give yourself a few minutes to explore the policies, opportunities, and great reads by Illinois teachers! Warm regards, Fellow Highlights ISBE Honors Teach Plus Illinois Fellows and Alumni Through its Annual Those Who Excel and Teacher of the Year Awards A huge congratulations to our Teach Plus Illinois fellows and alumni for their extraordinary contributions to education across the state through its annual Those Who Excel & Teacher of the Year Awards!
Opportunities Applications for all Teach Plus Illinois Programs are Open! Teach Plus Illinois is thrilled to announce four different fellowships for educators this fall: Teach Plus Illinois’ programs are highly selective leadership opportunities for outstanding teachers looking to expand their influence without leaving the classroom. They span the 2023-24 school year and offer selected teachers a generous stipend for their time and effort. The Change Agent Fellowship supports Chicago teachers who see a problem they want to address at their school, the Policy Fellowships are for teachers throughout Illinois who want to advocate for policy change on behalf of their students, and the Affinity Group Fellowship is for teachers who want to facilitate supportive environments for teachers of color. Grow as a teacher leader by exploring one of these four opportunities! For all programs, Teach Plus Illinois is seeking cohorts of excellent teachers who reflect the cultural, linguistic, and geographic diversity of our students. Additionally, applicants:
The deadline to apply to each program is April 7, 2023 at 11:59 p.m. Apply today to be a Fellow, Change Agent, or Facilitator! For more information on any of the four, please contact Kimberly Nguyen at knguyen@teachplus.org. Racism-Free Schools Spring Kickoff Join Teach Plus and the Racism-Free Schools Coalition Wednesday, February 22 from 4-5 for our spring campaign kickoff. The Racism-Free Schools Act was introduced as Senate Bill 90 and House Bill 2049 to help students and teachers identify, report, and prevent racist behavior in schools. We will hear from students, teachers, legislators, and advocates about why the Racism-Free Schools Act is so urgently needed and how advocates can support it this spring. Register here to learn more! Teach Plus Teacher Leadership Panel: Where The Freedom Resides Are you interested in learning more about how Teach Plus educators have made a difference in the field of education at the classroom, building, local, and state levels? Sign up to attend our Teacher Leadership Panel, "Where the Freedom Resides". This event will be hosted virtually via Zoom on Tuesday, February 28, 2023 from 7-8:00pm CST. Join us to hear from excellent, experienced, and diverse teachers who are working to advance equity, opportunity, and student success by tackling key policy and practice issues that will lead to truly liberatory educational experiences for young people. Register here: https://forms.gle/8vk1xVPhYsMSjiyn8. Focus Group Opportunity for Math Educators EdSystems Center and Teach Plus are partnering to gather feedback from educators on a proposal to implement an Illinois Math Badging Initiative. The program's goal is to offer alternative pathways to learning math skills to ensure high school students are prepared to engage in college-level coursework. In order to ensure the initiative is informed by classroom expertise and experiences, Teach Plus is assembling a diverse focus group of practicing math educators to provide structured feedback. The focus group will meet 4 times in Spring 2023 for 1-3 hours to learn about the initiative and offer feedback. Educators will be compensated for their time with a stipend from Teach Plus. If you are interested in being considered for a role in this focus group, please complete this application, which should take approximately 5 minutes. Please direct questions to Bill Curtin, Teach Plus K-12 Policy Manager. 2023 Illinois Educators Rising Annual Conference Registration for the 2023 Illinois Educators Rising Annual Conference is closing soon! This exciting event will be held at Illinois State University on March 6, 2023 from 8-3. The deadline to register is at 11:45pm this Sunday, February 12. Students, teacher leaders, and educational partners are all encouraged to attend! Students can look forward to: - Breakout sessions located in the ISU Bone Student Center Click here to register! Contact edrisingillinois@gmail.com with questions. 2023 Teacher Tech Summit USA (Virtual) The 2023 Teacher Tech Summit USA follows the overwhelmingly successful global 2021 and 2022 Teacher Tech Summits, co-hosted by T4, the World Bank, and Owl Ventures, where over 40,000 teachers gathered virtually to share best practices using technology to advance the future of teaching and learning. The 2023 Summit includes three jam-packed hours around five highly relevant themes: Sparking Student Creativity, Serving the Whole Child, Realizing Competency-Based Learning and Assessment, Previewing Classroom Tech’s Future, and Accessing Personalized Professional Development. Teachers are invited to submit a video highlighting the most impactful technologies and how they use them in the classroom. Winning video submissions will be featured during the Summit as the anchor for thoughtful master classes and spotlight the possibilities afforded to educators by well-designed, researched-based classroom technology. Latinx Women Pre-Service Teachers and Current Teachers Needed for Research Study This research study focuses on Latinx women pre-service teachers' and Latinx women graduates in their teacher education program experiences and how their experiences shape their teacher identity development. The study would consist of three interviews at 60 to 90 minutes each, done either in person or via Zoom. The study also includes one visual elicitation activity asking Latinx women pre-service teachers and/or Latinx women gradates to draw how their view their teacher identity. Participants will be compensated with a $25 gift card per interview. Eligibility Requirements: - Self-identify as a Latinx women who graduated from a teacher education program If you are interested in this opportunity or have questions, please email Yasmin Rodriguez-Escutia at rodriguezesc@wisc.edu. League of Women Voters of Illinois 2023 Issues Briefing Join the League of Women Voters of Illinois for an annual look at current issues, along with legislation being considered in the Illinois General Assembly. Learn from legislators and nonpartisan experts—be informed and prepared so you can advocate for change in your community and state. Learn about defending democracy against threats to elections and how to use grass roots power to get a bill passed. Choose from sessions on racism in schools, carbon capture/sequestration, juvenile justice, housing, gun violence and reproductive rights. Illinois teachers can earn 5 Professional Development credits for participating in all 4 sessions of 2023 Issues Briefing by the League of Women Voters of Illinois. You will be given attendance links at the beginning and end of each session. Register here to get briefed on February 18! Note: the $30 registration fee is waived for students; to request complimentary registration, please contact issues@lwvil.org Teacher Voices Gina Caneva Gina Caneva: I am a skilled professional thanks to the teachers at UIC. They deserve proper compensation."When I started teaching, I used many lessons that I prepared with the support of my UIC professors. I felt like I could become a good teacher, and perhaps more importantly, I felt that I’d like to start my career in CPS. UIC is one of the nation’s most diverse campuses in the nation as it was federally designated as a minority-serving institution in 2010, which means that the majority are students of color from all walks of life. Forty percent of its students are also CPS graduates, making it a haven for the city’s high school students. As classrooms and lecture centers sit empty, the main question is: Will the university commit to its strong faculty members the working conditions they deserve?" (Gina Caneva, Illinois Policy Fellow Alum) Read the full article here. Good Reads A Million Paper Cuts: Why Special Educators Leave the ProfessionA Million Paper Cuts: Why Special Educators Leave the Profession highlights how inadequate teacher preparation and mentoring, high workloads including onerous paperwork, and principals' lack of understanding the duties of their special education teachers leads those teachers to have the lowest retention rate among all of IL's teachers. The authors have already met with ISBE's head of Special Education, Barbara Moore, who is working to integrate some of these ideas into their upcoming programming and supports Read the full policy brief here. Tomorrow's Teachers are Watching: How Schools Can Inspire—Or Turn Away—the Next Generation of Teachers of ColorTomorrow's Teachers are Watching: How Schools Can Inspire—Or Turn Away—the Next Generation of Teachers of Color, based on focus groups with students of Color from Illinois high schools, highlights how these students feel about their experience in school, and provides recommendations on what would make them more interested in teaching as a career field. We already have two upcoming presentations of this paper at academic conferences. Read the full policy brief here. Tony Sanders named next Illinois State Superintendent of Education"Elgin’s U-46 Superintendent Tony Sanders has been named Illinois’ next State Superintendent of Education. He will begin his term on Feb. 23. Sanders has been superintendent of Elgin’s U-46 since 2014. It’s the second largest school district in Illinois serving over 35,000 students. One of the state’s largest teacher unions, the Illinois Federation of Teachers, congratulated Sanders in a statement and said they hope to work with him to 'achieve policies that center and engage our students and teachers, especially our Black and Brown students who are still recovering from the pandemic.' 'During Dr. Sanders’ tenure leading Elgin District U-46, he was a strong advocate for equitable policies for Black and Brown students,' said Dan Montgomery, president of IFT. 'His visionary leadership helped improve district assessment data collection to better the student and teacher experience.'" (Samantha Smylie, Chalkbeat Chicago) Read the full article here. |