November 2022 Teach Plus IL Newsblast No images? Click here From Teach Plus Illinois Dear teachers, Because this has been such a news-heavy week due to the elections, I’m going to keep this month’s message very short. Most of the coverage has focused on what the elections mean for the national landscape, but what do they mean for education in Illinois? The short answer: we will stay on the current course. Democrats retained control of the Governor’s office and supermajorities in both houses of the IL legislature. JB Pritzker’s focus on increasing funding for both K12 and Early Childhood Education next year will likely be successful. We won’t likely see any major shifts in direction. But that also means that we may have an opportunity to continue to advocate for policies that create a more diverse workforce and that create safe and welcoming conditions for the 52% of Illinois students that identify as students of color. Congratulations to all the current teachers and alumni who published, presented, won awards, or advocated at board meetings this month! See some of their achievements below! Warm regards, Policy Highlights Illinois Policy Fellow Breana Calloway Advocates for Racism-Free Schools Policy Fellow Breana Calloway met with State Representative Cyril Nichols to advocate for the Racism-Free Schools Act. As a result of this meeting, Rep. Nichols agreed to co-sponsor the bill and reach out to other colleagues in the House to urge them to support it as well. To learn more about how you can support the Racism-Free Schools Act, click here. Illinois Policy Fellow Justin Antos Receives CMA Foundation Music Teachers of Excellence Award Policy Fellow Justin Antos is one of 30 teachers from across the U.S. to receive a CMA Foundation Music Teachers of Excellence Award. His impact was featured on Chicago’s ABC 7 News and he was recognized at a national awards banquet October 22 in Nashville, where he also got to meet US Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona. Illinois ECE Policy Fellows Present at Illinois Association for the Education of Young Children (ILAEYC) Conference Jacqueline Johnson and Sara Stambaugh presented their work on vertical alignment . Erean Mei and Margi Bhansali presented their combined working group's work on Play in K. Alli Bizon presented on "A Montessori Approach to Preparing an Anti-Bias, Anti-Racist Learning Environment". Illinois Policy Fellow Elliott Hile Featured in Teachers in Their Power Elliott Hile was recently featured in "Teachers in their Power", a storytelling project focused on changing the narrative about the teaching profession. Through a combination of photography and interviews, the project profiles the American teacher, quilting together perspectives from communities across the country. “Our working group is working on a bill that's called the Racism-Free Schools Act, which is essentially a policy that will protect and support students and teachers of color from racial harassment and set up procedures for addressing those incidents within schools. Addressing issues in schools through policy is one of the best ways to dismantle these problems – it is one of the best ways to truly support students and teachers," Elliott states. Illinois Policy Fellows and Alumni Advocate for Funding at ISBE Last month, seven Teach Plus IL Policy Fellows and alumni testified at Illinois State Board of Education budget hearings, advocating for funding for K12 and ECE education. In addition, Teach Plus IL Executive Director Josh Kaufmann testified in support of funding for training in Culturally Responsive Pedagogy for current IL teachers. The teachers who testified were:
Illinois Education Leadership Coach and TPF Alum Lisset Rosales Presents at La Cosecha Conference Last week, Teach Plus IL Education Leadership Coach and TPF Alum Lisset Rosales presented a session, titled "Equity Advocate: Literacy, Language, and Asset Minded Leadership" at the La Cosecha conference in New Mexico. She is pictured here with her colleague Lindsey Bird, Education Leadership Coach: Emergent Bilingual Focus from Teach Plus California. The session focused on how teachers can “develop as Equity Advocates and anti-racist leaders by reflecting on our own American origin story, and examine the role of bias, privilege, and racism in our own lives and schools in term of language and literacy.” Kudos, Lisset! Teach Plus Affinity Groups in the News ISBE launches program to retain teachers of color 'It feels incredible to help connect Golden Apple teachers and professionals across our community. I aim to create a support system and an open, safe space for our teacher and professional leaders to relate, release, and recharge in efforts to continue the challenging yet necessary work we all do daily,' said Kayla Goodloe, a job coach at Pavilion School in Urbana School District 116. ISBE hopes that these affinity groups will help to retain teachers and meet the high demand in Illinois for educators." (Christy Jankowski, WCIA) State school board is intensifying its effort to diversify school faculty Teacher mentors will convene teachers of color into “affinity groups” around the state, ISBE’s executive director of teaching and learning, Jennifer Kirmes, says, 'This is about retention, and so we would hope to see that the participants in these groups are fulfilled by them, and the evidence of that is they are able to stay in their positions, stay in the profession, and that this makes teaching more sustainable for them personally.' Kirmes says, 'Black and brown kids don’t see a Black or brown teacher, they may not be encouraged to pursue a teaching career.' (Dave Dahl, WJBC) Opportunities Along Teacher Leader Fellowship Teach Plus is excited to partner with the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI) and Gradient Learning to bring educators Along, a free tool designed to enable strong connections between students and their teachers through shared reflections. This fall, we’re launching the Along Teacher Leader Fellowship and will be selecting a group of diverse teachers dedicated to strengthening teacher-student connections in their classrooms and schools. As an Along Teacher Leader Fellow with Teach Plus, you’ll have the opportunity to engage with and pilot Along in your own classroom and to explore what works best for your schools, students, and families. Selected Fellows commit to 5-6 hours per month to learn about and use Along, and participate in bi-weekly PLC meetings as they hone their craft alongside other users. In Spring 2023, the PLC meetings will shift to a monthly cadence and Fellows begin leading their own novice-user-focused PLC’s each month. Throughout, Fellows receive coaching support from their Education Leadership Coach. To honor their time and engagement, Fellows will receive a $2,000 stipend. Learn more and apply here. Free Virtual ECE PLC (Earn a Stipend & CPDUs) for Chicago Teachers Teach Plus is thrilled to announce that we're accepting participants for our first ever teacher-led ECE professional learning community! This monthly virtual PLC will focus on alignment between pre-K and kindergarten classrooms and is free for public school teachers in Chicago (both CPS and charter). Participants who successfully complete the learning series will receive a stipend and CPDUs. If your ECE team has been interested in aligning what happens in pre-K and kindergarten classrooms, this is a great learning space that is designed for teachers and led by teachers who have done alignment work in their schools last year. You can find out more information here (including dates, topics, and facilitator bios), and you can express interest by filling out this google form. If you have any questions, please reach out to Kristen Ciciora (kciciora@teachplus.org). Illinois Affinity Group Network Interest Form The Illinois State Board of Education, RoE 51, Teach Plus, and the Golden Apple Foundation would like to invite you to check out the state's new Affinity Groups for Educators of Color. Illinois Affinity Groups seek to cultivate authentic, inclusive, intersectional spaces, shaped by and for educators of Color. These will be affirming and supportive spaces, rooted in an asset-based understanding of diversity, which support educators in navigating and improving their school environments and are connected to a larger network to build alliances and address systemic issues, particularly around retention of educators of Color. If you are interested in exploring a safe, supportive space for you to be your authentic self, check out the Illinois Affinity Groups Page to see if there is one in your area. If there is, you can fill out a short interest survey and the facilitator will reach out to you shortly. Submit Proposals for Educators Rising Illinois Annual Conference Educators Rising Illinois’ annual conference is March 6, 2022 at Illinois State University, and they are requesting proposals to present! The majority of our student members attending this conference are teenagers, but their teachers will also be in attendance. You can suggest a proposal aimed either at the students or the teachers. If you’re interested, you can submit a proposal here. For more information, please reach out Educators Rising IL State Coordinator (and former IL Teacher of the Year and Teach Plus Policy Fellow) Lindsey Jensen at illinoisteacheroftheyear@gmail.com. Apply for the School Ambassador Fellowship Founded on the principles of partnership, collaboration and cooperation between the Federal Government and school-based educators, the U.S. Department of Education designed the School Ambassador Fellowship program to enable outstanding teachers, administrators, and other school leaders, such as school counselors, psychologists, social workers, and librarians to bring their school and classroom expertise to the Department and to expand their knowledge of the national dialogue about education. The School Ambassador Fellowship is a professional learning community designed to improve educational outcomes for students by leveraging the expertise of school-based practitioners in the creation, evaluation, and dissemination of information around national education initiatives. The School Ambassador Fellowship Application window is now open! Applications for the 2023-2024 cohort of the School Ambassador Fellowship will remain open until 11:59pm ET on December 18, 2022. Educator Scholarship for ExcelinEd Conference in Salt Lake City ExcelinEd is hosting the National Summit on Education this November 16-18 in Salt Lake City to convene state and national leaders in a forum for exchanging results-based policy solutions that are transforming education across the country. This year’s program will highlight important progress and strategies for closing learning gaps, growing the teacher pipeline, expanding opportunity for families, and reimagining learning. A full schedule can be found online here. ExcelinEd is inviting teachers, literacy coaches, principals, or assistant principal from a Title I schools or economically underserved communities to apply for an Educator Scholarship which covers associated travel costs and expenses. ExcelinEd is extending this opportunity to the educators directly serving students and schools to foster dialogue, collaboration and greater understanding of the policy initiatives state leaders are addressing to meet the needs of students. Please reach out to the Raquel@ExcelinEd.org if you have any questions or need further details. Illinois Teacher Leadership Summit The Sixth Annual Illinois Teacher Leadership Summit (ILTLS) invites teams of teachers, an administrator, and a teacher leader to join together to create an action plan to address a specific local challenge. The Summit offers both time and space for collaboration where each team is supported by its own "critical friend", someone with expertise in the "problem of practice" identified by the team, as well as input from all of the other statewide teams. Attendees will receive classroom and teacher resources, along with opportunities to network with multiple conference presenters. Register your team by January 15, 2023. Good Reads Corey Winchester Beyoncé Reminded Me That Teaching Is an Art. This Is Why We Must Invest in Teacher Prep Programs. "Educators serving in the classroom demonstrate the creative, imaginative and intellectual talents of artists. We design environments for and with young people where human learning occurs in complex ways across identity, sociopolitical realities and lived experiences. As an educator that has made the commitment to my artistry, I firmly believe the next renaissance must include an investment in teacher preparation programs, if not for the betterment of the education system, then simply so that we do not continue to break the souls of the teachers that care about our profession. At the end of the day, I want folks to understand the artistry that teachers bring to our students, schools and communities." (Corey Winchester, Illinois Policy Fellow Alum) Read the full article here. Dillin Randolph The Wakanda Effect: Rethinking the New AP African American Studies Course "The College Board will pilot AP African American Studies at about 60 schools this school year, with more to be added in the pilot’s second year. When I asked my students about our class curriculum, one of them put it best. 'I don't understand the importance of reading these types of book[s]. They’re just about suffering and sadness. I mean I get how everything can’t be sunshine and rainbows…it’s important to read stuff like this, like you said. But at least let us read something where Black people don’t die or are scarred for life. Like let’s watch ‘Black Panther’ or something and analyze it.' With no national history standards, what and how students are taught in this potential course remains in the purview of the College Board. However, I implore the teachers piloting this course, as well as all educators of African American history, to consider highlighting Black Joy before Black Trauma." (Dillin Randolph, Illinois Policy Fellow Alum) Read the full article here. Bill Curtin COMMENTARY: To begin repairing trust, school policies must address racism "I taught English at Kankakee High School for six years, where I helped my students share the pride they felt for their city in our Letterman gazebo project. Their work showcased Kankakee at its best. But even as we shared the good we saw in Kankakee, we knew we were working against racist perceptions of our city, our school and our students. Unfortunately, not all of those perceptions came from outside the school. While the vast majority of those I worked with at KHS loved their students and went above and beyond to lift them up, I also knew some teachers who thought it was fine to share casually racist comments. Students shouldn’t have to resort to secret video recordings, public protests, anonymous cries for help or school transfers to avoid racial harassment. Our schools need clear and accessible policies, procedures and training on the complex topic of racial harassment, just like all employers have already for sexual harassment." (Bill Curtin, Illinois Policy Manager) Read the full article here. |