Early Career Teaching Institute

During this session, participants will read and engage in the practice of questioning in the mathematics classroom.  We'll experience a lesson and review the why behind how thoughtful questions build student knowledge and depth of understanding.  Further, we will deepen our "teacher moves" for implementing questioning in the classroom and debrief this experience, creating goals for next steps.

Learning Goals

• I can understand the different types of questions and why these are important in the math classroom.
• I can plan for the different types of questions based on the mathematical goal.
• I can implement questioning through different teacher move strategies the ensure all students have a full understanding.

Teachers are individuals who deeply care about the development of their students and communities. However, as professionals, they regularly encounter and navigate complex systemic challenges in their daily work. In their daily practice, teachers are pivotal in challenging and dismantling harmful structures that impede their efforts to foster student well-being and curiosity. The path to real change begins with a candid acknowledgment of pedagogical shortcomings that contribute to classroom inequities, encompassing factors like race, gender, class, disabilities, and language. Equally important is a clear understanding of the systemic power imbalances that sustain these disparities. Educators who are socially and politically conscious employ design thinking and interdisciplinary pedagogy as tools for direct action, striving to reform unjust systems.

We invite you to join us for an interactive session designed to apply the principles of design thinking. Through engaging activities and discussions, participants will delve into identifying educational inequities in mathematics education, recognizing implicit biases, exploring the influence of social structures on educational disparities, and acquiring foundational tools for initiating meaningful change and promoting justice in education.

Learning Goals

• Build a framework of design principles & tools that can be used as a basis for future interdisciplinary pedagogical design
• Create an action plan tailored to innovating educational change on an issue that holds significance to them
• (optional) Become a part of an ongoing community of teachers aimed to further support teachers in implementing design thinking to promote educational change and justice within their classrooms and schools. The six follow-up sessions during the 2024-25 school year will feature a panel of local secondary teachers (Mathematics, social studies, generalists) from public and alternative schools in the greater Madison area, actively leading educational transformation efforts despite existing inequities in mathematics education.

NOTE: Participants will need to have a personal phone or tablet to use during this workshop to use the Octostudio App. The app can be downloaded for iOS or Android here: https://octostudio.org/

In this workshop, participants will have the opportunity to tinker with block-based computer programming and physical materials. Computational Tinkering, an idea from the MIT Media Lab and the Exploratorium, is exploring physical and digital materials to try out new ideas, iterate, imagine new possibilities, and develop as creative thinkers.
In this workshop we will use OctoStudio, a free phone or tablet based coding app that allows you to create stories, animations, and games. You'll use the app on your personal device (downloaded from the Google Play or iOS app store) or share with a colleague.

Learning Goals

• Explore computational tinkering, engaging with computational and computer science ideas in a playful and iterative way.
• Try out OctoStudio, a free digital creation tool that can be use in a variety of contexts and subject areas.

This workshop will help educators reflect on their values from their pre-service learning to operationalizing those values in the classroom.  New teachers often view classroom management as a method to deliver punitive consequences, and either highly reject all structures to avoid them, or fall into a helpless loop of negative consequences well into the school year.  This workshop will be centered in anti-racist philopsophy delivering practical steps and solutions to building community.  Centering on the language of coaching and building educator resilience, educators will begin the mindset work to set up their classrooms in the Fall.

Learning Goals

• Educators will identify their values as it relates to their classroom experience and desires.
• Educators will understand that love in a community comes with accountability and expecations.
• Educators will develop their own plan for setting up their classroom in the Fall.

This session will engage participants in their why and person mission and vision in life and work.  During this time, we will learn about strategies for prioritizing a "balance" and viewing life and work through the metaphor of a symphony.  Practical tools will be provided with reflection time about our own values and how that can provide a navigation for all things.

Learning Goals

• Participants will learn about building habits and the connection to the "Big Six" tactic for productivity.
• Participants will shift their mindset from work/life separation to a full balance and connection.

This workshop, titled "Contextualizing Decontextualized Reading Instruction for ELLs: Responsive Pedagogies in the Face of ACT 20," addresses the challenges Multilingual Learners (ELLs) face under the influence of ACT 20. Focusing on three key learning goals, participants will first build a comprehensive understanding of ACT 20 and its specific impacts on ELLs in educational contexts. The workshop then delves into an investigation of the affordances and constraints inherent in various curricular resources and approaches for reading instruction.
In response to these challenges, participants will engage in discussions and activities aimed at equipping them with the knowledge and skills to design responsive approaches that specifically cater to the needs of Multilingual Learners in reading instruction. By the end of the workshop, educators will have gained valuable insights into navigating the complexities of ACT 20, critically evaluating instructional resources, and creating tailored strategies that foster an inclusive and effective learning environment for Multilingual Learners in the realm of reading instruction.

Learning Goals

• Build understanding of Act 20 and its impacts on Multilingual Learners
• Investigate affordances and constraints of a variety of curricular resources and approaches for reading instruction.
• Design responsive approaches that support reading instruction for multilingual learners