Weekly Update
Wayne Township LAP 5/22/2020
Congratulations, Indiana Teachers of the Year!
State Superintendent Dr. McCormick has announced that all Indiana teachers deserve the recognition of 2021 Teacher of the Year due to their unwavering commitment to Indiana's 1.2 million students during the unprecedented times of COVID 19 school closures and remote learning.
School leaders are encouraged to share Indiana Department of Education Teacher of the Year congratulations certificates with their teachers. IDOE will return to the traditional process of Teacher of the Year selection in 2022.
Read additional information here about 2021 Teachers of the Year or here related to the 2022 Teacher of the Year distinction.
Google Classroom and More in Multiple Languages
This article from Immigrant Connections explains why navigating multiple learning platforms may be a challenge for newcomers. Click here to find resources that help explain Google Classroom, Classroom Dojo, and other programs teachers may be using to parents in a variety of languages.
Free Printable Summer Reading Packets
With school closures, it is more important than ever for students to have the opportunity to continue learning and growing once the school year has ended. Readworks is offering free, ready to print K-12 Summer Reading Packets, including fiction and nonfiction articles, comprehension questions, and answer keys.
Rebounding and Reconnecting After Schools Open
The Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning, or CASEL, will be a helpful resource for Social and Emotional Learning as schools prepare to reopen. Please offer their free resources for school staff and families.
Equity and Opportunity for Language, Love, and Literacy at Home
With the change to remote learning, access and equity issues for students have become glaringly apparent. We've learned that students' grades can't be based on family support and internet access. Dr. Maneul Escamilla and Dr. Kathy Escamilla are offering a free webinar, The New Normal: Equity and Opportunity for Language, Love, and Literacy at Home on Thursday, May 28, at 12:00.
Participants will learn to identify education equity issues at the core of the pandemic and examine educational decisions from a sociocultural competence lens that is equitable, asset-based, and inclusive. Register here.
Culturally Responsive Teaching Online
MindShift offers an interesting article here that suggests three strategies to ensure that remote learning is culturally responsive.
CAL Resources
CAL offers many research-based resources for teachers of ELs, including the Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol, or SIOP Training, CAL Digests (short reports on a variety of EL topics), and Heritage Voices: Language Collection (information about languages and how they differ from English) might be helpful resources for teachers.
CAL has an updated resource page for remote learning for ELs here.