11:00 - 11:50

Concurrent Sessions B

Teachers and Students Creating Culturally Complex Literacy Spaces

Rainey Auditorium

Emma Sunog, Teacher; Jody Cohen, Teacher; Saned Gomez, Alumna; Jaylynn (Amon) Grasty, Alumna, YouthBuild Philadelphia Charter School

In this session, we will discuss and implement strategies for creating culturally complex spaces in Language Arts classrooms at YouthBuild Philadelphia. Focusing on storytelling and argumentative writing, both teachers and students will share their work and experiences through interactive and open discussion with conference participants.

#EnhancingLiteracyInstruction #Storytelling #ArgumentWriting #StudentPanel

Strengthening Youth Agency and Voice through Text Sets

Room L1

Karen Scher, Senior Program Associate and English Language Arts Lead, Facing History and Ourselves (@facinghistory on IG, @facinghistory on X)

In this workshop, we will introduce resources for educators to use that strengthen student voice and agency in secondary English Language Arts classrooms. In particular, we will explore Facing History’s new text set on Power, Agency and Voice, which include lesson plans and multi-genre texts for a 1-2 week sequence that can introduce or supplement a coming-of-age unit.

#InnovativeContent #TextSets #StudentVoice #Agency

A Sankofian Approach to Applying Self-Determination Theory in Schools: Centering Teacher and Student Motivation in Literacy Lesson Planning

Widener Auditorium

William Thomas IV, Professorial Lecturer; Dylan Ravdin, Instructional Coach; Magen Barnett, Special Education Teacher, American University

This presentation explores the experience of two American University doctoral students who implemented lesson planning strategies anchored in Self-Determination Theory. These strategies included integrating the concept “Sankofa '' as a valuable epistemological lens to gain instructional insight on teacher and student motivation in order to authentically apply culturally responsive teaching practices.

#EnhancingLiteracyInstruction #CulturallyResponsiveTeaching #Mid-CareerProgram

Centering Justice in Schools

Room M1

Some of Your Students Are Trans: Administrative Sticking Points for Trans & Nonbinary High Schoolers in the School District of Philadelphia

GK Schatzman, Teacher/Writer, West Philadelphia High School

School District of Philadelphia Policy 252 stipulates multiple rights and protections for trans and nonbinary students. Still, being trans in high school isn’t easy. This presentation brings first-hand interview accounts together with policy analysis and an examination of district administrative systems to identify frequent “sticking points” for students operating outside the gender norm.

Teaching Disability Justice In Place of Disability Deficit in the Middle School Curriculum

Hana Feit, Literacy Content Specialist, Ulster BOCES; Diana Quiñones, Grade 8 English Language Arts Teacher, East Side Community High School, New York City Public Schools

Co-teachers from a Title-1, project-based public school in downtown Manhattan will offer participants an opportunity to explore 8th-grade persuasive writing unit artifacts based on the unified theme of Disability Justice. Participants will come away with concrete resources for teaching Disability Justice within the ableist systems that shape students’ lives.

#AcceleratingLearningforPractitioners

Critical Literacy and Restorative Capacity through a Novel Middle School Collaboration: The Student Life Advisory Council (SLAC)

Room L3

Rob Andrews, Assistant Principal, Hommocks Middle School; Doctoral Student, University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education

Bryan Suertegaray-Santana, Counseling Coordinator; Adonis Calderon, Social Worker, Hommocks Middle School

Restorative Justice and healing in schools requires critical literacies developed through cross-disciplinary collaboration and community building. We present a novel structure to the field, the Student Life Advisory Council, in which administrators and mental health professionals collaborate in critical extended bi-weekly dialogues, resulting in restorative actions and positive student outcomes.

#InnovativeLeadership #Collaboration #Mid-CareerProgram