Insight Into Instruction

Reflecting on our experience attending and speaking at the San Diego Lilly Conference on January 5, 2023.  //  Topic:  Multimodal Formative Assessments: Harnessing Student Creativity for Deeper Learning.  // Presenters Mentioned:  STRIVING FOR DIGITAL EQUITY Teaching for Active and Engaged Learning by Tinukwa Boulder, School of Education, University of Pittsburgh and Mabel CPO Okojie, Mississippi State University --- MAXIMIZING TEACHING FOR STUDENT SUCCESS by Mary Dixon, PhD Professor of Instruction The University of Texas at San Antonio https://marydixson.godaddysites.com/ & https://marydixson.godaddysites.com/adhd-resources --- 

For this episode, we interviewed students ranging from age 9 to age 14 for our TCH_LRN 322 Reading & Writing 4-8 class.  This interview was meant to find out more about "Tweenager" interests outside of school and specifically to obtain data and information regarding their Reading Interests.  We found that by completing these interviews, we were able to gain a deeper sense of the students as people as we delved into students' culture, language, home life, and how they felt about being "Tweenagers".

Delving into Assessments FOR Learning, Gottlieb Ch. 6. ---> Source:  Gottlieb, M. (2016). Assessing English Language Learners: Bridges to Educational Equity: Connecting Academic Language Proficiency to Student Achievement (Second ed.). Corwin.

Delving into Assessments as Learning, Gottlieb Ch. 5. ---> Source:  Gottlieb, M. (2016). Assessing English Language Learners: Bridges to Educational Equity: Connecting Academic Language Proficiency to Student Achievement (Second ed.). Corwin.

A glimpse into the end-of-semester personal reflections.  Many professors in the Elementary Education Program require students to complete assessments of themselves and their work as well as participation and learning in each individual class.  The reflection to which we are responding today is from our Teaching Elementary Math class, taught by Tara Heikila.  We hope this gives you some insight into one of the ways that teachers in the WSUV Elementary Education Program are responsive to us as students as well as people.  //  In this episode we reference the following texts:   Intentional Talk, How to Structure and Lead Productive Mathematical Discussions, written by Elham Kazemi & Allison Hintz & Impact of Identity in K-8 Mathematics, Rethinking Equity-Based Practices by Julia Aguirre, Karen Mayfield-Ingram & Danny Bernard Martin.  Also mentioned were CCSS (Common Core State Standards) and Math Practices,  and the AVID Program definition of a "one-pager".

In this episode, we reflect on the conclusion of the ORATE Conference we attended Feb. 25, 2022 ( http://www.orate.org/ ).  We discuss the conference’s Keynote speaker Renée Watson ( https://www.reneewatson.net/ ), a renowned Coretta Scott King, and Newbery medal winning author, and thoughts on her in-person interview.  After our presentation with Dr. Jessica Masterson, we were able to attend two wonderful sessions on which we reflect.  The first session was about Restorative Justice Research-Practice Partnership: Collaborating to Design Relational and Healing Focused Practices, presented by Shanté Stuart McQueen. The second session we observed was titled Anti-Racist Education for Asian American Students Post-Pandemic, presented by Lin Wu and Olympia Lai.  Each one of these speakers brought such a light on aspects of their presentation and talked about the difficult subject of race and our history.

Trigger Warnings:  Asian Crit, Black Crit, Critical Race Theory, Racism

Sources/Citations:

Renée Watson: Piecing Me Together (Bloomsbury, 2017)