Welcome back from what we hope was a restful winter break! As you head back to your schools it is important to remember that a lot of emotions may come up for you. It's important to acknowledge and sit with them for a bit. In Elena Aguilar's weekly newsletter she writes the following:

"Some educators are returning from break feeling stressed, sad, or fearful. You might be tempted to smother those feelings by exuding positivity and repeating sentiments like, 'it's all going to be okay!'

My advice: Don't.

Repressing emotions doesn't work- -they'll come out somewhere, somehow. You and your colleagues need the space and tools to care for yourselves and each other. Everyone needs and deserves space to process their current experience so they can move forward."

-Elena Aguilar, 2023

Dear Educators,

Hi! My name is Alyssa Nicol, and I'm the new Early Literacy and English Language Initiatives Coordinator at Washtenaw ISD. I thought I would start our work together with a short introduction. English Language Initiatives is a new support being offered by WISD, and I'm thrilled to begin this work with you.

Please click here to read my introduction and learn more about the supports I can offer. You can contact me via email me at anicol@washtenawisd.org or give me a call at (734)994-8100 ext 1570

Last year we offered a couple of sessions supporting teacher resilience using Elena Aguilar’s Onward. We plan to continue with sessions this year but have decided that we will continue this work through our newsletters. No in person or virtual sessions will be offered.

Please enjoy the activities below. They are planned for the months of January, February and March.

January: Cultivate Compassion

Compassion (for yourself and others) offers: the strengthening of relationships, the broadening of perspectives, the softening of hearts, and seeing new possibilities!

Try these activities to strengthen your compassion, which in turn strengthens your resilience.

Lovingkindness Meditation --> Try doing this every morning for a week

Just Like Me --> Cultivate an appreciation for a person with whom you've really struggled.

February: Be a Learner

We are more likely to find solution to our problems when we see challenges as opportunities for learning.

Try these activities to strengthen this disposition in yourself.

Get Rid of Some More Things ---> Make room for new things!

The Power of Yet --> Develop your growth mindset!

March: Play and Create

Are you stressed? Use play and creativity to help you solve problems and enjoy life a little bit more.

Try these activities to bring out the playful and creative side of yourself.

Elevate the Ordinary --> Make something sparkle!

A Play List --> Create a list of playful activities!

*From The Onward Workbook: Daily Activities to Cultivate Your Emotional Resilience and Thrive by Elena Aguilar, Copyright 2018 by Elena Aguilar. Reproduced by permission.

Diverse can mean many different things, but in a literary context, local educators in Washtenaw County were eager for more stories focused on “characters of different lifestyles, races, genders, and ethnicity.” With this definition in mind, Washtenaw ISD’s Diverse Lending Library was formed.

The Diverse Lending Library is a specialized project created for educators across Washtenaw County. Developed as a system for collecting and sharing diverse books available for teacher and classroom use. Teachers can check out these titles for free and have them sent to their classroom using the process outlined below.

The Eastern Michigan Writing Project expands the identity of teachers as writers to improve the teaching of writing.Whether you are new to teaching or experienced, EMWP welcomes you to a community of learners centered on writing instruction.

Express your interest for summer opportunities here:

https://forms.gle/yJFKZ6azxo3pnSC7A

Join us for the following events:

ELF Session 2B: Following up on Dr. Julia Lindsey's Fun Phonics and Fantastic Phonemes! --> January 31

https://reg.learningstream.com/reg/event_page.aspx?ek=0050-0007-0ca9b469e806435f9df2c41f3a747fce

ELF Session 3A: Dr. Heidi Anne Mesmer on Decodables --> February 28

https://reg.learningstream.com/reg/event_page.aspx?ek=0050-0007-814677d74bba4d229058e95a3808d9fe

ELF Session 3B: Following up on Dr. Heidi Anne Mesmer --> March 21

https://reg.learningstream.com/reg/event_page.aspx?ek=0050-0007-ab3fb4b7af8a481b9d14dbfdbe9f87e2

Join us for the following meetings:

1/19 - https://reg.learningstream.com/reg/event_page.aspx?ek=0050-0007-ba3fffc4076a4cc6859389a761347c73

3/16 - https://reg.learningstream.com/reg/event_page.aspx?ek=0050-0007-00f90ccb1b104cac985174458defe384

4/20 - https://reg.learningstream.com/reg/event_page.aspx?ek=0050-0007-fec787609e9e49a5944e471e0bd44015

5/18 - https://reg.learningstream.com/reg/event_page.aspx?ek=0050-0007-fec787609e9e49a5944e471e0bd44015

YpsiWrites: Where Everyone’s A Writer!

Intro video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YHmEoqArSk

Upcoming events, both virtual and in person, for you, and to share with families in your district:

https://www.ypsiwrites.com/programs-and-events

Disciplinary Literacy modules for teachers in grades 6-12, all subjects

https://literacyessentials.org/literacy-essentials/professional-learning/6-12-courses/

These courses will introduce you to some of the foundational ideas and practices of the Essential Practices for Disciplinary Literacy Instruction in the Secondary Classroom. The Essential Practices include focused sets of research-supported instructional practices that have been shown to increase student achievement and/or engagement with academic literacies, and are the focus of this professional learning series.

Disciplinary Literacy: Identity and Community, Course 1

In this foundational course, we’ll explore some of the basic concepts that drive this work and also discuss connections to other instructional frameworks.

Disciplinary Literacy: Framing Problems and Setting Purpose, Course 2

In this course, we’ll explore student centered, disciplinary literacy instruction with a focus on purpose setting and the use of problems, questions, or phenomena to drive instruction and frame the use of different literacy practices. We’ll also look at how we can tap into student’s communities, experiences, and funds of knowledge in this process. These two areas of focus correspond to Practices 1 and 9 in the Essential Practices for Disciplinary Literacy Instruction.

Disciplinary Literacy: Planning For and Implementing Assessment, Course 3

Welcome to the third course in our series of seven Disciplinary Literacy courses. In this course, we’ll explore ongoing formative assessment and the development of summative assessments that take a strengths-based approach to measuring students’ use of disciplinary literacy practices. These areas of focus correspond to Practice 8 in the Essential Practices for Disciplinary Literacy Instruction.