ELA at ESU 10

This newsletter includes a few trainings in our ESU 10 area that you may be interested in as well as information about implementing the ELA standards and where to start with purchasing new materials. Questions? Email Sarah Essay (sessay@esu10.org), Dallas Lewandowski (dalewand@esu10.org), or Claudine Kennicutt (ckennicutt@esu10.org).

Please email us so we can update our mailing list for this Smore!

Attendees in this workshop will…
….experience what it’s like to write an ACT essay.
….breakdown the task and expectations to help students develop a clear picture of what is
expected.
….explore graphic organizers, resources, and other instructional materials for use.
….leave with sample prompts and exemplar papers for use with students.

Attendees are encouraged to attend the follow up ACT Analytical Scoring workshop hosted November 1 (at ESU 10) and/or February 14 (at ESU 9). During these workshops, teachers bring student papers to score to gather baseline data about strengths and areas for growth. This information can be used to guide instruction through spring testing.

This day of training at ESU 10 will give teachers an opportunity to experience grading with the ACT rubric. Each scorer may bring up to 30 student writing samples. Please only bring student papers, not your students! 😊 If you would like to bring more than 30 samples, please sign up an additional scorer.

Analytical scoring is designed to provide teachers, students, parents, and districts with disaggregated information regarding writing strengths and areas for improvement. Each student paper will be assessed using the ACT rubric. Data gathered from this workshop will assist with identifying instructional focus and student practice necessary to increase performance on the state-wide ACT Test. Past participants in analytical scoring workshops have found the professional conversations and results from this process very valuable in supporting instruction in the classroom.

It is recommended (but not required) that participants attend the ACT Writing Prep workshop on September 27. Writing prompts will be distributed at the September 27 ACT Writing workshop. If you do not attend the September 27 workshop, the prompts will be emailed to you by September 28.

Registration for teachers to attend will close on October 11. Student papers must be submitted no later than Monday, October 17.

A spring scoring session will take place on Feb. 14; click here to register.

This additional day of training at ESU 9 will give teachers an opportunity to experience grading with the ACT rubric. Each scorer may bring up to 30 student writing samples. Please only bring student papers, not your students! 😊 If you would like to bring more than 30 samples, please sign up an additional scorer.

Analytical scoring is designed to provide teachers, students, parents, and districts with disaggregated information regarding writing strengths and areas for improvement. Each student paper will be assessed using the ACT rubric. Data gathered from this workshop will assist with identifying instructional focus and student practice necessary to increase performance on the state-wide ACT Test. Past participants in analytical scoring workshops have found the professional conversations and results from this process very valuable in supporting instruction in the classroom.

It is recommended (but not required) that participants attend the ACT Writing Prep workshop on September 27. Writing prompts will be distributed at the September 27 ACT Writing workshop. If you do not attend the September 27 workshop, the prompts will be emailed to you by September 28.

Registration for teachers to attend will close on January 30. Student papers must be submitted no later than Monday, February 6.

Minden High School, Minden, NE

Friday, October 28, 2022

9:00 am – 3:00 pm

Cost: FREE

Teaching Nebraska poet Don Welch’s work successfully in high school classrooms requires effective strategies. In this second annual teaching conference, several proven educators share detailed lessons, emerging research, and remarkable new access to those hard-to-find resources. Join lifelong teachers Shannon Vesely, Dwaine Spieker (Wayne High School), Jeff Lacey (Ralston High School), and Dr. Jason Miller (North Carolina State University) as they unveil captivating lesson plans, timely new research, and a wide range of stunning resources from the newly available Don Welch Digital Archive to enable you to teach Don’s works to your students. All four presenters have taught English in the public schools throughout Iowa and Nebraska.

The Don Welch Digital Archive is making photographs, correspondence, biographical information, handwritten drafts, hard to find poems, and lesson plans available to educators as it goes “live” at this October conference.

Don Welch was the author of thirty-three books of poetry that championed Nebraskans, nature, and the imagination. Most notably, he was the winner of the distinguished Pablo Neruda Prize for Poetry when judged by William Stafford in 1980. A beloved and award-winning teacher as well, he taught at the University of Nebraska at Kearney for over forty-eight years. A bronze statue of Welch has stood in Kearney since 2001.

To register, email Angie Oberg: angie.oberg@mindenwhippets.org

According to the "Nebraska’s College and Career Ready Standards for English Language Arts (2021 CCR ELA Standards) Implementation Overview" released by NDE last year, the 2022-23 school year is for "Local Adoption and Implementation" of the standards. Teachers should be aiming at initial implementation of the 2021 ELA Standards. For more information, see the Content Area Standards Framework from NDE here.

For more information about NSCAS testing related to ELA, check out Amy Walter's ESU 10 Assessment Smore here.

Are you wanting to select ELA materials this spring or summer? We would love to help! Please contact us to schedule our services after early 2023. If you are wanting to order materials to use next school year, we recommend selecting materials by mid-spring. Email us to find a time that works best for you!

Year 1 ALP is a three-day series covering academic literacy in 4-12 grade classrooms. Participants experience hands-on strategies that they can apply right away. Strategies include the three levels of engagement (behavioral, cognitive, and emotional), vocabulary, comprehension, and text discussion. Participants will also receive tools to engage in learning walks at your schools. Learning walks promote collective teacher efficacy, one of the most effective ways to increase student learning.

ALP is intended to be a school-wide training where administrators can send a team of 5-6 teachers each year from all content areas to implement engagement and literacy strategies. If you are interested in learning more about ALP, please share this information with your administrator and let us know how we can help!

Want to learn more about ALP? Check out this 3-minute overview video here.

Year 2 ALP continues the learning from the first year of ALP. In this redesigned series for Year 2, participants who teach grades 4-12 will experience how to bring more effective writing into their content-area classrooms from short, frequent writing to persevering through longer writing tasks. On the second day, they delve into additional strategies for promoting deeper transfer of learning, designing more effective text discussions and text-dependent questions, and begin exploring strategies to assist with differentiation.