Professional Development Opportunity for all Hoosier High School Literature Teachers
As Indiana is in the process of creating a new set of K-12 English and Math Standards, a unique professional development opportunity exists for Indiana high school literature teachers. They are invited to attend any portion, or all, of a FREE conference this coming weekend, April 3-5, which is being hosted by the Association of Literary Scholars, Critics, and Writers (ALSCW) in the Indiana Memorial Union, located on the Indiana University, Bloomington Campus.
Of particular interest to High School english teachers will be the half-day workshop on the role of literature in the era of Common Core on Saturday, April 5th. Most excitingly, high school English teachers are invited to participate in two small-group discussions with Dr. Sandra Stotsky on the Indaina standards debate. Two opportunities for such discussions exist:
Friday, April 4, 5:45p.m.-7:00p.m. in the Dogwood Room
Saturday, April 5th, 2:30p.m.-4:30p.m. in the Permissions Room
Dr. Stotsky is professor emerita at the University of Arkansas. She is credited with developing one of the country’s strongest set of academic standards for K-12 students while serving as Senior Associate Commissioner in the Massachusetts Department of Education from 1999-2003. She helped create Indiana’s former English Language Arts (ELA) Standards, and has been asked by Governor Pence and Superintendent Glenda Ritz to provide feedback on the current draft standards in Indiana. Additionally, Dr. Stotsky served as a member of the Common Core ELA Validation Committee and is known nation-wide for her in-depth analysis of the problems in Common Core’s ELA standards.
To register for any portion of this event go to www.alscw.org . Teachers wishing to participate in either of the small group discussions should email the ALSCW President, John Briggs, at john.briggs@ucr.edu, indicating which session they will be attending. A free lunch will be provided for teachers on Saturday, so reservations made by Thursday morning will be appreciated. Dr. Briggs may be contacted at (915)827-7759 to answer any questions. A copy of the program can be seen here: 2014ConferenceProgram.
While this sounds like a great opportunity, attendance may be less than desirable given that the scheduled dates may be in competition with Spring Breaks for some schools. However, I hope many teachers jump at the opportunity to interact with Dr. Stotsky.