Going Public WITH OUR PRactice

Writing is a core component of inquiry—for students and teachers. Throughout the Advanced Institute, teachers will draft and share pieces for personal, institute, and broader audiences. This page includes a description of various institute structures for teachers to go public with practice.

By May 2021, upload artifacts for your portfolio to Google Drive. Your portfolio should highlight ways in which you engaged in the social practices of an NWP/PhilWP teacher consultant. Because this institute had an emphasis on teaching with primary sources, your portfolio should include components that address your use of sources and strategies from the Library of Congress.

The portfolio, at a minimum, should have 6 artifacts: 2-3 artifacts showcasing your plans you drafted during the summer that address inquiry into practice, professional learning leadership and design, and advocacy; and 3-4 artifacts from the school year that highlight the work you did to carry out these plans. You should also include an annotated table of contents that explains briefly how each artifact connects with the NWP social practices.

Plans from the Summer (2-3 Artifacts)

• Drafts of any of the following:

• 1. 1. 1. Inquiry reflection and plans

        2. Professional learning leadership and design

        3. Advocacy issue, plan, and/or design

• These are likely in the form of the slides you created on Wednesday (inquiry), Thursday (professional learning), or Friday (advocacy) and/or a TPS Teachers Network post

• You may include revised and expanded plans for any of the above

Examples of Writing, Learning, and Leading (3-4 Artifacts)

• Each examples should reflect the Social Practices of an NWP/PhilWP TC

  1. 1. At least 1 example should involve social practice of collaboration

• At least one example should address teaching with primary sources

• Examples should (generally) include multiple artifacts:

  1. 1. Professional development design and facilitation example (at school, at a conference, etc.) could include artifacts such as agenda, slides, and a reflection.

     2. Writing + “going public” example could be a written / recorded piece published on a blog, in a journal, as a video, or as a podcast.

• Examples might build on one another (but they don’t have to):

  1. 1. I might collaboratively design a curriculum unit with a colleague. We would document our planning and professional learning process together.

        1. • The documents that make our professional learning together visible, which may include reflections and journaling, would be Part 2A of the portfolio.

           • The curriculum unit itself, including teacher and student artifacts and primary sources you incorporated would be Part 2B of the portfolio.

           • Part 2C of the portfolio could be a podcast episode on NWP radio about the unit with a colleague and/or a student or two.

     2. I might collaboratively design a two-part professional learning workshop on teaching with primary sources at my school.

        1. • The documents associated with designing and facilitating the PD would be Part 2A of the portfolio.

           • I might then (co-)write a reflection of the workshop design and facilitation as well as questions that emerged for the PhilWP blog, which would be Part 2B of the portfolio.

           • Part 2C of the portfolio could be artifacts and reflections related to facilitating a discussion at the Celebration of Writing and Literacy that may be unrelated to Parts 2A and 2B.

Post 3: Reflect on Teaching Writing (and Argument) as Entering a Conversation

Another part of our work during this Advanced Institute will be to reflect on teaching writing and argument as an act of entering an ongoing conversation:

1. How might seeing (argument) writing as participating in an ongoing, intergenerational conversation influence our teaching of writing?

2. What is the role of inquiry in writing a researched argument?

3. How might we view and support students' writing (and arguments as) "on the verge of understanding"?

Use the texts for teachers below (readings, videos, and podcasts) to help you reflect on what some possibilities for teaching argument might be and what questions you have. Add your reflection as a comment in the "Advanced Institute: Post 3" discussion thread on the TPS Teachers Network.

Texts for Elementary Teachers

Texts for Secondary Teachers

Post 5: Respond to a Post Written by a Participant in the ISI

More than 20 teachers are joining PhilWP this summer as participants in the Invitational Summer Institute (ISI) on Writing and Literacy. They have a similar pre-institute prompts about teaching writing, inquiry, and teaching with primary sources. Take a look at some of their posts and provide a thoughtful response to at least one. We see engaging with posts across institutes as an opportunity to welcome teachers into PhilWP and provide support.