Friday, July 7, 2023
1. Educator Effectiveness News and New Resources
2. Digging into Discourse: A Four-Part Hybrid Learning Series
Teachers have asked for help in teaching potentially contentious topics, and we have a great summer program to support that request! Join DPI consultants from multiple fields for the four-part series (between July 11 and October 10) of hybrid professional learning event “Digging into Discourse”. On the afternoon of July 11, we will Zoom into a discussion with Joe Schmidt, co-author of Civil Discourse: Classroom Conversations for Stronger Communities. Joe’s book outlines how to set up your classroom for a brave space to hold conversations with your students and teaches you communication styles for classroom conversations.
On July 24 (Madison) or July 25 (UW-Stevens Point), we’ll meet in person to work in small groups to set up classroom policies and practice different types of discourse such as Fishbowl, Socratic Seminar, and Structured Academic Controversy. As a follow up, Dr. Diana Hess, Dean of the School of Education at UW-Madison and author of Controversy in the Classroom, will hold a virtual meeting after school on September 28 to outline her work and research on teaching controversial topics. We will close out this professional learning with a virtual meeting after school on October 10.
For more information, take a peek at https://dpi.wi.gov/cal/digging-into-discourse. Registration is $30 and all attendees at the in person event will receive a copy of Joe’s book. We encourage K-12 teachers and administrators to attend, and plan to have breakouts for elementary teachers, school administrators, and teachers in social studies, science, the fine arts, music, theater, ELA, G/T, Environmental Education, and American Indian Studies.
3. ENGAGE Wisconsin
The attendance recovery program targeting chronically absent students or students who are academically at risk, ENGAGE Wisconsin, is now available to all Wisconsin school districts. Empower your students in grades K-12 to start the 2023-24 school year strong by offering them free Academic Success Coaching, which can help them and their families:
- Know where to go on the first day of school
- Know when school starts
- Make a plan for getting to school
- Ensure they have all of the resources and supplies they need
This attendance recovery program, funded through state ESSER III funds, does much more than providing the above information to students who were chronically absent last school year. It also provides personalized coaching to families of students who were chronically absent (missed 5 or more days) during the 2022-23 school year or are academically at risk to keep them engaged in their courses. Students who sign up for coaching will receive support through June 2024.
ENGAGE Wisconsin will be hosting webinars every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday at 10 a.m. (CT) from July 18–August 10. Click here to sign up for a webinar and learn more about this program, which is free to both districts and families.
If you have any questions, please contact Erick Blasing at erick.blasing@dpi.wi.gov.
4. ESSER III-funded EBIS Survey
DPI is hoping to learn more about your selection and implementation of evidence-based improvement strategies funded by ESSER III and what supports might be needed as we face the ESSER III fiscal cliff of September 30, 2024. We are asking you to consider spending 15 minutes to respond to this optional survey about your ESSER III-funded EBIS https://widpi.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_6PcV3OW34QwZQCG. For questions about this survey, please contact Erick Blasing erick.blasing@dpi.wi.gov .