Member News -- August 23, 2017
Timing is Everything
Social Justice Book List Gains Traction

NNSTOY released a Social Justice Book List a little more than two weeks ago, but recent events in Charlottesville have caused even more educators and journalists to take an interest. 

Visits to the NNSTOY website and downloads of the resource have peaked. Reporters have interviewed educators who contributed. The Book List is showing up on a number websites and in articles and newsletters along with other tools for educators to deal with racism. 

A brainchild of Brett Bigham (Oregon 2014) and Katherine Bassett (New Jersey 2000), the book list includes more than 200 works of fiction and nonfiction that can be used to teach a number of social justice issues. There are also useful titles for educators seeking to create equitable learning environments. 

Check out some of the articles recently published:
STOYS and Finalists Headline Workshops
TeachingPartners 

TeachingPartners Live Workshops make it possible for educators to learn directly from the experts teachers trust most: State Teachers of the Year and Finalists.

Each free, credit-bearing workshop enables educators to work in live video sessions to prepare a classroom-tested strategy to share directly with students.

The workshops take place over a two-week period and are limited to 20 participants each, and they fill up fast! Check out the lineup and register. First up: Josh Parker (Maryland 2012), Leigh VandenAkker (Utah 2012), Monica Washington (Texas 2014), Michael Lindblad (Oregon 2015), Michael Dunlea (New Jersey 2012), and Katy Smith (Minnesota 2012). 

Capturing NNSTOY's Social Justice Work
New page on our website

NNSTOY has begun to curate some of our work on behalf of social justice and educational equity in a newly constructed equity webpage. The page doesn't describe all of the work our association has undertaken on behalf of educational equity, but we will add projects as more work is completed. 

You can find the page using the link above or in the Resources drop-down menu at the top (center) of our homepage.
 
Inspire Teen Giving
Through VING video project, teens give $1,000 to a person in need

If you had $1,000 to give to a person in need, who would you be giVING it
THE JOY OF GIVING. Students whose applications are approved by the VING project get to take a $1000 check to someone they nominated who really needs it. 
to? That's the question the VING project is asking teens, ages 14-18, across the country.

As part of your teaching about generosity and giVING, educators can ask students to submit a video application for an opportunity to give a $1,000 gift to someone they know in need of a boost. 

This could be a family that fears eviction, a person who needs a car repaired, or someone who needs to see a dentist! They just need to be someone whose situation can be immediately made better by the gift of $1000.

Since launching, more than 350 teens from across 15 states have participated in acts of giving through the VING project. Learn more. To request VING materials, contact [email protected]. 

Teacher Awards for Literacy
Apply or Nominate a Great Teacher

The award recognizes innovative projects that cultivate literacy and lifelong readers.  The Penguin Random House Teacher Awards for Literacy seem tailor-made for NNSTOY members. 

The criteria include teachers who have a love of reading, take risks to present books in unique ways, and are committed to reaching reluctant readers. 

$10,000, $5,000 and $2,500 prizes are awarded, including $2,500 in Penguin Random House titles. 

Apply or nominate someone by September 15. Download the guidelines. 

North Carolina Governor Establishes Teacher Advisory Council
3 STOYS Tapped to Serve

Last week Governor Roy Cooper (N.C.) signed an executive order establishing a Teacher Advisory Council of up to 25 teachers to advise the governor on educational issues. 

North Carolina State Teachers of the Year Bobbie Cavanar (2016), Lisa Goodwin (2017) and Keana Triplett (2015) will serve with the first cohort. Read the press release.
 
What We Are Reading
Interesting and emerging ideas about education

New Ways To Engage
Plug into teacher leadership outside of your school

Apply for the Global Teacher Prize. Win a $1 million award that is given to an exceptional teacher who has made an outstanding contribution to the profession. Learn more and apply or nominate an outstanding colleague.

Stay Woke: Attend the Inaugural Black Male Educators Convening. October 13-15 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Learn more and register.

Check out the 10-Minute Teacher. Vicki Davis, Cool Cat Teacher, produces five brief  podcasts a week. Each offers strategies for busy teachers recommended by a host of amazing teachers, including State Teachers of the Year and Finalists like Josh Stumpenhorst (Illinois 2012) and  Sarah Reed (Kentucky 2015), as well as some of our amazing conference speakers, like Stephen Ritz.  

Take the Middle School Kindness Challenge.  Spurred by the disturbing post-election increase in meanness reported in schools and the recognition that school climates must be places where all students feel safe and supported, Stand for Children is partnering with other associations to launch the Middle School Kindness Challenge.  

The goal of the Challenge, which launches in late August, is to help ensure that kindness becomes commonplace and meanness rare in U.S. middle schools. The Challenge also seeks to reduce unnecessary student suspensions by helping middle school teachers respond more empathetically to unproductive student behavior.  

Taking place over four weeks  between September 5 th  and November 21 st -- schools determine their start and end date within that period -- the Middle School Kindness Challenge can be either an excellent reinforcement or a wonderful catalyst for efforts to improve school climate. There are lots of free resources to help.

Watch a video overview. Learn more, including how your school can win a $500 Donors Choose credit for participating. Register. 

New and Noteworthy
Tools and Opportunities for #TeachersLeading

Kudos, Shout-outs & Accolades
Within the NNSTOY family

CULTIVATING A CALLING. Maine teacher leaders pause during their ECET2 Convening August 10 and 11 at Colby College. 

In  Four Things to Visualize as You Set Up Your Classroom for the First Day of School,  Justin Minkel (Arkansas 2007) shares his strategies to transform your pre-school-year anxieties into an inspiring reality. In EdWeek Minkel writes, "The mistakes I make when setting up my classroom are the same mistakes I make when planning my first day: I completely forget the messy, chaotic, physical reality of the 25 seven-year-olds who will inhabit that space."

2017 Washington State Teacher of the Year Camille Jones recently sat down for a conversation with Bill Gates. Watch the interview and learn why Gates describes Jones as "a pioneer."

In Teaching, Like Golf, Is 'No Easy Game,' Allison Riddle (Utah 2014) compares teacher preparation to learning one new sport. (EdWeek & NNSTOY blog) Riddle writes, "When I first started golfing, I was drawn to the beautiful courses and challenge of mastering the game. I had learned to swing a club, but I really didn't know anything about the nuances of the game."

In To All of the Educators, Love Not Money Will Close the Gap, Kelisa Wing (Department of Defense 2017) shares insights she gained working with some of our country's most at-risk youth. Funding is important, she says, but love is what will close the gap. (Education Post)

Brett Bigham (Oregon 2014) had We All Need an Upgrade posted on Learning Forward's PD Watch. He writes, "Without Title II, many of our public school teachers will never get the chance to upgrade and schools will be condemned to operating with increasingly obsolete strategies. In my district, and many others like it across the nation, losing Title II means losing important opportunities to solve our biggest challenges."

Michelle Pearson's (Colorado 2011) post, I Never Thought Gifted and Talented Kids Could Be At-Risk Too, Until My Son Said He Wanted to Drop Out of School, went viral on Education Post and a number of other sites. She writes, "Perhaps it's because, like many gifted kids, my son was good at hiding his struggles. But I also broke a rule I should have remembered. Doing well in school doesn't mean a student is thriving, or even happy. 'His grades are good,' I said to myself, 'so he's fine.'

Ashley Lamb-Sinclair's (Kentucky 2016) article, The Student Who Raged Against My Politics, was published in The Atlantic.  Sinclair reflects back on a memorable moment in her teaching when a student int errupted a heated class discussion, shouting something along the lines of, "Liberals like you are ruining the country."

The prolific Tom Rademacher (Minnesota 2014) has had a couple of articles posted on Education Post recently. In Sure, You Hate Trump, But Can You Tell Your Students That?, he offers options but no easy answers. He writes about the dilemma, "I don't like telling my students what to think, but I also want them to know I see them." His Can We Talk About How Many White Women There Are in Schools works well with a piece he wrote with Oregon teacher Hope Teague-Bowling, Hope Teague-Bowling Sets Me Straight on the Whole 'White Women in Schools' Thing. 

NEW JERSEY OR BUST? A number of STOYs and Finalists were spotted at a Learning Forward event in New Jersey this month, including  With  Lisa Hirkaler ,  Monica Goncalves ,  Peggy Stewart ,  Alex Kajitani (California) ,  Jemelleh Nurse Coes (Georgia) ,  Sydney Chaffee (Massachusetts) ,  Maryann Woods-Murphy, Michael Dunlea  and  Julie Wright.