Teacher Action Group’s Inquiry to Action Groups

Posted by on January 20, 2014

I’m writing to invite you to participate in Teacher Action Group’s (TAG) third year of Inquiry to Action Groups (ItAGs). Inquiry to Action Groups offer an opportunity for teachers to build community, develop as activists and link social justice issues with classroom practice. Small groups meet weekly (for a total of six, two-hour sessions plus a kick-off event) between February and April to share experiences, respond to readings, exchange ideas and develop plans of action. This year, I’ll be facilitating a Group on a course I’m currently in the process of developed called “Black Music as Rebellion” and this year there are more options than ever from which to choose. ACT 48 Credits may be available.

Through ItAGs, we learn from each other, imagine the beautiful possible and grow stronger.  Be part of a positive, visionary, political space that allows us to articulate what education should look like in our city.

Short descriptions of this year’s 10 ItAGs are below.  For longer descriptions and facilitator bios, check out the longer descriptions on our website.

http://www.tagphilly.org/itags/

Our official kickoff event will be February 12th (not Feb 2nd as originally listed) at Science Leadership Academy (55 N 22nd St, Philadelphia, PA 19103).

·  Black Music as Rebellion: The African American history curriculum woefully neglects the role of music in developing political and social consciousness. We will explore the intersections of Black music and social action with other teachers, and build a curriculum or lesson ideas to supplement our classrooms.

·  English Content Area Meet-Up: English teachers will meet up to discuss a common concept, idea, or challenge. Topics may include project-based learning, non-canonical texts, skills instruction, real world writing, and more.

·  Leveraging Student and Faculty Voice to Improve Your School:Participants will investigate a range of models that incorporate student/faculty voice into classroom and school decision-making structures. We will all identify a specific school-based problem, design and implement a student/faculty voice project around it.

·  Locally Relevant Mathematics with the Community Based Mathematics Project: This ItAG will focus on how to make the learning of mathematics more relevant and engaging for students in our community. We will use locally relevant contexts to increase students’ access to mathematical knowledge and skills for thinking critically about the world around them.

·  Partnering through Mentoring: In this ItAG, we will explore qualities and strategies for effective peer mentoring partnerships in teaching within schools and professional communities. Topics will include sharing ideas for connecting mentors and mentees, areas of focus for mentoring, and building a mentoring community.

·  Philadelphia as Classroom: An Inquiry into Connected Learning Experiences: This ItAG will develop ways to partner local institutions and professional communities for student learning experiences beyond classroom walls. We will use the Connected Learning framework, which pushe for more interdisciplinary problem solving, critical thinking, and communication in student learning to inform the dialogue.

·  Social Justice Educators on the Path to Cultural Relevancy: Participants will build on discussion of research as well as personal and classroom experiences to hone their abilities to make their classroom/context more relevant with respect to linguistic diversity, socioeconomic groups, ethnic heritage, and more. We will work towards collaborative action that reaches beyond our ItAG.

·  Social Justice Unionism: Teachers will develop a greater understanding of what social justice unionism means and collectively figure out how it translates into our current reality, both as organized teachers in the PFT and largely unorganized charter school teachers.

·  Social Studies Content Meet-Up: This group is intended to serve as a space for a “meeting of the minds” among Social Studies educators. Potential topics are thematic teaching, authentic assessment, teaching source analysis, student-centered inquiry, balancing content with skills, and more.

·  Using Teacher Research to Create Powerful Classrooms: Each participant will develop a personal research project aimed at strengthening classroom practice and generating knowledge for other educators. Join us if you are an educator who asks questions aimed at improving your practice and are interested in seizing the opportunity to answer them.

Ready?  Then register!  And spread the word….

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1hr85g5FiqOhkjhAtSnM_cqcejrEDpWIdpoTar5KoT9Y/viewform