Educators Gather for Celebration of Writing and Literacy September 14, 2018 – Posted in: Uncategorized – Tags: application, teacher, teachers

This year’s Celebration of Writing and Literacy was a smashing success! Sponsored by the Philadelphia Writing Project, Teachers Institute of Philadelphia (TIP), Mighty Writers, and Penn Graduate School of Education, the Celebration featured educators from around Philadelphia presenting ideas on teacher research and knowledge. Throughout the day, teachers learned from peers and university scholars about new approaches to classroom learning, both content and pedagogy.

To kick off the conference, Matt Kay, Science Leadership Academy Teacher presented on his book Not Light, But Fire: How to Lead Meaningful Race Conversations in the Classroom. Discussing race in the classroom proved to be a unifying theme as TIP participant and now Teacher Representative, Matthew Menschner presented together with James Forman, Jr., Yale Law professor and Pulitzer prize-winning author of Locking Up Our Own: Crime and Punishment in Black America. Forman and Menschner met this past summer at the Yale National Initiative in New Haven, Connecticut where Menschner attended Forman’s 2-week seminar. Based on what he learned from Forman’s seminar about race, crime and punishment, Menschner created a curriculum unit for his social studies classroom at the Kensington Creative & Performing Arts High School in Philadelphia. The curriculum encourages students to critically question the society in which we live.

Throughout the day, TIP teachers continued to share their experience. Valerie Adams, Rachel Odoroff, Terry Anne Wildman, and Lisa Yau presented a new approach to mathematics in Thinking with Origami. The session centered around a 2018 TIP Seminar led by Cynthia Sung, Professor of Engineering at Penn. Eual Phillips and Charlie McGeehan presented on what they learned in the 2018 Data Visualization and Critical Thinking seminar led by David Nickerson, Professor in the Department of Political Science at Temple University. Holly Golecki and Cheryl Padgett showed conference participants how to integrate robotics in the classroom based on what they learned in Michelle Johnson’s 2018 TIP seminar. Last but far from least, Jessica Waber, Charlette Walker, and Amanda Schear presented ideas to combine philosophy and critical thinking in curriculum, an approach inspired by Karen Detlefson, Professor of Philosophy at Penn.

The Celebration was an exhilarating showcase of innovative educators sharing ideas that will influence the future of education in Philadelphia. To continue the conversation or to get involved with one of our programs, follow us on Twitter @TIPatPenn and Like us on Facebook.