A Message from CCIRA President,
Jessica Rickert
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Patience, grace, resilience, flexibility, and creativity; these are all words that come to mind when I think about the last month. We are all in a new reality and learning how to cope with being at home and how to teach in a new way.
As we continue on this path I encourage you to reach out to your fellow educators to support each other. We are all stronger together (socially distanced of course). I wish you nothing but patience, grace, resilience, flexibility, and creativity in the coming months as we journey together in this new type of learning.
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For a little bit of humor and some truth to the new world of distance learning: a
short video
.
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Local Council Update:
Pikes Peak (Colorado Springs)
It is Books in a Time of Need
COVID-19 has disrupted many things in our world. Many can be observed and felt on a global level, while also hitting very close to home. At this time, all schools in Colorado have felt the impact of the “Stay at Home” order and Districts are grappling not only with how to keep the learning going, but they are also tackling issues like ensuring that students are fed and have basic supplies at home.
PPIRA felt the strong urge to help and support students and families in the Pikes Peak Region during this difficult time. Shortly after schools were closed in mid-March, PPIRA learned that their Family Literacy event for the 2019-2020 school year had been canceled. It had been our plan to support the Black Educator’s Network (BEN) at their 7
th
Annual Family Literacy Festival on Saturday April 25, 2020. We had planned to give away over 300 books to students and families and quickly realized that these books were going to go unused for quite some time.
PPIRA Board members quickly jumped into action to ensure that these books would get into the hands of students in the Pikes Peak Region by reaching out to area school districts. By the end of March 2020, PPIRA donated 100 books to each of the following school districts: Colorado Springs School District 11, Fountain-Fort Carson School District 8, and Harrison School District 2.
Each book was dropped off at “meal pick-up” sites so that the students in most need in each district would have the opportunity to get their hands on rich literature to enjoy while practicing social distancing. Each book also included a brief document that listed online learning resources families could access from home as they waited for their schools/districts to provide them with e-learning opportunities. That document can be found using this link:
https://tinyurl.com/ufbm394
.
PPIRA would also like to note that we are fully committed to supporting BEN and their Annual Family Literacy Festival as soon as it is rescheduled.
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What's New on the CCIRA Blog?
CCIRA.blog features a wide variety of nationally renowned literacy experts, as well as talented practitioners from across Colorado. Check out our most recent posts:
- New Learning--Forever Ours to Keep: Jennifer Allen, literacy specialist and author of Becoming a Literacy Leader and A Sense of Belonging, both published by Stenhouse.
- Three High Leverage Moves to Solve Problems of Practice: Julie Wright, teacher, instructional coach, educational consultant, and co-author of What Are You Grouping For? How to Guide Small Groups Based on Readers–Not the Book (Wright & Hoonan, 2019).
- Building the Content Knowledge we Need as Teachers of Writers: Amy Ellerman, CCIRA Past President, Instructional Coach, and Teacher Consultant with Colorado Writing Project.
- An Essential Tool for all Readers: Gail Boushey and Allison Behne, #CCIRA featured speakers. Gail is the co-author of The Daily 5: Fostering Literacy Independence in the Elementary Grades, and The CAFE Book: Engaging All Students in Daily Literacy Assessment and Instruction. Gail and Allison both write and lead online learning at The Daily Cafe.
- Browser History: Donalyn Miller, #CCIRA20 featured speaker and author. Her most recent book is Gamechanger! Book Access for all Kids.
Reading CCIRA.blog every week
—
perhaps over lunch or a cup of coffee
—
builds a quick dose of professional learning into your routine. Who knows what ideas or inspiration this might spark!
If you might be interested in submitting a guest post to CCIRA.blog, please contact Hollyanna Bates (hollyannabates@gmail.com).
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Do you have ideas you are willing to share with other educators?
If so, please consider presenting at CCIRA 2021.
Proposals
are being accepted through June 15, 2020.
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Primary Sources and Teaching Online Webinar Series
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The Teaching with Primary Sources Western Region and the TPS Teachers Network at Metropolitan State University of Denver are hosting a series of professional development webinars starting Tuesday, March 31, 2020 and going until Thursday, May 14th, 2020.
Here's a sneak peek of offerings for this week:
April 1st, 2020
Primary Sources and Tech Tools!
- 4:00 - 4:30: Using Screencastify for Remote Learning
- 4:30 - 5:00: Primary Source Padlet Strategies
Hosts: Laura Isrealsen and Michelle Pearson
April 2nd, 2020
Primary Sources and Google Classroom
- 4:00 - 4:20: Setting up your Google Classroom
- 4:20 - 4:40: Using Google Meet
- 4:40 - 5:00: Goobric!
Host: Kelly Jones-Wagy
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CCIRA Executive Committee
Jessica Rickert, President
:
jessrccira@gmail.com
Pam Minard,
Vice President:
pam.minard@gmail.com
Christi Walker,
Vice President Elect: christimwaker@gmail.com
Amy Ellerman
, Immediate Past President: ellermanamy
@gmail.com
Michele Warner
, State Coordinator:
bmwarner1227@comcast.net
Corina Kaskey
, Secretary:
Corina.Kaskey@summitk12.org
Sue Goodenow
, State Membership Coordinator:
smg970@gmail.com
Emily Bradley, Marketing Coordinator:
emily.bradley@weldre4.org
Stevi Quate, Partnership Chair
: steviq@gmail.com
Cathy Lynskey
, Treasurer:
clynskey2000@gmail.com
Lisa Kahn,
Administrative Assistant:
lisakahnccira@gmail.com
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Is your local council, state committee, school, or community doing something extraordinary for literacy in Colorado? Do you have a great idea to share with other educators on how to enhance literacy in the classroom? Do you know of a conference or event that CCIRA members might be interested in attending? If so, please contact Amy Ellerman (ellermanamy@gmail.com) to submit information for publication.
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