Introduction and Disclaimer:

In this newsletter, we will share with you some announcements, research, resources, and opportunities for training by ODE, as well as other offerings by statewide and national colleagues that may be of interest to you. 

Note: Unless hosted or facilitated by The Oregon Department of Education (ODE), the training opportunities shared here have not been endorsed by ODE, but are being shared as relevant and high-quality opportunities for English Language Arts and Literacy education professionals to consider.

Educator Resources and Opportunities:

Seeking Book Reviewers

With the adoption of SB664, Holocaust and Genocide Education should now be incorporated into K-12 classrooms. Although this is clearly difficult subject matter to discuss in any classroom, K-5 teachers often find it particularly challenging to introduce the themes of Holocaust and other genocides studies to young children. 

The Oregon Department of Education, in partnership with the Oregon Jewish Museum and the Multnomah County Library, is creating a curated list of book titles for use in elementary classrooms. You are invited to participate in this project by selecting one of the book titles from the curated list and submitting a brief review for publication in the June Social Science and English Language Arts Updates. 

Please scroll to the ROUND TWO, May 2021 section of the document to find titles from which to choose.

Please contact Amit Kobrowski or Tina Roberts if you have any questions.

The 2018 NAEP Oral Reading Fluency Study

NAEP released results from a 2018 study conducted on oral reading fluency. The study featured fourth grade students and set out examine their ability to read passages aloud with sufficient speed, accuracy, expression, and foundational skills knowledge to be able to determine underlying sources of poor fluency. Both oral reading fluency and foundational reading skills are vital components of reading that are required for proficient reading comprehension. The NAEP reading assessment measures reading comprehension only, so the Oral Reading Fluency study provides critical insight about students struggling with reading comprehension. You can read more about the study and the results, including oral reading samples from students. 

The Oregon Symphony Online Storytime

The Oregon Symphony has a great online story time.  Two years ago, Monica Hayes and the Symphony were awarded the “Celebrate Literacy Award" from the Portland Reading Council.  There is a Spanish story time and an English story time.  Please contact Monica Hayes if you have any questions. 

The new season of Symphony Storytimes is out. Four of the 16 episodes are available and for those who sign up to get notified, we are posting new episodes every other Tuesday through August. The focus this season is on diversity, equity, inclusion, resilience, and care for ourselves and others.

Here is the link to the Symphony Storytime press release, so you know which books we used; they are in the order of release.

The Symphony  went through the permission process with the publishers, so we are good to go.

Thank for all you are doing to keep the love of books and storytelling vibrant!

Monica Hayes

Oregon Symphony 

Hank Swigert director, learning & community engagement programs 

mhayes@orsymphony.org

503-358-5550 (m)

Resources for Asian Pacific Heritage Month In honor of Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month, join Professional Development Trainer Sarah-SoonLing Blackburn and Teaching and Learning Specialist Jon Tobin in an on-demand webinar unpacking the origins, meaning and contemporary impact of the term "Asian American Pacific Islander." We will also break down the Model Minority Myth and provide educators with resources to effectively teach AAPI history. Additional Resources:  Asian Pacific Heritage for Teachers Teacher's Guide: Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage and History in the U.S. 12 Children's Books to Celebrate Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage By Rebekah Gienapp Education World: Celebrating Asian and Pacific-Island Heritage

Jewish American Heritage Month May is Jewish American Heritage Month. The Library of Congress, National Archives and Records Administration, National Endowment for the Humanities, National Gallery of Art, National Park Service and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum join in honoring the generations of Jewish Americans who have helped form the fabric of American history, culture and society. Jewish American Heritage Month for Teachers American Library Association Websites for Teachers Oregon Encyclopedia-Jews in Oregon Early Oregon Jewish Pioneers ADL Books and Resources on Jewish History and Antisemitism

2021 Grand Ronde Education Summit Thursday, June 24th via Zoom Please join us for the 5th Annual Grand Ronde Education Summit from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Engage with other educators, and join us virtually for a day of discussions around Grand Ronde history, Oregon Senate Bill 13, native-based curriculum, ways to engage students in cultural-based education, and more! You will earn PDU credits, gain access to useful materials, and it is all free! Register for 2021 Grand Ronde Education Summit Contact Justine Flynn at (503)879-2282 for more information.

Oregon’s K-12 OER Hub

The Oregon Open Learning Hub is a digital resource repository and collaboration space for educators, administrators, and other educational partners to curate, create, and remix open educational resources (OER). The Hub is a portal to over 50,000 openly licensed resources available on OER Commons, searchable by grade level, subject, and standard. 

Here are a few suggestions to get started with OER Commons:

• Create an account on OER Commons.
• Explore the Website and get lost for a bit; try to find something in your area of expertise using the general search function on the OER Commons home page and using additional sorting filters.
• Check out the OER Professional Learning Group on the Hub and the User Guide for Oregon Open Learning. 
• Walk through the tabs and dropdown menu at the top of the main OER Commons page: Discover, Hubs, Groups (there’s nothing here unless you join a specific group), and Our Services.

Please feel free to reach out to Tina Roberts with questions, comments, and suggestions, or contact the Oregon Open Learning Team at OregonOpenLearning@state.or.us.

OER Symposium: Connections with Higher Education

Oregon Open Learning is partnering with Open Oregon to include K-12 educators at the Oregon Virtual Statewide OER Symposium, which will be held on May 14th from 9 am to 3 pm. There will be opportunities for both synchronous and asynchronous engagement. This is the first year that this event will be marketed to K-12 educators and teachers of dual-credit courses, and there is no cost to register.

For more information, check out the event page: https://openoregon.org/events/event/symposium-2021/.

For more info, check out National Write Center's Webinar page.

Click this link to fill out the interest form.

Student Speech and the First Amendment On April 28th, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Mahanoy Area School District v. B.L., a case on whether public school officials can discipline students' off-campus social media content. This is the Snapchat case, but the court is looking at a broader application of school officials' ability to sanction speech and many are comparing this case to Tinker v. Des Moines. It is often difficult to figure where the court is going based on the questions from the justices, but there are a few interesting exchanges focused on the Confederate Flag (starting at about 23:00) and the difference between “being offended," a “substantial disruption,” and “terrorizing.” (46:00) What is on and off-campus speech? (1:01:00) And what is verbal bullying? (1:20:00) The New York Times' Learning Channel created writing prompts in February based on news and opinion articles at the time. The oral argument in front of the Supreme Court on this engaging topic offers students a chance to hear from a branch of the federal government that is often outside of the media spotlight once the the confirmation of the Justices is over.

Looking to diversify your classroom library and/or reading materials?

In ODE's ongoing effort to position equity at the center of the work we do with and for Oregon's students, we are continuously looking for ways we can examine current practice and amplify voices that are underrepresented and/or missing. Here are some resources that may help:

• Check out #DisruptTexts for ideas. According to the DisruptTexts website, "#Disrupt Texts is a crowdsourced, grass roots effort by teachers for teachers to challenge the traditional canon in order to create a more inclusive, representative, and equitable language arts curriculum that our students deserve. It is part of our mission to aid and develop teachers committed to anti-racist/anti-bias teaching pedagogy and practices."
• Another source for diversifying classroom reading materials is the Arizona Department of Education's Diverse Text Guidance.
• English Elixir shared a blog post that provides supplements and/or replacements to traditional Canonical works. 

Student Resources and Opportunities:

Capturing History – Students Write About COVID April 1 – June 30 The Beaverton City Library is assisting with a Girl Scouts Gold Award project by collecting writings from students in grades 6-12 about the pandemic. Selected writing will be assembled into a booklet and added to the Beaverton City Library’s local history collection. Some writing may also be published elsewhere and can be kept anonymous if the authors choose. Writing can be in the form of an essay, a personal story, a poem, or any other form they choose. Writing can be submitted in doc or PDF form with the online form -https://www.beavertonlibrary.org/COVIDWriting.

ADL Virtual No Place for Hate Youth Summit Registration Now Open to Students Across the Pacific Northwest The ADL Pacific Northwest is thrilled to launch registration for its inaugural virtual No Place for Hate Youth Summit taking place virtually on Sunday, May 23! Our inaugural summit is free and open to ALL STUDENTS across the Pacific Northwest in the 8th-12th grade. Register

For more information, visit the SOU OWP page.

Professional Organizations for ELA - National and State

There are several ELA-related professional organizations at a state and national level.  Check them out!  They provide tools, resources, and supports for educators around the state.

NCTE -- National Council of Teachers of English

CEL -- Conference on English Leadership

OCTE -- Oregon Council of Teachers of English

ILA -- International Literacy Association

OSLA -- Oregon State Literacy Association

OLA -- Oregon Library Association

OASL -- Oregon Association of School Libraries

ODE Resources (in every issue)

Ready Schools , Safe Learners

Comprehensive Distance Learning Instructional Resources

Designing Learning for 2020-21: English Language Arts & Literacy

CDL 2020-2021 Essential Instructional Content for English Language Arts/Literacy K-12 Overview

Oregon Open Learning Hub

ELA Performance Standards and Grade Level Documents

ELA Assessment

State Adopted Instructional Materials