The NYSEC board is thrilled to have you join us at this year’s conference: Tracing Paths: Learning from the Past, Navigating the Present, and Shaping the Future! Attending the annual conference is inspiring. Whether this is your first time participating or if you’re a seasoned conference pro, attendees have countless opportunities to connect and reconnect with folks who share similar dreams, visions, and passions. Each year, conference participants share how the electrifying energy from the NYSEC conference sparks periods of possibility, creativity, and excitement when they return to their respective educational spaces. Several of NYSEC’s executive board members have expressed that their path to join the board stemmed from attending or presenting at a NYSEC conference. They wanted to continue to build upon the inspiration they found within the NYSEC community. Maybe this year’s sessions will inspire you to continue your NYSEC journey with us as a board member? We certainly hope so.
This year, our board members are once again ready and eager to share their expertise as they lead workshops that cover an array of timely, culturally relevant, and awe-inspiring topics. Their enthusiasm to learn and grow with you in these conference workshops– and other phenomenal conference events– is palpable. These are a few paths you may wish to consider as you embark on this year’s conference journey:
Workshop: Forging Paths between Pop Culture, Current Events, and Secondary ELA
Presenters: NYSEC board member Cody Miller and Angela Tarricone
If connecting pop culture to the ELA classroom piques your interest, then this is the workshop for you! Cody Miller and Angela Tarricone will lead secondary English teachers in forging pathways between pop culture and current events within their existing ELA curriculum.
Workshop: Literacy is Restorative
Presenter: NYSEC board member Alyssa Sabbatino
This session will highlight the overlap between culturally sustaining and social-emotional learning paradigms, and amplify the importance of intentionality as we [educators] design learning experiences in mind that solidify who students are AND what our students need to know and do. This session will delve into the symbiotic relationship between literacy, social-emotional learning (SEL), and mental health.
Workshop: From Paper to Practice: Applying the NYS Culturally Responsive and Sustaining Education Framework to Our Classrooms
Presenters: NYSEC board members Lydia Adegbola and Michele DeVirgilio
Navigating the current social and political climate in our communities and especially in our schools can be overwhelming. It is easy to feel lost and alone. Fear not, because this session will provide participants with the map– The NYS Education Department’s Culturally Responsive-Sustaining Education Framework – and the practical application of its contents in our classrooms.
Workshop: Decoding Literacy: Tracing Paths that Bridge the Science of Reading to the Secondary ELA Classroom
Presenters: NYSEC board member and former board president Michelle Peterson-Davis, and 2023 NYSEC Fellow Award recipient and former NYSEC board president, Christine Zandstra
The controversy surrounding the “reading wars” and its impacts in our learning communities cannot be overstated. In this session, participants will develop an understanding of the controversy around the Science of Reading and how secondary English teachers can leverage reading research to enhance strategies that build background knowledge and comprehension. Session attendees will learn from past evidence and research based practices, navigate current expectations, and move to shape classroom instruction that grows a love for literacy.
Workshop: Climate Fiction, Ecocriticism, & Climate Warriors: From Book Clubs to Critical Thinkers to Agents of Hope
Presenters: NYSEC board member and former board president Michelle Bulla, and Kerry Baird
The climate crisis and how it impacts our students and our larger communities can feel daunting. How can we in the ELA realm become part of the solution? People are compelled to act when faced with a relatable situation and can see themselves as part of the solution. Teaching through climate fiction is a pathway to raise awareness, stimulate empathy, and inspire action. This workshop walks participants through a brilliant unit of study that introduces students to diverse authors, whose cultures and voices have long been absent from this genre, scientific discussions, and ultimately, global policy.
Workshop: Tracing the History of Poetry Pedagogy: Learning from Our Past and Imagining Our Future
Presenter: NYSEC board member Meg Davis Roberts
What would the NYSEC conference be without an insightful, eye-opening session about poetry?! This session begins with a condensed historical review of the last 100 years of thinking on poetry instruction in the United States. With an eye to both past trends and current threads, this session will then discuss and brainstorm ways we might take the wisdom of the past into account and consider our current classrooms anew.
We hope these sessions, as well as all of the other phenomenal sessions and events, will provide you with inspiration, hope, and excitement as you navigate your path for this academic year. We encourage and welcome you to contact us if you’re interested in joining the NYSEC board. We’d love to be part of this journey with you.
Holly Spinelli is a NYSEC executive board member and the editor of the Voices of NSYEC blog. She currently teaches at Monroe-Woodbury High School in Central Valley, New York, and serves as an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the English department at SUNY Orange County Community College. In her free time, she enjoys writing creative nonfiction, and hiking along the local trails with her spouse and her rescue beagle.