Athens, Ga. – The University of Georgia College of Education is offering two workshops that focus on educational issues relating to social class and poverty. Designed for local school administrators, counselors and teachers, the workshops will be held Dec. 9 from 9 a.m.-3 p.m. at the Georgia Center for Continuing Education Conference Center and Hotel.
“Leading Social Class-Sensitive Schools” is a workshop for district-level school administrators, principals, assistant principals, counselors and instructional coaches. It focuses on five principles for change to better meet the needs of students from working-class and poor families; developing strategies for evaluating and coaching teachers with class-sensitivity in mind; designing ways to make school improvement plans sensitive to social class; and examining how to make broad district, school and classroom policies and practices that are anti-classist and anti-poverty.
“Turning Around Readers and Reading with a Social Class-Sensitive Approach” is a workshop for schoolteachers, instructional coaches and individuals interested in helping all students become powerful readers. Participants will learn about the social class-sensitive approach, a five-part framework for differentiated instruction in reading. They will examine how social class and poverty play a role in reading and language in the classroom; analyze social class and poverty in popular culture, media and literature through critical reading practices; design learning opportunities around literature targeted towards children of working-class families; create a concrete plan for individualizing reading instruction for distressed readers; and enhance literacy for all students.
The workshops are a part of the CLASSroom Project@UGA initiative developed by award-winning faculty members Stephanie Jones and Mark Vagle, both associate professors of elementary and social studies education.
Jones is a researcher, professional developer, education consultant and former elementary school teacher. She is the author of Girls, Social Class and Literacy: What Teachers Can Do to Make a Difference and co-author of The Reading Turn-Around: A Five-Part Framework for Differentiated Instruction.
Vagle is a researcher, former elementary and middle school teacher, and middle school administrator. He is co-editor of Developmentalism in Early Childhood and Middle Grades Education: Critical Conservations on Readiness and Responsiveness. His research focuses on moment-to-moment classroom interactions and how they influence and impact student learning.
Registration, which ends Nov. 28, is $145. It includes a copy of the book The Reading Turn-Around. For more information or to register online, see www.coe.uga.edu/events.
