Learning Opportunities

Note The plan is to have the new week's On Demand material drop Sunday evenings 

Every year around this time, two familiar feelings bubble up inside us: The first is a longing to replace the hustling, bustling school year with the longer days and shorter working hours of summer. To rejuvenate and replenish and, yes, rest too. The second is an excitement to do it again better next year. To, in the words of Ta-Nehisi Coates, type over the work we did last time, and, as we reflect on the year that was, create a revised, better teaching practice for the year that will be.

In the spirit of these two, sometimes-contrasting feelings, once again this summer Matthew Johnson, Rebekah O’Dell, and Angela Stockman will be partnering to create a pedagogical summer camp called Camp Rewrite. The goal will be to offer a space of restoration in both senses of the word—both the idea of returning something to a previous state and also the idea of improving and upgrading that thing in the process. 

A little video intro from Matt and Angela: 

https://youtu.be/JTtC0J7Z0VM 

ARPDC is partnering with Matthew, Rebekah and Angela to provide Alberta Teachers with an Alberta Campground cohort joining with all that Camp ReWrite offers, along with a couple of opportunities to discuss as an Alberta Cohort how we might apply the various conversations to our Alberta context. 

Dates may change from what you see here - but the dates are when new posts drop - it's designed to be mostly asynchronous - with chats and such but there are also some live casts on occasion. 

Here’s what that will look like… 

• Each Sunday (beginning Mid June and running through Mid August), campers will receive a link to a recorded professional development session (approximately 1-hour) from Matt, Rebekah, or Angela. Think of it like a new episode dropping on your favourite streaming service: Disney+, PrimeVideo, Netflix, Crave...only it's coming to your inbox. 

• You can watch at your leisure over the 9 weeks of camp! Check out the topics for 2024-25 (updated May 3, 2024)

  • Pedagogical Documentation to Avoid Burnout - Host Angela Stockman, Guests: Jess Vance, Kenisha Bynoe, and Anelique Thompson

  • Revisting our Approaches to Teaching the Essay - Host Xochitl Bentley Guest Tracey Flores
  • Helping Students Work Together + Listen to Each other  - Host Matthew Johnson Guests Matt Kay and Dave Stuart, Jr. 
  • New Possiblities for Teaching with Flash Fiction - Host Xochitl Bentley, Guest Lesley Younge
  • AI in the English/ELA Classroom - Host - Angela Stockman Guest Jennifer Fletcher
  • Helping Striving Readers and Writers - Host - Matthew Johnson - Guest Rebekah O'Dell
  • Creating Classroom Conditions for Inquiry/PBL - Host Xochitl Bentley - Guest Jill Ackers
  • Assessment Approaches, Ideas and Best Practices - Guest Brett Vogelsinger
  • Pedagogical Documentation as Street Data - Host Angela Stockman - Guests Shane Safir and Jamila Duncan. 

• Campers will have the opportunity to chat with Matt, Rebekah, Angela, and one another about that week’s professional development topic all week long via a Substack thread.

• Live fireside chats with special guests discussing what they are revising and rethinking in education and classroom practice, with recordings posted each week. Live conversations will provide opportunities for Q+A. We will populate this list as soon as we have the information. 

• Once over the course of the summer, Matt, Rebekah and Angela will each host one live event where they reflect on how they would revise one of their popular books today:

  • Matthew Johnson — Flash Feedback

  • Rebekah O’Dell — Writing With Mentors

  • Angela Stockman — The Writing Workshop Teacher’s Guide to Multimodal Composition

Read one or read them all and join us for a behind-the-scenes reflection about the things we wish we could do-over or do differently today!

It is our hope to also have at least one -Alberta Campground Fireside chat - Charlie Kraig and Rick Gilson of the ARPDC Change Maker Conversations in Education Podcast hosting the session as a book talk - share - and share some of our learnings with the idea of mixing it into one or two podcast episode posts. 

All registered participants will have access to the information shared during Camp Re-Write for the entire 2024-25 School Year.