Amplifying Student Voices
January 31, 2022
This year’s conference theme was “Amplifying Student Voices.” The Internationals Network Professional Development Committee representatives helped create this theme so that, amid a time of transition and disruption, we can maintain a focus on what drives our work: the ideas, insights, and ambitions of the young people we serve. The teacher- and staff-led sessions offered this year reflect the theme uniquely and creatively, with topics including community building, translanguaging, coding, relationships, comics, nature writing, social justice and civic engagement, podcasting, aroma science, and collaborating with student activists, among many others!
We hope attendees had the opportunity to meet new people, to share and hear innovative ideas, and to encounter useful and compelling resources for supporting multilingual learners. We look forward to connecting with you again at future Internationals events.
A link to the materials and resources from the conference workshops can be found by clicking on the workshop title below. We hope you find them useful.
If any other questions come up, please feel free to reach out to Clarissa Cummings, clarissa.cummings@
For any questions about the conference, contact Clarissa at clarissa.cummings@internationalsnetwork.org.
Student Voices
Rather than a traditional gathering in an auditorium with keynote speakers and introductions, this year’s conference is anchored by student voices. Available asynchronously in order to accommodate the varied schedules and demands of all participants across the country, this video includes numerous students from across our schools harmonizing on the themes of building community and fostering social change. We hope that these words by these young people will continue!
Thanks to the following students for participating!
Video 1
Raimelis – Crotona International High School
Jefferson – International High School for Health Sciences
Noors – Claremont International High School
Imran – Brooklyn International High School
Muhlisa – International High School at Lafayette
Biana – Brooklyn International High School
Video 2
Flushing International High School Students
Video 3
Justin – International Community High School
Daimar – Brooklyn International High School
Zenoul – Claremont International High School
Kenie – Brooklyn International High School
Pari – International High School at Lafayette
Brahyan – International High School for Health Sciences
Video 4
Yoelkis – International High School for Health Sciences
Derek – International High School for Health Sciences
Pharana – Brooklyn International High School
Students from Pan American International High School at Elmhurst
Marjurie & Sherlin – International High School for Health Sciences
Promising Practice Shares
The midday promising practice share returns! Numerous teachers from across the network are welcome to record videos to describe and share about an idea, strategy, or resource that has been useful or important to them this year and represents the conference theme is “Amplifying Student Voices.” In order to accommodate the varied schedules and demands of all participants from across the country, this video library of compelling ideas, practitioner reflections, and real stories from across our network will be available the day of the conference, online here.
Accountable Talk Visual Journal
This promising practice share, arriving from Lafayette Community HS in Buffalo, NY, is an activity that every student can participate in and a way to collaboratively practice academic discourse. Hear from the teacher about her inspiration, rationale, and ideas for implementation in the video.
Facilitator(s): Melissa Meola Shanahan, Lafayette International Community High School
Change Agents: Community Action Research folder
In this project students self select an issue in their community they want to learn more about. They begin by creating questions about the issue and practicing their interviewing skills through interviewing school community members. In social studies they do online research to identify causes, effects and solutions to their issue. In CTE they identify community organizations that focus on their issue and go to interview them. They also take b-roll to and from school as well as low inference notes on their environment. This work has benefited students, though not without struggle, to be more confident in their English speaking abilities and to validate and deepen what they already know about their environment to be true.
Facilitator(s):Alexandra Haridopolos, Crotona IHS
Click here to access project content.
College and Career Readiness Lessons and Resources
This suite of lesson materials focuses on college and career readiness, with topics including different degree paths, the relationship between personal values and career ambitions, navigating challenges associated with attending college, and different career clusters.
Facilitator(s): Martin Castro, International Community High School
Click here to access project content.
Community Benches Community Building
At Flushing IHS, students worked with the other students in their advisory class to prepare, build, and decorate benches for a communal space at their school. Click through to see further description and imagery.
Facilitator(s):Douglass Butler, Flushing IHS
Click here to access project content.
Engaging Introductory Unit Project Video
This is a video from PAIHS Monroe for a “stage 1” engagement method for when students start a new unit project. In this case, the teacher creates unique videos to create a sense of wonder about the upcoming content. This strategy gets them excited about the project and eager to start it throughout the unit. Students are excited to work on the unit project. Students start to wonder about the project’s scope and what they would be learning. Students talk and laugh with each other, and it is a fun way to launch their learning.
Facilitator(s): Gerard Gomez, Pan American IHS at Monroe
Hot Seat Activity Guide
From PAIHS Monroe, here is an Activity Guide that we found to be exciting and highly successful for outcome achievement. The driving question for the JI ELA unit was, “How do we as advocates use our voices to fight oppression?”. We used The Hunger Games text as a foundation for the theme of oppression and to help students meet outcomes related to conflict, perspective, and compare and contrast language. The project was a “script” for a talk show, similar to what they saw and read in The Hunger Games, where students took on the perspective of characters and were asked to create and answer questions. A successful activity, or “promising practice” to prepare students for this project throughout the unit was the “Hot Seat” activity. On pages 19-22, and multiple times throughout the unit, students were asked to get in the “hot seat” and take on the perspective of a given character. The audience (the rest of the class) would create questions that were relevant for the character to respond to. This activity was great for the language of generating open ended questions, as well as opportunities for students to use the text characteristics of a character to inform their responses to audience questions. It can also serve as a review of the chapter. Students absolutely love this activity and are able to interact with the text in an exciting and thoughtful way.
Facilitator(s): Nicole Ali, Monroe
Know Your Rights and Immigration Resources Lesson
This is a collection of resources intended to help lead lessons and discussions around knowing your rights and immigration resources. It includes videos, a website with resources and information, Nearpod lesson, a Kahoot, and student scenarios. The resources can work together as a unified lesson or they can be used as individual parts for use with students.
Facilitator(s): Martin Castro ICHS
Mutual Aid Clothing Drive
At Flushing IHS, the school’s mutual aid committee recognized that a number of students and families could benefit from extra clothing, and so, in the fall, the mutual aid committee held a small Clothing Drive. Click through to see further description and imagery..
Facilitator(s):Douglass Butler, Flushing IHS
Click here to access project content.
"Pipeline" Play Activity
This document represents a “week-long activity that I completed with my students during unit 1. Students read the play, ‘Pipeline’ in unit 1. The play is about a young black teen named Omari and his mother, Nya as they navigate the struggles of being people of color in the American school system. Before diving deeper into the reading my students took a one week break to further understand the school to prison pipeline. This was done through multiple mediums of reading, writing, watching a Ted Talk, and discussions. The week concluded on mini small group discussions in which they were already graded using the same rubric.”
Facilitator(s): Ayana Colvin, Elmhurst
Reflection on Feedback
In this video, Sarah Cunningham expands on the ideas in her article, “Why Work on Feedback,” and shares reflections on the various methods of providing and using feedback she has innovated at International High School for Health Sciences.
Facilitator(s): Sarah Cunningham, Health Sciences
Research Paper & Theater of the Oppressed Project
In this slide deck, two teachers from Brooklyn IHS share about a project wherein students produce a research paper and collaboratively construct an interactive theatrical performance around issues and topics of their choosing. The presentation includes a project overview as well as images of the performances and accompanying documents and resources.
Facilitator(s): Shahzia Pirani-Mellstrom
and Sheila Aminmadani, Brooklyn IHS
Science PBAT Activity Guide
This is a unit 1 PBAT activity guide. Students followed the same guide to complete the PBAT but have individualized scaffolded reading materials. This activity guide was designed to embed the final project seamlessly so that students would complete their PBAT while doing their daily assignments. At the end of each week, the final assignment was an integral part of the projects that students used to demonstrate their learning.
Facilitator(s): Rax-Ann Miller, Elmhurst
Stem Cell Biology
This unit consists of eight lessons on stem cells. The first five lessons are about foundational information about where stem cells come from and the different types of stem cells. The following three lessons are the potential of using stem cells in regenerative medicine, and its ethical considerations. These stem cell lessons can be seamlessly integrated into the Living Environment curriculum. The first lesson can be incorporated into the reproductive system or embryology unit; the second to fifth lessons can be incorporated into the genetics or cell unit; the sixth and seventh lessons can be incorporated into human diseases, and the eighth lesson can be incorporated into bioethics. The unit in itself can be used as a preparatory unit for a PBAT or STEM project on stem cells that could include studying Planarian regeneration. The teacher-facing materials include lesson plans and PowerPoints. The student-facing materials include handouts, Do Now and exit question activities, and ELL-friendly templates. The implementation of these lessons will help students expand their vocabulary, develop their research skills using the CRAP test and CER template, and strengthen their comprehension, reading, and writing skills using annotation protocols, modified question formulation technique (QFT), and a persuasive argument template. The unit has online interactive activities in Kahoot, matchmemory, and a web quest task on questgarden. All student handouts were translated into Spanish, French, Arabic, and Bengali.
Facilitator(s): Jesusa Merioles, ICHS
Student Interest Survey
This form is a tool that Rakibat Abiola and her team at IHS @ Lafayette “created at the beginning of the school year to collect academic and non-academic data for our students in order to help guide us on how to support them better this year.”
Facilitator(s): Rakibat Abiola, Lafayette IHS
Students on Equity Committee
On Flushing IHS’s Equity Committee, this year’s main goal is to create an equitable space in which teachers and students work together to address the inequities in their community. Click through to see further description and imagery.
Facilitator(s): Douglass Butler, Flushing
Trauma-informed and Resilience Resource
This document, from IHS @ Lafayette, is a trauma informed and resilience focused resource sheet which Rakibat Abiola “co-created with my PLC that I was working with last semester in Spring 2021. A lot of the resources here have been very helpful with students at times of high-level stress (before presentations, etc.).”
Facilitator(s): Rakibat Abiola, Lafayette IHS
Morning Workshop Resources and Materials
9:30a – 11:00a ET/8:30a -10:00a CT/6:30a-8:00a PT
All the Ways to Say, "Love": Translanguaging in the Internationals Classroom
How can we use translanguaging pedagogy to amplify student voices and expand the depth and range of experiences students are able to share in the classroom? In this workshop, participants will explore an example ELA project based on bell hooks’ “All About Love.” Using digital artifacts such as Jamboard, Peardeck, Google Slides, and YouTube videos, we will discuss how translanguaging strategies can be leveraged within the classroom to show and teach students the value of the various linguistic as well as personal experiences they bring with them everyday.
Facilitator(s): Nisa Nuonsy, Keyra Jimenez
Intended Audience: All are welcome!
Click here for the workshop materials.
Alternative Models for SLIFE Support
How can we support and tap into the brilliance and life experiences of our students with interrupted education? In this workshop, participants will learn about how one Internationals school created an alternative developmental literacy class for SLIFE using and adapting curriculum from the NYS Department of Education and CUNY Graduate Center, called Bridges to Academic Success (bridges-sifeproject.com). Participants will be able to view placement assessments and curriculum, as well as explore sample projects created by students. Participants will also discuss, share, and reflect on their own school contexts, and explore alternative scheduling options that best serve our students with with interrupted education.
Facilitator(s): Amanda Vender
Intended Audience:This workshop is especially suited for ENL teachers, literacy teachers, and administrators, but all are welcome!
Analysis Strategies for Any Content
We’re constantly telling our students to analyze, but what does that actually mean? Analysis something we know when we see it, but it’s difficult to describe, and even harder to teach! In this workshop participants will explore and discuss analysis strategies that are relevant across content areas. Participants will experience the strategies, explore sample student work, and then plan how to implement the strategies in their classes. Participants will leave with 7 analysis strategies that can be used for annotation, discussion, and written work.
Facilitator(s):Marc McEwan
Intended Audience: All are welcome!
Aroma of Cultural Diffusion
How can we create a multidisciplinary project that will engage English language learners in history, science, art, math, and English subjects during this disjointed and fast-paced time? Participants will see an example of a hands-on project involving candle making and aromatherapy. With interdisciplinary output, students will be able to appreciate the value of integrating what they’re learning with what they’re experiencing. In the students’ project, olfactory sensations are used to generate qualitative and quantitative data for analysis. Teachers will analyze data based on various student outputs and discuss how this project could be adapted to their own classroom use and aspirations for interdisciplinary research.
Facilitator(s):Kristian Peñas, Nancy Lewandowski
Intended Audience: All are welcome!
Basic Coding For MLLS
How can we use Scratch to teach coding in any discipline? In this workshop, participants will discuss strategies for teaching basic coding to students. Participants will explore the teacher and student sides of Scratch, a program where students can create their own material. Participants will also be introduced to other resources and coding websites that can be used with students, and will have time to practice with and create their own programs using Scratch. Participants will leave with an understanding of how to teach coding to students and how to use coding to enhance student projects.
Facilitator(s):Lucy Blackford, Sara Said
Intended Audience:Anyone who is new to coding and/or wants to teach basic coding, but all are welcome!
Click here for the workshop materials.
Building Antiracist Communities through Storytelling
How can we engage all members of our school communities in conversations about race and racism? In the midst of a pandemic, our youth of color have been disproportionately impacted, shedding light to the inequities that have existed long before this time. As educators in NYC schools that serve a majority of young people of color, we cannot ignore the experiences that hurt our youth everyday. In this PD session, our hope is to create a brave space inviting students, teachers and other educators to virtually engage in courageous conversations about race and racism with the hope of creating meaningful conversations leaning into the discomfort that this work yields. Our outcome is to engage and empower voices of communities that have been marginalized and silenced for a long time.
Facilitator(s): Rakibat Abiola, Estefania Hereira
Intended Audience: All are welcome!
Click here for the workshop materials.
Choices and Voices: A Creative Approach to Assessments
How can we gather feedback from students to tailor our curriculum, outcomes, and PBATs to fit their needs and skills? When we collect and use feedback from students to make decisions about our planning, we allow for our students to feel seen in the curriculum and in what they learn. In this workshop, participants will explore different strategies for collecting feedback from students in order to amplify our projects. In addition, participants will explore past PBATs and look at student samples.
Facilitator(s):Brendaly Torres
Intended Audience: The examples explored in the workshop will be from a literacy/ENL class, but all are welcome!
Creative Solutions
Can creativity be taught? Creativity is an essential skill for future careers, and it can indeed be cultivated and encouraged in students. In this workshop, participants will explore strategies for helping students develop their creativity, and discuss how creativity is related to empathy. Participants will all discuss how to plan projects that allow students the opportunity to first decide which problems need to be solved, and to then come up with a creative solution.
Facilitator(s):Michele Hamilton
Intended Audience:This workshop is especially relevant for 11th and 12 grade teachers, but all are welcome!
Discovering Central Ideas and Literary Devices in Popular Music
the How can we use music to support students in developing literary analysis skills while also elevating student voice and choice? In this workshop, participants will explore an ELA project that uses music to teach about central ideas and literary devices. The project culminates in a group share where students play some of their own chosen music, explain the central idea in the song, and discuss how it is developed. During the workshop, participants will engage in example activities and discuss how they help students explore and practice literary analysis skills. Participants will leave with ideas not only for preparing students for the Part 3 essay on the Common Core ELA Regents, but also for how to incorporate student voices and to give students the opportunity to share something meaningful to them.
Facilitator(s):Michele Hamilton
Intended Audience: This workshop is most suited for ELA teachers, but all are welcome!
Exploring Trauma Awareness in Classrooms
How can we build trauma awareness as educators, and better understand the impact of trauma on our students, our community, and ourselves? In this workshop, participants will develop and reflect on a working definition of trauma-awareness based on their experiences as educators and from student perspectives. The workshop will serve as a space and opportunity to explore trauma awareness in the classroom, and to explore resources to further investigate trauma-awareness. As well, participants will discuss anonymous student perspectives, and reflect on how these perspectives can be incorporated into and inform teacher practice.
Facilitator(s):Kholood Qumei, Areum Kang
Intended Audience: All are welcome!
Hey Listen Games: Teaching With Games
Welcome to the Hey Listen Games: Teaching With Games Workshop! Video games and tabletop games are rife with educational potential, but are very rarely implemented in our classrooms in meaningful ways. This workshop will focus on how “entertainment” games that our students are already playing can be utilized as educational resources. This workshop will tap into many of our students’ background knowledge regarding games. As most of our students play games in some capacity, bringing games into the classroom aids in their ability to access new content, skills, and language. Participants will leave with a large number of potential activities and lesson plans to start teaching with games in their classes.
Facilitator(s): Zach Hartzman, Areum Kang
Intended Audience:This workshop is especially suited for Social Studies, ELA, and Advisory teachers, but all are welcome!
Let the Students Lead!: Collaborating with Student-Activists
Are students at your school looking for ways to take action and fight for social justice? In this workshop, we will hear from student and staff co-facilitators of the FIHS Dream Team about their experiences advocating for immigrant justice, racial justice and mental health support in our school. We will give an overview of how the Dream Team was first founded at FIHS, the types of workshops and partnerships we’ve created, and how we’ve adapted to meet the shifting needs of our community. We will share four examples of student-led workshops from the past two years: a town hall in response to the murder of George Floyd, a workshop on Anti-Asian racism, a series of mental health support groups, and a community circle reflecting on violence against Palestinians and Islamophobia worldwide.
Facilitator(s):Roxie Salamon-Abrams, Nataly Rojas, and Student Facilitators
Intended Audience: All are welcome!
Nature Journaling for Growth of Language, Thinking, and Confidence
How can we use nature journals to give students a medium for visualizing their thinking about the world around them, and to improve their communication with one another? In this workshop, participants will explore how to incorporate nature journals into classes across content areas, whether it is science, art, humanities, or math. Nature journals are a place for students to become better artists and writers, as they externalize their internal thinking processes and make them visible to themselves and to others. Nature journals provide a medium where native language, English, and art come together, and give students a means for communicating no matter their English level. Participants will leave with references and resources for teaching with nature journals right away.
Facilitator(s): Jordan Wolf
Intended Audience: This workshop is especially relevant for teachers of science, writing, and art, but all are welcome!
Participatory Action Research in the Classroom
How can we access students’ lived experiences and empower students to share these experiences in the classroom and in their communities? In this workshop, participants will explore how to combine students’ lived experiences about issues in their neighborhoods with academic research so that they can create PSAs and hold presentations in local community spaces. Participants will analyze numerous examples of student-created documentaries and written reports about issues in their neighborhood. These projects include interviews with community members and community organizations, as well as surveys from their classmates. Participants will leave with ideas for how to tap into student experiences in order to create relevant, meaningful, and actionable student projects.
Facilitator(s):Alexandra Haridopolos
Intended Audience: All are welcome!
Podcasting To Amplify Student Voice
How can we use podcasts to support students in expressing themselves and communicating with the broader school community? The nature of podcasting amplifies voices that are not often heard in a full classroom, which can be of great benefit to the school community as a whole. Through the process, students develop next-level collaborative skills while brainstorming, sourcing, producing/directing, and editing stories relevant to their interests. In this session, participants will hear examples of student podcasts and have the opportunity to speak with students about their experience. They will then create their own plan to implement podcasting at their school. All are welcome!
Facilitator(s): Tim Ross
Intended Audience: All are welcome!
Scaffolding Student-Led Inquiry
How can we support our students to engage with and investigate their own questions and interests? It can be overwhelming to think about supporting student-led inquiry with 100 different students, especially with students of heterogeneous language and schooling backgrounds. Yet when students develop and pursue their own research, their final work is often much more interesting, personal and important. In this workshop, we will share the processes and scaffolds we have developed to support student-driven projects in 11th and 12th grade history classes. Participants will reflect on how we might use these resources, and any other resources that participants want to share, to structure student choice and voice in projects, so that students have more control over their own learning.
Facilitator(s):Elisabeth Masback, Alyssa Hughes
Intended Audience: This workshop is especially suited for Social Studies teachers, but all are welcome!
Using Games To Build Community
How can we build an academic community in our classrooms so that our students feel a sense of trust and belonging and are more able to take ownership for their own learning? In this workshop, participants will explore many community building strategies and games that get students talking, laughing, and ultimately building close connections with one another. Community building is an on-going process, and there are many routines that we can use to develop strong teacher-student and student-student relationships. When students are given the space to share their concerns and values, they begin to feel their opinions matter. Through laughter, talk, and games, we can support our students in opening up, sharing their feelings, and amplifying their voices.
Facilitator(s): Julie Arcement
Intended Audience: All are welcome!
Using Storytelling to Build Community
In this workshop, we will explore techniques for using live, 1st person narratives to build trust and empathy in the classroom, while also developing student skills of listening, speaking, and analysis. Workshop participants will learn strategies for brainstorming, scaffolding, and telling student stories, so that students can build personal narratives and share with the whole class.
Facilitator(s):Alex Porter
Intended Audience: All are welcome!
Afternoon Session Resources and Materials
1:00p-3:00p ET/12:00p-2:00p CT/10:00a-11:00a PT
ELA Portfolio Norming Session
This year’s afternoon portfolio-focused sessions will be an opportunity for us to build collective understanding of our rubrics and to negotiate how to interpret them through the lens of student work. This collaborative work and discussion is pivotal to the maintenance of our powerful portfolio system, and our discussions will help ensure that it remains a model of effective performance assessment locally and nationally.
Facilitator(s): Dolan Morgan
Intended Audience: All are welcome!
Math Portfolio Norming Session
This year’s afternoon portfolio-focused sessions will be an opportunity for us to build collective understanding of our rubrics and to negotiate how to interpret them through the lens of student work. This collaborative work and discussion is pivotal to the maintenance of our powerful portfolio system, and our discussions will help ensure that it remains a model of effective performance assessment locally and nationally.
Facilitator(s): Genna Robbins
Intended Audience: All are welcome!
Click here for the norming session materials.
Podcasting To Amplify Student Voice
How can we use podcasts to support students in expressing themselves and communicating with the broader school community? The nature of podcasting amplifies voices that are not often heard in a full classroom, which can be of great benefit to the school community as a whole. Through the process, students develop next-level collaborative skills while brainstorming, sourcing, producing/directing, and editing stories relevant to their interests. In this session, participants will hear examples of student podcasts and have the opportunity to speak with students about their experience. They will then create their own plan to implement podcasting at their school. All are welcome!
Facilitator(s): Tim Ross
Intended Audience: All are welcome!
Science Portfolio Norming Session
This year’s afternoon portfolio-focused sessions will be an opportunity for us to strengthen cross-school alignment around our rubrics and to negotiate how to interpret them through the lens of student work. This collaborative work and discussion is pivotal to the maintenance of our powerful portfolio system, and our discussions will help ensure that it remains a model of effective performance assessment locally and nationally. We are offering norming sessions for Science, Social Studies, ELA, and Math.
Facilitator(s): Kelly Qureshi
Intended Audience: All are welcome!
Social Justice And Civic Engagement: Using CRP To Amplify Students' Voices
**This workshop is available to participants who do not use the Internationals Portfolio Rubrics for their work**. How can we design a rigorous and relevant social justice curriculum that engages students? With the rising diversity of the US student population, implementing culturally responsive practices (CRP) has become utmost important for engaging students. It can be challenging, but it is possible to make learning practical, relevant, and meaningful to students’ lives so they are able to connect with what they are learning. Bringing students into conversation about real issues in their local and global communities allows them to explore and develop solutions and to utilize their voices to advocate for social change. In this workshop, participants will discuss culturally responsive practices and how to personalize lessons so that they are relevant to students’ learning. Participants will also explore how to introduce social justice issues to students, and brainstorm issues that students are interested in or passionate about. As well, participants will discuss how to encourage debate and empower students with under-engaged voices, how to encourage diverse perspectives, and how to promote student voice through peer feedback. Participants will leave with numerous ideas for how to design a curriculum to include rigor, relevance, social justice, and civic engagement. All are welcome!
Facilitator(s): Keishia Thorpe
Intended Audience: All are welcome!
Social Studies Portfolio Norming Session
This year’s afternoon portfolio-focused sessions will be an opportunity for us to build collective understanding of our rubrics and to negotiate how to interpret them through the lens of student work. This collaborative work and discussion is pivotal to the maintenance of our powerful portfolio system, and our discussions will help ensure that it remains a model of effective performance assessment locally and nationally.
Facilitator(s): Andrew Sigal
Intended Audience: All are welcome!
Category(ies): Culturally Responsive-Sustaining Education