NYC. Aug 26 & 27
As always, the Internationals Network Summer Institute is structured to deepen our knowledge of the Internationals Approach and strengthen effective practices for instructing and supporting multilingual learners. Both new and returning teachers are encouraged to join us!
All school staff from across our national network are welcome to register here for any workshop on any date.
We look forward to coming together for this enriching experience!
Thursday, Aug 26
AM Sessions. 9:30a-11:00a ET/6:30a-8:00a PT
Culturally Responsive and Sustaining Education in the Internationals Classroom and Community, Part I
How can Internationals Network schools move beyond a surface-level understanding of “culture” to support student engagement and success? In this two-part workshop, participants will unpack the concepts of “culture” and “cultural responsiveness” in the context of Internationals Network schools; analyze Zaretta Hammond’s “Ready for Rigor” framework as a lens for CRT; explore myriad examples from classrooms and school communities; discuss implicit bias and the impact it has on our work with students; and articulate next steps for their own work.
Intended Audience: This session is recommended for all educators, whether new or returning.
Creating Welcoming, Supportive, and Rigorous Learning Environments for SLIFE,Part 1
How can Internationals Network schools create welcoming, supportive, and rigorous learning environments for students with limited or interrupted formal education (SLIFE)? In this two-part, all-day workshop, participants will explore six key factors that contribute toward schools’ success in supporting SLIFE, including examples of how these factors can appear in an Internationals Network school community. Participants will self-reflect about how these factors currently manifest in their own schools and classrooms, decipher which factors are most within their role’s sphere of influence, and then dive more deeply into core instructional strategies that are applicable across all content classrooms. Participants will leave this session with a renewed understanding of a school-wide, holistic approach to supporting SLIFE and their role in it, as well as concrete, immediately replicable strategies that can be applied to their own planning.
Intended Audience: This session is recommended for all educators, whether new or returning.
Lessons from Remote Learning: Project Design and Feedback Discussion, Part I
As we return to in-person classrooms, how do we backwards-plan project-based units so that they embody key elements of PBL and incorporate what we have learned and innovated throughout the past year and a half? In this two-part workshop, participants will revisit the criteria for project-based units, and explore how to utilize them to create projects that also incorporate digital tools, asynchronous communication and collaboration, and other innovations explored during remote learning. To apply these ideas, participants provide feedback and advice for authentic PBL examples and scenarios. In the second session, participants have time to develop, reflect on, and receive feedback from colleagues regarding their own project plans.
Intended Audience: This session is recommended for all educators, whether new or returning.
Translanguaging: Exploring Language Stories (FOR NEW TEACHERS)
How can the stories of those who have balanced the complexities of a new language and culture—while maintaining connections to home language and culture—inform our work in supporting students in doing the same? In this workshop, participants will engage in an exploration of holistic multilingual identity, as told through the perspectives of various writers, a key component of working in an Internationals Network school community. Participants will build their schema around how to support students in balancing new language and culture while maintaining connections to home language and culture.
Intended Audience: This session is especially designed for educators new to the Internationals Network, but returning teachers are welcome and encouraged to come as well.
Midday Sessions. 12:00p-1:00p ET/9:00a-10:00a PT
Resource Bank Introduction
What resources are available for educators to help planning instruction for MLLs? In this midday session, participants will explore the new Internationals Resource Bank, an interactive resource that contains numerous strategies, promising practice share videos, planning tools, resource guides, and sample projects created by educators from across our national network. As well, participants will have the opportunity to provide valuable input about the future of this network-wide resource.
Intended Audience: All teachers are welcome and encouraged to attend.
PM Session. 1:30p-3:00p ET/10:30a-12:00p PT
Core Principles of the Internationals Approach (FOR NEW TEACHERS)
What are the Internationals Network Core Principles and how do they appear in school communities? This workshop takes participants through a series of virtual stations, each of which is devoted to one of the five core principles of the internationals approach. Through the course of these five stations, participants watch videos, review resources, and look at curriculum to learn how each core principle is embodied in practice. This session serves as a foundational experience in acclimating to the Internationals approach.
Intended Audience: This session is especially designed for educators new to the Internationals Network, but returning teachers are welcome and encouraged to come as well.
Creating Welcoming, Supportive, and Rigorous Learning Environments for SLIFE, Part 2
How can Internationals Network schools create welcoming, supportive, and rigorous learning environments for students with limited or interrupted formal education (SLIFE)? In this two-part, all-day workshop, participants will explore six key factors that contribute toward schools’ success in supporting SLIFE, including examples of how these factors can appear in an Internationals Network school community. Participants will self-reflect about how these factors currently manifest in their own schools and classrooms, decipher which factors are most within their role’s sphere of influence, and then dive more deeply into core instructional strategies that are applicable across all content classrooms. Participants will leave this session with a renewed understanding of a school-wide, holistic approach to supporting SLIFE and their role in it, as well as concrete, immediately replicable strategies that can be applied to their own planning.
Intended Audience: This session is recommended for all educators, whether new or returning.
Culturally Responsive and Sustaining Education in the Internationals Classroom and Community, Part 2
How can Internationals Network schools move beyond a surface-level understanding of “culture” to support student engagement and success? In this two-part workshop, participants will unpack the concepts of “culture” and “cultural responsiveness” in the context of Internationals Network schools; analyze Zaretta Hammond’s “Ready for Rigor” framework as a lens for CRT; explore myriad examples from classrooms and school communities; discuss implicit bias and the impact it has on our work with students; and articulate next steps for their own work.
Intended Audience: This session is recommended for all educators, whether new or returning.
Graduation Planning and Credit Gap Monitoring for the Class of 2022 using the New Visions Data Portal
.We invite school leaders and programmers to come and work together on start-of-year activities using the New Visions Data Portal. Come and get support for grad planning and identifying credit gaps for your students. By the end of this session, you will have generated grad plans for all your seniors and identified credit gaps that might affect programming for the upcoming school year. No experience necessary and no obligation to attend future working group meetings, but you will need to have access to the New Visions Data Portal.
Intended Audience: Leaders, administrators, counselors, and/or others with access to the New Visions Data Portal.
Lessons from Remote Learning: Project Design and Feedback Discussion, Part 2
As we return to in-person classrooms, how do we backwards-plan project-based units so that they embody key elements of PBL and incorporate what we have learned and innovated throughout the past year and a half? In this two-part workshop, participants will revisit the criteria for project-based units, and explore how to utilize them to create projects that also incorporate digital tools, asynchronous communication and collaboration, and other innovations explored during remote learning. To apply these ideas, participants provide feedback and advice for authentic PBL examples and scenarios. In the second session, participants have time to develop, reflect on, and receive feedback from colleagues regarding their own project plans.
Intended Audience: This session is recommended for all educators, whether new or returning.
Friday, Aug 27
AM Sessions. 9:30a-11:00a ET/6:30a-8:00a PT
Experiencing the Internationals Approach (FOR NEW TEACHERS)
This workshop begins with a lesson taught entirely in a foreign language. After an initial experience in which the content is delivered in this language with no supports, participants are taught the same content through activities, curriculum, and instruction that models good teaching for students who are new to the language of instruction. Participants have the opportunity to reflect on the experience of the two different lessons and to look closely at several of the techniques the teacher uses that were effective for them. This workshop is a useful introduction to the Internationals Approach as it puts participants in the shoes of their students and helps them gain first hand experience with the benefits of teaching students using the techniques expanded on in the other workshops.
Intended Audience: This session is especially designed for educators new to the Internationals Network, but returning teachers are welcome and encouraged to come as well.
Literacy: Adapting Text
How can we make texts more accessible for our students, especially those who are new to reading? In this session, participants will explore this question and encounter numerous strategies that can be applied in their own classrooms and materials. Participants will 1) learn how adapting text lowers the cognitive burden by making decoding easier so that readers can focus on comprehension, and 2) learn about and have time to collaboratively rehearse the use of multiple approaches for text adaptation. By the end of the session, participants will feel more confident in applying strategies so that texts become more accessible to all MLLs.
Intended Audience: This session is recommended for all educators, whether new or returning.
Mastery-Based Learning and Equity Part 1
This two-part, all-day workshop is built around the question, “How can we ensure that our planning and assessment practices uphold the ideals of an equitable school community?” Traditional grading systems historically are inequitable to a wide swath of students, including multilingual learners, and one of the primary ambitions of approaches like mastery-based learning systems is to ensure transparency and equity for all students. Still, mastery-based systems are complex, both socially and technically, and require intentional, school-wide planning and support for both teachers and students in order to ensure equity is achieved. In this workshop, we will explore numerous dimensions of an equitable mastery-based learning system, analyze common “pitfalls” of bringing this work to life and how best to address them to ensure equity, and will have ample time to apply ideas to our own planning and curriculum. While this session is designed with mastery-based learning systems in mind, anyone interested in thinking about planning and assessment through an equity lens is welcome to join!
Intended Audience: This session is recommended for all educators, whether new or returning.
Project Feedback Session: Sustained Inquiry and Student Voice and Choice
In this workshop, participants will engage in a feedback session focused on two essential and difficult components of project-based learning: sustained inquiry and student voice and choice. First, to build common schema and vocabulary, participants will explore a text about these two components and considerations for multilingual learners. They will then use this lens to both give and receive feedback on curriculum they are currently developing. Participants are welcome to bring projects that are already in development, or projects for which they only have the initial ideas. Either way, we will collaborate to strengthen our plans together.
Intended Audience: This session is recommended for all educators, whether new or returning.
Midday Session. 12:00p-1:00p ET/9:00a-10:00a PT
Student Panel
How have Internationals students experienced the previous school year, and what are their hopes for the upcoming school year? Come and meet a panel of current Internationals students from across our schools and hear what they have to say about what makes school work for them. Participants will have the opportunity to listen, ask questions, and discuss with the students and other educators.
Intended Audience: All teachers are welcome and encouraged to attend.
PM Sessions. 1:30p-3:00p ET/10:30a-12:00p PT
Language and Content Integration (FOR NEW TEACHERS)
This workshop supports all teachers in strengthening their capacity as language teachers, regardless of the content they teach. This focus enables students to develop their language skills in all content areas while deepening their knowledge of content. Over the course of the session, participants will reflect on their own experience, review language functions, explore multiple strategies for supporting language development, and analyze how to apply these ideas to project-based units. Through discussion, stations, and hands-on experiences, participants will walk away with ideas and concrete, immediately replicable strategies for addressing and supporting language development in any content class.
Intended Audience: This session is especially designed for educators new to the Internationals Network, but returning teachers are welcome and encouraged to come as well.
Mastery-Based Learning and Equity Part 2
This two-part, all-day workshop is built around the question, “How can we ensure that our planning and assessment practices uphold the ideals of an equitable school community?” Traditional grading systems historically are inequitable to a wide swath of students, including multilingual learners, and one of the primary ambitions of approaches like mastery-based learning systems is to ensure transparency and equity for all students. Still, mastery-based systems are complex, both socially and technically, and require intentional, school-wide planning and support for both teachers and students in order to ensure equity is achieved. In this workshop, we will explore numerous dimensions of an equitable mastery-based learning system, analyze common “pitfalls” of bringing this work to life and how best to address them to ensure equity, and will have ample time to apply ideas to our own planning and curriculum. While this session is designed with mastery-based learning systems in mind, anyone interested in thinking about planning and assessment through an equity lens is welcome to join!
Intended Audience: This session is recommended for all educators, whether new or returning.
Project Feedback Session: Meaningful Collaboration
In this workshop, participants will engage in a feedback session focused on supporting meaningful collaboration in the classroom. First, to build common schema and vocabulary, participants will explore a text and multiple strategies for student collaboration. They will then use this lens to both give and receive feedback on curriculum they are currently developing. Participants are welcome to bring projects and/or lessons that are already in development, or projects for which they only have the initial ideas. Either way, we will collaborate to strengthen our plans together.
Intended Audience: This session is recommended for all educators, whether new or returning.
Relationship Building
After more than a year of interruption, isolation, and uncertainty, the role of schools as a space of community, trust, and support is more important than ever before. How can our return to in-person classrooms best foster strong, meaningful relationships and build supportive communities for the young people we serve? In this workshop, participants will explore multiple frameworks for thinking about this work and discuss numerous factors that contribute to building strong, supportive connections. Together, participants will unpack a range of community building strategies that can be applied across all content classes. Participants will leave this workshop equipped with new schema for approaching this work as well as concrete and immediately replicable tools for confidently moving the work forward in their own classrooms.
Intended Audience: This session is recommended for all educators, whether new or returning.