In January, Culver City Unified School District teachers and administrators took part in a week-long professional development workshop with author and literacy consultant, Jan Burkins. The workshop was funded through a Cotsen Foundation Strategic Opportunity Grant.
For the last decade, the Cotsen Foundation has offered grants to the growing network of current and alumni mentors and fellows, along with principals and district-level administrators. These grants are designed to promote excellent teaching and learning and to continue the work begun during the 快活林app of TEACHING fellowship.
Alumni Cotsen mentors Alicia Jackson from Farragut Elementary School, Alice Horiba from El Marino Language School, Atoosa Abascal from Linwood E. Howe Elementary School, Amy Hodge from El Rincon Elementary School, and Christie Uhe from La Ballona Elementary School, met with Jan Burkins in a virtual meeting online to discuss balanced literacy practices in the beginning of the year. The meeting gave the alumni mentors an opportunity to engage with Jan about the key Balanced Literacy instruction principles found in her book Who鈥檚 Doing the Work. After the meeting, the group was eager for more professional development. In fact, they wished to provide a similar opportunity for all CCUSD elementary teachers.
鈥淒uring the Cotsen fellowship, we focused intently as a district on CGI Math practices,鈥� said Alicia Jackson. 鈥淗owever, we are currently only in the beginning stages of learning next generation literacy practices. Our teachers have not been exposed to all the components of Balanced Literacy and we believed that if we could find a way of providing a week-long professional development opportunity for our teachers in CCUSD, we would reach teachers and staff in powerful ways.鈥�
Loyola Marymount University partnered with CCUSD and Cotsen to help the CCUSD teachers grow in their math practices during their ART of TEACHING fellowship. This partnership meant that every CCUSD Cotsen Fellow focused on math as their primary area of concentration. This unique opportunity between LMU, Cotsen, and CCUSD, helped to create a rich culture of collaboration in professional learning among the elementary schools in Culver City. Their journey to deepen their math practice also primed the team to shift their focus to exploring and implementing best practices in literacy.
After the virtual meeting with Jan Burkins the alumni mentors decided to apply for a Cotsen Foundation鈥檚 Strategic Opportunity Grant. This grant would focus on studying next-generation reading and literacy practices through a variety of learning entry points for all five elementary schools, and involved 120 teachers, three district-level administrators, and five principals.
The grant was received and approved by the foundation and Jan Burkins was engaged to present the week-long workshop for CCUSD from January 14th to January 18th.
鈥淭he teachers here in Culver City were ready for another nudge in their professional practice,鈥� said Rebecca Lynch, Director of Elementary Curriculum and Instruction. 鈥淲e are still new to Balanced Literacy, so having this chance to learn from an expert like Jan Burkins is so beneficial for our teachers.鈥�
The beginning of the week included two workshop days at La Ballona Elementary for Transitional Kindergarten through 2nd-grade teachers, which was followed by a mid-week keynote speech from Jan Burkins at the Robert Frost Auditorium for all of CCUSD to attend in the afternoon. The week-long event concluded with two workshop days at El Rincon Elementary for 3rdgrade through 5thgrade teachers.
鈥淭he teachers here have been so amazing to work with,鈥� said Jan Burkins on the full-week workshop. 鈥淓veryone seems so present and willing to step up and engage in this work. We were able to really dive deeply into Who鈥檚 Doing the Work. It鈥檚 my hope that they take with them a posture of experimentation and willingness to take risks. It鈥檚 so important to open yourself up to trying new things like the prompting funnel I presented or balancing your schedules and text selections.鈥�
鈥淭his whole week we really received some amazing tips on how to do the work and reflect more purposefully so we can be better at what we do,鈥� said Carla Madrid, an Instructional Coach for the district. 鈥淲e鈥檙e so thankful for Cotsen and the grant funding which enabled us to bring this type of learning to our schools and teachers. All of this work we are doing affects our students and meeting their needs, that鈥檚 ultimately our goal.鈥�
As an author and literacy consultant, Jan Burkins works closely with schools and districts, facilitating staff development, conducting in-class demonstrations, and developing curriculum. The extensive work in literacy research of Jan Burkins and Kim Yaris, her co-author, has had an immense impact on the academic lives of students by helping to shape the instructional practices of teachers. The foundation extends a huge thank you in appreciation for Jan Burkins鈥� time and work with our participants.