Every year, the Cotsen Foundation provides a cost-free fellowship program for teachers all across Southern California. Last year, the ART of TEACHING impacted more educators than ever before. The 2017-2018 school year saw incredible growth for teachers and administrators and continues to show remarkable progress.
Here’s a little recap of what happened this past academic year:
ART of TEACHING Orientation
Each year the Cotsen Foundation gathers the new cohort of incoming mentors and fellows for orientation. On June 3rd, the foundation opened its ART of TEACHING fellowship program to 85 first year mentors and their fellows for a total of 180 participants for the 2017-2018. During orientation, new mentors and fellows learn about the scope of work in which they will engage during their two-year fellowship.
Mentor Academy
Just before the new school year begins, the foundation offers an initial two-day training session for all new mentors, as well as three days of follow-up training.
The Mentor Academy was created to provide incoming mentors with the tools and resources to help fellows develop their instructional skills, and prepare for year-round goal-setting and classroom observations. Cotsen mentors and fellows follow a coaching cycle of planning, observing, and debriefing. The mentors and fellows move through these stages to intentionally follow a line of inquiry about practice through multiple phases of planning, teaching, and reflecting on student outcomes.
Mentor Meetings
Each month, mentors gather together to connect with one another and grow their understandings of adult learning in order to effectively support their fellows’ professional growth. The mentors facilitate the meetings in pairs with some guidance from the foundation liaisons during a pre-planning session. A typical meeting can include the reading of research-based articles, discussion of newly formed thoughts of materials read or videos watched, and a review of logistical information.
At some point during each meeting, the liaisons meet with their assigned cohort of mentors to discuss any topic of interest that may not have been addressed in the whole-group meeting.
CGI Lab Days and Reading/Writing Workshop Trainings
The foundation prides itself on the outstanding professional development it provides the ART of TEACHING participants. This could not be accomplished without the cadre of exemplary consultants Cotsen employs to facilitate these learning opportunities. This year, The ART of TEACHING held more than 70 professional development trainings for its mentors, fellows, and principals.
Consultants for the 2017-2018 school year were:
CGI Math
Joan Case
Dr. Carolee Cohen Hurtado
Dr. Nick Johnson
Jennifer Kolb (Alumna Mentor)
Dr. Angela Chan Turrou
Writing Workshop/Reading Workshop
(Momentum in Teaching)
Tara Thomas
Cindy Wechsung
(Growing Educators)
Erin Donelson
Regina Kim
Jodi Manby
Jessica Martin
Technology
Dr. Sharon Sutton
School Site Visitations
The foundation provides multiple opportunities for current participants and alumni to attend school site visitations and observations. These visitation days are centered on one content focus: CGI Math, Reading Workshop, or Writing Workshop. This year, Alvarado Elementary School (Long Beach Unified School District) and Weaver Elementary School (Los Alamitos Unified School District) opened their classrooms to principals, administrators, invited guests, and fellows and mentors for observations and training sessions.
Principals’ Technology Network
Teachers were not the only ones to receive professional development and support this year. The ART of TEACHING provides support for principals as well as teachers. In 2014, the Cotsen Foundation established the Principals’ Technology Network (PTN). This year, PTN principals were offered more than 20 opportunities to attend conferences, a wide range of professional development trainings, and school site visitations.
The goal of the network is to team principals with a facilitator and a network of supportive colleagues, all of whom are interested in moving their schools forward in the use of thoughtful technology. The facilitators are typically Cotsen Alumni chosen by the foundation and assigned to coach no more than two principals over a two-year period of time. The facilitators are released for several days throughout the year to help principals identify and implement their technology goals.
The PTN functions under the leadership of Dr. Sharon Sutton, the foundation’s consultant for 21stcentury learning.
The 12th Annual ART of TEACHING Conference
On Saturday, Oct. 7th, 2017 over 500 educators attended the 12th Annual ART of TEACHING Conference at the Hyatt Regency Hotel and Long Beach Convention Center. The foundation gathered some of the most distinguished and prominent educators in the field to speak and provide a full-day of workshops and lectures for the conference participants.
Presenters included:
Dan Feigelson: One of the original members of Lucy Calkins’ Reading and Writing Project at Teachers College of Columbia University and author of “Reading Projects Reimagined” and “Practical Punctuation.”
Megan Franke:UCLA Professor and co-author of “Children’s Mathematics, Young Children’s Mathematics,” and“Thinking Mathematically.”
Matt Glover:Full-time educational consultant on young children’s literacy learning and co-author of “The Teacher You Want to Be,” “I Am Reading “ and “Projecting Possibilities for Writers.”
Georgia Heard: One of the founding members of the Reading and Writing Project at Teachers College and author of “Heart Maps,” “The Revision Toolbox,” and “Finding the Heart of Non-Fiction.”
Vicki Jacobs: Currently the Yopp Distinguished Professor in Mathematics Education at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro and co-author of “Mathematics Teacher Noticing: Seeing Things through Teachers’ Eyes.”
Ellin Keene: Consultant in literacy for schools and districts nationwide and globally and author of “Talk About Understanding: Rethinking Classroom,” “Talk to Enhance Understanding” and “To Understand: New Horizons in Reading Comprehension.” She is also the co-author of “Comprehension Going Forward” and “Mosaic of Thought: The Power of Comprehension Strategy Instruction.”
Kelly Gallagher (Keynote): High school ELA teacher, co-director of the South Basin Writing Project at California State University, Long Beach and the former president of the Secondary Reading Group for the International Literacy Association. He is also the author of “Readicide” and “Write Like This.”
STEAM Ahead Conference
This year marked the 3rd annual STEAM Ahead Conference, which was held on Saturday, February 24, 2018 at Robert C. Fisler School in Fullerton. Over 250 teachers, administrators, and district board members attended the event.
The STEAM Ahead Conference was inspired by the success of the PTN. It was developed by Sharon Sutton, (Cotsen consultant for 21st Century Learning and PTN program coordinator) and a team of PTN facilitators. The vision for STEAM Ahead is to provide an opportunity for educators to enhance and expand their ability to effectively implement cutting edge instructional practices in Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics.
Symposium for Superintendents
During the month of March, the foundation invited educational leaders from across Los Angeles and Orange Counties for a symposium that featured a panel of teachers, principals and district leaders, as well as special guest speaker Dr. Ilene Straus, California State Board of Education Vice President.
Attendees explored pertinent research on promoting and sustaining instructional excellence and heard the perspectives of superintendents, principals, and teachers who have experienced increases in the quality of instruction as the result of their association with the ART of TEACHING.
Year-End Luncheon
The Cotsen Foundation graduation ceremony known as the Year-End Luncheon is one of the foundation’s most treasured events. It not only marks mentor and fellows’ successful graduation from the two-year fellowship, it also represents the beginning of their journey as a Cotsen Alumni.
The graduation celebration of Cotsen Class of 2018 was held at the Skirball Cultural Center on May 20th . Kicking off the luncheon, Margit Sperling Cotsen, founding director and board chair, and Dr. Barry Munitz, president and director, welcomed fellows, mentors, alumni and administrators.
Speaking on behalf of the 2018 graduating class were the following representatives: (Click the link to watch on YouTube)
Sussan DeMatta, fellow, Old River Elementary, Downey
Dionna Spencer, fellow, Woodcrest Elementary, Fullerton
Patricia Arce-Marin, fellow, Robinson Academy, Long Beach
Dana Elliott, fellow, Wild Rose Elementary, Monrovia
Nancy Odell, fellow, Escalona Elementary, Norwalk-LaMirada
Carrie Smaker, fellow, Nelson Elementary, Tustin
Andrea Kabwasa, mentor, Burnett Elementary, Wiseburn
Concluding the program, Executive Director, Jerry Harris came to the lectern to thank his staff, and the graduates for their dedication to excellent teaching.
2018 Alumni Conference with Jennifer Serravallo
The Annual Cotsen Alumni Conference was held on June 13th at the Centre at Sycamore Plaza in Lakewood, California. Hundreds of educators converged for a day of learning with national speaker, literacy consultant, and New York Times bestselling author, Jennifer Serravallo at this popular event.
During the conference, Serravallo engaged attendees in a full-day workshop on teaching reading and writing in elementary grades. She offered a wealth of strategies for educators that support instructional excellence in those areas. Ms. Serravallo’s “The Writing Strategies Book” and “The Reading Strategies Book,” have been outstanding instructional texts for the foundation’s fellows, mentors and alumni studying Reading or Writing Workshop.