Wunches

Action Steps for Educators Who Work with Multilingual Learners At-Risk of Being Deported – Friday April 25,2025
VIRTUAL 9:30am – 12:30pm

Multilingual learners (MLs) bring with them identities, circumstances, and stressors not often visible to the eyes of teachers. The narrative around mass deportations, as a result of the current political environment in the U.S., has heightened fear, anxiety, and desperation among those who
fall under the “undocumented” category. Not only multilingual students and their families need support during these extremely stressing times, but so do teachers and school personnel. This professional development initiative is designed to equip educators with the knowledge, skills, and strategies needed to support MLs who are at risk of being deported. The focus will be on addressing the psychological and emotional challenges these students face, including fear,
anxiety, stress, and desperation. Educators will be trained to create a supportive, safe, and inclusive environment that acknowledges these students’ unique needs while fostering their academic success and emotional well-being.

Led by: Solange Lopes-Murphy – Professor of Teaching English as a Second Language
Department of Special Education, Language, and Literacy
Curriculum and Instruction, Ph.D., Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1996

Progress Monitoring and Data-Based Decision Making in Reading and Math K-8  Friday 3/28/25

Facilitator: Dr. Lauren Foxworth.
This workshop will assist teachers and/or school personnel in utilizing basic skills benchmark data to determine who may benefit from progress monitoring between benchmarks. Additionally, teachers will learn to find, implement, and score progress monitoring assessments and to create graphic representations of student data. Creating graphic representations of student progress can improve collaboration and communication among teachers, other school personnel, and families and can guide decisions regarding the effectiveness of instruction, leading to increased student success. Learning Outcomes:
• Discuss methods for monitoring progress over time in reading and mathematics
• Create graphic representations of progress to enhance communication and collaboration, and to guide instruction
• Practice interpreting assessments across reading and mathematics and evaluating student response-to-intervention (RTI) • Learn to set individualized educational goals to support student success

Action Steps for Educators Who Work with Multilingual Learners At-Risk of Being Deported – Fri March 28, 2025

Multilingual learners (MLs) bring with them identities, circumstances, and stressors not often visible to the eyes of teachers. The narrative around mass deportations, as a result of the current political environment in the U.S., has heightened fear, anxiety, and desperation among those who
fall under the “undocumented” category. Not only multilingual students and their families need support during these extremely stressing times, but so do teachers and school personnel. This professional development initiative is designed to equip educators with the knowledge, skills, and strategies needed to support MLs who are at risk of being deported. The focus will be on addressing the psychological and emotional challenges these students face, including fear,
anxiety, stress, and desperation. Educators will be trained to create a supportive, safe, and inclusive environment that acknowledges these students’ unique needs while fostering their academic success and emotional well-being.

Led by: Solange Lopes-Murphy – Professor of Teaching English as a Second Language
Department of Special Education, Language, and Literacy
Curriculum and Instruction, Ph.D., Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1996

Facilitators: Amy Ballard, Lauren Foxworth, Ph.D, Barbara McCarty, Christopher Murphy, Laura Neuman, Steven Singer, Ph.D., Sevda Sadik

Amy (she/her) is an adult educator and curriculum writer. She holds a Master of Education degree with a focus on TESOL and adult literacy. Since 2013, she has worked in homes, community-based programs, and community colleges teaching High School Equivalency (HSE) exam preparation, English for speakers of other languages, writing composition, college readiness skills, and parenting skills to support child development. Amy currently designs and facilitates training and professional development opportunities for K-12 teachers, adult education programs, and higher education institutions. She is a facilitator for PHENND’s annual Trauma-Informed Teaching cohort and co-author of “Trauma-Informed Principles for Online Teaching and Learning Spaces”. Amy is passionate about offering professional development that prioritizes practical strategies based on trauma-informed principles to help educators and staff thrive in their learning environments. 

Laura (she/they) is a writer and educator with a background in dance and somatics. Laura has taught graduate and undergraduate courses in literature and creative writing at The College of New Jersey since 2016, and previously taught creative writing and composition at Temple University, Community College of Philadelphia, and Highline Community College in Des Moines, Washington. She has published three collections of poetry, and holds a Masters of Fine Arts in Writing from Bard College and a Masters in English (Creative Writing, Poetry) from Temple University. In 2018, Laura earned a first-year certificate from The Trauma Institute for a professional training in Somatic Experiencing, a technique for working with individuals and groups with trauma.

Steve Singer, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor of Deaf Education at The College of New Jersey, where he has worked since 2016. After completing a master’s degree in Deaf Education at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf, he was a middle school teacher and then earned a doctorate from Syracuse University in Cultural Foundations of Education and Disability Studies. His scholarship that spans deaf and disability studies is published in numerous national and international journals as well as book chapters. Being deaf and disabled himself informs his work that largely focuses on identity development and lived experience.

Dr. Lauren Foxworth is a full-time professor at The College of New Jersey and serves as Co-director of the Literacy Advancement Project at TCNJ. Dr. Foxworth earned her Ph.D. in special education from The Pennsylvania State University, where she conducted intervention research to strengthen writing quality and support self-regulation skills of students with high-incidence disabilities and struggling writers. Her work has been published in several peer-reviewed journals, including TEACHING Exceptional Children, Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, Intervention School & Clinic, Behavioral Disorders, International Journal of Research in Learning Disabilities, Reading & Writing Quarterly and Exceptionality. Dr. Foxworth is a certified special education teacher (k-12), with experience teaching students with disabilities across contents in inclusive and self-contained classroom settings in the NJ public school system.

Dr. Barbara McCarty has been teaching middle school for over 27 years, entering the profession as a 7th grade LA teacher and currently working as a middle school media specialist and adjunct professor in the Educational Technology department of New Jersey City University. With a focus on encouraging teachers to become effective curators and creators of digital content, Dr. McCarty not only provides ed. tech support and PD for the staff in her school, but she also collaborates with a variety of educational professionals presenting at state, national and international conferences like AMLE, NJASL, PETE&C and ISTE. Dr. McCarty has also been a faculty member of the 2021 Association of Middle Level Education’s Institute for Middle Level Leadership and a Mentor at the Smithsonian’s 2023 Diversity in STEM Education Summit. Because of her active contributions to her students and school community, Dr. McCarty has been honored by the Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of New Jersey as a New Jersey Teacher of the Year as well as by Axalta and the Philadelphia Eagles as an All-Pro teacher.

Christopher “Kit” Murphy is the Associate Provost and a Professor of Biology at The College of New Jersey. He taught his first class of general-education biology over 30 years ago as a post-doctoral associate, and since then, over 95% of his teaching has been with this population. For much of this time, he has used an issues-based approach to help students become interested in science and develop into empowered citizens capable of using reliable scientific information to make reasoned decisions. He has conducted animal behavior research and now studies student perceptions of the value of college general education. For the past eight years, he has been training New Jersey teachers in the issues approach as part of the Teachers as Scholars program at TCNJ and through the NJ Science Convention.

Sevda (they/them) is Math Learning Center Coordinator at Monmouth University and has experience teaching mathematics at both the secondary and collegiate levels. They hold a master’s degree in Integrative STEM Education from The College of New Jersey and a K-12 Supervisor Certification from Monmouth University. Sevda has developed mathematics curriculum focused on building literacy, increasing confidence, and crafting cross-curricular learning experiences.

Progress Monitoring and Data-Based Decision Making in Reading and Math K-8, January 24, 2025   SOLD OUT. ADDITIONAL DATE ADDED – Friday 3/28/25

Facilitator: Dr. Lauren Foxworth.
This workshop will assist teachers and/or school personnel in utilizing basic skills benchmark data to determine who may benefit from progress monitoring between benchmarks. Additionally, teachers will learn to find, implement, and score progress monitoring assessments and to create graphic representations of student data. Creating graphic representations of student progress can improve collaboration and communication among teachers, other school personnel, and families and can guide decisions regarding the effectiveness of instruction, leading to increased student success. Learning Outcomes:
• Discuss methods for monitoring progress over time in reading and mathematics
• Create graphic representations of progress to enhance communication and collaboration, and to guide instruction
• Practice interpreting assessments across reading and mathematics and evaluating student response-to-intervention (RTI) • Learn to set individualized educational goals to support student success

Time Management for Test-Takers  Friday, March 14, 2025

Facilitator: Amy Ballard
Who Should Attend: All Educators Welcome, K-12 Focus
When tests begin, time is of the essence! Time management for tests is a skill that we can practice with our students to set them up for success. In this workshop, we’ll consider some key time-management strategies to teach students so they’re equipped to move through the content swiftly and put their hard-earned knowledge on display instead of worrying about the clock.
Participants will gain practical tools to offer students as part of the test preparations. Building from a trauma-informed lens, tools will range from nervous system regulation techniques, to evaluating test material, to accessing accommodations. Many educators today work with neurodivergent students across a variety of settings. We will offer particular tools and approaches to time management and test-taking for working with neurodivergent learners. Together, we will explore how to seamlessly integrate time management practice into lessons and practice, whether for state standardized testing or a routine test administered in the classroom.

Scientific Information Literacy Fri-May-02-2025

Facilitator. Christopher Murphy
We have entered an age of mis- and disinformation, and it is becoming increasingly difficult for students to identify the reliable scientific information they need. This three-hour workshop provides participants with the tools they need to help students locate, evaluate, and use
scientific information.
 The importance of science information literacy
 Reliability vs. usefulness
 Criteria of reliability
 Activities to develop science information literacy
 A strategy for self-education when encountering new issues
 Authentic assessment of information literacy