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Wisconsin State Reading Association

Dear WSRA members,

Welcome to another year of leadership, advocacy, and professional learning through the Wisconsin State Reading Association. As this year’s president, I want to thank you for all you do to promote effective literacy instruction for students in Wisconsin. In this constantly changing world, we urgently need educators who understand the complexity of literacy, continually build expertise to help students use language meaningfully to survive and thrive, and advocate for policies that support literacy learning for all.

Since you are a member of WSRA, you must know the importance of building your own knowledge base through reading professional materials, attending workshops, and taking classes. You certainly know that you need to  “Do Your Own Thing” to keep up with what is current in the field of literacy and to implement literacy practices in classrooms. But, by joining this professional organization, you must realize that personal PD and doing your own thing in your classroom behind a closed door can only take you so far.

Collaborative professionalism, the topic of the summer institute presentation by Andy Hargreaves, is at the core of what WSRA is all about. By working together professionally, WSRA members can learn and do so much more than we can by working alone. By identifying our collective beliefs, we have a Red Thread of meaning and purpose that we can hold onto together as we meet the challenges educators face each day of our professional lives. By recognizing our own and each other’s strengths, we can combine our professional expertise and experience to address the individual and collective needs of our organization, ourselves, our students, and the education system in our state.

Throughout the 2018/2019 school year, WSRA will be exploring the idea of collaborative professionalism and reflecting upon how our organization can work effectively to carry out our mission, vision, and beliefs. Stay tuned for information throughout the year on ways you can collaborate professionally with other WSRA members.

I look forward to working and learning with you.

With kind regards,
Deborah Cromer
2018/2019 WSRA President

 

February 7-9, 2019 #WSRA19 convention at the Wisconsin Center in Milwaukee, WI 
Literacy Excellence: Equity, Engagement, and Empowerment 

WSRA received 152 session proposals for the #wsra19 convention. Thank you! We will be in touch in August. 
Registration for the #wsra19 convention will open in October of 2018.  

 

WSRA's Newest Board of Directors Members
Deborah Cromer, WSRA 2018-2019 President;
Michelle Mullen, Third Vice President;
Amanda DeVries, Southwest Zone Coordinator;
Brian Perrodin, Central Zone Coordinator;
Tanya Evans, Southeast Zone Coordinator; 
Mark Rajkovich, Director of Membership; &
Tom Leis, Public Relations Liaison

WSRA's Upcoming Events

Reading Council Meetings!   See the WSRA event calendar

August 2, 2018
Andy Hargreaves: Collaborative Professionalism: The Next Frontier for Teacher Leadership  Register here.  Andy Hargreaves has written the book on professional collaboration. But, as he and his colleague, Michael O’Connor, have realized, there is so much more to learn about it still. Lesson study, job-alike networks, professional learning communities, data-teams, peer reviews: what are the different ways for teachers to collaborate to improve student learning? Which ones are better or worse than the others? How do teachers collaborate differently across systems, countries and cultures? 

    • Learn about different kinds of collaborative practice to improve student learning
    • Analyze sample cases to better understand the complexity, benefits, and challenges of professional collaboration.
    • Discuss how professional collaboration can be leveraged to address diverse educational challenges such as student engagement in rural communities, transforming learning in indigenous communities and creating collaboration for equity between school districts.
    • Reflect on how you can adopt deeper elements of professional collaboration in your own practice.
    • Engage in and learn from a range of collaborative practices within the workshop itself.
August 3, 2018 WSRA Leadership group: This registration link will allow you to for register for the August 1 Board of Directors meeting, the August 2 institute with Andy Hargreaves, and/or the August 3 Leadership meetings. It is the same link as provided above. If you would like to reserve a hotel room at the Hyatt Regency in Milwaukee, it is due by July 2, 2018. The registration closes on July 30, 2018. Look for your confirmation email.  If you do not receive a confirmation email after registering, please contact Joyce by email at [email protected]. 

August 8, 2018 
WSRA and the Reading & Technology Committee present: Pernille Ripp: Passionate Learners:  A Path to Personalize the Learning, Holiday Inn & Convention Center, Stevens Point, WI    Register here.  Passionate Learners: Would you want to be a student in your own classroom? In this workshop based on 7th grade teacher Pernille Ripp’s book Passionate Learners: How to Engage and Empower Your Students, Pernille will help both novice and seasoned educators create a positive, interactive learning environment where students drive their own academic achievement. You’ll discover how to make fundamental changes to your classroom so learning becomes an exciting challenge rather than a frustrating ordeal. 

To make reservations for the Holiday Inn by phone, please call 715-344-0200 and press #3. When making reservations, please reference the group name Wisconsin State Reading Association and the group block code: REA.

All reservations must be made by July 8th.

September 14-15, 2018 
Fall Leadership, Radisson Hotel, La Crosse, WI

November 9-10, 2018
November Leadership, The Osthoff Resort in Elkhart Lake, WI 

April 5-6, 2019
Spring 2019 Leadership, Marriott Milwaukee West, Waukesha, WI 

Contact WSRA
[email protected]  phone 262-514-1450
909 Rock Ridge Road, Burlington, WI 53105
Last Updated on Friday, June 22, 2018 05:04 PM