Penn Graduate School of Education

Join Penn GSE’s Office of Development and Alumni Relations for Food for Thought: bite-sized lectures from faculty experts! The second event in this series, Big Data and the Learning Sciences with Ryan Baker, takes place on 10/27, from 12:00-1:00 p.m. EST on Zoom and is free and open to all. Ryan Baker, Associate Professor in the Teaching, Learning, and Leadership division, researches how data can better be used to study and improve online learning. Learn more and register: https://www.alumni.upenn.edu/foodforthought_ryanbaker Penn Alumni

Join the Family Resource Center at Penn on November 5 to hear from Penn GSE's Dr. Vivian L. Gadsden, Dr. Marsha Richardson, and Dr. Howard C. Stevenson on "Parenting during Uncertain Times." Register through the Family Resource Center!

Don't miss this year's McGraw Prize in Education awards ceremony this Wednesday, October 21, honoring Estela Bensimon, Michelene Chi, and Joseph Krajcik. Register here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/2020-harold-w-mcgraw-jr-prize-

Join Penn GSE's Ebony Elizabeth Thomas for a talk on "Shadow Book: Tracing Black Fantastic Imagination from Endarkened Pasts to (Afro) Futures" next Friday, October 23 at 12 PM Eastern time! This timely and informative virtual presentation features a renowned scholar focused on children’s and adolescent texts, the teaching of African American literature, history, and culture in K-12 classrooms, and the roles that race, class, and gender play in classroom discourse and interaction. Please RSVP to [email protected].

We moved to distance/online learning last spring, but opened this school year live in the building, physically distanced, with a remote option that about 7 percent of our students are engaging, says Douglas Brophy, GRD’06, head of school at The Town School. We are continuing to monitor the virus’s trajectory closely and carefully, and would revert back to full distance learning if needed. Since June, we have held online listening sessions for all constituents: students, fa...culty and staff, parents, and alumni/ae. The sessions use protocols, through a series of prompts, encouraging participants to share experiences and perspectives on racial/racist experiences both in and out of our school. We have been anonymously recording the feedback, which will inform our ongoing work around equity, inclusion, and anti-racism. When we moved to online education last spring, we learned that we need to change three things: include more virtual live experiences, so students could interact with one another and their teachers more frequently; create more small-group experiences, allowing for more participation; and have the days mirror as much as possible a typical school day, thereby creating a familiar structure. Penn GSE welcomes news of how our alumni are addressing current crises as educators and leaders. Share your work with us: https://bit.ly/penngse-alumni-stories Penn Alumni

In an interview with the National Writing Project, Penn GSE alum Robert Rivera-Amezola, a digital literacy teacher at the Francis Scott Key School in the School District of Philadelphia and teacher-consultant with the Philadelphia Writing Project at the University of Pennsylvania, discusses insights that came from watching students chat with each other online during non-teacher directed time. Over the course of the interview, Rivera-Amezola describes working with his students on a quarantine journal and speculates about how teachers might better consider ways to connect with families during learning-from-home time. https://youtu.be/oUIgHEYGqYk

On October 21, Penn GSE will showcase innovation in education by honoring this year’s McGraw Prize winners: Estela Bensimon, Michelene Chi, and Joseph Krajcik. Join Penn President Amy Gutmann, Penn GSE Dean Grossman, the McGraw family and others as we commemorate the winners’ contributions at the 2020 Harold W. McGraw, Jr. Prize in Education Celebration. RSVP now and register for this event: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/2020-harold-w-mcgraw-jr-prize-

In a recent The Parent Scoop podcast episode, Penn Alumni Amna Nawaz, senior national correspondent, primary substitute anchor for the PBS NewsHour, and mom of two, speaks with Penn GSE's Ameena Ghaffar-Kucher about ways to introduce children to the news, how to maintain a healthy news diet, and about representation in the media. https://theparentscoop.net/navigating-the-news

There is a joint crisis in STEM education and career opportunities in many parts of rural America. Third Room, this year's Milken-Penn GSE Education Business Plan Competition grand prize winner, wants to change that by connecting rural students and teachers with biotech firms and professionals for meaningful learning experiences. CloudLabs and Fulphil also walked away with prizes! Catch up on this year's finals: https://www.gse.upenn.edu//milken-penn-gse-business-plan-c