Anchin Center at USF: Spring 2023

We hope this spring newsletter finds you very well. We are excited to connect with you to share some of our recent work in partnership with teachers and school leaders, as well as preview our upcoming efforts for the spring semester. As always, the mission of the Anchin Center is to work with K-12 teachers toward restructuring schools in ways that improve the quality of education, and to restructure the teaching profession in ways that enhance our ability to attract and retain able teachers. We look forward to our continued partnership in 2023!

In order to continue to receive our newsletters, please be sure to subscribe to our mailing list. To learn more about the David C. Anchin Center, please visit our website.

Featured in this newsletter:

• Anchin Center Partners with WEDU PBS Television
• Gulf Coast Partnership News and Updates
• Fall Professional Development Highlights
• AP Summer Institute Registration is Open
• Upcoming Professional Development Offerings
• What We're Reading & Watching

Researchers from the David C. Anchin Center are partnering with WEDU PBS television to evaluate and assess educational needs of children in the 11-county viewership area served by Florida West Coast Public Broadcasting, Inc. The project centers on parents, caretakers, educators, and community resource personnel involved with children in preschool through third grades. The needs assessment project is led by Dr. James Hatten and Dr. Lauren Braunstein, both Associate Professors of Instruction in the University of South Florida College of Education's Department of Educational and Psychological Studies. They are joined by doctoral students Dana Roberts and Jessica O'Brien, both in the College of Education.

The David C. Anchin Center team is conducting surveys and moderating online focus groups with a variety of stakeholders todetermine key educational needs in Citrus, Desoto, Hardee, Hernando, Highlands, Hillsborough, Manatee, Pasco, Pinellas, Polk, and Sarasota counties. The project aims to identify programming and curricular needs to support school readiness for WEDU PBS's educational outreach initiatives. The Anchin Center thanks Joan Freese, Director of Education at WEDU PBS, for partnering with us on this important project.

The Gulf Coast Partnership Program (GCP) is completing its 11th yearlong cohort by assisting partnership districts with the training and education of their Level II Principal Certification candidates. This year's group will bring the cumulative total to 565 people who have successfully finished the program.

The purpose of the GCP is to "prepare the very best first-year principals by exploring and tapping into strengths, enhancing relationships, and developing stronger systems and subsystems that enable you and your schools to achieve the excellent results you seek."

The GCP is focusing on developing excellence in the following five leadership areas.

1. Vision, Core Beliefs, and Purpose
2. Major Systems and Subsystems
3. Deep understanding of student learning and achievement
4. Developing Relationships
5. Recognize and use the school's as well as individual strengths

Each year in May, the current cohort finishes their activities and final yearlong project presentation, and at the same time, the new cohort kicks off their orientation. Next year, our 12th cohort will have a hybrid experience with important face-to-face and online activities to create a well-rounded experience.

The GCP thanks the David C. Anchin Center and its district partners, Polk, Hernando, Manatee, Glade, Hendry, and the Heartland Consortium, for their continued support.

The Advanced Placement (AP) Summer Institute, is a College Board endorsed program that provides professional development to AP teachers. Through the Advanced Placement™ program, College Board provides a way for high school students to earn free college credits while taking high school courses. Taking Advanced Placement courses exposes students to college level coursework and begins preparing them to think more critically.

The AP Summer Institute provides teachers the opportunity to learn how to teach their course from College Board-approved consultants. These consultants are experts in their subject areas and work with College Board as AP readers, graders, and table leaders. Not only is this an opportunity to learn directly from College Board experts, but also from other instructors from all over the world! This 4-day intensive training is designed to enhance the AP teacher's skills, ability, and knowledge of their subject regardless of their experience level.

This workshop offers a unique learning experience for teachers who are interested in expanding their knowledge of AP course content, structure, and methodology. In addition, the workshops afford teachers the opportunity to interact with colleagues and to discuss issues and concerns surrounding the AP courses they will teach.

This workshop is part of a larger professional development series, Join the Movement. The New IQ® is an assessment developed by Minds-In-Motion’s Candace Meyer to help educators, parents, and therapists better understand how movement impacts learning, cognition, and self-regulation. Using technology developed for astronaut research at NASA, as well as everyday tools, the various tests included in the New IQ® (Integration Quotient®), we are given a pioneering perspective about the importance of the vestibular system as it relates to optimal human performance.

• February 25, 2023 // 9:00am-4:00pm

• 9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.

• Registration fee: $95

• February 27 - April 9, 2023
  
• Online and self-paced
• Registration: $295

This online professional development course is designed for classroom teachers to explore the science of reading and developmental models of reading.

A focus on phonological/phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary development, comprehension, and foundational, inclusive literacy practices are central topics we will explore throughout the 6-week session. Through the exploration of these topics, teachers will consider implications for explicit, systematic literacy instruction and multisensory literacy interventions for children with decoding difficulties, dyslexia, and broader reading challenges.

The goal of this course is to provide a platform for practicing teachers to explore flexible and skillful use of developmentally appropriate instructional strategies for planning inclusive, responsive, and culturally relevant instruction for all students.

The Science of Reading professional development course satisfies the Florida Department of Education’s 40-hour learning hours requirement in reading instruction. Florida statute 6A-4.0051 requires 40 hours of professional learning “in the use of explicit, systematic, and sequential approaches to reading instruction, developing phonemic awareness, and implementing multisensory intervention strategies” for recertification of teachers renewing various teaching certifications (e.g., elementary education, primary education, middle grades, education, English education, reading, and others).

USF Faculty and students are welcome to join us in this weekly series to explore the educational potential of virtual reality and video games through live demonstrations and discussions.

Wednesdays, 4:00 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.

EDU 213

Free to attend

Supercharge your school with student leaders who can positively impact your school’s culture! Cultivating Leaders and Intentional Culture (CLIC) is partnering with the David C. Anchin Center for the Advancement of Teaching to offer a pilot student leadership institute program for interested schools. CLIC has been successfully operating in schools in both Pasco County and Hillsborough County, and we’re looking to expand this opportunity to the broader Tampa Bay area.

When students understand the value of building relationships to meet school-wide goals, the goals are more meaningful. Students who are an integral part in implementation and execution of their school's improvement plan have a true feeling of ownership towards the school and its mission. Creating a culture of empowered, compassionate, and confident students will also generate a legacy of leaders who enter high school to learn, and depart to serve their respective communities. CLIC is designed to develop leaders who will create positive relationships, community connections, and intentional kindness in and out of the classroom.

• March 11, 2023
  
• 9:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. EST
• TECO Hall, College of Education, USF Tampa Campus
• Lunch will be provided
• Free to attend

Brain Gym® is in the field of educational kinesiology — the study of movement and its relationship to learning. It is based on a series of 26 seemingly simple movements performed in a very specific, intentional way. The movements are safe and effective for people of all ages, and thousands of practitioners all over the world have used them to bring about rapid and dramatic improvements in reading, writing, organization, communication, focus, attention, and self-regulation. Brain Gym® is used in over 80 countries and has been translated into more than 50 languages. Join us to learn more!

• March 25, 2023
• 9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
• USF College of Education, TECO Hall, Tampa campus
• Registration: $155

As we near the spring exam season, join us for “Sage on the Side,” a workshop designed to assist teachers in centering student voice, engagement, and productivity in the classroom, even as they help students prepare for big exams like EoCs and AP/IB tests. “Sage on the Side” is a teaching method that aims to enable student mastery of curriculum by focusing on building knowledge in students with the teacher in the role of the resident expert.

• April 6, 13, and 20
• 6:00 – 7:30 p.m.
• ONLINE
• Cost to attend: FREE

Bal-A-Vis-X® is a brain integration program that integrates the senses of BALance, AUDitory, and VISion using rhythmic eXercises done with beanbags or racquetballs while standing on the ground or on a balance board. The program consists of 200+ exercises, each rooted deeply in rhythm. Exercises address visual tracking deficiencies and auditory imprecision, impulsivity, balance, and anxiety issues. By virtue of teachable techniques (not athleticism), Bal-A-Vis-X® enables body systems to experience the flow of a pendulum, thereby affording brain systems calm and sustained focus.

• April 22 & 23, 2023
• 9:00am-4:00pm
• TECO Hall, College of Education, USF Tampa campus
• Registration Fee: $175

• 4 Steps for Building Strong Relationships with Students and Colleagues
• What will ChatGPT Mean for Teaching?
• How Diverse Voices Strengthen Schools
• Preparing Principals through High Quality Internships

The mission of the David C. Anchin Center for the Advancement of Teaching is to collaborate with teachers, school leaders, districts, and other educators to improve the quality of education for students and to transform the teaching profession to attract, retain, and develop quality educators. We achieve this mission through partnerships with schools, the broader educational community, business and industry, and the community at large.

Email: AnchinCenter@usf.edu
Website: usf.edu/education/anchin
Location: 4202 East Fowler Avenue, Tampa, FL, USA
Phone: 813-974-5959
Facebook: facebook.com/USFAnchin
Twitter: @USFAnchin