The Institute for Literacy Studies at Lehman College advances urban education reform by strengthening literacy and mathematics teaching and by supporting teachers as key educational decision-makers. We conduct professional development, program evaluation, and research projects in educational settings ranging from schools to colleges and community organizations.
On Wednesday December 10, our weekly webcast Teachers Teaching Teachers (TTT) hosted a discussion on bringing social justice and current events into the classroom and helping students to process their feelings around recent high profile instances of police violence, systemic racism, and injustice in America. Afterwards, one of the panelists in this discussion, Renée Watson, a NYC educator and author, sat down with the School Library Journal (SLJ) in an article that both explored the TTT broadcast and her own approach to engaging students around these issues. We encourage everyone to view the TTT broadcast and to read SLJ’s interview with Renée.
Meghan McNamara, a teacher at the Adult Learning Center, was a featured contributor to the Fall 2014 Webinar Series on science teaching and learning hosted by the National College Transition Network. Meghan shared her work on BPAs, done in the context of Project RISE. You can view the webinar here.
Meghan's section begins at 33:20.
Presentation slides for the entire webinar are here.
Last year's Youth Voices summer program for high school students and teachers was a resounding success. Please enjoy this video, created by Jim Nordlinger and his colleagues at the New York City Writing Project, to learn more about this connected-learning pilot.
Youth Voices has just published a book of student work from the 2013 Summer Program. Please find it here.
We are pleased to share the first of three videos focusing on Youth Voices, the New York City Writing Project's online platform for developing and publishing student work. This video highlights the pedagogy behind Letters to the Next Mayor, which involved NYCWP teachers and students at different grade levels in a project blending writing, research, and civic engagement.
Join the New York City Mathematics Project (NYCMP) on Saturday, April 25, for our annual NYCMP conference. This year's conference, entitled Let's Talk Math, is designed to provide K-16 professional development to enhance mathematics teaching and learning. A certificate for 5 hours of professional development will be awarded for attendance. For more information and to register, please contact Suzanne Libfeld at suzanne.libfeld@lehman.cuny.edu.
The ILS is pleased to congratulate Dr. Jaye Jones, the director of the Adult Learning Center for her recent acceptance of the Phyllis Cunningham Social Justice Award. The Adult Education Research Conference (AERC) presented this award jointly to Jaye and to Professor Dianne Ramdeholl of SUNY’s Empire State College for their co-written and co-presented paper, “Weaving Quilts: Remaking and Reimagining Women’s Spaces and Places in Adult Literacy.” Drawing on their research within adult literacy programs in Chicago and Brooklyn, this paper explores “adult literacy pedagogical practices from a gendered, social justice perspective” while also making “recommendations for creating more democratic adult education learning communities.”
Congratulations again Jaye!
The Institute for Literacy Studies is thrilled to announce the receipt of grants totaling $50,000 from the Hive Digital Media Learning Fund of The New York Community Trust and the National Writing Project/Educator Innovator Network. These grants will fund the Youth Voices Inquiry Project (YVIP), a partnership of the New York City Writing Project and BronxNet TV. Please read the NYCWP's press release here and The New York Community Trust's press release here.
Read our 2013-2014 annual report here.[PDF]