College of Education News

Get ready for the Literacy Conference

by

The College of Education strives to provide teachers with a well-rounded, practical and engaging teacher preparation program.

This year, the COE will host a Literacy Conference to help educators deepen their knowledge of literacy instruction and connect with other educators.

“I attended a literacy conference when I first started teaching, and it still impacts my teaching today,” said Dr. Stacie Finley, assistant professor of literacy at Missouri State University.

“Knowing how beneficial that conference was for teachers in the area, we wanted to bring a similar experience for educators to MSU.”

The conference includes events Sept. 21-22. Registration is encouraged but not required.

Check out the detailed schedule

Sept. 21

Guest speaker

Lester Laminack, a nationally recognized writer and educator, will speak at 6 p.m. in Plaster Student Union Theater.

Laminack is an award-winning author with over 25 books for children and teachers. He is a professor emeritus in birth-kindergarten, elementary and middle grades education at Western Carolina University.

Anyone interested in education is welcome.

Sept. 22

Opening session

Laminack will open the second day of the conference with a speech at 8:45 a.m. in Carrington Hall, Room 208.

Preservice teachers and early career educators with less than three years of teaching experience are welcome.

Breakout sessions

COE will host breakout sessions all day dedicated to literacy learning. Breakout sessions begin at 10 a.m. in Hill Hall, Room 201 and 301.

The sessions will cover topics like diverse and multicultural texts, writer’s workshop, demystifying dyslexia and more.

Preservice teachers and early career educators with less than three years of teaching experience are welcome.

Support from DESE

All events are free for attendees, courtesy of the Missouri Path Forward Theory into Practice Grant from Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE).

“Having the opportunity to feature a well-known national speaker like Lester Laminack, as well as area literacy experts, is a great chance for our undergraduate students and recent graduates to get new ideas and learn more about teaching reading and writing,” said Dr. Kayla Lewis, associate professor of literacy and assistant director for the School of Teaching, Learning and Developmental Science at MSU.

For more information, contact Dr. Stacie Finley at StacieFinley@MissouriState.edu or Dr. Kayla Lewis at KaylaLewis@MissouriState.edu.

Register for the conference

Discover a more authentic Native American experience

by

When members of a majority group adopt a cultural element of a minority group in a disrespectful, stereotypical or exploitative way, that’s cultural appropriation.

In the last several years, many people have opened their eyes to this practice. They’ve taken notice and made changes to show respect and spread inclusivity.

Dr. Kayla Lewis, associate professor of literacy at Missouri State University, is a member of the Chickasaw Nation out of Oklahoma. One of her goals is to offer more accurate depictions of native people in classrooms.

Newer literature more representative and accurate

Facts destroy stereotypes

“A lot of books published pre-2010 reinforce stereotypes of Native American people. They don’t show history as it actually was. They sugarcoat and gloss over the atrocities,” Lewis said.
“They show Native Americans wearing feather head dresses, roaming the plains and hunting buffalo. In fact, only 3% of Native American people actually were in that population.”
With over 500 tribes currently, no one piece of literature will represent the diversity in native cultures, she noted.
That’s one more reason that Native American literature should be made widely available and should not just be highlighted each November (in Native American Heritage Month).
“Teaching Native Americans around Thanksgiving tends to reinforce the stereotype,” Lewis said. “I encourage the use of multicultural literature throughout the school year. This gives students a broader perspective.”

Mascots aren’t honoring the heritage

Lewis works to spread awareness about cultural appropriation of native people at diversity conferences, in classrooms and during trainings worldwide.

One hot topic is the use of native people or symbols in athletics or as mascots.

“A lot of people say, ‘We’re just honoring the heritage.’ But when you think about other races or other cultures, we don’t have them as mascots. It would be seen as very offensive,” Lewis said. “Yet, for some reason, it’s okay if we do that with Native people.”

She noted that there has been movement on this issue recently.

“At the national level, we’re starting to see some sports teams change their mascots because they have come to realize that it’s not appropriate,” she said. “Hopefully, that trickle down will happen into other parts of the United States.”

Read transcript