News

June 12, 2023

WIDA Early Years Program to Sunset in June

WIDA and the Pennsylvania Office of Child Development and Early Learning (OCDEL) will sunset the WIDA Early Years Membership Program for Pennsylvania on June 30.

Consequently, the four current, free, one-hour, self-paced, WIDA Early Years trainings in the PD Registry will no longer be available beginning July 1, and anyone completing WIDA Early Years training coursework must do so by July 1 to receive credit for the training.

Still, trainers who completed the WIDA cohort may still offer in-person WIDA courses in the PD Registry for a fee.

About the WIDA Early Years Membership Program

WIDA Early Years Membership Program promotes equitable early care and education (ECE) opportunities for young, multilingual children through partnerships with state agencies.

Though the program will end on June 30, WIDA will continue to make PreK–3 resources available on the WIDA website under “Early Language Development” or “Teaching in PreK–3.” Additionally, OCDEL will make dual language resources available on the Pennsylvania Key website.

Future WIDA Offerings

Beginning September 1, WIDA will offer two new PreK-3 resources:

  • A new self-paced workshop, “Exploring the WIDA PreK-3 Essential Actions,” will introduce educators to the new WIDA PreK-3 Essential Actions. Educators will have an opportunity to build their knowledge and understanding of the Essential Actions and to reflect on their own ideologies, practices, and settings.
    • Access to the course will require a WIDA Secure Portal account. Search the training calendar in the PD Registry for “Exploring the WIDA PreK-3 Essential Actions” or contact Barry Wiestling at bwiestling@pa.gov for information about how to set up a WIDA Secure Portal account and access this and other WIDA self-paced offerings.
  • A new, “Are We Ready?” resource will support PreK–3 educators to promote and provide equitable transitions for multilingual children and their families. This resource will be available on the WIDA website.

Learn More

Please contact Barry Wiestling at bwiestling@pa.gov with questions.

To learn more, visit the WIDA website.

News

October 20, 2021

Online Toolkit to Support Multilingual Students in Pre-K to Third Grade

Early Edge California and American Institutes for Research (AIR) released the Multilingual Learning Toolkit last month, an online hub of research-and evidence-based instructional resources and strategies on how to best-support multilingual learners (MLs) in grades pre-k to three.

Additional Information

The Multilingual Learning Toolkit website provides an overview of foundational principles of dual language learning and development. Additionally, educators can access a wide variety of instructional strategies and resources related to the following areas:

  • Family Engagement
  • Social-emotional Health and Development
  • Classroom Environment
  • Oral Language Development
  • Literacy Development
  • Bilingual Classrooms
  • Home Language Development
  • Additional ELD Strategies
  • Content Learning
  • Assessment
  • Building Educators’ Capacity

New resources will be added on an ongoing basis. While the Toolkit draws heavily from California-based policies, programs, and resources, practitioners across the country may find value in accessing this online hub of research-based, asset-focused principles.

News

June 22, 2020

WIDA Communication Strategies to Support Multilingual Children

Are you interested in learning developmentally appropriate strategies to support multilingual children in your early learning program? Join Trying Together Innovative Learning Strategist Mimi Loughead from July 13 through August 3 for a three-week online course, “WIDA Communication Strategies to Support Multilingual Children.”

About

During this three-week online course, participants will identify and apply developmentally appropriate academic language demands of routines, social interactions, and learning experiences for multilingual learners. Also, participants will learn about language supports to use in their environments to provide multiple meaningful opportunities for multilingual learners to use their own languages through the use of WIDA Early Years resources.

Course Details

    • Timeline: July 13 – August 3, 2020 (Three Weeks, Self-Guided)
    • Instructor: Mimi Loughead
    • CKC: K5.3 C2 and K5.7 C2
    • Keystone STARS Alignment: SQ. 3.4.3
    • CDA Subject Area: Understanding principles of child development.
    • Three PQAS and ACT 48 hours available.

Registration

To register, visit the event webpage. All registrations must be submitted by Friday, July 10. Space is limited.

More Information

For more information, contact Community Engagement Assistant Rosie Hogan at rosie@tryingtogether.org.

News

December 10, 2019

Personal Bias in the Multicultural and Multilingual Child Care Setting

WIDA Examining Personal Bias in the Multicultural and Multilingual Child Care Setting” will define multiculturalism and multilingual learning and bring participants to a level of awareness about bias in society. It will expose ways in which our culture contains subtle and obvious biases. Participants will reflect on their own level of awareness and how it changed due to classroom activities. Part I: This workshop will define multiculturalism and help participants understand how to incorporate and celebrate true multiculturalism within the classroom.

Participants will identify the parts of their curriculum that need work and change in order to remain anti-biased. Participants will develop an action plan for each area of their curriculum that will allow them to implement changes immediately.

Learning Objectives

Upon completion of this course, learners will be able to:

    • examine personal bias about their community, cultures, and personal lives;
    • recognize how to embrace a variety of cultural and linguistic backgrounds from a strengths-based approach; and
    • plan changes in curriculum and practice to reflect learning experiences from the training.

Registration

To register and learn more, visit the PD Registry website.

More Information

For questions, please contact Annie Skamangas-Scaros at 412.608.2594 or ecetacademy@gmail.com.

For more educational courses like this, please visit our Course page.

*Information provided by the Pennsylvania Key

News

March 15, 2019

ADP Symposium 2019: Multilingual and Multicultural Education for Young Children

Join Trying Together and the University of Pittsburgh School of Education for the annual ADP Symposium. This year’s topic is on multilingual and multicultural education in early childhood, featuring keynote presenter Dr. Beth Sondel from the University of Pittsburgh, and panelists Dr. Vincenne Revilla Beltran from Point Park University, Dr. Xia Chao from Duquesne University, Stephany McMullen from the AIU Latino Family Center, and Dr. Shannon Wanless from the University of Pittsburgh.

Monday, April 1, 2019
6:00 – 7:30 p.m.
University of Pittsburgh
David Lawrence Hall

Purpose

This symposium aims to explore the importance of multilingual and multicultural education for young children and educate current and aspiring teachers and childcare workers on how to engage in multilingual and multicultural developmentally appropriate practices in early childhood classrooms. It also touches on building inclusive and diverse curricula for all classrooms. Pittsburgh is on the rise as one of the most diverse cities and has an increasing population of immigrant and refugee families over the past few years. This creates need for equal representation of languages and cultures in educational settings, and for this curriculum to be included in childcare institutions and homes.

Opportunity

By joining Trying Together—which serves young children and families in supporting education—and the Pitt School of Education, we see this as an opportunity for an open dialogue about educational growth for young children from the perspective of a culturally responsive approach. It will also promote awareness of the benefits of multilingual and multicultural education for young children, neurologically, psychologically, and socio-emotionally.

Register

This event is sold out and is no longer accepting registrations.