There’s a certain energy in the air as the calendar flips to December…excitement, anticipation, and just a little bit of chaos. The days before a long break can bring out the best (and the most distracted) sides of our students. They’re buzzing with plans, sugar, and emotions and teachers are running on coffee and countdowns.…

As teachers, we know how much our students look forward to holidays and breaks. The excitement is contagious — the crafts, the decorations, the festive lessons — and sometimes we join in by marking the days with a holiday countdown. But after years of teaching, I realized something: holiday countdowns can actually create more stress…

Learning walks are a powerful tool for peer mentorship and coaching. It allows colleagues to observe each other in real time, taking note of the positive impact of instructional decisions. Watch live teaching with the same demographic of students under the same leadership style of an administrative team, teachers are able to easily envision what…

Summative evaluations help educators grow. They happen at the end of the school year and measure two main areas: how effective the teacher is and how much students have learned. Administrators review many kinds of data, such as classroom tests, state assessments, learning goals, informal checks, and evidence of professional learning. The principal then gives…

Live coaching is the act of providing in-the-moment cues to a teacher while they teach a lesson to students. These cues are discussed prior to using them so the teacher knows what it means and is able to adjust instructional decisions on the fly when the cue is provided. The goal of live coaching is…

Student choice and ownership is a way of passing the leadership baton to students in the classroom. Of course, this is an earned privilege over time that has required a lot of work on the part of the teacher. For example, teachers must thoroughly plan lessons to prevent misunderstandings and misbehaviors. They then must execute…

Student engagement is the art of keep students’ attention while simultaneously involving them in the process of their own learning. Teachers find student engagement to be an inviting challenge year after year as student interests and pop culture change. To be successful in engaging students during a lesson, a teacher has to know their content,…

Classroom management is a way to create structure for students to successfully operate in the learning space. The strategies teachers use are in efforts to create a positive and productive learning environment. Some aspects include building relationships, clear expectations, routines and procedures, and positive reinforcement. The goal for implementing a strong system is that it…

Lesson Design is a foundational process teachers engage in daily to meet the needs of the students they teach. Designing a lesson is not just filling in a lesson plan template. It is thinking through every inch of a lesson from start to finish- transitions, student pairings, higher order thinking questions and so forth. The…

The term “teacher leader” is used in education to describe any role that supports the growth of teachers. This may include role titles such as instructional coach, PD facilitator, subject area specialist, academic dean, administration, colleague mentor and even a cooperating teacher for student teachers. Regardless of the title, those who support the growth of…