An Inspired Teacher for every child - Center for Inspired Teaching

September 14, 2016

This piece by Jane Ehrenfeld, Inspired Teaching’s Executive Director, appeared in Inspired Teaching’s September 2016 newsletter.

Think back, for a moment, to your school days. Which teacher – or, if you were lucky, teachers – made you most excited to come to school? Who sparked your curiosity, honored your intelligence, nurtured your emotional wellbeing, and made school a place of joy and adventure? Take a moment to remember the superstar(s) of your school experience. And then ask yourself: why weren’t all my teachers like that?

We need great teachers nationwide if we hope to prepare all students to thrive in and contribute to our complex and rapidly changing world. Unfortunately, most schools prize compliance, and many strong teachers, who would otherwise be great, find themselves compelled to use rote teaching methods and to rely on prizes and punishments in order to achieve silent, still classrooms. Since our founding in 1995, Center for Inspired Teaching has worked in partnership with teachers to shift that norm. With our new strategic plan, we are ready to extend our impact even more, working with new teachers, schools, communities, and partners across the country.

As participants in the Re-imagine Learning Globalizer, an Ashoka initiative run in partnership with the LEGO Foundation, Inspired Teaching was paired with an advisory team of global business leaders and McKinsey consultants. They challenged us to imagine a world in which we have managed to put ourselves out of business because every child now experiences engagement-based education and learns to thrive. What would it take to get there?

With the support of our partners, Inspired Teaching identified three key areas that need to change in order to ensure nationwide adoption of engagement-based education. First, teacher training programs need to equip teachers with the right tools, methods, and mindsets to create engagement-based classrooms. Second, institutional norms need to be more supportive of engagement-based teachers. And third, public expectations about what school should look like need to undergo a revolution, replacing the outdated and all-too-familiar image of compliance-based teaching.

We know we are not alone in working to make these changes happen. People and organizations across the country are dedicated to similar goals and are doing extraordinary work. Inspired Teaching will leverage our unique strengths – building from our ongoing programs in Washington, DC – to contribute to this broader effort. To make it possible for us to address the three key areas identified above, we’ve created three strategic pillars that are deeply grounded in our core work and values:

1 – Run highly visible, model programs that train Inspired Teachers and serve to inform and transform other teacher training programs.

2 – Build a vibrant community of educator-changemakers, aligned under a shared vision of engagement-based teaching, who work together to influence institutional norms.

3 – Engage a broad-based coalition of partners to shift public expectations so engagement-based education becomes the gold standard for all students.

We’ve already moved from the theoretical to the practical. Over the next year, Inspired Teaching will put our plan into action by sharpening the focus of our current programs and developing new initiatives. In addition to our ongoing work with teachers and schools in Washington, DC, we will pilot the Instigator of Thought™ Challenge, designed to spark professional learning and support school-based changemaking. We will also begin offering the Inspired Teaching Institute in new regions in the US.

We have dared to dream big in order to answer a massive, pressing demand. You can support us as we grow. Donate. Contact your school, district, or network leaders to bring Inspired Teaching to you. Join the Instigator of Thought Challenge, starting for teachers this October. Follow important news in engagement-based education by subscribing to InspirED Reads. Above all, advocate for a shift in the norm, away from compliance toward engagement, for every student, in whatever way you can.

We envision playing a key role within a movement to achieve a goal shared by many: to transform education so that every child experiences inspired teaching. If we are successful, then there will be a day when any adult who looks back to her years in school will be able to identify not one or two, but many, teachers who taught her how to thrive in and contribute to the world she has inherited. You can help make that future possible.

Micaiah Anderson

Community Outreach Specialist

As a Community Outreach Specialist, Micaiah is responsible for program promotion and outreach support for Inspired Teaching events and workshops. Micaiah has a passion for collaborating with community members to build-power and connect. She is an educator with a heart for youth and has experience supporting students fight injustices within their schools and communities. She has a BA in Political Science from, the real HU, Hampton University & anticipates graduating in May 2024 with a Masters of Arts degree in Educational Policy Transformation from Georgetown University.

AUTONOMY

"I want to have a say in what happens to me."

Autonomy is the need for independence; the ability to make choices, to create, to explore, and to express oneself freely; to have sufficient space, to move around, and to feel unrestricted with opportunities to exercise free will.

Brady Maiden

Outreach Coordinator

As the Outreach Coordinator, Brady helps maintain Inspired Teaching’s social media presence and supports the organization’s mission to connect with DC community leaders, educators, and parents. Brady has her Master’s in Public Policy from George Mason University and her BS in Political Science from Northern Arizona University. She is passionate about community, equity, and coalition building recognizing that learning and growing with the community at large is how we continue to be impactful.

What brings you joy in life?

I find joy in spending time with my friends and family and meeting new people. I like going to concerts and festivals, and finding new books to read.

The Learner’s Cycle, Wonder-Experiment-Learn, and the Teacher’s Cycle, Observe-Plan-Instigate, comprise Inspired Teaching’s approach to engaging students in inquiry-based learning.

When they are engaged in the Wonder-Experiment-Learn Cycle, students are immersed in learning. They take the lead in designing authentic learning experiences around their own interests and their school’s standards of learning. Each discovery leads to a new question which in turn leads to more wondering and more learning. In the Wonder-Experiment-Learn Cycle, Learn is not a destination or an endpoint; it is a deeper understanding, leading to a deeper wondering and new possibilities that create new entry points to further exploration. The cycle continues because what students have learned generates more wonderings that require more experiments that foster more learning – and on and on.

The Observe-Plan-Instigate Cycle is the work of an Inspired Teacher. While a student is expected to follow the Wonder-Experiment-Learn Cycle, the teacher joins them on the learning journey while following their own cycle of Observe-Plan-Instigate. This cycle ultimately serves to ensure an inquiry-based atmosphere is at play in the classroom.

Jaqueta Abbey

Teaching and Learning Specialist

Jaqueta is the Teaching and Learning Specialist for Inspired Teaching. In addition to her current role with Inspired Teaching, Jaqueta is a first-grade teaching assistant. Her background features a variety of traditional and non-traditional experiences in the field of education, including working as an adjunct professor, teaching summer reading programs to children and adults, and tutoring children in the foster care system. Jaqueta earned a B.A. in Communication Studies from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and an M.A. in Interactive Media from Elon University.

What brings you joy in life?

Creative self-expression! In addition to my passion for storytelling, I love dancing of all kinds. I've studied belly dance, bachata, and Brazilian Zouk among other styles. I also enjoy glass fusing, crocheting, photography, and cross stitching. These art forms allow me to express myself and build connections with other people at the same time. I think life would be a lot less vibrant without artists and storytellers!

Michelle Welk

Communication & Marketing Specialist

As Communications and Marketing Specialist, Michelle is responsible for finding and creating new ways to highlight Inspired Teaching and promote its programs in order to expand and deepen the organization's impact. Michelle has worked in communications in an array of settings, from creative agencies to state politics to national nonprofits. She has a BA in Journalism from Temple University in Philadelphia and is passionate about education, access, and equity.

What brings you joy in life?

My son, the beach, making a persuasive argument and good food!

Max Peterson

Real World History Assistant Teacher

Max received his Bachelor’s degree in History and African American Studies from Boston University in May 2016. He has worked in museum curation at the Museum of the White Mountains in New Hampshire and the Smithsonian National Museum of American History. Max has worked with young people of varying ages from young children to young adults transitioning to college.

Feedback and Accountability

We grow through feedback and an understanding that the quality of our work is a reflection of what we are learning, but the shift to remote learning this spring disrupted a lot of the tools teachers were used to using to evaluate student growth. How might we do things differently this fall? Participants in this workshop will explore ways to bring meaningful assessment into the virtual and/or socially-distanced classroom and approaches to student feedback that strengthen motivation, and build relationships and achievement.