June 23, 2025
By Jenna Fournel, Chief Curiosity Officer
Listen to this week’s Hooray For Monday podcast for the audio version of this newsletter.
2025 marks the 50th Anniversary of Pride celebrations in Washington, DC; and this month Center for Inspired Teaching turns 30. We’ve been witness to Pride in our city for three decades and over that time, we’ve seen a hopeful evolution in how our city and our schools support the LGBTQ+ community. But there is tremendous work yet to be done. And at this particular moment in time, the need for that support is urgent.
In recognition of both the celebration and the challenge before us, we’re turning to our favorite tool for meeting needs, the ABCDE of Learner Needs. Schools can employ this tool to ensure all students and teachers get to learn in spaces where everybody can thrive.
Autonomy is the need for independence and self-determination; the ability to make choices, to create, to explore, and to express oneself freely. Let’s call people the names they wish to be called. Use the pronouns they wish to use. Invite the stories they want to tell. Hold space for every experience. If our goal in school is for all children—and teachers—to reach their full potential, why would we allow any barriers to making that happen?
Belonging is the need to love and care for others and to believe that we are loved and cared for in family relationships, friendships, and working relationships. Let’s make sure every student and teacher feels included in our schools. That means they see themselves reflected in the books on our shelves, the pictures on our walls, and the language we use when describing families. That means nobody is sitting alone at lunch or playing alone on the playground unless they want to.
Competence is the need for a sense of empowerment, worthiness, self-efficacy, and achievement. Let’s be fully aware of each student and teacher’s aspirations and contributions to the classroom community. Let’s make sure they feel comfortable sharing what they’re good at even if it doesn’t adhere to dominant narratives about who is good at what. This comes naturally in classrooms that prize curiosity over judgment.
Developmental Appropriateness is the need for the right amount of challenge, fueled by just enough skill to get through the difficulty. Children learn bias from a very early age, which means they can learn to not be biased from an early age too. Let’s pay close attention to our language and where bias creeps in. Let’s ask our children more questions so we can better understand their thinking and support their learning in as expansive a way as possible. Let’s trust them to approach the world with kindness, especially if that’s what we model.
Engagement is the need to create, problem-solve, make interesting decisions, and interact with others through worthwhile tasks. Let’s listen to LGBTQ+ students and teachers to learn what more we can do to create safe, inclusive, and supportive learning environments. Let’s collaboratively create community-wide projects to celebrate Pride month and ensure there is meaningful engagement with and from the LCBTQ+ community in all facets of our schools.
Fun is the need to learn through play, and fun is essential to our learning. Let’s plan learning experiences with joy as our goal and make sure every child feels wholly welcome to be part of the fun. Let’s create opportunities to show that laughter is a universal language shared by every gender identity and sexual orientation.
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Hooray For Monday is an award-winning weekly publication of Center for Inspired Teaching, a social change nonprofit organization that champions the power of curiosity and is dedicated to transforming the school experience from compliance-based to engagement-based. Inspired Teaching provides transformative, improvisation-based professional learning for teachers that is 100% engaging – intellectually, emotionally, and physically.
