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  Hooray For 2023!

The resources you need to make every day of the year engaging and joyful!

Join us for interactive LIVE professional development every month

June: The Power of Reflection

Though summer beckons, and with it the space to breathe and think of something other than instruction for a bit, June is an excellent time to reflect on the year gone by so you can be better prepared for the fall. Your memory of the lessons learned is still fresh! This Inspired Teaching Institute takes a unique approach to that reflection by asking the question, “How did I know my students were learning, and what other evidence might I have collected?” Together, we will celebrate what you and your students accomplished over these many months. And, as you evaluate your assessment approaches, we will introduce you to some additional strategies for the future.

January

Begin 2023 with a sense of renewed optimism! Help your students — and yourself — rediscover and recommit to your goals for the school year. January has inspiring and practical resources for refreshing mindsets and building on what your students learned in 2022.

Speak Truth: Thursday, January 26 
Join us for this virtual event, featuring guest speaker Helanius Wilkins. Helanius, a choreographer and performance artist, will share his insights on the power of “Talking Across Dividing Lines” and our student participants will take the lead in debating and discussing the importance of holding conversations with people whose perspectives differ from your own. As with all Speak Truth events, this will be youth-centered. Adults are welcome to observe as the students take the floor! Register to attend here.

Start your week with the insights, activities, and tools you need for inspiring enthusiasm for learning in the week ahead with these issues from the Hooray For Monday archive.

Finding Newness in Repetition
Aspirations and Contributions
What Inspired You to Teach?

No matter which grade level or subject area you teach, #Inspired2Learn has ready-to-go activities you can use to make deeper connections to lessons and spark conversations.

Watch it Grow – Exercising Patience
3 Ways to Check the Mood of the Room

Challenge yourself to strengthen your practice and sharpen your skillsets with the Instigator of Thought Challenge.
Let Students Be Teachers

February

Curiosity — about ourselves, our environment, others — is at the core of storytelling. Make February a month for curiosity and discovering (and rediscovering!) more about the world, your neighborhood, your classroom, and your students.

Start your week with the insights, activities, and tools you need for inspiring enthusiasm for learning in the week ahead with these issues from the Hooray For Monday archive.

Be Curious: Inquiry, the 2nd I
What’s Your Story?
Honoring Changemakers
Preserving Memories
Telling vs. Teaching

No matter which grade level or subject area you teach, #Inspired2Learn has ready-to-go activities you can use to make deeper connections to lessons and spark conversations.

Word at a Time Stories
Hands and Feet Stories
Seeing with Different Eyes
Listening with Someone Else’s Ears
Automatic Writing
Story as Witnessing
Start a News Show

Challenge yourself to strengthen your practice and sharpen your skillsets with the Instigator of Thought Challenge.

Graffiti Board
Lunch Date
Scribe’s Record

March

Just as we aim to instill in our students an enduring love of inquiry and exploration, we too should aspire to be lifelong learners. March’s resources provide inspiration for discovering new things about ourselves, our students, our practice, and our world!

Don’t miss this month’s Inspired Teaching Institute!

Start your week with the insights, activities, and tools you need for inspiring enthusiasm for learning in the week ahead with these issues from the Hooray For Monday archive.

Divine Dissatisfaction
Bring on the Challenge
Improvisational Mindset
Professional Learning as Self-Care
What Inspired You to Teach

No matter which grade level or subject area you teach, #Inspired2Learn has ready-to-go activities you can use to make deeper connections to lessons and spark conversations.

Finding the Zone of Proximal Development
Yes But vs. Yes And

Challenge yourself to strengthen your practice and sharpen your skillsets with the Instigator of Thought Challenge (an Anthem Award-winning resource!).

Let Go of Deliver
Make Praise Meaningful
Poster Analysis
Say Yes More
Track the Questions You Ask
What Drives You

 

April

April lends itself to moments of joy. It is the first full month of spring, and the longer days, warmer weather, and anticipation of summertime fuel excitement in the classroom. Now is the perfect time to rediscover and reinforce the importance of fun and nurture our connections to ourselves and to one another.

Don’t miss this month’s Inspired Teaching Institute!

Start your week with the insights, activities, and tools you need for inspiring enthusiasm for learning in the week ahead with these issues from the Hooray For Monday archive.
Create Connection by Sharing Student Expertise
Curiosity and School Connectedness
Our Capacity for Kindness
Motivated by Joy
The Healing Power of Laughter
Who Do You Teach
Happy That You’re Here
Collective Effervescence
Prioritizing Fun
Have Fun!

 

No matter which grade level or subject area you teach, #Inspired2Learn has ready-to-go activities you can use to make deeper connections to lessons and spark conversations.
Coloring Our Emotions
3 Ways to Check the Mood of the Room
Inside/Outside
Showing Kindness from a Distance: Words of Encouragement

 

Challenge yourself to strengthen your practice and sharpen your skillsets with the Instigator of Thought Challenge (an Anthem Award-winning resource!).
Emotion Continuum
Make Praise Meaningful
Track the Questions You Ask

May

We know our students well at this point in the school year. We can anticipate their questions, comments, and jokes. The classroom runs like a well-oiled machine. But while it’s commendable to be so in tune, you may be missing an opportunity to learn something new about or from your students if you operate on auto-pilot. Instead, use these last few weeks to really be curious; you may be surprised at what you discover!

Don’t miss this month’s Inspired Teaching Institute!

Clear+Vivid with Alan Alda: This podcast is worth a listen! Alan Alda, in addition to being a television star, writer, and director, is also an accomplished communicator. Every week, his interviews offer insights into building connections and communicating better, including the importance of real listening.

Start your week with the insights, activities, and tools you need for inspiring enthusiasm for learning in the week ahead with these issues from the Hooray For Monday archive.

Be Curious
Be Quiet
Children Will Listen
Who’s Doing the Talking?
Listening to Our Students
Talking Across Dividing Lines
To, Not, For, WITH

No matter which grade level or subject area you teach, #Inspired2Learn has ready-to-go activities you can use to make deeper connections to lessons and spark conversations.

Listening with Someone Else’s Ears
Story as Witnessing
Read Aloud Often and Together
How Vigorous is My Heart?
Do Just One Thing

Challenge yourself to strengthen your practice and sharpen your skillsets with the Instigator of Thought Challenge (an Anthem Award-winning resource!).

Don’t Speak
Let Students Be Teachers
Make Praise Meaningful
Prep to Music
Track the Questions You Ask

June Resources

Summer is right around the corner! While these last days may feel like a mad dash to wrap up lessons, it is actually the perfect time to step back and reflect on what’s been accomplished this school year. What do your students, and you, remember from the earliest days of getting to know one another? What have you learned? What surprised you? These conversations illuminate progress made and reinforce the community built over the course of the year, giving students (and you) a strong foundation on which to build come September!

Inspired Teaching Summer 2023 Resource Guide: Keep your skills fresh this summer — and maybe learn a thing or two! The Inspired Teaching Summer 2023 Resource Guide is chock-full of information on our joyful programming and engaging tools for strengthening your teaching while school is out.

Start your week with the insights, activities, and tools you need for inspiring enthusiasm for learning in the week ahead with these issues from the Hooray For Monday archive.

Preserving Memories
Building Community
Essential Community Members
Being Intentional 
What Are You Taking with You?

No matter which grade level or subject area you teach, #Inspired2Learn has ready-to-go activities you can use to make deeper connections to lessons and spark conversations.

3 Closing Activities to Connect with Families
5 Closing Activities to Reinforce Learning
Finding Smiles
Plan a Trip

Challenge yourself to strengthen your practice and sharpen your skillsets with the Instigator of Thought Challenge (an Anthem Award-winning resource!).

Ask “So What?”
Say “Yes” More
Take a Break and Move
Graffiti Board
Scribe’s Record

July

Check back on July 1 for this month’s resources!

August

Check back on August 1 for this month’s resources!

September

Check back on September 1 for this month’s resources!

October

Check back on October 1 for this month’s resources!

November

Check back on November 1 for this month’s resources!

December

Check back on December 1 for this month’s resources!

Download the digital version of Hooray For 2023

Monthly inspiration and classroom resources on any device!

Learn More About Inspired Teaching

Watch the below video for more insight into Center for Inspired Teaching’s Approach, our resources for teachers and school leaders, and a peek into an Inspired Teaching Institute.

Martha Graham, the mother of modern dance, spoke of “divine dissatisfaction” to describe the experience of creation and growth. As I understand it, dissatisfaction means that learning and creating are never finished, there is always more to do; and divine means there is joy in the quest for continuous improvement.

— Aleta Margolis