Hooray For Monday: What do you need right now? - Center for Inspired Teaching

By Aleta Margolis, Founder and President, Center for Inspired Teaching

Hooray for Monday is a weekly blog filled with questions, ideas, reflections, and actions we can all take to remodel the school experience for students.

When we try to solve a problem without identifying its root, the solutions we arrive at are unlikely to achieve long term success. So when it comes to navigating the challenges of working with and teaching others, it’s helpful to begin by observing and identifying needs. This works with others as well as ourselves.

Understanding Unmet Needs

Autonomy. Belonging. Competence. Developmental Appropriateness. Engagement. Fun.

It’s hard to be fully present as a learner when any of these needs is not being met. And it’s harder to meet these needs in our current environment when we’re working with a different or limited toolkit based on our teaching circumstances. But if, for example, you note that students are feeling alienated from each other due to distance learning, focusing on the need for belonging may offer new ideas for collaborative learning experiences that bring students together in more meaningful ways.

Building on the work of educational psychologist William Glasser, Inspired Teaching created the ABCDE’s of Student Needs, a simple, downloadable tool to support teachers in identifying these student needs.

The Power of Reflection

A tool like the ABCDE framework works well when paired with reflection. As we sharpen our ability to identify student needs, we can understand academic and behavioral challenges through an asset-based lens. We can respond to students who are struggling or acting out by looking to identify and address the unmet need they are expressing.

We can even do this for our colleagues, and for ourselves.

This works better when we intentionally take time to pause. Whether you choose to be guided by a meditation app or online yoga class, or gather with a few teaching colleagues to discuss your practice, or go for a walk on your own and consider what you’ve learned so far this school year, remember the power of reflection. It’s a tool for healing, for acknowledging all you have accomplished so far this year as well as all you still wish to accomplish. And if you choose to tell your students about your own process for engaging in reflection, you will be modeling a practice that can influence them positively.

Question of the Week:

Sharing these prompts with students can strengthen academic and social learning. When teachers respond as well, students see us modeling an articulation of our own needs.

What is one thing our classroom community can do to support you right now?
What is one thing you can do to support our classroom community right now?

Students can respond to this in a simple Google sheet, adding their names or keeping responses anonymous. For upper elementary or older, a student or two can have the job of organizing responses and sharing them, first with the teacher, then with the class as a whole. Then the student-organizers (or even a self-selected small group) can make recommendations for action steps based on the responses.

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.