Inspired Teaching’s Impact

Center for Inspired Teaching has been transforming PreK-12 education through innovative, improvisation-based professional development for teachers since 1995.

 

Over nearly three decades, Inspired Teaching has taught more than 50,000 teachers in urban, suburban, and rural school districts across the country and around the world. We teach educators how to teach students to approach academic problems, social challenges, and other people from a place of curiosity and respect. Classrooms led by Inspired Teachers are classrooms where students and teachers thrive.

Click to learn more about Inspired Teaching’s impact in each of the below areas.

Motivated & Enthusiastic Students

Personal Fulfillment & Professional Growth for Teachers

School Connectedness & Belonging for Teachers and Students

Students Who Look Forward to Monday Mornings

How do students feel about their education when it’s rooted in the Inspired Teaching Approach? Look no further than the feedback from those who’ve experienced it!

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Students find our approach more engaging than a typical class

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Students say our Approach creates opportunity for respectful dialogue on complicated topics

Speak Truth helped me learn new things from people from different schools and places. It helped me learn to be more open-minded, more considerate, and more of a listener to others.” – High School Student

Personal Fulfillment & Professional Growth for Teachers

Professional development doesn’t have to be boring! Inspired Teaching’s professional development for teachers is 100% engaging — intellectually, emotionally, and physically.

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Teachers find our resources and activities engaging and relevant

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Teachers report learning new teaching strategies to support their students' social emotional needs

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Teachers say their students are more engaged and motivated

“Inspired Teaching workshops inspire me to connect deeply with my students, and as an administrator, to connect more deeply with our instructors and TAs. It’s the magic Inspired Teaching touch that is hard to explain but tangible!” – School Leader

Inspired Teaching Around the World

Global Impact Highlights

Inspired Teaching trained more than 1,000 teachers in Ukraine

Inspired Teaching trained English teachers in Myanmar (Burma)

ABCDE of Learner Needs Recognized Internationally

“Now I know that professional development can occur without slides and a laptop. That spoke to me in the sense that collaboration, and just having an open discussion and reflecting, and adding upon our ideas and thoughts, is more powerful. And it really was an example of what collaboration can be in the classroom.” – Elementary School Teacher

Stronger School and Classroom Communities

School Connectedness was identified by the CDC as one of the most important factors in combatting negative mental health outcomes for young people. Inspired Teaching supports teachers and school leaders in building this critical element through programming and resources that address gaps in students’ needs, empower educators during school transitions, and platform expert insights and advice.

Livestream Series: Conversations on School Connectedness

Case Study: Building School Community During Leadership Change

Award-Winning Resources: Engaging, Insightful, On-Demand Activities & Strategies

Internationally Recognized

Over nearly three decades, Inspired Teaching has seen the impact of our work in schools across the country and around the world. Our resources and programs are also consistently recognized on the international stage for their impact on the learning experience; here are a few highlights!

“The Inspired Teaching Institute activities are too delicious! Even after a long day’s work, I find myself looking within for new energies so that I can take part.” – High School Teacher

Inspired Teaching Research Briefs

 

Radically Reimagined Relationships: The Foundation of Engagement

This project was designed to learn about schools and school systems across the United States that are moving beyond conventional, standardized, compliance-based teaching, to create learning experiences that are student-centered and engagement-based. Through our research, we found that while these schools looked different from one another as far as location, status as public/private/charter, grade levels served, and demographics, they felt the same. This realization led to an exciting discovery: the primary element connecting these schools was a shared commitment to radically reimagined relationships between students, teachers, administrators, and families. While the schools had other elements in common, including authentic learning experiences and commitments to educational equity, we found that the commitment to strong relationships was the core element upon which all others depended. The report, which synthesizes the findings from this initiative, has exciting implications for all of us working to re-imagine education.

Download the full report here
Download the report digest here

Inspiring Improvement Toolkit

This toolkit contains resources for organizations who wish to undertake evaluation of their teacher training and professional development programs that promote teacher leadership, cultivate teachers as changemakers, and actively encourage engaging student-centered instruction.

Download here

Inquiry-Based Teaching

Inquiry-based teaching invites students to explore academic content by posing, investigating, and answering questions. This approach puts students’ questions at the center of the curriculum.

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Closing the Engagement Gap: A Social Justice Imperative

This white paper both affirms the benefits of engagement-based education and confirms the reality of the current “engagement gap” in this country.

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Critical Need: Replace Compliance-Based Teaching with Engagement-Based Teaching

This white paper promotes the urgent need to adopt engagement-based education in all of our nation’s schools. Most education organizations and education policymakers advocate for the need to raise “student achievement,” but too narrowly define this goal to mean only raising standardized test scores, a goal that is primarily achieved using methods that promote student compliance. Students need to be engaged for lasting, meaningful learning to occur.

Download here

Relationship-Based Discipline

Relationship-based discipline is a student-centered approach to classroom management that relies on strong, mutually respectful, personal relationships to engage cooperation in the classroom.

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Investing in Teachers Through Mentoring

Teacher mentoring is an individualized form of professional development that involves a holistic approach to personal improvement. Mentoring is a key aspect of Inspired Teaching’s programs that ensures teachers are able to operationalize best practices.

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Annual Reports