July 4, 2022

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.

For nearly 3 decades, Inspired Teaching has been teaching teachers and parents how, and why, to listen to children. An important new study, featured recently in Education Week, confirms “a link between acting on students’ feedback and their academic success, strengthening arguments for incorporating student voice into school improvement efforts.” While this particular study focuses on using student feedback to inform school improvement efforts, thoughtful teachers know it is equally important to listen and gather student input as part of everyday instruction.

Summer offers an opportunity to reflect on the things we’ve seen and observed in our students, and absorb what they have taught us. Inspired Teachers are reflective practitioners, and that includes reflecting on the informal data our students have provided us.

In our professional learning, we teach teachers to use improvisation to incorporate student input in real-time, while remaining focused on instructional goals. This process is part of the Inspired Teaching approach. We call it Observe-Plan-Instigate, the Teacher’s Cycle. And it’s a great thing to delve into as we reflect on the year that’s ended and think ahead toward the fall.

What does the Observe-Plan-Instigate Cycle entail?

First, the teacher observes, like a satellite, using all the data points collected from watching and listening to students, to zero in on what students need next. These observations can be about things academic, social, emotional, or otherwise. Everything matters in the life of a classroom:

Alex keeps tuning out during these math lessons involving fractions.
In their writing, this class keeps having problems with authentic transition words; they’re not understanding how to incorporate them into the flow of the piece.
My kids are obsessed with pandas ever since the new one was born at the zoo.

Using the information gathered from these observations, the teacher develops a plan to get to the bottom of a challenge, launch a new learning approach, or address a growing concern:

I’m going to pull Alex aside and do a quick quiz of his understanding of multiplication and division. Maybe he doesn’t know his facts?
We’re going to listen to clips from a few great speeches and notice how the speakers use transitions.
I think I’ll take all the standards for next month and turn them into an integrated panda unit.

Then the teacher implements the plan and instigates: asking questions, lots of them, designed to push students toward deeper thinking and understanding; posing

problems for students to solve; supporting students’ agency, growing expertise, and ability to find relevant and useful information.

Then the cycle automatically begins again. By instigating thought, the teacher opens the door to more data collection that drives the next plan:

Wow, Alex really doesn’t know his multiplication facts, but now I need to find out whether he actually understands the idea behind multiplication.
Those clips seem to have worked because I had the students write short speeches of their own after listening to the clips, and the transitions in the students’ speeches were great! What struck me most was how my students loved public speaking – how can I do more of that?
I’ve never seen my students as engaged as they are with this panda unit. I wonder what else could engage them like this!

Implementation of the Observe-Plan-Instigate Cycle means that teachers are able to know and observe students with such acuity that they can make many little adjustments to their lessons in the moment – every day. It also means that teachers let something like students’ sudden interest in pandas influence whatever other unit plan they previously had in place, while still striving toward the necessary academic goals. It takes time to cultivate that level of flexibility and skill, and it necessitates a real shift in mindset: Instead of figuring out how to fit students with their myriad needs into the curriculum, figure out how to make the curriculum flexible enough that it can meet all students’ needs.

Centering students, listening to what they have to say, and acting on their input – that’s a powerful approach to instruction and whole school improvement. This week, take some time to reflect on the feedback, interests, and ideas your students voiced this past year. Which still resonate in your mind? How might they shape your teaching in the year ahead?

Resources

InspiredTeaching · July 4, 2022: Listening to Our Students

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.