Guidebooks & Toolkits

The Inspired Teaching resources teachers need, all in one place.

Inspired Teaching resources are invaluable tools for creating classrooms where students are genuinely engaged with and excited about their education. The Inspired Teaching guidebooks and toolkits assist teachers and school leaders in implementing these lessons, activities, and programs. Whether you are looking for seasonal resources in preparation for Back to School or want to bring Speak Truth to your students, you’ll find the materials you need below!

The ABCDE of Learner Needs Guidebook

Whether you are an administrator, teacher, student, or caregiver, we all need Autonomy, Belonging, Competence, Developmental Appropriateness, Engagement, and Fun in order to learn and thrive. We CAN meet these needs in schools and we don’t need to go to extreme measures to do so. This Guidebook includes links to classroom activities, printable reflection and planning sheets, posters for your classroom walls, and a whole section designed to be shared with families.

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The 2022-2023 cover of the Making School Worth It toolkit for parents and teachers

Early Childhood ABCDE of Learner Needs Guidebook

This resource contains the same concepts as our original ABCDE of Learner Needs Guidebook but the examples, research, and activities included are tailored to the early childhood experience. Please share this guide with any early childhood educators in your life and let us know how you use it.

This resource is made possible through the generous support of PNC Bank.

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Speak Truth Guidebook

Young people care about issues affecting them and the world around them. Their concerns don’t always line up with the curriculum, and teachers don’t always have the time, tools, or resources to explore their students’ interests. Yet we know elevating youth voices is critically important not only for students’ well-being, but for their development as problem-solvers and future leaders. The Speak Truth model presented in this Guide offers a way to bring meaningful student-led conversations into the classroom. Whether you host a Speak Truth session once a quarter, once a week, or every day, you will be creating a valuable space for learning where young voices and curiosity can grow.

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Inspired Teaching Institute Resources

Inspired Teaching Institutes are FREE, improv-based professional development for teachers and school leaders. They move participants beyond passive professional learning: Inspired Teaching teaches the way people learn best – with our whole selves. All Institute sessions, both in-person and online, are fully interactive. Participating in an Institute is proven to reinvigorate your passion for and commitment to teaching.

We also provide participants with all the strategies, exercises, and tools needed to implement the Institute’s focus in their classrooms, right away. Now, those resources are available to everyone! If you’re unable to attend an Institute, or want to discover resources from past sessions, you can check them out here.

Institute Resources

a colorful banner with graphic elements that reads "Inspired Teaching Institutes" a professional development resource

Summer Resources 2023

The last day of school is just around the corner (some of you may be there already), so we’re sharing Inspired Teaching’s Summer Resources for Staying Fresh. While the number one thing we hope you do in the upcoming break is rest and recharge, we also know the idea that teachers only think about their jobs 10 months out of the year is highly inaccurate! The pages of this guide offer things to read, activities to ponder, and links to explore as you consider the fall while sipping your coffee a little later than usual.

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To Share with Parents

The work we do as teachers is HARD, and summer is when parents get a little taste of the difficulty. As teachers, we have a whole toolkit of ways to deal with the challenges that arise in a typical day with a child. Most parents do not. Until now! Share our Resilient Summer Handbook, which is filled with many of the same activities and lessons Inspired Teachers use — updated with parents in mind. Creating a common language with parents for how we strengthen relationships with children and what we expect them to know and be able to do paves the way for better partnerships with families when school resumes.

Resilient Children Handbook

For more than 27 years, Inspired Teaching has been working with teachers and school leaders to create classrooms where children thrive. Now, we’re helping parents bring this approach into their home. The Resilient Children Handbook has short articles and activities parents can put to use in strengthening their relationship with their child, engaging them in meaningful tasks to help them build independence, focus, and perseverance, and setting expectations for open communication and mutual respect.

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the resilient summer handbook cover page which is a young girl smelling a bright yellow flower

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

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.