web analytics

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. 

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.

the speaktruth guidebook cover, which is the words "Speak Truth" spelled with letters that double as image collages

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.

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. 

 

a colorful banner with graphic elements that reads "Inspired Teaching Institutes" a professional development resource
the speaktruth guidebook cover, which is the words "Speak Truth" spelled with letters that double as image collages

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.

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.

 

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

As we sit in our bedrooms and basements this week peering into our screens, preparing to greet the young faces who will soon peer back at us, we will create, we will learn, and we will grow, just as we always have.

— Aleta Margolis