Teacher Feature - Ms. Odom - Center for Inspired Teaching

September 22, 2017

This Fall, Inspired Teaching spoke with Inspired Teacher Leader Patricia Odom (’14) about how she establishes school-wide norms as an Inspired Teacher in her role as an Assistant Principal at Ron Brown College Preparatory High School, DC’s only all-male public school.

The school year just started. What is your favorite part about the beginning of the year as an Assistant Principal?

One of my favorite parts about starting the year is the new students and the energy that they come with. Since I work with ninth-grade students, every year is a fresh start. The new students come with new attitudes and new ideas; it’s a new unknown and fresh energy for everybody. Every year is a chance to start over.

What does being an Inspired Teacher Leader mean to you?

I think in my role right now being an Inspired Teacher Leader provides me with the ability to impact more classrooms with the Inspired Teaching approach. I am responsible for coaching other teachers and having them reflect on how they are inspiring students. I push them to ask, “is this lesson joyful? Is it exciting and engaging? Is the student doing the work or am I?” I have those conversations with teachers in all of the classrooms that I work with.

As an Inspired Teacher Leader in your role, how do you establish school-wide norms from the start of the year?

Some norms I design with the teaching staff as a team. We talk about classroom expectations and some are aligned to school and district’s expectations. However, when we discuss our classrooms norms and practices, we focus on developing students’ conceptual understanding in math and science. Using the Inspired Teaching approach, I work with the teachers in those classrooms to help them come up with ways their students can connect the lessons to the real world. What the teachers and I talk about in planning, happens in the classroom. We focus on planning opportunities for students to collaborate, share and expand on their own learning and ideas, versus teacher-directed work. We focus on what an observer should hear, see, and feel in the classroom: It should sound like students having dialogue around the topic of study and the teacher facilitating and pushing their thinking. It should feel like productive struggle on the part of the student, struggle and success, while the teacher provides feedback in the moment.

What are you looking forward to this school year?

The Chancellor’s new strategic plan emphasizes social-emotional learning and joy in the classroom. This year, I’m looking forward to seeing that live here, in our space at Ron Brown College Preparatory High School. We are a small enough staff and a tight enough team to make that a reality. I’m excited to put tangibles to the words of joy and social-emotional learning, and identify what that looks like in our classrooms—what joy in our classrooms looks like, sounds like, and what it feels like. I’m looking forward to seeing that come to life in this space.

Looking ahead towards the rest of the school year, what is one of the greatest things you hope to accomplish?

Since I work with ninth-grade, this year I’m really focused on promotion rate because promotion rate is a big deal for 9^th grade academy. I’m looking forward to ensuring a 100% promotion to 10^th grade—last year we had 90%. That is one of my biggest goals. In reaching that goal, I’m also looking forward to providing the supports that students need when they are struggling and recognizing when a student may need extra support early enough to establish whatever intervention plans they may need.

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.