.png?width=2000&height=675&name=2023%20ALN_standard-red%20(3).png "All Learners Network logo")
Establishing Classroom Culture
Establishing a classroom culture within the first six weeks of school is crucial for the success of a learning community. To facilitate an inclusive community culture, educators should establish routines and expectations with students, use language with intention to reflect the ideal of the environment, and foster student voice, choice and ownership through authentic learning experiences.
Inclusion and MTSS
I spend a lot of time in schools in many different grade levels and while there are more differences than similarities in the goings on of a 1st grade classroom and a 10th grade one, a major similarity is the question of inclusion. How does one classroom teacher meet the needs of all their students when the needs can be quite disparate?
Establishing a Feedback Culture
Use Student Work as Feedback We are in the business of being responsive. As educators we strive to establish a thriving feedback culture in our classrooms enriched by constantly looking at formative assessment data and responding. When armed with evidence of student thinking, we can approach teaching like a constant rapid cycle of inquiry. What worked? What didn’t? How can I respond next to push my students’ thinking? The more our systems support us in being responsive and in driving our instructional decisions with evidence from student thinking, the more learning and growth for all!
Math Coaches Make an Impact
Coaches provide support for teachers who have multiple demands through job embedded professional development. One key element essential to effective math instruction, that a math coach in particular provides, is supporting teacher knowledge of mathematics content. Math coaches are able to provide feedback, planning support, and work towards goals in a timely manner with knowledge and understanding that comes from being in the classroom and working with teachers.
David’s Math Class: A Story of Inclusion
Often, when we talk about differentiation and inclusion, the responsibility is put upon the teacher to create, provide, and derive the means for low floor/high ceiling tasks (with multiple entry points) so all students may access the learning activity. I had the rare pleasure of experiencing a moment when a teacher let the students in her class, inspired by one typically marginalized student, take the lead in creating one of the most inclusive math classes I have had the privilege of experiencing. What follows is a true story:
Differentiation - What Is It?
What is differentiation and where can it be applied? A differentiated classroom is facilitated by an educator's timely and ongoing response to student needs. Educators target and implement strategies and tools that provide access and inclusion and promote student engagement, independence and growth with content, process and products. The learning environment and a balanced math block provide the structures and opportunities for all students to receive the support and just right instruction they need to achieve high levels of success. Differentiated instruction can be applied to 4 key areas of …
MTSS and the All Learners Lesson Structure
Schools and classrooms are filled with diverse learners who all have their own individual knowledge and needs when it comes to learning. A Multi-Tiered or Multi-Layered System of Support (MTSS) provides a system in which educators can meet the needs of all students through adding layers of support. All Learners Network's (ALN) All Learners Lesson Structure provides a way to incorporate the elements of MTSS within a math class/block. The All Learners Lesson Structure includes four elements: Launch, Main Lesson, Math Menu and Closure. All parts of the lesson include differentiation, inclusion fo …
Perseverance and Growth Mindset
No matter how many years of experience we’ve logged as educators, we all have to put in the work at the beginning of a new school year to build our classroom culture. This always starts with student relationships.
What do special educators need?
What do new Special Education teachers need most? More support for teaching math!
Systems Matter
I began my career in education because I believed it was a broken system that we could mend. My senior year I read Jonathon Kozol’s The Shame of the Nation and became convinced that the way to solve poverty in our country was to fix the savage inequalities of our education system. I thought if we can make schools great for all children, then we can change everything. I vigorously adopted Teach for America’s rallying call that one day all children will have access to an excellent education, and I moved to New Orleans on a mission. I truly believed that by becoming a teacher warrior I could help …
