“Be passionate and move forward with gusto every single hour of every single day until you reach your goal.”
- Ava Duvernay
Professional Development
MODULES
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Adventures in Anti-racism
The Anti-racism module is designed to support the growth of an inclusive mindset for all stakeholders who attend. Participants examine their own experiences with race and culture in school and unpack their own implicit biases. They practice shifting their ideas from a place where they simply believe; “I am not racist” and move to a place where their thoughts, ideas and actions are vehemently “anti-racist.” This program has an impact on the mindset of all stakeholders as well as the curriculum, instructional practices, policies, and procedures of a district and/or school.
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Asking Better Questions / Asking Questions Better (ABQ/AQB)
Asking Better Questions / Asking Questions better is a program designed to enhance the level of questioning during instruction, while also enhancing educator’s capacity to ask said questions in a manner that will enhance student critical thinking and problem-solving skills. The program also provides educators with practical strategies to enhance engagement through questioning and ensure that all students are participating in classroom discussions.
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Culturally Responsive Teaching and Learning (CRTL) in Action
CRTL in Action is a program that is designed to support and improve the levels of Culturally Responsive Teaching and Learning (CRTL) in classroom instruction. Participants will reflect on the current state of CRTL in their schools, deepen their understanding of CRTL and examine strategies to infuse it into their instruction.
“Can we see in each other a common humanity, a shared dignity, and recognize how our shared experiences have shaped us?”
— Barack Obama
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Examining Equity
Examining Equity in Education is a program designed to guide schools through a thorough self-examination of the equity or inequities that exist within their schools. Participants reflect on various areas of school data, including academic assessments, discipline referrals, suspensions, and access to high level academic classes, particularly for students of color, students living in poverty and other sub-groups. After analyzing the data, schools are encouraged to unpack and discuss areas of disproportionality and then develop strategies to address these areas with the goal of bringing a greater level of equity to their school. This work will have an impact on the school’s policies, procedures, curriculum offerings and instructional and discipline practices.
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Implicit Bias and Its’ Impact on Instruction
This program is designed to encourage educators to reflect on their personal educational experiences with colleagues, while deepening their understanding of implicit bias and how it can impact and impede academic development. Educators will learn strategies to temper their own biases to better support the students they serve.
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The Motivated Classroom
The Motivated Classroom program is designed to support and improve school and classroom culture while working to decrease off-task and disruptive student behaviors. Participants examine a variety of perspectives about student self-motivation and how it is fostered in classrooms. Participants practice making decisions about classroom conditions and teaching moves that lead to increased student self-motivation and deeper student engagement.
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Ready for Rigor
Ready for Rigor is a program designed to support and improve the levels of rigor in classroom instruction. Participants will reflect on the current state of rigor in their schools, define and deepen their understanding of rigor and examine the Ready for Rigor framework (Hammond, Zaretta) strategies to infuse into their instruction.
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Restorative Practices
This program is designed to support a mindset shift as it pertains to traditional disciplinary practices in schools. Participants will examine discipline disproportionality in education and discuss strategies to decrease out of school suspensions for students, so as to decrease the loss of valuable instructional time and the social emotional impact of exclusionary consequences.
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The Warm Demander
The Warm Demander is a program designed to support and improve the levels of positive interaction between teacher and student. Participants will reflect on the current strategies that are being used to engage students and define and deepen their understanding of the Warm Demander (Hammond, Zaretta) to utilize during instruction.
