We had the pleasure of speaking with the 2022 Tennessee Teacher of the Year Morgan Rankin. She offers honest insight and reflects on her own upcoming transition from third grade to second grade. She creates an atmosphere where students feel empowered and encouraged to participate in valuable and effective conversations.  Her strategies for encouraging student voice are easy to follow and aspirational to achieve.

• A comparison of self-contained versus departmentalized elementary classrooms.  There are instructional differences in the set-up of a lesson and challenges to accept in terms of building relationships.

• The use of reflective practice when we have the opportunity to teach a lesson multiple times per day.

• Evaluate the classroom management strategies you use.  If systems like team points, Class Dojo, and other programs don’t work for you, don’t use them.  Focus on student relationships and authenticity.

• Strategies for encouraging collaboration between students.

• Using student examples to dissect student thinking and promoting classroom discussions.

• The value of student conversations, how to facilitate effective conversations, and the power of talking less.

• Key questions and phrases to promote student conversations.