Christine Girtain is the 2023 New Jersey State Teacher of the Year and a fantastic model for how facilitating empowering and content-rich classrooms. She works in a unique classroom, but her strategies and stories can be applied to all classrooms. She empowers her students to be their best and pursue that through research. Students are capable; we must allow them … Read More
Becoming an Instructional Leader
TL;DR: Instructional leaders don’t have all the answers, especially at the beginning. It is important to tap into tools and resources to be an effective instructional leader. How does an educator become an instructional leader? “An instructional leadership mindset includes an intense moral purpose focused on promoting deep student learning, professional inquiry, trusting relationships and seeking evidence in action” (Timperley, … Read More
The Excitement in a Student’s Eye
TL;DR: Empowering students allows them to be leaders. It provides opportunities for them to be creative and innovative. Creating a safe space where students feel respected and heard is important in creating this environment. Providing opportunities for students to share, listen to others’ perspectives, lead, create, and follow their own interests empowers students. Empowerment Empowerment is defined as the process … Read More
Building Capacity by Letting Go
TL;DR: A few decades ago, children were given the freedom to play with less adult intervention. They learned how to self-regulate and problem solve on their own. Now, adults quickly jump in to provide solutions to every problems. We have disempowered children by controlling many aspects of their day. Snowplow parents smooth the way for their children by removing possible … Read More
Tag Out
TL;DR: Instead of doing a walkthrough, administrators can do a tag out. This allows the teacher a chance to do a walkthrough in a room of one of their peers. With tag outs, educators get the time to learn from their peers. This provides them an opportunity to learn more than they might if they were being observed by an … Read More
