Resource Type: Instructional Practice
Seminar-style teaching
This guide offers a step-by-step collaborative planning process designed to promote deeper and more personalized learning. Explore how Westwood High School educators implement differentiated roles, team-based support and flexible schedules to bring their vision of seminar learning to life.
Dynamic student groupings at Stevenson Elementary (Kindergarten)
Explore some of the ways an educator team grouped and regrouped 100 students over the course of a single day.
Dynamic student groupings at Mountain View High School
Explore how 100 ninth grade students are supported by a core educator team that includes a Spanish teacher, biology teacher and a dual-certified English and world history teacher.
Dynamic student groupings at Skyline High School
Explore some of the ways an educator team grouped and regrouped 100 students over the course of a single day.
Driving Academic Progress
Learn more about how one school system leveraged bus drivers as literacy tutors between driving shifts.
Community Circles
When a child enrolls at Jefferson Elementary, they are assigned to a community circle composed of at least one child from each grade level. Explore this resource to learn more about the program and its impact on learning for students and for staff.
Literacy Accelerators
Two to four times per week, Skyline High School teacher academy students assume the role of community educator at their feeder school, Stevenson Elementary.
Medical Innovations
To gain an understanding of a variety of medical conditions and how they affect the people who face them, the 4–6 grade teaching team assembled ten community educators to participate in interviews with their students.
Dynamic student groupings at Paulo Freire
How Paulo Freire’s team of educators grouped and regrouped 68 middle school students over the course of a day.
Dynamic student groupings at Kyrene de las Manitas
At Kyrene de las Manitas, teams of educators incorporate dynamic student groupings into a shared roster of students.
Dynamic student groupings at Stevenson Elementary (5-6th)
Explore some of the ways an educator team grouped and regrouped 100 students over the course of a single day.
5 tips for community educators preparing to enter the classroom and other learning spaces
These five tips will help community educators prepare and feel ready to enter any learning space, have a successful experience and make lasting, meaningful connections with learners. This resource expands on helpful tips around translating industry expertise, managing the learning space, working with students during the visit and more.
Using collaborative tools to implement data-driven flexible grouping
Explore how educator teams use cloud-based spreadsheets to fluidly and transparently group students by interest and skill.
5 tips for creating an inclusive secondary school learning model
Leverage special educators’ knowledge and skills to increase the effectiveness of educator teams.
Self-organized learning environments
Learn to implement self-organized learning environments, an instructional approach in which students explore complex questions in self-organized peer groups.
Connecting with Community Educators
Community educators can be found simply by asking around your own social networks and community. However, there are also resources made specifically to locate and connect with industry experts who are ready to support your learning environment.
Mock Trial
Activating a lawyer for unit planning support is a great example of a community educator contributing to the distributed expertise of a team. Learn how.
Living Library
The Living Library brought more than 35 community educators — from stay-at-home parents to investment bankers — to connect with high school students struggling to see the importance of learning math.
Bringing mindfulness into the learning space
Educators at SPARK School at Kyrene de las Manitas give students the opportunity to practice intentional mindfulness each day during Student-Selected Mindfulness Time.
Family interviews
Big Picture Learning educators hear multiple perspectives on students’ interests, assets and challenges at the beginning of the year through a process they call family interviews. This is a key first step in meaningfully deepening and personalizing student learning.