Topic: Community educators

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Driving Academic Progress

Learn more about how one school system leveraged bus drivers as literacy tutors between driving shifts.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

Changing the model: Building the Next Education Workforce

hat’s normal in education is broken. Nationally, teacher preparation programs have long seen declining enrollment. Teachers switch careers or retire early. They receive less pay and enjoy less social status than many other professionals. The job is hard in specific ways that inhibit success. That’s not good for educators. It’s not good for learners. And it’s not good for communities. In collaboration with school and community partners, Arizona State University’s Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College is working to change that. 

10 Tips for planning team-based deeper learning

The educator team at Kyrene de las Manitas Innovation Academy co-plans project-based units that support deeper learning. The 10 tips appearing in this document are drawn from their approach to planning. To get started, consider how your team might implement these tips.

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Community educator project overview template

Community educators provide capacity and insight in service of deepening and personalizing student learning. They enrich learning environments by forging authentic relationships, sharing expertise and expanding networks. Use this template to guide your communication with community educators.

Team-based PBL unit planning template

Next Education Workforce team-based structures can strengthen the project-based learning instructional approach. This unit planning template takes educators through the steps of designing a PBL unit, while also planning for how to maximize distributed expertise.

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Community educator asset map

An asset map is a visual way to identify resources within your community. The act of creating a map of expertise can help you discover connections you already have, organizations you’d love to know about, and talents and resources near your school or available virtually.

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Six tips for engaging a community educator

Explore this resource to learn six tips for engaging a community educator in schools, community-based organizations and anywhere that learning happens.

The Creighton Academy: School profile

The Creighton Academy in Phoenix, Arizona serves about 300 students in grades K–6. Every student is a member of a covey: a multi-age group of 55–60 students. Students work with educators specific to their coveys and educators who work across coveys. Here, you’ll learn how they’re implementing a team-based model.

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Elementary instructional blueprint: Lessons with industry experts

Elementary instructional blueprints suggest ways teams of educators with distributed expertise might deploy themselves to better deepen and personalize student learning.

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Elementary instructional blueprint: Thematic learning rotation

Elementary instructional blueprints suggest ways teams of educators with distributed expertise might deploy themselves to better deepen and personalize student learning.

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Elementary instructional blueprint: Authentic assessment work time

Elementary instructional blueprints suggest ways teams of educators with distributed expertise might deploy themselves to better deepen and personalize student learning.

Next Education Workforce Teams in All-Remote Environments

In this resource, you’ll find several recommendations for how all-remote teams might deploy their educators to best meet the needs of students.

SPARK School invites experts to the classroom

As part of their preparation for a mock trial, students at SPARK School prepared interview questions for a community member who is an attorney. Hear from a teacher candidate about