Reply To: Helping the Teachers Grow

[Traci Jackson]

I am in a similar role in my first year. I have tried lots of things that have not worked:

1) I would love to come in and teach a lesson with you!

2) Try this in your classroom

Things I have found worked:

1) Take a survey after professional learning on what each teacher would like to learn. After a few weeks follow up personally with resources that are specific to their need.

2) If they have young children, tap into how children learn. They are VERY invested in their own child’s learning (as they should be). This can lead to using visuals in their own classroom. This also is a great relational connection!

Things I wonder about and would like to try to accomplish but don’t know how:

1) Getting administrators understanding best practices and participating in high quarlity math PD (even just faking it.) From what I have read, this is key.

2.) Helping parents understand the shift, so they don’t put pressure on teachers and admin to teach algorithms, but instead push for deep understanding.