Yuba City’s Tutoring Program by Fullmind Drives Sustained Student Growth
Yuba City Unified School District announced end-of-year results from its tutoring partnership with Fullmind, showing students identified as needing additional support consistently outperformed their non-tutored peers across nearly 200 participants.
The program expanded from 24 to 194 students while maintaining effectiveness. English Language Arts participants achieved 16 points of growth compared to 10.63 points among non-participants, a 50% advantage. Mathematics participants gained 8 points versus 7.93 points for non-participants.
“When students identified as at-risk of underperformance outperform the general population, we know we’ve found an approach that truly accelerates learning,” said Dr. Nicholas Richter, the program lead.
Exceptional Individual Results
Twelve ELA students gained 50 or more points between mid-year and end-of-year assessments, with one student achieving over 100 points of growth in a single semester. Students completed 93,349 minutes of tutoring with a 71% attendance rate.
Scale Without Compromise
The eightfold expansion maintained program quality and student engagement. ELA participants averaged 9 hours each while math students averaged 7 hours, aligning with research on effective tutoring dosage.
2025 Expansion Plans
Based on strong results, the district plans to expand ELA participation to 250-plus students and expand math tutoring to over 100 students. The program will extend beyond lowest-performing students to include those just below grade level.
“We’ve proven this model works at scale,” said Richter. “Now we’re expanding access to reach even more students who can benefit from this intensive support.”
The partnership represents a commitment to evidence-based interventions that address achievement gaps through high-quality tutoring services, using continuous monitoring to maintain effectiveness as it scales.
Inside the IT Engine Room: What School Districts Must Fix Before the Bell Rings
Scott Rupp
By Scott Rupp, editor, Education IT Reporter.
There’s a myth that school buildings go quiet during summer. Walk the halls in July, and you’ll hear the click of keyboards, the hum of laptops updating en masse, and the buzz of tech teams scrambling to patch systems, reset devices, and prepare for the digital demands of another school year.
For school district IT leaders, summer is less a break and more a deadline. It’s the one narrow window to assess, upgrade, secure, and strategize before the onslaught of helpdesk tickets, classroom rollouts, and surprise crises hit like a storm on the first day of school.
As we look toward the 2025–2026 academic year, here’s what’s top of mind for these unsung heroes and why the work they do now may define how smoothly (or chaotically) the year ahead unfolds.
The Cybersecurity Time Bomb
In recent years, K–12 schools have become ransomware ground zero. Attackers aren’t guessing anymore—they know schools often run aging infrastructure, have limited security staff, and store goldmines of sensitive student data. And they’re exploiting that knowledge.
Overworked IT directors are spending their summers asking hard questions: Have we patched every exposed system? Can we trust our third-party vendors? What happens if our SIS goes down the first week of school?
Some districts are making real progress adopting Zero Trust models, running phishing simulations, building incident response plans—but for many, it still feels like putting duct tape on a submarine. Funding is thin, awareness is spotty, and the stakes have never been higher.
The Chromebook Cliff
Remember the great rush to 1:1 device programs during the pandemic? Well, those devices—millions of them—are aging out. Batteries are failing. Screens are cracked. Charging carts are breaking down.
Summer is when IT departments try to get ahead of it all. They’re running diagnostics, triaging broken units, and scrambling to figure out how to replace entire fleets when budgets are stretched thin.
For many, it’s a sobering realization: the quick fixes of 2020 are now long-term operational burdens. And unless they make smart decisions now standardizing device types, implementing MDM tools, tracking asset lifecycle—they’ll be trapped in a repair-and-replace cycle for years to come.
The EdTech Hangover
If you ever thought your school was using too many apps, you’re probably right. On average, districts use more than 1,400 digital tools each year. Many of them do the same things. Few of them talk to each other.
Educators are overwhelmed. Students are confused. And IT departments? They’re spending hours troubleshooting login issues and fielding support calls for tools no one really needed in the first place.
This summer, more districts are taking stock. They’re auditing usage, sunsetting underperforming tools, and trying to simplify the learning experience. It’s less about cutting costs (though that helps) and more about cutting the noise. Because when every tool claims to be “the future of learning,” it’s hard to know what’s actually helping.
Wi-Fi Woes and Connectivity Gaps
For most schools, Wi-Fi has become as critical as plumbing. And yet, network infrastructure often goes untouched for years, only getting attention when something breaks.
Summer gives IT teams the chance to breathe and look at the bigger picture: Are access points where they need to be? Can the network handle a hallway full of AI-enabled learning apps? What about those students at home who still can’t get online?
Upgrades to Wi-Fi 6, bandwidth increases, and expanded mesh networks are top of the to-do list. So is partnering with local ISPs to keep students connected off campus. Because in 2025, learning doesn’t stop at the school gate and neither should connectivity.
Student Data, Privacy, and the Compliance Tightrope
With each new app, platform, or analytics dashboard comes a fresh load of student data. Grades, attendance, behavior, even biometrics in some cases. And districts are under more pressure than ever to safeguard it all.
IT leaders are spending these weeks re-reading vendor contracts, updating privacy policies, and working with legal teams to stay compliant with laws like FERPA and COPPA. They’re building guardrails—who can access what data, for how long, and under what conditions.
It’s tedious work. But with parents increasingly tuned in to digital privacy—and regulators watching closely; it’s no longer optional. If schools want trust, they have to earn it, and transparency about data practices is where that starts.
The AI Question No One Has Answered Yet
Every superintendent is asking about AI. Should we use it in classrooms? Can it reduce administrative burden? How do we prevent cheating? What about bias? What about the data?
Some districts are experimenting with mixed results. Others are standing back, watching carefully. What’s clear is that IT leaders need to be part of these conversations, not pulled in after the fact to clean up the mess.
This summer, a few are drafting AI use policies, conducting risk assessments, and exploring partnerships with ethical AI vendors. It’s early days, but one thing’s certain: AI is coming to education whether we’re ready or not.
The Human Challenge: Burnout and Brain Drain
Technology isn’t the only thing under strain. The people managing it are, too.
Districts are struggling to recruit and retain qualified IT staff. The work is hard, the pay often lags behind the private sector, and the burnout is real. One person managing thousands of devices, users, and tickets? It’s not sustainable.
Forward-thinking districts are investing in automation, cross-training, and shared service models across regions. They’re advocating for better staffing ratios. Because even the best systems crumble without the people to maintain them.
A Narrow Window for Real Change
The clock is ticking. In a few short weeks, teachers will return. Students will log in. And any cracks in the system will widen under pressure.
Summer isn’t just a time to fix what’s broken—it’s a chance to reset. To rethink what’s necessary, what’s working, and what no longer fits. For school district IT leaders, it’s not just about avoiding disaster. It’s about building infrastructure that supports every learner, teacher, and admin not just for this year, but for years to come.
Because education is changing. And the technology behind it has to keep up.
Knowing which cybersecurity threats pose the biggest danger to your business can be a tricky task. Even the smallest security incidents involving critical systems can result in large-scale disruptions and costly expenses when trying to resume normal operations.
One form of cybercrime that businesses encounter on a regular basis that has the capability of crippling critical systems and applications is ransomware. These cyberattacks are highly sophisticated in both their design and their orchestration. The simple act of visiting a webpage or opening an infected file can quickly bring a business to a standstill.
To mitigate the impact of ransomware threats, proactive security planning is essential. Below are some important best practices you can follow to reduce your attack surface and lower your chances of becoming a target.
Minimizing Vulnerabilities at the User Level
Every device used to access your company’s systems or networks is known as an “endpoint.” While every organization has several endpoints that require management, companies with remote employees tend to have a much higher volume that requires regular monitoring and protection.
With fully remote and hybrid working arrangements increasing the average number of endpoints businesses have to manage, the potential for bad actors to exploit these connections also increases.
To mitigate these risks, the organization’s perimeter security needs to be thoroughly evaluated to identify and protect any potential entry points. After this is accomplished, companies can use a combination of Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) systems and access control measures to reduce the chances of unauthorized individuals posing as legitimate users.
Additionally, enforcing personal device usage policies is also essential to improving cybersecurity posture. These policies outline specific measures that employees should follow while using personal devices to conduct company business. This may include avoiding open public internet connections, locking devices when unattended, and updating software and firmware regularly.
Educating Your Team on Password Best Practices
Your employees are key assets to preventing ransomware attacks, even if they don’t realize it. Using weak login credentials, coupled with limited password management practices, leads to a high probability of organizational security becoming compromised.
As convenient as using easy-to-remember passwords may be for a user, businesses need to educate employees and enforce certain best practices when maintaining company credentials. Establishing strong password protocols is essential to maintaining security. Employees should be required to update their credentials periodically throughout the year and avoid reusing passwords across multiple platforms to reduce the risk of compromise.
Building a Reliable Recovery System
Creating regular copies of databases and infrastructure configurations is a critical step to increasing the digital resilience of any organization. In the event that your operations face a malicious attack and assets become encrypted, reliable backups help you to bring your systems back online more efficiently. While system restoration may still take some time, it is a much more reliable solution than trying to pay a ransom demand.
A widely recognized guideline for structuring your backup strategy is the 3-2-1 rule. This recommends:
Always keep three up-to-date backup files of critical data
Use two different storage formats (internal and/or external)
Keep at least one copy of the data stored outside your business infrastructure
Following this advice reduces your chances of all backups being compromised during an attack and improves your chances of successful recovery.
Creating Secure Zones Within Your Infrastructure
Decentralizing your network into smaller segments helps when containing the rapid spreading of ransomware. This ensures that a compromised system doesn’t automatically allow a bad actor to freely navigate the entire system. Creating secure network zones helps to limit potential damage and gives response teams more time to address the issue.
Strict user access management is also important for reducing your risk exposure. These measures restrict the amount of open access a person has to a system at any given time. This makes it easier to track access levels if employees leave the company and minimize the amount of data exposure with all employees.
Improving Security Through Proactive Testing
As your organization grows, there becomes a need for additional security protections as your digital footprint expands. Still, it’s important to remember that the measures you put in place won’t necessarily stay as effective over the long term. This is why proactive security testing is so important.
However, for many companies, trying to find security weaknesses across a larger underlying infrastructure can be very resource-intensive. Penetration testing services are a great way to help address this challenge.
Pentesting can help organizations identify where various security mechanisms may be failing. By conducting simulated attack scenarios, these ethical hacking teams isolate critical weaknesses that can lead to a data breach. Once receiving a report back from the team, organizations can then prioritize filling high-priority security gaps that could lead to increased attack susceptibility or costly data security and compliance issues.
Maintaining Compliance and Building Customer Trust
Aside from operational disruptions, ransomware can lead to compromised client and customer data security, which can cause serious legal and reputational harm.
Using strong encryption on all of your critical company data is imperative for reducing this risk. This process makes it difficult for any unauthorized person to access information without the necessary encryption keys. While this step may not eliminate all chances of data being accessed, it will go a long way in preventing the illegal trading of this information on dark web markets.
When trying to maintain customer trust, it’s also important to remember that although there is a greater reliance on AI-powered security systems, certain regulatory and ethical considerations need to be taken into consideration. This includes being transparent with customers regarding how these solutions may use their data and how their information will stay protected.
Build a Stronger Defense Against Ransomware
It’s important to maintain a proactive approach when protecting your business from ransomware threats. By following the provided guidelines, you’ll ensure that your organization is less susceptible to these attacks moving forward and that you have effective response plans in place to help you recover if necessary.
Summer is just around the corner and for both remedial and enrichment programs, we humbly think single book units from our Reading Reconsidered curriculum are an ideal match. Our Associate Director of Curriculum and School Support Alonte Johnson-James, explains why:
Summer school and enrichment programs share a common goal of improving and advancing the knowledge and skills of students. They also provide a great chance for the teachers invested in their success to be able try outhigh quality curricula and newer, more research-backed approaches.
When considering a curriculum that best serves students and teachers, we believe the novel-based, modular units of the Reading Reconsidered curriculum provide the opportunity to support students with building knowledge and practice retrieving this knowledge throughout the unit.
Even more exciting is the “one-stop-shop” benefit of high-quality instructional materials that support the training and development of new and veteran teachers alike.
Here are some of the attributes of the Reading Reconsidered Curriculum that make it ideal for summer programs:
Novel-based:
With summer programs roughly spanning 5 to 6 weeks, our novel-based units are a hit! Leaders and teachers may select any of our 36 novel-based units based on their knowledge of their students. Using novel-based units affords summer school students the opportunity to immerse themselves in a good book and read it cover-to-cover. To support with choosing the best fit text, we provide a scope and sequence for text selection based on the time of year. Consider choosing a recommended beginning of year unit for supporting students through remediation or choose a mid-year or end-of-year unit to advance learning or prepare students for the upcoming school year.
Either way, choosing a unit with students in mind can increase investment and engagement in the novel. One teacher shared that the Lord of the Flies unit allowed students to be “immersed in deep concepts and look at things in a different light, that they would not normally think of. It helps get them involved in the plot of the novel and feel part of it.”
Knowledge and Retrieval:
As previously mentioned, Our student-facing materials provide students with the knowledge-building tools needed to see success in these novel-based units. A knowledge organizer makes the end of unit understandings transparent from the launch of the unit. Daily lesson handouts include a Do Now, Vocabulary Practice, Retrieval Practice and all essential knowledge students will need to access the reading and learning for the day. Additionally, materials also include embedded non-fiction and light embellishments to support teachers and students with key background knowledge needed to access pivotal moments of the text without spending valuable learning time with front-loading content. Including these knowledge-building moments at the “just right” moment allows students to build genuine connections between the non-fiction and the fictional text at the center of the class and deepen their learning and connection to the text.
Teachers will be better able to assess and respond to students’ understandings with the recursive practice embedded throughout units. Vocabulary lessons include recursive practice that revisits key literary and content-specific terms students will need to access the day’s materials and encode into their long-term memory for future study and application. Retrieval practice also assesses students’ understanding and retention of key knowledge and skills taught throughout the unit. Additionally, daily lessons include recursive practice of newly taught and previously learned content from the Do Now to the Exit Ticket. Teachers can leverage various portions of each lesson to gather data and best plan for how to respond to this data using the provided lesson materials.
One school leader had this to share about the retrieval practice:
I love the vocabulary boxes for exposure and how these are embedded words in the text. I also appreciate the periodic review of terms. The retrieval practices are a great quick check for where students are at and to emphasize what key details students need to retain.
One-Stop Shop:
The book-based Reading Reconsidered curriculum is highly regarded by school leaders and teachers because of its rigor, its accessibility and the embedded teacher support. Teachers are provided with unit and lesson plans that outline essential unit understandings as well as the standards that are practiced and assessed throughout the unit. The lesson plans serve as guides for teachers to ensure effective implementation with suggestions for how to approach the day’s reading andplans for engaging students in the learning, and an additional benefit to having printable daily lesson plans and student packets is it simplifies planning and allows teachers to focus on assessing and responding to student work with intentional considerations foradaptations and differentiation to tailor lessons based on students’ abilities and needs. Ultimately, the Reading Reconsidered curriculum lowers the planning lift for summer school teachers and makes the curriculum well-poised to serve as a training and development tool for more novice teachers. What’s even better? All materials are shared in Word form for easy formatting, adapting, and printing.
If you are looking for a literacy curriculum for this summer, choose Reading Reconsidered for its:
Novel-based, modular unit structure to best select rigorous and engaging text that invest students in the novel and their learning
Consistent recursive practice that reviews key knowledge students will need to master the unit’s content and provides teachers with consistent data to inform data-driven instruction
“One-stop” approach to essential teacher and student facing materials that support implementation and differentiation
Ben Katcher was a Teach Like A Champion Fellow from 2023-24. For his final project, he focused on developing a knowledge-rich AP US History curriculum. Ben discussed knowledge organizers with Doug on the Sweat the Technique podcast (here). Sign up for his free newsletter about how to apply the science of learning in the classroom here. He can be reached at KnowledgeFirstHistory@gmail.com. He reflects here on teaching students to be more effective in using retrieval practice to review for exams.
In my AP US History class, it’s vital that my students develop study skills that can help them learn and use a lot of content knowledge. Research tells us that most people (including adults!) are not very good at studying, spending too much time reviewing information and too little time retrieving information. Information becomes far more durable and better encoded in our long-term memory when we are quizzed on it, or when we quiz ourselves on it. With this in mind, partner quizzing has become an important system for retrieval practice in my classroom.
Partner quizzing can be a powerful way to help students speak and listen to each other, develop their ideas, and prepare to participate in whole-group discussions or construct thoughtful ideas in writing. But partner work can suffer from some common pitfalls, including:
One partner dominating the discussion
Students struggling to identify the resources they need to participate fully
The teacher struggling to monitor multiple, simultaneous conversations, leaving misconceptions unaddressed
I am excited to share one activity I use in my classroom that maximizes the benefits and minimizes the risks of partner work.
This activity is a partner Retrieval Practice drill. I use this activity toward the end of a unit of study, before students take a quiz on key terms and dates associated with that unit. The goals of this activity are to help students encode knowledge, practice effective study techniques in advance of the quiz, and self-assess their understanding.
To prepare for the activity in the video below, I took all of the key terms and dates from my Unit 8 Knowledge Organizer and turned them into question form, placing a checkbox next to each question (see a portion of both my Unit 8 Knowledge Organizer and partner quiz below).
As you can see in the video, I begin the activity by reviewing the expectations. I instruct Partner #1 to ask Partner #2 each retrieval practice question. I instruct Partner #2 to attempt to answer each question without their knowledge organizer. If Partner #2 is able to answer the question, then Partner #1 will place a check next to the term on the handout that belongs to Partner #2. If Partner #2 is unable to answer the question, then they are expected to look at their Knowledge Organizer and read the answer. In that case, Partner #1 will not place a check next to the term.
As students begin asking and answering the questions, I circulate throughout the class with a copy of the student handout on my clipboard. As I circulate, I listen to student conversations, but this only gets me a limited amount of information. I only have the opportunity to hear each student ask and answer 1-2 questions. Therefore, my main focus is looking at the students’ handouts to note which terms have check marks next to them, indicating that they have been answered correctly. I then tally the terms that do not have check marks. By the end of the seven minutes, I have reliable, student-generated data that indicates the most common gaps in knowledge.
After seven minutes, the timer goes off, indicating that it is time for students’ to switch roles. But before we do that, I take the opportunity to review common misconceptions. During this lesson, my formative assessment data indicated that common misconceptions included the Truman Doctrine and the Military-Industrial Complex, so I reviewed these terms with all students.
By the end of the activity, students have generated for themselves a personalized study guide that indicates which terms they know well and which terms they need to study in more depth before the assessment. I instruct students to focus their study time on the terms that their partner did not check off for them. And I instruct them to study in exactly the way they did in class; ask themselves the questions and see if they can answer without the Knowledge Organizer. If they can, then check off the answer for themselves.
Through this activity, my students have practiced a more effective study method than simply rereading information and prepared to study effectively on their own.
I’m really excited to share our newest video clip–a great example of of one of the most important techniques in the TLAC library, FASE Reading. FASE Reading is a technique that supports student fluency and engagement in reading, topics we discuss extensively in the forthcoming TLAC Guide to the Science of Reading.
The clip comes to us from Jessica Sliman’s 4th grade classroom in Whitefish, MT. It shows 3 and a half minutes of Jessica and her students reading aloud from Lois Lowry’s Number the Stars.
I suspect you will love it as much as everyone on Team TLAC did.
First, here’s the clip:
Now some things we loved:
We love her initial framing, “I want you guys to notice moments of suspense.” This shapes student attention. Learning always starts with attention and directing students to attend to a ‘most important’ thing is one of the most important things a teacher can do. Jessica does a simple and elegant job of it here
Then they’re off reading. Jessica goes first. Her reading is beautifully expressive. She’s bringing the story to life modeling how to read meaningfully so that students will copy her. This will them to build the habit of infusing their reading with expression. Research suggests that this assists with meaning and is likely to translate into better and more expressive silent reading for students.
Izzy is the first student to read. she does a really nice job but Jessica pushes her to bring a bit more expression to her reading in a lighthearted and positive way: “How would she say that?” She’s making a norm of expressive reading that models her own. And happily this just increases her students’ enjoyment. Their laughter at Izzy’s portrayal underscores this.
Hadrian goes next. THere’s a great moment where Jessica drops in a quick definition of the word “prolong”–she’s recognized that students may not know the word and that it’s important. She provides the key knowledge without distracting from the story.
Hadrian is a pretty good reader but he’s also still developing his expressiveness. So it’s lovely the way she praises him for his “extra expression on “very very frightened.” Again the key is to cause students to practice reading aloud with expression and in so doing improve their fluency and infuse maximum meaning into their reading. She builds that culture intentionally.
Next Jessica reads again- moving the story along a bit, keeping it alive and fresh with her own expressive reading–she is after all, the best reader in the class–and modeling again for students how to express meaning as you read. Notice that she’s reading slightly more slowly than her natural rate might be. She’s reminding her class that fast reading isn’t good reading. Expressive reading is.
Steven reads next. Notice by the way that she calls on students unpredictably to read and that every student she’s called on is ready to read right away. This tells her something critical. Her leverage is high–meaning that she knows now that her students are not just listening but reading along.
Steven does something really interesting. He self-corrects, re-reading a sentence of his own volition not because he read it wrong but because he didn’t express its meaning as well as he could have. It’s a very meta-cognitive moment. “Oh, i didn’t capture that quite right.” Interestingly, Jessica doesn’t have to ask him whether he understands this passage. the way that he reads it SHOWS her this. So they can simply keep reading.
But what a statement about the culture of error Jessica has created! Students willingly and unselfconsciously improve their reading as they go.
Weston is next. We love the rhythm of the reading she’s established. Burst of reading are just long enough to allow students to take real pleasure in expressing the text but short enough to allow them to read with maximum success and attention. The switching feels lively but not disruptive. It balances the need to keep students on their toes–I might be next!--and locked in to the story. Beautiful.
Gracefully, Jessica steps in on the word cautiously and reads through to the end herself, again with beautiful expression.
It’s pretty clear that this reading–and that of her students–has had a real effect of her class since they plead to keep reading at the end. “We have to read the next chapter!” one student says urgently. They don’t want to stop!
As many readers probably know, we have written and published a middle school reading curriculum built around the science of reading.
And now we’re writing a high school curriculum as well!
We think this is a hugely important project. There’s very little high-quality curriculum out there for high school English teachers that supports them with knowledge-rich and adaptable lessons to ensure deep study of important books.
Having been working on this project for a year or so, we’re excited to share some of the work we’ve done.
Let us start by telling you about two foundations of the high school curriculum—both of which will be familiar to those who know our middle school work.
First, our HS curriculum is book based. Statistics show that the amount of time kids spend reading at home doesn’t amount to the time they should be reading to develop and maintain their reading comprehension, according to research. To address this, we seek to build students’ love of books by centering units on full texts, not excerpts or selections, so students have time to engage deeply with the protagonist’s plight and with an author’s writing style. Additionally, we build students’ fluency by ensuring that class time (even in high school!) includes shared reading, so students read aloud and hear text pages come to life.
Second, the curriculum is knowledge-driven. As research shows, reading comprehension is directly tied to knowledge, so knowledge is infused throughout the unit where it most supports comprehension. Thinking well requires facts, and nonfiction readings and explicitly-taught vocabulary words help students unlock the deeper meanings in the anchor text. As in our middle school curriculum, dedicated retrieval practice helps students encode vocabulary, text details, and unit knowledge to strengthen their analysis of the text.
emphasis on books and knowledge is crucial for students across all grades, we recognize that there are some specific needs of high school students as they develop maturity and independence. And so a few aspects of our high school curriculum are new and different.
One hallmark of maturity is the ability to grapple with “big ideas,” those questions and issues that have reverberated through time, so in addition to daily discussion questions, the high school curriculum also includes opportunities for more extended and student-driven discussions. We’ve designed specific lesson plan formats that help teachers confidently run extended Discussion Seminars over the course of the unit, and developed and included supporting documents for teachers and students that outline the purpose and some best practices for leading and participating in discussions.
All that rich thinking and learning from discussion needs to be captured–so our curriculum supports teachers and students in intentional note taking, using the Cornell notes method. Lesson plans include spaces throughout the lesson where students can pause to recap class discussion or reflect on their learning in ways that intentionally support note taking and using notes more effectively.
Our first unit, John Steinbeck’s Mice and Men, is ready for purchase, and we’ll keep you informed as additional units are planned. In the meantime email us at ReadingCurriculum@teachlikeachampion.org if you’d like to know more or see a sample.
The Teach Like a Champion team had a dilemma. Too many team members wanted to write our blog post in honor of Teacher Appreciation Week!
So we decided to share the mic and asked the whole team to contribute. It’s resulted in one of the longest and most enthusiastic posts of all time and still doesn’t come close to capturing how grateful we are all of you who spend your days in the most important space there is: the classroom. We consider ourselves, collectively, the luckiest to spend our time learning from your brilliance and passion. Thank you!
“Teaching is the hardest, yet best, work in the world because it is a gift of service – a gift of the heart. And there are few greater gifts a child can have than the love and care from an educator who knows their work is not simply to teach, but to reach and inspire their same passion and pursuit of greater knowledge in their students. Thank you all for giving your time, energy and hearts to students all over!” – Alonte Johnson-James Associate Director of Curriculum and School Support
“…I would gift to all teachers TIME: there are a million different reasons why: teachers need time to get to know all their students as people–to learn about their students’ passions and gifts, to learn about their challenges and needs (both in and out of the classroom), to learn about how best to reach them to help them succeed and grow. Then, teachers need time to implement best practices to serve their students: to study, practice, and reflect on research and techniques to make their classrooms amazing. Finally, teachers need time for themselves to recharge their own batteries, to connect with their own friends and family, so they can re-enter their classrooms as the best version of themselves to continue to shine for their students. ” – Beth Verrilli Senior Associate Director of Curriculum and School Support
“If I could wave a magic wand, I would give teachers the gift of time. Time to plan and collaborate with intention, time to reflect and grow professionally, and just as importantly, time to rest, recharge, and be present with the people they love. Too often, the demands of teaching stretch far beyond the school day, leaving little room for balance. I’d want every teacher to feel they could show up for their students without having to sacrifice their own well-being or the needs of their families. Because when teachers are supported both personally and professionally, everyone in the school community benefits.” – Brittany Hargrove Director of Advocacy and Partnerships
“Teaching is both the hardest job in the world because you are expected to meet or exceed the needs of 100% of your ‘clients’ every year – something no other profession even attempts. But by meeting the needs of the entire classroom, you form relationships that last a lifetime, and all the great work you do with your students increases exponentially as they continue their learning the following year.” – Christian Sparling Senior Director of Operations
“I wish we could celebrate Teacher Appreciation week by opening the doors to Staples for unlimited access to post-its, Flair pens, and stickers–the things you can’t live without; installing bottomless vats of Starbucks in every teachers lounge to fuel the endless and joyful energy you bring to your students; and with choirs following you around, singing your praises for doing the hardest, most important work in the world. Teachers, thank you for showing up every day to guide, inspire, and educate. “ – Colleen Driggs Managing Director of Curriculum and School Support
“Thank you for seeing, valuing, and loving on our students each and every day. Teaching is hard work – but just like any obstacle or task done well, both the process and the outcome yield greater satisfaction. Our world is stronger, more vibrant, and a lot smarter because of the transformative impact of educators. We are forever indebted to you.” – Denarius Frazier Senior Advisor, Consulting & Partnerships Team
“I wish we could celebrate Teacher Appreciation Week by having the time and resources to give our teachers a week of doing what most fills their cup. Each week, teachers fill the cups, the minds, the hearts of so many students both in their classroom and in the hallways. It is the absolute best and most rewarding job – but also the hardest job in the world and requires endless patience, practice, decision-making, and more. While we know that Teacher Appreciate Week isn’t spent outside of schools, I hope it is a moment to fill your own cup and to feel the gratitude that exists from students, from parents, from us, and from society! The work you do is unmatched!” – Dillon Fisher Senior Associate Director of Partnerships
“If I could wave a magic wand, I would gift to all teachers unlimited books and supplies (because too many teachers have to dip into their pockets), time (for themselves and for their students), peace of mind and unlimited admiration and respect from because the work that they do is truly the hardest and most important in the whole world.” – Erica Woolway President and Chief Academic Officer
“If I could wave a magic wand, I would gift all teachers more time in front of their students because it is the most precious resource we have– to make academic impact, to forge lasting relationships, and to learn what helps them most. It is truly incredible how much teachers accomplish with students in just one 180 day school year, one tiny moment in time, and here’s to all of the teachers who maximize that moment with their students every day. Thank you all for your incredible work!” – Jack Vuylsteke Senior Director of Partnerships
“If I could wave a magic wand, I would gift all teachers a society that honors and respects teachers for the incredible contributions they make to our communities and along with it a salary that reflects that impact because there is no profession that influences our future as deeply as teachers. “ – Jaimie Brillante Director of Strategy of Curriculum and School Support
“You are content experts, attentive listeners, role models, diligent planners, creative problem-solvers, meticulous multi-taskers, guiding lights, and helping hands; you are teachers, and we appreciate you!” – Jen Rugani Director of Curriculum and School Support
“Thank you ALL for being the exceptional teachers that you are! Your continued dedication and devotion does not go unnoticed. Your guidance and support will make a difference in your students’ future.” – Michelle Wagner Associate Project Manager
“You juggle lesson plans, life advice, and lost pencils like a superhero, only with more coffee and fewer capes. Beneath all that multitasking is a heart that gives endlessly, reminding every student they matter and that every challenge is worth it. Thank you for all you do!” – Patrick Pastore Associate Director of Curriculum Development and School Support
“If I could wave a magic wand, I would gift to all teachers more respect and support for all the tireless hours of heroic work you put into making sure your students get the best instruction every single day.” – Rob Richard Chief Video Officer
“If I could wave a magic wand, I would gift teachers an inexhaustible well of respect, empathy, and recognition. Teachers make the world go around their daily lives should reflect that truth.” – Sarah Engstrom Associate Director of Curriculum and School Support
“If I could wave a magic wand, I would gift to all teachers the time, resources, and respect they deserve—because they shape the future every day, often with too little support and too much asked of them.” -Teneicesia White Senior Associate Director of Partnerships
“I wish we could celebrate Teacher Appreciation YEAR! Thank you for inspiring and empowering our youth!” – Tracey Koren Associate Director of Operations
Reading aloud both to and WITH students is one of the most important things teachers can do in reading class. Doing so helps build accuracy and automaticity in a way that silent reading can’t. And when students are socialized to read with a bit of prosody, to capture the intended meaning in their expression–we get double value because prosodic oral reading leads to prosodic–and therefore better–silent reading. This is a point Colleen Driggs, Erica Woolway and I make repeatedly in our forthcoming book The Teach Like a Champion Guide to the Science of Reading.
But teachers are often reluctant to ask students to read aloud. They’re worried students won’t want to read or that they will struggle. Or they think they’re “not teaching” when students read aloud.
Yes it’s important to build systems to cause all students to be attentive when read aloud happens. FASE Reading is a great tool for that. Yes, it’s important to have a plan for student who will struggle. But it’s also important to understand that those are solvable problems. Especially if you are attentive to building a positive reading culture.
A phrase we sometimes use is “celebration is as important as correction.” And you can see that clearly in this beautiful video (one of our longest serving in the TLAC library) of Hannah Lofthus.
Hannah celebrates Cartier’s expressive reading beautifully: His classmates get to talk about “what’s so great” about his fluent prosodic reading. Hannah rewards him by letting him read a bit more. [Note that Cartier punches it up a bit on the second read; he knows he’s got it and he’s proud]. And then it’s Mahogany’s turn and she’s NOT going to be outdone.
Yes, there is also correction and deliberate practice. Those are critical factors. But this video is a beautiful example of how we can make effective oral reading go viral in the classroom by attending to the culture of reading.
Give clear, concrete directions. Scan for follow-though
Happy Teacher Appreciation Week! Casey Clementson, author of the following post, is a middle school music teacher at Rosemount Middle School in Rosemount, MN.
As part of her work as a Teach Like a Champion Fellow, Casey studied the What to Do Cycle, using its principles and adapting them to the challenges of doubly-complex settings like Concert Band.
Her reflections (below) are so helpful… they’re our Teacher Appreciation Week gift to you!
Meanwhile if you’re interested in learning more about What to Do Directions or other elements of productve and orderly classrooms, join us for our Building Strong Classroom Cultures workshop in Tarrytown, NY, on June 5th and 6th; info here.
The Concert Band or Orchestra is a complex environment. Not only are students responsible for their personal materials needed for learning, they are also in charge of a musical instrument (one that costs hundreds of dollars). In my subject area – Concert Band – there could be over ten different types of musical instruments being used among the students, up to four different key signatures, and two different clefs used for reading music notation. To top it off, most percussionists are required to perform musical tasks completely independent but at the same time as the other students in the ensemble!
Self-regulation and self-discipline from the students is essential to making this type of classroom shine. The best Instrumental Music teachers know how to harness these challenges to shape the attention of their student musicians to keep everyone learning and helping every student become an independent musician.
During my time as a TLAC Fellow, I tried on many techniques to see how they fit in a class where nobody sits at a desk to learn. The technique that I fell in love with most was the What to Do Cycle. The What to Do Cycle is a sequence of moves that provides students clarity so they can experience success and belonging in the classroom.
See Casey use the What to Do Cycle here:
Here are a few things I learned during this process:
What To Do Cycles take planning, practice, and refinement.
There is a potency in consciously naming a What to Do Cycle. Teachers may say they are giving clear instructions when they are really not. Teachers may assume the students will magically do what is asked of them no matter what. I was this teacher.
For example, I have been teaching out of the same rhythm workbook for years. This year, I carefully craft my explanations, my examples, and my directions each day we have a rhythm lesson. I learned to change the register and tempo of my voice to make the ask exciting, or magical, or to harness middle school energy into concentration.
Sometimes Be Seen Looking and Correct When Necessary are the most important part of the What to Do Cycle.
A What to Do Cycle is more than just giving clear concise directions. By using Be Seen Looking and some positive narration: “The flute section has really got their pencils moving” or using an Anonymous Individual Correction such as, “Waiting for two saxophones to get their Scale sheet out,” while circulating the room is effective.
One of the greatest benefits has been the use of Private Individual Correction. Anything from softly saying “Check you counts in measure 1” to “Do you have something in your mouth that needs to go in the garbage?” to the more urgent “I need you to turn your body to the front and participate” allows students to feel safe while they practice the expectations of the task at hand or of the classroom in general.
Purpose not Power.
One of my most impactful take-aways from a training of the What to Do cycle was the phrase “Purpose not Power.” In my 26 years of teaching, I certainly remember many instances of power struggles between me and a student. Being able to reframe my thinking that everything I do to guide behavior and culture is for the service of learning music versus trying to control young people has resulted in powerful outcomes:
Our rehearsals are calmer.
My emotional constancy has been easier to maintain.
Our students are visibly and audibly improving at a rate we have not seen since pre-pandemic.
My “thank yous” and smiles to students have been more genuine than ever after a Be Seen Looking, an Anonymous Individual Correction, or in celebration of a job well-done.
The purpose of the TLAC Fellows program is a two-way street: The TLAC team learns from the Fellows and receives a ton of great video from us to work with. And, in return, I was inspired to improve my craft, thus reigniting my love of teaching.
Post script 1: Since adopting the use of strong WTD cycles, Cold Call has become a natural extension/part of our classroom (even without a roll out). After a Be Seen Looking and making eye contact with multiple students, I can engage in successful Cold Calls, but that’s for another blog post.
Post script 2: Our school is a 1:1 iPad school. After reading the book The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt over the summer, my colleague and I decided the Band Area would be an iPad-free zone. Students turn their iPad in at the beginning of class and don’t pick it up until the bell rings. For 52 minutes, our musicians get to engage in something truly collective – learning music together – without the distraction of gaming, doing work for another class, or communicating with peers online. Could this be another factor in a successful classroom this year? Probably, yes!
Yuba City Unified School District announced end-of-year results from its tutoring partnership with Fullmind, showing students identified as needing additional support consistently outperformed their non-tutored peers across nearly 200 participants.
