Posted on October 23, 2023November 30, 2023 by Imagine Learning Corporate

October 23, 2023 9:41 am

The Power of a Positive Math Identity

Ever wondered why it’s acceptable to say ‘I’m NOT a math person’ but rare to hear ‘I’m not a reading person’? Dive into a thought-provoking exploration of the detrimental effects of math anxiety, and why it’s time to embrace that we are all, indeed, ‘Mathers’.

“I am not a reading person,” is not something we typically hear people say, yet it is quite common to hear,

“I am NOT a math person!”

A few months ago, I traveled to Baltimore for work, but my travel shoes were just not comfortable. I decided to run into Marshall’s and pick up a pair of sneakers before heading to the airport. I tried on a few and decided on a comfy pair of black sneakers, and then headed over to grab some socks. While I really only needed one pair, they had a 10 pack for $7 and a 6 pack for $9. They were similar styles and brands, so I figured it wouldn’t hurt to take home some extras. In my mind, it was a no brainer, but sadly it became evident this was not the case for the young sales associate.

Sales Associate: “Do you need some help?”

Deborah: “Not really, just comparing these sock bundles. The 10 pack is $7 and the 6 pack is $9,” I responded with a chuckle.

Sales Associate: “That is just too much math! Sorry, I cannot help you. I am NOT a math person.”

This exchange was disheartening not just because the only math involved was comparing numbers within 10, but also because I can’t imagine someone would ever say, “Ugh, that’s too many words. I just can’t help you. I am not a reading person.” So, why is it okay to declare, “I am NOT a math person?”

In many spaces, adults refuse to engage with mathematics. They have opted out based on the belief that only certain careers need mathematics and only certain individuals are wired to “do” mathematics. We must break the cycle of math anxious adults, teaching children to be intimidated by mathematics, who then grow up to be math anxious adults. When students don’t have a positive math identity they don’t see themselves as math people. So, what happens when teachers don’t believe they are math people?

Research by Hadley, K. M., & Dorward, J. (2011) found that there is a correlation between teachers’ math anxiety and student math achievement. When teachers have unhealthy relationships with mathematics, it can interfere with their ability to connect to the subject and portray mathematics in a positive light. Teachers are the anchors in the classroom, so they need to be grounded and confident in order to facilitate optimal learning. If math anxiety is not addressed, we will continue to see simple math concepts causing freeze, fight, or flight responses in students, parents, and yes teachers.

Some people believe they can teach mathematics without addressing their own anxiety, but it is necessary to heal and actively work to nurture your own positive math identity development. Teachers with negative math identities can negatively impact the development of their students’ identities because they unknowingly project anxieties and mindsets onto their students. Even teachers with positive math identities and a strong connection to mathematics can unintentionally do harm to students’ fragile math identities. Whether it’s an offhand comment, inadequate wait time, or a perplexed look when a student shares a creative strategy, we all could use proven methods for developing cognitive empathy and alleviating math anxiety.

The results from the 2023 NAEP Mathematics Assessment revealed that we have experienced the greatest decline in NAEP Mathematics Assessment scores at grades 4 and 8 since 1990 when they began. One proposed solution to improve mathematics achievement is to support teachers with relevant professional learning. Teachers deserve high quality professional development focused on math content and effective instructional practices. For years, there has been an imbalance between literacy and mathematics training and support. It’s time to invest time and resources in mathematics, so we can make an impact on student math achievement. In order to nurture positive math identities with students, there must be a shift in mindsets, beliefs, and practices. Let’s work together to build a community of mathers!

Math is for Life.

What if instead of Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic, we redefined the core academic skills as Reading, Writing, and Mathing? Imagine classrooms where all students are encouraged to be mathers. What is a mather? A mather is a person who uses mathematics to make sense of the world. With so many people opting out of mathematics because of the myth that some are born with “math brains” and others are not, it is important to establish a norm that math is for everyone. If we start by changing our language, students can see that even if they don’t choose to be mathematicians they can still keep mathing.

We must make it a practice to highlight all the ways we use math everyday and help students experience success with math tasks. Math talk should also take place outside of the designated math block, which demonstrates that math is everywhere. Mathematizing stories and the world around them allows students to experience math in ways that are long lasting. Students must engage with relevant contexts and experience mathematics in ways that are inviting, without time pressures and ideals of perfection. Even toddlers would choose the hand that has three snacks over the hand that has one, so it’s safe to say that we were all born with mathematical minds.

Math is a Team Sport!

In order to build a community where math is celebrated and enjoyed, we must encourage collaboration. Teachers benefit from planning together, solving problems together, and exploring new ways of mathing together. As we step outside of our comfort zones, we can model for students how to take deep breaths before new challenges, how to view mistakes as growth opportunities, and how to ask for help when we really need it. We can establish a class culture where students view one another as experts, choose appropriate tools to support their understanding, and boldly justify their reasoning and critique the reasoning of others.

We are Born to be Mathers!

Teachers’ math identity development has a direct impact on students’ identities and math achievement. As the adults in their lives, we owe it to our students to be reflective so we can address our own math anxiety and show compassion for those around us experiencing it. Building a math culture and community focused on preparing all students for college, career, and beyond is grounded in the belief that all students can learn mathematics and need math for life. Look in the mirror and ask yourself how you can lead the way with reframing mathematics to help others believe math is for everyone. It is time to celebrate that we are all Mathers!

About the Author-Deborah Peart

Deborah Peart is the founder and CEO of My Mathematical Mind. With over 30 years in the field of education, Deborah speaks on a variety of topics related to math identity, elementary math content and instruction, and literacy connections to mathematics. As a master facilitator and content developer, she supports teachers, coaches, and instructional leaders across the nation. Deborah has dedicated her career and doctoral studies to supporting educators with innovative teaching strategies that allow students to see themselves as assets to the learning community and curious problem-solvers. Deborah believes that all children deserve high quality instruction and the opportunity to become competent readers, writers, and mathers.

4 Tips for a Mathematical Mindset Makeover

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Posted on October 20, 2023November 7, 2023 by Imagine Learning Corporate

October 20, 2023 9:14 am

Inquiry-Based Learning: What I’ve Learned

Imagine Learning implementation specialist and former social studies teacher Timothy Lent discusses the value of inquiry-based learning for students, strategies teachers can use to create successful inquiry projects, and why Traverse’s huge library saves teachers “a ton of time.”

Engaging Students with Real-World Contexts

Inquiry-based learning involves getting students to actively apply their skills to real-world contexts through problem-solving activities. I use inquiry in my social studies classes because it gets students engaged and topics appear more relevant to them. By exploring problems, ideas, or questions through a range of different media sources and activities, students can draw their own conclusions, and the lesson is brought to life.

For the first three years of my teaching career, I used a more traditional style of teaching. Often, it very much felt like we were just going lockstep through history: this happened, then this, then this, then this. Every once in a while, we would stop to look at a source here or there.

I was lucky enough to attend some workshops and be involved with some training that introduced me to the inquiry design model that Kathy Swan helped to create. When I started to introduce this method into my own classroom, I saw straight away that students became much more connected to what they were learning. We were still moving along chronologically—because that’s usually how you teach social studies—but instead of taking a day to look at a source, you’re really taking maybe three or four classes to breathe a little bit within a time period. Instead of telling kids what happened, you’re providing students with just enough context to get to the inquiry question so they understand what led up to it, and they can grapple with the question.

Inquiry in Action

At the beginning of an inquiry, you present students with the scenario: here’s the big question you’re trying to answer, and here are four or five sources that you’re gonna try to figure out the answer to that question with. And instead of students searching for the right answer to get the points, they now have the opportunity to come up with their own answer. Not only is this more interesting and more engaging, it’s also more challenging and rewarding to have to support a claim with evidence and then try to explain how that evidence supports the claim.

My first inquiry was on the Industrial Revolution, and by at the end of this inquiry, students were involved in a debate where they had roles—so you had students who took on the role of being child workers in factories, there were factory owners, there were labor leaders, and some of the kids dressed up for the roles. They prepared for it for a week and a half, gathering their evidence, from the point of view of their roles: “That testimonial is gonna be perfect for us” or “This piece from Adam Smith is perfect for me as a factory owner to prove that it’s just more efficient.” The students were the ones providing the momentum in the instruction because they really got into the debate and thought it was fun. It was very fulfilling to see as a teacher.

One of the biggest challenges of inquiry is finding the right question or right topic—if the inquiry is flat or the students aren’t so interested in the subject, you can look to implement a range of different sources so the students can draw connections to the subject, whether that be thematic or direct connections. Sources don’t necessarily need to be historical or traditional formats. In an inquiry about Black Lives Matter protests in July 2020, I brought in some tweets from a local reporter, Instagram posts from a student group, and a local news report, and the students had to figure out why the protests took place. They loved it because they could draw connections from people they were familiar with and work with media that resonated with them.

Finding High-Quality Sources

One of the reasons why Traverse is so valuable is because of the sources that have been selected. Most of them are really great quality and they’ve already been pared down. I think that’s incredibly important, not just for engaging students but also saving teachers time. It takes a ton of time for teachers to find sources.

Let’s say I’m teaching about the Whiskey Rebellion and I want to have five sources. I’ll probably pull a little excerpt from the textbook. I’ll look online, type in “Whiskey Rebellion, primary sources,” and then I have to read through all of them, and excerpt them, and they’re probably in PDF format so I need to find a way to copy and paste that. When I’m done with that, I have to actually create questions for the kids. And a lot of what you can find online is public domain, from 1916 or something like that, and written in a style that you need to translate for your students.

With Traverse you’ve got, for each chapter, a source set, a question already developed, activities for each source, additional source information in the Teacher Edition that you wouldn’t know about unless you did some next-level investigation on your own. And it’s so easily customizable, so let’s say there are six sources in the Traverse source set and I know we only have time to look at three or four, I just have to click a button and then those aren’t assigned to the kids. It just saves people a ton of time.

Strategies

Here are some tips and strategies that I’ve found helpful to create successful inquiry projects:

Develop compelling questions—Work closely with your students to guide their inquiry by developing questions that are open-ended and encourage critical thinking and exploration.
Provide scaffolding—Throughout inquiry journeys, provide scaffolding to support your students, including offering background information, modeling the inquiry process, and giving feedback.
Encourage reflection—Encourage your students to reflect on what they have learned and to make connections between their new knowledge and their prior knowledge and experiences.
Assess learning—Formative assessments such as observations, checklists, or rubrics can be used to gauge student understanding throughout the process. Presentations, research papers, or debates are good ways of evaluating learning outcomes too.
Positive classroom culture—It’s important to have an environment that promotes collaboration and open communication. Students need to feel comfortable asking questions, taking conceptual risks, and exploring different ideas and perspectives.

Using these approaches, I have witnessed the transformative power of inquiry-based learning in my classroom. I’d recommend it to any teacher who wants to not only enhance students’ critical thinking and problem-solving skills but also help inspire a genuine passion for learning and a deeper understanding of their subject.

About the Author Timothy Lent

Timothy Lent is a social studies educator from New York State. He taught middle school and high school social studies in Brooklyn and Syracuse, NY and has years of experience in curriculum development and professional learning in schools, non-profits, and for-profit companies. He is now a Professional Learning Specialist at Imagine Learning, training educators who use IL’s innovative social studies program, Traverse, to develop the next generation of informed and active citizens.

Inquiry driven. Media powered. A new approach to social studies.

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Posted on October 5, 2023October 13, 2023 by Imagine Learning Corporate

October 5, 2023 10:11 am

Celebrating Bilingual Students with Imagine Español

The benefits of bilingualism are astounding, and our multilingual students deserve to be celebrated. Here are 5 ways Imagine Español, our K–5 supplemental Spanish literacy program, honors the culture and heritage of bilingual students.

In today’s interconnected world, being bilingual is an invaluable skill. It not only opens doors to diverse cultures but also enhances cognitive abilities and provides a competitive edge in the job market. For K–5 dual language program coordinators, fostering bilingualism in young learners is a mission that carries immense significance. These enriching programs allow students’ bilingualism to fully blossom. However, we must ensure instructional materials value and build upon the cultural and linguistic assets students bring from home.

Imagine Español ® is an innovative, personalized digital learning program that accelerates Spanish language and literacy development for students in grades K–5. Here are 5 ways the program honors the culture and heritage of bilingual students:

1. Transfers students’ foundational literacy skills across languages

Imagine Español provides explicit instruction in foundational literacy skills like phonological awareness, letter-sound connections, decoding, and sight word recognition in Spanish. As research shows, these critical early skills then transfer to English, supporting students’ overall literacy development. For example, when students learn to segment sounds and syllables in Spanish words, it improves their phonological awareness in English as well. Their ability to map letters to sounds transfers across languages too. Building this early literacy foundation in Spanish allows students’ knowledge to flow into English acquisition.

2. Builds vocabulary in two languages

Imagine Español has robust vocabulary instruction integrated throughout. Students learn high frequency Spanish words, English/Spanish cognates, and academic terms. As dual language learners use and retain more words, their comprehension improves in both languages. Hearing vocabulary terms pronounced and used in meaningful Spanish texts, then recognizing those words again in English, cements the terms in students’ minds. This vocabulary reinforcement in two languages helps students understand texts they read and set them up for success.

3. Mirrors students’ cultures

Imagine Español includes authentic Hispanic songs, texts, and artwork that reflect 20 different Spanish-speaking countries. Hearing traditional songs and seeing images from Spanish-speaking countries allows students to see themselves and their community reflected in learning. This fosters biliteracy development and bicultural identities simultaneously. Students stay engaged and motivated when lessons resonate with their cultural background knowledge. The cultural mirror of Imagine Español program validates students’ identity and home experiences.

4. Provides scaffolded support for biliteracy development

Imagine Español has embedded multimedia, visuals, and interactivity designed to support students’ Spanish literacy growth. Songs, videos, and animated stories introduce letter sounds in engaging ways. Interactives allow students to click pictures to learn vocabulary meanings. Built-in dictionaries and text highlighting provide guidance with reading. This scaffolding provides assistance to students as needed until literacy skills are mastered. The program allows them to engage meaningfully with Spanish texts while ensuring support is in place.

5. Ignites students’ potential

When students have access to quality dual language learning, it ignites their inner sparks. Robust materials like Imagine Español build students’ skills and knowledge, instilling confidence and motivation. Our bilingual students blaze trails to promising, bilingual futures when their potential is recognized. Imagine Español fuses students’ home language and culture with instruction to help them achieve their highest potentials. This is the transformative power of valuing our bilingual learners.

Imagine Español honors the home languages and cultures of our dual language students. With this program, students’ bilingualism is celebrated as the valuable resource it is.

Experience a culturally responsive curriculum

Imagine Español

Posted on September 19, 2023October 19, 2023 by Imagine Learning Corporate

September 19, 2023 10:30 am

Trusting Inquiry

By allowing students space to think (deliberate ideas), talk (collaborate around ideas), and do (produce ideas), teachers can build a culture of classroom trust with their students that accelerates inquiry-based learning in the classroom.

It is one thing to build an inquiry-based curriculum, it is quite another to make an inquiry come to life in a classroom. If curriculum is a recipe, then how do teachers move from being line-cooks to inquiry chefs? How do they get students to eat their inquiry vegetables and keep coming back for more? What makes an inquiry rise in one classroom and flop in another? What is inquiry’s instructional secret sauce? I will argue that trust is how inquiry teachers “kick it up a notch”!

Why trust? Recently, I co-directed a documentary film project, Making Inquiry Possible (MIP) featuring four films that explore how innovative teachers, schools, and districts are shifting to inquiry-based instruction. At the core of each documentary is the question: What does it take to make inquiry possible in social studies? The answer has become unmistakable: trust. Like a song that gets stuck, once I started to hear it, I couldn’t un-hear it.

For example, when I asked one of the teachers in the project how inquiry had changed his teaching, he responded this way:

So my role as a teacher has changed. What I’ve noticed with the use of compelling questions and using IDM in my classroom it is absolutely incumbent on the student to answer that question for themselves. Now that doesn’t seem wild when we say that, but in the moment of teaching, many of our students have been accustomed to being able to find an answer, rather than simply create one…

Do you hear it? Did you notice how he needs to trust the students to answer the compelling question “for themselves”?Let’s listen again. When I asked a teacher about scaffolding inquiry, this was the response:

Students need enough support in order for them to even put the pieces together. What I’ve noticed is that it’s almost like holding an egg. If you grip it too tightly, it’s gonna break. But if you truncate everything too much for the student, what you get on the other end is, is simply just not a robust answer. It kills the process. So because of that, I have to be both the support, but also have to like, kick the kid out in the pasture a little bit to kind of figure things out on their own.

Surely you heard it this time — how the teacher needs to hold (or trust) the inquiry “egg” by not gripping too tight? Or how he needs to “kick the kid out in the pasture a little bit to figure things out on their own” as an act of pedagogical trust? While I would never suggest or condone literally kicking a kid, metaphorically (and only metaphorically), it does make sense for inquiry. Students need space to figure things out in an inquiry. Teachers need to trust students and give them that space. And, students need to trust teachers to make that space meaningful and to be there when they lose their way. Sometimes that space is uncomfortable and teachers will need to nurture students and scaffold the process so that they can ultimately embrace that intellectual freedom.

This theme of trust surfaced in every facet of the film project and further deepened a curiosity about trust and its relationship to inquiry. Trust is now popping up in every conversation with an inquiry teacher and in every classroom observation. It has been a Eureka! moment. But, trust is one of those words that is kind of squishy and a platitude like, “just trust your students” seems really unsatisfying and possibly frustrating for teachers wanting to go deeper into inquiry-based instruction. So, trust me, you are going to want to read on!

Along with my C3 Teachers colleagues, S.G. Grant and John Lee, we have landed on three key inquiry processes that build a culture of trust in the classroom: deliberation, collaboration, and production.

Deliberation involves instructional practices that allow students to listen to each other’s ideas and speak about their own. This might include a Harkness Discussion, Think-Pair-Share, Take a Stand debate, or Socratic Discussion. These types of deliberative experiences engender respect for others and an appreciation for a pluralistic democracy where people hold different perspectives on life. Deliberative exercises build trust by fostering empathy between students and between teacher and students because they show that teachers trust their students to think about big ideas.

Collaboration involves instructional practices that allow students to work with others to problem solve through teamwork. This might include a Jigsaw, Question Formulation Technique (QFT) exercise, or Structured Academic Controversy. During collaborative experiences, students negotiate with others and learn to respect other ways of knowing and doing. If a task is “group worthy”, students learn to value team member’s strengths and to value their own contributions to the whole. These kinds of experiences build trust by creating interdependence between students and demonstrating that a teacher trusts their students to work with others.

Production involves instructional practices that allow students to construct meaningful work. This could include an evidentiary argument or a project (Public Service Announcement, Museum exhibit) or it could include important formative work like a map, timeline, or T-Chart. When students produce work, they risk putting their ideas out there and cultivate agency in the process. Healthy inquiry cultures allow students to explore frontiers and create forgiving spaces to learn and grow. In doing so, they build classroom trust.

By allowing students space to think (deliberate ideas), talk (collaborate around ideas), and do (produce ideas), teachers build a culture of classroom trust with their students that engenders key attitudes of empathy, interdependence, and agency that can accelerate inquiry-based learning in the classroom. While these processes and attributes are not exclusive to social studies, they do connect deeply to citizenship and our role in preparing students for civic life. “Bam!” Now, we are really cooking with (inquiry) gas!

So, this year, as you think about strategies that you use in or outside of an inquiry experience, spare a thought for trust. Consider: How am I creating a trustworthy classroom? How do I show my students that I trust them? When do students learn to trust each other? What strategies really accentuate trust and what differences do they make in students’ attitudes toward my class? How does a trustworthy classroom accelerate learning? And, finally, to my fellow inquiry travelers, let’s keep trusting inquiry!

For your corkboard

Print and pin Kathy’s guide to building trust in an inquiry classroom.

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About the Author – Dr. Kathy Swan

Professor, University of Kentucky, C3 Framework Lead Author

Kathy Swan is a professor of curriculum and instruction at the University of Kentucky. Kathy was awarded UKY’s Great Teacher Award in 2021 and has been a four-time recipient of the National Technology Leadership Award in Social Studies Education, innovating with inquiry-based curricula. Dr. Swan served as the project director and lead writer of the College, Career, and Civic Life Framework for Social Studies State Standards (2013), the national standards for social studies. She has co-written a number of best-selling books including Inquiry-Based Practice in Social Studies Education: The Inquiry Design Model (2017); The Inquiry Design Model: Building Inquiries in Social Studies (2018), and; Blueprinting an Inquiry-Based Curriculum: Planning with the Inquiry Design Model (2019).

Posted on September 7, 2023September 15, 2023 by Imagine Learning Corporate

September 7, 2023 10:21 am

Soft Skills with Big Impact: the 4Cs of STEM

Make STEM classrooms a playground for curiosity, a canvas for creativity, a stage for communication, and a hub for collaboration. When students embrace these skills, they’re not just preparing for the future — they’re shaping it.

“Hey Siri, how many rings does Saturn have?”

“Alexa, tell me what the square root of 1089?”

“ChatGPT: give me HTML code to embed a basic calculator on a webpage.”

There was a day when students had to ask their teachers, librarians, or even consult an encyclopedia for this type of information. But those days are long (like really long) gone, and the teacher is no longer the only keeper of information in the room.

Since the teacher’s role is evolving due to new technologies, and certainly students are not motivated to memorize what Alexa already knows, what should STEM classrooms be focused on? What skills are employers in STEM careers looking for if ChatGPT can produce code for free?

A 2018 survey by the Association of American Colleges & Universities showed, “that just 34 percent of top executives and 25 percent of hiring managers say students have the skills to be promoted. Many of those skills are soft skills — communication, team work, problem-solving — that are critical in a quickly shifting job market. Entry-level skills change every few years; it’s the habits of learning to learn and navigating the ambiguity of a career that will prove most valuable to undergraduates in the long run.”

The National Education Association has boiled these soft skills down to the 4 Cs: Creativity, Critical Thinking, Communication, and Collaboration. Let’s explore why these 4Cs are critical to providing a modern STEM education that gives students real career opportunities.

1. Critical Thinking: where curiosity begins

Imagine a classroom buzzing with questions. Except, not fact-based “how many rings does Saturn have” questions. Questions like: is it possible for New York City to become carbon neutral? What would that plan look like? Or: why does the kind of water (fresh or salt) affect how long it takes an ice cube to melt? That’s the power of critical thinking at work. It’s all about encouraging young minds to ask, “Why?” and “How?” Critical thinkers don’t just accept things at face value; they dig deeper. When students learn to analyze information, separate facts from opinions, and spot patterns, they become problem-solving heroes.

Picture a group of students exploring a science experiment. Instead of just following a set of instructions, they’re asking themselves, “What will happen if we change this variable?” That’s critical thinking igniting their imagination — it’s like a spark that lights up their learning journey.

2. Creativity: where imagination takes flight

Creativity isn’t just for artists — it’s a skill that every STEM student needs. It’s about looking at a problem from a different angle and dreaming up new solutions. Think of it as the magic wand that turns ordinary ideas into extraordinary ones.

Take a moment to think about a famous inventor, like Thomas Edison. He didn’t just stumble upon the light bulb; it took him 1000 attempts to find a design that worked. Creativity is what made him keep going, even when things got tough. Encouraging our students to think outside the box, to come up with wild ideas, and to believe that they can change the world — that’s the heart of creativity in STEM education.

3. Communication: bridges between minds

Imagine a world where nobody understood each other. It would be chaotic, right? Communication is like a bridge that connects our thoughts to the world. In STEM, it’s not enough to have brilliant ideas; you also need to share them effectively.

Think about a young engineer who designs an amazing new gadget. If they can’t explain how it works to others, their idea might never see the light of day. Teaching students how to express complex ideas in simple terms empowers them to inspire, collaborate, and bring their innovations to life.

4. Collaboration: teamwork for triumph

Remember the saying, “Two heads are better than one”? That’s the spirit of collaboration. In a world where problems are more complex than ever, working together is key. Collaboration is like a puzzle; each piece has its role, and when they come together, they create something amazing.

Think about a group of students working on a science project. Some are great at designing, others excel at research, and a few are natural leaders. When they pool their talents, their project becomes a masterpiece. It’s the same spirit that built the tallest skyscrapers and sent humans to the moon.

Putting the 4Cs into action

Imagine a classroom where students use their critical thinking skills to solve a real-world problem. Maybe they’re designing a water-saving system for their school garden. They brainstorm creative ideas, like using rainwater and self-watering plants. Then, they work as a team to build the system and explain their design to their classmates. These students are embracing the 4Cs in action: critical thinking, creativity, communication, and collaboration.

Empowering educators for success

As educators, you’re the guides on this exciting journey. You hold the keys to nurturing the 4Cs in your students. Encourage them to question, to dream, to share, and to work together. Make STEM education a playground for curiosity, a canvas for creativity, a stage for communication, and a hub for collaboration.

When students embrace these skills, they’re not just preparing for the future — they’re shaping it.

Imagine Learning STEM

Prepare the next generation of STEM leaders with digital and hands-on learning aligned to the 4 Cs.

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About the Author – Carolyn Snell

Carolyn Snell started her career in education teaching first grade in San Bernardino, California. A passion for the way technology and stellar curricula can transform classrooms led her to various jobs in edtech, including at the Orange County Department of Education. Her knack for quippy copy landed her a dream job marketing StudySync—an industry leading ELA digital curriculum. Now, as the Senior Content Marketing Manager for Imagine Learning, Carolyn revels in the opportunity to promote innovative products and ideas that are transforming the educational space for teachers and students.

Posted on August 23, 2023October 11, 2023 by Imagine Learning Corporate

August 23, 2023 1:35 pm

Navigating A New Era: The Shift from Teacher-Centric to Student-Centered Learning

The era of information scarcity is long gone, leaving room for a new dawn of student-led inquiry, exploration, critical thinking, and discovery. Are you ready for it?

Technology is radically changing how students communicate, collaborate, and create. Their small devices are an extension of their physical selves and give them impressive control over their daily lives. They stream television shows and movies, build music playlists for every mood, and order food to be delivered. This technology-rich reality stands in stark contrast to my experience growing up. If I wanted to watch Friends, I had to be on the couch at 8 o’clock on Thursday nights. I strategically timed bathroom breaks for commercials. And at the end of every season, I wondered, “Will Ross and Rachel ﬁnally end up together?” As a viewer, I had no control over my experience.

Watching my two teenagers engage with media is radically different. They decide what they watch, when they watch, where they watch, and how much they watch. They have total control over the media they consume. Despite this new reality, young people spend their days in classrooms that operate like network television. Like it or not (need it or not), all students are getting the same information at the same time. This disconnect between their experience at school and their lives beyond the classroom likely contributes to the high number of students who report negative feelings associated with school (Moeller, Brackett, Ivcevic &White, 2020).

Technology is permeating every aspect of society and fundamentally changing how we engage with information and each other. Yet, many classrooms still function in much the same way they did 20 years ago. Even the addition of computers and tablets in classrooms has not radically changed traditional approaches to teaching and learning. Many teachers still spend their days at the front of the classroom disseminating information. It made sense 100, 40, or even 20 years ago for teachers to dedicate signiﬁcant time to transferring information. They and the textbook were the sole sources of information in a classroom. However, students today can access unlimited information in myriad formats online. This should have a transformative impact on our approach to educating young people. The era of information scarcity is long gone, leaving room for a new dawn of student-led inquiry, exploration, critical thinking, and discovery.

The era of information scarcity is long gone, leaving room for a new dawn of student-led inquiry, exploration, critical thinking, and discovery.

A Shift in Teacher Mindset: From Expert to Facilitator

However, to truly transform education, educators must ask themselves, “What is my fundamental purpose in the classroom?” The way they perceive their value shapes their teaching methods. If they see themselves merely as experts, they gravitate toward one-size-ﬁts-all, teacher-led, teacher-paced lessons. This whole group approach to teaching fails to acknowledge learner variability or meet the diversity of needs, abilities, language proﬁciencies, learning preferences, and interests in a classroom. Such a teacher-centric approach also requires the teacher, not the students, to do the lion’s share of the cognitive work. Instead of facilitating active learning, they spend their time at the front of the classroom, presenting information, unpacking complex concepts, and modeling processes and skills in the form of mini-lessons or lectures and relegating students to the role of passive observers.

In an era dominated by technology and advancing AI, teachers must recognize their irreplaceable value lies in their inherent humanness. This includes their ability to listen, observe, empathize, and organically respond to student needs. By contrast, technology excels at disseminating information. One can read a text, watch a video, listen to a podcast, or converse with an AI chatbot to acquire knowledge on various subjects. Moreover, when individuals engage with digital content, they have greater control over their learning experience. They control the pace at which they consume and process information. They can manipulate digital resources in ways that make the information more accessible. For example, students reading an online article can expand the size of a text and look up the deﬁnitions of unfamiliar words. When watching a video, they can pause, rewind, or rewatch as needed and add closed captions. They can even adjust the speed of a video or podcast to ensure the presentation of information isn’t too fast or too slow. If technology excels at transferring information, why would teachers spend their limited time with students talking at them?

Teachers can lean on technology to shoulder some of the burden of “covering content,” so they can spend their precious time with students focused on the human side of this work. If teachers leverage technology strategically and use blended learning models to architect student-centered learning experiences, they can embrace their role as facilitators of learning. As facilitators, their focus is working alongside individuals and small groups of learners, supporting them as they work to comprehend complex concepts and apply speciﬁc strategies and skills. That way, teachers can effectively differentiate and personalize learning for students to ensure they are all making progress toward ﬁrm standards-aligned learning goals.

A Shift in Teacher Skill Set: From One-Size-Fits-All to Blended Learning Models

To free themselves from the front of the room and embrace their role as facilitators of learning, teachers need a more robust and resilient set of technology-enhanced instructional models. Blended learning models combine active, engaged learning online with active, engaged learning ofﬂine. They strive to fundamentally shift the focus and locus of control in the classroom from teacher to learner. Teachers in traditional classrooms can use the range of rotation models (e.g., station rotation, whole group rotation, ﬂipped instruction, and playlist) to design student-centered learning experiences that allow students more control over the pace and path of their learning.

These blended learning models also position teachers to work directly with individuals and small groups of learners to differentiate instruction and modeling sessions, provide real-time process-based feedback as students work, conference with students about their progress, and conduct side-by-side assessments. The shift from whole group to small group or individual interactions allows teachers to focus their energy and talents on meeting every student where they are in their individual learning journeys, which is critical if we want to provide an inclusive and equitable learning experience.

In an era dominated by technology and advancing AI, teachers must recognize their irreplaceable value lies in their inherent humanness.

The Goal: Shifting Students From Passive Consumers to Active Agents

When educators adjust their mindset, recognizing their value not just as fountains of knowledge but as facilitators of learning, a transformative change begins. This transformational shift is bolstered by blended learning models, which allocate time and space for direct, individualized interaction between teachers and learners. These models don’t just alter the way teachers design and facilitate learning; they redeﬁne the student experience.

Historically, traditional education has conﬁned students to the sidelines as passive observers and recipients of information. They were vessels to be ﬁlled rather than explorers charting their own course. However, blended learning models shift control to learners, positioning them as active agents driving the learning. This demands they move beyond simply absorbing facts and work to make meaning in concert with their peers. The shift to student-centered learning signiﬁes a shift from mere retention to reﬂection, application, and creation. As active agents, students develop the skills and conﬁdence to explore, discover, and create. Ultimately, the purpose of reimagining teaching and learning is to produce not just knowledgeable individuals but critical thinkers, problem solvers, and lifelong learners.

The shift to student-centered learning is a gradual one. Navigating such an environment demands a higher cognitive and social investment from students compared to traditional teacher-led settings where the educator shoulders most responsibilities. However, the dividends of this evolution are invaluable. Students emerge as “expert learners,” characterized by motivation, resourcefulness, strategy, and self-awareness. They become adept at recognizing their strengths, limitations, areas of growth, and conﬁdently advocating for their needs. For teachers, this approach reignites passion and provides a deeper sense of purpose. As we face a time where many educators are stepping away from their roles and students are bracing for a dynamic world and job landscape, adopting this paradigm shift becomes imperative. In an era when educators are leaving the profession in droves, and students prepare to enter a rapidly changing world and job landscape, this shift is imperative.

About the Author – Dr. Catlin R. Tucker

Dr. Catlin R. Tucker is a best-selling author, keynote speaker, international trainer, and professor in the Masters in the Arts of Teaching Program at Pepperdine University. She taught for 16 years in Sonoma County, where she was named Teacher of the Year in 2010.

Catlin has written a series of books on blended learning including, The Shift to Student-led, The Complete Guide to Blended Learning, UDL and Blended Learning: Thriving in Flexible Learning Landscapes, Balance With Blended Learning, Blended Learning In Action, Power Up Blended Learning, and Blended Learning In Grades 4-12 . In addition to her books on blended learning, Catlin writes an internationally-ranked blog and hosts a podcast called The Balance.

Catlin earned her BA in English literature from the University of California at Los Angeles. She earned her English credential and Masters in Education at the University of California at Santa Barbara. In 2020, Catlin earned her doctorate in learning technologies at Pepperdine University, researching teacher engagement in blended learning environments.

Catlin is active on Twitter @Catlin_Tucker and Instagram @CatlinTucker.

Imagine Simply Teaching Symposium

Listen to Dr. Catlin Tucker’s keynote address on October 25th at 6pm ET.

Posted on June 28, 2023October 11, 2023 by Imagine Learning Corporate

June 28, 2023 2:09 pm

The Science of Learning a Second Language

Learning a new language is not easy. Trading outdated instruction for science of reading-backed techniques can help give English language learners the skills they need for biliteracy.

“English is HARD.”

This was my students’ (and my) mantra whenever we encountered something about the language that just didn’t make sense. I was teaching English language development, or ELD, for newcomers in grades 9–12, most of whom were native Spanish speakers.

As anyone who’s taken a language class in high school or college knows, it gets more difficult to learn a language the older you get. That’s what I always assumed was the reason behind my students’ struggle to acquire English. That, and the fact that I agreed that English is “HARD.”

I agreed that

English is “HARD.”

Without a background in linguistics (and as a first-year teacher), I couldn’t quite explain why it was hard, though. I just knew there were exceptions to every rule I taught.

But 10 years later, the science of reading is helping me understand — both why it was so challenging for my students and what kind of instruction would have helped them. The science of reading is “the converging evidence of what matters and what works in literacy instruction, organized around models that describe how and why.” Research tells us that systematic instruction in phonological awareness, phonics, and vocabulary, combined with fluency and comprehension is what builds foundational literacy skills and sets students up for a lifetime of reading success.

Here are 3 ways the science of reading can help improve instruction for ELs:

What I did:
Encouraged (okay, begged) my students to only speak English in the classroom
My district’s ELD curriculum recommended only allowing students to speak English in the classroom. Though I knew it would be a tough sell, I found some merit to it. If there were students with different native languages, English became the unifying language in the class — keeping students from feeling excluded. And the more you immerse yourself in a language, the faster you learn it.

Why that didn’t work:
At any given point, 90 to 100% of my students were from Spanish-speaking backgrounds, and that was how they communicated with each other — regardless of how convincing I thought I was. As teenagers feeling singled out in remedial ELD classes at a high school in a new country, it made sense that they defaulted to the language they felt comfortable speaking.

But the main reason this didn’t work wasn’t because of their noncompliance. It was because what made learning English especially hard for my students was a lack of literacy skills in any language. Inconsistent schooling led to their Spanish reading and writing skills being far below grade level.

1

What the science tells us: language skills transfer from one language to another

In my professional development for the ELD curriculum, the trainers assured teachers that a student’s proficiency in their first language had no bearing on their ability to learn English. Though that felt wrong to me, I didn’t have the confidence to question it as a new teacher. We now know this isn’t accurate.

Because research shows that students use the same sound/letter correspondence skills within and across languages, we can assume that their ability to map letters with sounds transfers from literacy instruction in one language to another. So, while the intention to focus on acquiring English via complete immersion was logical, it was unrealistic for my students who needed a basic foundation of language skills in their first language. Without that, learning another language would require more than just avoiding Spanish (actually, quite the opposite).

What I did:
Focused on grammar over vocabulary. My grammar-based direct instruction curriculum emphasized understanding the structure and syntax of English over the meanings of individual words. I was teaching my students to identify the parts of speech of words they didn’t know based on their placement in a sentence they also didn’t understand. It was frustrating for all of us.

Why that didn’t work:
When you’re first learning a new language, you naturally gravitate to the words and phrases that are important to you. If you’re traveling, “please” and “thank you” are useful. If you are learning a new style of cooking, you’ll want to learn the names of foods. And if you’re a baby, your first word will be the most important object in your world (usually ‘dada’ or ‘mama,’ or in my son’s case, ‘panda’). Once you learn those words, you can then build the understanding needed to notice how they are placed in a sentence.

My students showed me this as they repeatedly asked me what words meant, while I unsuccessfully tried to reroute them back to the grammar concept we were learning. Finally, I gave in and started “What does it mean” Wednesdays. They collected English words and phrases they encountered in their daily lives — at work, on the bus, at the doctor’s office — and we spent 30 minutes crowdsourcing the definitions. This was easily the most engaged my students were all week — because it mattered to them.

2

What the science tells us: vocabulary supports comprehension and fluency, especially when incorporating syntax instruction

In other words, if grammar and syntax are the structure of language, vocabulary is the building blocks. This is not to say we should throw out grammar instruction entirely (though students might celebrate). Evidence shows that increasing vocabulary boosts students’ reading comprehension and fluency, requiring less decoding and allowing them to read for meaning. But when you combine that vocabulary practice with explicit syntax instruction, emerging bilinguals show increased comprehension — able to unlock meaning not just from the words themselves but also from how they are organized in the sentence.

What I did:
Practiced English letter sounds individually. During our daily language warm-up, we practiced “saying” a few different letters at a time. Without much more direction than that in the teacher’s guide, this was challenging. When faced with the letter “a,” it seemed like I discovered another pronunciation with each practice attempt. There are the long and short sounds like “make” and “cat,” of course, but then also “want” and “many.”

Why that didn’t work:
Decoding demands are different in English and Spanish. Focusing on single letter sounds in English was confusing for my students whose first language was Spanish. That’s because Spanish is a phonetically regular language, with 27 letters mapping to 22-24 phonemes, while English, with 26 letters and 44 possible phonemes, is not. Native Spanish speakers expect the letters to make the same sounds wherever they are placed in a word, and that’s just not the case.

3

What the science tells us: English requires more intense explicit phonemic awareness

Learning to read in Spanish requires an emphasis on syllable awareness. In fact, once students learn the basic sound-symbol correspondences, they can easily decode and read most Spanish words with a high degree of accuracy. But in English, phonemic awareness is crucial — especially when coming from a language where sounds and letters make more “sense.” Activities like rhyming, segmentation, and blending help students to understand all the different sounds English letters can make, by themselves and when combined with others.

While it’s hard to look back at all the things I should have done differently as a teacher, it’s promising to know that first-year language arts teachers now will start teaching with all of my science of reading hindsight as their basis of instruction. But I would still love to travel back in time and give my students exactly what they needed: English language instruction grounded in the science of reading combined with high-quality Spanish language arts (SLA) to reinforce literacy in their first language. Maybe then our class mantra could have been more like “English is hard, but we have the skills and support to learn it.” (Even if the last part was just in my head because high schoolers would never say that.)

About the Author – Ally Jones

Ally Jones is a California credentialed educator who specialized in teaching English language learners at the secondary level. Outside of education, she is passionate about fitness, literature, and taking care of the planet for her son’s generation.

The Science of Reading Applied

Imagine Learning’s solutions make it easier for teachers to apply the research.

Learn How

Posted on June 12, 2023October 19, 2023 by Imagine Learning Corporate

June 12, 2023 3:38 pm

The Science of Reading: It’s personal. It’s political. It matters.

From living room couches and teachers’ lounges to the front pages of major newspapers, everyone is talking about the Science of Reading. What is it? And why does it matter?

“Your child is at risk of not reading on grade level by the end of kindergarten.”

My family and I were devastated after our very first parent-teacher conference back in early 2020. Two years in a high-quality preschool in a well-to-do suburb, reading aloud every night, alphabet games and puzzles — all this and our kid still struggled to remember every letter and sound, let alone smush them together to make words.

Then came the tears. Books sent home in his backpack that he couldn’t read. Words like “fall” with an L-controlled vowel and “birthday” with two syllables and a digraph. He hadn’t been taught those patterns yet. One day he came home telling me he had a special “picture power” and began guessing words based on illustrations in his books. That’s when I started asking questions.

A decade earlier, I became a first-grade teacher at a Title I school in a different town, in a different state, during the Reading First era. I graduated from my credential program in 2008, when George W. Bush’s No Child Left Behind Act provided funding for reading academic coaches to model best practices and in-service training based on the National Reading Panel’s meta-study findings.

I was taught about the big five: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. I learned that word walls should be replaced with sound walls and that we prompt students to look at all the letters from left to right and sound it out every time. No exceptions. I regularly administered a phonics and decoding screener that identified discrete skills the students had mastered — and which patterns, such as ‘oo’ or ‘a_e’ that they didn’t know yet. My students had weekly fluency passages to practice with, and I listened to them read it every Friday afternoon. We built oral language and vocabulary with read-alouds. We applied our weekly phonics skills to spelling words.

All this in 2008, before the “science of reading” was even a thing.

Back to 2020. Frustrated and confused, I decided one night to attend my district’s board meeting where there was to be a presentation on the reading curriculum. That’s the first time in my life that I heard the term: balanced literacy.

I googled on my phone as the presenter carried on. I was horrified. Three-cuing — asking kids to guess the words based on pictures and context clues — was a keystone of the curriculum they were using. My son wasn’t receiving the systematic, explicit instruction in phonemic awareness and phonics that he needed — that most children need — to connect speech to print. Students in 3rd–5th grade were being denied access to complex, grade-level texts because teachers were told to match students with ‘just right’ texts instead. None of these practices were based in research. And they were harmful.

But that night at the board meeting I also learned that I wasn’t alone. There were other parents, just as outraged as I, sitting next to me. There were parents of students with dyslexia who were forced to bus their children to private, specialized, schools just so they could learn to read. There were parents, like me, who took it upon themselves to order “Bob Books” and teach their kids to read on their own.

This was in January of 2020 and we all know what happened just a few short months later.

“There were parents of students with dyslexia who were forced to bus their children to private, specialized, schools just so they could learn to read.“

Zoom school was the new normal, and parents across the country gained insight into how their children were being taught: guess the covered word, look at the first letter and guess, look at the picture and guess… guess until you get it right! Does it look right? Does it sound right? They took to YouTube and Twitter to share what they saw, wondering if anyone else was as concerned as they were?

It turns out over 68% of teachers were using this flawed approach. Despite the National Reading Panel’s findings two decades prior, several publishers and most credentialing programs clung to an outdated theory about how our brains best learn to read.

Parent and child practice sounding out words

Pandemic parents started Googling how to teach their kids to read. They began reading books like Overcoming Dyslexia and the National Reading Panel’s report. The term ‘science of reading’ took over the internet — a colloquial term for a wide body of neurological and empirical research showing us how brains learn to read.

Then came a podcast series that really put the literacy world on its head: Sold a Story. A journalist named Emily Hanford did a deep dive into the history of this flawed belief system about the way students learn to read, and how those beliefs took hold across America. She also discussed how much damage those beliefs, and curriculum that adheres to those beliefs, is still doing today.

Teachers listened to the podcast, texted their colleagues, and discussions were sparked in teachers’ lounges everywhere. Justifiably angry parents took to the podiums at board of education meetings. They ran for open seats. They petitioned their representatives in state legislators.

31 states plus the District of Columbia have enacted legislation related to the science of reading. Some require teachers to receive special training in the science of reading, some ban methods such as three cuing, and others require the adoption of new teaching materials aligned to the science of reading.

The science of reading is now a national movement.

My child, now in 3rd grade, is reading on grade level. It took a lot of expensive tutoring and extra support at home to get him there. But most of these stories don’t have a happy ending. Students in privileged neighborhoods get private tutoring while the majority of bright, intelligent students continue to struggle.

Research shows 95% of students can be taught to read by the end of first grade. Yet, recent NAEP scores show only 33% of 4th graders can read on grade level. And it has devastating effects on their future. According to the National Assessment of Adult Literacy, two-thirds of students who cannot read proficiently by the end of the fourth grade will end up in incarcerated or on welfare.

Some folks are still resisting change. They find the ‘science of reading’ movement to be adversarial. To that I say, why yes — yes it is. It’s an emotionally charged issue because students deserve the right to read. There are many factors that play into a student’s ability to read and it’s a monumental challenge to address them all, but research-based materials and professional development in the science of reading for our teachers is a good place to start.

Students across the country are counting on us to do better.

About the Author – Carolyn Snell

The Science of Reading Applied

Imagine Learning’s solutions make it easier for teachers to apply the research.

Learn How

Posted on May 22, 2023October 11, 2023 by Imagine Learning Corporate

May 22, 2023 11:18 am

Creating a Framework for Impact

Today’s schools are measuring success by more than test scores and graduation rates. That’s why Imagine Learning built an Impact Framework: to collaboratively set goals and chart student progress as partners in success.

There are as many ways to make an impact in education as there are students in school. By ‘zooming out’ from only measuring impact the traditional ways – retention, test scores, graduation rates – educators can explore how comprehensive their impact is and could be.

Some days, seeing a student show empathy toward another classmate is evidence of a well-implemented social and emotional learning program. On other days, you can hear the impact of comprehension lessons as you listen to a small group literature discussion. A school’s growth can look like: more languages being heard on campus, math and science bowl awards in the trophy case, connecting courses to career paths, and the student-led pursuit of ‘what’s next.’

The success of a school or district’s impact is often all in how it’s measured.

How can we help?

More educators – from the classroom teacher to the superintendent – are adding metrics like student agency and engagement to how they track positive impact. With that in mind, Imagine Learning set out to determine how we could help chart success as we work closely with them.

Elizabeth Lehnertz, Vice President of Marketing, explains: “We really want to work in partnership with our customers to set a growth trajectory. Growth is the ultimate outcome for our products, but the road to get there isn’t something that happens overnight. That’s why we’ve been thinking about the metrics that lead up to growth.”

After discussion and consideration, the Imagine Learning team identified the metrics of its Impact Framework, as well as questions to consider and examples at each step:

Engagement
Progress
Achievement
Growth

Each metric builds on the one before it, so setting goals according to each one provides a strategic road map to growth. Lehnertz states, “The use of these performative metrics can vary by the [Imagine Learning] product you’re using and by the year of implementation, which is why we’re interested in working collaboratively with our customers to set goals that will drive growth.”

“Each metric builds on the one before it, so setting goals according to each one provides a strategic road map to growth.”

Are students engaged?

It all starts with engagement. Students who aren’t engaged are significantly less likely to achieve the measurements of success outlined by their school and district. For Imagine Learning, questions around student engagement include ‘Are administrators monitoring and encouraging program use?’ ‘When are students actively working?’ ‘Are the students spending enough time in the program?’

Assessing things like logins, active time, the number of student users, and students’ use of motivation features helps measure engagement and inform the next steps in the educator/Imagine Learning partnership.

Are students progressing?

Determining student progress requires assessing the number of activities and lessons completed and checking students’ pacing and grade level progression. It also means asking if teachers ensure students have content to work on and examining how teachers monitor progress. By considering these questions, we can target areas of the program’s implementation that need more connection between our customer success team and partners. When we can ensure teachers are able to use the program at its fullest capacity, everyone is better positioned for progress.

Are students achieving?

This is where scores take their turn as key examples of a metric:

Grades
Activity Score
Lesson Score
Quiz Score
Pass Rate

When focusing on student achievement, we examine whether students are mastering the content and where they struggle. Looking at whether teachers are providing challenges or support based on individual and small group needs also helps. The more in-depth our understanding of teachers’ and students’ experiences, the better we can provide support and develop programs that equip customers for success.

Are students growing?

Finally, the big question. Pulling insight from what we learn about students’ engagement, progress, and achievement, we look at demonstrations of growth on benchmarks and pre- and post-quiz growth. We also explore how our partners’ students’ growth compares to the expected growth rate to determine our programs’ impact.

Look back to look forward

Thanks to the Impact Framework functioning as a roadmap, we can look back through the metrics to troubleshoot any development gaps and generate solutions. As Lehnertz explains: “We’ve identified these metrics – engagement, progress, achievement – as ways to lead to growth. We’ve been looking across our products and across the stages of implementation to really work with our customers to identify goals for each. We then use those goals as a formative way to adjust the implementation and the approach, ultimately leading to growth.”

Combined with the often-immeasurable, personal impacts educators are making every day, the potential is nothing short of exciting.

Elizabeth Lehnertz

Vice President, Marketing

Elizabeth brings over 25 years of experience in education, first as a classroom teacher in Texas before moving into educational publishing and technology. She has held leadership roles in product marketing, product management, and corporate marketing at Pearson, Renaissance Learning, and McGraw-Hill.

With the passion to improve education for teachers, students, and families alike, Elizabeth brings the insight and experience to build and lead industry-leading teams to solve complex problems in a dynamic market.

About the Author — Kallie Markle

Kallie Markle lives in Northern California with her family of humans, house plants, and dogs. The humans take up the least amount of space. Before joining the education world, she wrote her way through national parks, concerts, tourism, and brewing.

Posted on May 2, 2023October 11, 2023 by Imagine Learning Corporate

May 2, 2023 2:21 pm

Why Teachers Teach

A teacher’s job is challenging. From classroom management to individualized instruction, we ask teachers to accomplish much with minimal resources. So, why do teachers teach?

Most of us can reflect on our school years and think of a teacher who inspired us: one who made a difference in our learning, changed the way we saw the world, or even the way we saw our own potential. Yet, a teacher’s job is challenging. From classroom management to individualized instruction, we ask teachers to accomplish much with minimal resources. So why do teachers teach? And what motivates an individual to become a teacher?

Why teachers become teachers

If you ask a teacher why they became a teacher, they’ll often say, “I had a teacher…” as they share the story of an educator who inspired them. Today’s teachers hope to have the same impact on their students, making a difference for each unique learner and making a social contribution for an entire generation. Some love the subject they teach and want to share their love of math, literature, art, music, language, science, or history with others. Some come from a long line of educators. When a person has a parent who was a teacher, they are more likely to become a teacher.

“I teach for future generations of teachers, plumbers, electricians, law enforcement officers, nurses, military personnel, pastors, welders, servers, engineers, drivers, firefighters, tellers, mechanics, and all of the endless possibilities ahead.”

Why teachers teach

There are numerous demands and stressors on today’s teachers, and many of these demands continue to increase each year. So, how and why do teachers remain motivated to continue when they have so much asked of them? Teachers share that the reasons they stay motivated to continue teaching despite the challenges include their desire to “enhance student motivation, advance educational reform and fulfill teachers themselves.” Some teachers note their relationships with students motivate them to continue. Other teachers cite knowing their work matters and valuable colleagues as a few reasons they continue to teach. At the bottom of this page, you can read a poem by Ava Littlefield, Virtual Teacher at Imagine Learning, sharing her reasons for teaching.

Supporting teachers

Research acknowledges that today’s educators are at high risk for stress and burnout from the demands of their job. Teachers recognize this risk, even providing teacher-to-teacher suggestions to conquer burnout, such as setting daily intentions, updating their workspace, utilizing motivational quotes, and trying new approaches or changes to routines. Other sources suggest teachers can avoid burnout and feel supported by reaching out to inspiring colleagues for inspiration and mentorship, self-care, utilizing organizational systems, preparation, and reflecting on moments of meaning and connection with students. Providing respectful and equitable places of work, increasing teacher pay, and offering comprehensive mental health support are strategies teachers say will greatly help to alleviate burnout.

Appreciating teachers

May is Teacher Appreciation Month, and teachers share that being acknowledged and valued by their principals goes a long way to feeling appreciated, as well as gifts of time and having fun together as colleagues. Others say a note of gratitude, school supplies, gift card, or small gift from students and parents are appealing tributes of appreciation.

We have each been impacted, instructed, and inspired by teachers. This spring, take some time to thank the educator in your life. You might give a teacher just what they need to continue to educate and encourage others.

Why I Teach

By Ava L., Virtual Instructor at Imagine Learning

I teach for…

The students who want to participate in a rigorous and quality curriculum need alternative platforms to achieve educational success.

I teach for…

The students I have had for several semesters are now more confident in their own abilities because they were (and are still) encouraged to do their best.

I teach for…

Students who will be first-generation high school graduates (like me) who wish to move beyond the barriers.

I teach for…

The students who make what I do so rewarding because their accomplishments are what it is all about.

I teach for…

The parents, guardians, families, colleagues, support staff, and stakeholders who are also investing and supporting our mutually shared students.

I teach for…

Future generations of teachers, plumbers, electricians, law enforcement officers, nurses, military personnel, pastors, welders, servers, engineers, drivers, firefighters, tellers, mechanics, and all of the endless possibilities ahead.

I teach for…

Imagine Learning and the opportunity to be One Team!

I teach for…

Selfish reasons because I get to be a part of something beyond myself that makes a difference in the lives of others, and I find so much joy in doing so.

About the Author

Sherri Walker

Sherri Walker is an Employee Communications Manager at Imagine Learning who comes from a long line of teachers. Sherri taught Public Speaking and End of Life Communications classes at The University of North Carolina in Charlotte and loves writing, editing, reading, hiking, her four boys, and the incredible views of the Utah mountains right out her front window.