Moving Education Forward
For years, we’ve been exploring how we can best support teachers to make a difference in their communities. The following is a collection of works around innovative professional learning and teacher training as well as how education might evolve to help us meet the challenges of our time.
Do Good. Turn your ideas, inspiration, or challenges into impactful projects.
Take Charge. Unlock your inner creator and lead the change you want to see.
Stay Well. Learn steps to practice well-being and keep your joy in teaching.
How do you create professional learning and teacher training that truly supports innovation?
Welcome to The Startup Teacher Playbook. It unlocks how to:
Articles
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Overcoming the Isolation of Rural Teachers
Finding a sense of community is sometimes a challenge for rural teachers, but these six strategies can help
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Simple Ways Administrators Can Support Teachers
Three things every administrator can do to encourage teachers at the end of this difficult year—and in the future as well.
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5 Steps to More Effective PD With Book Studies
Educational book studies give teachers opportunities for powerful professional development built on collaboration and connection.
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Improving Your Practice Through A Self-Coaching Framework
Improving Your Practice Through A Self-Coaching Framework
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Guiding Students to See Themselves as Changemakers
Students may see ways they can effect change if they break down big issues like climate change into smaller, more accessible challenges.
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Using Tech to Encourage Peer Feedback During Presentations
To make middle and high school presentations more engaging, teachers can use a simple tool to have students share meaningful feedback.
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5 Ways Administrators Can Support Teachers
Encouraging teachers to focus on their strengths—while taking a few things off their plates and carving out time for catch-up work—can help them weather a difficult year.
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How to Go Beyond Seat Time in Professional Development
When teachers have opportunities to earn renewal credits through self-directed PD, they often find the learning more engaging.
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Teaching Debate Across the Curriculum
Debating helps students strengthen their communication and objective thinking skills, and practice patience and tolerance.
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Discussion Protocols That Engage All Students
Class discussions work best when everyone participates, and these strategies for grades 6 to 12 help ensure that happens.
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What Does It Mean To Bring Startup Principles Into Professional Learning?
Teachers are amazing problem solvers. They want - and need- a space where they can work through challenges and design solutions. What can we learn from the startup space to bring innovation and ingenuity into professional learning?
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Bringing Students Into Professional Development
Instead of using PD workshop time making assumptions about students, we should get their input beforehand.
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Rekindle Your Teaching JOY by Prioritizing Problem-Solving
When chaos abounds (and when doesn’t it as an educator?) and things feel like they are spirling away, I grab hold of something tangible that I can control that will also bring me a bit of joy.
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Avoid Tech Burnout with Strategic Ed-Tech Integration
How do we ensure that as things “return to normal,” ed-tech burnout doesn’t lead to less ed-tech? For me, it requires a one-two punch: Rethink how many ed-tech tools we use. Refocus on how we deploy ed-tech to address problems.
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Teach Gratitude
There’s a lot of talk about the need for teacher self-care but less about simple hows and whens. But what if self-care wasn’t something separate? What if we could infuse self-care right into our teaching practice? Try teaching gratitude.
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Using Themes to Give Young Students a Sense of Purpose
Weekly themes like Chef Week make school fun while giving students a way to connect all the things they’re learning.
Podcasts
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Disrupt Education Podcast
The world is changing fast...education is lagging behind. Michelle Blanchet and Darcy Bakkegard have created The Startup Teacher Playbook to put power back in the hands of teachers so they can make need changes for their students.
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10 Minute Teacher Podcast
Are you an upset teacher? How to understand what is wrong.
Modules
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Ready to get something off your plate?
Teaching can be stressful. Sometimes we just need a chance to sit down and think through how we might tackle the frustrations or challenges we face so we can move forward. In this module, hosted by x10, we take you through a creative problem-solving process that will help you to develop new insights and ideas so that you might get unstuck. Join us and take a moment to reflect and problem solve so you can get one thing off your plate!
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Turn New Ideas into Actionable Projects
Great ideas abound. It’s what we do with those ideas that matters. Whether you’ve attended a book study, a great workshop, or gotten inspiration from a colleague. use this mini-course to supplement your learning so you can bring new ideas to life. This short mini sprint will enable you to do something with new ideas so you can do something great for yourself or your students.