Team reach teachers work on a multi-classroom leader’s team, directly teaching more students than usual but typically without raising instructional group sizes.
Beverley Tyndall
ECISD, MISD starting their second year of Opportunity Culture®
From News West9, September 22, 2020, by Rachel Ripp
Teachers have a lot on their plates this year, more than ever. But some of them here in the Basin have signed up for a brand new teaching landscape plus more students to teach or co-workers to coach. These teachers are involved in what’s called “Opportunity Culture” at ECISD and MISD.
“We also saw this as a way to keep good teachers in the classroom. I think a lot of teachers get tempted at a point to say I want to go into administration or I want to try and be a principal or I want to do something else other than teach and they’re great teachers. We don’t want to lose that. We want to keep them here, and by paying them what they’re worth I think that that helps keep them in the classroom,” Chris Hightower, MISD Opportunity Culture director said. Read more…
Coaching Teachers Remotely During Covid: Keys to Providing Great Teacher Support Amid Crises
In this webinar, three excellent, experienced multi-classroom leaders detail how they support their teaching teams remotely, as their teams faced the extreme challenges of helping students through the trauma of a pandemic, racial violence, and protests while delivering excellent instruction—all while balancing their own stress and personal needs.
How one educator used a paraprofessional role to become a stronger teacher
By Sharon Kebschull Barrett; first published by EducationNC, August 18, 2020
Delmonika Vick always wanted to be a teacher, and she got an education degree. But other opportunities kept coming along, and she found herself in corporate banking for four years — only to realize, several years in, what a struggle it was to go to work each day.
“I didn’t have any sense of fulfillment — I didn’t feel like I was making a difference,” Vick said. “I knew that I was supposed to teach, then — I knew that I had to pursue education.”
An Edgecombe County, North Carolina native, Vick intended to go straight into a classroom teaching role, until a chance meeting with Principal Donnell Cannon led to an offer to be a reach associate (RA) at North Edgecombe High. Read more…
Let’s create more human-centered solutions to schooling this fall
From The Colorado Sun, August 19, 2020, by Amy Anderson & Michele Morenz
The transition to remote learning cannot fall solely on teachers’ plates, nor should we hold on tight to a classroom-oriented model with one teacher for every 30-plus students. What if we thought creatively about our education workforce? How might we re-design instructional and student supports to align the expertise and talents of educators more purposefully around learners? Academic staff could focus on select families to provide individualized support for struggling students. Teaching assistants could maintain adult/learner relationships with weekly check-ins. Teachers could design new ways to instruct students across schools that are better suited for remote learning. Public Impact’s Opportunity Culture initiative offers some interesting models along these lines in response to COVID-19.
From Reach Associate to Classroom Teacher
Delmonika Vick, a math teacher at North Edgecombe High School in Tarboro, NC, says being a reach associate for two years—a role she loved—prepared her to be a stronger teacher.
“The Right Decision”: Working in an Opportunity Culture® School
Delmonika Vick, a math teacher and former reach associate at North Edgecombe High School in Tarboro, NC, explains why she chose to work in an Opportunity Culture school.
How Schools Can Redeploy Teachers in Creative Ways During COVID-19
From Education Week, August 5, 2020, by Catherine Gewertz
One teacher-leadership model is sparking increased interest as schools grapple with how best to support students. It’s called the Multi-Classroom Leadership model, and it was designed by the education advocacy group Public Impact to help excellent teachers reach more students. More than 200 schools in 10 states use it, according to Bryan Hassel, Public Impact’s co-president, and he’s been getting “a lot of calls” from districts asking for details since the model was highlighted as promising in a couple of recent papers on school reopening. Read more…
Incorporate student-centered teaching models
Master Reach Teacher Jimmel Williams leads his class in a geometry routine to help students learn the math by “speaking the math.”
Proactively, positively engage with students
Classroom meetings help to form bonds with your students and build a community of learners, say Katie McAuliffe, a fourth-grade teacher, and her multi-classroom leader, Sean Carberry.