Angela Caldwell, an Opportunity Culture expanded-impact kindergarten teacher in Guilford County, North Carolina, and her teaching assistant, Lora Terry, speak with Public Impact about their teaching partnership and the impact they see small-group tutoring making on student learning growth.
personalized learning
Teacher-Assistant Partnership Helps Students Grow
By Sharon Kebschull Barrett, March 28, 2022
In August 2021, Angela Caldwell, an Opportunity Culture expanded-impact kindergarten teacher at Montlieu Academy of Technology in Guilford County, North Carolina, found herself unexpectedly on her own with a classroom of 22 students, after her teaching assistant left just as the school year began.
So she felt relief that fall when interviewing Lora Terry, who had worked for many years in day care settings. The two clicked, Caldwell said, with Terry making it very clear what she would need to do the job of an assistant well—clear expectations, communication, and clarification. Read More…
Personalize learning for educators, not just students
By Casey Jackson, first published by EdNC, May 18, 2021
“Can you please be my coach?”
With tears rolling down her cheeks, this was what a young, second-year teacher asked me in the middle of a professional development session in 2018.
I was sitting at a table with new faces, in a new state, in a new role as a multi-classroom leader (MCL) in Vance County, North Carolina. The session presenter had asked us to role-play a guided-reading lesson, and this young woman had bravely volunteered to play the role of teacher. As the others played the students, I played the teacher’s coach. Although I had some administrative experience helping teachers, I had not yet gone through MCL training to learn how to appropriately coach the teaching team I would lead. Read more…
Understand and Act on the Science of Reading: New Resources
By Public Impact, November 21, 2019
The debate over how to teach reading has heated up in the face of discouraging NAEP results, and more education groups are calling for educators to use the science of reading in classrooms. As always, dedicated teachers feel urgency to get reading instruction right, but educators are busy and need simple, research-based guidance. Concise resources that Public Impact has published today help teachers learn the basics of reading research and turn it into simple, actionable steps to boost standard curricula.
Strategies for Personalization: Learner Variability Tool Can Help
By Margaret High, October 9, 2019
Educators know they can’t design their instructional approach for one “average” student—but finding the right resources to make true personalization possible can be a time-consuming struggle. At their 2019 convening, Opportunity Culture Fellows tested one free tool that can help. Digital Promise, an independent, nonpartisan nonprofit, created its Learner Variability Project to translate the growing body of research on learning for educators and parents. Digital Promise created a whole-child framework that feeds into its free tool, the Learner Variability Navigator, which guides users through the factors they need to address for each student and strategies to match.
The Best Tool—Sometimes: Using Tech in Elementary School
By Amber Hines; first published by EducationNC, March 5, 2019
“Our students are digital natives, so they’re confident with technology; it can give them the freedom to share their thoughts and think critically about both their own and their peers’ work.” For Multi-Classroom Leader Amber Hines, who uses two-way video recording and QR codes with her students, technology enhances instruction by drawing out and engaging her teaching team’s students. Read More…
Opportunity Culture® + Summit Learning: North Little Rock Pilots Statewide Plan
To kick off a statewide Arkansas initiative to reach all students with excellent teaching, North Little Rock Middle School will begin creating an Opportunity Culture® for teachers and students this fall, using teams led by multi-classroom leaders—experienced,...