Join us as corps members, alumni teachers, school and systems leaders—learn together in our What We’re Learning About Distance Learning series.
About
Whether your primary model is hybrid, in-person, or virtual, nearly every school is navigating distance learning experiences for students to ensure this is not a lost year of learning. Over the last few months, Teach For America brought together leaders in the distance learning space for informative webinars and information sessions. While this live webinar series is over, the resources, recordings and select courses are still available to support and help educators learn, grow, and lead in the current teaching environment.
Webinar and Workshop Themes
Many of these opportunities are open to all educators regardless of corps member or alumni status or affiliation with Teach For America.
- Basics of Teaching and Learning
- Special Education
- School Leadership in a Distance Context
- Socio-Emotional Learning and Trauma-Informed Practices
- Early Literacy
- Universal Design for Learning
Upcoming Webinars
Universal Design for Learning (UDL): Refresh
Theme: Universal Design for Learning
Audience: All Educators
Date: Self-Paced Module
Join us for a module that can serve either as an introduction or a refresher on how to respond to learner variability - the concept (based on neurological research) that all learners have unique learning strengths, needs, and preferences—using Universal Design for Learning. You'll consider how to set rigorous, effective goals and reflect on your own practice, including how to co-create goals with students. Finally, you'll hear about a unique opportunity for 15-17-year-old students called the Rise Fellowship that can provide an opportunity for students to pursue their unique passions and gifts.
ACCESSIBILITY NOTE: This webinar will have audio options, picture captions, and closed captioning on all videos.
Universal Design for Learning (UDL): The Engagement Principle
Theme: Universal Design for Learning
Audience: All Educators
Date: Self-Paced Module
Ready to deepen your Universal Design for Learning (UDL) knowledge and skills? Take the first of our three-part series! This self-paced learning module will review the concepts of learner variability and Universal Design for Learning broadly, then dig deep into the first principle of the UDL Guidelines: Provide Multiple Means of Engagement. Deep learning only happens when students are cognitively and emotionally engaged—and we know each learner will be engaged in different ways! As teachers, we must provide students flexibility and choice in how we recruit their interest, how they choose to sustain effort and persistence, and how they self-regulate. You will learn through an examination of both the theory and classroom and content-specific examples for both in-person and virtual learning.
ACCESSIBILITY NOTE: This webinar will have audio options, picture captions, and closed captioning on all videos. It is designed with flexible options for how you engage, including guidance of how you can choose to skip or extend certain sections.
Universal Design for Learning (UDL): The Representation Principle
Theme: Universal Design for Learning
Audience: All Educators
Date: Self-Paced Module
Ready to deepen your Universal Design for Learning (UDL) knowledge and skills? Take the second of our three-part series! This self-paced learning will review the concepts of learner variability and Universal Design for Learning broadly, then dig deep into the second principle of the UDL Guidelines: Provide Multiple Means of Representation. Every learner has different perception and receptive strengths and needs—so we know different students will need information represented for them in flexible ways that give them equitable access and choice to develop as expert learners. You will learn through an examination of both the theory as well as classroom and content specific examples for both in-person and virtual learning.
ACCESSIBILITY NOTE: This webinar will have audio options, picture captions, and closed captioning on all videos. It is designed with flexible options for how you engage, including guidance of how you can choose to skip or extend certain sections.
Universal Design for Learning (UDL): The Action & Expression Principle
Theme: Universal Design for Learning
Audience: All Educators
Date: Self-Paced Module
Ready to deepen your Universal Design for Learning (UDL) knowledge and skills? Take the final part of our three-part series! This self-paced learning module will review the concepts of learner variability and Universal Design for Learning broadly, then dig deep into the second principle of the UDL Guidelines: Provide Multiple Means of Action & Expression. Every learner has different strengths, needs, and preferences when it comes to enacting their learning and expressing their learning through projects and assessments. As educators, we empower students to become expert learners and maximize their potential when we provide them with flexibility and choice in how they act and express learning. You will learn through an examination of both the theory as well as classroom and content-specific examples for both in-person and virtual learning.
ACCESSIBILITY NOTE: This webinar will have audio options, picture captions, and closed captioning on all videos. It is designed with flexible options for how you engage, including guidance of how you can choose to skip or extend certain sections.
Previous Webinars
How Might We Humanize Online Spaces? with Global Online Academy
Theme: Basics of Teaching and Learning
The importance of video and audio in online learning experiences cannot be understated. It has the power to transform online learning from a solitary, individual experience to a connected, relationship-based experience. Unlike written text, video and audio can capture inflections and visual cues that can help direct students in a way written text sometimes cannot. In this workshop, educators will sharpen their skills, learning specific ways to humanize the online learning experience.
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How Might We Design for Hybrid Blocks? with Global Online Academy
Theme: Basics of Teaching and Learning
Hybrid learning combines online and in-person spaces to create a flexible learning environment. Using the “HyFlex” model as a guide, this workshop will show teachers how to prepare a single block that serves three types of students: those who are in person, those who will be joining synchronously online, and those who will need to engage asynchronously with the lesson. Participants will explore how to pace a hybrid block, how to encourage interaction and collaboration, and how to use technology to support learning for students and sustainability/efficiency for the teacher.
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How Might We Design Synchronous and Asynchronous Discussions? with Global Online Academy
Theme: Basics of Teaching and Learning
Every online learning experience should include a strategic blend of synchronous and asynchronous interactions. Synchronous connections are a way to build community and humanize the experience of learning online. They are ideal for small-group discussions through breakout rooms, conferencing, giving and receiving feedback, exhibitions of learning, and social and personal connection. While synchronous connection remains important, asynchronous discussions can offer flexibility and mitigate some of the challenges that can come from scheduling synchronous meeting times. Participants will learn when to choose either a synchronous or asynchronous discussion space and how to create them to best serve student learning.
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How Might We Diversify Feedback? with Global Online Academy
Theme: Basics of Teaching and Learning
When working in person, teachers give and get feedback in many different ways, some of which are subtle and spontaneous (body language, facial expression, in-the-moment responses, unexpected conversation) that we might not even think of them as feedback. When working online, educators are faced with two challenges: 1) many of those opportunities for subtle and spontaneous feedback go away, and 2) almost every action completed online creates an artifact to absorb, which can feel overwhelming to a teacher who feels the responsibility to give students high-quality feedback on all of their work. Participants will explore various ways to diversify the types of feedback they offer, imagining more sustainable ways to create multiple feedback pathways in the online learning experience.
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How Might We Translate an In-Person Lesson to an Online Experience? with Global Online Academy
Theme: Basics of Teaching and Learning
In the transition from in-person to online, there is not a one-size-fits-all solution for moving what works well in-person to an online platform. However, there are transferable processes that we can adapt across grade levels and disciplines. This workshop considers the processes and shifts teachers can make to transition in-person lessons and practices to engaging online experiences that allow for student choice, timely feedback, content coverage, and student mastery.
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High-Quality Remote Instruction with Transcend Education
Theme: Basics of Teaching and Learning
Join Transcend for a webinar discussing how to design high-quality remote instruction. Through one of our popular resources, we will explain how remote instruction can be grounded in the science of learning and development. We will take a deep dive into some specific practices and consider ways to adapt them for your school or classroom. Finally, we will get more concrete (and inspired!) by exploring artifacts created by schools that are already doing this work.
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Best Practices In Online Facilitation with Relay Graduate School of Education
Theme: Basics of Teaching and Learning
Best Practices in Online Facilitation is an interactive two-hour workshop on tips, tools and resources needed to lead effective and engaging instruction online. We focus specifically on community building, strong engagement practices and the basics of virtual design in this foundational session. This workshop is great for school leaders, teacher-leaders, and anyone who wants to get a sense of what strong synchronous teaching practices look like and pick up some key tips on implementation.
Strategies to Spark Engagement Online with Relay Graduate School of Education
Theme: Basics of Teaching and Learning
Strategies to Spark Engagement is an interactive two-hour workshop designed to support teachers and school leaders in creating highly engaging learning environments for students or adults engaged in professional development. This workshop focuses on strategies to create a highly engaging classroom environment where students are constantly thinking and participating in online learning. Participants will have the opportunity to apply and practice engagement techniques.
“Onlineified” Instructional Methods with Relay Graduate School of Education
Theme: Basics of Teaching and Learning
“Onlineified” Instructional Methods is an interactive two-hour workshop designed to support teachers and school leaders in translating in-person facilitation methods and design to the online environment. This workshop focuses on keys to design thinking for planning lessons or professional development for online learning, teeing workshop participants up to engage in design challenges to build stronger muscles for synchronous online design. Participants will have the opportunity to apply and practice online design principles to an upcoming lesson or PD plan.
Coaching and Developing Teachers in Online Instruction with Relay Graduate School of Education
Theme: Basics of Teaching and Learning
Coaching and Developing Teachers in Online Instruction is an interactive two-hour workshop focused on supporting school leaders or teacher leaders in setting up and facilitating live practice. In this workshop, instructional leaders will participate in a virtual demonstration of online coaching best practices and have the opportunity to apply and practice virtual coaching principles to enhance the quality of their coaching.
REMOTE K12: The Connected Teacher Summit
Theme: Basics of Teaching and Learning
Teach For America is a proud partner of the REMOTE K12: The Connected Teacher Summit, hosted by ASU. The summit is a free, one-day immersive virtual event to be held on January 9, 2021 to help K-12 teachers nationwide deliver better online and blended learning experiences. Teachers can learn and network with educators from across the country who will share effective and efficient virtual learning techniques and offer insights on pedagogy, course design, equity, wellness, accessibility, assessment, collaboration, engagement and more. Professional Development Certificate available for qualifying teachers who attend!
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Seeking and Utilizing Feedback from Students and Families with Teaching Matters
Theme: Basics of Teaching and Learning
Effective teacher—students and teacher—family feedback loops are mainstays of high performing classrooms. In this workshop, you’ll learn how to create classroom communities where student and family feedback is regularly sought and implemented.
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Facilitating Meaningful Online Discussions with Teaching Matters
Theme: Basics of Teaching and Learning
Developing a community among culturally diverse learners by facilitating meaningful conversations and providing opportunities for interaction that are conducive to active learning. We will explore the different modalities as well as essential considerations in advancing respectful, meaningful, and effective student discussions.
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Understanding Blended Learning Models with Teaching Matters
Theme: Basics of Teaching and Learning
Selecting and implementing a blended learning model that purposefully uses face-to-face and online time to maximize student learning. This webinar discusses four blended learning models in depth. Participants will be able to discern which blended model would be the proper fit for their particular situation.
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Supercharging Engagement in Flexible Learning
Theme: Basics of Teaching and Learning
Using technology to modify or redefine learning can lead to modern classrooms that cultivate creativity, significantly increase engagement, and offer student choice. Thoughtfully integrating Adobe Spark and Acrobat, in particular, allows for the creation of powerful student-centered learning experiences that enable students to thrive wherever they are.
Join instructional experts to unpack how you can help your teachers leverage your existing Adobe Creative Cloud tools to empower students to create products, make their thinking visible, and express their individuality. See more details!
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Flexible Assessment: Designing Authentic Assessments to Check Progress
Theme: Basics of Teaching and Learning
Effective student assessment provides critical data for personalizing instruction. Though it can seem challenging, online assessment tools can be used to motivate students, offer feedback, and authentically evaluate progress. In this virtual workshop, participants will:
- Define authentic assessment
- Explore real-life scenarios and tech tools
- Build and get peer feedback on their plan for authentic assessment
Special Education: Virtual Caseload Management for Empowerment
Theme: Special Education
Join Teach For America staff for a webinar discussing caseload management in the virtual context. We will explore some tips for planning and conducting IEP meetings, progress monitoring, and reporting, and family engagement—and think about these topics through a lens of student empowerment. Participants will receive take-away materials and resources for their own case-management.
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Special Education: Organizing Online Learning for Student Agency
Theme: Special Education
Join Teach For America staff for a webinar discussing how to design and organize online learning to maximize student agency. We will explore the concept of “wayfinding—” how to empower students to navigate online learning environments and tasks. We will also discuss principles and tips for designing both synchronous and asynchronous learning experiences that empower students. Finally, we will discuss tips for student communication and collaboration in online learning environments.
Meaningful Tasks: Designing Engaging Learning Experiences with Better Lesson
Theme: School Leadership in a Distance Context
Leaders are learning about remote instruction right alongside their teachers this year. This session by Better Lesson is for leaders to build your fluency in elements of distance learning. Learning tasks have many goals: introducing new material, group work, discussion, assessment, and more. Many teachers find it challenging to adapt in-person tasks to distance learning—especially asynchronous tasks. Participants will:
- Define the 10 principles of distance learning tasks.
- Explore scenarios from real classrooms, including tools like choice boards.
- Build and get peer feedback on their plan for effective learning tasks.
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Synchronous Learning: Bring Live Learning to Life with Better Lesson
Theme: School Leadership in a Distance Context
Leaders are learning about remote instruction right alongside their teachers this year. This session is for leaders to build their fluency in elements of distance learning. Synchronous learning includes any activities that students and teachers do together. How can teachers make the most of their time online with students—to engage them, answer questions, collaborate, and build community? In this Virtual Workshop, participants will:
- Define the pros and cons of “synchronous” learning.
- Explore examples of office hours, ‘live lessons’ via video, breakouts, and coaching formats.
- Build and get peer feedback on a plan to enhance synchronous teaching.
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Goals and Objectives of an Instructional Plan with Better Lesson
Theme: School Leadership in a Distance Context
No school or district can tackle everything all at once. Leaders must identify instructional focus areas that are clear, actionable, and narrow, and will guide teacher professional development. In this Virtual Workshop, leaders will:
- Define the traits of an effective instructional focus area.
- Explore how to address focus areas in different contexts, from in-school to hybrid to distance learning.
- Build and get peer feedback on their strategic plan.
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Coaching and Evaluating Teachers in a Flexible Learning Environment with Better Lesson
Theme: School Leadership in a Distance Context
This session will help leaders create an actionable framework, personalized to their schools' vision, and allow them to define observable high-quality flexible learning practices in order to create a tool and a process to support self-assessment, feedback, and coaching of teachers delivering instruction fully remotely or in a hybrid model. They will practice using this tool during the session as well by engaging in Flexible Learning coaching role plays.
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Coaching and Evaluating Teachers in a Flexible Learning Environment with Better Lesson
Theme: School Leadership in a Distance Context
This session will help leaders create an actionable framework, personalized to their schools' vision, and allow them to define observable high-quality flexible learning practices in order to create a tool and a process to support self-assessment, feedback, and coaching of teachers delivering instruction fully remotely or in a hybrid model. They will practice using this tool during the session as well by engaging in Flexible Learning coaching role plays.
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Setting Up Flexible PD with Better Lesson
Theme: School Leadership in a Distance Context
To transition to flexible or hybrid learning, teachers need to experience for themselves the kind of personalized, flexible learning environments they’ll create for students. For leaders, this means identifying teacher skill gaps and the variety of supports needed to address them. In this Virtual Workshop, leaders will:
- Define various types of PD that produce sustainable, cyclical growth.
- Explore options to address skill gaps using the “PD Poker” simulation.
- Build and get peer feedback on their teacher PD plan.
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Promise in the Time of Quarantine: School Level Case Studies
Theme: School Leadership in a Distance Context
Audience: School & School System Leaders at All Levels
Recently Bellwether Education and TFA published Promise in the Time of Quarantine: What’s Working in Distance Learning, a paper that took an up-close look at schools that managed the spring transition post-COVID effectively and identified critical practices that of the schools that led to that success. In this set of calls, we’ll spend time with those leadership teams understanding the “how” of their choices during the spring and what changes, if any, they’ve made as they navigate this school year.
Deep Dive: Designing a Data Intensive Approach to a Distance Learning Environment
While many schools relied on data during normal school years, understanding where students are academically and emotionally became even more critical as schools turned to distance learning in the spring. Join Kairos Academy from St. Louis to learn more about how they leveraged existing and created new data systems to meet the different needs of students in a rapidly changing environment.
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Deep Dive: Building Relationships with Family and Community in Virtual Environment
School goes beyond just the classroom, and distance learning demands even stronger partnerships between schools and families. However, developing, building, and sustaining those relationships at a physical distance adds unique challenges and brings about novel opportunities for schools across the country. In this session, KIPP Columbus will share tactical steps and mindsets they leveraged to build relationships with their families in a distance learning environment.
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Deep Dive: Serving Students with Special Needs - Whole School/District Approach
The spring disruption, conflicting guidelines, and continued restrictions on physical space have exacerbated the way schools are able to serve students with special needs. In this session, we will hear from Hamilton Grange in NYC and how they are ensuring that all of their students are accessing learning and supports in a distance learning environment.
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Setting Up Flexible PD with Better Lesson
Theme: School Leadership in a Distance Context
To transition to flexible or hybrid learning, teachers need to experience for themselves the kind of personalized, flexible learning environments they’ll create for students. For leaders, this means identifying teacher skill gaps and the variety of supports needed to address them. In this Virtual Workshop, leaders will:
- Define various types of PD that produce sustainable, cyclical growth.
- Explore options to address skill gaps using the “PD Poker” simulation.
- Build and get peer feedback on their teacher PD plan.
Access Webinar Recording and Materials
Supporting Wellness: Utilizing Mindfulness to Meet the Emotional Needs of Your Team with Better Lesson
Theme: School Leadership in a Distance Context
Cultivating a reflective, positive school culture that supports staff wellness is essential for leadership. By developing those practices with their team, leaders also model how to support students through an emotional and traumatic time. In this Virtual Workshop, leaders will:
- Define wellness for yourself and your community.
- Explore strategies and real-life scenarios.
- Build and get peer feedback on their plan to develop wellness practices with your staff.
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Flexible Learning 101: Best Practices and Big Ideas with Better Lesson
Theme: School Leadership in a Distance Context
Leaders are learning about remote instruction right alongside their teachers this year. This session is for leaders to build their fluency in elements of distance learning. Flexible learning puts students at the center— whether they’re in school or at home. Leaders need to understand the best practices and new skills teachers need in order to support their educators. In this Virtual Workshop, leaders will:
- Define the components of flexible learning, including synchronous/ asynchronous learning, assessment, and culture.
- Explore examples of effective learning tasks and tech tool integration.
- Build and get peer feedback on their vision for student success.
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Class Community: Creating a Safe Space Online with Better Lesson
Theme: School Leadership in a Distance Context
Leaders are learning about remote instruction right alongside their teachers this year. This session is for leaders to build their fluency in elements of distance learning. Creating a safe and inclusive class culture is the bedrock of all learning. Whether in-person or online, students need routines and expectations, a sense of trust, community, and self-care. In this Virtual Workshop, participants will:
- Define the 8 cultural forces, and how they apply at a distance.
- Explore real-life scenarios and strategies like gamification, breakout rooms, and consultancies.
- Build and get peer feedback on a plan to create a positive class culture in flexible learning.
Social-Emotional Well Being Remotely with Transcend Education
Theme: Social Emotional Learning & Trauma-Informed Practices
Join Transcend for a webinar discussing how to build social-emotional well-being remotely. Through one of our popular resources, we will explain how well-being can be grounded in the science of learning and development. We will take a deep dive into some specific practices and consider ways to adapt them for your school or classroom. Finally, we will get more concrete (and inspired!) by exploring artifacts created by schools that are already doing this work.
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SEL Skills for Helping Students Navigate the Virtual World: Fostering Empowerment and Advocacy
Theme: Social Emotional Learning
Join Peer Health Exchange, a national health education non-profit, for a webinar discussing how to build social-emotional (SEL) skills in support of high school students’ mental health amidst remote learning and a global pandemic.
The session will focus on four key SEL skills including, decision-making, communication, advocacy, reflection, and how they relate to mental health. Participants will learn more about each SEL skill and how student access and agency is directly impacted by intersecting identities. Peer Health Exchange will provide resources that aim to build healthy habits for yourself and students to gauge and advocate for their mental health and wellbeing. Additionally, participants will get the opportunity to learn more from Peer Health Exchange about their teacher-led and asynchronous skills-based programming that supports students' SEL skills and mental and physical wellbeing.
Planning and Facilitating Virtual Early Literacy Small Groups
Theme: Early Literacy
Join Teach For America staff for a virtual workshop focusing on planning and facilitating literacy small groups. We will work at the intersection of theory and practice, using evidence-based methods in the science of reading to launch into structures and strategies for teaching early literacy in a virtual setting. Using a framework from the Rollins Center for Language and Literacy to guide our learning, we’ll have opportunities to learn effective strategies, explore corresponding lesson plan formats and ready-to-use lesson plans, and view video lesson models.
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Building Comprehension through Virtual Repeated Read Alouds in Early Literacy
Theme: Early Literacy
Join Teach For America staff for a virtual workshop focusing on building comprehension through virtual repeated read alouds with complex storybooks. This session is for educators who already utilize a repeated read aloud structure in their practice, and for educators who are learning about the strategy for the first time. Using the Three Read framework from the Rollins Center for Language and Literacy to guide our learning, we’ll have opportunities to unpack elements of the strategy specific to virtual learning, review a lesson plan format and ready-to-use lesson plans, and build our depth of understanding through video lesson models.
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Teaching and Assessing Early Literacy Foundational Skills in a Virtual Setting
Theme: Early Literacy
Join Teach For America staff for a virtual workshop focusing on teaching and assessing foundational skills in a virtual setting. During this session, we’ll leverage strategies and ready-to-use free tools created by the Rollins Center for Language and Literacy to learn how to teach foundational skills (phonemic and phonological Awareness, alphabet knowledge and letter-sound correspondence, phonics, and concepts of print) with strategic planning and authentic engagement. We’ll explore resources created specifically for early literacy educators in virtual settings to teach and assess these skills, review videos of teachers applying the strategies with these free resources, and have time to discuss and process together.
Suggestions?
We look to our networks to surface expertise and leadership in this rapidly evolving topic. If you have suggestions, please feel free to complete this survey.
Partner Presenters
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Global Online Academy (GOA)
Founded by Michael Nachbar (Rio Grande Valley ’97), Global Online Academy (GOA) is a nonprofit that empowers high school students, teachers, and leaders to thrive in a globally networked society. Teach For America is partnering with GOA to offer the following expertly facilitated, synchronous, one-hour workshops for our corps members and alumni. Global Online Academy Workshops are open to all educators and Teach For America staff.
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Instruction Partners
Instruction Partners works to support equitable access to great instruction. Check out Instruction Partners’ commitment to educator development and dismantling racism in schools through educator resources.
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BetterLesson
BetterLesson is working to reimagine professional development by empowering educators to prepare students for success in a rapidly changing world. Learn more about BetterLesson and their commitment to educator’s ongoing learning.
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Transcend
Transcend supports communities to create and spread extraordinary, equitable learning environments. Learn more about how Transcend is seeking to build beyond the limits of school design.
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Teaching Matters
Teaching Matters envisions a nation where every student has equitable access to excellent teaching, regardless of zip code.
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Relay Graduate School of Education
Relay’s mission is to teach teachers and school leaders to develop in all students the academic skills and strength of character needed to succeed in college and life.
Note: The Teacher Resource Hub and Virtual Series is created to support communities and teachers. Many of the resources are links to external resources created by external organizations or individuals. The resources linked within have not been fully vetted, and their inclusion is not meant as an endorsement from Teach For America, nor is it meant to replace or confuse any guidance teachers receive from their districts, administrators, or employers. Ultimately, Teach For America corps members must adhere to the policies and guidance from their placement schools.