Empowering Gen Z... Leading and Learning in the 21st Century

  3/9/2026 Teacher Clarity Pages 24-31 Take a moment to review the Best Practices Checklists on pages 27, 29, and 31. Choose one item you would like to improve on. Which item, why, how? :)

  3/3/2026 Pages 14-21 Learning grows through feedback! Take a moment to look over your latest student survey responses . Did anything jump out at you or surprise you? Using those responses as a guide, reflect on where you land among the four categories of "inviting" vs. "uninviting" leadership on page 21. Once you've had a chance to process the feedback, please head to the blog to share a goal you're working on or a strength that’s helping you navigate this year’s challenges.

  Learning is fueled by feedback… School Climate: Please read pages 14-19 and complete  this anonymous survey . Then blog to address one strength and one weakness of our overall school climate. Class Climate: Please give your students  this anonymous survey  to complete.  Feel free to copy and tweak appropriately.  We will use the returned data to blog next week. 

  November 17, 2025 Feed Up- Feed Forward---- Feed Back What is your feedback model?  Does your match Hattie's suggestion on pages 86-87?  Be prepared to give examples of feedback used during Grade Level Meetings on Monday! ( the meeting will be virtual)

  November 3, 2025  Feedback Continued....... Learning is fueled by feedback..... Let's look at the following questions Review the four types of feedback that teachers give students.  Which one do you find yourself giving the most?  Which one is hardest to give? What will you change with your feedback after studying this? There are five types of feedback with various effect size levels.  BRING YOUR LESSON PLANS.  Where can you add feedback to assignments with the most effect size? Be prepared to discuss and update your lesson plans based on grade level conversations in this area.

  Pages 82-83 Learning is fueled by feedback... Let's look at the following questions Of the eight types of feedback, which ones do you give the most to students? The acceptance of feedback is impacted by the relationship with the person giving the feedback.  Of the four conditions that improve feedback, which one do you see your students responding to the most? There are three triggers that cause students to disregard feedback.  Think of a struggling student, what triggers may cause him/her to disregard our feedback? I look forward to reading your thoughts:)

  TRANSFER LEARNING Based on our peer discussions, what high-effect strategy or strategies could we use in a school-wide setting? How ?

    As per our meeting vote, we will dive deeper into moving students into Transfer Learning (pages 40-41). Based on our peer discussions, what strategy would you like to implement more of in your classroom? How ?

  This week, we will continue with thoughts on moving students from Surface to Deep Learning (pages 34-39). Let’s discuss the challenges and the tools or resources we could use to overcome those challenges: 1-Post a high-impact teaching strategy you know your class needs, but you're struggling to implement effectively. Tell us about the specific challenges that are getting in your way; and  2-try to respond to others’ challenges with ideas, tools, or resources to help them. 

  Deep Learning How do we incorporate Deep Learning int our classrooms?   After reading and pondering on Deep Learning on pages 38-39 share some deep learning practices that you use that are effective. Is there a way to move some of our surface learning to deep?  I look forward to reading your thoughts! 

  This week, please read pages 34-37. Please reflect on your current instructional practices and share :  How do you help your students acquire surface knowledge?  How do you assist in their consolidation of surface knowledge?  What type of barriers are there for promoting students to deep learning? What high-effect-size strategies do you use to REALize promotion? What high-effect-size strategies can you use to revise instruction for student promotion?

 Big Ideas and Mindsets This year, we will focus on our School Improvement Plan through The Illustrated Guide to Visible Learning:   * One definition of realize is “ to make real or make happen”. Implementation is still key! :)  For our first week, please read Chapters 1 and 2, then complete this short form before you leave on Friday.

 The Science of Learning....  Emotions Drive Learning! What do you think about this statement: Elementary: Young learners are highly sensitive to emotions, and their ability to self-regulate is still developing. A positive emotional climate is crucial for building confidence, curiosity, and motivation to learn . Middle School: Middle schoolers undergo rapid brain development , particularly in areas related to emotions and social interactions. They are highly sensitive to peer approval, self-identity, and fairness , which impacts their learning experiences. How could these impact learning?  I am researching to find out! Rebecca Minerd

 Let's learn together! I am continuing my journey to learn about the Science of Learning!  I gave you the seven principles last week.  This week I dove deeper into the first one, Attention matters. Here are the four types of attention relevant to the classroom: Types of Attention Relevant to the Classroom: Sustained Attention: The ability to focus on a task over an extended period (e.g., listening to a lecture, reading a book). Selective Attention: The ability to focus on relevant information while ignoring distractions (e.g., working on an assignment in a noisy classroom). Divided Attention: The ability to multitask effectively (e.g., taking notes while listening to a teacher). Alternating Attention: The ability to shift focus between different tasks (e.g., moving from independent work to group discussion). It made me think..... What about you?  What is "making you think" this week? Rebecca Minerd

 Greetings, What have you learned this week?  I have been reading about the Science of Learning! Here are the key principles: Attention is the Gateway to Learning Emotions are the Fire under Cognition Retrieve to Remember  Effortful Learning Leads to Stronger Memory Too Much Too Fast overload the Brain Effective Feedback Drives Improvement Look at what is said about attention Learning starts with focus. If attention isn’t captured, information doesn’t make it into memory. Minimizing distractions and using engaging strategies (such as storytelling, questioning, and novelty) enhances attention. Anyway, it's something that I am interested in learning more about.  What about you?  What are you learning??

 It's February! This is a great time to ramp up our student engagement!  What are some innovative tools that can be used to engage students?   Even if you think you have nothing new to add.... I bet you do!  Even a new way to use an old tool....... 

  What did you learn over the Holiday Break that you would like to share?  We all learn so much from each other!  Let's see what we will learn this week!

  What can you teach others this week? What would be a quick tip to make school life easier for them? Share!

What did you learn at GAETC? Let's blog about that! So let’s continue to share, expand, and learn from each other by responding to (through Blog OR Vlog) any one of the following prompts: What have you learned this month that promotes the Empowerment of our students? How are you applying it?  What have you learned that you are curious about but presents challenges in practical application? What are the obstacles?  In what ways have you integrated technology or AI tools into your classroom to enhance student empowerment ? What successes or challenges have you encountered? How are you balancing the implementation of new learning strategies or materials with maintaining consistency for your students? What advice would you give to colleagues struggling with this balance? What aspect of recent professional learning has challenged your previous assumptions about teaching or learning? How has this shift in perspective affecte d your approach to student empowerment ?

 October 28th- November 8th It's time to start our second round of blogging! What are you learning about?   Between HMH , CCSS Content Based Training , GaETC , AI , and all our individualized research for “ EMPOWERing Students for School and Life ”, we are being inundated with Professional Learning!  So let’s continue to share, expand, and learn from each other by responding to (through Blog OR Vlog) any one of the following prompts: What have you learned this month that promotes the Empowerment of our students? How are you applying it?  What have you learned that you are curious about but presents challenges in practical application? What are the obstacles?  In what ways have you integrated technology or AI tools into your classroom to enhance student empowerment ? What successes or challenges have you encountered? How are you balancing the implementation of new learning strategies or materials with maintaining consistency for your students? What advice wou...

  Between HMH , CCSS Content Based Training , GaETC , AI , and all our individualized research for “ EMPOWERing Students for School and Life ”, we are being inundated with Professional Learning!  So let’s continue to share, expand, and learn from each other by responding to (through Blog OR Vlog) any one of the following prompts: What have you learned this month that promotes the Empowerment of our students? How are you applying it?  What have you learned that you are curious about but presents challenges in practical application? What are the obstacles?  In what ways have you integrated technology or AI tools into your classroom to enhance student empowerment ? What successes or challenges have you encountered? How are you balancing the implementation of new learning strategies or materials with maintaining consistency for your students? What advice would you give to colleagues struggling with this balance? What aspect of recent professional learning has challen...

  Our Literacy Crisis.... We have discussed the following topics for empowering our students with deep reading skills: Oral Language Early Literacy Systematic & Explicit Phonics Meaningful Read Alouds Vocabulary Instruction Reading Fluency Reading Comprehension Teaching Writing Response to Intervention Assessing Our Students According to Cox Campus, there is a national illiteracy crisis with only 37% of 4th grade students entering with grade-level reading skills. Additionally, “we know that people with better literacy tend to have better social outcomes in terms of things like finding employment, being paid well, and being able to afford better food and housing. Not being able to read or write holds a person back throughout their life and they often become trapped in poverty or more likely to commit crime. We also know that lower literacy is related to poorer health, chronic diseases and shorter life expectancy.” PROMPT: With reducing those percentages of negative outcomes for ...