Beginning Teacher Series: Student Engagement

Learn to balance instructional expectations with student engagement in this Beginning Teacher Series event.

Beginning teachers are often required to use district-mandated worksheets and scripted curriculum with little guidance on how to adapt them for real classrooms. This workshop builds teachers’ confidence and instructional decision-making by showing them how to transform required tasks into meaningful, student-centered learning experiences—without abandoning curriculum, increasing prep time, or violating district expectations.

Participants will learn a simple, repeatable redesign framework using three lenses: thinking routines and protocols, transferable skills, and student agency. Teachers will spend the afternoon applying this framework directly to their own materials and leave with at least one redesigned lesson they can implement immediately.

The Beginning Teacher Series is designed to provide early-career teachers with practical, hands-on strategies that can be immediately applied in the classroom. Each session focuses on new educators' real-world challenges and offers tools to build confidence and effectiveness in the critical first years of teaching. Participants will also be able to collaborate with other new teachers excited to explore fresh ideas, proven techniques, and support from other teaching professionals!