Hooray For Monday

Lisa Brosnan, a pre-K teacher at Tubman Elementary in Washington, DC, and a 2026–27 Inspired Teaching Fellow, joins Hooray For Monday to explore how young children learn about boundaries, asking permission, and respecting one another’s choices.

Laura, a 2026/2027 Inspired Teaching Fellow shares how improv has helped her embrace uncertainty and give students room to try something new.

October 12, 2026: Speak Truth (part 2): Can one song speak for a generation? by Center for Inspired Teaching

For Banned Book Week, librarian and 2026-2027 Inspired Teaching Fellow Eileen Seligman explores how choice, curiosity, and conversation shape a school library and support students' freedom to read.

In the first of two Speak Truth episodes, Brady Maiden from Center for Inspired Teaching shares how student-led conversations build listening, courage, and agency, and explains why that work belongs in the classroom.

Listen to this week's Hooray For Monday podcast to hear from teachers at Capitol Hill Day School in Washington, DC. Adia Coleman and Christian Miskell share how they weave fun and joy into everything from a pen pal exchange with students in Ghana to lessons on The Great Gatsby, and they make the case that fun works best when you're not chasing it. Apple Podcasts verification: 21131910-b9cd-11f1-ae...

ABCDE's of Learner Needs: Engagement (Part 2)

The ABCDE's of Learner Needs: Engagement

The ABCDEs of Learner Needs: Developmental Appropriateness

August 24, 2026: Craving Competence by Center for Inspired Teaching

August 17, 2026: What do we mean by belongning? by Center for Inspired Teaching

This week we’re looking at the first of the ABCDEs of Learner Needs: Autonomy. We want to have a say in what happens to us! But this feels like a big ask in school where the expectation of the teacher is to ensure students learn certain things in certain grades well, on time, and in preparation for the learning that comes next. Where can students find choice within those constraints? Today's podca...

Brady Maiden shares a joyful exploration of how she brings the ABCDEs into her work with high school students. She also speaks to how this framework shines a light on what she needed and how an amazing teacher met those needs, back when she was a high school student herself. Check out the activity mentioned at the opening of this podcast: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1JkuxFVuHKrnGqATVMrjkYgphre...

In this episode from our archives, Kaneia Mayo Crumlin shares a wealth of insights and advice for connecting with students in the early days of a new school year, and for creating intentional opportunities for them to learn about themselves and each other.

This week's interview from the archives is a beautiful illustration of what it looks like when a teacher designs everything she does with students at the center and improvisational thinking as her guide. Lacey Hunter forever changed the way we think about the questions we ask young people, especially when it comes to favorite colors!

Chiara Monticelli, teaches Italian at Hardy Middle School in Washington, DC. In this interview from the archives, she talks about what it’s like to teach in a classroom with no desks, a choice she made years ago to change up the learning experience for her students.

In this interview from the archives, Jenna and Meag talk with elementary math teacher Sheena Styles about what it means to create a learning environment where curiosity leads and students are empowered to guide their own discoveries. Subscribe to Hooray For Monday for weekly resources and info on Inspired Teaching programming and events: inspiredteaching.org/subscribe-hooray-for-monday/

As June comes to a close and Pride Month celebrations wind down, we wanted to share a post from our archives that offers suggestions for meeting the ABCDEs of Learner Needs through the lens of gender and sexuality inclusivity.

As the Inspired Teaching team prepares to kick off the next school year of building community and supporting the educators in our community, we're sharing an issue of Hooray For Monday from the beginning of the 2024-2025 Fellowship year. Subscribe to Hooray For Monday for weekly resources and updates on Inspired Teaching programming and events: https://inspiredteaching.org/subscribe-hooray-for-mon...

Aleta speaks with renowned author and advocate Jonathan Kozol, about his latest book, "We Shall Not Back Down." Subscribe to Hooray For Monday for weekly resources and info on Inspired Teaching programming and events: https://inspiredteaching.org/subscribe-hooray-for-monday/

Reflecting on a recent intergenerational Speak Truth and the lessons to be learned about supporting our students in this moment. Subscribe to Hooray For Monday for weekly resources and info on Inspired Teaching programming and events: https://inspiredteaching.org/subscribe-hooray-for-monday/

The Inspired Teaching team is sharing our picks for the Inspired Summer '26 playlist. Listen on Spotify here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/58QZih9TDjRKYNJRzY0ZUH?si=VJJ4sfopRfO3ZCW3QozoGw Subscribe to Hooray For Monday for weekly resources and information on Inspired Teaching programming and events:

As we look forward to the start of the 2026-2027 Teaching with Improvisation Fellowship this June and a new cohort of teachers starting their Inspired Teaching journeys, we're sharing an episode from 2025 that reflects on the key characteristics of an Inspired Teacher: curiosity, kindness, and critical thought. Revolution in the Classroom: https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1996/08/2...

Listen for Jenna's conversation with Sabrina Burroughs and Ben Wilhelm. Ben was Sabrina's student-teacher 4 years ago and is now her colleague at John Lewis Elementary School. They share how their relationship has benefited them both, how they nurture curiosity in their kindergarten students, and what community looks like in their school. Subscribe to Hooray For Monday for weekly resources and upd...

This week’s issue of Hooray For Monday is a contribution from an Inspired Teaching Fellow who we’ve worked with for many years now, Kim Kelley. Ms. Kelley is a teacher at Goodwill Excel Center here in Washington, DC, and, as you’ll hear in her conversation with Meag shortly, her high school classroom is a bit unusual: Kim’s students are non-traditional. They’re learners who, for many reasons, did...