The 16 Week Teaching Challenge - Week 16

Week 16: Practice Co-Constructing Anchor Charts

The challenge is to put into practice what you learned last week by planning to co-construct anchor charts in upcoming lessons.

What does this look like?

1. Find a lesson in which you'd like to practice it. Do this by finding a lesson in which you should co-construct an anchor chart. Internalize the lesson, finding its purpose, heart, and student work, and think about how co-constructing the anchor chart is aligned with that purpose. 
2. See how students will be using the anchor chart over time. Take a peek at a few upcoming lessons. Where do you see the anchor chart come back up? Should students be using it as a resource in some way? Will they be adding to it? Will it be a resource that's available on an assessment?
3. Plan to press for exemplar responses. Look at the teacher exemplar to see the kinds of ideas students should be contributing to it. What do you think students will say? If they don't give you a response that's close to an exemplar, what would you do to press for that level of thinking? (Cold call? Turn and talk, while you hunt and gather? Think-pair-share while you hunt and gather? Write on Post-Its and you show call a strong response?) Remember, the thinking doesn't have to be exactly, word-for-word, what's in the exemplar, but it should be very closely aligned and as complex.
4. Teach the anchor chart part of the lesson analog. This means co-create the anchor chart as designed in the lesson, on paper, without using your slides. You are holding the pen, they are doing the talking, and you are writing what they say, pressing for stronger thinking without rounding up only when needed. (And don't forget those total participation techniques!)
5. Reflect. Look at what students created, and compare it to the exemplar. How close was this? How was this different from pre-creating anchor charts? Did students do the majority of the work?

Completed that? 

Well. 

You just completed Week 16 - the very last week - of the 16 Week Teaching Challenge. Wow! Whether you completed every week or just a few, you have done the work of putting the 8 high-leverage techniques of EL into practice in your classroom, and that is a really, really big deal. 

If you've tried one, a few, some, or all of the techniques in the 16 Week Teaching Challenge, I'd love to hear from you! How has it impacted your teaching? And your kids' learning? Because, in the end, that's really what it's all about.

Here's to simply teaching well,

The 16 Week Teaching Challenge - Week 15

Week 15: Co-Constructing Anchor Charts

There's a difference between a poster and an anchor chart.

Posters are visuals, posted in a classroom or in slides, that are usually premade by the teacher. 

Anchor charts, on the other hand, are public records of thinking and, by definition, are co-created with students. So, while the teacher may create the outline or headings, the chart is made from student thinking and is meant to anchor that thinking so that they can refer back to it later.

This means that true anchor charts need to be on paper, displayed, and be clearly created from student thinking and work - not in slides or pre-created by us.

So, for your challenge this week, here are three quick tasks:

1. Begin by reading (or rereading) EL's 8 High-Leverage Instructional Practices, and read the row for anchor charts.
2. Watch this video from a middle school EL classroom about anchor charts. What did you learn that might change how you approach them in your classroom?
3. Watch this video about why anchor charts are used so frequently in EL. What did you learn about how to use anchor charts, after you co-create them with students?

Completed that? Fantastic! You just completed your Week 15 Teaching Challenge. Be sure to check back next week for our very last week.

Here's to simply teaching well,

The 16 Week Teaching Challenge - Week 14

 

Week 14: Practice Using Conversation Cues

The challenge is to put into practice what you learned last week by planning to use Conversation Cues in upcoming lessons. (And feel free to revisit last week's post if you need a refresh on how to do that.)

What does this look like?

1. Find a lesson in which you'd like to practice it. Do this by internalizing the lesson, finding its heart, purpose, and student work, and consider whether Conversation Cues are already in the lesson or if you want to add them. If you want to add them, be sure they serve the purpose of the lesson. Remember, by now all grade levels have been introduced to Cue 1 and Cue 2.
2. Use the Conversation Cue in the lesson. When you use it, capture some data on a piece of paper. Which cue did you use? Did you have to use a stem? Which students talked, and what did they say?
3. Reflect. How did it work? Did it help you deepen student discourse from more students? 

Completed that? Fantastic! You just completed your Week 14 Teaching Challenge. Be sure to check back next week for Week 15!

Here's to simply teaching well,

The 16 Week Teaching Challenge - Week 13

Week 13: Deepening Student Discourse

This week is all about deepening student discourse - how do we help kids have richer, student-led conversations that actually lead to them learning from each other? Asking questions, pushing back, and taking notes about what they learn from their peers?

So, for your challenge this week, we'll explore what it means to foster discourse, and how we can make sure that when kids are talking, that talk is really, really good.

1. Begin by reading (or rereading) EL's 8 High-Leverage Instructional Practices, and read the row for "deepening student discourse."
2. Read about Conversation Cues here. And really read this - there's a lot of good information packed in here!
3. Watch Eric Snider lead a classroom discussion on the Teach Like a Champion website here. How does he put into practice a lot of what you read about in Conversation Cues? 

Completed that? Fantastic! You just completed your Week 13 Teaching Challenge. Be sure to check back next week for Week 14.

Gosh, we're getting close to week 16, y'all!

Here's to simply teaching well,

The 16 Week Teaching Challenge - Week 12

 Week 12: Practice Using Protocols

The challenge is to put into practice what you learned last week by planning to use protocols in upcoming lessons. 

What does this look like? 

1. Explore the protocols. Explore all of EL Education's protocols here (online) or here (manual). If you want to use both, find a category or protocol you like in the manual and then search for it online. Many of the protocols online have accompanying videos, too.
2. Find a lesson in which you'd like to practice it. Do this by internalizing the lesson, finding its heart, purpose, and student work, and consider whether this protocol is already in the lesson or if you want to add it. If you want to add it, be sure that it serves the purpose of your lesson and doesn't cost you any pacing!
3. Plan to practice it a few times until you and your students get really good at it. This may take a few days for a simple one (such as turn and talk) or a harder one (such as a fishbowl discussion). The purpose isn't to "master" as many protocols as you can, but to find ways to help your kids engage with harder work faster than you would without the protocol.
4. Reflect. How did it work? Did it help you make the most of your time? Did it help more students produce high-quality work?

Completed that? Fantastic! You just completed your Week 12 Teaching Challenge. Be sure to check back next week -for Week 13!

Here's to simply teaching well,

The 16 Week Teaching Challenge - Week 11

Week 11: Learn About Protocols

When I first began coaching, I was overwhelmed. There were so many teachers, unfamiliar responsibilities, grade levels, and content areas, that I didn't know how to wrap my mind around anything well enough to even begin.

However, as I began figuring things out, I soon saw that I led some types of conversations over and over again. When we looked at student assessments, we had one type of conversation. When we analyzed student texts, we had another type of conversation. And working one-on-one with a teacher in a close coaching cycle was another kind entirely. I thought, "What if I have templates for these conversations I tend to have repeatedly, so I ask/do all the things I need to and not leave anything out?" So, that's exactly what I did. 

What I found was that it freed my mind up to have better conversations. I didn't have to fish for a question or think about what the next step might be. I could go to my template to move a conversation forward - and even use it to take notes so I could get thoughts out of my mind and onto paper, freeing up more space for hard thinking.

What I had unknowingly done was create protocols. And let me tell you, a good one will change your work and your life.

This week, we'll explore the roles of protocols in EL together. 

1. Begin by reading (or reading) EL's 8 High-Leverage Instructional Practices, and read the row for Protocols. 
2. Read "The What, Why, and How of Protocols" here. 
3. Find the EL Education protocol handbook here and skim through the Table of Contents. What do you notice about how it's organized? Any protocols you see that are familiar? Brand new?

Completed that? Fantastic! You just completed your Week 11 Teaching Challenge. If you're working for that small prize, you can log your success here, and be sure to check back next week for week 12.

Here's to simply teaching well,

The 16 Week Teaching Challenge - Week 10

Welcome to week 10 of our 16 Week Teaching Challenge!

Week 10: Practice Using Questions to Promote Student Learning

The challenge is to put into practice what you learned last week by planning to use questions to promote student learning in upcoming lessons. 

What does this look like? For at least 3 lessons, you'll:

1. Internalize the lesson. Be sure to identify its purpose, the heart, the student work that aligns with the purpose, and how independently that work is supposed to be done.
2. Identify a sequence of questions in the heart of the lesson. 
3. Read through the questions and plan: What will you do to ensure the questions are used to promote student learning? What will you not do to make sure a teaching move doesn't detract from that?
4. When you teach the lesson, gather the student work that was completed. Ideally with your coach, your grade level, or a colleague, consider: How do you see that using questions in this way pressed for students to learn more from the text?

Completed that? Fantastic! You just completed your Week 10 Teaching Challenge. Log your work here if you like, and be sure to check back next week for Week 11!

Here's to simply teaching well,

The 16 Week Teaching Challenge - Week 9

Welcome to week 9 of our Fall 2025 16 Week Teaching Challenge!

Week 9: Oct. 13 - Learn About Using Questions to Promote Student Learning

When you think of asking questions in a lesson, what comes to mind? Kids' hands in the air, eagerly wanting to answer?  Bloom's taxonomy and a variety of questions? Getting feedback about questioning and immediately thinking you simply need to ask more?

I'd like to propose something different. 

What if we thought of questions as a way to promote student learning. Not assess learning. Promote it.

How does that change this idea in your mind?

This week, we'll explore that together. So ...

1. Begin by reading (or reading) EL's 8 High-Leverage Instructional Practices, and read the row for Using Questions to Promote - Not Just Assess - Student Learning. Ask yourself: How is this different than the way I've thought about questions?
2. Read this article by Tim Shanahan on the role of questioning in comprehension instruction. According to Tim, what is and is not the role of questioning?
3. Consider this quote from Teach Like a Champion: "The purpose is not to ask questions; the purpose is to use questions to elicit different types of thinking." (p. 271). In EL, rarely do the materials call on teachers to pose a question and call on a volunteer to answer it; rather, the materials call for the use of total participation techniques to ensure all students are doing the thinking of the lesson. How does this shift your thinking?
4. Consider this quote from Steven Goldman: "The picture of students eagerly raising their hands to answer a question is so ingrained in our mental images of what a good classroom looks like. But eliminating this practice is one of the most important changes we could make." What is your reaction to that?
5. Read this blog post from Doug Lemov on phrasing fundamentals for questions.

Completed that? Fantastic! You just completed your Week 9 Teaching Challenge. Check back next week - October 20 - for week 10.

Here's to simply teaching well,

The 16 Week Teaching Challenge - Week 8

Welcome to week 8 of our Fall 2025 16 Week Teaching Challenge!

If you're new to the challenge, take a minute and read The Big Launch post here. You can opt to get caught up on previous weeks by checking out the "16 Week Challenge" link to the bottom right of this page, or you're welcome to just jump right in and join us!

Week 8: Sept. 30 - Practice Fostering a Culture of Grappling

The challenge is to put into practice what you learned last week by planning for fostering a culture of grappling in 3 upcoming lessons. 

What does this look like? For each lesson, you'll:

1. Internalize the lesson. Be sure to identify its purpose, the heart, the student work that aligns with the purpose, and how independently that work is supposed to be done.
2. Identify at least 1 place where you know it could be tempting as a teacher to take away the grappling for students. Maybe this is releasing the note-catcher to pairs to truly do it on their own, while you just circulate and question. Maybe this is releasing the reading to triads as designed in the lesson, instead of reading aloud this time. Maybe this is co-creating an anchor chart with students' ideas, rather than pre-creating it. Or maybe it's posing the questions - even the really hard ones - exactly as designed, without scaffolding the language in them. 
3. Capture notes at the end of each lesson on how this went.
1. Did you use your technique to foster a culture of grappling?
2. What did you learn about your students and their work?
3. What did you learn about your instruction? 

Completed that? Fantastic! You just completed your Week 8 Teaching Challenge. If you're working for that small prize, you can log your success here, and be sure to check back after Fall Break - October 14 - for Week 9.

Here's to simply teaching well,

The 16 Week Teaching Challenge - Week 7

Welcome to week 7 of our 16 Week Teaching Challenge!

If this is your first time joining in, welcome! You can get caught up on previous weeks by scrolling to the "Labels" section at the bottom right of this page and clicking "The 16 Week Challenge."

However, if you're ready to jump right in, here you go!

Week 7: Sept. 22 - Learn About Fostering a Culture of Grappling

I'm of the mind that our goal as teachers isn't to ensure that every student leaves a lesson perfectly completing the work in front of them (though that's nice), but it's to ensure that every student has had an opportunity to really and truly grapple with something. It's only when we push them to do the kind of work and thinking that they can't quite do yet that we are really successful in a lesson.

That can be hard as teachers, because it means that we'll face silent moments in our classroom. We'll see a roomful of students who look at us with faces full of cognitive wobble. They'll produce work that doesn't quite meet our expectations yet. And it's all too easy to revert back to thinking that success means a roomful of raised hands, neat papers, and quickly correct answers. 

So, this week, I encourage you to really ponder and consider what it means to foster a culture of grappling, and how that can be challenging - yet the most joyfully hard work - for teachers and kids alike.

1. Begin by reading (or reading) EL's 8 High-Leverage Instructional Practices, and read the row for Fostering a Culture of Grappling.
2. Read this blog post that answers a teacher's question: "How can I foster a culture of grappling in my classroom?"
3. Read this piece from a third grade teacher on the Open Up blog about empowering children to grapple.
4. Take 5 minutes and jot a few notes to yourself answering these questions: 1) When I'm at my teaching best, how are my students grappling? 2) Looking at tomorrow's lesson, where are places I would be tempted to take away the grappling, and why?

Completed that? Fantastic! You just completed your Week 7 Teaching Challenge. If you like, you can log your success here, and be sure to check back next week - September 29 - for Week 8.

Here's to simply teaching well,

The 16 Week Teaching Challenge - Week 6

Welcome to week 6 of our Fall 2025 16 Week Teaching Challenge!

If you're new to the challenge, you can opt to get caught up on previous weeks by checking out the "16 Week Challenge" link to the bottom right of this page, or you're welcome to just jump right in and join us!

Week 6: Sept. 15 - Practice Total Participation Techniques

The challenge is to put into practice what you learned last week by planning for and using at least 1 Total Participation Technique in at least 5 upcoming lessons. 

What does this look like? For each lesson, you'll:

1. Internalize the lesson. Be sure to identify its purpose, the heart, the student work that aligns with the purpose, and how independently that work is supposed to be done.
2. Plan at least 1 total participation technique for each one. Keep this super simple, and I even advise you to try the same one every time. The point isn't to entertain kids; it's to get every student actively working and thinking in a lesson.
3. Capture notes at the end of each lesson on how this went.
1. Did you use the CFU you planned?
2. What did you learn about your students and their work?
3. What did you learn about your instruction? 

Completed that? Fantastic! You just completed your Week 6 Teaching Challenge. If you're working for that small prize, you can log your success here, and be sure to check back next week - September 24 - for Week 7!

Here's to simply teaching well,

The 16 Week Teaching Challenge - Week 5

 Welcome to week 5 of our Fall 2024 16 Week Teaching Challenge!

Is this your first time checking in? I'm so glad you're here! You can also get caught up on previous weeks by scrolling to the "Labels" section at the bottom right of this page and clicking "The 16 Week Challenge."

However, if you're ready to jump right in, here you go!

Week 5: Sept. 8 - Learn About Total Participation Techniques

And that's just what they are - teaching techniques that help to promote active, engaged thinking and work from every single student in a lesson. Here's what you can do to complete this week's challenge:

1. Begin by reading (or reading) EL's 8 High-Leverage Instructional Practices, and read the row for total participation techniques most closely.
2. These techniques are based on the work of Drs. William and Persida Himmele in their book titled - you guessed it - Total Participation Techniques. Take 10 minutes or so to visit this page on their site and watch videos or browse a blog post or two. 
3. Then, explore EL's protocols for total participation here.

Completed that? Fantastic! You just completed your Week 5 Teaching Challenge. If you're working for , you can log your success here, and be sure to check back next week - September 15 - for Week 6.

Here's to simply teaching well,

The 16 Week Teaching Challenge - Week 4

Welcome to week 4 of our 16 Week Teaching Challenge!

Is this your first time checking in? No problem. You can also get caught up on previous weeks by scrolling to the "Labels" section at the bottom right of this page and clicking "The 16 Week Challenge."

However, if you're ready to jump right in, here you go!

Week 4: Sept. 2 - Practice Checking for Understanding

The challenge is to put into practice what you learned last week by planning for and using at least 3 checks for understanding (CFU) in at least 3 upcoming lessons. 

What does this look like? For each lesson, you'll:

1. Internalize the lesson. Be sure to identify its purpose, the heart, the student work that aligns with the purpose, and how independently that work is supposed to be done.
2. Plan at least 3 checks for understanding in the lesson. This means you'll identify at least 3 places in the lesson where you want to pause, check for understanding, and plan for any needed adjustments based on what you learn. For each, you need to:
1. Know the exemplar response you are looking for.
2. Decide what you will check. It must be visual or verbal. Will you look at an annotation, check white boards, look at the first box on their graphic organizer, check their gists, or listen for an ideal spoken response?
3. If needed, decide who you will check. Are you going to check every student, or a representative sample? If a representative sample, who is that going to be?
4. Plan what you will do if you do or do not get the ideal response. Will you have a student who got the ideal response share with the class through a show call? Will you drive them back to a specific place in the text and check again? Will you have them turn and talk and then revise their answers? Will you ask a quick follow up question to press for all-the-way-there right? ("That's strong evidence, Cathy. Can you explain how it supports your answer?") Because you know what's coming up, will you move on and keep an eye on how they do the next time this kind of thinking pops up? Will you move a bit quicker because they are with you solidly?
3. Capture notes at the end of each lesson on how this went.
1. Did you use the CFU you planned?
2. What did you learn about your students and their work?
3. What did you learn about your instruction? 

Completed that? Fantastic! You just completed your Week 4 Teaching Challenge. You can log your success here, and be sure to check back next week - September 8 - for Week 5!

Here's to simply teaching well,

The 16 Week Teaching Challenge - Week 3

Welcome to week 3 of our Fall 2024 16 Week Teaching Challenge!

Is this your first time checking in? No problem. You can also get caught up on weeks 1 and 2 by scrolling to the "Labels" section at the bottom right of this page and clicking "The 16 Week Challenge," but you're welcome to just jump right into week 3 if you prefer. 

If I were to choose only one thing to improve my craft as a teacher, checking for understanding would be at the top of the list. It's that important. So, here's this week's challenge!

Week 3: Aug. 25 - Learn about Checking for Understanding

1. Begin by reading (or reading) EL's 8 High-Leverage Instructional Practices, and read the row for checking for understanding most closely.
2. Next, read this excerpt from the chapter on checking from understanding from Teach Like a Champion.
3. Then, read this document from EL about checking for understanding. On page 2, consider which of the tools and protocols would help you check for academic understanding, and which are self report. Both can be important, but only the academic ones will help us know whether students are understanding what they need to.

Last, choose one (or more if you want) of these videos to see checking for understanding in action:

• Scott Wells: Grade 4 ELA
• Matthew Gray: middle school ELA
• Denarius Frazier: Grade 11 math
• Courtney Huber: Grade 4 ELA

Completed those 4 tasks? Phenomenal! You just completed your Week 3 Learning Challenge. If you want, you can log your success here, and be sure to check back next week - September 1 - for Week 4!

P.S. Missed a week and want to get caught up? You absolutely can. Just go back, complete those challenges, log your success, and join us again next week!

Here's to simply teaching well,

The 16 Week Teaching Challenge - Week 2

Welcome back to week 2 of our 16 Week Teaching Challenge!

Is this your first time checking in? No problem. Take a minute and get caught up on the Week 1 Challenge here. 

If, on the other hand, you're ready to begin, here's this week's challenge.

Week 2: Aug. 18 - Practice Learning Targets

The challenge is to put into practice what you learned last week by actively using learning targets throughout lessons. (Revisit pp. 152-153 of last week's reading if you need a refresh.)

What does this look like? The method is up to you, but it should look like revisiting them throughout a lesson so you and students know what you're trying to accomplish and how close you are to it.

That could look like:

• Inserting learning target slides before each new section of a lesson
• Internalizing a lesson to plant Checking for Understanding opportunities, and fronting them with a quick learning target reminder.
• Or - my favorite - simply writing the targets on the board so they are ALWAYS visible to kids and revisiting them as often as you and they need to.

So, choose an idea, try it out, and see what impact it makes on your teaching (Does it improve your clarity? Your pacing?) and your students' learning (Do kids know why they're doing what they are?),

Completed that? Yay! You just completed your Week 2 Teaching Challenge. If you want, you can log your success here, and be sure to check back next week - August 25 - for Week 3!

Here's to simply teaching well,

Word Walls - Take 2

I had a teacher reach out recently with this fabulous question:

I know we've got word wall cards with definitions and pictures available through our curriculum. Is it better to use cards that simply have the word, or cards that have all of that information on them? 

And it got me to thinking - once again - about word walls. I went back through the blog archives, and found where I wrote about them way back in 2021 here, and I think it's still appropriate guidance. All too often, we begin the year with the best of intentions and a strong beginning to a word wall, but we either let it fall by the wayside, don't use it effectively, or both. But, we should have them, we should use them, and well. 

What I love about this teacher's question is that it's getting to some of the nitty gritty of word walls, and the devil is truly in the details. 

Here's my advice on whether or not to include definitions and pictures on word wall cards. 

1. Word walls aren’t meant to do the basic, definition-level work of word knowledge. They’re meant to be used as a tool to build on that. This might mean that when I’m working with the meaning of the word “human right,” for example, I might need to reorient myself to the literal meaning before I start grappling with the nuances of it in relation to other words – which is what a word wall is really meant to do. We also know that kids need multiple, frequent exposures to words and their meanings to try get them in their brain’s constellation of word meanings, and having the definition front and center can help with that. I don’t want the word wall to be a “test” of what they remember; I want it to be a tool for deeply learning word meanings.

2. The more I think about it, the more I like having definitions on there that we all use in common. You’d be amazed at how many different definitions I hear for the word “sentence,” for example – much less something like “main idea” or “access” or “literacy.” And having those definitions makes it clearer for us to teach those to kids – as a teacher, I’m not going to be tempted to go on and on, or to actually end up sharing 3 different definitions inadvertently.

3. I also think it would be good practice to only add words that our kids are struggling to use well. That would allow me to A) free up space on the board (which we all need), and B) it’s another argument for having the definition there as a way of providing multiple exposures and reminders as they are learning.

 Really, my only hang up with having the picture/definition is that it could make the font size of the word smaller. 

Now, I do think there could be a point at which you want to take away the definition and/or picture. Let’s say kids know the definition, and you really want to push them toward making connections with other words or discussing the nuances of its meaning. You could easily cover up those elements with Post It notes or even painters tape, so that those cues aren’t immediately obvious to kids, but accessible if they want/need them.

My stance is informed - once again - by the great Tim Shanahan and his writing here. He never lets me down.

Here's to simply teaching well,

The 16 Week Teaching Challenge - Week 1

Welcome to the official launch of our 2025-26 16 Week Teaching Challenge! 

The whole goal of this series of teaching challenges is to focus our first 16 weeks of school on getting really good at the things we already know to do - the 8 High-Leverage Practices of EL that empower students to own their learning. Getting meticulous about the fundamentals by spending two weeks on each practice: 1 week to learn about it and 1 week to put it in action. Nothing new. No long PD session. Just quick learning and easy-to-implement, evidence-based ideas each week that can help us get better at teaching so our students get better at learning. For 16 weeks. 

Each week you complete the challenge, you have the option to enter your success in a Google Form here. Complete at least 12 of the 16 challenges and log them on the form, and a very small (but lovely) prize will find its way to you. Miss a week and want to get caught up? You absolutely can. Just go back, complete those challenges, log your success, and hop right back in.

Want to join in the fun?

Here we go!

Week 1: Aug 11 - Learning About Learning Targets

1. Begin by reading (or rereading) the list of EL Education's 8 High-Leverage Instructional Practices That Empower Students to Own Their Learning, and read the row for Learning Targets most closely. 

2. Then, read the document Using Learning Targets. I encourage you to approach this with fresh eyes; we've heard the term "learning targets" so much, it's easy to have a bit of an "expert blind spot" about them. Print this out, mark it up, and reflect on what this adds to or changes your thinking about learning targets. What new did you glean from it?

3. Last, watch this 5 minute video of a teacher using learning targets at the beginning of a lesson. What do you notice about the teaching? What do you notice about the students?

Completed those 3 tasks? Congratulations! You just completed your Week 1 Learning Challenge. If you want, you can log your success here, and be sure to check back next week - August 18 - for Week 2!

Here's to simply teaching well,