Inspired! Invigorated! Excited! Prepared to apply proven strategies and approaches in the classroom to transform teaching in ways that help all children – especially children of color – reach higher levels of academic excellence.
These are some of the many reactions from educators who attended the National Urban Alliance for Effective Education’s 5th Summer Academy July 9-12, 2012, at the Princeton University & Columbia University Club in New York City.
The NUA Summer Academy is designed for teachers, instructional coaches and their leaders. The purpose of the academy is to help all participants increase their capacity for becoming fearless educators in using the Pedagogy of Confidence™ as a vehicle to teaching the Common Core State Standards.
The 2012 theme was “Summer Learning for Educators: Planning & Mediating Learning for the Common Core State Standards.” Teachers, coaches, principals and other school administrators attended the Academy and learned how:
- To implement NUA’s Pedagogy of Confidence™ for High Intellectual Performance.
- To build relationships that increase student motivation.
- To develop a framework for lesson-planning around the Common Core State Standards.
- To improve students’ comprehension and thinking.
Attendees also discussed the latest instructional techniques for ELL students and collaborated with colleagues to develop action plans for the coming year.
The 2012 Summer Academy included lesson-planning sessions that aligned with the Common Core State Standards that define the knowledge and skills students should learn during their K-12 education careers to enable them to graduate high school able to succeed in entry-level, credit-bearing academic college courses and in workforce training programs.
“This experience really inspired in me a new approach to teaching all students, especially students of color,” says LaToya Dutton, a teacher at Thurgood Marshall Elementary School in Washington, D.C. “Since we left the conference my brain has been working a million miles a minute; processing all that I learned, and thinking of things that I want to implement with my students next year.”
In past years, most Summer Academy attendees came from NUA’s partner districts, but this year it attracted several new participants from across the country who wanted to learn more about NUA.
What makes the academy so different than other education conferences is its focus on both pedagogy and relationship-building. NUA encourages schools to send teams, rather than individuals. These teams can include the school principal, specialists in different academic areas, key teachers, coaches and others in leadership positions. Based on what the team learns, they can create a plan for the coming year back at their school and they can hold one another accountable for playing their part in achieving their goals. Additionally, the academy gives teachers and administrators an environment to get to know one another outside of the school setting, to learn from each other and to reflect.
In addition to the keynote speakers’ inspiring messages to encourage participants to rigorously incorporate the principles of the Pedagogy of Confidence™ in their schools, a highlight of the academy was the small group sessions. Attendees are separated by their roles within their school, and learn and discuss different skills. For example, administrators talk about their role as a leader as having three components: affirming, inspiring and mediating.
Teams are encouraged to follow-up with their plans when they return to their schools. To further support follow-up and follow-through, NUA pairs each Summer Academy attendee with another outside of his or her school district to stay in touch throughout the year to provide updates and encouragement, as well as to share ideas.
As we at NUA reflect upon the success of this year’s Summer Academy, we are confident that attendees are returning to their schools feeling empowered to transform their classrooms, reassured in their own abilities to inspire and teach effectively.