Hooray For Monday

Jenna speaks with Sheena Styles, a math teacher in Washington, DC, and Inspired Teaching Fellow. Ms. Styles shares her advice for creating a classroom where students feel empowered to take the lead in their learning. Subscribe to the Hooray For Monday newsletter for weekly resources and important info on upcoming Inspired Teaching programming and events: https://inspiredteaching.org/subscribe-hooray-for-monday/

In celebration of Earth Day, Inspired Teaching shares advice for upcycling work done in the classroom. Subscribe to the Hooray For Monday newsletter for resources and important information on upcoming Inspired Teaching programming and events: https://inspiredteaching.org/subscribe-hooray-for-monday/ Join Inspired Teaching's Curiosity Challenge: https://inspiredteaching.org/curiosity-challenge-2025/ Scribe's Record Instigator of Thought activity: https://www.instigatorofthought.org/scribesrecord

This episode originally aired on January 30, 2023. We're revisiting it today in honor of Maurice Sykes, an inspiring mentor and dedicated early childhood educator who knew the value of fueling curiosity. Each week at our Inspired Teaching staff meeting, we begin with a brief exercise. This past week, each of us responded to the question: “What are you curious about?” The question connects directly with Inspired Teaching’s work to promote the kind of teaching that fuels - instead of stifles - curiosity. Subscribe to the Hooray For Monday newsletter to receive weekly resources and important updates on upcoming Inspired Teaching events and programming: https://inspiredteaching.org/subscribe-hooray-for-monday/

Libraries serve a unique function in society: hubs of reading, literacy, and knowledge that are also havens for children and families in need; people seeking vital career skills and public health access; and more. And as many others have observed, they are one of the few remaining places where we can go without the expectation of spending money. Libraries are special, and Inspired Teaching has had a front-row seat to just how special the DC Public Libraries are. DigDC Oral History repository: https://digdc.dclibrary.org/do/96cec815-f69e-4e70-89a3-afc05cf96758 Subscribe to the Hooray For Monday newsletter for weekly resources and important updates on upcoming Inspired Teaching programming and events: https://inspiredteaching.org/subscribe-hooray-for-monday/

As part of a recent online Inspired Teaching Institute, Jenna and Meag spoke with Mary Brown and Aikta Suri of Life Pieces To Masterpieces (https://lifepieces.org). Mary and Aikta shared strategies, guidance, and real-life examples for conflict resolution and recentering ourselves. Subscribe to the Hooray For Monday Newsletter for weekly resources and important information on upcoming Inspired Teaching events and programming: https://inspiredteaching.org/subscribe-hooray-for-monday/

This interview originally aired as part of Inspired Teaching's Curiosity Challenge. Learn more and join the Challenge here: https://inspiredteaching.org/curiosity-challenge-2025/ Xochi Cartland helps to lead Operation Understanding’s year-long Social Justice Fellowship, a program for high school juniors. Throughout this conversation, she offers a lot of valuable insight into supporting young people as they discover their own voices and learn to respect those of their peers’ – a lot of which mirrors the work Inspired Teaching does with our Speak Truth students. And a lot of which adults can apply to their own interactions in the world. Subscribe to the Hooray For Monday newsletter to review resources and important information about upcoming Inspired Teaching programming and events: https://inspiredteaching.org/subscribe-hooray-for-monday/ Learn more about Operation Understanding DC: https://oudc.org/

Starting today, Girl Math means seeing the world through curious eyes. It means wondering about how many ways to calculate the right amount of postage on a letter and what the methodical marching patterns of ants can teach us about geometry. Subscribe to Hooray For Monday for weekly resources and updates on upcoming Inspired Teaching programming and events: https://inspiredteaching.org/subscribe-hooray-for-monday/

Even if you’re not going to become a designer of circular things, why matters. Because if we only learn pi as a number that can be plugged into equations to find the radius and diameter of a circle, we’re missing something really interesting and curiosity-producing. Subscribe to the Hooray For Monday newsletter for relevant resources and important updates on upcoming Inspired Teaching programming and events: https://inspiredteaching.org/subscribe-hooray-for-monday/

We cannot expect math and reading scores to improve, or for our young people to grow into capable leaders in the future, if they are not given the opportunity to be curious, compassionate, critical thinkers today. Subscribe to the Hooray For Monday newsletter for resources and important updates on Inspired Teaching programming and events: https://inspiredteaching.org/subscribe-hooray-for-monday/ This week's issue: https://mailchi.mp/inspiredteaching.org/hooray-for-monday-march-3-2025

A recent classroom visit inspires a reflection on handshakes, trust, and peace. Subscribe to the Hooray For Monday newsletter for weekly resources and important information on upcoming Inspired Teaching programming and events: https://inspiredteaching.org/subscribe-hooray-for-monday/