Consulting

I come to consulting with respect for teachers and administrators after having taught in “failing” schools for 11 years. During my time with the NYC Department of Education I worked with many consultants and I learned what I liked and what I didn’t like in their approaches.

As a consultant, I collaborate with teachers and administrators to achieve their goals. I observe classes to get to know the school on my first day(s) so that I can better understand the student body and the school culture. I work to gain the trust of the teachers and I follow the lead of the administrators who guide my work. I work to support teachers through critical (and kind) feedback, helping in any way in the classroom, and never undermining their authority in the classroom space.

I have worked with high schools to accomplish various goals related to supporting teachers and departments in their work with curriculum and pedagogy. I can work with your teachers and school on:

*development of units of study (essential questions, text selection, skill focus, assignment development (formative, summative, creative), supplementary texts (political cartoons, films, videos, art) and how to use them)

*horizontal alignment of units of study (making sure unit 1 –> unit 2 has texts, skills, assignments that build and make sense for learning)

*vertical alignment of skills (making sure 9th grade texts/skills build to 10th grade texts/skills build to 11th grade texts/skills)

*assessment of current curriculum for cultural relevance, responsiveness, and to include an anti-racist perspective; assistance building a more diverse selection of authors, texts, ideas within curricular units of study

*working one-on-one with teachers to meet their own pedagogical goals (implementation of writers workshop, peer review, Socratic seminar, literature circles, differentiated writing groups, etc.). I give critical feedback to teachers in a constructive and non-threatening way so that they can feel confident as they build their teaching practice.

*working with co-teachers to meet their pedagogical goals (division of labor between team teachers, lesson planning, ways co-teaching can work, experimenting with those ways, etc.)

*student support in the classroom–sometimes a teacher needs another teacher in the classroom to work with the students. I LOVE working with students and am happy to do whatever the teacher asks of me to support his/her classroom goals.