Our colleagues Courtney Brown & Dr. Cristina Compton are back to unpack leadership and teacher teams, and offer their strategies for maximizing teamwork in school communities. Teams don't just appear — they're the result of effective leadership, trust, and a collective commitment to student success. The feelings of inclusion and interdependence that stem from teamwork can bolster teachers as they evolve to meet students' needs.

Dr. Yolanda Sealey-Ruiz returns to share her insight on engaging scholars at all levels. Designing authentic and engaging instruction is challenging, but essential — when done well, intellectual engagement creates a ripple effect that helps develop students' creative and critical thinking skills. How can you capture, retain, and maintain engagement in your classroom?

Darius Adamson is back to shed insight on how teachers and school leaders can effectively engage students in the learning process — something research shows leads to an increase in attention and focus, motivates students to practice higher level critical thinking skills, and promotes meaningful learning experiences.

Dr. Anissa Moody joins us to discuss the importance of social-emotional intelligence when dealing with trauma, how to re-establish relationships with students, and strategies for recognizing and addressing student needs.

The need to engage — and re-engage — students has never been more present. This week, we're delving into the crucial role student engagement plays in building 21st century skills, how engagement practices have been impacted by the pandemic, and suggestions for approaching engagement in the new school year.

In the final episode of our series exploring core coaching principles, we're focusing on culturally relevant and sustaining pedagogy — a crucial practice that explores the cultural implications and power dynamics present in education, and requires mindfulness and vulnerability from educators as they work to unpack and undo inequities in their school communities.

In part five of our series exploring core coaching principles, we're looking at cycles of inquiry — a powerful component of transforming and improving professional practice. As educators, we must maintain a commitment to the inquiry process — identifying challenges, posing questions, implementing interventions, and monitoring for improvements. It is this quest for understanding that helps us evolve and meet the changing needs of our students and school communities.

In part four of our series exploring core coaching principles, we're looking at the process of cultivating strengths, which stems from the belief that improvement in growth areas increases when we leverage areas of strength first.

In part three of our series exploring our core principles, we're looking at critical reflection — a crucial practice that encourages metacognition and self-awareness, and results in action that uses past successes and missteps to transform professional practice.

In part two of our series exploring our core coaching principles, we're looking at contextualized practice — a way of working that allows us to design each project to the culture, context, and concrete goals of unique individuals and communities.