We welcomed back our teacher leaders nearly six weeks ago as we prepared for the launch of the school year, and I can’t express just how incredible it was to jump right into matters of instructional practice.  We had entire sessions looking at the framework for student-centered instruction that we are developing at Lincoln.  I don’t think I heard the word COVID during the entire session.  The past two years, our school launch was dominated by the specter of COVID.  Schools around the world were mired in matters of logistics – social distancing and mask-wearing alone occupied countless planning meetings to determine how to structure everything, from student dropoff and pickup, to managing passing periods and lunch, to protocols for classroom management.  One year ago at this time we were building makeshift classrooms and walking around campus with a 2 meter stick to verify distances between tables and chairs.  

Instead of endless question and answer sessions on how we were going to enforce COVID protocols, we spent our preparation days talking about rigor and inclusion in the classroom.  Teachers talked about their “go to” instructional strategies, and began work on classifying where their favorite practices matched up with our schoolwide framework for student-centered instruction.  Our principal team modeled a number of practices themselves, from a quality group Word Sort, to the classic Think Write Pair Share (one of my favorites – I want to name a school “Think Write Pair Share high school,” although I’m not sure what our mascot would be), to a Gallery Walk to share and consider group work, to an exit ticket to close out the session.  It felt like we were doing the essential work that schools are meant to do – plan for outstanding instruction and student learning.