Community Engagement Manager Toni Rose Deanon visited Hoover City, Alabama this fall and walked away with so many great tips for educators, we just had to share!

I grew up in the south, and I even had my first teaching experience in DeKalb County, GA. I never thought that I’d be back in the south after 11 years of living in other parts of the country. In 2023, I found myself in Montgomery, AL with my sister and brother-in-law, and I got curious about the school system. The universe is intentional with how it moves, and it was the same time that Modern Classrooms cultivated a relationship with Hoover City Schools, which meant I got to be in person with educators and students more. 

I was able to spend the whole morning with one of the instructional coaches, Jamie Nutter, and we had a blast going from one classroom to another. Here are the 3 tips I learned from Hoover City Classrooms: 

1. Create time for whole group instructions so students know what to do. 

When I walked into a first grade classroom, the first thing I noticed was the teacher leading a whole group instruction so that students are reminded how to access their own learning. This whole-group instruction took maybe 10-15 minutes where the teacher, Mrs. Collins, went over what self-pacing meant, where to find materials, and had students talking to each other about what they were supposed to do. It was a great way to start the classroom to model and remind students what they would be doing for the class. 

2. Provide answer keys to students. 

A 6th-grade math teacher, Ms. Lee, provides an answer key for students to check their work. I love this process because students are able to evaluate and reflect on their mistakes on their own, without the guidance of the teacher. Of course, this teacher taught the process of how to use the answer keys so that students weren’t just copying and pasting. The students responded positively because it shows that their teachers trust them to check their work and make revisions when needed. 

3. Start small. 

I got to talk to an elementary teacher, Ms. Barker, who taught K-5 STEAM. Instead of implementing our model in all of her classes and getting overwhelmed, she’s starting with her fourth grade class. She got really creative with her progress tracker. Her students created an icon to move along their lessons, so students made dinosaurs or quotes or whatever they wanted their moving piece to be. Just hearing about that brought me so much joy, so I can only assume that students had a great time putting that piece together. Ms. Barker wanted to pilot in her class to see what worked and what didn’t, and I celebrated her for making that decision. 

Teaching is and can sometimes be overwhelming, and these three teachers reminded me that we don’t have to make things harder on ourselves. If the whole group instruction works for reminders and modeling, stick with that. If you want students to get instantaneous feedback and you are more intentional with how students ask for help, provide them with the answer key. If you want to implement something new, start small. We are capable of making the best decisions for ourselves and our teachers.

Toni Rose Deanon

Toni Rose taught MS English for 10 years and will forever identify as a teacher. Toni Rose strives to be the teacher that they never had growing up, so they focus on anti-bias, anti-racist work and wants to create a brave space for everyone around them. As a queer Filipinx, they understand just how important it is to be represented, be valued, and belong. They especially love being a thought partner for and celebrating teachers.