Turning the Moves into a Movement: A Partnership that Transforms Tier 1 Instruction
thinkLaw’s April 2025 Newsletter
No matter how many pracitcal strategies we fit into a thinkLaw PD, no matter how many right-now ideas teachers leave with for their classes tomorrow, no matter how much laughing and learning is happening at the same time, we’ve spent too many years bumpig up against the same problem. Maybe you’ve seen it too.
One-and-done PD doesn’t stick.
We decided that the outcomes of this work – transforming the experience of Tier 1 instruction by giving teachers powerful, practical instructional tools to unlock rigor – were too critical to keep accepting a model where great momentum in August fizzles by October.
Our partnership with Mattawan Consolidated School District in Michigan is very different. A cohort of 14 teachers, instructional coaches, building principals, and district administrators joined us last July for our first Annual Institute, where we not only learned practical instructional moves, but also what it takes to embed this work into the EXISTING systems in the district. Throughout the year, this has looked like:
- Working directly with PLC groups to align our curriculum tools to the scope and sequence.
- Ongoing virtual PD with a “bring a friend” model, where our original cohort of 14 expanded to 100 participants by March.
- Classroom walkthroughs with Colin Seale, where we see teachers have written their own lesson hooks and higher-order questions to unlock the rigor of their existing curriculum.
This teacher-driven instrucftional movement is infusing critical thinking skillsets and a relentless “these kids CAN” belief into every grade level and department in the district in a way that has true staying power.
If this sounds like what your school or district needs in order to get out of the “one more thing” trap and unlock the power of the curriculum, trainings, and people you already have, talk to us about bringing your own team to San Diego October 1st-3rd, 2025. Spaces are limited – get started here!
Will You Join Us in San Diego?
The thinkLaw Annual Institute is much more like a retreat than a conference. Come ready to dream big about the world as it ought to be, and be ready to do intensely practical work to make that world a reality. We will be applying everything we learn directly to YOUR context and content.
Expect both close collaboration with your district cohort AND building alliances with new friends who share your role, your challenges, your “I didn’t know anyone else thought like this” way of being.
Check out highlights from our inaugural event last summer!
For our October 1st-3rd Annual Institute in San Diego, you’ll bring a team of teachers, coordinators, building leaders, and district administrators, all working together throughout the institute to embed these strategies into your EXISTING curriculum, PLC model, PD schedule, new teacher academy, and beyond. And throughout the year, we support your cohort to grow this movement – “each one brings one” style – creating the critical momentum required to create long term, transformational outcomes for kids.
We are intentionally spending three days in a beautiful space on the marina in San Diego, and will be embedding time for rest, exploration, and community building into the agenda, because we believe it should not be a luxury to laugh and learn at the same time.
Learn more about how your team can join us October 1st-3rd, 2025. Space is limited!
New Release!
Colin Seale’s Thinking Like a Lawyer, 2nd Edition, is full of practical, right-now strategies that you can use to unleash the critical thinking skills of all your students, especially kids who at this point in the year are “over school”. By leveraging real-world issues of fairness and justice, controversy, and drama, students learn not just to make a point, but to step into the shoes of someone they disagree with and articulate that point for them.
Leave a Reply