Impact Report 2021-22: Connecting Learning

M³ partners are analyzing education from new perspectives and are promoting the transition from high school to college as a continuum rather than a series of steps. Our educators are rethinking practices and embracing new strategies to better understand students so education delivery is cooperative, equitable, and responsive.

More than 600 instructors from MPS, MATC, and UWM joined together in February 2022 for professional development to improve practices, address institutional racism and strategize ways to make education more productive and transparent.

• Connie Schroeder, senior consultant for instructional and organizational development in the UWM Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning, delivered the keynote address on the subject of designing productive and equitable discourse. The topic was designed to improve teaching practices, better understand students, address institutional racism and connect curriculum.
• English language arts (ELA) teachers took part in sessions to compare holistic and analytic rubrics, analyze rubric creation and set intentions to create more descriptive rubrics for writing assessments. The hope is that this work benefits students through increasing understanding before beginning an assignment. ELA teachers then worked to support fine arts integration that leveraged students’ talents and interests to enable study and produce work that is personally meaningful.
• Science instructors analyzed core texts, expectations, and curriculum. They offered ideas to promote effective discussion techniques and focused on the “5E” model — Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate and Evaluate — to improve instruction. Math educators explored ways to support learners, understand the shifts and expectations for teaching K–12 math, and develop students’ identity and flexibility in using math.