Hooray for Monday is an award-winning collection of resources we share at the start of every week. These resources feature questions, ideas, reflections, and actions we can all take to remodel the school experience for students. Hooray for Monday challenges teachers to hone their skills as Instigators of Thought©, includes instructional ideas from our #Inspired2Learn collection, and provides links to other useful tools and opportunities.

Hooray For Monday

Starting today, Girl Math means seeing the world through curious eyes. It means wondering about how many ways to calculate the right amount of postage on a letter and what the methodical marching patterns of ants can teach us about geometry.

Subscribe to Hooray For Monday for weekly resources and updates on upcoming Inspired Teaching programming and events: https://inspiredteaching.org/subscribe-hooray-for-monday/

March 17, 2025: Girl Math

This interview originally aired as part of Inspired Teaching's Curiosity Challenge. Learn more and join the Challenge here: https://inspiredteaching.org/curiosity-challenge-2025/

Xochi Cartland helps to lead Operation Understanding’s year-long Social Justice Fellowship, a program for high school juniors. Throughout this conversation, she offers a lot of valuable insight into supporting young people as they discover their own voices and learn to respect those of their peers’ – a lot of which mirrors the work Inspired Teaching does with our Speak Truth students. And a lot of which adults can apply to their own interactions in the world. 

Subscribe to the Hooray For Monday newsletter to review resources and important information about upcoming Inspired Teaching programming and events: https://inspiredteaching.org/subscribe-hooray-for-monday/

Learn more about Operation Understanding DC: https://oudc.org/

March 24, 2025: Hope is a Discipline

As part of a recent online Inspired Teaching Institute, Jenna and Meag spoke with Mary Brown and Aikta Suri of Life Pieces To Masterpieces (https://lifepieces.org). Mary and Aikta shared strategies, guidance, and real-life examples for conflict resolution and recentering ourselves. 

Subscribe to the Hooray For Monday Newsletter for weekly resources and important information on upcoming Inspired Teaching events and programming: https://inspiredteaching.org/subscribe-hooray-for-monday/

March 31, 2025: Cultivate Your Inner Peace

This episode originally aired on January 30, 2023. We're revisiting it today in honor of Maurice Sykes, an inspiring mentor and dedicated early childhood educator who knew the value of fueling curiosity.

Each week at our Inspired Teaching staff meeting, we begin with a brief exercise. This past week, each of us responded to the question: “What are you curious about?” The question connects directly with Inspired Teaching’s work to promote the kind of teaching that fuels - instead of stifles - curiosity.

Subscribe to the Hooray For Monday newsletter to receive weekly resources and important updates on upcoming Inspired Teaching events and programming: https://inspiredteaching.org/subscribe-hooray-for-monday/

April 14, 2025: (From the Archives) The Opposite of Curiosity

Libraries serve a unique function in society: hubs of reading, literacy, and knowledge that are also havens for children and families in need; people seeking vital career skills and public health access; and more. And as many others have observed, they are one of the few remaining places where we can go without the expectation of spending money. Libraries are special, and Inspired Teaching has had a front-row seat to just how special the DC Public Libraries are.

DigDC Oral History repository: https://digdc.dclibrary.org/do/96cec815-f69e-4e70-89a3-afc05cf96758

Subscribe to the Hooray For Monday newsletter for weekly resources and important updates on upcoming Inspired Teaching programming and events: https://inspiredteaching.org/subscribe-hooray-for-monday/

April 7, 2025: A Love Letter to the Library

In celebration of Earth Day, Inspired Teaching shares advice for upcycling work done in the classroom.

Subscribe to the Hooray For Monday newsletter for resources and important information on upcoming Inspired Teaching programming and events: https://inspiredteaching.org/subscribe-hooray-for-monday/

Join Inspired Teaching's Curiosity Challenge: https://inspiredteaching.org/curiosity-challenge-2025/

Scribe's Record Instigator of Thought activity: https://www.instigatorofthought.org/scribesrecord

April 21, 2025: Upcycle Your Work

Jenna speaks with Sheena Styles, a math teacher in Washington, DC, and Inspired Teaching Fellow. Ms. Styles shares her advice for creating a classroom where students feel empowered to take the lead in their learning.

Subscribe to the Hooray For Monday newsletter for weekly resources and important info on upcoming Inspired Teaching programming and events: https://inspiredteaching.org/subscribe-hooray-for-monday/

April 28, 2025: Making Friends with Our Mistakes

This issue of Hooray For Monday was originally published on November 2, 2020. While much has changed in the world since then, being kind to one another and modeling kindness for our students remains critical in combatting division and distrust. 

Subscribe to the Hooray For Monday newsletter for relevant resources and updates on Inspired Teaching programming and events: https://inspiredteaching.org/subscribe-hooray-for-monday/

May 12, 2025: From the Archives: Our Capacity for Kindness

This week, we're reflecting on the many times we've felt appreciation for the many teachers in the Inspired Teaching community.

May 5, 2025: Thank You, Teachers

This Jewish American Heritage Month, we're sharing a unique perspective and experience: Aleta speaks with Amber to hear her story—rich with history and informed by research—as a Black Jewish American living in Israel. 

Subscribe to the Hooray For Monday newsletter for weekly resources and updates on upcoming Inspired Teaching programming and events: https://inspiredteaching.org/subscribe-hooray-for-monday/

May 19, 2025: Get Those Stories!

Listen to this week’s Hooray For Monday podcast to hear Susan Coti, longtime Inspired Teacher and the mother of a fallen Marine, share how she keeps her son’s legacy alive through education in Myanmar.

Subscribe to Hooray For Monday newsletter for weekly resources and information on upcoming Inspired Teaching programming and events: https://inspiredteaching.org/subscribe-hooray-for-monday/

Contact Susan Coti at Gift of Education to learn more about the organization and volunteering virtually: susan@giftofeducationmyanmar.com

May 26, 2025: A Meaningful Memorial Day

Jenna visits the classroom of Inspired Teaching Fellow Sabrina Burroughs and discovers a classroom full of young learners who are comfortable and confident navigating big feelings with their classmates. 

Subscribe to the Hooray For Monday newsletter to receive weekly resources and information on upcoming Inspired Teaching events and programs: https://inspiredteaching.org/subscribe-hooray-for-monday/

June 2, 2025: A Bowl of Hot Crazy

Revisit this issue from July 2024 as Inspired Teaching prepares to begin the 25-26 Teaching with Improvisation Fellowship in a few weeks!

Subscribe to Hooray For Monday for weekly resources and important info on upcoming Inspired Teaching programming and events: https://inspiredteaching.org/subscribe-hooray-for-monday/

June 9, 2025: (From the Archives) Hooray For Improvisation

This week's Hooray For Monday features a conversation Jenna and Meag had with Deepa Iyer, a lawyer, activist, and author, who shares the framework she's developed that helps us all find our role in building community and advancing the causes we believe in.

Subscribe to the Hooray For Monday newsletter to receive weekly resources and information on upcoming Inspired Teaching events and programming: https://inspiredteaching.org/subscribe-hooray-for-monday/



June 16, 2025: Everyone Can Play a Role in Resistance

Jenna outlines how Inspired Teaching's ABCDE of Learner Needs apply to ensuring students and teachers in the LGBTQ+ community are welcomed, supported, and celebrated in schools everywhere, every day.

Subscribe to the Hooray For Monday newsletter for weekly resources and updates on Inspired Teaching programming and events: https://inspiredteaching.org/subscribe-hooray-for-monday/

June 23, 2025: Pride and the ABCDEs

Much has changed in 30 years. But much has remained the same. There are still too many schools and classrooms where kids are praised for staying in line and teachers are praised for keeping them there. But today there are thousands and thousands of Inspired Teachers who are driving change.

Subscribe to Hooray For Monday for weekly resources and updates on Inspired Teaching programming and events: https://inspiredteaching.org/subscribe-hooray-for-monday/

June 30, 2025: What This Moment Calls For

This week's episode features Aleta's interview on the City Neighbors' podcast, Flip-Ed. They discuss all things engaging education, and why all teachers should be Instigators of Thought. 

Flip-Ed: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2433198/episodes/17123360

Subscribe to the Hooray For Monday newsletter for relevant resources and information on upcoming Inspired Teaching programs and events: https://inspiredteaching.org/subscribe-hooray-for-monday/

July 7, 2025: Instigate Thought

All students deserve an authentically engaging learning experience.

Download the Closing the Engagement Gap: A Social Justice Imperative white paper: https://www.google.com/url?q=https://e8ujuzejdog.exactdn.com/wp-content/uploads/Closing-the-Engagement-Gap.-A-Social-Justice-Imperative.pdf&sa=D&source=docs&ust=1752241008736415&usg=AOvVaw1f3CGzFhD9MVvf_eS820u8

Subscribe to the Hooray For Monday newsletter for weekly resources and updates on Inspired Teaching programming and events: https://inspiredteaching.org/subscribe-hooray-for-monday/

July 14, 2025: Closing the Engagement Gap: A Social Justice Imperative

For 30 years, Inspired Teaching has invested in teachers as the source for transformational change in the education system.

30 Years of Curiosity: https://inspiredteaching.org/30-year-anniversary-center-for-inspired-teaching/

Subscribe to the Hooray For Monday newsletter for weekly resources and updates on upcoming Inspired Teaching programs and events: https://inspiredteaching.org/subscribe-hooray-for-monday/

July 21, 2025: Teachers Matter

As part of our 30th anniversary celebration, we’ve got a special time-travel issue this week and next, in which we get to revisit the 2010-2011 school year. In that school year fidget spinners were making an appearance along with Silly Bandz, Adele’s Rolling in the Deep was the #1 song, and skinny jeans were still a popular thing. But what we’re sharing today goes a little deeper than these trends.

Subscribe to the Hooray For Monday podcast for relevant resources and information on upcoming Inspired Teaching events and programs: https://inspiredteaching.org/subscribe-hooray-for-monday/

July 28, 2025: Inspired Teaching for the Long Term, Pt. 1

Hooray for Monday is an award-winning collection of resources from Center for Inspired Teaching, shared at the start of every week. These resources feature questions, ideas, reflections, and actions we can all take to remodel the school experience for students. Hooray for Monday challenges teachers to hone their skills as Instigators of Thought©, includes instructional ideas from our #Inspired2Learn collection, and provides links to other useful tools and opportunities.

About Us
Creating radical change in the school experience — away from compliance and toward authentic engagement. Center for Inspired Teaching envisions a future in which every person is prepared to thrive in and contribute to our complex and rapidly changing world, through an education that teaches students how to think, not what to think.

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