Community Membership
Tap into a lifelong national network of 600+ Knowels Fellows. From in-person meetings to virtual connections; support is always available.
The Knowles Academy offers state-of-the-art professional development experiences for teachers. All Academy courses are designed and facilitated by experienced teachers who understand the complexities of teaching in today’s world. We offer both in-person and online courses and 90-minute online workshops for all teachers.
We understand the ever-evolving landscape of education. Our professional learning services are designed to be flexible and responsive, ensuring they can be tailed to meet the needs of schools and districts. Our services engage participants and serve as a model for best teaching practices.
Moving students beyond rote memorization and fostering genuine inquiry and sense-making can be challenging. Our course supports educators in this journey, guiding them to become facilitators of student-driven exploration. Throughout the course, participants engage in hands-on explorations of phenomena, learning how to guide students in constructing, evaluating, and refining ideas. Participants learn to critically assess and redesign curricular materials to maximize student proficiency in science and math practices. Participants emerge with a newfound perspective on science and math education, equipped with tools and strategies to redefine their classrooms as vibrant hubs of exploration. They leave with a deepened appreciation for the transformative power of student-led inquiry and a renewed commitment to cultivating critical thinkers and lifelong learners. REGISTRATION CLOSED – COURSE IS FULL
How can students learn to integrate their content knowledge with effective communication skills to solve meaningful and complex problems in a collaborative setting? In this workshop, teachers will learn strategies and principles for establishing a classroom culture of effective and meaningful student collaboration through the clear and intentional setting of actionable norms—working persistently, communicating productively, and taking risks. Leave this workshop with strategies that leverage the use of the actionable norms to encourage more students to effectively participate in groupwork activities.
In this workshop, teachers will learn how high cognitive demand tasks increase opportunities for students to access learning. Teachers will explore ways of modifying tasks to increase students’ abilities to engage in sensemaking. This workshop will assist teachers in gaining the knowledge and confidence needed to design and modify tasks for their math classrooms to engage more learners.
Status imbalances in student groups can affect participation and learning, with higher-status students often dominating discussions. By recognizing and addressing these imbalances, teachers can create a more inclusive classroom, encouraging all students to engage, share their reasoning, and take academic risks.
In the third and fourth years of the Knowles Fellowship, teachers focus on understanding and improving learning opportunities by recognizing and addressing societal impacts on education. Through sharing personal stories and fostering inclusivity, they enhance student engagement and create equitable classrooms.
Knowles Staff, Joyce Lin and Ayanna Perry, share their experiences in co-creating norms can be challenging and problematic because it typically generates norms consistent with dominant perspectives and cultures. They advocate that norms should be given to (rather than created by) a newly formed community to elevate the different needs, goals, and perspectives of all team members.