Skip to main content

Navigating Student-Led Academic Teams: Reflecting on the Journey and Planning for The Future

Navigating Student-Led Academic Teams: Reflecting on the Journey and Planning for The Future

As a teacher who has been implementing Teams in their classroom, I would be able to describe the hurdles, challenges, triumphs, and reflective moments that have come from learning how to use and implement Student-Led Academic Teams in my classroom. Rather than share only successes, we will discuss how to approach difficulties, roadblocks, and use the resources in a meaningful way to help deepen student autonomy, learning, and communication in the classroom. This will also parallel to the increase in rigor and results in the classroom.

Implementing 101
Emily McCallum

Emily McCallum

Emily McCallum is a third-grade teacher at Oriole Beach Elementary School in Santa Rosa County with five years of teaching experience. She is passionate about the transformational process of teaching and engaging students in meaningful learning experiences. In her classroom, Emily strives to unlock higher-level thinking and spark curiosity in education. By using tools such as IE MOI, she fosters a strong classroom culture that supports academic, social, and emotional learning, helping develop well-rounded learners.

Clarita Thompson

Clarita Thompson

Clarita Thompson is a School Leadership Coach with Instructional Empowerment.  Clarita works with district and school leaders to provide professional learning and coaching to school leaders to drive change in teacher practices, student achievement and instructional effectiveness.  She also coaches the school leadership team to successfully lead the implementation of the Model of Instruction as evidenced through trend data of successful MOI implementation and its impact on achievement gap data.

Prior to joining IE, Clarita served as a public-school teacher, Instructional Coach, Assistant Principal, Academic Dean, and Principal in Texas.  While serving in these roles, Clarita established systems enhancements, improved the climate and culture for students and staff, and systematically and continuously, monitored instructional and managerial processes to ensure that program activities were related to program outcomes and used these findings to target areas of improvement.

Clarita earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Commerce and Business Administration from The University of Alabama, a Master of Education in Education Administration from Grand Canyon University, and a Principal Certification from Lamar University.

Session Details

District Name: Santa Rosa County
Oriole Beach Elementary School

Elementary (K–5)
Audience: All
Difficulty Level: All (suitable regardless of prior knowledge/experience)