TT Innovative Solutions LLC

20+ years in Title I schools, and this is still my favorite place to be!

For six years, I've built teachers from the outside. Now I'm back in the classroom again, coaching teachers in their own spaces.

Here's a moment from this week:

A read-aloud lesson stalled. The teacher asked a question. Silence. Asked it again. A few wrong answers.

No one was misbehaving. But nobody knew the answer either.

So I leaned in and asked the teacher: "Where can they find the evidence for the correct answer?"

The teacher went back and re-read the line that held the answer. This time, hands went up.

Fact: a quiet room can look like a focused room. But confusion doesn't stay quiet for long. It turns into side talk, heads down, and sometimes a trip to the office.

The next classroom move:
When a question stalls, don't repeat it louder. Go back to the source; for a read-aloud, give them a purpose for listening. Students get something to listen for instead of something to guess.

Teachers, be honest: every one of us knows the look of a room that has NO idea what you just asked.
What's your tell?
The blank stare?
The kid who suddenly needs to sharpen a pencil?

I'm truly interested to know. Drop your comments below.

Yesterday was the first day back for so many of our educators, and I made it a point to check in with several of them.

What I heard was heavy.

Excitement, yes, but also exhaustion as the year gets started.

Uncertainty.

That quiet fear of "Am I really ready for this?"

And then I watched a video circulating online of an HISD teacher speaking from the heart about what this work actually feels like right now.

It stopped me.

Because it's real.

Because I've lived versions of it myself in 25+ years in the classroom.

And because too many educators are carrying that weight completely alone.

That's exactly why I built the 10-Month Coaching Program.

This isn't exam prep.

This is walking alongside you for your entire first full year using Data → Need → Action, applied to your actual classroom, all year long, so you're never left to figure this SPED journey out by yourself.

If yesterday stirred something in you - relief, exhaustion, doubt, determination. I want you to know: you don't have to carry this year alone.

Join our mailing list at ttinnovate.com for more details.

It's almost time! Saturday is just days away and you will not leave disappointed.

If writing an IEP has been sitting in the back of your mind, this is your opportunity to gain clarity.

Learn from experienced specialists.

Ask questions.

Leave with greater confidence.
Registration is open.

✍🏽 Join Our Free Class (Domain V Writing)
Practice the constructed-response portion of SPED 186 with guidance and feedback.
🗓 Tonight: June 16 at 7 PM CST
🔗 Register: https://bit.ly/SPEDcohort26
This class won't stay free for long. Register and attend tonight.

This Mother’s Day, I want to take a moment to acknowledge the many women who spend their days pouring into others. Whether you are raising children, supporting students, caring for family, mentoring others, or simply carrying responsibilities that often go unseen, your work matters!

I mentioned this in my SPED Community last week, and now we have the full play out. Leading more discussions around this, join our community, details in the comments. https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1DzTKWRMxY/

Just days after the Houston Independent School District confirmed some special education students will move campuses next school year, the Department of Education announced it opened a disability discrimination investigation into Texas' largest school district.
https://abc13.com/post/19066381/