Welcome to Teach Different

Be a Difference Maker.

Great conversations are more than just entertaining moments with friends. They are sparks for critical thinking, connection, and compassion in classrooms. Harness the human-to-human impact of conversations to maximize the joy and fulfillment of teaching while becoming the educator your students will remember – because you taught differently.

We’re here to lift you up

Join our worldwide Community of Educators FREE for the first 30 Days.

Keep Students Engaged

Challenge young learners with impactful conversations.  Give them a reason to look away from their phones and at each other while discussing ideas that matter.

Navigate Safe Discussions

Access pre-developed lesson content and easily manage responsive and equitable discussions about sensitive topics. 

Master a Valuable Skill

Make great conversations routine inside and out of the classroom by following a simple method that works with any age or subject matter. 

Save Time

Stop over preparing lessons and arm yourself with a simple routine to maximize the value of discussions within the content you’re already teaching to improve lesson effectiveness and save you time. 

Empower Your Class

Turn troublemakers and class clowns into your greatest allies by following a simple structure that assigns roles to students and inspires them to open up and share personal testaments.

Connect with a Global Community 

Avoid the unhelpful distractions of social media and have fun engaging, challenging, and mastering great conversations with other teachers in our one-of-a-kind Community of Educators.

Make Learning Visible

Use premade Google Forms and a simple routine to capture formative and summative assessment data for student discussions effortlessly.

Broaden Your Influence and Impact 

Learn from colleagues around the world within the Teach Different Community of Educators while extending your impact on student lives to a global scale by amplifying your own wisdom and insights with other teachers.

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Discover the Craft and Community to Make Unforgettable Conversations Routine

The Teach Different Method is a simple-to-learn protocol for conversations. Supported by lively discussion and valuable input within our social Community of Educators, you will learn how to build compassionate learning environments where student more deeply engage with lesson content, instructors, and peers through the innovative use of quotes, claims, counterclaims and essential questions.

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What is the Right Age to Engage Students in Thoughtful Conversations?

The best educators understand that thinking skills can be learned by any student at any age.  All you need is a routine and a plan that easily adapts to any situation. 

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What is the Best Way to Start and Guide Discussions With Your Students?

It’s easy to say that great classroom discussions are important.  The challenge lies in being intentional about making great conversations routine with your own students.  No matter what your comfort level with conversations, our Teach Different Community of Educators (FREE during your first 30 days!) will provide you with the guidance, examples and practice to easily build your own great conversation plans and keep your students engaged.

How Do You Gain the Confidence to Engage Any Classroom in Conversations?

Confidence is the byproduct of the camaraderie, support, and knowledge-sharing you’ll experience within the Teach Different Community of Educators.  Being connected to a community of professionals who care about the well-being and development of both you and your students may just change your life.  Instead of sleepless nights worrying about how to connect with your students, you’ll feel confident knowing you have a deliberate, practiced conversation plan to keep your class fully engaged. 

What is Included?

Conversation Plan Library  Access our ever-growing repository of conversation plans to make it easy to facilitate endless variations of any conversation. The plans include quotations from great thinkers to kick off the discussion, essential questions for students to address, claims and counterclaims for them to examine, premade student handouts and more to ensure lively classroom engagement.

Social Emotional Learning Resources Teach Different’s social-emotional learning topic map gives you a bird’s eye view into your students’ abilities and progress towards learning to think critically, discuss and debate topics, engage their peers, criticize productively, and identify both opportunities and solutions.

Age-Specific Classroom Recommendations  As you begin to master the art and science of conversations, the next step is to think strategically about which conversations work best for your own individual classroom. Teach Different has you covered with recommendations specifically tailored for every age group: elementary, junior high, and high school.

Community of Collaboration The Teach Different Community of Educators puts you in direct contact with other instructors looking to improve the quality of conversations with their students. Source feedback with interactive features such as polls, prompts, posts, and questions. Join the Conversation of the Month to help develop (and celebrate!) a new conversation plan every month. Connect with educators through direct messages, private groups, threaded conversations and more to hone your craft, meet like-minded teachers, and perfect your approach to impactful conversations.

App and Personalized Roadmap for Success Access the Teach Different Community of Educators, conversation plans, social-emotional learning topic map, and more directly from a browser or our app, available on Apple or Android devices. Follow topics to organize your activity, search to find what you’re looking for, and save posts to quickly come back to your favorites.

Monthly Live Workshops, Podcasts and Events  See the Teach Different Method in action and join the discussion at our monthly community conversations. We produce a variety of engaging live and pre-recorded content each month including workshops, podcasts, interactive Conversations of the Month, and round-table events to help educators develop their ability to spark and manage great conversations. 

Getting Started is Easy!

Sign Up and Dive In

Simply complete the Welcome Checklist and receive full access to the Community of Educators to review the resources, conversation plans, and lively discussions among teachers and faculty.

Enjoy it for a Full Month - FREE

Enjoy a full month of access to the Teach Different Community of Educators, content, events, and more to begin implementing in your classroom and see the difference thoughtful conversations can make.

Make a Difference Every Day

Make unforgettable conversations routine and positively impact the lives and learning of your students.

Ready To Improve Your Classroom Conversations?  Try Teach Different FREE for 30 days!

Join us today to connect with educators from around the world and access the building blocks  needed to master the art and science of conversations and leave a lasting impact on your students. 

Big Thanks

This is just a sample of individuals and organizations who contributed their time, expertise and resources to make Teach Different a success. We deeply appreciate their advocacy and support.

• Kimberly Mitchell - Undergraduate Teacher University of Washington College of Education, Author Experience Inquiry, Founder Inquiry Partners 
• Julie Cropp -  Principal Roscoe Middle School, Roscoe, Illinois.
• Terri Daniels - Principal Folsom Middle School, Folsom, California.
• Mary Ellen Daneels -  Director of the Illinois Civics Hub and Illinois Democracy Schools Network
• Jason Janczak -  Social Studies Department Chair Grayslake Central High School, Grayslake, Illinois.
• Jim Plaza- Social Studies Teacher Grayslake Central High School, Grayslake, Illinois
• Stefanie Wager - Past President National Council for the Social Studies and @ASCD Emerging Leader

A big thanks also goes to all of our podcast guests who offered their time to have conversations with us and share their perspectives with the world.