We often move quickly from what we see to what we believe is causing it.
A student is labeled a struggling reader.
A behavior becomes a discipline problem.
A relationship becomes a power struggle.
A difficult classroom becomes a classroom management problem.
But what if there's more to see?
Educating Marissa offers frameworks, resources, and practices that help educators get curious about what is actually happening, so they can respond with greater clarity, humanity, and possibility.
How we help
Education is full of things that are easy to oversimplify: a student's behavior, a reading struggle, a conflict between adults, a classroom dynamic, or a decision that isn't working.
We help educators look beneath what is obvious, understand what is actually happening, and make better moves from there.
See the whole person.
We help educators examine the identities, experiences, assumptions, and conditions that shape how people experience education.
“Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice”— MLK
See what's happening in the reading.
We help educators understand reading as a complex process rather than reducing readers to "good" or "bad" readers.
“Don't label the reader. Get curious about the reading.”
See what's happening between people.
We help educators understand power, authority, relationships, conflict, and culture so they can create healthier learning communities.
“We can't have healthy schools with toxic staff cultures.”
From seeing to doing
Our frameworks, tools, resources, and professional learning help educators move from understanding what is happening to deciding what to do next.
NoticeUnderstandRespond
One body of work
Don't label the reader. Get curious about the reading.
Educators do not have to choose between compassion and authority.
A framework for responding to student behavior with proportionality, purpose, and humanity.
The Four Expressions of Power.
The physical, emotional, relational, and instructional environments in which learning happens.
Professional learning, tools, frameworks, facilitation resources, and practical supports for educators.
Resources
About
The little girl who was always reading.
The teacher who taught people to read.
The curriculum director.
The administrator.
The person who kept seeing what happened when literacy struggles, relationships, environment, behavior, and power intersect.
I've spent my career looking at what becomes possible when people have greater access—to language, to knowledge, to one another, to their own agency, and to the world around them.
Read the full storyStay curious
Thoughtful resources and practical ideas for educators thinking about literacy, power, relationships, and the conditions that make learning possible.
