{"id":15177,"date":"2026-05-13T11:55:28","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T15:55:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/?p=15177"},"modified":"2026-05-13T11:55:36","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T15:55:36","slug":"teachers-and-students-learn-side-by-side-at-windsor-oaks-elementary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/teachers-and-students-learn-side-by-side-at-windsor-oaks-elementary\/","title":{"rendered":"Teachers and students learn side by side at Windsor Oaks Elementary"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Math specialist Madeline Isacoff collaborates with other Windsor Oaks educators and students during a lesson on fractions.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Windsor Oaks Elementary students regularly join teacher collaboration during immersive math and reading lessons.<\/p>\n

This innovative approach gives teachers real-time insight into student thinking, allowing educators to catch misconceptions as they happen and respond immediately.<\/p>\n

Even better \u2014 students and teachers are loving the experience.<\/p>\n

Math specialist Madeline Isacoff and other teachers collaborated while teaching fourth graders how to add and subtract fractions.<\/p>\n

In a portion of the math curriculum titled \u201cWhole Group Warm Up,\u201d teachers display a card with a fraction addition problem on it (Example: \u00bd + \u00bd ).<\/p>\n

The teacher then shares several statements about the problem, and students use thumbs up or thumbs down to indicate if they agree or disagree with the statement. (Example: The sum is greater than 1\/2. The sum is greater than 1. The sum is less than 1\/2.)<\/p>\n

\u201cThis activity provides the foundation for estimating sums and differences, while also encouraging the students to share their own strategies for fraction computation,\u201d Isacoff said.<\/p>\n

The group then engaged in the “Simplifying Fractions” lesson.<\/p>\n

\u201cStudents had struggled with this concept, so we were intentional in selecting it for our Immersive Learning Experience,\u201d\u00a0said Isacoff.<\/p>\n

During the collaborative session, Alyson Szykuc, coordinator of special education for the Department of Programs for Exceptional Children, demonstrated how specially designed instruction can be delivered alongside the general education lesson.<\/p>\n

\u201cBringing teachers and students into the same modeled lesson creates an authentic space for collaboration, reflection and purposeful planning,\u201d Isacoff said.\u00a0\u201cIt allows teachers to truly experience the curriculum as learners while thoughtfully preparing to meet the needs of every student.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fourth grade teacher Lisa McCabe said collaboration gives her direct insight into how students think through complex skills like converting measurements and comparing fractions to benchmarks.<\/p>\n

\u201cHearing their reasoning helps us better understand where misconceptions happen and what strategies truly support their learning,\u201d McCabe said. \u201cIt also empowers students to take an active role in shaping instruction, making learning more meaningful and effective.\u201d<\/p>\n

Teacher Alexandria Rodriguez\u00a0participated in immersive learning experiences in measurement and one in simplifying fractions.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe value of having students in collaboration was that it created an opportunity for shared learning between the student and the teacher,\u201d she said. \u201cAs a new fourth grade teacher, having that different perspective is extremely valuable and helps me better myself as a teacher.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI was able to see the student\u2019s thinking in real time from an outside perspective, which was helpful \u2014 knowing I would be teaching this topic in our upcoming unit. The things I liked most about that opportunity were being able to observe a different teaching perspective on introducing a topic, while also identifying student misconceptions in real time through collaboration.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Windsor Oaks Elementary students regularly join teacher collaboration during immersive math and reading lessons. This innovative approach gives teachers real-time insight into student thinking, allowing educators to catch misconceptions as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":15178,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,213],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15177","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-staff-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15177","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15177"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15177\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15179,"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15177\/revisions\/15179"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15178"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15177"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15177"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15177"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}