Cathy Lacey
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cathylacey.bsky.social
Cathy Lacey
@cathylacey.bsky.social
340 followers 290 following 34 posts
Public Educator | Reframing Practice & Sparking Instructional Shifts for Student Impact | PD Designer | Speaker | Micro-credential Developer | SCASCD Emerging Leader | Founder, Blazers LLC
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cathylacey.bsky.social
I read this over winter break. I highly recommend!
Cover of the book Harnessing the Science of Learning: Success Stories to Help Kickstart Your School Improvement by Nathaniel Swain, PhD. The cover features a vibrant blue background with a yellow lightning bolt in the center, symbolizing energy and innovation in education.
January 12, 2025 at 2:51 PM
cathylacey.bsky.social
Excited for 2025! I’ll present at #ASCDAnnual & more on #Scaffolding strategies that empower all learners. Equity First: scaffolding isn’t just support—it’s a pathway to access & excellence. Honored to be a featured speaker at #MSMatters2025 - thank you @heroichistory22.bsky.social! #EduCoach
A slide titled "Scaffolding Benefits All Learners" featuring five interconnected boxes that highlight key strategies for effective scaffolding. Teach to the Top (top left): Icon of a mountain with a flag at the peak. Text: "Start with high expectations and aim for excellence with scaffolding." Design for Inclusivity (top center): Icon of a puzzle piece. Text: "Macro scaffolding ensures that learners can meet those high expectations. Access!" Start Small, Think Big (top right): Icon of a tree with roots and a small sprout. Text: "Implement scaffolding in a practical, step-by-step manner." Use Formative Assessment (bottom left): Icon of gears. Text: "Adapt in real-time by assessing where learners are and adjusting micro scaffolds." Gradually Remove Scaffolds (bottom right): Icon of a bicycle. Text: "Celebrate learner independence while remaining flexible to reintroduce support." The diagram emphasizes a flow of actions, beginning with setting high expectations and designing inclusive scaffolding, followed by implementing scaffolding in small steps, using formative assessments to adapt, and gradually removing scaffolds to encourage independence. A promotional graphic with a green background announcing two major education events coming together in 2025. The text at the top reads, "Two Great Events Coming Together in 2025!" Below it, text in pink says, "I'm Presenting at," followed by logos for the 2025 ASCD Annual Conference and ISTE Live 25. The tagline reads, "Spark Joyful Learning," with the event dates, "June 29–July 2," and location, "San Antonio, Texas," displayed at the bottom. The design features subtle sunburst patterns in the background, emphasizing energy and excitement. A promotional image for the "2025 NCMLE 'Middle School Matters' Conference," taking place March 23–25, 2025, in Charlotte, NC. The graphic features a large starburst highlighting "2024 NC Teacher of the Year Heather Smith" alongside her photo. Surrounding her are photos of other featured speakers, including Cathy Lacey, Dr. Frederick Buskey, Dr. Chris Culver, Jamie Brown, Erik Francis, and Dr. Marie Moreno. Each speaker's name is displayed in white text on a blue circular banner around their photo. The hashtag #MSMatters2025 is centered at the bottom. The design emphasizes collaboration and excitement for the conference.
December 31, 2024 at 4:02 PM
cathylacey.bsky.social
I’m presenting at ISTELive+ASCD Annual Conference 2025 in San Antonio! 🎉 My session, Boosting Student Success: Effective Scaffolding Strategies Across Disciplines, explores visual, verbal, & written supports to engage all students & elevate learning. ✨ #ASCDAnnual #ISTELive25 #ISTE25 #Scaffolding
A vibrant graphic with a blue background and diagonal pattern featuring the text “Spark Joyful Learning” in large, colorful font. Below it reads, “Two Great Events Coming Together in 2025!” with event dates “June 29–July 2” and location “San Antonio, Texas.” The bottom section includes the words “PRESENTER” in bold, alongside the 2025 ASCD Annual Conference and ISTELive25 logos.
December 19, 2024 at 10:57 PM
cathylacey.bsky.social
Without evaluating, how do we know if #ProfessionalLearning is making an impact? 🤔
📋 My go-to for measuring- Guskey’s Framework:
1️⃣ Participant Reactions
2️⃣ Participant Learning
3️⃣ Organizational Support
4️⃣ Use of New Knowledge
5️⃣ Student Learning Outcomes
What tools do you use to evaluate PL? #EduCoach
PowerPoint slide on ‘Lack of Evaluation’ in Professional Learning: Emphasizes the importance of using tools like surveys, data collection, and observations to measure the impact of PL and encourage teacher reflection.
December 2, 2024 at 3:07 PM
cathylacey.bsky.social
This quarter, I’m focusing on ELA-specific #Scaffolding. Effective #ProfessionalLearning thrives on specificity—empowering edus w/ content-specific, actionable strategies rather than general ideas. When Ts can visualize clear steps, implementation becomes realistic & impactful. #EduCoach #EduSky
The image is by Cathy Lacey and titled "Scaffolding in ELA" with three columns for Visual, Verbal, and Written Scaffolds. Visual Scaffolds: Includes aids to help students break down texts, organize ideas, and understand literary elements. Examples provided are: Character relationship maps to explore connections, conflicts, and dynamics in complex texts. Thematic concept maps linking themes with textual evidence and character actions. Annotated text examples with marginal notes highlighting literary techniques and themes. Comparative Venn diagrams to analyze similarities and differences in literature, focusing on themes and author style. Verbal Scaffolds: Focuses on verbal prompts that guide discussion and analysis. Strategies include: Reteaching strategies for reading comprehension, like summarizing or making inferences. Guiding questions such as: "What can you infer about the character’s motivation based on this paragraph?" "Why do you think the author chose this setting?" Prompts for analyzing literary devices like: "How is figurative language used here to enhance the description?" "How does the author use symbolism to reinforce the theme?" Written Scaffolds: Includes written supports to structure writing and develop ideas. Examples are: Sentence starters for essays, like "The theme of this story is..." or "In the text, the author uses [literary device] to convey...". Graphic organizers for essay planning (e.g., outlines for argumentative or compare-and-contrast essays). Word banks with academic vocabulary such as "analyze," "infer," or "symbolism." Exemplar paragraphs showing well-structured responses, highlighting topic sentences, evidence, and analysis. The table has a green header for the title and background colors for each column: light blue for Visual Scaffolds, light green for Verbal Scaffolds, and light yellow for Written Scaffolds. Icons represent each category—a lightbulb for Visual, a speech bubble for Verbal, and a notebook for Written.
November 20, 2024 at 5:47 PM
cathylacey.bsky.social
Our 24-25 teacher-driven book study journey is 🔥! We chose Teaching One-Pagers by @xpateducator.bsky.social b/c of its evidence-informed, yet practical approach. We started w/ a needs assessment to pinpoint challenges and matched them w/ one-pagers that directly address our needs. #EduSky #EduCoach
The cover of the book "Teaching One Pagers: Evidence-informed Summaries for busy educational professionals" by Jamie Clark features sticky notes at the top indicating weeks and topics for a book study, including "Week 7 Cognitive" and "Week 8 Scaffolding.
November 19, 2024 at 2:49 PM
cathylacey.bsky.social
Change takes time. Growth isn’t instant.
'PL in a Bag' allows teachers to implement strategies modeled in #ProfessionalLearning gradually. Teachers explore, apply, reflect, and refine with support. The goal? Pause, process, and use—lasting change happens one (supported) step at a time. #Coaching
An informational flyer titled 'PL in a Bag' with an image of a paper bag featuring the Crayton Cavaliers logo. The flyer outlines instructional focuses for teachers, including Flexible Grouping, Station Rotation, Jigsaw, and Total Participation Techniques. Each bag contains materials to help implement these strategies, such as directions, a guide or book, and tips. Teachers are invited to stop by the Professional Learning Center to check out a bag. Instructions include reviewing and planning a lesson using the strategy, scheduling a classroom implementation observation within four weeks, and earning renewal credit while impacting student growth. The flyer includes a cartoon image of Cathy Lacey giving a thumbs-up.
November 19, 2024 at 12:06 AM
cathylacey.bsky.social
Authentic professional learning goes beyond immediate performance. It’s about creating a durable, evolving understanding through time, practice, & reflection. Bridge the knowing-doing gap by empowering teachers to iterate, refine, & grow! Change requires time & patience #ProfessionalLearning #EduSky
An infographic from Cathy Lacey titled 'Time for Mastery (The Knowing and Doing Gap).' On the left, with a red stopwatch icon and a red X, the text reads: 'Teachers are expected to implement new strategies immediately but need time to practice and reflect before mastery.' On the right, with a pink heart outline, the text reads: 'Provide teachers with time to practice and reflect on new strategies before expecting full implementation. Iterative learning is key.' The image emphasizes the importance of practice, reflection, and iterative learning in achieving mastery..
November 17, 2024 at 1:30 PM
cathylacey.bsky.social
Ambition thrives when nurtured by ambitious minds. Building strong peer networks fuels my growth and purpose. I am excited to connect with driven educators and thought leaders on Bluesky to learn and grow together! Let’s connect! #EduSky #PeerPower #ProfessionalLearning #PLN
Image of text reading: Ambitious people are not common, and because they are often mixed randomly with others early in life, they may not have many peers who share their ambition. When these individuals are brought together with other ambitious people, they flourish and grow, much like plants receiving water after a drought. Many ambitious individuals likely feel a need for the encouragement and support that can come from having ambitious peers around them, regardless of their age. By Paul Graham
November 16, 2024 at 3:49 PM
cathylacey.bsky.social
I recently had the opportunity to present on transforming common professional learning challenges into opportunities for success. The sessions addressed 12 pitfalls & shared high-impact ways to create meaningful professional learning experiences. What’s been your biggest challenge with PL?
A slide titled 'Empowering Educators: Overcoming Common Pitfalls in Professional Learning' with six strategies listed. Strategy 1: Starting Point - Begin at the teachers' current knowledge level. Strategy 2: Teacher-Identified Challenges - Address challenges identified by teachers. Strategy 3: Theory into Practice - Bridge theory and action with classroom-ready strategies. Strategy 4: Practical Tools Over Trends - Avoid trendy, impractical tools. Strategy 5: Actionable Steps - Offer specific strategies. Strategy 6: Continuous Process - Treat professional learning as ongoing, not a one-off event. A slide titled 'Empowering Educators: Overcoming Common Pitfalls in Professional Learning' with six strategies listed. Strategy 7: Manageable Content - Avoid content overload for better retention. Strategy 8: Time to Practice - Allow time for teachers to practice and reflect. Strategy 9: Systemic Changes - Address systemic issues for sustainable improvement. Strategy 10: School Alignment - Align professional learning with school goals. Strategy 11: School Culture - Consider school culture in learning initiatives. Strategy 12: Ongoing Evaluation - Regularly evaluate professional learning for impact."
November 14, 2024 at 3:16 PM