December 2025 Newsletter

Hello,

As the year winds down, your brain is probably juggling today’s to do list and next semester’s plans at the same time. This is a great time to zoom out, notice what has moved learning forward this fall, and choose one or two moves that will make January feel more intentional instead of overwhelming.

We are grateful to learn alongside you, and we hope this month’s resources help you wrap up 2025 feeling a little more focused, encouraged, and ready to step into the new year.

This edition of the Learning-Focused Newsletter explores:

  • Unlocking the Power of Mistakes: Why Error Analysis Belongs in Every Math Classroom
  • When “They Loved It” Is Not Enough: How Coaching Can Break the Engagement Rigor Loop
  • Closing the Knowing-Doing Gap Through Better Systems
  • Collaborative Partner Strategy: Pairs-Shared-Voice
  • 3-5 Book Review: Those Shoes
  • Influencing Student Intrinsic Motivation: A Guide for Teachers

Enjoy!

@LearningFocused #withLF #learnon

P.S. Check out our Upcoming Events

Unlocking the Power of Mistakes: Why Error Analysis Belongs in Every Math Classroom
Unlocking the Power of Mistakes: Why Error Analysis Belongs in Every Math Classroom

Unlocking the Power of Mistakes: Why Error Analysis Belongs in Every Math Classroom

Tired of grading the same math mistakes over and over? This article shows how turning errors into the center of the lesson can boost critical thinking, persistence, and real conceptual understanding in any math classroom. Read it to see practical examples of error analysis routines you can plug into upcoming lessons without rewriting your entire curriculum.

When “They Loved It” Is Not Enough: How Coaching Can Break the Engagement Rigor Loop
When “They Loved It” Is Not Enough: How Coaching Can Break the Engagement Rigor Loop

When “They Loved It” Is Not Enough: How Coaching Can Break the Engagement Rigor Loop

Have you ever left a classroom visit thinking, “Students loved it,” while quietly wondering if the task was rigorous enough? This article unpacks the loop that keeps well intentioned teachers stuck and shows how coaching can redirect the focus back to meaningful learning. Learn specific coaching moves that honor student enthusiasm while raising the level of thinking.

Closing the Knowing–Doing Gap Through Better Systems
Closing the Knowing-Doing Gap Through Better Systems

Closing the Knowing-Doing Gap Through Better Systems

Stuck between great PD ideas and what actually happens in classrooms every day? This article unpacks why the “knowing–doing gap” persists in schools and shows how clearer systems, not more initiatives, help teachers turn good intentions into consistent practice. Read it to see practical moves leaders can make so strategy finally shows up in daily instruction.

Event Spotlight
Educators collaborating at a Learning-Focused math workshop
Transform student compliance into authentic engagement with this two-day, math-focused institute built around practical, high-yield strategies.

Pathways to Student Engagement: A Guide for Math Instruction

February 5–6, 2026 · 8:30 AM–3:30 PM ET (Both Days)

Learning-Focused Training Center · 200 District Drive Ste 001 · Asheville, NC 28803

Authentic engagement in math requires more than fun activities or compliant students quietly completing problems. Over two days, you will learn how to use a Distributed Practice Framework to design math lessons that begin with purposeful Activating Strategies, lean on rich Learning Activities like Collaborative Pairs and Error Analysis, and end with powerful Summarizing Strategies that solidify understanding.

  • Design math lessons that balance procedural fluency, conceptual understanding, and productive struggle.
  • Integrate high-yield strategies such as Activating Strategies, Collaborative Pairs, and Error Analysis into daily instruction.
  • Use summarizing and writing-to-learn routines so students can explain, justify, and reflect on their mathematical thinking.

Registration: $394 per person. Save $100 when you register 3 or more participants. Seating is limited for this small-group workshop.

Register for the Math Institute
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Resource: Pairs Shared Voice

Looking for a fresh way to get students talking, writing, and actually using what they learned? The Pairs Shared Voice strategy turns partner talk into short, creative performances that help students synthesize content in any subject while building confidence and community. Grab this resource for step by step directions, ready to use examples for ELA, social studies, science, and math, plus digital adaptation ideas you can plug into your next lesson.

Download PDF

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Has Learning-Focused had an impact on your teaching or leadership this year? Take a minute to leave us a quick Google review sharing how our tools, PD, or resources have supported you, and you will be entered into a drawing for free attendance to any upcoming Learning-Focused event. Your feedback helps other educators find us and helps us keep improving what we do.

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Book Review: Those Shoes
Book Review: Those Shoes

Book Review: Those Shoes

Looking for a powerful read aloud that opens up real conversations about wants vs. needs, peer pressure, and generosity? This review of Those Shoes highlights the book’s themes, text complexity, and mentor-text teaching points for grades 3–5 so you can move straight from story time to meaningful SEL and literacy work.

Product Spotlight

Accelerate Learning with Vocabulary

Bridge the word gap with systematic, high-impact vocabulary instruction

Vocabulary knowledge is one of the strongest predictors of comprehension, yet traditional word lists rarely close the gap. Accelerate Learning with Vocabulary gives you a practical system for teaching essential terms before, during, and after lessons so students can access grade-level content and talk and write about what they understand with confidence.

  • See how vocabulary knowledge acts as a gatekeeper for comprehension and overall achievement.
  • Implement the seven characteristics of effective vocabulary instruction in everyday lessons.
  • Select and combine high-yield strategies, from word parts and context to games and collaboration.
  • Design word walls and concept-mapping routines that build word consciousness and close “word poverty” gaps.
View Product
From the Vault: Influencing Student Intrinsic Motivation: A Guide for Teachers
Influencing Student Intrinsic Motivation: A Guide for Teachers

Influencing Student Intrinsic Motivation: A Guide for Teachers

Tired of feeling like you are constantly bribing or reminding students to care about their work? This article unpacks what actually drives intrinsic motivation and offers practical shifts in feedback, choice, and classroom routines that help students take more ownership of their learning. Click to explore concrete moves you can try in your next unit without overhauling everything.