Facilitators

Jessica Fetsko

  • Head of English,
  • Al Ghad Charter School

Jessica is an English educator and department leader with extensive experience in American curriculum schools in the UAE. She has facilitated professional development at school and district level, with a particular focus on curriculum, Common Core standards, instructional planning, and effective classroom practice. She has presented twice at TESOL professional learning events and is a returning facilitator at the Common Core Boot Camp. Her approach to professional learning is practical, collaborative, and grounded in strategies educators can apply directly to their own classrooms.

Session Details

Educators Strand

  • Workshop: Beyond Alignment: From Curriculum to Classroom
  • Stream: Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment
  • Date & Time: 26 SEPT

Synopsis- A lesson can appear aligned to a Common Core standard while still falling short of the thinking that standard actually demands. Beyond Alignment helps educators close that gap. Participants will explore how to unpack the cognitive demand of a standard, define what mastery should look like, and design a deliberate progression of questions, tasks, and checks for understanding. Using a practical "Dig Deeper" process, the workshop moves beyond surface-level alignment toward lesson design that builds increasingly complex thinking and makes standards mastery visible in what students actually do.