Statewide Expansion
Teach Different Method Training
Teach Different Method™ Training gives teachers a structured way to lead classroom conversations that build student voice, belonging, and resilience.
Funded by the Illinois Department of Human Services and supported by community partners, the expansion is reaching out to every Illinois region ahead of the Fall 2027 mandates: universal mental health screenings (PA 104-0032) and cell phone restrictions (PA 103-0561).
Since Covid, I felt like I was kind of losing my fastball as far as getting kids to be engaged and participate. But this program sparked a strategy in class: getting kids to talk, getting kids to be engaged. Mr. Florczyak · Social Studies · Freeburg Community High School
I had so many moments where I heard kids speak that almost are never willing to volunteer. Mrs. Massing · Social Studies · Grayslake Central High School
The Solution
Teach Different Method™ Training (TDMT)
Train one teacher in every school. Reach a whole department, and hundreds of students.
Statewide trainings reach one teacher per school, who brings a school-based workshop to their entire department, led by Teach Different or the teacher and funded by local sponsors with state grant support. Every member gets method training and a full first year in the worldwide learning community.
The Community
Where you’ll keep growing
A first year of membership in a worldwide professional learning community.
Deeper Learning
How you’ll go deeper
An optional certificate pathway for teachers ready to go deeper.
The Evidence
Engineering miracles.
Every teacher recognizes the moment, and no teacher can schedule it. A disengaged or silent student suddenly speaks, and reasons out loud in front of peers. Teach Different exists to make that moment happen reliably, in ordinary classrooms, through a method any teacher can learn. Six streams of data track whether it is working.
The method
Four moves on a single quote: claim, counterclaim, essential question, storytelling.
The live conversation
Students listen, respond, and build on one another’s ideas.
The outcome
Disengaged and quiet students speak up.
teachers measured
cohorts
students in the conversations
student pages coded
Student surveys
Teacher exit interviews
Teacher pre and post surveys
Student artifacts
Post-training feedback
Teacher community
“You can always be yourself and pick yourself, but sometimes it’s nice to be picked.” A counterclaim offered by a previously disengaged student, as his teacher recounted it to the teacher community.
Figures are drawn from the Teach Different measurement corpus: six data streams collected across four cohorts, September 2025 through July 2026. Pre-registered figures are reported as recorded.
Strategic Overview
From pilot to statewide network in five years.
TDMT reaches all 38 Illinois Educational Regions within five years, with the mandates arriving at the end of year one. Each new group of trained educators is supported before the next region is activated, building a sustainable network rather than a one-time training event.
End of year 1: the mandate arrives
Trained educators active in 20+ ROEs as Illinois’s universal screening and cell phone mandates take effect, Fall 2027.
End of year 3: statewide coverage
At least one trained educator in all 38 Illinois Education regions.
End of year 5: depth & sustainability
Multiple educators per region, certified educators serving as peer mentors, and districts sustaining the program through their own budgets.
Behind the Initiative
About the partnership.
Fiscal Sponsor & Institutional Lead
Illinois Institute of Independent Colleges and Universities
A 501(c)(3) established in 1982. IIICU administers public and private funding for the program, holds the contract with the program’s independent evaluator, and issues Continuing Professional Development Units (CPDUs) to certified Illinois educators.
Program Operator
Teach Different
An Illinois-based professional training organization founded by practicing educators in 2017. Teach Different is the pioneer of the Teach Different Method™ in the United States, has trained more than 2,600 teachers, and is included in the International Baccalaureate’s digital professional development library.
Network Partner
Illinois Democracy Schools Network
A statewide network of approximately 100 Illinois schools committed to civic learning and student voice. The Network is a key delivery partner for TDMT, offering a ready audience of schools whose mission is closely aligned with the work of structured classroom conversation.
Start a Conversation
Build it with us.
Whether you’re funding it, legislating it, partnering with us, or showing up for a school in your community. This is how a generation learns to think clearly and listen well. Tell us how you’d like to engage. We’ll get back to you within two business days.
We will never share your information. Expect a reply within two business days.