A clear teaching path, from first look to final check.
Bring the curriculum your school requires, then teach it through the SIF rhythm. The curriculum is the WHAT; SIF is the HOW—from lesson plan to classroom-ready slides.
The framework carries the lesson, so the teacher can carry the student.
SIF lifts students out of learned helplessness — before they reach "I can't do it," they've learned the questions to ask themselves first. The routine holds the steps, the questions, the stuck points, so the teacher gets to do the human work: encourage, guide, and ask the question that unlocks it. Not ending the day depleted from carrying the thinking for thirty students.
SIF gives every lesson a purposeful beginning, a prepared path into the work, active practice with feedback, and a closing decision about what comes next. The structure stays consistent while the content and support change for the students in front of you.
- 01InitiateConnect students to the purpose and open the thinking.
- 02PrepareMake the target, success, language, and access visible.
- 03EngageModel, practice, check, support, and let students retry.
- 04ReflectGather evidence, name the learning, and choose the next move.
For the teacher
Less time starting from a blank page. Checks and supports are planned into the lesson, so you can respond without lowering the goal.
For the student
A predictable path, clear expectations, timely feedback, and another chance to try after the exact stuck point is identified.
Start with the curriculum you already use.
No phase-by-phase writing. Name your school’s program, where you are in it, and the lesson focus. The curriculum stays the WHAT; SIF shapes the HOW.
- 1Pick the subject, name the curriculumSubject drives the template; choose a program or type your own
- 2Locate the lessonUnit/week or module/lesson
- 3Build and adjustReview the complete SIF draft and slides
Review your SIF lesson.
The full plan is ready. Adjust any field for your students, then copy or download the finished version.
Initiate
Purpose, connection, and entry point
Prepare
Readiness, success criteria, and access
Engage
Model, guided practice, checks, and application
Reflect
Evidence, reflection, and the next move
Meet the teacher behind the framework
Sharonna Shelton, MS, is an educator, leadership strategist, and founder of The Collective Leadership Academy of Excellence™. Drawing on her graduate research in industrial-organizational psychology and experience in human services and education, she is reimagining schools where students discover their strengths, develop ownership, and lead community change.
Beyond the classroom, she served three years as Vice Chair of a charter school board of directors, and as Board President of No Racism in Schools 1865.
Sharonna teaches fifth-grade ELA, writing, and social studies in Las Vegas. She built the Shelton Instructional Framework for her own students first: a routine that teaches students to name their stuck point, choose a support, and retry, instead of landing on "I can't do it."
As a 2026 ODE Fellow in Opportunity 180's Design to EdRupt fellowship, she is now piloting SIF beyond her own classroom and collecting the evidence for what it does in other teachers' hands. That is what this launch window is for: the planner is free through November 19, 2026, and the feedback teachers send back is the data the framework grows on.
The school this work is building toward
SIF is the instructional engine of CLAE, The Collective Leadership Academy of Excellence™, the school Sharonna is designing through her ODE fellowship work. CLAE starts from a simple conviction: students already have what they need to direct their own learning, and school should be built to prove it.
"Every student has the questions, the skills, and the agency to direct their own learning." CLAE vision, in Sharonna's words
Welcome to CLAE (1:06). The welcome film for the school: where it came from, the moment the work got hard, and the framework Sharonna built in response.
Used SIF in your classroom? Tell Sharonna how it went.
This is the part that matters most. Sharonna is gathering real classroom evidence while the planner is open: what you taught, where your students got stuck, what they did next, and what you would change. Short and honest beats polished. Every response is read, and the patterns across classrooms shape the next version of the framework and its training.
Bring SIF to your whole school
A founding cohort for SIF professional development is forming now: practical training for teachers and leaders on running the Initiate, Prepare, Engage, Reflect loop in real classrooms, built on the pilot evidence Sharonna is collecting this year. No dates are posted yet, because the cohort shapes the calendar. If your school wants in early, start the conversation.