Who We Are
Teaching Teachers™ LLC is a professional learning organization built on the belief that the most powerful investment any school, district, or community can make is in the development of its teachers. We are committed to ensuring that all educators feel seen, heard, valued, and most importantly, professionally developed. We exist at the intersection of rigorous academic scholarship and the daily lived reality of classroom teaching. That intersection is where real professional learning happens and it is where we have chosen to build. We offer dynamic professional learning experiences grounded in scholarship, driven by outcomes, and designed to empower teachers with the knowledge, tools, and confidence they need to thrive in today's complex educational landscape.
We work directly with teachers, schools, and districts to deliver professional learning that goes beyond theory. From breaking down state standards and building lesson plans that actually work, to developing a grounded teacher identity and fostering restorative classroom communities, our programming meets educators where they are and takes them where they need to go.
This summer we are launching our credentialed learning experience. The Teaching Teachers™ Summer Professional Development Series is a six-session live virtual experience designed for educators who are ready to go deeper into their craft, their identity, and their community. Built specifically with new teachers and urban school educators in mind, the series is open to all teachers who believe great professional development should feel as good as it works. Co-Sponsored by Teach Plus Michigan as an approved Michigan Department of Education SCECH sponsor to give teachers clock hours towards certification renewal.
At Teaching Teachers™ LLC we believe that great teaching is not just about content, but it is about connection, context, and courage. We are here to help educators lead with clarity, authenticity, and a firm commitment to justice in every classroom.
Core Values and Frameworks
Our work is anchored in three proprietary frameworks developed by our Founder and Principal Consultant, Travon J. Jefferson. The BES Teacher Preparation Framework grounds our work in African American education history and Black Education Studies as the foundation for effective, justice-oriented teaching. The Grounded Teacher Model guides educators through a structured process of professional identity development, helping teachers understand not just what they teach, but who they are as teachers and why that matters. The Liberation to Practice Continuum bridges the gap between critical consciousness and daily classroom execution, connecting a teacher's values, history, and identity directly to what happens in their classroom every day.
These frameworks shape everything we offer and inform our core areas of focus:
Culturally relevant, responsive, and sustaining pedagogies that affirm student identities and promote inclusive learning environments.
Restorative practices that build strong, respectful classroom communities grounded in empathy and accountability.
Critical conversations and dialogue strategies that prepare teachers to navigate difficult topics with confidence and compassion.
Comprehensive education history that moves beyond narrow narratives, helping educators develop their professional identities with a deeper, more accurate understanding of educational equity.
Standards-to-execution approaches that help teachers translate curriculum requirements into meaningful, engaging classroom experiences.
The BES Teacher Preparation Framework
When teachers understand the history of the system they work in, they teach with more clarity, more purpose, and more staying power. This framework grounds educators in African American education history and Black Education Studies, giving them the historical and cultural foundation to build classrooms where every student sees themselves in the curriculum. Teachers who know where the system came from are better equipped to challenge it, work within it, and ultimately transform it. The result is more culturally responsive instruction, stronger student engagement, and teachers who are more committed to the profession for the long haul.
The Grounded Teacher Model
Teachers who know who they are do not burn out as fast. This framework guides educators through a structured process of professional identity development, connecting their personal story, their values, and their intellectual lineage to their daily practice. When teachers are grounded in a clear sense of purpose and professional identity, they show up differently for students, build stronger classroom communities, and are far more likely to stay in the profession. For schools and districts this means lower turnover, stronger instructional culture, and teams of educators who lead with intention rather than survive on autopilot.
The Liberation to Practice Continuum
This is where theory meets Monday morning. The Liberation to Practice Continuum gives teachers a clear roadmap from critical consciousness all the way to classroom execution, connecting a teacher's values, identity, and understanding of history directly to how they analyze state standards, plan lessons, engage students, and build community in the room. It is designed to work at the individual level and the team level, making it a powerful framework for schools building collaborative teaching models and instructional teams. When teachers move through this continuum together, they develop a shared language, a shared purpose, and a shared practice which means better outcomes for students and stronger, more cohesive school cultures.
Meet The Founder and Principal Consultant
Travon Jefferson, M.Ed., M.A.T
Travon Jefferson is a scholar, educator, and founder who has spent over a decade at the intersection of classroom teaching, doctoral research, and education policy. As a doctoral candidate in Curriculum, Instruction, and Teacher Education at Michigan State University, his research examines the integration of African American education history and Black Education Studies into teacher preparation as a transformative and liberating praxis, work that sits at the foundation of every framework, every program, and every partnership Teaching Teachers LLC brings to schools and districts. He has taught in Houston's most complex urban school environments, instructed university courses at Michigan State University and Southern New Hampshire University, served as a Research Associate at Harvard University, published in peer-reviewed journals, and presented research at the American Education Research Association (AERA), National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE), and the Black Male Educator Conference (BMEC). He holds degrees from the University of Michigan, Relay Graduate School of Education, and the University of Houston.
Beyond the classroom Travon has shaped education policy at the highest levels of government. As a Policy Fellow and Senior Fellow with Teach Plus, he advocated at the Texas State Capitol for teacher mentorship and the retention of Teachers of Color, led national design thinking groups on post-pandemic educational equity, and contributed directly to the passage of House Bill 18 in Texas requiring all students to have access to trauma-informed educators. Teaching Teachers LLC is the convergence of everything Travon has built across his career. The frameworks are grounded in his doctoral research. The programming reflects his classroom experience. The policy work informs his understanding of what schools and districts actually need. Travon Jefferson is not building a consultancy. He is building the architecture of what teacher development should look like in this country.
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