I was recently awarded a Rowland fellowship to implement a dynamic personal learning system in my school. I am so proud to have been honored by the Rowland foundation. As I stated in my application for the fellowship, I have literally been waiting for this opportunity (although I didn’t know it would look like this) since the 3rd grade when …
Personalized Learning in Classrooms
For the past several months, I have been part of a team attending a Vermont seminar series on proficiency based graduation and personalized learning. At times, I have found myself so overwhelmed that I wondered how a transformation so enormous could be possible? I have felt the sinking feeling of doubt that such amazing transformations are simply not possible in …
The Teacher Interview: 9 Things You Can Control
Last year I wrote a post on conducting a memorable demo lesson because I think it is one of the most important parts of a teacher interview. But getting to that point requires a great first conversation with your interviewers, so I am adding this post. There is no way to guarantee success during your teacher interview. Because you never …
21st Century Classroom Management?
I have been thinking a lot about what classroom management looks like in a time when we want students to direct their own learning; creativity and collaboration are imperative; projects and performance assessments are the center of instruction; and technology is ever present. Many of the strategies we have used to manage classrooms from the past will still be relevant. …
Book Review: Grading
One of the most debated topic these days seems to be grades. Educators are really beginning to question the traditional grading system on a large scale. In the past, these discussions have always ended with “but that’ll never happen” and now people are making changes in their classrooms, their schools and even on a larger scale in some districts. Some …
How to Succeed as a DIY Learner?
Changing Mindsets About Online Courses Many people argue that Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC’s) have failed because completion rates are so low. I would argue that we are just beginning to learn how to personalize learning by using all the resources we now have in our digital lives. Many schools are formalizing this process for students with personalized learning plans …
Learning the Hard Way & The Common Core Standards
I have been actively implementing the English language arts common core standards for three years while at the same time learning and implementing research based strategies to increase growth mindset in our students. I recently completed a very close study of both the math and English standards while I was simultaneously teaching a course on growth mindset. There is an …
Teacher Survival Mode
I was thinking about all the new teachers out there this week as you move out of the anticipation phase of the first year and into teacher survival mode. You are not only trying to create a slew of new curricula but there are behavior and management issues you didn’t anticipate; responsibilities being required from your principal or district; colleague …
Common Core Math Practices and Classdojo
I have been doing some more work with running groups in a geometry classroom this year. We have introduced a set of skills that are closely related to the common core math practices. We identified skills such as constructing viable arguments from the common core and described what this might look like when students are working in groups. I have …
Personal Learning Plans for Everyone
As we move towards the use of personal learning plans in Vermont, I have really been wondering what it might look like in our current system. I set out on an individual professional learning path this summer in order to reflect on what it might look like for students. To be honest, I like the structure of classes and …