Should We Really Be Focusing on College? How would you feel if a teacher told your kids that they didn’t have to go to school to make a living or be happy? Or that they could make plenty of money without going to college? As a teacher and fervent proponent of education, this certainly makes […]
Save Time and Empower Kids
This post is coming from a convergence of an extremely busy week filled with planning a new unit, completing my paperwork duties, administering state testing, planning for summer projects, taxes and just regular life and work on top of that. Time is probably a teachers most common enemy. Meanwhile I was reminded of a funny […]
The purpose of grades?
Are we tapping? Our principal recently asked us to reflect on the purpose of grades. I have already done quite a bit of thinking about this topic. I have some very strong opinions about grades. I thought I already had an answer but then I realized that what he was really asking was about what […]
A Public Thank You!
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) […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]