If you are like most people in Vermont, just mentioning the “PLP” can be a conversation stopper. The personal learning plan (PLP) has been consistently difficult to implement. It is always “something else” kids have to do and “something else” teachers have to do. It seems like a great idea but very few students are using it to drive their …
In his article Deforming The Formative, Arthur Chiaravalli argues that our “…testing mentality infects and distorts each of the three phases of formative assessment” and this got me thinking about something I have been struggling with for a long time: summative assessments. I just haven’t said out loud yet that there really isn’t any need for summative assessments. Summative assessments …
The mini-lesson is not a new idea. Mini-lessons are smaller lectures that provide a targeted skill or set of knowledge in a very short period of time. Learners can generally implement these skills or knowledge sets immediately following the mini-lesson. The power mini-lesson adds an element that requires some preparation for in the instructional design. In a power mini-lesson, there …
Surviving as a teacher these days requires a special set of skills. I’ve written about the fact that my guidance counselor advised me not to learn how to type thinking I wouldn’t need that skill. Boy was she wrong. She had no clue what I would need to know with the advent of the internet and personal computer. Kind of …
What can we learn from aliens about designing proficiency-based instruction? Imagine that you are an alien and have just landed on Earth. You come upon a bicycle that is leaning up against a tree. You are curious so you touch it. You intuitively put your hands on the handlebars and realize that it moves smoothly because of the round nature …
By far the most common complaint in a school is that there is not enough time. While I don’t have a specific study to cite here, I am fairly certain that this would be identified as the number one constraint in education by most teachers. Time has become even more of a constraint since the advent of the internet and …
It can be sad that today’s learners have brains that are built to survive at a much faster pace. As someone who grew up without technology, I remember long days of playing outside or kicking a rock all the way to school. I would constantly lose track of time because I was engaged in something. I was able to focus …
Several years ago, as our state moved to a proficiency-based (competency-based) system, I began thinking pretty deeply about how assessment needed to look different if there were no grades attached. There seemed to be some pretty big questions about motivation, engagement, and the need for learners to be more self-directed than we were confident they could be during the transition …
Since I am trying very hard to limit grades in my entrepreneurship class, I have been focusing on reflection followed by feedback as a way to make sure learners know where they are in their learning. As a proficiency-based class, I think that reflection is a key component of the assessment process. Unfortunately, students have a very difficult time writing …
Link to Examples #boldedventures course on Thinking Classrooms The Thinking Classroom Vertical Whiteboarding