I've been looking forward to this for more than a month! Our Virtual Cohort is starting and it's open to all educators looking to enhance their ability to personalize learning for themselves, their staff, and their students. The cohort itself is extremely flexible, and participants are encouraged to choose a path that makes the most sense to them. Each week, cohort members will be provided a list of challenges designed to build community, foster reflection, and spur action. The first list of challenges is below: Week of May 1st: Let the Journey Begin Review the Chapter 1 video along with any resources that interest you. Read the Introduction and Chapter 1. Pick one "Water Cooler Question" to
Many people are talking about personalizing learning and 21st century skills. And rightfully so; we are at an exciting time in education and our students are counting on us to be nimble enough to respond to their needs. This requires vision, leadership, and a commitment to learning that will take us out of our comfort zones. How do we really know when a shared vision is becoming the new reality? “Seeing” the vision and celebrating student and staff success is critical to transforming learning. Video can provide an authentic and compelling glimpse of this important work. Checkout the short (4 minute) video above to see a preview of what our students plan to present at the School Board Meeting
It seems there's no shortage of digital devices or opportunities for kids to consume digital content (e.g. videos, apps, news). However, with these tools comes a tremendous opportunity to empower a generation of "creators." Whether we are talking about digital tools or no-tech ideation...our kids need us to approach their learning with the expectation that they will create and positively impact their world. This is why I'm extremely excited to share that we're offering an hour-long parent seminar on "Building Creative Confidence" in our kids. Mark your calendars for Tuesday, April 25th from 6:30-7:30pm. We believe this hour-long parent seminar, based on the book by Tom and David Kelley, coul
If you haven't seen the above video yet you really need to check it out. George Couros blogged about it yesterday. I was immediately enthralled with the seemingly effortless way the student injected learning, humor, and science into the video. This also made me think of a video one of our Greenwood Elementary students recently created...but first things first! If you still haven't watched the above video I'm going to need to ask you to stop reading. (Seriously stop and watch the video starting at the 10 second mark where the student starts talking.) The student in the video, Alex, is demonstrating the science (and fallacy) of "no calorie sugar." You might not know that Alex is also a YouTube
You might be thinking, "I don't have time to write a grant" or maybe even "How can a single-sentence lead to anything meaningful?" The fact remains, we’re asking educators to make some really important pedagogical changes, but we have not changed how we think about school finance. If transforming learning is a priority our budgets and professional learning will reflect it. Meaningful change is unlikely without purposeful resource allocation and sustained professional development. Simply stated, people need to feel supported as they are taking responsible risks to improve practice. Fortunately, change doesn't have to be complicated. Our school has maintained a modest line-item in our budget t
We'll be starting a free month-long Virtual Cohort studying the book, Renegade Leadership: Creating Innovative Schools for Digital-Age Students. Our cohort will officially begin on May 1st, and it is open to all educators. This is a self-paced course that can be completed in as little as 15 minutes per week. You can work ahead and do not need to feel bad if you fall behind. The most valuable part of this cohort will be the people that you connect and exchange ideas with. The structure of the cohort is surprisingly simple. Read a chapter or two a week according to your schedule, and the outline below. We've created an online forum for each chapter. The chapter forums are designed to help pa
