Professional Learning Communities Archives

What Does This Badge Get Me?

Badges Earned (1/20/16)Create bar charts What Does This Badge Get Me? Continuing to explore how a badging system can be used to communicate and measure learning, we conducted an analysis of each individual and team’s progress. There are 11 possible badges that any individual can earn including: Blogger, Clear Touch, Drone, Folio, Innovative Formative Assessment, Innovative Technology Integration, Presenter, Summer Learning, Teaching Through Art, Twitter Chat Moderator, Create Your Own Badge. The Summer Grant badge was omitted because not everyone had the opportunity to earn it (only 8 grants were awarded last summer). Some badges afford the opportunity for multiple […]

eportfolio / Faculty Meetings / Professional Learning Posted on: November 5, 2015November 6, 2015

Overcoming Obstacles to ePortfolios

Overcoming Obstacles to ePortfolios This morning’s faculty meeting saw teachers paired up with Middle School Digital Media students. Our goal was learn from students and ‘crack the code’ on how to use eportfolios more effectively. We followed up on last week’s meeting (vertical process standards/formative assessment/eportfolio demo) and last week’s conference mentor discussions (how students can take greater ownership of their learning through eportfolios). Today’s Faculty Meeting Agenda Essential Questions: Based on student feedback, how can we ‘crack the code’ for how to use eportfolios more effectively both ‘for learning’ (formative/workspace) and ‘of learning’ (summative/showcase)? Desired Outcomes: Students and faculty […]

Entry / eportfolio / Faculty Meetings / Formative Assessment / Learning Measures / Learning Outcomes / Professional Learning Communities / Teamwork / Vertical Teams / Video Posted on: October 22, 2015October 23, 2015

Building Our Learning Measures

Building Our Learning Measures This morning, our monthly vertical team meeting focused on building our capacity with two of our ‘expanded learning measures’ – formative assessment and e-portfolios. Here is the agenda with some data added… Essential Questions What are the limitations of numerical grades as a single measure of learning? How will we develop our understanding of e-portfolios as an effective measure ‘for’ and ‘of’ learning? Desired Outcomes Vertical Teams collaborate to implement formative assessment and e-portfolios. Learning Opportunities In advance, read Edutopia article: 11 Essentials for Excellent Eportfolios Entry Ticket: Upon arrival, write on 3 separate post-it notes… […]

Assessments / Badging / Entry / eportfolio / Exit Tickets / Faculty Meetings / Formative Assessment / Learning Measures / Progress Monitoring / student led conferences / Transfer Posted on: October 8, 2015October 24, 2015

Formative Assessment Tickets

Formative Assessment via Entry, Transfer, and Exit Tickets Formative Assessment = a range of formal and informal assessment procedures conducted by teachers during the learning process in order to modify teaching and learning activities to improve student attainment. This morning’s faculty meeting was a lesson in formative assessment. We started the meeting with an entry ticket – a Poll Everywhere survey (thank you Alex Bragg!) about our team’s wildly important goal of ‘expanding the learning measures.’ The original agenda for the meeting was sent to faculty in advance indicating the bulk of the time would be spent on teachers earning badges. After assessing […]

Learning Outcomes / Professional Learning / Professional Learning Communities / R & D Posted on: September 8, 2015October 24, 2015

A Brief History of Social Science R & D

A Brief History of Social Science R & D at MVPS For five years, I have had the privilege of co-chairing the Social Science Research & Design Team at Mount Vernon with Head of Lower School Shelley Clifford. We have worked alongside the incredible teachers from Preschool through Upper School to create, iterate, and reimagine learning outcomes, as well as innovative instructional and assessment strategies. Here is a succinct outline of the highlights of our team’s efforts… 2011-2012 – Audit of current learning outcome practices – Compare/contrast MVPS learning outcomes to Georgia Performance Standards – Compare/contrast MVPS learning outcomes to […]

Faculty Meetings / Professional Learning / Professional Learning Communities / Reflective Practice / Teamwork / Visible Thinking Routines Posted on: August 27, 2015August 27, 2015

How Are Mistakes and Failures Embraced?

Teachers participated in a visible thinking routine called “Think, Pair, Share” today. They asked, “How are mistakes and failures embraced as opportunities to grow and learn?” Specifically, they applied this question to 3 key initiatives: Assessments, ePortfolios, and Student Led Conferences.Today’s Agenda – Middle School Faculty Meeting Desired Outcomes: Expand our ability to utilize assessment in new and more effective ways Advance ePortfolios by incorporating more storytelling Collaborate with vertical teams to grow in our practice Essential Questions: How are mistakes and failures embraced as opportunities to grow and learn? How are students “storytelling” their learning with ePortfolios? Learning Activities: Think, […]