Professional Learning Archives

Badging / Maker Movement Posted on: June 13, 2016June 13, 2016

A Full Day

A Full Day Started the day with a fantastic Middle School Admin Team Retreat, followed by an incredible Maker session where I learned about the Studio(i) experience, designed and printed using the laser cutter, and earned a badge! It was a fantastic turn out and professional learning event considering it is summer time. Next, I went to training session for this week’s Fuse conference with the fantastic Red Team followed by a fun team dinner at Village Burger. Finally, I ended the day by reading to each of my children and going for a night walk and swim. Blessed.

Learning Progressions

Learning Progressions Today, the Social Studies research and design team met after school. After a 10 minute introduction and demo slam (check out Google Earth for geography, history, current events exploration), we split up into our respective divisions and choose our own adventures. The middle school team collaborated on writing a learning progression for 5th Graders using primary sources. It was a fun activity for me. I felt stretched, creative, frustrated, and accomplished at different points throughout the process. My colleagues felt the same, but we all stuck with it and the result is a very solid, first attempt at […]

Badging / Professional Learning Posted on: November 19, 2015December 9, 2015

The Power of Badging

The Power of Badging Since launching our faculty badging program in August, teachers have earned over 100 badges and provided some intriguing information related to mastery and learning needs. What does this data tell you about our faculty learning and the power of badging? We rocked it on Summer Learning. Folio, Drones, and Blogging are fairly strong. Though we’ve spent several faculty meetings focused on formative assessment in recent weeks, only 1 person has applied for and earned the formative assessment badge. Also, since receiving Clear Touches in every room, only 5 have earned that badge and only 1 faculty […]

Learning Outcomes / Philosophy of / R & D Posted on: November 10, 2015November 10, 2015

Measuring R & D Priorities

Measuring R & D Priorities This afternoon, the Social Studies R & D team convened for its 3rd meeting of the year. Our agenda was as follows: 3:30 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. – Gallery walk: Small groups of 3-4 rotate among 4 posters. Each poster contains 1 of the 4 priority goals that every R & D team has been charged with accomplishing. On post it notes, team members write what each one means a) in his/her own classroom and b) for our R & D team at large. The purpose was to a) expose and remind team members to these […]

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… […]

Communication / Professional Learning Posted on: August 27, 2013August 27, 2013

How Might We Create Irresistible Faculty Meetings?

I’ll be honest – I don’t know the answer to this question yet. However, I am intrigued by it. And committed to the ideal. Our family is full of educators. I love it because we get to “talk shop” and compare notes. Yesterday, a close family member recounted the tale of her first faculty meeting this week that consisted of a principal reading the emergency crisis plan for two hours. We’ve all sat through some doozies. Tomorrow we celebrate the 50th anniversary of Dr. King’s famous speech. To borrow the iconic and powerful phrase, and in no way whatsoever drawing […]