One of the greater challenges that people in positions like mine often face is creating alignment between what learners, administrators, and teachers need in order to be successful. Sometimes, people have different perspectives about what is truly needed. They may not share a common view of what success will ultimately mean or what it is [...]
This video has gone viral in my facebook community and for good reason: Buffalo is a fantastic place to live and work and raise a family. I love it here, and I guess the proof of that lies in the reality that each time my husband and I consider moving out of state, the only [...]
Over the last year, I’ve been facilitating a departmental redesign with a small group of high school Business teachers. I blogged about it a bit just after we began this work, and last month, teachers sent the new outcomes for each endorsement and their course descriptions to press. As an instructional coach, I’ll be working [...]
Like many of my colleagues, I believe that great learning is often framed around the pursuit of essential questions. So when I stumbled upon dropping knowledge last week, I bookmarked with the intention to share here. I see so many potential uses for kids and teachers. For instance, which of these questions align with your [...]
Over the last few years, I’ve come to realize that my greatest duty as a teacher in any capacity is to create the conditions that enable relevant (or at the very least meaningful) and engaging learning and work. These words possess a distinct and critical meaning, too. This conclusion led me to another important discovery: [...]
What a great week it’s been, and today was the icing on the cake. This year, I’ve been facilitating the first phase of a high school business department curriculum redesign. I am blown away by how hard these teachers have worked and by how willing they are to move far outside of their comfort zone. [...]
The newly released draft of the Common Core Standards and The National Ed-Tech Plan. Now…synthesize?
John Harmon and Victor Jaccarino, leaders of the New York State ELA/ESL Standards Review Panel, offered an overview of the revision process and addressed questions at the annual New York State English Council conference in Albany today. Those of us who were in attendance were also able to take a peek at the drafted document, [...]
Paula’s post connected with a bunch of different things I’ve had on my mind lately, including the way in which we approach service at home and in schools. Initially, I was most curious about how we might better inspire kids to serve by helping them define their interests and connect them to actions that allow [...]
So…….as I was chatting with Alyssa and Sarah last weekend, they spoke to what many of us call authentic learning. Of course, they didn’t use that phraseology–they spoke in their native tongue, describing how some of what kids are asked to do in school is “boring” or “rushed” or “just for a grade”. They weren’t [...]
