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B.Y.O.T Bring Your Own Thoughts
The latest on all student-centered models, leadership development, strategic planning, teacher retention, and all things innovation in K-12 education. We answer questions before you think to ask them.
Curriculum Strategy & Adoption | Personalized Learning
When I was a teacher in Washington, D.C. I taught a class on local history. Students got to learn about places they had visited and people they had heard about. I’ve never taught a class where students were more deeply engaged in the actual content of the class.
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Personalized Learning | School Leadership | Teachers
In 2014 Education Elements first introduced the Core Four, later publishing the “Core Four of Personalized Learning: The Elements You Need to Succeed” in 2016. Since its publication, this white paper has been downloaded over 3,000 times by educators across the world. The Core Four is our team’s most widely-recognized collateral. It is often the first resource we share with educators, it has been cited in research and position papers, and it has been adopted and customized by school districts.
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Think back to when you had a deep sense of ownership in your learning; a time when you went above and beyond the expectations because of your own curiosity or passion. For me, this was in seventh grade during a career exploration project. I wanted to be an architect, and I not only wrote a report about the profession, but I created an entire imagined autobiography of myself as an accomplished architect, complete with sketches of a model home. The flexibility of the project made it meaningful in a way worksheets and textbooks never could. I was able to explore a passion and, in the process, better understand myself.
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Personalized Learning | School Districts | Schooling Loss | Virtual Learning
This school year made clear the need to redesign our existing systems to ensure that meaningful learning can continue even when our brick and mortar school buildings close. Most schools and districts had only days to prepare to close school buildings and move learning to students’ homes. Fast forward 12 months and remote learning has had time to grow from an emergency measure to a format of learning that invites growth and innovation in new ways. So how can you ensure that meaningful learning can happen anywhere?
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School Leadership | Teachers | Virtual Learning
For most of us, summer school was a punishment for not passing a class. Sure, plenty of teachers (including myself) framed it as a second opportunity or a chance for more individual support. But at the end of the day, the hours spent in summer school are hours not spent working, looking after siblings, or just socializing. Especially in secondary grades, the primary – if not exclusive – purpose of summer school is credit recovery. Amidst increasing calls not to fail students during a pandemic, an opportunity arises: what could the purpose of summer school be if it wasn’t about credit recovery? This question becomes even more salient as educators consider how to address the time students have lost with teachers and classmates because of COVID closures and challenges with distance learning.
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Crisis Management | School Leadership | Virtual Learning
Learning loss is the baby elephant in the room. It’s an issue that is currently small enough to briefly acknowledge, deprioritize, or ignore completely. Yet this elephant will continue to grow as the size and scale of learning loss due to the pandemic is better understood. The vaccine has returned a sense of hope that life will get back to “normal.” But educators must recognize that a return to “normal” will only reinforce the widening opportunity gap and systems that support institutionalized racism. Instead, structural changes will need to be made if learning loss is to truly be addressed. This conversation is critical as schools transition from virtual learning to in-person (and maybe back) this year, and begin planning for the summer and 2021-22 school year.
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