Flexible classrooms
Flexible classrooms Creating responsive, flexible physical spaces with student input, based on learning style and collaborative workspaces. Related posts:
Creating flexible classrooms for personalized learning
Flexible classroom spaces encourage flexible learning My principal in Baltimore came into my classroom one day and saw one of my students, Bree, standing next to a bookshelf in the back of my room with her laptop open and her things strewn about the surface. He approached her and asked, “Why aren’t you in your seat?” …
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What flexible seating looks like in action
Physical aspects of a student-centered classroom Sometimes what seems like a little change can make a big difference. That’s what two Proctor Elementary School teachers recently confirmed when they decided to incorporate flexible seating into their classrooms. It’s been such a success that now every classroom in their school features some sort of flexible seating …
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Assessment in Proficiency-Based Classrooms
3 examples using blended learning Let’s explore how some Vermont teachers are shifting their instruction and assessment practices to move all students toward proficiency. Three different educators have changed the way they assess proficiency in their classrooms. Each has created a way for students to have control over the pacing of instruction and have included …
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Hack your classroom: flexible physical learning environments
Flexible learning environments have a physical component — and effect Do you recognize the object at left? Does it look like a comfortable learning environment for a student? Does it look like the type of learning environment a student would choose for themselves? OF COURSE NOT, and because you are all such passionate and committed educators, you started …
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16 tips for writing a great blog post
#10 will shock and appall you… Here are 16 best practices we try to follow as writers on this blog. Many of them stem from two key factors: one, people online now have the attention span of lint, and two, search engine algorithms are really picky about what they deem “quality content”. And you want to …
Categories
Displayed. Featured Articles (168) #everydaycourage (16) #readytolaunch (16) ABCs of edtech (26) Curation Station (33) Guest Post (19) Science Saturdays (26) Flexible Pathways (6) Ideas for Administrators (25) Faith-based education (1) Ideas for Educators (212) Android Tutorials (5) Augmented Reality (19) Chromebook Tutorials (13) Edugaming (14) ePortfolios (5) Flipped Classrooms (7) Grow your PLN (5) iPad Tutorials (29) Make mobile apps (2) Place-Based Learning (3) Project-Based Learning (30) Getting On The PBL Highway (6) Real World PBL (6) Teaming (2) …
Moving in the middle
Getting up and shaking it off works for middle grades students Remember the last time you had to sit through meetings all day? You probably woke up in the morning dreading the amount of time you would have to sit and listen to others talk, while being expected to contribute to the conversation, only getting …
8 ideas for outdoor learning
Expand your classroom and keep kids engaged The weather is getting nicer. The sun is finally out. And you are in charge of keeping your class engaged, focused and …inside? Ha! Any teacher who has experienced spring in Vermont knows that students get a little wiggly this time of year. What’s a great way to harness that …
LEARN
Keys to innovative school change We all want students to engage more fully with school by experiencing it as a place that facilitates relevant, meaningful experiences that encourage growth. But what does that mean for educators and administrators? We’ve gathered resources, definitions and tech-rich, student-centered examples from Vermont schools to help educators and school leaders …
#ready2launch
Get ready for a new vision of innovative education With the advent of personalized learning, many schools and educators are finding the freedom to launch their teaching in a whole new direction. They’re getting #ready2launch into a vision of personalized learning with students as partners, students as leaders, and schools as places where learning is …
Designing learning spaces for students
Create open, flexible, engaging spaces for active student learning. The beginning of the school year! Desks, mailboxes, coat hooks labeled. Books organized, materials in bins. This task is often overlooked and underestimated in terms of time. How can you create a welcoming, flexible and inspired space? Here are some tips and ideas. Just get some …
Creating cooperative learning spaces
A visualization exercise for changing classrooms It’s not your imagination. It really is the time of year when everyone gets a little wiggly. (Or a little more wiggly than usual.) But how does your classroom layout respond to that energy? Does it honor it or stifle it? Can your students fling their arms wide to …
What Matters Most Now: Lesson One – Slow Down
This is a the first in a series of blogs with attention to education priorities in the not-so post pandemic world. The Crisis I have been immersed in middle school education for decades. I have always been grateful to belong to such an amazing community of educators who share the same magnificent obsession. Because this …
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A Vermont-centric look at personalized learning for social justice
The recent issue of the research journal Middle Grades Review was extraordinary for two reasons. First, it focused on the intersection of personalized learning and social justice education. And second, Vermont educators authored all but one of the articles. I encourage folks to peruse the entire issue, but this may not be realistic in the …
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Increasing Student Self-Direction
“Increasing Student Self-Direction” was a webinar presented by Rachel Mark as part of the 2020-2021 UVM Tarrant Institute Professional Learning Series. We present it here in its entirety. You can either watch the webinar recording, listen to an audio version, or read the annotated transcript. Follow-up questions about self-direction in your classroom? Email rbmarkvt@gmail.com. …
#vted Reads: with Alex Shevrin Venet
Today on the podcast, Alex Shevrin Venet joins us to talk about her new book, Equity-Centered, Trauma-Informed Education. How does it work in classrooms? How can you, as an educator, use your own coping strategies to dismantle inequity at your school? Will action research help? And what does convincing your landlord to let you have …
The Culturally Responsive Learning Environment
Imagine a place where every person can be their authentic whole human selves. A culturally responsive learning environment is a place where everybody belongs. The posters and images on walls, books and materials on shelves, the furniture and flow of the space all radiate belonging. These tangible items convey important information: what is valued, …
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#vted Reads about PBIS
Listener, how do you feel about positive interventions, behaviors and supports? I don’t mean in general — in general those all sound fine and dandy — but when they come within 100 yards of a school, they turn into PBIS. And that’s another ball of wax entirely. Today author Thomas Knestrict joins me on the …
#vted Reads: So You Want to Talk About Race
In this episode, we get real about what educators can do in their classrooms to make a more equitable playing field, how to walk that fine line between supporting student activism and co-opting it, and how to juggle the competing demands of educational and intersectional change. Also, we talk local soccer. It’s a full workout …
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6 ways to help students create the best Breakout Rooms
Those of us holding virtual synchronous meetings with our learners recognize the need to build in opportunities to collaborate. Just like in our face-to-face classrooms, we value small group interactions. And that leads us to ask: how best to facilitate effective small group work in our distance and hybrid instruction? Just as collaborative small group …
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#vted Reads with Elijah Hawkes
Listeners, I’m angry. I’m angry about the failure of our political leadership, the unmitigated disaster of climate change, and the risks we’re asking our educators and students to take right now. I’m angry, and I’m hurt, and frustrated, and I’m not the only one. I know you’re angry, and I know our students are angry. …
Graduations in the time of COVID-19
A couple of weeks ago, we had the chance to take part in a collaboration between the Vermont Agency of Education and Vermont Public Radio (VPR), celebrating the strange and wonderful ways this year’s graduation differs from those in years past. What do graduations look like in the time of COVID-19? The hourlong program featured …
Talking with Mount Holly students
On this episode of The 21st Century Classroom: M.: I learned to, well, use a computer. That’s a big one. And then I also learned to help and be a kind person and try to do as well as I can. For this episode, we’re in the Two Rivers Supervisory Union, in Southern Vermont. Ace …
#vted Reads: The Standards-Based Classroom
I’m Jeanie Phillips and welcome back to #vted Reads: books by, for and with Vermont educators. Today is a little of all three, as we welcome instructional coaches Emily Rinkema and Stan Williams to the show. They’re the authors of The Standards-Based Classroom: Make Learning the Goal, and have been working on implementing and assessing …
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What CVU students want you to know about education
Today on the 21st Century Classroom: Beckett: When the school systems were created was to produce factory workers, to have good workers for their assembly lines and could make cars and they all knew basic information and could all say the same facts. It was a standardized person pretty much, being produced into the workforce. …
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The Teacher Leaders Hero’s Journey
Teacher Leaders are agents of innovative school change Situated in the heart center of education, teacher leaders are the true heroes of the education system. Your vision and passion lead the quest for deeper learning and transformation. Your intuition and experience guide your path. But what happens when you see the way to bring more …
What I Learned at the Youth Climate Strike
On this episode of the 21st Century Classroom: Veronica: My name is Veronica, I’m 13, and I’m in eighth grade. Emily: And why are you here, Veronica? Veronica: I’m here because every morning I wake up afraid. And so knowing that so many other people feel the same thing? It makes me hopeful, for the …
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Chapter References
Chapter 1: Personalized Learning for Young Adolescents Foundations and Connections Personalized Learning and Personal Learning Plan,The Glossary of Education Reform, New England Secondary Schools Consortium How Personal Learning is Working in Vermont, Penny Bishop, John Downes, and James Nagle, Educational Leadership, 2017 Promising State Policies for Personalized Learning, Susan Patrick et al., iNACOL, 2016 Chapter …
On the cutting Edge of student-centered education
What would you do if you were given the time and space to create a school where students could tell you exactly what and how they wanted to learn? Where they arrived cheerful and excited with boundless energy for the school day… And what if I told you it was grounded in the most powerful …
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#vted Reads: Personalized Learning in the Middle Grades, with Penny Bishop
HELLO! I’m Jeanie Phillips and welcome back to vted Reads! We’re kicking off our second season of the podcast with none other than author, professor, associate dean and Vermont education LEGEND, Dr. Penny Bishop. We’ll talk VT PLPs, the power of a compelling school example in changing classrooms practices, and how to steal all the …
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#vted Reads: We Got This, with Kathleen Brinegar
Cornelius Minor likes to ask himself three key questions. One: what are his students trying to tell him? Two: What are they *really* trying to tell him, through their actions, and their silences? And three, what do these students — who he worries he might not be reaching — all have in common? I’m Jeanie …
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What’s your inquiry question?
The why and how of personalization An inquiry question forms the backbone of action research in the classroom. It guides the full shape of the research to come, and forms a foundation for the educator and students to build ongoing research. Learning Lab VT is a program with action research at its heart — action …
Personalized Learning in the Middle Grades
How do educators personalize learning to engage, inspire & motivate students? We’re pleased to share that our new book, Personalized Learning in the Middle Grades: A Guide for Teachers and School Leaders, will be available beginning May 7th. It’s available now for preorder. Teachers in grades five through eight can use personalized learning plans …
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Courtney Elliott’s Bright Spots and Belly Flops
Students in Courtney Elliott’s class work on a Mystery Skype with a class in Wisconsin to demonstrate communication skills and content knowledge of the U.S regions. Inquiry question about personalized learning: How might personalization through self-reflection, self-assessment, and flexible grouping and scheduling across grades 3 and 4 at Proctor Elementary School positively impact student …
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#vted Reads: Protocols in the Classroom, with Terra Lynch
Welcome back to #vted Reads! Now, I recorded this episode back in September out in San Antonio, at the School Reform Initiative’s Fall 2018 meeting. Author Terra Lynch was kind enough to chat with me about her book for the podcast between sessions. Recording spaces were kind of hard to come by at the conference, …
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“The Culture Code”, with Bill Rich
Why do certain groups add up to be greater than the sum of their parts? In this episode of our podcast, we kick off our fourth season with legendary librarian Jeanie Phillips. She’ll be sitting down with a series of guests from around the #vted ecosphere and …reviewing books. Not just any books, but books …
Students design digital badges
Badging growth toward goals’ attainment A small group of these 6th grades at Peoples Academy wondered how they could help their peers be more engaged in the school’s Opportunity Time, time devoted to goal-setting and exploring student interests, so they took on the challenge of designing a digital badging system to incentive their peers.
3 #GlobalGoals projects feeding Vermont
What do the Global Goals look sound like in action? The three Essex Middle School students who delivered the keynote address at the 2nd annual Cultivating Pathways to Sustainability conference spoke from the heart. They also spoke from experience, having spent the previous year using the #GlobalGoals to address hunger in their communities.
Green Mountain’s Wilderness Semester
Take student learning outside Students at Green Mountain Union High School demonstrate learning in Science, Social Studies, Health, and Language Arts over the course of a semester. But for one group of students, there are no barriers between subjects, no bell schedule, and no borders on their classroom. Much of their learning happens out of …
4 ways Vermont educators are sharing their practice
The #everydaycourage of being seen Take the iconic back-to-school prompt for students — what I did on my summer vacation — and give it a twist. Imagine how students might respond to the prompt What I think my teacher did on summer vacation. A lot of us wish other folks knew how hard we work during summer: the …
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Scheduling and student choice
The middle school team at Rutland Town School in Rutland, VT have been working on a more fully integrated implementation of personal learning plans (PLPs) at their school. They’re also passionate believers in student choice and learner-centered classrooms. Given some flexibility to change the school schedule, they came up with iLearn, a model of student self-direction and …
The crucial role of practice in a proficiency-based environment
Practice makes proficient What’s special about a proficiency-based environment? Practice, that’s what. I know, it sounded weird to me too. As a former math teacher, I thought of practice as the mind-numbing repetitive stuff that students had to do in order to attain fluency. Practice was for straightforward procedural skills. But Sam Nelson, a social studies …
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Onward and upward
Achieving escape velocity with students as partners Congratulations for making it through the first month of school! Whether it’s your first year as an educator or your thirty-first, the launch of the school year is a special — and especially challenging — time. It’s worth taking a moment to reflect and imagine how to build …
Climate, Community and Voice from Day 1
Starting up with our students Another exciting year is upon us. It may be difficult to wrest our attention from these glorious days of Vermont summer but never have the opportunities for good teaching been more open to us. As one teacher noted upon leaving this summer’s Middle Grades Institute, “I can bring about positive change in …
Equity begins with engagement
Care about equity in education? Start with engagement Educators care about equity. We all want to bring out excellence in our students, but the thing that keeps us up at night is our constant striving to do that for ALL of our students. There are many systemic barriers to equity. Our students and schools mirror …
How Vermont middle grades educators are powering up PLPs this summer
Why the 2016 Middle Grades Institute may be the most important one yet New podcast ep: We visit with educators at last summer’s Middle Grades Institute to look at how this unique professional development opportunity is helping Vermont’s middle grades educators deal with the challenges posed by legislative Act 77, the Flexible Pathways Initiative. Also, …
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U is for Ubiquity
Ubiquitous learning is not the same as ubiquitous computing We hear a lot of hype about e-learning, blended learning, MOOCS, and mobile learning. But even a quick investigation of these trends reveals that effective teaching and learning are as elusive as ever. Yet ubiquitous computing — that is, anytime, anywhere access — is only a stepping …
Guest bloggers
[huge_it_slider id=”2″] Meet some of the guest bloggers for the Tarrant Institute: Keegan Albaugh, The Centerpoint School, Winooski VT Jacqueline Drouin, Asian Studies Outreach Program, University of Vermont Rep. Diana Gonzalez, Vermont Legislature, University of Vermont Education Dept. Lindsey Halman, Essex Middle School, Essex VT Jonah Ibson, Harwood Union Middle School, Moretown, VT Supanya Khienjarern, …