Do you need a radical reset?
In late October, the middle school 7th and 8th grade team at Flood Brook School realized that the 2021 school
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Author: Rachel Mark
Successful student-led conferences
A student-led conference that brings together the student, teacher, and parent or guardian is a very powerful thing. It puts
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Start the year with building the culture
As we begin the year with students in our classrooms, it’s important to start with a focus on building the
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Art for Action at Rutland Middle School
Art for social change? How do you engage students in an exploration of the ways that art impacts social change?
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From the innovativeEd mailbag: Flummoxed in Flannery
From the innovativeEd mailbag: a reader looks for ways to keep pathways of conversation open with their colleagues when it
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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
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The unexpected joys of screentime in a pandemic
Virtually every night around 8 pm, I hear two teenage boys shouting. They’re yelling commands and occasionally letting expletives fly.
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Scaffolding success for self-directed learners
We talk a lot, as professional development coordinators and as educators, about self-direction. We think a lot about ways to
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Authentic ways to check in on your advisees
Ways to move beyond “I’m fine” How are you? No, really. How are you? Right now, that’s a tough question
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Setting goals with students for the new year
No matter what that new year looks like. At the start of a new year, we often think about our
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7 mindfulness activities for advisory
Now, more than ever. Many schools have an advisory structure to promote strong relationships and a sense of close community.
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Dear educators: you deserve a break.
As we enter the week of Thanksgiving, please take care of yourselves and find time for rest and solace. You
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Making pandemic student-led conferences work
Staying connected to one another during a pandemic can be hard. Like many of us, teachers and parents have faced
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What makes integrated curriculum work?
Middle level educators have long sung the praises of integrated curriculum. It’s been a foundational practice in some middle schools.
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What do public exhibitions of learning look like during a pandemic?
The days of hosting public exhibitions and showcases in the school gymnasium appear to be over. For now. Some schools
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Everything is not canceled.
I think I speak for many when I share that I have experienced innumerable emotions, moods, and feelings during this
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Hunter education in Vermont
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In this episode of The 21st Century Classroom: I don’t think a lot of people think that I’m a hunter.
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How to conduct a virtual morning meeting
During this COVID-19 crisis, we as adult educators, are collectively mourning the loss of our everyday routines and face-to-face interactions.
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How to run an in-person morning meeting at home
Parents, how are you doing at home with your new “homeschool classroom”? I’m with you. I’ve been waking up every
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Digging into self-direction
When states around the country shifted towards standards-based, competency-based and proficiency-based learning and reporting, that involved separating the content-specific skills
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3 ways to bring positive emotional energy to your school
Positive emotional energy makes positive learning. We need systems focused on creating positive and safe climates. We also need, as
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Hitting learning targets in Vermont hunter education
My twelve-year-old son is becoming a hunter. Myself, I’ve never even fired a gun, but Henry has been interested in
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Equity and the in-school business
Mettawee Community School, in West Pawlet VT, loves tradition. They’re a small, tight-knit school in a rural area, and home
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Who are the keepers of your town’s history?
Reviving Manchester’s past through oral histories & 3D printing With support from the local historical society, 7th graders in Manchester
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Getting started with cooking videos
A recipe for video-making proficiency The ubiquity of the digital camera, whether mounted in smartphone, tablet or Chromebook, is getting
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Parenting a student-run business
There’s learning in the lemonade stand What might be your child’s first experience with business? That’s right: the lemonade stand.
Read moreWhen students share their work, it deepens the learning
Lessons from an exhibition These days, I’ve been thinking about the reasons we ask students to share their work. A
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Why host a whole-school exhibition?
Providing an arena for powerful family feedback School exhibitions take work. They take work to organize, schedule, promote and pull
Read moreA Developmental Designs approach to student-directed learning
It takes a courageous village In order for student centered learning to happen, we have to invest in explicitly teaching
Read more#everydaycourage
It’s time we celebrated it in our schools. When we walk into Vermont schools, we see it. It’s there, every time,
Read more4 end-of-year activities for advisory
Acknowledge, share, recognize The end of the school year is every bit as happy and joyous as it is chaotic
Read moreThe student-centered art classroom
Standard 3-part story-driven post: 1) what it is, 2) what it looks like in a school, 3) how to do it in your school
Read moreCan virtual reality teach empathy?
Google Expedition aims to connect students with refugee experience Teaching empathy to our future citizens of the world may be
Read more5 Google Chrome apps and extensions for learner support
Support for visual, attention & motor control challenges Remember training Dragon Dictation to recognize your student’s voice? That technology was pretty
Read moreHow to evaluate student-led conferences
Feedback, feedback, feedback! As educators, it’s absolutely critical that we reflect on our practices, especially new ones. As schools around
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Looking to try more student-directed learning?
Test the waters with “Genius Groups” Start by turning your class over to students. You heard me. Set aside classroom
Read morePower up your Advisory programs
How 30 minutes can leave a lasting impact on the day. Advisory: the first 15 to 30 minutes of every
Read more3 ways to create a student-led open house
Student leadership at a school Open House? You betcha. You’ve heard of student-led conferences, but how about a Student-Led Open
Read moreWant end-of-year family involvement?
Try Passage Presentations. The end of every school year is tough. Teachers and administrators struggle to keep students in line,
Read moreExploring careers in middle school
How one school tackles work-based learning “Work-based learning experiences are activities that involve actual work experience or that connect classroom
Read moreHelping your teen or tween with social media
To follow or not to follow… that is the question. Oh Hamlet, you would be so perplexed on this one!
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Real-world problems and project-based learning
Adapting big science for a middle school classroom One of the keys of the Project-Based Learning approach is to engage
Read moreThe Parent’s Role in a Student-Led Conference
How can you support your student in sharing how they learn? In recent decades, schools have turned the table on
Read moreHow parents can model healthy tech habits
Tips for when to turn off the tech In addition to being an educator, I’m also a parent — of
Read moreProviding support for goal-setting in a PLP
3 strategies shared by local educators At Manchester Elementary Middle School, sixth grade students speak fluently about their Personal Learning
Read moreScreencasting as PLP reflection
Students create screencasts for student-led conferences Sixth graders at The Dorset School in southern Vermont are in their second year
Read moreBalancing screen time and family time
When to put the device down Let’s face it, it’s a challenge to balance technology in our lives; but it’s
Read moreTailoring the Emergent Project approach for middle school
Emergent Project approach works wonders in middle school An unexpected highlight of my days at the 2015 AMLE Conference in
Read moreY is for Young Writers Project
Using the Young Writers Project to teach writing There are so many reasons to appreciate how we teach adolescents to write
Read moreS is for Student-Led Conferences
Steps to a student-led conference Some of my most poignant moments as a teacher occurred around the table of a
Read moreO is for Online Collaboration
Online collaboration extends student learning networks Online collaboration takes on new significance as students extend their learning network in conjunction
Read moreL is for Learning Management System (LMS)
What can you do with an LMS? LMS stands for Learning Management System. An LMS is an application for planning, delivering, managing,
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I is for Identity
3 tech-rich strategies for exploring identity with students “Who am I?” is the question at the heart of the adolescent
Read moreReading for fun and growth this summer
Howdy. I’m Rachel – new Professional Development Coordinator at the Tarrant Institute. I live in the beautiful southern part of
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