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
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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
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Trauma-informed personalized learning
Seeing back-to-school activities & personalized learning through the lens of trauma-informed classroom practices I had a eureka! moment this summer.
Read moreWhat does integrated studies look like at Flood Brook?
At Flood Brook School, middle level teachers believe in an integrated approach to curriculum delivery. Four years into implementing an
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Jon Brown’s Learning Lab Lessons Learned
Bright Spots: They say imitation is the highest form of flattery… I guess I’m flattered. It never ceases to amaze
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Ottauquechee’s Diversity Detectives in:
The Case of The Library Diversity Audit Whose stories are being told in your library? Whose stories are being left
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Get started podcasting with students
New to podcasts? Listen to a few! Before you jump into creating a podcast, get familiar with the format. Here
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Stowe students lead school change
How student-adult partnerships can scaffold student leadership “Did you know that the same areas in the brain light up when
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Why and how to teach education for sustainability
Teaching to heal the world “How can we improve the systems we’re a part of?” That’s the question my team
Read morePhys ed 2.0: More learning, less suffering
Personalizing PE In this era of personalized learning, it’s not just the jocks that find P.E. enjoyable. At Crossett Brook
Read moreA student-led short story unit at Crossett Brook
7th and 8th graders take the initiative to share their stories with the world. Ms. Cicchetti’s 7th and 8th grade
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A tale of two tech tools
Students test drive tools to enhance & amplify project work When Stowe Middle Level educators met to plan for the
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Therapy dogs in Vermont schools
Who let the dogs in? For some students, being ready to learn when they arrive at school is a big
Read moreHow do *you* mitigate heat transfer at your old elementary school?
Local connections with worldwide implications In our current study of heat transfer, our class decided to connect science concepts to
Read moreTelling a complex story through imagery
The power of metaphorical thinking A picture can speak a thousand words and convey a complex concept that text on
Read moreThe 8th grade consultants shaping education at Burke Town School
The power of the student consult If you’re wondering what engages, excites and motivates students, the answer is easy: ask
Read more3 tech-rich ways to study local history
Place-based learning with real world implications For your students, learning about the local landscape can be amazing. What’s that tree?
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The rise of the project-based PLP
A new recipe for Personalized Learning Plans Rather than trying to get students to care about existing PLPs, some schools
Read moreChoose Your Own Adventure with Google Earth
The virtual reality cure for wanderlust Despite this gorgeous fall weather here in central Vermont, I’m suffering from a bad
Read moreCourage lives on
This fall, we’ve been talking about everyday courage in schools. We’ve written about the courage it takes to start a
Read moreHow to cultivate mindfulness in classrooms
The #everydaycourage of doing nothing As we cultivate more self-direction in students, their lives get more complicated. They have a
Read moreThe #everydaycourage of staying curious in the face of negative feedback
Feedback often feels like criticism. But what if we used it as an opportunity to grow? In third grade, I
Read more#everydaycourage and trauma-informed education
#everydaycourage is always around us if we can slow down to notice it. I spent many years working in a
Read moreHow to start a difficult conversation
Conversations begin at home. And at the bus stop. Also the market. And– So much of the change we need
Read moreThe #everydaycourage of talking about race in Vermont schools
How will your students prepare for active engagement in democracy? Last spring Christie Nold, a 6th grade teacher at Frederick
Read moreThe #everydaycourage of sharing our work as educators
3 ways to de-privatize our practice My first teaching job was in the library at a large, open-concept elementary school
Read moreDiverse books for conversations around identity
The birth of a YA teacher’s book club “Sometimes you can do everything right and things will still go wrong.
Read moreWhat it looks like when students teach
“It really is nice being able to teach others. I know that I had an effect on them.” The Essex
Read more#vted leads the way with #everydaycourage
School leadership in turbulent times As schools prepare to welcome students through their doors, many educators are researching how to
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 moreLaying the groundwork for effective teaching teams
Or, What to Bring to the First Staff Potluck Opening up to fellow educators can be hard. We all know
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Checking in with Stowe & PAML’s peer PLP collaboration
When last we left the students of these two plucky Vermont middle schools, they had managed to connect students and
Read moreUse a student leadership team for feedback on PLPs
Guiding Crossett Brook PLPs with student voice The Crossett Brook PLP student leadership group presented their recommendations on PLPs to
Read more4 examples of students as partners in school change
Let students help you transform your school Creating sustainable systemic change is hard work. Yet there are readily available, free, renewable
Read moreDo you know where you are?
Taking stock on implementing Vermont’s Act 77 “Do you know where you are?” Usually it’s a question medical professionals ask
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 more8 year-end reflection tools and activities
Reflect, celebrate and plan Oh, the spring. Such a busy time for teachers. There are all those transition meetings, already
Read more4 ways of finding copyright-friendly media
The art of the responsible remix With the incredible popularity and ease of digital mediamaking comes great responsibility. As students unlock the power
Read moreLooking at ways students can create VR content
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 moreStudent-centered filmmaking at Compass
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 more4 more ways to help middle schoolers get organized
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 more4 ways to help middle school students organize their tech
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 morePeer collaboration on PLPs
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 moreHow to fight fake news in the field
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 moreWhy faith-based education in the 21st century?
A flexible pathway for religious choice In a time when combining 21st century skills with personalized learning is in the thoughts of
Read moreBeyond the audience of one
Why digital composition matters I’d like you to think back to your days as a student. What kinds of writing
Read moreDigital access to library resources
A case study in a 1:1 school Our small school is blessed to have an unusually large library space: nearly
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 moreWhy do action research?
5 benefits of doing action research in the classroom Teachers are constantly tinkering, creating, learning, and growing. Action research is
Read more3 ways to use Google Forms to streamline your workflow
For exit tickets, student support & action research Using Google Forms and Google Sheets together can streamline your process and
Read moreRethinking school schedules
It’s about time I am fascinated with master schedules! This is certainly a massive understatement. I love the challenge of
Read moreWhat work-based learning in Vermont can look like
On exploring flexible pathways to learning This past August, Vermont Secretary of Education Dr Rebecca Holcombe addressed the 2016 Amplifying
Read moreOnward and upward
Achieving escape velocity with students as partners Congratulations for making it through the first month of school! Whether it’s your
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 more8 tips for creating classroom routines and norms
There is no tired like teachers at the beginning (or end) of the school year are tired. Establishing routines, procedures,
Read moreGet #ready2launch your team this year
New ways to approach teaming Have you every showed up to in-service wondering what the new initiatives for the year
Read moreMeet @ThisIsVTED
A twitter showcase of amazing Vermont schools Wish you could see more of the innovative ways Vermont students and educators
Read more(Re) Designing PLPs with students
What Vermont students really think about personal learning plans Put 47 middle-level students together, challenge them to think differently about
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 more4 ways to partner with students around Genius Hour
1% teacher inspiration & 99% student-led Genius Hour is a leap of faith in which educators set aside their most precious
Read more5 ways to partner with students in a makerspace
Whose makerspace is it, anyway? A makerspace can take many forms, but fundamentally it should be a locus of student engagement
Read moreFinding ways to encourage student leadership
Student Leadership: The time is now August is usually a time crammed with planning logistics for the start of the
Read moreClimate, 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
Read moretwitter etiquette
Modeling twitter interactions as an educator and parent With twitter’s explosive growth in popularity with educators, it can get a
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