Ch 7: PLPs & Proficiency-Based Assessment
What do PLPs and proficiency-based assessment have in common? They both emphasize what students CAN do. They’re not about ranking, sorting, and labeling. They’re about growth, progress, and opportunity for all. First, some definitions: According to the Vermont Agency of Education: The focus of proficiency-based learning is on students’ demonstration of desired learning outcomes. Students …
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Proficiency-Based Education
Why? Because we believe: All students can learn. The purpose of assessment is to determine the next steps for learning. The goal of education is not to sort and rank learners, rather to help ALL learners grow towards their potential. Students are partners in creating meaningful and relevant learning experiences and environments; their voice and …
Chapter 7: PLPs and Proficiency-Based Assessment
Foundations & Connections What is Proficiency-Based Learning? Vermont Agency of Education A New Era for Educational Assessment, David T. Conley, Jobs for the Future, 2014 How Selective Colleges and Universities Evaluate Proficiency-Based High School Transcripts: Insights for Students and Schools, Erika Blauth and Sarah Hadjian, New England Board of Higher Education, 2016 What is the …
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What can we learn about proficiency from special education?
Equitable access for each & every student Many of us doing proficiency work in the state see it as a means of ensuring equitable access for all students. A proficiency-based learning environment asks the learning community to partner together. The goal: to make certain all learners meet clearly articulated targets for success. And, the VT …
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Paths to proficiency
Choose Your Own Adventure with 3 easy tech tools Students in blended learning classrooms benefit from taking control over the path and pace of their learning. Their teachers design learning paths which include: clearly articulated learning targets, readily available instructional activities via digital playlists, and built-in benchmarks so students signal when they are ready for …
4 key concepts for families about proficiency-based reporting
Parenting students in a world without grades Proficiency reporting is a set of legal requirements that all Vermont high schools must meet before 2020. In essence, we’ll report only on what a student knows and can DO, with no ultimate judgement about how well they can do it. A? B-? C+? Out the window. Here’s …
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Using PearDeck in a proficiency-based environment
Looking at tech tools for formative assessment In a proficiency-based learning environment, frequent, flexible, and transparent assessments become cornerstones of the practice. The importance of formative assessment can’t be understated, and these tech tools make it so much easier.
Looking at proficiency-based assessment for students with disabilities
Making sure Proficiency work includes all students Recently, I was in a middle school team meeting walking folks through some proficiencyb-based learning scenarios and one teacher said “I have a student who is performing at a 4th grade level, what do I do?” Sound familiar?
Flexible pathways in proficiency-based learning
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
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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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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4 shifts for student-led conferences in a proficiency-based environment
Student-led conferences are for students Student-led conferences are a key strategy in personalized, student-centered educational practices. And they’re even more important and potentially powerful in a proficiency-based system.
3 visualization exercises for proficiency-based learning
Outcomes, process and automaticity I worked with a group of teachers this summer to re-think goal-setting with their students. We know it’s a key component to developing Personalized Learning Plans (PLP), but students reported little engagement in following through on and reflecting about their goals. In our attempts to think differently about goal-setting and reflection, …
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Proficiency-based teaching and learning in Vermont: who, why and how
Two examples of implementing proficiency-based scales of learning Vermont educators and their students are on a journey. Let’s look at how one school is implementing proficiency-based learning in a way that ensures all learners have the opportunity to thrive. When we clearly articulate learning targets both for and with learners, the end is clear to …
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How proficient are you with proficiency-based learning?
#vted weighs in again on twitter Is your school implementing proficiency-based learning? It’s an idea that’s taking hold all over, so some folks from Vermont’s education community wrestled with the opportunities and challenges presented by implementing proficiency-based learning.
#vted twitter chat recap: proficiency-based graduation requirements
Now with more school board selfies #vted twitter chat takes place every other Wednesday from 8-9pm EST, and is moderated by WWSU superintendent Ned Kirsch (@betavt), Jason Findley (@jfindley) and us, @innovativeEd.
Publications & Presentations
Presentations Local Presentations Grow Community Through Service Learning and Leadership. Katy Farber & Peter Stratman. Presented at Vermont Fest, November 2018. Conversations About Micro-Credentialing. Susan Hennessey & Tim O’Leary. Presented at Vermont Fest, November 2018. Ideas Into Action Through School-Driven Change. Penny Bishop, John, Downes, Scott Thompson, and Life LeGeros. Presented at Rowland Conference at …
Introducing our Equity Toolkit
Equity is the moral imperative behind all of the work we do here at the Tarrant Institute for Innovative Education. In this new toolkit, we have collected many of our favorite posts about equity, including analyses and syntheses about equity in general, how to support equity in professional learning and in classrooms, and examples of …
Equity toolkit
The moral imperative behind our work at TIIE has always been equity. It is also the basis of the middle school movement that we hold dear, which originated as a challenge to the status quo of junior high schools. As progressive educators, we promote shifts in education to bring more equitable outcomes, more humane learning …
Sixth Graders Revamp Lyndonville
It was a perfect match. The sixth grade team at Lyndon Town School were looking for an end of year interdisciplinary project. They wanted students to reconnect with the community after two years of pandemic schooling. The Town of Lyndon was calling for community members to help generate ideas about how to improve downtown. They …
Essential Skills & Dispositions Toolkit
Many schools and classrooms across the country identify student skills for success. Ideally, those skills cut across content areas and are grouped within grade bands. They are communicated and prioritized within the learning community. While Vermont’s AOE has identified five Transferable Skills, some learning institutions choose different ones – sometimes also known as “21st century …
NEW Essential Skills & Dispositions Toolkit
Many schools and classrooms across the country identify student skills for success. Ideally, those skills cut across content areas and are grouped within grade bands. They are communicated and prioritized within the learning community. While Vermont’s AOE has identified five Transferable Skills, some learning institutions choose different ones – sometimes also known as “21st century skills”. …
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PLPs to Know Students Well: Introducing the Personal Learning Plan Toolkit
Introducing our updated PLP Toolkit Knowing each student well is essential to a year of flourishing for students and educators. It’s a prerequisite to ensuring equitable access to belonging and wellbeing, a culturally-responsive learning environment, and deep learning. And it enriches the relationships so central to a thriving school. Personal learning plans (PLPs) can …
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Updated Student-Led Conferences Toolkit
Around this time of year, many middle schools begin to prepare for a fall student-led conference. This conference serves as a valuable tool for getting to know your students and connecting with their families. It can be a truly memorable experience, but it takes work, too. We have gathered some of our most important resources …
Rethinking assessment to rebalance education
Testing helped me be successful in school. And it was horrible for my learning. I was good at tests. The more standardized, the better. Multiple choice questions were my jam. I specialized in figuring out the correct answer even when I didn’t understand the material. My *bs* abilities were off the charts, which helped for …
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#vted Reads: Start Here Start Now
Lovely listeners: today is a work day. Now, we all know that talking about anti-bias work is a vital component of the kind of school change that makes our classrooms safer and more engaging for students of color. Doubly so when we are white educators, and when we teach in predominantly white spaces, in predominantly …
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. …
Culturally Responsive Instruction and Assessment
At their heart, Culturally Responsive Practices (CRP) are about teaching the way students learn. It is an unfortunate truth of being human that we are biased by our own experiences. As Mahzarin Banaji, a professor of social ethics at Harvard University says, “The quickest way to define what implicit bias is [is] to say it …
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The Power of One Person
Right now the problems of the world can feel so very big. And we can feel small. We can feel powerless. We can wonder: what’s the point? To which we say this: one person is the key to systemic, lasting change. One person is enough. Because the power of one multiplied by many? Changes …
#vted Reads about Equity & Cultural Responsiveness in the Middle Grades
In January 2020, the Vermont state legislature proposed a resolution formally apologizing for the legislature’s role in passing a 1931 law making eugenics perfectly legal and encouraged in the Green Mountain State. Meanwhile, on the Standing Rock Reservation, in South Dakota, the future of the Dakota Access Pipeline is in doubt, but only at the …
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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 support self-directed learners, offering them “choice and voice” while trying to make sure we support them in their learning. (And hey, educators, you’re learners too. I’m a learner. We are all, to some degree, self-directed …
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How to Build An Anti-Racist Bookshelf
Who’s Outside? How to Build An Anti-Racist Bookshelf is an interactive online workshop for educators we offered in January 2021. We offered it in collaboration with Shelburne Farms. Additionally, educators Jeanie Phillips and Aimee Arandia Østensen courageously co-facilitated this workshop. Below you’ll find a recording of the workshop, optimized for solo or team playback. The …
North Country Flexible Pathways
The fifteen year old boy slowly hobbled from the parking lot to the school’s main office, stopping to adjust his crutches. He was welcomed by the school’s Flexible Pathway Coordinator, Ian Dinzeo for their 10 o’clock appointment. They both sat down, masked, at opposite ends of a table in the school cafeteria – which offered …
#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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4 tales of outdoor education in Vermont
What does outdoor education and place-based learning look like right now? One of the recommendations from leading health officials is to conduct classes outside. But what if you’ve never done that before? What if you could use some pointers? How are other educators tackling this topic? And why should we keep taking students outdoors, …
Building a blended & hybrid teaching toolkit
Hybrid and remote teaching environments require us to tap into everything we know about designing engaging and targeted learning opportunities. At the same time, the contexts are often unfamiliar. So what we need is a blended and hybrid teaching toolkit. When looking to design a successful remote or hybrid learning experience, consider thinking about what …
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Taking stock of grading & reporting
In spring 2020, during statewide “emergency remote learning” due to the pandemic, many districts and schools changed their approach to grading and reporting. The shift was toward a “do no harm” model. In a moment when everybody was reeling from ongoing collective trauma and uncertainty, this made a lot of sense from a purely human …
What can we learn from summer unschooling?
It’s becoming increasingly difficult to think and talk about innovative school change. It’s difficult to see the start of this school year with a heart that’s anything but desperately worried for students, for teachers and for families. We want this school year to be fruitful in terms of learning, but we’re also shocked and dismayed …
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5 ways to bring closure to this school year
Ah, the end of a school year. Always frenetic, and beautiful, and tear-filled and inspiring. Filled with rituals that educators and schools have developed with and for their community to bring closure. And now, this year. How can we develop new rituals or modify existing ones to honor everyone’s hard, hard (hard) work at the …
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Project-based learning at home
It all started with a pandemic Dear reader, as you are well aware, back in March a global pandemic struck and in-person schooling was suspended for the remainder of the school year. Quite suddenly, my family, like many, found ourselves home together all day, every day. My kids, also like many, thrive on routine. When …
Where are we with formative assessment for remote learning?
Who could have predicted were we are today? Many aspects of education have been challenging the past few month. Most notably being distant from your students. They give you energy, bring you joy… and also provide lots and lots and lots of feedback. Teachers, we see you out there designing remote learning with your whole …
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Hunter education in Vermont
In this episode of The 21st Century Classroom: I don’t think a lot of people think that I’m a hunter. I feel like when I have like a good connection with my teachers, they will get to know me and realize that I hunt and fish and do a lot of outdoor stuff, but like …
#vted Reads: Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson
I’m Jeanie Phillips and welcome to #vted Reads, we are here to talk books for educators, by educators and with educators. Today I’m with Meg Falby and we’ll be talking about two books by Laurie Halse Anderson: Speak, and Speak: The Graphic Novel. We’ll also be mentioning Shout, Laurie Halse Anderson’s memoir in verse. Lovely …
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How GRCSU is responding to remote learning
Just like our colleagues across the state (and world, really), educators in the Greater Rutland County Supervisory Union (GRCSU) have risen to the challenge of completely transforming the way education is delivered — practically overnight. GRCSU is responding to remote learning. I’m fortunate and grateful to have been working with GRCSU for the past three …
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#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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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 and knowledge from the learner-specific habits and behaviors. The particular set of learner habits and behaviors that districts and states chose to measure and report have varied. Similarly, some states adopted guiding structures such as …
On equity in the middle school movement
The middle school movement has been a powerful force for positive change. It’s rooted in progressive education, with special attention to the developmental needs of young adolescents. In Vermont, we are ahead of most other states in implementing middle school systems and associated student-centered practices. That’s a good thing. Relative newcomers to this place, like …
Self-awareness and self-direction
I’m going to be honest with you, writing this blog post about self-direction has taken, well, a lot of self-direction. I’m a busy person with agendas to develop, meetings to attend, reading to do… and it’s been really easy to put other work ahead of this post. What’s a Professional Development Coordinator to do? I’m …
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 …
How to change assessment & grading practices
…in a middle level math classroom Deirdre Beaupre, a 7th grade math teacher at Lamoille Union Middle School took a deep dive into proficiency work. And she invited her students to join her along the journey. Deirdre participated in Learning Lab VT last year to explore how best to change her practice in a proficiency-based …
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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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Top 10 ways to spend a snow day
#1. Making lists As a fan of lists, I went to bed Monday night mulling over my top 10 list of why snow days and school closings are a miraculous gift (to most of us)! High on the list is negotiating with my 17-year-old daughters on times to wake them. Glad to say option three …
Knitting, algebra, & the promise of proficiencies
What could it look like to get credit for real world math proficiency? Here’s something you should know about me: I knit furiously. All the women in my family do. I learned to knit when I was six, lovingly coached by my grandmother, my mother, and my great aunt, a magician who could turn anything …
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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 …
Meet Learning Lab VT 2019!
Now that you understand the why of proficiency-based and personalized learning, are you ready to see the how? Learning Lab VT throws open the doors of classrooms around Vermont, so you and other educators like you can see personalized learning in action, up close and personal. Your hosts are educators just like you, who, along …
The student-led conference as celebration
What does it take for us to see parent-teacher conferences as celebrations? What does it take for families to see those conferences as celebrations? And how can we make sure that students themselves feel celebrated for their achievements? We know student-led conferences push our school systems in the right direction, to a place where students …
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#vted Reads: The End of Average
Today on the show, we’re going to talk about The End of Average: How to Succeed in a World That Values Sameness, by Todd Rose. We’ll be joined by Emily Gilmore, who teaches world history at South Burlington High School, in South Burlington Vermont. But first, a few words of background for today’s show. In …
The powerful practice of documenting learning
How do we know what our students know and can do? What, when, and how are we asking them to show us? In recent conversations with my colleagues, we’ve been considering shifts in assessment required of us in proficiency-based education. Now, let’s explore how to put those shifts into practice. When we consider those …
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How to use data to inform progress
Involve learners with actionable data Wondering how to use data to inform progress for users in proficiency-based education? Assessment provides both learners and educators with data. One of CAST’s Top Ten Universal Design for Learning Tips for Assessment is involving learners in their learning progress through assessment data: “Communicate with learners about their progress towards …
#vted Reads: Dreadful Young Ladies, with Sarah Birgé
Listeners: how do you talk to your students about the special love that exists between a woman and a Sasquatch? Or between an insect and a robot-powered building? And where and how do you determine which texts are appropriate to give to students? On this episode of the podcast, I’m joined by Sarah Birgé, a …
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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 learning how to hunt for several years. Given that he was born in Vermont and has a doting outdoorsman grandpa, his lifetime Vermont fishing and hunting license was purchased when he was 6 months old …
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#vted Reads: Place-Based Curriculum Design
This episode is all. About. QUESTIONS. Why are we here? Who was here before us? What kinds of stories do we tell about the world around us? And: how can we change from seeing the world as something to be studied, to something that can be acted upon …and changed. First-year educator Thierry Uwilingiyamana — …
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#vted Reads: The Benefits of Being an Octopus
This one goes deep, folks. On this episode educator Corey Smith joins me to talk about The Benefits of Being an Octopus, by Ann Braden. We talk glitter and posterboard, coffee and peanut-butter smoothies, and using the Equity Literacy Framework to dismantle inequality in our systems of learning with both students AND adults. What might …
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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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3 ways to ensure equity is at the heart of your work
VTDigger reports that Vermont Secretary of Education Dan French said “From our standpoint, we portray districts being on a journey. Just like everyone in the world is on a journey. And we don’t see 2020 as some sort of hard and fast date.” However, regardless of a deadline, we should remain focused on centering equity …
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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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Ch 6: Scaffolding for Equitable, Deeper Learning
The great big myth that persists with any hands-on, project or inquiry-based approach? That teachers simply “turn students loose” on a project, and sit back and drink tea. The truth couldn’t be more different. Teaching becomes more personal, more centered on students’ needs, and interests. Less tea, more action. What does this look like? It …
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Ch 5: Flexing Your Pathways
Ah, that second pillar. Flexible pathways are key to engaging learning. They’re all those great ways we engage students actively and meaningfully. According to the Vermont Agency of Education: Flexible Pathways are any combination of high-quality expanded learning opportunities, including academic and experiential components, which build and assess attainment of identified proficiencies and lead to …
1.3 New Student & Teacher Roles
In a personalized learning environment, students and teachers take on new roles. Teachers are still essential, but in different ways. They’re empowerers, scouts, scaffolders, assessors, and community builders. Teachers are: empowerers. scouts. assessors. scaffolders. community builders. This is personal, close-in work. And often it better meets students’ needs, improves relationships, and deepens learning. By adopting …
Personalized Learning Plans (PLPs)
Knowing each student well is essential to a year of flourishing for students and educators. It’s a prerequisite to ensuring equitable access to belonging and wellbeing, a culturally-responsive learning environment, and deep learning. And it enriches the relationships so central to thriving among youth and adults alike. Personal learning plans (PLPs) can drive a rich …
Formative Assessment
What is formative assessment? Feedback empowers learners to have agency over their learning! Formative assessment is a strategy used by teachers and learners to generate data that informs teaching and learning. Using a variety of methods, they gauge progress towards a learning goal. This data is used to plan and/or revise instruction to meet learners’ …
Meaningful Instruction
What is meaningful instruction? Meaningful instruction is the heart of the proficiency based education model. Educators know that good teaching is personal, relevant, engaging, responsive, dynamic, and rooted in strong student relationships. Meaningful instruction includes plans for how instructors will provide multiple ways for students to learn, engage, and practice what they need to know, …
Learning Goals
What are Learning Goals? Learning goals define what proficiency looks like in concise, student-friendly language. While educators may break down the goals into different sized learning targets or progressions, what is crucial is that students understand what they are learning and that they are able to make it relevant to their lives. Explicit, measurable, transferable …
Summative Assessment
What is summative assessment? Summative Assessment is the opportunity for students to show what they know and demonstrate what they can do with that knowledge independently and in novel contexts. It’s a moment for celebrating all of the learning your students have done and can do! Their work provides evidence that they are proficient: that …
Equity, identity & art
Tracing a middle level social identity unit Identity. Oppression. Social justice. Structural racism. Liberation. These are some intense ideas to grapple with at any age. Yet 6th grade student Deng isn’t willing to wait: “We need to learn about this stuff early on before it gets pushed off and becomes a problem. We are the …
Using protocols for equity
So, maybe you’ve been using protocols at faculty meetings or professional learning community sessions. Perhaps you’ve found that they make space for all voices in conversations about proficiency-based education. Or you like how they foster collaboration as you work together to structure personalized learning plans. Know what else they can do? Support us as we …
#vted Reads: Reaching and Teaching Students in Poverty
In this episode of #vted Reads, I return to my old stomping grounds at Green Mountain Union High School. I’m talking with school counselor Ally Oswald, about the realities of reaching and teaching students in poverty. Reaching and Teaching Students in Poverty is also the title of a 2013 book by educator and reformer Paul …
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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 …
Chapter 6: Scaffolding for Equitable, Deeper Learning
Foundations & Connections Equal Opportunity for Deeper Learning, Pedro Noguera, Linda Darling-Hammond and Diane Friedlaender, Jobs for the Future, 2015 Student-Centered Schools: Closing the Opportunity Gap, Diane Friedlaender et al., Stanford Center for Opportunity Policy in Education, 2014 What is Blended Learning? Clayton Christensen Institute Universal Design for Learning Guidelines, Center for Applied Special Technology …
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Chapter 3: Laying the Groundwork for Personalized Learning
Foundations & Connections The Learning Edge: Supporting Student Success in a Competency-Based Learning Environment, Laura Shubilla and Chris Sturgis, iNACOL, 2012 What is SEL? The Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning Gold Standard Project Based Learning, Buck Institute for Education Transferable Skills: Sample Graduation Proficiencies and Performance Indicators, Vermont Agency of Education Examples and …
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#vted Reads: The Power of Moments, with Rachel Mark
Thank you for joining us for another episode of #vted Reads. This time we will be discussing The Power of Moments: Why Certain Experiences Have Extraordinary Impact. We’ll look for ways to make classroom moments more powerful, explore opportunities to raise the stakes for your students, and visit the popsicle hotline. Oh, and we’ll talk …
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Welcome to Learning Lab VT
Welcome to Learning Lab VT Ever wonder whether you’re really up to the task of meeting your learners’ needs? We have. Our learners — Vermont middle and high school educators — are in the midst of a monumental transition that, done well, will ensure that Vermont’s public schools deliver on their mission of excellence and …
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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Chapter 2: Personalized Learning Plans
Foundations & Connections Sustainable Development Goals, United Nations Motivation, Engagement, and Student Voice, Eric Toshalis and Michael J. Nakkula, Jobs for the Future, 2012 The Future of Jobs: Employment, Skills and Workforce Strategy for the Fourth Industrial Revolution, World Economic Forum, 2016 Proficiency, Personalization, and a Cocktail Napkin: Or, How PBL Became PPBL, Emily Rinkema, …
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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How do you measure success with project-based learning?
“A Tale of Three Projects” Two Vermont educators share how they measure success with project-based learning units… in space! Allan Miller and Natasha Grey, two educators from Charlotte Central School, Charlotte VT, shared their journey towards authentic, meaningful, engaging project-based learning. The “Gold Standard” in project-based learning. At the 2019 Middle Grades Conference, they candidly …
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#vted Reads: Troublemakers with Mike Martin
In this episode of #vted Reads, we talk about Troublemakers, a book by Carla Shalaby. We touch on what we’re really doing when we ask our students to code-switch, Black Lives Matter, and the trouble with classroom norms, and we pose the question: ‘How do school systems bestow unearned privilege on some, and un-earned hardship, …
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8 ways feedback makes proficiencies work
Meet Grace Gilmour, and her proficiency-based classroom. “Oh yay. I was like: yay, my heart.” This was Grace Gilmour’s response to a student’s honest appraisal of her class: “I love it in here because I always feel like I know the next steps on the road to improving.” Grace teaches social studies to 7th and …
Getting started with protocols
Be better at team conversations You know that spirited colleague of yours who dominates, practically filibusters, staff meetings with her lamenting and haranguing? Or your colleague who is so thoughtful, but rarely speaks at staff meetings? Or it is you? Does your zest and passion bubble forth into conversations leaving little room for all voices? …
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 everyone excited about making videos in the classroom. But it can be hard to translate the squealing, hand-flapping excitement of POWER into concrete, finished products. But making videos gets so much easier when you have two things: …
Run the world (Teachers) aka #TeacherDirectedPD
We just held the Best. In-service. Ever. And all it took was a little love & empathy. Some in-service professional development days are better than others. Sometimes, we get to be active learners and receive just-in-time instruction (and maybe even the gift of time to apply that learning for the benefit of our students). Other …
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All about service learning
with Katy Farber From real and relevant to what to do in the event of a mountain bike accident, the last predators in Middlesex, and the all-important question of who is responsible for the pizza at your exhibition of learning. That’s right: librarian Jeanie Phillips talks all about service learning with author and educator Katy …
Voice + choice = a better math classroom
Start by listening to students Elizabeth Tarno asked her students for feedback about their math class at the end of 5th grade. Then she did something incredible: she completely redesigned her classroom to address what students asked for. Elizabeth teaches both 5th and 6th grade math (and science) at the Warren Elementary School. She spent …
The shifting role of the teacher in a blended learning classroom
Adding playlists into the mix We often hear about the need to move from the sage on the stage to the guide on the side in student-centered classrooms, so much so that if feels cliche. But how does one go about making that shift in a proficiency-based and personalized learning environment?
“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 …
What is Learning Lab?
Welcome to Learning Lab VT Vermont’s schools are home to some of the most innovative, passionate and skilled educators in the nation. And they’re opening up their classrooms to the world. Welcome to Learning Lab VT. We’re all in this together. You ever wonder whether you’re really up to the task of meeting your learners’ …
Phys 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 Middle School and Shelburne Community School, students employ cool technology, develop creative projects, and pursue personal interests and goals while developing autonomy, healthy habits, and deep understandings.
Battle Physics at Green Mountain Union High School
Come for the math, stay for the slingshots! Green Mountain 7th graders and HS physics students apply math and science to a real-world problem: hitting targets. They collaborate in multi-age teams to design and build projectile launchers. Then they calculate trajectories and calibrate their creations before taking aim. Each spring the students take over the Green Mountain …
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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 upcoming student exhibitions of learning, they agreed on two critical ideas. One, that their learners benefit from multiple ways to tell the story of their learning. And two, students are in the best position to …
Changing the who, the what, and the when
The transformation of Team Quest Educators never feel like they have enough time to do all the things they want to do with students. But for Team Quest at Crossett Brook Middle School in Duxbury, Vermont, the constraints of traditional subject area, schedule and process had become unbearable. So this two-person grade 5-6 team decided …
What if you could have Town Meeting Day every week?
A Vermont tradition comes to the classroom Town Meeting Day is a Vermont tradition: once a year, everyone in towns across the state pack into the town hall and talk face-to-face about the issues affecting their community. But Warren Elementary School, in Warren VT, holds Town Meetings on a weekly basis, using the tradition to …
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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) …
Digital badges as evidence of flexible pathways
Realizing the promise of micro-credentialing As teachers and students grapple with how to implement proficiency-based assessment, flexible pathways and personalized learning, what can we learn from digital badge eco-systems? What’s been tried? What’s worked? And what do we need to think about as we implement micro-credentialing to help us grapple, not just with the requirements …
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Winooski’s Graduate Proficiencies & Graduate Expectations
What proficiency-based learning looks like Winooski Middle and High School, in bustling Winooski, VT, has been quietly making the journey to proficiency-based learning and proficiency-based graduation requirements for the past six years. And the resources they’ve constructed along the way — to support students, teachers and families — celebrate cultural and ethnic diversity and challenge …
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4 ways to make math more relevant
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
How making supports integrative and informed thinking
Makerspace learning at Proctor Elementary In this final post of our series on how maker-centered learning can help students develop transferable skills, we take a look at Integrative and Informed Thinking. During EMMA’s visit to Proctor Elementary School, in Proctor VT, the potential for maker-centered learning to support students’ integrated and informed thinking really came …
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How making supports service learning
Responsible and involved citizenship in Grand Isle We’re looking at how maker-centered learning and makerspace activities can help support students in developing Vermont’s five transferable skills. We’ve looked at clear and effective communication, self-direction, and creative and practical problem-solving. In this post, we recount EMMA’s visit to Grand Isle School, where teachers and students used …
Maker-centered learning and transferable skills:
Making as evidence of problem-solving It’s quite easy to see how making often takes students on new journeys, where their imagination provides opportunities to exercise the transferable skill of creative and practical problem solving. After a visit by EMMA, students at Malletts Bay School, in Colchester VT, were inspired to use their new skills to create …
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Making as evidence of self-direction
The Maker Movement & Transferable Skills, Part 2 We’re looking at how maker-centered learning provides opportunities for students to develop the Vermont Agency of Education’s five Transferable Skills, starting with Clear and Effective Communication. Today we continue our series with more examples. Our mobile making lab’s visits brought forth evidence of students taking charge of …
The Maker Movement and transferable skills
Making as evidence of transferable skills around Vermont During the past year, EMMA has visited schools around Vermont to fuel the conversation about maker-centered learning. As we reflected on each of EMMA’s visits, we continually noticed that maker centered learning provided evidence of students applying cross-disciplinary transferable skills.
Jessica DeMink-Carthew
Jessica DeMink-Carthew is an Assistant Professor in Middle Grades and Elementary Education at the University of Vermont. She is also a Senior Research Associate with the Tarrant Institute for Innovative Education. Her research centers on supporting student teachers and practicing teachers in experimenting with innovative teaching practices such as personalized learning, proficiency-based learning, and social …
J-Term at Hazen Union
Personalized, proficiency-based PBL or bust During a faculty meeting in late December of 2016, educators and staff talked about the need to provide personalized learning options for students at their small, rural Vermont school. They wanted do so in a way that honored the students’ need for passion-based, independent projects, as well as the desire …
Student-led conferences
A student-led conference (or SLC) can be a magical opportunity for teachers to engage deeply with a student and their family. It typically involves a middle schooler gathering some evidence of their learning, strengths and challenges, and possibly their goals and aspirations. They assemble that evidence along with reflections into some format; many use a …
Scheduling
Scheduling The continued movement towards the middle level concept has put tremendous pressure on how schools choose to organize their time. For good reason! The remnants of the junior high days of past still exist. However, emerging schedules that support student-centered learning and best middle level practice are having a greater presence every year. Innovative …
The Three Pillars of Personalized Learning
“Do you know where you are?” An exercise for taking stock of Act 77 implementation. PLPs Flexible Pathways Proficiency-Based Learning SaveSave SaveSave
Do 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 in emergency situations. It’s not as dramatic in the context of education, but it can be just as useful as a diagnostic criteria. We’re going to ask you to take stock of where you are …
Take project-based learning to the next level
3 ways to plan for PBL 2.0 You’ve dipped your toe into project based learning. You’ve planned an entry event, shared a high quality driving question, managed student teamwork, created scaffolds, and helped students finish a meaningful project to present to an authentic, engaged audience! Whew! Well done. But we know you. We know you’re a total …
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The 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
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 tech-rich social studies 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
Peer 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
How 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
4 resources for fighting fake news
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
Can virtual reality teach empathy?
Google Expedition aims to connect students with refugee experience Teaching empathy to our future citizens of the world may be the most important work that we can do as educators. And it’s not something we can force. It has to be an organic outgrowth of the other lessons we build. Let’s look at how we …
Tracking proficiencies in Schoology
3 ways Schoology supports sustainable Proficiency-Based Learning A learning management system (LMS) can be used to manage classroom workflow, create self-paced differentiated units, and collaborate within or across classrooms and schools. As teachers in Vermont and elsewhere grapple with how to create proficiency-based learning environments, they are looking for new strategies and routines. Let’s explore …
Assessment in Project-Based Learning
Signs along the way Assessments can be hard to create and manage, but they are a necessary part of PBL. You can do it! Assessments are often done with the elements of Understanding by Design : beginning with the end in mind. Here are some ideas for how to use assessment — both formative and …
Why do action research?
5 benefits of doing action research in the classroom Teachers are constantly tinkering, creating, learning, and growing. Action research is a slightly formalized version of what skilled teachers do every day. By honoring action research as systematic professional inquiry, we empower teachers to improve their practice. It’s easy to get started undertaking a small, powerful …
Innovative VT educators in the news
#vted = #vtexcellence A number of Vermont educators have been in the news lately, achieving and being recognized for the amazing work they do inside the classroom and out.
Rethinking school schedules
It’s about time I am fascinated with master schedules! This is certainly a massive understatement. I love the challenge of putting all the pieces together, showing how everything is connected. My mind is wired to think through a systems lens. I am always asking myself, if I change this thing over here what happens over …
Planning a PBL unit
Resources to tackle project-based learning Welcome to the PBL Highway, my new series aimed at helping you on the road to project-based learning! Setting up a student-driven, rigorous, community-focused project-based learning (PBL) unit can feel daunting, so the best way to tackle anything this huge (it’s yuge!) is to break it down into manageable steps. …
4 ways to begin using scales for assessment
Getting started assessing proficiency School systems in Vermont and elsewhere are in the midst of a shift to proficiency-based learning. At the early stages, this transformation can feel overwhelming even for educators, even if they’re excited by the idea. Where to start? Start with scales for assessment.
3 types of videos for showcasing content areas
Structures & examples for student filmmakers Many students love working with video. Students can create videos for any subject to show specifically what they’re learning, how they spend their time and to demonstrate proficiency. But it’s not always obvious how you, as an educator, can help students see the connection to specific content areas. Let’s …
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Get #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 will be? Or wondered how to continue to meet the demands of the district and school while balancing the the needs of 21st century young adolescents? takes a deep breath The answer, I suggest, is …
(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 ways to create effective, relevant and meaningful Personalized Learning Plans, and watch the magic happen. This past summer, we did exactly that.
#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 …
4 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 resource, time, for students to pursue their passions. It doesn’t get much more student-centered than that. But there are actually several aspects of Genius Hour where students can be involved as partners to amp up …
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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 …
Mathew’s Y.E.A.R. at The Compass School
Scaffolding year-end reflections At The Compass School in Westminster, Vermont, students advance through grades by producing evidence of their accomplishments from the year, using the previous year’s reflection to inform the current one. We had the chance to sit down with a student just finishing 11th grade at Compass, and hear not just about his …
Facilitating community conversations about education
4 lessons learned A few months back, I wrote about how the Washington West Supervisory Union (WWSU) here in Vermont had initiated a series of conversations with the community with a kick-off film screening and discussion. I noted that “the most exciting thing about the conversation was the feeling in the room that we, as …
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Community Based Learning in Vermont: What’s going on?
4 lessons from a recent gathering On Friday, March 11, more than 50 participants from public and private schools, community education partners, and higher education from Vermont and the surrounding region gathered for a Community Based Learning workday, put on by Big Picture Learning, Eagle Rock School, Big Picture South Burlington, and Partnership for Change. …
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Managing time in blended classrooms
Shifting the way we manage time to personalize learning in a blended space In my former professional life, I had the pleasure and the challenge of managing a large high school library media center. An irony of the job, one that made me smile and cringe, was the volume of the bell which rang every …
How does professional development affect technology integration?
The impact of PD in a 1:1 teaching environment A trio of middle grades educators from Mill River Union High School, in Clarendon, Vermont, presented the results of their semester-long action research project, examining what role professional development plays in increasing the amount of time technology is integrated into the classroom in a 1:1 environment.
Finding joy in the classroom
Is joy in learning an innovation? Recently, I was charmed and inspired upon seeing a first grade student’s take on setting goals to improve healthy habits on the Franklin West Supervisory Union blog. I shared this student photo (at left) with a group of teachers during a goal-setting and reflection workshop. They all smiled, especially after …
4 reasons to make the #vted twitter chat part of your PLN
Asynchronous, flexible & friendly professional development You’ve read the recaps, seen the hashtag fly by and maybe even dipped a toe in the #vted twitter chat waters. But we’ve got 4 reasons to make the #vted twitter chat a regular part of your professional learning network. Here we go:
Providing 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 Plans (PLPs). They’ve been working on setting goals in a PLP for years; some students in this school have been doing so since third grade. Manchester educators Seth Bonnett and Melissa Rice, share what they’ve learned about …
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Act 77, Flexible Pathways and best middle level practices
Grappling with implementation In my current work with a number of Vermont middle schools, we have been trying to grapple with ways to tell the story of, or create a better understanding of, what our state’s Act 77 Flexible Pathways legislation looks like in action.
Personalize learning with Open Educational Resources
What they are and how to use them In a recent blog post, I suggested access to technology can empower teachers to be responsive to students’ needs in a blended learning environment. I want to expand upon that notion and explore further how Open Educational Resources play an important role in how we teachers facilitate more …
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Defining innovation in Vermont education
What do we mean when we talk about innovation in Vermont education? Recently, the #vted Twitter chat focused on innovation, and the conversation brought a mix of practical tips, brilliant insight, and positive sentiment. The take-home message for me was that innovation thrives in an environment with a balance of risk-taking, moral support, and professional learning.
Vermont Fest 2015
Heading to the slopes for Vermont Fest The lifts are open, but the lure of first tracks is not what is prompting educators from across the state to head to Killington this week. Vermont Fest will be in full effect on Thursday and Friday and educators will be eagerly awaiting the opportunity to exchange ideas and …
X is for eXtra credit
How does edtech affect extra credit? Is extra credit still a valid notion as we move towards ubiquitous learning, and grapple with questions of equity in education? If the goal is anytime, anywhere learning, how can we quantify certain activities as eXtraneous to that learning space?
V is for Voice Recordings
Why voice recordings work for young adolescents As students use technology to explore and capture projects that show both their emerging proficiency with skills and snapshots of who they have been, are and may become, tools that allow students to add their own human voice to multimedia can be invaluable in the discovery and showcasing process. Here’s …
P is for Performance Tasks
Using performance tasks as a way to measure student knowledge When working with a group of middle school science teachers recently whose goal was to increase the depth of knowledge in their shared common assessments, we explored using Performance Tasks as a way to measure student knowledge and skills gained, as they apply them in novel and real situations. …
Creating a self-paced Spanish class
Experiment with flexibility: tech + assessment At Edmunds Middle School, in Burlington Vermont, Sarah Wright is rethinking assessment to create a self-paced Spanish class. Students can re-take exams as many times as possible, and work towards proficiency as it’s defined in the real world; the ability to communicate is what defines mastery of the subject. A …
Storing digital badges for portfolios
What are some mechanisms for keeping track of digital credentials? As we work with schools who are piloting digital badge programs on the BadgeOS platform, we need to start thinking through what some options are for students to store, keep track of, and display the digital credentials they earn. What does it look like to …
Using Schoology for differentiated learning
Addressing student mastery and learning targets in an LMS Kristi McKnight, a 9th grade teacher at Harwood Union High School in Moretown, Vermont, shares how she and her teaching partner, Mike Coyle, use the Schoology learning management system (LMS) for differentiated learning with her students. With Schoology, McKnight is able to describe how she’s giving her …
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Innovative learning shared at Nashville conference
Music City learns a thing or two about Vermont ed tech Half of the Tarrant Institute staff and a special guest headed to Nashville last week to present at the Association for Middle Level Education Annual Conference. We set out to share with middle grades educators from around the world the incredible, tech-rich teaching happening in Vermont schools. As we always …
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4 ways personalized learning plans are taking off in Vermont
Educators are embracing digital tools for planning and sharing Personalized learning plans, or PLPs, are non-traditional pathways by which students can navigate from entrance to graduation in a way that’s personally meaningful. By studying topics they’re passionate about, students continue to stay engaged; by collaborating on the plans with educators and family, students’ passions can …
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Is extra credit an equity issue?
What is the worst consequence of our best idea? That’s a question that Chris Lehmann, founding principal of the Science Leadership Academy, asks his team when trying out new strategies in their high school. It’s a question I want to pose to all teachers when considering issues of equity in our classrooms.
Testing unbound
Turn formative testing into a learning opportunity Wonder what words, when using free association, are conjured from folks when they hear the word TEST? Pulled quickly from my psyche are: anxiety, study, judgment, memorize, prep, control My guess is these are some common possibilities, but the word LEARN probably wouldn’t make most peoples’ list.
About that NPR piece on kids’ reading habits…
It’s the End of Reading As We Know It (And I Feel Fine) Something new and different for us today: we tried podcasting! And we’re disagreeing with NPR. I know! But listen: a couple weeks ago NPR ran a story covering this Common Sense Media study ostensibly showing that Kids These Days are reading much …
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Evernote with HUMS at EdTech Teacher iPad Summit!
Show of hands, who’s planning on attending the EdTech Teacher iPad Summit in Boston this week? Hm? While you’re there, make sure to catch TIIE’s Susan Hennessey, presenting with HUMS educators on their groundbreaking work with Evernote on the iPad for e-portfolios. Proficiency-based graduation requirements have never seemed so bewitching… Mirror, Mirror…Student Self-assessment …
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