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 practices around PLPs, goal setting, gamification, student-led conferences and the list goes on.
We are especially proud of our partner educators who have been selected to present at this year’s Vermont Fest.
How school change began with just one person, and just one podcast
We talk with Richmond Elementary School principal Mike Berry about how he’s using podcasts and other digital storytelling to help his students find their voices and prepare them to tell their stories as they move to middle school.
You can listen to our podcast episode here, as well as at SoundCloud, and on Stitcher, or you can download it and run away with it clutched to your person (our personal fave) or you can just read the nifty transcript*, below.
4th grade researchers share Capstone Projects with community
This past Wednesday, 4th grade scholars at Richmond Elementary School, in Richmond, Vermont, shared the results of their research with their families and community. They opened the doors of their school to family and friends for Celebrating Learning at Richmond Elementary School.
I had a chance to attend the event and spoke with some of the students about their research work.
Flexible learning environments have a physical component — and effect
CC BY 2.0: “Old school desk” by flickr user SandtoGlass, cropped. Original image here: https://www.flickr.com/ photos/ericabreetoe/ 7371020342/
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 shaking your heads the minute the image loaded. You’ve worked hard at banishing these ancient things from your rooms.
But here are some ways educators can make their physical classroom settings more flexible and responsive to student learning needs.
In case you’re just tuning in, podcasts are having something of a renaissance. People are finding themselves on treadmills or trapped in cars on their commutes back and forth to work and soccer practice or just out for a long walk with the dog after dinner. And in this do-more-be-more-right-now world, podcasts represent a great way to make use of that time by sneaking in a little PD.
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 practices around PLPs, goal setting, gamification, student-led conferences and the list goes on.
