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Less Physics Mo Problems

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Why am I writing this personal entry? Well, it is not an attempt to gain any sympathy. It attempts to show what is possible if a clear intention and goal serve the learner's needs.  In May of 2022 just near the end of another fantastic school year, I do not remember what happened. But, I was unable to finish the school year and was unable to teach the following year.  Why? On May 21st, 2022, I fell down a flight of 16 stairs (luckily carpeted) from the 2nd to 1st story of our home.  I was found at the bottom of the stairs. I was found foaming at the mouth. This would lead to a 2-month hospital stay which included an induced coma because my seizures would not stop, several rounds of lumbar punctures, and relearning basic physical movements like something as simple as being able to roll in the hospital bed. Simply put, when I was admitted to the hospital, I was diagnosed as being “critically ill.” Please take a moment and read those words: critically ill. They are not terms...
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Your Personal Canvas

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As a part of a recent professional development day at Brookfield Central, I gave a presentation covering how I have used the learning management system Canvas to add personalization to my assessments.  Even more than what I currently do, I higlighted how Canvas can be used to align formative and summative assessments to the same learning outcomes.  Once this is done, students and teachers can track progress towards mastery of learning outcomes.  
The personalized learning model our district is guided by was designed by Cooperative Educational Service Agency 1 http://www.cesa1.k12.wi.us.  The image below is a guide to the essentials of personalized learning. 



For more information about CESA 1 and their model of personalized learning, follow this link http://www.cesa1.k12.wi.us/programs/pers_learning_pd.cfm.

This presentation was not designed as a stand alone. So forgive me if there seems to be any gaps. 





I would love to discuss this further with any interested parties.

Comments

  1. AnonymousMay 6, 2015 at 7:00 AM

    Would you be willing to give a live presentation of this via Canvas conferences or Google Hangouts on Air to teachers in Oshkosh?

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    1. AnonymousMay 6, 2015 at 7:08 AM

      More context: We have just inked a contract with Canvas for our high school teachers. We are very new to personalized learning (at least in acknowledging it as a pedagogical phenomenon, many teachers have been doing some great things for a long time that weren't labeled such). I am a technology integration coach, and I'm teaching a course for UW-Oshkosh this summer on using technology to personalize learning. I would love to show some secondary teachers who other secondary teachers are not only using Canvas but rather focusing on instruction first (that's why you've chosen Canvas as your tool) and using technology to help gain greater choices, work towards mastery, and provide more specific, immediate feedback. We'd love to have you as a very informal guest speaker.

      If you don't mind, I'd also like to use your blog post "You Got Your Personalization in my PBL" with our course participants to help them reflect on assessment and personalization practices. I'm having particular difficulty with instructors who perceive their content to be so esoteric that students can't possibly have choices in the way they demonstrate understanding. It shouldn't matter, but what you teach will have particular weight with this demographic of instructor. Thanks for writing and posting!

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  2. Angela PattersonMay 7, 2015 at 4:14 AM

    Hi Mike! We'd love to pick your brain, too. You've seen how we use our own tech in our elementary world...canvas is required of us in the fall, as well. Scared, but eager to see the possibilities for our "littles" and how they are similar/different to your "bigs". Let's chat:)
    PS...we have a "Genius Hour" project on Newton right now! She asked to interview you!:)
    Team Togetherness

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