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Thank You for 20 Years.

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After 20 years of teaching at Brookfield Central, I am saying goodbye. Although I spent the majority of that time in the physics classroom alongside my learners. That changed for my last 18 weeks. I ended up in a place similar to where I started, teaching chemistry and biology. So, rather than dealing with juniors and seniors at the end of their high school careers, I was in classrooms with freshmen and sophomores still trying to find their place. At the same time, I was learning and teaching a set curriculum I hadn't taught in over a decade. So, we were learning. But, of course, I already knew the content.  The point of this post is to take a step back, take in, and share the gratitude from the last students I had in my 20 years at Brookfield Central High School through the cards and notes they made for me on my last day with them.  I don't take many yay me moments. But after 20 years, I think I'll soak this one in.
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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.

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  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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