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Let Flexibility Lead To Alignment

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  In my previous school district, I was the only teacher teaching a physics course with set, district-wide learning outcomes. These same outcomes were also taught in physics classrooms at the other high school in our district. But at our school, I was one of the 2 physics teachers. The other teacher taught the AP-level physics courses. So, in many ways, I had opportunities to incorporate strategies I believed were best for learners and that I found worked best for them without being seen as out of alignment with anyone in our building. My amazing friend and one of my teaching philosophy goddesses, Katie Novak, stated the following misconception about alignment: All teachers must deliver instruction in the exact same way. True alignment, she says, is about shared goals, rigor, and outcomes. Thank you, Katie! Katie has taught me to truly believe that learner variability is the rule, not the exception. I encourage you to take 10 minutes to listen to Katie Novak explain it in the ...
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The Golden Ticket.

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Three years ago I received an invitation to a meeting. The invitation was scant on details but it inspired a great deal of curiosity in me.



You can't imagine how confused I was about what was to come.

The first question was, "What's and Un-Committee?"

We were given this video link to watch in advance.


Little did I know, I would learn about how progressive the leadership in my district was. The meeting would fundamentally change educational practice in my classroom.  It would give me license to create my ideal learning environment.


Over the next couple of weeks, I hope to look back on the process through which I was introduced to the framework of personalized learning and reflect on my initial proposal for change I made almost 3 years ago.
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