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Showing posts from January, 2015

EdCamp Still Rules

  Looking Back at 10 years of EdCamps Oh how the time flies, EdCamp Madison is turning 10 this year!  It will be held Saturday, February 3rd at Sun Prairie West High School. Which can be found at 2850 Ironwood Drive in Sun Prairie Wisconsin from 8:30 am - 3:00 pm.  Get more information and register here: https://sites.google.com/sunprairieschools.org/edcampmadwi/home   I will always remember sitting in my first EdCamp opening session at the very first EdCamp Madison and having no clue what I was in for. So, I’d like to take this space to go over some of the basic rules of EdCamp. No One Will Pitch It for You EdCamps are unconferences. By this I mean that they have a blank slate of sessions for the day. There may be a few predetermined sessions, but ultimately the session topics are determined by attendees during the pitch & plan session that opens the day. If an idea gets pitched there will be a session on it. If a topic doesn’t get pitched, there won’t be a session on it. So, it i

Have It Your Way

It's finals time here at Brookfield Central High School.  It is a time for reflection as we give our final assessment for our course. I asked my students to reflect on which type of assessment allows them to best demonstrate their understanding. When growing up in the 70's and 80's, I remember there was a heated rivalry between McDonald's and Burger King.  Some may remember the argument over flame-broiled vs. fried.  But, I remember the difference between the Whopper and the Big Mac.  One you could have your way.  The other was so regulated, it spawned its own song. I collected feedback from my students on what helped them learn in my class this term.  The number one piece of positive feedback students provided was the ability to have individualized assessment options.  Below is my final feedback board of the year on "This Helped Me Learn". The number one piece of positive feedback based on this board is the ability to complete a mastery d

One Doc to Rule Them All

Over the course of the last two school years, I've been looking for the most efficient way for students to keep track of their progress towards objective mastery.  I've used several different forms in a single unit.  But, I've been looking for that one magical document to rule them all. In J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings , the dark lord creates a ring in secret to rule over all others.  It is a ring of darkness that gives power to the one who possess it.  It carries with it a great burden as well as it consumes the soul and becomes the be all end all of one's existence. Well, I wasn't exactly looking for a document forged in darkness.  I was looking for one that would give my students power over their own learning but not consume them or their souls.  I wanted a document that would reduce the number of progress and reflection documents my students had to keep track of.  The document I forged was able to come into being because of one major