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...
Our PLC book club meet this week to dig into Chapter 2 of Dr. Rickabaugh’s Book. Chapter 2 is a big one for educators as it is a breakdown of the Honeycomb Model developed by the Institute for Personalized Learning. Rather than try to tackle the whole thing at once, I proposed we start at the center with the Core Components and dig deep into the Learning and Teaching elements.
Each member of the PLC was given a choice as to which element they were most interested in. They were then asked to focus in on it and try to find some resources to share with that element. The resources could take the form of a lesson they tried or wanted to try in class that they believe represents that element. The resource could also be examples found online of how teachers can incorporate this element into their learning environment.
The plan was that we would start in small groups based on element chosen. The small groups would discuss that element and try to understand it more deeply through sharing of examples. After sharing in small groups, we would reassemble as a large group and share out on each element.
Well, it turned out that about half of our PLC were engaged in a separate PD activity this week and were unable to attend. That changed things a bit. We ended up having a discussion focused around our examples we posted to the common doc. Although we did not specifically discuss each element in isolation, the examples we discussed were not centered on a single element. In fact, they tied in several elements of teaching and learning. It was interesting to see how these elements don't work in isolation. So, sometimes it does become tough to discuss these elements in isolation. The best and most meaningful practices for students encompass multiple elements at the same time.
Below you will find our guiding document for the session. The links in the document weren't working for some users. I tried to fix them. Please let me know if you run into any issues. I'd like all the links to work. Since, like, that's the idea of resources. If you're trying to access links use the quick link to the document below.
Quick link to document.
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