Skip to main content

Thank You for 20 "Mo" Years.

By
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, reflect, and share the gratitude from the last students I had in my 20 years at Brookfield Central High School, as expressed 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'll soak this one in.
Post a Comment

My Professional Learning Universe

Image
By


As the Thanksgiving break comes to a close, I’ve had some time to reflect on all of those who shape my work in education.  I wanted to take a few moments to thank them for being a part of my work in the classroom with my students.  The all inform different parts of my practice. Much like the Marvel superheroes play their role in a bigger universe, the individuals form my Personal Learning Universe. You don’t need to acquire any infinity stones to gain their power, just follow them on Twitter.

Thought Leaders

These are the ones who help clarify my why. When I look for someone to challenge my thinking, this is where I start.
Dave Burgess
@burgessdave
Barbara Bray
@bbray27
George Couros
@gcouros
Kathleen McClaskey
@khmmc
Institute for PL
@Institute4PL
Allison Zmuda
@allison_zmuda

The How

It’s one thing to have a goal, it’s another thing to know how to use tools you never heard of.  This is where I go to discover new tools and strategies.
Matt Miller
@jmattmiller
Alice Keeler
@alicekeeler
Pear Deck
@PearDeck
Kasey Bell
@ShakeUpLearning
AJ Juliani
@ajjuliani
John Spencer
@spenceridea

Local Power

I’ve had the privilege to meet all of these local change agents face to face. They are the ones bringing great educational change to the state of Wisconsin.

Elmbrook Pride

At the end of the day, I need to have the support of those in my building and my district. These are the faces I go to when I need help or support.  They never fail to deliver in abundance.




Brett Gruetzmacher
@BGruetzmacher
Andelee Espinosa
@AndeleeEspinosa
Jeff Gryzwa
@gryzj
Dana Monogue
@DrMonogue
Katie Spadoni
@katie_spadoni
Amie Farley
@amielfarley


#IMMOOC

In the age of social media we can find inspiration from those who are practicing what they preach.  We never may meet face to face, but their words inspire me to keep going.

Carolyn Cormier
@ccormier_edu
Tamara Letter
@tamaraletter
Katie Martin
@katiemartinedu
Tara M Martin
@TaraMartinEDU
Meghan Lawson
@Meghan_Lawson
Annick Rauch
@AnnickRauch
Kristen Nan
@nankr1120
Lynn Thomas
@THOMLYNN101
Shauna Cornwell
@slcornwell

Of course there are many more who influence me. Any list formation is destined to be limited by the time one has to create it. But, I think this is a great start.  Thank you so much for your support of our shared work.

My first blog post was in November of 2014 and it’s become a great tool to reflect and share.  Thank you all for reading this far.  

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Twitter Cards for Blogger

By
So, I’ve been seeing people with beautiful Twitter Cards in my Twitter Stream. They make it clear that there is a web page to visit and give a quick preview of what would be found. Something like the one below: I’ve been wondering how to get one of the cards to appear when I tweet out a link to my latest blog post.  Since I use Blogger, there is not a simple button to click to turn this on.  I had to find a way to paste new code into the HTML code of my blog.  It took some searching from multiple sites to get a completely functional.   This site though was quite helpful.  But, I’d like to walk you through my process and hopefully it helps a few out. There are a few types of Twitter Cards.  Two that at most frequently see are the basic summary card and the summary card with large image.  Below you can see the layout of each, but realize that they both have the same content pieces. This is going to look like a lot ...
13 comments
Read more

Personalized Learning Tasks and Roles

By
Yesterday, I read a great post by Jim Rickabaugh dealing with the roles of learner and teacher in a personalized learning environment by looking at tasks . The roles were set up on a continuum. This article timed perfectly with a reflection on part of Students at the Center by Allison Zmuda and Bena Kallick on idea generation and task development I had in mind. These two works are the focus of my reflection here. I think a key misunderstand teachers have when it comes to digging into personalizing learning is that for planning purposes, we no longer begin with standards but with student desires.  I believe like all good instruction, we need to start with the standards.  Think about it, standards are what we want all learners to know and be able to do as a result of passing through our educational system. That is why it is essential that we make sure that standards are representative of what we believe is important for learners to be informed and productive in th...
1 comment
Read more

Pear Deck 101 + Q&A

By
  Last week, I presented as a part of Pear Deck’s Pear Fair 2020. My presentation was Pear Deck 101 for Google Slides. During the presentation, there was a live chat. Many people said it went too fast for a 101 Session. Luckily, it was recorded so it can be rewatched.  Also, many said that they wanted to know how to build a Pear Deck first. I structured the presentation to show what Pear Deck was before showing how to make one. Perhaps that wasn’t the best structure. But, I’m going to stick with my philosophy of showing what something is before showing how to make it. The presentation, which can be watched below, was structured in several different sections What is Pear Deck? Providing an overview of the experience from the Teacher and Student perspectives. How do you build a Pear Deck in Google Slides? How do you start a Pear Deck presentation? How do you end a Pear Deck presentation? Here is the Slideshow I shared during the session bit.ly/pearfair101 Time really flew in...
2 comments
Read more