Mo Physics Mo Problems

This is the essence of Universal Design for Learning (UDL). Our task, as educators, is to design learning experiences where all students can be equally empowered, challenged, and supported. To do this, we have to be proactive about identifying and eliminating barriers that prevent inclusive learning and innovation. Couros, G., & Novak, K. (2019). Innovate inside the box: empowering learners through Udl and the Innovators Mindset. Place of publication not identified: published by IMpress, a division of Dave Burgess Consulting, Inc. Andelee Espinosa and I teach in a very traditional looking high school. But, our physics class is not your typical physics class. Our co-taught physics classroom includes a wide spectrum of learners. Not only those who would not traditionally be in the physics classroom, but those who only a few years ago would be in a self-contained classroom. So how can we meet the needs of all learners in a college prep physics classroom when all of the learners...

One of the goals of many new standards being proposed across the nation and globally from CCSS to NGSS and ISTE is to put students at the center of the learning experience. To "take ownership" over the learning. Katie Martin in her book Learner Centered Innovation lays out the 10 Characteristics of Learner Centered Experiences. If you haven't read her post highlighting the characteristics, read it here.  As I look to align my curriculum for the upcoming year, it is not as easy as it sounds. In a passion project situation student questioning leads them to new understandings that take them beyond content goals of my classroom. But when student questioning is supposed to lead to content (and skill) mastery it can become tough to guide that process. That is one of my biggest fears about our upcoming school year. When students ask questions, how can we honor them. In our new science standards every unit is guided by a real world phenomenon that addresses the content ou...

During a discussion on Personalizing Learning lead by Dr. James Rickabaugh, he recommended Visible Learning by John Hattie as good source for the research that went into some of the practice behind the personal learning framework.  I was able to read Visible Learning for Teachers  by John Hattie over the weekend and was able to see how the data backed up many of the practices behind the personalized learning framework.  At the heart of it all though is that students take control of their own learning to greater degree. I attempt to summarize my learning, I created the diagram below.  I want to use it as a guide for design and implementation of learning in my classroom.  I made it in a couple of hours so this is really just a first draft.  Any feedback would be appreciated! Here's a more dynamic view of the Google Drawing: What sticks out to me is that the student is identifying gaps, planning how to close those gaps, and monitoring prog...

If you haven't read about our sharing of the personal learning project, you can read it here . This post will focus on reflections on the project and process.  After getting some informal feedback from students on the project, I created a Google Form to collect some class data on the project to have in addition to the feedback presented in the portfolio from individual students.  The questions were guided by theses informal conversations I had with students.   Student Reflection What follows will be some class data in addition to a few individual reflections: Freedom of choice (1 = strongly disagree 5 = strongly agree) "I felt like by choosing my projects I used my time more productively because I was  researching something I actually wanted to research." "The thing I enjoyed the most was the freedom that we got to choose an idea that appealed to us. This is a stunning change to normal class projects where the teachers choose what you lea...

Students wrapped up their personal learning project today.  On exam days, our classes met once in the morning and once in the afternoon.  The morning was for sharing and the afternoon for putting all of their learning process pieces together.  I'll focus on reflection in my next post, but it was tough for me to see how I gave students such free freedom in their learning but dictatorial control in their sharing. Morning Session In the morning, students did a gallery walk of the one sheet posters. The one sheets were created using the student's program of choice.  Many used graphic friendly sites like Canva or Pickochart, but using Google Docs or Draw worked fine for others thanks to the host of formatting available to text and visuals.  During the gallery walk, students walked around the halls with a smartphone or tablet and a pair of headphones.  By looking at a one sheet displayed on the wall, they were informed about the topic and the process o...

I'm going to keep the text of this blog short because the real action is in the videos in the Storify below! Today was our final collaboration with Angela Patterson, Kate Sommerville, and TEAM Togetherness of the year.  We decided to take the marble roller coaster project we do over the course of a week in AP Physics to study conservation of energy, rotational motion, and centripetal forces and bring it to the 4th graders.  In order to scale down a 5 day activity into a 2 hour time frame, we changed the ultimate goal just a bit. The design challenge for the teams was to build a marble coaster which had 3 obstacles. Obstacles could be hills, loops, jumps, or corkscrews.  Each team was made up of a group of 4th graders and 2 - 3 AP students serving as coaches. The role of the coaches was to Help complete the team’s vision and stay within the rules. Aid in construction and making the 4th graders' design ideas a reality. Let the 4th graders fail, help the...

We had our last book club PLC meeting of the school year.  Now, we only made it through chapter 2 of the book.  But, we had some very good discussions and I think everyone in the group has a better grasp on what it means to personalize learning. Today, we were lucky enough to have the author of the book Dr. James Rickabaugh in for a Q & A session.  I used Periscope for the session.  Because of using Periscope, the quality of the videos I have added below is less that great.  But the message is not.  Regardless of where you are on the continuum of understanding the "why", "what", and "how" of personalized learning, these are must see! (or listen - I posted a SoundCloud link at the bottom of the post) Question:  What is the history of personalized learning and the honeycomb model? Question:  How do we know personalized learning strategies work?  What research guides it? Question:  How can teachers is traditiona...

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 t...

As far as PD options go, I love my podcasts and Edcamps. I always find great opportunities to learn from conventions and the menu of PD options we have at a building level every Thursday afternoon. But the most influential PD for me are site visits. Today, I was able to visit Verona Area High School to get some insight into how they are deploying the personalized learning framework to such great effect.  But, this opportunity for my PD doesn't just happen. It requires great support from key stakeholders. The first is the leadership in my district. The leadership in the Elmbrook School District has always been supportive of my PD “asks” when they start with a reasonable “why”. My building principal Brett Greutzmacher understands that reflection is an essential and powerful tool for improving practice. Brett knows that mirrors are great, but he believes that windows to the great educational landscape are what lead innovation. His support in allowing me the time to do t...

As a teacher trying to personalize learning in my classroom, technology has been a key to my ability to efficiently move the dial in meeting learners needs. Whether it be Canvas, Pear Deck, Or Google Apps, they all have a place in the learning environment I'm working in. One key tool I have revisited over the past week is Class Dojo.  Now don't think of this type of dojo. It is true that fear does should not exist in Class Dojo. The fear of try something new. The fear of failing. But unlike the Cobra Kai Dojo, Class Dojo does not look to treat all learners the same. It recognizes their differences. In this post, I’d like to take some time to discuss how Class Dojo can be used to effectively incorporate key elements from the Honeycomb Model developed by The Institute for Personalized Learning . What is Class Dojo? For those of you who are unfamiliar with Class Dojo, here are a couple of quick introductory videos. Rapid Cycle ...