On Friday, I was so pleased to be able to return to one of my favorite days of the year, High-Interest Day at Brookfield Elementary School. This is a day where I have been able to bring the concepts of physics to k-5 graders. You may be asking yourself, "Elementary students doing physics?" YES! Not just experimenting, but understanding the concepts behind the physics of electricity and sound. This is a very special day I have had the opportunity to be involved in since 2017. So, how are we able to bring the concepts of electricity and sound traditionally taught to high school 11th and 12th graders to the elementary level? There are a few keys 1) make it a hands-on experience 2) remove the mathematical calculations and make it practical. In the past, I had the luck of bringing a handful of my physics students with me to guide the elementary students through the concepts that they had learned over the course of the year. But in my new role as a Teaching and Learning Speciali
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 progress towards meeting that