In my previous school district, I was the only teacher teaching a physics course with set, district-wide learning outcomes. These same outcomes were also taught in physics classrooms at the other high school in our district. But at our school, I was one of the 2 physics teachers. The other teacher taught the AP-level physics courses. So, in many ways, I had opportunities to incorporate strategies I believed were best for learners and that I found worked best for them without being seen as out of alignment with anyone in our building. My amazing friend and one of my teaching philosophy goddesses, Katie Novak, stated the following misconception about alignment: All teachers must deliver instruction in the exact same way. True alignment, she says, is about shared goals, rigor, and outcomes. Thank you, Katie! Katie has taught me to truly believe that learner variability is the rule, not the exception. I encourage you to take 10 minutes to listen to Katie Novak explain it in the ...
An ePortfolio is a chance for a student to make the argument that they have mastered all the objectives in a course. In the climax of Oliver Stone’s film JFK, Jim Garrison sums up his entire case by providing pieces of evidence in the hope of finding Clay Shaw guilty of conspiracy to assassinate President Kennedy. Although the accuracy of many of the facts in the movie have been brought into question, there is no doubt that the entire closing argument sequence of the film is a masterclass in editing and screenwriting. Stone uses multiple film stocks to create the sense of cinema verite alongside of stocks that denote a subjective perspective. If you have never seen it or haven’t seen the section in a while, seek it out. I could probably teach an entire semester course on it. The ultimate goal of the ePortfolio in my class is to take the place of a traditional paper and pencil final exam. The portfolio has a home...