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Let Flexibility Lead To Alignment

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  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 ...
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Edutopia My Pedagogic Trainer

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So, you're scrolling through your Twitter feed and come across an interesting headline.  You hope to read it later so you like it, flip it, pin it, or email it to yourself.  But of course you never get around to reading it.

I discovered that the majority of the posts I plan to read come from Edutopia.  So I decided to try something this week. For 3 days, I'd spend 20 minutes reading posts directly from Edutopia's site and RSS feed. I limited myself to 20 minutes to see how much I'd get out of it. I was surprised by how many posts I burned through and got great insights from. I've listed some takeaways below:



  • Feedback should focus on effort not simply intelligence. This is feedback for a growth mindset.
  • Space should be given for teachers to try new things and make mistakes and reflect. This is growth mindset for professional development.
  • Am I willing to focus on motivation as a goal for unmotivated students? If so, I have to spend time focusing on it outside of the course content.
  • A program On Giants' Shoulders pairs middle school students who are unmotivated with high school students with similar interests for brief Skype sessions that benefit both.
  • Back channel chat tools can be a tool for peer to peer and teacher students communication and assistance during work time. Some back channels include Chatzy, Today’s Meet, or Ning.
  • My greatest weakness as a teacher is still opening and closing lessons with strong routines.
  • When preparing students for a performance assessment balance  teaching  content and preparing students for the task.
  • Problem-based learning is really just a subset of project-based learning in which the driving question asks students to solve a problem.
  • Periscope is a bridge to classroom presentations to parents and the world.
  • Test corrections are a great way for all students to practice argumentation and literacy. Here are some steps taken from a science class:1) Students write the problem. 2)Their original answer 3)Why they thought it was correct? (“I guessed” is not accepted) 4)   Correct answer 5) Evidence for correct answer

Alright, I'm stopping there, but there's so much more.  So, my resolution for 2016 is to spend 20 minutes 3 days a week READING posts from Edutopia.  I figure if I hold myself to post my findings, I'll stick with it. 


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