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 ...
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...