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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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Don't Lock Curiosity Doors.

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I finally finished Stranger Things on Netflix over the weekend and I highly recommend it to any child or the 80's. It's a mix between classic Stephen Spielberg and Stephen King. One of my favorite laugh out loud moments involved the kids' science teacher. Here is an exchange between one of the kids and his science teacher Mr. Clarke. Mr. Clarke : Hello? Dustin Henderson : Mr Clarke, it's Dustin. Mr. Clarke : Dustin? Is everything okay? Dustin Henderson : Ye-yeah, I just, I, I have a... science question. Mr. Clarke : It's ten o'clock on Saturday. Why don't we pick this up on... Dustin Henderson : Do you know anything about sensory deprivation tanks? Specifically how to build one? Mr. Clarke : Sensory deprivation...? Wh-what is this for? Dustin Henderson : Fun. Mr. Clarke : Okay. Well. Why don't we talk about it Monday, after school. Okay?... Dustin Henderson : You always say we should never stop being curious, to always open any ...
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InstructureCon 2016 Volume 3: Return to Camp Canvas

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I've made my way through 70 sessions that were posted on YouTube from InstructureCon 2016.  Now, I didn't watch them all in totality. Certain sessions were focused on administration of a Canvas instance and as a classroom teacher, this is something that I don't have to deal with. There are a lot of great videos from the Con in which you can hear the stories of districts implementing and growing their implementation of Canvas. But I'd like to focus on a couple that I found extremely informative from the perspective of a classroom teacher. Join the LTI Camp Christy Steffen Noblesville Schools This is a great session for people who don't know what LTI tools are or who are already using them in their Canvas course. If you haven't investigated LTI before, this will give you a great place to start. If you're an LTI guru, you're bound to find something new. Using Canvas and Blogs for Student Publishing and Reflecting Terence Prie...
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When Technology Fails, Learning Can't.

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First day of school. This is what all of my summer has been leading up to, right? I've found great new tech solutions and ways to implement them.  I really thought I had found the golden goose in the New Google Sites Beta my district had access to.  I was ready to roll it out on day 1.  Students were going to create a site and personalize it.  They were going to be amazed at how easy it was to create a web site.  I was going to let the parents know all about it. Man, I was stoked.  The moment came when I was ready to show students how to make their own Google Site. I was walking through the first step on my teacher computer and the students told me that they weren't able to create a site like I did. Bwah?! Well, it turns out we have separate Google Domain names for our staff and students.  The new sites is available only for our staff.  Students won't have access until Google expands their Beta program in a month or so.  This writing ...
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InstructureCon 2016 Round 2: The Wrath of Con

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Canvas released another batch of session videos from InstructureCon 2016. I've watched 13 more sessions and there are so many great videos that speak to different roles in Canvas.  The videos I choose speak to my experience as an instructor. You can find all my favorites so far in this playlist . To find descriptions of my favorite volume 1 videos, go to my previous post. Hit the Bullseye with On-Target Curriculum Design KC Testerman Commonwealth Charter Academy - K12 Courtney Kofeldt Pennsylvania Leadership Charter School - K12 KC and Courtney walk you through their innovative way of designing lesson packages. The have built a predictable structure for students that allows for maximum personalization for instruction. It is great because the student experience moves away from constant scrolling to a turning the page experience. This is great for all Canvas experiences especially mobile. their design represents an empathetic view for the student experience not simp...
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Mo Portfolios Mo Problems: Version 1.0

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As we approach the school year, two big things have occurred that have made me realize that portfolios can be a place for literacy and learning to be reflected. The first is that we are going 1:1 with Chromebooks at the high school. The second event was our district being included in the Google Sites Beta.  The Beta represents a giant leap in accessibility for students who are able to use the core GAFE apps like Docs and Slides. What these two changes mean is that we can access to the portfolio anytime (no need to sign up for computer lab) and with ease (it will be a much less intimidating process).  Students who are familiar with GAFE apps will be more able to provide peer support.  They don't need to know the complex menus of the traditional Google Sites (Classic Sites). So, I'm calling this Version 1.0 because I'm really starting from scratch here guided by the work of George Couros and Vicki Davis with student portfolios. They have so many great resources th...
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InstructureCon 2016 Round 1: Personal Favorites

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Instructure, the company behind Canvas Learning Management System, holds a yearly conference called InstructureCon. The primary focus of the conference is use of Canvas by educators.  It is an educator driven conference with two days of breakout sessions and multiple keynotes every day.  Instructure is a super transparent company and has gone as far as posting sessions from the conference online so that all users can benefit from the learning. They have released 19 sessions in the first wave on YouTube.  I’ve watched all the videos and created a playlist of those that I think are most beneficial to educators in K - 12 environments that you can access by clicking here . You may not have time to watch all the videos, so I’d like to give some of my takeaways in attempt to tantalize you to watch the sessions that are relevant to you. The first video in the playlist " Canvas in Elementary School? Yes, You Can!"c reated by Courtney Cohron I wrote about in my last blog ...
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