Mo Physics Mo Problems

Sometimes I feel that there is a great misunderstanding when it comes to personalizing learning in the classroom.  The idea that in a personalized learning environment students are free to do whatever they wish. That they are creating their learning experience from scratch.  In a PL environment the learner’s strengths, challenges, and interests are essential to recognize. But like any learning environment we are familiar with, standards and outcomes are just as essential to learning in a PL environment. When I began looking at outcomes in my classroom years ago, I was focused on outcomes specific to a unit. So once an outcome was mastered, it wasn’t revisited. I had heard of other districts that were looking at overarching outcomes that were not unit specific and were practiced across multiple units of instruction. I had a hard time wrapping my head around the idea.  How would I be able to keep track of content proficiency if I only tracked overarching outcomes? As in most cas

I’ve spent the first part of my summer doing some professional reading and am ready to start putting that thought into my practice. As I've been reading, I'm aware that it's summertime. The time for infused waters to drink on a hot day and infused oils to accompany our garden fresh salads. As we look to bring habits of mind into our classroom we need to be cognizant that they are already a part of our classroom work.  But, we may not be including them explicitly in our assessment pieces.  As we look at our course standards we need to be sure that they are infused with these habits of mind and brand them that way. As I am aligning my course to Next Generation Science Standards, I am realizing that the overarching standards for my course will be based on science practices not simply content. When looking at these practice standards, it’s clear that habits of mind are deeply integrated in them. I have created proficiency scales for each of the practices and wil

For those of you who are unaware, I am a huge proponent and user of Pear Deck in my classroom.  If you’re unfamiliar with Pear Deck as a presentation tool that increases student interaction, please check out some of my previous posts .  My continued use is fueled by my students overwhelmingly positive response to the platform. It continues to be the #1 thing my students site that helps them learn in our classroom . So when Pear Deck announced a new tool, I was super excited to try it out. But, you don't have to have any familiarity with Pear Deck to use their new app. The new app is called Pear Deck Vocabulary or Flashcard Factory .  It is a collaborative vocabulary tool that features integrations with Google, Quizlet, and Merriam-Webster. Why is this a beneficial app? It allows learners to collaborate in going beyond simple definitions for terms or concepts. It asks students to collaborate to generate multiple representations for terms and concepts.  Then, it a