Failure Turns Into Success
Matt Scully, Director of Technology and English teacher at Providence Day School in North Carolina, had a “fail” last year. But he turned it around to one of the best learning experiences his students had ever had. “I’ve always liked the idea of a project-based learning classroom, a learning studio environment, but I’ve struggled with how to make it work,” he said. His Powerful Learning Practice experience a few years ago provided him with the tools to help “pull it all together.” But when he...
read moreAre You a Network Weaver?
I love the term network weaver. Not that I necessarily do it well, but the concept intrigues me. Nonprofits are weaving to help themselves grow in effectiveness, and it seems to me, we could do the same. What if you connected one teacher from your network to someone in your school? That friend from Australia to the seventh-grade history teacher? The innovative math teacher with the student exploring ways to help others? Network weaving needs to be intentional. I like this chart, which offers questions to see what kind of a weaver you...
read moreWhat About the Joy?
Powerful Learning Practice Community Leader Dean Shareski seems to be keeping my middle-of-the-night hours lately….but he was inspired by his recent birthday video for Alex Couros and this to write this post. (I vote #2, Dean.)
read moreNot Waiting for You
No one seems to like the term 21st century learner, but finding a substitute is tricky. And what about differentiation? Student-centered? What do they really mean? We dislike labeling but find the need to describe actions and people to a wider audience, even with the chance of being misunderstood. I’m going to throw out another one: Professional Development. Ask 10 people, and you’ll get 10 answers. I’d like to stop using the word because the lines between my PD learning and my own learning are becoming blurred. My work with...
read moreHarrisburg U. "Adopts" PLP
Ok, so this wasn’t our idea. But we’re still excited and proud that attendees of The 2011 Pennsylvania Educational Technology Expo and Conference (PETE&C) will have the opportunity to play “I Love Trees,” an Alternate Reality Game designed and managed by Harrisburg University of Science & Technology faculty. And it’s based on Powerful Learning Practice principles.Harrisburg University faculty members and PETE & C folks designed a game that would use information about Powerful Learning Practice, allowing...
read moreCreating Schools of the Future
Talk about Action Research. Mark Carbone, Chief Information Officer of Information Technology Services for the Waterloo Region Schools in Ontario, is taking that seriously. After much discussion with representatives from a local group of business folks, the School Board has decided to move ahead with a pilot program called Futures Forum for seven of its schools. The Back Story Two years ago, Mark and several Board members met with the Communitech people to discuss what schools could do to prepare their students for the workplace. What they...
read moreWhat We’re Up To
photo © 2008 Matt Reinbold | more info (via: Wylio) We keep finding fascinating ways to help teachers learn (and learn ourselves along the way). Here is some of what we’re up to: Sheryl and Susan will be attending NAIS at the end of February. Please stop by the booth and say hello! Kevin Honeycutt, a Community Leader, is the featured speaker at METC next week. He’s also speaking at the KC TechNet conference in a few weeks. Kevin also has speaking engagements at NCTIES and UCET coming up soon. Nancy Caramanico, Director of...
read moreSaving the World: Really
Saving the world could be a powerful way to get students involved in deep thinking. And getting students’ voices heard has been a primary focus for educators involved in changing schools for quite a while now. In an initiative to model the use of inquiry- based lessons with 21st century skills delivery, our Year Two PLPeeps plan to achieve this goal through the development of Student Advisory Teams, who will work alongside their teachers. Kevin Honeycutt, the Community Leader for our Year Two folks created the project with the Kansas...
read moreComing to a Theater Near You
Well, not really a theater. But PLP is proud to announce our Pecha Kucha Smackdown! Thanks to the overwhelming success of Powerful Learning Practice’s Pecha Kucha Night, we’ve decided to make this a regular event, open to the public, and pit Learning Community teams against one another in epic Pecha Kucha Smackdowns. Pecha Kucha is a new global presentation phenomenon that originated in Japan sometime during 2003. At the Pecha Kucha Smackdowns, each team of five will pick an overarching theme upon which to present. But this...
read moreYou Know You Want to Learn!
We do, too! That’s why you won’t want to miss our last TPACK Friday, this Friday at 5pm EST. This week we are highlighting Dolores Gende and Derrick Willard: Derrick Willard is a currently the Environmental Science teacher and the Science Department Chair at Providence Day School in Charlotte, NC. He has been experimenting with social media applications as instructional tools for the last two years. He also enjoys teaching people, especially kids, how to fish. Tearing Down Walls: using social media to expand...
read moreVoices from the Learning Revolution
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