by Shelley Wright | Mar 7, 2011 | Less Teacher, More Student, Voices
Changing to a student-centered, skill-based, technology embedded classroom is scary business. I think all teachers must have times when they’re faced with the decision to continue on the safe road that they know, or radically depart on a way that they believe to be better, but the specific route and outcomes are unknown. In all honesty, sometimes I’ve chosen the former, and sometimes the latter. For the last five months, I’ve consistently chosen the latter, and they have been the most challenging and fulfilling five months of my career.
by M.E. Steele-Pierce | Mar 7, 2011 | Local Professional Collaboration, Voices
Unconferences are participant-driven professional learning gatherings. The “un†refers specifically to the fact that there is no top-down organization, no high registration fees, and no vendors. In the edcamp movement, the agenda is self-organizing, formed on-the-spot the day of the gathering. That’s the beauty of it, and also what makes people – especially some administrators – so nervous about it. How can you show up the morning of conference with a blank agenda and create what participants say is “the Best PD ever�
by Ed Allen | Mar 7, 2011 | The How of 21st Century Teaching, Voices
In this era where many of us understand the need for a true learning revolution, we often speak using words like critical thinking, collaboration, communication, and creativity. We call these 21st Century skills. The arts have incorporated these skills since humankind first picked up a brush or tapped out a tune. So here is an experiential post showing the power of the arts in schools, and how opening night in many ways is the ultimate project based assessment.
