Rowland Foundation

"Rather than worry so much about graduating all students college-ready, I have come to understand that the most essential education challenge today is to graduate all students innovation- ready."

This simple video makes the essential elements of PBL come alive and brings to light the 21st Century skills and competencies (collaboration, communication, critical thinking) that will enable K-12 students to be college and work-ready as well as effective members of their communities.

"The 6 Characteristics of A Successful Educator 21st century teaching skills ... an excellent account of the 6 main characteristics of people you should be around."

Interesting Infographic on the future of ed tech.  

"People spend about 2500 days of their life in school, time enough to develop an opinion about what was good and bad about their experience. We all know someone who is more than happy to share their stories and subsequent expertise in all things educational; teachers often complain that, almost alone among professionals, they are sitting targets for unsolicited advice on how to do their job."

This might be good to share with our own advisory board.  And pizza once a month sounds like a great idea anyway!

I like this question.  Maybe Amanda or Ann could use it?  Not sure who is teaching digital literacy these days, but maybe they could all team up?  Or the library might have some nice video editing equipment and we could host our own video challenge?

Documents via Sarah Bertucci from the Proficiency Based Graduation Requirement Workshop. Includes documents/pieces from Harwood, Vergennes, Big Picture.

Documents via Sarah Bertucci from the Proficiency Based Graduation Requirement Workshop

"the wisdom and foresight of Vermont" in rejecting some federal education incentives

"True innovative people have a certain drive and energy about them that you like to be around. They are always full of ideas and looking for ways to improve things. Keep in mind that they aren't born as black belts in these mental traits…they've developed them over time."

Great pieces to reflect on for personal professional development over the summer.

Written by a classmate of mine at Bread Loaf. On how to use (and how not to use) technology in the classroom. Short and thoughtful.

"I teach in an inquiry, project-based, technology embedded classroom. A mouthful, I know. So what does that mean? To begin with, I don't lecture. My students don't take notes, at least not in the traditional sense, and we don't read a novel and simply answer the questions. It means my classroom is a place where my students spend time piecing together what they have learned, critically evaluating its larger purpose, and reflecting on their own learning. It also means my students don't acquire knowledge just for the sake of acquiring it. They need to do something with it - that's where "project-based" comes into play. Finally, technology is embedded into the structure of all we do. It's part of how we research, how we capture information, and how we display our learning. It's never an accessory tacked on at the end."

Written in partnership with San Diego's High Tech High, this guide offers step-by-step advice on planning and managing extended, interdisciplinary projects, as well as useful protocols for critique sessions, templates for important documents such as project plans, and examples of high-impact projects.

A Step-by-Step Guide to the Best Projects Discover a project-based learning model that motivates students to pursue knowledge and drives academic achievement.