One Family, Five Stories of Anytime, Anywhere Learning
Originally posted on November 8, 2017 for Youth Today So far on our journey through Jobs for the Future’s student-centered learning framework, you have met my son — the 6-year-old who spends his free time learning about ball players and building stadiums — and Taliq — an education entrepreneur and high school student in Rhode… Read More ›
Model Schools, Districts, Networks and States for Competency-Based Education
This article catalogues successful competency education models on many scales. It provides links to schools, both district-based and charter; districts; learning networks; and states implementing competency-based learning. The list of state’s implementing wider scale mastery-based systems include links to documents detailing lessons learned. Local and state education leaders, researchers, and policy-makers could use these lists… Read More ›
Bringing Students Into Professional Development
This article looks at the importance of including student voice in professional development for teachers. The author promotes this approach both as a way to improve PD and to empower students and strengthen relationships. He suggests inviting students to PD events or collecting feedback in advance. PD providers and educator leaders can use the included… Read More ›
Civic Preparedness in an Era Characterized by its Discord More than its Dialogue
Political discord is as old as politics. However, disagreement between people with different political perspectives has become entrenched, and often rancorous, in our era. Many choose only to listen to viewpoints similar to their own and opportunities for conversation across political differences are shrinking. Research indicates that people are (increasingly?) choosing a self-selection of news… Read More ›
How Metacognition Boosts Learning
This article presents strategies for boosting students metacognitive skills. It covers several studies that show the importance of understandings one’s thinking process to increase academic success on assessments. Next it introduces several strategies middle and high school teachers can use to help students better understand their own learning process. It includes specific questions teachers can… Read More ›
Owning His Learning and His Future: Taliq Tillman’s Student-Owned Learning Experience
Originally posted on October 18, 2017 for Youth Today I met Arthur 10 years ago at a principals’ convening. That night, Arthur and I talked about how to make students’ learning memorable and meaningful. Today, Arthur is one of our inaugural Students at the Center Distinguished Fellows. He is now a veteran school leader at… Read More ›
Visible Thinking Resources
This article, When Kids Have Structure for Thinking, Better Learning Emerges, looks deeply at how to best teach students about metacognition. It underscores the importance of thinking structures which, with continued use, provide concrete strategies to build thinking skills while deepening content learning. The article discusses work done by the Harvard Graduate School of Education Project Zero, which conducts… Read More ›
Creating a Peer Coaching Program to Grow Student-Centered Learning (Part 2)
In part I of this three-part series, I wrote about how Maine’s Biddeford School District created a peer coaching program to support our teachers as they spread a student-centered learning model across the district. Part II shares three of the most important lessons from the experience. Develop a plan that is closely aligned to your… Read More ›
The Art of Reflection
Student portfolios can provide an alternative way to assess student work. Yet, they can become simply a catalog of things students have learned or an add-on at the end of a unit. In this blog post, Beth Holland, Johns Hopkins University doctoral candidate and EdTechTeacher instructor, offers ideas to ensure portfolios truly support student centered… Read More ›
How to Build Community Leaders of Today—and Tomorrow—Through Student Genius Hours
This article describes how a middle school Language Arts teacher in Omaha, Nebraska has used genius hours to extend student learning and build agency, all while strengthening community. Jen Schneider introduced Genius Hour by allowing students 1 hour a week to work on a self-selected project. Students must set out to answer a question and… Read More ›
Waukesha STEM Academy Series
This four-part series featuring Waukesha STEM Academy (WSA) is part of a series on personalized, proficiency-based education in Wisconsin. This blog post gives an introduction to what’s happening state-wide. WSA is a competency-based school with personalized learning for all 300 students it serves. It spans grades 6-8, but students move at their own pace and… Read More ›
Want to Set Students Up for Success? Make Room for Vulnerability
This article, written by a student, describes the culture at One Stone school in Boise, Idaho. One Stone is a student-led and directed nonprofit committed to making students better leaders and the world a better place. The school is free and open to any student. Much of the work at One Stone occurs through Design… Read More ›