Matt Meader has been a fellow of our regional Deep Curriculum Alignment project for some time now, and my first acquaintance with him was through this initiative. Today, I had the opportunity to hang out with him in-district, where I was asked to meet with his high school ELA department to discuss differentiated instruction. Naturally, this led to a conversation about web 2.0 tools, student engagement, and defining authentic purposes for our kids….and ourselves.

Take a peek at what Matt will be up to this summer. Now: get yourselves or your students involved.

Opportunities like this are incredibly exciting, not only for our kids, but for the adults who are involved in them, for our communities….for the world. As I listened to Matt speak about the curriculum he’s built for his summer institute, I literally had chills running up and down my spine. This is important work that he’s doing. It’s bigger than the stuff of standards and data and many of the things that traditionally consume classroom teachers. Again, this is authentic work: real learning that will make a real difference. I feel so fortunate to have spoken with him about this today.

And I’m grateful for other connections that I’ve made this week as well. Thanks to Will, Jenny Luca and her students were able to reach out to my daughter, Laura this week. We’ll be skyping Australia in a few short days, and not only that…Jenny and I are eagerly planning to recruit teachers and classrooms who may be interested in joining forces to make a difference for global causes that we will identify together. Andrea Hernandez has some great stuff in the works as well. HOW COOL IS THAT I ASK YOU? I could say more, but I’ll leave that to Laura and Jenny and Andrea and whoever else happens to jump on board over the next few months. Details will unfold as we begin to formulate more of a plan. We have an exciting year ahead of us.

When Laura conceptualized the purpose for her blog, I got this feeling in the pit of my stomach. It just felt incredibly right, incredibly promising….incredibly good. I had this sense after connecting with Jenny, and I have the same sense about what Matt is doing with Buffalo for Africa. These are the places where real learning occurs, and I feel incredibly blessed to be aware of them and to be involved, where I can be.

There is room for everyone, you know.

Let me know if you’d like to have a part in what unfolds with Laura’s project, and for more information about Buffalo for Africa or the Summer Institute that Matt Meader is leading, please email him at mmeader@hamburgschools.org.

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  1. Exciting times lie ahead Angela. Looking forward to seeing where this leads us.
    Jenny.

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