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Thinkers Who Inspire Me

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By now, quite a few of you who keep up with me here know that in January, Mark Barnes named me Senior Writer at his popular education site, Brilliant or Insane. I’ve enjoyed writing there several times each week, and I’ve been learning a ton about the technical and business side of blogging. Very grateful to Mark for that opportunity. If you enjoy the topics I write about in this space and have an interest…

Over the last several years, I’ve spent a good deal of time facilitating performance based assessment design with quite a few teachers in quite a few different places. This is challenging but very rewarding work, particularly when we’re able to replace tests with assessments that inspire kids to do things that matter for audiences that value their efforts and the products that emerge from them. I typically begin these sessions by asking teachers to reflect…

I’ve been working with the English Department at Starpoint Middle School for ten years, and those who know me well appreciate the high regard that I maintain for this particular group of teachers (and their colleagues at the K-5 level). Very few educators have the opportunity, talent, or tenacity to accomplish what this department has over the last decade, slowly and with very careful intention. I’ve watched them design (and redesign and map) their own curricula, sharpen their…

HAPPY NEW YEAR WESTERN NEW YORK EDUCATORS! This week, I’ll be sharing a series of posts relevant to standards based grading. Over the last three years, I’ve learned and worked beside several district and building leaders as they’ve laid the foundation for this shift, and although the process has varied from one system to the next, these educators share one common understanding: they know that standards based grading cultivates far healthier practices and perspectives about learning…

Anyone can write, but few people write exceptionally well. Myself included. I’ve been blogging for nearly eight years now, but I’ve always defined myself as a teacher who writes rather than a writer who teaches. I make no apologies for this, and in fact, if I had waited until I felt confident in my writing skills to share my stuff with others, I never would have grown as a writer. I wouldn’t have learned half…

Some may have noticed my absence from this space for well over a year. This was an intentional break inspired by my growing disappointment in how most people were choosing to engage online about the Common Core and its related instructional shifts, the New York State teacher evaluation system, and standardized testing. These are contentious issues. They are also important ones. I needed to be able to do my own learning and work away from…

This weekend, someone asked me who I read online. Here’s who I read, in no particular order. I’m wondering whose words inspire you. Who makes you think?  Who should I add to my feed? Kim Cofino’s Always Learning Brene Brown’s Ordinary Courage Design Thinking–Thoughts by Tim Brown Brainpickings The Burkins and Yaris  Blog Gretchin Rubin’s Happiness Project Make Christopher Lehman’s Blog Zen Habits National Geographic Vicki Davis’s Cool Cat Teacher Blog Papershine (quiet for a while now) Richard Byrne’s…

I just wrapped up my first Google Hangout book study with Michelle Helmer, Lauren Ormsby, Karen Kondrick, Margie Sweetman, and Erin Wheeler. We’re exploring Ron Berger, Leah Rugen, and Libby Woodfin’s text,  Leaders of Their Own Learning: Transforming School Through Student Engaged Assessment. I’ve worked in several Expeditionary Learning schools over the years. It was there that I became acquainted with learning expeditions and student-centered formative assessment approaches. So much of this work aligns with my personal vision…

This photo captures the thinking behind the most inspired moment of my week. I spent yesterday Gamestorming with a group of local English teachers in order to surface, prioritize, and resolve their emerging curricular needs. Once our work together was complete, we situated the games inside of a completely different context: lesson design. The anchor chart above reflects how we practiced using Post Ups, Clusters, Affinity Mapping, and Forced Ranking to help readers make…

I like my laptop, but I love Post Its. iPads certainly support the professional learning that happens in my sessions, but Post Its contain that learning and make it transparent and immediately to accessible to everyone in the room. We can touch each other’s thoughts and hold them in our hands. We can move them around and break them apart. We can remix them, and when we do, they change. And then our thinking changes. This…