I’d just wrapped a mini-lesson on using evidence to support a claim. The writers that filled up the room were shifting away from our meeting spot and toward the back of the room, where an assortment of loose parts awaited them: blocks and marbles, LEGO and clay, buttons and string, paint chips and paper clips. Pebbles. Acorns. A deck of cards. Markers. There were other things as well–a wide assortment of materials for students who…
This year found me recommitting to the work of daily documentation as a writer, a writing teacher, and a professional learning facilitator. This was a challenging and even overwhelming endeavor at times, but so very much worth the effort that I made. In fact, this project was so rewarding that I’ve already created new intentions for my documentation practice in 2019. These were my greatest moments of professional learning, and I wonder: If you were…
This post is my fifth and last in a series about organizational story writing. In the first post, I described the form and spoke about why organizational story writing matters. In the second post, I shared my approach for facilitating a listening session. The third post defined story writing as more than a mere marketing tool. It’s a process that leads to individual growth and organizational improvement. The fourth post focused on the importance of…
This post is the fourth in a series on organizational story writing: The first post defined why organizational story writing matters. The second included the interest survey and listening session protocol that I use with new clients during the pre-writing phase of the work. My third post framed story writing as a learning opportunity that can inspire improved leadership and organizational growth. Each of these posts includes links out to other helpful resources and tools…
This post is the third in my organizational story writing series. In the first post, I defined the form and shared ten reasons why organizational story writing matters. Then, I introduced a current client, Jackie James Creedon, in my second post. Here, I included the interest survey that I ask most clients to complete ahead of our work as well as the approach and tools that I use when conducting my initial listening session. These first meetings…
Jackie James Creedon shares a map of future soil testing sites in western New York State. Jackie James Creedon is the founder of Citizens Science Community Resources, an organization that is committed to promoting science-based activism and empowering grass-roots environmental justice and health campaigns. In 2014, Jackie received an award from the Environmental Protection Agency for her courageous efforts to lead an investigation in our community that took down Tonawanda Coke, a local factory…
I’ve been facilitating inquiry team meetings and helping teachers make meaning from standardized assessment data in New York State schools for well over a decade now. Experience has uncovered the good, the bad, and the ugly when it comes to understanding and responding to the information we’re provided. I know that certain protocols inspire the development of far better hunches than others, and establishing clarity about the purpose of the assessments and the limitations of…
Earlier this week, I recounted my first day of performance based assessment design with a new group of teachers and administrators. If you happened to read, you might remember that someone in the room that day shared a beautiful question, and the exchange that followed altered our design approach in significant ways. In essence, the question challenged us to consider how we might craft a performance based assessment that could help teachers develop closer relationships…
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…