student_centered

Holman Pirate Academy: Do. Reflect. Do Better.

Pirate Academy: Do. Reflect. Do Better.
by Dr. Sarah Moran and Maegan Bowersox Holman Pirate Academy is housed at Holman Middle School in the Pattonville School District, and is proudly located in suburban St. Ann, MO. Holman is a diverse community: of approximately 640 students, 38% are African American; 37% White; 10% Hispanic; 10% Multi-Racial; and 5% Asian, Native American, and Pacific Islander. Our students speak a variety of la...
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Singing the Praises of Personal Learning Goals

Stick figure singing
by Madison Calteux. Muskego-Norway School District While I love to sing and dance about math being a subject worthy of high praise, my theatrics only go so far to engage students. (And when I say sing, I do mean it somewhat literally; ask any Algebra 1 teacher about the song for the Quadratic Formula.) Fortunately, I have found when students can take charge (and be their own metaphorical choreo...
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Forging a Path Forward – Together

Image of tree lined path
by Paula Hough, Manhattan-Ogden USD 383 With 6500 students, USD 383 is large enough to provide a broad array of challenging educational and extracurricular programs, yet small enough to sustain strong relationships between students and caring adults. Amidst construction projects, grade level reconfiguration, new technology, and other changes, we always focus on teachers and professional learnin...
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The Magic of Beginnings

The Magic of Beginnings
by Dria Setter, Professional Development Specialist “And suddenly you know: It's time to start something new and trust the magic of beginnings.” ― Meister Eckhart My beginning with the Institute for Personalized Learning coincided with the beginning of 2019, and I couldn’t be more excited to start “something new”.  I have spent the last 19 years in the world of education, and have had the privi...
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Shifting Paradigms

shifting paradigms
Moving from an instructional paradigm to a learning paradigm The instructional paradigm, still in place in most schools, was primarily designed to support the function of teaching, or more specifically, the delivery of information from instructor to student. For practical reasons the design favored efficiency, which led to batch processing of students, segmentation of content areas, and credits b...
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