Strategy: Provide non-verbal options for participation
Promote Equity of Voice: I use protocols and methods to ensure all learner voices are heard. Personalized Learning Strategy: Provide Non-Verbal Options for Participation Not all learners are prepared to participate by speaking out loud. Technology can be used to provide polls or virtual chat spaces, such as polleverywhere, mentimeter, and padlet. If you want a low-tech way for students to non-verbally participate, have them write on post-it notes, use hand signals or write on whiteboards that they raise in the air. These opportunities provide ways for learners to engage in the thinking and ...
Strategy: Host Daily Whole-Class Meetings
Build Community with Learners: I build learners' ability to be in a community with others, especially those of different backgrounds, identities, and strengths. Inclusive & Equitable Learning Strategy: Host Daily Whole-Class Meetings Whole-class meetings, often referred to as morning meetings in elementary school, is a dedicated time for the whole class to come together and discuss a variety of topics that are not strictly academic. These can be morning meetings at the beginning of the day, closing circles at the end of the day, or opening of class meetings for secondary schools. Ideally, they ...
Strategy: Move On When Ready
Modify Path or Pace: I use quantitative and qualitative evidence to understand individual strengths and opportunities to co-design personalized learning paths with learners Competency-Based Learning Strategy: Move On When Ready Learners are empowered to progress through the learning experience based on their demonstration of the desired skills and knowledge. This can be as small and contained as learners working through the writing process at their own best pace based on formative checks, or as comprehensive as not moving on to the next unit until mastery of the prior learning objectives is demonstrated. For learners ...
Strategy: Data Trackers
Modify Path or Pace: I use quantitative and qualitative evidence to understand individual strengths and opportunities to co-design personalized learning paths with learners Competency-Based Learning Strategy: Data Trackers When learners track their own progress, assessment for learning (formative assessment) quickly becomes assessment as learning. Learners figure out where they are in their learning and how they learn best, which is powerful. Ideally, learners track their proficiency in specific skills, standards, or competencies - this can be done on paper or digitally. Be sure to create time and space for learners to both track and reflect on their ...
Strategy: Support Learner Self-Assessment
Assess formatively: I frequently use a variety of formative assessment methods, including self-assessment, to monitor progress and guide educators’ and learners’ next steps in the learning process. Competency-Based Learning Strategy:Support Learner Self-Assessment Self-assessment is empowering learners to consider where they are in their own learning by intentionally creating transparency of the learning process and creating a safe space to make mistakes. Self-assessment is often supported by a rubric or other criteria for mastery. When learners know where they are and where they’re going, motivation and engagement increase. Bright Spots Gain inspiration from authentic examples of ...
Webinar Recording: Revealing Our Secrets: Professional Learning that Makes an Impact
Katie Martin and Bryanna Hanson share what educators want in their professional learning experiences and where to find it.
Strategy: Use Discussion Protocols
Promote Equity of Voice: I use protocols and methods to ensure all learner voices are heard. Personalized Learning Strategy: Use Discussion Protocols It’s common for whole class or small group discussions to turn into a handful of learners spending the majority of the time talking. There are a few ways that educators can ensure and promote equity of voice through discussion protocols: Build think-time into the discussion protocol. Some learners think very quickly and will be the first to talk or raise their hands. Building in think-time for all learners before calling on them ...
Strategy: Interview Learners
Solicit feedback: I solicit learners’ feedback about their classroom experience and use it to improve and iterate. Personalized Learning Strategy: Interview Learners Feedback from learners is a gift and although surveys provide valuable information, an interview is an opportunity to ask open-ended questions and truly listen. Different from surveys, interviewing learners, whether it be in a 1:1 setting, as a small focus group or a large forum, allows for more nuanced responses and follow-up questions that can help you, the educator, better understand the student perspective. Start with asking learners what is working for ...
Strategy: Classroom Feedback Surveys
Solicit Feedback: I solicit learner's feedback about their classroom experience and use it to improve and iterate. Personalized Learning Strategy: Create & Administer Your Own Classroom Feedback Surveys Provide a feedback loop for learners to share their input with you. It’s important to understand the experience that learners are having in your classroom. By creating your own surveys you can get personalized feedback based on recent learning experiences and use that feedback to make real-time improvements to your practices and classroom culture. Bright Spots Gain inspiration from authentic examples of this strategy shared ...
Strategy: Nurture Gratitude
Plan & Design for Equitable SEL: I design learning experiences that develop social and emotional skills and model my own social-emotional learning for learners. Inclusive & Equitable Learning Strategy: Nurture Gratitude Gratitude is a powerful tool for teachers—both for personal and classroom applications. It can be used to help establish a healthy classroom culture as it increases feelings of optimism and joy, decreases anxiety and depression, and helps students feel more connected to their community. Grateful people have been found to experience less envy, resentment, and frustration as well. Bright Spots Gain inspiration ...
Strategy: Teach Self-Regulation Techniques
Plan & Design for Equitable SEL: I design learning experiences that develop social and emotional skills and model my own social-emotional learning for learners. Equitable & Inclusive Learning Strategy: Teach Self-Regulation Techniques The concept of self-regulation does not just apply to a child's emotional health; it also influences a child's cognitive ability. The ability to notice and name feelings and then regulate emotions to be more in control of actions is a critical foundation for learning. Bright Spots Gain inspiration from authentic examples of this strategy shared by teachers who have used them ...
Strategy: Use Art to Get to Know Learners
Build Relationships: I invest time to get to know my learners and for my learners to know me. (Authentic-Spark Collaboration) Equitable and Inclusive Learning Strategy: Use Art to Get to Know Learners Research consistently shows that when students have supportive relationships and feel known at school, learning accelerates. Making consistent, strategic efforts to deeply see and know your students will provide a powerful foundation for learning. Bright Spots Gain inspiration from authentic examples of this strategy shared by teachers who have used them with their learners. Creating your own Bright Spots? Let's get ...
Strategy: Conferencing as an Assessment
Assess formatively: I frequently use a variety of formative assessment methods, including self-assessment, to monitor progress and guide educators’ and learners’ next steps in the learning process. Competency-Based Learning Strategy: Conferencing as a Method of Assessment Teacher-student conferencing is a one-on-one conversation between a teacher and a learner to discuss the learner’s learning progress. It allows teachers and learners to gather information about what learners know and understand, what they are struggling with, and what they need to work on. This information can then be used to adjust instruction and provide additional support as ...
Strategy: Checks for Understanding
Assess Formatively: I frequently use a variety of formative assessment methods, including self-assessment, to monitor progress and guide educators’ and learners’ next steps in the learning process Competency-Based Learning Strategy: Checks for Understanding Checks for understanding quickly measure whether learners have mastered the material they are learning. They highlight the process of learning for both the teacher and the learner and provide a safe space for the learner to make mistakes. These checks can take different forms, such as 3-5 questions, discussions, or performance tasks, and can be used at different times during a ...
Strategy: Station Rotation
Modify Path or Pace: I use quantitative and qualitative evidence to understand individual strengths and opportunities to co-design personalized learning paths with learners Competency-Based Learning Strategy: Station Rotation Station rotation empowers learners to rotate through different stations or learning activities, each designed to meet their individual needs and learning styles. Ideally, stations include a variety of learning settings: independent (ideal for DOK levels 1-2), collaborative (ideal for DOK levels 3-4), and teacher-led (responsive and tailored to the strengths and needs of the group). Bright Spots Gain inspiration from authentic examples of this strategy ...
Strategy: Using Exit Tickets
Assess formatively: I frequently use a variety of formative assessment methods, including self-assessment, to monitor progress and guide educators’ and learners’ next steps in the learning process. Competency-Based Learning Strategy: Exit Tickets Formative assessment is meant to provide information during the learning process. Exit tickets are a way to know if learners “caught what you taught” by simply asking them a question or two before they leave the class or end a lesson. Ensure that the formative assessments are given with time for you and your learners to do something with the information that ...
Developing a Framework for the Future Informed by Learners, Industry, and Higher Ed
How a rural Pittsburgh district developed a Framework for the Future Informed by Learners, Industry, and Higher Ed
Strategy: Cooperative Learning Strategies
Develop Collaboration Skills: I design and facilitate learning experiences that foster students’ collaboration skills. (Authentic-Spark Collaboration) Authentic Learning Strategy: Leveraging Cooperative Learning Strategies Cooperative learning strategies, often called Kagan strategies, are low-lift and low-risk ways for students to engage with each other while learning. They are structured ways to break up a direct instruction lesson and ask students to collaboratively process information. Bright Spots Gain inspiration from authentic examples of this strategy shared by teachers who have used them with their learners. Creating your own Bright Spots? Let's get them out into the ...
