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Entries by Guest Author
Assessment: The Game Changer
At Moriarty Elementary School in Moriarty, New Mexico, our process of collaborating professionally has changed dramatically over the past 18 months. When we began the journey, the idea of gathering . . . Read more
One Teacher Leader's PLC Journey
Note: This blog post has been adapted from an email that Joshua Curnett sent to the staff at his PLC. It's February, the time of year when I cannot remember my name. It's (picture me . . . Read more
Channels and Eddies: Getting Students Downstream
We can consider the way our students have learned over the first half of the school year as sort of river: a river’s water moves in a powerful way in its deepest parts, but at the . . . Read more
Finding Meaning in Texts
While reading over fall break, I kept finding ideas about collaboration and success when I wasn’t really looking for them. I dog-eared a few pages in a few books to save the places because . . . Read more
Peers Helping Peers: An Update
In my previous post, I described a new program that I and others are working on to improve the performance of students who struggled last year as freshmen, and I said I would report back when we . . . Read more
How Can My Child Get the Good Teacher?
What parent doesn’t want to sigh in relief as they read their son’s or daughter’s new class assignment and see that their child got the “good teacher”? But not every . . . Read more
What Does It Mean to Be a Viking?
Dave Wedlock's "What Does It Mean to Be a Viking? Collaboration and the Commitment to Continous Improvement as Core Values" is reposted here with permission from the author. In a . . . Read more
Success Looks Different in a PLC
Josslyn arrived as a new student in our second grade, ready to learn, and sporting a pink streak in her dark brown hair. The file showed her previous school had given her extra support as she . . . Read more
High Levels of Learning for All
Invent a low-cost incubator to reduce infant mortality in India, create a documentary about starring in a West End production, or design and market a product that will revolutionize . . . Read more
Peers Helping Peers
Five summers ago, my professional life was permanently changed when I attended my first PLC conference. I frankly went with an attitude of “here we go again . . . ,” having been . . . Read more
10 Years In: Time to Reboot
At the core of the PLC model is a school culture and system that clearly identifies what students need to know, measures and tracks individual student mastery, and applies instructional . . . Read more
Clarifying the Shifts in 21st Century Learning
It seems like everyone is talking about 21st century learning, but clarity on the distinctions between education in the past and education in the present is often muddled. Many people are also annoyed by the description of 21st century learning since… Read more
A Physics PLC: Collaboration at a Distance
This year my school district, like many others, implemented PLCs (Professional Learning Communities) as the driving force behind how we collaborate to help students learn. The directive was that all teachers should… Read more
From the PLC Summit: DuFour’s New Assessment Resource
Rick DuFour kicked off day two of the Summit here in Phoenix with the release of a new assessment resource called a Data Analysis Protocol (PDF). It’s a worksheet that teams can use to ensure . . . Read more
Congratulations Marc Johnson! 2011 AASA Superintendent of the Year
Earlier today we featured the great success of the Sanger Unified School District. Sanger was chosen by the DuFours because in 2003, Superintendent Marc Johnson had a vision—to improve . . . Read more