Books I finished reading (or rereading) in June 2022…
Hope you’re reading something fun too!
This year there are not one… not two… but THREE 4 Shifts Protocol sessions at the annual InnEdCO conference!
I do a basic introductory workshop on Monday. Gina and Robbi have created a fabulous workshop and I can’t wait to see their session in action on Tuesday. Then I will try and extend all of this work even further during my Wednesday workshop. Descriptions are below…
Monday, June 13
Redesigning for deeper learning and student engagement [2-hour workshop]
Scott McLeod
Many schools have created future-ready vision statements and college- and career-ready profiles of a graduate. But most schools still are struggling to transition their day-to-day classroom instruction to include more critical thinking, problem-solving, creativity, and other ‘future-ready’ student competencies in ways that are substantive, meaningful, and aligned to those vision statements and graduate profiles.
This workshop focuses on how to redesign classroom instruction for future-ready learning. We will use the free 4 Shifts Protocol to redesign lessons, units, and other instructional activities together for deeper learning, greater student agency, more authentic work, and rich technology infusion. The protocol contains concrete, specific ‘look fors’ and ‘think abouts’ that allow educators, coaches, and instructional leaders to shift students’ instructional work in deeper, more robust directions. The protocol is a useful complement to SAMR, TPACK, Triple E, and other frameworks that schools may be using, and also is an excellent capacity-building bridge to more complex inquiry and PBL projects.
This active, hands-on workshop is intended for teachers, instructional / technology coaches, and school leaders who are prepared to roll up their sleeves and dive into this important instructional redesign work!
Tuesday, June 14
A permanent pivot: [Re]design your lessons [2-hour workshop]
Gina Francalancia-Cancienne & Robbi Makely
This session incorporates Dr. Scott McLeod’s 4 Shifts Protocol and is designed to introduce teachers to practical skills to (re)design lessons focusing on deeper learning, greater student agency, more authentic work, and rich technology infusion. Teachers will learn to recognize the four shifts, evaluate ways to personalize the four shifts, (re)design a lesson, and use the four shifts to permanently pivot to incorporating the shifts into future.
This session is targeted for teachers PK-12, special education, literacy programs, gifted and talented classrooms, instructional coaches, and administrators.
Wednesday, June 15
Using blended learning structures to facilitate deeper learning [2-hour workshop]
Scott McLeod
New technologies give us new possibilities. In this workshop we will identify several different blended learning structures and how they might be used to facilitate students’ deeper learning, greater student agency, and more authentic, real world work. Station rotations, genius hours, flipped classrooms, flex models, and other blended learning strategies can create powerful pathways for our children. Bring a computer and come prepared to roll up your sleeves and engage in some active (re)design discussions!
This active, hands-on workshop is intended for teachers, instructional / technology coaches, and school leaders who are prepared to roll up their sleeves and dive into this important instructional redesign work!
Hope you’ll join us for one or all of these sessions!
Books I finished reading (or rereading) in May 2022…
I really enjoyed Street Data. It’s an introduction to qualitative / action research in education with a strong equity lens. I highly recommend it!
Hope you’re reading something fun too!
Books I finished reading (or rereading) in April 2022…
I finished all 15 books of The Wheel of Time series (again). Whew!
Equity-Centered Trauma-Informed Education is another incredibly strong contender for best book I’ll read in 2022. I learned a LOT.
Hope you’re reading something fun too!
If you didn’t know, I’m a huge baseball fan (Go Twins!). This year I’m particularly excited because I have not one but TWO fantasy baseball leagues. Woo hoo!
The first season of BlogBall started way back in 2008. All educators, all ‘edubloggers’ (thus the league name). We added a second league in 2009, and then a third league in 2010. That turned out to be too many, so we consolidated back to one league and have been going strong ever since. Most of the managers in BlogBall22 have been around since those early days. I’m grateful for their loyalty and dedication. They’re an awesome bunch of humans and baseball fans!
BlogBall22
This year I thought it might be fun to try a second league again. I started reaching out to folks and… voila!
Rounding for Home 22
We don’t play for money. Just bragging rights… You’re forewarned: I probably will post occasional updates here throughout the season.
Today is Opening Day. Play ball!
Books I finished reading (or rereading) in March 2022…
Changing the Subject is my early contender for best book I’ll read in 2022. I love it so much!
Hope you’re reading something fun too!
So these are front and center in our schools, right? Not content, right?
Image credit: World Economic Forum, 2020
Here are a pair of tweets for ya. So true…
What are students doing? (e.g., they’re building something, they’re cooking, they’re designing)
Where are the settings in which they’re doing it? (e.g., they’re at the beach, they’re in an art room, they’re out in a field)
How are they doing their work? (e.g., they’re collaborating around a screen, they’re talking to people on the street, they’re cutting boards)
Thanks for the resource, High Tech High!
Sad news out of Palm Coast, Florida…
Over 500 students at Flagler-Palm Coast High School protested the state’s anti-LGBTQ ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill yesterday by walking out of school for 20 minutes or so. The main organizer of the event was suspended ‘until further notice’ (which is illegal under U.S. Supreme Court precedent) by the high school principal for bringing and distributing pride flags to students. The principal told the student that he was ‘disrespectful and openly advocating against staff.’ Before the protest, the principal pulled the student aside and ‘voiced his opposition’ to the pride flags.
As the article in the Daytona Beach News-Journal notes, “students who showed up to the stadium with flags and other pride-related merchandise were blocked by administrators attempting to confiscate them.” Additionally, “students at the event said administrators circled protesters in the stadium, threatening them with discipline if they didn’t turn in their pride and LGBTQ+ flags.”
The school district spokesperson said that student leaders were told no flags prior to and at the beginning of the event “so as to avoid undue safety concerns and campus disruptions.” Here are the flags in question that apparently were a disruptive safety concern:
The school district superintendent also has banned the book, All Boys Aren’t Blue, from school libraries so there appear to be ongoing issues in the community regarding equity, acceptance, and inclusion.
As student bodies continue to become more diverse – and as LGBTQIA+ students and their families continue to advocate for greater acceptance of their human rights and dignity – it is imperative that school administrators figure out ways to move their school systems forward, not backward.
We need to do better than this.
