Summer Reflections
Friday 10 July 2020
A few things to read ... and hopefully inspire
I always use the long vacation as an opportunity to refresh and recharge. This summer is providing particularly rich educational offerings, with online communities all over the globe leading webinars and ZOOM conferences to share learning as we prepare for going back to school.
In July I virtually attended Beaconhouse's conference, A world of tomorrow: Negotiating a better future, and was introduced to Portfolio School in New York.
They have a fantastic mission (see right) that is then articulated in the following learning principles.Based on research from Stanford, Harvard, MIT, and Columbia, Portfolio School is reinventing education.
- Students’ birth dates don’t define the learner’s journey…
Students are grouped based on level of independence and academic ability. - Learning doesn’t revolve around content requirements…
Student learning revolves around conceptual and practical understandings, which contextualize cognitive skills, character strengths, and subject-area content. - The school day isn’t divided into subjects…
Subjects are incorporated and contextualized into the projects. The school day is divided into deep learning time for long-range projects, as well as time for self-paced mastering of core skills (literacy, math), self-initiated challenges, and small group seminars. - Students don’t just have a GPA and transcript of letter grades as evidence of learning…
Students have a curated portfolio and a mastery transcript as evidence of learning. Our college advisors will be communicating with colleges and universities about the high level of rigor in the program and the value of the mastery transcript.
What are skills that are most important?
To navigate through the uncertainty, students will need need to develop curiosity, imagination, resilience and agency. To respect and appreciate the ideas, perspectives and values of others; and they will need to cope with failure and rejection, and to move forward in the face of adversity. Their motivation will be more than getting a good job and a high income; they will also need to care about the well-being of their friends and families, their communities and the planet.
The summer vacation is an opportunity to support teachers as they adjust to steep learning curves and become more familiar with hybrid learning models. Professional development can help teachers improve their online instructional design
HERE is a list of options for teachers. Summer Learning - Get ready for September
Developing a strong professional culture in school: Selected reading, Cat Scutt, October 9, 2019, Chartered College of Teaching. This is a collection of articles, blogs, tools and resources to help you build a strong professional culture.
Tags: summer reading 2020
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