Things I'm reading, listening to, finding interesting, finding challenging... Research Study: Abstract of study Experience of Otherworldly Phenomena (UMass); the complete paper Sensing the presence of gods and spirits across cultures and faithsPodcast: Rough Translation--a recent and intriguing findPodcast: CodeSwitch--still listening....still inspiredArticle: "High Quality IEP Goals" by Christine Penington--I particularly like her question "which skills… Continue reading Inspirations, III
Category: UDL in Practice
a gift freely given, again
I am grateful, again, to my co-teacher, Donald Cook, for giving me the opportunity to spend two weeks with his elementary kids in summer school this year. In the time that I was able to be with DJ, and especially with the fourth and fifth graders, I watched the students grow, even in the space… Continue reading a gift freely given, again
A Lesson in Empathy
When I first began teaching at Parker Charter (Devens, MA), I encountered a phenomenon that was new to me: parents would register their student at the school, but not tell us that the student had an Individualized Education Plan (IEP). We'd spend a few months with the kids, becoming increasingly concerned about performance and achievement,… Continue reading A Lesson in Empathy
An Experience of True Co-Teaching
I believe strongly in the importance of having high-quality virtual education in order to meet the needs of a wide range of students. That includes, of course, summer school programming as well. At first, I had wanted to teach summer school this year, but it became clear in June that I did not have enough… Continue reading An Experience of True Co-Teaching
What’s Math Got to Do With It?
Please forgive the indulgence, but this is a different kind of blog post. Over the winter, I read What's Math Got to Do With It?: How Parents and Teachers Can Help Children Learn to Love Their Least Favorite Subject by Dr. Jo Boaler. Where was SO MUCH inspiring that I just collected all of the… Continue reading What’s Math Got to Do With It?
Using Jamboard to Rethink Vocabulary
I have the honor of working for ten hours this summer with a colleague, Jack Czajkowski, an 8th grade science teacher at Greenfield Commonwealth Virtual School. It's an open-ended work assignment and we have been free-range on topics and discussions and working on what catches our eye, but we did work through a full draft… Continue reading Using Jamboard to Rethink Vocabulary
The Power of Preview
Prior to spring 2021, I didn't think of myself as someone who was a stranger to cancer. After all, my paternal grandfather had died of lymphoma when I was in high school and a good friend had lost her mother when we were both young. Recently, a colleague and friend had successfully ended a bout… Continue reading The Power of Preview
We all need a sidekick
In mid-February 2021, I took two online professional development trainings in a week. The first was the 6-hour MicroCredential Training called "Building Belonging in Virtual Environments" with the National School Reform Faculty; the second was the Math Leaders Network run by DESE, the Massachusetts State Department of Education. While different in structure and content, both… Continue reading We all need a sidekick
Templates and Revision: Energy-Saving House
If you have read any of my posts or if you follow this blog, you probably know by now that I love a good "template." You might call a template a "graphic organizer;" I think of them as templates because my goal is to provide a reproducible structure that does not give away answers, but… Continue reading Templates and Revision: Energy-Saving House
“a freely chosen task”
I'm writing the draft of this blog post in the last week of May and am planning to publish it in about three weeks, or in the last week of school for us. I've never done a virtual-school-last-day-of-school, so I'm curious to see how we close out the school year virtually, what rituals and activities… Continue reading “a freely chosen task”
Universal Design for Learning 