PLP Pathways and Professional Community
Over the past few months I have continued my work focusing on my professional learning opportunities by staying connected with PLP Pathways. It is always so energizing to get together with other like minded teachers through out the state and talk about what is happening in our own classroom, as well as to problem solve collaboratively. Just this week I talked with Don Taylor about the link between PLPs and PBGRs.
I have continued to have a monthly hangout with a group of teachers on a variety of topics surrounding the implementation of PLPs. I wrote a blog article about the collaboration between 7th grade and 5th grade students here at PAML as a model to keep students engaged in their PLP. I was able to gather some data through a google form that has helped to remind me of the importance of multi-age opportunities.
Another opportunity that I had over the past few month was partnering with students at the Beyond Bullying Conference. At this conference I was able to work with students to design a presentation to give to both students from other schools and teachers from around the area on Digital Citizenship. It was a amazing way for me to develop professionally partnering with students in this way. I will continue to look for opportunities to develop professionally while partnering with students. One thing I want to look into more would be the Up for Learning organization and the work that they are doing around the state.
Learning Scales
For the learning scale development Jordy and I have really been grounding all of the work this year around the learning scales. We have our I Can statements clearly displayed, talk about them constantly in the classroom and think a lot about how we are breaking down the I Can statement into something that the students fully understand. We have been playing with the language of the scales and have been getting feedback from students about their reflections on their growth.
One great thing that happened with learning scales was the professional development time at Stowe this winter being able to share out with colleges. It was very striking as we were sharing how PAML is really progressing at a fast rate on our learning scales and that we are pretty aligned with our thinking and philosophies about how they are to be used in the classroom. I think that this provides a nice opportunity for learning from others. I am really looking forward to this work at Curriculum Camp this summer.
