Welcome to our blog

This is the story of two educators on one journey. Each day we will record our reflections on the process of being involved in an innovative educational environment. The decision on our part to leave the public education system was deliberate due to our growing frustrations over the factory "one size fits all" model of education. This model has dominated the educational landscape and is not designed to meet the needs of the 21st century learner. Step one in our journey was to find a place that would allow us the freedom to break out of the system. We needed a chance to just breath and facilitate learning in the ways that we both know are best for children. That step has led us to Rosemary Beach Florida to work with the students attending the OH Institute. The OH Institute is a unique educational environment that we find humane. The curriculum focus is on the individual learner with an infusion of technology project based learning. Currently, it has 20 students in grades 4-11 all of whom are seeking something different than what the factory system of education has to offer. This is where our adventure begins...

Monday, December 20, 2010

Monday December 20th

Monday December 20:

Amy:

Today I had the opportunity to sit in on a call to Suzie Boss. It was really great to hear her thoughts about our work at OH and give us connections to other educators doing similar types of work. Who knew that Mike Muir in Maine was already doing virtual PBL work? It is exciting to see that we are not alone in what we are trying to accomplish.

It was especially neat for me to be in on this call because I just finished reading her book Reinventing Project Based Learning in the Digital Age. The book reinforced many of the things that Randy and I have already put in to place as well as gave me good directions to head with our PBL work.

On a side note it was just really really nice that someone like Suzie Boss would take the time to speak to us. What a great way to start winter break!

We also are going to bring on Kelly Meyers, Tim's sister, to help with the college admissions process for our HS students. This will be a huge weight off my back and a great asset to the school. She has great connections to some college admission counselors and has lived through the process with two of her children recently. I am excited about working with her.

Finally here is my winter break "to do" list:

  • Make parent calls & have two parent meetings week of 12/27
  • Complete transcripts/course progression for all HS students
  • Block out rest of HS LA/History course
  • Figure out space dilemmas for new student arrival 1/3
  • Make a plan for transitioning new students in
  • Work on a start of Telluride student connections plan
  • Plan HS course mini lessons based on standards unit for January
  • Randy MS inquiry lessons based on standards
  • Add global connections to PBL work
  • Randy plan elementary math inquiry for the rest of the year
  • PSAT score reports/SAT scores-learn more about interpretation to share with parents
  • Writing feedback for HS papers (read them and plan mini unit)
  • Dissertation sections one with researcher names attached:
    • PBL/Inquiry
    • 21st century learning/21st century students
    • Multi age
  • Finish rough draft section one of dissertation
  • Plan dissertation section two: PBL research
Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)