Innovation and Inspiration

The purpose of learning is not to get good grades. The purpose is to be an expert learner.  What does it mean to be an expert learner? Katie Novak defines expert learners as, "knowledgeable and resourceful, purposeful and motivated, self-directed and strategic."  In schools today, we don't always give students enough opportunities to practice becoming an expert learner. We often tell students what the final product should be or give them the resources they need. What needs to change in my practice if I want to support teachers as they transform education so all students become expert learners?  First, we need to create environments where it is okay to take risks and to fail.  Second, we need to be flexible and allow our students and teachers to make choices. If there is no flexibility, how will people be self-directed? Finally,  we need to celebrate the risk-taking and resiliency of our students and teachers to keep trying to constantly transform education. ...

I just started taking a course on UDL (Universal Design for Learning) with a few of my colleagues. The more I learn about UDL, the more I see the connections between UDL and STEAM.  One of the main goals of UDL is to foster self-directed, creative learners. One of the ways that we are able to encourage our students to be more self-directed is to encourage a love of learning from an early age. How are we already doing this? In many of our classes, students are given more choices in how they want to learn, collaborate with classmates, and how they want to share their knowledge. Some of our teachers are facilitating Genius Hour, to allow our students to discover their passions, learn about them, and teach others about it. In order to graduate, all of our eighth graders must complete an Exhibition project. This project has evolved over the years. In its current version, students have the option of working with a partner to find a problem that is relevant in their lives. They then...