by Courtney Belolan

​Here we are, 2018! A new year, a new start... sort of. While much of the world marks the start of a new year this week it can be a bit of a shift for educators to think of January as an opportunity for a fresh start. After all, late summer and early fall mark our new years. Our year is well under way, routines have been set, patterns nestled into. With the exception of people who change classes by semester or trimester, this time of year doesn't really feel like a new start. We've already tried the new things we wanted to try. Our goals for the year are already moving along. There is so much on the plate that thinking about adding on anything else feels ridiculous. I agree. In fact, in the past few years I haven't even made a New Year's Resolution, and it has worked out beautifully.

by Courtney Belolan

A high quality driving question provides motivation for learning. Often when we first start working with driving questions, or essential question, to frame learning the questions we come up with can feel a little, well, off. Just like with any skill, crafting good driving questions takes practice. The four tips below can help you make some gains. For each tip there is an example of a driving question using the following learning target:

by Courtney Belolan

For most of us it feels like we are into the swing of the school year. Older learners are jumping into their learning targets, and our youngest learners are getting the hang of how school goes. Visions and Codes of Conduct hang on the walls, Parking Lots have some stickies, and we can pat ourselves on the back for including learner voice.

by Courtney Belolan

Socrates said "wonder is the beginning of wisdom." This quote is incredibly powerful because it reminds us that in order for any kind of learning to happen, we first have to be curious about something. The desire to know something, the question, is what sparks learning. In a learner centered proficiency based environment, we must make as much space as possible for learners to be curious and wonder.

by Courtney Belolan
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As we enter into the last few months of the school year, many of us are starting to turn an eye towards next year.  It is a great time to think about the learning experiences we’ve put together for our learners, and how to grow them to be even more learner centered.  One place to go is thinking about expanding learning opportunities to include targets at multiple readiness levels rather than only centering on one or two. We can describe this as having multiple access points. Some contents and measurement topics lend themselves more easily to this flexibility, while others take a little more thinking.​

by Courtney Belolan

Flexible grouping is one of the best ways to meet learners at their readiness level, or Zone of Proximal Development.  In order to figure out a learner’s readiness level in any given subject, there needs to be a pre- assessment.  Given at the start of new learning, a pre-assessment helps both the teacher and the learner determine where to begin and are essential in learner centered proficiency based education.

by Courtney Belolan

When working in a learner-centered proficiency based system, it is really important that members of the learning community have some common understandings.  I can’t think of any place where this is more important than with proficiency expectations.  We’ve spent a good deal of time working on learning targets and assessments, and much of that work has focused on score 3 and foundational elements.  It is equally important that we spend some time building common understandings about what it means to work a score 4, or exceeding levels of targets.  

by Courtney Belolan
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Have you ever visited a classroom, or a team, or a school, and felt like there was some kind of secret code the members all shared?  Perhaps the learners and teachers were using hand signals, or using specific words and phrases which clearly had a meaning that was understood by all the learning community members.  The communication took very little effort, and happened quickly and smoothly.  Classrooms and schools that have successfully shared and sustained a common language are special places with an environment prime for powerful learning.