5C Teacher Continuum and Toolkits

The above idea led to a district-wide adaptation that I got the pleasure of collaborating with the Loudoun County Public Schools (LCPS) Deeper Learning Office. The linked resource for all educators is centered around the strategic plan of the Profile of a Graduate. This collaboration is now published to our district and allows educators to self assess where they are on the professional learning continuum for each of the 5Cs and offers a robust bank of resources to move along that continuum when integrating communication, collaboration, critical thinking, creation, and contribution into their lessons.

Meet the Mustangs Virtual Back to School Night Website

Back to School Night is an important component of creating a warm and welcoming school community for all families. Technology is a great way to connect all families to these events regardless of their schedules. Creating this virtual Back to School Night website allowed even new families who joined later in the school year to be introduced to the authentic and engaging learning opportunities each of their educators’ provide.

STEAM Day

STEAM Day

As part of the innovative administration team at WMS, I had the pleasure of engaging educators in developing our first-ever STEAM Day event for the last day of the 2020-2021 school year. Our STEAM event encompassed all content areas, and students were able to show their success in multiple challenges depending on the classes they attended on the last day of school. Using vetted lessons that included coding software and computational thinking skills, our educators adopted a shared vision for a legendary day that is a tradition at WMS.

Livestream Awards

Livestream Awards

Advancements in the learning sciences taught me that we were doing many things antiquated before distance learning. One of the big ones was recognizing students via an in-person awards ceremony. Traditionally we would pull students out of instruction, invite parents when they inevitably had to take off work, and gather only the elite winners to celebrate success. With a push to Livestream awards for all students in a grade level, I gave our scholars the true celebration they deserved for their hard work and efforts while reaching relatives across oceans to join in the celebration with their scholars.

Padlet District Adoption Scenario

Padlet Adoption Scenario

During a scenario task, I picked an instructional software tool and introduced it to district education leaders and teachers. I chose Padlet due to its robust data management policy that protects the information of its users. For this task, I talk about the vetting process for selecting this tool in a letter to district leaders and offer a variety of learning opportunities for teachers to learn more about using the tool in their classrooms.

Focus Files

Focus Files

With Willard’s newness came process development for making school more effective for each student. Willard had to create and refine the process of continuous improvement for all students through a multi-tiered system of supports (MTSS). The Willard Focus Files enters the scene to save the day and instill mutual commitment and accountability in each of our staff to help each of our students succeed based on an individual and holistic approach. Focus files allow the use of many different indicators to tier each scholar’s levels of needs and develop an individual student intervention plan for each Tier 2 and Tier 3 student who needs the most support in any given area of being a successful scholar.

Playlist of Playlists

Playlist of Playlists

During observations, our Willard administration team noticed that our teachers could use a personalized way to build their skill of creating playlists for students. I made the Playlist of Playlists for facilitation during one of the school district’s professional development days. The Playlist of Playlists allowed teachers to dive into how playlist use can promote deeper learning in their classrooms, built for the varying levels of playlist utilization observed. The goal, be more knowledgeable as an educator than you were before you participated in this activity.

Teamsgiving

Teamsgiving

As part of Willard Middle School’s (WMS) Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) team, I declared the day before Thanksgiving Break, Teamsgiving, to support our recognition system tier as part of our Pyramid of Interventions. Teamsgiving is a full-day event of giving back to the school and surrounding community through challenges culminating in an awards event. As part of the charter event, students participated in the challenge of creating dance videos for long-term care facilities in the community. This use of digital to contribute to positive social change helped build strong relationships within our school community.

First 20 Days of Virtual Learning

First 20 Days of Virtual Learning

The year of distance learning was a perfect time to set personal and school goals to remain current on emerging technologies in education. At the beginning of the 2020-2021 school year, I assembled a resource for teachers to familiarize themselves with district technologies for virtual learning and innovations in pedagogy for engaging and building relationships in a digital setting.

WILD Guide to PBAs

WILD Guide to PBAs

In the beginning stages of implementing project-based Learning (PBL) at Willard Middle School, we wanted to tackle the different levels of performance assessments we wanted our educators to create in a distance learning environment. I made the WILD Guide to PBAs. Whether an educator had never heard of PBL or was a PBL rockstar, they could create a valid performance-based assessment consistent with an authentic, measurable experience of the content taught during the learning process.