Post on 09-Feb-2017
transcript
Empowered Schools ,Empowered Students
Creating Connected andInvested Learners
By Pernille Ripp
A Presentation By Logan Fields
HIGHTLIGHTSIn order to empower a school or a classroom, you should have a clear plan and
be truthful about your intents and goals from the begining, be it with teachers,
staff, colleagues, or students
Administrators should strive to give control of the classroom back to teachers,
working with them instead of delegating to them what is to be done
In turn, teachers should strive to give control to the students, allowing them to
take more responsibility for their learning
Instead of automatically resorting to outsourcing for experts on specific topics,
cultivate the experts in your school and district
Professional development doesn't have to be one big event; it can be many
small experiences, such as a five minute discussion with a colleague or a 30
minute meeting once a week
REVIEWI personally really liked this book. It was a short, quick read, but it conveyed a lot of
information within its short span. "Empowered Schools, Empowered Students" not
only conveys ideas about why empowering schools and students is important, but
gives very clear, concise examples of how exactly you can go about doing these
things, backed up by evidence of other educators positive outcomes. In addition to
this, "Empowered Schools" also talks about common problems and misconceptions
that often occur throughout these processes and discusses how to solve (or avoid)
these problems and to explain this misconceptions to concerned parties. All of these
is to say that "Empowered Schools, Empowered Students" is an important book to
read for anyone who wishes to change the dynamics in their professional careers as
educators
TEACHERTAKEAWAY
Professional Development does't have to be one big thing; it canbe as small as taking five minutes to read an article before classor speaking to a colleague about a new resource they have foundYou don't have to make drastic, sudden changes to beginempowering your students; you can start small, like getting theirinput on a final project for a unit, or allowing them to choose ifthey would prefer to do something alone or in a groupAlways be upfront with your students when you're trying tochange things in your classroom; if they know what it is you'retrying to do, they're more than often happy to give suggestionsDon't be afraid to admit that you know a lot about something; beopen so that you can be a resource for others and so that theymay open up and be a resource for you
ADDITIONALRESOURCES
Innovation Day The authors blog posts about Innovation Day, a day when students are allowed
to research and learn about something of their own choosing the entire day, and then create something that reflects on what they learned
Genius Hour The authors blog posts about Genius Hour, a time when students are given
around an hour, give or take a few minutes, to create something (a poster,model, whatever they want to) about something that falls under the umbrella of
the discussion.
Inspiring PodcastsThis is a list of podcasts directed at educators. Some talk about tech, others
about teaching strategies, and others are simply discussions between one teacherand another about their experiences being a connected educator.