I’m Back!!

 Yes, I’ve been out of touch for awhile. For the first time in about two years, I coerced

my “other” half to take the vacation I have been wanting rather than the annual fishing trip or the family wedding trip that too often replaces what otherwise would have been a relaxing week away from work. As you can see, we traveled to France! Preparing to leave work and the country for two plus weeks was a job in itself…and upon return…more catching up and moving forward than I had planned. I am just beginning to come up for air.

Got a great email today with this link to a website that maps the future of education.  Actually, the email came from a discussion thread I am still sharing from the Future of Education virtual Conference last summer. The map has a futuristic feel and some provacative portents about the direction of society and as a result, the emerging trends and eventual needs of our education system.

Oh, what else? So much that I don’t have time to address it all. Busy with developing UbD lessons and presentations. I have been reading the collaborative work of Carol Ann Tomlinson and Jay McTighe and taking a class on the Wiggins’ model. As an Illinois teacher, I had a great deal of in-servicing in the SAC model which is credited to Rick Stiggens but reads like Wiggins. The SAC initiative that was recently left out of our Governor’s budget, but lesson plans  found on the state website can still be accessed, which is really a boon for teachers. And although they don’t necessarily fully follow Wiggins’ theory, (I still see too many that mention accomodations for gifted students being “reading the more difficult passages” or “having opportunities for assignments that require high level thinking”), the lessons all establish goals and assessments prior to diving into daily activities.