Category Archives: Uncategorized

Sorting it all out (6/20)

Since I left Ohio in 2005 to teach overseas, I have had many wonderful opportunities to grow and develop my learning and teaching practices. I first learned about the IB programmes when I joined The International School of Düsseldorf in … Continue reading

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Before and After PD #IBAD2019 (5/20)

Back in 2015, I shared a post on my action plan after the 2015 IB Conference in Macau.After returning from the 2019 IB Conference in Abu Dhabi I thought about my conference preparations and takeaways.  When the conference schedule became … Continue reading

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Invite Thinking (4/20)

Over the course of my international teaching career I had only heard positive things about Cognitive Coaching(℠). It has been described to me as the best professional development, right up there with The PTC. While having not been a part … Continue reading

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Making Strategic Plans Happen (3/20)

In my last two schools I have taken a large role in re-envisioning the schools’ guiding statements and the structuring of their strategic plans. While the process has been different in each school, the essential elements have been the same; … Continue reading

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Unpacking with Parents (2/20)

I believe the partnership between home and school is critical in supporting the whole child. Each year I try to think about the best way to share information with parents and invite them into the life of the school.  I … Continue reading

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2 Decades of Teaching and Still Learning (1 of 20)

This 2019-2020 school year marks my 20th year as an educator. My journey started in Cleveland, Ohio in the same elementary school I attended as a child. That August in 2000, I joined a wonderful team of colleagues, some of … Continue reading

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Reviewing our PoI – part 1

I have been organizing our school’s PoI Review with the PYPCo since January. We started by providing each grade level team time to work through a Google Presentation reflecting on their current units. The template was created using the review rubric … Continue reading

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Reflect with VoiceThread

One of my teaching goals this year relates to Reflection. -more time for my students to reflect in the classroom -making available other tools to reflect with beside pencil and paper -reflecting on the process as well as product -ensuring time … Continue reading

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Graphing Sentence Fluency

I wanted to share another great idea from writingfix.com on sentence fluency as this is currently our writing trait focus the next few months. My grade three students drafted a paragraph on a special time they shared with an adult; … Continue reading

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Diary of a Puma

The book 6+1 Traits of Writing by Ruth Culham was one of the first books I bought as a resource for teaching writing. Since then I have found many more resources both print and online to support my teaching of … Continue reading

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