Dr. "TKA" Kulla-Abbott's List: 21st Century Best Practices & Research

The Hero of Personalized Learning
by Sandra Trach • December 16, 2014 • 0 Comments

Much is emerging and still to be learned about how to effectively personalize learning for every student. The research on student learning is solid and reliable direction for educators on how to put together the personalized learning pieces. For example, we know students succeed when learning in their Zone of Proximal Development (Vygotsky) – sometimes referred to as “the sweet spot of learning.” This learning theory, coupled with setting objectives and providing feedback (Marzano, Hattie), and linked with autonomy, mastery and purpose (Pink) makes for a compelling trifecta. These elements start to triangulate our thinking around the idea of how to truly personalize learning uniquely for each student. Indeed, the proposition of achieving that learning trifecta poses a tremendous opportunity for students, teachers and parents, balanced with weighty reality of this being an educational feat. Schools today are striving to achieve personalized learning for every one of their students – everyday, in every content area, and to high levels. I wrote about one such example from my school in the September 2014 issue of Educational Leadership: Motivation Matters. It was an anecdotal style reflection of how personalization can happen for a student with a wide range of needs, and illustrated that personalization positively changes the trajectory of a student’s education. Personalization causes magnitude on learning.  It is how educators effectively change the direction and rate of a student’s learning in individualized ways, and it is those very factors that magnetize me again and again to this learning approach. It’s a challenge worth taking on – but how?

Stating the Obvious
by George Couros • February 22, 2014 • 1 Comment

Spending a lot of time at conferences, I have heard the question, “What do we do with kids that are so distracted by their devices in the classroom?”  My initial thoughts is that in a world where there are so many amazing things and easy ways to connect, kids are not always simply distracted, but sometimes they are just bored.  There is often pushback to that idea from many participants.

Then I observe and state the obvious.

If adults are sitting through any opportunity that they find boring, many adults are quick to grab their phones, go to their computers, check email, text family, head to Facebook, read Tweets, and so on.  When they are bored, they look elsewhere.

Skating and School
by dkerr • January 19, 2014 • 0 Comments

So I went home to eastern Canada this past Christmas for the first time in six years and it was amazing. A cold and snowy winter wonderland that provided my two kids with some new and challenging experiences like skating, snowshoeing, sledding, and snacking on freshly fallen snow and icicles…yummy! We spent a lot of time at the rink (as you do) watching hockey, sipping on hot chocolate, and for my two little ones, learning to skate. It was a challenge that they both embraced wholeheartedly, and after several hours of practice and a bunch of bumps and bruises they finally got the hang of it. It was a highlight of our holiday for sure, and it made me feel a lot less sheepish about being a Canadian father with two kids who had never been on the ice. Anyway, throughout this entire on-ice adventure with my little ones it became crystal clear to me that skating is a lot like learning and a lot like school, and the parallels between learning to skate and navigating through our lives are impossible to miss. It reminded me so much of Carol Dweck’s work with “Mindsets”, and I want to quickly share something with you that played out right in front of my eyes during our first day at that rink, which brought this idea of mindset and perseverance to life in a very real way…