Professional Cultures of Reflection and Collaboration for Educational Transformation

Kim CarterProfessional Culture

In the dynamic landscape of education, the need for a collaborative and reflective approach to teaching and learning is more critical than ever. Teachers and school leaders are continually searching for ways to enhance their instructional methods, promote student engagement, and achieve academic excellence. QED’s Collaborative Reflective Inquiry (CRI) model emerges as a beacon of transformative practice, equipping educators with … Read More

Embracing Learning Variability: Quality Learning for All Kinds of Minds

Kim Carterdifferentiation, learning profiles

In today’s diverse educational landscape, educators face the challenge of addressing a wide spectrum of learning profiles and abilities. While the concept of differentiated instruction is widely valued, many educators struggle to effectively bridge the gaps between different student needs and preferences. This is where QED’s All Kinds of Minds (AKOM) emerges as a transformative force, empowering educators to embrace learning … Read More

Student Centered Learning – Developing an Implementation Matrix

Kim CarterUncategorized

Over the course of the 2014-15 and 2015-16 school years, I worked with a group of instructional coaches in a district in Illinois to create an implementation matrix to guide educational practice in realizing the district’s vision of personalized, twenty-first century learning where all students are successful. After I framed the structure for the matrix based on the National Implementation … Read More

Reinventing the wheel?

Kim CarterUncategorized

A Reflection on Process, on behalf of the Freeport School District Instructional Learning Coaches by Laura Stocker Are we just recreating the wheel? It’s hard not to lament about this question when you’re in education. For every new idea that comes out, there’s someone out there who can say, “What? We were doing that in 1987!” The way practices swing … Read More

The Changing Face of Education?

Kim CarterUncategorized

I just returned from the invigorating and inspiring annual International Association for K-12 Online Learning (iNACOL) conference, where this year’s focus included “blended”* along with “online” learning.  iNACOL Executive Director Susan Patrick spoke almost wonderingly at the explosion of the organization, from seventeen people who met together ten years ago to the more than twenty three hundred who gathered to … Read More

10 Facilitator Moves for Adult Learning

Jason FlomCommunity, Education, Leadership, Learning

Word association quiz. When someone pairs “School” and “Learning” who is the first learner you think of? A student? A class of students? If so, you are like the majority of people. And for good reason — the student learner is the most important point of focus for schools. However, capitalizing on the unique interests, affinities, and personalities of students … Read More

Resources for Talking to Your Kids About the Case of Trayvon Martin

Tyler IzuagieCommunity, Equity, Leadership, Teaching

With Zimmerman’s innocence decided, the underlying issues of race and profiling continue to ignite quarreling responses and catalyzing debates about race in America. Here are some helpful sources that can help you talk to your kids about the issues surrounding these debates. In an NPR post entitled, The Talk: What Did You Tell Your Kids After the Zimmerman Verdict, speakers share … Read More

The Motivation Equation

Jason FlomBrain, Community, Education, Learning, Student, Teaching, Whole Child

The upcoming new ibook by Kathleen Cushman, “The Motivation Equation,” stands to expand on her pioneering work in leveraging students’ voices in shaping learning environments, pedagogical practices, and transforming how we talk about learning. And thank goodness. Often missing from our education discourse is, ironically, the most important element of our education system: the learners. In this newest endeavor (you … Read More