Documenting the journey
Throughout the Learning Lab experience, educators collect and make sense of data that helps them answer their inquiry questions. About every six weeks, we pause to reflect and write informal blogposts that are shared only with our current cohort. And halfway through the year, educators, in partnership with their students, begin drafting their Learning Lab Report, which is finalized in late May.
As the year progresses, we look for ways to share our emerging findings and resources with our colleagues and the field in general. Here are just a few examples:
- SEL and Mindfulness at Proctor - Faculty Meeting Presentation
- Empowering Students to Take Control through Student Leadership Teams - Journal Article in Middle Grades Review
- Personal Interest Projects video & What’s Your Story? Act 77, PLP, and personalization journey - State-wide Conference Presentation
How to Facilitate Healthy & Respectful Conversations (Online & Off)
At Harwood Union High School, Kathy Cadwell has spent the past five years partnering with students on understanding what makes a conversational space work for learners. In a recent online workshop, they shared some of the common roadblocks they've encountered, along with the ways they've found to get around them.
Playlists & Other Scaffolds for Self-Directed Learners
At Orleans Elementary School, in Orleans VT, humanities teaching team Kyle Chadburn & Andrea Gratton undertook participatory action research into using playlists to help their students with self-direction. With the support of Learning Lab VT, they shared the results of that action research in a recent online workshop for a national and international audience.
How Do You Measure Success with Project-Based Learning?
At Charlotte Central School, instructional coach Allan Miller, and educator Tasha Gray used their time as Learning Lab participants to conduct participatory action research on project-based learning. They and their students chose to partner on project-based learning that paralleled the ISS journey through the cosmos, presenting their findings at the 2020 Middle Grades Conference, at the University of Vermont.
Learning Lab Reflections from Students
The Warren School, Warren VT
Proctor Elementary School, Proctor VT
Learning Lab Participant Reflections
- Fractions, Llamas, & Self-Directed Learning - Tasha Gray
- Jon Brown's Learning Lab Lessons Learned - Jon Brown
- Corey Smith's Bright Spots & Belly Flops - Corey Smith
- Learning Lab 1.0 - Stephanie Zuccharello
- This Is Really Scary (And I've Never Been More Excited) - Charlie Herzog
- The Role of Students in the Learning Lab - Susan Hennessey