Equity & Engagement in Education

Teaching is a profession where we work with thousands of different students in our careers. We are taught to be objective and to never choose favorites, but as human beings, we are not partial to neutrality. Because of our individual backgrounds, we naturally come into the profession with specific “values, beliefs, and predispositions that impact [...]

Over the last few years the term “personalized learning” has come up in many education circles. Let’s be realistic, as educators we love terms and fancy phrases and personalized learning is just one of many “new” initiatives making the rounds. Oftentimes when we, as teachers, hear about an initiative during a district professional development we [...]

In case you missed Part 1 of this post, head over here to read it first!  Last week, we started thinking about how we are providing windows and mirrors for our students, especially regarding our curriculum. This post will focus on how we can keep windows, mirrors, equity, and engagement in mind as we guide [...]

When I was little, one of my favorite books was Josephine’s ’Magination–it’s a sweet book that tells the story of a little girl living in Haiti and how she uses her imagination to create dolls. I loved it because of the colorful illustrations, because my grandmother’s name was also Josephine, and because it talked about [...]

Welcome to the CPE blog: Equity & Engagement in Education! If you haven’t been here before, you may want to read our opening post before you dive into today’s post explaining our passion for equity and engagement in education.  Education. Engagement. Equity. These words are part of our organization’s foundation. But they are more than [...]

Welcome to the CPE blog: Equity & Engagement in Education! We are so excited to create a space that will help all of us expand equity and engagement in our classrooms, buildings, and districts. At times, this blog may seem very serious and formal, and that is because we take these matters to heart. At [...]

Project-based learning encourages students to demonstrate their learning in ways that are deeper and more enduring than tests or standard essays.  Here are few specific strategies to help students excel when it comes time to share their skills and knowledge.   Use a presentation checklist Unless your project is specifically focused on presentation or communication skills, […]

Our Project-Based Learning (PBL) team will offer a virtual opportunity to learn the basics of PBL beginning Tuesday, April 20th and continuing for half days on Tuesdays through May 11th. The program will focus on the 10 design elements of PBL, with a goal of giving participants the baseline understanding needed to take the methodology […]

Short answer:  Sometimes. Also:  It depends. When teaching trinomials:  Probably not.   And quite honestly:  This question is irrelevant and should be relegated to the PBL discourse trash bin.   I apologize, folks; today’s post is a bit of a rant because I just read this question in yet another article debating the merits of PBL, and […]

This is my last post in a series on the valuable role that design thinking plays in bringing project-based learning to life in the classroom.  I’ve talked about methods for research, brainstorming, feedback, and collaborative decision-making; in this final post, I’ll discuss two methods that help students develop and communicate their PBL ideas so that […]