Personalizing School Systems

In 2005, New Hampshire became the first state to formally eliminate the Carnegie Unit. Eight years later, we continue to stay in compliance with an anachronistic system that schools seem reluctant to retire. We push teachers to implement authentic assessment, personalized learning, and project-based learning and yet they are governed by a system that puts these foundational student-centered principles in the trunk of the car instead of in the driver's seat.

How much longer will student proficiency and competency based learning...the elements of personalization that will force real, lasting, school-wide improvement be talked about? 
                                                               If this was Nike, we'd "Just do it!"

Make Just One Change- Teach Students to Ask Their Own Questions

WICR is becoming common language around Waukesha North High School.
W (Writing), I (Inquiry), C (Collaboration), R (Reading).
So what is Inquiry?

In the book, Make One Change, Dan Rothstein argues that we should be teaching the skill of question formulation to all students. We should do it to promote excellence and we should do it to promote equity. Both are achievable.

Learning how to ask questions leads to improved learning outcomes, greater student engagement, and more ownership of the learning process. This book asks teachers to make one simple change in their regular practice; to deliberately teach students how to ask their own questions.

The rigorous process of learning to develop and ask questions offers students the invaluable opportunity to become independent thinkers and self-directed learners. This also pushes teachers from the proficient category according to Danielson's component 3b: Questioning and Discussion Techniques, to the distinguished category. As the teacher, you are leading a process in which your students will be thinking and working by asking their own questions, rather than responding to the ones that you ask. Students do the formulating of many questions, initiate topics, and make unsolicited contributions.


Teaching students that skill of inquiry empowers students to be responsible for their own learning and also helps them refine a skill that has direct practical function and application in their daily lives. We can take action today to improve education in every classroom by teaching all students how to ask their own questions. Students will improve their discovery, engagement, and achievement!

Teaching Matters Most

The quality of teaching in classrooms is the single most important factor in advancing student achievement and in sustaining school improvement. We have heard this before right? We have said this before, but think about the power in this true statement.

Quality teaching matters most! If North is going to realize significant improvement and advance the learning and quality of our students' experiences in the classroom, then attention must focus assiduously and persistently on helping our teachers to refine their craft.

Educator Effectiveness and Danielson's Framework for Teaching will help us define what high-quality teaching looks like in every classroom.

The ultimate goal of a professional learning culture is continuous learning. The minute a teacher stops learning and growing, their students stop learning as well. The quote on the bottom of the framework is key, "it is the learner who does the learning."

Ensuring that every student has a high-quality learning experience in every classroom is not just the goal for every teacher, but school administrators need to make sure this happens by supporting the growth and innovation of all teachers.