At Bellows Free Academy (BFA) in Fairfax, Vermont, Personalized Learning Plans (PLPs) aim to allow students to design their own pathway toward proficiency-based graduation and provide a forum for developing student agency. Despite numerous iterations of the PLP requirements at BFA, we recognized that student and adult engagement with the PLP was inconsistent, and the clarity about why students have PLPs was insufficient. Additionally, we admitted that after ten-plus years we had never adequately sought student input in designing the PLP process.

Welcome to the world of Personalized Competency-Based Learning (PCBL) in the English Language Arts (ELA) classroom! Here, we believe that learning should be tailored to meet the unique needs and abilities of each student. By sharing resources, design strategies, and examples of successful implementation, the goal of this website is to empower educators and students to embrace this innovative approach to education. Join us as we explore the limitless possibilities of PCBL and discover how it can revolutionize the way ELA is taught and learned.

This is a lesson plan designed to teach the phases of the moon to sixth grade students. They will use IPADS to create a presentation to show their undestanding.  They should be able to identify all the phases of the moon and their order.   (Picture taken by my son Max)

Phonics instruction is a critical component of literacy instruction for older ELLs who are learning to read in English. Learn how to choose activities that are both age-appropriate and fun by tying instruction to the academic content that middle and high school students need to master.

This pickleball skills sheet will help students practice several different skills such as serving and swinging.

This is an authentic way to get middle and high school students to learn about and express their thoughts about current events from a news literacy perspective. In addition to exploring an issue important to them, they can help combat misinformation or work to protect freedom of the press.

This resource provides an example of how standards-aligned instruction for vocabulary can be taught across the continuum of the MTSS framework.

This original story about plants' dependence on the climate illustrates the theme of the issue of the online, free magazine Beyond Weather and the Water Cycle -- We Depend on Earth's Climate. The story is available at two reading levels, K-2 and 3-5. Four biomes are featured in a walk through a conservatory.

This presentation explores two main ideas, students earning a maker space or free time with their good behavior. Secondly, it suggests ways to build relationships with individual students which helps with their behavior. Solutions to help the class' behavior as a whole and individual students are also given.

Provides a list of school and district offered professional learning that satisfy Areas 2, 3, and 4 of the Teacher Mentor Endorsement

This lesson utilizes the experience-text-relationship method to enhance comprehension and prediction skills of the story "Coyote and the Rolling Stone," a traditional tale shared by the Confederated Tribes of the Goshute Reservation. It also helps students become familiar with cultural storytelling and its importance in Native cultures. Students will have a brief introduction to the Confederated Tribes of the Goshute Reservation and its location in Utah. The lesson includes an experience-eliciting discussion/activity, a discussion about the students' reading of the story, and a discussion relating students' experiences to the content of the story.

This is a teacher-created gallery walk on the prehistoric Native American groups in Utah.

Teacher-created resource to go with the Prehistoric Indians Gallery Walk resource. This resource is the graphic organizer that students will filll out.

This video will help educators learn how to get up and running for remote learning with iPad. We’ll explore ways to access school resources and find apps that support remote learning. Tips will include using iPad built-in features to scan documents and stay organized, using Markup to annotate teacher materials and student work, getting set up with Voice Memos, and more.

This presentation highlights using the academic vocabulary routine and structured classroom discussion to increase student talk in the classroom. TeachFX is the paid program that we utilized as a school to track our data on academic vocabulary and student discourse. The presentation highlights our goals and journey through adjusting our practices and increasing student outcomes.

Learn about how to use Google Slides presenter view and make the most of your presentations.

Exemplary professional development publications in the areas of general instruction, science education, and literacy instruction in the elementary grades are described in each issue of Beyond Weather and the Water Cycle. This free, online magazine is structured around the seven essential principles of climate literacy and emphasizes integrating science and literacy skills in grades K-5.

This column highlights exemplary professional development publications for teachers. The publications are grouped under three headings: general instruction, literacy instruction, and science instruction. The column appears in the free, online magazine Beyond Weather and the Water Cycle, which focuses on the seven essential principles of climate science.