Tag Archives: Getting Smart

Dan Condon Sums Up Eagle Rock’s Mission in Getting Smart Podcast

Tom Vander Ark, chief executive officer and a partner of the popular Getting Smart online community for educators, was treated to a personal tour of Eagle Rock’s one-square-mile mountainside campus this past August — an experience that was hosted by our own Professional Development Center.

Vander Ark’s popular Getting Smart Podcast features news, stories, and information about innovations in learning and teaching, and during his visit, the Seattle, Wash.-based CEO took time to tape a segment for the show with Dan Condon, associate director of our Professional Development Center.

Vander Ark, who may be known to some readers for his appointment as the initial executive director of education for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, now heads Getting Smart, a learning design company with headquarters in Seattle. The company provides advocacy, advisory, and coaching services with the objective of providing resources that lead to powerful learning for all students. As such, Getting Smart partners with education-focused organizations such as Eagle Rock School and Professional Development Center, as well as other learning organizations across the country, in order to “invent the future of learning.”

During the 17-minute podcast, Condon shared his thoughts on  Continue reading…

News from the Break at The Rock

Like all of the 78 trimester breaks that preceded this one, the one that starts this week at Eagle Rock School will end the same way — with students returning to campus for another trimester of engaging classes and experiences (this time around, on the 16th of September). What distinguishes this current break from all others is what we’ve got planned between now and then.

Below is a rundown of what’s happening during our summer break from classes, along with information on how to reach us from now until all staff members return to campus the second week of September:

Student graduation: Since the spring of 1995, each of our trimester breaks has been foreshadowed by an on-campus ceremony honoring the journey of Eagle Rock School students who are set to graduate. This trimester — the 78th since our founding in the early-1990s — a record 10 students took to the stage at our Human Performance Center, where each donned cap and gown to address family, friends, and the Eagle Rock community before leaving campus as high school graduates. Watch a replay of the August 9, 2019 graduation ceremony here.

Public Allies fellowship graduation: Our students weren’t the only learners honored with an on-campus graduation ceremony last Friday. Our 2018/2019 cohort of Public Allies Fellows, which included Continue reading…

Eagle Rock’s Michael Soguero Highlights ‘Getting Smart’ Podcast

Michael Soguero, Eagle Rock’s director of professional development, discusses what he believes high-quality professional learning looks like — within the context of secondary education — and what it entails for educators in a recent podcast produced by Getting Smart.

The 20-minute podcast focuses on Michael’s take on the quality professional development offered through our Professional Development Center and how great teaching is the key to increasing student engagement. The Getting Smart Podcast covers topics in K-12, higher education and lifelong learning, with episodes that cover developments in educational research, technology and methods. Michael was interviewed by Emily Liebtag, herself a teacher in settings ranging from K-12 public schools to online institutions of higher learning.

As you listen using the embed above, you’ll hear as Michael uses the metaphor of a cooking school, stating that the concept of quality learning is based on teaching students how to cook with the ingredients to be found in their own kitchen. Calling it an “asset-based approach,” he said good educators begin by completing an inventory of the assets on hand.

“What we do is ask the folks that we work with,” Michael says, “what got your attention? What is it that you’re aspiring to (what is your vision)? And then we help them develop their own answer / version of that aspiration by building on their local context.”

Michael then goes on to say Continue reading…

For Updates on Progressive Education, Just Read the Tweets

As frequent readers of our blog already know, we’ve occasionally used this space to recommended books to read, organizations to be aware of, and conferences and workshops to attend. Now we’ve got a new reference point to share — people and organizations in and around education whose Twitter feeds you may want to follow.

Twitter-Water_Bottles

Here’s our list of 10 people and organizations in education to follow on Twitter:

  • Laura Thomas (@CriticalSkills1) of Antioch University New England (@AntiochNewEng): Laura believes every learning experience should link to the next, and that there’s great value in teaching teachers how to make those connections.
  • Carlos Moreno (@Carlos_Moreno06) and Andrew Frishman (@AndrewFrishman) of Big Picture Learning (@bigpiclearning): These two men lead vital changes in education by generating and sustaining innovative, personalized schools that work in tandem with the greater community.
  • Steve Drummond (@SDrummondNPR) of National Public Radio – Education (@npr_ed): Drummond is the senior education editor with the National Public Radio’s education team and frequently provides coverage of what’s happening in progressive education.