In the age of AI, the final product is no longer enough evidence of learning. Grade the process: 💡 Brainstorm 🤝 Collaborate ✏️ Revise 🛠️ Create 🎯 Present The process reveals the thinking. #AIinEducation #EdTech #AuthenticLearning

Another great workshop with great people! Thank you @iJAGRocks for having me at HQ today! Excited to see all the amazing #WBL projects powered by #Agile this next school year! 🙌 #ChangeAgents #AuthenticLearning @AuthLearn4All

Wonderful time with wonderful people from Gladbrook-Reinbeck Schools as we explore #authenticlearning and #agileedu 🙌 @AuthLearn4All

Yesterday at Fishkill Elementary’s Back to the Pond Day, I was reminded of the lasting impact Project-Based Learning can have on students. A former student—someone I taught in kindergarten, 2nd grade, and 3rd grade—came up to me beaming with excitement. He couldn’t wait to tell me that he still has the product he created during a 3rd-grade interdisciplinary social studies PBL. He had chosen to study China and proudly shared that he has kept his project all these years later. That moment stopped me in my tracks. Years have passed, but what he remembered wasn’t a worksheet, a test, or a lesson. He remembered an experience. He remembered creating something meaningful. As we talked, I shared with him that his cohort of students played a major role in shaping my own journey. Their curiosity, creativity, and willingness to embrace authentic learning inspired me to think beyond my classroom walls and pursue innovative work that ultimately led me to where I am today. PBL is more than a project. It’s more than an assignment. It creates experiences, memories, and moments of pride that students carry with them long after they leave our classrooms. Sometimes, years later, they remind us that the work was worth it. And that may be the greatest evidence of learning we could ever ask for. @SammonSTEAM @wcsdtechdr @WCSDEmpowers @FishkillFrogs #PBL #ProjectBasedLearning #AuthenticLearning #StudentVoice #FutureReady #PortraitOfAGraduate #EducationThatMatters #LastingImpact

On the road again 🚙 Can’t wait to work with a great team of #edu leaders! This is the last month of doing professional learning as an independent consultant before I step into my new role as middle school principal! Going to bring the passion on this final tour de #AuthenticLearning and #AgileEdu 💖 @AuthLearn4All

Authentic roles. Real impact. Grade 3 students at Fishkill Plains became authors, illustrators, and science communicators as they created Earth Science picture books for pediatric patients at MidHudson Regional Hospital. Students drafted their stories, used AI to gather feedback and revise their work, learned how to write prompts to generate illustrations from their own ideas, and published their final books in Book Creator. The journey culminated in a special book signing event where families celebrated the authors and the meaningful impact of their work. When students create for a real audience, they don’t just learn content—they become creators, problem-solvers, and communicators. @SammonSTEAM @WCSDEmpowers @BookCreatorApp @GeminiApp @PlainsPanthers #PBL #AuthenticLearning #beyondthealgorithm #AIinEducation #EarthScience #StudentAuthors #BookCreator #LearningWithPurpose

Iteration in Action 🔄❤️ The fidget boards now being used in pediatric treatment room at MidHudson Regional Hospital didn’t appear overnight. Elementary students learned life science concepts and created initial prototypes. High school manufacturing students refined and built the designs. The prototypes then returned to the elementary students for testing and feedback before final revisions were made. Design. Test. Revise. Improve. What started as a classroom idea became a product that is now supporting real pediatric patients. That’s the power of authentic PBL—learning that extends beyond the classroom and creates impact in the community. @SammonSTEAM @WCSDEmpowers @drbonkwcsd @steammachinepd @dailystem #PBL #DesignThinking #Iteration #AuthenticLearning #PortraitOfAGraduate

Authentic learning isn't just about completing an assignment; it's about helping students make their thinking, growth, and creativity visible. Heading to ISTE? Stop by and see how schools around the world are bringing authentic learning to life with Seesaw at Booth #1525. 💜 🎥: bit.ly/4uMbucN #ISTE2026 #AuthenticLearning #StudentVoice #EdTech #Seesaw

PBL is all about heart. When students know their work will help, support, or bring joy to someone else, the learning becomes deeper, more meaningful, and more memorable. This year marks our 5th year partnering with MidHudson Regional Hospital, creating opportunities for students to use their learning to make a difference for others. From digital resources to hands-on creations, every project begins with a simple idea: empathy… who are our users? There’s something powerful about making something for someone. ❤️ @SammonSTEAM @drbonkwcsd @WCSDEmpowers #PBL #AuthenticLearning #MakingSomethingForSomeone #PurposeDrivenLearning #CommunityPartnerships #MHRH #WCSDEmpowers

Iteration is where learning comes to life. 🔄 Today, Grade 3 students at Kinry Road and Sheafe Road tested the interactive designs that our high school manufacturing students brought to life for pediatric patients at MidHudson Regional Hospital. Their feedback helped answer an important question: Is this design truly doable for young patients? This is design thinking in action — testing, revising, improving, and designing with empathy and purpose. 💡🛠✨ @SammonSTEAM @WCSDEmpowers @drbonkwcsd @sheaferoadrocks @KetchamNation #PBL #DesignThinking #Iteration #STEAM #AuthenticLearning #HumanCenteredDesign #PBLTapas

I found a great tool for the classroom! ✨PLC End of the Year RETRO-PREP✨ Check it out: theimprovementgame.com/resou… #TheImprovementGame #AuthenticLearning #AgileEdu

I found a great tool for the classroom! ✨Dynamite Review ✨ Check it out: theimprovementgame.com/resou… #TheImprovementGame #AuthenticLearning #AgileEdu

🌍 4K students celebrated Earth Day by learning about composting and building a worm farm! 🌍 #EarthDay2026 #AuthenticLearning

6th graders brought financial literacy to life by creating their own Game of Life and facilitating gameplay with 5th graders—authentic learning in action while building durable skills. #AuthenticLearning #DurableSkills #TigerPride @tmruane

📣 Educator friends! In the spirit of improvement I leveled up my free resources onto a new platform where you can now visually search tools and templates to support your students in #AuthenticLearning and #Agile ways of working! Great for #PBL #WBL or just team or personal development! Connect with a network of #changeagents with the community and sharing feature! Check it out! theimprovementgame.com #edchat #education #teams

Love working with Estherville Lincoln Central! This morning we had a #PLC tune up and got our backlogs aligned to focus on what will add the most value right now! But not before an energizer with the classic game of Keepy-Uppy! Of course there were constraints like only using your head during the competition! #CultureFirst #PeopleWork #AdapativePLCs #AgilePLC #AuthenticLearning

This is why I adopted an Agile classroom. The typical flow of a classroom just does not support all learners. Across schools, educators are watching students navigate constant technology, distractions, and increasing social-emotional needs, while still being asked to operate within pacing guides and whole-group instruction. In many classrooms, some students keep up, some check out, and others quietly fall behind. It is not working for all learners, and it is not sustainable for educators either. And its not just me! I've worked with many educators that are making a shift and seeing real results. Here are strategies that I’ve tried and that I consistently see working in classrooms that are becoming more Agile and responsive to learners: Visible Learning - Making learning transparent with a simple board or tracker so students can see goals, progress, and next steps. This builds clarity and ownership for all learners. Chunking & Formative Assessment - Moving from long units to shorter learning cycles with frequent check-ins. This allows educators to adjust in real time and address gaps before they grow. Student Voice & Choice - Providing multiple ways for students to engage and demonstrate understanding. This increases motivation and gives more learners meaningful access points. Collaborative Learning - Structuring intentional team-based work where students practice communication, feedback, and problem-solving together. SEL Integration - Embedding routines like check-ins, reflection, and team norms into daily practice. This supports regulation, belonging, and readiness to learn. Responsive Differentiation - Using visible, ongoing learning to respond in the moment instead of teaching to the middle. Students get what they need, when they need it. And across the board, educators say the same thing. It becomes easier to see what students need. Less time is spent managing pace and chasing work, and more time is spent coaching and supporting. The classroom feels more flexible, more human, and far more engaging. In an Agile classroom, the process matters just as much as the product. Because how students learn is what prepares them for what comes next. Find tons of supports at learn.agileclassrooms.com/ag… @agileschools #AgileEdu #AgileClassrooms #ChangeAgents #AuthenticLearning @AuthLearn4All

One of the easiest shifts that can transform a PLC is making the work simple and visible. In many traditional PLCs, progress lives in conversations or notes that are hard to revisit and even harder to act on. Teams end up rehashing ideas instead of moving forward. Adaptive PLCs take a different approach. By using a visual tracker, like a shared spreadsheet or improvement board, teams create a shared picture of their work. What are we trying? What is happening? What are we learning? What do we do next? The work is visible to everyone at any time. This changes everything. ✅Teams spend less time revisiting the past and more time taking action. ✅Experiments and results become clear, obstacles surface sooner, and decisions happen faster. ✅Most importantly, the work stays grounded in real classrooms, not just plans on paper. There is no one right way to do it. Teams can adapt the tool to fit their goal, whether that is engagement, communication, or standards alignment, etc. At its core, a visual tracker helps teams move from talking about improvement to actually seeing it happen. 🔗Get the guide and follow along to access free tools and resources at adaptiveplc.org @agileschools #AdaptivePLCs #AgileEdu #AgileClassrooms #AgileTeachers #AuthenticLearning

A full day of #AuthenticLearning! Our Authentic Learning Coaches & our Authentic Learning Steering Committee brainstormed a “Celebration of Impact”Together we’re working to showcase the powerful authentic learning happening across the district & highlight the impact on students.