E8-A Peak Into Modern Classrooms, Kor/Hakkarinen

NewTechies: 

I had the pleasure of conversation around personal, competency-based learning with Sophia Kor and Michael Hakkarinen of the Modern Classroom Project. Both of these individuals gave some thoughtful ideas surrounding their model of how to transform an individual classroom into one that spurs higher engagement in students, as well as a more supportive idea for teacher competency. 

  • 85% of teachers suggest that they enjoy teaching more after participating in Modern Classrooms
  • 94% of teachers suggest that they will continue these practices after doing their pilot study and
  • 85% of teachers feel more optimistic about their profession
This graph from their presentation captured my attention: 

Some of these figures are striking. Having been a principal of a school that decided to "flip" in the early 2010's, I have had some experience with the pros/cons of that practice. This seems like a similar initiative with a whole lot more support than we had in creating this concept from scratch with very little resources outside of fellow department members. 

One of the elements I really enjoy as a prospect for Modern Classrooms is that you can have teachers engage Modern Classrooms at any level -- reviewing their resources on their website, getting involved with a mentor, or just experimenting with these techniques. I talk about incremental growth; this is the type of resource that allows you to customize your personalized learning initiative relative to the readiness of your staff or its members. 


Many of you are moving with the long MEA weekend! I hope you get a chance to view this. Have a great weekend! Next week, I will be podcasting from Norway, or at least providing a blog. By then, I should have visited a couple schools and talk about what I observed. 


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

E5--An Interview with Dr. Joseph Goins, "Pass the Baton"

Image
Episode 5: NewTech High Podcast / Blog Good afternoon, Everyone!  October 1, 2025 We had an exciting podcast this afternoon with Dr. Joseph Goins and Tom Ahern from Pathway to Careers, or P2C.  If you would be interested, you would be able to get some ancillary benefits that other schools just do not -- volume pricing, PD, etc. I would say it is because NewTech High has been working with P2C for almost two years to gain momentum in Minnesota. This is because it is a great product that meets several components of change, innovation, relevancy and engagement. At minimum, P2C is an exciting product that you all should take a look at. At the end of the session, it was great hearing from Bob Wedl, former MDE Commissioner and Jay Haugen, former Minnesota Supt, in their testaments to personalized, student-centered practices.  P2C Interview / Podcast Today Next Podcast: Tuesday, October 7, 4:30pm Cory Steiner, Fargo Public Schools Superintendent. The best way to introduce Cory, w...
Read more

E30-Janelle Field Podcast

Image
NewTech High Podcast,  April 1, 2026 Good afternoon, everyone. This afternoon, we welcome Janelle Field, currently working as a Continuous Improvement Coach at Resource Training and solutions out of St. Cloud. Today's Podcast with Janelle Janelle has had a more than 30 year career in education, including working as an elementary teacher at both Rockford and BBE schools, being a lead 1:1 Tech Integrationist at BB Schools. Later, she took on the role as the Engagement coach in the district. Eventually, her expertise led her on to a Lead Instructional Coach at SWWC positions in the co-ops working with regional schools on teacher center work on optimal school environment, overall school improvement and instructional change. If I had only one person to start any educational institution, innovation or idea, Janelle would be among the people at the top of the list without question. Above anything else, Janelle has incredible passion for her work, no matter what she is doing. She possesses...
Read more

E14-Whitney McKinley (World Savvy)

Image
December 10, 2025 Podcast This afternoon, we were pleased to have Whitney McKinley from World Savvy to join us. Whitney did such a great job of explaining the pillars of what World Savvy works on with schools. In a sense, we all want to work on them, but it is a coaching aspect that most of our high schools don't have access to. Thank you Whitney for sharing about your beliefs and your organization!  Whitney McKinley, World Savvy Learner-Centered Update Learner-Centered Collaborative believes it starts with reimagining how we give learners the agency to joyfully, purposefully drive their own learning. Let go of standardization. Embrace learner agency. When students “think freely and move freely,” stressful schools become joyful learning communities. More than 30 public school districts and over 250,000 learners have begun to center learners by design. In this final episode in this fall’s learning series, Devin Vodicka and Katie Martin share their  Brief But Spectacular...
Read more