We Do This Everyday!

Hi WOL Friends! We had a great time talking with Dr. Barbara (Barb) Davis, the Assistant Superintendent of Eastern Lebonan County School District (ELCO) and Past-President of PASCD . The World of Learning was able to support her students when they needed a Spanish teacher - THREE times. It was the Fall of 2018 and Barb thought they were all set. ELCO had secured an LTS when one of their Spanish te...

Hi WOL Friends! We all know that being an educator, a teacher, and a leader in public education is hard. So how do we ease the burden of helping each other to continue to grow and be invigorated, to get into our schools and classrooms every day? We turned to an expert in Personalized Professional Learning, Allison Rodman to ponder the question. Allie wears many hats. She provides support and guida...

Greetings WOL Friends! In this episode, we talked with our Chinese facilitators to learn more about the Lunar (Chinese) New Year. Vivi is from China and Ying-Fang is from Taiwan. They shared some of the similarities and differences in celebrating this special time of year. We also learned a bit about how the Vietnamese celebrate and why they are NOT celebrating the year of the Rabbit. Chinese prov...

Hi WOL Friends! In our last episode, Olivia talked about what she learned at the conferences. In the chat, our Latin teacher, Ann thinks that the Kindergartener Olivia talked about may have coined a new term!! Ann, our Latin teacher, in the comments said: I'm metacognizing. Love that. Did I spell it right? Pat’s reply: I think it is the action verb for metacognition?? What would they say in Latin...

Hi WOL Friends! We hope this episode is allowing you some time to take a breath, stop and reflect, and enjoy some time on what matters most to you. We are grateful to be able to continue building on the work we do in the virtual/online world. As we take advantage of the opportunities to connect at conferences we learn and grow. Our goal is to continuously improve the student experience and to keep...

Greetings WOL Friends, As the new year begins all of us at the WOL Institute wish you well. With so much media telling you how you can be better, more efficient, and mindful - I want to reiterate my belief that you are amazing. Look back on all that you have accomplished in the past year! Try not to focus on what you haven’t done, rather focus on that one student who needed you, the teacher you su...

Greetings WOL Friends, Snow fell this week where I live and I thought of all the school administrators and road workers who have to consider whether or not it is safe and wise to bring folks into school. It is a really hard job. And I noticed, too, that many schools instead of completely closing had Flexible Instruction Days! It seems like that is one of the benefits of technology and one of the d...

Greetings WOL Friends, As December winds down our team at the WOL Institute would like to wish you a season filled with good health and good connections. In November we all traveled to conferences. We were in Pennsylvania, Georgia, and Massachusetts, and I went to Texas for a little rest and relaxation. The conferences are often a highlight as we present and meet new educators who are enthusiastic...

Greetings WOL Friends! We wish you a restful season of Gratitude! It’s that time of year when we start to think about ‘what’s next’! I am sure you might be there, too. Have you thought about how the World of Learning could be part of your plan? We offer World Languages, Science, and Math - which could expand your offerings. You can check them out HERE . Are there other offerings you DREAM about? W...

Hi Friends! Erin and Lauen joined me to talk about media literacy, the pull to social media and other online platforms, and information literacy. How do we teach our learners about sifting and sorting through all the messages that they receive - directly or indirectly? What algorithms are pulling them deeper into the digital world? There is definitely some great stuff on the internet, and definite...

Hi WDTE Friends, Thanks for joining us for Episode 3! As we head toward the end of Quarter 1, I wonder where the time goes. I recently listened to Krista Tippet’s Podcast called OnBeing as she revisited and interview with the late John O’Donohue , his take on time and presence reminds us that being and being present is so important. The podcast is very relevant for all of you leaders! Ann Meyers w...

Happy October!! In this episode, I talked with Olivia about support and advocacy as a leader. What that means for our teachers, our students, our districts, and our families. As you all know with things coming at you quickly, you have to be able to prioritize. Here are a few of Olivia’s Top Priorities and the Tools she tries to use: * Use data! We gather data from students, our teachers, district...

Hi WDTE Friends, Thanks for joining us for the kick-off of season 2! It’s hard to believe we released 20 episodes of our podcast last school year. We hope you learned something new or found inspiration as we talked with teachers and school leaders about the possibilities that we see in virtual teaching and learning. It’s always interesting to talk to people who listen in and can relate to the ever...

Good Monday Morning! We took a bit of a break as we enrolled and onboarded many of your students. Almost 1200 learners in Spanish, French, German, Latin, ASL, Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, Elementary, and Exploratory languages! Now we have a special offer for our regular followers - we have 10 seats in our NEW Latin 1 (or better yet - Discovering Mount Olympus). If you have a student who loves to exp...

Hi All! There is only a short time before the learners’ will be back in the hallways of our schools - bursting with energy! Hooray! Do you have all of your World Language offerings up and running? Do you need Calculus or Chemistry? If not here are a few ideas: * Add Latin! * Offer more than just an asynchronous course. The WOL Institute uses really engaging asynchronous content, in addition, to li...

Hi Friends, Olivia and I caught up on this podcast to give an update about how excited we are for the beginning of the school year. Vacation helped! We both traveled to Nova Scotia. We both agree that everyone who can visit might try Nova Scotia. Also, gardening is good for the soul.  Here are a few of the things that Olivia has been working on: * Olivia has tried storyboarding as a way to explore...

Hi WOL Friends, We hope you will join us in a warm welcome to Erin Siverd! We are so glad to have her join our team as a Virtual Learning Specialist. She comes to us with a rich background in Chemistry, and science. Her enthusiasm and curiosity have added a spark to our way of looking at things in the few short weeks she has been with us. We all know that teacher shortages are on the rise. Every d...

Hi Friends, Lauren and I went solo on this podcast to give an update about what the WOL is up to this summer! Here are a few of the things that Lauren has been working on: * Lauren is excited to know folks from our districts after a whole year at WOL!! * She is leading the implementation of a single sign-on Student Information System (SIS) - Genius. We hope the awesome features like; a dashboard,...

Brandon Langer from IU23 joined us! Lauren McMinn and I love to talk with Brandon and his colleagues Christy and Anne whenever we can. They do great work at MCIU and our partnership these past three years has really been one, that I think, makes us all better. It is fun to be part of Intermediate Units that empower us to provide opportunities for learners that they might otherwise not have.  Brand...

I enjoyed talking with Christina Jackson and Lauren McMinn to talk about our partnership with CCA to provide content that students might otherwise not get to take.  Christina has been at CCA for 12 years - as a math teacher, instructional coach, course designer, and now as the Manager of Special and Elective Programs. She understands the student perspective as she is a student, too, pursuing her E...

Hi everyone, Lauren McMinn and Olivia Grugan here! We are Virtual Learning Specialists with the World of Learning Institute. We did a podcast takeover this week while Pat was away. We have had some ideas brewing about what we dream of in designing a learning experience and just had to share. First, we talked about experiences that we’ve had in the past that stood out for us as particularly wonderf...

Hi Friends, We are super excited to begin planning for the 22-23 SY! AND we also want to honor all the amazing work that we have witnessed during this school year. I am sure you have had some similar experiences with your school and your teachers! Let us hear about what good happened in your school this year. Lauren joined me to talk about all the great stuff that has happened this year at the WOL...

Hi Friends, What Makes a Great Learning Experience? Olivia and Chris continue to dive into the conversation about curating and creating asynchronous courses. In this episode, they tell us some of what they think about as they develop and support the building of content with and for teachers. We took a laughing break at 23:30 - if you listen to nothing else you will get a good dose of happiness. Do...

Hi Friends, It’s Memorial Day. I hope you find some time to relax, reflect, and get ready for the summer. With school winding down maybe you have time to read and dream. Have you thought about what your vision of the ideal learning experience might be? Or how you like to learn new things? Is your school a hub for innovation? We have been having this conversation over the last month or two in our r...

Hi All, If you didn’t know already - Anita has a new job! Working with Anita Young has been a BLAST!! Listen in to hear how it all started, and what Anita will be up to at her home district of Huntingdon Area School District in Huntingdon, PA. We will miss her every day. We laughed and cried during this recording. * The most surprising thing about transitioning to a 'virtual/online' education job...