Viewpoint: October 2021
Many school districts have continued to provide virtual learning options for students even as the pandemic continues to affect our communities. Some have launched fully remote schools and are recruiting virtual principals to lead them. Others are…
Oct 01 21October 01, 2021
Article at NASSP
Sarah Pazur recommends “The Manifesto for Teaching Online”
The Manifesto for Teaching Online by Sian Bayne, Peter Evans, Rory Ewins, Jeremy Knox, James Lamb, Hamish Macleod, Clara O’Shea, Jen Ross, Philippa Sheail, & Christina Sinclair (MIT Press, 2020) The abrupt shift to virtual teaching during the…
Apr 26 21April 26, 2021
Article at Phi Delta Kappan
The principal’s dream work
During some of my most grueling days as a school principal — which sometimes started at 5 a.m. and didn’t end until after 9 p.m. — I would come home bone-tired from meetings, overwhelmed with student, staff, and parent concerns, drowning in…
Apr 26 21April 26, 2021
Article at Phi Delta Kappan
No Longer Left Out in Cyberspace: How to Empower Virtual School Leaders
Traditional principals have suddenly become "virtual principals" who need support navigating this new landscape of online learning. The brick-and-mortar school archetype is fading as the pandemic persists. Traditional principals have suddenly become…
Apr 12 21April 12, 2021
Article at Observatory of Educational Innovation
Why the Feel-Good ‘Kid Superintendent’ Video Might Let White Educators Off the Hook
In times of racial unrest white educators have historically turned to aspirational tropes in place of revolutionary ones. From white saviors in urban districts to zero-tolerance principals who successfully corral unruly students, there are many…
Jan 28 21January 28, 2021
Article at EdSurge
16 Holiday Gift Ideas for the Online Teachers in Your Life
When autocomplete results are available use up and down arrows to review and enter to go to the desired page. Touch device users, explore by touch or with swipe gestures. Home / Online Teaching / 16 Holiday Gift Ideas for the Online Teachers in Your…
Dec 18 20December 18, 2020
Article at Michigan Virtual
From Crisis to Continuity: The Role of the LMS in the Future of Learning
The Case for ContinuityI was a senior in highschool in the late '90s when I gave birth to my son. Adults in my Catholic high school questioned whether or not I could continue my education from a distance, and, quite frankly, whether they felt I…
Oct 28 20October 28, 2020
Article at ncte.org
Myth of the Ideal Classroom
By: Sarah Pazur Before the pandemic, online learning was a solution for some of the most vulnerable student populations in our country—credit deficient students, expelled students, incarcerated students, and pregnant teen students. Learners, in other…
Oct 08 20October 08, 2020
Article at Getting Smart
Guest Perspective: The Menagerie, Myths, and Merits of the Bitmoji Classroom | Michigan Virtual
“The scene is memory and therefore nonrealistic. Memory takes a lot of poetic license. It omits some details; others are exaggerated according to the emotional value of the articles it touches, for memory is seated predominantly in the…
Oct 02 20October 02, 2020
Article at Michigan Virtual
The Menagerie, Myths and Merits of the Bitmoji Classroom
The scene is memory and therefore nonrealistic. Memory takes a lot of poetic license. It omits some details; others are exaggerated according to the emotional value of the articles it touches, for memory is seated predominantly in the heart. The…
Sep 24 20September 24, 2020
Article at Hybrid Pedagogy
In the Face of the COVID Crisis, Michigan Districts and Charters Came Together to Innovate
Eighteen years ago, right before Michigan’s charter school boom began, I accepted my first teaching job at a Detroit based Big Picture Learning school. Built on student-centered principles, this school represented the promise of charter schools at…
Sep 02 20September 02, 2020
Article at Education Post
Feeling Nostalgic for In-Person Schooling? That May Hurt Our Chance to Rethink It.
Around the world, people are mourning. For loved ones, principally. But also for the rituals and rites of passage from our former lives. Students and parents grieve for lost promotion ceremonies, prom and high school graduations. Yet, in the midst of…
Jun 25 20June 25, 2020
Article at EdSurge
How COVID-19 Feels to Those in Schools: An Education Roundup
Administrators, educators, and students weigh in Brenna Bushweller, student: When all of this coronavirus talk started happening, I wasn't really concerned until everything started shutting down. Today, my school in Vermont and schools across the…
Mar 13 20March 13, 2020
Article at Education Week
Student Self-Assessment Boosts Learner Agency at FlexTech
Guest post by Sarah Pazur, who is the director of school leadership at FlexTech High School in Michigan, a public charter school whose three campuses serve more than 500 students. FlexTech High Schools, a network of three project- and…
Nov 04 19November 04, 2019
Article at KnowledgeWorks
We shouldn’t mock students for seeking purpose; we should encourage them
I cringe when I hear most descriptions of millennials today. They’re often described as lazy, narcissistic, selfie-lovers who seem to be more interested in their phones than real human connections. Snowflakes. Trophy kids. Entitled. But even worse…
Nov 21 18November 21, 2018
Article at thelivingstonpost.com