Not too long ago, but what feels like eons, my principal, Michael Corneau came to me and another teacher with a big idea. He was excited about a new way to teach and with great enthusiasm, explained that we were going to be on the front lines changing the way educators teach and students learn. This sounded intriguing, but at the same time foreign and daunting. Regardless, I felt if there was something cutting edge out there that might improve my teaching and help students; I needed to explore it.
Shortly thereafter, my principal, assistant principal, and a fellow lead teacher all piled into a car and headed to P. K. Yonge Research Lab in Gainesville (Florida) to learn about a curriculum design system developed by the Literacy Design Collaborative. I had NO idea what I had gotten myself into.