Welcome to the Personal & Authentic Master Course, a professional learning experience designed to accelerate your growth on your journey as an educator. You’ve chosen to devote your work to serving other people’s children, and let’s face it, the work is hard. The work is stressful. The work is emotional. But our kids are worth it!
My hope is that this course provides you with inspiration, while simultaneously challenging your thinking and propelling your growth, whether you work in an in-person, blended, or remote learning environment. Although not required reading, this course expands on my best-selling book, Personal & Authentic: Designing Learning Experiences that Impact a Lifetime.
This master course is structured in a way for you to take a critical lens to your own practice. Reflection is a key to growth, and my goal is to provide you with the activities, tools, resources, and video reflections to help you accomplish just that. Each module has been carefully designed to support your learning through video content that I’ve created for this course, independent readings to extend learning through a variety of lenses, opportunities for personal reflection, and application to practice.
Meet Your Instructor, Thomas C. Murray
Tom serves as the Director of Innovation for Future Ready Schools®, a project of the All4Ed, located in Washington, D.C. He has testified before the United States Congress and has worked alongside that body, the US Senate, the White House, the US Department of Education and state departments of education, corporations, and school districts throughout the country to implement student-centered learning while helping to lead Future Ready Schools® and Digital Learning Day. Murray serves as a regular conference keynote, was named the "2018 National/Global EdTech Leader of the Year," by EdTech Digest, and the "Education Policy Person of the Year" by the Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2015. His most recent book best-seller, Personal & Authentic: Designing Learning Experiences that Impact a Lifetime, was released in October of 2019. Prior to working in Washington, D.C., Tom served as a teacher, principal, and district-level administrator in Pennsylvania.
Everything You Need to Make Remote, Blended, and In-Person Learning Personal & Authentic
Learning With Tom
Each module includes conversations with me, as I share insights and thoughts regarding the various topics through recorded screen shares. I do this in a unique way for participants to feel as if they are attending the workshop in real time. These master course videos include reflection activities, in-practice video exemplars, both challenge and inspiration, and time to action plan some next steps.
Stop & Reflect Opportunities
In these sections sprinkled throughout each module, participants are asked to pause and reflect on their current practices, understanding, and personal lens. As a participant, I will encourage you to be honest, real, and vulnerable during this reflection time. You will answer these questions on your personal P&A Reflection Sheet that comes as a part of the course.
Remote Learning Considerations
Due to the uncertain times in which we live, many educators are providing experiences in remote or blended environments. These sections provide additional considerations, resources, and tools to support those providing these types of learning experiences.
Meaningful Professional Learning
Independent Reading: I believe that it’s imperative that you see this work through lenses other than mine. Therefore in each module, you will have access to a variety of articles written by people whose work I respect, to extend your thinking about the topic at hand.
Take Action: At the end of each module, you are provided with a reflection activity meant to guide you in committing to an action step!