Alli Wachtel Alli Wachtel

Making Every Moment Count: Sound Bites From a Personalized Classroom

When I first found out about personalized learning, I was intimidated. After all, I’m a teacher, not a techie. Personalized learning relies heavily on technology; students use a Chromebook that is assigned to them for the majority of their coursework. This was not my forte! However, once I saw it in action, I knew this was the type of teacher I wanted to become. 

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Alli Wachtel Alli Wachtel

Personalized Learning: 4 Things That Are Sticking As We Start Year 3

Three years in, and I continue to be a believer in the power of personalizing the learning experience. After 10+ years working in traditional environments, I would never go back. However, not all things are sticking; in fact, some things aren’t, but that is for another blog post.

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Alli Wachtel Alli Wachtel

Walking the Walk: Professional Development Personalized

As the leader of various instructional and non-instructional teams for the past eight years, I thought I had things figured out when it came to onboarding PD. People generally had a good time getting to know one another, my PD laid the foundation for healthy, high-functioning teams, and we saw strong results at the end of each year. I was also conscious to ensure that my PD modeled strong instructional practices, doing my best to complete the traditional lesson cycle for each topic and modeling what I expected from teachers.

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Alli Wachtel Alli Wachtel

Initial Conclusions of Hybrid High’s First Year

Less than six months ago, I was given an opportunity to take the torch at USC Hybrid High to refine the current model and expand our schools in Los Angeles and across the country.  I started as a founding principal at Chicago’s Noble Street in 2006 and over five years, helped Noble Street expand to 10 campuses and started one as a founding principal, UIC College Prep, which continues to be the #1 non-selective school in Chicago.  

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