William M. Ferriter

William M. Ferriter uses his 29 years of experience as a full-time classroom teacher to design professional development sessions for educators on topics ranging from establishing professional learning communities and effective systems of intervention to integrating meaningful differentiation, extension, and student-involved assessment opportunities into classroom instruction.

Interviewing teachers for a PLC

The Most Important Interview Question I Bet You’ve Never Asked

Presenter linkWilliam M. Ferriter
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Categories: PLC

Let me start with a simple truth:  There is no single decision made by the principal of a professional learning community more important than who to hire to fill vacancies on individual learning teams.

After all, the teachers that you hire today are likely to be a part of your faculty—working with students, influencing colleagues, shaping decisions, impacting public relations—for years to come. Heck, the teachers that you hire today are likely to be a part of your faculty long after you have left for a new position.  Read more

Driving change

Want to Drive Change? Stop Planning and Start Acting

Presenter linkWilliam M. Ferriter
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Categories: 21st Century Skills, School Improvement

I read a really interesting Matt Mullenweg article this week detailing one of Apple’s greatest strengths as a brand:  Their willingness to ship first and polish products later.

Mullenweg points out that every game-changing Apple device — including the iPod, iPad and iPhone — was panned by reviewers when it was initially released. And in many cases, reviewers were right:  The earliest versions of many of Apple’s most successful products were far from perfect. Sometimes, that imperfection was a result of flawed product design or important features that the company hadn’t anticipated. Other times, that imperfection was a result of an inability to access required component parts at costs that could make each individual product affordable.

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Get feedback from students

When Was the Last Time You Asked STUDENTS for Feedback?

Presenter linkWilliam M. Ferriter
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Categories: Assessment, Instruction, PLC

Over the course of the last few years, I’ve been working hard at developing a system for keeping kids posted on the essential outcomes for the units that I’m required to teach at school.  While I know that’s a pretty basic practice, it is also an essential one.  Most experts — think Hattie, Reeves and Marzano — will tell you that kids are more likely to meet your expectations when they know just what those expectations are.

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Bookworms will love 'In Praise'

Read This: In Praise of American Educators

Presenter linkWilliam M. Ferriter
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Categories: PLC

This post is part of a series on In Praise of American Educators (And How They Can Become Even Better).

Let’s start with a simple truth: As a full-time classroom teacher, I have spent the better part of the past fifteen years wrestling with failed policies, frustrated by the suggestion that practitioners are to blame for everything that is wrong with American schools, and paralyzed, waiting for meaningful change that never seems to come.

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