Blog

One of the most important processes you’ll create as you open your new school is taking applications from, and admitting, new students. As we talked about in our guide to starting a new school, students are the backbone of your school – they’re the reason you’ve undertaken this task, right?

As you might have seen in previous blogs, groups are a great feature of Twine that allow teachers, students, parents, and staff to work together, plan, and discuss based on any group or organization you can think up. This fall, we’ve introduced three new types of groups to help schools and families get even more from Twine.

As you get closer to opening your new school, you might be wondering at what point you need more than just a website for your potential students. Maybe you want teachers to begin to plan blended learning initiatives, or you’d like students to research and plan for the clubs and activities they want to be involved in and be able to talk to teachers and club sponsors in the process? Maybe you just need a place to start teacher professional learning communities and content-specific planning?

One of the most popular features of Twine is the ability to provide evidence of learning using nontraditional assessments. Not sure how evidence of learning works?

So, you’re starting a new school and you know you want to have a website to help promote it but maybe you’re not exactly sure what to include. The good news – and the challenge -- is that your options are as wide as the time you have to. At the very least, though, strive to include the following useful and important pieces of information:

Whether you’re looking to expand a blended learning initiative or just make course materials more accessible for your students, having a learning management system is a great way to get students active and working on course work from anywhere they have the internet.

If you’re reading this blog, chances are you’re somewhere along the process of starting a new school. You’ve probably spent some time envisioning what you’d like your school to be like, and maybe even begun the process of setting your school up. One thing that is absolutely crucial to your success is knowing and understanding the state regulations for opening up a private school.

One of the challenges of running a small school is providing the support and professional development that allows teachers to continuously improve and stay engaged These small groups of teachers work together to identify and tackle problems within their school or district and find ways to improve their pedagogy in the process.

As explained in our new school getting started guide, having a website for your school is an important step in the planning and development process. Claiming a domain that is appropriate for your school and setting up a useful website is a strategic move. There’s a little bit more to it than just tossing some information up on the internet – think of your website as how you portray your school to the public. Here are some things to keep in mind as you develop your school’s site:

As blended learning has received more attention in recent years we’ve seen  more misconceptions and assumptions arise. Want the truth? Raymond Steinmetz, a middle school math teacher and blended learning advocate, wrote a blog addressing just such misconceptions. Here are a few things to keep in mind: