The Center for Secondary School Redesign, Inc. (CSSR)
For Student Personalization:
Personal Plans for Progress and
Student-Led Conferences
2015
OVERVIEW
Too many districts involve teachers, students, counselors, and parents in completing paperwork trails that run participants through the motions without accomplishing the true purpose of planning for progress. Each stage must be approached thoughtfully, thoroughly, deeply, and measurably.
Do you need it?
Do you want it?
How will you know it works?
“The object of teaching a child is to enable him to get along without a teacher.”
Elbert Hubbard
Who are we? What do we want?
OUR SCHOOL…name______
Location______ / size______
Who’s here? First name, school district
And position…. / Where are we already in the process?....
Advisories? Teaching teams? 4/5/6/year plans?
Parent conference nights? Student-led conference nights?.....
Why we chose this institute? District Demands, Student needs? School plans?... / What we want to take home….In our heads?
In our hearts? In our hands?
Center for Secondary School Redesign
Institute Organization
OVERVIEWThe overall institute agenda will mirror the stages
within a personal plan for progress.
1 / EXPLORE
- We will EXPLORE what’s out there and what is right for us as we talk about exploration activities for students.
overview of each stage.)
DREAM
- We will visualize the DREAM version for our home school, as well as talk about experiences and strategies that build real post-secondary dreams in
(We will get to EXPERIENCE one or two strategies we
could use with students.) / 2
3 / PLAN
3. We will have time to scaffold the steps we need to take in a concrete PLAN, and introduce you to a variety of written plans for progress that you can use with students.
(We will provide some additional SAMPLES for REVIEW and
REFLECTION.)
OWN
- We will articulate not only how the present team will OWN the plan but how we intend to build ownership at home, right along with our discussion of how we get students to “own” their plans for progress through student-led conferences.
Center for Secondary School Redesign
DEFINITIONS / DESCRIPTIONS
Personal Plans for Progress1.
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Student-Led Conference
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Personal Plans for Progress: 5 Key Dimensions
PURPOSE / Why are we implementing PPP’s and SLC’s?What do we hope to accomplish?
ORGANIZATION / Who is involved? What are their roles and responsibilities? What materials and resources will they need? When and where will they do what needs to be done to fulfill the purpose of the initiative? Which structures will be used or will be created to support the initiative?
CONTENT / Which lessons, forms, activities, and/or student work collection systems will we use?
LEADERSHIP / Who are the formal and informal leaders? What will their roles and responsibilities be in implementing PPP/SLC’s?
ASSESSMENT / What information do we want to gather to help us improve our initiative? How will we know whether or not this initiative is effective and accomplishes its purpose? Which surveys or rubrics will we use or create to gather the information we need? What will we do with this information once we get it?
PROFESSIONAL
DEVELOPMENT
COMMUNICATION
BUY-IN / What Professional Development needs will be necessary along the way, at the end of each year, and the beginning of each new year?
Who are the resistors? Who needs updated communication about the progress of the program?
Center for Secondary School Redesign
Ice Breakers and Warm-Ups
The following exercises designed to help people get to know one another were shared by the participants of the national meeting of CFG seminar facilitators in June 2000.
1. If you were to write your Autobiography, what would the title be and why.
2. Write on the inside of your tent card (table name card) a fact about yourself that no one would be likely to guess. Read them out loud. Gives people a hook. (i.e., “Faith, who raises sheep.” )
3. Draw a picture that describes who you are -- can be symbols, colors, you doing something...
4. Create a flower. Each person puts one petal on the flower, on which is written something important about them. If we can find something we all have in common we put it in the center.
5. Human Scavenger Hunt, where you find things interesting about each person from a list that might be work related or not. Items like, find someone who has coached a CFG already, someone who has taught in another country, someone who has created a portfolio that works... People share who they found in the whole group.
6. People at each table find four things they have in common and share with the large group as an introduction. Can’t be anything about education. (At one table, all had an Uncle Harry they didn’t like).
7. People post one clue about themselves (with no name) on a bulletin board. Later in the day, add another clue beside the first clue (more if there is time) and people guess identities from the clues at the end of the day. People make assumptions and then they find that it’s very revealing and fun.
8. Post cards from the edge. Bring a collection of wild postcards and hand them out. Each person finds something in the post card that relates to their experience as a teacher or principal and shares that with the group.
9. Give out pennies and look at the dates. Go around the room and share something that occurred for you in the year of the penny. It can be something about your education (as a child, a teachers etc.) or it can be just about life. You’ll need a good collection of pennies with varied dates.
10. Skittles. People grab one, there is a guide by color: Yellow, something you’re doing this summer; green, something about work; red, an adventure you’ve had in education, etc. Whatever you want for categories.
11. North, South, East, West. It establishes strengths: North: do it now (action); West: organizational (structure); East: vision (meaning); South: feelings (caring). See directions in almost any CFG handout collection.
12. Gingerbread people. Hand out Gingerbread people, who have a question on each of their body parts: what gives you indigestion (stomach), what drives you crazy (head), what you love (heart), what you bring(one leg), what you want to let go of, (hand) what you want to take away. Each person takes a turn introducing themselves and answering the questions. They can write them in and post them all, with their names on the Gingerbread people.
13. Draw your school - either a picture or a floor plan, show challenges, strengths - personalize school by what you think makes it special. Share pictures.
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14. Write down powerful learning experiences from when you were age 10 to 13. Share them.
15. Line up in birth order and share schooling in small groups that break up roughly by generations or clusters of years and share out.
16. Movie titles that describe your school experience and why.
17. Change style indicator and score yourself, validate Conservers, Validators, and Initiators of Change, Pragmatist. (You’ll need the directions to do this)
18. Read Alexander’s Horrible Rotten Day (children’s book) aloud, then ask people to share their Bad morning experiences.
19. Two truths and a lie: you share two things that are true and one lie about yourself (as an educator or a person - decide on one) and the group tries to guess which one is the lie. “What you would like to be true?” is the follow up question.
STAGE 1:
Exploring Who You Are and What You Want
Every student should be able to answer- with passion - the question,
“What are you interested in?”
A thoughtful personal investigation begins by revealing aptitudes, and follows up with plentiful detail and experience that expands their awareness of future possibilities. Discovering inner resources and outside support is also a key component of this stage.
“When individual accomplishments, preferences, styles, histories, or hopes are seen as the essence of self, the combinations are infinite in number. Each student becomes unique. Their talents make each one of them special.” DiMartino, Clarke
The Party
WHO ARE YOU?
HOPES AND DREAMS
What hopes do you have for the future? What vision of the future pleases you? What are your dreams concerning school, work, life experiences, friendship and fun?
How do you make your hopes come true?
FEARS AND CONSTRAINTS
What do you not want to happen in your life?
What barriers or challenges do you face in making your dreams possible?
What could prevent you from realizing your hopes?
HISTORY: TAKING DIRECTION FROM THE PAST
What important things have happened in your life? Highlight people, places, events, successes challenges and achievements?
Long Ago
A while ago
Recently
What parts of your history made a big difference in the way you are today?
The Personal Investigation will revolve around these questions:
Who are you? Describe yourself in as many ways as possible. What words describe you? What do you like? Dislike? What are your favorite activities? What are your strengths? Gifts? Talents?
History: What important things have happened in your life? Highlight people, places, events, successes challenges and achievements?
Dreams: What hopes do you have for the future? What vision of the future pleases you? What are your dreams concerning school, work, life experiences, friendship and fun?
Fears: What do you not want to happen in your life? What barriers or challenges do you face in making your dreams possible?
Needs: Looking back at your history. Personal qualities, dreams and fears, what do you need to make your dreams come true? What will make your high school experience move you toward your hopes? (Clarke, 2003)
SEEDS OF FUNCTIONAL SKILLS
STUDENT EXPLORATION SHEET
Things I Love to Do Now or When I Was Younger / How These Things Could Manifest Themselves in AdulthoodMind Map
Materials:
•Large surface to write on (e.g. white board, chalk board, chart paper) or
overhead projector and blank transparency.
•Optional — transparency with an example of a mind map.
•Writing materials for students (paper, pens and pencils, colored markers).
•Mind Map Reflection sheets.
Duration:
Depending on the size of the group, this activity could take several sessions.
Mini-Lesson/Modeling: (10 min.)
On a transparency or on the board, model using the Mind Map to think about something you know well and enjoy.
Ideally, the topic will be something you haven’t created a Mind Map for in the past so that you can “think aloud” as you draw the map.
Start with a circle in the center of the writing surface and write the topic in the center circle. The topic can be anything you know well — a person (e.g. child, spouse, yourself), a place (e.g. your room, a great place to fish), a skill (e.g. singing, cooking, shopping, hunting, fixing things), a subject area (e.g. federal law, astrophysics, hip hop music).
As you think of categories/subtopics/key concepts, write them in a circle and draw a line showing their connection/relationship to the main topic. Likewise, draw connections between the main categories and the memories, details and subcategories they evoke.
Be as orderly or messy as you please, and think out loud as you draw the map.
Guided Practice: (10 – 20 min.)
Ask everyone to complete a Mind Map of something they know a lot about and enjoy.
Pair Share: (20 – 40 min. — 10 - 20 min each)
Find a partner (or create pairs).
Taking turns, everyone will show their partner their Mind Map and walk them through it. While one person presents their Mind Map, the listening partner will record their observations on the response sheet. The listening partners will be responsible for reporting their observations about the presenting partner’s Mind Map to the larger group.
Allow plenty of time for pairs to present their Mind Maps to each other.
Group Share (5 – 10 min)
Come back together as a group. Ask for volunteers to report on partner’s Mind Map.
Content Share: Report on observations from response sheet.
Process Share:What was the conversation like?
Variations:
Instead of asking for volunteers, ask every pair to present their mind maps and responses.
Alternatively, you can ask each partner to present the other’s mind map as well has his/her responses.
Pair/Share Reflection
Mind Map/Semantic Map
What was the subject of your partner’s mind map/semantic map?
What ideas did you find interesting?
What did you notice about your partner’s mind map?
What questions do you have about your partner’s mind map or subject?
Staff Interest Survey
You have many interests and talents which students might share. Below, we ask you to list four interests or talents about which you could serve as a resource for students.
YOUR NAME______
DEPARTMENT______
ROOM NUMBER______
INTEREST OR TALENT______
INTEREST OR TALENT______
INTEREST OR TALENT______
INTEREST OR TALENT______
Student Interest Notes
Class:______Period:______
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Stage 1: Exploring Who You Are and What You Want
Questions to consider for grade 9 template:
- What do they need to discover about themselves at this point?
- What aspirations might they have at this point in their life?
- How could they investigate?
- What needs do they have?
- What challenges do they face?
- What fears might they have?
- What are the components that would be different for each grade level?
Questions to consider for Key Dimensions Template:
- What would need to happen at your school to bring this stage to life?
- Who would be involved to make it happen?
- Where would it happen?
- When would it happen?
Grade 9
What do Our Students Need?
(in order to answer the question, “Why am I in high school?”)
What are students in this grade worried about? What are their concerns?
What do they need to know (information)?
What do they need to be able to do?
What do they need to understand in order to make choices?
How will we know that the students in this grade have the knowledge and understanding they need?
How will we know that the students in this grade can do what they need to be able to do?
Personal Plans for Progress
STAGE ONE: Adequate EXPLORATION of Self Potential and Future Possibilities
Organization
Content
Leadership
Assessment
By when? / Next Steps / Assigned to…
STAGE 2:
BUILDING A DREAM
YOU
BELIEVE IN
Every student should be able to answer- with conviction - the question,
“Where are you headed after high school?”
You can easily get kids to “say” they are going to college or going to be a doctor, but the level of their own belief and the reality they attach to that vision is lacking. Post-secondary goals must be strongly rooted in concrete information and visualization.
“Students need to be able to visualize their post –secondary goal in vivid detail and see it as an achievable dream, the great the clarity and specificity, the greater the chances of it coming true.”
“Having a clear destination in mind gives
energy for the journey.” CSSR
Hot Jobs Newspaper Activity
Objective:Students will have a better understanding of college entrance and job requirements.
Materials Needed: Classified sections from multiple newspapers.
Instructions:
This activity could take from one to three advisory meetings.
Step 1: Divide the class into teams and assign them each a general job category, such as health professions, technical jobs, or sales. Using the classified section from a large Sunday paper, have them answer the following questions.
- How many jobs in this category are listed?
- Which jobs are listed most often?
- Find an advertisement that includes the following information: name of career, requirements for hiring, type of facility, benefits, and salary.
- Using the salary listed in the advertisement, calculate the hourly, weekly, monthly, and yearly salary.
- Minimum wage is currently $5.15 per hour. Calculate the weekly, monthly, and yearly salary you would earn if your job paid minimum wage.
- Using the highest salary listed in any of the classified ads in your category, how much money would you make in one year? Two years? Five years?
Step 2: Make a master list of all adjectives, characteristics, skills, and qualifications you find listed in all the ads.
Step 3: Compare your results with others in class. Discuss “what is needed” in today’s job market.