Implementing Personalized Learning Using the Summit Model to Deepen Student Learning in the U.S. History Class: Blog Post 2

Joanna Murray, NBCT

  

I am piloting a Summit Model approach to teaching and learning in an attempt to learn how to infuse deeper, innovative, next generation learning. To this end, I chose to implement one of the Summit Personalized Learning (PL) projects to use as curriculum for my 8th Grade U.S. History students.

To back up, over the summer, along with several colleagues and our school administration team, I was able to participate in a Summit Base-Camp training in the Bay Area of Northern California. There, I learned The 4 Elements that make up the course structure of their PL program including Project-based and Experiential Learning, Competency-based Learning, College Readiness and Success. After completing the base-camp training, I was excited to start using some of the elements in my own instruction. I decided to implement one of the PL learning projects for my 8th grade history students.

Fortunately, after the base-camp training, Summit made some of the project components available. While I could not use their platform because of it being a live resource for their students, I was able to load the components of the project to Hapara, an online learning workspace.

At the moment, the project my students are engaged in is called “American Myth Busters.” The work begins with students creating stories about their own lives. Students spend time learning key concepts related to myth, and also physically map out Revere's ride. It continues with comparing Longfellow’s great poem “Paul Revere’s Ride” to a factual account of what happened on that historic night. The project will culminate with students choosing an historical event, topic, or character and researching and creating  a project of their own to explore a mythical account, versus an historical account centered around that exploration.

The projects used in the Summit PL model are assessed using a Cognitive Skills Rubric, therefore, learning is assessed based on level of specific skills.

As Summit describes it, Cognitive Skills are practices identified as necessary for success in college and career. Summit culminated these skills by researching and synthesizing nationally accepted standards. The cognitive skills are broad in order to be used in all content areas, but customized to assess course-specific skills as well.

At this point, most students have finished dissecting the Revere poem, and are examining the factual account of the event. When they are done, they will create a compare and contrast essay exploring the similarities and differences between these two texts. Their work will be scored based on the rubric connected to the cognitive skill dimension Compare and Contrast which states that students will be: Identifying similarities and differences and using them to support, refine, or sharpen an argument or exploration. The  domain associated with comparing/contrasting is categorized as analysis and synthesis. The language of a level 6 (the highest rubric indicator) reads: Analyzes or evaluates similarities and differences relevant to a specific claim/main idea/thesis. Thoroughly explains why the similarities/differences are meaningful with the frame of reference. Organizes comparison in a logical order. It is easy to see that the cognitive skills Dimension is one that students will need across the curriculum and in college and careers. But the Myth Busters unit will include five other Dimensions including: Contextualizing Sources, Explanation of Evidence, Multimedia in Oral Presentation, Point of View, and Selection of Evidence, and therefore, this unit supports students in building deeper cognitive skills as linked to the Summit Cognitive Skills Rubric. While teaching students to write compare and contrast essays are nothing new, using the Summit approach to project-based learning is a measure construct I am anxious to explore.

Challenges, thus far, in implementing the Summit PL curriculum include maintaining a balance of using that curriculum to build cognitive skills, and content delivery. A true Summit approach, in the humanities classroom, includes a blend of the two. A second of The 4 Elements of the Summit Schools Model focuses on Content Knowledge. This element is designed to engage students using a personalized approach to, ideally, fill learning gaps and move student toward competency in each subject area. Using an online learning system, with an expanse of learning resources, in a true Summit classroom, students can learn history, and their other core content in a self-delivered system and at a pace right for them. When a given set of curricula is mastered, the student can move on. It is the goal that, by the end of the school year, each student will have mastered the grade level content, even those who may have started the year with knowledge gaps. Unfortunately, the Content Knowledge platform is not available to non-Summit schools. Therefore, to ensure that students in my course are given a balance of both Cognitive Skill development, and Content Knowledge in the U.S History curriculum, we have Me Days and T Days. On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, Me Days, students engage on the Hapara platform to work on the American Myth Busters project. On T Days, (Teacher Days) on Tuesdays and Thursdays, I work through the course content using resources more closely aligned to traditional instruction.  

There are two other pieces of The Four Elements of the Summit Schools Model: also Expeditions, and Habits of Success. The later, Habits of Mind, is designed to empower students to self-direct their learning and develop habits of mind that will help them toward success in college and career. At Base-Camp, we learned that this is done through a mentor model wherein teachers are paired with students that they mentor through the course of their middle school education. Expeditions are immersions in real-world experiences to discover and explore passions and careers, and apply learning in authentic ways. While other projects I am involved in begin to explore these last two of The 4 Elements, I am still working to better implement those into the U.S. History classroom in a way that more closely mirrors the Summit approach, but one step at a time!

Resource:

Summit Academics. Cog skills: the rubric and look for’s. Retrieved from: https://goo.gl/xg9NIA

For the past few years Mrs. Joanna Murray and I had been running with the RMMS Cross Country team. In the beginning of the season there were a lot of girls who eventually stopped participating. After looking into various programs I thought Girls on the Run would be a great program for girls at our site. One impediment initially was the cost but luckily we qualified for a grant that covered our team. I was really worried we couldn't come up with the minimum number of girls but word got out and we populated our team with the maximum allowed for a first year team. Mrs. Murray and Mrs. Paradee were instrumental in recruiting from their classes bringing a lot of sixth-grade enthusiasm. I was so thankful that my running buddies Mrs. Murray and Mr. Donovan were willing to volunteer their time. Eventually the enthusiasm for our team grew and other staff members began participating from providing snacks to walking and running with us. We encouraged everyone at any fitness level to join us. Our motto became, "Walk or run, we get it done." Parents, siblings and other family members joined us at our practices and at the 5K. In fact, at the December 5K we had 1-2 running buddies per girl, more than any team.

The focus of Girls on the run Heart & Sole middle school lesson is a Big Idea. The very first lesson's Big Idea was "Becoming a team takes time, effort and support." This theme runs throughout the Girls on the Run Heart & Sole season. This program is so much more than a running club for girls. Interweaved into the interactive Girls on the Run lessons are life skills: confidence, caring, connections and competence. The girls are consistently given opportunities to reflect and identify areas of strength using the Girl Wheel. The Girl Wheel is the program's central focus and concentrates on the "whole girl". This program is so much more than lessons, big ideas, and physical conditioning to complete a 5K. I believe it can shape the culture of our campus with a focus on living a healthy lifestyle and teamwork for the girls and staff alike. My hope is that we can find funding for a spring season of GOTR to keep our momentum growing. We will find a way to fund our program for the spring season. I think what we've started at RMMS is too important to wait until Fall. Please join us!

Transformation Girl: Beautiful Little Miracles

gothnc.org

When we attended the Girls on the Run coaches training, we were told that we would see amazing girl “transformations” - We experienced beautiful miracles.

This year, 168,000 girls in over 200 cities across North America participated in GothR. The program focuses on using fun to inspire girls to experience joy, health, and confidence through curricular experiences and running. This season, our first, as a group from Rancho Minerva Middle School in North San Diego County, we had the largest GotR group in our region. During the season, not one of our 15 girls quit-unusual-especially because our group was funded by the GotR organization, so there was little monetary risk (Girls on the Run, 2015).

Miracles include one girl who, initially, could not complete a track lap. Fast forward to season's end, she complete a 5k. Shifting her mindset, she learned that exercise pain is good, doesn’t last, and results in lasting benefits for the body, heart, mind, and soul.

Another girl was dragged to practice by Administrator Anna Lozano. Initially rebellious, over time, she began to contribute. One day, wearing jeans and high boots, she was my running partner. As we ran, we spoke about those less fortunate- those in the San Bernardino and Paris attacks - my mother's battle with cancer. Her motivation level elevated. She pushed - running most of the straights. When she showed up to the final 5k, we knew that Ms. Lozano, who dragged her to most practices and ran with her most days, was the inspiration for her being there. To our joy, fully engaged, she completed the run with pride.

Amazing was also the participation level. In all, we had a group of about 15 community members, some parents, but most staff attend practices.

At the 5k, we had more staff and family members than girls.

Another unique characteristic was Thomas Donovan. At coaches training, he was the only male. Always motivational, he inspired our girls to push physically, how to be safe, but purposeful in how they moved and engaged to gain physical strength and fitness. Tammra Taghaboni, our head coach, and the inspiration behind this entire program, was an amazing leader. Running the curricular component, she helped the girls see the heart, mind, body, soul, and brain behind the physical nature of the program, providing guidance in helping them learn tools for future success in life. She worked hard, and made a difference not only in the lives of our girls, but in the hearts of our staff members.

We are hopeful for many more amazing stories and are trying to obtain funding for the Spring season. Many additional girls are begging to join, but we simply do not have the funds to pay for the Spring season. We will stay positive and continue to push for beautiful miracles!

Reference

Girls on the Run, 2015. How girls on the run began. Girls on the Run International. Retrieved from https://www.girlsontherun.org/Who-We-Are/Our-History

Rancho Minerva Handing Out Hope

Tears flowed down her face as she walked out the doors with a cart full of boxes. But the boxes she carried were not just any box, they were blessing boxes.  This parent’s holiday season just took a turn for the better.  In fact, 15 families at Rancho Minerva just felt the result of a team of dedicated, generous, empathetic faculty and staff who pulled together to bless each family.

In early December, a team from Rancho Minerva met with a wonderful idea.  An idea to extend an offer of holiday hope to 15 selected families who were either living homeless or nearly homeless through the circumstances they had been dealt.  You would never know it by the resilient smile each student has walking around the campus, but the outlook of  yet another  holiday season with little to no food, the feeling of being cold and the feeling of disappointment which consumes their thoughts as we neared the final school days of 2015.  The offer of holiday hope literally brought tears to every family as they picked up boxes of goods, filled from our own students, staff and parents.

Students lined the sidewalks on chilly mornings the last few weeks of December collecting goods for families.  Parents chipped in and unloaded boxes of food, clothing, blankets and toiletries.  As the donations came in, the faculty and staff or RMMS stepped in to adopt each family.  15 families  represented as ornaments that  hung from a tree in the office were one by one adopted by teams of teachers and staff.  Bags of new jackets, blankets, socks began to fill our offices as the blessing boxes began to fill.  The generosity of the team at Rancho Minerva overflowed and abounded throughout the boxes and boxes filled for each family.

On the final day before holiday break, one-by-one each family came to pick up their donations.  Every exchange between the RMMS team and the family resulted in tears of joy, relief and hope.  This time of year is about giving.  This year, the team from Rancho Minerva gave our parents and students hope.  Such a wonderful memory for all.

A New Look at Parent Conferences

Rancho Minerva is on a mission.  A mission to provide the BEST experience for our students on a daily basis. In order to make this come to light, we are reimagining the way we do things around here.  Starting in early October, a team of educators met over the course of a month to redesign our parent conference experience.  Inspired by glimpses of success from the previous year’s student-led conferences, the team created a unique plan to include both students and parents.

The Redesign:  We grew tired of seeing the traditional system of parent-teacher conferences become an incubator of negative feelings, finger pointing and a place where our students confidence was damaged.  We desired a meeting focused on goals, strengths, and positive, forward-focused conversations.  

The Product: Teaming up with Thrively, a recent start-up dedicated to helping students discover their strengths and passions, the team at Rancho Minerva designed a self-driven playlist that led students through strengths assessments, goal setting, reflection and career exploration.  The end result was a plan titled, “My Future, My Way”.  Every student at Rancho Minerva developed a plan, then either presented it at parent conferences, or - if not able to come - were charged with presenting at home to their parents.

The Result: It was truly inspiring to hear our students discuss their futures, reflections and plans on how they would redirect their focus to be successful.  Parent pride overflowed at each table, as they had the opportunity to share their hopes and dreams for their child; building them up instead of tearing them down. Teachers were able to ask leading questions as a means of reflecting, and giving feedback to each student.  The evening ended with students leaving not beat up, but encouraged to follow their future, their way.

Meet Digital Discovery

Rancho Minerva has been very fortunate to be part of the Digital Promise Verizon Innovative Schools Grant, which has provided 1:1 iPads with 4G internet connectivity for each student at Rancho Minerva.  This program has been a wonderful kickstart to the innovative direction our school is headed.   Rancho Minerva is on a path to create a one-of-a-kind learning center for students of all backgrounds, at all levels.  We know that in order to achieve this vision, we must make our teaching and learning personal for each student.  When we examined the diverse needs of our students, the data from our current practices and our impact new innovative programs could have on our students, we set forth to create Digital Discovery.

Digital Discovery was created by a team of teachers who volunteered to create an elective course accessible to all students, which included strategic elements embedded in a personalized approach. A primary goal of Personalized Learning is to design learning experiences that give students choice and voice about their own learning.  Similar to packing your car after a trip to IKEA, we were challenged with the task to fit many key elements into this course each week at the same time keeping it engaging for our students.  

The key elements included in Digital Discovery include:

• Digital Game-based Math Intervention for all students (ST Math)
• Targeted Literacy using multiple forms of media
• Sustained Silent Reading
• Personalized Project Playlists
• Mentoring Time
• Restorative Circles/Table Talk
• Homeroom
• Digital Citizenship
• Digital Tools and use
• Introduce Self Directed Learning Behaviors
• and much more

Each week, Digital Discovery students set out on a personal learning path, as teachers serve as facilitators of learning and mentors.  Students have access to a web-based Personal Learning Playlist each week which guides them through their expected outcomes.  In the first week of this course, the excitement was felt by both students and teachers.  One teacher remarked, “I have never had this much fun teaching, I am learning so much!” in reference to learning alongside students in the class.

We know that this class serves as first steps of the PL transformation that is happening at Rancho Minerva.  Teachers collaborate daily on the course and transition and make real-time adjustments of the course.  This course is our working laboratory as we seek to continue along the path towards a true personalized learning environment at Rancho Minerva. 






Even teachers who are not teaching the course are beginning to explore implementing Personalized Learning components into their curriculum, based on what they have been hearing from both teachers and students about the Digital Discovery experience.  Check back for updates as we walk down this personalized learning path together this year.

Students recently finished their first unit on digital photography. In order to show demonstrate compentency, students worked through a playlist reading non-fictional text, exploring various articles, websites and resources. Students completed the unit by building a presentation on a platform of their choosing. The results were simply amazing. Each student selected a photo to enter into the RMMS Photo Gallery (set up in our flexible learning cafe), then all students voted for the top photos that will later be put on display at a local arts festival.



We are learning a lot through this class, however the early results have been very encouraging. Giving students choice, relevance, audience and a teacher who is in their corner as a mentor has been quite fascinating to observe.

#RMMSFAM
#WAVE

Building Community: One Family at a Time

Rancho Minerva Middle School faculty and staff kicked off the 2015-2016 school year in a very unique way.  On the first day back to school, RMMS ditched their welcome back meeting and PD for a community building activity that made a huge impact. Teams of teachers spread out through the community to visit students’ homes and send them the message, “We are excited to have you back at Rancho Minerva.”  The home visits were the latest effort in building the #RMMSFAM community.  Teams of 4-5 teachers, spent an hour visiting and building relationships with 10 families throughout Vista.  Teachers were given a brief orientation prior to heading out, which included a message from Jacinto Noriega, Professional Learning Manager from Digital Promise. "Some of the nerves you may be feeling prior to heading into the homes of our students, are the same nerves our parents feel stepping on our campus", remarked assistant principal Anna Lozano prior to hitting the streets.

RMMS Teachers welcome new student to the #RMMSFAM at her home

The home visits continued as each team invited the (10) families to a community lunch in the park.  We strategically picked the small park in the center of the community where a majority of our students live.  We wanted to be on their turf, to show them we care and to give many of our teachers a better sense of the community in which their students live.  The event culminated with each family getting a goodie bag, and an invite to the first principal’s coffee.

The impact of this event went far beyond the day.  Teacher reflections following the visits revealed many had an eye opening experience, truly seeing how students live after the bell rings.  “This was the best day of my teaching career” stated a teacher following the event.  Another teacher reflected,  “Today reinforced that relationships are the foundation of all that we do.” The lasting impact on our RMMS team continues as we strive to create a learning environment that meets the needs of the diverse backgrounds, living situations, and needs of our students and their families..

The impact in the #RMMSFAM parent community continued as parents were invited to the first principal coffee.  For many of the families who attended, this was their first school event, sitting down with the principal, administration, parent community liaison and teachers to discuss the direction of the school.  One parent remarked, “This school is different, I have never felt this way about a school, You are beautiful people the way you reach out to us”.  

We decided to do this event to help build community.  Through leveraging the willingness of our amazing staff, support from Digital Promise and our willingness to take risks, we are making our mark within the community of Vista.