Digital Discovery Genius Hour Project

Digital Discovery Genius Hour Project

By Joanna Murray

RMMS Teacher

Most students at Rancho Minerva take a unique course called Digital Discover. Over the course of the school year, students in this course have engaged in many projects related to using technology and a problem-solving approach to learning. A main focus, with regard to this course, is having students learn in a very personalized manner.
The latest project that our students engaged in was a Genius Hour project. Genius Hour is a program that allows for students to learn about a topic, or learn how to do something that interests them. Students chose from a wide range of topics. Some became program designers, others built You Tube videos of game design, A large group of sixth graders became obsessed with geocaching. Still others decided to learn to knit, crochet, and paint. One very ambitious 8th grader wrote an entire story and then learned how to publish as a young writer. Another 8th grader loves Japanese culture and decided to learn the language. Some students learned how to play soccer, and techniques of playing other sports, while several learned how to play checkers and chess. Some studied other cultures, and interesting places they would like to visit, including outer space.
To ensure that students would be successful in completing this project, the quarter started with several other tasks including that students learned to identify the difference between credible and noncredible sources. Next, they were challenged to learn search engine techniques. After that, each student built a Google Site. Finally, they each learned to blog, and posted and responded what was, for many students, their first blog posting experience using their Google Site. Along their individual pathway to learning, each student spent time blogging about their experience. Reflecting in this manner allowed for me to hold students individually accountable for thier learning, but more, allowed for students to hold themselves accountable. Though blogging, some even came to the realization that they were not as passionate about what they were learning as when they made their Genius Hour choice, and switched to something more engaging.
Every student was held to the task of experiencing their learning through research, blogging, interaction with the topic, and the preparation and delivery of a final project that they shared with their classmates and teacher.
Reflecting on the Genius Hour project, students at all three grade levels reported that they had a lot of fund learning about topics that truly interested them.

Reflecting on Our 2016 RMMS 8th Grade Career Expo

 RMMS 2016 Career Expo

On January 22, 2016, Rancho Minerva hosted a Career Expo for our 8th grade students. Our Career Expo was created to help our 8th grade students, who will so soon be working their way through high school and beyond, learn about career options, and more, learn that a pathway for achieving their goals is within reach with careful planning and hard work. It started with Mrs.

Santangelo’s ABC Printing Bulls designing a flyer for

distribution.

Several planning meetings followed, and what culminated was the event itself, which took place for over two instructional periods, in several key locations on campus, including the quad, the gym, our innovation spaces, and most of the Ewing buildings.

Although we strive to provide the best instructional experiences we can for our students, having these presenters on campus, and interacting with our students provided a real-life experience as they engaged with these amazing professionals in real-time, having intimate dialogues about what they do for a living, but more, how choices along the way contributed to the success of our presenters.

RMMS 8th graders will surely remember these passionate presentations as a source of inspiration and motivation as they pursue their educational and occupational interests. Through a series of rotations, students were able to choose who they wanted to see by reading a profile ahead of time. We prepared a powerpoint presentation for you to view, if you want to see all of the

wonderful volunteers who attended [click here].

As a traditional middle school in Vista, CA, we are passionate about 21st Century learning and creating an environment where students thrive through collaboration, relationships, effort, academics & technology EVERYDAY. We know that Rancho Minerva’s goal of preparing all students to be successful in life is only possible with the support of our families, staff, and generous community partners.  Rancho Minerva Middle School is a “family” community united around its students. We look forward to continuing to nurture experiences such as these toward this vision.

Inspiring our 8th Graders

Rancho Minerva hosted a community career fair this Friday as part of an effort to inspire our students beyond the classroom.  

Eighth Grade students had the privelage to connect and learn from industry experts from around the county.  Students attended sessions led by individuals in the field of enviornmental science, engineering and computer software development.  Students also met with authors, policemen, firemen, a veterinarian, fashion designer, entrepreneur, lawyer, and more.
Students learned the pathway each participant took to arrive at the career they were in. Students asked questions, participated and discussed careers with each expert.  


The event gave students the opportunity to learn about careers and interact with community experts in a variety of fields.  

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.