Setting Kids Up for Success

How nervous are you on the first day of anything? First day of school, first day of a sport, first day of a class you have not been to in over a year and a half.  Some things are familiar but still the nerves set in. The majority of Mrs. Conrad's fifth-grade gifted and talented students have been in her class for many years and know her expectations for them as leaders of JC Thompson Elementary. This year though is a little different. Times are different, and the way we have to approach our kids' learning can be different. Mrs. Conrad knew this and knew she had to set her kids up for success! 

Executive Functioning skills are needed to plan and achieve goals. Kids need to know these skills for life. Home life, school life, and even their tech life. At the beginning of the year Mrs. Conrad sets time aside to get them organized and set up for a successful year in GATES.

On day one, they were given their learning target and goals for this year.  To get them started she had them declutter their Google Drive by creating new folders, coloring folders, and archiving last year's work.

They updated their ePortfolios to reflect their 5th grade year and updated their All About Me pages. Another skill that Mrs. Conrad found useful for her kids to be successful throughout the year, is to have an email signature, so they got started. After showing several examples and talking about what needs to be in an email signature and why it is important, the kids created their own. Check out this example from one of her students.

Their next step is to write a professional email to their principal, asking her for permission to create video announcements this year for the entire school. It is the heart of the year and what students will be focused on.  Creating something like this from scratch takes a lot of planning, organization, and flexible thinking. We look forward to watching these kids' creations come to life.

All of the skills these kids are getting at the beginning of their year will set them up to be Future-Ready students for a lifetime! Organizing, Planning and Prioritizing, Task Initiation, Self-Monitoring are all being done in this classroom as expectations for a good year. We will have to check back in on them when they get their video announcements up and running and see how far these life skills are taking them! 

Setting our kids up for success is a no-brainer, but we can't forget about their digital lives as well. By setting norms and giving them time to organize, declutter, and update their digital space, the year will be on the road to success. 

An Unlikely Partnership: ePortfolios from a Fresh Lens

ePortfolios are a platform for showcase, goal setting, and reflection in every grade and on each campus in Northwest ISD. While the platform and benefits of having an ePortfolio are similar for everyone, the why, design, and purpose of the ePortfolio will change based on the student’s age, goals, and target audience. This is why the virtual and time flexible Hughes ES and Steele HS ePortfolio partnership has been both beneficial and mind blowing for our students!

Students in Mrs. Champion’s 5th grade GT class and Coach Hayes' CTE classes were put into a collaborative Google Slides with an assigned partner. Fifth grade kicked off this partnership by first examining their own ePortfolio and recognizing specific areas in which they’d like feedback (Quality of Content, Web Design/Organization, or Personalization).

Collaborative Google Slides 

After doing some introspective work, students explored their partner’s high school ePortfolio. They took notes and then provided written feedback in slides and verbal feedback via Flipgrid. The written feedback allowed students to narrow their focus into a few sentences, while the video feedback allowed students to get to know and encourage their partner. Flipgrid allowed students to have a relevant audience outside of their classroom, school, and grade. It was fun for students to hear from someone that was looking at their ePortfolio with a fresh and new perspective.



The Lifelong Skill of Giving and Receiving Feedback 
Not only did students learn get inspiration and ideas for improving their ePortfolio, but they also learned how to give and receive feedback. Feedback should be specific, constructive, and align with their partner’s goals.  Both giving and receiving feedback via Flipgrid helped students polish the lifelong skill of working alongside others for continual improvement.  Even the high school students appreciated a fresh set of eyes. In fact, Steele Senior George Peterson states, “I enjoyed learning about my strengths and weaknesses. It's very refreshing to hear feedback from somebody outside my personal and professional bubbles because I know it's very objective. This is an opportunity for me to apply the feedback and grow from it.” Charlotte (Hughes ES) adds, "I've learned from my Steele buddy that I can always improve. Some people don't appreciate feedback, but Jordan has given me some GREAT suggestions!"

The Vulnerability of Sharing a “Work in Progress” 
Students, and even adult learners have been conditioned to work on a product until it has reached “turn in” status before sharing with others. It takes vulnerability, confidence, and humility to share a “work in progress.” While we do want to reach a “publish” point with our ePortfolio, this process has been refreshing for students to have a partner that wants to meet them right where they are. This has been an amazing opportunity to learn about continual improvement.  Parker Younger (Junior at SAHS) comments, “From this partnership I have learned that my ePortfolio is always changing. After my Hughes partner gave me their feedback, I realized that even the smallest details about my life could and should in included in my ePortfolio. These details help to make my ePortfolio personalized and professional.” Isaac (Hughes ES) has truly appreciated the feedback that he has received and is excited to take next steps in making his ePortfolio even better. He states, “By the end of 5th grade, I hope to have added an elementary school recap to show how much I have learned and changed. I have received some feedback that has really helped me like making a school studies tab, instead of having all of my subjects jumbled around in my ePortfolio." 

It's been inspiring for Hughes students to see the possibilities that lie ahead for their ePortfolio. The didn't feel intimidated by their partner, but rather encouraged to take next steps knowing that they have year to perfect their site. Isaac emphasizes this point in his feedback when he records,"First of all, your ePortfolio looks really good. I really hope that mine might be like that someday." 

What’s Next for These Students? 
This experience was such a beneficial process for both the elementary and high school classes. As a result, Mrs. Champion and Coach Hayes have decided to continue the same process for a round two of feedback starting December 19th. It will be powerful for students to have the accountability of updating their ePortfolio and using the feedback they've been given. Students have also been asking about opportunities to meet their partner in person. Teachers are working to find an opportunity for students to meet up in the spring for a round robin type ePortfolio showcase where they can see a variety of ePortfolios and the growth that has been made. You may even see some of these partnerships at Expo 2020 in February!

Finding the Right Tool for the Job

In many instances, educators are encouraged to approach student learning and growth by focusing on individual student deficits or identified areas of need. While being aware of student needs is important, an effective educator must also be able to focus on what a student can do rather than solely concentrating on what they can’t. Educators spend a lot of time collecting, evaluating, and comparing assessment data in order to guide practice in a way that is designed to fill and eliminate learning gaps for students. However, promoting student growth and success requires an educator to see their students from multiple perspectives and to know where they are in the now.

A successful model of education considers both strengths and needs and does so by allowing students room to showcase those things on a daily basis. Temple Grandin, a professor at Colorado State University and a famous autism spokesperson expressed this effectively when she said, “In special education there’s too much emphasis placed on the deficit and not enough on the strength.” One of the best things about being involved with special education classes at Eaton High School is seeing how the teachers of these classes focus on the entire student. Knowing what students need as well as what they are capable of doing is key to helping them learn independence and skills that will serve them well into adulthood.

Lisa Daniel’s Applied English students are given opportunities to not only learn necessary ELA skills, such as expository writing and resume building, but she also works with them on how those skills apply to real life situations by arming them with the right tools and resources to compete for opportunities in the postsecondary world. For example, Lisa’s students were given the chance to begin developing their own ePortfolios to help record and reflect the skills they have been learning as well as to create a way to showcase themselves after they leave EHS. While building these sites, one student spoke of his deep interest in meteorology and weather and began incorporating his independent research and knowledge of the topic into his ePortfolio in order to show not only his desire to pursue that passion but also his independently developed skills in the areas of research, communication, and science.

Another student in one of Lisa’s classes encountered this same curriculum in an equally inspiring way by requesting access to an added tool in order to begin setting up his ePortfolio. This student, who deals with some physical limitations that most might consider a total obstacle to his ability to use digital tools and devices, was able to communicate a need for a stylus in order to access Chromebook features, allowing him to more effectively express how he wanted information displayed by setting up his page formatting, background, profile photo, and portfolio pages. While this was not an easy process for him, with a simple tool and some one on one teacher support, this student was given the independence to complete a task successfully. What some may not realize is that the student’s differences are not a hindrance to him in every situation. With the right tools, this student, who may not express a physical voice that is heard, can have a distinctive voice through his work and successfully do the same, if not more, than the students around him with no noticable differences in the end result. The author, George Couros, said it best when he said, “Technology is not just a tool. It can give learners a voice that they may not have had before.”

Christina Schweitzer’s SOAR (Social Occupational and Academic Readiness) students were awarded iPads and upright stands through the Northwest Education Foundation Grants. These particular devices, when utilized with the provided stands, allow students with physical differences to access tools that help to develop online navigations skills as well as reading, writing, and other communication in ways more conducive to their physical needs. For example, students were given the opportunity to work directly with interactive online anatomy curriculum to access content about the human anatomy in ways that were previously unavailable to them with textbooks or regular curriculum tools. In addition, these SOAR students are able to utilize digital resources that are focused on incorporating individual interests and skills. By bringing in digital tools like these, teachers can facilitate personalization of learning and students can engage and connect more with content while showcasing talents and mastering curriculum. Simply put, when we figure out what a student can do, we can find the right tools and resources to help that student grow in ways previously unimaginable.

Although technology tools are great to have in the classroom, it is never about the tool itself. Good learning is always about how those tools are used and about using the right tool for the right student and situation. When educators, such as these special education teachers, take the time to get to know what their students are capable of doing, they can customize curriculum to access those strengths and create situations where students display their talents while building confidence and a solid mastery of academic skills.

A Revelation about Resolutions

Watching a short TED talk on “Grit” by Angela Duckworth, a former consultant turned middle school math teacher, brought about thoughts of personal goal setting and perseverance, thoughts of new years resolutions, thoughts of never-ending attempts at self-improvement, thoughts lacking follow through, and thoughts of failure. It didn’t take long for those thoughts to bring on an overwhelming feeling of defeat with reminders of past inadequacies and ineptitude. As a new year begins, many will set personal and professional goals while trying to figure out how to keep from losing sight of those intentions and eventually abandoning them altogether. In that TED talk, Ms. Duckworth said one thing that began to turn lingering self-defeat into clarity and motivation: “…the ability to learn is not fixed...it can change with your effort…We have to be willing to fail, to be wrong, to start over again with lessons learned.” She very eloquently explained that the key to success and growth is not viewing failure as a permanent condition but as an opportunity for growth and forward progress.

Humans are conditioned to view failure in a very negative light and taught to take steps to avoid it at all cost. When failure is experienced, it is often seen as an endpoint in a journey instead of a brief detour or change in route. The question of how to change this mindset is one that is often neglected when working to facilitate skills for student success and, ultimately, life. However, when searching for solutions to this challenge, it becomes obvious that key elements for success must include clear and attainable goal setting and a frequent and effective self-reflection process.

Sticking with the traveling analogy, it stands to reason that experiential learning is a journey and beginning that journey without a clear destination in mind is futile and pointless. Even if the goal is to aimlessly explore and enjoy wherever life takes you, there is a destination, or goal, of some sort. While traveling, it is also good to keep in mind that when construction, a traffic problem, or an obstacle in a planned route arises, a detour can bring about many new and helpful experiences. The discovery of new places, the skill sets of flexibility and problem solving, and the knowledge of a better way of traveling for the future are all benefits to diverging from a planned path. Whatever it is that alters the planned route to a destination, the “failure” experienced in the pursuit of that original route is ultimately beneficial and one can only know this by reflecting on those experiences, understanding lessons learned, and setting a new course for success.

Eaton High School’s current resolution, or “problem of practice,” is to help students “demonstrate goal setting and reflection to foster critical thinking.” With this goal at the forefront of instruction, EHS provides prime examples of students utilizing digital resources for experiential learning, goal setting, and reflection. One of those examples can be seen in Jennifer Hamzy’s Psychology classes. Mrs. Hamzy uses Google Suite in two ways to provide EHS students with opportunities to reflect on content as well as course progress.

By copying a Google slide deck template, students receive detailed notes over chapter readings and lessons. In addition, these slide decks ask students to respond to reflection questions individually in their copy of the slide deck. They not only are able to increase understanding by making connections to complex psychology concepts but they can also go back to see their answers as they review information for course activities and assessments. Mrs. Hamzy’s students also receive a Google sheet that includes built-in fields and formulas for tracking assessment results and course progress.

This creates more student independence and allows students to see measured progress and areas of need or growth in one quick glance. By frequently documenting personal course data, students who find themselves in situations where they are facing an obstacle or failure, of sorts, can begin to see areas where they can alter their course and focus on a change in strategy for progress and growth, thus correcting previous failures and pushing forward.

While many students have the opportunity to learn practical lessons associated with experiential learning, some have thrived and begun to acquire the “grit” and perseverance necessary to push toward their goals. E-portfolios are an amazing tool for accomplishing this and for providing students with a platform for self-branding, goal setting, self-assessment, and reflection. One student who is an ideal example of utilizing digital resources for goal setting and reflection through experiential learning is Megan, a student in Kristal Holmes’ architecture course. Megan has set goals for herself related to professional architecture, design preparation, and future employment. She utilizes Google Sites to house her e-portfolio showcasing her collection of designs and floor plans as artifacts documenting her work and progress over the course of her studies.

Megan’s work with tiny house design is exemplary of how she documents her design experiences, reflects on them in her portfolio and makes new and improved designs that incorporate lessons she learns from previous architectural designs. Megan’s experiences in Mrs. Holmes’ course have also offered her the chance to develop skills and resources for her professional goals by participating in mock interviews and professional document preparation while constantly receiving feedback for improvement. All of these experiences with goal related tasks give Megan a chance to experience field specific work and tools that teach necessary skills and aid in driving her toward her destination.

Curtis Aguirre’s Spanish I students also utilize digital feedback and reflection tools as they practice using the Spanish language orally. These students use a web-based video tool called Recap where they are able to record themselves speaking Spanish and then receive video feedback concerning their recordings from their instructor and peers. Students can also record self-reflections regarding what they are working on and about their progress with course content. This feedback and reflective work are key to students seeing any challenges as areas needing focus rather than permanent set backs and failure.

Kathryn Watson’s French students are also frequently provided with opportunities to reflect on course assessments and grow through use of Poll Everywhere for informal personal and class reflection. Mrs. Watson uses this online survey tool for in-class reflections, discussions, and exit tickets assessing student feelings and understanding of course content. By allowing students to regularly utilize this tool for reflective tasks, they are being given the opportunity to think back on learning experiences and to contemplate how they dealt with previous assessments and challenges before attempting new ones.

With a true growth mindset at the forefront, anyone can find value in working through obstacles and reflecting on failure, which then facilitates independence, positive behavior changes, life-long learning, and permanent skill development. The learning process is incomplete without reflection. Rather than spending the new year resolving to learn knitting, overcome a personal fear, or lose weight, it would be beneficial to reflect on previously abandoned resolutions and begin to see failure as a temporary road block or detour pushing toward growth rather than a dead end. If we hope to see our students begin to drive themselves into the future, we must help them change views of failure and learn the “rules of the road” by discovering new perspectives and unearthing new routes along their journey to success.

Mastering the Madness of Mythology

Mythology is a genre most students enjoy reading and studying, however few truly comprehend.  In order to help students deeply analyze the elements of this genre and demonstrate their understanding of the structure, Mrs. Davis, 7th grade GT ELA teacher at Chisholm Trail Middle School, challenged students to write their own original myth.

Students were asked to collaborate with peers to craft creation myths.  Through each unique tale, students explained how a natural phenomena came to be, while teaching the audience a valuable lesson about the choices we make and the impact they can have.  Students spent a week working through the process described below.  

Planning and Drafting

A key part of this project involved students collaborating on all aspects of the myth.  In order to easily facilitate collaboration, Mrs. Davis shared template resources with students through Google Classroom.  Student groups were then able to access the files from their own Google Drive and work together  to develop a solid plan.  Students also relied on Google Drive as they drafted the first version of their myth.  Google Docs allowed students to simultaneously access the same document so all group members could serve as active participants.  The use of the “History” feature available with this tool enabled the teacher to clearly see the individual contribution of each group member.  This encouraged full participation and aided in the assignment of individual student grades.

Publishing

When it came time to publish, students were given the option of using Adobe Spark Video or Pages.  Spark considers itself, “a one-stop content shop for creating and sharing visual stories that will wow any audience on any device.”  This was the perfect tool for students to blend their text with images, bringing their stories to life!  Click on the images below to see their creations.

             

      

Reflection & Feedback

Mrs. Davis utilized Lino sticky canvas for students to provide feedback to one another.  The canvas was created by the teacher and then shared with students.  Each group created a note with their names and a link to their presentation.  Groups were required to view at least 2 projects and use the TAG feedback strategy to provide authentic peer feedback.  The collaborative aspect of Lino allowed all students to view one another’s projects, as well as access the feedback.  While Mrs. Davis was happy with the overall experience Lino provided students, she did mention that she would set things up differently if she utilized the tool again in the future.  She suggests creating the original notes for each groups and then allowing students to comment around them.  This would allow the teacher to lock the notes in place and prevent any confusion caused by a lack of organization.

In years past, students completed this project using paper and art supplies.  It’s always been a project students love, but this year, the integration of technology took things to an entirely new level.  A common frustration reported previously was the limited time students had to complete the myth.  With the use of collaborative tools, students could access their work anytime, anywhere.  The increased accessibility, improved the overall quality of the projects and provided students a deeper understanding of the content.  While all of these benefits make the project worthwhile, the most meaningful benefit would be the ability to instantly provide students with a global audience.  Since the assignment was completed using a digital tool, students were able to link their Adobe Spark Videos or Pages to their ePortfolios.  This will be an experience students can look back on and share for years to come.

Stop, Collaborate, and Listen

Byron Nelson 9th Grader Zooming with Lakeview 2nd Graders

Second through Fifth Grade students at Lakeview Elementary began setting up their ePortfolios and requested "experts in the field" to showcase its capabilities and uses. Who better to ask than our very own high school students! iSchool Advocates and student leaders from Byron Nelson High School and Eaton High School had the opportunity to discuss their own ePortfolio in 20 minute segments with a designated grade level using Zoom, a free video conferencing tool. During each presentation time, the HS students were asked to discuss their ePortfolio as a whole, explain the importance of having an ePortfolio, and share a specific piece of work in the ePortfolio that makes them most proud. Each segment concluded with a Q&A session in which Lakeview students were able to ask questions to the high school students regarding creation and design of the ePortfolio.


During each video conference, students utilized the "Share Screen" feature of Zoom which enabled the Lakeview students to see how their ePortfolio may be organized and designed once content was added over the years. It was especially helpful that many HS students discussed things that they wanted to add or change in their ePortolios which models self-reflection and evaluation of content since ePortfolios are constant work in progress rather than a finished product.

Utilizing Share Screen feature to discuss exemplar work

This Zoom experience supported students' growth towards being a global collaborator in the expectation that students use digital tools to connect with learners from a variety of backgrounds and cultures, engaging with them in ways that broaden mutual understanding and learning. Additionally, the high school students gained insight as an empowered learner in which they used technology to seek feedback that informs and improves their practice and [demonstrated] their learning in a variety of ways. (ISTE Student Standards 7a and 1c)

21st Century Reflection

Students are taking chances and deeply reflecting at Gene Pike Middle School. In Mrs. Fitzgerald's class, her students were given one task: start a blog on Blogger and share about something you find interesting. Since all NISD students have Blogger accounts through their Google account, Mrs. Fitzgerald had them utilize this platform to ease them into the reflective world of blogging. From that simple direction, students took the initiative to begin a web-based chronological log of their thoughts outside of class. They began blogging  about everything from a project they did for a class to collections of music from their favorite video games. The students began writing, creating videos and embedding them into their blog.  Mrs. Fitzgerald is the librarian at Pike and her class is open to all 8th grade students.  This assignment was able to meet each student at their own level. They have all taken ownership over their blogs and have begun curating in numerous ways.

One of the students, Carlos, decided that he wanted to make his blog about how to defeat different levels of various video games.  He knew that his audience would enjoy learning how to get through the levels.  Since this is a blog, it is still a work in progress and you can check back later to learn even more from Carlos.

Carlos's Blog

As their blogs began to take shape, students participated in a feedback session with classmates and their teacher. Students were encouraging each other to explore topics that they can blog about.  The students are currently working on a way to embed their blogger page into their ePortfolio.

To extend the depth of their learning Mrs. Fitzgerald has encouraged the students to customize their ePortfolios as well. Alexa has begun this process. She is also one of our NISD Advocates at GPMS.  She has taken her ePortfolio and used it to help students and parents learn how to navigate through Google Sites. She is using this platform to reflect on herself as a learner and to give insight into who she is as a member of a thriving community.

Alexa's ePortfolio

Students at Gene Pike Middle School are blogging into their future!

The "E" in ePortfolio

When ePortfolios were introduced during the GT PLC last fall, Marcie Conrad (click on link to follow on Twitter) immediately saw the benefit it would have for her students.  Mrs. Conrad, GT Teacher at JCThompson Elementary, is a trailblazer when it comes to providing her students the most innovative and engaging learning environment.  When you observe her with her students their is a constant buzz of enthusiasm, excitement and energy.  Additionally, she constantly, through every opportunity, is coaching students with their personal choices, short term goals, long term plans and life-long passions.

When ePortfolios were launched on the secondary campuses and by choice at the elementary campuses, Mrs. Conrad saw this as the trifecta of learning. After some initial planning and consulting with her I.T. coach she was ready to launch. Like all great instruction, she introduced the “why” of portfolios.  It was not long before her students, who only see her a limited amount of time, were finding every reason to come down and work on their ePortfolios in her class. They eagerly worked on it at both home and at school.

Every aspect of the Google site involved student choice.  The students determined what work was “ePortfolio” worthy, understood that showcased work could go beyond the academic day, and reflected both on their own work and their peers’ work. Mrs. Conrad gently coaching and facilitating as they moved forward in the process.

Before too long they had ePortfolios they were not only proud of, but were becoming the talk of other GT teachers and educators taking the same journey.

Her enthusiasm, excitement and energy to facilitate the journey of ePortfolios was effective. Why? Because her students embraced the ePortfolios as their own and were equally enthusiastic, excited and energetic about the ePortfolio they had crafted and the products they had selected to showcase.

It was effective because in all parts it was reflective.  At every turn students were sharing their ideas and plans for their ePortfolios, then in the same motion would suddenly pause and ask themselves was their idea truly “ePortfolio worthy.”

How was this done?  It seems that the following quote best captures the practice in Mrs. Conrad’s class, “Follow effective action with quiet reflection. From the quiet reflection will come even more effective action.”-James Levin

Through this experience students met challenges, learned to embed pictures, upload files, create tabs, create links, etc.  Most was done with students helping students, with support from Mrs. Conrad and the I.T. coach.  What resulted was excellence and a futuristic mindset.  Now when ePortfolios are discussed there is always a mention of how what presently is done will impact the future. All of it student-led.

Mrs. Conrad and the I.T. coach knew there was potential and possibility with ePortfolios.  What has been realized is far beyond what they even imagined.  When possibility is wrapped in enthusiasm, excitement, and energy there is no other option than to be effective. How ePortfolios was embraced and executed by the Students on their own drive and force was far more effective because Mrs. Conrad and the I.T. coach shared the vision, but let the students determine the path to excellence.