Day 4 Reflections

Today was so productive. Allan and Bill Rich joined us for our final push to define the essential elements of the PLP. (Initially, we were going to discuss learning targets related to writing so our teams could use common language for the writing process - in support of our On-Demand writing task. However, we determined yesterday afternoon that our focus was better served finalizing the elements of the PLP). It became clear early on that what we were defining as essential elements were really processes; thanks, Billy, for pointing this out. (Yet another reminder that getting an outside perspective, whether an MGI facilitator, colleague, or consultant  is critical in processing conceptual ideas). The idea of the essential elements was in service to our varied team structures - when all is said and done, what will the components of the PLP be for any student at SCS? With the elements established, teams can then move forward and determine processes that make sense for their team.

We also spent some time today on defining the transferable skills...what is the hierarchy within the system - what parts means standard? What part is the goal (i.e. is it Clear and Effective Communication or is it the descriptors underneath? What part is the learning target (the descriptors underneath the category, or what teachers write for “I can” statements?) What flexibility exists for teachers to design learning targets that relate to the transferable skill and address content standards? Where do content standards fit within the process of reporting out on jump rope? We quickly realized how murky our understanding was. A confirmation from Jeff Evans, our district’s director of learning and innovation, helped to clarify the layers. Here is an example that I think works, specific to CSSU:

CLEAR AND EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION	These are the leaves of our branch icon, and will be called Categories
Demonstrate Organized and Purposeful Communication	These are indicators below the big headings. For CSSU, these are the graduation standards - for the high school. For K-8, they will be referred to as transferable standards as to not confuse graduation from middle school.
I can...	These are the learning targets created or selected by teachers that are tagged to a graduation/transferable standard...Some of these will be pre-populated into jumprope, and some will be designed by teachers (and students!) over the course of the year. These targets are very much a work in progress, requiring practice implementation with students and teachers.

Finally, we discussed the containers...PLP/Protean, eportfolios, jumprope, and google classroom, and hashed out how these support the learner. The image below attempts to capture some understanding of how these pieces fit together: learner at the center, the PLP (Protean that is the vehicle for the PLP) student owned and operated to illustrate growth of learning,  the portfolio (google site, blogger, weebly) is the showcase of their work and on going reflection, Jump Rope is a place for demonstration of growth to learning targets. The teacher is connected to JR and portfolio, and the PLP is supported by teacher.

Moving forward, we will need to consider how the essential elements are addressed team by team. After listening to the students yesterday, it is abundantly clear to have student input through some kind of a design thinking protocol to demonstrate our commitment how central student voice is in the process, regardless of team.