Team Template Created

We worked together today to create a google site template for our eighth graders.  It was immensely helpful to have a panel of students join us so we can share the template plan with them.  Their feedback was spot on:

site:  https://sites.google.com/a/lssuvt.org/apex/


You will see in this template we have thought deeply about the two types of portfolios we want to support:  one for learning and one as learning.  Because we understand the importance of ongoing reflection, collecting of work in routine ways, and having a process in place for curating that work as evidence, we have included on this template both a place to "present" best work, and a link to ongoing, messy, formative reflection with a tab link to student blogs in Blogger.  This template is evidence to show our learning over the course of the week.

Wonder what MGI faculty do in the evenings?

Lots of discussion amongst those of us attending what MGI faculty does when they go off in the evening.  Clearly they have fun being responsive to our needs.

Our guess is they look forward to this part of the evening!

Attending MSMS workshop on PLP/Portfolio development

Here are some notes I took from the excellent workshop I attended with Don Taylor and his students showcasing their PLP work:

Main St Middle School Notes:

MSM PLPs

MSM Presentation

How they choose what academic pieces they are putting on their PLP

Sample Content Page

• Students receive a template that they can then personalize
• Tasks were developed as they went along
• Have students embed documents (like MGI model) so they can make changes in Drive
• Think about Drive as their portfolio*
• Support students along the way with graphic organizers, models, etc.
• Students write about things they have experienced (backward design), citizenship example--allow kids opportunities at school to experience abstract content
• Goal conversation with middle school kids is tough; takes time, built in with our flex Fridays and time during the week (get to each kid to refine goals)
• Students can work through tasks at their own pace? Reflect on each task, as they go--they don’t need to build on one another
• Public or private? Students share with one another, but cannot necessarily access everyone’s PLP
• Time built in to showcase student work
• Student personalization takes place ALL YEAR, each stage has room for students to make it their own
• More personalized* that’s the sell to kids! Independent (a little bit of instruction and then work time) Interest based--college research* Reflecting on personal learning, interests, etc. Build ways to incorporate expos (art, PE, tech & design)

Evidence of my learning: My team will build a template that reflects some of the best of what has come out of the MSMS work.

1st Day Reflections

I've been given space and time to do lots of thinking today, both alone and with my colleagues.  We as a team came prepared to focus our work this week on supporting students as they begin working with us to build portfolios of their learning.

One distinction that resonated with me about portfolio work that I hadn't considered before is the idea of two different types of portfolios:  Portfolios for learning and Portfolios as learning.  A colleague shared a link to an article that helped prompt my thinking:  11 Essentials for Excellent ePortfolios

Here's the distinction:

A portfolio for learning is often a short-term capstone project that will be assessed summatively. So, at the end of the year, students put selections of their work into a portfolio to assess their learning. This is often a showcase portfolio, or a sample of students' best work.

A portfolio as learning typically has an extended timeframe. This is often formative assessment, but students will also self-reflect and assess themselves. These process portfolios promote student reflection and ownership of the learning process.

Will have to do some thinking about the difference between the two and what we really want our students to be able to do.  

I'll plan to share with the team tomorrow this graphic so we can start making decisions: