Wednesday, December 21, 2016

Rubrics are the key to making good projects, portfolios and exhibitions: "Not there yet" is better than "incomplete" or "unsatisfactory"

Look at these definitions or labels that an article about  rubrics gives


https://facultyinnovate.utexas.edu/teaching/check-learning/rubrics

DEVELOP A RATING SCALE.

Rating scales can include either numerical or descriptive labels.  Usually, a rating scale consists of an even number of performance levels.  If an odd number is used, the middle level tends to become a catch-all category. 
On the chart below, the highest level of performance is described on the left.   A few possible labels for a four-point scale include:
4
3
2
1
4 points
3 points
1 point
0 points
Exemplary
Excellent
Acceptable
Unacceptable
Exceeds expectations
Meets expectations
Progressing
Not there yet
Superior
Good
Fair
Needs work
Excellent
Good
Needs improvement
Unacceptable
Sophisticated
Highly competent
Fairly competent
Not yet competent

DEVELOP INDICATORS OF QUALITY.


Incomplete 
On the way
More is needed

Anything is better than "unacceptable."

LINK TO THIS TABLE

Friday, December 9, 2016

"Do something with what you have learned" -- Use iBooks to create interesting books (a procedure from Peter Pappas)

GO TO THE BLOG
What kinds of portfolios could be created to "do something with what you have learned"?

Peter Pappas, a teacher in Oregon, shows his students how to use iBooks to help students show their work.

Here is a screenshot of a European history text that the students compiled.
LINK to the blog about "how to use iBooks"

LINK to some of the procedures




Thursday, December 8, 2016

Examples of DIGITAL PORTFOLIOS -- from Behance

We can BE fabulous
we can enHANCE our futures with portfolios.
we can BEHANCE

Here's an article about portfolios that could be "exemplars" for high school students to emulate.

www­.creativebloq­.com - With millions of views each month, online creative community Behance is quickly becoming the place to be for artists of all disciplines.



A Rubric needs to show EXAMPLES of what is "excellent," "good" and "needs more time."   These examples might help students with ideas about "how to present information."

Here is the blog post on CreativeBloq

Obery   

Ben Voldman

Schmidt

THE SHORT VERSION: An open letter to Journalists asking them to write about Rhode Island's new program to allow students to earn a high school diploma by making presentations (instead of passing standardized tests)

This is an invitation to journalists to raise attention to Rhode Island's new regulation.
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Revisions in the high school graduation requirements were approved unanimously Tuesday night by the Council on Elementary and Secondary Education. Under the new rules, which will apply to eighth graders who will graduate in 2021, the state will no longer require adequate performance on standardized tests for graduation, although students are still required to take the tests. Students also will have to demonstrate proficiency through a senior project, exhibition or portfolio, for which the state will set the scoring standards.Download it at tinyURL.com/RhodeIslandNews

========

I'm writing to you to ask you to take on a writing assignment.   I'm pretty sure a magazine might be interested in the new regulations in Rhode Island that allow a student to "get a diploma through portfolio and exhibitions."  


===================

What is the goal of a teacher?
Here's the list that I found in a book by Dennis Littky

See page 1 of his book
========= 
When I watch kids walk into the building on their first day of school, I think about what I want them to be like when they walk out on their last day. I also think about what I want them to be like on the day I bump into them in the supermarket 10 or 20 years later. Over the course of three decades watching kids walk into my schools, I have decided that I want them to
❊ be lifelong learners❊ be passionate❊ be ready to take risks❊ be able to problem-solve and think critically❊ be able to look at things differently❊ be able to work independently and with others❊ be creative❊ care and want to give back to their community❊ persevere❊ have integrity and self-respect❊ have moral courage❊ be able to use the world around them well❊ speak well, write well, read well, and work well with numbers ❊ truly enjoy their life and their work.
To me, these are the real goals of education. 

www.TINYURL.com/LittkyEbook  is the full book

www.TINYURL.com/LittkyRadio is the NPR interview in 2005
=========

One of my goals is to learn something from my students.  That is my test that:
a.  I am open to listening.
b.  The student is clearly communicating
c.  The student has  found something interesting to him and somehow figured out that the topic might be useful to another person.  The student is serving another person.


"Learning should be fun for the learner."  Apraham S. Fischler,      (I edited Dr. Fischler's blog into a book of commentaries.  Here's the link to the free ebook  TinyURL.com/FischlerEbook

=========

I'm walking through this somewhat long process to ask you a question:

Do you want to write about the new pathway to a high school diploma?

An article in the NEW YORKER would be a remarkable step forward for this idea.

Dennis Littky in 1995 was approached by the Rhode Island commissioner of Education Peter McWalter

Contacts:   Peter McWalter   pmcwalter@hotmail.com
401 954 5340


Dennis Littky can be found through bigpicture.org

Enrique Gonzalez, a former principal at a school that used projects and exhibitions.
909 456 9152

The Big Picture Learning method has "ten distinguishers" (ten procedures that make it different from school).

RESULT:  October 11, 2016, the Board approved regulations that give students the option to get a diploma with portfolios and exhibitions.


============

I'm a teacher in Fort Lauderdale.   I would love to see this option of a multiple pathway toward a diploma.

I started a blog to get this regulation adopted in Florida

I don't have the skill to tell this story in a compelling way, the way you  and Malcolm Gladwell and Dan Pink tell stories to reveal the "obvious next step" that we should adopt as a society.

Dan Pink wrote about alternatives to current schools.   His piece in REASON magazine in 2001 grabbed me (and turned into Chapter 15 of his book Free Agent Nation"
"HEY TEACHERS:  Your students need that option to become FREE AGENTS!"
Dan Pink has served on the board of advisors for Big Picture Learning in Providence, RI.

What do I get out of your involvement with this?  I need to build broad awareness of the Rhode Island regulations.

Suggested title: "Stand and Deliver:  Getting a diploma by talking and showing us what you can do with what you have learned."


It's a long title and it might confuse some people who are aware of Stand and Deliver, the story of Jaime Escalante, the math teacher who showed poor kids how to ace the AP Calculus exam (the dramatic moment came when his students were disqualified because the ETS system thought there had been cheating.  how could poor kids in a failing school in Los Angeles possibly pass a college credit test?   The students had to retake the test and they got the credit.)  


==========

HOW TO USE "projects" to getting a high school diploma though portfolios and exhibitions....

page 53-54  Big Picture
The atmosphere of a school is so important, and all of the issues I’ve discussed here are equally important to the creation and maintenance of a positive atmosphere. When all of these things are present, a school becomes like a great newspaper officebustling with excitement, every- one busy and engaged, working together and working on their own proj- ects with purpose and passion.
The typical school principal pats his or her belly with satisfaction and smiles proudly when he or she walks through silent halls. To me, a silent school is not a school at all. Dewey has great stuff to say on this. First: “The nonsocial character of the traditional school is seen in the fact that it erected silence into one of its prime virtues.”But even better, he says, “Enforced quiet and acquiescence prevent pupils from disclosing their real natures.”7
“Enforced quiet” not only keeps kids from being themselves and keeps teachers from finding out who the kids are, it also kills learning.Communication is the lifeblood of education. My favorite description of The Met is that it is an “ongoing conversation.” Numerous visitors to the school have called it this, but my friend Deborah Meier, the noted principal and educator, really got to the heart of it when she wrote this after a Met visit:
The young people that I met had no trouble talking to me about all kinds of subjects having to do with themselves as learners—and not to mention the world around them, but also about themselves and about the school itself. And the conversations were like having a conversation with a colleague. And I saw that going on throughout the school, this kind of informal but respect- ful conversation. The school was an enormous conversation between people who appeared to be there voluntarily, who seemed to feel that this was a community in which people gathered together every day because the environment was intellectually and emotionally stimulating.8
I had the opportunity a few years ago to meet with Alan Alda and talk to him about education and The Met. When I described our school to him, he said it reminded him of Second City, the improvisational theater group in Chicago, where he and so many other famous comedians got started. He said that everyone at Second City was already a very good comedian when they joined the troupe. But the environment of Second City was one of growth, and it allowed each of them to become even crazier, wilder, bolder—and better. To me, this is a great analogy to what a great school atmosphere can do for kids and teachers. If you put good people in an environment that allows them to continue learning and that reinforces their risk taking, their passion, and their commitment, then you can make good people great. You can make ordinary people extraordinary just by giving them the right environment in which to do their thing (whether it is comedy or teaching or learning) and letting them grow. 



===========  


Procedures at The Met School (a typical Big Picture Learning school)

The Ten Expectations

Why can’t all schools meet students at the center of their own learning? There are many answers to this question, but one that comes to mind is that schools simply self-impose pressures on themselves that keep them from finding the flexibility within whatever structure (either literal or figurative) that confines them.
For instance, one very specific self-imposed barrier is an insistence that schools themselves set the expectations for learning, which students must adhere to. Desks must be positioned a certain way. Classrooms must last a certain time period. The level of volume in the room must always hover around a certain (quiet) decibel. And, above all, teaching must occur at school.
But while we often hear of the expectations that schools have of students, we rarely get a chance to hear about the expectations that students have of schools. These get less attention, but are essential to keeping students engaged and in school.
At Big Picture Learning, we have been working steadfastly for over 20 years designing and assisting schools who are interested in finding ways to put students at the center of their own learning. And you can’t do that without first asking hard questions like: 
  • Do I know about my students’ individual interests and talents?
  • Do I help my students understand how learning contributes to our community and the world?
  • Can my students learn things in an order that fits their own learning style(s)?
  • Do my students have opportunities to tinker and make guesses?
  • Do my students have real choices about what, when and how to learn and demonstrate their abilities?
So we’ve developed a set of tools for educators which lay the path toward a more student-centered approach to learning, a path that—remarkably—is open to both resource-rich and underserved communities. Through the 10 Expectations portal, we’ve made available (for free!) videos, rubrics and interactive surveys that can help students, parents and educators determine whether their school is truly an engaging learning environment, one which asks the essential question: “Have we considered students’ own expectations of us?”

============= 


The 10 Distinguishers

However, there are many elements within our learning design that are uncommon and distinct, which pull our network together and distinguish them from most other schools.
ONE STUDENT AT A TIME - The entire learning experience is personalized to each student’s interests, talents and needs. Personalization expands beyond mere academic work and involves looking at each student holistically.
ADVISORY STRUCTURE - Advisory is the core organizational and relational structure of a Big Picture Learning school, its heart and soul, often described as a “second family” by students. Students stay with an advisor and a group of fellow classmates for four years, building close personal relationships that last a lifetime.
LEARNING THROUGH INTERESTS AND INTERNSHIPS (LTIs) - Real world learning is best accomplished in the real world. Big Picture students intern--often twice a week for an entire school day--with experts in their field of interest, completing authentic projects and gaining experience and exposure to how their interests intersect with the real world.
AUTHENTIC ASSESSMENT - Students are assessed not by tests, but by public displays of learning that track growth and progress in the student’s area of interest. Assessment criteria are individualized to the student and the real world standards of a project. Students present multiple exhibitions each year and discuss their learning growth with staff, parents, peers, and mentors.
SCHOOL ORGANIZATION - Schools are organized around a culture of collaboration and communication.They are not bound by the structures of buildings, schedules, bells, or calendars. There is an interdependence between school and community.

==============   
PORTFOLIOS and EXHIBITIONS:  You can read it right there in the distinguisher.  Big Picture Schools were one of the laboratories that the Rhode Island Board of Education watched and learned from.  

I hope you will develop an interest in the new regulations and help to bring the idea into wider awareness that "there is a school system that uses projects to award a high school diploma."   

THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME.

Steve McCrea
teacher    MANYPOSTERS@gmail.com
Fort Lauderdale


An open letter to anyone who is a journalist or writer of articles for the New Yorker: "Stand and Deliver: Rhode Island's invitation to high school students to show what they can do with what they have learned."

This is an invitation to journalists to raise attention to Rhode Island's new regulation.
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Revisions in the high school graduation requirements were approved unanimously Tuesday night by the Council on Elementary and Secondary Education. Under the new rules, which will apply to eighth graders who will graduate in 2021, the state will no longer require adequate performance on standardized tests for graduation, although students are still required to take the tests. Students also will have to demonstrate proficiency through a senior project, exhibition or portfolio, for which the state will set the scoring standards.Download it at tinyURL.com/RhodeIslandNews

========

I'm writing to you to ask you to take on a writing assignment.   I'm pretty sure a magazine might be interested in the new regulations in Rhode Island that allow a student to get a diploma through
portfolio and exhibitions."  

TinyUrl.com/rhodeislandnews

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Revisions in the high school graduation requirements were approved unanimously Tuesday night by the Council on Elementary and Secondary Education. Under the new rules, which will apply to eighth graders who will graduate in 2021, the state will no longer require adequate performance on standardized tests for graduation, although students are still required to take the tests. Students also will have to demonstrate proficiency through a senior project, exhibition or portfolio, for which the state will set the scoring standards.



I discovered your blog because Grey Matters came up as a result when I did a search about "flow"



What is the goal of a teacher?

Here's the list that I found in a book by Dennis Littky

See page 1 of his book
========= 
When I watch kids walk into the building on their first day of school, I think about what I want them to be like when they walk out on their last day. I also think about what I want them to be like on the day I bump into them in the supermarket 10 or 20 years later. Over the course of three decades watching kids walk into my schools, I have decided that I want them to
❊ be lifelong learners❊ be passionate❊ be ready to take risks❊ be able to problem-solve and think critically❊ be able to look at things differently❊ be able to work independently and with others❊ be creative❊ care and want to give back to their community❊ persevere❊ have integrity and self-respect❊ have moral courage❊ be able to use the world around them well❊ speak well, write well, read well, and work well with numbers ❊ truly enjoy their life and their work.
To me, these are the real goals of education. 

www.TINYURL.com/LittkyEbook  is the full book

www.TINYURL.com/LittkyRadio is the NPR interview in 2005
=========

One of my goals is to learn something from my students.  That is my test that:
a.  I am open to listening.
b.  The student is clearly communicating
c.  The student has  found something interesting to him and somehow figured out that the topic might be useful to another person.  The student is serving another person.

One of my students told me, "We are here to serve each other."   She texted me that sentence as a way to thank me for my unorthodox methods ....
I give every student my mobile number so they can contact me at night or whenever they have a question (a procedure that many teachers believe is unethical or at least unprofessional or at minimum foolhardy)

"Learning should be fun for the learner."  Apraham S. Fischler,      (I edited Dr. Fischler's blog into a book of commentaries.  Here's the link to the free ebook  TinyURL.com/FischlerEbook

=========

I'm walking through this somewhat long process to ask you a question:

Do you want to write about the new pathway to a high school diploma?


An article in the NEW YORKER would be a remarkable step forward for this idea.

Dennis Littky in 1995 was approached by the Rhode Island commissioner of Education Peter McWalter

Contacts:   Peter McWalter   pmcwalter@hotmail.com

Dennis Littky can be found through bigpicture.org


The Big Picture Learning method has "ten distinguishers" (ten procedures that make it different from school).


RESULT:  October 11, 2016, the Board approved regulations that give students the option to get a diploma with portfolios and exhibitions.


============


I'm a teacher in Fort Lauderdale.   I would love to see this option of a multiple pathway toward a diploma.

i started a blog to get this regulation adopted in Florida


I don't have the skill to tell this story in a compelling way, the way you  and Malcolm Gladwell and Dan Pink tell stories to reveal the "obvious next step" that we should adopt as a society.


Dan Pink wrote about alterantives to current schools.   His piece in REASON magazine in 2001 grabbed me (and turned into Chapter 15 of his book Free Agent Nation"

"HEY TEACHERS:  Your students need that option to become FREE AGENTS!"
Dan Pink has served on the board of advisors for Big Picture Learning in Providence, RI.


I'm writing to ask you to scan the book the Big Picture.



What do I get out of your involvement with this?  I need to build broad awareness of the Rhode Island regulations.


Suggested title: "Stand and Deliver:  Getting a diploma by talking and showing us what you can do with what you have learned."


It's a long title and it might confuse some people who are aware of Stand and Deliver, the story of Jaime Escalante, the math teacher who showed poor kids how to ace the AP Calculus exam (the dramatic moment came when his students were disqualified because the ETS system thought there had been cheating.  how could poor kids in a failing school in Los Angeles possibly pass a college credit test?   The students had to retake the test and they got the credit.)  



==========


References about how to connect "FLOW" and "projects" to getting a high school diploma though portfolios and exhibitions....


page 53-54  Big Picture
The atmosphere of a school is so important, and all of the issues I’ve discussed here are equally important to the creation and maintenance of a positive atmosphere. When all of these things are present, a school becomes like a great newspaper officebustling with excitement, every- one busy and engaged, working together and working on their own proj- ects with purpose and passion.
The typical school principal pats his or her belly with satisfaction and smiles proudly when he or she walks through silent halls. To me, a silent school is not a school at all. Dewey has great stuff to say on this. First: “The nonsocial character of the traditional school is seen in the fact that it erected silence into one of its prime virtues.”But even better, he says, “Enforced quiet and acquiescence prevent pupils from disclosing their real natures.”7
“Enforced quiet” not only keeps kids from being themselves and keeps teachers from finding out who the kids are, it also kills learning.Communication is the lifeblood of education. My favorite description of The Met is that it is an “ongoing conversation.” Numerous visitors to the school have called it this, but my friend Deborah Meier, the noted principal and educator, really got to the heart of it when she wrote this after a Met visit:
The young people that I met had no trouble talking to me about all kinds of subjects having to do with themselves as learners—and not to mention the world around them, but also about themselves and about the school itself. And the conversations were like having a conversation with a colleague. And I saw that going on throughout the school, this kind of informal but respect- ful conversation. The school was an enormous conversation between people who appeared to be there voluntarily, who seemed to feel that this was a community in which people gathered together every day because the environment was intellectually and emotionally stimulating.8
I had the opportunity a few years ago to meet with Alan Alda and talk to him about education and The Met. When I described our school to him, he said it reminded him of Second City, the improvisational theater group in Chicago, where he and so many other famous comedians got started. He said that everyone at Second City was already a very good comedian when they joined the troupe. But the environment of Second City was one of growth, and it allowed each of them to become even crazier, wilder, bolder—and better. To me, this is a great analogy to what a great school atmosphere can do for kids and teachers. If you put good people in an environment that allows them to continue learning and that reinforces their risk taking, their passion, and their commitment, then you can make good people great. You can make ordinary people extraordinary just by giving them the right environment in which to do their thing (whether it is comedy or teaching or learning) and letting them grow. 



===========  


Procedures at The Met School (a typical Big Picture Learning school)


The Ten Expectations

Why can’t all schools meet students at the center of their own learning? There are many answers to this question, but one that comes to mind is that schools simply self-impose pressures on themselves that keep them from finding the flexibility within whatever structure (either literal or figurative) that confines them.
For instance, one very specific self-imposed barrier is an insistence that schools themselves set the expectations for learning, which students must adhere to. Desks must be positioned a certain way. Classrooms must last a certain time period. The level of volume in the room must always hover around a certain (quiet) decibel. And, above all, teaching must occur at school.
But while we often hear of the expectations that schools have of students, we rarely get a chance to hear about the expectations that students have of schools. These get less attention, but are essential to keeping students engaged and in school.
At Big Picture Learning, we have been working steadfastly for over 20 years designing and assisting schools who are interested in finding ways to put students at the center of their own learning. And you can’t do that without first asking hard questions like: 
  • Do I know about my students’ individual interests and talents?
  • Do I help my students understand how learning contributes to our community and the world?
  • Can my students learn things in an order that fits their own learning style(s)?
  • Do my students have opportunities to tinker and make guesses?
  • Do my students have real choices about what, when and how to learn and demonstrate their abilities?
So we’ve developed a set of tools for educators which lay the path toward a more student-centered approach to learning, a path that—remarkably—is open to both resource-rich and underserved communities. Through the 10 Expectations portal, we’ve made available (for free!) videos, rubrics and interactive surveys that can help students, parents and educators determine whether their school is truly an engaging learning environment, one which asks the essential question: “Have we considered students’ own expectations of us?”

============= 


The 10 Distinguishers

However, there are many elements within our learning design that are uncommon and distinct, which pull our network together and distinguish them from most other schools.
ONE STUDENT AT A TIME - The entire learning experience is personalized to each student’s interests, talents and needs. Personalization expands beyond mere academic work and involves looking at each student holistically.
ADVISORY STRUCTURE - Advisory is the core organizational and relational structure of a Big Picture Learning school, its heart and soul, often described as a “second family” by students. Students stay with an advisor and a group of fellow classmates for four years, building close personal relationships that last a lifetime.
LEARNING THROUGH INTERESTS AND INTERNSHIPS (LTIs) - Real world learning is best accomplished in the real world. Big Picture students intern--often twice a week for an entire school day--with experts in their field of interest, completing authentic projects and gaining experience and exposure to how their interests intersect with the real world.
PARENT AND FAMILY ENGAGEMENT - Parents are welcome and valued members of the school community and play a proactive role in their children’s learning, collaborating in the planning and assessment of student work. They use their assets to support the work of the school, and often play an integral role in building relationships with potential LTI mentors.
SCHOOL CULTURE - In Big Picture schools, there is palpable trust, respect and equality between and among students and adults. Students take leadership roles in the school, and teamwork defines the adult culture. Student voice is valued in the school decision making process and visitors are struck by the ease with which students interact with adults.
AUTHENTIC ASSESSMENT - Students are assessed not by tests, but by public displays of learning that track growth and progress in the student’s area of interest. Assessment criteria are individualized to the student and the real world standards of a project. Students present multiple exhibitions each year and discuss their learning growth with staff, parents, peers, and mentors.
SCHOOL ORGANIZATION - Schools are organized around a culture of collaboration and communication.They are not bound by the structures of buildings, schedules, bells, or calendars. There is an interdependence between school and community.

These two points touch the main reason why I'm writing to you.

You have written about FLOW (and students get into FLOW at Big Picture Schools)

PORTFOLIOS and EXHIBITIONS:  You can read it right there in the distinguisher.  Big Picture Schools were one of the laboratories that the Rhode Island Board of Education watched and learned from.  

I hope you will develop an interest in the new regulations and help to bring the idea into wider awareness that "there is a school system that uses projects to award a high school diploma."   

THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME.

Steve McCrea
teacher    MANYPOSTERS@gmail.com
Fort Lauderdale

by the way, I'm using some of your articles in my reading classes.  I offer my students the chance to look at your titles of your articles.  The following articles by you have been popular with some of my students.


Mice Inherit The Fears Of Their Fathers National Geographic
On Losing A Dog National Geographic

=========
That was an open letter to journalists.  I have addressed it to Virginia Hughes, who has blogged for National Geographic and written for the New Yorker.  Virginia has written about "PEAK EXPERIENCES" and how to get into the "zone."  




Peak Zone


In June 1958, 17-year-old Edson Arantes do Nascimento, better known as Pelé, arrived in Stockholm with the rest of the Brazilian national football team to play against Sweden in the World Cup Finals. Just before the game, as the peppy marching beats of the Brazilian national anthem rang out, Pelé’s thoughts wandered.

==========

Friday, December 2, 2016

What does it take to create a new pathway to graduation? (What happened today?)

November 10  Thursday
I read about the October 11 meeting in Rhode Island.   A shared the text with another teacher and that teacher said, "Drop everything you are doing.  Focus on getting portfolios to be adopted in the FLorida requirements for getting a diploma."



December 1
What happened today

10 am   I was on my way to an interview at a school that uses projects and I called the office of George Moraitis.  The analyst who answered asked for the issue to be emailed to him (he claims to have hundreds of email messages) and he recalled the "Rhode Island proposal" when I said that I had met this condition.
He will contact me to arrange a meeting between himself, me and the legislative aide...   December 1

What is an advisory? Excerpts from a variety of sources

Oxbridge Academy in the Palm Beaches has taken on the idea of "15 students and a teacher meeting together for at least a half hour regularly."

Here's how the State of Rhode Island describes the Advisory
 (b) Advisory Structure - A structure or structures for stable groups of students to meet regularly throughout the academic year with at least one assigned adult in an environment with sufficient time and opportunity to support student achievement in the academic, career, personal/social domains


What happens in an advisory?
The Big Picture schools bigpicture.org make advisories a core of the school.  When visiting teachers point out that "we don't have time in the day for advisories," some students reply, "Don't have time to listen to students?   What are you here for?"
I spoke with Enrique Gonzalez, the former principal of Frida Kahlo High School and Highland Park High School (where the Big Picture principles inspired the culture of the school.)  Enrique made the following points
===================================

At first, the advisory is just another requirement that the school pushes students to attend.  The first reaction of many students is "What is this for?  What are we doing here?   This is lame.  What is the purpose of this meeting?   What does the teacher think we will do here?" 

The end goal of the advisory is for students to take over.  It's a rap session.  It a place for students to talk and the teacher to listen.  However, that doesn't happen immediately or because we say, "This is a good thing.  Take time to tell the group about your dreams, your expectations, your problems and maybe someone here will help.  Or maybe in the process of talking about your situation, you will discover what your next steps will be."  Saying it doesn't make it so.

The ultimate goal is for students to take over the advisory.   It's not going to happen for at least two months.  It usually takes that long for students to build trust in each other and the teacher or advisor and for the "group feeling" to emerge.  If students don't put the energy into the process, then the full impact of the advisory won't happen.

------------------ 

Enrique described the stages that advisories usually go through


Step 1:  Find out about the students.   Get them to tell you what they find interesting.  
This will show the students that this is a good use of their time.   The teacher can use surveys to ask students what their interests are.

Stage 2:  Pursue the interests.  Take field trips, do active searches on the Internet and report back to the group.  Go beyond "just knowing about people;s interests." 

Stage 3:  Develop internships.   What can you do with what you know? (That's the Tony Wagner question.   See "Tony Wagner Seven Survival Skills."  Yes, you have to show that you learned basic information.  Now that you know something, the world wants to know what you can do with that information.)

Stage 4:  Report back to the advisor and the advisory.  The advisory might build a larger group project.

Let's look at each of the stages.


Some information does not have to involve the entire group.   Some students might not want to dump all of the information on the group about what happened at the internship last week and why the student wants to move to a new internship.   One of the advantages of an advisory is LEARNING about "TMI" (too much information).  Sometimes we can respect the feelings of the people in the advisory group and use the time 

"I'm thinking about changing my internship.  I'd lie to talk this out and think it over and get more information, but that's where I'm at right now.   I'm interested in hearing about anybody else who wanted to change their internship and what you might have done to improve working conditions."   That might be enough information for the group.  Individuals who want to know more can meet with the person outside the advisory.  Or the group might vote to give time to hear more.   That's the flexibility of the advisory.







SUMMARY
Enrique has made some points about Advisories.

1.  Advisory is a place to explore interests.   Interests become passions and eventually students figure out what they want to do in life.   Some of those discussions start in advisory.
2.  Everyone talks. Advisory starts slowly with interests.  Don't expect the deeper results to happen.  It will happen if you keep the focus on each individual. Everyone talks at least once in the advisory.
3.  A successful advisory happens when students take over.   The students can turn the focus on themselves ("I'm having trouble with my internship.  I need some feedback.") or on the needs of the schoool ("I think the school needs a new cafeteria.  I'd like to discuss sometime in the advisory the options that we have.")
4. One person speaks at a time. Students learn procedures in the Advisory.  Rules in the advisory help students learn how to speak.
5.  Advisories can turn into a second family.  You know that an advisory has matured when a student says, "I've got this problem and I just need to talk it out with people I trust."     
6.  Some students in an advisory decide to remain bottled up.  They don't want to reveal and they don't want to trust the group.   That often means that the advisory stays at Stage 1 (a place to explore interests).
7.  Advisories need consistency and patience.  There will be some advisory meetings that are superficial.   But hold the meeting anyway because that space is open for anyone to speak up.
8.  Advisories have to be a top priority for the teachers and for the students.  It's not an "add on."  Advisory is not "guidance and counseling."  Advisory is the core of what it means to be a school.  It's a safe place where students can be heard.  That doesn't mean that classes are secondary.   The purpose of advisory is to improve conditions in the classroom.  The purpose of advisory is to find out
9.  Advisories don't happen overnight.  It takes time.   Someone has to jump in, take a risk and expose something personal.  Then others in the group can follow suit.  It doesn't have to be public, to the whole group, but eventually a successful advisory has every students saying someting that he's scared to tell to the rest of teh world.  When every student has taken a risk, you have a deeper advisory.
10.  Advisories are not all the same.   Some click, some don't.  If you want the advisory to click, go back to the basics and build trust. Build trust by being there, by listening and by making the time worthwhile.  That includes the advisor meeting separately, one on one, touching base with the students in the advisory (by phone or text or face to face).  Building the connections is important.


Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/w/williambut101244.html

Dennis Littky points out that most schools ask teachers, "What will you bring to the classroom and the students?  What is your expertise?"  For many people, school is about "what will you do to the students?  How will you mold them?"    But he points out that the real question is "How will you bring out what's in the students?"  Education is "leading out."  Yes, a certain amount of "filling the bucket" is needed, but "lighting the fire" happens when the student lights his own fire and takes a risk.

Jess Lair, an innovative educator who died in 2003, wrote that "Children are not things to be molded, but rather people to be unfolded."  Advisory gives a safe space for people to unfold.
See the QUOTE