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2008 Summer Institute: Program | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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DRAFT AGENDA and SESION OVERVIEW: WEDNESDAY, JUNE 25: Nuts and Bolts of HTH
THURSDAY, JUNE 26: A Closer Look FRIDAY, JUNE 27
Round One: 10:30-Noon Workshop Sessions
Transforming Schooling through Teacher Action Research (1A) What puzzles, surprises, troubles, or intrigues you in your classroom or your school? How could you better understand what is really going on? And how could you use that knowledge to improve teaching and learning? In this interactive workshop on action research, participants will learn how to use structured cycles of inquiry, action, and reflection to transform their practice and their schools. Following a brief overview of the action research process, participants will reflect on their practice and begin to develop their own researchable questions, or “wonderings to pursue.” They will then select a break-out group to learn how HTH GSE students are pursuing research questions related to 1) math, 2) race, gender, and community, and 3) immersion experiences, language arts in elementary schools, and supporting 1st year teachers. In each of these groups, HTH GSE students will discuss their research, how the research process has influenced their thinking and practice, and the challenges and benefits of being teacher-researchers. HTH GSE students will also work with participants to generate ideas for pursuing their own questions in their own schools. This session will include ample time for dialogue and questions. High Tech High 101: Origins, Design Principles, and Core Features (1B) Tom Vander Ark, former Education Director of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, has referenced the High Tech High design principles as the basic criteria for the Foundation’s giving to high school reform efforts. What are these principles? Where do they come from? What are the likely core features of a school that adopts the HTH design principles? This session offers a primer on HTH for newcomers as well as those who wish to revisit the roots of HTH. We will trace the development of High Tech High from its beginnings in the San Diego business community and the New Urban High School project, emphasizing key features and lessons learned. The Anatomy of a Senior Project (1C) It’s not always so easy to inspire, or even engage a second semester senior. Then, imagine asking this senior-itis stricken adolescent to complete a semester long interdisciplinary project that involves rigorous research, intensive interaction with experts in the community, and hours of tedious editing in front of a computer. Don’t forget to mention that the product must be “museum grade quality” because it will be exhibited in an actual museum, downtown. I know. It sounds hard. That is what I thought at least when I read “the qualities of a top notch project” hand-out and learned that the senior project, as a culmination of all experiences and skills acquired in high school, must be all encompassing. To my amazement, our “Freedom” and “Invisibility” projects surpassed what I imagined possible and I want to share with you this story of sixty-six seniors who surprised, inspired and impressed me with their hard work and accomplishments.
Sewer Science – A Multidisciplinary Project (1D) Sewer Science – This multidisciplinary project will focus on the hands-on labs that Charlene Rowley’s 10th grade students completed in collaboration with the City of San Diego Metropolitan Wastewater Department (MWWD). Students learned about municipal wastewater treatment using specially designed tanks and analytical equipment. Students made wastewater, cleaned it through a series of physical, chemical and biological treatment processes and tested it through various parameters including pH, chemical oxygen demand (COD), NH3 concentration and turbidity. Throughout the labs, students learned the basic concepts of how wastewater is treated prior to being returned to the environment and linked science and technology to environmental impacts and issues. The project was wrapped up with a tour of the Metropolitan Wastewater Center in Point Loma where students saw the lab techniques and practices they learned throughout the program in the adult working world. Future Proof Teaching (1E) Blogs are five years ago. Face it, you're behind the curve. As a teacher you're either in class, in meetings, planning, grading, or - if you're lucky - recovering with a rare moment to yourself. There's simply no way to keep up with all the emerging tools in educational technology, especially not with the workload you carry. It seems by the time you've learned one thing, there's already five better alternatives. But there is a way to keep up; it's just gonna require a little help from your friends. This seminar will be a fast paced overview of the best of free and recently emerging tools in educational technology. Blogs, podcasting, Garageband, remix history, digital storytelling. Wikipedia, MySpace, copyright and security issues. It's all here. Please view www.Ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/66 prior to attending this session if possible. Engaging High-Achievers through PBL (1F) This interactive workshop will discuss reaching high-achieving students in a high school Humanities class, using project-based teaching and learning strategies. The basics of PBL will be covered including differentiation through personalization and designing projects that are rigorous and engage student's interests. With the approaches and strategies covered in this workshop, participants will work together to design a “challenge project” for a high-achieving student in a Humanities class.
Round Two: 1:00-2:30 pm Workshop Sessions Implementing “Ron Berger” Critiques in Your Classroom (2A) High Tech High has been much taken with the work of master teacher Ron Berger, author of An Ethic of Excellence. In particular, HTH faculty have worked to adopt Mr. Berger’s approach to using multiple revision and classroom critique as a way of foster excellent—even beautiful—work. Tom Fehrenbacher, a central figure in these efforts, will describe both the approach and its application at HTH. Project-Based Learning 101: Integrating the Curriculum Through Projects (2B) Workshop participants will learn the basics of project-based learning in a hands-on project planning activity. Topics will include developing and planning a project, engaging student interests, meeting content standards, building group skills, assessment, and project presentations. Science Fiction PODS (2C) The presentation will cover the process senior teachers at HTH take part in to determine partnerships and potential projects for the following year. Attendees will learn about the PODS Project, a two-semester interdisciplinary effort combining multimedia and science. Emphasis will be placed on the communication between student and teachers through Digital Portfolio updates. Participants with laptops will create a sample “Learning Journal.” Participants will critique final products. My Student’s Reading WHAT?!?: Using graphic novels to increase student engagement and literacy (2D) This workshop will discuss the use of graphic novels as a tool to increase student literacy and engagement in humanities classes from the middle school through high school. We will discuss how graphic novels can be used to make literacy skills more explicit and visible for students, and what specific teaching strategies can be used to draw out the connections between graphic novels and other types of literature. This workshop will also focus on how graphic novels can be used to reinforce or expand student understanding of historical context in a humanities class, and why this medium is particularly effective in presenting complex historical events. Finally, participants will examine some examples of graphic novels that have been used successfully, and will brainstorm different ways this literature might be used in their classroom contexts. Schools as Sites of Adult Learning and Leadership: The What, Why and How (2E) Faculty from the HTH School of Education will describe the history and rationale for opening the nation’s first graduate school within a K-12 environment. Presenters will also discuss the HTH GSE’s unique approach to adult learning and mentoring within clinical K-12 settings, the design principles that guide both our K-12 schools and our graduate programs, and the importance of engaging teachers in action research projects geared toward the improvement of their practice and their schools. The conversation will be geared toward how participants can apply these elements in their own schools to encourage teacher leadership and improve teacher retention.
Round Three: 9-10:30 am Workshop Sessions Who Makes the Choices?: Student-Led IEP Meetings (3A) This session will address the following question: "How can we encourage students to become key decision makers in the design and implementation of their educational program?" During this session, the presenter will describe the new Student-Led IEP Meeting Model utilized at HTH Chula Vista including:
Project-Based Learning in the Mathematics Classroom (3B) Workshop participants will take part in hands-on mathematics projects that can be implemented in the 9-12th grade classroom. Projects presented will show how math can become hands-on by collecting data, analyzing it, coming up with formulas and predicting results. Other projects show how math can become relevant by teaching students how to calculate car payments, credit card interest or how caffeine gets eliminated from the body. The English Learner Experience at HTH NC (3C) This workshop will discuss research conducted at HTHNC over the course of the 2007-2008 school year. Findings on the academic, personal and social experiences of EL students in a Project Based Learning environment will be shared. The works of Gloria Ladson-Billings and Geneva Gay on Culturally Relevant Curriculum and Culturally Relevant Pedagogy will be discussed in-depth. Participants will engage in discussions based on issues raised through this research and find ways to apply these theories to their own classroom and school. PBL 201: Tools to Improve Your Projects (3D) Already have some experience with project-based learning? In this session, you learn to navigate through a Project Development Guide that highlights helpful tips and things to consider when planning the project. You will also see student work that exemplifies key project components. Collegial Coaching, Coaching Corners and Critical Friends (3E) Involve colleagues in improvement of their own classroom practices, curriculum development, advisory issues and more. Experience the Collegial Coaching protocol used at High Tech High to facilitate cycles of pre-observation meetings, observations, and the post-observation reflective conversations. Learn how Coaching Corners can address the “implementation dip” bringing about innovative classroom strategies. Apply the Critical Friends protocol to teaching teams to critique the implementation of project-driven curriculum. Your own site specific questions and implementation issues will be addressed. Incorporating Rigor in Humanities Projects from Start to Finish (3F) Rigor can sometimes be a slippery thing -- when we are focused on creating dazzling final products, sometimes it can be difficult to ensure that rich content is incorporated into our projects. In this workshop, you will learn some techniques and methods for incorporating rigor into your projects, particularly through writing, using two recent examples from the presenter’s 10th grade Humanities class: Sociology and Identity, the first project of the year, and the Genocide Museum which premiered on Exhibition Night.
Round Four: 10:45-12:15 pm Workshop Sessions The Elephant in the Room: Dealing with Difficult Districts and Demanding Demographics (4A) In this roundtable discussion we will discuss ways that district schools can be innovative even when their districts are not, possible solutions to seemingly intractable demands, the power of stretching definitions, applying for exemptions, enlisting community support, and developing the capacity for site-based decision making. We will also consider adaptations of the HTH model for different student populations. Presentations of Learning –- A Teacher’s Journey (4B) Presentations of Learning (POLs) – A Teacher’s Journey will focus on what POLs are and how they are a genuine form of assessment connected to the adult working world. This presentation will also provide a reflection of a third year teacher to the HTH village and her journey from initially disagreeing with POLs as a form of rigorous assessment and how (or if) it could be accomplished to now fully embracing the POL as a method of authentic assessment, provided the right rubric is used. Through designing multiple drafts of POL rubrics, collaborating with staff across grade levels, and observing students prepare and deliver their POLs, the once skeptical and traditionally taught teacher is now a believer of the POL. A Detailed Look into Four Years of Math and Physics Projects (4C) Integrate disciplines by creating electronic board games to learn about circuits and world history. Make a pool table with a ball return system to learn principles of physics. Design a small-scale geodesic dome using geometry and create one full-size dome for the entire class. Build a simulated movie theater floor to learn about friction, and create a software program to model what you've learned. These projects and many more are not only interesting and fun, but are packed with math-science content. And they weren't perfect - each project had its ups and downs. Come to this session to learn about these past and future projects, discuss how they might be improved, and pitch your own ideas for projects to a group of your peers to help you plan for next school year. Strategies for Teaching English Learners in a Project-Based Environment (4D) In this workshop, attendees will learn strategies to address the needs of English Language Learners in a project-based learning environment. Specifically, attendees will learn ways to communicate effectively with ELLs, encourage ELL participation, enhance vocabulary and reading skill development, and scaffold projects to foster ELL success. Strategies will be useful to teachers of all grade levels and disciplines. VideoBlogging and the Classroom (4E) From student created videos to daily teaching vlogs, this interactive workshop will share the latest tips, techniques, and trends from the world of online user-generated video. |
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