Student Leadership in Action

Jed Bowman, Ph.D. Dave Callan

March 17, 2009

Agenda

Student Advisory Group (SAG)– Subend 1.5--Leadership

South Elementary– Election Process

Douglas County High School– Nourish Peace

Mountain Ridge Middle School– Student-Led Conferences (SLC)– Service Learning

ThunderRidge High School– Senior Project

Highlands Ranch High School– NASC Conference

Student Advisory Group 2008 - 2009

Chaparral– Derek Whipple– Amanda Williams– Lindsey Wolfgang

Highlands Ranch– Maddie Clark– Lauren Gennaro– Mackenzie Lopez– Georgia Petrides– Chris Tobin

Mountain Vista– Maddie Clark– Carolyn Bavington– Cedar Blazek– Derek Bull– Audrey Paranka– Katie Peters– Laura Rogers– Ross Weistroffer

Student Advisory Group2008 - 2009

Ponderosa– Wendy Bowling– Craig Hirokawa– Emily Wagoner

ThunderRidge– Josh Canter– Miles Dickinson– Michelle Shaffer– Faymie Westmoreland

Rock Canyon– Sarah Classen

Why the Student Advisory Group?

In 2007-2008, the SAG wrote the regulations around the graduation requirement on community service.

Various district groups continue to look at that implementation including service learning.

SAG—The Charge

Assist the BOE in its job of developing future written policies about the End Statement. Include expectations for student performance by providing input on leadership, leadership skills, opportunities for instruction and opportunities for students to demonstrate leadership.

Questions to Think About

Do all students have the potential to lead? Can students recognize “good”

leadership? How does leadership relate to ethics? How does a student learn to be a leader? What opportunities do students have to

lead?

Leadership Defined

The ability to inspire, motivate and influence others to utilize their potential to reach a common goal. (SAG 2008)

Strands of Leadership Skills

Communication Skills Goal Setting Skills Organizational Skills Thinking Skills People Skills

Opportunities to Learn and Demonstrate Student Leadership

Student Leadership

Student Leaders

TraitsHonesty

Perseverance

Hard Work

Integrity

Skills

DC Feeder System

South Elementary– Carrie Stephenson, Principal– Election Process

Douglas County High School– Serena Patel, Trishna Patel, Nikki Look– Kelly Heo, Alice Choi, Lauren Koppel– Nourish Peace

DC Feeder System--Podcast

Carrie Stephenson, Principal South Elementary Podcast

DC Feeder System—Nourish Peace

Students– Serena Patel– Trishna Patel– Nikki Look– Kelly Heo– Alice Choi– Lauren Koppel

Mountain Ridge MS

Natalie Sprigg, Teacher– Student-Led Conferences– Service Learning

Leadership at MRMS

Advanced classes, sports, clubs, debate, MathCounts, NJHS, Community Counts…

What DO ALL STUDENTS participate in?– Student-Led Conferences– Service Learning

Leadership at MRMS

87% of parents reported that they agreed or strongly agreed with the statement, “My student has opportunities to develop leadership skills.”

89% of the students reported the same.

Student-Led Conferences

Foundational core value since opening in 2001

Several other middle schools also use SLC

Different than traditional conferences

Student-Led Conferences

Feedback on this format has been positive:– Students take responsibility for learning and

behavior– Parents communicate with the learner about

what is happening in school– Teachers facilitate the discussion between

students and parents

SLC and ePortfolios

Students apply what they have learned. They go beyond merely knowing to using their knowledge and skills productively. (1.4)

Ellie Foust, 8th grade science teacher, implemented ePortfolios for a project in her Information and Learning Technology Masters program.

Using ePortfolios, students reflect on their performance, set goals, and make connections.

ePortfolios

Students use evidence to show proficiency and reflect on learning.

ePortfolios

Students plan for the future, set goals, and share feedback with teachers.

ePortfolios

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ePortfolio Feedback

“Good afternoon to all of you,I am Gabi Capocelli's mom and I just wanted you to know how very impressed I was with your … I am lucky enough to not only be a parent but a teacher of kids in the feeder area. I am so excited to see what the kids that I am teaching will be able to do when they get to middle school... We stress technology and to see how she has taken off with it is a huge celebration for us and especially for all of you. I am also going to try a very scaled down version of the ePortfolio with my second graders in the spring.”

Service Learning

Another school wide example of leadership in practice is service learning

Service Learning Standards

Meaningful Service Link to curriculum Reflection Diversity Youth voice Partnerships Progress Monitoring

Service Learning in Schools

Student Council provided direction (training and theme)

Students explore in RAM Time

OR

Teams attend training and implement in their core curriculum

Service Learning

Identify a problem Research the problem Consider solutions Select and make a plan Implement a solution Reflect and adjust

Students develop and demonstrate Leadership skills. They are influential in creating a vision of what the future can be. (1.4)

Service Learning Project

Starbucks Initiative

Service Learning Project

Starbucks Initiative

Project Feedback

Starbucks Initiative

Project Feedback

Starbucks Initiative

Service Learning Reflection

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Conclusions

At the middle level, students need to develop ownership and responsibility for learning and leading.

Students demonstrate the self-motivation and resourcefulness to continue their learning. (1.3)

Conclusions

Student-led conferences, with an emphasis on ePortfolios, promote 21st century learners and leaders while holding kids accountable for their learning.

Service learning promotes a passion for a cause with the knowledge and resources to create change.

ThunderRidge HS

Denise Orsini, Teacher Katherine Lindauer, Student Chris Miller, Student

– Senior Project

Senior Project Mission

The ThunderRidge High School Senior Project will provide a cumulative evaluation instrument to validate a senior student’s ability to write an analytical paper, design and complete a project, and teach others about the project in a formal presentation.

Senior Project: Fosters growth in all students

BOE Ends Statement 21st Century Skills IB Programme and AP

Curriculum College Expectations Workplace

Competencies

Senior Boards: Presentation and Celebration of Learning

Senior Project

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Highlands Ranch HS

Rashaan Davis, Teacher Chris Tobin, Student Channing Andrews, Student

– NASC Conference

Highlands Ranch HS—NASC

Highlands Ranch HS—NASC

Highlands Ranch HS—NASC

Highlands Ranch HS—NASC

Recommendations

Discuss the modification of the End Statement to include student voice and engagement.

Explore opportunities for students at various grade levels across the district to lead conferences around their learning and the district Ends.

Work to integrate student leadership and civic engagement.

Support understanding and opportunities for service learning K – 12.

Explore the role of middle and high school advisement as opportunities to embed service and leadership activities.

Use the work of Highlands Ranch High School around the NASC conference as a template for a leadership academy for Douglas County students.

Develop opportunities with community partners to engage students in acquiring and demonstrating leadership.

Questions????