Design+Components

This page will be used to build - for lack of a better term - a Glossary. As we attempt to understand how learners learn and how teachers can design meaningful learning experiences, we will dioscover a common language. In Working on the Work, Dr. Schlechty addresses the issue of FRAMING THE DIALOGUE. Clearly, a critical attribute of our school culture's abiloity to address issues is a COMMON LANGUAGE.

Over time this page will identify the key terms and concepts used at Shannon in order to have DISCIPLINED CONVERSATIONS about school climate and lesson design.

I invite staff to contribute terms to this page as they encounter them.

Clearly, the pool to draw from is immense. It should include language from WOW, Gallup, Shipley's System Checklists, Shannon Philosophy, Bloom, Kohlberg, Understanding by Design, etc.

=**//The//** **//Three Pillars of Shannon//**=

The culture at Shannon is built on three critical ideals. We constantly strive to help every student: I. Feel a sense of SECURITY at all times here at Shannon; II. Feel a sense of SIGNIFICANCE about themselves here at Shannon; and III. Feel a sense of COMPENTENCY in their academic abilities here at Shannon.

=The Characteristics of At-Risk Students=

The “pillars” are based on the characteristics of at-risk students. We have found that all of our students have had difficulty in school because of a “breakdown” or an “unmet need” in at least one of the three areas of security, significance, and competency. We have recently added a 4th characteristic of an at-risk student to our overall approach in designing programs for their needs. This fourth characteristic is what we call “situational unawareness”.

At-Risk Students - Situational Unawareness
There are a number of different programs offered on the Shannon Learning Center campus. One of them, and admittedly one of my favorites, is the "high school of choice" program for recovering students who are on the verge of dropping out or who have actually dropped out and now want to return to school. (We actually prefer to use the term "stop-outs" rather than drop-outs for our students.)

Every student who seeks to enroll in the high school of choice program is required to fill out an application, sign a contract, and have a personal interview with me. I am currently conducting the interviews for the upcoming school year. After eleven years of holding these interviews (and over 30 years of working with students), I have noticed a very significant and consistent trend in the characteristics of highly at-risk students. I have identified four clear characteristics which highly at-risk students manifest. I refer to these characteristics as 1) Unresolved Security Issues; 2) Feelings of Insignificance; 3) Academic Frustrations; and 4) Situational Unawareness.

My observation is that at-risk students typically have difficulties in a single or any combination of these characteristics. But it has also been my observation that the one characteristic which is common to all at-risk students is what I refer to as Situational Unawareness.

I define and apply the term Situational Unawareness to students who are unable to answer basic questions about their current status in school. Consistently, students with situational unawareness are unable to tell me how many credits it takes to graduate, how many credits they have, or how many credits behind they are. They also commonly share the inability to identify where they stand regarding credits in specific subject areas (i.e. they are unable to track that they need 4 credits of math and they have completed 2). They also universally lack awareness of where they stand in terms of required testing, objectives they need to master, and how they have performed on past assessments. (Part of this is clearly the system’s fault if we don’t provide adequate feedback on areas that need improvement. However, this observation is based on students who have been given numerous opportunities to review past testing, but for whatever reason have failed to take advantage of those opportunities or failed to grasp and apply such feedback.

The analogy that best applies to these kids at the entry point into our program is that of a driver who calls for directions to a location. When someone calls you and asks for directions to your office, what's the first thing you typically need to know?

"Where will you be coming from?"

Before anyone can be given meaningful directions to any destination, it is important to know where their starting point is.

//__I am convinced that the starting point for recovering at-risk stop-outs is for them to develop an awareness of where they are at any point on their journey toward their diploma.__//

You begin to grasp the significance of this when talking to at-risk students who typically classify themselves in whatever grade their age or number of years in school equals. That is, I ask Sue or John what grade level they think they're in. John's been in high school three years, so he says he's a Junior. Sue's been in high school two years, so she answers that she's a Sophomore. Of course it comes as a shock when I explain that since they both have only 5 credits, they are both still Freshmen.

I have had both students and parents sit and argue with me when I explain this. "My son cannot still be a Freshman, he's 17 years old and has been in high school 3 years!"

Within the first few minutes of the interview the student's unawareness of his/her status as far as credits and class standing become apparent. However, it is the next level of questions and what they reveal that is also of significance. At-Risk students consistently lack awareness of past and current testing status. In Texas, all students must pass EXIT exams given in the Junior year. They must pass tests in ELA, Math, Science, and Social Studies at the 11th grade level in order to receive a diploma. If they fail any one or more of the tests on the first administration, there are numerous make-up (re-test) opportunities given. As critical as these tests are, virtually every at-risk student I interview does not know which, if any, of the test they have passed or failed. If they have failed any test, they most certainly cannot identify the areas in which they need remediation.

They lack any real sense of where to start in their renewed efforts to obtain their diploma.

In more practical matters, as the interview progresses and I discuss other issues with the students, it quickly becomes apparent that at-risk students are equally unaware of how many times they were absent or tardy to school and classes. Likewise, they tend to "forget" if they had many referrals to the office for discipline.

[A Side Note: We began years ago the process of calling students in and discussing their attendance. They were genuinely surprised by the numbers – and consistently unable to accurately state how many days they had missed. When asked if they knew how many days they missed, they consistently “guessed” low.]

In summary, the most common of the four observed characteristics of at-risk students who apply to Shannon is what I refer to a Situational Unawareness. Highly At-Risk students, for whatever reasons, truly lack awareness of where they are in the system. They typically cannot tell you what grade level they are in, how many credits they have, what critical (i.e. required) tests they have passed/failed, or what type of attendance or discipline records they have.

Aside from programs which address the other three characteristics, a critical need within any drop-out prevention program must be a mechanism that helps highly at-risk students remain current and aware of their status in school at all times.

We have a program here at Shannon called the Personal Improvement Process (PIP) Period. PIP Period is held during the first 15 minutes //every// morning. Over time students track their grades, absences, discipline referrals, test results, and graduation plans. Students keep folders which contain copies of critical information, graphs of their attendance and Action Plans to address areas of concern. We encourage our students to become situationally aware – that is, able to tell - when asked - what their current status is. We help them track their status on a daily basis.

Unfortunately, we have not been formally tracking the results of this program. The faculty feels that is has been beneficial, but we lack hard data. (It may be a weak excuse, but we’ve been too busy “doing it” to “measure it”.) Nonetheless, our passing rates, attendance rates, and office referral rates do appear to bear out that students who become situationally aware, do indeed perform better. And most significant of all, the majority of students do eventually earn their diplomas.

We plan to explore this in greater detail this year. We will track a group of students who regularly attend PIP and aggressively monitor themselves against students who attend irregularly and do not take the PIP tracking seriously.

My hypothesis is that my informal observation will be substantiated and we will find that increasing situational awareness for at-risk students markedly improves their performance in school as measured by attendance, grades, test results, and graduation rates.

=WORKING ON THE WORK=

DESIGN QUALITIES OF CONTEXT

 * CONTENT AND SUBSTANCE - essential learnings and skills students must master
 * ORGANIZATION OF KNOWLEDGE - material organized to be clearly and easily accesible to students
 * CLEAR AND COMPELLING PRODUCT STANDARDS - assessment standards are clear and important to learners
 * PROTECTION FROM ADVERSE CONSQUENCES OR INITIAL FAILURES - learners receive feedback and have opportunities to be successful throughout process

DESIGN QUALITIES OF CHOICE

 * PRODUCT FOCUS - work focuses on product of value to learner
 * AFFIRMATION OF PEFORMANCE - products observed by more than just teacher
 * AFFILIATION - work requires cooperative actions between learners and adults
 * NOVELTY AND VARIETY - various methods, formats, skills, media, modes of analysis used
 * CHOICE - learners have a choice in ways to do work and present final product
 * AUTHENTICITY - work has significance and relevance to lives of learners

[This section is from The Schlechty Center for Leadership in School Reform]

mbrewster writes:
WOW Folks! As we move forward with our design teams for engaging student work, here are the ten important design elements as given by Schlechty Center for Designing Engaging Products as discussed in our 2 day workshop this past Monday and Tuesday (Nov.12-13/07) The first four qualities should be present in all our designs, but the last six are more flexible and every one of them may not fit into every activity. It's your design, your lesson, your plan. 1.//Content and Substance//: The key concepts or skills that you expect students to know as a result of the learning experience.
 * Qualities of Context:**

2. //Organization of Knowledge//: Information and knowledge are arranged in clear, accessible ways, and in ways that let students use the knowledge and information to address tasks that are important to them.

3. //Clear and Compelling Product Standards//: Relevant standards that students clearly understand so that they know exactly what is expected of them and how those expectations relate to something they care about.

4.//Protection from Adverse Consequences for Initial Failure//: the freedom to make mistakes without fear of repercussion when the student is working for an answer or solution.

5. //Product Focus//: Work that engages students and focuses on a product or performance of significance to students.
 * Design Qualities of Choice**

6. //Affirmation of Performance//: Opportunities for student work to be seen and evaluated by others in and outside the classroom. ` 7. //Affiliation//: Designs that encourage students to not only work collaboratively, but support opportunities for them to share in independent tasks for a common goal.

8. //Novelty and Variety//: Work that exposes students to new and different ways of doing things, create new products, and develop new forms of work. 9. //Choice//: Students have input into the activities and methods in which they demonstrate learning.

10. //Authenticity//: Work that is significant, purposeful, has consequence, and personal inportance for the student.