Special thanks to Jen Stillittano at Central Coast New Tech for sharing her most recent parent-project email. Both Jen and I hope this model will help inspire you and maybe even give you a template to work from to  keep your parents in the loop for your PBL work. Remember, the more we communicate, the less we have to communicate 😉

Hello CCNTH Students, Parents & Guardians!

Thank you’s!

Thank you to everyone who has volunteered their time and money to either help out on a panel presentation, in the classroom as a guest expert, as well as assisting our Boosters to help make our school better.  Making a school great takes teachers, administration, students, and PARENTS working together to create a meaningful educational experience!

Student Highlights!…Special recognitions go to:…  for demonstrating their personal best on our very first project, This is Me.  Not only did these students meet all the requirements outlined in the project guidelines, but they put a creative twist on many elements of their work.

  • This is so awesome because doing one’s best on projects at CCNTH is a great predictor of success for students after they graduate.  Producing high quality work is super important!

Projects! Presentation Zen  

We just rolled out our second and final project of the semester, Presentation Zen!  To learn more about what we will be exploring over the next couple of months, read the Project Guidelines.  Students will be answering the driving question, What is my dream career and lifestyle and how do I get it?  They will be presenting their findings in a high quality team presentation using any presentation tool they choose.    

Feedback on the This Is Me Project!

Students have already gotten their rubrics back for their first project: This is Me.  Some warm feedback I noticed was that a lot of students found personal relevance in the work they did.  Many showed their creativity and modified the templates and scaffolds I gave them to do their best work.  Many students followed the project guidelines and used the rubric to create their final products based on my expectations.  I also loved reading their reflections and learning more about who they are. Some cool feedback I noticed is that many are still struggling to submit their work on time to Echo.  Also, there were a lot of minor errors in their writing that could easily have been corrected if another set of eyes were on their work prior to them submitting it to me. Some students also did not use the project guidelines or the rubric to create their final product and therefore did not do very well in terms of how they were scored.  Please ask your student to see the picture they took of their rubrics and the feedback they received.

Next Steps!

To keep up on what is happening in class and on campus, follow @pbllab and @ccnth on Twitter.  

  • Help your student tackle and monitor their learning throughout the project process, make note of important deadlines for the Presentation Zen project.  Parent/guardian tip: PBL allows your student to practice managing their tasks, but you can also help by creating a home calendar with important deadlines they need to meet.  
    • Benchmark One: Lifestyle & Budget Profile Due: 11/8 or 11/9
    • Benchmark Two: Career Just the Facts Research Due: 11/15 or 11/16
    • Benchmark Three: Interview Due: 11/29 or 11/30
    • Benchmark Four: Rough Draft of IAKT (professional business letter) Due 12/10
      • Help your student seek challenges by helping them find someone to interview who actually has the career that they are researching.  Parent/guardian tip: connect them with family friends and other trusted people in the community by helping them make a professional phone call asking to set up an interview time!
    • Final Draft of IAKT (professional business letter) Due 12/14
    • Final Professional Presentations: December 12/11-12/14
    • Last day to submit any work for R&C is Friday, 12/14
  • PBL also allows your student to practice how to collaborate with a variety of different people.  Be talking to them about tips and tricks for how to work with others and about the inevitable struggles that come from interacting with people to get a project done.  They need to know how you handle conflict in the workplace and at home for a model of how to work through problems with others in a respectful manner. You are probably discovering that PBL requires a more active role for you as the parent of a child at CCNTH. Read this short post about the role of the parent in PBL. Read this short transcript of a conversation between a parent and child, can you take away any ideas for how to enrich your child’s learning? Want more, consider purchasing the PBL parent guide at the bottom of the posts.
  • If your student has a D or F at this point in the semester it is due to one of the following reasons:
    • They failed to submit or achieve a proficient score on benchmarks from project one.
    • They failed to submit or achieve a proficient score on the final product for project one.
    • Parent/Guardian Tip: Please encourage your student to attend one of my office hour times to identify next steps to help them pass the course with a C or higher.  I hold office hours on Tuesdays or by appointment.

Thank you,

Jennifer Stillittano