9-18-25 Groton Board of Education Curriculum Committee Meeting

001All right. Good evening. It's um September 18th at 6:02 p.m. and I'm going to call the uh curriculum committee curriculum subcommittee to order for the Graten Public Schools. In attendance, uh board members, we have Mike Whitney, Dr. Andrea Arian, and myself, Adrienne Johnson. And we also have Ann Marine Amar, sorry, Ann Marie Mancini, the assistant superintendent, and staff members Christopher Morris, Kathy Wilson, and Jess Duncan. And I think I've got everybody. Um, so, uh, the first order of business is to review the meeting minutes. Um, does anyone have any comments on the minutes? Andrew or Mike? All right. I'm not sure if we're actually supposed to vote on them or not, but I guess um I guess if there are no Mike, do you know I've been seeing that we haven't been voting on them

002in the regular meetings now. >> Yeah, there it makes us feel good, I guess. But it sounds like we don't actually have to. You can just accept the meeting minutes. >> All right. So, we'll just we'll just accept the meeting minutes, right, >> as posted in next order. um or the next item on the agenda is um a review of the my personal project. Um and I um I'm excited to hear about it and what we do. So I don't know who wants to start off explaining um what the project is and when it happens and all that. >> Yes. So thank you um Chair Johnson. I'm going to if you don't mind I'm going to share my screen. I'm going to do a little presentation and then actually um everyone all of the staff

003members that are here are going to take part in this presentation but I'll I'll be starting if you don't mind. >> Sure. Yeah, that's great. >> Great. Thank you. So, I'm going to share here. Actually, before I do that, I have to have to do a couple of things first. So, going to set up my slideshow. Okay. Can everyone see this? No, >> Not yet. Okay. Let me do this. Just one second. Okay, great. Thank you for your patience. All right, so I'm going to talk a little bit I'm going to start off by talking a little bit about the personal project tonight. And as I said, our staff members who are joining us here tonight, which is um Kathy Wilson, Chris North, and Jess Dunin will all be contributing to this presentation. So I

004first wanted to start off by giving a little background in history specific to the not necessarily the personal project but just secondary school reform and the what is the evolution of what was originally called the senior demonstration project. It eventually evolved into what was called the capstone project. So in 2007, which was quite a long time ago, then commissioner um his name was Mark McQuillin, began work on secondary school reform with the state board of education, the P16 council, and an ad hoc committee. And as a part of this work, the committee recommended changes related to graduation requirements starting with the class of 2000. At that point, it was supposed to begin with the class of 2013 and beyond. um which would have given it you know a good number of years for all these

005changes to kind of be put into place. There was a heavy emphasis on 21st century skills. Um and again the the title of this at the at the time was referred to as the senior demonstration uh project and this was supposed to um really emphasize not only 21st century skills but exposure to career pathways. That's something that here in Grten we talk quite a bit about uh development of student success plans which I think you know um a lot of schools put into place and that's when the requirement of 25 credits for graduation was first put into place. Now um at the time school districts were given a number of years to put those 25 credits into place and um I think most districts did that incrementally. You can see on the right hand side

006of the screen there was a graphic that was created and um where it says that circle where it says engagement that's where this kind of uh the the senior demonstration project was supposed to kind of fit in under that circle and the rationale there was several I guess points of rationale that were given for the need for secondary school reform. First, there was a large achievement gap in Connecticut and they thought that the secondary school reform would address, you know, the achievement gap. There was also declining performance on standardized tests. Um, the NAPE at the time we also were given CAPT and CMT. Um, it's funny, I was just reading an article before we got on about declining scores on the NAPE. You know, we're talking about that today. They um they talked about declining

007scores on the Nate began in back in 200 really major decline back in 2013. So I guess they started to wanted they wanted to start getting ahead of this in in back in 2007. Um a number of students were at the time were um were required to enroll in remedial level college courses. Now we're still hearing about that today. There was a low economic value of the high school diploma. um you know for those students who were only earning the high school diploma that that's still obviously very true today. We were talking at the time about underpreparedness of high school graduates for the workplace and then a large percentage of students aged 16 through 18 entering adult education. the original design or the intent of this kind of senior capstone or the senior uh project

008demonstration. The um the original language said was requiring a capstone experience for every student again under that engagement circle or within that engagement circle. And then the original design of the project required students to integrate many um of the essential skills acquired over a student's seven-year history with between middle and high school. And students were able to have many choices for completing this experience. They could develop a portfolio, complete a set of experiments, for example, or um organize it around, you know, set of scientific problems, do uh community service work, or uh work as an intern in a local business. And you see that several elements of of this original design still exist today. For example, um our students could um they could work um um you know participate in the military experience for example

009and that counts that could count toward the requirement. I happen to serve on the original state department of education capstone committee and you can see some of the language here. I won't read it to you, but I highlighted some of the very specific language that is um was in the original handbook that was provided to districts. You can see self-directed culminating project based on students personal interests in which students had to demonstrate core values and skills, apply knowledge and uh apply their knowledge. students um or I'm sorry, school districts were given flexibility within the capstone uh within the school district's mission and it would apply um students will be able to earn credit toward high school graduation. So, I wanted to kind of point out some key language from the um original handbook that was

010distributed to school districts. They also um did in the handbook, it also emphasized five core elements that um it wanted all school districts to implement as it was kind of implementing this um requirement. Number one was choice, providing opportunities for choice and self-direction for students. This 21st century skill development very big um at the time in secondary school reform. uh also emphasizing process you know uh making sure that students had uh uh included this project included research self-reflection and a self-evaluation component. Uh obviously the product was really important allowing students to um demonstrate their learning in a variety of ways but including a uh a proposal journal or a process log there being an an end product uh a presentation and a a reflection of some kind and then an evaluation of some type but

011it could be a self-evaluation and then finally some type of organiz organizational structure. The big piece of this though where it got difficult was this was an unfunded state mandate. So there was no money that was given to the school districts to implement this. And how that um how that kind of what the result of that was is that there was no money given to schools. You know, many schools needed additional staff like how would you know who was going to teach this? Who were going to um work with the students on this to provide them with an either instruction or as advisors? Um who was going to grade the projects if they were going to be graded? And then how was credit going to be awarded? And so the state department of ed had

012to give the um school districts a lot of flexibility. So for example there was um you do not have to like in a in a traditional class you know there's a carnegie unit like for um when normally when you give credit for a course students have to be there's like seat time that uh must be associated with a credit you have to be um traditionally you think of like 90 hours is equal to a credit in this case the state department um and continues to to say you know there does not have to be seat time associated with earning a credit um related to the capstone requirement. Students do not have to earn a a traditional grade um you know with this assignment. They might be graded like according to a rubric, but they might

013not um it might be related to like um like expectations, the school's expectations for student learning or might be scored according to an IB rubric, but they don't have to have like um a traditional grade like ABC. Um or students might be self assessed um on a project like this. They might the other thing I might I want to say is they might not take or complete this project as a part of a regular course. Students might be completing this project independently um rather than again it might not be tied like normally when you complete a project it's part of a a traditional course. So one of the other things I want to talk about is secondary school reform and how the capstone requirement like evolved over time. So in 2010 this legislation was was

014uh passed which increased the graduation requirements from 20 to 25 and that's how kind of the um capstone uh requirement came into play. It was part of that um the increase from 20 to 25 and it was supposed to begin originally with the class of 2018. Well unfortunately this um increase in graduation requirements was delayed for a number of years. So in uh again the requirements were delayed again as a part of legislation and um it became applicable for the class of 2021. Then in 2017 the requirements were delayed another two years and um it was associated with the class of 2023. So, if you were an educator like me at the time and I was working with high school students, I kept thinking, you know, and at the time I was working with this

015um at the well now at this point I was with two different school districts um that had this in place. We kept thinking when is this going to be um implemented officially with the classes that we were working with. And finally in 2023 um the uh even though the um the credit requirements had been put into place um the they were quickly rescended or the capstone piece um so the credit requirements were increased to 25 credits and then the capstone piece was quickly made optional for school districts. So, as you can tell, um there was a lot of movement um and uh delays uh associated with secondary school reform. And even once secondary school reform became officially implemented for all school districts, they the state department of ed quickly took back what um what they

016said was important about um specifically to the capstone. Now, capstone is technically still a requirement for those classes um of the class of until the class of 2027. So, um our current I guess you would say this year would be the class of 2026. So, our current seniors and juniors must complete this requirement. Um but after that, it would be optional for school districts to keep in place. At this point, I'm going to turn um the slides over to Kathy Wilson, who's going to talk specifically about um the IB's MYP personal project. Kathy, thank you. Um so, the personal project is a culmination of five years of the middleear's program. Middleear's program starts in sixth grade and ends in 10th grade. But the the great thing about it is that it is um a project

017where the kids get to select a personal interest. Say if they're really into music or if they're really into sports or they're into writing a book or there's just drama, there's just something that they have this drive to do and they need to do the research. they need to do communicate with um people that will help them, mentors. Um they uh it it takes a lot. It's it's a very adult kind of thing. It's very rigorous because if you if there's something that you want, you have a lot of learning to do and um you know and they need to research and do all that work. And so it the the culmination is of of five different um categories of approaches to learning that the my promotes. So communication is a big one. So uh

018I gcded my own home renovation. So I had to communicate with a bunch of people. So we also had a student that did the same thing with his parents kitchen renovation. He went out and did all the research on having his parents' kitchen renovated. And I I witnessed this at the exhibition that um Jess and Chris put together last year. And then he had to research how this renovation is going to take place. He had to do the budget for it. Um he had to manage his time because he's all on his own for this project, although he probably did communicate with his parents a lot. Um but then then he had to use critical thinking skills like, geez, my parents only have this much money. They want to do the kitchen. you know, it

019was just very it was one of the projects that really stood out to me when I went to the exhibition. And it is long-term and it brings a lot of things together for a student who is, you know, um maybe not maybe a student who's not really great at memorizing and answering questions, they actually use the skills that they've learned from sixth through 10th grade to create a project. Um, so it's to me like the really the essence of learning. You're learning how to learn with the IB. Got another uh slide there in the next one. So, um, what we really want to do is create, uh, make the my project an a a part of the culture of Fitch High School. And it starts at Grunt Middle School. Also, all those skills that we

020teach that are embedded in the classroom are carried through and then that final assessment is done in 10th grade. And, you know, it's just amazing to see what these kids can do. you know, they're they're 15 years old and they can do these amazing things. Um, it also really really helps special ed students because they are um included in this whole project. They can pick their level and the special ed teachers help them as a resource to move through. So, it's just to me really a good assessment of learning how to learn. And I think the next slides go to Jessica Dunin who has done amazing job so far with this. >> Hi there. Uh Jess Dunin, English department head and one of the personal project coordinators with um Chris Mor. And he can uh

021unmute and jump in too. Um so how we kind of have reworked this a little bit this year um is that the global citizenship teacher um is their the supervisor for the personal project. Um the teacher is only required to check in three times with their students using um what's called an academic honesty form which we're going to show you shortly. Um and the ATL skills as Kathy mentioned and the IB learner profile. And just to go over what those are really quickly, um they directly connect with the original plan for that senior capstone project that was a state requirement. Um thinking, social communication, self-management, and um research skills are our ATL skills. Um and then IB is just looking to create inquirers, um knowledgeable thinkers, communicators, you know, so on and so forth. Um,

022so all of those ATL skills that they've been um that have been embedded across the NYP curriculum in their sixth through 10th grade courses, so English, um, social studies, math, all of those courses in sixth through 10th grade include those um, skills and traits. So this is pretty much just to um, have the students create something that really um, shows their ability with all of those skills. Um, I already mentioned this uh just to keep in mind because this is a a portion of the um global citizenship class. These prompts run um concurrently with the global citizenship curriculum. So, another thing that we'll show you shortly is the timeline of how these things happen um simultaneously. And we hope that the the supervisor/global citizenship teacher um is spending the majority of their time on global

023citizenship curriculum and is merely there just to prompt the students to move forward with their independent project. So it is it is an independent thing from the global citizenship course. Go ahead. Thank you. Um this is just a quick rundown of what is expected of the students. They go over a project proposal and the supervisor will approve of it. Chris and I um earlier this week visited the global citizenship classes and it was really beneficial to make sure that both him and myself were able to give our approval as well and talk the students through the process of what a meaningful topic and goal looks like. Um the students will keep track of their progress in what's called a process journal. um prompts for each of those entries have been provided to the global citizenship

024teachers and they will provide them to the students as well. But again, it's not the supervisor, global citizenship's teacher, I'm so sorry, global citizenship teachers um responsibility to make sure that that process journal is being kept appropriately. They are only there to provide the prompts. Um the final product and public presentation will occur at our expo. Um creating their final product or whatever their goal is. Um sometimes it's a tangible thing you can hold in your hands, sometimes it's a fundraiser. Um most of our students do create something tangible that they can bring in with them to the expo. and keeping track of that process is what they do in their process journal um and the reflections and harnessing um really their self-reflective skills and how can they adjust based off of maybe struggles that

025they've had. And that's maybe my favorite part about this project is that to struggle is okay. And that's one of the goals of the project is to have them identify these places where they might struggle and um adjust accordingly. You can go to the next slide. All right. Um Chris, do you want to give a quick rundown about the the first form there that we have the supervisors do? >> Yeah. So, the academic honesty form is we're going to we're asking kids to engage in research. We're asking them to do it independently. So, we're also looking for them to hook up with a supervisor, someone who's going to oversee them and just kind of check in with them and make sure that they're actually that they're actually doing it so that they know that someone's

026keeping eyes on them. So, there's an academic honesty form that they have to sign and they work with their supervisor and their supervisor does regular check-ins with them to make sure that they're the ones who are actually doing the research, they're doing the work. Um, they're not outsourcing it to some, you know, AI somewhere. Can we click on that form really quickly? I think it's important to see um to kind of show the the difference between global citizenship and this academic honesty form. Um the role as the global citizenship teacher is not going to be overwhelmed by their involvement as the supervisor. Um so this is just a one-page form that the supervisor and student will have access to. Um pretty basic information at the top. If you scroll down just a little bit please.

027So the purpose of this document is just to record their three required meetings. Um typically what will happen is meeting one they will have a topic approval meeting um and set some goals for the future of how the student can achieve that. Meeting two is where they will check in during the process of the student creating the product. And then meeting three, which is on the back page, um is typically maybe a couple weeks before we have the expo, assuming that their product and process journal are pretty much done. Um and the supervisor has space for comments and everybody signs it to say, "Yes, this is my own work and yes, I met with a supervisor through the process." Um, and something that we tweaked a little bit this year, but we did have last

028year was this goal setting worksheet. Could you click on that, please? Um, I think this may be one of the most beneficial things that we've done. The students were struggling to come up with appropriate topics and things that were meaningful and rigorous. So, um, here you're going to see some fill in blank. So to learn more about blank your topic um they plan to create a blank a product to better understand blank blank and blank. Usually it's a few researchable takeaways. Um and then in order to come up with part two sometimes the student has to you know go to the internet and do a little bit of basic research to see where they can find help. Um, so outside of their supervisor, it's recommended by IB that our NYP personal project uh students try

029to find an expert in the field or who you might call like a mentor. Um, and it's nice because that doesn't put the load on the supervisor to be an expert in the field. They are merely just someone to check in and make sure that the student is on track with their own the goals that they've set for themsel. Um, so some examples that we have here for our basketball lovers. To learn more about basketball, I plan to create a fall conditioning program and schedule to better understand the human body and physical endurance. So, I think that we can all see that there's a topic, basketball. Cool. That's usually where we start with the students. um they tell us something that they're interested in and we guide them to creating, you know, the more intricate

030parts of their goal and what could they research to better understand those things and have a well-rounded um approach to actually creating this project. Um second example, to learn more about cooking, I plan to create a family meal plan and recipe guide um to sorry to better understand how to buy and prepare nutritious foods. Um, I want to note the part two of this one. To learn more about my topic and create my product, I'll need to look at household budgeting sites, cookbooks, and grocery store flyers. Um, what we try to have the students do for part two is really think outside of their um, you know, e egotistical viewpoint that they have that they know everything and they could just do this. Um, so where can we look for help is a lot of

031what this project's about. And then the last example that we have here, to learn more about global warming, I plan to create a brochure offering recycling/trash collection advice for grant citizens to better understand the local government's role in protecting the environment. Um, I think a lot of this for me, why I love this project is because it can get the students out into the community and feeling like they're a part of something a little bit bigger than themselves. Um, and that is something that's fantastic about it. So, we're all set with the goal setting worksheet. Does anybody have any questions before we keep going with this or do you want me to just keep going? All right, good. Um, the >> Wait, wait, wait, wait. I got my hand. >> There you are. >> I

032have to find my hand. There we go. Okay, so this advisor or teacher is somebody at the school. It's not in u like Switzerland or some place in the world. It's somebody at school. Correct. >> Yes, it is somebody at school. Um so this year we are having the global citizenship teachers um who have anywhere from you know 10 to 20ish kids in a class um be the supervisor for those students. Um this class runs first semester and second semester. So this year we'll be having an expo in the fall for our first semester students in November and then we'll be having one in the spring as well in March um for our second semester students. >> So this teacher is assigned a class of 20ish. >> Yeah. And the teacher's job is to assess

033three times for each child where they are and where they're going. They don't have to assess necessarily. They're just going to do a quick check-in. Usually, for me, when I've been a personal project supervisor, these meetings um range anywhere from 5 to 15 minutes. Um and they don't have to do this on a particular day. they can be spread out throughout, you know, a couple weeks of time. Um, but depending on where the students are depends on how much time needs to be um, put into those meetings. >> So, that's it for what the teacher is doing. >> I'm sorry, that's it for what the teacher is doing. There's no class. They're not teaching anything. They're listening to the child tell the pro the process or and the progress >> for for just their um

034role as the personal project supervisor. They're doing other things um concurrently with this but global citizenship curriculum is >> the overwhelming majority. >> They have they have another class Dr. Acriman, they they this is part of their class, but it's a a very small part because the kid is supposed to be very independent, but global citizenship is a class. >> Oh, I see. And there is curriculum for that. Correct. >> Yes. >> All right. >> Yes. >> All right. What I was picturing was not what you just said. Okay. >> Yeah. >> Thank Um let let me actually give you the rundown of what the schedule would look like that's been provided to the teachers. Um I actually happen to have written the global citizenship curriculum also. Um so we can you click on the

035personal project schedule please. Okay. You can scroll down. We'll take a look at what's expected um for the first few weeks. I don't want you to get overwhelmed by the fact that what's on the right hand side is larger than what's on the left hand side. There are units, long, lengthy units in the global citizenship curriculum that describe what they should be doing for each. Um, >> can you enlarge these or no? >> Oh, thank you. >> Okay. Um, so for example, up at the top you'll see they have an intro unit and then they get into a cultural awareness unit. And all of that is happening in global citizenship class regardless of what's happening with this personal project. Um, but we've given them very specific prompts to provide the students with and templates and

036sample process journal pages so that the kid knows exactly what is expected of them. And it should be a quick, easy, make a copy of this document, change the file name, and take the teacher less than 10 minutes to get the student to accomplish this particular task. You can scroll down a little bit so we can look at some other examples. Um, so while they're still in that cultural awareness, they do that goal setting worksheet that we showed you, but Chris and I went into those global citizenship classes and ran those lessons. Um, for example, on September 29thish, they're going to be moving into their social justice, equity, and human rights unit in global citizenship. But what they should be doing, the supervisors, is doing one quick process journal check with the supervisor. Um, and

037the kids will be told, "All right, you should be about on entry number five where you record your early research findings and next steps." the teacher is not required to provide them any time during class to do those but we've asked that the teachers share these um journal prompts with the kids and a lot of our uh teachers are using schooly to um share these with their students. Um we've also given like a rough estimate of when they should be doing their um first official entry or whatnot with the students and keep scrolling down a little bit. um to keep them on track. We've simply said begin your product um development entry number eight. You should add some photos and notes of your first steps to your journal, your process journal. Um so again, what's

038happening on the lefthand side has its whole own curriculum. It's its entire class. It's global citizenship. What's happening on the right hand side are merely prompts that will be given to the students just to keep them on track. Um, so I mean the last um couple weeks before the expo will be devoted to the personal project to make sure that the students um are ready to hand in a final written report. They're ready to um have a tri board displaying some information that's in their written report and just more of a visual creation so that they can show their self-reflective process. And then we have the expo on November 17th, I believe. >> Okay. >> The report has some strenuous or rigorous guidelines also, correct? >> Yeah, I'm going to go over that in just

039a second. >> Okay. Just making sure that they know that. >> Yeah. Okay. The personal project process journal, please. Um, so this is a template that was new this year. Um, I think it's super duper helpful, especially since the students they they're not doing this in class. They have a copy of this and every time they're prompted to do a journal entry, they can simply just change the things at the top. Um, click off little boxes saying what phase they are in and then also keep track of their ATL skills. Um, it's pretty much a fill-in-theblank situation. If you scroll down a little bit, there's further explanation about the ATL skills. So, if a student is working on social skills, they'll check any of those boxes that apply and explain it. They're not going to

040be working on these every time they do a journal entry. So, they get to pick and choose which ones um fit that particular entry. I believe we have about 10 total journal entries. Um, which would put the students at a process journal that's going to be, you know, anywhere from 15 to 20 pages long. Um, it'll include image images and evidence. Um, they'll describe some challenges and solutions. And all of these things occur every single time they do a journal entry. They have to keep track of these. Okay. And to go on to the next document that's linked up there. This is going to speak to what Kathy was just discussing, the final written report. We don't have to provide the students with a final written report template. We don't have to give them that

041goal setting template. We don't have to give them any of these templates according to IB. Um, however, in my training this summer, I did ask for some clarification, personal project training, um, on whether or not this was acceptable and okay. and they said absolutely 100%. Um, and there were the overwhelming majority said that they wish they could have it as a graduation requirement at their school because it really does entice students to complete the project and do a good job. Okay. So, the final written report is one of the culminating things that they have to create based off of their process journal and their experiences. Um section one is all about their planning and section two they explain how they have applied those skills and I hope you can see the correlation between this and

042the um process journal template that I just showed you. Um they can pretty much pull directly from their process journal in order to write this final written report and it when they're done with it becomes this lengthy report that they didn't know that they could do. Um, and section three, we have the time for them to reflect. My favorite, absolute favorite part, especially when I get to see how they turn those words in this um, written report into something on their triboard. Um, and then section four of the written report, it is required that the students um, include some sort of visual evidence of what was um, attained. And then lastly, an MLA work sited page is required as well. Um, we can look at the personal product supervisor handbook. Um, it's very basic. I

043think what I just went over with you is much more detailed than what this is. Um, but you can see the table of context contents. It pretty much just explains what the personal project is that Kathy explained earlier. Um what their roles and responsibilities are as a supervisor, what the timeline looks like, key stages, academic honesty form, rubrics, which we can look at right now, actually. Hopefully, we're in there. I'm really trying to think about whether or not I've attached the rubric here. There it is. Yay. Look at me go. All right. Um Okay. So, we have a few different criterion. Um, this looks a lot like any IB rubric if you've ever seen them. One will be about their planning stages. And scroll down just a little bit. So, the student can get a

044maximum number of points of eight. Um, obviously that's what we're shooting for. You know, if our students land around a five or six, that's also not not horrible. Let me scroll down. Um then they talk about how they have or sorry we grade them based on how they have applied those ATL skills and obviously that's um indicated through their written report and their tribard presentation. And then we have criterion C which is their reflection which is a part of the written report. Um, this is going to be the first year and Kathy correct me and Chris correct me if I'm wrong, but this is going to be the first year that these projects are scored and and sent off to IB. So, we are in the baby stages of my still and now this year

045we're moving up to like toddler stage. Um, so this is going to be this is going to have a an impact on them that this grade will be recorded. Um, right. We can back out of the rubric. Thank you. Um before we get into how we can see things similar to the NYP personal project, well actually the personal project, um just I want to note that this is a requirement from the IBM program that the students complete this project. If we were to not have this project, um they the students have the opportunity through IB to take assessments. Those assessments cost money. If we were to assess every single student in the 10th grade, um they'd be having exams in all of their MYP courses um through the IBMYP program. This project fulfills that requirement

046of an assessment through the my program. So, I just want to note that. >> And before we move on, I just want to like talk just quickly like wax philosophic about this for a second. Um, one of the reasons I got involved with the personal project is two years ago, um, and Keith Forbotnik put on the first one and I went to the expo and I thought it was um, really neat and it was as I was all things IB and all things teaching, I think about what would I want my own children to do. Like my kids are all in Grten public schools and I'm thinking about what are they going to do as they go through middle school and high school. And as I was standing in that expo two years ago, I'm

047like, I want my kids to do stuff like this. I want them to be able to pursue these passion projects, go out there and research them, and then share them because what a lot of our kids do is they're choosing things that they're interested in. And maybe they do some research on their own like they watch some YouTube videos, they read some articles, they, you know, watch Tik Tok videos about it, but no one ever pushes them to that next that next step. No one ever has them create a product about what they've learned. they so they're internalizing this knowledge, but they're never actually sharing it with anybody. That's what I think the real strength of the MYP personal project is, is that we're we're pushing them to take that next step that they didn't

048even know that they wanted to take. And so a lot of the kids maybe drag their feet when they first start this process, but by the end of it when you go the IB expo is such a cool thing when you get to see, you know, 100 200 F students talking excitedly about their projects and what they created and what they learned. And there's a sense of pride there that is is pretty um pretty impressive. And then it also further prepares them for a lot of our kids, you know, hopefully are going on to the diploma or now our career related program where they're going to do the extended essay or the reflective project which is the next level. Like we're really taking something that you are interested in that you're passionate about and how

049can you turn that into something even bigger. And those are the parts that I mean those of you who are there for um when I did the diploma program presentation last year when the students who had gone through the DP went on to college the extended essay is something they spoke very very highly about and I think the personal project is a great it's like that with training wheels. It's a great first step for kids to do something truly independent for the first time but also have some guidance and some guard rails along the way. That's my soap box. >> Okay. So, one of the things that um I was asked to talk about is what some of the other IB um schools do here in Connecticut regarding this requirement. And I'm fortunate enough to

050have worked in two other districts that have uh IB schools. And so I can talk a little bit about, you know, what I know that they do. So the first district that um or one of the last my most recent district that I worked in was East Harford Public Schools and they do have an IB pathway. They have a uh an elementary school that has the primary years program. School uh students advance from most most students choose to advance from their primary years program to their middle years program. It gets a little tricky when they go from the middle years program to the diploma program because not all students are able to. Um there's their middle school, Sunset Ridge, has about 350 students and only 50 students get to advance um from the middle years

051program to uh to the Connecticut IB Academy. And that's because the Connecticut IB Academy brings in students. It's a it's a resco uh lottery school and it brings in students from not just East Harford but from a variety of uh school districts um in the greater Harford area and students have to apply to attend. Um but I can tell you that um students complete uh because of that students complete the personal project in the eighth grade rather than in the 10th grade. Um so they do things a little differently in East Harford regarding this requirement. Um, but I can tell talk to you a little bit about what happens. Students in the eighth grade identify an inquiry statement uh based on their learning in middle school. They conduct research and they complete a service-based learning

052project. Um, and they present it um their project in an expo style format similar to what the students at Fitch do. They receive feedback from those in attendance at the expo style uh at the expo. Um and I happen to be uh one of those attendees every single year that was required to give uh feedback to the students and then the students reflect on that experience because they complete this project in middle school. Um the students obviously do not receive credit toward graduation for this uh for this project that they complete. Um, but I can tell you that this is a very powerful experience for the eighth graders that complete this project and um many of the well nearly all the students that um go to Sunset Ridge do apply to attend the Connecticut IB

053Academy. Uh again, unfortunately only a very limited number of students then go on to attend Sunset Ridge. Um, but really that's because of the lottery requirements, but they do have great experience at Sunset Ridge. Uh, the second school district that I was a part of um that has an IB uh school is CRE magnet schools and um CRE has an IB pathway as well. They have an elementary IB school um a and a middle years program that is kind of combined with a a DP and that's their academy of international studies. Uh students um attend that school between grades 6 and 12. So it's one school combined that has all of those children in in the same building. And the students there do um two separate projects. In grade 10, um, students complete a much

054smaller project as a part of their, um, what what I would translate to be a civics class. Students complete an extended service learning project, but it's usually as a part of a small group, either two or three students, and it's, um, and it's really designed to be um, almost like the personal project, but um, like a a smaller experience. It prepares them for the personal project. It requires students to work in a small group to conduct a research presentation and they complete a self-reflection and a and an evaluation. It's based on something that they've studied during that civics class. The project is graded um but it's incorporated into their report card as a part of that class. Then in the 12th grade, they build upon this experience. They complete an independent project. It is their

055capstone project. It's scored using their students expectations for student learning rubric. Um students work with an adviser similar to what we do here at Fitch um inside the school. Some of them also um depending upon what their project is, they seek out the ad guidance of a community member. So they have an inside adi what I what I used to call like an inside school adviser and an outside of school advisor um that provides them with guidance on this capstone project. Their project is presented to a public audience. Um they do not do it as an expo format. So they actually have a public presentation that um they give usually it's to their classmates um and then also to a younger set. So maybe the ninth graders come or the 10th graders come to prepare

056them for like when they get to they have to do their senior project presentation. um student and then also members from the community come. Um so we'll um at the time I say we um because I was the senior project coordinator but we would invite um you know members of the of the community meeting local businesses. We would also invite other Crack Magnet schools. It would be a variety of people um that would be invited to attend. Um, students have to reflect on the experience and and for me that was actually the best part of the experience because they would also I mean almost to a to a a student they would always say I um they would say they would always start by saying I really did not want to do this capstone. I

057was um almost um dreading doing this from the time I started this school in the sixth grade. Uh because they were like a little bit anxious about it. Um but uh they would always say this was such a positive experience for me because I learned so much during it. And these students all received one credit toward graduation. They did not do this as a part of a class. um they did a they had to actually receive they did a proposal and they received approval for a proposal for their uh project proposal during the 11th grade but they had independent time to complete it during their 12th grade year. So pretty similar to the design of the Fitch program. Oops. I'm sorry. Did not mean to do that. Okay. With all of the things said here,

058this is the end of our formal presentation. Hopefully, I'm going to just go back a couple of slides. Hopefully you're able to see with all of the presentation or I mean all of the information that we've presented today that the elements that are incorporated into um into the FIT the current Fitch um design model um really kind of mirror the original intent of um or the original design um way back in I think we said like 2007 when um when the cap then when the people started kind of looking at this original um the original committee started looking at designing this project you know looking at a self-direct directed project based on students personal interests and um looking at you know the school's c core values and applying their knowledge and skills but you know

059with that said I think that any of us would be willing to um take questions from u from our board members. >> All right, Mike or Andrea, do you have any questions? >> Well, >> is it >> you want me to raise my hand? I just >> No, no, go ahead. >> Thank you. Um good because I can't find it. Okay. Um I I I guess the question is again about I'm I'm still unclear about how this is is set up in the high school. So what I think I'm hearing is that that there are more than one teacher that is part of uh the staff that oversees this because you said there's a each there are classes of 20. So there must be how many classes are there that how many >> are there

060eight sections of global citizenship that we went to visit Jess? >> Seven or eight. Yeah. This semester and then another set of those students next semester. Um would you mind would you mind stopping the screen share just so I can like see everybody right now? My computer's limiting me to five people and it Thank you. So, so that's at at at Fitch there are that many classes doing this. Yes. So, >> the entire sophomore class >> two semesters. >> How do the do the teachers get together and talk about the expectations? because I might have expectations as Kathy could tell you and Adrien might have a different point of view. Or is that the the point of this project that different teachers bring different thoughts on how this should go? >> Well, Jess and Chris

061have been spearheading this whole thing. So, as they as Jess created the global citizenship class over the summer and has done it in the past also, um uh they did all of the forms. Everything is really succinct and um set up so that pretty much this year those teachers have a template to run by. But that's in terms of of what's on the paper, but what's in the teacher's head in terms of expectations for a child. >> Can can I just jump in just for recommended? >> Thank you. >> I I I just I'm always here to support um uh IB and Jess and Chris and Kathy, especially when it comes to global citizenship and the uh NYP. and I am the administrator that has partnered with Jess and Chris and Kathy when it comes

062to this. So even in past practices and currently um Jess, Chris, uh Kathy and I have met with the global citizenship teachers and gone over the curriculum and gone over the expectations and um when as needed, you know, we probably will pro need to meet another time just to make sure that everyone's on the same page. But as the supervising administrator, I will be visiting those classes to make sure that everyone is following the curriculum and the expectations as dictated by the curriculum and as we discussed in those cohort meetings. >> Okay. So the the I know that the three of you and then respond to you Karina, but the three of you have an idea, but do the teachers themselves get together and talk We've been encouraging the global citizenship teachers to um share

063any materials they come up with, any feedback about the curriculum even. Um but I mean the number of emails that both Chris and myself field every day from them um would show that they are asking questions to make sure that they are doing the right thing. Um, and I would say that every single one of them has reached out just to check in and, you know, be certain that how they're doing it is the right way. Um, but it it's it's pretty prescriptive um, and not shouldn't be super timeconuming for them. Um, >> I just have one one more question and then I'll stop. But do they talk to each other? They talk to you. Do they talk to each other? I would hope so. Um, as an interdisiplinary course, global citizenship is um, not

064falling into a particular department, but I guess if they had to have a go-to person to talk to, it would be Carmea and then myself um to to have a centralized understanding. Um, but we have provided time for them to have meetings. Um, >> Dr. Eman, it's just like any other course. we you might have um you might have five teachers that teach English 10 and you would hope that they um they talk to one another but um if they don't have common planning time you can't um you can't enforce that >> that was my question thank you that you answered >> so so in the in the past though Dr. Aman, we have um the global citizenship teachers during our TLI days or PD days when we have that collaborative time. Typically what we

065do for the global citizenship teachers is set up a small amount of time that's not detracting from whatever department they are a part of. So, I mean, these meetings are meetings amongst the global citizenship teachers have taken place in the past throughout the year and we've, you know, we're only a few weeks in this year and we've had um meetings as a whole group and then with Chris and myself meeting with each individual teacher. >> Okay. Thank you, >> Mike. >> Yes. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for the presentations and the the explanations too as well as the contacts both from the middle years program, the IB program and also from the different schools. Um, one question I had was um the project itself is there a credit or half a credit associated with

066that separate from global citizenship? And then does it appear somewhere on the transcript? and if so, how? >> Um, I can speak to that, I guess. Um, the global citizenship class is a half a credit, a half a year course um, just like any other class that they would take. It's an interdisiplinary um, study that they do. And um, the I'm sorry, the personal project is also a half a credit that they receive for its completion. um they are not graded on their transcript for this personal project. It is simply a.5 credit pass fail um situation. Um but both will show up on their um on their transcript completing what is a requirement at Fitch High School still currently the mastery based diploma um requirement that's still a Fitch High School requirement um currently in

067our program of study. So once they do both the global citizenship class and earn their.5 credit for the personal project, they achieve that one credit worth of mastery based diploma learning. >> Thank you. My my connection hung up a little bit there. Uh so the the project itself is uh counts for one credit. Is that correct? >> Five credits. Oh, and then so between the global citizenship and the and then the project that totals one is that that's what you're saying I guess. >> Yes. >> Great. Um and I can see the big advantages of having it done within a classroom context of of global citizenship. Um is there anything like from IB standards or from the state that says that um like global citizenship itself u is required? I see the value in the

068the the class. I'm just trying to get that like is it required context and if so how? >> So what Ary was explaining a little bit earlier is that they just recently have um the state sorry not just they the state has um retracted that requirement. Um but we still have that in our program of studies for Fitch High School um because it was super recently that this occurred. Um and the um the project is a requirement from IB the NYP program that the students complete it. >> So so that's the project but what about the class? The global citizenship class that's what I wasn't clear on. >> Globalship is not part of an IB requirement. Um I wasn't there when I started. My assumption is that it was created at Fitch High School to

069help fulfill that mastery based diploma requirement, but it is not tied to the the personal project needs to be done for IB. Global citizenship is a a separate entity. >> Initially, >> I don't know. >> Go ahead, K. I was going to say initially when I taught global citizenship the purpose was the purpose of global citizenship was to complete the NYP project but the understanding uh IB has changed the requirements that no longer can the personal project be done in class it has to be done independently so >> I'm sorry I want to >> Yep. hang up that thing. >> Um just to continue with what Carme was saying, um I don't know if um the board members are aware, but um 5 to 10 years ago, we also had a freshman academic seminar class,

070which was something that um having that interdisciplinary course also came down from the state. Um, and what we ended up doing was combining what was being taught in freshman academic seminar into our global citizenship course and revamping the global citizenship course to be more um impactful and effective um and more in line with what our curriculum was. So, this has been like a a big transformation over time. Um, and this year I would say is probably about as close to like streamlined as we've been with both the project and with the global citizenship course um being useful um and a a time for the teachers also. I I mean what a nice thing what a beautiful curriculum to work off of if I do say so myself. Um, but everything is there for them. And

071all of these teachers have taught, most of them, sorry, except for one, have taught this class before. So, they're familiar with this type of material. They're familiar with this um type of teaching and learning. And it should be a comfortable place for them. Um, and allowing the students kind of a little bit of a all right, now I'm focusing on all the things, not in a stressful kind of way, but just like how do I actually apply this to real life? all of these skills that I'm learning explicitly in my other classes, the global citizenship allows for that. >> And I just want to add, don't forget that students have nine credits that they have to earn in the humanities, several of which are electivebased credits. So, global citizenship would fall under that credit requirement.

072>> Thank you. And I want to underscore I really do see the value of it. It's a it's a nice pairing with sort of that career pathways or or getting ready for college because this is a uh sort of individual expression uh individual uh you know just exploring something that you want to on your own in in sort of a structured informed way. Uh so that's really valuable. Uh my other question was I I believe that if someone's in Naval Sciences one um then they don't have to um do the the project because presumably they have something similar that they're doing or maybe it conflicts schedulewise. So wondering if you could speak to that if maybe my understanding is correct on that or maybe it's off a little bit. That is correct that if a

073student is inval class that has counted for their mastery based diploma um taking the naval science courses does eat up a lot of room in their schedule as well. So I assume that probably I I can't speak from the counseling point of view but it probably makes it difficult for them to get into the global citizenship class. Um and a lot of what uh Mr. Hankle does with them. Very similar skills that we're working on in the NYP personal project and global citizenship classes. >> Got it. Thank you. And then from the IB perspective, is there like a certain percent of students that have to complete um uh middle-ear project or I guess what I'm asking is if the naval sciences grows, does that endanger us like fulfilling the IB uh objectives or does the

074naval sciences part count in the IB as well? >> Jess, did they talk about that at all in your training? I can't I can't think of I can't think of anything that would cause a problem with that. >> I I can't think of it either. And I actually would check into that, but um it's they they're very compatible. >> So someone completing the naval sciences in terms of IB, it's it's counting for that or is it just off off the IB books? It's really is that would be off the IB books. Oh, >> okay. Thanks. Does IB have like a threshold like 80% of students is students have to do this to still like be conforming with the middle years program part of IB or is it or maybe they don't they just have to

075>> Well, they want 100% of course we all want 100%. But I mean in reality I don't I'm not sure if they do have a threshold. I think they just push for the 100% and then I mean this is the first year that we're going to actually submit sample work, register all the students. You know, it's been a grow a growth um thing for us. So, we'll see. We'll ask those questions though. Those are great questions. I'm sorry. I don't know the actual number and I I don't recall that from June. I'm discussing that at my training. Um, but um, Chris and I were able to, and Chris, correct me if I'm wrong. I'm not, this is not 100% accurate math, but I would say upwards of 90% of our students last year completed the

076personal, excuse me, completed the personal project. Um, and the other 10% we hope to get a whole bunch of them to complete it this year. It's a graduation requirement, so they have to do it. Um, so those 11th graders who didn't complete it last year are going to be tasked with completing it this year. Um, so I mean we shoot for 100% all the time and I don't remember them discussing any um mandatory percentage to reach to stay within like compliance or something but the growth is incredible. I mean the we started this three years ago because my started in 2018. We were going through the training, the planning process. COVID hit. So then we were rec capping everything and trying to get it all back on board. And the first year that the personal

077project was done, there was 26 children, 26 students completed the project and then it just I mean 171 completed it last year or 179 or something like that. It was it was phenomenal. So, I mean, the the work that these guys have done at the high school with these kids um and getting the message out and getting and getting teachers on board, it's amazing. And uh and the projects are amazing. >> Yeah, thanks. I' I've actually seen the uh some of the results and they're impressive. Um, so, so it's it's grown quite a bit and that's Does it hold up anyone from graduation typically or I mean I I thought they'd have to complete it by the end of the global citizenship class, but sounds like they you know keep working on it if they

078need to >> even even into well the hope is that everyone finishes it before the end of the 11th grade year. So, but we we as an admin team have um uh have something in mind for them for those seniors who have not yet completed it, including uh ensuring that they completed during their offlock, but it is going to be a graduation requirement. >> Okay, great. And so, so it's not like they're, >> you know, the expo you said was like mid-occtober. It's not like they uh sophomores trying to complete it between, you know, that part of the semester. They're they're they're la they're using the um global citizenship collapse as a launching point. Uh and then it goes on from there. Is that >> our our first semester global citizenship students will complete this

079project before November 17th. The ones that are enrolled in global citizenship during this first semester. Our second semester students will complete it um before March 7th. >> April April 6th. Yeah, sorry. Um, but they'll have the same amount of time. Um, and like we said, this is supposed to be an independent project. Um, outside of school hours, creating their product. Um, the school is just supposed to be checking in with them and making sure that they are on track. That's our role as supervisors. Um, or global citizenship teachers roles as supervisors. and then Chris and I as the personal project coordinators. >> Thank you. But that's not an actual like hard deadline. So students do need more time like you do it next year or something. It sounds like that has happened. I guess >>

080it has >> but we we do not offer that to students. Um something that we do offer if we want to talk about special ed real quick is to have a little bit of extended time with the project. Um so if we have a special education student who needs extra time um just generally speaking um they are allowed to present during the spring um expo and they will start work with their um case manager with their parah if they have one. Um they the whole entire special education department has been informed of this project so they know what the expectations are. Um, so if a student does need a little extra time, they can present during the spring expo. >> Thank you very very much for explaining that. That's all my questions. >> Thank you.

081>> I I've got a few as well. Um, so it seems like a great um curriculum and it seems like it's very comprehensive. Uh, my question is staffing. Um, so I'm guessing uh a teacher that teaches global citizenship might have a hundred students, correct? Or something like that. Um, and if they've got to check in for an average of 10 minutes every 3 weeks with a 100 different kids, it's it seems like that's a lot of time. I mean, you can correct me if I'm wrong. Maybe maybe global citizenship is spread out through more staff members than that. But >> yeah, it's spread like I don't think anyone has more than two sections of global citizenship right now. So um >> I think with the class size I think most of the what I think

082there's five or six teachers who have global citizenship. They probably have between 15 and 30 students each. >> All right. So they can So how does your staff feel about adding the workload of global citizenship? I mean of the personal project into global citizenship. So if you do the teachers feel like they have enough time um to get through all that effectively like all of those responsibilities. >> Honestly, I think that's still yet to play out. But I will say that the global citizenship curriculum um that I revamped over the summer was a paired down version of our the the existing or pre-existing global citizenship curriculum. Um and the amount of time that I have laid out in that timeline that I showed you with the two things running side by side. Um, having taught

083global citizenship, having been the personal project coordinator, I tried to be mindful of the fact that maybe one day, you know, in these lessons, they are going to be focusing on the personal project and checking in with those kids and their other students are going to be working on global citizenship work while they check in. So while the teacher's checking in just like when we have writing conferences or anything of the sort um the other students will have work that they are completing. So the it shouldn't be overwhelming to have three check-ins with less than 30 students probably throughout a semester course. I I I wouldn't think that that's overwhelming. We haven't heard any complaints as of yet. Um but like I said, you know, it's only September 18th and this model is this is

084the first time that we've done it this way. >> Yeah, it to me um you know, it seems um much more intensive than than what I've experienced, you know, with my own kids going through it in the past. So, I think this is this is great and it really is a a good project for the kids and it's going to it's going to help them with um you know with you know finishing high school and in college just being able to work on things on their own. In my own experience though um and I'm not an educator. I went to college and we had you know capstone project um you know for my bachelors and and um I found that that um you know the professors you know gave a lot of help along the

085way and they didn't certainly didn't do the project um you know and we didn't really work on it in class but we had a class assoc associated with it um because to get a at least in my own experience to have a quality project it needs you know maybe the work gets done at home, but it would need review like as you're going. So, more than just a check-in, are you doing it? Maybe review and and and an instructor spending a little bit more time and saying, "Have you thought about this?" Or or maybe, you know, have you looked into this avenue to dig a little bit deeper into what you're talking about there? because to me it seems like if it's just some check-ins and in doing this work um the the work product

086at the end could be you know extremely variable I guess depending on on how much the kid wants to put into it or the student wants to put into it I should say. >> Yeah, >> I agree with you on that as far as it being variable but also kids have re in the past kids have reached out to other mentors. If a child was doing a u a piano conerto and wanted to pass an exam from Berkeley School of Music, he he connected with his music teacher. If another student wants to decrease his time in the 400 meter dash, he connected with his coach. So, it's not these supervisors are just making sure you're staying on the timeline and continuing with the work and putting into your process journal. you can reach out to

087other mentors or people that you connect with to help you through these goals, which we all do. It's it's not necess you're not necessarily going to connect with the global citizen uh teacher, citizenship teacher to do your 400 meter dash goal or your, you know, you're going to connect with Andrea Acriman if you want to get the MLK uh scholarship speech down. You know, you're not going to do that with your global citizenship teacher. So, you've got to reach somehow outside of the box a little bit too for for professionals and for um people that can really help you achieve your goal. >> I had a lot of those same concerns uh Mr. Johnson that you had last year because last year we didn't even have the global citizenship class. Jess and I just kind

088of took on this role in the middle of January and then just kind of had to figure it all out. And last year, so the kids got even less direct support last year, but last year we really encouraged them to, like Kathy was talking about, find find mentors. They could be parents, older siblings, um people in the community, teachers to help them. And a lot of our kids proved to be to be really resourceful. And um you know when the expo came around in May, there were a couple of clunkers, but the projects overall were far exceeded my expectations for something that Jess and I were really kind of putting together for the first time. So my hope is that this year with the structure of the global citizenship and someone in the school kind

089of keeping track of things that our kids are going to be doing exactly what Kathy's talking about and getting that extra guidance because you know our global citizenship teachers are a mly crew of of music teachers and teched teachers and English teachers. So if a kid like um you know she was talking about Miles Reese's project last year that incredible architecture one um you know if I was his teacher or one of you know his supervisor in school maybe not be able to help him with that but he was reaching out to other people outside of school. So um we're I think that's our hope is that that's what our kids are going to continue to do. Yeah, I see that being great if if uh I mean, but we're it's gonna it's something like

090300 kids, right? Like between 270 and 300 kids a year that that are trying to get through this or well, I guess maybe a few few less if it's because of the um military sciences, but but it's still a lot. >> I just want to give you a quick rundown of who these students have to reach out to. They have their personal project supervisor. They have Chris and myself um who will we're going to keep pushing into those classes and checking in with kids. Um they also are going to be having upper classman mentors who visit their CTL classrooms which is like a study hall. Um so there will be mult and all of the 10th grade teachers and really the whole school is aware of this project. So there will be like a multitude

091of people checking in on them. the supervisor operates as the formal person checking in on them. Um, even if you try and recall back to the goal setting worksheet that I showed you 45 whole minutes ago, um, it one of the things is that they should identify an expert in the community who can help them. Um, so I I think there's going to be more people checking in than is clear on that academic um, honesty form where the supervisor checks in formally. Um, but all of these other things are in place to help them succeed. >> All right. Yeah. I mean, I guess, you know, well, as long as the kids have the resources that they need. Um, and and if they don't, I mean, we should, you know, if we feel like we're not

092supporting them enough, obviously come back and and talk to the board about that in the future. Um, the um just trying to see what else. So, staffing. Um and then um separately and this this is really for the board members. I don't think this has come before the committee just for approval of the curriculum for global citizen I mean for um for the my project in general. Um so the curriculum it's a it's obviously um a very broad I mean the curriculum is just um you know teaching students a process and to stick to it um you know self-studying working independently journal um so it's a very broad curriculum but um Andrea and Mike do you feel that that I mean it to me I don't believe um Anie can um let me know but

093I don't believe it's come before just to approve it as a I don't know if we'd approve it as a class, but since there's credits associated with it, um if we would approve it as a as a curriculum. So, Andrea may know better than anybody on on what you think about that. >> My concern is that when I heard you describe what the state is expecting and overall what the expectations are that if I were in the classroom, I I would have no idea where it's supposed to begin. So, I'm glad that um what what Jess and Kathy and and Chris and Cara have contributed tonight is that they seem to have a real handle on, you know, the the the criteria, the the you know, uh the expectations of of the entire experience and

094you seem to have it. Uh me if the other board members said to me, "Well, what do you think of that?" I would have to say like I I truly have no idea. Uh you know, I get that I get the idea that the kid has to take control and and and I'm listening to you. I still don't have a real handle on what the classroom teacher is expecting and how they I mean I know you said that they can get together every once in a while on a professional day or whatever. It's so vague in my mind but again it's not vacant vague in your minds. I don't know how Amory feels about that. I I feel like if you really got a chance to look at the documents that Chris and Jessica have

095create uh Jessica created, they are very specific as to the goals of the program. You know, like it steps right through each section like here's the introduction, here's how you set your goals, here is, you know, how you get your help, here is what's expected at step one, at step two, at step three. I mean, I I did not do the personal project and I also didn't take the training for the personal project, but I I looked at what they created and I said, I think I could teach this class because and because it's a I could teach it. I could be a health teacher and then still be a supervisor for this for this personal project because it's a it is a wellmapped out, you know, systemic way of getting this project done and

096the supervisor just has to be like there for the kids because Jess and Chris have done all the paperwork and all of the planning for them at this point. And I think they're going to find, oh, this is not that big a deal. The kids, of course, will say, "This is difficult because it's work, it's rigor, it's writing, it's researching, it's communicating, it's asking questions, it's inquiry, it's everything that you need to do to be a responsible um student, a learner of of everything in the world." And uh they just I think they're you're going to be amazed by what you see. You're going to be amazed by what you see. The teachers will have a handle on it and they've got it all mapped out for them. >> Yeah. And I and I'll take

097responsibility for that. Dr. Acriman, I was supposed to get you um this these Google slides uh yesterday and and we went late uh as you know with the uh GA negotiations and um and I did not have an opportunity to send them, but I will make sure as soon as we get off this call that um I share the slides that have all of the documents attached. um so that you have them and you have a chance to look them over. But um Jess and Chris have done a very thorough job of putting together these materials. Anyone could pick up these materials and teach this course and have a very thorough I mean and and prepare not just teach the course but have a very thorough understanding of what the expectations are for students that

098complete this project. They've done an excellent job of um of making sure that um there are very very clear expectations and that the uh that the rigor in terms of um what students have to do so that it is um challenging uh are are it's I I'm really impressed with what they put together. I'm impressed with the uh with the number of students who Kathy I think you you had the number that started >> it was like 26 >> and and 26 that put it together and now there was 100 171 179 Jess there was like there was it was 90% of the students >> and then how did that happen was that word among the students or or was the >> No that happened from Jeff and Chris >> I I believe and Chris.

099>> Yeah. The structure expectation. Yeah. >> Yep. And they had Yeah. expectations. They had a plan. They had student mentors going into CTLs. They went into CTLs, which are the advisory period at the high school, and promoted this and said, "This is what's going to be expected of you." And you know what? It's actually going to be fun because it's personal. It is your thing. You know, I mean, back in in high school, I would have done the 400 meter dash thing. You know, my friend, my best friend Shellyley would have done the art an art show or whatever. I mean, people have their own personal interests that they want to pursue, but now we're saying to them, okay, you want to pursue it, here's how you pursue it. Here's how you set goals. Here's

100how you do the research. Here's how you get the mentors. Here's how you get people to help you. And this is uh, you know, it's just a great learning experience. and what they did in the course of two years was amazing. >> Yes. >> Can I just add Dr. Can I just add just this point that as as an IB teacher as well haven't taught IB um and all of us on the screen Chris Jess and Cath >> the the last assessment in the IB program is called an extended essay and it mirrors exactly what the end of NYP uh this writing piece does this personal project piece is. It mimics exactly except that is more grade level appropriate. So the same criteria that the students are expected to address in the 10th grade are

101the same ex criteria that the students are expected to address as seniors in the IB program. Again, the NYP project is grade level appropriate and it mimics what is expected as at the the culmination of the DP program. Okay. Okay. Um and Adrien, I don't know about your question, but if the question is would you recommend it or you know to the board um oh you know the other before I I finish my sentence the other thing is I'd like to see the the curriculum for a global the global um thinking global >> citizenship. Yeah. >> Thank you. global citizenship. >> Yeah, I'd like to see that curriculum as well. >> Yeah, it's it's on the website, but Jeff Jess could probably send you a link. >> Yeah, if you would because I'm not doing

102that. >> That would >> I think you like it. I think you'll like that curriculum a lot. I was looking over it today. Yeah. >> And in terms of of of recommending, you know, if if you had just told me about this, I I would have said get a life. But listening to Chris and Cath all and and Cara and who who did I miss, you know, I mean, you've got a handle on it. I mean, I I can hear in in your voices how you convey this to the kid and cultivate it in the child. So, >> I'll bring you to the exhibition. I'll come pick you up. It's amazing. >> Fabulous. I I don't want to miss it. Make sure it's not on a Thursday. Is it on a Thursday? >> Why do

103you get your hair done on Thursdays like Carmea used to? Oh, stop. Dr. Ain just >> I'm I'm at the >> I'm at the academy on Thursday. That's where I work. Okay. I may be working on Friday as well, but let's see. Right now, for sure, it's uh >> it's Thursday. >> Well, they have the dates. I'll let you know. >> Just link the curriculum, I believe. >> Just just link the curriculum, Dr. Arian. So, you can click on the link and there's the um curriculum for the citizenship class. >> Thank you. Thank you. And you know, you wanted to visit Carita, remember you said you wanted >> Yeah. this would be a great thing to to visit and >> and and and forget about recommending it to anybody. I just want to know more

104on my own. So, if you want to come and visit and talk about >> Okay, we'll do. >> Okay. >> Also, I think that through um Dr. Acriman and um Adrian, if you both have a chance to look at the global citizenship curriculum, it'll give you a better understanding not only of the course but also of the uh the precision with which this uh curriculum was crafted and it couldn't be any more like here it is on a platter for you global citizenship teachers. Um legitimately every single worksheet that is in there has been a part of my teaching um my experiences with it and the I got everyone's the global citizenship teachers feedback um before I wrote the curric or rewrote the curriculum over the summer. Um so I really do hope you get

105a chance to look at that because it's very straightforward. Um I don't think that it's confusing overwhelming at all. Um, so if you put that next to the personal project supervisor role, then it in my opinion it should be relatively easy to achieve, especially with the open lines of communication that um we have all the all the four of us have put out to them. >> Jessica, I'm just going to jump in and re and um clarify this curriculum was just revised this summer because it's already been it had already been uh approved as a this course previously. Correct. >> Yes. Okay. Good. >> Yeah. Global citizenship was So, we're going to say that global citizenship was not a major revision, correct? Is that because I think major revision comes back to the board. Um,

106but just a revision. So, it it seems like it wasn't a major revision. There's just some modifications to to free up some some time. >> Yeah, it was it was not a major revision. um but making sure that it was the most thorough because we knew that asking these teachers to be the personal project supervisors is an extra an extra task and we knew that um and I knew that when I went into doing the revision for the curriculum. Um essentially what I did that I explained earlier I just paired it down and I made sure that there were linked up worksheets and not just um some sort of vague guidance which is kind of what exists in some curriculum documents. feels a little more vague so the teacher can take charge of it. Um,

107but this is very concise and user friendly. >> Yeah, I I think it's a great curriculum. I mean, it really I can see you guys put a lot into it. Um, and I appreciate that. Um but I'm I want to go back to the um you know the board is you know like in our in our policies you know the curriculum committee is supposed to approve curriculum and I don't think as far as I know that we've um approved any kind of a curriculum so far just for this project. Um since we're awarding credits and it's and it's going to end up going towards a state requirement. Are we as a board like a curriculum committee first and then a board are we supposed to um to be voting on this as an accepted curriculum?

108Um and I do you do you have any thoughts on that Mike? >> Yeah I'm not sure. So, but actually I'm still I thought I understood something and now I'm not trying to. Um, is the my project currently re if you're not doing naval science, it's currently required for all students, students graduating 2007 or later. What What's the current status of it? All students 6 through 10 are involved in an MYP program. They are they are being taught in that instructional framework. Um also the previous board approved IB. We had a $5 million grant to in introduce >> I just asked about the project. Just just the project. >> The project is part of IB. So there's no curriculum to the project. The curriculum I'm >> just asking if everyone has to do it. But

109it everyone has to do it. Uh we're trying to figure out that uh naval sciences thing though. >> Oh, that might we might have to look into that. >> So Mike, just to clarify, I think your question is everyone in grade 10 with the ex uh with the exception of the naval science students. >> So but was it a requirement for last year's grade 10? >> Yes. So I I guess I'm not I it's great that there's a big growth from 26 or 28 students a few years ago to almost 90% this year or or last year, but where where are those missing people if it's required? >> So we do have a list, the administration do have a list of students. It's not a whole a ton of students, but there's a good chunk

110of students who will have to complete it before their senior year. they are going to have an option to complete it. We're going to start with that next semester. Um, we do have a plan and I'm part of that plan. Um, but they will have next semester and into their senior year for those who still think they can dodge completing this. >> Okay. >> It was from last from this past year when we um made the decision. Yep. That this is it. And then the this mastery based project will have to be completed by all of our students. >> Was it it was it a requirement for last year's graduating class? >> Yes. Yep. It it was >> did >> No, not I'm sorry, not graduating class for the last year's 10th grade class. So

111they will have up until their 12th year class. So no, it was not >> because I think that was during maybe I'm not sure if it was like in just butting off of COVID. I'm I'm not sure. But no, there Yeah, it wasn't a requirement requirement. >> So, is it this year's graduating class that' be the first year it's required for everybody or no? Or next year's? >> Uh, uh, yes. Yes. I'm sorry. I'm trying to say because we had a couple of people who changed hands >> and I'm thinking about last year's. >> Go ahead. >> This year's graduating class, it is a graduation requirement. So Chris and I are tasked at doing with doing something that no other personal project coordinators had to do before and that's getting these people to complete the

112project. That is the goal. Um I can't promise you Mike that we won't come up with some sort of alternative to this. We don't, this is not set in stone right now and this is all new to us and but please trust that like this is something that administration and Chris and Kathy and I discuss with school counseling often um to try and get to the bottom of like how can we get these students to complete these projects first and foremost. That's the goal. And then what are we going to do in the event that they do not because this is you know unprecedented really the experience. Um, so it's something that we're aware of, but it's not something that we have a 100% answer to right this second. >> Thank you. Yeah, the the

113project is great and that exploration is and I I really see the value in it. Um however in what I do um ha at at all levels it having a student work independently and you know mostly independently uh to put in the time and then then have that written project at the end. Um that obviously can be challenging. Um but uh more than that uh it might be harder for some students just because of their life situations just like homework is harder for some students to do because they might be working a job or something else. There's priorities that come in. So there's kind of been a move away from not not um get eliminating eliminating homework but having less of it over time. And then so when I hear the the rigor paired with

114a high level of independence that is asking a lot of the students if all of them have to do it as a requirement to graduate. So I'm concerned it's going to hold up people's graduation. I concerned it might be like you know psychologically taxing on them to do so. Well, >> I think that's the nice having this as a sophomore requirement. Um, that we have we have two years built in as this buffer zone that if we can get 90% of our kids to do it sophomore year, we are going to have those challenging kids. But now we've still we've got two years to give them support and get them there. And you know, if it does drag on to senior year, seniors have offblocks. So there's I think there's a lot of redundancies built

115into the system that we're going to catch hopefully catch everybody by the time graduation rolls around. >> Yeah. And that >> and IB estimates 25 hours 25 hours to do this project over the course of a semester. >> But but the writing alone like do they in global citizenship are they getting writing feedback? It didn't seem like it because that that's hard thing to to write a an essay. >> It it is a difficult thing to write that essay. However, the template that I showed you, I think makes this a little um failproof. But um I don't I honestly can't think of anything else that we could put into place that would help these students be successful with completing this project at their level. And I want you to keep that in mind is that

116the differentiation for this project is built into its design in that it is an independent project and we've provided an enormous amount of support um compared to other um IB schools. In talking with all the people at my training, there were about 15 of us. Um I don't want to toot my own horn, but toot toot they were impressed by the level of support that we provided to our students. um they complained about having a low completion rate. Um you know, it's just to give you some perspective on how we're pretty much doing like everything we possibly could to help every single student complete this project in the way that they are going to do it. not what my expectations are of them, not what the rubric's expectations show you, but that they will complete

117this project and do it to the best of their abilities. That is the completion and that will earn them the.5 credits for graduation. >> Thank you. And I see it's coming from a good place. I see it's a thoughtful layered approach. where my concerns are coming from is that um our graduation rate uh through Fitch is is lower than what I'd want to see it be and I'm concerned about um kind of having a a new barrier um for for some students. Um and then and then a suggestion for something that might help with a little extra support is I I believe this is true. You can correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe um in junior year English classes um that uh there's work on like college essays or something like that or

118maybe they don't call it that but an expository essay that could work for a college essay. Um and so they're not just they're not doing that independently. Um they're they're getting feedback through through English on the on the writing itself. Um I I didn't see anywhere where students are getting feedback on the writing like class time to work on it and um go back and forth and it doesn't seem like it's in global citizenship. Um am I correct? It seems like that's a missing part to me >> if so as the English department head when we work through the writing process with our students that is the goal. They are trying to craft a beautifully written piece, whether it's expository, narrative, whatever they're working on. That is the goal. The goal with the final written

119report is not to craft something beautiful and wonderfully written. The goal is to have them have those moments of self-reflection where they discuss the ATL skills. And they do that in their own personal voice. They have no other goal than to share their reflective moments in that written report. >> You know what I'm saying? So, it's it's not a process piece. It's not something that is supposed to be beautifully written or have a drafting process to it with a an instructor. Um that's it. The written report has a different um goal in mind than let's say an essay or a college essay, a personal narrative, um some sort of expository piece, any of our English assignments. Um the goal with that writing is a little bit different. >> Yes. I was just going to add

120the rubrics reflect that too. the the rubrics reflect the criterion of communication, a reflection of um research. It's not um did I write a well-written thesis, although we want a thesis for students to start their the whole writing process, but that's not what the the uh rubric um or the student is grade on based on the rubric. It's not a well-written uh thesis. It's about those ATL skills. >> Thank you. Do do they have class time in global citizenship to work on that or no? >> Okay. On the written report? >> Yeah. >> Uh yes. The last two weeks before the expo is kind of the home stretch where the students will have time and the teachers have prompts guiding them on how to help the students. But um that's where they will focus on

121honing in their final written report and that's where they'll focus in on honing in um on their um trio board visual presentation of similar materials. >> Thank you. And and I I assume you'll you'll like send us the that global citizenship curriculum and then I guess there's a middleear's project curriculum too. >> So I linked up the global citizenship curriculum in the chat right here. So you can open that up. Yeah, just please send it to our email. We're not gonna be able to get I'm not going to get a chat right now. >> I I will um I will send materials. I'll send this PowerPoint and I will also send the I mean I'll send the Google slides and I will send the uh I have access to the curriculum. >> Thank you. >>

122The materials are also located within the global citizenship curriculum if you're looking for a solid place that they exist. Now, Adrian, are we looking to approve this on Monday? >> No. No. Um, I'm just wondering if the curriculum committee as a as a, you know, as a process is supposed to approve this because there's credits being associated with it and it's uh meeting a state requirement at least right now until 2027. um you know it's required like I think if we were to go back a little a few slides it was 2023 to 2027 when we're required to have a personal project capstone project correct Amory um and then that requirement is going to go away or is that not the case? >> Yeah. Well, at least it's it's optional after that. It doesn't go

123away. It's optional. >> Yeah. Yeah. But but so it's so it's a requirement right now. Um um but um I do want to um tell everyone that I really appreciate you spending almost two hours with us >> and our um our um our you know next meeting I think we're going to be talking about graduation requirements. Um, so I don't know, Mike, um, if part of this, and the reason, um, Ann Marie and I talked about doing this before we did the, um, graduation requirements was because this seems like it's, you know, important to understand when we get to that conversation, um, in the next meeting. So, I don't I don't know if that, um, will kind of help alleviate a little bit of the concern, Mike, that um that we'll be talking about, you

124know, this and other things again in a couple of weeks. Oh, I I found it tremendously helpful. Even even just uh knowing about the CargI credit and dissociating credit with contact hours was was was enlightening. Um I I think it'll avoid a lot of discussion when we talk about the broader broader subject of required credit. So So thank you very much. >> All right. >> Can I I'm sorry. One last thing from me, but I just really quickly want to explain. So, the global citizenship class, whether or not that you discussed that with the graduation requirements is fine, but the my personal project through our involvement with the IBMYP program is a requirement that our students complete that. So, I just want that to be like super duper clear that we have adopted the IBMP

125program at in Grant Public Schools and it is a requirement that all of our students complete that project. So, I just want everyone to know that that is a requirement outside of Fitch High School's requirements. >> Yeah. Yeah. So, the reason the reason is is because we're at 27 credits right now that that are required in the handbook and we're talking about lowering it. So, this would just because this is kind of a newer thing. That's why we wanted to understand this. Um, I mean, the board may choose to leave credits where they are. I don't think, you know, the the the take I got from the feeling is that the board would support um reducing the required credits um you know from board discussion but that's why um you know we're talking about total

126total credit requirements I think is is really what we're focusing in on but this is just a piece of that. So, um, but thank you for clarifying that and we'll make sure when it comes to vote, we'll make sure that gets clarified again. >> And, and the my understanding is the reason it hasn't been required before in terms of IB is is as you said, we're not in the infancy stage, but in the early stages of the middleear program even though we've been on IB program for for a long time. Is that that correct? We're growing into it, I think. Or just so I can clarify and Kathy Kathy can can um specify but growing into at least implementation of this specific requirement. Is that correct Kathy? >> Yes. Yes. I mean we are an

127authorized my school, Graten Middle School and the high school authorized DP school and authorized career related program school. So, um, we we want to hang on to our authorization and, um, and every year is a growing year. You can we we're going to evaluation in 2027 and, um, they will give us feedback. They don't want to lose us as an IB school. So, they're going to give us feedback and we'll take that feedback and we'll grow more from there. >> That your personal project? >> That's my personal project. And then I'm going to really retire. >> Never. Never. Trust me. Never. And uh this has nothing to do with anything. But Chris, I'm going to send you an email later that has nothing to do with this. >> Okay. All right. Well, we'll stick on

128the topic. >> Um but >> I just want them to know that. >> All right. All right. So, um maybe um All right. So um is there any more discussion on the my project? >> All right. So so we'll move move on. Um next item is uh future meeting topics. Um I think the next one um is graduation requirements um and maybe a new course proposal or is that not going to happen at this point? There might be one. All right. Um so that that's kind of our our next tenative plan for meeting topic. Um, is there any more discussion on that on future meeting topics? Nope. All right. Um, all right. And, uh, Andrea, you have anything to say to for us to us? >> I do. Motion to adjurnn. Second. Thank you. >>

129All right. All right. Well, thank you all. Thank you. I appreciate um it being a long night for this. Appreciate your time. >> Fabulous. >> All right. Thank you.