10.30 - Group Juggle and Meeting Minutes

At the beginning of class today, we did an activity called "Group Juggle" in which the class was challenged to pass a number of object amidst themselves following a set pattern of conditions. The activity becomes more challenging as more objects are added and everyone must focus to keep the activity flowing smoothly.

Upon completing this activity we discussed how our literal act of juggling a lot of objects represented the juggling of work that is now taking place as our projects start to come together. This discussion lead us into talking about how some of the behaviors that helped us be successful in this activity could help us be successful with the projects that teams are undertaking.

In extending this conversation, I introduced meeting minutes as a format to help groups juggle a lot of information, maintain focus, communicate clearly with one another, and maintain a consistent thread of activity in their work. I went over the meeting minute format that groups should be following (the meeting minute document can be copied and renamed so that groups can just work from the original document to make their own notes).

Project teams then had the remaining twenty minutes to meet in their groups using the minutes as an agenda for what needed to be covered.

Each class, a new person should be taking the minutes (and therefore using the minutes to help facilitate the team's discussion). Once everyone in the group has taken minutes, the order can begin again.


All team meeting minutes should be shared with Mr. Collins.

In the event that the computers are not working, minutes can be taken on paper and given to Mr. Collins at the end of class (these will be scanned and then uploaded to Google Drive for future use/reference).

Homework:

 If you have not yet done so, finish generating final, formal answers to the questions about the logic model for Obama Care.

Update your project team's task schedule and contact log as appropriate.

Complete missing work and revise any assignment that scored below a 92.

Keep up to date on your grades through Pinnacle:
In school: 192.168.8.7/Pinnacle/PIV
Outside of school: http://pinweb.lisbonschoolsme.org/pinnacle/piv

10.29 - Conversation Web: Obama Care

Our main focus for today was discussing students' reactions to what they learned about The Affordable Care Act / Obama Care. Our format for this discussion was called "Conversation Web." In this format, one person speaks at a time and ends their speaking time with a question for someone else to answer. The question could be focused on one of the questions on the final response sheet or simply a question that they were curious about.

The guidelines for this discussion format were as follows:

 (click image to enlarge)

Everyone got credit for participating in this discussion. Participation was evaluated using the following standard as a 92:

Come to discussions prepared, having read and researched material under study; explicitly draw on that preparation by referring to evidence from texts and other research on the topic or issue to stimulate a thoughtful, well- reasoned exchange of ideas.

Homework:

If you have not yet done so, finish generating final, formal answers to the questions about the logic model for Obama Care.

Update your project team's task schedule and contact log as appropriate. 

Complete missing work and revise any assignment that scored below a 92.

 

Keep up to date on your grades through Pinnacle:
In school: 192.168.8.7/Pinnacle/PIV
Outside of school: http://pinweb.lisbonschoolsme.org/pinnacle/piv

10.28 - Affordable Care Act / Obama Care Final Responses

Today, I handed out final response sheets for looking at the Affordable Care Act (Obama Care) logic model. Working with their partner, everyone reviewed the supplied documents and their notes to generate formal, informed answers on what different elements of the program appear to be. I was on hand during this time to answer students' questions about the program, readings, or how to interpret questions.

Tomorrow, we will discuss these as formalized answers tomorrow.

All of today's documents are available in this folder: Logic Model Revealed: Obama Care

Homework:

If you did not do so today in class, finish generating final, formal answers to the questions about the logic model for Obama Care.

Finish updating the task schedule and contact log as appropriate. 

10.25 - Logic Model Revealed: Affordable Care Act / Obama Care

Everyone started off in their project teams today with the following agenda:

Discuss completed activities/tasks
Identify next steps
Identify any questions people in the group have
Update task schedule
Update contact log

During this time, I went around and checked in with project teams to get a full status report on where they were with their work.

We then returned to the work we started yesterday with figuring out the logic model of the Affordable Care Act / Obama Care. Working with their partner, everyone reviewed the supplied documents and took notes on what different elements of the program appear to be. We will begin to look at recording these as formalized answers tomorrow.

All of today's documents are available in this folder: Logic Model Revealed: Obama Care

Homework:

















If you did not complete your note sheet on different logic model elements of the Obama Care program, do so for homework (all documents are available above). We will be coming up with final answers next class.

Work associated with your project team's work.

Finish updating the task schedule and contact log as appropriate. 

10.24 - Team Meetings / Revelaing the Logic Model: ObamaCare

Everyone started off in their project teams today with the following agenda:

Discuss completed activities/tasks
Identify next steps
Identify any questions people in the group have
Update task schedule
Update contact log

During this time, I went around and checked in with project teams to get a full status report on where they were with their work.

We then returned to the work we started yesterday with figuring out the logic model of the Affordable Care Act / Obama Care. Working with their partner, everyone reviewed the supplied documents and took notes on what different elements of the program appear to be. We will begin to look at recording these as formalized answers tomorrow.

All of today's documents are available in this folder: Logic Model Revealed: Obama Care

Homework:

Work associated with your project team's work.

Finish updating the task schedule and contact log as appropriate. 

10.23 - Logic Model Revealed: The American Care Act / Obama Care

We started today's class by addressing how with only one exception, project teams had failed to update their task schedules and contact logs. Teams had 15 minutes and access to two computers to update these two documents.

We then did a mixer activity to find partners for our next activity. Our activity was focused on looking at a program being implemented that seeks to effect positive change for a group of people. Our work will revolve around learning about the program and then use the language of logic models (resources/inputs, activities, outputs, outcomes, impacts) to describe the work and effects of the program. This is an activity that we will be doing with a variety of programs (we already began this with our look at LACO's programming).

The program we are focusing on in our work today (and for the next couple of days) is the Affordable Care Act (also known as Obama Care). Today, we got all of the necessary papers and partners for the activity.

Having a partner will help since some of the documents are dense to work through and having someone to talk to them about will help. Everyone will be recording their own responses for this work.

All of today's documents are available in this folder: Logic Model Revealed: Obama Care


To help everyone understand some of the language around this law and how to properly sort piece of information into different steps of a logic model, we looked at the 100-word explanation of the law and sorted different parts of the explanation.

 Homework:

Work associated with your project team's work.

Finish updating the task schedule and contact log as appropriate.

10.22 - Tasks

We started today's class by checking in with the remaining two groups from yesterday regarding what they had accomplished for work, what work was in progress, and what work was next up to do.

We then went over how to manage work through the task schedule sheet and contact sheet online.

Next, we worked with some roots and prefixes as part of our vocabulary building work. See Mr. Collins if you need a copy of these sheets.

Homework:

Update task schedules online.

Update contact logs to reflect the contact you have had with various people.

Complete the practice sheet for the roots/prefixes.

10.21 - To, Cc, Bcc

We started class today by doing an activity called "Royals."

Royals

In this activity, everyone got a card which they put on their forehead. No one looked at their card or could tell another person what their card said. Everyone then began to mingle. The rules to mingling though were that people should treat other people in accordance with the status on their cards. 

Royal cards (queen, king, jack) were to be treated very well, then tens or nines would be treated quite well and so on down to the 2s who people could talk to, but they didn't have to worry about being polite or formal or what not (no one should be rude or mean). 

If a card of a higher rank walked up, people should direct their attention to that person and bring them into the conversation. If a card of a lower rank walked up, people could include them as they saw fit.

We ran through this activity twice, with people trying to guess what card they had based on how others treated them. In our debrief we talked about the different ways people interacted, how it felt to be treated at the different levels, and then how this applies to our work in Civic Action. The highlights of this discussion were as follows:

- High school has hierarchies like this where everyone wants to talk to certain royal/popular people and people avoid talking to "low scoring" people.
- In the project teams, people might occupy different spaces within the high school hierarchy, but everyone should treat everyone else as equals.
- In some of these projects, we are helping less fortunate people, but we should not make those people feel like they are being helped because they are "2"s, but because we value them and want to help them (like "royals").

I then talked a bit about another way these hierarchies can play out and be represented through email. We talked about how to use the "To," "Cc," and "Bcc" features on an email and what those do in terms of including someone on an email, asking things of them, keeping them in the loop, and putting them in a position of power in terms of being part of a conversation. Select slides from that presentation are as follows:

 

 

We talked a bit about how "Cc"ing someone on an email puts them in a position of power since they are asked to observe, but not participate in a conversation. "Bcc"ing puts someone in a very high position since it includes them in the conversation and makes it a secret to someone else. Sending someone an email should be an act that puts someone on the same page as everyone else.

Next, project teams met to review what tasks they had completed, what tasks were up next for completion, and if they had any additional questions.

Homework:

Work as determined by your project team.

Complete missing work and revise any assignment that scored below a 92.

Keep up to date on your grades through Pinnacle:
In school: 192.168.8.7/Pinnacle/PIV
Outside of school: http://pinweb.lisbonschoolsme.org/pinnacle/piv

10.18 - Mr. Healey Visit, Task Schedules

At the beginning of class today, Mr. Healey came in for a briefing on our projects. Teams presented their logic models to him and had an opportunity to ask him questions. This also provided Mr. Healey with the opportunity to pose questions to the teams.

In the second half of class, teams got together to complete their task schedules. I went around to check in with groups. I was looking for specificity around task on the task schedules and to give groups the go-ahead to proceed with various tasks.

Homework:

Complete your revisions for the results sheet.

Complete missing work and revise any assignment that scored below a 92.

Keep up to date on your grades through Pinnacle:
In school: 192.168.8.7/Pinnacle/PIV
Outside of school: http://pinweb.lisbonschoolsme.org/pinnacle/piv

10.17 - TEDx and Task Schedules

Today in class we reviewed the three types of approaches to logic models (names and definitions below).

Theory Approach - focuses on the ideas and concepts behind a plan and proceeds with those ideas in mind.

Activities Approach - focuses on the work that the team will do

Outcomes Approach - focuses on using resources to produce specific outcomes.

We then watched the following TEDx video and responded to the questions below.

1 - What change does Dudley want to promote in the world?
2 - Which approach model would help Dudley produce this change? (Explain your response)
3 - What do you think about Dudley's plan? (Explain your response)

After everyone had a chance to respond to these questions, we discussed students' answers.

Next, project teams got together and finalized their logic models so that these could be shared with Mrs. Millhime.

I then handed out Task Schedules so that teams could organize and coordinate the work they are doing. Important points we covered related to this were:

1 - Have dedicated contact people that will consistently get in touch with contacts (your human resources).
2 - Everyone should have one task before people are assigned two tasks (the idea here being to make sure that one person isn't taking on all of the group's work).

Everyone had the rest of the period to complete this work. I went around and met with groups giving people the go-ahead to proceed with various tasks.

Homework:

Complete your revisions for the results sheet.

Complete missing work and revise any assignment that scored below a 92.

Keep up to date on your grades through Pinnacle:
In school: 192.168.8.7/Pinnacle/PIV
Outside of school: http://pinweb.lisbonschoolsme.org/pinnacle/piv

10.16 - PSAT Testing (No Class)

Class did not meet today due to PSAT testing.
We'll be together again tomorrow!

10/15 - Logic Model Results

Today, we were doing a progress check of grades so far. I handed out progress report slips that I made for students while other people helped me return work that had been assessed.

In their writer's journals, everyone then responded to the following:

Write a list of work that you need to complete or revise based on your progress slip.

Write down any questions that you have for me about your work.

After everyone had a chance to respond to this prompt, I reviewed some general comments related to "The Smartest Man in America" reading responses and the logic model results section (see below).


Everyone then got in their project teams to focus more specifically on revising their outputs, outcomes, and impacts sections of their logic model.

In reviewing the sheets that had been turned in, I had noticed some confusion around the definitions of these steps so we reviewed definitions (using Willy Wonka's everlasting gobstoppers as a product example) and then had teams revise what they listed for their outputs, outcomes, and impacts. Notes on these definitions are as follows:

Outputs - The product that results from the team's activities. This is something that can be directly observed and often counted or measured.
Ex: The everlasting gobstoppers. It's something you can see, touch, and taste and it's easy to say how many were produced.

Outcomes - The effect that the product has / The immediate difference it makes.
Ex: Wonka sells gobstoppers to people at a cheap price and then they are happy and feel good because they have candy. (If they have too many there could be some problems with hyperactivity or cavities).

Impacts - The big, overall change that occurs within the larger system or organization.
Ex: Because people can easily afford gobstoppers and because they are everlasting everyone is happier in general and no one feels like having a low income means they miss out on the nicer things in life.

Everlasting Gobstopper - An output
whose outcomes effect those that eat it
which impacts the society they live in)

The results section is essentially a ripple effect. The product starts the ripple which reaches out to those who receive or use the product, and then those effects are transferred to the whole of society.

So, in short:
Outputs - The product that the project team produces.
Outcomes - The effect the product has on others.
Impacts - The way that the product's effects change society.

Project teams had the rest of the period to work on revising the results section of their logic model with this new understanding of the outputs, outcomes, and impacts in mind.

In the last five minutes of class, I reviewed the contact log that groups will be using to keep track of who they get in touch with.

Homework:

Complete your revisions for the results sheet.

Complete missing work and revise any assignment that scored below a 92.

Keep up to date on your grades through Pinnacle:
In school: 192.168.8.7/Pinnacle/PIV
Outside of school: http://pinweb.lisbonschoolsme.org/pinnacle/piv

10.10 - LACO Presentation

For today's class, Carol Day from the LACO (Lisbon Area Christian Outreach) Program came to talk about the work that they do. After the presentation, project teams discussed their projects with Mrs. Day and talked about potential ways to work together on these projects to do the greatest good in our community.

As part of listening to this presentation, everyone kept notes on Mrs. Day's talk and then analyzed the ways in which LACO helped to create positive change in the community.

If you missed this talk, download and print the presentation note sheet and questions. You can visit LACO's website at lacopantry.org for more information about what they do and how they do it.

Homework:

 

Work related to your project as identified by the project team.

Complete missing work and revise any assignment that scored below a 92.

Keep up to date on your grades through Pinnacle:
In school: 192.168.8.7/Pinnacle/PIV
Outside of school: http://pinweb.lisbonschoolsme.org/pinnacle/piv

10.09 - Resource Contact Scripts

Today in class, we were looking at creating contact scripts to use when groups get in touch with individuals who can help them on their projects (people identified as resources).

We started this process by having everyone write what they would use for a professional contact message (something that could be used over the phone or via email). We then looked at the best qualities of these scripts and project teams got together to draft a script that could be used by their team. Our notes with this work are included below.

(click image to enlarge)

The drafts that project team's came up with for their scripts were as follows:

Hello THEIR NAME,

My name is NAME. I am in a Civic Action class at Lisbon High School. My group project is to collect coat and mittens around the community and distribute them to the local kids through the Lisbon Area Christian Outreach program. My question for you is QUESTION...

Thank you and have a nice day,
NAME

Hello,

Our Civic Action class at Lisbon High School is working on projects in order to improve certain aspects of the community. Our specific project is renovating the ice rink outside of the school. This will include repaving, fixing the sideboards, and painting the wood. Our goal is to make the ice rink more accessible to the community. I was wondering QUESTION...

Have a nice day,
NAME

Hello,
I am NAME and I’m calling for our Civic Action class at LIsbon High School where we work towards improving the community in which we live. Our organization is working to improve the lives of the elderly, my question is QUESTION. If you need to reach me my number is 207---.

Thank you for considering my question and have a nice day,

Homework:

 

Work related to your project as identified by the project team.

 

Complete missing work and revise any assignment that scored below a 92.

Keep up to date on your grades through Pinnacle:
In school: 192.168.8.7/Pinnacle/PIV
Outside of school: http://pinweb.lisbonschoolsme.org/pinnacle/piv

10.08 - Formal Logic Models

Today in class, project teams met to finish finalizing their logic models on Google Drive.
We will be presenting these to Ms. Millhime for critique.

Homework:

Work related to your project as identified by the project team.

10.07 - Success in America

Due to a loss of electric power in the room today, we had to modify our class plans. This provided everyone who had not finished working with the article, "The Smartest Man in America" (from our class on 10/02) with the opportunity to focus on and finish this work.

People who had finished the article engaged in a fish bowl format discussion in which we discussed the following questions:

If intelligence is just one measure of success in life, how should we measure success in life generally?
If you fail out of school, does that mean you will fail in life?
What is one skill or trait that can be developed that would increase someone's likelihood of being successful in life?

Tomorrow, Mr. Healey will come by class to check in with groups on their projects and we will work more with our logic models.

Homework:

If you did not finish the reading and questions today from the work in class, do so for homework.
The Smartest Man in America - Article
The Smartest Man in America - Processing Questions

10.04 - Formalizing Logic Models

In today's class, we took a look at a logic model that was developed and is being used by a professional group (The Pittsfield, NH school district). Everyone was asked to look at the logic model and note strengths of this logic model that project teams could incorporate into their logic models to help them be more fully developed.

Some differences that people in the class noted were:

It's to the point.
Specific/precise language is used.
There is a specific timeline regarding when things will be done.
They use percentages to describe goals.
They have identified multiple goals.
Different outcomes are connected to each goal.

Working in their project teams, everyone then had the rest of the period to type their logic models formally in Google Drive. While formalizing the logic models, groups were also making changes to make language, goals, and outcomes more specific. Documents were shared amongst team members on Google Drive so everyone could edit together. I was on hand to answer questions and displayed definitions of each step of the logic model to help focus discussions.

(click image to enlarge)

 (click image to enlarge)

Homework:

Work related to your project as identified by the project team.

10.03 - Meeting with Mrs. Millhime

Today Ms. Millhime, our community resource and volunteer coordinator, came in to meet with the class. Ms. Millhime gave a presentation in which she trained everyone who was not already a volunteer in how to be a volunteer and reviewed pertinent information regarding volunteerism in the district.

Project groups then presented their logic models to Ms. Millhime explaining their planned work and goals. This was an opportunity for students to ask Ms. Millhime specific questions related to their work and to get feedback from her regarding other potential resources.

The main take away from this dialogue around projects was that the projects need to be broken into very specific, manageable tasks. We also determined that we will be presenting the results of our work to the school committee at the end of the semester.

Next class, we will be formalizing and typing up our logic models. We will then submit these to Ms. Millhime for review and critique to make sure that our work is realistic and to solicit any questions or feedback that will help us be more efficient and effective with our projects.


Homework:

If you did not finish the reading questions associated with the article "The Smartest Man in America" from Wednesday, do so for homework.

10.02 - The Smartest Man in America (sub)

I was not in class today as I was out on a NEASC school visit. The instructions for today for the class were as follows:

Have students read the article “The Smartest Man in America” and respond to the reading questions. Make sure they understand that there are Pre-Reading, Reading, and Post-Reading questions that they answer before, during, and after reading (respectively).

They should return the articles at the end of class for other classes to read.

They can turn in their responses at the end of class if they are done or finish them for homework and hand them in tomorrow.

Materials:

The Smartest Man in America - Article
The Smartest Man in America - Processing Questions

Homework:

If you did not finish the reading and questions today from the work in class, do so for homework.

10.01 - Guidance Talk (sub)

I was not in class today as I was out on a NEASC school visit. The instructions for today for the class were as follows:

Guidance will be in during this period to present a talk.

If there is free time at the end of the period, students can work independently on work for English or another class.

Homework:

Any necessary activities identified by the project team as being necessary relative to the work of the team.