When building guidelines for teachers and students, let's look at workbooks that Boy Scouts use to earn merit badges

Imagine that the year is 2075.  The Mastery Transcript is nearly 60 years old... Thousands of schools are using the portfolio system and the "focus on skills" has spread to other countries.

When we visit a classroom, what tools do we see students using?

-- if we see paper sheets, could one of those sheets look like a worksheet that Boy Scouts currently use?

Here is a screenshot of a page from a worksheet used for



DOWNLOAD the worksheet here

Why the Boy Scouts might be our next role model

Have you ever seen a Boy Scout with a badge that has number or grade on it? 
Carpentry B+
Citizenship in the Nation  83%

The Scout either has the badge or he's working on the badge.   ... or he's ignoring the badge.

That is the future of the "no grades" transcript that Scott Looney has described.


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Here is the letter that I wrote to request permission to reprint examples of their worksheets.

Hello

I'm a teacher and I'm thinking about how to shift away from grades.

Are you familiar with the Mastery Transcript program?  (the quote  by Tony Wagner at the end of this email message shows you where the future of education is heading).

mastery.org

TinyURL.com/noGradesVideo   The 3-minute video explains how grades interfere with learning and how 150 private schools are shifting to a focus on skills.

The value of worksheets became clear to me when I saw the "Citizenship in the World" worksheet.   http://www.usscouts.org/mb/worksheets/Citizenship-in-the-World.pdf

I'm putting together a free ebook to help teachers get ready to shift to portfolios.  TINYURL.com/FWPbestPracticesTeachers.  I would like to include some examples of the worksheets that you have created, such as the "Citizenship in the World."

-- links to PDFs sometimes change

-- readers are more likely to examine a document when the document is reprinted in the book

-- "go to this link and see an example of a worksheet" is less effective than "below is a reprint of a worksheet."   

I'm a lazy reader.  I'll look at something if you put it in front of me, but I am not always good at clicking and taking time to see an example.

WORDING

When teaching teachers how to make the shift away from "grading" and toward "coaching and guiding," I think your worksheets will be helpful.

Look at this wording

This Workbook can help you organize your thoughts as you prepare to meet with your merit badge counselor. You still must satisfy your counselor that you can demonstrate each skill and have learned the information. You should use the work space provided for each requirement to keep track of which requirements have been completed, and to make notes for discussing the item with your counselor, not for providing full and complete answers. If a requirement says that you must take an action using words such as "discuss", "show", "tell", "explain", "demonstrate", "identify", etc, that is what you must do. 

This is a clear statement about what is expected.   I am writing to you to ask for permission (1) to adapt some of the wording and (2) to reprint some of the worksheets to show parents, students and teachers what to look for in a good worksheet.

For example

This Worksheet can help you organize your thoughts as you prepare to meet with your teacher or advisor for your portfolio. You still must show your teacher that you can demonstrate each skill and have learned the information. You should use the work space provided for each requirement to keep track of which requirements have been completed, and to make notes for discussing the item with your teacher or advisor.  The worksheet is a guide.  It is not for providing full and complete answers. If a requirement says that you must take an action using words such as "discuss", "show", "tell", "explain", "demonstrate", "identify", etc, that is what you must do. You can see examples by going to TINYURL.com/ExampleDP to see how a student at High Tech High School shows, discusses, explains and identifies with documents in his Google Drive.  (This wording was adapted from a worksheet used by Scouts when earning a merit badge.  For more examples of worksheets that guide students in building skills, go to http://www.usscouts.org/mb/worksheets/list.asp.)

I would like to add "reprinted with permission."  What copyright info or wording would you like me to use?

Thank you for your time.  I look forward to improving the Free Website Project with robust worksheets that resemble the clear formats that your organization uses.   Schools can learn from Scouts.

Steve McCrea

Fort Lauderdale Florida  33304

Whats App  +1 (954) 646 8246  I accept text messages to my phone

25 seconds to boost the "No Grades" Transcript  TINYURL.com/NoGradesSite   THANK YOU

Please take 4 minutes to click on this video

TINYURL.com/NoGradesVideo

the website www.mastery.org tells the fuller story

(good news for taxpayers)

freeWebsiteProject2016@gmail.com

FreeWebsiteProject.blogspot.com

Build a free website:   TinyURL.com/FWPstart

TinyURL.com/sunAbe  memorial to Dr. Fischler

Free ebooks to improve schools  TinyURL.com/freeForFamily1

https://pathbrite.com/blog/tony-wagner-the-single-most-important-thing-you-can-do-tomorrow-is-have-every-student-establish-a-digital-portfolio

"The single most important thing you could do tomorrow for little to no money is have every student establish a digital portfolio where they collect their best work as evidence of their skills. Where they’re working with their teachers and other adults to present their best work, to iterate their best work, so that they actually have real progress they can show."

Tony Wagner

Search  "tony wagner seven survival skills" for 21st Century Skills

TINYURL.com/CPPPwhyWait

FREE SKILLS course based on Tony Wagner's list TINYURL.com/FreeSkillsUpdate