Saturday, January 20, 2018

"By our work you will know us" -- How High Tech High used to display links to student websites.

Here's how student work was displayed to
the world at High Tech High in 2014.
The feature of "open access" has been
turned off.

Hover over the name of a school (High Tech High International)
and you can select "HTHI Digital Portfolios"

The HTH website in 2014



Click on a school's grade and you could see
a list of "first name, initial of the last name"


This link was kept PRIVATE.
Students who wanted to "show the world" their
portfolio had the option to make their links public

Here's an example of a "public" student
website.  The student opened her work
for the public to view

The student didn't show much...

There were two projects in the 10th grade

This is the screen for this student's
portfolio for the 9th grade
This video shows a feature that no longer exists at High Tech High's websites. The school used to display links to student work open to the world. "By our work you will know us" High Tech High in 2017 did not show links to individual sites, They show only student work that has been published, often in ebooks.

Schools might consider the value of posting links to the sites created by students...
"You will know our school better by looking at the work of our students"

Why would High Tech High choose to turn off the links to individual student sites?
a) Quality of work
I have seen mispellings [this is intended] and typos.  Student work would have to be monitored.  It's just easier to keep the portfolios off of the general Internet.

b) Safety concerns
Some students might list a personal mobile phone number or a home address or show a photo that gave away facial features.   It's easier to have no access" to student work and avoid the risk of lawsuits.  "If the school had not allowed student work to be seen by the general pblic, then the pervert who attacked / kidnapped / targeted my child would not have had access to the information that allowed the pervert to get close to my child."

c)  Copyright and plagiarism
"Hey, another student at another school stole my essay and submitted the work as his work."

d) Concerns of teachers who might have to re-make some questions ... 
A student might post his final exam pages with the answers clearly shown.
This is the "Student Projects" page in 2017
High Tech High in 2017 does not display links to student websites.   You can see the current display at   hightechhigh.org   click on "Student Work" and the link to "Projects"

Example of a project

A 6th grade project









Links to supporting documents


Why not go to this site and look at some projects?  It appears that actual student work is not shown but the projects (and the features of the projects) are shown.   Teachers at other schools could download these materials.  This website clearly pushes the value of digital portfolios and projects to a new level by sharing the methods of HTH with the world.


Still, I would like to see student work.  I have downloaded screenshots of parts of Abel Thun's website (made with weebly) and it is currently viewable at www.TINYURL.com/ABELSite

(who knows how long that link will be active?)



Add caption


This is the heart of the portfolio...
What did the kid do with the classwork?
What internship did the kid choose?
Would you click on this guy's resume?
I would.   I want to know more...








I heard that Abel received offers from four colleges for "full ride" scholarships for tuition ... His video has only 47 views and I was probably responsible for 20 of those views (since I showed the video to over a dozen students).   It doesn't take many views to push a student to the top of a college's list of "who to let in."

================================================== 

I wrote to Abel Thon and asked if he had a larger Digital Portfolio (DP).

He replied that he indeed has another DP, but he chose to display highlights in the DP that he showed to colleges.  

I found a "larger" DP at TINYURL.com/ExampleDP.  The images from Ben Staley's portfolios are posted on another post of this blog.  CLICK HERE to see them.  

You can see more examples here TINYURL.com/ExampleDPs

Start a Center for Projects, Portfolios in your school

Wednesday, January 17, 2018

"I want to learn more about ecommerce." Good idea. Tai Lopez recommends an online store. But how to get started?

A student in the Center for Projects and Portfolios told me, "I want to learn more about ecommerce."  Good idea.  Tai Lopez recommends an online store.  But how to get started?

I heard about a seminar about "DROP SHIPPING" and Shopify.  Here is a link to the presentation

The main idea:  you don't have to buy products ahead of time.  
You don't have to pack boxes and take the boxes to the post office.














Bottom line:  Costs are about $30 per month  MINIMUM
You might spend more if you follow the recommendations (and place ads for your store)


50 Ways to Make Your First Sale: bit.ly/50-ways-to-sell
The Beginner’s Guide to Facebook Advertising: bit.ly/Guide2FBAds The Beginner’s Guide to Instagram Ads: bit.ly/Guide2InstagramAds 


oberlo.com/success        <<<< CLICK HERE

Positive News from Youtube about the THRESHOLD for earning from videos....

Here's what YouTube mailed to customers  (account holders)


What's Changing
Under the new eligibility requirements announced today, your YouTube channel, ABCDEFGH, is no longer eligible for monetization because it doesn’t meet the new threshold of 4,000 hours of watchtime within the past 12 months and 1,000 subscribers. As a result, your channel will lose access to all monetization tools and features associated with the YouTube Partner Program on February 20, 2018 unless you surpass this threshold in the next 30 days. Accordingly, this email serves as 30 days notice that your YouTube Partner Program terms are terminated.
One of YouTube’s core values is to provide anyone the opportunity to earn money from a thriving channel. Creators who haven’t yet reached this new threshold can continue to benefit from our Creator Academy, our Help Center, and all the resources on the Creator Site to grow their channels. Once your channel reaches the new threshold, it will be reviewed to make sure it adheres to our policies and guidelines, and if so, monetization will be re-enabled.
LEARN MORE


This is GOOD NEWS.  You can be assured of progress if you reach the goal of 1000 subscribers.   Let's work together to clcik on each other's channels.


Tuesday, August 8, 2017

The 16 Procedures and an Introduction to the work at the Center for Projects

The Center for Projects

Welcome!  The Center is for students to practice creating and presenting themselves and their skills.

Full Name:
The Center for Projects, Presentations and Portfolios.  

Some of the Tools of the Center
What is the first impression of the visitor to the Center for Projects?

The visitor sees quotes about projects and portfolios on the wall (Tony Wagner’s quote about portfolios)
There is space for projects to be assembled (a sign “Workspace for Projects”)
There is a computer identified as the Project Computer  (in fact, any computer can be used to make projects, but the Apple computer allows students to make videos quickly)
There is a set of bookshelves with a sign “Books for the Center for Projects” and a sign “Borrow these books”
Binders are labeled to show “Examples of Projects” and “Examples of Portfolios”

Posters
Tony Wagner’s quote:
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.

Books:
The Center has a set of bookshelves to display books.  It is called a “book nook” to invite students to borrow and return books that capture the spirit of the Center.

YOu can learn more about the Book Nook project and the "52 Books" project here 
52BooksPerYear.blogspot.  

A list of authors and their books is given at the end of this paper.

Binders:
  1.     A set of quotes (posters, measuring 8.5 by 11 inches, with inspiring words for students -- students are encouraged to make posters with quotes using Canva.com
  2. Examples of Portfolios by students in California
  3. Examples of projects
  4. Examples of Presentations (recorded talks by students)

Posters and Messages
The Center has a binder of posters.  To “advertise” the Center’s work in the classrooms, a poster from the binder is hung each day in each classroom.

A sign in each classroom explains how to build a project.

A sign gives hours when the Project Center is open.   Fridays 9 am to 2 pm
The Project Center is open on Fridays for students to develop their projects.   Access to the Internet is available so that students can pull information into their projects and find answers to questions that were developed during the week.

The coordinator for the Project Center, Mr. Steve, displays a small sign in his jacket pocket “Ask me about projects.”  Short conversations lead him to identify students who are ready to work on a multi-subject project.


The Center for Projects at SunEd High has the following goals

Project Center:  students will have projects displayed on digital portfolios and in binders

Student Newspaper (blog):  the student website or blog will be displayed for students to visit

YouTube Channel for the School (with stories and testimonials  by students):  the channel address will be displayed on the wall.  Links to new videos will be sent to students by text and by email (their preference).

Monday, August 7, 2017

Get a free ebook with 16 procedures used by innovative schools

TinyURL.com/FischlerEbook
You are invited to learn more about the Center for Projects, Presentations, Procedures and Portfolios.





There are at least 16 procedures that innovative schools use.

Read the work of: 
Joe Bower
Larry Rosenstock, High Tech High Schools (California)
Dennis Littky
Daniel Amen
Elliot Washor
Eliot Levine
Daniel Pink
Malcolm Gladwell
John Spencer
George Couros
Ken Robinson
Enrique Gonzalez
Tai Lopez   www.TINYURL.com/taiLopezreading
Ionel Coltea








An outtake from Michael Moore's documentary about Finnish Schools.


Matt Blazek  www.TINYURL.com/MattBlazek
The Finnish school system   www.TINYURL.com/FinnishSchools
they are the inspirations for 

You can get a free ebook about some of the procedures that I found described in the books of these writers:
TINYURL.com/Sun5Procedures