Digital Portfolios
Celina Gonzalez
- 2017
How do shared professional development experiences in project based learning impact teacher culture?
How do school leaders support communities during change? In our action research, we explored how shared professional learning experiences affect teacher culture in the midst of a school community moving towards project-based learning (PBL). We reviewed effective practices in adult learning and collegiality in schools. Through a series of interviews, surveys, focus groups, and exit slips, we collected data to learn about teachers’ experiences participating in a project design course embedded in an elementary charter school in San Diego.
Chris Hughes
- 2017
How do shared professional development experiences in project based learning impact teacher culture?
How do school leaders support communities during change? In our action research, we explored how shared professional learning experiences affect teacher culture in the midst of a school community moving towards project-based learning (PBL). We reviewed effective practices in adult learning and collegiality in schools. Through a series of interviews, surveys, focus groups, and exit slips, we collected data to learn about teachers’ experiences participating in a project design course embedded in an elementary charter school in San Diego.
Chris Wakefield
- 2014
What happens when a school changes its timetable to support Project Based Learning?
I want to open schools to make a high-quality education accessible to all. The schools I want to open will be places where low-income students have an equal chance at getting into college. I want all parents to be proud to send their kids to a public school. I want to open a school that tolerates all students regardless of background or who they are as a person. I want to open a school where teachers are constantly trying to innovate so they can reach every student. I want to open a school that will help put American schools back on top. That’s just the way it will be
Christine Ingmanson
- 2013
Increasing Participation Within Peer Discussion and Group Work
By engaging in work inspired by Elizabeth Cohen, students worked to establish and internalize norms, follow protocol, take on various group roles and create awareness of their own participation. I found that when you take the time to establish this type of classroom community you will feel confident about stepping back as your role as the central figure in the classroom because students will have the tools to solve their own problems, communicate with their peers and self-advocate for themselves. Until all students, regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, social or academic class have opportunities to be heard and feel valued we will be unable to close the academic achievement gap in our classrooms.
Christopher Millow
- 2020
Establishing Trust Within a Culture of White Supremacy
Over the 2019-2020 school year, trust and race were explored with High Tech High Media Arts staff in iterative research cycles. Through individual structured conversations with White colleagues and professional development with all staff, trust was measured through a participants’ ability to authentically share their views and opinions with other staff members. Key findings included the following: affinity spaces increase the capacity to engage authentically, courageously, and critically; time, structure, and trust are necessary resources in building racial literacy; racial literacy work is hopeful and divisive; and relational trust is cultivated through targeted structures. In the pursuit of authentic relationships amongst staff, self-work must be a priority, this work must be supported and shared amongst staff, and racial literacy must be at its core.
Christopher Webber
- 2012
How can I structure classroom discussions to ensure equitable participation?
Student verbal participation is complex. It requires that students often step out of their comfort zones and express opinions that they are not always confident in sharing. Without proper planning, classroom conversations can become inequitable and dominated by a few participants.
Christy Bystrak
- 2014
How can libraries support families to prepare for kindergarten?
Over school breaks, not all kids have the opportunity to go to the public library- so we bring the library to them! Check out local outreach partnership with the South Bay YMCA where we show students how to access the Chula Vista Public Library 24 hours a day!
Daisy Sharrock
- 2013
Down the Rabbit Hole: an Exploration of Student Grit, Motivation and Scientific Inquiry
During my teaching career so far I have tried to address this question and found limited success. Students are spectacular at generating questions. Last year I focused on having students record their questions as they observed the world around them, activities in the classroom, or even YouTube videos that got them thinking. The results were profound. Within weeks we had generated hundreds of questions about the universe around us. The tricky part came in identifying researchable questions and then planning out experiments to test them. Understanding the inquiry process in a clear and actionable way is a challenge for many students.
Daniel Romo
- 2017
How do teachers’ passions and interests become transformational projects?
This study examines the role of teachers’ passions and interests within interdisciplinary project-based curriculum design at a newly established, project-based primary and middle school setting. The goal is to engage with the current faculty and students at High Tech Elementary School and Middle School to discover how teachers draw upon their passions and interests to design curriculum and create projects that go beyond the classroom and engage students in meaningful and transformational learning.
David Stahnke
- 2012
How can I use math puzzles to increase student engagement, perseverance, and encourage divergent thinking?
Using math puzzles to engage students