I am so proud! I will scan the graduation booklet and post it up here, or maybe just email it to Melissa, but it was nice to see our SRINQ students all over it. Intro, Valedictorians, Senior Video, and changing of the tassels all SRINQ students.

I am really sad that Marshall is closing forever, and it seems like this is how it is working with public schools. You get really invested and really love the students and the school, but then it closes. Such a frustrating thing when this school is the epitome of idealistic ethnic and religious diversity. Marshall is a utopia for the multi-cultural canvas that is America, and it is closing because of bureaucracy and budget cuts. At the same time, as educators and mentors, we cannot let these frustrations cloud our goals, and we cannot forget the reason we are doing this to begin with. The students. With or without Marshall, these students, these young adults are still going to be a success and still going to be strong and courageous.

Thank you Senior Inquiry, particularly at Pauling, for giving me a chance to have good memories of high school!

Jefferson students award ‘peace prize’ this month

By Jennifer Anderson

The Portland Tribune, May 6, 2011, Updated May 6, 2011 (2 Reader comments)

Anyone who doubts the rigor at Jefferson High School can look to the “On Democracy” Senior Inquiry class, a partnership between the high school and Portland State University.

The class this month is organizing the city’s second annual PDX Peace Prize, created to recognize a Portland activist or organization working to promote peace, democracy and sustainability in the community.

Co-led by teacher Brady Bennon, who dreamed up the concept while teaching at Portland’s Leadership & Entrepreneurship Public Charter High School last year, the 33 students this year have been studying and reading books by Nobel Peace Prize winners. The class is also taught by Jefferson teacher Jennifer Doncan and Michael Lupro of PSU.

The course of study is “a way of investigating barriers to peace and democracy and analyzing the strategies and tactics used to overcome those barriers,” Bennon says. “They hope the award causes a positive ripple in our Portland community.”

Next week, students will interview the 20 nominees they’ve received so far. Nominees come from groups including Ceasefire Oregon, Northwest Earth Institute, Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization, Raphael House, Reach Community Development and Peace and Justice Works.

Later this month, the class will form a consensus decision process for selecting the winner.

Last year’s winner was Daniel Garcia of Resolutions Northwest, which brings restorative justice and conflict resolution programs to schools. Garcia visited the class at Jefferson recently to reflect on what the prize meant to him. Also recently, students read the Maathai book, “Unbowed,” and planted a tree on campus in his honor.

This year’s PDX Peace Prize winner will be announced May 26 at an event at the Ecotrust building. There will be booths from local nonprofits as well as a silent auction, with all proceeds benefiting the prize winner’s nonprofit of choice. Students will display the Nobel Peace Prize lesson plans they created and taught, as well as their poetry and essays.

Last year’s event drew more than 80 attendees.

Students are holding a car wash Saturday, May 7, to raise money for the PDX Peace Prize event or the winner’s organization. The car wash is from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Moonstar Parking lot, 7410 N.E. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.

For more information, to donate or nominate a candidate for the prize, e-mail Bennon at bbennon@pps.k12.or.us.

5/5 at PSU:

• 9-11am CH 159 – I helped students get logged on to computers if they had trouble- Sybil, brought a printed roster with the student’s PSU ID 9 numbers on them. Although they are coming for lab time, I went over the exemplary eportfolios from last year, and the rubrics off the UNST website.
• 11-12 lunch
• 12-1:50 (I had class so I was not present) NH 450 M kicked off afternoon with tech presentation, but then she had to leave, so  Norman stuck around to help students.

5/16 at Marshall:

• I was present during their poster presentations. It was conference style so half the class had their tri-folds up first and in half an hour I walked around and heard each student’s schpeal and asked them questions about their research, and then the groups switched.
• Most students presented about the Socio-Economic unit they just got out of, but there was one student who presented on food choices/production in the area, and one presented about teacher-student favoritism in the lenses of race and gender. Very interesting stuff. I even got some resources for my own independent study mentor project.

5/25 at PSU

• 9-noon KHSE 109. 40 voodoo donuts, an av cart projecting on a white board, and a cozy space. Each student presented for about 10 minutes, and I was BLOWN AWAY. Their eportfolios were amazing, and it was obvious they spent a lot of time on them and received a lot of support from Sybil and Norm.
• 12-12:30 grab lunch and bring it to bowling alley
• 12:45-1:45 go bowling! I took pictures of the day:
• Click to view slideshow.

The paradox here is that we are supposed to work on e-portfolios/Google sites, but don’t have access to Google. I just received an e-mail that Liberty has been granted one week of Google access in the labs, but are they only working on Google sites for one week? I hope the students are allowed ample lab time. I still feel as though I should plan for two scenarios: accessibility and inaccessibly just in case. The other thing: the class is split between two labs- ie M in one and I in the other. It is kind of a bummer that we can’t all be in one lab, but I am sure they are doing the best they can with the space they have.

Class: 11:50-1:22, meet in room 124 as early as 11:15.

*Liberty has a really nice and thorough assignment laid out, which I am going to print off one for me and one for M, tomorrow to take along.

• 11:50-12:10 Student’s may ask questions at any time.
  —describe e-portfolio’s- *what’s the point, who will see them, how you can use them for this class and after this class
  —show these exemplary portfolio’s and go through pages briefly- point out what is done well (I hope it is okay that these are both Liberty students from last year)
  http://sites.google.com/site/laceywilliamsinquiry/
  http://sites.google.com/site/eportfoliomelhedricks/
  —go over Liberty assignment (if this has not already been done)
  —show students UNST site where the goals are defined!!
  *****Is there any way we can do this first part in the classroom, with the group all together, AND THEN split up into the two labs?******
• 12:10-12:25 Step-by-step set up Google sites. Should only take 10 minutes, but 5 minutes added for buffer in case anyone forgot Google log in- warn them of 5 site a day maximum.
  —template set-up- be patient! If site doesn’t automatically seem to be generating, close it and go back through your gmail back into sites, it may be there.
  —add mahluma@hsd.k12.or.us
  satterfi@pdx.edu AND beckleyl@hsd.k12.or.us as owners
  —how to change website name and description under general settings
  —changing themes
  —editing pages
  —uploading documents
• 12:25-1:22 independent work time where we go around to help people who need it. This also is partially buffer time in case any part goes over or if there are a lot of questions. Students may use this time to:
  —personalize their sites
  —define goals and brainstorm which assignments fit under each goal
  —begin writing their final reflections

Candy has some pretty powerful psychological effects, I must say. With the first group, I didn’t use candy until the very end- I walked around and let everyone pick some out. With the second group, I was warned that they were more rowdy, so I used candy to my advantage. From the start I told them there would be an opportunity for some people to get candy later. Once I had the students get in groups to define the UNST goals, I told them that the best definitions would get candy so people actually did try- even the students who seemed totally uninterested had a motivation, they would get an immediate reward for their effort. Then at the end I set the bag of candy on a chair in the middle of the room and told everyone to get a piece. I much preferred that second method of candy reinforcement, although the first group was easier to engage.

Overall, I was happy to see that students were taking notes, and that my visit was directly benefiting/helping them. It wasn’t just a fun-activity driven visit, it was an assignment-based-activity driven visit.

• 10-10:50 (50 minutes) class #1
  -10- remind students of exemplary portfolio’s from the past
  -10- what always feels like such a chore to do are the goals pages, so that is what we will go over! Go over scoring rubrics (on UNST site) briefly
  -10- what are some examples of said goals- draw on board each goal, then list items- with each one ask them WHY?/HOW? is this goal reached here?
  -10- Since you have to define the goals on your site, get in groups or partners right now and define the goals- maybe each group can define one goal and then we get together in a big group and the groups who share their definitions get candy.
  -10- talk about consent forms, hand them out, answer questions
• Lunch 11-11:30
• 11:30-12:15 (45 minutes) class #2

• 4/29 Westview @ Westview- go over e-portfolio rubrics which are found on UNST website, hand out e-portfolio consent forms, remind students what needs to be on e-portfolios, do activities with goals
• 5/2 Liberty @ Liberty- meet M at 11 at PSU, 11:50-1:22pm, bring camera, google is blocked but we must work on e-portfolio’s, so it is still up in the air! Do we do a hard copy version instead?
• 5/3 MRA @ PSU- 9:30-10:30 meet with Josh Fost, McNair Panel 10:45-12:15. Meet M at 8:55 at her office, pick up AV materials at 9am. Room Smith 294.
• 5/5 MP @ PSU- 9-11am CH 159. 11-12 lunch, 12-2 NH 450. I do morning, M kicks off afternoon with tech presentation. Ask Sybil to bring printed roster w/9 numbers on them.

Consider: how to maintain shared gmail account at end of year. 300 students may or may not be emailing the shared gmail- who will check it after June?

• 4/29 (this Friday) I visit Westview solo to work on e-portfolios (without actually having access to a lab)- I already emailed to confirm this visit, and need to just work on bringing activities and materials
• 5/2 (Monday) M and I will visit Liberty to begin e-portfolios (more details soon to come- M emailed them and asked)
• 5/3 (Tuesday) Marshall RA comes to visit PSU. Visit 9:30 to about 1:30. Panel with McNair scholars and meeting with a FRINQ. Not sure of the specifics though, there has been a lot of information going around.
• 5/5 (Thursday) Marshall Pauling comes to PSU. I need to email Sybil to confirm this. 9-2pm. E-portfolio work time, and maybe an activity relating to e-portfolios that is not just staring at a screen- maybe a group writing activity of defining the goals? Or maybe an innovative way to define the goals? Visually? Otherwise?
• 5/16 (Monday) Visit to MP. I need to email Sybil to confirm this. 9:45-11:30 they have poster presentations. Last time I went to this I was really impressed, so I look forward to going again.

Now if only we could get Roosevelt and Jefferson visits… I love that we are seeing everyone again! I am meeting with M on Wednesday and I will write you more details after our meeting!!