Defenses of Learning

Read about Defenses of Learning

"Passage presentations, also called presentations of learning, exhibitions, or portfolio presentations, come from the heritage of educators Ted Sizer and Deborah Meier, who piloted the practice 30 years ago..." Ron Berger continues with why & how this powerful practice continues today.

Here is School Retool's take on the Defense. It includes an overview, and different variations on the process, all through the design-thinking lens.

Here, KQED and NPR provide a fascinating account of students going through the Defense process at Envisions Schools.

Explore resources about Defenses of Learning

This is the official JCPS defense planning guidelines. It describes elements that portfolio defenses must have and areas that schools can customize to meet their students' needs.

This PDF rubric , from Envisions Schools, can function as a general rubric to guide the design of Portfolio Defense.

This is a printable, simple starter guide to organizing defenses from the teachers at High Tech High.

On Expeditionary Learning, you'll find a link to this table, which outlines the who, what, and why of Passage Presentations.

Here, find a video secondary students presenting and defending their learning at several Expeditionary Learning Schools.

This is collection of resources and videos will illustrate the Student Portfolio Conference process, and provide some tools for making it happen for your students.

This collection of highlights from Envision Schools will help you imagine defenses in your own context.

This collection of clips from High Tech High's Presentations of Learning highlight students reflections on the process they go through.

Here, a teacher gives practical, step by step advice for planning process of preparing for Defenses. Included are scheduling, preparation, practice, presentation, and other logisitcal concerns.

This is a 5th grade defense example from Envisions schools.