Embedded Files
Ms. Leslie Appino
Ms. Leslie Appino
At the end of the semester in English 12 Honors, Ms. Appino assigned a project focused on culture. Students were given a choice of how to demonstrate three different levels of culture they possess. Students used a planning sheet to created projects including but not limited to: collage, playlist, video, recipes, food with cards explaining the connections to their culture, podcast, etc. When done their project, students participated in a gallery walk to share and then learn about their classmates' culture.
Observable Outcomes
Students were more engaged in the learning, "the gallery walk was more like a party". (PGS Standard III)
Observable Impacts
Students can make more relevant connections to the content when they see themselves in the the curriculum.
Students were given multiple measures of how to demonstrate their knowledge based on their personal learning style.
Ms. Megan hart
Ms. Megan hart
Lock out Box is a summative assessment that Ms. Hart gave to her Forensic Science class at the end of the semester. This assignment combined learning and assessed students from every unit and content learned through the entire semester. Much like an escape room, students worked in cooperative groups to analyze the evidence and unlock the box.
Observable Outcomes
Engaging assessment of students learning and understanding of course curriculum throughout the semester. (PGS Standard IV)
Observable Impacts
Students worked collaboratively, where individual students may not have been able to successfully demonstrate all learning.
Students reinforced content learned, while filling in new content that may be missing or not retained.
MR. CARLOS LANDAU
MR. CARLOS LANDAU
Mr. Landau encourages the expression of his students' culture within the school facilitates collaboration with community members to help students embrace their identity. In the summer of 2025, Mr. Landau connected one of our students with Evelyn del Rosario Morán Cojoc a 42-year-old painter from Guatemala. An avid teacher since 2012, she leads art sessions across the country that explore her indigenous Poqomchiʼ Maya roots. Though indigenous culture is often marginalized, Morán Cojoc embraces her identity and passes that pride on. She encourages kids to depict elements from their indigenous culture, such as cacao — the raw bean the Maya considered a sacred gift from the gods (and that's the source of chocolate).
At the festival, her mission was to create a mural reflecting the indigenous culture of Guatemala. She was joined by three eager area high school students originally from Latin America. Their assignment: to incorporate at least one part of their Maya identity into the painting.
Kevin Cabrera Sanchez, 17, who lives in Virginia, is an avid marimba player and added Guatemala's national instrument to the piece.
Another student, from Montgomery Blair High School, Selvin Vail Diaz, 18, painted four colorful varieties of maíz (corn) – sapphire blue, crimson red, golden yellow and ivory white. Each color relates to one of the four points of the compass: for example, white is the north, representing the afterlife.
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