A list of procedures

Procedure 1: Ask students to evaluate courses. Many surveys of courses fail to ask students about their learning and about what influences their learning in a course.

Procedure 2: Give more control to teachers. At a school in Minnesota, putting power in the hands of teachers means that students have much more control over their learning. The school takes a student-led, project-based approach to the curriculum. (Avalonschool.org)

Procedure 3: Answer the 10 Expectations from LeavingToLearn.org, created by Elliot Washor and Charles Mojkowski. www.TINYURL.com/Spanish10Expectations

Procedure 4: Focus on the Seven Survival Skills (Tony Wagner, search “seven survival skills”) and demonstrate mastery of some part of each skill. See a list developed by the Mastery Transcript Consortium

Procedure 5: Build a digital portfolio to place your answers, store your reflections about your learning, and display your skills. Example: www.TINYURL.com/abelsite and www.TINYURL.com/exampleDP FREE WEBSITE PROJECT (LINK)

Procedure 6: Build a YouTube channel where you collect your videos to defend and display your understanding of these materials.

Procedure 7: Cover the issues that Larry Rosenstock describes at High Tech High: “Students should gain strong experience in and understanding of all aspects of an industry, including Finance, Planning, Management, Underlying principles of technology, Labor Issues, Community issues, Health and safety issues, and Environmental issues as they pertain to that industry.” The average US person works in 8 to 12 places in their lifetime. You can hear his full talk at www.TINYURL.com/LarryHTH (adapted from High Tech High Schools)

Procedure 8: Character. The student describes what "good character" is. The Digital Portfolio shows examples of the student's good character. The Guide To Conduct by John Corlette www.TinyURL.com/jcspeech (page 39) is issued to each student. The student is asked to re-express the guidelines in their own words.

Procedure 9: Demonstrate understanding (written and spoken) of at least 45 commands and phrases in four languages. Ask students to use the Google Translate app to reinforce the use of other languages.

Procedure 10: Learn history backwards. Start with the history remembered by a student's relatives and work backwards to the Egyptians and Sumerians. A Personal History Workbook, using the document described by Enrique Gonzalez at www.TinyURL.com/PersonalHistoryWorkbook. Download the document at www.TinyURL.com/PersonalHistoryebook

Procedure 11: A Personal Digital Library where students display a list of their favorite quotes, music, books, magazines, articles and videos. Students explain WHY they have selected these documents, movies and websites. It’s like inviting me into your home, then I see a book on the shelf and I exclaim, “What an interesting title!” Then I ask, “What is the book about?” tinyurl.com/sunstevelibrary for an example of a personal Digital Library.

Procedure 12: Personal Learning Plan: To support the accomplishment of these goals, a Personal Learning Plan for each student needs to be kept current. Past version of the learning plan can also be saved. http://tinyurl.com/sunpersonallearningplan for an example. You can also read the book by Clark and DeMartino to learn about how to personalize your education. amazon.com/Personalizing-High-Schoool-Experience-Student/dp/1416606475

The student’s personal learning plan needs to include rules about “how to use social media.” See the appendix about the Personal Branding course at North Broward Prep School. “What students post online must be a very thoughtful process — and the Personal Branding class at North Broward instills 14-year-olds with an important life skill. It teaches them to think before they post, and allows them to make ethical decisions that will impact them for years to come.” -- from an article in Huffington Post.

Procedure 13: A network of students in other time zones. Students need to demonstrate that they have an ongoing discussion about some topic with at least two people (professors or other students) in at least four other time zones. That’s two people in each of the time zones. For tips, see Building International Bridges

Procedure 14: Have you heard about the “grading Moratorium” that Joe Bower started? See TINYURL.com/joebower and tinyurl.com/gradingmoratorium. See "The future of grading"

Procedure 15: Question our beliefs. This is perhaps a helpful procedure for any high school graduate to carry inside.

Procedure 16: Teachers can show what's going on in their heads. Teachers can be transparent. One aspect of transparency is making obvious the intellectual practices involved in completing and evaluating a learning task.