NJ ASCD and CSSR Workshop

On Sept. 22nd the first workshop for Personalized Student Learning Plans was held at NJPSA/FEA and it was called: Creating Student-Centered Learning Through Personalized Student Learning Plans.

To highlight some of the information:

• Event was sponsored by NJ ASCD and the Center for Secondary School Redesign, Inc.(http://www.cssr.us/index.htm -- as we all know secondary education in New Jersey is undergoing changes and the PSLP pilot program is part of that change (to see those changes check out the NJ DOE Power Points on the subject: http://www.state.nj.us/education/ser/over/).
• The workshop was research based.
• The presenters offered a basic template for how to organize a team to work on PSLPs (finding a team hasn't been problematic for us; it is being able to coordinate everyone's schedules to attend meetings, workshops etc... that has proved challenging).
• The presenters showed video of students conducting student conferences - this was terrific and an idea I really want to pursue. The video was Navigator 101, the name of the PSLP program in Washington.
• The presenters also showed video created by a high school in Washington about their PSLP program. Creating a video about the PSLP program is something my team would like to do in the future, and being a technical school with a tv studio, we should be able to do this and the students will be able to be the producers -- great real world practice!
• Advisory time was also discussed -- my team needs to talk about these and how we can implement this into our school year.

Whenever I attend these workshops, I get energized about the pilot program, but at the same time overwhelmed. My head was filled with all these great things to enhance our program -- student-led conferences, advisory periods, e-portfolios, -- and I started to have doubts about how we would accomplish everything. I am glad this is a two-year PILOT PROGRAM, so mistakes and missteps are part of the process.

While at the workshop I saw a few books that I've ordered for myself to preview to see if they will be valuable to the program and my team. The titles are:

The Advisory Guide: Designing and Implementing Effective Advisory Programs in Secondary Schools by Rachel A. Poliner and Carol Miller Lieber

Personalized Learning: Preparing High School Students to Create Their Futures by Joseph DiMartino, John Clarke and Denise Wolk

The Portfolio Organizer: Succeeding with Portfolios in Your Classroom by Carol Rolheiser, Barbara Bower, and Laurie Stevahn

A book I wanted to order but won in a drawing at the end of the workshop -- Personalizing the High School Experience for Each Student by Joseph DiMartino and John Clarke

I'll keep everyone updated at to the topics in these books and how well they helped us shape our PSLP program.