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By Lorraine Kasyan, April 24, 2013 12:01 pm

There are many updates for the student learning that is taking place. Nadiya followed up on her discovery and has collaborated to validate other sources. She also contacted the author of one of her books and received an email in return. Garrett found out that finding the answers to deeply scientific questions was easier than locating the political loophole that allowed the recent GMO extension to pass through legal avenues. He tried for several hours to find the sections covered by the passing of the bill. This growth was substantial as Garrett began his research fully in favor of GMO’s, desiring only to find evidence that their impact is far more positive than negative. He is now aware of the harm and possible negative impact associated with them and realizes the quagmire created when large corporations involve themselves in legislation. Finding out the facts proved to be a monumental learning experience for him. We have also had the benefit of attending a leadership conference with several captivating speakers. Guy Kawasaki, Terry Bradshaw, and Amanda Gore inspired my students in many ways. You know it was worthwhile when the content is discussed in multiple situations for over a week. Hearing discussions of enchantment, self-improvement, gratitude, joy, and spirit is delightful. These students are applying their experiences in their daily interactions. All in all it has been a valuable few weeks.

Future Leaders: A few of the students waiting for the speakers to begin.

I am leaving for a few days to attend my orientation for an Educator’s trip to India this summer. Sponsored by The Center for International Understanding, I am both honored and humbled by the chance to meet other educators who envision a world where borders dissolve and cultures cooperate. Before I leave, let me share the list of topics for this year’s graduating class. You will be amazed by the diversity here. I am learning so much as I act as mentor, guide, and collaborator for this amazing group of students. Please let me know if you have any questions or contacts for any of them.

List of Topics for 2013
Molecular Gastronomy
River pollution
Foodcycling
The Tradition and Decoration of the Kimono
Sewing – Uniform design
Guitar Crafting (building an electric guitar)
Bass Guitar
Orthotics
Cinematography
Forensic Science and the Steps of Decomposition
Genetically Modified Crops
Photographic Documentation of Rural Appalachia
Occupational Therapy
Art Therapy
Music Therapy
Herbal Remedies
Tattoo – Evolution of Design
Tattoo – History and Culture
Equine Assisted Psychotherapy
Screen-printing
Homelessness – Women and Children
Bacterial Infections – Causes, Treatment, and Prevention
Plant Identification and Natural Remedies on the Appalachian Trail
Welding
Slavery in Western North Carolina – George Avery
Nutrition, Exercise and Health
Music Homogenization
Carbapenem Resistant Enterobacteriaceae
The History of Revivals
Out of School Migrant Youth Workers and Services for Education
HTML and Net Neutrality
Foster Care
Russian Folktales
Diseases of the Eye and Services for the Blind
Creative Writing
Kindness and Self-Esteem in Children

Wow! Look out world, we are setting sail to make a difference.

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By Lorraine Kasyan, March 20, 2013 1:46 pm

Powerful Learning is personalized, rigorous, and relevant.

Working on primary documents.

Formal research papers are never a favorite activity in high school. I have assigned them for years and each time I realize that my students cannot see the value in the process unless the topic is important and of interest to them. With Graduation Project, the research paper is directly linked to the student’s choice but this component remains the biggest hurdle and cause for discontent. However, there are students who dive in and relish their new learning. Nadiya is one of those students and I just have to share a recent breakthrough for her. Nadiya is studying the slaves of Western North Carolina, specifically those who served at the Smith-McDowell house. She has been using primary documents to uncover the conditions endured by the slaves there as compared to the slaves in other parts of the country. She happened upon George Avery, a slave who gained emancipation and land from his owners. Her research focus narrowed down to focus on the conditions of Mr. Avery’s life and his progress as a free man.  Her research uncovered a learning gem for her. She happened upon a current article discussing his life that in her words “was inaccurate and held many assumptions that could not be proven through the primary documents she had been studying.” I asked her if she shared her discovery with her mentor, a professor of history at UNCA. She had not done so and proceeded to send him the link and her assessment.  How delightful!

Much of our class is stored online in a Moodle platform. She posted this update, “I don’t want to brag myself but this is what my mentor said when I sent him a link to an article that made a whole lot terrible assumptions. This is something you cannot do unless you can back it up. You cannot make things up unless you can prove them.”

His reply was, “Thank you for forwarding this article to me. I would certainly like to see his sources. Unless there are documents to back this up, there is a great deal of speculation and assumptions about George Avery and W.W. McDowell. I am going to see if some friends with WNC and McDowell history can substantiate any of this. There are a lot of assumptions about McDowell’s intent expressed. Good research and great questions!”

Nadiya immersed herself in her topic and became an expert. Her careful exploration of primary documents found in the archives of the Smith-McDowell House Museum prepared her to question another source for accuracy and substance. This spark of independent learning validated her hard work and added fuel to the fire of her inquiry. She is amazed and aware that the research process has rewards that go beyond the typical student’s need to just get it over with.

The system works when it is personalized, rigorous, and relevant.

Good reminder.

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By Lorraine Kasyan, February 27, 2013 4:45 pm

Charlie Compost

Every Tuesday I try to have a speaker from the community talk to my students. This week, we had Eric from Asheville Greenworks and he brought along his intern from Peru. The talk was inspiring. Eric’s previous employment includes 12 years in the video game industry, and part ownership in a solar energy business. Exciting stuff. He left those businesses to do something that could make a difference in his community. He took a risk on an organization that did great things but needed some business savvy, and it payed off. Asheville Greenworks is now the largest volunteer organization in our town.

This post is about the intern. Koki is a 17-year-old young man from Peru. He was spending his summer in Asheville trying his hand at an environmental project. You see December is summer in Peru. He gave up the chance to spend two months on the beach with his friends to help out here in Asheville. His work here starting up a recycling and composting program in elementary schools has changed his life. He saw the power of a small group of people reaching out to make a difference and his talk to my students spoke of his desire to go back to Peru and do the same thing. It was powerful.

The best ripple so far has not been the comments from our discussion board (I will share some below) wonderful as they are. The power of this experience rippled out from one class to another until three days later a student wanted to share a photo that her friend found of the town that Koki lived in in Peru. She said it really was amazing and asked if I wanted to see it. They shared it on facebook of course. The brown cliffs of his town made a connection. Koki had spoken of his uncle’s desire to help his home regain the name of “the green coast” by planting ground cover on the cliffs. My students found the town, looked at the coast, and shared in the desire to help it regain vegetation.

Teaching is often about curriculum, assessments, outcomes, and accountability. That which cannot be measured is the impact of experiences that will help change a future. My students now want to volunteer more, they were inspired by Koki’s hard work and dream, feel motivated to work a bit harder, and sought knowledge of a distant shore on their own. Scheduling guest speakers is another task, a task that does not actually fall neatly into a core standard. It is well worth the time and effort.

Some student reflections:

“Eric and Koki were so amazing to meet. Each inspired me to do more than I ever planned on, in more than just community service and graduation project. While I am not a strong environmentalist, I am excited about doing something that will change the world and make an impact.”

“The most important piece of what Eric and Koki said was that internships are the best way to learn about jobs you are interested in. Before committing to and investing in college, you need to know if you will be able to enjoy the career you plan on studying.”

“Koki was very funny and he reminded me of how I used to be, he has that spark and desire, hopefully he doesn’t lose it and will stay the way he is. He’s so young but already making a life changing project.”

“Eric and Koki made me want to become an environmentalist because their presentation was so good! I would like to volunteer with Asheville Greenworks sometime when I have time. Koki is so young yet doing so many great things and it is such an inspiration.”

“Koki especially has been an inspiration to me. Giving up a summer in Peru to come here and do the dirty work? Wow! That is amazing. It made me realize that we all have dreams. Each and every one of us has 24 hours a day to accomplish that dream. So if we aren’t the ones that using it wisely, then whose fault is it? Koki sacrificed two months to follow his dream, therefore, we can do that!”

There were so many wonderful connections made. Every student made a unique observation and connected what they heard to their own lives. Bringing in members of the community is vital for helping our students broaden their focus. If you are a guest speaker, mentor, or volunteer – thank you.

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By Lorraine Kasyan, January 30, 2013 8:53 pm

Blogging once a year is not acceptable if what you want is community. This blog has served as sounding board, reflection journal, celebration, and witness since 2006. Moves, new teaching assignments, elections, and of course the Common Core have kept me busy, yes. I have penned many entries in my head. (I am sure I have written that before.) There are stories of students, parents, supervisors, and teaching strategies stewing together. The new semester has me once again embarking on the adventure of individual study for my graduation project charges. It has been an exciting three weeks and I am filled with hope, expectation and pride as I guide this group towards their project choices and research topics.  It is going to be a powerful collection of topics.

Today was a great day. I decided to show the Drive trailer from 2010. Daniel Pink’s Vimeo preview has served me well in multiple settings. I am always surprised when I find adults who have not seen it. Most students do not have the occasion or opportunity to view it, however, and I have found it to be powerful every time I share it. Today I wanted to allow the students to view the trailer and then participate in a digital synchronous free write. I call them wordspills but we usually complete them on paper. Today I posted the prompt in a discussion board on Moodle. I played the trailer, started a timer, and had them begin writing.  The serious tip tapping of the keys was delightful. They did not have to come up with their sentence, but many tried.  Once the timer buzzed at three minutes they stopped writing and hit submit. Refreshing their browsers uncovered a chorus of responses that were all time stamped at the same minute. They enjoyed the display and immediately started smiling and laughing as they read the words on the screen. I decided to assign the method for commenting so that every student would get at least one comment. Find the student to your left’s response – read – and respond. Everyone was engaged, every student was acknowledged.

I am going to share a few examples with you. Enjoy!

One wordspill read, “My response to this video is honestly kind of muddled, seeing as I have to keep typing and not really filtering, but in all honesty it’s a nice thought, “how can I improve myself,” or “what’s my question,” but in actuality these are things I ask myself everyday already, well, not the sentence, that’s new, but as for improving myself, I already work hard at trying to be a better person, and I feel limiting myself to one sentence isn’t really fair. Granted, it makes the task at hand simple, but then what. I accomplished my sentence. Do I write a new one? Then I have two sentences and will end up with a paragraph like Kennedy’s. Do I stop trying? Do I make the sentence vague? Strange how a subject and a verb can bring so many questions to the front of my thoughts.

His student comment was: “Maybe I should try and consider what the video has to say.” That from a student who started their response with, “I personally don’t like videos like that because I think you should be motivated enough to make your life worth something.” The shift in acceptance was powerful.

Another response was more of a list: “values, reflection, motivation, moving forward, personal growth, overcoming challenges, taking one step at a time, creating, building. I want to become the person who created a successful organization that helps orphans in third world countries. Realizing big dreams, visualizing.”

Her student comment was. “I have to admit, I quite like the word spill and thought combination you have here is nice. You have lovely thought connections, big ideas, and I greatly enjoy reading about your want to help in the Third World.” Again, peer feedback that is serious and specific, flowing quickly in response.

Can you see why I am inspired? Can I help it if today my enthusiasm soared amidst the usual shenanigans and flooding at the end of the day. This activity gleaned precious gems. Irreverent, off-topic discussions, and genuine introspective stretches. They were all valued by the group, and all considered equally.

Maybe I should invite Daniel H. Pink to join the discussion?

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By Lorraine Kasyan, January 17, 2012 7:11 pm

There is a celebration in me and it isn’t really connected to my student who turned 19 today – although, that is pretty exciting. You see we started a new semester last week and it is my chance to begin another graduation project seminar with a group of students who will graduate in June. Our school is a five-year program and these students have amassed many college credits along the way.  Their last high school requirement, however, is this series of challenges where they get to demonstrate all they have learned in their tenure as North Carolina students.  I absolutely love this course! It tickles me to get to watch them stretch their interests and strengths and choose one thing to study for the entire term.

We are off to a great start and today we were able to have a round table discussion regarding progress related to topic choice.  I get to help each child find mentors, community service, research topics, and a final product to create.  The journey is arduous and at times frustrating, but today it was all about possibility and I wanted to share some of the diverse ideas that have made the cut.  We have:

Banjo repair

Autism

Accounting

American Sign Language

Physical fitness

Pastry

Quilting

Veterinary Medicine

Interior Design

Motorcycle engines

Tailoring or Clothing Design

Dental assisting

Leonardo DaVinci model recreation

Teaching

Movie production

Book Binding

Cerebral Palsy

Business management

Architecture

There are several others still being bandied about. Some of these will be tweaked and/or changed completely as well. All will be expanded until the student becomes an expert before presenting to a group of judges at the end of the term.  Like I said, this is a very exciting time and I am honored to act as a guide in this process.  All aboard!