Wednesday, December 18, 2019

Purple Cow Post (December Edition

PURPLE COW POST

An information update created and filmed by Creative Director, Jackson Middleton





Monday, November 11, 2019

Excavating Gifts Course 2019-2020


To view the screencast explaining the Excavating Gifts Course, CLICK HERE.
To view the slide version of the video above, CLICK HERE.

General Family Members,

Take a look around our school and local communities, and take notice of the diversity of our citizens - note the different backgrounds, characteristics, and strengths that they possess. Within our society, we may face a multitude of everchanging problems, but “we are a community of possibilities” (Peter Block). We are a community of possibilities because we are all GIFTED. Inside each of us are certain strengths, talents, and passions, and it is our obligation to not only identify these GIFTS but to EXCAVATE them and to share them with the world. In fact, a GIFT doesn’t really become a GIFT until you share it with the world. Together, we can create the future for our community, but only if each of us shares the GIFTS that we possess.
Furthermore, when your General is able to EXCAVATE and share their GIFTS with our school, we are then able to personalize their school participation to truly make it an Xperience for them. We can create alignment opportunities through student organizations and community partners because we will better understand who they are and what they are passionate about creating. Your General’s  Care & Connect will strengthen because not only will classmates better understand how to CARE for them, but your General will also better understand how they can better support C&C. 
We value these beliefs so deeply that we have created intentional time and space for your General to EXCAVATE their GIFTS. Through this course, your General will LEAD a five-phase protocol that will enable them to: explore passions and curiosities, identify an essential question, develop an end-product, create a plan of action, and share their GIFT with the world. Your General’s C&C LEADER and classmates will work to support along the way. The world is waiting…EXCAVATE GIFTS.

Your student will be completing an Excavating Gifts Course this year. The goal of this course is to allow space and collaboration around what gift your student brings to our COMMUNITY. Your student recently attended a student-led Ignite to provide information on what the course is, how it was developed, and what their next steps will be. Then, your student was led through an introductory lesson in C&C outlining the process they will experience this year while excavating their gifts. While your student will have time and space to work on this process during C&C, there might be times your student will need to work on progressing their ideas at home. Should we have an NTI day this year, your student will work on their Excavating Gifts Course.

The first due date for this work will be November 19. The item due is your student's brainstorming template for how they might develop their gift into a project. To view the due dates for the year, see the image below.


We would like to celebrate the Community Course class for developing this course for our school. These students have led the way in student voice and choice for developing instructional opportunities for our school.

We look forward to seeing the gift your student will excavate this year! YES.