Collab Labs

Collab Labs

Who will you find at Collab Labs?

Who will you find at Collab Labs?

Collab Lab 54: Student Led Collaboration to Address Youth Mental Health

Collab Lab 55: Re/Connect

Collab Lab 55

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Up Next

K12 Schools

Higher Ed

Business & Non-Profit

Name: Collab Lab 53: Sharing Student Work & Stories – NEW DATE
Start: 2023-03-16T17:30:00-05:00
End: 2023-03-16T20:30:00-05:00
Location: WE Energies STEM Center at MSOE

How often do you have an opportunity to connect with colleagues in other districts to share innovative practices in education?

Learn Deep brings educators from across Milwaukee together to share what we’re working on to benefit our students. Each gathering includes individuals from organizations in the greater Milwaukee community who have looked at parallel innovation practices from another perspective. Together, we explore the goals educators hope to reach, hurdles which stand in the way, and opportunities to move forward, however small at first.

Collab Labs are a chance to learn what strategies others have used to succeed, and to solicit help and feedback from others who have worked towards similar goals.

Each Collab Lab is focused on a specific topic. Past topics included ‘Maker Spaces‘, ‘Finding Room to Innovate‘ and ‘Engaging Community Partners‘. At each session we bring in featured participants from schools and the broader community who have significant and often unique experience in the subject at hand. Across all of our attendees, you’ll find folks who are willing and open to share what they know to help others in the room, whether that’s an approach to a problem, a strategy to get buy-in, or connections to others that can help.

Participation in our Collab Labs is always free, but space is limited. Our dates and topic focus can be found in the listing to the right on this page.

We’re happy to return to the WE Energies STEM Center at MSOE for our 7th season of Collab Labs

Collab Lab 54: Student Led Collaboration to Address Youth Mental Health

What if students took the lead to create a culture in school where both students and educators feel safe, affirmed, and free to build the skills, knowledge, and relationships needed to pursue their passions?

We pull in a diverse group of educators and others who are are looking for ways to help Milwaukee area schools move forward. Attendees have joined us from the following organizations:

K12 Schools	Higher Ed	Business & Non-Profit
Arrowhead School District School District of Beloit Carmen Schools of Science and Technology Cedarburg School District Cudahy School District Elmbrook Schools Escuela Verde Fox Point/Bayside School District Holy Family Kettle Moraine Lutheran High School Kettle Moraine School District MC²School District of Menomonee Falls Milwaukee Jewish Day School Milwaukee Montessori School Milwaukee Public Schools Muskego School District New Berlin School District Nicolet High School Norris Academy Notre Dame School of Milwaukee Oak Creek Franklin School District Pathways High Pewaukee School District Oregon School District Racine Unified High School District School District of South Milwaukee Seton Catholic Schools Shorewood School District St. Joan Antida High School St. Monica St. Robert St. Thomas More Tenor High School UCC Acosta Middle School Union Grove Union High School District University School of Milwaukee Veritas High School Wauwatosa Schools School District of Whitefish Bay West Allis-West Milwaukee School District Wisconsin Lutheran High School	Alverno College Cardinal Stritch Gateway Technical College Marquette University MATC Medical College of Wisconsin MIAD MSOE University of Wisconsin Milwaukee University of Wisconsin – School of Education Wisconsin Lutheran College	88.9 Labs Artists Working In Education ArtWorks for Milwaukee [email protected] Betty Brinn Children’s Museum Brinn Labs Baird Black Arts Think Tank Bray Architects Brady Corp. Broad Street Brookhill Institute of Mathematics BU Magazine CESA 1 The Commons Dance Circus David Jakes Designs Design Fugitives Digital Bridge Employ Milwaukee Epiphany Learning GE Healthcare Growing Minds Groundwork Milwaukee Haldeman Homme Islands of Brilliance Kohl’s Johnson Controls Junior Achievement, Wisconsin LISC Linden Grove Communities Mad Genie City of Milwaukee Milwaukee 7 Milwaukee Makerspace Milwaukee Repertory Theater Milwaukee Succeeds MKEGrind MMSD Next.cc Northwestern Mutual NVISIA Project Foundry Re-Creation Station REDGen Reflo Riveredge Nature Center Rockwell Automation SafeNet Consulting Sharp Literacy Sixteenth Street Community Health Center STEM Forward Sustainable Formations TEALS Teens Grow Greens Tiny Earth Translator MKE Urban Ecology Center WI Department of Public Instruction Workshop Architects Young Enterprising Society ZipMKE Zoological Society of Milwaukee

Thu 13

Collab Lab 51: Recap and Notes
December 14, 2022

Collab Lab 51 attendees explored the hopes and fears attendees commonly express having when it comes to letting students drive the issues that are the focus of their learning. What do we hope for when we offer students the opportunity to pursue issues they are passionate about? What fears might hold us back from doing so? Hopes Across the discussion groups we heard a number of common themes among the hopes that were expressed — that students feel heard, they are motivated and engaged in work that is meaningful to them, they have the opportunity to discover what it is that they do care about, that the work allows them to build the skills, confidence, and empathy to take on more complex challenges. We also heard hopes for what that process could look like — that students have a chance to iterate and learn from missteps along the way, that we are able to design and support project based learning experience effectively, with scaffolding in place that allows students to take on the work, that teachers are equipped and supported as they do this work with students. The overarching paradigm for participants is that student driven issues would drive the process of project based learning: allowing students to discover their passions and to let those passions drive their education. Fears Moving forward to create opportunities for student driven work won’t happen if we don’t recognize and address the fears that hold us back as teachers. Chief among those is that a lack of structure on an open ended project could lead to chaos, with some students left behind. Our participants also worry school or district leadership won’t recognize what’s going on in the classroom as productive learning, that it deviates from curriculum, that we won’t hit standards, and don’t have the right tools to evaluate student learning progress. Other fears center on the challenges we might offer students — what if the topic fails to engage them, we don’t have the time or support to pull it off, or are blocked by competing curriculum demands. Participants also noted fears students themselves might have — how they will know if they are making progress, that they won’t get “the right answer”, that it feels weird to take on work that is by nature open-ended. Next Steps Our final question of the evening focused on what one might do in the next 30 days to push things forward. For our participants, the key to moving forward is building the support to take some risks and align resources that can both support and inspire students in their work. That’s the hard work that teachers find difficult to navigate individually. The inspirEd Community recently established a Collab Lab group to explore these and other topics in a community setting. Consider joining the Community if this sounds like something that could help you in your teaching. Acknowledgements We are especially grateful to our featured participants for the experience and insight they brought to the discussion: Leslie Fee – Talent Manager – Development, J.W. Speaker Clintel Hasan – Strategic Initiatives Manager, Milwaukee Succeeds, GMF Maria Hamidu – High School Success Project Coordinator, Milwaukee Succeeds, GMF Adam Hengel – Coordinator of Instructional Services, West Allis/West Milwaukee School District Chad Johnson – CEO and Founder of Tip-a-Script, Milwaukee Thanks again to MSOE’s STEM Center for hosting our Collab Lab series this season.

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Collab Lab 50: Recap & Notes
November 30, 2022

We hit a milestone with last Thursday’s Collab Lab — our 50th session since we started in the summer of 2016! Thanks to all the attendees who were there to celebrate with us in person. The focus for the evening was Community Engaged Science for K12 students (AKA community engaged research or citizen science) — what do we hope students might gain, what assets we can bring to bear to support the work, and what we can do in the short term to move towards those goals. We started the conversation by asking participants what community engaged science means to them. Beyond goals such as “the chance to see what professionals are working on and how they approach their research”, beyond “opportunities to engage in or contribute to research efforts that extend beyond the classroom”, and even beyond “:giving students a chance to connect with scientists in industry, higher education or government agencies”, was the idea that the community is engaged in deciding the issues to focus community research and science on. That set us up nicely to talk about our goals for students. Goals for students Participants had a broad range of goals for student involvement with community engaged science. From those several common themes emerged: We want students to see that they can make contributions, that science is something they can participate in, and that scientific understanding can empower them to be more effective citizens who can take on issues in their community and become stewards of the environment, We want students to see that they can be lifelong learners, that there are broad opportunities to apply scientific knowledge and skills, and that they can make connections with working scientists in the community who might serve as role models or mentors. We want this work to bring diverse voices, perspectives, and ways of knowing into conversations within science and and the focus areas for that work. Finally, we want students to experience the joy that can come from scientific investigation, discovery, and understanding. The question then becomes: “where are the scientists, the voices and perspectives, that we as educators may include in student inquiry projects?” Assets we know We took advantage of the broad mix of folks in the room to inventory the assets available to Milwaukee students and teachers. It turns out, there are a lot of resources and programs to explore ideas and connect with partners who can support community engaged science. Just consider this (not curated) list: Business/Professionals Higher-ed, nonprofits Badger State Science & Engineering Fair natural world school yard rivers, trails, & parks community partners multi-visit relationship follow-up curriculum (training and capacity needed) Project Lead The Way school Leadership teams, teachers, admin & district staff teacher experts extracurricular & interest groups local science projects (water inquiry project) SIFTR Other schools’ older & younger students media/news local science experts academia local government nonprofits Parks museums nature centers field experiences Green Schools Consortium Funding United way Donors choose ESSER Funds NSF MMSD (funds for green schools projects) Wisconsin DNR WSST NRF Partners/Physical Resources Teens Grow Greens WAEE local nature centers county parks systems Flex Farms users Museums UWM School of Freshwater Sciences Reflow MMSD Green Point Partners How do we move forward? Just knowing (or just now learning about) assets that are available, is nice but not very useful. We wrapped up the conversation by asking “What can we do in the next 30 days to get closer to your vision for community engaged science for K-12 students?” All of our discussion identified some version of “Continue the conversation with the folks I met here” as a key next step. This could be to: learn more about what another school or teacher(s) is doing, availability of programming or expertise offered by community partners, or for those partners, ways to better understand the needs and goals of educators. Acknowledgements We are especially grateful to our featured participants for the experience and insight they brought to the discussion: Jessica Knackert – Volunteer Coordinator, Wisconsin Department of Natural ResourcesPeter Lenaker – Physical Scientist, USGSChristopher Simenz – Practicum Coordinator, Clinical Professor, Marquette UniversityBernardo Traversari – Director of Science Outreach, Edgewood CollegeAdriana Vázquez – Director of Education & Public Programs, Milwaukee Public MuseumThanks again to MSOE’s STEM Center for hosting our Collab Lab series this season. Be part of the Conversation If you like the topics we select every month and would like to be part of the conversation, we invite you to join us next time for Collab Lab 51 (RSVP). We’ll explore how we can let students drive issues that are the focus of their work (essential component of inquiry based learning, student voice, project based learning). Come share your experience if you are practicing student inquiry with your students, or join the conversation by asking your questions to expand your thinking about how your peers do this and why they believe in this approach. Join us by RSVPing here

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Collab Lab 49: Recap & Notes
October 19, 2022

Community Engaged Learning starts with a conversation Our vision of Community Engaged Learning, an evolution of Project Based Learning for K-12, recognizes a role for both near-peer mentors and industry mentors. This essential role supports and coaches students over the course of the projects they take on. We believe that there’s a big difference between simply having folks show up at a school, and inviting them to play an effective role in the process for students and teachers. It is so important in our view that we decided to kick off our 7th season of Collab Labs at MSOE’s STEM Center last Thursday with a discussion focused on the roles of mentors, what successful mentoring looks like, and what it takes to get there. Participants included K-12 educators, professionals engaged in mentoring, or working with organizations that provide or support mentors, or engage with schools in other ways. We were also glad to welcome additional community members in a joint effort with Foureva Media’s to use the Collab Lab as their Foureva Movement’s October meetup. By chance or circumstance, the group included several mentor/mentee pairs, who were able to provide additional meaning for the discussion. Personal experience We began the evening with a discussion of participants’ own experiences with, or as a mentor, and what they took away from that involvement. We’re not surprised anymore that our ‘kitchen table format’ consistently enables attendees to ‘go deep’ within 15 minutes of sitting down with complete strangers. Our participants observed: There’s a gatekeeping role in terms of who has access to support students Systemic racism impacts who has access to mentors, who mentors are willing to serve, and expectations about how those relationships should occur The role of the teacher is different than that of mentors, and an outside mentors can often motivate students in ways a teacher cannot The continuity of mentor/mentee relationships can anchor students who might otherwise have disconnected relationships with family Mentors can provide the confidence students need to push through challenges Time is a limited resource, so we need to look for relationships that can offer the maximum impact within those constraints Stats show: People who’ve had mentors are more likely to take leadership roles Definitions of mentoring vary, but what is key is the mentor/mentee relationship A young person needs to trust a mentor as a friend Mentors need to be able to listen Mentors can empower students by giving them a voice Mentors need to be open to “accepting the call” from a student Barriers between the community and school get in the way of mentorship opportunities Goals for Mentors and Students With this as context, we asked participants to capture what they see as the goals behind building mentor/mentee relationships with students. We ask this not just from the perspective of what we want for students, but what we hope mentors gain from the experience. For students, we hope for: Support I want students to see how to be there for yourself I want students to feel heard, empowered I want students to see “professional interaction, and learn to function as a group to build each other up, solve problems, and change the world I want students to feel like they are not alone, that they are supported and wanted I want students to feel loved and that people care about them I want students to have access to supports they may not have at home Acceptance/Validation I want students to feel freedom of exploration I want students to see its ok to be a little different I want them to experience their own ideas in real life I want students to feel included I want students to feel comfortable I want students to feel that they matter and they can create a future beyond where they may be now Variety I want students to experience different opportunities that spark their curiosity I want students to see other role models, learn STEM and life skills Diversity in thought I want students to experience life outside of central Milwaukee I want students to experience representation for all/diversity Perspective I want students to experience a different viewpoint I want students to see someone close in age I want students to see other avenues to be successful I want students to see personality Inspiration/Resilience I want students to see what’s possible, that they can do anything I want students to see the opportunities available to them to be successful I want students to feel excited, encouraged, heard I want students to experience success Bring something different out of them I want students to experience opportunities for curiosity I want students to see a path forward without telling them explicitly– questions and guidance I want students to be curious, to experience opportunities that challenge, and push themselves to think critically and learn new perspectives I want students to experience what they can be outside of what they typically experience Real Life I want students to see people/adults with similar backgrounds and experiences doing what they’ve dreamed (or just thought) of doing I want students to experience every day living I want students and mentors to see the humanness/the light in each other I want students to experience real life/hands on personal growth/learning I want students to learn social responsibility and critical thinking I want mentors to feel an emotional rush/connection For mentors, we hope for: Fulfillment I want mentors to feel they are making a difference I want mentors to feel a connection I want mentors to experience the joy of young people, to see their success and personal growth, to learn from students I want mentors to feel that their time invested in you makes a difference I want mentors to view mentorship as part of their legacy I want mentors to feel capable, confident, energized, that they grow through the experience I want mentors to experience the confidence that they have helped build. I want mentors to see transformation in a mentee, to experience the feeling of impacting some else’s life, to more….

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Collab Lab 47: Recap & Notes
April 20, 2022

Our focus for the Collab Lab 47 was a reflection on what we’ve learned over the first year of our Fellows Program. Prior to the Collab Lab we sat down with a our Fellows for a conversation about what they wanted to get out of the discussion. The first two questions we settled on are a reflection of where the Fellows see value in the program and partners. Too often teachers are offered programming or resources without the recognition of what else might need to be in place, or the additional work required of a teacher to take advantage of them. Nothing interesting happens in a classroom without a teacher willing to say “yes”, and that comes when we solve problems for teachers. That lead us to our first question for the evening: What makes an offering of support for teachers a gift rather than just one more thing to take on? Collaboration share the workload cross pollinate ideas It’s real service learning connected to community multidisciplinary PBL Engages students students work to develop solutions It fills a known gap for the teacher A curriculum framework that: is completed is documented integrates outside expertise that know how to work with students is updated provides a prescription for how to execute with room to flex Provides resources for both students and teachers to execute Helps students develop 21st century skills Builds career connection Field experiences (free is good) Provides access to mentors Kids are engaged and motivated Aligns with standards Provides opportunities for problem solving/authentic learning Can be extension projects Multiple points of alignment/integration with curriculum Provides a chance to showcase the work of students Streamlined partnerships/easily accessed resources Listen first, keep listening find openings point out success teachers have Create Joy Be transparent Extend gratitude Ask for feedback Don’t be scary Goals that differ from teacher time consuming unaware of pacing guide, constraints, or not connected to standards offering doesn’t complement curriculum Too scripted and prescriptive Focus on kids’ learning Through the Collab Labs and work with program partners over the course of the year, the Fellows see a lot of value in understanding how those outside of education approach parallel problems. Collaboration is important to the fellows, both in terms of providing a richer set of experiences for their students, and also to share the load with colleagues and to learn from what peers may have tried. That led us to our second discussion point for the evening: How do you form a relationship with colleagues conducive to creating a collaborative culture focused on learning? Share successes Create opportunities for shared learning experiences Focus on kids motivation and engagement Provide opportunities for casual, open-ended conversations Make it a regular practice Practice collaboration across different content areas Use student presentations as a chance to collaborate/share with colleagues. Foster trust Be supportive Model collaboration/continuous learning during the school day Build diversity into the process with a range of levels of expertise knowledge experience Establish norms for sharing listening encouraging all to share process and project management approaches Establish accountability universal commitment Recognize that preferred modes of communication will vary between colleagues The third question for the evening came from our shared goal of ensuring that all Milwaukee students have the chance to participate in the kind of community engaged, real world, learning experiences that can help them both uncover what they are passionate about, and see paths forward to pursue those passions. How do we make these opportunities equitable and accessible to all students? Engage all students from the outset and provide choice – enable students to approach and pursue the challenge from the points where they are most engaged flexibility – be creative/flexible about how the learning experience might evolve, and where it might lead anticipate and address barriers that may limit participation or engagement for some students Maintain a growth mindset Provide a safe place, where it is ok to be vulnerable Focus on others strengths Connect to what learners love We we’re glad to see a high level of engagement around the questions, and, as usual, very different approaches to documenting each group’s conversation. That the conversations continued well after we wrapped things up is a measure of success for the process. Thanks again to our Fellows for guiding the discussion and MSOE’s STEM Center for hosting us!

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Collab Lab 45 Recap – The student experience on real world projects
March 1, 2022

What do we want students to get out of real world projects? Introduction Engaging students in real world projects creates opportunities to connect with students’ passions, build connections to the broader community, and for students to see that they can have an impact. Our discussion at February 2022’s Collab Lab focused what we want students to experience on these types of projects, what students, teachers, and partners bring that can help create these experiences, and what stands in the way. Joining the discussion were students from MSOE’s Create Institute and Software Development Lab, and Engineers Without Borders at Marquette University who are involved in real world projects of their own. Start with the end in mind To start our exploration we asked ourselves: “What do we want students to experience as part of their learning?” Exciting challenges Feel comfortable to ask questions Supportive setting Fail forward Open result Experience variety they can have the opportunity to get excited about the learning they can become the expert they can teach the teacher they can become effective collaborators Bring their ideas to life– makes everything more relevant, to feel a sense of empowerment (voice, make/change decisions) experience success from mistakes– students should learn from their answers take classroom knowledge in the abstract to practical application — make everything relevant have a voice in shaping the project — problems don’t have a single answer (broaden scope) listen to other people’s ideas and provide feedback– builds both community and communication skills find something for them to be passionate about and run with it — motivation to advance Understand the “why” behind concepts — knowledge can be transferred, retained Self awareness Provide opportunities new experience further exploration Connect to future experiences Enlightenment/fun/joy Problem solve Build skills Communication – seeing themself in the position Finding purpose Build confidence in their ability (wins) empathetic Have fun feel empowered and inspired to know they can make a difference/real world to feel included, (culturally/gender) to see what they can be to feel safe & heard to feel connected to their community they can learn from failures Engaging “tricky” students ask a lot of questions some are afraid of failure confidence building it’s ok to take a risk For our participants, the big “whys” behind all of this are for students who feel inspired, valued, and heard; to see that they can make a difference in the their community and contribute to the happiness of others. The Assets we bring to learning We continued our discussion by asking about the assets the students, teachers, and community partners bring to the table to support student engagement in real world projects. For students, the key assets noted across our discussion groups are their curiosity, excitement, and perspective. Other assets include their: ideas background knowledge culture/cultural perspective (language and norms) In the case of educators, it is their own passions, ability to facilitate inquiry based work and create the space and structure for this work to happen that are key assets that support student engagement in real world projects. Others include: connections resources justification expectations community partners culture growth mindset dedication empathy communication For community partners, the most noted assets are the expertise, relevance, and perspective they can bring. It’s their view of the world from beyond school which helps make the work relevant to students and gives them an incentive beyond grades to dive deep. Other assets noted in our discussions include: expertise resources awareness different lens support for students/teachers for experiences Role models/mentors Finally, it was noted that all three groups bring their own cultural intersectionalities, which create the opportunity for much richer collaboration and learning. Barriers. A familiar list We wrapped up the discussion with a quick inventory of barriers to engaging students in real world projects. The list should look familiar: too much internet? loss of community/hands on opportunities Switch from micro (classroom) to macro (real world) not enough trust of teachers not enough time/prep Focus on standardized testing Time Inequities/Disadvantage Lack of access to resources & support Money Balance of commitments Out-of-touch leadership Overworked teachers No opportunity to collaborate Student, school, community misalignment Teachers almost anything out of the classroom legislation Community Partners understanding connections to curriculum time for meaningful engagement Students need to balance effort across classes to prevent burnout jobs home responsibilities (cleaning, cooking, siblings, etc.) Acknowledgements Thanks again to MSOE’s STEM Center for hosting Collab Labs this season and to our featured participants for the experience and insight they brought to the discussion: Chris Beimborn – UW-Milwaukee EnQuest Coordinator and STEM Outreach Manager Abby McGill – Marquette University, Engineers without Borders Anne-Marie Warren, Laura Pizano, Pelumi Ajayi – Student Fellows with MSOE’s Create Institute Hunter Turcin & Amish Verma – Students working with Learn Deep in MSOE’s Software Development Lab Continue the Conversation If you like the topics we select every month and would like to continue the conversation, we invite you to join ‘inspirEd’, an online Collaborative Learning Community. We focus on growing our innovative teaching practice together by sharing what works and what hasn’t.

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Working with Community Partners for student success – Recap & Notes
January 20, 2022

How can organizations and educators effectively collaborate for greater student success? Our December Collab Lab conversations explored the benefits, needs and hurdles of collaboration on student learning experiences. One of the major hurdles for teachers to be able to create truly engaging real world experiences with students is the challenge of involving the appropriate outside expertise at the appropriate time in a student’s project. And if the student is encouraged to determine when that additional expertise would be helpful, things get even more messy. But since we all recognize the value of bringing in that outside perspective, what are some (proven) approaches that teachers could adopt as they venture in the world of student driven learning experiences? Our December 2021 Collab Lab (what’s a Collab Lab?) provided an opportunity to explore how we might leverage outside resources and begin establishing relationships to shift the use of ‘mentors’ from a 30 minute ‘song and dance’ to a meaningful semester long mentor relationship that draws out the best in each student? After taking some time to to explore the participant’s own experience with collaboration, either as an educator or as a community partner, we asked the starting question to some great conversations: How can we create the circumstance for effective collaboration amongst teachers and (supportive individuals at) community organizations? Common themes highlighted by all groups were: Communication, including feedback, is a major factor in successful collaboration when it comes to blending learning inside and outside the classroom; Commitment to the relationship and a plan for ongoing involvement; Flexibility of participation on a week by week basis (‘school’ is a messy workplace); Clarity around who is available as a partner and what kind of input and commitment is offered; Nothing too stunning, and in fact these are core aspects of any successful and sustaining collaboration in the business world and public-private partnerships. What is unique is that these conversations provided an opportunity for educators and community members in non-profit and corporate settings to hear from each other what makes (common) sense to pursue if we are serious about working together for the greater benefit of the students in Milwaukee. What makes this more challenging? The complex environment we’ve created that we call ‘school’. This list is not claiming to be complete, but it does provide several worthwhile entry points for further exploration if we want to come together in an (STEM) ecosystem to gradually implement the type of learning that we know 21st century students need exposure to if we want to develop the talent our communities are in desperate need of. A great starting point for further exploration of ‘what’s possible’! Interested in this type of conversation and being part of creating the shift in education we need? Join our Collaborative Learning Community ‘inspirEd’ and become part of creating the future of education. What should effective partnerships offer teacher, students and partners? Here is what the attendees uncovered: Teachers Partners Students setting expectations of what’s possible setting expectations of what’s possible continuous learning made possible involving partners enriches the curriculum enables partner to better meet funder standards getting out of the classroom in a meaningful way It addresses the need for funds for activities (and PD) offer culturally responsive practices opportunity for hands on activities, leading to exposure to careers having a list of partners to pull from exposure for educators and students stimulating creativity and curiosity Receive feedback from partner receive feedback from educators active engagement in the learning: “I wonder….?” continuity & longitudinal experiences flexibility to work with school/grade needs accountability to learning outcomes sustaining relationships through transitions plan of action for building ongoing relationships more than one-time experiences willingness to try Connect with the greater community – schools, families open-ended-ness of learning and exploring pre-planning events open, collaborative communication engagement with people and community ideas for what to include in teaching through learning experiences who are the partners and when are they available? opportunity to explore the Why? community involvement in learning experiences clear idea of the goal of partnering with teachers STEM and business careers exposure sharing experience with ‘being involved’ sharing experience with ‘being involved’ sharing experience with ‘being involved’ exposure to work, careers, etc. exposure needs and challenge of teaching exposure to mentors, work and concepts meaningful volunteer opportunities builds hope and ability to dream about their place in the community hearing from others what an organization might do for the community talent recruiting What is needed to develop an effective collaboration for student success? There are a lot of good intentions among those early to recognize that collaboration with teachers in real world focused student projects present great benefit and opportunity. But how do we practically get to a place where we can start realizing those benefits? The attendees have the following suggestions: Teacher Partner Student access to partners access to teachers Access to mentors ‘from the real world’ budget available budget for interaction at middle/high school level learning takes time curriculum alignment available time to volunteer training available time to devote experience with mentoring (middle school) students set behavior goals (accountability) Training (pbl, technology, management) individual commitment to engage for the duration of a student project how to drive their full engagement management support administration/upper management support and involvement commitment to learn transportation and other logistical resources time co-teaching commitment to support alignment to learning standards alignment to learning standards motivation a coordinators cross curricular / interdisciplinary activities energy growth mindset growth mindset set of goals for collaboration patience class visits a list of ‘what’s possible’ willingness to take risks Patience growth mindset What gets in the way of successful collaboration ? We all can imagine the sorts of things that get in the way of teachers doing their best teaching and community partners staying committed over time. What stood out for me was A lack of advocating for the benefits of hands-on learning experiences through more….

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