Helping students track their learning

Do you ever find an old photo album at a family member’s house?

• “I forgot about that high school ski trip!”
• “My first recital, I was so scared!”
• “That time dad drove off without the suitcases!”
• “This is me filling out my first job application by hand!”

Imagine if as you grew up, you were writing down one highlight of the week. Each week. Just a highlight. By the time you were an adult, you’d have a massive library of personal stories. Personal stories clear the path to self-discovery for students.

Inconsequential as it sounds, tracking life’s journey in and out of the classroom is a big deal!

High school counselors and educators, you know the power of tracking a student’s learning journey. But you also know it’s a ton of work. Imagine if you didn’t have to do all the heavy lifting, and the students learned even more about themselves!

Peter Hostrawser, “The Unlearning Coach” has some thoughts on educators monitoring a student’s progress.

Who remembers stuffing all their special projects, report cards, and random notes in a Trapper Keeper each year? Funny in hindsight, but what a mess! Today we’re not much better.

You might find student files scattered across Google Drive, Dropbox, LMS, or other storage spaces. High school juniors and seniors start to panic when they realize how much work organizing and summarizing their experience is.

What have they done for the last four years? What did it all mean? 

There’s a better way!

When students leave high school, they leave behind their digital shoeboxes. That’s why it’s so important for teens to develop a spikeview portfolio before graduation, to track their journey, and develop stories about their growth as a young adult.