Prophets:
people gifted with more than ordinary moral insight
who stand out as effective leaders for a cause.
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Objectives of Nonprofit Prophets
In order to encourage students to become prophets for causes important to them, Nonprofit Prophets attempts to boost achievement by having students develop a solution to something they truly view as a "problem." Investing effort, investigating evidence and inventing solutions will challenge students to research, hypothesize, legitimately interact with professionals, and to create learning resources and solutions that will impact the real world. Specifically, the targeted outcomes are:
Academic Achievement:
- to investigate the needs of their community.
- to create publishable articles, art work, music, video, etc. for a Web page that students will create as a resource for people interested in their topic.
- to stretch their capabilities to the extent that they meet the expectations of the adult work world.
- to learn a professionally-used technology.
- to communicate the acquired learning in authentic presentations to community evaluators.
Attitude & Motivation:
- to create a sense of caring and community in students.
- to develop positive commitment and identification with their "communities."
- to show students that they can use sophisticated computer applications.
- to promote self-esteem through interaction with community professionals.
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Curriculum / Frameworks Links to Nonprofit Prophets
This project targets 9th and 10th grade English, Social Science, Health and Earth Science/Biology classes. It could also be used as a focal project in Applied Technology courses.
"Core Team" = Nonprofit Prophets was made for these classes!
"§" = the frameworks support participation by these classes.
Other Areas = students here could act as "sub-contracted" collaborators.
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Real World Applications in Nonprofit Prophets
Personal Commitment
In order to be successful in life as well as school, students must make a personal commitment to themselves and their values. Too often students merely go through the motions by "playing school." The following elements of Nonprofit Prophets contribute to fostering a high level of personal commitment. A premise of this project is that students will get out of the project a benefit equal to their investment.
- Students should have no excuse but to hold a strong personal commitment to the problem they choose to investigate.
- Interdependency with team members will require students to work cooperatively and to be responsible for their piece of the project.
- Because this is a real world project, resources and obstacles will vary. Students who are committed to their team, project and the topic will persevere through inevitable frustrations.
- Because student teams will be "contracting" some of their work out to other students at other schools (i.e., graphic arts, video production, etc.), the core team's commitment to creating a quality product will elicit the best from "sub-contracted" students.
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Human Collaborations Permeate Nonprofit Prophets
Through collaborating and depending upon people, students will become more connected with their peers, local professionals, and communities. Teachers should leverage these important collaborations as ways to engage students in the inherent "human-ness" generated by the project. Students should view Nonprofit Prophets as more than merely an intellectual endeavor that uses a lot of technology. People are what Nonprofit Prophets is really about. Among the people students will be collaborating with are:
- fellow classroom teammates.
- students in other schools.
- students at different grade levels.
- community representatives.
- college students and professors in related fields.
- government and political leaders.
- professionals from local and distant nonprofit service organizations.
- business professionals.
- other colleagues students discover through the course of the project.
- mentors who share a dedication to solving an important problem.
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Authentic Investigation
Too often school learning is using packaged texts to pursue the artificial process of "discovering" someone else's answers. This project requires that students explore a wide and ever expanding array of information sources. A special resource page entitled Resources for Investigating Problems/Researching is provided to support student work. Ultimately, students will add their own learning to the body of knowledge that exists on their topic available to the world on the Internet.
- Students will use the internet to investigate potential topics.
- Students will explore an array of resources, references, and tools (Web and gopher sites, e-mail correspondence, newsgroups, listservs, etc.) on the internet to learn about their topic and to make contacts with experts in the field.
- Students will test their hypotheses with consultants, mentors, and peers.
- Students will receive feedback from a variety of people in the real world (consultants, professionals, peers, students of different ages as well as Web surfers who happen upon the projects).
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Student Construction of Meaning and Cognition
Like authentic investigation on the topic of the students' choosing, the manner in which students interact with the available resources and material impacts their learning. A constructivist learning model underlies this project in that students have access to a rich, contextually-based collection of resources. From this array, students must make sense, or "construct meaning." The cognitive model's emphasis on examining the schema of experts to scaffold the learning of novices also informs this project. Once students have constructed their own meaning or schema for the topic, on-going interaction with experts will allow the younger learners to test their developing understanding with that of their mentors. Specifically:
- Because students care about their topic, they will be likely to employ more effective "habits of mind." (see the Dimensions of Learning by Robert Marzano and others)
- Because students are exploring the real world, the information and perspectives they receive will be varied. This will require the students to construct their own understanding of the topic.
- Because students will have contact with real world consultants & experts, the students will be able to pursue and follow-up on the pieces they need to fill in their own personal cognitive schema on the problem.
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Technology Infusion
In Nonprofit Prophets, technology is used as a both a tool for pursuing high quality learning as well as an instrument for creating cutting-edge products. Thus, the technologies used fall into two main categories: research and production. In order to research their chosen topics, students will make frequent use of the following TeleComputing (internet) and Interactive TeleLearning (video conferencing) resources.
- World Wide Web Resources Pages
- on-line encyclopedias and/or databases
- Newsgroups
- e-mail and listservers
- TeleLearning workshops, interviews, consultations, and evaluations
- Virtual field trips
Once the students have acquired a foundation of information, they begin the process of creating their products. Students may work individually or in pairs at the specific tasks mentioned above to bring their project together.
Students will work as individuals or pairs within a collaborative group to complete one of the specific tasks/technology products below:
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Participating in Nonprofit Prophets
Levels of Participation
Core Teams: see the Frameworks matrix above.
- Core Teams - conduct research and work with partners from nonprofit organizations.
- Core Team - conduct research and work with partners from nonprofit organizations + develop the World Wide Web pages.
- Core Team - conduct research and work with partners from nonprofit organizations + develop the World Wide Web pages + complete other technology jobs.
Support Teams: these could be English, science, social science or health classes other than the core grade levels or elective classes like Applied Technology, Graphic Art, Computers, Video Production, Photography, etc.
- Data Gathers / Researchers
- "Contracted" Technologists
- Feedback Providers
Interested classes can participate at any number of levels of involvement because this is a collaborative effort that will rely on many pieces coming together. Part of the project manager's task will be to make sure all the participants are aligned and the pieces fit together. Then it becomes the students' real world task to complete their commitments to their partners.
Teacher Training for Participants in Nonprofit Prophets
Teachers who decide to participate in Nonprofit Prophets are invited to attend a one-day training held in a central location. Additional monthly or bimonthly group voice or video conferences will be held during the course of the project to provide updates, discuss new aspects of the curriculum, and to share successes and problem-solve setbacks. Updates and curriculum to complete the project will be available from this page as Nonprofit Prophets progresses.
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Resources for Participants in Nonprofit Prophets
Students and teachers involved in Nonprofit Prophets have an array of resources available on the internet and through video conferences. These resources have been linked throughout this Teacher's Guide and the Nonprofit Prophets' homepage. The main pages are listed below to assist the teacher by collecting resources in one place for ease of teacher perusal. They are also listed at the bottom of each page in this project. Three main Resource Pages have been created:
- Resources for Investigating Problems/Research. Students may want to use the links on this page to find a topic, research information, or make contact with experts. Notice that sample lesson plans from AskERIC are linked to each category. Many of these target younger students, but the activities provide good starting points / models for class-use. Consider the lessons as springboards for brainstorming or examples, not the activities designed for the topic.
- Resources for Technology Jobs. This page lists the seven possible technology jobs students could perform. Each listing identifies a mentor, outlines the required tasks, notes the technology requirements, and offers links to supporting resources located on the Internet.
- Writings and Linked Resources. These are possible writings / analyses that teachers/community partners/students may want to pursue. Each writing task comes with a prompting question and an online example from a real Web site. A selection of links to Web sites with handouts on editing, revision, and style are also offered.
These pages have been developed to save some surfing and to give ideas/first steps to teachers and students. What you find on these pages provides a structure upon which you, as the classroom teacher can individualize and customize for your students based upon local interests, abilities, time and technology constraints.
In addition, teachers and partners may find the following readings / resources of interest.
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Implementation
The "Prophets Summit"
As mentioned in the Teacher Training section above, a one-day intensive training, the "Prophets Summit," will be held once all participants and partners are lined up (late August or Early September, depending on people's schedules). Core Team teachers should plan to attend this session which will be facilitated by Tom March, K-12 Fellow for Education First/San Diego State. Here, we will work as a group to fine-tune the structure/collaborative jobs/partnerships, etc. and reach a mutually agreed upon timeline. Tom and a Nonprofit Prophets listserv will be available to support a smooth implementation of the project.
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Timeline for Non-Prophet Profits
As mentioned above, the exact timeline will be set by the teachers of the core teams meeting at the "Prophets' Summit." Most likely, major milestones in the project will occur roughly as follows:
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Roles & Responsibilities in Nonprofit Prophets
Just before the project begins, a series of agreements among partners and collaborators will need to be in place. This way everyone knows who's counting on them. It is the project manager's job to make sure that everyone is connected with appropriate partners to complete their responsibilities.
The main roles and responsibilities involve:
Role & Responsibilities of the Nonprofit Prophets Project Manager
The main responsibilities of the Project Manager (Tom March) include:
- Designing and developing a compelling and organized project.
- Aligning community partners who would be interested in working with students to create a World Wide Web page.
- Arranging for presentations/lessons by mentors in each of the technology areas.
- Arranging for real world feedback for student work via e-mail, video conference, or the World Wide Web.
- Facilitating implementation of the general project, making sure that all collaborative pieces have partners assigned to the task.
- Facilitating the on-going aspects of the project (multipoint video conferences, organizing the Nonprofit Prophets' listserv, etc.).
- Problem-solving with participants any issues/setbacks we might face.
Role & Responsibilities of Core Teams in Nonprofit Prophets
The main responsibilities of the Core Teams include:
- Selecting and researching a problem they want to investigate and help solve.
- Working professionally with professionals from a nonprofit organization to complete the writings that both students and their adult colleagues think would be needed/appropriate for a common Web page.
- Complete all the writings, reviews, quizzes, questionnaires, etc. needed for the Web page.
- Getting feedback and revising the writings until they are ready for publication.
- Developing any technology jobs taken on by the Core Team (creating the Web page?).
Role & Responsibilities of Technology Teams in Nonprofit Prophets
The main responsibilities of the Technology Teams include:
- Receiving training from the on-line mentor related to the technology job.
- Being clear on the tasks and due dates required by the Core Teams.
- Completing a prototype by the end of October.
- Revising the technology product based upon feedback from the Core Team and the nonprofit professionals.
- Having the product ready by mid-January.
Role & Responsibilities of Teachers in Nonprofit Prophets
The main responsibilities of Teachers include:
- Facilitating as students make contact with representatives in the community (remember, personal contact, more than e-mail, and video conferencing, is essential to the students really feeling connected to a community of caring individuals).
- Creating/facilitating the daily lesson plans/activities that support the content area learning you are using Nonprofit Prophets to convey.
- Organizing access to the needed technologies (based on the level of participation your class(es) sign-on to complete).
- Conduct/facilitate/arrange general technology training that students need (beyond the sessions offered by the on-line mentors).
Role & Responsibilities of Partners from Nonprofit Organizations
The main responsibilities of the Nonprofit Partners include:
- Clearly identifying the goals and needs of their organizations related to creating a World Wide Web page.
- Providing timely responses to student questions/needs (1 week turnaround)
- Appreciating that they are working with students, thus the goal is not merely a World Wide Web page, but the opportunity to help students.
- Modeling ethical behavior and positive interpersonal skills whenever possible.
- Developing a Web page that meets their own and the students' needs.
- Providing honest feedback to the students so that the joint project is truly valuable and can be used.
- These ideas are summed up in a "Letter of Agreement" that can be viewed and/or printed for reference.
Role & Responsibilities of Video Conference Mentors in Nonprofit Prophets
The main responsibilities of the Mentors include:
- Presenting a multipoint video conference for students completing the technology task at which the mentors excel.
- Preparing materials for the training session in advance so that they can be loaded on and shared from a World Wide Web server and therefore be available as an on-line resource after the video conference.
- Providing feedback (or arranging for students or colleagues to do so) on the students' products based upon the criteria identified in the training session.
- Perhaps participating on a final jury/review team to provide a last evaluation.
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