Exposition

Exposition is a time when the community gathers together to witness the culmination of months of exploration and project work. Students explain their project work to their community and themselves through written and oral presentations, question and answer sessions, and demonstrations in a developmentally-appropriate way depending on their age and skill level. In presentation, they develop robust and flexible communication skills and integrate their most recent work into their continuing intellectual and social-emotional growth.

Presentation

During Exposition week there are two ways in which the students display their work: through band presentations and displays at expo night. On each band’s presentation day, peers and parents gather to watch the students present and answer questions about their work. Throughout the arc, bands discuss, develop and practice their presentation skills. In the early elementary, students might prepare questions that they will answer in a Q&A format during presentations, in later elementary kids create a script, by middle school and high school students are creating presentations and learning how to give compelling TED-like presentations.

Expo Night

On Expo Night, the school is flooded by families, project experts and community members. The students create displays about their projects, show off their portfolios and do demonstrations of their work. As guests wander around students answer questions about their project when they aren’t checking out their peers’ work. Expo Night is the exclamation mark that punctuates the end of the arc!

Assessment

Assessment. There is something about this word that evokes school uniforms, imperious teachers and students hunched over desks taking tests. It carries the baggage of decades of hierarchical classrooms, but this word has beautiful origins.  Assessment comes from the Latin root assidre, which means ‘to sit beside.’  Built into this word is a tenant dear to the Brightworks philosophy: that students have ownership over their own learning and work side by side with their collaborators.  

How we reflect with students on their growth might just be the most important factor in developing their sense of agency.  That is why we have students lead their assessments meetings in student-led conferences. They reflect on the work they’ve gathered in their portfolio with their parents and collaborator. The document that is sent home at the end of Exploration and again at the end of Expression is a dialogue between the student and their collaborator that celebrates their strengths and outlines a plan for their areas of growth.