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2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th Grades  Project 20 weeks

My Learning Journey: Growth Beyond the Finish Line

Kyra S
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.WHST.6-8.5
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.2.5
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.WHST.6-8.7
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.3.4
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.4.4
+ 11 more
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Purpose

Students will investigate the essential question, “How might we help students understand and tell the story of their own growth as learners?” Over 20 weeks, they will collect drafts, feedback, reflections, audio recordings, and visual evidence that reveal learning as an ongoing process rather than only showcasing finished work. Students will identify patterns, set goals, revise their work, and collaborate with peers to strengthen their growth stories. They will share an age-appropriate multimedia learning narrative that communicates challenges, strategies, progress, and next steps to an authentic audience.

Learning goals

Students will explore, “How might we help students understand and tell the story of their own growth as learners?” They will routinely collect drafts, feedback, reflections, and finished work as evidence of progress, then identify strengths, challenges, strategies, and next steps. Students will revise growth narratives for purpose and audience; older students will investigate a self-generated question using multiple sources, while younger students will recount learning experiences with relevant details. Through peer collaboration, students will create and present an organized written, visual, or audio story that communicates their developing skills, knowledge, identity, and sense of belonging.

Standards
  • [Common Core] CCSS.ELA-Literacy.WHST.6-8.5 - With some guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach, focusing on how well purpose and audience have been addressed.
  • [Common Core] CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.2.5 - Create audio recordings of stories or poems; add drawings or other visual displays to stories or recounts of experiences when appropriate to clarify ideas, thoughts, and feelings.
  • [Common Core] CCSS.ELA-Literacy.WHST.6-8.7 - Conduct short research projects to answer a question (including a self-generated question), drawing on several sources and generating additional related, focused questions that allow for multiple avenues of exploration.
  • [Common Core] CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.3.4 - Report on a topic or text, tell a story, or recount an experience with appropriate facts and relevant, descriptive details, speaking clearly at an understandable pace.
  • [Common Core] CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.4.4 - Report on a topic or text, tell a story, or recount an experience in an organized manner, using appropriate facts and relevant, descriptive details to support main ideas or themes; speak clearly at an understandable pace.
  • [Common Core] CCSS.ELA-Literacy.WHST.6-8.10 - Write routinely over extended time frames (time for reflection and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of discipline-specific tasks, purposes, and audiences.
  • [Common Core] CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.3.5 - Create engaging audio recordings of stories or poems that demonstrate fluid reading at an understandable pace; add visual displays when appropriate to emphasize or enhance certain facts or details.
  • [Common Core] CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.2.5 - With guidance and support from adults and peers, focus on a topic and strengthen writing as needed by revising and editing.
  • [Common Core] CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.8.5 - With some guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach, focusing on how well purpose and audience have been addressed.
  • [Common Core] CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.7.5 - With some guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach, focusing on how well purpose and audience have been addressed.
Competencies
  • Self Directed Learning - Students use teacher and peer feedback and self-reflection to monitor and direct their own learning while building self knowledge both in and out of the classroom.
  • Effective Communication - Students practice listening to understand, communicating with empathy, and share their learning through exhibiting, presenting and reflecting on their work.
  • Content Expertise - Students develop key competencies, skills, and dispositions with ample opportunities to apply knowledge and engage in work that matters to them.
  • Collaboration - Students co-design projects with peers, exercise shared-decision making, strengthen relational agency, resolve conflict, and assume leadership roles.
  • Critical Thinking & Problem Solving - Students consider a variety of innovative approaches to address and understand complex questions that are authentic and important to their communities.
  • Academic Mindset - Students establish a sense of place, identity, and belonging to increase self-efficacy while engaging in critical reflection and action.

Products

Students will build a weekly growth record featuring unfinished work, mistakes, feedback, revisions, and brief reflections on what changed and why. They will collect evidence through drawings, captions, audio recordings, photos, or written entries; grades 6–8 will also investigate a self-generated learning question using several sources. Peer partners will give feedback and help select evidence that clearly communicates growth to an audience. As a final product, each student will create and present a multimedia “My Learning Story” that answers, “How might we help students understand and tell the story of their own growth as learners?”

Launch

Show students a polished piece of work alongside its early draft, feedback, and revision, then invite pairs to identify evidence of growth. Ask, “How might we help students understand and tell the story of their own growth as learners?” Students choose one recent learning experience, sketch a quick “before, challenge, change, next step” timeline, and share it with a partner. Close by collecting students’ ideas for evidence—such as drafts, photos, audio reflections, feedback, and mistakes—that can make learning growth visible.

Exhibition

Host a “Growth Story Gallery” where students share a learning journey that includes an early attempt, feedback, revisions, a later attempt, and a short reflection on how they changed as learners. Students choose an age-appropriate format—display board, digital story, audio recording, or live presentation—and explain how their evidence answers, “How might we help students understand and tell the story of their own growth as learners?” Invite classmates, families, and school staff to listen, ask questions, and leave specific feedback about growth they noticed. Close with small reflection circles in which students name a strength, a next step, and one lesson learned from another presenter.