LearnStorm and Ceiba College Prep

[Music] Watsonville, California, is an agricultural community. We have 98% of our students who are Latino, and about 90% of our students speak Spanish as their first language. Teachers cannot do their job alone; they need to have resources because every class that they receive, which is usually between 25 and 30, has a variety of learners in that classroom.

So, teachers use a wide variety of tech tools in their classrooms, and Khan Academy is one of those tools because it allows for differentiation amongst the learners. I want to subtract four here. What you do, Miss Kodo, takes teaching as a skill and turns it into an art form. This year was amazing with Learnstorm. I had a group of students that couldn't add, subtract, multiply, or divide fractions. They avoided it at all costs, but since it was an assignment, they would try it, and they would eventually do much better.

What was amazing was that the lower-achieving students were able to see that they were part of something huge; they were able to contribute. I thought that boosted their self-confidence, their self-esteem, and I didn't realize that would happen. After doing Learnstorm, I really made me realize how much you can grow in just a short amount of time, and if you put that same amount of effort, you can grow even more.

I'm impressed, and many of you guys are getting it right. Some of you guys are getting stuck; I will show you where you're getting stuck, and I love that you're not giving up. All of our classmates worked so well together, and it really showed that we really did win as a team. It was really breathtaking because I think our goal was just to reach level 12, and then we ended up reaching like level 36. We completed, I think, 8080 assignments.

First thing in the morning, I had everybody start doing some mastery challenges, and after I took roll, I said, "Okay guys, let's look at the progress tracker," and it just kept going up; the students loved it. The growth mindset activities we watched one every single week as a group, and they would share their ideas with their partners. I can see towards the end of the year they don't give up; they work harder.

"Keep going, keep growing" means to push your limits, and even if you make a mistake, learn from them and keep growing with your learning. Thinking about Learnstorm and the students going to college almost makes me want to cry because I think at the beginning so many of the students felt, "I just can't do it." But because they were able to do Learnstorm and their skills are so much higher now, they know that they can keep going and keep growing, and nothing will stand in their way.