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Board previews "effective communicator" competency; students demonstrate AI and tech learning
Summary
The district outlined plans to make the Portrait of a Graduate competency 'effective communicator' the focus next year, linking it to critical thinking and digital literacy; students from the district—s student tech team demonstrated classroom uses of AI tools, VR and cybersecurity practice.
Norwalk school leaders described plans to make "effective communicator" the Portrait of a Graduate competency for the 2025—26 academic year and showed how that work links to critical thinking and digital literacy. Students then demonstrated classroom uses of AI tools, VR experiences and cybersecurity competitions.
Kimberly (district curriculum lead) said the effective communicator work builds on the district—s critical thinking focus and will emphasize making student thinking visible through speech, writing and collaborative discourse. The district presented a vertical articulation document that breaks communicative competencies into grade-level expectations and ties them to social-emotional learning and digital literacy.
The board and staff discussed teacher supports, professional development, and how schools will signal to students and families when instruction targets portrait competencies. Staff said the plan will be embedded in professional learning, school improvement plans and instructional "look-for" documents used during classroom visits.
Following the district presentation, the student tech team and classroom students demonstrated multiple AI and digital tools in use across classrooms: Canva image generation, ChatGPT for age-appropriate explanations and brainstorming, Adobe Express—s AI-driven media tools, Sakespace (student research/chat with source documents), Google Translate in bilingual communication, Book Creator AI image generation and AI-assisted drawing, VR/AR field trips and a CyberPatriots cybersecurity team that practices virtual-machine forensics and system hardening for competitions.
Students described classroom uses such as translating with Google Translate to communicate with peers, VR experiences that recreate historical sites and ecosystems for deeper learning, and CyberPatriots tasks that remove malware, manage user access and analyze forensic clues. District staff and board members praised the student demonstrations and noted the presentations illustrated the intersection of the Portrait of a Graduate competencies and practical classroom application of technology.
This item was a briefing and demonstration; no formal board action was taken. Staff said they will continue developing resources, teacher-facing materials and grade-level exemplars for the effective communicator roll-out.
