Future Leaders Brand Jam

Learning Goals & Products

Learning Goals

Students will be able to identify and summarize peer strengths, interests, and experiences that can strengthen cohort belonging and collaboration.

Students will be able to analyze the Future Leaders program expectations, routines, and launch activities to define what makes this learning experience different from a traditional academic program.

Students will be able to synthesize user evidence from peer interviews and group inquiry into a student-created brand identity for the Future Leaders cohort.

Products

individual

Peer Strengths Interview Notes and Personal Brand Prototype

Each student will conduct a short peer interview, capture evidence of one classmate’s strengths and needs, and create a one-page personal prototype for how they contribute to the cohort brand. This artifact shows individual understanding of peers, program expectations, and how user evidence informs design.

team

Future Leaders Cohort Brand Kit and Launch Presentation

Small teams will use interview evidence and program analysis to co-create a shared brand identity, including values, norms, visuals, a slogan, and one signature ritual. Teams will present and justify their design to the cohort and program staff as a usable identity for the year.

Rubric

Competency Progression Rubric Competency-first rubric

Category	Learning Goal	Stage 1	Stage 2	Stage 3	Stage 4
Deeper Learning Competencies	Collaboration	I can participate in group planning by sharing my ideas and listening to teammates’ suggestions during our Future Leaders brand kit work I can follow agreed-upon roles and contribute at least one part of the kit (e.g., a value, norm, or ritual) with support.	I can co-design our Future Leaders brand kit by asking clarifying questions, offering evidence from our cohort research, and building on teammates’ ideas I can help maintain shared decision-making by proposing options, explaining my reasoning, and adjusting my contributions when the team chooses differently.	I can lead collaboration by facilitating productive discussions, resolving misunderstandings, and ensuring all voices are heard in our brand decisions I can synthesize team feedback into concrete choices for our values, norms, visuals, and signature rituals, and I can defend those choices using what we learned about belonging, accountability, and purpose.	I can independently sustain strong team collaboration by setting norms for respectful communication, balancing ideas, and guiding conflict toward solutions that strengthen our shared identity I can demonstrate relational agency by taking initiative—organizing next steps, mentoring peers in consensus-building, and using peer feedback to refine our brand kit with clear, team-owned rationale.
Deeper Learning Competencies	Critical Thinking & Problem Solving	I can ask focused questions about what helps a community thrive and identify a few possible values, norms, or rituals that match our cohort’s needs I can explain my ideas using evidence from at least one source (peer stories, program features, or notes) and describe a simple next step to test or improve my thinking.	I can analyze evidence from multiple classmates and the program context to identify patterns about belonging, accountability, and purpose I can compare at least two approaches for our brand identity, describe the tradeoffs, and revise my recommendations based on feedback or new information.	I can generate several innovative but realistic options for our student-created brand kit and justify which option best addresses the community challenge I can evaluate how well each option would work in practice by predicting likely outcomes, identifying potential unintended effects (e.g., exclusion or uneven participation), and proposing adjustments.	I can independently synthesize complex, sometimes conflicting evidence into a clear, defensible set of brand decisions that improve belonging and collaboration for our cohort I can use data from feedback during implementation to refine our norms and rituals, explaining how my reasoning evolved and what evidence supports the final choices.
Deeper Learning Competencies	Effective Communication	I can listen actively to my classmates by asking clarifying questions and summarizing what I heard before I respond I can share my ideas respectfully using evidence from our discussions, and I can reflect on how my communication helped or didn’t help our group during the identity kickoff.	I can communicate with empathy by using “I” statements, acknowledging others’ perspectives, and adjusting my message to fit the purpose of our cohort brand work I can present my contributions (values, norms, or rituals) clearly and support them with specific reasons or examples from research and peer stories.	I can facilitate clear shared understanding by synthesizing multiple classmates’ ideas into communication that others can act on, such as a draft set of brand language or signature rituals I can request and incorporate peer feedback to improve clarity and inclusivity, explaining how my communication changed based on the evidence we gathered.	I can communicate with leadership by guiding respectful dialogue, ensuring every voice is heard, and resolving misunderstandings using active listening and accurate restatement I can present and defend our final brand kit in an interactive showcase, connecting my learning reflections to how our communication supports belonging, accountability, and purpose for the whole cohort.
Deeper Learning Competencies	Academic Mindset	I can describe how I fit into the Future Leaders community by naming my strengths, interests, and one value that helps me feel safe and included I can reflect on how my actions during the launch sessions affect my own participation and sense of belonging.	I can identify and use specific strategies to build my self-efficacy as a member of the cohort by setting a personal goal tied to belonging, accountability, or purpose I can explain how my choices influence group outcomes and adjust my approach based on peer feedback and short reflections.	I can use evidence from my participation (e.g., feedback, my notes, peer interactions) to evaluate what supports or challenges my growth and belonging I can set and revise measurable goals, justify my plan with reflections on what’s working, and take initiative to strengthen the community identity and norms we’re building.	I can demonstrate a sustained academic mindset by independently monitoring my progress toward cohort and personal goals and making data-informed adjustments I can articulate how my identity and agency shape the community’s culture, reflect critically on setbacks, and lead my own improvement by proposing next steps that support belonging, accountability, and purpose for the whole cohort.
Deeper Learning Competencies	Content Expertise	I can identify and explain the key ideas from my research about what helps a community thrive, and I can connect them to specific elements in our Future Leaders brand kit (values, norms, rituals) I can use examples from my cohort to show where my ideas come from.	I can synthesize evidence from multiple classmates’ stories and program features to propose brand-kit choices that fit our cohort’s needs I can justify why each selected value, norm, or ritual is important, using clear references to my evidence and observations.	I can develop and refine brand-kit components by applying what I learned to new situations in our cohort (e.g., how we communicate, participate, and resolve misunderstandings) I can evaluate tradeoffs among options and revise our decisions based on what best supports belonging, accountability, and purpose.	I can independently create a cohesive, student-designed brand identity by integrating evidence, reflection, and team feedback into a polished kit that our cohort can use consistently throughout the year I can explain how my content choices will affect community behaviors and measure impact using feedback and observations from the session.