René Magritte, Elective Affinities (1933).
Two quick updates this afternoon.
Q3 GAP Scores and Grades
Q3 grades will be finalized on April 17, not the pre-COVID calendar date of April 24.
Your final Q3 grade will be the average of three scores: the two GAP scores posted on March 27 and a final profile score based on the distance learning from March 25 through April 15.
We’ll stop the Q3 assessment process on April 15 to give us two days to clarify your profiles through evidentiary discussion and analysis.
This last GAP score will reflect the same universal skills, traits, and profiles. The process is the same, minus any consideration of in-class focus.
You have been — and will be, through next Wednesday — responsible for checking in each day with a goal, filling out the weekly self-assessments, and advocating for any feedback you need. You should also have shared any relevant evidence related to your current project.
The language of the profiles can be applied to any circumstances, including distance learning. That language is student-centered and flexible. Think of it as a perpetually aggregate model: It rewards you for what you’ve done well, adding that evidence up until it fits a profile.
There will be a Q3C profile report, just like there usually is at the end of the panel, but it will not be part of Q3. Instead, it will be another way for you to take stock of your progress, sort through your work, and communicate your progress. We will use it in Q4.
In other words, that final GAP report will be given next week to start a discussion, not as the last required assignment of this strange last panel of the quarter.
Before Q3C scores are posted, you’ll have two days to discuss them with me. Right now, the plan is to post scores on April 17. Keep in mind that this situation is constantly changed, however.
Pareto Projects
Back in September, which feels like it was at least several years ago, we started your passion projects. These 20-Time or Pareto Projects were designed to lead into the Senior Talk, but only as one potential outcome; the real focus, as with any passion project, was to help you explore and learn and create.
This week, Apple posted the following:
If you have an Apple account and device, that list of apps is worth a serious look. The same apps are available through Google, for the most part. But you don’t need apps to set aside some of your free time now for a project of your own design.
This kind of thinking has always been part of our makerspace. The assessment and instructional innovations have allowed us to dedicate time to you as an individual, and the prime example has always been the Pareto Project.
So this Apple store story is an authentic validation of our space. The most important thing you learn is something about how you learn, because you can always learn something new. The more you learn, the more you’re likely to find your own passion.
Your final projects are going to need some tweaking, and you can predict what that means: We’ll need to prioritize the projects, organize your time based on the latest news from Governor Cuomo, and adjust your final products to work within distance learning limitations.
A passion project is about you, though. Fortunately, if you find something you want to study/create/etc, it’s likely to fit into a required project. It might even replace a requirement entirely, depending on the scope and sequence of what you want to do.
Remember, your work in the Humanities is about reading and writing as a way to develop universal skills and traits. It’s the study of you, though, more than anything else. It’s about what makes you human, what connects you to others, and how you can build a better version of yourself through the work we do.
These passion projects have always been a way to pursue those goals, so don’t ignore the opportunity to start one, even if it’s already April 9. You’ll find, again, that a Pareto Project makes it easier to generate whatever required projects are left. We’ll find a way to fit that passion into our final two months.
Ask questions about this below. Tomorrow, you’ll get an update with more feedback and instruction, and that should be followed on Monday by a post that simplifies and streamlines your second-semester projects.
For a pareto project I was thinking, due to our drive in movie not working, maybe we could have an online movie night of some sorts to bring our community together to chat. I have no idea how I’m going to do this, due to legal reasons on streams, but I was thinking maybe a Zoom session of some sorts. I just thought of this idea because as much as I love staying home, I miss my classmates and teachers. So my idea is to bring some sort of community together in the time of social distancing that won’t cause hazard to health. Of course I am open to suggestions and feedback as I myself don’t know the exact logistics of how we can put this together.