Quick links (also available through the site menus on the top or left):
- Overview
- ✰ Self-Prescribed Book Project
- ✰ Research-Driven Essay
- ✰ Commencement Address
- ✰ Pareto Projects and Senior Talks
- Final Obligations
- Final Assessments
- Statements of Purpose
The image below is from the Buck Institute for Education. These are essential project design elements for the work being asked of you during this final semester.
We will go over those elements separately. Here, first, are the three most important things to remember about these projects:
- Almost every aspect of every project can be individualized.
- Certain requirements, like the MLA formatting of your research paper, cannot be individualized.
- You must read the instructional posts carefully in order to individualize the work and make it authentic.
- Don’t jump into a project without understanding exactly what the parameters are. You can only individualize things if you start from the same place!
- Your in-class focus and use of feedback will determine your grade abatement profile more than any other aspect of your learning.
- This is the same as it ever was, but it’s worth repeating: You are accountable for your choices during the period, such as setting clear goals and staying focused on one of these projects.
You can approach these projects in any order. On Google Classroom, the semester looks like this:
That snapshot also highlights your daily goal-setting, which is more than a requirement: It’s also the best way for you to stay focused and organized for the final four months of the year.
Note that this screenshot doesn’t include the category for formative assessments. Those assignments will be created as needed; they will check what you know, determine what you need to be taught, and help us individualize the process for each project. An example is this post on crafting statements of purpose:
That post is embedded below, and it will be reviewed in class; for some folks, however, it may not be necessary. It depends on how skilled you are in crafting a thesis or crux for your project.
Here on the course website, the category page for this semester lists the instructional posts by descending post date:
The first post is an overview of the process, including a review of how the makerspace functions:
The next four posts cover the projects themselves — four or five in total, depending on how the Pareto Project and the Senior Talk overlap for each individual. Note that all projects can be connected, and many aspects can be combined.
Finally, these two posts provide lists of what is due, how it is assessed, etc, including information about the final exam:
The information in these last two posts has been reformatted, printed, and photocopied for use offline. Because it involves the final exam, the post on Pareto Projects and Senior Talks has also been reformatted and printed. Here is the folder with those resources:
Below, each of the instructional posts has been embedded. This does a couple of things for us. First, it shows the blurb about the post next to an illustrative thumbnail. Second, and more importantly, it shows the comment count for each post.
The best way for you to engage with these materials is to push that comment counter up. Use that resource! It doesn’t just provide you immediate access to feedback from a teacher. It’s also a way to discuss these projects with your peers, share and workshop ideas, post links to finished work, and much more.
(Using the interstitial resources of the course, like the comment section of a post, will also generate evidence of the skills and traits found in the highest grade abatement profiles.)