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Nathan Hale Senior Project

 

 

Table of Contents:

 

  • Overview                    

2

 

 
  • Senior Project Timeline

3

 

 
  • Guidelines for Determining an Appropriate Topic          

4

 

 
  • Senior Project Proposal Requirements 

5

 

 
  • Guidelines for Expert Advisor  

6

 

 
  • Interview with Expert Advisor  

7

 

 
  • Senior Project Research Assignment    

8

 

 
  • Senior Project format for the Journal/Time log 

9

 

 
  • Reflection on Learning Guidelines

10

 

 
  • Senior Project Notebook Checklist

10

 

 
  • Notebook Grading Rubric

      11

 

 
  • Presentation Guideline

12

 

 
  • Exhibition Grading Rubric

     13-14

 

 
  • Summary of Due Dates

     15

 

 

 

Senior Project Overview

 

Please read this packet carefully as there is much important information included in it.  If you have questions, please see Ms. Fedio in room 112 or email her at djtolentino@seattleschools.org.   Good luck as you undertake your senior project.

 

This year you will have the opportunity to spend time and earn credit learning a new skill that is of particular interest to you.  This project will demonstrate your ability to organize your time, motivate yourself, and sustain effort to achieve a goal over a long period of time. It is designed to encourage life-long learning, so it should be as fun, challenging, stimulating, fulfilling, and rewarding as possible.

 

The Senior Project you choose will fulfill one of Nathan Hale High School’s graduation requirements and will have many positive personal benefits for you.

 

 

The Senior Project is designed to:

 

·        Produce original and scholarly work

·        Give you the opportunity to synthesize your knowledge and develop your expertise, which may or may not be directly related to your course work at Hale.

·        Allow the opportunity for creative self-expression.

·        Provide additional practice in writing for a variety of purposes.

·        More actively involve the community in the learning process.

·        Increase school-to-work connections.

·        Encourage independent problem solving, time management, and achievement skills.

 

 

Important steps to completing a successful project:

 

·        Choose your topic wisely and early

·        Submit a formal project proposal

·        Complete a research assignment (3 sources – 1 page on each source)

·        Work on your project at least 50 hours throughout the year [Note:  Class time spent in Nathan Hale or running start classes does NOT count toward these 50 hours.]

·        Meet on a weekly basis with the mentorship teacher assigned to you.

·        Document and reflect on your project in regular journal entries and time log

·        Create a product/performance/demonstration of learning

·        Write a reflection paper

·        Assemble and submit your notebook

·        Complete a dry run and tech check

·        Give an exhibition

 

 

Senior Project information may be found on the Nathan hale website. 

http://www.seattleschools.org/schools/hale/

Senior Project Timeline

 

_____  Select a Topic.            

                       

 

_____  Choose an Expert Advisor.

 

_____  Complete the Expert Advisor interview and commitment sheet. This is due to you mentor

teacher by October 31st.

 

_­____  Meet regularly with this person (6-8 times throughout the year.)

 

 

_____  Write a Project Proposal.  It is due to Ms. Fedio in room 112 by 3:30 on October 31st.

            The senior project committee will review it and either approve or reject the proposal.

            The earlier you turn in the proposal the earlier you may begin working on the rest of the

            project.

 

_____  Research Assignment. (3-5 pages, details are found on page 8 of this packet. Complete

this by January 26th and show it to your mentor teacher.) 

 

 

_____  Keep a time log and journal of your hours (at least 15 journal entries documenting 50

hours of work.)

 

 

_____  Meet weekly with your NH mentor to review notebook, log and journal.

 

 

_____  Keep and submit a notebook/collection of all written work.  Due Friday, March  31st  by

            3:30 p.m. to Ms. Fedio in room 112.  You must complete this by March 31st  to be

            eligible to present your project.

 

_____  Complete a dry run (rehearsal) of your exhibition presented for your NH mentor teacher.

            This must be completed before Friday, April 7th to be eligible to present during

            exhibition night.  [Note: Practice BEFORE the dry run!]

 

 

_____  Technology Check.  A technology check must be completed with Ms. Winard before

            your exhibition.  This must be completed before Friday, April 7th to be eligible to

present during exhibition night.

 

 

_____  Give the exhibition.  This will happen in April after Spring Break.  The exact date

will be announced.

 

 

PARENTS OR FRIENDS ARE NOT ALLOWED TO BE PRESENT DURING THE SENIOR PROJECT EXHIBITION

 

 

 

 
Guidelines for Determining Acceptable Senior Projects

 

The following are some guidelines to help determine what is a valid project. You should be able to answer yes to all of the questions below:

 

·        Am I excited and passionate about this project?

·        Will I learn something NEW?

·        Can I easily identify the NEW skills/knowledge I will learn?

·        Will this topic involve learning something beyond ordinary life skills?

·        Is this something that goes beyond the learning requirements of a class, club or team I am

            in/on at Nathan Hale?

·        Is it reasonable that this project will take at least 50 hours to complete?

·        Does it have enough complexity and significance to make it a major accomplishment?

 

Topics that may be questionable or unacceptable:

 

·        Questionable senior projects topics include: sports, cooking, building a computer, building a web page, auto rebuilds, playing in a band.  In your proposal you should give a very strong defense of your projected new learning and background information (especially the Learning Targets and Research Focus). It is also recommended that you   take an organized class outside of Nathan Hale or learn from an expert on a regular basis.  Documentation of your meetings with an expert will be very important.  Also, it is important that you have an outcome or demonstration of the learned skill and can show before and after progress through a video, photos, and/or Power Point presentation.

 

·        If you decide to include a video in your presentation, you must make a VHS or DVD version of the video.  Hooking up a video camera directly to our projectors will not be allowed.  Also, no personal computers may be hooked up to the school’s network.  Projects involving computers or needing Internet connectivity must be approved by Ms. Winard as well as by the senior project committee.

 

·    Anything that is dangerous or risky is not an acceptable topic because Seattle Public Schools could be liable in the case of an accident.

 

 

 

 

Senior Project Proposal Requirements

 

Due Date:  October 31st 

 

In a two-page typed proposal, write a short paragraph for each of the following items.  Include the following BOLD heading items as a heading at the beginning of each separate paragraph.

 

·        Project Overview

Briefly summarize your project.

 

·        Prior Experience

List the relevant skills and experiences you bring to this project at the outset.

 

·        Learning Targets

Identify the new knowledge and/or skills you aim to acquire by undertaking this project.

 

·        Research Focus

Identify the background information you will need to collect in order to have a meaningful experience in working on this project.

 

·        Expert Advisor

Before beginning the project, find a community member knowledgeable in your subject area and talk to him/her about being your expert advisor.  Be sure to ask this person about the specifics of your project goal and what is reasonable to accomplish in 50 hours.  Include their comments in this section.

 

·        Project Stages

Outline the steps you will take to complete this project.  Include a monthly timeline.

 

·        Presentation

Describe your vision of your final project presentation including how you will incorporate any visual aids.

 

·        Evidence

Describe the product and materials you will submit as evidence of your work and progress on the project.

 

·        Evaluation

Explain how you and the panelists at your presentation will know that you have undertaken and completed a high quality project.

 

 

Guidelines for an Expert Advisor

 

Senior Project is a graduation requirement at Nathan Hale High School. During their Senior year, students select a topic and develop a proposal for a project, based on something in which they are interested. Students must spend 50 hours learning the topic area and developing a project. They will present their project before a panel of judges on a Senior Project Exhibition Night.

 

All students are required to work with an “expert advisor”, a community member who is willing to help a young person grow and learn in the topic area of his/her Senior Project.

 

Please note:  A student’s parent is NOT allowed to be his/her expert advisor.

 

The following information states guidelines required of an expert advisor.

 

Skills/Knowledge

 

·        Understanding of senior project and students goals

·        Expertise in student’s topic area

 

Time Commitment

 

·        Meet at least 6-8 times with student throughout course of school year OR 6-8 times during a shorter range of time when student is mastering topic.

 

Please include this completed commitment form in your project notebook.

 

ADVISOR CONTACT AND COMMITMENT FORM

 

Student __________________________           

 

Mentorship Teacher ________________

 

Project Title _______________________

 

Expert Advisor _____________________          Phone No. __________________________

 

I commit to being an Expert Advisor for ______________________________. I will mentor the student by giving lessons, and/or helping him/her to accomplish senior project goals.

 

Signature _______________________   Date ___________________________

 

 

Senior Project Interview with Expert Advisor

 

Here is a list of possible questions to ask your expert advisor. You may include others in your interview, but remember the purpose of the interview is to get to know your expert advisor.  It should be the beginning of a longer conversation and working relationship around your topic.

 

·        What is your specific expertise that will help me to accomplish my goals? Is it through your career/work? A hobby?

 

·        What caused you to become interested in my topic?

 

·        How did you learn about it?  What skills/knowledge will you be able to teach me?

 

·        What are some of the resources that could help me learn about my topic?

 

·        What are some challenges involved in mastering my topic?

 

·        What do you find rewarding about my topic?

 

·        Do you have a particular approach or angle on this, different from others?

 

·        How do you think this will change in the future?

 

·        When are you available to work with me?

 

 

Senior Project Research Assignment

 

Due Date:     Students should complete this by January.  It is meant to deepen and enrich your learning process.  It is not meant to be supplemental work completed in April.  Please include it in your project notebook, as it will be assessed when the notebook is graded.

 

Purpose:         To deepen and diversify the scope of your project

                        To add professional, academic or real-world elements to your project

                        To improve the quality of your final project and product

 

Requirements:  Use three different kinds of sources (possibilities include the Internet,

    periodicals, books, informational videos, live performances, etc.)

 

For each source do the following (details follow below):

·        Citation

·        Notes

·        Summary

·        Application

 

­­­The research assignment should be typed in 12 pt. font, single-spaced. Use one page for each source, with notes attached. The citation should serve as the title for the page. Summary and Application should be approximately one-half page each, single-spaced.

 

Citation: Include title, author, and publisher/copyright date or website address for any print resource. For other types of sources use name, position, and contact information. For performance use date, time, place, name of performance/performer.

 

Notes: These can be the actual notes you take from the reading, from viewing or listening to a tape, from an interview, from watching a performance, from studying a piece of art, etc.  For print material it can also include a highlighted copy of the article with marginal notes.

 

Summary: Summaries should be one-half page, single spaced, and should include the main points of your reading, viewing, interviewing, and observing. The summary shows the content you obtained in your research.

 

Application: The application should be one-half page single-spaced. In the application you explain how the content you collected in your research applies to your project. What information will you use? How will it help you? How does it help your learning? How does it improve, add to, change, or help define what you want to do? What will this do for your project?

 

 

Senior Project

Format for the Journal/Time log

 

Journal entry #: _____

 

Date: _______________________

 

Number of hours toward project: _________

 

Record one of the following activities:

 

Research                Expert Advisor Time                 NH Mentor Conference            Class/Training  

 

Practice/Doing        Event                                        Other

 

 

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ use your own notebook paper ____________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

 

 

Journal entries should address some of the following prompts, but is not limited to them.

 

·        Discuss the advisor’s expertise and evaluate its usefulness.

·        Explain how the time spent for this entry moved you closer toward your learning targets.

·        Explain any new knowledge gained.

·        What are some challenges that you are facing in your project?

·        What are some strategies for surmounting these challenges?

·        How does your prior experience play into reaching your learning targets?

·        How has your understanding of the topic changed?

·        Identify your emotions in this experience.

 

 

Reflection on Learning

 

Length: No less than 1 full typed page.  Address all the following questions thoughtfully

 

Questions:

  

·        What new knowledge and/or skills did you acquire?

·        What is the difference between your learning targets at the project’s outset and the actual outcomes? What adjustments did you make?

·        How could your project have been improved or made more meaningful?

·        What contributions did your expert advisor make?

·        What did you learn from your research?

·        Compare your learning in this project to classroom learning. Is self-directed learning important? Why? What impact will this project have on your future learning within and outside the classroom?

·        What have you discovered about yourself as a learner?  How does this connect to your prior knowledge of your particular learning style?

 

Senior Project Notebook Checklist

 

The notebook is an organized place to keep the documentation of your learning process.  It must include the following seven items in this order.  Please use tabs or dividers to separate the notebook into sections.  Also, do not submit a notebook that is missing items.

 

1.  Proposal

 

2.  Expert Advisor Commitment Form

 

3.  Expert Advisor Interview

 

4.  Research Assignment

 

5.  Journal/Time log (at least 15 entries)

 

6.  Reflection on Learning

 

7.  Presentation Outline, Script, or Note cards

 

·        The notebook is due before the exhibition night.  It will be assessed by a Nathan Hale teacher and returned before the exhibition night.  You must turn in a notebook in order to be eligible to present your project. 

 

·        The rubric used to grade the notebook is included on the next page.  Note that all items on the checklist need to be included in the notebook in order to pass.

 

·        You must score a total of 10 points, with no zeros, to pass the notebook. This grade does not factor into your exhibition grade.