Following are some
thoughts we took from the Institute (6/29):
- There are many forms
of Senior Project. About half the high schools in NC do some form,
but few do it with a capital S and a capital P.
- The Senior Project is
in constant evolution; but it should always be marked by quality,
complexity and excellence.
- The Senior Project
does not necessarily have to be an add-on. In many ways, it can
reinforce, upgrade or supplant things we are already doing.
- The Senior Project is
heavily concentrated in English classes, but the best models involve
multi-disciplinary interactions.
- Thinking outside the
cube...the Senior Project can, at the least, be a vehicle for
articulation in English and, at the most, be a vehicle for high
school reform efforts.
- The Senior Project is
a grassroots initiative that involves teacher-leadership. Based upon
such aspects as personnel, leadership, and culture-- every high
school can have variations on the Senior Project theme.
- Every high school
undertaking Senior Projects should have a Senior Project
Coordinator,a Community Liaison Coordinator, and a Senior Project
team. Often in schools, the Senior Project Coordinator is an English
teacher with an additional planning period. The Community Liaison
Coordinator may be a counselor with strong community ties.
- In Carteret County
Schools, we have many structures in place to support Senior
Projects. Our senior English teachers already require an
issues-based paper. Many seniors orally present that paper...often
with a PowerPoint backdrop. We have media coordinators and
instructional technology facilitators at each school who should be
instructional collaborators on this initiative. The research
component lines up with the on-line research initiative of our media
folks. Our digital infrastructure is conducive to a digital
portfolio scenario. We have done much with project-based learning (LENC,
for example), and we have conceptual knowledge of communities of
practice/learning communities.
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With
trailblazin' comes adventure. . . |
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. . .and risk. |
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