Hello parents of seniors!
The end of the year is rapidly approaching, and the senior team wanted to communicate with you some important upcoming events and information. The senior schedule is going to undergo some changes after Spring Break, as we send seniors out to complete their capstone senior projects. Here is the outline for the rest of the year:
April 4-April 12, excluding April 9: TED Talks
Seniors Humanities classes will be transformed into TED Talk stages and seniors have been scheduled for a 30 minute time slot to deliver their TED Talks sometime during this week and a half. In addition to delivering a TED Talk on their research topic, they will need to serve as panelists for 6 of their peers. All other classes will continue as normal and seniors are expected to attend their elective classes.
This is the TED Talk Schedule for your reference. Parents and family members are encouraged to attend TED Talks.
April 15-May 21: Senior Project Take Action Cohort Groupings
Once we finish TED Talks, seniors will be assigned one of three cohort groups with a corresponding senior teacher directing the group. We are dividing seniors based on their topic and senior teacher expertise.
Goals of Cohort
- Regular individual check-ins with cohort leader
- Group/cohort critiques of senior projects in process
- Provide structure and support during the project process
- Accountability!
- Problem-solving groups
- Time for documentation of project process/reflection space
- Exhibition planning crews
Weekly Schedule for Cohorts
Cohorts will meet either 3rd and 4th period OR 5th and 6th periods on Mondays, Tuesdays, and either Thursday or Friday. Wednesdays are available for off-campus work. Except for Wednesdays, unless a student has made arrangements with us, they should be on-campus and working on their senior project during their assigned cohort time. Rooms will also be available for work time during other times of the day, and seniors are encouraged to use this time and space!
- Mondays- Schedule and goals, check in, set goals for next week, reflective piece for week before, figure out who is getting critiqued on Tuesday.
- Tuesdays- Project tunes/critiques in cohort subgroups (groups of 5) and exhibition planning.
- Wednesdays- Free work days. As seniors do not have electives on Wednesdays, they may choose to work off campus to get project work done that requires meeting with community partners, gathering resources for events, etc…They are also welcome to work at school and/or seek guidance from senior teaching team as needed during this time.
- Thursdays/Fridays- Individual check-ins with cohort advisor (Kyle, Kurt or Lori). Half of seniors will meet on Thursday to check-in with their advisor, the other half will meet on Friday. On the day that seniors are not scheduled for their check-in, they are expected to work on their senior project at school unless they have specifically made other arrangements with their cohort advisor AND are expected to attend electives as scheduled.
| WHAT ABOUT ELECTIVES? Students are required to attend their electives for as long as that elective is running. For some electives, this means students will attend through the end of the year. For others, only through the end of April. Students should check with their individual elective teachers for this information. |
May 21: Senior Project Exhibition
Stay tuned for details of this capstone event! We will also be making an appearance with project teasers at the All School Exhibition on April 26.
May 22-May 23: Exit Interviews
There will be no classes this week as we’ll be conducting Exit Interviews with all seniors. These interviews will focus on reflecting on their Senior Project, and will be our final determination of whether or not their project passes or fails. Ideally, we won’t have to have any difficult conversations during this time! If a student does not pass their Senior Project, we will develop a remediation plan for them that will have to be completed over the summer.
During this time, seniors are expected to:
- Show up to their scheduled exit interview
- Attend all the senior events happening in the evenings
Important Senior Project Deadlines
- April 4-April 12: TED Talks
- April 12: Project plan due by Thursday, April 12th in your cohort class.
- Weekly check-ins with your cohort advisor (scheduled on either Thursday or Friday in your cohort class)
- April 27th: Project Tune Reflection #1 Due: Each student will need to have their project work tuned 2x in our cohort subgroups. You will need to submit a project tune reflection upon completion of both project tunes as evidence.
- Week of April 30th: DANGER ZONE CHECK-IN: On Monday, 4/30 You’ll need to reflect with your cohort subgroups to make sure you have made significant progress toward your end goals. Are you on track? Are you in the danger zone?
- End of April: Meetings scheduled for any students that the senior teaching team has concerns regarding lack of progress
- May 11th: Project Tune Reflection #2 Due: Each student will need to have their project work tuned 2x in our cohort subgroups. You will need to submit a project tune reflection upon completion of both project tunes as evidence.
- May 21st: Senior Project Exhibition
- May 21st: Deadline for any other student exhibitions
- Week of May 21st: Exit interviews with senior teaching team to determine if you have passed your project
- May 24: GRADUATION!
Thank you all for supporting us and your student through this busy and inspiring last year of high school—they are doing some amazing work, and we can’t wait to see what they produce for their Senior Project.
As always, please let me know if you have any questions.
Thanks
Ashley Carruth and the Senior Team