- How do you keep High School Seniors engaged through the final days of their Senior year?
- How do you make sure that students truly demonstrate their learning and growth to an audience of concerned and caring community members?
- How do you ensure that students see how their High School learning connects to their future goals?
You make a Culminating Project part of their Senior experience!
Nathan Hale has had a Senior/Culminating Project requirement for many years, and only recently has it become a State graduation requirement.
What are the components of a Culminating Project?
- A portfolio with three pieces of work that show the student's growth and understanding of the Five Habits of Mind (viewpoint, evidence, relevance, connection, supposition).
- 20 documented hours of work on a learning project. These hours can count toward the student's service learning hours if the project has a service/community focus.
- A proposal paper, project journal, and final presentation of the portfolio and project to a committee.
Our Seniors are doing some great projects! Here are some examples:
- Several students are tutoring for after-school programs at local elementary schools.
- One student is growing organic vegetables to donate to a local food bank.
- Several students are learning to knit, and are donating knitted items to local shelters and/or hospitals.
- Several students are running sports clinics for elementary students.
- Several students are volunteering at local animal shelters.
- One student is teaching Korean to a group of young students.
- One student is doing a job shadow/internship at Children's Hospital.
- One student is doing a job shadow with the Nathan Hale school nurse.
- One student is writing a piece of music for the Nathan Hale band to perform.
As you can see, there is a tremendous power in asking our Seniors to apply their learning and skills to projects in the school community and beyond.
Culminating Project journals and portfolios are due to mentorship teachers on April 11th. If you have any questions, please contact Marni Campbell at macampbell@seattleschools.org or Jonathan Shearer at jcshearer@seattleschools.org.
Culminating Project presentations will be on May 12th and 13th. We need community members to be on presentation panels. Please contact Marni Campbell or Jonathan Shearer if you are willing and able to be part of our community panels. Go Seniors!
