Novato High School Senior Project
Monday, April 27, 2015
Judges Sign Up
You need to have your judge sign up for one of the nights of the presentations. Click here for the link to the website to sign up. Remember, your judges need to sign up before May 11th. If your mentor cannot be a judge, you need to find someone else to be a judge or your grade will be severely impacted.
Tuesday, September 30, 2014
Letter of Intent Example
Jane Doe
102 South Novato Blvd
Novato, CA 94947
October 2, 2014
Novato High School
625 Arthur St
Novato, CA 94947
Dear Senior Project Committee Members,
For my senior project I intend to
learn how to preserve food through learning to can. This is a skill that I have no experience in
and would like to be able to preserve a variety of foods. Although I know how to cook and I have
experience in using the dehydrator to preserve fruits, canning is a skill that
has made me nervous.
Learning to can will be a multistep
process. First I am going to read Ball’s Complete Book of Home Preserving
to understand the steps and basics of the canning process. I will be working with my mentor on multiple
weekends to can progressively more challenging foods. The first thing we will can will be jam as it
is the easiest. On following weekends I
will learn to can salsa, apple butter and pickles. All of these will use the water bath method. Finally I will learn the more challenging
aspects of canning using the pressure canning method. My final two goals will be to can vegetable
stock and beef stew.
Each weekend that my mentor and I
work together I will be documenting our process with photos and videos. After each session I will create entries to
my blog to share what I have learned with others. My blog will be both a resource for others
learning to can as well as a place for me to reflect on my progress, failures
and successes.
My mentor will be my neighbor, Jill
Smith. She is a retired nurse who has forty
years of canning experience. Jill has
even entered some of her preserves and pickles into the county fair and won
several blue ribbons. As she has the
canning equipment, and I do not, we will be canning in her kitchen. Jill can be
reached at 555-555-5555 or emailed at jillsmith@gmail.com.
I am very excited to be learning
how to preserve food though canning. I
hope that I will be able to give my creations as gifts to friends and family as
well as keep practicing and experimenting each year. Someday I hope to have a garden and being
able to preserve my own foods will be both meaningful and helpful way to
preserve my harvests.
Sincerely,
Jane Doe
___________________ ___________________
Student Signature Parent
Signature
I
understand that I am a mentor for the Novato High student and that I am
expected to serve on the judging panel for the NHS Senior Project Presentations
on May 18th or
19th.
___________________
Mentor Signature
Saturday, September 27, 2014
Letter of Intent
Your letter of intent is due on October 6th. Your letter needs to be in a formal business letter format. Examples and directions can be found here:
Click here for directions on how to format the letter.
Click here for an example business letter format.
Click here for directions on how to format the letter.
Click here for an example business letter format.
Thursday, June 19, 2014
Senior Project Directions Packet
Novato High’s Senior
Project
Directions Packet 2014-2015
KEEP THIS PACKET
THROUGH THE YEAR, REFER TO IT OFTEN
All seniors at Novato High School are
required to complete the Senior Project prior to graduation. This challenges high school seniors to demonstrate
their academic, personal, and life knowledge in an experiential way, and requires
students to engage in an endeavor that represents a significant personal
challenge. Each student will work under
the guidance of a mentor who will advise the student throughout the process
toward completing his or her goal. The Senior Project culminates with a
presentation of the entire project to be judged by a panel of community
members.
This
project provides a chance for the students to explore a topic of personal
interest, and provides them with the opportunity to gain important skills that
will serve them well as they enter into the next phase of their life—college,
trade school, military or employment. As
students work on their project, they will gain meaningful life experience and
develop valuable leadership, communication, project management, time
management, cooperative work, and negotiation skills. In addition it will provide further practice
in meeting deadlines, conflict management, public speaking, serving the
community, presentation preparation, and self-motivation.
Typically
the project consists of students choosing a topic of interest, researching ways
in which they can engage with their topic, having an experience directly
related to the topic, keeping a journal or artifacts demonstrating their work,
creating a formal portfolio of work—followed by the final step, which is a
panel-judged presentation and subsequent reflection.
Project Overview—Each
Student Will:
·
Select a project—choose a project idea that
inspires and challenges you
·
Find a mentor who is available to help guide you
throughout the project
·
Work on project throughout the school year
·
Complete progress checks and project-related
assignments
·
Produce a project portfolio
·
Create an online aspect to your project—either a
blog or website
·
Present your journey to the judging panel
·
Reflection
Details:
Grade:
The senior
project presentation will be 20 percent of your second semester English
grade. In addition, various other
assignments will be required throughout the year and will go on your English
grade.
Timeline:
September 16/17th: Project overview in the library
October 6th: Letters
of Intent Due
October 10th: Committee of teachers reviews
Letters of Intent
October 14/15th: Letters of Intent passed back with
approval or rejection
October 20th: Revised Letter of Intent due (if
needed)
December 8th: First progress check-in completed
in class
January 30th: Second progress check-in due
March 16th: Third progress check-in due
May 8th: Website
and Presentation Visual Aid Due
May 8-12th: Practice presentation in class
May 18th - 19th: Competed
Portfolio Due and Seniors Present to Judges
May 28th: Final
Reflection Due
Trouble or Questions?
First, ask your English
teacher. If you are still unsure, speak
to MS. ROBERTS, as she is the head of the Senior Project Committee (room 2604
or email her at LRoberts@nusd.org).
You will likely experience trouble
and setbacks in this project, as you will in life. We expect you to be flexible and proactive when
you experience problems. However, if you
have an issue so severe you can no longer complete your project, you may have
to start over with a new project. If
this happens to you, see MS. ROBERTS (room 2604 or LRoberts@nusd.org). If you need to start over, she will be the
one to approve your new project.
Want more
information?
All handouts and information for
the senior project can be found online at NOVATOSENIORPROJECT.BLOGSPOT.COM. You are expected to keep this directions
packet for the year. If you lose it, the
packet can be found on the senior project website.
Projects:
Pick
something that stretches you outside your comfort zone, allows for personal
growth and transformation, and will in some way contribute to your community or
your own future by building character or skills.
Your
project should be something substantial that will take at least 50 hours to
complete. It can be a skill, a project,
a performance, or many other products. Your project should have a final product
or culminating event. As you consider
your many options, be sure to consider your current skills, your interests,
whether the project is financially feasible for you and how you can demonstrate
your process in a meaningful manner.
Project must be completed from
October 13th to May 1st.
Excellent Projects
from last year—The Students:
·
Wrote, cast, directed, promoted and starred in
comedy show
·
Painted a large mural
·
Learned to cook and made a cookbook of family
recipes
·
Designed, planted and maintained a draught-tolerant
garden
Guidelines and Projects
that will not be approved:
·
Dieting and losing weight
·
No learning to sing or learning a new language
·
Projects should be outside your expertise (for
example, an MSA visual artist cannot do a painting, a tennis player cannot play
tennis). However, projects will be
considered that are in your field but go beyond your expertise (for example, a
visual artist who paints a mural)
·
Exercise programs that lead to events such as a
5k run are not acceptable. For example,
running in the Bay to Breakers cannot be your project. You CAN do 100k bike
rides, triathlons, marathons and half marathons if this significantly pushes
you past your current abilities and occur between Oct 13th and May 1st.
·
Taking classes is a great way to learn a new
skill but your project cannot consist of only taking a class (for example,
scuba class, welding, etc). Your project
must have a product and go beyond the class itself.
·
The final product cannot be the only
aspect. For example, if you are going to
sew a prom dress, the project needs to demonstrate the series of garments that
you sew to build your skill before sewing your final prom dress.
·
Projects that “double-dip.” It cannot be an
internship you were already going to get credit for or involve community
service hours that you count towards your graduation community service hours.
·
Be sure that project is not too large a task for
the time given. For example, learning a
programing language to create a video game is something that would take
years. Your mentor might be helpful in
coming up with a challenging but still doable project.
Mentors:
As you
learn something new, it is good to have a knowledgeable person to guide
you. For this project you will need to
find a mentor who is experienced in the field of your project and who can be in
communication with you for the full school year. This person does not need to be someone local,
but could be anywhere in the world as long as he or she can communicate with
you. Ideally, your mentor will be
someone who can also be your judge, but this is not required.
Mentor Requirements:
·
An adult other than a teacher at Novato High
School
·
An adult other than a parent of a senior at
Novato High School
·
Must be over 21 years old
The mentor requirements are put in
place to encourage students to go beyond their current social connections and to
go out into the community for their mentor.
This is not to say that students cannot talk to teachers and parents for
help with their project (this is, in fact, greatly encouraged), but teachers
and parents cannot be their official mentors.
Judges:
Students
will need to have one judge for the one of the night of the presentations. Ideally the mentor will be the judge, but if
that is not possible the student is required to find a replacement judge. The requirements for being a judge are the
same as for being a mentor: no NHS teachers, no parents of NHS seniors and must
be over 21 years of age.
If you do
not provide a judge, your grade will be severely impacted.
Judges (Mentor’s)
Timeline and Duties Night of Presentation:
·
Arrive at 5:15 at the Novato High School library
to check in
·
From 5:30-6: attend overview and receive
instruction in the library
·
From 6-8:30: listen to and evaluate student
senior project presentations
Judges Sign Up:
Judges will
need to sign up online to RSVP that they will be coming one of the nights of
the presentations. They can sign up any time
between January 1st and May 11th. They should use the
following link to sign up:
http://tinyurl.com/nbqeadh
1. Letter of
Intent with Mentor Information and Completed Calendar
Due:
October 6th
|
In this letter you will formally propose what you would
like to accomplish for your Senior Project. This letter is signed by you,
your parents, and your mentor. The NHS
Senior Project Committee will review the letter and either approve, approve
contingently, or deny your proposal.
This letter will become part of your portfolio for your final
presentation, so do not lose it.
The letter must include the following:
·
A thorough description of the project and your
reason for selecting it. Be sure to
provide enough detail to have your project approved.
·
Your objectives and how you plan to accomplish
them
·
A description of your mentor’s relevant
experience and expected role, as well as his or her contact information
·
Enough detail to fill two pages, typed, and
double spaced
·
At the bottom of the letter type the following
statement, I understand that I am a
mentor for the Novato High student and that I am expected to serve on the
judging panel for the NHS Senior Project Presentations on May 18th
or 19th.
·
Give a signature line for you, your parent or
guardian and your mentor. Have all
parties sign the letter.
Your letter must follow these
directions:
·
Be in business letter style format
·
Address the letter “To the Novato High School
Senior Project Committee”
·
Organized so that it flows logically,
including appropriate introduction and conclusion
·
Edited and error free
·
Provide lines for signatures of you, your
parents and your mentor
Note: See the Senior
Project website for an example letter.
Calendar:
In
addition to your Letter of Intent, you must include a completed project
calendar. You will use the calendar provided
in this packet on page 10. Fill it in with your expected timeline for all
stages of your project. You may want to set yourself goals on the calendar as
well. You will not be graded on adhering to this calendar, but you will be
expected to plan out when and how you will complete all the steps
needed. This calendar must be turned
in with your letter of intent.
|
2.
First Progress Check
|
In-class assignment to be completed
on December 8th
Progress reflection response.
Write a one-page hand-written
response about what you have completed so far on your Senior Project. What
are the next steps you have?
|
3.
Second Progress Check
DUE: January 30th
|
Progress reflection response. Write a one-page typed reflection on how the project is going so
far. Explain what you have completed,
what problems you have encountered, and how you feel about the project so
far.
This thoughtful and reflective
response will be turned in to your English teacher. You will also include this progress
reflection written response in your final portfolio.
|
4.
Third Progress Check
DUE: March 16th
|
Online
element check (refer to next assignment
section for a full description of the online component). You should have put significant work into
your blog or website by this point in the project. It doesn’t need to be finished, but you
need to share the web address with your teacher to show the progress you are
making on your project and online component. Your blog or website must at
minimum contain: pictures, text, and links.
To submit this progress check,
email your English teacher a link to your website or blog. In the message
line of your email, include your full name and period number.
|
5.
Online Component and Visual Aide
Due: May 8th
|
Online
Component:
Students need to be technology and internet savvy. For your Senior Project you must create an
online aspect. This could be a blog
that documents your process, or it could be a website you create after
completing your project—which could be used as a resource for others who are
trying to compete the same task. Your blog or website needs to be polished
and refined. It must include text,
pictures and links.
To submit your completed blog or website, email your
English teacher a link to your website or blog. In the message line of your
email, include your full name and period number.
Visual Aid:
You may use your blog or website as your visual aid during
your presentation. If you choose to
not use it, however, you must create a visual aid. This could be an online presentation like
Prezi or Google Slides, a poster, or a physical object that you created.
To submit your visual aid, email your teacher with a link
(include your full name and period) or bring your visual aid to class on May
8th.
|
6.
Portfolio
DUE: May 18th or 19th
|
The portfolio will be given to
your judges as a written documentation of your project. There are some aspects that will be
required and others that you may want to include in your portfolio and will
vary greatly depending on your project.
As you put your portfolio together, consider how you can use it as an
additional visual aide. You can direct
the judges to look at specific pages as you present, and you can have hard
copies of your presentation in it in case of internet connectivity problems.
Required
Components:
·
Title
page: Title of Senior Project, your name and date
·
Table
of Contents
·
Polished
and edited Letter of Intent with signed approval letter and calendar
·
Progress
Reflection Letter (second progress check-in)
·
Polished
and edited Process Paper
Optional Components:
·
Pictures
·
Documents
·
Journal entries
·
Email correspondences
·
Printed copy of your online presentation
·
Printed copy of your website or blog
Process Paper: (3-5
pages)
This
paper will explain the process and journey you have completed during this
project. In it you will also consider
what you have learned in this project.
Questions you may want to address
in your process paper:
·
What did you do for your Senior Project?
·
What steps did you take to complete your
project?
·
What obstacles did you encounter?
·
What changes or modifications did you
make?
·
What have you learned about yourself during
this project? What are you proud
of?
Note: The process
paper will receive two grades, as it will be both a part of your portfolio
grade and an essay grade in your English class.
|
7.
Presentation: Bring three copies of your polished portfolio and have your
visual aid ready
DUE: May 18th if your
last name starts with the letter A-L
Due: May 19th if your
last name starts with M-Z.
|
Presentation
Protocol:
1. You
have between 10 to15 minutes to present your project to the judges. During this time you may use visual aids
and refer to the portfolio.
2. Judges
will have 5 minutes to ask questions about the project.
3. Judges
will have 5 minutes to complete the feedback form.
Components of your
formal presentation:
·
You are required to have a visual element to your
presentation and are highly encouraged to use multi-media. If you want to use the computer for your
presentation, you must have something that is available online, as you may
not use a flash drive. Consider using
Prezi, presenting your website or blog, or using another online tool.
·
Describe in detail the process of completing
your project
·
Describe the major steps or benchmarks for the
project in chronological order
·
Explain what your end product consists of and
why this was a challenge for you
·
Explain your successes and your personal
reflection of the project
The night of the
presentation:
You are
responsible for coming to The Café by 5:30 to check in. You must have all of your materials with
you because you may not leave after checking in.
·
Each senior will present in front of two to
three judges who will grade your project (see page 10 of this packet for the rubric
the judges will use to grade your presentation).
·
Five to six students will be assigned to a
room ahead of time and will be in the room as other students present.
·
You may have your family in the room with you
during the presentation if you wish.
·
You may leave once you have presented to the
judges, you may stay in the room to watch the other presenters, or you may leave
the room but stay on campus until the end of the night to see the feedback
from your judges.
|
8.
Final Reflections
(2 pages)
Due: May 28th
|
After your
project is completed and your presentation is finished, write a two-page reflection
on the entire process. You may
consider these following questions for your response, but are not required to
answer them all.
What has this
project taught you? In what ways have
your grown? What was the most
challenging aspect of this process?
What has been the most rewarding aspect of this process? How was your experience presenting to the
judges? How do you feel about the senior projects overall?
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