1. Senior Capstone
MNPS

2. A Student Perspective
How do students feel about Capstone? What does it look like from their eyes?

3. What is it? Experiential Learning – district overview
Capstone Project – 4 component project that is based in research and real-world experience

4. Why do it? Philosophy State Requirement 21st century skills (4 Cs)
Post-secondary connections

5. 4 Cs – 21st century skills Critical Thinking Collaboration
Communication
Creativity

6. Background Pilot - 16 schools – 12 zoned and 4 magnet
Varying amount of students at different sites
Flexibility – looks different for each school
Blended Learning and Virtual course
Lead Capstone teachers meet monthly

7. Support Structure Lead Capstone Teachers
Alignment Nashville High School A Team
Blackboard and Capstone Portal
Zoned schools – Academy coaches

8. What are Capstone Courses?
AP Capstone (Hillwood and Hume Fogg)
Approaches to Learning II (IB Capstone)
Clinical Internship
Theory of Knowledge II (IB Capstone)
ISR IV (Hillsboro and Stratford)
Senior Capstone
Work-Based Learning (Hunters Lane)
***Updated annually

9. New courses for 2015
The state now has the following class that they developed from our Capstone course: Work-Based Learning Career Practicum (6105) where a mix of students could be in this course--students from different career clusters.
Additionally, there are several Practicum courses that are aligned with the cluster, for example, see below:
Manufacturing Practicum 5926
Construction Practicum 6160
Engineering Practicum 6141
Applied Arts Practicum 6158
Business & Entrepreneurship Practicum 6159
Human Services Practicum 6138
Programming & Software Practicum 5908
Web Design Practicum 6171

10. Project Types Community Service Extended Observation Internship
Research Project
Senior Showcase
Service Learning
Work-Based Learning

11. Project Components
The 4 Ps:
Paper
Product
Portfolio
Presentation

12. The Capstone Manual Minimum requirements Guideline, not a lesson plan
District expectations
Forms and Templates
Schools should personalize
Will be updated annually and placed on MNPS portal and on Blackboard

13. Communication Posted on school website Parent contract
Student and teacher friendly format
Parent contract
Have community on presentation panels
Student meetings for next year’s seniors (held by February each year)
Capstone Portal

14. Differentiation Flexibility – no one way to do this!
The first response is not “NO” – allow for creativity
SPED modifications
EL modifications
Advanced coursework and additional expectations

15. What is my role?
Facilitator/Connector - allow for student voice and choice, make resource connections
Teacher – research, organizational and presentation skills, 4Cs, assessing progress
Mentor/Advisor – giving options and suggestions, narrowing focus when needed, providing support
Organizer/Documenter – presentation panels, data entry on project information

16. Advising Work along side students to determine projects
Moral/ethical implications
Ensuring that the project challenges the student (no matter their current achievement level)
When in doubt, work as a team with other staff members

17. Experiential Hours Self-Placement preferred
During school day versus outside of school – dependent on:
Type of project
Master schedule
Principal’s decision
Student maintains and submits documentation
You make determination if they are acceptable – communicate with students

18. Experiential Hours YES Intern (paid/unpaid)
Shadow (related to project)
Interviewing experts
Learning a new skill
Providing a service that is challenging or new to student NO
Hours used to create their product
Time spent researching for their paper
Providing service that is not challenging or related to project

19. Community Contacts

20. www.mnpscapstone.org Community Contacts
***Keep site-based documentation of community supporters for future projects.

21. Data collection Course enrollment – SMS (district)
Capstone Lead and Academy Team Lead will ask you to report data on internships
End of Year Survey

22. Assessment Calendar guideline Component rubrics Overall rubric
Collaboration in assessing
Flexibility in grading – grades “in progress” (but each school has its rules on grade changing)

23. Project Recognition Site-Based suggestions You tube TEDx
Include in graduation programs or slide shows
Awards for top projects
You tube
TEDx
Community and/or Board presentations

24. Recap and Next Steps Questions?
All projects should be approved by the end of August so students can begin
Share practices through lead teachers
Make connections to other schools
Utilize web resources
Questions?

25. Teacher Testimonials

26. Breakouts Paper – Jason Proffitt and Jacob Glancy (Turner)
Rotation order:
Paper – Jason Proffitt and Jacob Glancy (Turner)
Product – Hope Oliver and Scott Horner (Room 1)
Portfolio and Presentation – Elizabeth Brewer and Michelle Newcomb (Room 2)