Senior Project

2012-2013
Senior Project Check Points

Check points are due on the date. Late checkpoints are NO CREDIT, but must still be done. DO NOT LOSE THIS PAPER!!! Due Date: ______

CHECKPOINT POINTS POSSIBLE PTS RECEIVED

Check point #1
Personality test w/ written 2 page paper.
(Typed, MLA format) / 20 points / Due Date: / Signature:
Check point #2
Proposal Sheet
(Typed, MLA format in paragraphs) / 20 points / Due Date: / Signature:
Check point #3
Source Page / 20 points / Due Date: / Signature:
Check point #4
Shadow Letter to Mentor
(Typed, Business format) / 20 points / Due Date: / Signature:
Check point #5
Rough draft of pamphlet
including works cited / 20 points / Due Date: / Signature:
Check point #6
Log of Mentor Contacts / 20 points / Due Date: / Signature:
Check point #7
Résumé
(Typed) / 20 points / Due Date: / Signature:
Check point #8
Cover Letter
(Typed, Business format) / 20 points / Due Date: / Signature:
Check point #9
(2) Letters of Recommendation / 20 points / Due Date: / Signature:
Check point #10
Evidence of fieldwork experience (pix, business cards, etc.) / 10 points / Due Date: / Signature:
Check point #11
Mentor/Student timecard of fieldwork hours / 10 points / Due Date: / Signature:
Check point #12
Student fieldwork journal / 20 points / Due Date: / Signature:
Check point #13
Final Pamphlet, including works cited / 50 points / Due Date: / Signature:
Final Bound Project
(Ck Pts #1-13, points already given,) / 270 points / Due Date: / Signature:
Final Interview / 100 points / Due Date: / Signature:
Check point #14
Project Reflection
(Typed, MLA, due after interview) / 10 points / Due Date: / Signature:

1.  Senior Project: Career Exploration

The Senior Project will afford you the opportunity to showcase your language arts skills, while preparing for your future educational and/or career goals. The culminating project not only justifies your status as a graduating senior, but also will be useful in your future.

All seniors must complete the Senior Project as a part of their language arts class. A major part of the student’s final grade will be based on the senior project and the exit interview.

All Senior Projects must include the following items and follow specific guidelines (improperly formatted assignments will not qualify for a grade):

Your task is to analyze potential career choices, select one career to explore, participate in a shadowing experience, and create a career information pamphlet.

I. Research:

  1. Take the Keirsey-Bates Temperament Sorter II
  2. Research your career’s pay, required education or training, required licenses or degrees, best places for education and training, job requirements, and job future. Use online sites and print sources.
  3. Contact and INTERVIEW individuals for information.

II.  Process – Career Shadowing

  1. Select a specific career
  2. Contact potential mentor(s): Interview, email, phone, or write letters (must be someone off campus)
  3. Keep a contact log of all correspondence with potential and selected mentor(s).
  4. Participate in at least 8-10 hours of career shadowing.
  5. Keep a written journal/diary of career shadowing.
  6. Create a pamphlet including researched information and experiences.

III.  Exit Interview – 7 minutes with an interview panel

  1. Summarize the process used for your project.
  2. Discuss what you learned about yourself and your future career during this process.
  3. Present your pamphlet (should have one in portfolio and one for your judge).
  4. Share your personal and/or educational plans for your future.
  5. Prepare to answer questions from the panel.

Senior Project

Guidelines for Portfolio Presentation

Organize your portfolio in the following manner:

·  Cover Sheet: Title your project and include your name, class, teacher, and date

·  Check sheet as a table of contents (meaning order your portfolio according to the check sheet)

Display your project in a presentation folder. The more professional the appearance, the better!


ame ______

Name ______

Date ______

Period ______

Proposal Sheet

  1. Describe the process you will be using to complete your senior project.

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  1. At this point, how do you envision your final product? (Describe your final product.)

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  1. List the names of people you plan to contact to assist you in your project (shadowing mentor, career mentor, portfolio critic, etc.)

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  1. List the names of places you plan to visit to assist you in your project (neighborhood parks, businesses, schools, etc.)

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Senior Project Checkpoint #2
Personality Test

Standards Used:

2.0 Reading Comprehension (Focus on Informational Materials)

2.3 Verify and clarify facts presented in other types of expository texts by using a variety of consumer, workplace, and public documents.

1.0 Writing Strategies

1.1 Demonstrate an understanding of the elements of discourse (e.g., purpose, speaker, audience, form) when completing narrative, expository, persuasive, or descriptive writing assignments.

1.5 Use language in natural, fresh, and vivid ways to establish a specific tone.

2.0 Writing Applications (Genres and their Characteristics)

2.3 Write reflective compositions:

a. Explore the significance of personal experiences, events, conditions, or concerns by using rhetorical strategies (e.g., narration, description, exposition, persuasion).

b. Draw comparisons between specific incidents and broader themes that illustrate the writer’s important beliefs or generalizations about life.

c. Maintain a balance in describing individual incidents and relate those incidents to more general and abstract ideas.

1.0 Written and Oral English language Conventions

Students write and speak with a command of standard English conventions.

1.0 Demonstrate control of grammar, diction, paragraph and sentence structure, and an understanding of English usage.

1.1 Produce legible work that shows accurate spelling, correct punctuation, and capitalization.

1.2 Reflect appropriate manuscript requirements in writing.

Your objective is to determine, according to your personality type, what career would best suit your personality type, your interests, and viewpoints. Your goal is to write a 2-3-page paper explaining your personality type and what careers would be best for you. (See sample)

  1. Complete the survey.
  2. Read through the findings and find out what career is best for you. You DO NOT have to do your project on what the survey says would be good for you!
  3. Construct a personal narrative essay explaining your experience and your findings. Remember 2-3 pages are required.
  4. Please write your paper in MLA format, including heading and page numbers.
  5. Turn in your final copy and the copies of the survey on ______.


Monica Marie Smith Smith 1

Mrs. Lennon

Language Arts IV

April 17, 2013

Reflection: Personality Test

I finished this test with an insight into my own head. I learned some things about me that I did not know. I also was reassured about things I already knew. As I began to read the results, I found that I am personality type INFJ. People like me are usually imaginative, creative, and sensitive, (which, in my opinion, describes me very well). I am also a responsible and respectful person, wanting to get to know people and places before I jump into a situation.

I realized some of the strengths and weaknesses were true. The results say that I am a good listener. I have always been one to absorb others’ stories. The test also says that I like developing and following a well-laid out plan. This is true. I like to plan out what I am going to get accomplished, and then set out to do it. Although I do not always get to complete these goals, I try to finish as many as possible. One of the main weaknesses that are listed is I do not communicate well. I know that his statement is very true. If I were to have a quote in the yearbook it would be “I don’t know,” since I never know what to say.

I laughed when I read that for a career to be satisfying to me it should be one that will be done in an environment that is free of tension and conflict. Where is there a place that is free of tension and conflict? I also realized that responsibility comes somewhat natural to me, unless it is cleaning my room. By letting me have control over situations and taking responsibility for my own actions, it will smooth things over a lot more than if someone insisted on taking over for me. I am not a very hard person to get along with, unless you get on to my bad side. The best way to work with me is to be patient. I do not always know what I want when I want it, but eventually it will come. Encouraging me to brainstorm and supporting my ideas helps me to feel that I am actually needed for something. Respect is a key part in getting along with me. If you do not respect me, then I am not going to respect you. So, if you treat me like am lower than you, you will receive that same amount of respect back.

When I looked at the list of careers that would suit me I realized that there is so much out there for me to do. The most likely thing that I will do will be an elementary school teacher. Since I was young I have wanted to be a teacher, and family and friends have encouraged that. As I was reading more into the different career possibilities, I realized that all I really wanted to do with my life is make other people’s lives better. Being a teacher, I could help “save the world” by teaching children that you can ask for help if you need it. Another thing on this list was a social worker. This job has my name; if I were a social worker, I would get to work with people, help people, and become involved with the community.

I think that this test really helped me to get a closer look at the real me. It described me to a point that I had to say “Wow, they really know me.” Overall, this test helped me to create a sense of what I want to do with my life.

Senior Project Checkpoint #3

Source Page

Standards Used:

1.0  Writing Strategies

1.7 Use systematic strategies to organize and record information

Objective: Student will document the sources they have researched for their career pamphlet.

You will need to conduct some research about the career you are exploring in order to create your career pamphlet. Your research can be obtained via the Internet, the Career Center, books, or magazines. You will need at least five sources. As you conduct your research, you will need to document the information you have found on source pages. Below you will find examples of each.

Source Page – At the top of separate pieces of paper for each source used, write the bibliographic information (see example—author, title, publisher, date, etc.). You may bullet your notes or use Cornell Notes below the bibliographic citation (samples for each below).


Senior Project Checkpoint #4

Mentor Shadow Letter

Standards Used:

1.0  Writing Strategies

1.1 Demonstrate an understanding of the elements of discourse when completing a writing assignment.

1.3 Structure ideas and arguments in a sustained, persuasive, and sophisticated way and support them with precise and relevant examples.

1.5 Use language in a natural, fresh, and vivid ways to establish a specific tone.

2.0  Writing Applications

2.5 Write job applications, résumés, and other career-related documents

Your objective is to write a one-page letter to a prospective mentor that you would like to “shadow” for your career exploration.

Your letter should include the following:

·  An explanation to the mentor as to why you are writing

·  Your career goals

·  Requirements of the assignment

·  Inform him/her you will ask for a letter of recommendation to validate your shadowing

·  Contact information

·  Business letter format

·  Professional language

·  At least 3 paragraphs:

o  Introduction, 1 paragraph - introduce yourself and your purpose to your potential mentor

o  Body, 1-2 paragraphs – Discuss yourself, your skills, your goals, the senior project requirements

o  Conclusion, 1 paragraph – What do you need from your mentor? Let your potential mentor know that he/she will be expected to write a letter of recommendation discussing your shadowing him/her

Use the sample that follows as a guide to write your own letter. Remember, this is what you are going to present to your prospective mentor who will be considering helping you with this project. Be as formal and thorough as possible.

12345 Main Avenue

Eastvale, CA 92880

(951) 738-2100

April 5, 2013

Miss Scott, Principal

Benjamin Franklin Elementary

2650 Oak Street

Eastvale, CA 92880

Dear Miss Scott:

My name is Monica Smith, and I am currently a senior at Eleanor Roosevelt High School in Eastvale,

California. As a requirement for graduation, I must complete a final school project known as the “Senior Project.” For this project, I must explore a career and complete job shadowing, observing someone working in my desired career for 8 hours. I am interested in the career of teaching and hope to become an elementary or intermediate school teacher. My career plans are to one day give back to my community in exchange for what it has given me. In college, I plan to study education, most likely elementary education, because I believe that elementary school is the time in a child’s life when they are influenced the most. By teaching young children, I hope to help create a better place for future generations to live.

A necessity for this project is for me to fulfill 8 hours of shadowing someone currently in the career that I have chosen to explore. The shadowing experience should represent my exposure to that particular field of work. Would you be interested in helping me by allowing me to shadow you during your workday? If I am able to observe you in the classroom and thereby observe your teaching methods, I will be able to great gain insight into the career of teaching.