The Consortium has been busy of late. Not only are we active in our Mighty Network, offering new programming like our “Getting Started” forum, we are doing some deep work on who we are and how we operate.
Capstone is a model for education in many ways, and sharing is primary among them. Numerous programs were created after a generous lending of resources from one teacher to another, providing the seed that leads to a new, thriving hub of creativity.
I live in a rural community on an island, within an archipelago of islands in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. I am located in one of the most isolated land masses in the entire world. Yet I feel completely connected to what is happening in capstone education at schools from a variety of geographic regions. How is this possible?
The shift to online learning generated new interest in capstone, and many new people found us online. We started our Mighty Network at the same time, which proved to be an excellent moment to launch the new platform. We observed robust engagement, and it has steadily grown as we all connect in our young digital space.
After experiencing growth this year, the consortium decided to revisit our mission statement. More accurately, we decided to actually write a formal one!
Capstone has proven to be a very resilient educational model during the shift to online learning. Throughout our community, the shift to virtual education has worked quite well, even including final presentations. This speaks to the power of capstone.
The big deadlines in our program, however, are what my colleague Jeff Mikalaitis and I refer to as “.25 project deliverables (aka: ¼ project deliverables)” and “.50 project deliverables (aka: mid-project deliverable),” in addition to the final project deadline. As those deadlines approach, the tension in the Capstone classroom is palpable; students are down to the wire and it’s definitely not a good time to ask them how they are feeling about the course!
Capstone projects often center on a personal event that sparks learning and a desire to grow. From an initial experience, students complete background research, establish project goals, take steps along the way that are both successful and dead-ends, adjust their plans, and reflect on the entire experience. Capstone checks all of the boxes in an experiential learning list
It is important for me to consider this mission as we aim to have honest conversations with inquisitive students and families throughout the capstone process. Launching a capstone course within the framework of our school’s mission adds an important moral element. We will teach the ethics of quality research methods, and also ask the students to frame how their project leads to “service to society”.
It seems like “mastery” is the biggest buzzword in education these days as we, at Thacher, endeavor to shift students’ focus from the pursuit of the almighty A to an interest in the production of their own best work, work that is driven by passion and individual interest rather than a top-down, teacher-driven curricular model.
At Martha's Vineyard Regional High School, we're entering a third year of transition from a school tradition where students could elect to do a senior project in a largely unstructured environment, without the support of a course.
My first hours on the job as Director of Social Innovation at Sequoyah School were spent in the car on the way to Ojai, CA with our high school director, head of school, and student support coordinator. We were headed to the 2017 Capstone Consortium at Thacher School.
Capstone life often gets real this time of year. Lofty plans can come crashing down, creating quite a crater of curricular debris and challenges. It takes some patience and skill to get students back on track and moving forward, and it is possible.
Towards the end of the last school year my administration made the request of myself and some other Capstone teachers that we attend some sort of professional development as it relates to our Capstone programs. It wasn’t a week later when…
