Senior Service Project Website Overview

1. Senior Service Project Website Overview

2. The Purpose and Goal of your Website • Your website will integrate and compile your SSP project, research, and reflections. • The model for your websites should be that of others: to inform, to educate, to connect, and to organize to make a difference. • Ultimately, you are creating a resource for people around the world interested in the topic you are working on. Your focus should be on your larger audience—inclusive of me, of course-- and what the site can provide for them.

3. What websites may I use to create it? • Wix • Weebly

4. What should I display from my SSP? You need to prove three things: • Designed and implemented a senior service project that was necessary and just for the purpose of a community • Documented 10 hours of service • Recorded and uploaded 30-minute interview with your mentor –must be recorded, no email interviews (make plans now to meet with mentors)

5. WEBSITE • THE CATCH-ALL FOR YOUR PROJECT HOMEPAGE PROJECT OVERVIEW RESEARCH EXTENSION ABOUT US PROJECT COMPLETION

6. PUZZLE GROUPS • EACH GROUP IS ASSIGNED A PAGE TO READ AND KNOW (1 MINUTE) • PUZZLE UP AND TEACH EACH OTHER ABOUT WHAT YOU WILL INCLUDE ON THE WEBSITE • (10 MINUTES)

7. A NOTE ABOUT WEBSITE WRITING • All writing should adhere to the purpose, audience, and genre indicated on the handout—some writing might be process, narrative, reflective…etc. • All writing should be cohesive throughout, holding strong to one collaborative voice. • Please be cognizant of all of our writing techniques, tools, and devices. Because this is published writing, I expect you to display your very best writing as a group. I will be assessing much of the site on the writing efforts of your group. • The display may be creative, allowing the reader to experience the narrative within links, graphics, and chunks of writing. It does not have to be displayed as one single text, from top to bottom, on the website.

8. #1 • How did your group decide on the project? What was your muse or inspiration? Did your group have trouble thinking of a Senior Project? What “tripped” you up?

9. #2 • Reflect on your group’s preparedness. For what were you ueber-prepared? For what did you slack on?

10. #3 • What was the most memorable / funniest / most rewarding / most embarrassing moment of your project experience? (this might lead you to a really catchy introduction.)

11. #4 • What were you most proud of concerning the completion of the S.P.?

12. #5 • What steps were the most important for completing the project?

13. #6 • Reflecting on your accomplishments, what do you now know about the Senior Project Experience? (Be positive!!)

14. #7 Write a Mission Statement (What You Do): A one-sentence statement describing the reason an organization or program exists and used to help guide decisions about priorities, actions, and responsibilities.

15. Sample Mission Statements • TED: Spreading Ideas. (2 words) • Smithsonian: The increase and diffusion of knowledge. (6 words) • Oxfam: To create lasting solutions to poverty, hunger, and social injustice. (10) • Best Friends Animal Society: A better world through kindness to animals. (7) • CARE: To serve individuals and families in the poorest communities in the world. (12) • The Nature Conservancy: To conserve the lands and waters on which all life depends. (11)

16. Goal #1 • As a group, open up an account at the website domain/ platform of your choice. Become acquainted with it and find the one that will best suit your project. • Create your URL (see handout for specifics) • Share your URL on MBC Discussion—one per group. • Create your tabs—home page, about us, project overview, project completion, research • Upload a “homepage image” and write your group’s mission statement—make it catchy!

17. Happy Wednesday, Seniors Before class starts, please have the following done (or at least started). • Please sit with your project group members • Each grab a computer—the computer I assigned you, Mark  • Open a google doc and share it with your group members. • Title it 01-Last Name(s) – Homepage

18. Today’s Goal: Create a Homepage HOME PAGE Create a “HOME PAGE” that welcomes visitors to your website. This should include the following: ______ A catchy graphic (maybe a picture of your group, a graphic that represents your project…etc with citations.) ______ A brief introduction to your site and its purpose (about 15-20 lines in a word document). _____Briefly explain, in your own words, what the senior service project is and… _____Explain how your project helped a group or community of others. _____ Include a catchy mission statement (Tip: get acquainted with other websites similar in topic to yours. How do they introduce the project? What seems to be most important that they want to convey?)

19. Homepage examples • The Humane Society • First Tee Organization • Culinary Arts Club • The Bullying Project • Video Project

20. Let’s Write • Together, in your Google Doc., write a 15-20 line intro (you have 10 minutes to do this—just write, don’t think too hard about it ) • Include all of the points (see your checklist). • Discuss how you might “chunk” the information. How would this appear on the website? • When you’re done, half mast your computer.

21. Let’s Polish this Homepage Welcome to the senior project page for ___________. The senior service project is done every year by students in English twelve at St. Joseph High School.  This project gives seniors a chance to give back to the community before we go off into the world.  For our project we made educational videos for teachers’ use.  This idea was presented to us by Mr. Cole, a social studies teacher, and our mentors.  We thought it would be appropriate because our school is just completing a multi-million dollar remodeling project that is heavily centered around integrating technology into the learning environment.  We worked with Mr. Cole and other teachers for ideas on videos that they would need for their lessons and would allow them to use the new technology in their classrooms.  During this project we had the opportunity to work with other students as cast members in our videos.  We hope that these students learned how easy making a video is and hopefully they can be involved in making videos for their teachers in the future.  Ultimately we hope that teachers will be able to use these videos for years to come and that they will enrich the education of all students in the classes that have received these videos.

22. Happy Thursday, Seniors Before class starts, please have the following done (or at least started). • Please sit with your project group members • Each grab a computer—the computer I assigned you, Mark  • Open a google doc and share with your group • Title it 01-Last Name(s) – SSP bio

23. “About Us” Page Create an “ABOUT US” page. The purpose of this page is to introduce your audience to the authors and contributors of the project (because this is a public website, be discerning with what you share). • _____ Each of you will write a short 200-250 word bio, which captures who you are as a service leader—Why is serving learning important? What were some lessons you learned this year? What do you know about the global and local community? What needs would you like to address in the future? What are your future plans, and how does the project connect to what you might do in the future? The writing should be catchy and have a true voice. This is not a “hi, my name is so-and-so, and I live here, and this is my age, and I like baseball and long walks on the beach” kind of writing. This is introspective writing about Service Learning, as this is the focus of the website.

24. The Service-Learning Cycle

25. What? What?—What happened?—What did you observe?—What issue is being addressed or population is being served?

26. So What? • So What?—Did you learn a new skill or clarify an interest?—How is your experience different from what you expected?—What impacts the way you view the situation/experience? (What lens are you viewing from?)—What did you like/dislike about the experience?—What did you learn about the people/community?—What are some of the pressing needs/issues in the community?—How does this project address those needs?

27. Now What? Now What?—What seem to be the root causes of the issue addressed?—What other work is currently happening to address the issue?—What learning occurred for you in this experience?—How can you apply this learning?—What follow-up is needed to address any challenges or difficulties?—What information can you share with your peers or the community?—If you could do the project again, what would you do differently?

28. A Carousel of Examples • Read each example and jot down one effective writing move from the piece. Think about the six traits of writing when noticing effective writing. • Ideas • Organization • Word choice • Sentence Fluency • Conventions • Voice

29. Let’s Write! • Spend 15 minutes developing your bio, including some of the information from our quickwrites. Try including some of the following: • Fragment for Effect • End Dash and / or Double Dash • An appositive • A Participle Phrase

30. Happy Friday, Seniors • Please sit with your project groups. • DO NOT GRAB COMPUTERS YET! • Instead, grab a team tub with markers and one large sheet for group brainstorming. Road Trip!

31. Your Road Map • Think about the process of your project from start to finish. Graphically Represent it by designing a SSP road map. At each “stop” – or project step-- jot down a few sentences of explanation and complementary graphic image.

32. Include 7-10 Project Landmarks(From beginning to end, draw the story of your project) • Where did you start? • Straightaways: When did things go smoothly? • Bumps: When did things get bumpy? • Gas Stations: When did you have to refuel? Get advice? Stop and ask for directions? • Monuments: Which steps were necessary for your completion? • Points of Achievement: At what point(s) did you celebrate? • Mountains: At what point did it feel like you were climbing a mountain to finish? • Where did you end up?

33. The Process EssaySenior Project Overview Page What is a Process Essay? “[It is] the writing project in which we describe how to do something or tell how something happens [that is your Senior Project]…. When our readers finish this essay, they will know how to do something that they didn't know how to do before or they will understand some process that had mystified them before” (“The Process Essay”)

34. Watch out for those Potholes of the Process Essay • Careful of the connections between your sentences ("And then," "then," "and then." ) • Don't number the steps of your essay, and avoid using words like "secondly," "thirdly," etc. You might want to say "first" and "second," but then let the numbering go. • Your beginning ought to involve readers in the human dimension that makes knowing your process important to them. • Allow one of your steps to stand out from the others; in other words, don't let all the steps in your process feel equally important. This special moment or warning in the process will lend the essay a variety of tone, some texture-- another human dimension. • Don’t allow it to be simple-minded and boring. Engage the reader with the “story” –the process– of your project.

35. Let’s Write– Gdocs: 01-Last Names- Process Essay • Develop a Collaborative Process Essay ( Words) • Watch out for the “potholes” • Include a dash or double dash • Include Parenthesis • Include (at least) one sentence that starts with a Subordinate Clause • Include (at least) one sentence that begins with a participle phrase.

36. Happy Monday, Seniors! One of our last together—tear. • Please retrieve the computer belonging to you—check the number on the cart. • Please get into your Google Doc. • Make sure your Process Essay is shared with tgeukes@gmail.com (Of course, you’ll want to make sure it’s shared with your group as well).

37. Project Overview Aesthetics • Remember that when people come to websites, they don’t want to read large blocks of text –organize and chunk” your writing in a way that makes sense to the audience • Include pictures, varied text sizes and font, graphics, and links – creating a layered reading experience Website #1Website #2

38. Project Completion Page Include a “PROJECT COMPLETION” page, documenting your final accomplishments. Each person in the group will provide the following: ____ a reflective essay (about 300-400 words) capturing your reflections, while examining the project outcomes. Because each of you is reflecting, make sure your essays are not redundant. Organize them on the page so that it flows and makes sense to the reader. As a group, please provide the following: ____ documentation of your 10 hours of completion – videos, podcasts, and/or pictures (the documentation would speak for all members of the group, more than likely. This page is the “ta-da” page, the “look what we accomplished” page. ____ Upload your final mentor meeting to this pageby linking it to a Gdoc Page

39. What is a Reflective Essay? • Directions: Please read the “reflective essay” article (link on my webpage). Be able to answer the questions: • What is a reflective essay? • What is important to know about the intro, body, and conclusion? • What questions do you have about the essay’s structure and purpose?