Project Connect Symposium
At TRWP, we’re excited about the first Project Connect Symposium that was hosted at J. H. Rose high school in Greenville, NC, on January 8, 2013.
Beginning in Summer 2012, the TRWP initiated a partnership with J. H. Rose to redesign the English IV writing curriculum in order to focus the project on the types of participatory learning required by digital writing and research. Project Connect is a National Writing Project SEED-funded initiative which works at the intersections of Common Core State Standards, Carnegie Connected Learning, and the Frameworks for Success in Post-Secondary Writing. Having worked all fall term with students, the TRWP facilitators and J. H. Rose teachers were excited to make this work public at the inaugural JHR Project Connect Symposium.
As the culminating event of the seniors’ self-directed inquiry, Project Connect Symposium provides high school students the opportunity to highlight their experiences with research and writing, and for community members to explore the many projects initiated by the graduating class. Symposium can be thought of as an academic conference or festival, engaging students not only in the presentation of their own work, but also encouraging students to celebrate each others’ accomplishments.
Because there are no “closed doors” to presentation spaces, parents, mentors, advisors, teachers, and members of the community drifted in and out of several scheduled events in each presentation room according to their own interests. Students not only to presented the findings of their particular engagement projects, but will also enjoyed open time to attend their peers’ presentations. All presenters requested feedback from the attendees of presentations, which could be completed using the open computer labs or later at the leisure of the responding attendee. At the end of the evening, presenters and audiences gathered in the commons for a toast, awards, and fellowship as all the stakeholders took the chance to share in their collective successes.
To learn more about Project Connect and Symposium, visit the website:
https://sites.google.com/a/pitt.k12.nc.us/project-connect/symposium
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