The start to the new school year means lots of changes around Leesville. From the new lunch schedule to tardy policy, the changes are receiving mixed reactions. However, there is one change that many aren’t aware of.
This year the English department has decided to take away the senior anthology. The senior anthology was an extensive project (click the link for more information). It required students to pick any theme that interests them and then create a project that included: a cover page, table of contents, dear reader letter, analyzation of a piece of art, paper on a novel, two artifacts, and a works cited page. Each of writing pieces ranged from two to three pages for academic classes and three to five pages for honors.
The senior anthology wasn’t the most popular project amongst past senior classes. Feeling overwhelmed and stressed are common emotions felt amongst those that completed the anthology. “I would have preferred a different project. A more interactive final project would have been more fun and useful in the long run,” said Lauren Sande, graduate of the 2019 class.
Teachers in the English department recognized it was time to change the senior project. The anthology started eighteen years ago and hasn’t been changed since. With time came changes in society and teachers felt it was vital to prepare their students for life after high school.
Replacing the senior anthology is a problem solution focused project. “ [The problem solution project is] more applicable to real world applications…From start to finish the problem solution project based learning, all those skills you will use on the job,” said Wedge.
The problem-solution project is centered around what educators call ‘the four C’s, Creativity, Collaboration, Communication, and Critical Thinking. The biggest contrast to the anthology is the collaboration requirement of the problem solution project. Instead of completing the project on your own, students will form groups based on peer interviews. Once students form groups, they must decide on their topic or theme together. From there the group designs their project in the way they choose. There are still requirements for each student to complete writing pieces on their own, but besides that, students have creative freedom.
So far, students have been briefed on the new problem solution project. Only time will tell how effective the project is, however, expectations for success are high.
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