TED Talk Timing Survey
Hey seniors, if you haven't already, please take the survey linked above to help me with planning for next semester.

Senior POL Schedule
Scroll down to page 3 for the start of the POL schedule.  Remember...

1. You need to be in professional dress when you are presenting
2. You get extra credit for bringing a person in to participate on your panel
3. Share your POL slides with Lori before your POL
4. Your TPS Report must be complete and shared with Lori in order to present
5. Make sure you are here to panel on time for both days you are signed up for

HOMEWORK
Your homework over break is to get a Durango Public Library card if you don't already have one.  You will need them for research the first day we come back from break, so make sure that you have it with you on January 9!

SENIOR SCHEDULE REMINDER:

1. Monday, Tuesday- Meet in Lori's room 3rd, we will have class periods 3, 4, 5.
2. Wednesday- Meet in Lori's room 1st, we will have class periods 1, 2, 3
3. Thursday and Friday- POLs begin for periods 3, 4, 5, 6.  Not presenting or paneling?  You don't need to be here!
4. Senior POL and Paneling Schedule (scroll down to page 3)

Presentation Overview
Here's where you can find the outline of your presentation.  Don't get kreatif, just do what it tells you.

THIRD PERIOD: Presentation Work Time

1. Outline what you're going to say for each step of the presentation
2. Create your slides

FOURTH PERIOD:  Example POL
Meet in Lori's room to watch a full POL for the brave Maya Blaisdell.

FIFTH PERIOD:  More Work Time
Finish your slides and your presentation outline.

HOMEWORK:
Presentation outline complete, all slides are created.  You need to be ready to present and be critiqued first thing on Thursday.

SENIOR SCHEDULE REMINDER:

1. Monday, Tuesday- Meet in Lori's room 3rd, we will have class periods 3, 4, 5.
2. Wednesday- Meet in Lori's room 1st, we will have class periods 1, 2, 3
3. Thursday and Friday- POLs begin for periods 3, 4, 5, 6.  Not presenting or paneling?  You don't need to be here!
4. Senior POL and Paneling Schedule (scroll down to page 3)

I know you thought we were kidding.  We weren't.  Office Space Quiz.

Presentation Overview
Review where you can find the outline of your presentation.  Don't get kreatif, just do what it tells you.

How to Make a PowerPoint that Doesn't Suck

1. Split into groups of 4 (6 groups in Lori's room, 4 in Kyle's).  Choose a facilitator!
2. Complete the handout I give you (also linked above).  Follow the directions, please!  Don't skimp on this- it is actually really helpful in framing your thinking for the task ahead of you.
3. Examples are at this link!
4. Final step here is brainstorming slides images/designs for you particular presentation

Presentation Work Time

1. Outline what you're going to say for each step of the presentation
2. Create your slides

HOMEWORK:
Presentation outline complete, 1/2 of slides are drafted.

Compile Questions and Project Ideas
Make sure you have your most update research question and project idea in this document: 2018 Research Question and Project Ideas.

TPS Report:  MAKE A COPY OF THIS- DO NOT FILL OUT THE ORIGINAL!!!
This is the main preparation for your POL.  It must be completed by the start of class on Monday.  The research is the most time consuming part, but make sure to give adequate attention and thought to the other components as well- we will be looking at all of them during your POL.

Conferences
I will be holding conferences today in the order you are signed up on the board.  As long as you have update the 2018 Research Question and Project Ideas, you don't need to bring anything with you other than yourself, and perhaps something to jot down notes.

HOMEWORK
Complete 1/2 of TPS report (so, completed notes for two new sources, plus half of remaining document).

Starter
If you haven't already, take a look at the list of 2017 Research Questions and Projects.  

1. What do you notice about their research questions and project ideas?  What stands out to you?
2. What do you need to do to your research question to make it more like these?  How do you need to revise it?
3. What do you need to do to your project idea to make it more like these?  How do you need to revise it?

Research Question Revision

1. Review the qualities of a good research question.
   
2. Practice!  With a partner, choose 4 questions from the list of bad questions to revise.
   
3. SHOW LORI when you are done revising them.
   
4. Now, revise your own research question, with an eye towards make it clear, focused, and complex.
   

Research Question Critique

1. Write your question on the handout provided.
2. Leave your question on your desk.
3. Take a pen or pencil, walk around for 15 minutes, give feedback to at least THREE other research questions.  You must give feedback for the entire 15 minutes, so you may give feedback to many more than this.
4. At the end of the 15 minutes, return to your seat, revise your research question based on your feedback, and put it in this document: 2018 Research Question and Project Ideas.

Project Critique
Find someone in the room you haven't talked to yet about your project.  Sit with them, share project ideas, and give verbal feedback to them on the following things:

1. Is this ambitious enough to fill 6 weeks of work time?  How could they scale up/down?
2. Is this doable?  What do they need to make it doable?
3. What kinds of community connections/support could make this project even better?
4. What should they be doing now to prepare for this project?
5. How could they make the link between their thesis topic and their project idea more cohesive?

After this, put your project idea in this document: 2018 Research Question and Project Ideas.

TPS Report:  MAKE A COPY OF THIS- DO NOT FILL OUT THE ORIGINAL!!!
This is the main preparation for your POL.  It must be completed by the start of class on Monday.  The research is the most time consuming part, but make sure to give adequate attention and thought to the other components as well- we will be looking at all of them during your POL.

HOMEWORK
Complete first page of TPS Report, and find at least two other sources for your senior thesis.  

POL Prep and Frameworks
All documents related to your POL will be linked on the SENIOR PROJECT page of my DP, in the "Semester 1- What the hell am I doing, anyway?" section.

1. POL Overview and Schedule: This document outlines what you need to include in your presentation, the critique process, what you need to do to pass, and other requirements.  
2. POL Prep Calendar:  This gives you an overview of our preparation process for the next few weeks.  Check here if you want to know what we're doing in class, and what your daily goals are.

Initial Research/Notes
Finish your initial research notes on your second topic.  You have the first hour of class to complete this!

1. Why are you interested in this topic?  Where did your interest come from?
2. Title/author/url of the source you found
3. What did you learn from this source?
4. What new questions did this raise for you?
5. How does this impact where you want to take your research?   Would you need to refine your question?  How?
6. How easy was it to find information about this topic?
7. After having done this initial research, how interested are you in making this your topic for your senior thesis/project?  Give a quick explanation.

TWO IDEAS ENTER!  ONE IDEA LEAVES!  IDEA THUNDERDOME!
Now you're going to make your final determination.  Yep, it's time to decide.  For some of you, this will probably be pretty easy.  For others, more of a challenge.  Luckily, your awesome classmates are here to help you!  See the link above for the Thunderdome process.

HOMEWORK:
Complete reflection, have research question written and a brief (no more than 1 paragraph) project description written up.  DUE: SOC, Wednesday.

POL Prep and Frameworks
All documents related to your POL will be linked on the SENIOR PROJECT page of my DP, in the "Semester 1- What the hell am I doing, anyway?" section.

1. POL Overview and Schedule: This document outlines what you need to include in your presentation, the critique process, what you need to do to pass, and other requirements.  Review the requirements, frameworks, and sign up for ONE presentation time spot, and TWO paneling time spots.  You may not panel on the day you present, and your paneling must be done on two different days.  No more that 7 people per paneling time.
2. POL Prep Calendar:  This gives you an overview of our preparation process for the next few weeks.  Check here if you want to know what we're doing in class, and what your daily goals are.

​Starter: Things that make you go, "hmmmm..."
For your starter, list 3-5 topics you are interested in.  Don't worry about if these are academic enough, if they are "good", etc.  It could be anything you have an interest in, and could be focused more academically (for a thesis) or practically (for your project).  The key piece here is that you are genuinely curious about the topic/skill/project.  So, for example, my list would probably look like this.  I suggest you write a general topic,  a question or two about that topic, and a potential project idea.  

1. Science fiction writing (What makes a good sci fi book?  Why is sci fi often looked down upon?  How much of it comes true?)  Project idea- Write a sci-fi short story, or set up a review site for sci-fi geared towards teenagers.
2. Spoken Word Poetry (What makes it powerful?  What's the history?  How does it differ and build on other poetic forms?)  Project idea- Put on a slam poetry night, perform poetry
3. Consciousness (What is it?  Do other animals have it?  How do we know?  Can you have consciousness without language?)  Project Idea- No idea.  Maybe intern with a psychology lab?  Conduct my own research on this?
4. Writing (Why is it so hard to help students improve their writing?)  Project idea- Create a student writing center and structures to train student writing tutors at AHS, pilot the program at AHS.
5. Freedom of Speech (What are the pros and cons of limiting hate speech?  Is total freedom of speech good or bad?)  Project Idea- Do first person research on limiting speech, or effects of hate speech, or create a campaign for responsible speech and pilot it, see how effective it is.

Share three of your ideas with the person sitting next to you.  Talk about the strengths and weaknesses of different ideas.

Initial Research/Idea Winnowing/Notes
Take your top TWO ideas/topics from your list above.  Your task for the next two days is to spend ONE HOUR on each idea, and find at least one source that addresses your interest (more sources are, however, encouraged!).  I suggest starting with google.  :)  We'll get to the seriously academic next semester.  Any source is find here- newspapers, wikipedia, etc. are all fair game.  For each of your three potential topics, you need to have notes that include:

1. Why are you interested in this topic?  Where did your interest come from?
2. Title/author/url of the source you found
3. What did you learn from this source?
4. What new questions did this raise for you?
5. How does this impact where you want to take your research?   Would you need to refine your question?  How?
6. How easy was it to find information about this topic?
7. After having done this initial research, how interested are you in making this your topic for your senior thesis/project?  Give a quick explanation.

HOMEWORK:
Complete notes and research for ONE topic.  Due: SOC, Tuesday.