Denise Smith's Blog

Last Friday I joined 30 other community members in a volunteer project at Redmond High School.  I learned recently that the state of Washington is exploring curriculum development that involves a senior culmination project that every senior would need to do to graduate.  The project starts with a briefing during the junior year and wraps up at the end of the year with a formal presentation to be judged by teachers and community members.

It’s a brilliant idea teaching high school students how to project manage something they are passionate about.  I analyzed 5 presentations and portfolios that ranged from American Sign Language to game programming.  It was great to see each student acknowledge their learning’s in project management and see how they developed, tracked and performed throughout the process.  Afterwards the teacher, who I volunteered with, and I discussed how Redmond High School could develop the program further.  One thing we noticed missing that we had to do in high school was a communications/speech class. There’s so much value in teaching presentation skills.

It was great to be in the halls of a public school. Having spent 2 years on the JET Program (The Japanese Exchange and Teaching Program) and 2 years in Up With People (now the WorldSmart Leadership Program) visiting schools across the U.S. and Europe I kind of missed the atmosphere and am pondering how to get involved more.