For my Capstone, I chose to teach a mini-course, which was once a week for 7 weeks. The goal of my mini-course was to help students learn how to best advocate for themselves and their peers, as well as, how to be a part of ‘adult discussions’. Often teenagers are not included in meaningful discussions, because they are viewed as too young or immature. The minicourse introduced important discussion skills, gave students a place to lead and participate in group discussions, and allowed them to reflect on what they learned. This minicourse helped young leaders to realize their full potential. Initially, I had to propose my idea and get it approved by Mr.Spry, who runs minicourses at SLA. After my idea was approved, I did research surrounding how to best include and engage youth in discussions and the importance of doing so, the sources I used are included below. I then used this research to develop my 7-week lesson plan, the lesson plan is also included below. My lesson plan focused on creating structure while allowing room for student input and independence. It was also important to me that students felt comfortable in the classroom, to achieve this I added in daily warm-ups. In addition to this, I used the second class period to review important discussion skills so that each student entered with the same level of knowledge, these slides are included below. After completing my minicourse I met with a handful of students to gain feedback.

Documentation of my capstone is below click on each image to be taken to the full PDF document. (Lesson plan, day one slides, and annotated bibliography)