Universal Human Experience

Year-Overview : Metacognitive Letter

The last step!

Due Thursday, June 20th as signed hard copy

Dear Students,

Thank you for a wonderful year. The project you have created has been one that we have not only been working on all year, but one that you will look back to in future years. Your increasing sophistication - in reading, writing, creating, and presenting - has been a pleasure to learn from.

As you construct your final letter to me, consider how you have grown as a student this year - academically, socially, and intellectually. I’m looking forward to your thoughtful reflections and will use these letters as artifacts when presenting to other teachers about how sophomores are fully capable of sustained powerful intellectual work.

Sincerely,

Ms. Kennett

In an organized letter addressed to both your Junior Year self and Ms. Kennett, write thoughtfully about the following:

- process of crafting your Universal Human Experience claim, and struggles and successes with the argument itself (talk about the unit, but also cover entire year and writing for your blog)

- EdCafe presentation – your intentions, how it went (successes and challenges)

- how this year-long project revealed an evolution of your intellectual work (construction of knowledge, disciplined inquiry, value beyond school)

- what you learned from your classmates (both content, working process, final presentations, etc.) and how it connects to your process and product

- how you now feel prepared to succeed in Junior Year (writing, reading, speaking, listening, creating)

Sample Format: