Capstone Projects

Grade 6 Talk

The Grade 6 Talk is a longstanding tradition in the Middle School. The purpose of the talk is to:

  • Provide sixth graders an opportunity to explore and share a part of their identities.
  • Create a space where we can learn more about and celebrate our peers.
  • Support sixth graders in expanding their comfort zones and strengthening their skills as public speakers.

Students brainstorm and write about an experience that has shaped their identity and present their final speech to the entire 6th grade class at Community Meeting.

Possible Topics may include:
A favorite activity
An important relationship
A special tradition
A powerful memory
An achievement
A disappointment
A challenge

Grade 7 Choosing to Participate Project

The Choosing to Participate (CTP) project is the 7th Grade interdisciplinary research project. It is the culminating event in the academic life of each Milton 7th grader and represents an amazing milestone in each student’s learning journey.

CTP is designed with the following goals:

  • To learn about a specific issue that is of interest to you and has significance to the global community
  • To develop opinions about and potential solutions for these issues
  • To deepen your ability to think critically through research, writing, artistic expression, and presentation
  • To develop research and library skills with attention to developing and defending a thesis (claim), conducting and searching for research and data, paraphrasing and writing ideas, following formats and requirements, peer editing, and time management.

Grade 8 Talk

The Grade 8 Talk gives students a voice and empowers them to show leadership by taking the tools that they have learned from 6th and 7th grade to give an authentic presentation to the entire Middle School community. Students write their talk based on one of the following three topics:

Option 1: Present a meaningful action step you have taken or will take related to your CTP topic.
Option 2: Present an aspect of one of your social identifiers that is especially meaningful to you.
Option 3: Present a social justice topic to which you have a personal connection or strong conviction.

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