Self Assessment Essay

English 4
May 30, 2008

Self Assessment Essay
What is a Senior Project? A senior project is an exit exhibition that gives each senior an opportunity to showcase what they have learned, and experienced during the twelfth grade year. I chose teen violence for my senior project. My true motivation for choosing my topic was that I believe teen violence is a major problem in young people lives. I changed my topic three different times.
The first time, my topic was abortion. I didn’t want to do my project on abortion, because abortion doesn’t affect me as much as teen violence do. My second topic was prevention programs in West Philadelphia. I didn’t want to do that topic, because the topic didn’t have enough information to write a research paper. So I chose teen violence. When I did the research on teen violence, I a lot of information and also teen violence affected me and my community. I feel that our culture and communities are creating an environment for teen violence.
My true expectations of the senior project were that it was going to be hard and frustrating. When I first started my senior project it was easy to me, because at that time I was brainstorming ideas for my project. When I started the research for my first topic, it was difficult, because I had to find out information that will relate to my topic. When I started my first draft, I was frustrating because I had to put all the information I found into paragraphs. I was on two pages for two months. The easy part of the senior project was the fieldwork. My fieldwork was the teen violence presentation. It was easy to me, because I knew the people that help me with the presentation.
I feel that the senior project has better prepared me for college, because now I know how to write a ten page research paper. Also, I know how to manage my time. Before I started the senior project, I was scared, because I thought my project wasn’t going to be finished in time. The senior project gave me an idea of what college learning would be like. The senior project showed me how to organize and managed my time. I think the senior project should have a head start I eleventh grade. I believe that I would be more calm and alright. After I present my senior project I a happy that process was over, but was little nervous because I didn’t know if I past or failed. So the next day I asked Mr. Cohen if I past or failed and when he told me I past I was so glad. When you do your presentation, the judges treat the event as a job interview. You have to dress presentable and have a positive attitude. I think that is a good practice for college and other professional career.