Our first benchmark in Mr. Kay’s English class challenged us to write a five-paragraph essay with a thesis statement about “The Odyssey.”  Our thesis had to be very good- that is, it must be something that can be argued, and must be a creative thesis about the book.  The essay had to be exactly five paragraphs, no more, no less, and each paragraph had to be strong and backed up by quotes from the book, and then our analysis on said quotes.

The first benchmark in Mr. Baird's History class challenged us to plan, organize, and manage a harvest ceremony in the Ancient Egyptian town of Per-Wadjet during the summer solstice.  King Tutankhamen would be attending the ceremony, which is a full three days and two nights of celebration.  The benchmark was done in groups of three and four, and the many assignments required to complete the project were divided among the group.  At the end, each individual student was required to complete a separate assignment, a dialogue with the Pharaoh.

I worked on this with Megan Doe.

We made a video of this. 

A benchmark from a very long time ago that talked about how we had to generate a conversation between King Tut and the people of his Kingdom.