Capstone Project Proposal Draft 

Name of student: Vienna Cupples

Date: November 21th, 2019

Teacher: Ms.Haber

Block: 2-3

The Capstone strand I have chosen is the Service Oriented Stand

Proposed title for my Project Proposal​: ​Volunteering with young dancers to improve their
dancing abilities and observe their habits
Choose one of your stored inquiry questions from grade 9 or create a new inquiry question that
interests you for further research. It should be a question that connects with a purpose, passion
or personalized area of interest for you.

My inquiry question​ ​is:

How can interacting with children help them become a better learner in a dance environment?

Rationale/context​: Detail your reasons for choosing this inquiry question. Explain ​WHY​ you are
choosing to investigate this topic as a major area of focus. How does this area of inquiry connect
to your passion(s), purpose? Why is it of personal interest to you?

I have a passion for dancing, and love children as well. I was offered the opportunity at my
dance studio to help out with some baby ballet classes, as kids can be lots of work and easily
distracted, and I would be there to provide help for the teacher. I hope to work with children as
a future job, somewhat in the psychology field where i can investigate the minds of children
and why they act the way they do. By working with children in a dance environment, I am
getting the best of both. I also remember being younger and nervous to dance and
communicate with the other girls when I was new. I hope to help these children improve their
communication skills and make them a better dancer.

Background​: What background knowledge/connections/prior learning do you have in this

area of inquiry?

Ever since grade 6 i have been in dance. I also love babysitting as well as monitoring younger
kids when I was in elementary school. I have taken 2 years of IB psychology and many of the
studies we have covered had to do with children, this could help me gain a better
understanding of how to approach these kids to get them to feel comfortable around me and
also get them to listen to me.

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Career connections​: What is your intended career area at this point in time? What
connections does this inquiry question have to your life, academic and/ or career goals?

I intend to study psychology at SFU, or possibly become a teacher. Either way I intend on
working with children. I am fascinated by the idea of how children think. A career that interests
me is a child psychologist or therapist. By spending time with children in a vulnerable setting
such as dancing, I can gain insight into each child's personality and how they interact, by
getting to know them and their learning styles. This could help me gain some skills in either of
the career areas i am thinking of currently, and give me experience with children while doing
something I love doing.

Interdisciplinary and core competencies connections​: What subject areas and core
competencies will be connected with your project? Outline and explain the connections.

I will be communicating with the children, as I will need to introduce myself and make them
feel comfortable around me so that I am approachable when help is needed. I will also need to
be communicating my ideas and observations to my mentor/ teacher. I will be prepared to
collaborate and give my ideas as well as listen to their ideas when dancing. This is key for
improvement. In the social responsibility portion, I will be forming bonds and relationships with
my mentor and the kids I work with. As for creative thinking, ill be thinking of new ideas for
each class, how to approach an idea to the younger age group so they will understand.

Capstone Presentation medium​: select one or more project mediums you wish to use to
present your project. Outline and give details about how you will present your project once
completed. You may use a combination of mediums.
o Electronic portfolio: Prezi or PPT
o Physical portfolio
o Website
o imovie presentation

I am planning on constructing an electronic portfolio where i can make notes of all my
observations, good days, bad days; almost like keeping a journal. I will
keep track of my hours, my progress in forming relationships with the
students, as well as helping them out. At the end I will have little summary
of a “guide to: younger dancers”.

Description of my Capstone project. ​Specific Project Details of the Capstone Project: what
will you research, create, study, produce, solve, investigate? What product will be produced
at the end of this project for evaluation. Write a ​one-page description​ outlining your
proposal.

For my capstone project, I am doing a service strand within my dance studio. I am particularly
excited about this because I am given the opportunity to work with some adults that I look up
to and have helped me grow as a person. This will make my project a lot more enjoyable and
rewarding. Considering all of the opportunities dance has given me, I am excited to give back
to the studio whilst doing two things i love; spending time with kids and dancing. I am going to
be attending baby/ regular ballet classes with teachers of my choice as many times a week as
I wish, starting in January. As far as what I will be doing, that is up in the air and up to the

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teacher I am assisting and will vary day to day. Ideally I will be growing a connection with
them, helping them become well rounded people and better dancers overall. By the end of the
project I am hoping to have gained a better idea of how I interact with children while doing
something I am passionate about, because whatever i do with my job, it will involve children. I
wanted to test how children feel and interact with me and vice versa. I also wanted to see how
I have grown as a dancer and communicator and reflect on this with my mentor/ teacher.

Project Design Team:​ who needs to be on your project design team to make this
project/research effective? To support your work? Outline the team and their roles. 

My dance teacher(s) that I will be assisting in their classes will be the ones helping me out to
make this project effective. They can give me guiding questions, improvements for the
following classes, tips on communicating and bonding with them as well. The students will
also be a part of this project, as I will be working with them for the majority of the time.

Resources/ Technology/Skills​: Make an assessment of the resources, technology and

skills you will need to be able to complete this project. What is your plan to be able to
access/learn all of the resources necessary to achieve completion of this project? Detail
your plans. 

I will use my laptop to take notes of key things I observe day to day. I will also be keeping a
regular connection with the dance teacher(s) so I am able to reflect on each day and stay in
touch. If i need to research anything, I will ask my teacher, or gain information by searching it
up

Mentors/Community Connections​: What types of mentor(s)/community connections will

you need to help you complete your capstone project? How will your mentor(s) help you?
What is your plan to access the mentorship/community connections necessary for this
project?

My mentor, being someone that already knows me, and my strengths and weaknesses as a
dancer and person, can help me better understand my role as a teaching assistant. My mentor
is my dance teacher who i have been working with for the past 5 years and has been a very
big influence in my life. My plan is to communicate with her in class my daily role as her
assistant, and be sure to ask her to communicate how she feels the class went at the end of
each day, and how I can improve.

Project limitations: ​What are some project limitations and potential obstacles that you foresee
that might affect progress with your Capstone Project?

With kids, you can never predict how they will act; they may like me, they may be super shy
and it may take a long time for them to warm up to me and actually feel comfortable looking at
me as a teacher rather than a stranger. The ideal result is for them to respect me, listen to me
and hear my suggestions for improvement and take them seriously. Of course I cannot expect
this, as i am not sure how old the children I will be assisting are. If the children are young, the
possibility of them being distracted often and not listening are very likely.

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Other considerations​: List and detail any other related information/ considerations about
your project that you feel should be included in your project proposal. 

The classes I will be helping with do not start until after winter break, therefore until then I will
continue to prepare, talk with my mentor and make a game plan for everything

References​: Provide a literature review or links for 5-10 references: research, videos, etc.
that offer some preliminary research you have done for your project that shows you are able
to access the key information that you will need to be able to complete this project/work. 


Project Plan & Timeline​: Plan the steps for your project with a timeline of when the work
needs to be done.

Complete the attached ​Capstone Project Action Plan​ or create your own timeline to show
steps and dates needed for completion.
Capstone Project Action Plan/Timeline 
 
Project Title  Volunteering with young dancers to improve their dancing abilities and observe
their habits
Capstone Strand  Service Strand

Design Team  Ms. Sarah (My dance teacher i will be assisting)

Members  Possible other teachers i will be assisting: Ms. Masha, Ms Carly, Ms Heather

Objective(s):   Date of Completion:  

To observe how young children behave around each other in a  Around March- April. 
controlled environment, and to increase their communication skills, 
dancing skills, and learn about the best ways to interact with children 
 
 
 
 
Resources Required: 
Psychology class notes (From Ms. Schweers) 
Psychology videos 
Beginners guide to teaching children dance 
A laptop to record notes 
Essential Skills Required: 
Background knowledge about how children behave 
Patience 
Dance experience 

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Mentors/Community Connections: 
I am volunteering my time to help my teachers out with young students, to further gain insight from 
someone other than their teacher and someone who is younger. I am going to be working with 
them and creating a safe place for them to express themselves however they chose within the 
studio and hopefully share some of my passions with others. Also show my mentor how I have 
improved as a dancer and person. 
 

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Develop Timeline for the overall Project: 

Action Plan Steps:  

What needs to be  Who will do this part?  By when?  Done: 

done​? (add rows 
as needed) 
-Sign up for classes to -I will be signing myself up -In a few weeks (the
attend as well as working it into my classes don't need
schedule volunteers until after winter
break)

-Start attending the -Myself -Over the course of

classes and writing notes multiple months

 
Other considerations:

Required check in dates: ​Students will refer to the list of published due dates which were
provided in September and are available on the class website.