The Life of
Mr. Hillsdale
By Nicholas Motamed
Hillsdale High School Graduate Profile
The Graduate Profile is a measure to see if students are well educated
and ready to graduate
Hillsdale Wants Students to
● Read For Understanding
● Communicate Effectively
● Think Critically and Creatively
● Understand and Apply Content
● Respect your Community
Read for Understanding
*Growth*
How I have changed over my years at
Hillsdale
Freshman Year Senior Year
● Simple understanding of reading ● Complex understanding
● Small amounts of inference skill ● Empathize with characters
● Barely used quotations from ● Predict character development and
literature response
● Essay quality was average ● Able to write a short play
● Lacked annotation skills ● Promoted general education English
class
Communication
*Growth*
Freshman Year Senior Year
● Stammered speech ● Fluent speech (most of the time)
● Lacked structure in my writing ● Improved structure of sentences
● Diminished transition starters ● Transition starters used more often
while writing ● Much improved clear
● Lacked rich language communication
Creative Thinking
*Growth*
Freshman Year Senior Year
● Rigid approach to my learning ● Wrote a play: “The Twin Brothers”
and assignments ● Hillsdale Leadership member
● Literal thinking ● Mentored other Special Needs
● Lack the ability to take risks students
with my learning
Applying and Understanding Concepts
*Growth*
Senior Year
Freshman Year
● Adore History/U.S Government
● Lacked awareness in my
concepts
grammar uses
● Understand grammar concepts
● Not always aware of language
● Richer use of vocabulary
problems
○ Lack of rich vocabulary
● Basic understanding of history
Respect of My Community and Myself
*Proficient*
Freshman Year Senior Year
● Giving back to my community ● Veteran leader at e-soccer
through E-soccer volunteer ● Know how to help special ed kids
● Limited experience in Leadership ● Highly involved in Leadership
● Started to realize I can help special ● Belong to the Hillsdale Effect
needs communities ● Love my HHS community!!!
Part 2: My Project/Assignment to Defend
Area of Focus: English
Little Bee Essay Project
Writing Standard Score: Proficient
Description of Project
“ Little Bee” Moral Responsibility Essay
● Story of a refugee from Africa
○ Talked about her life in Africa and England
● Theme discussed in “Little Bee”
○ Moral Responsibility
■ Explained what Moral Responsibility is
● The will to do the right thing
● Little Bee : “Society has a Moral Responsibility to
help the community”
● Evidence: “ The problems will not go away
anytime soon unless someone takes action.
Communication
This project is MEETING the Hillsdale High School profile in Communication
because I provided
● Clear evidence
● Accurate and logical evidence
● Had Few errors
Reading for Understanding
This project is MEETING the Hillsdale high school profile for Reading for
Understanding because I
● Understood the book
● Was able to locate information on the rich content
● Was able to use evidence in my essay
● Was able to reflect on my evidence
Think Critically and Creatively
This project is MEETING the Hillsdale High School profile for Creative Thinking
because I
● Reflected on quotations from Little Bee
● My analysis supported by evidence
● Able to gather information
● Described moral responsibility in my own words
Respect, Community or Self
This project is PROFICIENT on the Hillsdale High School profile for
Respecting the Community and Myself because I
● Completed the project on time
● Acknowledged my flaws
● Made corrections
● Was a good Audience Member
● Presented in Front of Class
Understanding and Applying Content
This project is MEETING the Hillsdale High School profile for Understanding
and Applying Content because I
● Understood the content and was able to analyze it
● Identified the majority of skills and lessons learned by Little Bee
● Found the necessary evidence demonstrating Moral Responsibility
Why I Chose This Project
● Enjoyed the book
● Learned about values
● Learned about other cultures
● Learned about identity
● Discovered how powerful language is
● Showed Empathy
● Learned about refugees
● Learned how communities should help one another
● Felt it showed that I was proficient in persuasive writing
My Overall View of What I Accomplished At
Hillsdale
While at Hillsdale I feel I accomplished the following:
● Joined Cross Country/Track And Field
● Became a school leader
● Became a special ed advocate
● Completed general education courses
What I Wish I Could Have Done at Hillsdale
● Help Mrs. Henderson’s class become more accepted at Hillsdale
● Be the Club Unknighted president
● Wished I could have participated in the few events I got left out as a Freshman, such
as the Chalk Festival
Part 3: My Learning Challenge
I qualify for Special Education as Speech and Language
Impaired and Specific Learning Disability in Reading and
Math.
This Affects Me
Academically Socially
● Difficulty processing ● Talk too fast
information ● Lack of focus
● Learn best visually ● Fluency issues
● Write slowly
● Misspell Words
● Mix up my words
● Takes a longer time for me to
process information
● Difficulty learning math
concepts
How My Learning Challenge May Affect Me
Post High School
Educationally Socially
● Takes a long time to process ● Longer time prep for speaking
information ● A challenge having big
● Fast it's not me conversations
● Learn best: ● Longer time to think which may
○ Slow and casual interrupt a conversation
The Benefits of My Learning Challenge
● Empathy for others
● Give back to special needs communities
● Love Computers!!!
● Love Typing!!!
● Process + longer= understanding
● New perspective on how people learn
● Get to use my IEP
Accommodations and Modifications That Have
Helped Me Out
Accommodations
Modifications
● Calculator
● Modified test
● Note assistance ● Extra time
● Powerpoints
● Visuals
● Share notes
○ Memorized
● Videos
● Computer use
● Pass/fail grading option
Famous People With My Learning Challenge
● Daniel Radcliffe - dyslexia/ stutters
○ “Harry Potter” -
○ Famous Actor
○ Plenty shows, films
● Alan Turing- Autism/Aspergers
○ Broke Nazi codes in World War 2
○ Inventor
○ Created early version of computers
● Winston Churchill/Speech and Language Impairment
○ Prime Minister of England
○ Famous Leader in World War 2
Thank You for Listening to My Senior
Defense
I’LL SEE YOU ALL AT MY GRADUATION
