Week 30 — Capstone Pitch¶
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🚀 Capstone Pitch¶
Project name:
Builder(s):
Platform — circle one: 🌐 Website · 🎮 MakeCode game · 🐍 Python program
Audience — who is this for? (If you write "everyone," pick one person instead.)
Purpose — what should it help them do, learn, or enjoy?
Must-have feature 1:
Must-have feature 2:
Nice-if-time feature: (the one you're allowed to cut)
Public sharing plan — what goes on the class website?
Safety check — what private information must NOT appear? (No full names · no photos of people · no addresses, phone numbers or emails · no school details)
Finish line — "On showcase day, we can say it's done when…"
☐ Teacher approved — date: initials:
The three-Friday rule¶
If you can't finish it in three Fridays, it's too big.
You have Weeks 31, 32, and 33. That's roughly 100 minutes of build time total. Not a hundred hours.
Big ideas aren't bad — unfinished ideas are sad. Make it small enough to finish, polish, and be proud of.
Teacher notes¶
Print one per student or team. No coding starts until this is filled in and you've signed it.
Coaching lines that work¶
"Who is this for? If the answer is 'everyone,' pick one person."
"What's the smallest version that would still feel complete?"
"Which feature can we cut and still be proud of it?"
"How will a visitor understand your project in ten seconds?"
Scope guardrails¶
| Red flag in a pitch | Say this |
|---|---|
| "A game like Minecraft" | "Pick one thing Minecraft does. Build that." |
| "An app that does everything" | "Name the one screen a person sees first. Start there." |
| More than 2 must-haves | "Move all but two to nice-if-time." |
| No finish line | "Don't start until you can say what done looks like." |
| Blank page, frozen student | Offer the menu below |
For students who freeze¶
Freedom paralyses some students. Give them a menu, not a void:
- Website: a page about a hobby, a favourite team, a how-to guide, a top-10 list
- MakeCode: a maze, a collect-the-things game, a two-player game, a quiz game
- Python: a quiz, a number-guessing game, a story generator, a simple calculator
Approve fast, approve small
Your job at this stage isn't quality control — it's scope control. Approve almost everything, but ruthlessly shrink it. A student who finishes something small will learn more than one who abandons something ambitious in Week 33.
Tiering¶
| Tier | Reasonable scope |
|---|---|
| 🟢 Starter | Modify a project they already built. One new feature |
| 🟡 Builder | New project, two must-have features, built from a familiar pattern |
| 🔴 Extender | New project from scratch, plus explain a design trade-off they made |