James McCune Elementary School

Fourth Grade

Is There a “Bug” in my Rug?

This year, in order to support the reading curriculum, New York City Department of Education ordered rugs for each New York City public school classroom. The rugs were purchased to support the Reading Workshop literacy block where students will sit on the rugs during mini lessons and read alouds. The purchasing of these rugs has caused some controversy within schools. Complaints have been larged that the rugs are not being cleaned properly therefore causing the inflammation of allergies and asthmatic condition in addition to the spread of fungal germs such as ring worm.

You are the union representive of your school. Teachers have approached you with a petition requesting that something be done about the rugs. It is your duty as the union representative to support your teachers. You will develop a new policy to present to the Department of Education on the care of the rugs.

Call together a school meeting enlisting teachers, maintenance staff, and administrators who would be willing to assist you with creating a policy for the maintenance of the school school rugs. Once you have formed a group you will complete step two below to gather your research and to create a suggested policy for the school.

1. Define and describe the problem https://www.maxwell.syr.edu/plegal/TIPS/worksheet1.doc
2. Gather the evidence https://www.maxwell.syr.edu/plegal/TIPS/worksheet2.doc
3. Identify the causes of the problem https://www.maxwell.syr.edu/plegal/TIPS/worksheet3.doc
4. Describe and evaluate existing policies https://www.maxwell.syr.edu/plegal/TIPS/worksheet4.doc
5. Develop several policy solutions https://www.maxwell.syr.edu/plegal/TIPS/solutionsex.html
6. Select the best policy https://www.maxwell.syr.edu/plegal/TIPS/worksheet6.doc

Use the information gathered from step two to create a power point presentation that demonstrates the various aspects of your findings and the rational for your new policy.

Meet with the Department of Education representative and present the findings of the report and present powerpoint presentation along with the proposed suggested new policy guidelines.

http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/164140p-143834c.html

http://www.uft.org/?fid=200&tf=1140&nart=1280

http://www.surveyconsole.com/console/TakeSurvey;jsessionid=aaae7aSrnO9oSC

http://www.surveyconsole.com/console/TakeSurvey;jsessionid=aaae7aSrnO9oSC

	3	2	1
Content	Writing shows in depth understanding of the social problem	Shows understanding through explicit references to the social problem	Shows understanding through implicit references to the social problem
Organization	Clear, elaborate sentence structure; gives background, analysis, and persuasive evidence for new policy	Writing varies length of sentences; gives some background, analysis, and partly persuades with some evidence	Writing uses basic sentence structure; news story gives little or no background or analysis, and does not support new policy
Presentation For Principal	Engaging; rehearsed, and presenters maintain appropriate attitude	Somewhat engaging; not well rehearsed, and presenters mostly maintain appropriate attitude		Does not keep audience's attention; was not rehearsed, and presenters do not maintain appropriate attitude
Collaboration	There is strong evidence that all group members participated equally	There is some evidence that all group members participated equally		There is little or no evidence that all group members participated equally
Visual Piece	Poster is appealing; images represent the themes in the news story	Poster captures the social issue but is not as relevant as category 3		Poster does not capture the social problem or the themes of the news story

Science

S4e- Demonstrates an understanding of the impact of science

S5e- Identifies problems; proposes and implants solutions; and evaluates the accuracy, design and outcomes of investigations.

S5f- Works individually and in teams to collect and share information and ideas.

S6b- Records and stores data using a variety of formats

S6d- Acquires information from multiple sources.

S7a- Represents data and results in multiple ways

S7b- Argues from evidence

S7e- Communicates in a form suited to the purpose and the audience

S8d- Demonstrates scientific competence by completing secondary research

English

E1c- Read and comprehend informational materials

E2a- Produce a report of information

E2e- Produce a persuasive essay.

E3b- Participate in group meetings.

By completing this PPA Webquest, you have now learned the importance of the maintenance of classroom rugs. As a Public Policy Analyst, you have identified the causes of the problem, provided evidence, researched the current policies, and creative a new school policy. As a result of this project, you have learned to create a policy for your school advocating for mandatory maintenance of classroom rugs.