Youth Violence Within NYC Schools
Connecting to our novel “The Outsiders” in 7th Grade English Language Arts
Ms. Rice
INTRODUCTION Click Here for a fun entry
Youth violence is a global public health problem. It includes a range of acts from bullying and physical fighting, to more severe sexual and physical assault to homicide. Homicide is currently the second leading cause of death in people aged 10-29. This is a problem that we are going to try to find some helpful solutions to.
Let’s begin with watching this video: Click Here: Real Roots of Youth Violence
The School Board has enlisted the help of you and your classmates to decrease youth violence in our community. Using research and surveys, you and your group will discuss new ways you plan on decreasing the problem.
TASK
1. At the end
of this WebQuest, your group will be able to describe causes and effects of violence
in young people.
-Great
Resource for Causes and Effects
2. Create a brochure/poster on preventing youth violence using all your findings gathered over the week.
3. Your group will be able to connect the effects of youth violence to our novel “The Outsiders” by answering the question: How might things be different for Johnny and Ponyboy if they were aware of these statistics? This part of the project will be done last and on a separate worksheet that everyone in the group will respond to independently: Complete this step here
PROCESS/RESOURCES
1. We will be dividing the class into groups of 6 (chosen by your teacher).
2. Each group will create a brochure/poster to present to the School Board about Preventing Youth Violence in our Community. We will have 5 class days to work with our groups on gathering and analyzing evidence. We will then take two more days to create our posters/brochures. Each group will present their findings to the class.
3.
The 6 steps of our PPA (Public Policy Analyst) need to be
included within your brochure/poster: Click Here for PPA
Steps and Explanations
4. You will assign a section to each group member. That person will be responsible for filling in that information on your presentation. Find your section below and follow the information to help get you started:
5.
Define The Problem: If you have been
assigned this section of the project, here are some helpful links to help get
you started:
-Facts
on Youth Violence
-What
is Youth Violence?
-Help
Prevent Youth Violence and Understanding It
-NYC
Schools and Violence
6. Gather Evidence: If you have been assigned this
section, you will be gathering evidence right here in our school building.
That’s right, you get to do some front-line research right here in our school
community. You will be creating a survey for either the class, multiple
classes, or possibly the whole grade. You will conduct the survey and then put
together a write-up of your findings. The choice is yours. Remember: Larger
survey pool, the more accurate the results!
Below are a few resources of how people have gathered evidence on this issue in
the past. You can use these resources to help craft your own questions for
our school community:
-Youth
Exposure: Understanding the Why
-NYC
Gathering Evidence on YV
-Example
Youth Violence Survey Done in Boston
Create your survey using this site: www.surveymonkey.com
7.
Identify Causes: If you have been assigned this section of the project,
here are some helpful links to help get you started:
-Who's
To Blame for Youth Violence
-Causes
of Violence in Youth
-NYC
Teen Mother Speaks Out
8. Evaluate an Existing
Policy: If you have been assigned
this section of the project, you are going to look at some current policies in
place to help lower youth violence within NYC schools. You are going to decide
if you think one of these policies is efficient or could use some help. If you
think there could be ways to better or improve the policy, you are going to
want to discuss those changes/improvements. Here are a few existing policies
within our schools that you can look through and evaluate:
-Respect
For All Prevention
-City-Wide
Behavioral Expectations
-School
and Community Plan (Working with NYPD)
-NYC
Schools Code of Conduct SAVE
9. Develop Solutions: If you have been assigned this
section of the project, you are going to have to be working closely with the
other members of the group first. Your job might be to organize or assign
sections for your poster/brochure first and then when your group has given you
all their information, you can create some possible solutions to the problem.
Look at your partners’ results of the survey they sent out and think how you
can relate those findings to craft new solutions for our school. Possible
solution ideas you can look at to get your ideas flowing are listed below:
-Prevention
-Things
Kids Can Do to Stop Violence
-Tools
For Preventing Youth Violence
9. Once each group member is ready, put together your poster/presentation including each aspect. Remember, you want this poster to convince the School Board to follow your plan! Be creative, colorful, and full of facts. I look forward to seeing all of what you create!
10. Do not forget to complete “The Outsiders” Connection writing after your group has completed the project. Complete this step here
EVALUATION:
This is the rubric your group will be graded on for the presentation/poster project.
This is the rubric your individual writing piece will be graded on:
CONCLUSION
Now that we have completed our projects, let’s reflect back on what we have learned. Please complete the following 3-2-1 assignment independently to prove that you are now a ppa master in youth violence in our schools.
**TO MAKE SURE YOU UNDERSTAND YOUR ROLE IN HELPING THE SCHOOL BOARD, HERE ARE SOME LINKS TO SHOW YOU WHAT IS EXPECTED/WANTED FROM A STRONG SCHOOL BOARD MEMBER:
● Roles of NYS School Board Members
●
New
School Board Member Handbook
Exit Ticket Here: Click Here to Complete
STANDARDS
Cite several pieces of textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
Analyze the interactions between individuals, events, and ideas in a text (e.g., how ideas influence individuals or events, or how individuals influence ideas or events).
Compare and contrast a text to an audio, video, or multimedia version of the text, analyzing each medium's portrayal of the subject (e.g., how the delivery of a speech affects the impact of the words).
Trace and evaluate the argument and specific claims in a text, assessing whether the reasoning is sound and the evidence is relevant and sufficient to support the claims.
Introduce claim(s), acknowledge alternate or opposing claims, and organize the reasons and evidence logically.
Support claim(s) with logical reasoning and relevant evidence, using accurate, credible sources and demonstrating an understanding of the topic or text.
SS Standards
Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources.
Integrate visual information (e.g., in charts, graphs, photographs, videos, or maps) with other information in print and digital texts.
2. Participate in activities that focus on a classroom, school, community, state, or national issue or problem.
Identify situations in which social actions are required and determine an appropriate course of action.