The Rise of Suicide amongst Youth in NYC

WebQuest for I.S. 143/ Self-contained ELA class

By: Special Education Teacher, Ms. Cleo Young

Introduction

Your class is in the process of completing PowerPoint Presentations or short documentaries about the rise of suicide amongst youth in NYC for the Suicide Prevention Committee at your school. You have researched the different causes and horrific facts about suicide amongst youth. Given all the information and statistics, and knowledge of outreach programs for suicide prevention, why is suicide on the rise amongst the youth? As a class let’s re-evaluate the schools’ policy on informing students about the “rise of suicide and suicide prevention”.

Task

As a class, you will evaluate the school’s policy for sharing information about suicide amongst the youth. You will:

Research the NYS Board of Education (chancellor’s rules) on suicide and suicide preventions policies.
Assess the effectiveness of the present policies put in place to help teenagers who attempt suicide.
Revamp the old policy or create a new policy to more effectively deal with suicide amongst teenagers.
Interview school psychologist and school counselor on school policies.
Present your policy to the Leaders of the Suicide Prevention Committee in your schools.

Process

1. The class will be split into three groups in order to complete the assignment. Each group will complete one of the following tasks below.

Group 1

Interview Ms. Rohan, the guidance counselor, about School’s policy about suicide prevention.

1. Can you elaborate on the school policy as it relates to teenage suicide and suicide preventions?

2. Do you believe that there is enough information given to the students about the rise of teenage suicide and suicide prevention programs? If not what do you believe should be done in order to inform or educate teenagers about this issue facing their community?

3. How effective does she believes the current policies or programs to be?

Group 2

Using the websites below, research the NYS Board of Education’s policy about suicide in schools for Youth:

Chancellor's suicide prevention guide

NYC Board of Education Human services

http://samaritansnyc.org/

Group 3

Interview Mrs. Sims, the school psychologist, about School’s policy on suicide prevention.

1. How do you receive your data about the rise of suicide amongst the Youth in NYC schools?

2. How do you inform the school or the students on this issue?

3. What policies and procedures do you follow when a child has attempted suicide?

4. Do you believe the present suicide policies in place helping students with suicide prevention?

2. Use the Public Policy Analyst to assist you in researching for your presentation.

· Defining the Problem

· Gather the Evidence

· Identifying the Causes

· Evaluate on Existing Policy

· Develop Solutions

· Select the Best Solution

3. Now that you have revamped the old policy or created a new policy, we need to present it to The Leaders of the Suicide Prevention Committee. Each of the three groups will brainstorm about how to present the information and persuade The Leaders of the Suicide Prevention Committee to adopt your revamped or new policy.

How will you present the information? PowerPoint presentation, short documentaries or poster.

Evaluation

You will be assessed based on the rubric below:

	Beginning 1	Developing 2	Accomplished 3	Exemplary 4	Score
Students are able to compile information from various websites	Some websites are used for information but not all.	Websites were all read but research from each is not used.	Evidence of all websites being used.	Evidence of all websites being used with connections between sites.
Interview skills	Answered some questions, though incompletely. No notes to refer back to.	Answered all questions but did not take accurate notes to use information.	Answered all questions but did not create follow up questions. Took notes.	Answered all questions. Created questions to respond to the interviewee. Took notes.
Presentation Skills	Read entire presentation. Addressed the floor or ceiling, rather than audience. Little or no eye contact. Slouched or leaned against something. Poor grammar. Difficulty pronouncing words, or used words below ability level.	Read much of the information. Addressed the audience sometimes. Infrequent eye contact. Voice volume wavered. Some slouching and talking to the floor. Lapses of grammar and some difficulty pronouncing words. .	Information was relayed, with little or no reading. Addressed the audience most of the time. Occasional eye contact. Voice could be heard most of the time. Good posture. Good grammar and pronunciation of words.	Information was relayed, not read Addressed the audience at all times (and not the floor or ceiling) Frequent eye contact Voice could be heard all the time Great posture (no slouching, head up) Great grammar and pronunciation of words.
Application of new policy	Policy does not make connections between research and school problems. Offers only one solution. Cannot be instituted.	Policy does not make many connections between research and school problems. Offers one solution or solutions that cannot be instituted.	Policy makes some connections between research and school problems. Offers a few solutions that can be instituted.	Policy makes connections between research and school problems. Recommends many solutions that can be instituted.

Conclusion

After presenting to the Leaders of the Suicide Prevention Committee, they will set a meeting with each group discussing your presentation and how possibly they can adopt some of your suggestions and add it to the policy or informational sessions on suicide prevention for the Youth of the school.

NYS CCL Standards

7RI.1 Cite several pieces of textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.

7RI.5 Analyze the structure an author uses to organize a text, including how the major sections contribute to the whole and to the development of the ideas.

7W.4-Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience. (Grade-specific expectations for writing types are defined in standards 1–3 above.)

7W.5-With some guidance and support from peers and adults develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach, focusing on how well purpose and audience have been addressed. (Editing for conventions should demonstrate command of Language standards 1-3 up to an including grade 7.)

7W.6- Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing and link to and cite sources as well as to interact and collaborate with others, including linking to and citing sources.

7W.7- Conduct short research projects to answer a question, drawing on several sources and generating additional related, focused questions for further research and investigation.

7W.8-Gather relevant information from multiple print and digital sources, using search terms effectively; assess the credibility and accuracy of each source; and quote or paraphrase the data and conclusions of others while avoiding plagiarism and following a standard format for citation.