The Color
of Water
By James
McBride
Rachel Kosberg
11th Grade
English
INTRODUCTION:
Do you
think that you should have the right to attend any high school of your choice?
Do
you think that you should have the right to go to college even if you can’t
afford it?
As a class we are
in the process of reading James McBride’s touching memoir The Color of Water. James McBride attended the all white “better”
schools in Manhattan, instead of his zone schools in the Red Hook Housing
Project of Brooklyn. I know that your
wondering how he pulled that off; well, you are going to get a chance to find
out about all kinds of rights that you have that you probably aren’t even aware
of!
There are many
public policies existing in the ever-looming world of education. There are policies surrounding public
education as well as higher education.
In your cooperative learning groups you will be researching what public
policies were in place when James McBride was going to school. You will also be given the opportunity to
discover what public policies are in place right now that may help you get
through high school, and perhaps college!
TASK:
As a cooperative
learning group, you will need to develop a PowerPoint Presentation outlining
the following steps:
1.
Define the problem
2.
Gather evidence
3.
Identify causes
4.
Evaluate a policy
5.
Develop solutions
6.
Select the best solution
PROCESS:
As you separate
into your cooperative learning groups I will choose a leader for each
group. It will be up to the assigned leader to define and delegate
responsibilities to the other members of the group.
·
You
will need to have some organized group discussion to come up with your point of
view on educational rights. What exactly
is the problem?
·
Next,
using The Color of Water as a guide, you must come up with at least five
examples of educational inequity in NYC. Think about the problems that
the McBride’s faced in the novel; are their similar problems with students in
your school/community?
·
Now
that you have identified what the specific issues/problems are, you need to
identify what the sources of these issues are. What is at the root
of the problem? How did the issue become exposed in the first
place?
-
You may need to refer to your website resource guide.
·
At
this point you MUST refer to your website resource guide. You need
to research different policies that have been implemented to
counteract educational inequity.
·
After
researching different policies, choose the one that bests supports your main
ideas, and evaluate
the policy at a critical level.
·
Since
we have come to the conclusion that educational inequity still exists in our
society today, the policy that you are researching is not 100%
effective. It
is now time for your cooperative learning group to brainstorm, and come up with
at least five solutions to end inequality in education. These
solutions must have the potential to be more effective than the policies that
you have found through your research.
·
Now, choose the one
solution that you feel will be the most successful out of the five.
Why do you feel that this is the best solution? What do you predict will
happen once this solution or policy is applied to the problem? How will
this process of educational equity improve our community and our lives?
After you have completed all of the
above steps, it is time for the FUN to begin! Now you can compile all of
the information you have found in a POWERPOINT PRESENTATION!! If you have
questions about the set up of a PowerPoint Presentation see the following web
sight: http://www.actden.com/pp/html
WEB-SITE RESEARCH GUIDE:
http://ideas.repec.org/p/fth/euroec/99-14.html
http://www.highereducation.org/
http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/40/173.html
http://www.smalltownbrooklyn.com/townhall/resources/resources.html
http://www.nycenet.edu/ocr/text/faith_txt.html
http://www.nyvote.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=article&articleID=2193
http://www.gothamgazette.com/thinktanks/
http://www.edpriorities.org/Contact/contact.html
PPA POWER-POINT EVALUATION
CHECKLIST:
After
this project is completed you will be graded as a group based on the criteria
listed below:
TASK |
RATING |
Research
- Was
the research clear, well though out and supported with evidence? |
1
2
3
4
5 |
PowerPoint
Presentation - Was
the proposal clearly Outlined,
were graphics used to creatively demonstrate the desired outcome? |
1
2
3
4
5 |
Proposal
- Was
your plan stated clearly, Supported
by factual Information,
all sources cited. |
1
2
3
4
5 |
Group
Presentation - Did
all group members participate in the presentation? Was information
clear and understandable? Did students demonstrate clear knowledge of
the issue? |
1
2
3
4
5 |
FINAL GRADE:
A
17 - 20 points
B
13 -16 points
C
9- 12 points
D
5 - 8 points
F
4 and under
STANDARDS ADDRESSED IN WEB QUEST:
ENGLISH:
ES #1: Students will read, write, listen,
and speak for information and understanding.
ES # 2: Students will read, write, listen,
and speak for literary response and expression.
ES # 3: Students will read, write, listen,
and speak for critical analysis and evaluation.
ES #4: Students will read, write, listen,
and speak for social interaction.
SOCIAL STUDIES:
SS # 1: History of the United States and
SS# 3: Geography Understanding
SS # 4: Economics
SS # 5: Civics, Citizenship, and Government
CONCLUSION:
Students worked in
cooperative learning groups to establish opinion based arguments, research existing
policies, and create new policies using their compiled research. As a result of this project, the students
gained a better understanding of the struggles that the McBride family went
through to gain a respectable education in the NYC public school system.