WEBQUEST

HOMELESSNESS CONTINUES TO PLAGUE NYC CHILDREN

By Ruth Stevens

John F. Kennedy High School

Bronx, New York

INTRODUCTION:

Homelessness increased gradually in the past 12 months in New York City and nearly half of the homeless are children. A number of parents of school-aged children are forced to turn to the city’s municipal shelter system. The average stay for families and their children in the shelters has nearly doubled during the past year. Many are without jobs and cannot afford adequate shelter for their families. Therefore, many of our students are forced to live in cramped conditions, city shelters or on the street.

Therefore, you are a child activist for The New York City Family In Crisis and you will research the problem of homelessness, determine its causes and help the agency to come up with ways to address this problem.

TASK:

You will use the websites provided below as well as the TIPS six-step Public Policy Analyst to research the problem of homelessness rates in the New York City. You will arrange your research regarding the problem, existing solutions, and original solutions in the form of a persuasive speech. You will give your speech in front of New York City Family In Crisis officials in an effort to inform them of the magnitude of the problem and persuade them to adopt your original public policy solutions. The speech should be typewritten, at least 2 pages in length, and your oral presentation should be 3-5 minutes in length. You should be prepared to answer questions from the panel following your speech.

PROCESS:

I. Use the TIPS six-step Public Policy Analyst (and summarize your research and ideas on the accompanying worksheets) to do the following:

1. Define the Problem (Worksheet 1)

2. Gather Evidence of the Problem (Worksheet 2)

3. Determine the Causes of the Problem (Worksheet 3)

4. Examine Existing Public Policy (Worksheet 4)

5. Develop Original Public Policy Solutions (Worksheet 5)

6. Choose the Best Public Policy Solution (Worksheet 6)

II. Use the websites provided below to help you find information relevant to your research.

III. Prepare your speech from the information you have gathered and then summarized on Worksheets 1-6.

IV. Working in groups of 2-3, practice your speech in front of your peers, improve it by listening to their constructive criticism, and do the same for your peers' speeches.

V. Extra Credit: Prepare a visual (e.g., oak tag chart, 1-3 PowerPoint slides) that will reinforce your argument during your presentation.

RESOURCES:

Use the following Websites to help you in your research:

http://www.kfny.org/

http://www.kfny.org/publications/PictureImperfect.pdf

http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=homelessness+and+children+in+new+york+city&ei=UTF-8&fr=fp-tab-web-t&cop=mss&tab=

http://www.coalitionforthehomeless.org/downloads/nychomelessnessfactsheet2003.pdf

General Search Engines:

https://www.google.com/

http://www.yahoo.com/

http://www.altavista.com/

http://www.lycos.com/

http://www.askjeeves.com/

EVALUATION:

RESEARCH PAPER RUBICS

POINT VALUE	3	2	1
Heading
Definition	Writes the problem thoroughly.	Good definition of the problem	Writes the problem poorly.
Problem	Thoroughly explains why there is a problem.	Good explanation of why there is a problem.	Poor explanation of why there is a problem.
Gathering evidence	Gathers evidence from 5 internet sites.	Gathers evidence from 3 or 4 internet sites.	Gathers evidence from 2 or less internet sites.
Explains evidence	Thoroughly explains why the evidence is related to the problem	Good explanation. Understands how most of the evidence is related to the problem.	Poor explanation. Understands why some of the evidence is related to the problem.
Identifies causes	Identifies all causes	Identifies most causes	Identifies some causes
Explains causes	Explains how each cause is related to the problem	Explains how most causes are related to the problem	Explains how some causes are related to the problem
Identifies solutions	Identifies all solutions	Identifies most solutions	Identifies some solutions
Explanation of solutions	Explains how each solution will solve the problem.	Explains how most of the solutions will solve the problem.	Explains how some of the solutions will solve the problem.
Paper	4-6 page were written. Each section was titled. There was excellent use of English	4-6 pages were written. Each section was titled. There was good use of English	Less than 4 pages were written. Sections were not titled. There was poor use of English
Questions	Writes two questions for each of the following steps in the public policy analyst format: evidence, causes, evaluation, and solution, that will help determine if students understand what is being presented.	Writes two questions for 3 of the following steps in the public policy analyst format: evidence, causes, evaluation, and solution, that will help determine if students understand what is being presented.	Writes two questions for 2 of the following steps in the public policy analyst format: evidence, causes, evaluation, and solution, that will help determine if students understand what is being presented.
Visual Aids	Imports three visual aids from the internet such as pictures, charts or graphs.	Imports two visual aids from the internet such as pictures, charts or graphs.	Imports one visual aid from the internet such as pictures, charts or graphs.

Explanation of points

A-36-34 points

B-33-30 points

C-29-26 points

ORAL PRESENTATION RUBICS

POINT VALUE	3	2	1
Heading
Problem	Thoroughly explains why there is a problem.	Good explanation of the problem.	Explains the problem poorly.
Gathering evidence	Gathers evidence from 5 internet sites	Gathers evidence from 3 or 4 internet sites	Gathers evidence from 2 or less internet sites
Explains evidence	Thoroughly explains why the evidence is related to the problem	Good explanation. Understands how most of the evidence is related to the problem.	Poor explanation. Understands why some of the evidence is related to the problem.
Identifies causes	Identifies all causes	Identifies most causes	Identifies some causes
Explains causes	Explains how each cause is related to the problem.	Explains how most causes are related to the problem.	Explains how some causes are related to the problem.
Identifies solutions	Identifies all solutions	Identifies most solutions	Identifies some solutions
Explanation of solutions	Explains how each solution will solve the problem.	Explains how most of the solutions will solve the problem.	Explains how some of the solutions will solve the problem.
Presentation Visual aids	Uses two visual aids such as pictures to help in their presentation. Asks at least two questions about the pictures or visual aids to show how they are related to the report.	Uses one visual aid such as pictures to help in their presentation. Asks at least two questions about the pictures or visual aids to show how they are related to the report.	Uses visual aids such as pictures to help in their presentation. Doesn’t ask at least two questions about the pictures or visual aids to show how they are related to the report.
Discussion of Questions related to Public Policy Steps	Discusses two questions for each of the following steps in the public policy analyst format: evidence, causes, evaluation, and solution that will help determine if students understand what is being presented.	Discusses two questions for three of the following steps in the public policy analyst format: evidence, causes, evaluation, and solution that will help determine if students understand what is being presented.	Discusses two questions for one or two of the following steps in the public policy analyst format: evidence, causes, evaluation, and solution, that will help determine if students understand what is being presented.

Explanation of points

A-30 28 points

B-27-24 points

C-23-20 points

NEW YORK STATE LEANING STANDARDS

http://www.nysatl.nysed.gov/standards.html

English Standard 1

Students will read, write, listen, and speak for information and understanding.

As listeners and readers, students will collect data, facts, and ideas, discover relationships, concepts, and generalizations; and use knowledge generated from oral, written, and electronically produced texts. As speakers and writers, they will use oral and written language to acquire, interpret, apply, and transmit information

Social Studies Standard 5: Civics, Citizenship, and Government

Students will use a variety of intellectual skills to demonstrate their understanding of the necessity for establishing governments; the governmental system of the United States and other nations; the United States Constitution; the basic civic values of American constitutional democracy; and the roles, rights, and responsibilities of citizenship, including avenues of participation.

CONCLUSION:

Students should have discovered evidence of homelessness in New York City. Students will also have explored the plight of citizens living without shelter today, its effects and policies that currently address the problem. Students should have made a public policy and have evaluated it.