1. Title

2. Introduction

3. Task

4. Process

5. Resources

6. Evaluation

7. Conclusion

8. Standards

You and your best friend have been as close as siblings since birth. You are now in 8^th grade and today is your first day at school since you were both younger that you haven’t been together. You are not together today because you just returned from his/her funeral. Last week, your best friend was killed in a school fight.

Over the past four years, incidents of violence in our school have risen. The next more violent than the one before it. Last year, the riots in the cafeteria got so out of control that the school closed the cafeteria and mandated that all students eat lunch in their classrooms. Students were now bringing in objects from home to aid and/or protect them. It got so bad that the school was on “lock down,” which means you stayed in your room and no students traveled the halls. Even the bathroom passes were in short supply. Students started switching out of this school last year to find safer grounds at another school. Riots, stampedes, and random students verbally assaulting others for no reason was the norm that people were forced to become used to. Unfortunately, it is even worse at some of the other city schools near you.




Recently the Mayor listed 10 of the most violent schools in the city, and most were your zoned schools.

Even though there were so many fights this year, your best friend was the first person killed. Your best friend was never really into fighting, but was constantly being teased, picked on, and talked badly about by some school jerk. Finally, your best friend could not take anymore and stepped up to the school jerk. The fight was unfair because the school jerk has been in many fights and thus had more experience, and the school jerk had friends that blocked the way for anyone to come to your friends help.

Today, the principal has finally recognized that school violence has erupted into a major problem. The mayor and other city officials were heard in the principal’s office demanding that there be no more violence in this school.

The principal has decided to make a task force of students and teachers to eliminate school violence in this school and has just named you as the student chair to this task force. Your task is to develop a plan that will lessen the occurrences of school violence.

Your task is to find solutions that will reduce school violence. You are expected to make a report/presentation that will convince school administrators and the students to implement polices that promote public awareness of the present issue. People who will listen to your report must leave with the understanding of the necessity for implementing policies that will foster a safer school environment.

You will have to become a Public Policy Analyst, who will evaluate and propose new solutions for promoting SAFER SCHOOLS. You will have to follow the steps presented in the Process section, use the worksheets and resources to develop your project.

In your presentation, you will have to describe the possible ways of creating safer schools; underscore the importance of student and administrative support for increasing awareness and creating policies, and their benefits for the school. You will also have to evaluate present school policies concerning school violence, and develop proposals that will help create a safer environment here at school.

You will have to produce a Power Point Presentation using animation and other computer technologies.

For this group project you will be working in teams.

You will have to follow the steps below in developing and presenting your work.

Each link below will take you to the web site of Syracuse University, where you will find extended explanation for the terms.

The terms are the steps you MUST follow in order to complete this task properly.

The worksheets will be available to you; however, you may print out the worksheets on your own if you are working in the Public Library, or other place.

(1)     Define the problem – What are the social consequences of school violence?

(2)     Gather evidence – What evidence supports that the problem really exists and to what extent does the problem exists?

(3)     Identify causes – What are the causes of the problem?

(4)     Evaluate a policy – What are the current policies in place that deal with this problem?

(5)     Develop solutions – What are some possible solutions you have discovered and/or created that may solve this problem?

(6)     Select best solution – Which one of your solutions would work best and why?
Use these worksheets to define the problem, gather evidence, identify causes, evaluate a policy, develop solutions, and select best solution.

BELOW ARE 12 SUGGESTED WEBSITES THAT MAY HELP YOU WITH YOUR PROJECT

1. The Center for the Prevention of School Violence

2. Safe School

3. Violence and Discipline Problems in U.S. Public Schools: 1996-97

4. Different Websites that deal with statistical information

5. NYC Teacher Unions on school violence

6. Upfront Online Special Report

7. Gangs in Schools

8. Indicators of School Violence and Safety

9. Indicators of School Crime and Safety: 2003

10. Understanding School Violence

11. School Gangs

12. Google Search

13. TIPS HOMEPAGE

Because it is illegal to take information from the Internet and pass it off as your own, here are two websites that may help you in citing your work properly.

Link to the copyrights and quotations page on the TIPS website

Link to the Citations page on the TIPS website

The product developed by your group of scientists will have to satisfy following requirements presented in the Rubrics below. Your Power Point Presentation will be evaluated in the same way as a printed report except you will have email or bring a floppy with your file and hand it in before the due date. If you wish to make a Power Point Presentation but do not know how to start you may want to learn how to develop a Power Point Presentation click here.

Evaluation of Your Presentation

Multimedia Project: School Violence Project

Teacher Name: M. Drexler

CATEGORY	4	3	2	1
Mechanics	No misspellings or grammatical errors.	Three or fewer misspellings and/or mechanical errors.	Four misspellings and/or grammatical errors.	More than 4 errors in spelling or grammar.
Content	Covers topic in-depth with details and examples. Subject knowledge is excellent.	Includes essential knowledge about the topic. Subject knowledge appears to be good.	Includes essential information about the topic but there are 1-2 factual errors.	Content is minimal OR there are several factual errors.
Attractiveness	Makes excellent use of font, color, graphics, effects, etc. to enhance the presentation.	Makes good use of font, color, graphics, effects, etc. to enhance to presentation.	Makes use of font, color, graphics, effects, etc. but occasionally these detract from the presentation content.	Use of font, color, graphics, effects etc. but these often distract from the presentation content.
Originality	Product shows a large amount of original thought. Ideas are creative and inventive.	Product shows some original thought. Work shows new ideas and insights.	Uses other people's ideas (giving them credit), but there is little evidence of original thinking.	Uses other people's ideas, but does not give them credit.
Requirements	All requirements are met and exceeded.	All requirements are met.	One requirement was not completely met.	More than one requirement was not completely met.

Student Name: ________________________________________

Evaluation of Your Paper Project

Research Report: School Violence

Teacher Name: Mr. M. Drexler

Student Name: ________________________________________

CATEGORY	4	3	2	1
Mechanics	No grammatical, spelling or punctuation errors.	Almost no grammatical, spelling or punctuation errors	A few grammatical spelling or punctuation errors.	Many grammatical, spelling, or punctuation errors.
Amount of Information	All topics are addressed and all questions answered with at least 2 sentences about each.	All topics are addressed and most questions answered with at least 2 sentences about each.	All topics are addressed, and most questions answered with 1 sentence about each.	One or more topics were not addressed.
Internet Use	Successfully uses suggested internet links to find information and navigates within these sites easily without assistance.	Usually able to use suggested internet links to find information and navigates within these sites easily without assistance.	Occasionally able to use suggested internet links to find information and navigates within these sites easily without assistance.	Needs assistance or supervision to use suggested internet links and/or to navigate within these sites.
Quality of Information	Information clearly relates to the main topic. It includes several supporting details and/or examples.	Information clearly relates to the main topic. It provides 1-2 supporting details and/or examples.	Information clearly relates to the main topic. No details and/or examples are given.	Information has little or nothing to do with the main topic.
Paragraph Construction	All paragraphs include introductory sentence, explanations or details, and concluding sentence.	Most paragraphs include introductory sentence, explanations or details, and concluding sentence.	Paragraphs included related information but were typically not constructed well.	Paragraphing structure was not clear and sentences were not typically related within the paragraphs.

We may never rid schools of violence or even rid our school of violence; but your report and the report of your peers will help to make a difference. The research and presentations you all have done, are only the first part of your task. The most challenging part of your assignment is convincing your peers to choose non-violent solutions to their problems. If we all work together we can prevent our friends from being victims of school violence and make Michelangelo a safe learning environment.

English:

Standard 1: Language for Information and Understanding
Standard 2: Language for Literary Response and Expression

Standard 3: Language for Critical Analysis and Response

Standard 4: Language for Social Interaction

Math, Science and Technology:
Standard 1: Analysis, Inquiry, and Design

Standard 7: Interdisciplinary

Social Studies:
Standard 5: Civics, Citizenship, and Government