Ms. Fink

English

High School for Teaching and the Professions

Introduction: You attend one of the biggest high schools in the Bronx where words like “faggot,” “gay,” and “homo” are regularly thrown around as insults. You and your best friend, Julio, have known each other since first grade, and are close as brothers. Julio has just told you that he is gay, but he is scared that he will be abused by other students if anyone else finds out. Julio is hysterical because he is afraid of being taunted, harassed, or even physically hurt. You haven’t responded to Julio yet because you know that his fears might come true. Because he is your best friend you now want to make the situation better. You told him that you’ll do some research and get back to him with a plan.

Task: You don’t want Julio to have to pretend that he is someone who he is not anymore so you have to figure out a way to help him. You will find solid information on his situation to make him more comfortable and ease his fears. Finally, you will come up with a plan to make school a safer place for gay and lesbian teenagers. Your proposal will be in the form of a five paragraph essay. The first paragraph will be an introduction to the problem, the second paragraph will be the background information that you found during your research, your third paragraph will include some of the information from personal interviews that you have done, and your fourth paragraph will be the ideas that you came up with to solve the problem. In your conclusion, you will thank the principal for listening and give her your final arguments for supporting the implementation of your plan.

Finally, you will create the presentation where you will present your plan – and plea your case - to the principal.

Process:

During the next week, you will:

1. Find a partner to work with.

2. Research the problem of homophobia in the urban schools by finding at least two articles about the issue.

3. Interview (at least) two other students about their views on gay students in their high school.

Example question: Do you use words such as “homo” or phrases such as “That’s so gay”?

4. Summarize your research on the following six PPA worksheets

a. Define the Problem worksheet #1

b. Gather evidence worksheet # 2

c. Identify causes worksheet #3

d. Evaluate existing policy worksheet #4

e. Develop Solution worksheet #5

f. Choose the best solution worksheet #6

5. Create a final proposal of your best solution (see worksheet #6) in the form of an essay.

6. Prepare a presentation to give to your the principal.

Resources:

The Laramie Project

Harvey Milk High School

Gay and Lesbian Youth Statistics

Tolerance.org

Youth Violence

Make a policy

Evaluation

CATEGORY	4	3	2	1
Organization	Information is very organized with well-constructed paragraphs and subheadings.	Information is organized with well-constructed paragraphs.	Information is organized, but paragraphs are not well-constructed.	The information appears to be disorganized.
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.
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.
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.
Use of PPA Worksheets	Complete, thoughtful, and through answers to every single question.	Somewhat complete answers to every question.	Incomplete answers to most questions. Not thoughtful or through.	Did not answer every question. Answers were incomplete.
Presentation to principal	Convincing argument, demonstrated familiarity with the topic, through background knowledge, made eye contact, used clear speech.	Convincing argument, some background knowledge, not convincing in the verbal presentation.	Somewhat convincing argument, little background knowledge, poor verbal presentation.	Presentation showed little preparation.

Standards

English Language Arts

Standard 1:Language for Information and Understanding

Students will listen, speak, read, and write 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 that follows the accepted conventions of the English language to acquire, interpret, apply, and transmit information.

Standard 3: Language for Critical Analysis and Evaluation

Students will listen, speak, read, and write for critical analysis and evaluation. As listeners and readers, students will analyze , ideas, information, and issues presented by others using a variety of established criteria. As speakers and writers, they will use oral and written language that follows the accepted conventions of the English language to present, from a variety of perspectives, their opinions and judgments on experiences, ideas, information and issues.

Standard 4: Language for Social Interaction

Students will listen, speak, read, and write for social interaction. Students will use oral and written language that follows the accepted conventions of the English language for effective social communication with a wide variety of people. As readers and listeners, they will use the social communications of others to enrich their understanding of people and their views.

Technology

Standard 2: Information Systems

Students will access, generate, process, and transfer information using appropriate technologies.

Standard 7: Interdisciplinary Problem Solving

Students will apply the knowledge and thinking skills of mathematics, science, and technology to address real-life problems and make informed decisions.

Conclusion

Julio thanks you! You have found some of the reasons why students have difficult time understanding each other’s differences. You have evaluated existing policies. You have come up with a plan that helps your school become a safer place for gay and lesbian teenagers. You have presented your plan to the principal. High school youth are learning to accept each other’s differences. Whereas “All is well in the world” may not quite be a true statement yet, you’ve helped make a move towards that goal.