Mr. Cohen

Grace Dodge Career and Technical High School

jayjcohen@hotmail.com

“Look, you know how these people lie. It's born in them...They don't know what the truth is.” “This kid is a liar. I know it. I know all about them. Listen to me, they're no good. There's not a one of 'em who's any good. ….. These people are dangerous. They're wild.” ----- juror #10 in 12 Angry Men

School violence across America is on the increase. Student suspensions for fighting are increasing at an alarming rate. Superintendent suspensions (which remove students from a school building) are at an all-time high. In Maryland, the state board of education placed 16 Baltimore schools on probation as of August 25 because of their high numbers of student suspensions and expulsions. Many of these students are members of minority groups.

New York schools are small communities much like those they draw upon. Poverty and illiteracy are rampant throughout many of these communities. Many of these violent youth come from these communities. According to some psychologists the most powerful generator of aggression in living beings is pain... Animals that have been tortured and children who have been severely and repeatedly abused often become extremely aggressive. Animals and humans being raised in the company of violent adults is associated with the development of aggressive behavior patterns. In this web quest you will be an investigator. It will be your job to analyze the problem of school violence. Your findings can have an enormous impact on the lives of your friends, family members and society at large.

GOOD LUCK !!! We all are waiting for your insights.

You have been chosen as part of an independent student investigatory team by the New York City Department of Education to uncover the reasons for continuing and escalating mistrust, violence between different ethnic groups within the New York City high school system. As part of your team you will evaluate current school policies and decide how effectively they deal with the problem of school violence. You will identify the causes of these conflicts and develop new more effective policies to deal with this increasing problem. You are going to write a 2 page paper discussing this problem and present your findings to your class. The results of your efforts will be presented to the class in a three to five minute talk at the conclusion of this project. You will use the PUBLIC POLICY ANALYST to complete your task. In addition to this research paper you and the other members of your group will prepare a three to five minute talk to be presented to the class informing them of your findings.

You are going to break into groups of three and research the reasons for these ongoing conflicts. Your group will research the nature and causes of these conflicts and with your group develop possible solutions. You will use the Public Policy Analyst listed below. Click on the links and follow the PPA directions in completing the worksheets. These worksheets will be used to complete your two-page paper and prepare the notes for your five-minute talk.

• Define the problem:
• Before you and members of your group begin gathering the evidence that youth violence in school is a problem your and your team should attempt to identify at least 3 of the causes that lead to teen violence. Using this link (worksheet #1). go to the worksheet and record your ideas.
• Gather evidence :
• To establish that a problem exists your group must document what is happening in the schools. I have provided the links in the resources section of this document to get you started on your research. You may go to the link for worksheet#2 to begin your research (worksheet#2) Use this worksheet to record your evidence illustrating the growing problem of violence in the schools.
• Identify causes :
• Using worksheet#3 you are going to record your findings about the circumstances that are fueling the growing violence in our schools. Be as specific a possible in defining the causes.
• Evaluate a policy:
• Using worksheet #4 you are going to examine and evaluate current public policy governing school discipline and how violence by students vs. students and students vs. teachers is currently handled.
• Develop solutions :
• Using what you have learned during your research you will use worksheet#5 to develop and record new possible solutions to deal more effectively with student violence in the public school setting.
• Select best solution :
• Using worksheet#6 you will select the most practical solution that you and your group developed.

Using the information you have found from research and the understandings developed from the worksheets, write a paper of at least two pages that presents the problem of school violence and the solutions you propose. Be sure to analyze the solutions and indicate which one(s) you believe will be the best. Your paper is to be an individual effort, but you may draw in the information developed with your group.

Next prepare to give a five minute presentation to the class concerning your findings and suggested solutions to the problem of school violence. You will be making your presentation with the members of your group, so be sure to discuss the presentation with them. Each group member should have a role in the presentation.

You have been given web sites in the resources section which follows. You will use these web sites to complete the worksheets. You can also use text material to supplement your research.

Resources

I have provided the following links to help get you started on your research to help find the causes and new solutions to the problem of violence in our schools. This is not a comprehensive list but it is a beginning --- something to get you started. You should not restrict yourself only to these sites and sources. Each member of your group must use at least 3 resources while conducting their investigation.

http://whyfiles.org/065school_violence/

http://www.crf-usa.org/violence/intro.html

http://www.cjcj.org/index.php

http://www.ncpc.org/ncpc/ncpc/?pg=2088-6162

http://www.nmt.edu/~hkozushk/

http://712educators.about.com/od/schoolviolence/

http://familyeducation.com/topic/front/0,1156,24-24137,00.html

http://www.cybersnitch.net/schoolviolencewatch.htm

http://www.rppi.org/ps234.html

http://www.keepschoolssafe.org/

http://www.lalc.k12.ca.us/essay/7_24/schvioldigest.html

http://www.ericfacility.net/databases/ERIC_Digests/ed417244.html

http://www.hamfish.org/

Evaluation:

You and the other members of your group will prepare a three to five minute talk to be presented to the class informing them of your findings.

Your work will be evaluated according to the following rubric which meets the New York State ELA standards:

	A Excellent	B Satisfactory	C Fair	F Poor (Do Over!)
Understanding the Task	Student is logical with an excellent working knowledge of material and the audience.	Student has a good working knowledge of material and the audience.	Student presentation is somewhat clear, but not engaging to the audience.	Student has very little understanding of the material and the audience for whom they are addressing.
Development and Organization	Very well organized and presented.	Good organization and development.	Some organization but needs more development.	Poor organization and development. Confusing information.
PPA Skills	Clear evidence of using several PPA resources and new resources.	Evidence of PPA resource use.	Little evidence of PPA resources.	No apparent use of PPA resources or understanding.
Vocabulary	Excellent use of vocabulary and appropriate language	Good use of vocabulary and language.	Weak word usage. Language development is poor.	Poor vocabulary skills and language usage.
Grammar and Punctuation	Excellent use of grammar and punctuation.	Good grammar and punctuation, has few errors.	Weak grammar and punctuation with too many errors.	Poor grammar and punctuation with so many errors that comprehension is impossible.

The ultimate goal of this exercise is to help all participating students meet the New York State English Language Arts and socialstandards. Those standards include:

ENGLISH STANDARDS ADDRESSED

#1: Using written language for Information and Understanding,

#2: Using written language for literary response and expression,

#3: Using written language for Critical analysis and evaluation, and

#4: Using written and spoken language for Social Interaction

SOCIAL STUDIES STANDARDS ADDRESSED

#1: The quality of information provided will be accurate and come from multiple sources,

#2: The findings will be clearly stated and thoughtfully presented

#3: Students will study family, neighborhood, and community.

At the conclusion of this webquest on VIOLENCE IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS students will have developed a better understanding the causes of the behaviors that are responsible for violence in the schools and will become part of the solution helping to implement more effective policies to deal with this growing problem.

Students will have also learned how to use the internet to gather information and do research.