TITLE: WHOSE LIFE IS IT ANYWAY?

Peer Pressure and today’s YOUTH

Designed by Roderick D. Michael

DEWITT CLINTON HIGH SCHOOL

Peer pressure still influences today’s youth. Decades ago, the emphasis was on young people being coerced into smoking, drinking and petty theft. Today however, young people are still feeling stressed to do things against their better judgment but now they are not concerned with consequences. As a result, such actions as armed robbery, family violence, and even murder occur at an alarming rate. You, as a modern day historian, will research the history of peer pressure and present it in a role-play for your class. You will also identify some solutions.

Write a two-page essay and develop a script for a two-person role-play. In order to be successful in completing this task, you will have to use the Public Policy Analyst (PPA) to investigate the problem and identify some solutions.

You will be assigned to groups of 2 or 3 people. Each group will use the Public Policy Analyst to explore the problem of peer pressure.

1. Use the following six worksheets to help you organize your thoughts. Websites have been provided for this purpose.

Identify the problem.

Gather evidence that this is indeed a problem.

Identify the causes of this problem

Evaluate the existing policy

Develop possible solutions

What, in your opinion, would be the best solution?

2. The two-page essay must include some practical solutions for addressing this

problem and some techniques for avoiding the “traps” of peer pressure.

3. Choose two themes from your report to create a two-person role-play.

http://ianrpubs.unl.edu/family/nf211.htm

http://www.yeartosuccess.com/google.cgi?searchengine+form2+Dealing%20with%20Peer%20Pressure.html

	Excellent/A	Proficient/B	Developing/C	Beginning/D
Language use and Development	Use vivid language with descriptive words Good sentence structure with compound sentences used Introduction that gets reader’s attention Conclusion that leaves reader with something to think about	Some descriptive language used. Sentence structure is good, but mostly of the same length. Introduction and Conclusion are written.	Simple language. Sentences are the same style and the same length. No introduction, the essay just begin, OR No conclusion, the essay just ends.	Incomplete sentences OR simple language skills that make it hard for the reader to understand your essay.
Organization	Very organized paragraphs and ideas flow from one to the other. All questions thought out and answered in the essay.	Organized but missing some parts of the essay. Paragraphs or ideas do not flow easily from one idea to another. Questions answered, but not all of them.	Not organized enough. One topic does not flow into another. Missing the answer to the main question.	There is no organization at all. It is hard to figure out what you want to say.
Spelling and Mechanics	No more than two spelling errors. No more than two errors in grammar No more than two mechanical errors.	More than two spelling errors. More than two grammatical/mechanical errors, but not more than 10 in total (combined with spelling errors).	Many errors in spelling and grammar	Too many spelling and mechanical errors that make comprehension difficult.
Completion of Task	All parts of the project are complete and included information from all PPA worksheets. Essay is complete and typed with very few cross-outs.	Most parts of the project are complete. Include some information from of PPA worksheets. Could be a neater essay in pencil or pen with few cross-outs.	The essay is missing paragraphs and has little PPA information Project tasks are not all complete.	Project not complete at all OR Project not handed in.

New York State Language Arts Standards:

· interpret and analyze complex informational texts and presentations, including technical manuals, professional journals, newspaper and broadcast editorials, electronic networks, political speeches and debates, and primary source material in their subject area courses.

· evaluate writing strategies and presentational features that affect interpretation of the information.

New York State Social Studies Standards:

· use a combination of techniques (e.g., previewing, use of advance organizers, structural cues) to extract salient information from texts.

· distinguish between relevant and irrelevant information and between fact and opinion.

“Peer pressure feels like having a spotlight shined on you in a big crowd,” says one inner-city high school student. Teenagers find themselves under this harsh spotlight many times during adolescence. Peer pressure is a major reason why adolescents are at risk at a much greater risk than adults to do something counterproductive to themselves and society at-large. They need some guidance about how to handle tough situations and the knowledge that the consequences for breaking rules and laws will be enforced. This Web Quest is intended to have students, acting as historians, visit listed websites, gather their research, present possible solutions in a written essay, and perform them in a role play.