\A Webquest for 10^th grade English

Created by

Ms. Yiadom

Astor Collegiate Academy

Literature often relates to real-life issues and topics. In Piri Thomas’ autobiographical “Down These Mean Streets”, he experiences the highs and lows of being in a gang and gang life. One major social problem that we face in the Bronx is the rise of youth gang involvement. You are a group of reporters for MTV covering a “Real Life: I’m 15 and in a Gang” episode. You will be investigators of youth gang involvement in the Bronx. It will be your job to create policy that will correct the social problem. You will then present your findings to the class. Your job is extremely important. Your recommendations may save the lives of your friends and family members………GOOD LUCK!

As citizens of our city, your group task is to help stop the problem of youth gang involvement in The Bronx. Your group will be researching the topic of gang involvement in your neighborhoods and find out what has been done throughout the city to deal with this issue. Your group will be responsible for discovering the causes of why teenagers join gangs and the effects it has on them. Your group will then also investigate the current policy/policies and proposed policies, utilizing the Public Policy Analyst to create a new policy to be implemented in your community to prevent and discourage youth gang involvement. You will present your findings to the class.

Your group will:

· Complete the Public Policy Analyst Worksheets (to be explained in Process)

· Create a campaign to prevent youth gang involvement in the Bronx. You can create this campaign by creating a poster or designing a pamphlet. Your campaign must include:

ü A title

ü Your research (you must show evidence of your research)

ü A new policy that you group has created to prevent and discourage youth gang involvement in the Bronx

ü A 5 minute presentation of your group’s findings and poster or pamphlet based on your PPA Worksheets

Step 1: You will form groups of 3-4 to complete this Web quest together.

Step 2: Each group will research violence in the Bronx, particularly a community you are familiar with. This may include information about why teens join gangs, ages of members in the gangs, type of gangs in each neighborhood, statistics, etc. Make sure you include your research about these topics. Research will be done on the internet, using the suggested sites listed.

Step 3: Each group will complete the following

Public Policy Analyst worksheets in order to help you with your projects:

#1- Defining the Social Problem

What is the problem that you plan on addressing?

#2- Gather evidence of the problem

How do we know that this is a problem?

#3- Identify the causes of the problem

What causes this problem that you plan on addressing?

#4- Identify and evaluate the existing public policies

What policies already exist on your problem?

#5- Developing public policy solutions

What new public policy do you want to create?

#6- Selecting the best policy solution

Decide with your group the best policy to use for the problem.

Your group will use these worksheets as resource for completing the task assignments.

Step 4: You will use your research to create a poster or pamphlet to address the problems posed by youth gang involvement in your community of the Bronx.

Step 5: Each group will prepare a five minute oral presentation describing the new public policies (step # 5 in the PPA) accompanied by a poster or pamphlet. In your presentation, which includes the poster or pamphlet, your group should outline the problem, present data to support the evidence of the problem, and detail your effective policy.

These are websites and articles that will help you with your research

http://www.safeyouth.org/scripts/teens/gangs.asp

http://www.newyorkmetro.com/nymetro/arts/features/n_8118/

http://www.nynews.com/newsroom/082503/a0125gangsolve.html

http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/news/investigators/WABC_082002_mexicangangs.html

http://www.lib.msu.edu/harris23/crimjust/gangs.htm

http://www.iir.com/nygc/summaries.cfm?m=07&y=2004&State=NY&dir=1

http://www.hopefs.org/Behavior/TeensandGangs.html

http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/168990p-147596c.html

You should also use the following search engines to further research the topic of gang involvement in the Bronx…

www.yahoo.com

www.msn.com

www.askjeeves.com

www.altavista.com

www.google.com

****PLEASE MAKE SURE TO CITE WEBSITES IF YOU USE THEM!****

You will be evaluated on all worksheets, your poster, and your presentation according to the following rubrics…

Worksheets

Grade A: All questions answered thoughtfully and completely

Grade B: All questions are answered thoughtfully however some are not complete

Grade C: The questions are not thoughtfully answered or the information is copied word for word with no student input

Grade D: The answers are not done or incomplete

Oral Presentation Rubric

A B C D

- Everyone in group presents - Excellent eye contact - clear and loud speech - Creative use of visual aides

- Everyone in group presents - Most people maintain decent eye contact - volume and clarity of speech is sufficient - Visual aides used appropriately

- 1or 2 people in group present - Eye contact half of the time - Can understand most of time - some use of visual aid, may be inappropriate

- Only one person in group presents -Little eye contact - Difficult to understand and hear - No or minimal use of visual aid

Poster or Pamphlet Rubric

A B C-D

Collaboration	There is strong evidence that all group members participated equally for the assignment	There is some evidence that all group members participated equally for the assignment	There is little or no evidence that all group members participated equally for the assignment
Visual Piece	Poster/ Pamphlet is appealing; images and themes represent the social issue being discussed	Poster/Pamphlet captures the social issue and themes but is not as relevant as category 3	Poster/Pamphlet does not capture the social issue or the themes of the assignment

STANDARDS

New York City Language Arts Performance Standards

E2a: Produce a report of information

E3b: Participate in group meetings

E4a: Independently and habitually demonstrate an understanding of the rules of the English language in written and oral work.

E6a: Critique public documents with an eye to strategies common in public discourse

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.

Standard 3:  

Students will use a variety of intellectual skills to demonstrate their understanding of the interdependent world in which we live—local and national.

By completing this web quest and researching youth gang involvement in The Bronx, you now understand the impact of gangs in their communities. You have developed a sense of social responsibility and hopefully, you have helped rid communities of youth gang involvement. You have also learned to use the Internet to gather information and do research. You have used critical and analytical thinking skills to make decisions on what policies would be most effective in preventing gang involvement. You now have an appreciation for the public policy analyst and you understand their importance in addressing social problems. Thanks for your participation !!!!