Chance Lyman - www.xtranormal.com

Chance - www.xtranormal.com - Relate content to students and use technology. Active Participation in a Democracy - students will be shown that voting is not the only way to be active in government. Students will create a movie, wiki page, draft a letter, etc in an attempt to have their voice heard according to a rubric they are given at the start. This project is designed to raise awareness of controversial issues.

Zahra - Voting Rights - key people in voting rights, women's suffrage, create a lesson to put on a website which could be utilized to teach to students.

Michael - concentrated on oral history, focusing on senior citizens in nursing homes, record their stories on garageband, making digital history of life 75 years ago. Upload the information to youtube. Projects on youtube.

Adam - voter registration, observing trends over time, motivating people to vote or the issues that are happening. In Florida, you can pre-register to vote at 16 in Florida.  Digital presentation to encourage voting. Securing television time.

Meg - Human trafficking. Reconstruction of amendments and outlawing slavery. Website for highschool students to address this issue. Spreading awareness. Students would get into four groups, what type of people are enslaved today? What is the USA doing to discourage trafficking laws? Etc. Students could do a podcast, brochure, some type of visual presentation. Compile on to a website to have a resource. Culminate in a letter writing campaign to change laws and encourage change. One way in which important is that most people don't know who their senators or representatives are. The blue heart is the symbol of the anti-human trafficking campaign.

Jennifer - Military letter writing. When you send letters across the ocean it takes a long time to get there. Students would create a wiki or blog where students can write to all branches of the military. Men and women in the military can respond on blogs and talk about whatever they want.

Josh - Look into the past - November 11 is just another day that students have off. Students would pick a veteran and do a 30 minute interview to get an essential idea of who the person was during the war. Students would do research online just to get basic background knowledge about the relevant war. After the interview, students would do a podcast of about 2 minutes to record the important aspect of the students veteran's participation in the war. Students would create a blog about their participation with the veterans. Show veterans what was created and compiled. Total of 3 blogs to which each students would have to respond. Better understanding of American history.

Mark - War on drugs and generating awareness. Students would observe all the aspects of the war on drugs. Budgetary issues are resulting in budget cuts in key areas, such as policemen. Students would create wiki that would go over all aspects of the war on drugs. Once they gained awareness to the war on drugs they would write a letter writing campaign on an issue they favor.

Meagan - Aimed toward middle school, supporting a soldier. Working through school and community to garner support from people in the community. People would be paired up to make awareness in the school with a website. Monthly students would write their penpal and update a vlog with progress. Weekly teachers would present questions about what they have learned. Students will learn about the geography, history, etc.

Elizabeth - Operation Christmas Child - different cultures and traditions. Students would discover what other children do around the holidays, especially those less fortunate than them. Students will create a Christmas box. Students would conduct interviews and blog about that. Students would do a technological assessment. It should be more personal to students.

Eric - Using the Internet to improve the life of the elderly. Students would visit retirement home and talk to them. Receive consent to interview and do a presentation on senior citizens. Work with residents to use social networks, messaging, email, etc. Follow up questionnaire regarding communication and life satisfaction. Compile information into an essay.

Elizabeth - Increasing cultural awareness. The conflict abroad is resulting in problems here. Relate to immigration over the past century. Going to poll the school for heritage. Research the culture most represented by the school. Create a wiki. School wide presentation. Organize "increasing cultural awareness" fair for the school and community.

Mallory - Habitat for Humanity - economics/civics class. Students would work with habitat to determine costs of building houses. Research effective ways and interview volunteers. Students would place reports on wikis. Students will interview families who have received homes. Can choose whatever technological medium to do this. Advocating for habitat and telling the families stories. Will tie it in with what they've learned about homelessness and urban economics. Write a post on wiki and graded.

Louisa - People in nursing homes are very lonely. Students will write questions to address daily aspects of their lives. Will go to a nursing home with the same questions. Things seen and heard on the news. Students will interview local nursing home residents. Will videotape their interview and upload it onto the wiki. Compare/contrast. Viewing party at the nursing home. Students will present all the videos that were made as a result of their work. Will understand that their stories are still important.  Wikis, Internet, Video Podcasts.

Mark - Environment and global warning - students find the politician in their area to help communicate about global warning. Keeps information updated on class wiki. Biographical sketch about the politician interviewed.  Storybird.com

Katy - Impact of historical events on people. Answer question and post to website. Will visit nursing home. Major historical event and interview a person and how it affected them. Students will create videos and audio presentation. Will post to class site along with their reflection.

Jeff - How people affect the environment around them. Teaching students about wildlife and their environment. Post to blog their experiences about cleaning up.

Megan - Research presidential elections - voter turnout, trends, who voted, information dispersed, how government has affected lives, students will visit a retirement home. Students will interview old people and discover why trends occurred. Class will make a podcast of their research and interviews. Mini history oral project. Writing aspect along with a thank you note.

Brittany - Survey voting turnout. Attempting to get young people to vote. Typically they don't vote with as much fervor as old people. Work in groups to compile questions. Make a survey using survey monkey.
Questions must be well crafted. Make posters to get out the vote. Students would present to the class using whatever medium they wanted. Assess whether or not students understand what is being done.

Nicole - voting and campaigning - becoming a responsible citizen. Young people don't vote nor do a lot of demographic groups that are not aware. Students will try to raise awareness by running their own election. Using a google motion chart to monitor trends, make a podcast, create their own polling questions.

Angie - Students learning about their individual rights. Will create a website. Students will select a topic pertaining to individual rights. Small groups dependent on how many students you have participating. Each group would have a section of the wiki. Organize a get it right fair that would take place during a school day. Students will create an interactive display on their topic. Speakers come in to talk or communicate issues and concerns. At the end, visitors would vote on their favorite display.

Ali - Muslim American. Students research media for information on Muslim Americans. Will include reading trade book 14 yr girl living in America during 9/11. Interviewing people for perspectives on the Patriot Act. Gain more knowledge, correlate with Japanese-Americans during WWII. Spreading news about the needs of immigrants. Create wikis about the Patriot Act, using their interviews and information acquired to spread the knowledge.

Carrie - Oral History - choose a family member or landmark that was built as representation of the Cold War. Students would take a digital or video camera and create an article. Articles will be uploaded to a wiki. Bring in history of local community. Invite other classrooms and communities to be involved in the wiki. Expand knowledge of community during the Cold War. A whole wiki of the communities history.

Gigi - Study the geography of Haiti, would network with another student from Haiti. Most likely it would be a private school that has access to Internet. Students would use a wiki and allow them to learn about cultural values and whatnot. Students would have a class website of what they learned, using podcasts and videos. Final project would be to introduce it to the entire school. Students would collect funds/supplies to send to the students.

Service Learning Plan

1. Cultural Perspectives

2. At-Risk Youth

3. Grade Level/Setting: 9-12

4. Subject: World History

5. Unit Description:

Background

This service learning plan will complement student study of Japan before, during, and after World War II. Students will focus on Japanese perspective in the chain of events which lead Japan to imperialism and entry into World War II. Special attention will be paid to the Sino-Japanese conflict, the American-Japanese conflict with special attention paid to Pearl Harbor and Japanese surrender.

Project

How:

Through an Assistant Language Teacher and a Social Science counterpart in Japan an exchange will be created through which at-risk students exchange letters with Japanese students of an appropriate age. It will give students the opportunity to expand their cultural horizons. Students, Japanese and American, will be given the chance to eliminate stereotypes based upon sometimes faulty information. Additionally students will be able to improve their letter writing skills, as their will be an especially strong emphasis on proper grammar and punctuation due to English not being the Japanese students’ native language. The exchange of letters would occur at the beginning of the semester, giving students plenty of time to become familiar with one another and firmly establish a rapport.

Why:

Students will exchange letters with in an effort to expand their knowledge about Japanese Imperialism and World War II from a modern Japanese perspective. Students will be able to learn about how bias affects perspective. The questions the students should address are:

1. What do Japanese students learn about Japanese Imperialism and World War II in school?

2. How does what Japanese students learn differ from what American students learn in school?

3. Why does it differ?

Japanese students would be fully prepared for the material through instructions from the ALT. In addition, students might be able to get first-hand accounts from Japanese survivors. Due to the sensitive nature, students will be urged to exercise discretion. Students will need to learn about cultural taboos in order to navigate such a deeply affecting subject.


6. NETS:

Creativity and Innovation
Students demonstrate creative thinking, construct knowledge, and develop innovative products and processes using technology.

Communication and Collaboration
Students use digital media and environments to communicate and work collaboratively, including at a distance, to support individual learning and contribute to the learning of others. Students:

7. Sunshine State Standards:

SS.912.W.1.3: Interpret primary and secondary sources.
SS.912.W.1.5: Compare conflicting interpretations or schools of thought about world events and individual contributions to history (historiography).
SS.912.W.6.6: Analyze the causes and effects of imperialism.
SS.912.W.7.11: Describe the effects of World War II.

8. Technologies:

Webpage showcasing cooperation with Japanese school

Wiki pooling information gained from Japanese students about Japanese Imperialism and World War II.

Potentially email if students decide to exchange addresses with Japanese students in order to facilitate the transfer of information.

9. Assessment:

Inquiry Search Paper(40%)

Students will use the information gained in class and through their communication with Japanese students to write a paper addressing the following questions.

1. What do Japanese students learn about Japanese Imperialism in the early part of the century and World War II in school?

2. How does what Japanese students learn differ from what American students learn in school?

3. Why does it differ? Talk about the bias present.

4. What stereotypes did students have about Japan?

5. Were they changed?

6. What did they learn about Japanese culture and life that they did not know previously?

b. Participation (60%)

Willingness to exchange letters.

Contributions to Wiki.

Contributions to webpage.

Land of the Rising Sun