Agents of Change Blog Project

DRIVING QUESTION FOR THIS UNIT:

How can we work to be agents of change in order to change the world?

Your goal is the answer this question with conducting research about a school, community, or world issue that needs to change, and coming up with a potential solution that you and your classmates could do/initiate/organize to solve this problem.

It should be a concrete or actionable solution.

Your topic will have to be something you can

A- RESEARCH,

B- Write opinion pieces on based on your research, and

C- Bring you to a solution that can CHANGE something in our world, school, state, and community.

Your group will complete 3 parts of this assignment:

1- You will each research a subtopic of your overall world issue topic.

2- You will create a blog to educate people about your world issue and each person will be in charge of a separate page on the blog regarding their subtopic.

3- You will all write research-based opinions about your world issue (reflecting your subtopic).

4- You will all suggest a solution to your problem on your Home Page.

ASSIGNMENTS:

1- Station Work- Instructions here.

ABC Squares
Brainstorm Sheet
Unit Calendar- see below.

2- Initial Research Activity- posted in Google Classroom

See SAMPLE HERE

3- OUTLINING your Opinion Writing using the 6 + 1 Traits- posted in Google Classroom

1- You will be writing a multi-paragraph opinion essay to post on your blog page about your topic for your group's webpage.

2- You will be graded via the 6 +1 Traits on this piece.

3- You will need to have a claim, evidence, and a justification for your writing.

4- This is an OUTLINE to use to start writing your opinion pieces.

****** Remember this is an OUTLINE-- so it is not writing your entire piece, it is getting all the parts together to then write your opinion piece. Do not think that all you have to do is take what you put in this outline and turn it into your blog piece. You will still need to craft an introduction which includes your claim, three paragraphs which include your evidence and your explanation of your evidence, AND a final paragraph which justifies all of your evidence as a conclusion.

This will HELP YOU WRITE YOUR OPINION-- but it NOT the final opinion piece.

Sample Outline

Webpage and Blog Writing Instructions

STRUCTURE

Your team Home Page includes the minimum:

1- An image describing or relating to your issue;

2- Links to relatable and credible articles about your issue (they can be from your Initial research document):

3- Your team RATIONALE and SOLUTION or ACTION about your issue; and

4-"Tell Us What You Think" about this issue Google Form.

CONTENT

Your individual page includes the following:

1- An image describing or relating to your subtopic;

2- Research about your subtopic; and

3- A multi-paragraph Opinion Piece about your subtopic. This is your Opinion piece based on your Brainstorm Outline.

4- Copies of your MLA citations from your Brainstorm sheet- called a Works Cited.

DICTION AND SENTENCE FLUENCY- Use the 6 traits +1

1- Your individual Opinion Writing reads like a researched blog post and is cohesive and understandable.

2- Complete sentences are used and all paragraphs have the required amount of sentences.

3- No text speak, slang or casual language used. It should read as if you are "speaking" to your audience, but still be formal enough to be readable, relatable, and deemed credible.

CONVENTIONS- Use the 6 traits + 1

1- Writing is clear of grammar and punctuation mistakes;

2- All proper nouns are capitalized;

3- All typos and simple errors are corrected;

4- No "text speak" is used.

5- "Spoken" language is used by sparingly and just to create relatability to your blog audience.

6 Traits + 1