This document outlines the requirements for a student's third trimester interest project. Students are asked to identify a problem in their school, city, state or country that they want to address. They then need to create a "driving question" about this problem, develop a strategy or plan to take action to address it, and implement their plan. The project involves several writing, reading, and presentation components including drafting a proposal, researching the issue through reading and interviews, compiling statistics and notes, and creating a final presentation or materials to showcase their work. The overall goal is for students to raise awareness about an issue they care about and take steps to enact positive change.

1. Abandoned and vacant homes

2. Litter and empty lots

3. Wars and fighting in Libya

4. Disaster relief in Haiti

5. Homelessness and hunger

6. You can just sit around and watch…and feel bad for people… or

8. GET UP! GET OUT!DO SOMETHING! Third Trimester Interest Project

9. What do you care about? What problems do you notice in your neighborhood? Our city? Our state? Our country? What do you want to see get better around us?

10. What will I have to do? Create a driving question about a problem you care about in school, city, state, country Come up with a strategy to so something about it Put your plan into action and do something Show what you accomplished at your exhibition

11. Example of a driving question: How can we reduce the amount of trash our school throws out?

12. What will I have to do? A little bit of Writing… Part 1. Proposal for your project (Due April 7th) Once you submit your proposal it is FINAL! Part 2. Write letters, interview experts, create posters, do Power Point presentations, or pamphlets about your project. Do the project Part 3. Show the results of your project and write a reflection on the results of your “do something” project. (Present at Exhibition)

13. What will I have to do? A little bit of Reading… Read about the problem that you have observed in the newspaper, online, in magazines, and in books. Milestone #1 Due April14th RESOURCES: 3 books: Read about the problem that you have observed in books, newspapers, and /or magazine articles. 3 websites Interview: you are required to contact someone who can assist you with your problem. You need to either write a letter (s) to someone who can help you or interview an expert.

14. What will I have to do? A little bit of Word Study and Math… Notes: to include background knowledge or history about the problem notes from your interview, and information about what has been done previously in trying to solve the problem. Word and Stats sheet: find words that relate to your problem that you need to understand and include statistics about the problem. Statistics are numbers that will help convince people that your driving question is really a problem You will also need to tell what the statistics mean. Milestone 2 Due April 28th

15. What will I have to do? A little bit of Creativity… Create Glogsters, advertisement posters, do Power point presentations, ormake pamphlets about your project. Make sure to include PICTURES of yourself that were taken showing you working on the problem. Milestone 3 Due May 12th

16. What will I have to do? Reflection… Due at your scheduled Exhibition time. Show the results of your project and write a reflection on the results of your “Do Something” project.

18. Don’t just write

19. Don’t just plan, DO SOMETHING!