Ask yourself...
Types of Projects
Knowledge Builder Projects
These projects give you a chance to increase your understanding of the facts about social justice and injustices around the world and at different times in history. You will also examine the efforts of groups and/or individuals to maintain or to implement social justice in action AND to determine / explain why - in your opinion - they are or are not effective activists.
Skill Builder
These projects give you the chance to improve skills that you might already have, or that might be new to you: using the Internet EFFECTIVELY to do research. You will also practice using a variety of software and apps to track, use and store your learning and the information you gather. These projects will focus on what are often referred to as "transferable skills" - the skills you are likely to need in any modern workplace.
One-To-Everyone
These projects allow you to investigate and imagine opportunities for people like you me to undertake social justice actions and socially conscientious activities in our communities. They will also provide you the opportunity to conduct and participate in small-scale social experiments/observations that link your experience as "one" to the experience of the "everyone" around you.
Point-Counter-Point
These projects will challenge you to improve both your research and your communications skills by having you investigate (and communicate about) two or more different points of view about an issue, event, idea or person as they relate to social justice.
Taking A Stand
These projects allow you to explore the lives and activities of groups, grass-roots organizations, and individuals who have taken action against social injustice, and to examine whether or not, and how and why they were/are effective or inspirational.
These projects give you a chance to increase your understanding of the facts about social justice and injustices around the world and at different times in history. You will also examine the efforts of groups and/or individuals to maintain or to implement social justice in action AND to determine / explain why - in your opinion - they are or are not effective activists.
Skill Builder
These projects give you the chance to improve skills that you might already have, or that might be new to you: using the Internet EFFECTIVELY to do research. You will also practice using a variety of software and apps to track, use and store your learning and the information you gather. These projects will focus on what are often referred to as "transferable skills" - the skills you are likely to need in any modern workplace.
One-To-Everyone
These projects allow you to investigate and imagine opportunities for people like you me to undertake social justice actions and socially conscientious activities in our communities. They will also provide you the opportunity to conduct and participate in small-scale social experiments/observations that link your experience as "one" to the experience of the "everyone" around you.
Point-Counter-Point
These projects will challenge you to improve both your research and your communications skills by having you investigate (and communicate about) two or more different points of view about an issue, event, idea or person as they relate to social justice.
Taking A Stand
These projects allow you to explore the lives and activities of groups, grass-roots organizations, and individuals who have taken action against social injustice, and to examine whether or not, and how and why they were/are effective or inspirational.
6+1 Traits Evaluation
ALL work will be assessed (which happens during your work - to rough copies, drafts and revisions) and evaluated (which happens to final drafts) using a tool called the 6+1 Traits of Writing. All 6+1 Traits actually apply to any kind of work.
The basis for this structure is that ALL work you do will have these seven total traits (they came up with the seventh after they'd published the first 6, so that's why it's 6+1).
The basis for this structure is that ALL work you do will have these seven total traits (they came up with the seventh after they'd published the first 6, so that's why it's 6+1).
- IDEAS - All work you create - whether it's an essay, a poster, a slide show or a website - will be about particular Ideas. This tool evaluates whether your Ideas are clear, accurate, detailed, interesting to your audience as well as to you, and original in so far that you have put your own "spin" even on ideas that already existed.
- ORGANIZATION - All work has a beginning a middle and an end, and a sequence that makes it easy for the audience to follow. This trait evaluates how clear your organization is, whether or not you use 'connectors' effectively to create flow, if you guide the audience's focused attention, and use a strong hook to get and keep your audience engaged.
- WORD CHOICE - Essay or not, the words you choose are important! This trait assesses and evaluates whether or not you choose and use a variety of words accurately to convey details about information, choose interesting words (i.e.: instead of just saying someone "walked", if they "sauntered", "meandered", "wandered" or "stomped" it changes the entire mood of the piece) and strong verbs to clearly communicate your Ideas. ** The Banish Boring Words booklet is a GREAT resource for this Trait!! IMPORTANT - Your word choice MUST be your own. Just copying out of a text book tells an instructor nothing. You could copy out a of textbook a language you didn't understand just by looking for similar word patterns. Word CHOICE means YOU choose YOUR OWN way of communicating what YOU know, not what someone else already wrote!
- VOICE - This is the Trait that makes your piece uniquely yours and not mine, or his or hers. The assessment / evaluation is based on whether or not you, as the creator, demonstrate interest in your work, that there is a sense of individuality to it, including the use of interjections and rhetorical questions, and metaphors and other literary devices, that you are expressive and connect to your audience and use a tone appropriate to your intended audience and purpose.
- FLUENCY - This is the "flow" Trait. In assessing or evaluating, it considers if it can be read aloud easily, without confusion or awkward pauses. Do sentences or points (if it's a list) vary in length and style, and do you start sentences/points using a variety of approaches? ** Again, The Banish Boring Words booklet is a GREAT resource here!
- CONVENTIONS - This one is the mechanics of the piece - grammar, spelling, punctuation and formatting that is typically expected. (i.e. a formal letter has different formatting expectations than a video but they both still have basics that people who produce them are expected to conform to).
- PLUS ONE === PRESENTATION - How does your finished piece LOOK and/or SOUND (if it involves audio)? Does it look and feel like a good copy? Is it appealing, visually and to the ear? Evaluation / assessment will look for solid layout, polished editing, good timing (in the case of video/audio), tidiness, effective colour choice (sometimes that means black and white!) and sound choices (which could mean silence, too). Think of this as the overall impression, the smooth or pretty factor. Here you want the impression of "polished" to be what you leave the audience with.