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This writing project addresses the need to “write
in order to learn”. It is an inquiry based project that is designed to
prepare the middle school student for researching, collecting
information and organizing the data into a ‘mini’ research paper. It
promotes Internet research and uses the student’s interest as a spring
board into the project. The project includes a bibliography as well as
a component that helps the student evaluate the validity/reliability
of web sites and information that these web sites generate. It
promotes proper educational/instructional use of the Web, paraphrasing
information, writing a report of information, composing a final
reflection and citing valid sources.
This project addresses the
following ELA Standards: Demonstrating familiarity with public and
functional documents; Producing a report of information; Making
informed judgments about technology based documents found ion the web;
Demonstrating an understanding of the rules of the English language;
Analyzing and revising work to improve the its clarity and
effectiveness; and Responding to non-fiction using interpretive and
critical processes.
Students will need approximately
10 to 12 fifty minute class periods to complete this project. Supplies
include a
marble notebook exclusively for this project, a pocket folder, a
computer that accesses the Internet, and computer paper for publishing
the finished product.
Middle school (grades 6-9) General
Education, ESL and Special Education students are the target
population for this project; it can be used as an ‘Exit Project” as
the school year comes to a close. The project can be adapted and
differentiated for all learning modalities and difficulties.
This project teaches the value of
research and effective presentation of valid informational materials.
It creates a student “ownership” of the research process since the
fundamental problem is student generated. It involves educational use
of the Internet/computer and prepares the students for high school
work that mandates composing term papers.
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