Passion Project“What are you curious about?”

What is it?

Our next unit

Quite simply – what are you curious about? What questions do you have about the world? Life?

You will explore a question of your choice that stimulates your mind and leads to answers (probably not the ones you originally thought about)

Your question/curiosity can’t be answered with a 10 minute video You need to choose something that you’ve always wanted to know or find

out

You need to conduct academic research by creating a series of smaller research questions

You need to interview someone who might be considered an “expert” in your chosen field

You need to ask your peers what they think about your question/research topic

You will write your findings in a detailed report at the end of our research

Questions I have…

How much oil is left in the world? How do events like the mudslide in Oso

happen? How much do cars really cost? How many people can the world hold? If the world had no national borders, what

would happen?

Today

Open Google classroom and complete the initial assignment

2.19.15

Please open up your dialectic journal for Bigger Faster Stronger

Please have your vocabulary notebook handy (on the table so that we can view it without distracting you)

Reminder – vocabulary quiz tomorrow

Final Dialectic Journal

You will now have the time to “clean up” your dialectic journal

Make sure that you have a color code that matches the rubric I sent you…

Quotations and Plot Details highlighted in yellow Critical Thinking responses highlighted in green Personal Questions or Questions the documentarian asks

highlighted in purple

Theme in Bigger, Stronger, Faster

Today in pods you will use your dialectic journals to discuss the theme from our documentary.

Your final product will be a document you create which notes your responses and is ultimately shared with me.

Quick review of theme

The takeaway or message the author or director is trying to convey.

Romeo and JulietThe theme is not loveThe theme is the complication of love

andLOTF

The theme is not getting lost on an islandWithout rules in a society and a way to

enforce them properly, we are doomed.

Theme in B, S, F.

The theme is NOT “Steroids are good”

The potential answer lies in the work you did in your dialectic journal last week.You might ultimately identify many

themes in your conversation but you will ultimately choose one.

Steps

Choose someone at your pod to take notes Create a new document in google Insert a table with 2 columns and ____ rows

The number of rows is the number of pod members present today + 1

The left column is simply the name of each pod member

The right column is their response to the question today – What is the theme of the movie and why?

Individual and group time Individually, come up with your theme idea

What is the theme of the movie?Look back at your dialectic journal for

patterns that you see Were certain questions repeated?Did you notice that the film came back to the

same ideas or examples?He used the same people in different scenes

throughout the movie

Your individual task is to come up with a theme and 3 pieces of evidence from the movie that proves it.

Pod role

Each pod member share out what they found What do you think the theme is and why?Note taker highlight the theme in yellow

and the evidence can be typed belowNote taker will jot down what you said

on the pod document

After all have shared, which theme do you think stands out among the 3 or 4 choices?

2.24.15

Vocabulary notebooks out and ready please Chromebooks logged on and ready please

Learning objective – today you will choose your passion project ideas and create the first small research questions in the discovery process

Finish pod - theme

Note takers please retrieve the document you created yesterday

Please take the next 5 minutes and choose the best theme among the three or four you wrote down yesterday

Re-write this theme into the bottom row of your table from yesterday

Choosing your passion project idea

You should have received back your passion project ideas

Discuss in your pods the ideas that you came up with to researchAs pod mates, listen carefully to the ideas and help in

the following areasWhich ideas will present special problems in

researching? (Not complex enough or too specific and therefore difficult to research)

What ideas do you have to look for an expert to interview?

What types of questions can you ask on your survey?

At the end of the process, you should have your final selection

Google Classroom assignment

Go into Classroom and find today’s assignmentYou will fill in the appropriate blanks

and start thinking of small research questions to ask to begin the research process

Pod placards

We need to make visible both our goals and our passion project question

Please divide your placard into 4 equal boxes Each pod member will use one of the boxesYou will write, from memory, your personal

and academic goals You will write, from memory, your passion

project big question

Example

Student 1

Academic Goal 1 –

Academic Goal 2 –

Personal Goal –

Passion Project Question -

Student 2

Student 3 Student 4

2.26.15

Chromebooks – yesLids down at the bellToday’s learning objective: You will re-familiarize

with our District databases to help you in the information gathering process of our Passion Project.Where to find themHow to access them How to use themHow to rephrase your questions/search technique

2.27.15

Chromebooks Reading Logs on your table please

Collect Reading Logs

Date Book Author Time Pages Signature

FEBRUARY READING TOTAL ______ HRS _______ MINUTES

• Underneath your last signed entry, total up how many hours and leftover minutes you read in the month of February • You may count signed entries only

Quizlet

Please go to Classroom and you will find a link to Quizlet

This is an AWESOME quiz/test preparation site that you should use to study for our quizzes

Take a few minutes to practice today

Reminder of our expectations

You will research a question of academic significance that you create using our school databases

You will find 6 sources (or more) that have credible value in answering your question

You will conduct one interview of an expert in the field you are researching to include in your research report

You will create one survey to give to your peers on your given topic to include in your research

What is the final product?

A report of your findings An introductory paragraph that states your question

and why you asked itA thesis that states your answer based on your

research Each following paragraph will explain the

components of your answer and the sources of your findings1 paragraph per source1 paragraph for your interview findings1 paragraph for your survey results

Schedule

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday

Continue Research

Continue Research

Discuss Interview/Research

Discuss Survey/Research

Final Day to Research-Thesis due Monday

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday

Work on introductory paragraph

Work on main body paragraphs

Work on main body paragraphs

Work on polish

Research paper due

3.5.15

Chromebooks yesToday’s learning objective: You will learn the

correct process for conducting an interview for the Passion Project. You will practice by contacting prospective experts in your field.

Reminders – tomorrow is your second quiz and registration forms are due. Please consider Humanities 11 for next year

Interviews – why do we need to do them?One of the greatest disservices we do as a

school is not getting you more interaction with the community at large Having interpersonal skills is the #1 request

from most corporations for what they want from the next generation’s workforce (THAT MEANS YOU!)

This will help you practice the basic but critical art of talking to adults

Seeking out and conducting an interview is a requirement for this assignmentIgnoring it will drop your grade dramatically

It is all in the approach…

You have the advantage – most people WANT to talk to young people interested in their topic!

How you introduce yourself is CRITICAL for getting a response“I have to do an interview for this stupid

assignment so can you answer some questions?”

“I have been researching ____ and I have a few short questions that I hope you can answer for me or direct me to another source. Thanks!”

Safety and Today Yes, face to face is best but most will conduct electronic interviews.

Prepare your questions beforehand and send them in your inquiry Absolutely no solo missions – if you meet someone an adult MUST be present

The alley behind Albertsons is not an appropriate meeting place for this project Let me know before you do any phone or in-person interviews

DO NOT DIVULGE ANY PERSONAL OR PRIVATE INFORMATION in email or in person or over the phone.

Go to Google Classroom Read the article on interviewing I’ve sent you Save the document that I’ve sent to you as well. Prepare questions you have for an expert.

Your goal is to reach out to at least 3 potential experts in your field today

3.6.15

Chromebooks yesPlease have vocabulary notebooks away

when the bell rings

Goal for today

Contact as many experts as you can!!! Final day for large chunks of research I am going to push our thesis due date because we were

without Chromebook operation yesterday

3.9.15

Chromebooks and vocabulary notebooks please

Organizing our response

Papers will be due on Friday regardless of whether you are here or notIf you do not have 6 credible sources or if

you feel your research has not developed an answer to your original question, you need to spend time on your own

If you do not have an expert contacted, you need to spend time on your own

In the interest of time, I am removing the survey portion of the assignment

Schedule

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday

Introduction and Thesis

HW: Thesis statement

How to write main body paragraphs- Proper

citations

HW: Draft paragraphs

Main body paragraph completion &Conclusion

HW: Complete draft

Annotated Bibliography and final edits

HW: EDIT!!!

Submit to turnitin.com

3/10/15Chromebooks out and all Passion Project

materials ready to go please

Submit introduction and thesis

First I need you to color code your responsesWhy did you choose this topic? Highlight in yellowWhy is this topic important to answer?  In other

words, so what? Highlight in greenWhat are the small questions that led you to the big

question? Highlight in blueWhat is your research question? (the big question)

Highlight in blueYour thesis (the answer to the question) Highlight in

copper/brown or whatever you call this

Writing your main body paragraphs

Each of your research sources becomes the topic of your main body paragraph

As before you narrate to me what you were looking for (your question) and what you found (the answer)You will directly cite from the sourceYou will explain how that citation helped

you answer your question

How to avoid plagiarism?

Anything copy and pasted from the internet without a citation is plagiarism. Period. Please don’t do it – it is not necessary

The citation is one small part (but very important) of your paragraph

It should not dominate the story you are writing

Use the OWL for a reference – I sent you a link

Writing main body paragraphs

RecipeIntroduce the question you are addressingTell me the source for what you foundCite a small part that helped you answer

the questionExplain how this citation (quote/text)

helped answer your big question

Paragraphs are 7-10 sentences in length on average

3.11.15

Chromebooks – think it through…

Do not recycle or throw away your quizWe need to talk about the back side next

week.

Interview paragraph

Try to write your interview paragraph todayYou will write it just like a normal paragraph

but instead of citing a website, you will reference the questions you asked and how they answered them

Explain their credentials in the opening linesEven if you did not get a response, you

should write this paragraph, explaining all the people you contacted and the questions you asked.

3.12.15

Chromebooks out and ready please

Today:ConclusionAnnotated Bibliography

Conclusion

Final paragraph of your research project No need to cite any sources This is where you wrap up the “story” Talk about the big question you came up

with and the final, absolute, no stone unturned answer.

Close with what’s next in your curious world…

What you will need for tomorrow

Electronic copy of your finalized Passion ProjectElectronic copy of your research notesElectronic copy of your interview notes

Copy of emails sent and receivedCopy of your handwritten notes if you

interviewed a live personAnnotated Bibliography (I will talk about this

next)

Annotated Bibliography

We will use easybib.comMLA styleAnnotated

Short 2-3 sentence statement explaining why this website was helpful and how it answered your research question.