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Project REACH (Respecting our Ethnic And Cultural Heritage) Elka Veselinova Each year students from Robert Gray Middle School in Portland, Oregon, participate in Project R.E.A.C.H. (Respecting our Ethnic And Cultural Heritage). This ongoing tradition is a multifaceted learning experience that includes: a research paper with citations and an informational speech.
The opening activity for Project REACH is the personal culture collage which is designed to get students’ thinking about their own and their families’ background. This creative activity requires to follow a specific format. Each personal culture collage consists of 4 main areas: a mosaic self-portrait made from small colored pieces cut out from magazines (somewhat abstract, but color and style of hair, shape and color of eyes, etc. should be accurate); a section focused on the ethnic background (includes maps and flags, culture-specific foods, words, symbols, areas of origin); a section devoted to family & traditions (includes visual representations of family members, traditions, pets, favorite vacation destinations); a section that displays everyone's personal culture. This can include hobbies, music, favorite foods, friends, types of clothes, sports, quotes that a student finds meaningful.
How does the collage look like? Here are some pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/elka.veselinova64/PersonalCultureCollage?authkey=1uiSJpUVDNU In keeping with the theme of celebrating the diversity in the school and community, students are researching topics that focus on their family background. They conduct research that utilizes as many sources as possible. For their research paper (4 pages long) they choose topics which have a direct relation to the student’s family. Topics are specific, although general information is used to supply needed background. For example:
Pre-research involves examining the prospective topic to make sure enough information is available to write a meaningful, balanced paper and to produce an interesting visual display. The research papers are evaluated by seven criteria: ideas and content, organization, sentence fluency, conventions, word choice, voice, citing sources. The highlight is the cultural, ethnic or family history displays created by students, which are featured at the annual Project R.E.A.C.H. Night. The visual displays are evaluated by four criteria: content, organization, conventions and visual quality. Students use large size, tri-fold display boards, 48 in. x 36 in. As part of the project REACH experience, students are giving a brief (3-minute) speech centered on the visual display, focusing on the material that they researched and how they chose to present that material visually. The speech is structured as follows: Introduction – This includes a thesis statement and the main ideas which will be discussed.
Body – focuses on the following: a) The main ideas – what were the main ideas that a student chose to display? b) The pictures – what are the pictures of? Where did they come from? c) Maps – what do they indicate? d) Other materials – what do we learn from them?
III.
Conclusion – What did the student learn from this project? What
would he / the future? The speeches are evaluated by four criteria: ideas and content, organization, language, delivery. Here are some moments in pictures from speech delivery as well as the REACH Night: http://picasaweb.google.com/elka.veselinova64/REACH?authkey=QAZNvKPvuT8
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