HSB 4M1 –
Course Culminating Activity/Personal Project

Introduction

“In April 1995, looking for the comics section of his local newspaper, 12-year-old Craig Kielburger came across an article which forever changed his life. The piece featured the photo of a boy in a bright red vest, his fist clenched defiantly in the air. Intrigued, Craig read the story of Iqbal Masih, a young boy from Pakistan, who was sold into slavery to work in a carpet factory. Before he read Iqbal's story, Craig had never heard of child labour. He wasn't even certain where Pakistan was, but the differences between his life and that of Iqbal shocked him. Craig knew that he had to help.”**

Craig Kielburger got 11 of his grade 7 friends together and they created Free the Children, a non-profit organization whose mission is to abolish child poverty and exploitation around the world. Today, Free the Children is the world’s largest network of children helping children, with more than one million youth involved in the organization in 45 countries around the world. It has built more than 500 schools around the world since its inception in 1995.

Through the actions of one 12 year-old boy, the lives of millions of children around the world have been permanently changed for the better. Through this assignment, we hope that you can do the same.

The Assignment

In this assignment, students will research a social issue, organization or event of their choosing, and bring awareness of it to our classroom and our school. Students can work individually or in pairs. How students bring awareness to the issue, organization or event is their choice; however, they will be expected to make some form of presentation to the class, AND to the student body as a whole.

The assignment will be marked on the following criteria:

1) A 7-10 minute presentation to the class that outlines the issue/organization or event using some type of visual aid

2) Research notes on the issue/organization or event

3) A presentation to students within the school

4) A 1-2 page report that outlines why you chose the issue, organization or event that you did, the experience you had putting it together, and what you will take from this assignment

Please see the following pages for your rubric and a list of possible issues/organizations that you may be interested in. This assignment is 10% of your final mark.

** - Quote taken from the Free the Children website – www.freethechildren.com

LIST OF POSSIBLE ISSUES/ORGANIZATIONS/EVENTS

The following are possible issues/organizations and/or events that you may choose to do. However, this list is by no means exhaustive. If you would like to raise awareness of an issue/organization/event that is not on this list, you may do so, but you must clear it with your teacher first. Anyone who does an issue that was NOT cleared by the teacher first will receive a mark of ZERO. Issues marked with a `*`are issues that may have several sub-topics or specifics beneath them that could be explored

ISSUES: Aboriginal Rights AIDS Alzheimer`s Disease Animal Rights* Arctic Ownership Brain Drain Capital Punishment Child Labour* Darfur Disarmament and Non-Proliferation Doctor Shortages Economic Sanctions* Fair Trade Genetically Modified Foods Global Warming Government Legislation Human Rights Abuses* Nuclear Energy Political Corruption* Political Prisoners* Political Reform Racial Profiling Renewable Energy School Program Cut-backs* Tibetan Freedom Violence Against Women

ORGANIZATIONS: Amnesty International Autism Ontario Canadian AIDS Society Canadian Cancer Society Children`s Wish Foundation Doctors Without Borders Foster Parents Plan Free the Children Greenpeace Habitat for Humanity Humane Society Kid`s Help Phone Make a Wish Foundation OSPCA PETA Princess Margaret Foundation Ronald McDonald House Save the Children Foundation Save the Oak Ridges Moraine (STORM) Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus Association of Ontario (SBHO) Stephen Lewis Foundation UNICEF War Amps World Wildlife Fund

EVENTS: All Candidates Debate Clothing Drive Food Drive Petitions Protests Toy Drive

Addition for Markville Students

Some examples of Personal projects in the past are:

1. Wake-a-Thon: Organization of 24 Hour Wake-a-Thon for Charity

2. Organization of Red Cross Blood Drive

3. Environmental Action Plan: Tree Planting on school grounds, and general grounds beautification

4. World Cup Soccer Charity Tournament

5. Memorial Hockey Classic

6. War & Genocide Project

7. Genocide e-Museum

8. Mural Painting & Map Painting

Criteria	Level 4 (80-100%)	Level 3 (70-79%)	Level 2 (60-69%)	Level 1 (50-59%)
Class Presentation - Knowledge of issue/organization or event - Performance during presentation /15	- Presenter shows a high degree of knowledge of issues being presented - Presenter is well prepared for the presentation, and is well rehearsed - Visual is finely crafted and adds to the overall presentation	- Presenter shows considerable knowledge of issues being presented - Presenter is prepared for the presentation, but is no completely rehearsed - Visual is well done	- Presenter shows some knowledge of issues being presented, but still remains unsure - Presenter is somewhat prepared, but remains flustered and/or rushed - Visual is present but is poorly done	- Presenter shows a limited knowledge of issues being presented - Presenter is not prepared for presentation and/or does not meet time/effort requirement of the assignment (i.e. – no effort/visual)
School Presentation - Preparation for presentation - Ability to raise awareness among the student body /15	- Presenter is well prepared for their presentation - Presenter shows a high degree of interest in raising awareness of their cause	- Presenter is prepared for the presentation, but remains unsure of some aspects - Presenter shows considerable interest in raising awareness	- Presenter is somewhat prepared, but remains flustered and/or rushed - Presenter shows some interest in raising awareness, but remains aloof	- Presenter is not prepared to present on time - Presenter shows little interest in raising awareness of their cause
Report - Expression of the required information - Conventions of report writing /15	- Report shows a high degree of analysis of issue, and expresses all of the required information - All of the conventions of report writing are followed	- Report shows considerable analysis of issue, and expresses most of the required information - Most of the conventions of report writing are followed	- Report shows some analysis of issue, and expresses some of the required information - Some of the conventions of report writing are followed	- Report shows limited analysis of issue, and expresses few or none of the required information - Standard conventions of report writing are not followed
Research Notes - Conventions of note-taking - Relevance of notes taken /15	- All of the conventions of note-taking are followed - Notes have a high degree of relevance to the issue, report and presentation	- Most of the conventions of note-taking are followed - Notes have considerable relevance to the issue, report and/or presentation	- Some of the conventions of note-taking are followed - Notes have some relevance to the issue, report and/or presentation	- Few of the conventions of note-taking are followed - Notes have little relevance to the issue, report or presentation
Total: