P.E.A.K. Appalachian Project

Submitted by: Gillian Lambert and Jim Coe
Collaborators: Kelly Jessup, Instructional Technology Resource Teacher
School: Moody Middle School

Summary

Students will use the fictional novel, Wish You Well by David Baldacci, as inspiration to learn more about the current issues and setbacks that are occurring in the modern-day Appalachian region of the United States. The students will research issues in a variety of ways to make an informed decision on an area of need for the people of Appalachia. Students will use their research to find an organization they can promote school-wide. Each group of students will create a public service announcement to promote their issue and organization to the student-body. After a school-wide vote, one organization is selected to support and students will engage in a collection drive to help the people of today.
http://lambertcoeh21.wikispaces.com/

TIPC Ratings

For this project, students where instructed on the skills and techniques needed to complete both traditional, database research and online research. Once these skills were conveyed, the students assumed control of how to use these skills to advance the project. The final goal of a PSA, that would be used to inform the school and possibly help the organization (and people served by the organization), provided the motivation for completing a professional product with irrefutable facts and a persuasive message.

Students were introduced to the general structure and timeline for the project. After the orientation, students participated in a teleconference to gain further insight on the issues they would research. Students self-selected groups and worked efficiently both in and outside of class to finish their respective products. Students were expected to work with each other to validate the process and product for their group. The final products were evaluated to determine class winners, these winning submissions were voted on by the entire student body to select an Appalachian organization that will be supported by the whole school. This gave the students the opportunity to collaborate and support an outside organization and work towards a common goal.

The motivation for this project came when we realized Baldacci’s novel, while compelling, was set seventy years ago. As instructors, we saw an opportunity for students to discover the issues facing the modern inhabitants of the Appalachian Mountains, to bring the past andpresent together. Instead of giving a series of lectures on the subject, we highlighted (in the broadest sense) a tragically real problem an asked the students to thoroughly research until they found some possible solutions. During the process, students were asked to go back to their groups with any questions that provided an opportunity for the students to find a solution
themselves.

Utilizing methods such as Facebook, Googledocs, XBOX Live, email, texting, Skype, uVu, and Mobile Me, students were able to collaborate effectively beyond the classroom as they created their public service announcements. Students applied their critical thinking, research methods, and communication tools available to them to create an original product that needed to be creative and captivating to a student population. Students could express their creativity by using the digital tool of their choice to design their final product and persuade their peers.