Introduction
Imagine this....
You are spending a typical Sunday afternoon cruising atop Gull Lake in your family's boat. As your speedboat skims the crystal clear water, you lay back and enjoy the ride. The warm breeze picks up cool splashes of water, lightly brushing your face and your arm resting along the edge of the boat. The firey sun dips gently into the horizon as the day approaches an end. This has to be heaven. You turn your gaze to smile at your dad, as he knowledgeably steers the boat, when you realize he is frowning. He slows the boat down and guides it slowly towards the shoreline.
That's when you see it. Thick. Black. Mysterious. Gunk.
You turn to your dad puzzled. He moves towards the edge of the boat. You follow him, and that's when you finally see what has caught his eye. It's a duck. And he's in big trouble.
Of course, this is not happening in Gull Lake, but it is happening in the Gulf Coast and quickly becoming a very big trouble for residents, wildlife, the government, and BP.
But, wait a minute-- What happened? What started the problem? What is being done to solve the problem? What are the lasting effects of this accident? What can we all learn from this?
Click on the video to continue on.
You are spending a typical Sunday afternoon cruising atop Gull Lake in your family's boat. As your speedboat skims the crystal clear water, you lay back and enjoy the ride. The warm breeze picks up cool splashes of water, lightly brushing your face and your arm resting along the edge of the boat. The firey sun dips gently into the horizon as the day approaches an end. This has to be heaven. You turn your gaze to smile at your dad, as he knowledgeably steers the boat, when you realize he is frowning. He slows the boat down and guides it slowly towards the shoreline.
That's when you see it. Thick. Black. Mysterious. Gunk.
You turn to your dad puzzled. He moves towards the edge of the boat. You follow him, and that's when you finally see what has caught his eye. It's a duck. And he's in big trouble.
Of course, this is not happening in Gull Lake, but it is happening in the Gulf Coast and quickly becoming a very big trouble for residents, wildlife, the government, and BP.
But, wait a minute-- What happened? What started the problem? What is being done to solve the problem? What are the lasting effects of this accident? What can we all learn from this?
Click on the video to continue on.
Your Job:
You are a news reporter. Your task is to create a webpage for your newspaper's website that will inform the public about the issues surrounding the Gulf Shore Oil Spill, while also persuading them to take action. You need to help them understand why this crisis affects them, even though they live all the way up in Michigan. There are a variety of positions you can take to your presentation, but you need to get started from the beginning.
In order to create your webpage, you will need to complete research. You will practice informational reading skills, note taking skills, and how to cite copyrighted information. Then, you will learn how to present your findings by writing an essay that will later be transformed into a web-based report including multimedia.
Resources to be used:
For this project, you will access linked resources on our classroom diigo page. You will complete activities, including an online persuasion map pre-writing activity, to help develop your notes into your essay draft. Finally, you will publish the final draft of your essay by creating a webpage on our classroom wiki at wikispaces.com.
Assignments to be completed:
You will follow the steps provided in order to gather research information to write a three paragraph paper that answers the questions outlined above. After the essay is complete, you will transform the essay into a web page that includes multimedia related to the topic.
