What Visions Do We Have About Justice for the World?

A Web Quest

By Lara Hill, English Teacher
Rancocas Valley Regional High School, Mount Holly, NJ
Email: lgchill@yahoo.com

Table of Contents:

Introduction. 1

Task. 1

Process. 2

Definition of “Mission Statement:”.. 2

Example Mission Statement 2

Steps for drafting a good mission statement:. 3

Roles. 3

Artist / Graphic Designer / Photographer. 3

Writer. 3

Presenter. 4

Resources. 4

Conclusion. 5

Evaluation. 5

Introduction

Since we have been investigating the definition of justice and injustice, as well as the people who are often affected by injustices, now it is time for you to begin to think of ways in which injustice can be defeated. Your group will create a mission statement for the human race that will give your views about justice / injustice and the treatment of all people. The group will work together to brainstorm ideas that are essential (according to your group) for the world to follow in order to bring justice to all. Each of the individuals in the group will have a specific task that will enable the class to clearly understand your mission statement.

Task (This is your End Goal)

Create a mission statement that indicates the ideas that are essential for the world to follow in order to bring justice to all. Also include specific positive behaviors or actions that the members of the human race should follow in order to achieve justice for all. Once the backbone of your mission statement and recommendations are complete, each member of the team will work on the overall presentation of your mission statement to the class and your teacher.

Process (This is how you reach your End Goal)

First, you will need to understand what a mission statement is and what it isn’t.

Definition of “Mission Statement:”

A statement of a specific task with which a person or a group is charged

Here are some examples of what I am not looking for… (grin). Go ahead, click “Regenerate” and then try to decipher what the heck they are saying.

http://www.dilbert.com/comics/dilbert/career/bin/ms2.cgi

(However, there are some interesting vocabulary lists that might be helpful for you. Click on “Vocabulary” and see if any of those words are helpful to you.)

Example Mission Statement

Believe it or not, Rancocas Valley Regional has a mission statement. Read through the text to get a feel for what I am looking for. This is not exactly the format, but the content provides some good ideas.

Rancocas Valley Regional High School
Mission Statement

Aaahhh... RV in the Springtime!

· To develop all students to their highest potential by providing a relevant, integrated curriculum which changes to meet society’s challenges;

· To prepare students to function effectively as responsible members of their families and productive citizens of a global society;

· To provide a safe, stimulating environment which is staffed by highly dedicated professionals in partnership with the community at large.

Next, you will have to decide as a group what your backbone will be for your mission statement. As a group, follow the steps for drafting a good mission statement.

Steps for drafting a good mission statement:

1. Brainstorm as many ideas as you can about justice / injustice that are important to your group. These ideas about justice should be “dreams” you would like to see happen in the world to foster justice.

2. Now, prioritize those ideas. Choose your top three.

3. Next, determine what is a major problem in the world regarding justice.

4. Once all of this is done, draft an “umbrella” sentence that summarizes what your focus is based on your ideas about justice and the major problem you have determined regarding justice.

5. Finally, decide what actions / behaviors will help your mission to be accomplished. These guidelines should be positive, declarative sentences that have concrete steps that any person could carry out. They should be written clearly and concisely. There should be 10 guidelines.

Roles

Finally, each of you will need to choose a role that will be your focus for the presentation of your mission statement to the class. Choose from the following:

Artist / Graphic Designer / Photographer

The artist / graphic designer / photographer will create a poster that will have pictures, symbols, images that emphasize the ideas in your group’s mission statement. This poster should give the mission statement dominance. It should be memorable, interesting to look at, creative, and colorful. Check out the resources below to help you in your work.

Writer

The writer will take the ideas from the group session to create a well written, creative, and clear mission statement. That person will then list the guidelines determined in the group in a way that is easy to understand and yet poetic. It could even be argued that the guidelines should be easy to memorize. The writer will email the finished mission statement / guidelines to the teacher by the date given in class. Check out the resources below to help you in your work.

Presenter

The presenter will combine the efforts of the artist and the writer to present the poster with the mission statement / guidelines to the class. Information should be clearly explained on the poster so that the audience can understand your group’s thinking. It would be beneficial if the presenter could find creative ways to make your group’s mission statement and guidelines stand out through props, music, etc.

Resources

Artist

http://www.artcyclopedia.com/

A web site that indexes major works of art.

http://lcweb2.loc.gov/pp/mdbquery.html

A web site that includes photographs and drawings from the Library of Congress.

http://gallery.yahoo.com/

A huge web site that has a comprehensive database of photographs.

http://cgl.microsoft.com/clipgallerylive/

This is a rather large resource of clip art, photographs, etc. for you. Use the search engine on the site.

Writer

http://www.nara.gov/exhall/charters/declaration/declaration.html

This is a transcript of the Declaration of Independence.

http://www.nara.gov/exhall/charters/constitution/constitution.html

This is a transcript of the Constitution.

http://www.nara.gov/exhall/charters/billrights/preamble.html

This is a transcript of the Bill of Rights.

http://www.amnesty-volunteer.org/usa/udhr.html

This is the United Nations "Universal Declaration of Human Rights."

http://www.quintcareers.com/writing/writing_related.html

This site has many resources such as dictionaries and encyclopedias that can help you.

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/

This is the online writing lab and workshop from Purdue University.

Presenter

http://www.abacon.com/pubspeak/

This web site will take you through the 5 modules that will help you with your presentation. There are a lot of resources here.

http://douglass.speech.nwu.edu/byspeakr.htm

This web site lists all of the major powerful speeches given (older ones and modern ones too) in alphabetical order by speaker.

http://douglass.speech.nwu.edu/index.html#go

This site allows you to type in a keyword and it will bring up the list of speeches that include that keyword. Oh… the power of this one.

http://www.toastmasters.org/tips.htm

This site has 10 tips for giving a speech.

Conclusion

These mission statements and guidelines will be hung in our room throughout the length of the course. We will use them to clarify our ideas about injustice in the literature that we read. Specifically we will use these statements to think with more depth about not only the characters and their choices in the texts we read, but also the choices that the authors make in the writing of their texts.

Evaluation

Each group will receive a grade for the overall presentation of the mission statement / guidelines and the adherence to the guidelines posted above. Also, each member of the group will receive an individual grade based on their part in the finished product. See separate handout.

Click here to see rubric for overall presentation