SIGNATURE ASSIGNMENT PORJECT SUMMARY & IMPACT 1

Summary of Project and Project Impact

This project is about the power of peaceful protest through the use of spoken word to

combat issues of social injustice and stereotyping. As a 12th grade teacher, I will be addressing

standards for area content including point of view, perspective, and narration. I will also be

utilizing Arizona State Standards pertaining to writing and developing use of rhetoric, character

development, developing narratives, and writing structure through the process of organization

and purpose. After obtaining the knowledge through lessons to understand perspective, point-of-

view, and narration, students will work toward the completion of their project centered around

the driving question: “How can the use of voice within writing be a powerful tool to raise

awareness and combat social stereotypes?” The project will be introduced with a discussion of

stereotypes and their impact on one’s emotion and identity within the United States. This project

will require students to use their knowledge of perspective to step into the shoes of someone else

and utilize their writing skills and research techniques to produce a piece of writing that can be

published and used as a powerful statement. Students will also need to utilize their interpersonal

skills in ensuring they produce a reflection of their interviewee’s life while being respectful to

the differences in culture. The students will need to employ strategic research, generate interview

questions, establish the groundwork for their main idea, and present their poem in-front of a live

audience.

This project is vital to the students, campus, and community as a whole. This is because

the majority of the student population is Hispanic and have themselves been victims of

stereotypes. Considering all of the Nation’s current events, this is a topic that is paramount in

these student’s day-to-day lives. It is important to teach students about cultures beyond their own

and allow students to feel empowered in their voice and ability to speak up for themselves and
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others, while also learning fundamentals of human compassion. This project will impact

students, teachers, community members, and the state of the nation as a whole. By employing

strategic writing techniques, students will develop a healthy perception of writing’s power, as

well as a sensitivity to other’s viewpoints.

If the project is effective, the project can continue in years to come and grow the journal

of students’ poems. Additionally, students may feel empowered to develop active participation

beyond the project. I believe that this project may lead to student-initiated development of

diversity clubs, writing clubs, and even social justice clubs. The project will support student

engagement by addressing a concept that is important to the students and involves a real-world

application. Students will feel empowered by their participation in the development of a project

that speaks to people beyond their campus. Considering the possibility of partnering with a

sociology class at a local community college, I believe that this project may benefit students

beyond the classroom as well. Although there is still details to be worked out, I believe that this

project may be able to work collaboratively with students at the community college as well, and

they may be able to participate as more than just interviewees. This would give seniors the

chance to also see perspectives from college students and they may even consider attending a

community college that is as invested in real-world problems as they are. This type of

cooperation could lead to a second-hand persuasive activity that encourages our students to

attend college following their high school graduation. This is especially important since Glendale

does not have a very high rate of students attending a post-secondary institution after high

school.

This project will also help me learn as an educator. I will learn about the desires and

important topics of my students. I will also learn about collaborating with my peers and
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community involved within the project. Following the duration of the project, I would like to

seek feedback from my students as well. This would be in the form of a student survey that I can

use the results of to alter the project as necessary for future use, as well as alter my instructional

strategies to better suit the needs of my students. This project has the potential to be a useful tool

for the surrounding community. If successful, I would like the journal of the experience and

project to be published at all of the local community colleges, and potentially beyond that.

Students’ voices are so important to them, but also to the larger community that their future

generations have the power to impact and initiate change. Overall, this project would benefit all

involved and would both reinforce and enhance learning for our students and community as a

whole.