As people, we misunderstand everyone, everything, everywhere, all the time. Perhaps you have experienced this yourself as your teachers, peers, and even family have made “snap judgements” about you based on your clothing, hobbies, grades, etc…

How would you like to set the record straight? For this project, I want you to do a little research and come up with a presentation about one of the following topics:

• Something that people have misunderstood about YOU
• Something that you have misunderstood about SOMEONE or SOMETHING ELSE

If you don’t feel like you are necessarily misunderstood, then do some research on something that you might misunderstand. You could look at other cultures, politics, art, music, spots – anything at all that interests you (just remember to keep it APPROPRIATE).

Process and Due Dates

1. Choose a topic. Do a “write up” of your particular topic idea and hand in to Mrs. Glover FOR A GRADE by August 25th.
2. RESEARCH. After you have chosen a particular topic, you’ll need to do some research. What about your topic is misunderstood? Are there stereotypes involved? What information could you provide that might give your audience greater insight about your topic? How do you want to shed light on the misunderstanding? You must have located AT LEAST 3 SOURCES ON YOUR TOPIC by September 5th.
3. Write Explanation/Justification. I would like you to write a 2-4 page expository essay about your chosen topic. Please include the following: An interesting title, an engaging hook, a clear thesis statement (you may develop the thesis AFTER you write the paper – in fact, I would suggest that), organized thoughts, a variety of sentence structure, and good support (AKA RESEARCH) throughout your paper. You should use MLA guidlines to form internal citations as well as a Works Cited Page at the end of your document. Please upload your paper under your class period’s blog so that your peers can read it and leave their feedback. I would also like you to hand in a hard copy to me. This is DUE SEPTEMBER 12th.
4. Visual Aid and Presentation. You are then going to present your “Misunderstood” topic to the class. You may use any of the following formats:

   ¨ A wiki

   ¨ A photo story

   ¨ An enhanced power point

   ¨ A podcast

   ¨ A blog or personal website

We will go over each of these types of avenues for presentations in class; HOWEVER, please be advised that we will have limited time in the media center (probably about 3 class periods total), so make sure that you choose an avenue that you can also access outside of school (either at home or at a public library).

Here are some examples to get you thinking:

Is Cheerleading a Sport?