The Just World Project-Distance Learning

Project Overview:

The world we live in has many problems. One of the best ways to find solutions to these problems is to see what we want our world to look like. The project will consist of three main parts:

Crafting a This I Believe Statement about what just means to them
Creating a policy proposal in a small group of what their ideal just world will look like
Presenting your plan to change makers

This project will culminate in a final exhibition of the students presenting in front of local change makers and receiving feedback on their ideal world.

Group roles:

In the small policy proposal groups, students will be assigned a specific role.

Government
1. Students will be looking at a variety of ways that governments are set up. Throughout this process, students will be picking what government would work best for their ideal world. It might even be a new form of government.
Economics
1. Students will be looking at the different ways that economies can work and pick which one they would like to use in their ideal world.
Protecting the people
1. Students will be looking at ways to make sure that the people of their society are protected by the government and that their needs are heard and addressed.
Law Enforcement
1. Students will be looking into how laws are enforced in their societies.

Key Learnings from this Project:

Not everything will turn out how I want it. I learned to accept that the product will turn out as what it is and that is just as amazing.
Even if I have a clear vision in my head and think I am explain it well, it might not come across as clear to everyone else.

Project Launch Video!

Honors option:

Meeting with teachers once a week to discuss podcasts focusing on how to make the world a more just place

Key Learning Goals:

Students will understand that the best way to make the world a better place is to imaginer a world that doesn't exist yet.
Students will know key facts about their focus topics: Government, Economy, Protecting the People, and Law Enforcement.
Students will be able to write a policy paper.
Students will be able to articulate their ideas from the policy paper to an audience of change makers.

This I Believe Essays - Work Samples

These first two samples are from students who were struggling in the classroom setting and have been thriving in the distance learning setting. This is some of the best work they have produced. The student who wrote "Importance of Trust" has improved on sentence flow and making their thoughts clear throughout their story. In the second work sample, the student was able to write a clear story that uses specific evidence to evokes emotion from the reader. They both have improved on having a clear thesis in their statements.

Importance of Trust

Trust is a very important aspect in any type of relationship. Most relationships have one thing in common. Whether it's between a friendship with two people, a family member, or even the person you like but they all have trust in common. Trust is one of the things you build a relationship on the most in a lot of people's opinions. Your trust in that other person can show how strong that relationship can be and how strong it could get. But betray that trust and you could lose it forever and with that in mind be careful who you trust and who you give your trust to.

Trust is in many if not every person's lives and has a big effect on those lives. The effects of someone trusting you or you trusting someone else can be very catastrophic. An example of someone breaking another person's trust would be telling a secret to another person that you were not supposed to tell. One time someone told me someone else told me another person's secret without their consent. When he told me the secret he didn't have much to say about it so to me personally I didn't think the secret was that interesting to talk about so I didn't tell anyone. This made me believe that it is a good idea to tell as little as possible when telling a secret if you wanted to tell it. To gain someone's trust you must be there for them.

Being there for someone is a good way to earn their trust because it develops a friendship and if they were already friends, being there for them could and probably strengthen that friendship or make it more. In this situation the friend I'll call Tom told me about Dan’s secret. After gaining that trust from Tom finally told them their secret because of the trust they gave up. Once you have a secret like that you have been trusted with that secret and you have to keep it until the owner of the secret gives the ok to speak about the secret. If you don't then you would have broken the trust fallen upon you. That is exactly what happened between them. When Tom told me and another friend breaking Dan’s trust. Because the secret was not that important we didn't tell anyone else about it and only kept it in the small circle created between the three of us. If Dan’s secret was a bigger one to tell and if we had spread it around it could have been a bad for their trust.

My belief continues to influence my life today by knowing trust is an important thing to have in people and in life. Knowing that trust is important in life and it is important in who you trust makes it clear that it could be very important to people. Because of how influential trust could end up being it is considered an very important act in relationships and life.

This I Believe Statement

Whenever you're feeling lonely and upset, who do you turn to? Personally, I turn to my family and friends. I believe that the most important thing in life is family and friends.

It's great to have close friends and family to talk to about sensitive topics because they will always understand and support you. But there have been many times in my life where I make a friend, thinking I could trust them so I tell them personal stuff, but they end up using that information to bully me. Please, If you meet someone that is slowly becoming negative and acting odd towards you, distance yourself. Anyways, having a good friend or group of friends helps with stress. Studies show that during stressful times, having friends by your side reduces the stress hormone cortisol. In a lot of ways, friends can help you mentally without them even knowing! Just being around them makes you feel happy, and In a place that you feel belonging and purpose in. But some people aren't as lucky. Some people have trouble making friends which leads them to then, instead of using other people to cope with issues, they do things like drink alcohol, smoke, or do drugs to cope instead. Which obviously leads to major health issues.

Family, I feel like family are the most important people in your life! Your parents have been through a lot in life, and if you are upset about something and you don't think they will understand the pain, they will. They are actually probably the only people that would understand your problems, because they've gone through it before. Family is important to love because you get to share life's many joys, but also sorrows. Depending on how your family is like, It changes your personality, as well as your DNA. Your family is your blood and they are the people who accept you for who you are, who would do anything to see you smile and who love you no matter what. You may have lots of people in your life, but you won’t find anybody else who cares the exact same as your parents, or your whole family. Based on your parents beliefs and actions, It changes your personality, for the better or worse.

There was a time in 7th grade that I was doing real bad in math, worse than now.

But one of my old friends, (which I sadly can’t talk with anymore) saw that I was having a hard time. Me and him sat in the corner of the classroom and helped me understand a lot and was actually a good teacher. I like to imagine he got jelly that a student was a better teacher than he was, so he moved him. But my friend was still a big help.

My family helps me a lot, but a vivid one I remember was when I was in 6th grade. Absolutely the worst year of middle school, or even the worst in my life. All of my teachers were scumbags exept one, but for some dumb reason I had to switch that class to another rotten teacher. It got to the point where I was starting to think of the idea of suicide. I didn't think I would actually do It though because I love my family too much to do that to them. I sometimes drew out my feelings in a notebook, and one day I dropped that book while I was packing for the next class. And the nosy teacher picked it up and looked in It and started becoming mad. He then reported it to the office and was sent home. When my mother came she looked peeved off. Not at me, but the school. I tell my mom lots about school but not much of the specifics. I guess she got the hint that I was not having a good time there.

I feel very lucky to have the friends and family that I have. I might not be the most perfect person in the world, so it’s nice knowing that I have family and friends that I can count on for help and support. They are the most important people in my life and I wouldn’t trade them for the world.