Give A Boy A GUn

As a society, our focus and attention has dramatically changed when it comes to teen bullying and harassment. Within the past ten years we have witnessed unimaginable acts of violence in schools. School shootings in Paducah, Kentucky, Jonesboro, Arkansas, and Littleton, Colorado (Columbine) all had one common element. The majority of the shooters were students who stood slightly to the left, didn't fit in, and were bullied. They were students who didn't know how to manage their anger or seek the proper help.

In the play Bang Bang You're Dead by William Mastrosimone, we read about Josh, a trouble teen who shoots

his parents and five schoolmates, and then is haunted by the memories of them. We journeyed with Josh as he struggled to understand the realization that "Bang Bang You're Dead" is not a game that you play when you are young. Unfortunately, for Josh there was no "reset" button. The overall purpose of the play was to show and end violence, and teasing between teenagers in schools.

In the novel Give a Boy a Gun by Todd Strasser, we read about Gary and Brendan who were both teased at a very young age and did not fit in at school at all. Told through a series of short statements, emails, journal entries, and the shooters suicide

notes, the book recreated the events leading up to the shooting and warning signs they displayed.

Each story we read, showed the extreme measures some students will go through to escape being bullied and harassed. Using the play, the novel, and your own prior knowledge you will be required to come up with a plan, a fact sheet to help prevent and stop bullying from happening in our school.

You have just been asked by Student Services to take action and create an awareness campaign on ways to prevent and stop bullying at our school. Student Services wants the awareness campaign to be produced in the form of a newsletter that helps inform students, parents, and faculty on ways to prevent and stop bullying. You will work on this campaign in groups of four. Your group must determine who will be in charge of what aspect of your research and creation of your campaign. The brochure should include the following:

CATEGORY	10-8	7-5	4-3	2-1
Planning of Publication	Publication is well-planned including forethought to the audience, message and delivery. A publication plan and thumbnail sketch were created.	Publication was planned with audience and message in mind. A publication plan and/or thumbnail sketch were created.	Some planning went into publication to determine audience and message.	No evidence of planning was apparent.
Message & Audience	The message and the audience are very well defined and the purpose of the publication is very clear.	The message and the audience are defined but the purpose of the publication is not clear.	The message and the audience are not defined or the purpose of the publication is not clear.	The message and audience are not defined and the publication does not seem to have a purpose.
Use of Design Concepts	Use of focus, balance, proportion, contrast, flow and consistency are excellent.	Many of the design concepts of focus, balance, proportion, contrast, flow and consistency are used in publication.	The use design concepts of focus, balance, proportion, contrast, flow and consistency need improvement.	There was little use of any of the design concepts.
Attractiveness & Organization	The publication has attractive design and well-organized information.	The publication has well-organized information.	The publication's design and organization need improvement.	The publication's design and organization of material are confusing to the reader.
Graphics/Pictures	Graphics go well with the text and there is a good mix of text and graphics.	Graphics go well with the text, but there are so many that they distract from the text.	Graphics go well with the text, but there are too few and the brochure seems "text-heavy".	Graphics do not go with the accompanying text or appear to be randomly chosen.
Use of Color	The color used is pleasing, coordinated and relevant to the subject without using too many colors.	The color used is relevant to the subject without using too many colors.	The color used is not relevant to the subject.	Uncoordinated and too many colors are used.
Spelling & Proofreading	No spelling errors remain after one person other than the typist reads and corrects the brochure.	No more than 1 spelling error remains after one person other than the typist reads and corrects the brochure.	No more than 3 spelling errors remain after one person other than the typist reads and corrects the brochure.	Several spelling errors in the brochure.

So, now that you have created an awareness campaign/newsletter on ways to identify, prevent, and cope with teen bullying. Write a one page reflection on what you've learned. What did you discover that you didn't know before? How did the information provided in class help you with the creation of your awareness campaign.

This web quest was designed for students to supplement their reading of Bang Bang You're Dead by William Mastrosimone and Give a Boy a Gun by Todd Strasser. Students will use the information from the stories and apply it to their knowledge of bullying. Students will then use their knowledge and research ways to prevent and stop bullying.