Bid a Final Farewell to 7Th Grade Language Arts

FINAL PROJECT: Bon Voyage! Bid a final farewell to 7th Grade Language Arts by planning your ultimate getaway! FINAL PORTFOLIO DUE 5/20 PRESENTATIONS BEGIN 5/21

Assignment Overview For your final project in this class, you will be taking on the role of a travel agent, planning a trip to the destination of your choice and preparing a portfolio consisting of multiple documents to fulfill a variety of roles. You will have several responsibilities in this role, because you must do research on the area as well as present the information in a persuasive presentation. These documents will represent a culmination of all you have done/learned this year. I know you can all be successful!

***DO NOT LOSE THIS PACKET – YOU WILL NOT RECEIVE ANOTHER ONE. THIS PACKET CONTAINS ALL INFORMATION NEEDED FOR THE REMAINDER OF THE SCHOOL YEAR. (available on the web at www.libertyunion.org > Middle School > Teacher websites > Rodriguez)

***I STRONGLY RECOMMEND A FLASH DRIVE, AS OUR TIME IN THE COMPUTER LAB IS LIMITED. A FLASH DRIVE WILL ALLOW YOU TO EASILY TRANSPORT YOUR WORK BETWEEN SCHOOL AND HOME!  ------

Format Requirements:

1. Bind the portfolio in a STURDY matter. A pronged folder or plastic report cover work very well, but you can be creative! (Do not simply staple it!) Be sure to decorate your cover to tell us about your destination

2. Start with a Title Page, including your TITLE (BE CREATIVE!!! I don’t want to read “Hawaiian Vacation” or “Trip to China”!!!), NAME and the DATE.

3. Include a Table of Contents with Entry titles and page numbers.

4. Entries:  You should have an entry to satisfy each of the tasks (#1-5)!  Each entry needs a TITLE  Each page should be NUMBERED (page numbers should be listed in the Table of Contents!)  Each entry must be TYPED  Each entry should be DETAILED  Each entry page should be DECORATED (design/border/etc.)  Please limit your use of ClipArt… it’s boring   Use magazines, stickers, newspapers, photos, ribbons, etc. (No glitter, please!)  You may hand draw if you choose! Just keep it neat!  ** Please do not spend money on this!!! Use things you already have around the house!!! There is NO REASON to have your adult keepers go out & spend money for your decorations!!! Task #1 – Business Letter to Visitor’s Bureau (DUE 4/24)

Begin your portfolio with a business letter to the Visitor’s Bureau (or Chamber of Commerce) of the destination you have chosen. In this letter, your primary purpose will be to request information on your location.

Remember, a business letter is a FORMAL document. Keep that in mind as you choose your language!

FORMAT:  BLOCK format – this means you NEVER hit tab! Indent NOTHING! Not even the first line of a paragraph! Every single line should be flush with the left margin.  TYPE this in 12-pt Times New Roman.

Components of a Business Letter:  Heading: your address (you may use the school’s address: 994 S. Main St., Baltimore, OH 43105) and the date  Inside Address: their complete address (Find the ACTUAL address online or in a travel guide book. Search for your city’s visitors bureau or chamber of commerce!)  Salutation (Remember to punctuate with a COLON!)  Body (Consisting of a minimum of 3 paragraphs – Intro, Body, Conclusion) o Introduction: Introduce yourself briefly & give reason for your letter o Body: Request specific information o Conclusion: Tell them you appreciate any information they can give you and thank them for their time!  Closing (Sincerely or Respectfully Yours are appropriate for a formal letter)  Signature & your printed name (signed first, printed underneath)

**You can find a sample in the Write Source books AND your OAA Coach workbooks!!

***YOU WILL PRINT 2 COPIES – ONE TO TURN IN ON DUE DATE, ONE TO SAVE FOR FINAL PORTFOLIO!!!*** Task #2 –Research Report (DUE 5/9)

It will be difficult to convince someone to take a trip to a place you or they know nothing about! That said, you will be writing a research paper on your destination (this should be expository/informative, but it’s ok if there is a slight persuasive element).

When writing a research paper, you need to do RESEARCH! Crazy, I know! Thus you will be required to do research, CITE YOUR SOURCES in the essay itself, and turn in a bibliography/works cited page with your final draft. Please follow the guidelines provided. You will use the outline & source organizer worksheets to help you through the research report writing process.

**DO NOT PLAGIARIZE!!! Any plagiarized work will be given a 0 and disciplinary action will be taken.

***YOU WILL PRINT 2 COPIES – ONE TO TURN IN ON DUE DATE, ONE TO SAVE FOR FINAL PORTFOLIO!!!***

Requirements for Research Report:

CONTENT:  The essay is clearly adapted to audience and purpose. It is very well-developed, containing strong ideas, examples and details. The response, using a clearly evident organizational plan, engages the reader with a unified and coherent sequence and structure of ideas. The response consistently uses a variety of sentence structures, effective word choices and an engaging style. There are no convention errors.

CITATIONS:  Parenthetical references are used correctly throughout the essay to indicate the source of information.

FORMAT:  12 Point Times New Roman, 1 ¼” margins, double spaced, black ink, 2-3 pages

BIBLIOGRAPHY/WORKS CITED PAGE  Correct MLA Formatting (instructions posted at libertyunion.org > middle school > teacher websites > Erin Rodriguez

Suggestions for research topics/body paragraphs:

 History  Climate/Best time to visit  “Claim to Fame”?  Tourist Attractions  Nickname  Language spoken/currency  Location  Flag/Motto/Flower  How to get to/around the city (Official symbols) Good websites to start with:

 http://infohio.org/  http://www.travelchannel.com/Places_Tri  http://www.ipl.org/div/kidspace/ ps  http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/trave  http://www.lonelyplanet.com/us l/  http://www.fodors.com/

Sample Bibliography

Bibliography

Aniston, Jennifer. A Visitor’s Guide to Fiji. New York: Bantam Publishing Co., 1999.

Baggins, Frodo. “Fijian Beaches: Fun in the Sun.” Fiji Visitor’s Bureau. 22 Mar. 2006. 4 Apr. 2006. .

Carter, Nell. “A History of Fiji.” Fiji Department of Natural History. 30 Mar. 4 Apr. 2006. .

“Deep into the Fijian Seas.” National Geographic Online. 19 Dec. 2008. 25 Mar. 2009.

Sample In-text Citation

(if the author is known) Fiji boasts the location of the original international dateline, which has since been moved to the middle of the ocean to avoid confusion (Aniston 4). ***Author’s last name & page number -or- According to Jennifer Aniston, Fiji boasts the location of the original international dateline, which has since been moved to the middle of the ocean to avoid confusion (4). ***Author’s last name is already stated, so just the page number is needed

(if the author is NOT known) Fiji boasts the location of the original international dateline, which has since been moved to the middle of the ocean to avoid confusion (Deep 2). ***First word of the title & page number -or- In the article, “Deep into the Fijian Seas,” one learns that Fiji boasts the location of the original international dateline, which has since been moved to the middle of the ocean to avoid confusion (2). ***Title is already stated, so just the page number is needed

Task #3 – Itinerary for 3-5 Days (DUE AS PART OF FINAL PORTFOLIO 5/19) Plan out your itinerary (planned schedule of activities) for a 3-5 day trip.

This should include the following:  three meals per day (including time & specific locations/restaurants for those meals)  a FULL day’s worth of activities (including approximate times for each activity and any other details you may need to include, such as location or company) o Please make sure there are a variety of real, specific activities. As relaxing as 3-5 days of nothing-but-beach can be, I want to see evidence that you have researched the available activities at your destination. o No sleeping in!!!

*Assume you are already there! You should NOT include any TRAVEL TIME to or from your destination. Your itinerary should include 3-5 full days in destination.

The following is an example of one way you could format your itinerary (but feel free to use a different format):

Itinerary

Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 7:00 Breakfast at Maravu 7:00 Breakfast at Maravu 7:00 Breakfast at Maravu Plantation Resort (included Plantation Resort (included with Plantation Resort (included with with stay) stay) stay)

8:30 Meet at Dive Fiji dive 8:15 Meet in lobby for 8:30 Meet in lobby to get cab to shop for morning 2-tank dive horseback tour of plantation Bouma Falls. Hike the departure (resort-sponsored activity) rainforest & swim in falls

12:00 Lunch at Taveuni 11:30 Beach Barbeque (resort- 12:30 Picnic lunch at Bouma McDonald’s sponsored activity) Falls (resort-sponsored activity)

1:00 Deep Sea Fishing Trip 1:00 Lounge on the beach! 1:30 Take cab to Taveuni through Fiji Anglers Don’t forget sunscreen! Historical Society museum

5:00 Dinner at The Conch 5:00 Dinner at Maravu 4:30 Meet at Dive Fiji dive shop restaurant Plantation Resort for night dive departure

7:00 Maravu Boys concert at 7:00 Cultural Heritage 7:00 Dinner at Swordfish Grill Resort (resort-sponsored performance at Resort (resort- activity) sponsored activity)

10:00 Lights Out! 10:00 Lights Out! 10:00 Lights Out!

Task #4 – Budget (DUE AS PART OF FINAL PORTFOLIO 5/19) What’s the bottom line? How much is all of this going to cost? You will work out an ACTUAL budget for your itinerary (so yes, you will be researching specific costs AND citing the websites where you found those costs!!).

Remember to include ALL costs, including the following:

 Getting there/back  Activities  Getting around while there  Any other miscellaneous expenses (passport,  Lodging shots, traveler’s insurance, etc.)  Food  Anything that is on your itinerary!

Budget Format:  Include an itemized price list (how much each thing will individually cost)  Include the total amount (all together, what will it cost)  Show pricing for two DIFFERENT-SIZED travel parties, such as an individual adult and a family of four (2 adults, 2 children) (or some similar combination).

The following is an example of one way you could format your budget:

Budget

Itemized Expenses Individual Adult Family of Four (2 Adults, 2 Children) Travel from Columbus, Ohio to Taveuni, Fiji 1,430.00 3,860.00 Rental Car for 5 days 240.00 240.00 5 Nights in Maravu Plantation Resort, Basic Bure 900.00 1,500.00 (Breakfast and some activities included in price) Lunch at McDonald’s 6.00 20.00 Dinner at The Conch 20.00 70.00 Dinner at Swordfish Grill 30.00 100.00 2-tank SCUBA dive (adults only – children’s price reflects 60.00 180.00 snorkeling) Night SCUBA dive (adults only) 50.00 100.00 Horseback Tour of Plantation 30.00 120.00 Deep Sea Fishing Trip 60.00 180.00 Taveuni Historical Society 5.00 14.00 Passport Processing Fees 75.00 300.00 Total 2,906.00 6,684.00

Budget sources: www.travelocity.com http://www.maravu.net/ http://www.swissfijidivers.com/ www.theconchtaveuni.net www.swordfishgrill.com www.fijianglers.com

Task #5 – Postcard from Destination (Narrative Friendly Letter) (DUE AS PART OF FINAL PORTFOLIO 5/19) Give your clients a taste of what they will experience by designing a postcard and writing a narrative in the form of a friendly letter FROM the destination.

*Both sides should be visible when you put this in your portfolio, so you probably want to do the front & back of the postcard as TWO separate items OR display it so that both sides can be seen.

Postcard Design: □ Should accurately represent the destination □ Should be colorful □ Should be neat and professional looking

Narrative Friendly Letter: □ Heading (Date mandatory, Address optional) □ Salutation or Greeting (Dear So-and-so,) □ Body (this is the NARRATIVE portion): . Tell a well-developed STORY (narrative) about something that happened on this vacation! “I’m having fun” is NOT a story! . Imagine that you are ON your vacation and share your story with a friend/family member back home □ Closing (Sincerely Yours, etc.) □ Signature [Your Name (signed)]

The following is an example of the format for your postcard (letter side):

August 6, 2013 Dear Nikole,

You will never believe what happened to me on my vacation in Fiji! I went on a shark-feeding dive, and it was amazing.

We loaded up the dive boat with our equipment and headed out to sea. The morning sun was beating down brutally on us, so we were anxious to get in the water. After twenty minutes of skidding along the ocean surface, we finally made it to our dive site along the Rainbow Reef.

I zipped up my wetsuit, locked my fins into place, and heaved my BCD and tank onto my back. I took my place in line and slowly waddled up to the edge of the dive boat. I pulled my mask down, popped my regulator into my mouth, and took one giant step off the boat and into cool, clear, turquoise water. To: Nikole Bunting 994 South Main Street Instantly I began to sink beneath the surface. I took my first stale breath into my regulator and looked around. The dive master and the rest of our group floated around me, suspended dark Baltimore, OH 43230 forms highlighted by neon fins and flashy silver tanks. The reef was only a dark blur below us. We began our descent to the ocean floor 65 feet below.

By the time we hit the soft sand just west of the reef, the reef had exploded into the rainbow of colors that give it its name. Fish of every color and shape darted in and out of the coral. But my attention quickly shifted to the dive master who was pointing to the chumsicle that was slowing descending from the boat above us. That’s when the hulking, shadowy forms began to emerge from the deep blue. The sharks had arrived! (...CONTINUE YOUR STORY TO END!) See you soon! Erin Task #6 – Persuasive Presentation (BEGIN 5/21) *final task is NOT a part of your portfolio!

Now that you’ve done extensive research on your destination, it is time to convince the consumer that your trip is the right one for them! Think of this as a SALES PITCH. Please note that your persuasive speech is NOT just a retelling of your research report. This is a presentation that you have created using ALL of the previous 5 tasks. You’re selling us the ENTIRE vacation package you created!

Requirements:

□ Give a detailed persuasive presentation on your vacation package, presenting elements from all written tasks.  Information is thorough and adequate.  Information is presented in a logical, orderly fashion.  Information represents content from all written tasks.  Information is presented in a persuasive manner (Speaker uses elements such as voice inflection, colorful adjectives, and charged language to persuade the audience in their favor).

□ Use a minimum of one visual aid to enhance your presentation (poster, video, overhead, etc.)  Visual aid should be professional, neat, and large enough for all to see.  It effectively enhances the presentation; it does not DISTRACT from the presentation.  It is explained/incorporated into the presentation.

□ Demonstrate strong public speaking skills:  Eye contact  Posture/Poise  Voice projection/Pace/Inflection  NOT reading directly from a source  NOT engaging in distracting behavior

*The presentation should be approximately 2-4 minutes in length SCORING GUIDES:

BUSINESS LETTER SCORING RUBRIC

Writing Applications This is an excellent piece of writing. The prompt is directly addressed, and the response is clearly adapted to audience and purpose. It is very well-developed, containing strong ideas, examples and details. The response, using a clearly 5 evident organizational plan, engages the reader with a unified and coherent sequence and structure of ideas. The response consistently uses a variety of sentence structures, effective word choices and an engaging style.

Conventions Minor errors, if any, do not impair a reader’s understanding and comprehension. Few errors may be present in 3 capitalization, punctuation and spelling. The writing displays a consistent understanding of grammatical conventions. The response displays an appropriate format with correct arrangement of its component sections or parts.

LETTER FORMAT: 3 Heading, Inside Address, Salutation, Closing, & Signature are all present & correctly formatted (Applications x 2) + Conventions + Format = Final Score

RESEARCH REPORT RUBRIC Ideas 5 The topic, focus, and details make the essay truly memorable.

Organization 5 The organization and transitions make the essay clear and easy to read.

Voice 5 The writer’s voice sounds confident, knowledgeable, and enthusiastic, and is well adapted for the intended audience.

Word Choice 5 The writer’s exceptional word choice skillfully conveys the message.

Sentence Fluency 5 The elevated style and variety of the sentences skillfully convey the message.

Conventions 5 Error free.

Bibliography/Works Cited 5 Contains all sources in proper MLA format with no errors.

*If no bibliography is present, essay is automatically considered PLAGIARIZED and NO CREDIT will be given. Essay will be considered for credit upon receipt of a bibliography.

PORTFOLIO SCORE SHEET **FORMAT REQUIREMENTS** SCORE  Bound (in a sturdy manner)  Title Page (Creative title, name, date)  Table of Contents (including titles & page numbers) ____/15  Pages Numbered  Decorated (cover AND throughout) – neatly & appropriately  Contains ALL 5 WRITTEN TASKS **ENTRIES/CONTENT** Task #1: Business Letter (Graded Separately) Task #2: Research Report (Graded Separately) Task #3: Itinerary  Detailed 3-5 day itinerary planned (from wake up to bed time, all meals included)  Specific activities, locations, companies, etc. named ____/15  Itinerary contains VARIED activities. There is little to no repetition.  Shows strong evidence of real research Task #4: Budget  Include ALL costs (ITEMIZED & TOTAL)  Costs are realistic/actual, as evidenced by cited sources ____/15  Include cost breakdown for 2 different-sized travel parties Task #5: Postcard CONTENT:  The letter content is clearly adapted to audience and purpose (FRIENDLY LETTER TELLING A NARRATIVE). It is very well-developed, containing strong ideas, examples and details. The response, using a clearly evident organizational plan, engages the reader with a unified and coherent sequence and structure of ideas. The response consistently uses a variety of sentence structures, effective word choices and an engaging style. FORMAT:  Friendly letter contains all components of a letter ____/15 DESIGN:  Colorful, creative, neat postcard design that appropriately represents destination **OVERALL MUGS** Minor errors, if any, do not impair a reader’s understanding and comprehension. Few errors may be present in capitalization, punctuation and spelling. The writing displays a consistent understanding of grammatical conventions. The response displays an appropriate format with correct arrangement of its component ____/5 sections or parts. TOTAL SCORE: ____/65

PERSUASIVE SPEECH RUBRIC 3 Position Position is clearly stated. Supporting Arguments Presents thorough and well-supported arguments of proof. Strength and Relevance of All arguments are strong and convincing. All supporting arguments are Arguments relevant. Confidence/Formality Presents in a confident and formal manner. Public Speaking Skills Voice is well projected and uses meaningful and natural inflection, eye contact is consistent, and behavior is professional at all times. Visual Aid Effectiveness Visual aid effectively enhances presentation and is thoughtfully incorporated into presentation. Visual Aid Appearance Visual aid is professional and visually appealing.

DO YOUR BEST! ENJOY! 