ELA2104-ABED: 7.4 Reaching Out

Assignment Instructions

Read through the tabs below to gain a full understanding of the assignment before you begin.

In the 4.3.2 Reaching Out Proposal, you submitted a proposal on behalf of your school to the Canada Paid Forward Foundation. At stake was $500,000 for a yearly project to address a social or environmental issue.

Congratulations! Based on the strength of your proposal, you have been chosen as one of the finalists for the award! Now you must create a final pitch to convince the judges that your proposal is well-planned, carefully thought out, and deserves the funding.

1. Discuss your proposal in one or two well-developed paragraphs. Include the following information in your discussion:

Identify your chosen issue
State the goals of your proposal
Explain why this issue is important to you

You will need to go back and review your original 4.3 Proposal and the feedback you received from your marker.

2. Choose one of the following options for your final pitch:

Choice 1 - Construct an original poster, website, advertisement, infographic, or brochure to educate others and attract attention to your issue
Choice 2 - Write a speech to educate others about your issue and proposal goals. This must be presented orally to your teacher or marker.
Choice 3 - Construct a photo essay documenting your issue. Explain each image with a caption. Your last image should represent the change you want to see. In Extra Help there is more information on how to write a photo essay.

3. Download the worksheet for this assignment in the 'worksheet' tab.

4. Submit your 7_4 Reaching Out discussion and your 7_4 Final Pitch for assessment.

Download the 7.4 Reaching Out Worksheet by selecting one of the file formats below:

MS Word
PDF
Google Doc

Click the 7.4 Reaching Assessment to see how your work will be assessed.

1. Writing a Photo Essay

The first thing to understand about a photo essay is, rather than relying on words to convey thoughts and ideas, carefully chosen images are used to develop your controlling idea. The words play a supporting role in the photo essay.

Start with your subject. In the case of this assignment, your subject is the social or environmental issue your proposal is centered around. Think about who your audience is and make sure that your images are appropriate.
Consider your goal. You have two goals: firstly, you want to draw attention to the issue in your proposal and the steps you think will help solve the problem; secondly, you want your pitch to convince the judges that your plan is deserving of funding.
Select your images. You want your images and accompanying text to be persuasive and engaging so be sure to choose images that are relevant and highly-detailed. They should be clearly connected to your controlling idea and have a clear purpose. You might want to collect ten to twenty images and then narrow it down to the five to seven strongest ones.
Choose a format. Using PowerPoint or Google Slides would be easy and effective formats for a photo essay.
Arrange the images. The order that you place the images in should be purposeful - just as you would order your paragraphs in a written essay. You should have a minimum of five images and you should arrange them with an essay structure in mind (i.e.one as an introduction; three to develop your ideas - like body paragraphs; and one as a conclusion). The last image should represent the change you want to see.
Use your words. Each image should have a caption that explains it. The explanations should provide context for the images and expand on the photographs. Use the captions to connect your photos to your controlling idea.
Give credit where it’s due. Be sure to provide the URL for each photo.
Check out these photo essays to get a sense of what your finished essay should look like:

Child marriages in Bangladesh

Syrian Refugees

Playgrounds Around the World

2. Extra Resources

Piktochart to make infographics

Easel.ly to make infographics
Striking.ly to make websites
Issuu to make a digital magazine, pamphlet, or brochure
Glogster to make a poster, website, or brochure

3. View Darcy’s 7.4 Reaching Out Final Pitch.

If completed appropriately, these choices fulfill the requirements of the 7.4 Reaching Out assignment.

1. Write a letter to raise awareness of an issue that is important to you, and send it to your teacher for feedback. After you have made revisions by following your teacher's suggestions, send the letter to your local paper. Enclose a polished copy of the letter, as well as information about to whom, where, and when you sent the letter with your submission. If possible, provide a photocopy or .pdf of your published letter.

©Thinkstock

2. Organize a group meeting with people interested in your issue and coordinate an activity you outlined in your proposal. Submit the following information from that meeting to your teacher:

your polished proposals
detailed minutes from the meeting, including"action items" discussed
a photo of the meeting in action