susan smith nash, ph.d.

beyondutopia@lycos.com

 

Technical English


Online Course

Progress Report Assignment, Choice 3


Write a brief progress report.  Details below.


Technical English Menu

Home Page & Overview
Required Work
Introduction
Audience Analysis
Writing for a Variety of Audiences
Planning your Task
Abstracts
Memos
Editing
Editing, Part II
Technical Report
Technical Report, Part II
Progress Report, Choice I
Progress Report, Choice 2
Progress Report, Choice 3
Progress Report, Choice 4
Other Resources

Technical Report: Education Option


You are the team leader for all of the 6th grade teachers in your school. Your group is currently in the process of developing a curriculum that will link every subject that the students study into one large project. The project is that the students will develop a city; they will use the skills they learn in history and social studies to set up a government, the skills in math to develop a monetary system and to fund developmental projects, the skills of language arts to communicate and to write laws for the city, and the skills of science to determine a good location and to establish safe drinking water, etc. Each individual teacher is responsible for designing the curriculum in his or her own specialty courses to suit the overall project; your job is then coordinate the overall project so that it will make the most sense.

The principal of your school, Dr. Sheila Johnson, has requested that you prepare a progress report for her about the project that your team is working on. She is a very busy woman, so your report should be information-packed but concise. Tell her what she needs to know in as few words as possible. Keep in mind that your team is working over the summer to develop the curriculum that will be implemented in the upcoming year, allowing time for approval from Dr. Johnson and the school board. It is now the middle of the summer.

Following are the mini-reports submitted to you by the other teachers on your team as well as your current progress on the project:

Robert Jones (history and social studies)--I have prepared materials for a study of various types of governments, but I have not yet finished my materials for election procedures or judicial systems. I do have one question about the project overall--is each individual class going to create its own town or is the entire grade going to create a town?

Caroline Adams (math and language arts)--I have prepared a unit on monetary systems and have created actual money that students will be able to use in funding projects; they will have to determine the names and values of the different types of money that I have created. I have also prepared a computerized database that the students will use as a bank so that they will learn about budgeting and accounting procedures. I'm having trouble with my materials for writing the constitution and laws because it doesn't seem like we'll be able to do that until after the students have chosen the types of government they want to have. I guess I could just prepare a series of materials based on each system of government that Robert's going to talk about, but that seems like a waste of time. Thoughts?

Kevin Simms (science)--I have outlined the various science-related topics that the students will have to consider for the course. They will have to consider water supply, and I have created a series of soil testing experiments so that they can determine what types of farming they could do in the area. We could also cover things like power sources and medical necessities.