Class Instructions: February 25, 2010

thutton — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 10:57:09 +0000

This class is the first of your two work periods for YPI. You must make your presentation on Wednesday, March 3, so you must make the best use of this period and the next.

You should work in your groups throughout this period. Refer to the previous posting if you are unsure of who is in your group.

Ms. Ennis will distribute a package of handouts to you d you are to work through these handouts on Thursday.

The handout consists of the following sheets:

Diamond 9 Activity
Shortlist of Three Charities
YPI Grant Criteria
Decision-Making

Diamond 9 Activity

To complete this sheet do the following:

Review the postings on the Google document we have constructed together. Based on the summaries of articles provided by your classmates use the diamond 9 chart to rank how important the following social issues are to you:

homelessness
hunger
child abuse
physical and sexual abuse
issues related to senior (poverty, abuse, neglect)
mental illness related issues (treatment, housing, care)
issues related to immigration (settlement, job seeking, training)
youth at risk (bullying, drug use, gangs, etc.)
People living with AIDS

The way you fill out the chart is by putting the issue you are most concerned about in the top diamond. You have to rank the remaining issues, but you can feel equally strong or not so strong about some of them by placing them in diamonds near the top or closer to the bottom.

When you have done that compare with your group members in order to settle on a social issue to focus on when selecting a charity.

Shortlist of Three Charities

Fill out this sheet by researching three different charities in the social issue area you have selected. The best way to find a charity is by using a web site called 211Toronto.ca. When you click on the link, you will see a list of categories (“Find a Topic”) that roughly matches the topics you used to fill out the diamond 9 chart. Click through the categories (for example click “food” then “food banks” to get to a list of Toronto food banks) and you will find link to specific social agencies and charities. You can go to the web sites of specific charities to complete the shortlist sheet.

What is a mission statement?

It is a statement that usually explains, in broad terms, what the purpose of the charity is. It is not as specific as the list of services the charity actually provides.

Fill out this sheet for three different charities. They should all be from one category.

YPI Grant Criteria

Use this sheet to find the charitable number of your charity if it is not visible on the charity web site. Another site to verify this information is Canadahelps.org. You can easily search up your charity here. A charitable number looks like this:

119050516RR0001 It should always be long and should have some letters like the RR in this example.

Decision Making

Using the research you have done you will make a decision about what charity to support. You have to think about the pros and cons of each charity and fill out the sheet. When doing this, do not just think about the good and bad things about this charity, but think about how easy or difficult it will be for you to visit it and to advocate for it. Is it far away? Is it not open to the public?

By the end of class you should have a charity selected. SELECT ONE MEMBER OF THE GROUP TO EMAIL ME THE FULL NAME OF THE CHARITY. Use any class time left to further research using the web, making contact with the charity (email or ask Ms. Ennis if you can phone) for a quick visit or drop in, and preparing the presentation.

Michelle visits RSGC

thutton — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 19:19:22 +0000

On Friday, February 5, 2010, Michelle from the Youth and Philanthropy Initiative visited the two GLC2O classes doing the YPI this term. Michelle reviewed the four criteria for a charity to qualify for YPI, offered some public speaking tips, showed a video about YPI, and shared some personal stories about people helping people.

Round One Charities

thutton — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 18:27:51 +0000

Students who took Career Studies in the first term worked on the following charities:

These agencies are not to be selected by groups in round 2.

Gwap

thutton — Sun, 18 May 2008 22:10:55 +0000

Nicholas Carr’s blog directed me to Gwap, a project at Carnegie Mellon University that employs simple games to help computers become smarter. Different games are played with partners on the web, and are all based on trying to tag or label photographs or music clips. The data gathered will help computers rank photographs on likableness or more accurately describe music.

This appeals to me as a librarian for a couple of reasons. It speaks to the task of the reference librarian to help the information seeker formulate clearly what it is they are looking for. Teachers will instruct students to look for a certain piece of information or use a certain source, and those instructions will often not survive the trip to the third floor. A whole lot of interpretation is required to actually discover what the student is after.

Gwap also appeals because it is a game. And high school boys like games.

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