"Living the Dream" Research Essay Project

Seventh grade Language Arts students are learning to write a research essay. Students from Mrs. Maloley’s and Mrs. McKenna’s classes have joined efforts to research. Each student has a research partner to aid in exploring the life of a famous Black American.

The seventh graders are currently working on designing a portfolio with numerous components. They have learned to correctly cite resources. They are becoming experts at citing both text and on-line sources. The project requires at least one book and one internet source of information.

The students work together to read the information, looking for three assigned factors. As they read about their well-known Black American, they are searching for his or her dreams/goals, challenges, and accomplishments in life. They have learned how to paraphrase information and are developing information note cards to assist with the writing of an essay.

Once the research component is finished, the students will be writing a five-paragraph essay. They will begin with an interesting hook and create a thesis statement, using the three factors to support the statement.

To complete the portfolio students will be illustrating their own dreams and goals. The object of this project is to not only learn proper research techniques and write a research essay, but to inspire students to overcome life’s challenges and follow their own dreams and goals!