"Shirt Day" Project - Persuasive Skills Project

This year I have worn:
Red to raise awareness about heart disease in women. Pink to fight bullying. Jeans to support our troops
AND MORE

It got me thinking, with all these great days and colors, how could I make this into an activity my students would learn from and get them involved outside of my classroom!

And thus was born the "___________ Shirt Day" Project

I used this for my speech class since students were really struggling with audience. In this project they have to consider three different types of audience, which is perfect.

The Basics: 

• To introduce the project I find out what day is being celebrated that they may not know about. This sparks their interest and lets them see a model of me showing them how to persuade.
• Individually, students picked a "day" that they felt the school should honor. They give a speech presenting the day and persuading the class to vote for their day. 
• The class votes and the top two "days" are the winners.
• In small groups the students make persuasive video convincing the school administrators to let the school celebrate one of the two days we voted as leaders.
• Students vote on the best videos
• For the grand finale: The administrators watch the winning videos and select which days they want to support.

In More Details:
This was a really great project to have students practice different approaches and audience.

The speech they presented to class focused on different ideas than the video they make later to convince administrators to let them celebrate.

Motivation:
This was a great project because it was REAL. Students knew that their videos would really be watched and that everyone in the school would have the opportunity to "win" because of their convincing videos. Now, part of this motivation came because I work at a private school and my students normally wear uniforms. Nonetheless I think most students would find it awesome if the school did something because of a presentation that they made.

This year I whipped it up last minute, so the worksheets and directions aren't perfect. I'll replicate it next year and give you links of where to get copies.

Fundraising with your Students

Fundraising in your classroom?

I read a lot about fundraising FOR your classroom, but why not help your students create fundraising pages OUTSIDE your classroom.

A screenshot of a student made video

Why?

So much of school is doing an assignment for your teacher, reading a book for your teacher, giving a presentation for your teacher.

With the use of more technology, many teachers have students share their information outside the classroom via YouTube, or a blog. However, even then, the goal is often that the teacher likes it and it lines up well with the rubric.

An infographic created for a previous project

Pushing things outside of the classroom helps improve the motivation of students. They aren't doing things just for your class, but because they matter in the real world.

With crowdfunding, students have an authentic audience and a real life task. They get to research a charity, find appropriate graphics, and create a video. All of this is done with one goal: to persuade people to donate to their fund.


CrowdRise 101

Below is a list of the CrowdRise pages my students created. Before you check them out here's a quick CrowdRise101 on how to work the page:

• You can confirm the charity the funds are going to (and click on the name for more information)
• Read the text that the students have created which should quickly persuade you that the charity is a noble cause.
• Under the picture you'll see grey circles. These tell you how many graphics or videos the CrowdRise page has. Click the arrows to scroll through. You can see different pictures and hopefully a video the student has shared!
• Rather self explanatory, but the giant "Donate" button encourages you to make a donation. You can also leave a comment.
• Questions? Issues? The service button in the bottom right should help.

Student Created CrowdRise Pages

Here are some finished copies. If you have a moment (and possibly $10) to spare, consider making a donation!

• Families to Build a Miracle. 
• Build a Miracle CrowdRise Page
• This was one of the first pages to get a donation.The graphics include infographics students have made, and a rather informational video.
• MDStudents Building a Miracle
• Build a Miracle CrowdRise Page
• As you can see Build A Miracle is a favorite charity with the students. These students have a habit to be very dramatic in their videos. I think you'll agree they are quite emotional!
• L'Arche USA
• L'arche USA CrowdRise Page
• This is one of the most energetic groups I have ever had. I LOVE the video and the page is very clear on what their goals are. Plus, they pronounce L'arche much better than I have managed to do.
• The Laboure Society
•  Laboure Society CrowdRise Page 
• Since I teach at a Catholic school, all of the charities had to be vetted. However, I wouldn't consider all of the charities as Catholic charities. This one however is. I was a little surprised that this group of three boys decided to raise money to help people become priests.   
•  Divine Mercy Care
• Divine Mercy Care CrowdRise Page 
• This was the one group of students who decided to use an animation website (powtunes) to help them make their video. I do wish they would have done a voice over, but the information provided is all really good and I hope you take the time to read it. 
•  Supporting Mary's Mercy Center
• Supporting Mary's Mercy Center CrowdRise Page
•  Dramatic music, simple text, succinct photos.The students don't start talking until 40 seconds into the video, but I really think it is persuasive. See if you agree!
• The Tomorrow Project 
• The Tomorrow Project CrowdRise Page
• I don't think I am supposed to admit this when it comes to a charity project like this, but this is my FAVORITE charity. See what the students have put together and decide whether or not it is your favorite too! Technically this charity is Catholic Charities, but as they do so much students decided to focus on The Tomorrow Project.

Share, Comment, Advise
If you were persuaded, but don't have an opportunity to donate, I'd encourage you to share your favorite page on Twitter or Facebook. Hashtag #CrusadersCrowdfund so my students will know that their pages are being shared and appreciated!

We would also appreciate any comments or advice.