CM1: Research / Writing Skills

“It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's Travel Time” Travel Brochure Project

Brief Project Overview
In this project, students will demonstrate their Internet research and persuasive writing skills to create colorful, informative travel brochures to popular vacation destinations, all while gaining valuable communication skills working with their peers and exploring many areas of the world they have yet to see!

Appropriate Subjects and Grade Levels
For high school students in the following classes:
English
Social Science
Business
Marketing Technology
For 7th and 8th grade junior high school students in:
Social Studies
Optional: Interdisciplinary Connections - Math, Foreign Language

Length of Project
Approximately 3-4 days (55-minute class periods)
NOTE: The length of this project is an estimated minimum time needed for completion that may easily be expanded upon. The length of time will naturally increase as the project is expanded upon by the teacher as it is adapted to meet classroom and curriculum goals.

Teacher’s Materials Provided
Lesson Plan
Outcomes/Products Assessments and Standards Matrix – identifies lesson outcomes, standards addressed, and ways to measure learning; includes a brief description of corresponding student activities
Travel Brochure Rubric #2 Group Grade - to clarify the Travel Brochure assignment and to set out grading criteria for the assignment
Optional: Travel Brochure Presentation Rubric #3 Group Grade - to clarify the Optional Travel Brochure Presentation assignment and to set out grading criteria for the assignment

Student Materials Provided
Analyzing Travel Brochures student worksheet with short answer questions related to identifying attributes of an effective travel brochure
Travel Brochure Roles & Job Descriptions handout clarifying division of labor for the group’s travel brochure research and writing
Web Links handout with suggested web addresses useful for this project
Student Collaboration Rubric #1 – each student will use four copies of this to evaluate their own and their teammates contributions to the project
Travel Brochure Rubric #2 Group Grade - to clarify the Travel Brochure assignment
Optional: Travel Brochure Presentation Rubric #3 Group Grade - to clarify the Optional Travel Brochure Presentation assignment

Classroom Facilities Needed
Computer/ color printer access for each student
Internet access
Word and/or Publisher
Atlas--optional
Student Supplies Needed
Pen/pencils
Floppy disks
Special Resources Needed
Selection of sample travel brochures

Teacher Preparation Checklist
Review Outcomes/Products and Assessments Matrix, Lesson Plan, student materials and perhaps the recommended background materials
Make plans to distribute electronically:
Web Links Handout #3 - one per student or group; best distributed as a file rather than a paper handout

Make copies of handouts for students
Analyzing Travel Brochures - one per student or group
Travel Brochure Roles & Job Descriptions - one per student
Student Collaboration Rubric #1 - four per student
Travel Brochure Rubric #2 Group Grade - one per student
Optional: Travel Brochure Presentation Rubric #3 Group Grade - one per student
Recommended Background Materials
National Geographic Maps: The Complete Collection CD-ROM, Topics Entertainment

Optional: Follow-up Activities
Use maps from the Internet, as well as other maps, to plan the routes to get to the vacation destinations researched in class. How do the different maps vary in the information they provide and their usefulness?
Using the Web sites described in the featured article, use the Internet to research transportation fares to various vacation destinations. Then, create a comparative chart that indicates differences in fares on different dates. (NOTE: Most travel Web sites require users to “register” by giving at least a screen name, password, and an email address. Adults should supervise the registration process for this exercise.)
Write to various Chamber of Commerce offices in a variety of cities and obtain tourist brochures. What do the brochures they send indicate about the tourism industry in that city? What attractions and activities do these brochures highlight?
Interview travel agents about the positive and negative effects of the Web on their business.
Interdisciplinary Connections

Foreign Language:
Create a vacation guide about a location where the language of study is spoken.Examine tourism Web sites written in the language of study.
Compose a brochure in the language of study that “sells” a country of the same language of study.

Mathematics:
Imagine that you are planning a trip to visit five sites across the country or around the world. Use scales on maps to calculate the air distance and the road distance between locations.