I am poem I am broken and alone I wonder if I will ever win again I hear the hush of the crowd as I go down I see him standing over me I want to get up I am broken and alone I pretend I am unbreakable I feel so sore I touch my broken face I worry about the inevitable I cry when I am through I am broken and alone I understand "why" I say " I dream of the day I try to be like him I hope I am champion I am broken and alone Perspective of the last fight in 1991 at age 34. Leonard lost by unanimous decision.

Letter Dear Mom, It's the big day. My last fight, for real this time! It has been a few years since the last win against Duran in Vegas, but I feel just as pumped as I did in the Eighties. So many people have doubts about me...I guess I understand where they are coming from. After so many retirements I just cannot stay away. Mom, I want to tell you that Juanita and I our having troubles. She's tired. Tired of me. I can't blame her. I know I had to be hard to live with and I have put her through a lot. I just wanted you to hear it from me first. I love you mama. Your son, Ray Charles Leonard

Caption “No Mas?” Sugar Ray Leonard, five division champion sits between rounds during 1981 fight against Thomas Hearns. He is coached here by Angelo Dundee. You may think Leonard should retire-that he should quit while ahead. I bet he would disagree. Leonard has always believed in his strength and talent, no matter what the cynics might say.

Bibliography Text Sources Evans, Gavin. (2005). Kings of the Ring: The History of Heavyweight Boxing. New York: Sterling Publishing Company. From this book I gained more of a boxing history of Leonard's fights Schweizer, Bill. (2002). The Complete Idiot's Guide to Sports History and Trivia. Indianapolis: Alpha Books. From this book I gained very basic information on Leonard Wikipedia contributors, . (8 March, 2006). Sugar Ray Leonard. Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia. Retrieved 10 March, 2006, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sugar_Ray_Leonard&oldid=42753943 . From this site I gained more personal background on Leonard Photo Sources "Boxing Ring". Washington Athletic Club: 75 Years of History. . <www.wac.net/WAC_history/ images/boxing_ring_L.jpg>. 20 March, 2006. "Leonard versus Hearns". . September 1981. <http://www.cartage.org.lb/en/themes/Sports/miscellaneous/boxing/a0093/1.html>. 20 March, 2006. "Shocker". Sports Illustrated covers. 1986. < http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sugar_Ray_Leonard&oldid=42753943>. 10 March, 2006

Reasoning • This assignment came about in a graduate course I took in Spring 2006. The assignment was to create a multigenre project. I decided to have my 4th grade students complete one too. Every year we study Famous North Carolinians, and every year we do the same basic project. I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to let the kids have freedom in their presentations. • I chose Sugar Ray Leonard, first off because I had to find out about that name! (He was named after Ray Charles, his given name being Ray Charles Leonard). North Carolina is one of the original colonies and our geography lends itself to the arts and those who express feelings about it through the arts. There are so many wonderful examples of North Carolina's prominent citizens past and present I wanted to choose one many do not realize is from the Tar Heel State. • I posted my project on the web to give my students a permanent model and a link to post their projects as well

Assignment Essay “A Knockout" Completing this project was a learning experience to say the least. I began the project with my students. I sent the invitation/letter home and we began the following week. I had already planned to do Sugar Ray Leonard, with no real reasoning other than I thought he would make for an interesting presentation model. As I was brainstorming ways to set the project up, I began to get too involved in the actual presentation part of it and lose focus on the research. I find I do this in many aspects of my life. The creativity can get in the way of learning for me. That's when I decided to make this a web- based project. It also lends itself to the technology class I am currently enrolled in, and with my busy schedule its always great to kill two birds with one stone. I did the majority of my research on the Internet. I am a natural computer nerd and find that I do my best thinking in front of a screen. I found it difficult to find biographies on my chosen topic and had to stick to sports trivia books. Magazines and other publications would have been a better choice in hindsight, but the Internet in our lives makes all that too accessible from our homes to have the motivation to go to perusing the library stacks. My students have completed their researching. I must say they are the most enthusiastic group to do research with! I do not know if they just like the topic, the multigenre project concept, or if its a combination of the two. Most have completed the minimum 3 genres and are asking if they can do more! After the completion of our oral presentations, we will do hypertext Power Points with our famous North Carolinians. These will be much like what mine will become; each slide will have links to websites on the subject throughout the text. My goals here are to teach classes to come about these North Carolinians and show my current students that Power Points do not have to be boring presentations where each slide is read word for word. I have really enjoyed the opportunity to complete this assignment with my students and love that so far, my graduate courses cater to the working classroom teacher. I have many ideas spawning and generating in my head from this one project and hope to knockout a few more standards the fun way!

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