You will be working with an assigned partner to complete the tasks in this project. For some parts you will work together to find information and for others, you may choose to split up the work. Once our class picks names (of the Historical Figures) out of a hat, your next step should be to gather background information. You will explore websites and read at least one biography of the person (from our class library). This is your chance to get an overview of your person and their accomplishments. Later in the project, you will learn even more about the specific of his/her life. But for now, let us take a step back in history and get acquainted with the heroes of yesterday!

Phase 1 - Background Information
The historical figures that will be studied in Our WebQuest are:
*Cesar Chavez
*Amelia Earhart
*Thomas Alva Edison
*Helen Keller
*Meriwether Lewis and William Clark
*Thurgood Marshall
*Sally Ride
*Jackie Robinson
*Franklin Delano Roosevelt
*Sacagewea
*Daniel Boone
*Paul Revere
*Rosa Parks
*Harriety Tubman
*Susan B. Anthony
*Abraham Lincoln
*George Washington Carver
*Martin Luther King Jr.
*George Washington


Use the link below as a starting point for your research:

• Famous American Biographies

Phase 2 - Roles
These roles were chosen because they each define the most important elements of United States History. Each of you has been assigned a particular role with links and instructions below. Here are the general instructions for all of you. Please see your specific instructions and questions below.

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Two members from each WebQuest team will explore one of the
historical figures.
2. Follow the instructions below for each part of the project. You
will both be working on each component.
3. As a class, we will be focusing on particulary project
components at certain times; but, this WebQuest is designed so
that you can work ahead AND return to sections that we have
already covered.

Research Notecards:

Create six notecards with information on the following categories:
*Remember, the purpose of the notecards is to organize your information for use in the other parts of this project.

1. Title Page (Historical Figure's Name and birthdate/death
2. Claim to Fame
3. Family
4. Early Years
5. Later Years
6. Timeline of Life (noting major accomplishments)
>Use this interactive website to create a timeline!

http://www.readwritethink.org/materials/timeline/index.html

Powerpoint Presentation:

You will now transform your notecards into a powerpoint presentation to present to your classmates. Each notecard will become a slide for the presentation. When your presentation is finished, be sure to include transitions and check over your grammar. We will practice making a slideshow as a class and I will show you a completed example.

If you need extra help, watch this tutorial on creating a powerpoint presentation:

1. http://www.cof.orst.edu/net/software/present/powerpnt/ppguide.sht
(copy and paste the link to a new browser)

Autobiographical Speech:

Listen to a speech given by your historical figure. This will give you an idea of what his/her voice sounded like and what type of language he/she used when speaking! For some historical figures, it is not possible to access an actual audio/video clip of them speaking...try to imagine the time and place in which they lived to help you out!

http://www.history.com/media.doaction=search&searchTerm=*&mediaType=Audio
(copy and paste link into new browser)

Your speech will be a short 'first-person' account of who your are (when acting as the historical figure). You get to become the person! Follow this format when writing your speech:
1. 1-2 minutes long
2. Speak in the first person (use 'I' and 'me' not 'he' or 'she')
3. Try to imitate the voice of your person (this will be fun!)
4. Tell your audience why you are so famous!
5. Give interesting facts about yourself.
6. Spend alot of time rehearsing your speech with your partner or
family and friends. It should sound as natural as possible.

Brochure:

Use the brochure template provided by your teacher to create your brochure. You can either complete it entirely on the computer or print out the template and draw/write/glue photos right onto it.



Your brochure should follow this format:
1. Cover
-Name of Historical Figure
-Photo of Historical Figure
2. Inside flap
-Interesting facts about the person
3. Inside of brochure (3 sections)
-Timeline of life
-Photos
-Description of accomplishments

Living Wax Museum Exhibit:

1. Watch the creation of a wax figure for the famous Madam Tussaud's Museum:

http://www.myspace.com/madametussaudsny

2. To get in character for our big presentation, watch some examples of other students doing living biography performances:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=1A_T54xgRzE
(copy and paste link to new browser)

Phase 3 - Reaching Consensus
You have all learned about different parts of United States History. Now group members come back to the larger WebQuest team with expertise gained one perspective or one famous historical figure. You must all now complete the Task as a group. Each of you will bring a certain viewpoint to our final project: The Living Wax Museum Presentation. After we present our project to the school, we will film your performances in the classroom so that we can view our work as a whole.

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Conclusion

As you look back through your project and work, think about these questions:
- 'Why and how is it that your historical figure had such an impact on American history that we still read and study him/her today?

-'How does each historical figure lend itself as a piece of the larger puzzle of American History? What part did your person play and where did he/she fit in with the others?'

*We will post our final reflections on our class blog website

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Content by EPasquale, ejp162@gmail.com http://www.kn.att.com/wired/fil/pages/webunitedsep.html Last revised Tue Jul 22 21:29:09 US/Pacific 2008