Have you ever heard an older person comment how different things are now from when they were your age? What is it that defines our times? If you were to meet someone from the distant future, what would you share to help that person understand who we are, how we live, what makes us what we are? If you had the chance to go back in time, what clues or evidence would you look for to discover what it was like to live at that time?
Decades Introduction I
You will view two online videos of Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start the Fire." After viewing both videos, you will discuss with your classmates how each video portrayed the lyrics of the song. Which video did you like better? Why did you like the one you chose? What would you do differently if you were making a video for this song?
You will form teams of 3 from the students in this class. You will review the Decades Project Description with your teacher. Your teacher will assign you a decade to research with your teammates. Each member of your team will choose an editorial position for constructing your decades web site. You and your teammates will complete the Decades Project Report Form, reporting which editorial position each of you will fill.
After you have turned in the report form, log on to Think.com. Find your decade group page. Create and name a new page for your editorial position. Example: "On the Home Front I" (You will probably have to create more than one page to complete your work.)
You may work with the members of your team for this activity. Using the decades books from the school library, complete the Decades Scavenger Hunt. Be sure to put the names of all of the members of your team on this worksheet.
Students will be grouped in teams to study a specific decade of the 20th century. Each team member will choose an editorial position and research the required information for that position for their assigned decade.
Students will analyze and synthesize their research findings into narratives (articles) for their editorial web page following the project guidelines from the Decades Student Project Description using a word processing program. Each narrative must be at least 250 words and be accompanied by one graphic. Students may use other means that complement their narratives to present information (ex: tables, charts, lists, timelines, concept map, etc.)Once completed, narratives and supporting material will be uploaded to their editorial web page.
Working as a team, students will construct the homepage for their decade web site. Each member of a team will be responsible for one of the required elements of the homepage: the introductory narrative (at least 300 words), the decade collage that communicates the spirit of the decade, and a timeline of important events (at least 3 events per year). Save your work on your H drive before loading it on to your homepage. The homepage title must be updated to include a slogan for that decade. When each student on the team has completed their part of the homepage, they will upload it to the group homepage for your decade web site.
Each team will create a Bibliography web page, citing the sources used for their decade research. Individual team members must create a list of resources they used to find the information for their editorial position, using the List Tool on Think.com. Teams will also have a list of general resources used by all of the team members.
Present Your Decade
Teams will guide other classmates through a tour of their web site. Each member of the team will be responsible to present the information from their editorial page. In addition, each member of a team will be responsible to present the element on the team homepage that they created. Teams will submit 7 questions relating to information found on their decade web site. Questions will be compiled by the teacher and presented to the class as a Decades Quiz.
Student Guide
