Assignment Sheet for Semester Project, U.S. History III
** 50 Points as a “Semester Project”
** This is, for the most part, an individually completed project!!!
** Due Tues., May8th
- The topics for these projects can be anything from 1920’s – 2017, roughly the era before the Great Depression to the modern day. These projects, whatever your topic chosen, should address one of the South Dakota United States History Standards listed below:
K-12.H.1 Students will analyze how major events are chronologically connected and evaluate their impact on one another. = [In other words, apply the past to events that follow, “cause & effect”.]
K-12.H.2 Students will analyze and evaluate the impact of people, events, ideas and symbols upon history using multiple sources. = [The words “upon history” probably should be instead read “upon America” in other words, what makes our country truly “America,” and why?]
K-12.H.4 Students will identify and evaluate the causes and effects of past, current and potential events, issues and problems.
K-12.H.5 Students will develop historical research skills.
Possible Topics:
- Great Depression: lives of people suffering during era and programs helping the nation recover
- WWII: fascist dictators, lives of people during WWII, battle analysis, lots of stuff you could do on WWII
- 1950’s United States, the “Golden Age”
- 1960’s – Civil Rights Movement, Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, etc.
- Cold War (1947 – 1991) - Vietnam War (1960 – 1975)
- 1960’s counterculture – Bob Dylan, Woodstock, folk music (yeah!!!)
- American Popular Culture, from Elvis, to James Brown, to Johnny Cash, to modern day musicians
- Famous Americans: Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, Martin Luther King Jr., Marilyn Monroe, John F. Kennedy, Colin Powell, John Steinbeck, Franklin Roosevelt, Eleanor Roosevelt, Frank Lloyd Wright, Michael Jackson, Walt Disney, Bill Gates, etc,
- Historical artwork- Historical photographs
- Major technologies / inventions: radio, automobiles, railroads, etc.
- There is an incredible, inexhaustible amount of possible topics to choose!!!!!
** Your project should address the idea of historical change over time!!!
** Types of Product:
[1] Artwork (but it has to be your own hand and good work)
Depicting some event or someone you think significant to United States History, that greatly impacted how the United States has changed.
___ Poster board (see many examples in the classroom)
___ Two-page summary paper, summarizing the content, answering …
** Why was this individual / historical scene depicted significant?
** Contribution to history?
** How did this change the United States of America?
[2] “There’s Gold in Them Thar Hills” --- a famous line by a fictional Mark Twain character named Mulberry Sellers
Rationale: By working in groups of four, students will do a site investigationof one of the mining site, ghost towns, Native American cultural sites, Civilian Conservation Corp / Works Progress Administration, (the CCC and WPA were Great Depression projects that built stuff like Sheridan Lake, Dinosaur Hill, etc.) etc. You should record video, do historical research on the site you are investigating, and create the following products:
(1) Typed paper product: Times New Roman, 12-point font, minimum four pages, using paragraphsresearching the site you are investigating. Now, it may not be easy to find information on your particular ghost town, mining site, cultural site, etc., so the information in your paper can be general to the development of ... examples …
- Black Hills mining town, mining towns in general (like Deadwood), which had population booms and busts, along with commercial activity, crime, vigilante justice, etc. There’s lot’s to talk about!!!
- Sacred sites in the Black Hills, such as Bear Butte, Wind Cave, etc.
Option #1 – Video Recording and PowerPoint presentation (10 slides w/ script)
(2) Video Recording – Three minutes minimum of video recording, visiting a town, city, Ghost town, or historic site in the Black Hills or surrounding area upon the Great Plains of significant historical interest:
- A Ghost town, such as Rochford, Mystic, Deerfield, Silver City, Addie Camp, Kennedyville, Tinton, Centennial City, etc.
- A Civilian Conservation Corp / Works Progress Administration, (the CCC and WPA were Great Depression projects, etc.
- Discuss who founded the city, when, interesting historical information, interesting stories, and display interesting historical buildings / etc. in the video.
- Or visit an historical mining site or another local site of historical interest (Lakota cultural site, etc.)
- Discuss: why did you choose to depict this? Why was this interesting? ** Include a personal family story or family history in settling in South Dakota
Option #2 – Video Recording and Movie Maker Project (5 min. total)
(3) –Movie Maker project – five minutes total, presenting historical information and then also the three-minute video footage
___ Video recording according to description above
___ Typed paper according to description above
___ PowerPoint or Movie Maker project combining the video footage
[3] Microsoft Movie Maker Product (five minutes minimum)
** Individual project.
Or some other type of audio-visual product … utilizing pictures, narration, possibly music, etc. focusing upon a major topic in United State History during the era within the parameters identified by this Assignment Sheet.
** Whether PowerPoint, Movie Maker, etc. the project needs to be at least 5 minutes in duration, so that would include timed PowerPoint slides or other format of project
** This would include narration and possibly some other form of audio as well.
___ Movie Maker or some other audio-visual product
[4] Graphic Novel (really, a short story) – Individual project - Artistic depictions along with text, describing a series of events tied to a major theme, covered within the confines of the historical time period of this course.
___ Events tied to a major theme
___ Artistic Pictures depicting the historical events
[5] Video recorded interview, interviewing an individual that experienced events covered during U.S. History II, from the Great Depression to the present.
(1) Interview of subject (below are some types of questions you could ask):
* Somebody experiencing a military deployment (fighting in a war during the last 60 years in U.S History)
* Changes in their workplace
* Changes in marriage in the United States (changes in expectations for husbands and wives)
* Changes happening to one part of the country (i.e. changes to the Black Hills, changes to Rapid City, changes to a reservation in South Dakota)
- How was their life?
- Where did they live?
- What did they think about the Era? Did they have any optimism about the future?
- How did they recover from the Era?
- How has America changed since this time? What do they think about these changes?
- Really, anything else they would want to talk about
(2) Typed transcript of the interview:
- Typed paper product: Typed transcript of the interview, using Times New Roman, and 12-point font.
- Make proper use of mechanics, organization, and syntax.
___ Typed paper according to description above
___ Good use of questions, quality interview (questions or topic needs to be approved ahead of time)
[6] “Stop the Press, This Just In …”– A series of newspaper accounts, at least six newspaper accounts, including text and pictures … like a newspaper (hopefully students your age still know what newspapers are …) focusing upon a major theme or series of events from the 80 years, Great Depression to the present. Again, there are innumerable different topics you can choose.
___ Typed product according to description above
___ Pictures included with a realistic newspaper format, w/ multiple columns
[7] “Lights, Camera, ‘You’re On Mr. President’” – students will work in small-groupscreating a video recording of a famous presidential speech, recreating a propaganda video, or some sort of video focusing upon a major theme or series of events from the past 80 years.
This is a four-member small-group project.
- There could be many option for this … such as, President Kennedy in Berlin giving his most famous speech, President Nixon resigning as president after Watergate, or President Regan telling Mr. Gorbachev, “Tear down this wall.”
- Somebody is portraying a major historical figure, other group members are portraying members of the press (reporters) asking questions, etc.
- Or recreating the famous trial investigating the President Kennedy assassination
- Again, there are innumerable ideas for this.
- Use your creativity … pitch me an idea!!!
- Typed paper product: Times New Roman, 12-point font, minimum two pages, using paragraphs summarizing main points, related to the course material, discussing how what your group has filmed relates to content in United States History.
- Make proper use of mechanics, organization, and syntax.
___ Typed paper according to description above
___ Three-minute video clip minimum
[8] Research Paper– possible topics could include … Individual project.
- A basic research paper.
- Typed paper product: Times New Roman, 12-point font, minimum five pages, using paragraphs, include a Bibliography or Works Cited Page, in-text citations or foot-notes where appropriate, and must include at least three sources (one must be a book), and there is no need to list encyclopedias.
- Make sure your paper contains “exciting language,” and makes proper use of mechanics, organization, and syntax
** Possible topics …- A general, major political figure or leader of the United States, a business leader, etc.
- Choose one person and write his or her biography
- Researching an issue, “The expansion of human rights in the United States”
- “Tribal Sovereignty” - Advancements in Weapon technology / major weapon system
- Researching a memoir from somebody living during the era, an African American, Native American, An Immigrant, or any other “everyday person” from the eras we’ve studied
- There really are innumerable things you could research
- Contributions of women to the war effort (Allied or Axis powers)
- Contributions of minorities to the war effort (Allied or Axis powers)
- Innumerable topic ideas!!
___ Typed paper according to description above
[9] Innumerable Project Ideas… really the ideas are innumerable, as this is simply to get you thinking about project ideas!!!!
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