Student+Activities+(Part+2)

Unit Three: Influential People during the Civil War: An Interview

**__Overview of the Project__** As we come to an end on our unit of the Civil War, we will be researching some of the most influential people that were mentioned during this time. For this project, you will be participating in a series of activities for each day of this week to help prepare you for the final test on this unit. This project will also further develop your research, writing and presentation skills. Overall, you will be working with a partner to choose and conduct research on an influential person during the Civil War. You and your partner will then organize an interview and a slideshow to present to the class. During the presentation, one of you will be the interviewer and the other, the person being interviewed. At the end of all the presentations, you and your peers will come up with questions about each of your own influential people that will make up the final test that you will be taking at the end of the week. This project will count as 25% of your final grade in this class, so make sure you stay focused and have fun!
 * //Note: The person who interviews will act as a professional interviewer while the person being interviewed will act as the influential person that they researched on. 5 extra credit points will be awarded to the group that decided to dress up for the interview. [Interviewer: dress up in professional, semi-formal clothing. Person being interviewed: dress up how you believe your influential person would have dressed. (Hint: Look up pictures of your person)]//**

__Monday: Research Day in the Library and Interview Organization__ ****(December 7, 2009)**
 * 

​For the first 10 minutes of class today, you will be choosing a partner (groups of 2) to work with you on researching an influential person during the Civil War. Once you have chosen your partner, you and your partner may choose **one** influential person to research together from the list below. Once you have decided which person you are going to research, you need to let me know who your partner is and which person you both have decided to do research on.


 * //Note: The choosing process will be based on a first-come-first-served basis. If someone has already chosen the person you and your partner wanted to research, you will have to choose a different person. No two groups will research and present the same person.//**

**__Influential People during the Civil War__**
 * Ulysses S. Grant
 * Robert E. Lee
 * Stonewall Jackson
 * J.E.B. Stewart
 * Joseph Hooker
 * George E. Pickett
 * Harriet Tubman
 * Clara Barton
 * William Garrison
 * John Brown
 * William Tecumseh Sherman
 * Frederick Douglass
 * Harriet Beecher Stowe
 * Sojourner Truth
 * Abraham Lincoln
 * Thaddeus Stevens
 * Jefferson Davis
 * John Coldwell Calhoun
 * Henry Clay
 * Andrew Johnson

After you have chosen your partner and an influential person to conduct your research on, you will begin your research and development of your interview. Your research should be focused on identifying who your person is, what they have done (example: their accomplishments) and how they have had an impact on the Civil War. A great place to start your research on your person is through the library's [|encyclopedia]. Also, you may wish to look up [|biographies], [|autobiographies]and other books related to your person such as books on the Civil War. For internet research, you may wish to start [|here] or check out other websites related to your person through search engines such as [|Google], [|Google Scholar], [|Dogpile], [|AskJeeves], etc. Also, if you click on each search engines' "Advanced" search features, it will help narrow your search so that you can find more credible facts sooner.

You and your partner will need to come up with **10** facts together about your influential person that you will use in your interview. Make sure that each of these facts can be used as answers to a question as these facts will be the answers for your questions in the interview process. Once you and your partner have your ten facts/answers, you will need to come up with **one** question for each of your answers. When you are finished, you should have a total of **10** questions with **10** answers; one answer for each question. Make sure to write all of the questions, in order, on 3.5x5" notecards. Do this for the answers as well on a separate set of these notecards. The interviewer should get the question set and the person being interviewed should get the answers set. **You will be able to use these notecards during your presentation.**

Once you have your interview questions and answers ready, bring them to me so that I can check them. When I have marked you off for correctly formatting your interview and collecting facts, you must decide which of you will be the interviewer and which will be the person being interviewed. Also, you will need to pick a day for which you and your partner will present. You can either present this Wednesday, the 9th, or this Thursday, the 10th. Once you have that figured out, let me know and I will get you signed up. Please read the note above for it applies to the presentation sign-up days as well.

**For practice on how to conduct your interview, you may want to use some of these interview tips mentioned in the video below.

media type="youtube" key="XvuZY3DWtIY" height="344" width="425"** (This video is from YouTube by the user pfjrecruitment)

**__Tuesday: Creating your Slideshow and Finalizing your Presentation__** **(December 8, 2009)**



Today, you will be working on the slideshow portion of your presentation using Microsoft Powerpoint. Your slideshow will be playing in the background while you present your interview. First, you and your partner will need to research pictures of your influential person and pictures related to them or the Civil War. Once you have found at least **10** pictures, you will need to save each picture in a new folder on the computer that you are working on. **Follow the instructions given below if you do not know how to do this.** After you have saved all ten pictures, follow the tutorial given in the video below to create a photo album on powerpoint. Make sure to save your slideshow and then call me over so that I can check it and save it on the classroom USB so that you can use it for your presentation.

1. Click on "Start" at the bottom left-hand corner of the computer screen. 2. Click on "Pictures" in the right hand column of the "Start" box. 3. Click on "Organize" in the top left-hand corner of the "Pictures" box just under the arrow. 4. Click on the first option: "New Folder." 5. The new folder should appear in the Pictures box with the rest of the folders and pictures. 6. Click in the highlighted "New Folder" area and type your influential person's name there. 7. Click somewhere out of the folder. 8. Now you have created a new folder in the pictures area. 9. To look inside your folder, just double click on it. 10. You should not have any pictures in there until you start saving them there.
 * __How to Create a New Folder__**

1. Right-click on the picture you want to save. 2. Click on the "Save Picture As" option. 3. A screen will appear. 4. In the highlighted area next to "File Name", you can name your picture whatever you'd like. 5. Make sure you do not name any pictures with the same name. 6. Before you hit "save", look for your folder in the screen of folders and pictures right above where you named your file. 7. Double-click on your folder. 8. Click "save." 9. Now you have saved your picture in your new folder. 10. Do this for all ten pictures.
 * __How to Save a Picture in your New Folder__**

When following the tutorial below in creating your powerpoint, make sure that you are using your new folder of pictures. **  media type="youtube" key="LBbE1N1eppE" height="344" width="425" align="center" (This video is from YouTube by the user sirmorphalot)
 * 


 * __Slideshow Requirements__**
 * Must include **at least** 10 pictures related to your influential person and the Civil War.
 * Must be long enough to play throughout your interview (3-5 minutes long)
 * Each picture should not be on display for more than 20 seconds. (I will come around and help you with this)
 * There should be transitions between each picture. (I will also help you with this)
 * There should be no sound effects or music of any kind for this will distract the attention away from your interview.
 * Must follow the tutorial's instructions.

Once you have completed the slideshow and I have checked you and your partner off, you should go over your interview and practice as if you were presenting so that you will be prepared on the day you present. Remember, practice makes perfect!

__**Wednesday: Presentations**__ **(December 9, 2009) **

Today, we will view the presentations of those groups that signed up to present today. Each person should be on their best behavior and focus on each presentation throughout the entire class time. Every student will have something to do whether they are presenting today or not. Below are the the directions of what you should be doing during class.

__**Students that are presenting**__ Make sure that you are prepared for your presentation today. Remember to use the tips of conducting a good interview from the video on Monday. This should be a professional interview so stay focused. Remember to breathe, have fun and good luck!

Make sure that you are focusing on the interview intently. During all presentations, you should be taking careful notes on each influential person. You will be taking your own individual notes and **not** working with your partner on them. I will be collecting these notes on Friday for evaluation of your note-taking skills and to make sure that you were paying attention. Also, make sure that you are studying these notes as one of the facts that you hear about each influential person may be a question on Friday's test. If you follow these directions, then you will have no problem with the test.
 * __All Students (whether you are presenting or not)__**

Here I have posted the grading rubric from which you will be graded on your presentations with: (You might have to save this file to your computer before opening it)

**__Thursday: Presentations and Test Questions__** **(December 10, 2009) **



Today's activities will follow along exactly how it did on Wednesday for the first 40 minutes of class as we finish up the rest of the presentations. So, please review what your responsibilities are during presentations. Remember, your focus during class is part of your grade as stated in the rubric!

For the last 10 minutes of class and after all projects have been presented, you and your partner will need to look over your questions that you presented and choose **one** of them for the final test tomorrow (Friday, the 11th). Once you have picked out a question, you will need to write it down on a separate sheet of paper and turn it in to me before the end of class. Make sure that both you and your partner write your name at the top of the paper and your influential person's name so that you may recieve credit for this activity.

In order to prepare for the test tomorrow, make sure that you go over the notes that you took on everyone's presentation. If you took notes on each question addressed for each presentation, then you already have all the answers. Tomorrow's test will consist of each question that each group turned in. It will be a multiple-choice, powerpoint test like the one you took two weeks ago. Make sure that you bring your notes into class tomorrow as I wil be collecting them for grading. Study hard, don't stress and good luck!

[|Ten Tips- Studying] [|Test-Taking Exercise] [|Studying for Tests] [|Top Ten Test-Taking Tips]
 * Here are some links to help you develop great studying and test-taking skills:**

**__Friday: Test Day__** <span style="color: #008080; display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: center;">**(December 11, 2009)**

Now that we have completed our unit on the Civil War and the influential people during that time, it is time for us to take our final unit test. For the first 30 minutes of class today, we will all be walking over to the computer lab and taking our final unit test on the influential people we discussed in the Civil War. Once you are inside the computer lab, each of you will sit at a computer and wait for my instruction to begin the test. The tests will already be prepared and ready to go on your computer so you won't have to find it. Once you are done taking the test, you will sit at your computer quietly and wait until I tell you to line up at the door. We will then all walk back to the classroom and continue with the rest of today's activities.


 * //Note: This test is an individual assignment. You will not be working with your partner on this test.//**

For the next 10 minutes of class, I will be passing back your group project evaluations. You will recieve one rubric per group. Both you and your partner will have the same grade that I have written on the front of the rubric as well as constructive feedback on the reverse side. If you feel for any reason that what you scored on this project is incorrect, please see me after class and I will be happy to go over it with you and your partner.

Lastly, to tie up the end of the week, you will spend the last 10 minutes passing in the notes you took during the presentations to me. Please, make sure you have your name written on it and staple the papers together if needed. I will be grading your note-taking skills and ability to focus during the presentations. You will get these papers back, graded, on Monday (December 14th). On that note, have a wonderful and safe weekend!