Decades Multigenre Decades Project

Dr. Gingrich

AP English Language and Composition

Written Product:  200 points   Due Friday, December 9th

Rough Draft:  20 points Due Tuesday, November  29th (at least two of the products)

Annotated Bibliography  (of three sources):  30 points  Due Friday, November 18th, end of period

·        Bibliographic information in correct MLA format

·        Summary of information

·        How you will use this information in your paper

·        Two direct quotes from the source of at least one sentence each

Group Presentation:  100 points  Week of December 6th

We will be in the media center November 1st  and 2nd

Topic:
Each person within your group is to pick a separate issue or theme that s/he will be exploring. Each group member should find at least five separate sources (three for the annotated bibliography, the other two sources do not need to be annoted) related to the topic that they select.   Your group will be responsible for researching and presenting a “living museum” for a class period on your particular decade and topics.

Video:  As part of your group should make a 7-10 minute video/live performance which does one of the following

A.     Reenacts a historical event

B.     Creates a scene from a novel or play

C.     Reenacts a scene from a film or television series

D.     Creates original scenes which are vignettes illustrating life during that time period

 The assignment and additional resources and links can be found at

General Topics (each person will have a different category)

Some Examples of Issues:

· Due to the economic problems of the Great Depression, films served an important role for escapism and as social commentaries.  In what ways were the films of the 1930’s escapist and to what extent were they successful in unburdening the American public from their problems?  How were the movies of the 1930’s a social commentary on the issues that were occurring during the Great Depression?

· Following World War II,  what has been come to be called the Cold War came into existence.  One of the aspects of this Cold War was an anti-communist sentiment that led to the McCarthy trials “McCarthy witch hunt.”  What were the causes and effects of the trials and how did they alter the American conscience?  Why did they occur at this particular time and what other events in American history did they parallel?
· In 1964 and 1965 a series of legislative bills known as the Civil Rights Act were passed in congress.  How did this legislation change American society?

The Assignment:

Select a question/issue—which occurs in American history over the past century-- which is raised in your decade (see above for examples).  Write at least four different genre pieces related to this topic in your project (see samples of genre pieces from below).   The genre pieces should match to some extent the topic you are doing, for instance if you are studying Beat Poets of the 1950’s you should write some poets, if you are writing about the exploration of nuclear physics in the 1940’s you should include lab reports.

Then, find  five different sources related to that question.  Write a notes page of at least 200 words in which you explain how you used one of your sources in the creation of each genre piece; there should be at least two direct quotations in each notes page. Include a works cited page at the end of your project.  Each of the works should be used at least once within your project.

Incorporate at least three visual images within your paper.  See below for ideas.

 This is a research paper based on an issue from your decade.

The final project should include the following components

Cover Page (Your name, the teachers name, the title of your project, the title of the book on which it is based, the author’s name, and the date)

            Page 2: Table of Contents—list of the products in your project

Page 3: Preface, short explanation of your project and why you include each piece as well as what your question is and why you were interested in researching it and why this issue has continued to be relevant since the time period

Pages 4 plus: Multi-genre project—notes should be attached to each of your genre entries

            Page 14: Works Cited Page

            Visual images can be interspersed throughout—

Page numbers are approximate depending upon the length of your writings

Written sub-genres:  These are some of the possibilities.  You may select others but see me before doing so.

General Decades Pages
Use the following sites to find general information on American History and Culture and to Lead you to information on more specific topics.
 

Teachers page   http://www.teacheroz.com/20thcent.htm Yahoo Directory http://dir.yahoo.com/Arts/Humanities/History/U_S__History/By_Time_Period/20th_Century/ America's Best History Timeline  http://americasbesthistory.com/abhtimeline.html  Biography of America http://www.learner.org/biographyofamerica/  Digital History http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/historyonline/chron20.cfm  Smithsonian Institute http://www.si.edu/  Library Web Page http://kclibrary.lonestar.edu/decades.html  American Decades Multimedia http://www.phs.d211.org/Media/subjects/decades.htm
Pulitzer Prize Winners

1920’s
 

	Jazz Age Webquest	http://vlib.iue.it/history/USA/ERAS/20TH/1920s.html   http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/America_economy_1920s.htm
	Interactive Literature

1930’s
 
 

1930’s music	Great Depression
C
Listen to 1930’s music

 
 

1940’s
 

Time Witnesses	School Library Source http://kclibrary.lonestar.edu/decade40.html	Yahoo About History http://history1900s.about.com/od/1940s/1940_1949.htm
Fashion Images	British Stories from the 1940’s	British History of the 1940’s
Classic Film Images

1950’s
 
 

Literature and Culture in the 1950’s		1950’s Movies
		Rewind the Fifties
The Fifties Web	Yahoo Listings

1960’s

 

History and Pop Culture   http://www.archaeolink.com/american_history_1960s.htm	Yahoo 1960s topics http://history1900s.about.com/od/1960s/1960_1969.htm
Mental Relapse:  Think Quest
Psychadelic 60’s

 

1970’s
 

	Library 1970's http://kclibrary.lonestar.edu/decade70.html
Yahoo Links	About the 70's http://history1900s.about.com/od/timelines/tp/1970timeline.htm

1980’s
 

Yahoo timeline http://history1900s.about.com/od/timelines/tp/1980timeline.htm	1980’s Culture Timeline
American History timeline http://americasbesthistory.com/abhtimeline1980.html	Cultural History http://kclibrary.lonestar.edu/decade80.html

Examples of Multigenre Projects: (these assignments have some different requirements than the one I have given you, however, they give you the an idea of the range of genres and ideas you can generate).

Tom Romano’s Page at Miami University (my alma mater).  The first set of examples are based on novels.  The second set are student teachers writing about their field experiences learning to become teachers.

http://www.users.muohio.edu/romanots/mgrpapers.htm

Samples from Colorado State University’s Writing Program (these are good examples because this is the course that you will be placing out of and illustrates what is expected at the university—topics may be controversial)

 http://writing.colostate.edu/gallery/multigenre/toc.htm

Griswold High School by 9th graders—one on teen homosexuality one on school hazing

http://www.griswold.k12.ct.us/index.cfm?Menu=412&Id=7432