Paul Revere's midnight ride

A WebQuest for 5th Grade Social Studies

Introduction

Most people have heard of Paul Revere. His midnight ride is one of the more memorable events of the American Revolution. However, he did not ride alone that night. There were other people who rode with him, and even more people who rode to help the Patriots convey messages during the war. In this WebQuest, you will learn about Paul Revere, his ride, and some of the lesser known people who helped in the same way. With this information, you will then plan, write, and publish a short story or poem based on what you have learned.

Task

Using the website links included, you will research and outline information about Paul Revere and his infamous midnight ride. You will then learn about other riders: some who rode with Revere that night, and some who had different destinations. Who were these other people and why don't we know their names too?

You will use this research as the basis of a historical fiction short story or poem. Your original short story will be interesting to read, reflect an understanding of the historical event or personality, and demonstrate effective use of literary techniques and the elements of creative writing.

Process

Using the links provided, research Paul Revere, his life, and his well known midnight ride.
Continue through the links to learn about William Dawes, Israel Bissell, and Sybil Ludington- three people who were also riders.
Take notes, summarizing what you have learned.
Continue research outside of class using the library or the internet to gather further information.
Think about how you want to present your story or poem. Is it a first person narrative? A third person account? Who will you include? Revere? Dawes? Bissell? Ludington?
Begin to organize your notes into an outline form.
Write your first draft.
Edit, re-write, and publish. Please attach first (and any additional) drafts and all notes, outlines, etc.
Be ready to share it with your peers.

Links

Biography of Paul Revere:
http://www.paulreverehouse.org/bio/bio.shtml

Poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow:
http://www.cvesd.k12.ca.us/finney/paulvm/h1_poem.html

The story of the midnight ride:
http://www.paulreverehouse.org/ride/real.shtml

Virtual ride:
http://www.paulreverehouse.org/ride/virtual.shtml

"Video" of the ride:
http://www.earlyamerica.com/paul_revere.htm

Who is William Dawes?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Dawes

Poem about William Dawes:
http://www.colorpro.com/wmdawes/theride.html

Who is Sybil Ludington?
http://www.nwhm.org/Education/biography_sludington.html

Who is Israel Bissell?
http://www.dwroth.com/bissell.htm#back
http://www.yourtruehero.org/content/hero/view_hero.asp?15727

Evaluation

Evaluation will take into account the process as well and the product. The final draft of the story or poem should be typed, and show appropriate use of ideas and content, organization, voice, word choice, sentence fluency, and writing conventions. Evaluation will also look at creativity and historical accuracy, as well as presentation of the work to the class.

	Beginning 1	Developing 2	Accomplished 3	Exemplary 4
Creativity	Story or poem does not show creativity in the way information is portrayed.	Story or poem is somewhat interesting to read and is somewhat inventive in the way information is portrayed.	Story or poem is interesting to read and inventive in the way information is portrayed.	Story or poem is interesting to read and exceptionally inventive in the way information is portrayed.
Writing Process	Process of pre-write, draft, edit, re-write, publish is not followed.	Process of pre-write, draft, edit, re-write, publish is followed with minimal results in the final draft.	Process of pre-write, draft, edit, re-write, publish is followed with clear results in the final draft.	Process of pre-write, draft, edit, re-write, publish is followed with exemplary results in the final draft.
Final Draft	Final draft is lacking in three or more of these categories: content, organization, voice, word choice, sentence structures, and writing conventions.	Final draft is lacking in one or more of these categories: content, organization, voice, word choice, sentence structures, and writing conventions.	Final draft is well written and organized, has presence of voice, uses a variety of word choice and sentence structures, and shows good control of writing conventions.	Final draft is exceptionally well written and organized, has presence of voice, uses a variety of word choice and sentence structures, and shows exemplary control of writing conventions.
Historical Accuracy	Story or poem does not reflect any information gathered from WebQuest.	Story or poem reflects minimal information gathered from WebQuest.	Story or poem clearly reflects information gathered from WebQuest.	Story or poem clearly reflects information gathered from WebQuest, and includes information found from further investigation.
Presentation	Presentation is not understandable, and student shows discomfort in public speaking.	Presentation is challenging to understand, and student shows some discomfort in public speaking.	Presentation is easy to understand, and student shows comfort in public speaking.	Presentation is easy to understand, and student shows great comfort in public speaking.

Conclusion

This WebQuest will hopefully further your knowledge of Paul Revere, as well as help you to understand that he was not the only one who helped spread the word that evening. You have had the chance to see that famous people are not always the only ones who participated, or in the case of Revere, the person who traveled the furthest. History is rarely one-sided, and there are always many more people involved and many more sides of the story than we normally hear about.

Knowing this, what should you do when reading your history textbook? Do you think that what is written in your textbook is the only truth? Is it the only side of the story? My challenge to you is to keep investigating, and to find out more truths.

For further investigation, here are some great websites look at:

http://www.wikipedia.org/- an online, interactive encyclopedia

http://www.timeforkids.com/TFK/- Time magazine for kids

http://www.nwhp.org/tlp/main/main.html- the National Women's History Project

http://www.pbs.org/- PBS online

http://42explore.com/42exploress.htm- all about social studies

Credits & References

Thanks to http://www.pics4learning.com/ for the Paul Revere statue photo.

Thanks to The WebQuest Page and the Design Patterns

We all benefit by being generous with our work. Permission is hereby granted for other educators to copy this WebQuest, update or otherwise modify it, and post it elsewhere provided that the original author's name is retained along with a link back to the original URL of this WebQuest. On the line after the original author's name, you may add Modified by (your name) on (date). If you do modify it, please let me know and provide the new URL.

Based on a template from The WebQuest Page