WebQuest

The Road to Independence

A WebQuest on the people in the American Revolution

Paul Revere

Introduction

The American Revolution had profound consequences, not only for the American colonists but for the rest of the world as well. The people in the American colonies were becoming very dissatisfied with their relationship with England. They longed for the freedom to make their own laws. People started becoming very involved in standing up for their rights. Never before had a body of colonists so boldly declared their monarch and government incapable of governing a free people. There are many important people that became key players in the American Revolution and caused many important events to take place.

You have just spent the weekend visiting your Grandparents and come across a family tree. In your Social Studies class you have been studying the American Revolution. When you are looking at the family tree, suddenly you see a name you recognize from class, your relative was involved in the Revolution. You cannot wait to share about your relative with your classmates but first you must do some investigating. What achievements did your relative have during the American Revolution? Was your relative for or against the Revolution? There is so much information to find out about your exciting relative!

The Task

You will be working individually or in pairs of two. Your task is to create a timeline of at least 8 events that took place during the American Revolution. Along with the timeline, you need to do write an obituary for your relative that you have just discovered.

You will be presenting to the class about your relatives. Presentations can be in the form of an interview, powerpoint, newspaper/magazine, or any other fun or interesting ways you can think of to present your relative to our class. When you decide how you would like to present, please check with me.

The Process

1. You first task is to decide whether you would like to work alone or with another student, and figure out who your relative of the American Revolution will be.

2. You need to create a timeline of at least 8 important events that took place during the American Revolution. These events need to include: The date, what the event was, and the effects the event had on the colonies or the Revolution. Here is an example of a TIMELINE with the expected information. You may also want to think of a creative or colorful way to present your timeline for display.

3. Here are some helpful websites to find information for your timeline:

The American Revolution: Experience the Revolution

http://www.nps.gov/revwar/about_the_revolution/timeline_of_events.html

American Revolution: Timeline

http://www.kidport.com/REFLIB/UsaHistory/AmericanRevolution/AmerRevolution.htm#Timeline

The American Revolutionary War: A timeline of major events

http://www.socialstudiesforkids.com/articles/ushistory/revolutionarywartimeline.htm

Timeline of the American Revolution

http://www.theamericanrevolution.org/tline.asp

4. You then need to do some investigating so you can write an obituary for your relative and share him or her with our class. Some of the information that must be included in your obituary includes: When your relative was born, when and how they died, what your relative thought of the Revolution, 3 major achievements or events that your relative was involved in and the effect of each, and any other accomplishments or interesting things that you want to share with us about your relative.

5. There is a Notes Sheet that you can use as a guide while gathering information for your relatives obituary. You can turn this notes sheet in with your obituary, at the end of the project. There is also a cause and effect CHART you can use if it will be helpful to you.

6. Once you have gathered all of the information about your relative you need to write an obituary for them. The information that needs to be included in the obituary is listed in step #4 above as well as on the notes sheet that you will fill out.

7. Some helpful places to find information about your relative are listed below:

The American Revolution: Important People

http://www.theamericanrevolution.org/ipeople.asp

Revolutionary Figures

http://www.picadome.fayette.k12.ky.us/lab/currl/amer_rev/figures.htm

American Revolution: Biographies

http://www.historycentral.com/bio/RevoltBIOS/INDEX.html

From Revolution to Reconstruction: Biographies

http://odur.let.rug.nl/~usa/B/index.htm

8. Now that you have gathered all of your information and found out so much about your relative you need to prepare to present him or her to the class. Your presentation can be in the form of an interview, powerpoint, newspaper or magazine you have created, or any other creative way you want to present.

9. Your presentation must include but not be limited to your obituary being presented in some way as well as some sort of visual. Your visual must be easily visable from the back of the room.

10. When you have decided how you want to present, please check with me.

11. You should look at the CHECKLIST of everything you should have done before preparing for you presentation.

Evaluation

Evaluation Rubric:

*If you chose to do the assignment individually, you will receive an individual grade for the work you completed. If you chose to work in pairs, you will receive grades based on the work that you completed together.

	Beginning 1	Developing 2	Accomplished 3	Exemplary 4	Score
Obituary	Obituary is not complete and missing most of the information	Obituary has some information	Obituary includes most of the required information but is missing one or two things	Obituary includes all required information and is written nicely
Timeline	Incomplete or Inaccurate Timeline	Fewer than 8 events with the appropriate explanation, not completely in chronological order	8 events most having the appropriate explanations, in chronological order	8 or more events with correct dates and explanations, in chronological order
Presentation	Individual/Group's presentation was missing information and did not have a visual. They were not prepared.	Individual/Group's presentation had some required information and maybe a visual. They were not very prepared.	Individual/Group's presentation included most required information and a visual. They seemed mostly prepared.	Individual/Group's presentation included a creative presentation included all required information and a visual. They were prepared in with the information they were presenting.
Historical Accuracy	Historical facts are not correct	There are very few historical facts	Most of the information is historically accurate	All information is historically accurate
Ability to stay on task during assignment and preparation	Individual/Group was off task and had to be constantly reminded to stay on task	Individual/Group had to be reminded often to stay on task	Individual/Group had to be occasionally reminded to stay on task	Individual/Group did not have to be reminded to stay on task and worked diligently on assignment

Conclusion

After completing this project please fill out the project evaluation form that will be handed out toward the end of the project. Attach it to the back of your packet to turn in.

Once you are finished with this project think about how America might be different today if the people that we learned about hadn't made these achievement and caused these events. How have they helped to shape the society that we live in today?