Social Studies Famous Person Wiki Page

You will have a Wiki page (www.wikispaces.com) to do your report on. Your report must be written in paragraph format using complete sentences, proper grammar, and correct spelling. In the report, you need to address the following.

1. Who is your report on? Make a title line with their name included.
2. Make a byline under the report title that says By XXX (substitute your first name for xxx)
3. Include at least one picture of the person. You may include more.
4. When was the person born?
5. In what city and state was the person born? (If not the U.S., the town and country.)
6. Write a brief description of the person’s life as a young child.
7. List some historical events and/or significant happenings in his/her life.
8. List the kind of jobs the person had in his/her life?
9. Why is the person famous? (Include his/her accomplishments, awards, and/or works, etc.)
10. Give a famous quote that the person said. If you can’t find a quote, include at least two additional pictures.
11. When did the person die? Where and how?
12. Provide at least five links to other websites. For example, if a person is born in Lexington, Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky should show as a link and when I click on it, it will take me to another website on the internet.  DO NOT WORRY ABOUT THIS UNTIL YOU HAVE ALL TEXT AND PICTURES IN YOUR WIKI!

Wiki Checklist	Points Available
Wiki completed on time	5
Person is titled at the top of the page. Your name in a byline is under the title.	5
When and where born/and died (if the person is still living, mention that—put the death information at the end of the report)	5
Description of person’s life as a child	5
Historical or significant happenings in the person’s life.	10
List the kinds of jobs the person had in his life. (If they are a politician, list the different offices they held.)	5
Spelling, Grammar, Punctuation	10
Text font is easy to read. Written in paragraph format in complete sentences.	10
A picture of the person. Text should wrap around it.	10
Famous quote by the person (or two additional pictures)	10
At least five links to other websites—not to links about the person.	10
No Plagiarism	15
Total Points	100

You will be given a topic that deals with the Civil War. This could be a battle, a person, a group of people, weapons, etc. You will create a Prezi (online presentation) dealing with your topic.  You will present these in Mrs. O’Brien’s class.

Below is an example of a Prezi I did on the children of the Civil War.

Here is the rubric I will use to grade you.  Mrs. O’Brien will have her own system for grading.  She will grade heavily on content and factual data.  I will grade more on the presentation aspect.

 

Topic	Points Possible	Points Received
Title your slide show with the name of your topic.	5
Minimum of seven “content slides” with actual material on them. Slide 8 will be a sources slide with a minimum of three sources.	15
Each slide has a title about the content of the slide.	5
Each content slide should have a paragraph of at least three sentences. Not repetitive–information appears only once in the slide show.	10
At least three slides should have a picture along with the paragraph.	10
Organization–the path moves logically from one idea to the next.	5
No spelling or grammar mistakes	15
Font is easy to read–text does not bleed off the Prezi.	5
Sources Slide (Slide 8) with at least three sources on it.	5
No plagiarism.	15
Prezi inserted into blog. Title the name of your topic and mark as a Social Studies Assignment.	5
Project completed on time.	5
Total	100

There are many differences between today and the days of the Oregon Trail. There are some things that were very difficult to do then and are quite easy today. However, there are some things that are tougher to do today (or perhaps things we have to do that they did not during the days of the Oregon Trail).

• Mark the assignment as a Social Studies assignment
• Title it The Oregon Trail
• Choose three things (at least) that differ between now and then.
• Put each of the three things in their own paragraphs. Explain how these things are different now and whether it is easier or harder today.
• Include an introductory paragraph and a closing paragraph, for a total of five paragraphs.
• There should be three-four sentences in each paragraph.
• Be sure to use full sentences.
• Be careful of your spelling—remember not to use any “text speak”. A common error I am seeing and docking grades for tremendously is the word “I”. There is never an exception—this word needs to be capitalized!
• Go on the internet and find 2-3 pictures that fit this topic. Download them to your directory. Do not attempt to insert the pictures until you have all the text in your blog.
• Once all your text is in, using your toolbar in Edublogs, upload the pictures into your blog. (See directions that follow–be sure to choose an alignment of left or right so the text wraps around the picture.)

Adding Pictures:

1. Go to the internet and find your pictures. Save them to your directory.
2. Put your cursor in your blog where you want the picture to appear.
3. In Edublogs, click the Add Media button just above the toolbar.
4. Click the Browse button.
5. Go to your directory and find your picture.
6. Click the Upload button.
7. Add a caption if you wish, set the alignment (must be either right or left to make the text wrap), and set the picture size.
8. Click Insert into Post.

You will not see the actual picture in your blog until the blog is uploaded. You will see some coding in your document

Oregon Trail Blogging Rubric
Stayed on topic	10
Spelling, Grammar, & Punctuation	20
Addressed at least 3 items that are different between now and then	15
Proper number of paragraphs (5 at least)/sentences (3-4 per paragraph)	15
Inserted at least 2 pictures that were appropriate to the topic–text needs to wrap around pictures	10
Titled The Oregon Trail and marked as a social studies assignment	5
Total	75

We will be going to Glogster and creating two posters dealing with citizenship. There are many traits that a good citizen might have. Here are a few:

1. Obeys the law
2. Respects authority (police, etc.)
3. Contributes to society and the community
4. Love his/her country
5. Respects all nationalities
6. Believes in doing what is right
7. Stands up for the rights of others
8. Tries to serve others before himself/herself

You will pick two of the above traits and make two posters–one trait per poster. The poster will be made at Glogster.

 

Poster Checklist	Points Available	Points Received
Poster completed on time	5
Trait is titled on the poster	5
Poster contains images reflecting the trait you have chosen—you must have three images you have imported	15
Posters contain text pertinent to the trait you have chosen and clearly explains the trait	15
Text font is easy to read; check spelling and grammar	10
Poster has graphics from edu.glogster.com pertinent to the trait.	5
Poster is almost entirely covered	5
Poster has a “wall” (not too distracting from the content of the poster)	5
First name ONLY in a text box in the lower right corner of the poster–use small, but readable font.	5
Glog is inserted into Edublogs and marked as social studies assignment	5
Total Points	75

1. Go to Word. Type a list of 20 words that describe veterans. You may also use the names of veterans you know. If you use something that has two words, you need to put a hyphen instead of a space so that the words stay together. For example, if you know a veteran named Bob Jones, type it as Bob-Jones. DO NOT NUMBER THE LIST! Consider the list below if you are having difficulty:

U.S.A.	War	Peace	Patriot
Red-White-Blue	America	Defeat	Honor
Citizens	Courage	Victory	Bravery
American-Revolution	Flag	Commitment	Fight
Patriotism	Integrity	Military	Civil-War
World-War-I	World-War-II	Gulf-War	Service
Army	Air-Force	Coast-Guard	Navy
Marines	Vietnam	Korean-War	Defend
Soldier	Veteran	Death	Battle
9-1-1	Tanks	Bullets	Weapons

2. Spell check!!
3. Save as xxx veterans list. (Substitute your three initials for xxx)
4. Select the list and Copy.
5. Go to Word It Out.  
6. Click Create.
7. Paste your list in Word It Out and press Generate.
8. Change the font, layout, and color scheme to anything of your choice. Every time you change something, you must click Regenerate to make the changes take effect.
9. Press Print Screen key near the F12 key.
10. Go to Photoshop
11. Create a new Photoshop that is 3000 pixels wide, 3000 pixels high, 300 in the resolution, and a transparent background.
12. Crop just the Word Cloud out.
13. Save As xxx VeteransPic in your main directory, substituting your initials for xxx. MAKE SURE YOU SAVE AS A JPG!
14. Go to your blog. Insert the image named xxx VeteransPic. Categorize it as Social Studies.
15. BE SURE TO CHANGE THE SIZE TO FULL-SIZE!!
16. Go to Edmodo. Type the word DONE in your post and submit.

We are going to make a video for your social studies class.  This will be about a topic dealing with the American Revolution. It could be a person or an event, such as a famous battle.

You will write about your topic, but be careful about what you include. We want to focus on the time of the American Revolution. For example, if you receive the topic of George Washington, we do not want to know about his birth, growing up, presidency, or death. We are interested only in what he did during the American Revolution.

We will video you doing your report in front of the green screen.  The report will be about two minutes in length.DO NOT WEAR GREEN THE DAY YOU VIDEO!  You are going to have to be very familiar with your report. That is another reason why we don’t want you to get too detailed with dates and things—you are going to have to remember things!  You may NOT read it from a piece of paper, and you may not have notecards.  We can put it on a teleprompter a distance away from you, and you can read from that, but you need to be familiar with your script so you can speak at a normal rate.  You are going to have to see across the room to read the teleprompter, so if you need glasses and don’t normally wear them, you are going to need them the day we video.

You need to project your voice.  If we can’t understand you or hear you, there is little point to the video.  I do not have external microphones, so what the camera can pick up is what we have.  You also need to be courteous to your classmates.  When we are recording, it must be QUIET!  You will also assist another student when they are recording their projects.  It will be your job to start the camera and run the teleprompter.  When you record yours, you will have an assistant.

Once we get your video done from the green screen, we will “key” the green out.  Then we will superimpose you over pictures you find of your topic on the internet–you will need four pictures.  Your videos will be shown in Mrs. O’Brien’s room.

 

We are going to write a newspaper article about some of the topics (Boston Massacre OR Boston Tea Party) you have been studying in Social Studies class. On the internet, there is a newspaper generator.

From the information below, decide how you want to approach your topic:

BOSTON MASSACRECHOICE 1: Pretend you are a reporter for the Boston Liberty, a popular newspaper in Massachusetts. An incident called the “Boston Massacre” has just occurred, and you have been asked to write an article telling what took place. Use facts from the internet to write your newspaper story, without editorializing (giving your own opinion).

CHOICE 2: Write a story about the “Boston Massacre” for the British Gazette using an internet source. Remember, only the facts . . . no editorializing.

BOSTON TEA PARTYCHOICE 3: Write a story about the “Boston Tea Party” for the Boston Liberty, a popular newspaper in Massachusetts. Use facts from the internet to write your newspaper story, without editorializing (giving your own opinion).

CHOICE 4: Write a story about the “Boston Tea Party” for the British Gazette using internet sources. Remember, only the facts . . . no editorializing.

1. Google the topic you choose: EITHER Boston Massacre OR Boston Tea Party—pick one—do not do both. Read about the topic you chose. As you read, think about the way you have chosen to approach this article.
2. Write your copy in Word—it has a spell check and the newspaper generator does not. Save the document as xxx Boston in your main directory (your initials are xxx). Save periodically as you write.
3. Be selective in your article. The newspaper generator will only hold about 1/3 of a page that is written in Word using Calibri 11 pt. and single-spaced.
4. Be sure to use full sentences and appropriate punctuation, spelling, and grammar. “Write like you talk”—if it doesn’t sound right when read aloud, it will not sound right when someone reads it.
5. Once written, copy the text and paste it into Fodey.
6. Make sure your text fits and all of it shows. If not, you will have to edit in Word and paste it again.
7. Your text will be run through a plagiarism checker. If it is found to be plagiarized (copied), it will be taken down, and you will have to redo the assignment. You will not get full credit if you have to redo it.
8. Upload your Word document to Edmodo.
9. Click “Generate” and save the picture as xxx Boston (xxx are your initials) in your main directory.
10. Log in to your blog.
11. Mark the post as a Social Studies assignment.
12. Insert a new post. In the post, insert the picture you saved. Make it centered and full-sized.
13. Publish your post.

Boston News Article Rubric
Completed on time	5
Wrote only about that day–did not delve into future events	10
No opinions or editorializing	20
Passed plagiarism checker	15
Appropriate Length–did not cut off	5
Spelling, Grammar, Punctuation	15
Inserted in blog and categorized as a Social Studies assignment	5
Total	75

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