Friday March 17th and Monday March 20th

Today is a day to prepare for the Socratic Seminar and to do planning work for your final unit project.



Socratic Seminar:
A Socratic Seminar is a time for students to lead the conversation about issues that they have been studying. We will form an inner and an outer circle for the seminar. The circles will switch at the half way mark.

Students in the interior circle are to be responsible for raising questions and discussing them among themselves. Students in the outer circle will provide positive feedback to those students in the inner circle.

Broadly speaking the seminar is to address the big question:

"What does the history of women struggling for rights and responsibilities teach us about American society and about women?"

Each student should prepare one or more questions and observations that they would like to share with other students that addresses this general question, or other ideas that were raised by the unit.

Women’s History culminating assessment

You will create a book, video, or sculpture that demonstrates your understanding of the role women have played in US history.  Your project will show:

•           The social issue that women fought for (ie. suffrage, abolition, worker’s rights, racial equality, temperance)

•           Why the issue was important to women (ie. what is the historical context? What was going on, and why did women want to change things?)

•           What obstacles did women overcome as they faced these issues? (Imprisonment? Ridicule? Murder?)

•           How have things changed? (Were women successful in addressing / overcoming  the challenges or issues they faced?  If not, how come?  What is yet to be done?)

Be sure that all written work demonstrates fluency with the conventions of standard written English.

Children’s Book	Write a children’s book (with pictures) of the story of the role women have played in advancing social issues.  It is important to be as true to historical events as possible. The book will be illustrated.  You may create collages or pictures you have created on your own in either color or black and white.  DOWNLOADED IMAGES arenot permitted.  I want you to express yourself artistically for this project.  The ratio of text : images is left to your discretion.  A more sophisticated text will have fewer illustrations; a Children’s Book geared towards younger audiences will have more illustrations and simpler text. Keep in mind, the writing should be geared towards a children’s audience.  This means simple sentences rather than “dumbing down” the language.
Pop-up Book	Like the Children’s Book, a Pop-up book will show the role that women have played in advancing social issues. Geared towards a younger audience than the Children’s Book, you will use simpler language and simplify the themes and historical figures as they struggled to advance social issues.  As you tell the story, the characters (or scenes from the event) will “pop-up” from the pages.
Comic Book	Create a comic book showing the story of an important woman in history or depicting an event significant to the role women have played in advancing social issues.  Use a variety of perspectives, sound effects, and views of the action to liven the story up.  Character dialogue uses balloons, narration through story blocks.  Comic templates are available upon request.
Sculpture	Create a sculpture (from whatever materials you wish) of a “women’s history memorial.”  Complete a brief write-up of what the sculpture represents and how the images shown memorialize the important role women have played in advancing social issues in American history.  Be sure to clearly, explicitly and with detail connect your artistic decisions to what the sculpture represents regarding your topic. Include details about the size of the sculpture, the material(s) used in its creation and where you imagine the sculpture resting.
Film / Documentary	Create a 3 – 5 minute movie.  It can be a “home movie” related to the Book, a documentary, or a parody.  You may use actors, animation, Claymation or any other medium you choose.  The film must include a written explanation of how the film’s content relates the role women have played in American history. As a modification to this assignment, you may film an “interview” (with Oprah, Conan, Letterman, Fallon…) with a woman who was instrumental in affecting change.  Ask probing questions along the lines of  “why did you do this?” and “what were the most difficult moments for you?” will demonstrate mastery of the material.
Music Video	Write, choreograph and film a music video.  You may write and create an original song, re-write the lyrics to an existing song, or mash-up and mix existing songs.  Your production must address how the music video relates the role women have played in American history.  A written copy of the lyrics and a brief write-up of how the video shows the contributions of women to American history must also be included.

Exceeds	Meets	Developing
· Vividly depicts the injustices of the problem or issue before action taken to change (“backstory” given) · Use of primary documents evident in project (through dialogue, actions or interactions with others) · Concludes project by raising / pointing to current social issues that have yet to be resolved · inspires / encourages readers to act to make social change	· Language is clear and easy to understand · Nature of social problem is clearly demonstrated ·Why social issue was important to women is clearly explained · Ideas and actions of woman (women) in making change clear ·  Shows the challenges / obstacles in struggle · Concludes project with explanation / connection of the importance of women, the event or the change that happened to the present	· Language is difficult to understand · Social problem is vague or misunderstood · Connection of social issue to role of women is not clearly shown · Role women played in affecting social change is vague, misunderstood or not well developed · Challenges / obstacles in struggle are misrepresented, misunderstood, missing or vague · Connection of project to the present is missing, poorly developed or misunderstood	Content
· Images demonstrate artistic skill · accurately captures dress/ styles / technology of the time period · visually captures sense of place and time	·  Images are original work of the student ·Work demonstrates a high degree of effort on the part of the student · important / key people are incorporated into the story ·  images clearly connect / relate to the written story	· Images not the original work of the student · Effort in creating and compiling the project shoddy, last minute or poorly completed · important / key people are missing from the story · connection of images to the historical event / story unclear or missing	Images
·  Demonstrates mastery of conventions of standard written English with few or no errors	·  Demonstrates fluency of conventions of standard written English with some minor errors	·  Developing fluency with conventions of standard written English with many or significant errors	Conventions