for 9-12 Grade

April Niemela

Highland High School aniemela@sd305.k12.id.us

You are sitting in your living room, playing video games, when you hear your parents talking about the War on Terror again. Your mom thinks President Bush should pay the ransom for a news reporter who was taken hostage. Your dad says the President had no right to go to war in the first place. Your brother pipes in that the Congress isn't doing their job. You, on the other hand, don't really have an opinion. You do know that if the United States Marine Corps is playing Close Combat: First to Fight to train for urban warfare, you too have things to learn from video games.

"I do have questions, though," you muse to yourself. "After all, where did it all start? Where did we get the policies that seem to be controlling everything today?"

Blip. A button appears on your screen. Begin? it asks. Startled, you select it and suddenly you're whirling through a spinning vortex of colors. "Prepare for Destination 1801, Early America" spits out an automated voice.

Obviously the past affects both the present and the future, and evidently that's where you're headed. As you comb through the past, try to discover what past events have shaped today's policies. Most importantly, collect facts and details to take back to your family. It's time you joined the after-dinner conversations.

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The Task

(Objective)

After reading on-line articles and doing some sleuthing of your own, create a PowerPoint of the Barbary Wars that include the following items:

a brief historical summary of the Barbary Wars;

a US presidential or military action during the Barbary Wars that you agree with or disagree with;

a defense of your position (why you believe it and reasons)

a list of policies used during the Barbary Wars that are current today;

your personal insight as to why those same policies exist;

a final opinion paragraph on any aspect of the research you've done

at least three final questions you have about your topic

a bibliography

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The Process

Steps

To accomplish the task, the following steps must be followed:

Day 1

Read the on-line articles and research listed under Resources. You may also do your own outside research, but remember to stay focused.
Copy & Paste the articles you intend to use about the Barbary Wars to a Word Document. Be sure to include link information. Using the MS Word highlight tool, highlight the most important information.

Day 2

Using paraphrasing techniques, write a summary of the Barbary Wars. This should be approximately 100 words and will be spread out over several (or many) slides in your PowerPoint presentation.

Day 3

Identify a Presidential or Military action you agreed with or disagreed with and put that on a slide of its own (make sure you state the action, who did it, and what your opinion of it is).
In your Writer's Notebook, brainstorm a list of reasons you believe this way. Circle two and create a new pre-writing activity based on those two reasons. Come up with two supports for each reason.

Example: I do not support the President's Action XYZ

Reason 1: This action made the United States look weak

Support 1: Country X did not respect the US & immediately broke the treaty

Support 2: Country Y, previously neutral, immediately attacked the US

Reason 2: This action made US citizens doubt their government

Support 1: The majority party, who had pushed through this action, lost 12 seats in the Senate and 6 seats in the House during the next election

Support 2: Americans stopped buying war bonds, which had been helping the US Gov't fund the war against Barbary pirates.

Using your pre-writing activity as notes, write a Position Defense Paragraph which states what you believe and why you believe it. Make sure you include a topic sentence and a total of two reasons and four supports. Copy and paste this to a PowerPoint slide.

Day 4

Go back to your notes, and, using a different color of the MS Word highlighting tool, highlight all of the past policies used during the Barbary Wars that are currently used today. If you have any questions about current policies, do a quick Internet search or ask your teacher.
Transfer this list to a PowerPoint slide.
In your Writer's Notebook, brainstorm a list of reasons why you think those same policies exist 200 years later in today's political world. For each policy, list one reason and one support.
Write this in paragraph format, including a topic sentence, each policy, and a reason & support for each policy. Copy & Paste this paragraph to a PowerPoint Slide

Day 5

Write a reflection paragraph on any aspect of the Barbary Wars. If you want to concentrate on the action you picked or on past or current policies, you may. Include historical facts as well as your personal opinion and thoughts. Include this on your PowerPoint.
Develop a series of questions you still have about Presidential or Military actions, US policies both past and present, and the Barbary Wars. Choose a minimum of three to include on the second to last slide of the PowerPoint presentation.
Create a bibliography by copying and pasting all the site names & url addresses to the last PowerPoint slide. Alphabetize.

Resources

The Mariners' Museum
The Reader's Companion to American History
GlobalSecurity.org
Answers.com with links to wikipedia.org & other Barbary War articles

Organization Checklist

Word documents containing articles & links you're using
Highlighted information
A historical summary
A presidential or military action (agree or disagree)
A Position Defense Paragraph (need to have brainstorm in Writer's Notebook)
A list of current policies that were used during the Barbary Wars
A reason & support paragraph for those policies still existing
A reflection paragraph on this assignment
A series of (at least 3) questions about this topic
Bibliography: a list of sources used (by name & site url)
PowerPoint Presentation including all of these elements

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Evaluation

You will be graded based on your on-task time, the quality of your research, the thoroughness and thoughtfulness of your responses, and your PowerPoint presentation.

	Beginning 1	Developing 2	Accomplished 3	Exemplary 4
On-Task Time	Had to be reminded at least once per session or was off-task at least once per session.	Was mostly on task. Had to be reminded twice or thrice.	Had to be reminded one time.	Was always on task. Never had to be reminded to stay on task.
Research & Summary	Used one source; none or irrevelent information highlighted; summary is basically plagiarized or inaccurate	Used three sources; information highlighted; summary is stilted, choppy, or emerging.	Used three different sources; relevant information highlighed; summary is well-written	Used at least four different sources; relevant information highlighted; summary is creative and well-written
Personal Response Paragraphs	Rambling or arbitrary, showing no real thought or point	Attempted use of reasons & supports, but no actual point or resolution	Used required number of reasons & supports; good answers but no higher thinking	Used required number of reasons & supports; answers well-thought out and showing critical thinking
PowerPoint	Has few required slides	Has most required slides; some attention to color, font, etc	PowerPoint includes all required slides; shows consideration of color, font, & background. Includes pictures.	PowerPoint includes all required slides; shows consideration of color, font, & background. Includes pictures & wow factor
PowerPoint Presentation	chewed gum; read everything; did not stay on topic; unprofessional	Read most information; read off of SMARTBoard instead of notes or memory; did not speak clearly or loudly	Spoke clearly and loudly to audience; did not read most information; provided no additional information	Professional quality; spoke to audience; did not read or turn back to audience; spoke clearly & loudly; gave additional information

Conclusion

The whistle of cannon balls hurls through the air and black smoke curls around the deck of the ship. Men screaming and battle cries fill the air, and the surrounding ocean is filled with debris. Your world explodes into shards of orange light and splintering wood even before you hear the explosion. The last thing you sense as you black out is the acrid stench of blackpowder. As sight slowly returns and your brain begins to register your lack of pain, you realize you're sitting in your own living room, video control still in hand. You smile a secret little smile and turn off the game. You're now ready to join the family discussion in the adjoining room.

By completing these series of activities, you will have (hopefully!) learned something new through your own research, drawn similarities & differences between the past and present, developed opinions, and supported those opinions with valid reasons. More importantly, you will have formed ideas of your own based on facts and research and are now able to discuss these ideas with family members, friends, or classmates.

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Teacher Information

Grade Level(s): 8-10

Subject(s): English, History

Length of project: 2 weeks (one for working, one for presenting)

Teaching models used: Discovery/Inquiry II

Prior knowledge/critical skills needed (either for students or teachers):

Understanding of the Discovery/Inquiry Model
Computer, PowerPoint, and Internet usage skills

Learning Outcomes/Curriculum Standards:

Generating and defending a list of current presidential and/or military policies that were used during the Barbary Wars
Determining an opinion and writing a position defense paragraph
Presenting these findings to the class through PowerPoint
Skills attained: critical thinking, inference-making, summarizing
Standards:

History:

489 Critical Thinking and Analytical Skills
497 International Relations and Conflictions
US Foreign Affairs

English:

752 Reading
753 Writing
755 Speaking
756 Viewing

Here's a link to the Idaho State Board of Education website for standards.

Other Information:

Variations and adaptations:

You can choose to provide the resources or not, depending upon the level of your students
You can form small groups of 3 to do this as a group project
You can print off the information ahead of time and highlight the most important points for struggling students

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Credits, References & Resources

Thanks to Dr. Carroll for information on the Discovery/Inquiry Model.

Resources have all been found on-line, using the Google search-engine.

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Based on a template from The WebQuest Page