The following is the teachers guide for completing and aiding in the project. The process is broken down into categories which will aid the teacher in directing the students.
To begin, students will: 1. Your group will be given the parameters of the project.
2. Choose a historical figure or historical event from the World War II era and get it approved by your teacher.
3. Research a person or event that had a historical impact on World War 2 (war heroes, politicians, citizens, writers, battles, etc.) using the pathfinder links.
4. Individually, you will write a 2-4 page research paper explaining what impact that your historical figure/ event had on society during World War II and giving significant facts about their lives, making sure that details are historically and factually accurate. References to primary sources found in the pathfinder or anywhere else must be used and cited correctly in APA format to support the claim that you are making about your historical figure's impact. Include personal and societal facts pertaining to this person/ event. Your paper must be grammatically correct and organized into paragraphs.
5. You must provide 4 primary sources with citations in your paper. 6. You will then create a reenactment in which you provide an outline of key elements you mentioned in your paper/ You can think of this reenactment as more like a tabloo if that is easier. You are required to dress as your historical figure/ event when you perform your findings.
This lesson will be spread out over the course of two weeks. The lesson is interdisciplinary, and it includes History, and English. Students in History will be simultaneously learning about World War II as they do this creative project in their English classes. Students will have the opportunity to do much of the research needed for this class in their History classes each day, and will be actually creating the project while in English. This will give students the opportunity to work on the project two class periods a day for two weeks.
Students will be divided into groups which have been pre-determined by the teacher. Each group will consist of 4-5 students. Students will be researching for the first week in their history classes, and will need access to computers while doing the research in order to be able to write their research paper.
Teachers will need creative skills in order to help students with their role play. Novice teachers could do this project as long as their set out the rules, cooperate with the history teacher, and make themselves available to the students. The teacher conducting the project also needs to be familiar with World War II to a decent extent.
Variations
If the teacher is unable to reserve computers for teachers to use it will be difficult for students to research and write their papers. Teachers should give students available time in the library in order to look at books for research, as well as an alternative way to write their research paper.