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American Studies

AP US History

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AP US HISTORY
MR. THORBURN

UNIT PROJECT GUIDELINES & REQUIREMENTS

A requirement of each unit will be the completion of a brief, videotaped group project to be presented to the class.  Projects may be handed in on a videotape, DVD, CD, or uploaded to an Internet video service such as YouTube.   While different options for project topics will be offered each unit, the following guidelines will apply to all project topics.

1. Groups will be limited to three or four members.  Groups with three people should create a project that is 2-3 minutes in length.  Groups with four people should create a project that is 3-4 minutes in length.

1. Each project should incorporate the use of a primary document of your group’s choosing.  Choose a short (notice how I emphasized the word) segment of the document to incorporate word-for-word in your project.

1. Each project should incorporate 8-10 vocabulary terms (NET) from the unit study guide.  Your grade will partially be based on choosing relevant terms and using them correctly.

1. Humorous projects are strongly encouraged when the topic warrants it.  Be sure, however, not to let the humor overshadow or squelch the historical content.

1. Each group member must be an active participant in the presentation.

1. Submit ONE PAGE that contains all of the following on the day the project is due:
• A thesis statement.  What is the main idea about your topic that your project is trying to convey?
• the title, author (if available), and EXACT text of the portion of the primary document used in your project
• a handout which lists the NET terms used in your project, IN THE ORDER THEY APPEAR IN THE PROJECT
• a Works Cited page in correct MLA format.  You must cite each source you use to create your project, including the Henretta text if you use it.  You must use AT LEAST one source in addition to your text and include it in your works cited.  You may use Wikipedia, but it will not count as your additional source.  However, if you use it, you must cite it.

GREEN UNIT PROJECT TOPICS/IDEAS

1.  Re-enact the Homestead Steel Strike of 1892 and follow it with analysis and commentary by social critics & government officials of the day.

2. Re-enact the Pullman Strike of 1893 and follow it with analysis and commentary by social critics & government officials of the day.

3.  Create a travel channel video of the West as Americans would have seen it in the 1870’s.  Cover the various reasons that enticed people to move West after the Civil War and the various places to which they traveled.

4.  For military buffs, research the planning done by the U.S. Army prior to the Battle of Little Big Horn and create two re-enactments – what the army planned on happening and what actually happened.

5.  Create a debate, similar to  format followed in U.S. Presidential debates, between imperialists and anti-imperialists in the 1890’s and early 1900’s.

6.  Create a travel channel video about Hawaii as Americans would have seen in the 1890’s.

7.  Create a Home Shopping Network show that may have appeared in the Gilded Age – what new products did most households feel were becoming necessities.

8.  Create a documentary on the history of an actual trust that President Roosevelt busted.

9.  Prepare an instructional video that a factory that used scientific management might show their workers.

10.  Prepare a 60 Minutes type program in which you exam three progressive reforms.

11.  Two presidents were assassinated during the Gilded Age.  Research their assassinations and re-enact them.  In your re-enactment, include the name of the President, the main issues of their presidencies, the motives of the assassin, the actual assassination, and the assassination’s aftermath.

12.  Research Boss Tweed and Tammany Hall and create a sitcom in which you feature Tweed and his machine.

13.  Watch the movie Iron Jawed Angels and create a 4-minute synopsis/re-enactment of the movie.

14.  Your own ideas????