I need your suggestions and help! The end of the year is here (wow!) and I'm trying to wind things down for the students but still keep their interest. We're finishing up the 1950s in US history this week and I decided to allow the students to do "Decades Projects" in groups the next few weeks or so. I am going to have them cover the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. So far, this is what I'm planning on: covering the topics culture (trends, the arts), people (presidents, sports figures, artists, etc.), political events (elections, gov't, recessions, wars etc.), science and style (fads, clothing, etc.) As a group, they'll have to make a timeline, picture collage, create a quiz/test for their decade and come up wiht a creative way to present their topic to the class. I FEEL LIKE SOMETHING IS MISSING? Has anyone ever done a project like this and offer me some help/advice? I don't want to have this turn into a total flop and waste the last few weeks or so. My class is really creative though and I think they would enjoy something different like this Thank you!:help:
You could have them interview someone who was alive during that period. Most of their parents or other teachers at the school would probably be good candidates. I've done this before and its important to teacher basic interviewing skills: How to ask open ended questions. What makes a good and bad interview questions? How to maintain eye contact, and give appropriate verbal feedback. How to give the interviewer time to think and respond. To do this I had students write 10 questions (as homework) that they would ask someone about their middle school experience. Then students interview each other in groups of three. 1 interviewer, 2 interviewee, and 1 observer who critiques the interview and then reports out to the class on what went well and what didn't go well. In the actual interviews students had to record it somehow, using audio or video recording equipment. For students who had no access to that, they were allowed to take written notes. This is much harder though. As an assessment students turn in a transcript of the interview, and an essay. The essay topic was something like: how did the decade (60s, 70s, etc) effect the life of the interviewer. Good luck.
