Cold War America, Day 9 - Class Recap

Newspaper front pages around the world on September 12th, 2001. Photo taken at the Newseum in Washington, D.C. in 2010.

Dear class,

Here we go! Today was the first day of working on the last real major assignment of the year in class. Lots of links and resources follow! The recap:

Learning Targets:
SS.HS.KN.ALT.09: I can identify how technological knowledge and innovation shapes a society, place, or region.
SS.HS.KN.ALT.17: I can explain the process of change and continuity in a society, place or region.
SS.HS.KN.ALT.23: I can describe the influences, impacts and resolutions of historical conflicts.

Soundtrack: “Born in the U.S.A." by Bruce Springsteen. Selected because this is a song about the Vietnam experience - especially how bad it was upon returning home. Some people see this as a patriotic song. The lyrics (which I read out loud in class) suggest otherwise.

Soundtrack: “Bad News” by Kanye West. Selected because it may seem like today's assignment about making a newspaper is bad news, but it is not! Also, because it was the first clean song that came up under my iTunes when I searched for "news." Lyrics here.

AGENDA 5/14/14:
Gabby's Uncle
Cold War Newspaper Project
Templates/Read Write Think
Computer Lab N228

Homework: Continue to work on newspaper assignment, which is due next Thursday, May 22. Read the blog! Next news brief: Brooklyn.

Gabby's Uncle: Instead of the regular news brief, I wanted to give Gabby some time to share some of the amazing documents that she has from her uncle, who was killed during the Vietnam War. Her family just found these pictures, letters, and awards, and it was SO interesting (at least to me), to see how connected one of our students is to what we are talking about in class! Thanks for bringing everything in, Gabby. That was a really incredible start to the day. :-)

Cold War Newspaper Project: I had shown the class a version of this document before, but this time, I actually handed it out, so everyone should know what we are working on. Here are the two pages you are going to need in order to do this assignment:

Google Drive: Cold War Newspaper Final Project Assignment

Google Drive: Cold War Newspaper Final Project Grading Rubric

There are a lot of details on the assignment sheet, on purpose. I wanted to try to make it as detailed as possible. Basically, there are three main elements that I am going to be looking for:

1) An editorial about who is winning the Cold War (again, you could use almost any topic we have been learning about for the past few weeks) at the date that you choose for your newspaper, along with what is changing in American society.

2) A political cartoon or visual metaphor that helps visually explain what is going on at the time your newspaper is being published.

3) An article about the role technology is playing in the Cold War at the time your newspaper is printed, specifically referencing the Nuclear Arms Race and Space Race, if possible.

Finally, as I explained in class, there is no way you are going to be able to finish this all, plus the additional elements that might help it look more authentic, like advertisements or other stories, in class. You will need to be working on this as homework. I have not been giving daily homework throughout the semester because we work hard in class and you sometimes have these bigger assignments which require work out of class. I am hopeful that by getting this one out of the way before most of your final projects and tests are due in your other classes, you can devote a lot of attention to it.

Templates/Read Write Think: In order to do this assignment, I went over three possibilities in class for newspaper templates. You could obviously find your own, or just assemble different articles on a regular newspaper, as well. Here were the options I saw:

1) Use the Printing Press tool on the Read Write Think website. This lets you play around with different formats, add images from your files, and save your work as you go (using a .RWT file that you can only open on that website).

If you use Read Write Think, make sure to spell check your work, because it does not automatically do it for you through the website.

2) Select a template from Google Docs. Here is a link to at least 50 different formats you could try: Google Drive - Newspaper Template Options.

3) Download a template for Microsoft Word. I looked around and liked a few of the options here: ExtraNewspapers.com - Newspaper Template Pack. These will download as .zip files, then you have to open them up and select the Word documents to work with.

Do NOT pay for any templates or anything like that! I am sure that you can adequately complete this assignment without buying any.

Computer Lab N228: The rest of class was spent on the computers. I suggested using this blog and your in class notes to find resources to use, but you could also find other sources to help. From what I saw, most students were able to identify the topic for the newspaper and have a general idea for how they are going to accomplish it. Please be prepared next class to keep working on it! We only have two days devoted in class after today for work on this project before it is due.

Bring materials for working on your political cartoon/visual metaphor, as well! Feel free to post in the comments if you are looking for a particular resource that I can help you find here on the blog or elsewhere!