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The Gilded Age – Class Documentary Project Instructors: Rachel Duffy Marc Ducharme May, 2005 Adapted from: The Gilded Age WebQuest - Documenting Industrialization in America By: Thomas Caswell and Joshua DeLorenzo Site: www.oswego.org/staff/tcaswell/wq/gildedage/student.htm |
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PROJECT
OUTLINE NAVIGATION |
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You are a member of a film production studio that has recently been hired to produce a documentary about the Gilded Age of American history. American novelist Mark Twain coined the term "Gilded Age" in an effort to illustrate the outwardly showy, but inwardly corrupt nature of American society during the industrialization of the late 1800's. The documentary will need to highlight the many aspects of society that made up the Gilded Age, including: technological innovation, big business, urbanization, immigration, and reaction to the period. |
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You and your team will be responsible for producing one specific segment of the documentary. Each segment production team will be responsible to:
Project Mission Sheets (Segment Producer should check here to start every day) |
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• Consult the grading rubric to make sure you create the best possible documentary.
• Each member of the group conducts research in order to contribute materials essential to the production of your group's segment. Research should incorporate a variety of resources including text and review books, materials from the Media Center , as well as Internet resources. A list of all of the research sources will be kept so that it can be incorporated into a written and Photo Story slide-based Works Consulted list using proper MLA citation.
• Divide up the four roles among your group members.
• Access the web page for your specific role listed in the Group Roles section. There, you will find a thorough description of your role and the responsibilities associated with it.
• Organize the group's research and prepare it for use in the segment study guide and Photo Story presentation.
• Prepare a study guide and script to use for the narration in your documentary.
• Construct your group segment collaboratively using Photo Story.
• Edit and fine tune your segment before submitting it to the teacher.
• Preview the assembled documentary (including all five segments), using the study guides.
• Each group will assign individual grades based on the work of each member, and the teacher's evaluation of the group segment.
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Required Content:
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BIG
BUSINESS SEGMENT
Laissez-faire capitalism ruled
the day during the beginning of the Industrial Revolution in the United States
. In this atmosphere of unbridled money-making, numerous types of business organizations
gave rise to Big Business. Were the leaders of these companies Captains of Industry
or Robber Barons? While some used ruthless business practices to wipe out their
competition and earn large profits, others gave enormous sums of money to charities
and their communities.
Required Content:
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URBANIZATION
SEGMENT
Urbanization was a direct result of the Industrial Revolution in the United
States . Burgeoning factories were centralized in cities which offered a central
location for resources and workers to fuel their production. Immigrants and
displaced rural workers flooded cities in the hopes of finding employment. Throughout
the Gilded Age there were several positive, as well as negative, effects that
can be attributed to urbanization.
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Required Content:
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IMMIGRATION
SEGMENT
The United States has always been
a nation of immigrants. During the Gilded Age, immigration to America increased
tremendously. More people came to the United States than ever before, but they
were also coming from different places, and in doing so they added to the culture
of America . Was America becoming a "melting-pot," or a "salad-bowl"
of differing cultures?
Required Content:
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REACTIONS
SEGMENT
The Gilded Age was a period of
immense change in the United States . All of the abuses and problems of the
time generated many different reactions- most directed at reform. Slowly, government
regulations began to reign in the abuses of big business. At the same time,
social reformers actively sought to correct the problems evident in American
cities.
Required Content:
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LEAD
HISTORIAN
The lead historian takes charge
of organizing the research for their group's particular assigned segment. While
the majority of the research will be the responsibility of the lead historian,
it is not the sole responsibility of the lead historian.
The lead historian will also assign and monitor the research activities of the other members. The lead historian will collect, categorize and filter the information that he/she and the other production team members collect. The lead historian will also keep records of the sources consulted for the segment. Finally, the compilation of the final Works Consulted list using MLA format will be his/her responsibility.
| Main responsibilities:
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MEDIA
SPECIALIST
As the media specialist, you will
focus on acquiring the raw multimedia materials for inclusion in the Photo Story
documentary being produced by your group. The multimedia materials collected
will include: pictures, graphics, audio and possibly video. Materials may be
scanned in from print sources (scanning is your responsibility; see your teacher
for assistance if needed).
There will be a folder created in Student Groups folder (Humanities_A > Photo_Story > segment title) in which other members of your group will submit materials for your collection, sorting and cataloging. Make sure to back-up all of the submitted materials to your own personal Network folder, at the end of each work day, to ensure that none of the materials are lost or tampered with. You should keep an accurate record of the materials available and consider renaming any file names which are confusing for ease of use by the Photo Story engineer. It is expected that you will play a significant role in the creation of the Photo Story presentation and should assist the Photo Story engineer during final production.
Main responsibilities:
Main responsibilities:
• Utilization of materials acquired by the Media Specialist
• Animation of the presentation so that it will run automatically.
• Recording narration voice-over for the group's presentation.
| SEGMENT
LEAD PRODUCER |
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Main responsibilities:
REMEMBER!! To record and cite properly each artifact or information source as you conduct your research and collect materials for your presentation.
Electronic
Resources
Click here
to view online resources.
Local
Resources
Our local library hold many resources
that could be useful and improve your presentation and understanding of the
information you are responsible for gathering. Images can be scanned from book
resources to add to your presentation.
| Individual
Grading The segment producer will keep a record of the daily attendance and activities of each group member. After the group segment has been graded, the group will collaboratively determine the grade of each member of the group. For example, if the group segment earns a total of 20/24 possible total points, or 83%, the group will need to decide how to fairly distribute 332 percentage points (83 project grade X 4 members) among the members of the group. Attendance, work ethic, and cooperation are some of the factors that a group should use in order to determine how many points to award to each member. If problems arise during this process that cannot be peaceably worked out by the members of the group, they should consult the teacher for assistance. |
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A sample individual grade distribution follows:
Total Group Grade = 20/24 or 83%. With 4 group members there are now 332 total points that can be assigned to each individual group member. For example:
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PROJECT
GRADING
As we discussed in class, a high-quality
documentary has a certain look and feel to it, which we are going to try to
emulate using Photo Story. Based on the criteria that we developed in class,
please keep the following grading rubric in mind as you collaboratively create
your segment:
| Criteria |
Score |
| Factual Content- The information included in the documentary is accurate and relevant to the topic, and includes all of the required items listed on the Documentary Segments page. |
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| Use of Primary Sources -Several relevant primary sources (e.g., photographs, Supreme Court rulings, Federal legislation, personal accounts, etc.) have been used to provide information about the content contained in the documentary segment. |
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| Media Use -The sounds, images, animations, and slide transitions that are used are both relevant and purposeful. |
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| Organization -The documentary segment is organized in a logical manner, making it easy to understand the information that is being presented. |
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| Citation -The last slide of the Photo Story presentation contains an MLA-style Works Consulted listing all of the resources used for this project (e.g., textbook, review book, web pages, etc.). |
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| Narration/Interview(s) -Narration and/or interview(s) are used as the primary means of transmitting information for the documentary. The narration and/or interview(s) are relevant and compliment the media selected for the documentary segment. |
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| Study Guide -The study guide acts as an outline of the documentary, providing students with a resource to review the material presented. The study guide should closely follow the presentation of the documentary. |
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| Formatting -The segment maintains the formatting required to create a uniform class documentary (e.g., background color, font size, font type, font color, etc.) and is between 8 and 12 minutes in length. |
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| Total Points |
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| Grade |
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Each of these criteria will be rated according to the following point scale:
Score |
Meaning |
3 |
Excellent -The criteria has been met in every possible way, and may even exceed expectations. |
2 |
Acceptable- This criteria has been mostly addressed, however, there is room for improvement. |
1 |
Sub par- Some elements have been met, but most of the criteria fails to be addressed. |
0 |
Incomplete- The criteria has not been addressed in any meaningful way or has not been completed. |
After completing this Learning Quest, you will understand the major concepts and themes of the Gilded Age in American history. Check your understanding of these ideas by considering the following essential questions:
