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Tell me a story

What you're doing

This semester we've spent time trying to tell history in different ways, but also looking at how what you believe, your worldview or point of view, affects how you understand the story.
Historical accounts are told from someone's point of view. The quote from Winston Churchill goes that history is written by the victors. That means history often reflects a very limited point of view. Perhaps the best way to have history highlight what you want is to follow Churchill's suggestion that history will be kind to me, for I intend to write it.
  • What you are going to do is research a moment in history where things changed such as the events listed below.
  • You are going to find a character or point of view that is not normally represented in the historical accounts of this event.
    • You re going to tell the story from that point of view.
  • You'll tell the history in a non-traditional format such as those listed below and to the right.
To summarize:
  1. PIck an event and tell it from the point of view of someone other than the usual.
  2. Tell it in a different style that will still do the history justice.

Events

  1. The Fall of Rome.
  2. Martin Luther nails 95 Theses to a church door in Rome.
  3. Descartes writes cogito ergo sum for the first time.
  4. The defenestration of Prague.
  5. Galileo on trial with the church.
  6. Storming on the Bastille.
  7. Newton discovers gravity.
  8. Urban II calls for a crusade.
  9. Darwin boards the Beagle.
  10. The Battle of Thermopylae.
  11. The Shooting of Franz Ferdinand.

Formats

  1. Tweets from an imaginary Twitter account. 240 characters or less per tweet. A minimum of 50 tweets laid out using the conventions of twitter including hashtags, tagging other users, and linking to relevant information.
  2. Epic Poem of at least 100 lines.
  3. News account. An article of at least 750 words that should be formatted in a newspaper style, including headlines, sidebars, pictures and the like.
  4. News account. An audio news report of at least five minutes, including appropriate sound effects.
  5. Comic. At least 30 panels spread out over a minimum of five 8½ by 11 pages.
  6. Song. At least 30 lines put to an actual tune (borrowed or personally composed) and presented live or in a recording.

Evaluation

  1. Is the story told clearly?
    • Is there obvious evidence of serious historical research?
    • Are all the relevant details in the account?
  2. Is there a clear alternate point of view?
    • Is it obvious that this is told from the point of view of a minor charater/a loser/someone not usually heard from in the story?
  3. Is the story told with excellence?
    • Does it have the listed requirements such as sound, color, music, shading, etc?
    • Does it appear to have been done quickly, or was it a labor of love? Was it a last minute production, or something carefully constructed?
 Clear story  Alternate Viewpoint  Excellence
 Multiple sources  Not the usual speaker. High production values. 
 Abundant detail    Obvious care taken in creation of assignment.
 Specific names, dates, places.    
 Story is plainly told and easy to follow    


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Western Civ Tell me a story marking guide.docx
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jdykstra@lindenchristian.org,
Jan 24, 2019, 8:14 AM
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