Download Spanish-American War Webquest

20th Century Warfare
Mr. Otten
Spanish-American War Webquest
Big Idea: People are greedy. Essential Question: Why do people fight? What is a war?
SS-US.S1C7PO3 – I can analyze why the United States became involved in the Spanish-American War.
Introduction:
It is 1899 and you are a writer for a major New York magazine. The SpanishAmerican War has just ended. Your editor comes to your writing team and
requests that you put together a special edition of the magazine solely related to
the Spanish-American War. The catch is that he wants you to report the WHOLE
war – both sides, those for and against the war between America and Spain.
Task:
The task of your four-person team is to create this magazine. You will use the
resources located at http://civclients.com/nehint/spanam/ . This link is also on my
website. This project is worth 125 points; 25 points for your student packet, 50
points for the individual story you write and 50 points for the team effort to create
the magazine. Your individual packet is due August 31, your story is due
September 2 and the magazine is due September 7.
Roles & Descriptions
As a four-person team, you need to break into the following roles to create a
magazine that people would want to read. One of you needs to also be the editor
of your magazine. The editor makes final decisions and helps direct their team’s
efforts. Please do not let your team down by neglecting your job.
• Causes of War
• Battles Correspondent
• Opposition to the War
• Photography of the War
The Coming of War: It is your job to report on the issues/events leading up
to the war.
• What events occurred to lead to the actual war?
• What were people in America thinking?
• How did "Yellow Journalism"' affect people's viewpoints?
• What finally pushed us into war?
Battles of the War: It is your job to report on the specific battles of the war.
• What went wrong, what went right?
• What were the key land/naval battles?
• Why did America win the war?
Opposition to the War: Your job is to report on the opposition to the War.
• What did those opposed to the war do?
• What did they think?
• How organized was this resistance?
Photographer: Many photographs of the Spanish American war have been
published.
• Using these pictures, make a visual display of the war. Your article, due to
the nature of it, should be 4 pages. Include captions with each picture.
Procedure:
Step 1: Research your topic using the links/resources provided.
Step 2: Begin writing your article. Each article should be at a least two typed
pages. They should include a Title, a Byline (your name) and any other
magazine-type formatting you can think of. You can work with your photographer
to include a picture with your article, if desired.
Step 3: Put your individual articles into one complete magazine. Use Google
Docs to share your work so anyone can work on this at any time. Share it with
me too, just in case. Your editor is in charge of this, but everyone needs to do
their part. To do this, you should utilize the templates provided on Microsoft Word
or Publisher.
Step 4: Revisions. As a group, make sure that each article has a title, that there
are page numbers, a cover page, and a contents page. It should be printed
double-sided and resemble a real magazine. Make it look nice.
Step 5: Turn it in!
Magazine Rubric
CATEGORY
Magazine Requirements
5
All of the required
content was present.
3
At least 75% of the
required content was
present.
1
Less than 75% of the
required content was
present.
Contributions of
Group
Members
Each person in the
group has contributed
their article without
prompting from
teachers or peers.
Each person in the
group has contributed
their article with a few
reminders from peers.
One or more students
in the group required
quite a lot of
assistance from peers
before contributing
their article.
Articles Requirements
The articles contain
all required facts,
titles, bylines and
details that make the
articles exceptionally
interesting to readers.
The articles contain
some facts, titles, bylines
and details but are
marginally interesting to
read.
The article does not
contain facts, titles,
bylines and details
that might make it
interesting to read.
Graphics
Graphics are in
focus, are wellcropped and are
clearly related to the
articles they
accompany.
80-100% of the graphics
are clearly related to the
articles they accompany.
More than 20% of the
graphics are not
clearly related to the
articles OR no
graphics were used.