Presidential+Biography+Digital+Story

Presidential Biography Project: Digital Story



Your assessment project for this quarter is going to be to create a digital story on a former president of the United States. This project will be graded on a rubric and each step will be assigned a point value. You will be given plenty of class time to work on this assignment. I expect you to do things in order so you don't miss anything. Remember that assessments count for 35% of your overall grade so do your very best. I will not grade assessments that are not done correctly or that are incomplete. Let's get started!

__Follow these steps in order:__
 * Things you will need to complete the project:**
 * Wikispaces account and membership in my class wiki. If you have not joined then go to **[|Wikispaces]** to create an account. Once you are logged on then go to the **[|class wiki]** and request membership.
 * Basic knowldge of PhotoStory3
 * Microphone/headset
 * PATIENCE!!!!!!!!!

1) **Pick a topic.** Let your teacher (that would be Beth) know who you have selected to research. Go to __**YOUR**__ page in the wiki (see "Student Pages" under the American Government heading) and place the name of your president at the top. Make it stand out! Don't be afraid to make the font bigger. You can also highlight it like I did for the title on this page. Make sure you click the "Save" button on the floating tool bar.

2) **Open your iGoogle page and add a NEW bookmarks gadget**. (To do this you need to sign in, then go to your page, then click add stuff, then type the work bookmark into the search box. Select the first gadget that is on the list.)

3) **Begin searching for websites that contain information pertaining to your president.** I want you to bookmark at least ten different websites (10) __**NOT**__ counting Wikipedia. However, Wikipedia is an excellent place to start. The "External Links" section will provide you with an instant list of resources.

You are looking for the following information:
 * Biographical information (for your introduction)
 * Information about their presidency
 * Pictures and drawings of the person and things that are relevant to their presidency (For example, if you are researching John Adams and you mention that he was the first president to live in the White House, then showing a sketch of the White House as it looked AT THAT time would be appropriate.

Please **STOP** and watch the following 3 minute video on how to conduct a proper online search. media type="youtube" key="CWHPf00Jkqg" height="344" width="425"

4) Write out a "story." Here is the format you will follow:
 * **Introduction** Include things like birthdate, location, and other pertinent facts.
 * **Background in politics** How did this president get involved with politics? Persuaded by family? Fate? Political persuasion (Republican, Democrat, Whig, Democratic-Republican??? Explain the meaning, too! This has changed over time!
 * **Interesting facts about this person during their presidency** Nickname, marriages, other obscure details
 * **Interesting and relevant events that occured __during__ their presidency** Wars, economic troubles, foreign events, domestic events (things that happened in the US), assassination attempts (if any)
 * **Ending** Do not end abruptly. Take the time to bring your story to a neat and logical close. To start winding down you might want to talk about the final months of their presidency or their death (Which might be one in the same depending on your president!). Wrap up the story by making a final, closing statement about your president. For example, President So and So has gone down in history for being the only president to................He will always be remembered for................

**I want to see you making progress on this! You MUST write out your story. This story will become your script for your digital story.**

5) **Collect pictures and images relevant to your president.** Ideally this will be done at the same time you are researching your president to save time. You need to create a NEW file specifically for __this__ project on your Z drive. Call it something like Presidential Project. As you find images save them in this file. MAKE SURE YOUR TAKE NOTE OF THE WEBSITE WHERE THEY CAME FROM! An easy way to do this would be to note the website in the file name when you save it and rename it. For example if I save a picture of Mickey Mouse from the Disney website and it is the 4th one I want to save from that site I would call it mmouse4disneysite (mmouse for the name, 4 for the number picture from that site, disneysite for the name of the site.) Do not put in the "." because it will NOT save!

6) It is at this point where you HAVE to work on the same computer each time! **Open PhotoStory3 and select "Begin New Story"** Import all of the images that you wish to use from your Presidential Project file. Arrange them in the order that you want them to appear. (Refer back to your story/script for help.

7) Create a title slide. You can do this in one of two ways: 1) Import a blank, solid color image or 2) Create a title slide on an image You need to include your first name and last initial ONLY!!! The name of our school (VALTS), the month and year and a name for your presentation. NOT necessarily in this order. Make it look nice because it will be posted online on the TeacherTube website!

8) **Transfer your script to the notes box for each slide**. Type in 15-20 seconds worth of words. PRACTICE how long it takes you to read your material.

9) **Record your notes**. You will need a headset and mic to do this part. While others are recording your will have to be extremely **QUIET**! Read at a natural, steady pace. This will take LOTS of practice and patience. If you mess up then erase the recording and start over. Expect your final project to be 7-10 minutes in length.

10) When your project is complete I will help you upload it to TeacherTube. You will have to tag it to make sure we can find it again! Use one word tags separated by spaces ONLY. Do not use commas as they will not be saved. Use the term VALTS for one of your tags. Congratulations................You have just contributed to the vast amount of content that is on the Internet. **
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