Revolution Project (ALL CLASSES)

Revolution Project
Due Monday, 11/28 - "B" Days
Due Monday, 11/29 - "A" Days


1. Find Your Revolution

Your first step to this project is simply to indentify any real-life revolutionary that has ever lived or any real-life revolution that has ever occurred (or is currently underway) in the course of human history. Your topic must be factual, but it can deal with any major political, social, economic, or interpersonal upheaval that has ever existed.

You may pick ANY of these suggestions or ANY OTHER revolution(ary)! Some possible ideas may include:

• Revolutionary Conflicts
  The French Revolution, The American Revolution, The Russian Revolution, The Hungarian Revolution, The Phillipine Revolution, The Mexican Revolution, The Easter Rising / The Troubles, The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, The Auschwitz Uprising
  
  
• Revolutionary Causes
  Non-Cooperation, Women’s Suffrage, Capital Punishment, The Pro-Life/Pro-Choice Movement, Abolition, The Civil Rights Movement, The Black Panthers, The Gay Rights Movement, The Arab Spring Movement, Prop 8, Occupy Wall Street
  
  
• Revolutionary Figures
  Moses, Jesus of Nazareth, The Prophet Muhammad, Spartacus, George Washington, Susan B. Anthony, Robert E. Lee, Padric Pearse, Fidel Castro, Che Guevara, Vladimir Lenin, Joseph Stalin, Adolph Hitler, Mohandas Ghandi, Margaret Sanger, Betty Friedan, Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, Malcolm X, Jackie Robinson, Sally Ride, Harvey Milk

2. Explore Your Revolution

Step two of this project will challenge you to learn as much as you can about your particular topic. Use the internet and the school library to determine all of the key facts that relate to your cause. Why was your revolution so important? Who lead that revolution? When? Why? Was that revolution successful? (Etc.)

To make sure that you have adequadely explored your revolutionary topic, ALL STUDENTS will be required to fill out the questions provided in the online form located at the following address:

www.TinyURL.com/MeehanRevolution
(Hint: you might want to look at this questionnaire BEFORE and DURING your research phase)

3. Spread Your Revolution

How you choose to spread your revolution is totally up to you, but the third and final component of your project will be to provide some sort of multimedia proof that you have adequately prepared to spread news of your revolution to the world at large. You know: PROPAGANDA.

Some ideas may include:

1) Create and maintain a dedicated Facebook page about your revolutionary cause/figure
2) Create a Glogster or print-copy poster presentation about your revolutionary cause/figure
3) Create and maintain a Twitter feed devoted to your revolutionary cause/figure
4) Create a Prezi presentation about your revolutionary cause/figure
5) Create a Powerpoint slideshow about your revolutionary cause/figure
6) Create a Mp3 recording of an original song/rap about your revolutionary cause/figure
7) Create an original YouTube video about your revolutionary cause/figure
8) Create a website or blog in which people can discuss your revolutionary cause/figure
9) Giving a public speech to your class about your revolutionary cause/figure

Your goal is to get people’s attention and make them take note of your revolution. You will “spread your revolution” to me, and you will be graded according to how attention-grabbing your final product is.

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Sample Projects In Action:



Project Name:
High School Teacher Stages His Own Arrest

Revolutionary Cause:
Police States / Free Speech

Project Type:
YouTube video / in-class presentation

Project Summary:
This project didn't cost anything but a little time and creativity. While teaching George Orwell's "Animal Farm" and the importance of free speech, I wanted students to experience life inside of a police state. To accomplish this, I coordinated with fellow educators, administrators, and security officers in order to stage my own arrest. Mid-lecture. In front of the entire class. This hidden camera footage shows the highlights of how this lesson unfolded across six class sections over the course of three instructional days.

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Project Name:
Walt Disney and The Power of Imagination

Revolutionary Cause:
Walt Disney

Project Type:
YouTube video / Glogster Poster / Prezi Presentation / Facebook Fan Page / Twitter Feed / Tumblr Blog

Project Summary:
This project was designed to give students an idea of how they can use freely available Web 2.o tools and software in order to create, maintain and spread word of their revolutionary causes. For this sample project, I researched information on animation pioneer Walt Disney. The video shown here gives numerous examples of how you might consider using web-based software in order to spread the word of your revolutionary cause.