Is it a Massacre or a Battle?

Learning Objectives:
1. Explore the documentation of historical events by historians, the public, and politicians.
2. Develop criteria as a historian for the use of the labels “massacre” and “battle” for historical events.
3. Evaluate historical events and determine whether they are correctly labeled based on criteria.
4. Examine the name changes over time associated with some battles or massacres.

This is a formative assignment and students will critically analyze the labels associated with historic battles or massacres and the reporting of those events.

Assignment Description: The struggle between tribes and pioneers while the United States government expanded westward is depicted in social media as a one-sided event. However, the interactions between the two cultures were more complicated than a western tale of good versus evil. Students will explore this period of westward expansion by analyzing encounters between the groups. Students will be empowered to make their own decisions regarding the correct labels for the events and encouraged to analyze those labels of the past and present.

Steps and Instructor Notes:
1. As a class, students will develop a set of criteria to label a historical event as either a battle or a massacre. Participation in this discussion is required and students should come prepared with research about what each term means, sources and examples of use, and at least two criteria they want to have the class consider. Student will submit document to instructor with research and proposed criteria. (The instructor’s role is to encourage discussion and debate, but then facilitate the selection of the final criteria the entire class will use in their analysis of events. Here is a link in the Chicago Tribune on this very topic. Instructors may have students read this article before starting the assignment to set the tone for the upcoming work. http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2009-08-18/news/0908170600_1_native-american-history-chicago-park-district )

2. Provide a list of battles and massacres for students to research individually or in pairs. After selecting one event, students should write a three page, double spaced summary of the event including who was involved, what happened, motivation for the attack, and outcome. The report should include research about how the event was reported at the time using primary source documents and describe whether the label for the event has evolved or changed over time. Additionally, the student or pair of students will determine, based on the criteria, whether the event is correctly labeled by modern historians. Proper citation is required on an additional page. (This assignment could be applied to a wider range of battles and massacres, but for the purpose of this post the limit will be encounters between tribes and pioneers after 1830. This assignment directly correlates with the Sand Creek Massacre in 1863 in Kiowa, Colorado, see Hippocampus.org link below.)

3. Students will share their research on one of the battles and massacres with the class. Classmates will evaluate at least two classmates’ conclusions about the labels applied to historical events, and openly share whether they agree or disagree and why.

Rubric is based on 100 points total but it is likely this assignment would take several days and could be broken down into more graded parts.
10 points-Student came prepared for criteria discussion with sources and examples.
10 points-Student actively participated in discussion to develop criteria.
60 points-Student individually or in a pair composed a well organized, grammatically sound document summarizing in 3 double spaced pages the event including who was involved, what happened, motivation for the attack, and outcome. The report included research about how the event was reported at the time using primary source documents and explained whether the label for the event has evolved or changed over time. Finally, the paper concluded and explained whether the label meets the class’s criteria for a massacre or battle. On the fourth page of the document, correct citation is included.
20 points-Student thoughtfully responded in writing or verbally (this may depend on your classroom format and level) to two classmates conclusions about other events.

Worst Historical Villain Ever! Multimedia Biography Assignment

As we see in popular culture and movies, people are fascinated by the lives of the “bad guys.” Our students get excited when they learn about Billy the Kid or Al Capone, so let them explore the lives and history surrounding some of history’s worst villains. In the last assignment students read a biography and composed an essay on what they learned. However, there are many ways to demonstrate learning and in this modern age, students are familiar with flip camera’s, multimedia editing tools on their home computers, and are inspired by TV and the internet to create more dynamic and engaging content than just an essay. In this assignment, individual students will create their own biographical history clip about their favorite "worst" villain and the class will compile these into a "show" about the worst villains in history.

Title: Worst Historical Villain Ever! Assignment
Objective/s: Learner will create a video/audio clip about their favorite historical “bad guy.”
Assignment type: Summative
Assignment Details:
1. Student will select a historical bad guy. The instructor may want to provide a list and include some details that might entice students to choose individuals appropriate to the course or time period you are teaching. No two students should do the same person as the projects will be compiled later into a cohesive class project.
2. Using library and web resources, students will collect biographical information and open source images or even news footage about their "bad guy".
3. The learner will compose a well organized, grammatically sound one page summary based on their research about the individual’s life.
4. The learner will develop a slide show, video, or other multimedia piece that is approximately 5 minutes long and illustrates the villain’s life and why he or she was a “bad guy.”
5. Discuss as a class some qualifiers on what makes the “bad guy” the worst. Is it their ruthlessness? The number of people impacted by their actions? Is it the kind or number of crimes committed?
6. Class will watch/listen to each clip and vote for the “worst” historical villan. Then the class will use the rankings by the votes and compile the clips in order from least to most voted for villain to create a cohesive class project. Schools, students, and instructors may have various tools at their disposal for students to use to create this multimedia project. The instructor may want to take class volunteers to lead the technical aspects of this project and/or make necessary tools available. (A face to face classroom might just have the instructor video a live presentation, but I encourage all instructors to think more creatively and not underestimate students.) Encourage creativity and teamwork among the class. Consider breaking the class into production groups. (Production groups will be discussed in the next blog post.)

This rubric focuses on phase one of this project which is the individual student creating a multimedia project for their research on a historical villain. We will discuss the class project in the upcoming blog:

Composed a one page summary of biographical information about the villain - 20 points
Summary and project contains minimal grammar errors - 20 points
Cited Biography used for assignment in proper APA or MLA format-10 points
Created a detailed, well organized, engaging, and creative multimedia representation of their villain - 50 points

The rubric is purposely vague for the actual multimedia project as what your students have available and what you might expect varies dramatically. I encourage you to consider building an evaluation rubric for the multimedia piece with your class. Once you have some examples, you should share them from term to term to help students think about what they could do. Brainstorm with your class how they might develop their project. Do they have access to video cameras? What tools do they have on their computers at home and at school to build this project? How do TV channels like the history channel convey events and history? Can the students reinact an event? Would small scale replicas work? Can students offer each other assistance? For example, John owns a video camera and Julie has an editing program for video on her computer. How can they help each other get their projects completed?

Most importantly have fun and don’t let yourself or your students get lost in the technology and lose sight of the history. The overall quality of the multimedia product in the end may be poor or vary greatly from student to student but the content and learning will be rich!