Civil War Battle
Presentations
You will work in groups to teach the class about a battle or battles. I expect you to do a splendid job. Your presentation should cover an entire class period. This is your major assignment for the second semester of the class and will count as a double test grade. I will be looking for a higher level of effort and result on this assignment than for the Revolutionary War battle presentations.
You will be responsible for turning in a detailed and typed plan of your presentation. I want to be able to get a clear idea of what you will be saying in your lesson. You will also include all the quotes that you plan to use in your presentation. Include references to interesting anecdotes and stories you will be including. I expect to be able to read your plan and know just about everything you will be saying in your presentation. The battle plan will be due Wednesday, January 30. This plan will be a test grade, however, you will have the opportunity to revise your plan and improve your grade.
You will need to hand in a bibliography of the sources you used for your research. I cheat and use The Citation Machine to generate my bibliographic entries. I love it. http://citationmachine.net/index.php This is due with your battle plan or you will lose points. This should be an annotated bibliography with your comments on what information you got from this source. -
Rubric for the presentation
|
Item |
Possible
Points |
|
Explanation of what led up
to the battle- Why did the armies fight in this place at this time? |
40 |
|
Discussion of the battle
tactics of each side and how the battle progressed |
50 |
|
Use of visuals and maps -
Have some sort of maps to make the battle action clear to the class. You can use posters, PowerPoint, flash, map
handouts, three dimensional displays, or videos. These visuals are crucial to getting a
thorough understanding of what happened.
I have Battle atlases you can use to help clarify the battle for you
and for designing your own visuals. Please let me know ahead of time if you
will need the VCR. I need to reserve it. Give me the material you want copied at least 24 hours before your
presentation. |
20 |
|
Discussion of military
leaders - What were their backgrounds in the war to this point? What type of people were they? Don’t just give a dry list of their
biographical details. Instead, try to
describe for us the character of these men.
Give us any entertaining stories from their lives. What were the strengths and weaknesses of
their leadership.
You will need to do more than a cursory look on the Internet to find
this out. |
30 |
|
Effective use of primary
sources - Illuminate the battle by making apt use of appropriate primary
sources. I have several books that you
can use, plus you can excerpt quotes from secondary sources that quote from
contemporaries. You need to work these
quotes into your presentation so that the battle comes alive for the class. You
will be turning in copies of these quotes with your battle plan |
40 |
|
Analysis of why the battle
turned out the way it did - Did either side make mistakes that hurt
them? Think of the advantages and
disadvantages that we discussed in class.
Did any of those play a role in the outcome of the battle? What could have made a difference in the
outcome of the battle? |
40 |
|
Discussion of the impact of
the battle on the course of the war.
What was its effect on the overall strategy for each side? What was its impact on public opinion on
each side? |
40 |
|
Entertaining presentation
with effective use of relevant anecdotes about the battle – Did the class
learn from as well as enjoy your presentation? Was your report just a dry recitation of
statistics and troop movements or did you make this battle come alive for the
class? |
40 |
|
Total |
300 |
Battles (with estimated dates for your presentation)
|
|
|
|
Second |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Overland Campaign: Wilderness, |
|
|
|
A GALLANT COLOR-BEARER