More Amazing Americans: A WebQuest

Introduction

The Library of Congress dubs its America's Library a "fun site for kids and families." One feature of America's Library, Meet Amazing Americans, consists of biographical highlights of a few selected Americans. A number of famous people have been added to the site, including Leonard Bernstein, William Jennings Bryan, Andrew Carnegie, Cesar Chavez, King Kamehameha I, Dorothea Lange, Pocahontas and Frank Lloyd Wright.

Who would your students like to see added to the site in the future? What graphics and information about these new inductees would they incorporate?

Learning Objectives

Lesson 2 What Makes an Amazing American?

Managing the Quest: Tell the class that they will look closely at individual profiles in Meet Amazing Americans and will then develop a set of criteria for selecting candidates. Make the assignment appropriate to your groups — assigning more profiles per group will provide your students with a greater range of experience with the Meet Amazing Americans feature, but you don't want students to feel overwhelmed. Compile a list of the criteria your class believes the Library of Congress uses in selecting Amazing Americans for use in later activities.

Lesson 3 Looking Closely at Amazing Americans

Managing the Quest: This scavenger hunt that can be organized in a variety of ways. As described below, the student groups could be given an appropriate amount of time — a half hour, perhaps — to search for as many of the graphic and text examples listed as they can find. An alternative would be to assign one or two of the items to student pairs or individuals (e.g., one pair might search for cartoons and photos of childhood homes).

• A historic cartoon
• A photo of an individual's childhood home
• A digital version of a document (newspaper, a written statement)
• A historical drawing
• Something written in the handwriting of an individual being profiled
• A map
• Media: a sound clip or video
• A photo of someone other than an individual being profiled
• A photo of an individual being profiled
• A portrait of an individual being profiled
• A poster
• Sheet music
• Your idea: one more graphics feature not listed here.

• Dates and place of birth and death
• A story about an individual's childhood
• A "hook" (something unique to an individual that is used to get the reader's attention)
• A question at the end of one page that is answered at the beginning of the next page
• A quiz question
• Information on how an individual's career started
• Information on how an individual's talents or good deeds became recognized
• A story about a setback or failure in an individual's life
• The story of an individual's greatest achievement
• Your idea: one more text feature not listed here.

Managing the Quest: Compile a list of the features your class notes that the Library of Congress uses in profiling Amazing Americans for use in later activities. If time permits, encourage your students to try the America's Library Scavenger Hunt. To prepare students for their next activity — choosing a person to nominate — consider a homework assignment in which students begin to gather names of famous Americans. For example, they could survey their parents or other adults about individuals they consider Amazing Americans.

Lesson 4 Brainstorming Amazing Americans

Managing the Quest: Students will hold a brainstorming session to name individuals who might be considered for Amazing Americans. Remember, this is brainstorming. At this point, every answer is acceptable. Post the brainstormed list for student consideration or prepare a handout with suggestions. Students are not limited to these suggestions, but the list should help avoid groups' claiming there is no one for them to pick. Think in advance about what you will do if more than one group makes the same selection. There is no inherent problem with two nominations being made for the same person; only you can determine if this might be disruptive in your class.

Lesson 5 Your Own Amazing American

Managing the Quest: Each group will choose an Amazing Americans nominee to study further. Set a deadline for groups to choose their nominee. Consider allowing one period of surfing the EDSITEment resources as students' make their decisions.

Lesson 6 The Profile of an Amazing American

Managing the Quest: Each student group will now compile an article on its nominee. Meet Amazing Americans features tend to include about 10 brief text sections. That might be too many, depending on your class and the size of the student groups. Set due dates for the required elements and for each of the other elements the groups must complete.

For locating information, students can use the websites listed below as well as materials available in their classroom and school library. You might want to set aside a class period to familiarize students with these resources. You can bookmark selected sites or print out the complete list (or an edited version) for student use. Each group could be made responsible for checking out a particular resource and then reporting back to the class on its usefulness. A good place to have students begin their research is at a general reference site, such as Encarta Online Encyclopedia, a link from the EDSITEment resource The Internet Public Library.

Emphasize the completion of the text portions of the biography first, since the text will tend to control the choice of graphics (however, a terrific graphic might inspire text as well). Continue to help your class with the division of labor. Group members can work in areas of their strengths (e.g., writers might work on anecdotes while artists prepare special presentation materials and "techies" conduct research and download materials), or you can require that every student complete certain tasks, such as writing up an anecdote. This is an excellent time to remind students of the need to avoid plagiarism. They can use the information they find on any site available through EDSITEment, but they may not use the exact words without acknowledgment. They also should remember to cite their sources, and collect source information as they do their research.

• Date and place of birth and death
• A "hook" (something unique about the individual that is used to get the reader's attention)
• The story of the individual's greatest achievement.

• A story about the individual's childhood
• A question at the end of one page that is answered at the beginning of the next page
• A quiz question
• Information on how the individual's career started
• Information on how the individual's talents or good deeds became recognized
• A story about a setback or failure in the individual's life
• Your idea: one more text feature not listed here.

MINI-LESSON
Downloading Text and Graphics

You can save a file you find on the Web to your hard drive or to a disk. The exact steps may depend on which application you use and the kind of computer you have. The following instructions apply to both Netscape and Internet Explorer Web browsers.

Windows PC
Text

1. Highlight a block of text using your mouse.
2. From the EDIT menu on the tool bar, select "Copy" (or hit CTRL-C on your keyboard).
3. Open a blank document in a word processing program.
4. From the EDIT menu on the tool bar, select "Paste" (or hit CTRL-V on your keyboard).
5. Save the file in an appropriate location, and give it a name that will help you find it easily.

1. With the cursor arrow on the image, click the right-hand button on the mouse.
2. From the menu, select "Save this Image As ..."
3. Save the file in an appropriate location (you can give the file a new name, if you like).

1. Highlight a block of text using your mouse.
2. From the EDIT menu on the tool bar, select "Copy" (or hit the Command/Apple key + C on your keyboard).
3. Open a blank document in a word processing program.
4. From the EDIT menu on the tool bar, select "Paste" (or hit the Command/Apple key + V on your keyboard).
5. Save the file in an appropriate location, and give it a name that will help you find it easily.

1. Click and drag an image to your desktop, or click the mouse on the desired image and hold it until a pop-up menu appears.
2. Save the file in an appropriate location (you can give the file a new name, if you like).

Using the Search Function on Websites

Some EDSITEment resources have search functions that you might not be familiar with. Here are instructions for using the search functions on two such websites:

American Memory Project (Library of Congress)

1. From the home page, select "Search."
2. Note the choices on the Search Page. For example, on the right-hand side of the page, you can limit the search to photos and prints by clicking on "Photos and Prints."
3. Try searching for Sheet Music. Use the term "Abraham Lincoln."
4. Now try searching for your Amazing American.

1. From the Digital Classroom main page, find the “Resources” section and select "Search in Digital Classroom" at the bottom of the list.
2. Next, choose "Archival Research Catalog (ARC)" on the right side of the screen.
3. Then, click on the yellow “Search” button.
4. Try entering a search term in different ways. To narrow your search to images only, go to the “Type of Archival Materials” box and select “Photographs and other Graphic Materials.” Click "Go" to see the results.
5. Try searching for your Amazing American.

Lesson 7 An Amazing Cover Letter

Managing the Quest: This lesson offers a good opportunity to incorporate any letter-writing goals in your curricula. Students should probably use a business format for this letter. Emphasize the importance of mechanics and clarity, which will establish the first impression the reader will have of the work to follow. Check each letter before it is sent (in Lesson 9). You may also wish to review the EDSITEment lesson "I'm Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Someone a Letter" for additional letter-writing activities.

Lesson 8 The Amazing Americans Nominations Ceremony

Managing the Quest: Making a ceremony out of the presentations will culminate the lesson in high style and provide a further motivation for the students. You can invite parents, the principal, other classes, etc. Either you or an appropriate guest should serve as the Master of Ceremonies. Your students have probably seen awards shows, which often feature tributes; model your ceremony after them.

If your class has a suitable presentation system and sufficient technical savvy, groups could share their work in the form of a computer slide show, using programs such as HyperCard, KidPix or PowerPoint. If groups are going to do a more standard oral presentation, spend some time helping them think of ways to make the presentation lively. Consider a dramatic presentation such as a newscast or a "This Is Your Life" format. Help students understand they must do more than simply stand in front of the group and read. Can they provide handouts? How can they use graphics the audience will really be able to see as part of the presentation?

• Briefly introduce your nominee and highlight the portions of his or her life about which you have written
• Distribute some copies of the e-mail letter you are going to send to the Librarian of Congress.
• Argue for the inclusion of your nominee in a "Hall of Amazing Americans"
• Be prepared to answer questions about your nominee and the materials you have developed
• Clearly demonstrate the contributions of all your group members.

Lesson 9 Amazing Americans in Hyperspace

Managing the Quest: If you follow the Nominations Ceremony with a party or gathering, that might be a good time to send the cover letters and attachments to the Librarian of Congress.

Lesson 10 A Class of Amazing Americans

It took a lot of work to put together the proposals and presentations you completed. Your whole class must consist of Amazing Americans! As a class, discuss the Amazing Americans you selected. Whom did you learn about that was new to you? Did you learn something new about any familiar people? What personal qualities does it appear to take to become an Amazing American? Did you find some individuals to be more amazing than others?

Brainstorm a list of the tasks you completed and the skills required to complete them. Help your teacher understand what could have made this assignment easier for you, so the activity can be even better for the next class.

Extending the Lesson