AMERICANHISTORY

STATE HISTORY PROJECT

You will create a 16-slide minimum Google presentation about one of the 50 states. You will choose your ownstate, and the selection process is based on first come first served – there can be no repeats of states per class period. The goal of the power-point presentation is to inform your audience how your statefits in as part of the United States of America in relation to these topics: History, Geography, Demographics, Economy, and Law.

The research for your project must be completed on your own time – we will have minimum time in class for project research.

The topics to be covered in your presentation will include:

History: Give the background story of your state. How did you state become a state, and the unique process that your state experienced.

Geography: What is the landscape of your state? How does the geography of your state affect it?

Demographics: This should be a breakdown of your state’s population. Who and what kind of people live in your state? How does the population in your state differ from other parts of the country? Who are some noteworthy people that call your state home?

Economy: What makes your state valuable? What is the condition of your state’s economy? What is used for revenue and what are the major expenses?

Law: What are some U.S. Supreme Court cases that originated out of your state and what were the outcomes? What are the laws like in your state compared to other states? What laws are unique to your state?

Each topic above should be covered in at leastthree slides, giving you at least15-slides (5 x 3) total. A creatively designed title slide, with your project title and name is also required to serve as the 16th slide.

Slide Breakdown:

  • 1slide – creatively designed title slide with your name.
  • 15 slides – covering the topics (history, geography, demographics, economy, and law).
  • Additional slides that you feel necessary.

Your project will count as a summative (test) grade and be worth 40 total points. You will have a chance to earn 20 of these points before your presentation, and the remaining 20 will be earned during yours, and your classmates’ presentations.

Important Checkpoint Grade Dates:

On ______, you will need to turn in a typedsummary of your research covering the topics of History, and Geography. These will be read and graded for a chance to earn 10 of the total 40 summative points.

On ______, you will turn in a second typed summary of your research covering the the topics of Demographics, Economy, and Law. These will also be read and graded for a chance to earn 10 more of the total 40 summative points.

Failure to turn in a typed summary report on either of these “checkpoint” days will result in a loss of 10 points from the overall project grade.

There will be a couple of class periods set aside for students to work on their presentations in class on the Google Chrome books. The dates for these class periods will be announced later.

For this project you will be using Google Presentations and the Google Chrome books. Instructions to create a Google account are attached.

When using Google Presentations, your project should be shared with my email account before presentations begin so that you are prepared to present: Instructions for sharing a Google Presentation file is attached.

Presentations will begin on ______, and the order will be randomly determined that day. The scoring rubric is included below to help you prepare your presentation to receive the highest grade possible.

In addition to presenting, you will also be graded on how well of an audience member you are. During each of your classmates presentation you will be required to write down notes about them, and use the notes to write a short one-page essay in class that summarizes the projects. Your notes and essay will count towards 4 points of your overall grade.

Have fun, be creative, and work hard on this project. Your overall grade will reflect your effort.

Presentation Scoring Rubric

Note: This scoring guide is based on a student giving a fair and honest presentation.

Category / Excellent-4 points / Good-3 points / Satisfactory-2 points / Needs Improvement-1 point
Sequence of Information / Information is organized in a clear, logical way. It is easy to anticipate the next slide. / Most information is organized in a clear, logical way. One slide or piece of information seems out of place. / Some information is logically sequenced. An occasional slide or piece of information seems out of place. / There is no clear plan for the organization of information.
Effectiveness / Project includes all material needed to give a good understanding of the topic. The project is consistent with the driving topic. / Project is lacking one or two key elements. Project is consistent with driving topic most of the time. / Project is missing more than two key elements. It is rarely consistent with the driving topic. / Project is lacking several key elements and has inaccuracies. Project is completely inconsistent with driving topic.
Spelling and Grammar / Presentation has no misspellings or grammatical errors. / Presentation has 1-2 misspellings, but no grammatical errors. / Presentation has 1-2 grammatical errors but no misspellings. / Presentation has more than 2 grammatical and/or spelling errors.
Delivery / Presenter spoke at a good rate, volume and with good grammar. She maintained eye-contact while using, but not reading her notes. / Presenter spoke a little faster or slower than necessary, or too quietly or loudly.He used acceptable grammar.He maintained eye-contact, but relied too much on his notes. / Presenter spoke at a good rate and volume, but used poor grammar.She relied heavily on her notes. / Presenter demonstrated having paid little attention to rate, volume or grammar.He read nearly word for word from notes.

Presentation grade:______/16

Active audience grade:______/4

First checkpoint grade:______/10

Second checkpoint grade:______/10

Total project grade:______/40

Setting up a google account:

1. Log in to google or set up an email account you are able to access at school

2. Fill out the information. Make sure you provide your school accessible email address

3.When you are done, click on the "I accept. Create my account." button.

4.Google will send an e-mail verification to the e-mail address youprovided.You must use this e-mail to access your account the first time.

Uploading documents:

1. Log into yournew account.The document you wish to upload should be saved and closed.

2. Choose the "Upload" icon near the top of the screen in the blue bar.

3. Browse your files and choose the file you want to upload.

4. Rename it, if necessary.

5. click "upload file"

Sharing Documents:

1. Choose the "Share" button from the open document's screen. Scroll down and choose "Share with others."

2. If you want people to edit and contribute to your document, make sure you invite people "as collaborators." If you don't want people to be able to make changes to your document, invite them "as viewers."

3. Fill in the email addresses of people you wish to invite. If you're inviting multiple collaborators, separate their addresses with commas.

4.Google Docs will then give you the option of sending your collaborators an email to alert them of your document.

Inserting comments:

1. Place your cursor in the text where you would like to make a comment.

2. On the top toolbar, click "Insert" and then click "comment."

3. To remove comment, simply click on the comment box and click "Delete comment."

Revision History:

1. If you would like to check previous drafts, click, "File" on the top toolbar and then click "Revision history."

2. If you would like to view one previous draft, simply click on that draft.

3. If you would like to view more than one draft at once to see what changes have been made, check the box to the left of each of the drafts then click "Compare checked."