WebQuest
by
Ilie Villota
Ditmas I.S. 62
Living in the Mediocre Society aka The Great Society
The Introduction:
“We have the opportunity to move not only toward the rich society and the powerful society, but upward to the Great Society.” – Lyndon B. Johnson. In the Oxford Dictionary, the word “Great” means: considerably above the normal or average. When Lyndon B. Johnson introduced the idea of “The Great Society” everyone was onboard with it. The Great Society sounds like a wonderful place to live in. Unfortunately, it was not the case. You are living in America where there is poverty and racial injustice during the nineteen sixties. When you hear the President’s speech about eliminating poverty and racial injustice, you get a sense of excitement and a glimmer of hope. You are to use the President’s speech on “The Great Society” and decide whether you can identify the President’s ideas to eliminate poverty and racial injustice.
The Task:
You are going to investigate the speech Lyndon B. Johnson gave on “The Great Society”. Your task is to present a case proving “The Great Society” was beneficial to you and to the country as a whole. You may either do an oral presentation or a power point presentation for your classmates. Your PowerPoint should be no less than five slides and no longer than seven slides. You will use the Stanford Education group website to aide you. In addition, you will work in groups of three to four students to prepare your final case. http://sheg.stanford.edu/upload/V3LessonPlans/Great%20Society%20Lesson%20Plan1.pdf
The Process:
4. Evaluate an Existing Policy
6. Select the Best Solution (Feasibility vs. Effectiveness)
1. You are to read Lyndon B. Johnson’s speech on “The Great Society”, “Major Great Society Programs”, “Pro: What was really Great About The Great Society” and “Con: War on Poverty Revisited”
2. You are to highlight and summarize each primary and secondary documents.
3. After you are done highlighting and summarizing all of the documents, you are going to use the graphic organizer to arrange your information in groups of three or four.
4. View and discuss the video on the Great Society https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EClpFLDrK0g
5. Once you are done with the graphic organizer, you are going to create your own Major Great Society Program.
6. Create a solution that will best help society reach it’s ultimate goal of preserving and protecting the environment, the nation, its’ people.
The Evaluation:
Student projects will be evaluated
and graded according to the following guidelines: 
Resources:
· http://sheg.stanford.edu/upload/V3LessonPlans/Great%20Society%20Lesson%20Plan1.pdf
· http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us
The Conclusion:
Working in groups the students will become familiar with the Stanford History Group Education Group and gain proficiency in analyzing Primary and Secondary sources. In addition, the students will gain proficiency in organizing material for public speaking.
Standards Addressed:
Social Studies Standard 5: Civics, Citizenship, and Government Students will use a variety of intellectual skills to demonstrate their understanding of the necessity for establishing governments; the governmental systems of the United States and other nations; the United States Constitution; the basic civic values of American constitutional democracy; and the roles, rights, and responsibilities of citizenship, including avenues of participation.
ELA Standard 5: Analyze the structure of texts, including how specific sentences, paragraphs, and larger portions of the text (e.g., a section, chapter, scene, or stanza) relate to each other and the whole.