“What’s your
beef, colonies?”
Grievances of
the American colonies
A Webquest for 11th
Grade American History
Designed by
Ms. Kelley
Introduction: In
the late 1700s, the American colonies started seeing its mother country, Great
Britain as uptight, overbearing parents who took their money and their
freedom. Britain saw its American
colonies as whiny, teenagers that wouldn’t live by reasonable laws. So the Americans did what any teenager
would do:
REBEL.!!
So, infringement of rights can lead
to revolution. But what exactly were
the American grievances? What was their
beef with the British? And once they
got rid of those nasty British, how did they attempt to address these
grievances with their new government?
The Task: In
this project, we will use the Public Policy Analyst and our web research to
learn more about this critical turning point in American History in a new and
hopefully more interesting way. The end
result of this webquest will be a Regents
style essay, (we still have to be ready for that test!) which addresses all
of the following:
The Process:
1. Find a partner
to work with. (Due to small number of
computers, some groups will have to have 3 people).
2. Go to TIPS Public Policy
Analyst. Once there, I want you to
define Public Policy. ( http://www.maxwell.syr.edu/plegal/ppa/usppai1.html
)
3. Use worksheet 1 to complete
the list of grievances that the American colonists had against Britain. You can use the following websites to help
in your search:
a.
TIPS has a
list of many of primary sources, including the British Acts and documents
explaining why Americans found unacceptable and “intolerable.” (http://www.maxwell.syr.edu/plegal/ppa/usppares1.html
)
b.
For a journal of the 2nd Continental Congress, try this Library
of Congress site. (http://rs6.loc.gov/ )
c. PBS has a site which outlines a
series they did on the American Revolution. (http://www.pbs.org/ktca/liberty/ )
d.
Academic Info has a
great site with links to just about all the primary documents you’ll need. (http://www.academicinfo.net/usearlyrev.html
)
e.
If all else fails, try your own search on http://www.altavista.com
or http://www.dogpile.com the two search
engines where you’ll have the most luck.
4. Find the public
policy of the new American Articles
of Confederation regarding the grievances that your group listed. (http://www.usconstitution.net/articles.html
)
5. Now it is time
to evaluate the American public policy.
How successful were the Articles in addressing the grievances of the
people? (Here’s a hint: Do we still
have the Articles of Confederation as our “supreme law of the land”?)
This is the step
where you will create your thesis for your essay. All of the information that you have collected so far will aid
you in your argument. Use the following
websites to help you in your search:
1. The Federalist Papers
(http://lcweb2.loc.gov/const/fed/fedpapers.html
)
2. A Comparison of the
Articles of Confederation and the Constitution. (http://www.usconstitution.net/constconart.html
)
3.
The TIPS site has a page relating
to the Articles. (http://www.maxwell.syr.edu/plegal/ppa/usppares2.html
)
Evaluation:
How will your essay
be graded? Well, partly it will be
graded according to the United States History Regents Rubric. But since you have all done some extra
research, and participated in this experiment, there will be some other factors
that will determine how this webquest product will be graded. Check out the following rubric to help you
figure out your grade.
|
A |
B |
C |
D |
F |
Regents Criteria |
·
Corresponds
with a 5 on regents ·
Addresses
all parts of task ·
Evaluates the
success of the Articles of Confederation |
·
Corresponds
with a 4 on regents ·
May not
address all parts of task evenly ·
Attempts to
evaluate Articles |
·
Corresponds
with a 3 on regents ·
Addresses
most of task ·
More
descriptive in nature ·
May contain
minor errors |
·
Corresponds
with a 2 on regents ·
Addresses
part of task ·
Contains
inaccuracies |
·
Corresponds
with a 1 on regents ·
Fails to
address task ·
Major
inaccuracies |
Research |
Lots of research,
made use of suggested websites plus extra websites |
Good research,
made use of most suggested websites |
Sufficient
research, used some suggested websites |
Research lacking,
1-2 websites used |
No research |
Style |
·
Typed ·
Cover Page ·
Little or no
grammatical errors |
·
Typed ·
May contain a
few grammatical errors |
·
Not typed ·
May have
some grammatical errors |
·
Not typed ·
Many
grammatical errors |
·
Not typed ·
Illegible ·
Not coherent |
In addition to the
above, make sure that your webquest project is handed in on time. For each day that your project is late, you
will lose 3 points off the total grade!!!
Standards
This webquest
focuses on the following Social Studies Performance Standards:
SS1:
Use a variety of intellectual skills to
demonstrate their understanding of major ideas, eras, themes, developments, and
turning points in the history of the United States and New York
SS5: use a variety
of intellectual skills to demonstrate their understanding of the necessity for
establishing governments; the governmental system of the U.S. and other
nations; the U.S. Constitution; the basic civic values of American
constitutional democracy; and the roles, rights, and responsibilities of
citizenship, including avenues of participation.
This webquest
focuses on the following English Language Arts Performance Standards:
E1c: Read and
comprehend informational materials.
E2a: Produce a report of information.
E3a: Participate in one-to-one conference with
the teacher.
E3c: Prepare and deliver a group presentation.
E4b: Analyze and subsequently revise work to
improve its clarity and effectiveness.
Conclusion:
At the end of this
project, you should have accomplished the following:
As your
understanding of history has probably grown with this, keep in mind for the
future what issues the Constitution fixed that the Articles of Confederation
couldn’t….pretty soon, it will be, “What ‘s your beef, states?”