Local History Projects

I begin my lesson by putting the students in groups of three. I usually try to have one leader in each group. This person is ususally a student that is a high achiever. I group them with a student that struggles so that hopefully they will pick up some strong points and use them later. After the groups have been assigned, I write on pieces of paper and then fold up several events that have occured in our area that have had a large impact on our community. For instance, we had a horrible mine explosion that killed several of our community memebers. Each group will draw out an event.
One person from each group is in charge of finding out factual information. One is in charge of finding pictures that relate to the event and one is in charge of laying out the power point presentation along with music or sound that they will retrieve.
I encourage the students to provide vidoe's, that they sometimes make themself. Interviews that are recorded are also put into the presentation. Once all of the information, pictures and video recordings have been collected, the three students from each group then discuss how they want to present their project to the class.
We usually project the presentation on a large screen.
Over the past several years I have received some five star projects. This project seems to bring out alot of creativity that most of the students didn't know they had. Some of the projects have been tear jerkers. One such project would be the Columbine shooting. Not only is this is great way to involve technology, but it also strives to bring out everyone's good points. Students see each other in a different way after completing the project.