Portrait of a Year

1. Decide upon the year you wish to investigate.
2. RESEARCH: In a word processing document and the Internet, collect answers to the questions below. Using each individual fact you locate regarding your year, record a description of the image you want to locate on the Internet. Using search engines, find images suitable for representation of the research. Once you find an image, save it and record the source.
• International Events: What significant international events (military, social, political) occurred during your year which had a major impact on history? Who were the important people who made significant contributions? How did these people and events effect America?
• National Events: What significant national events (military, social, political) occurred during your year which had a major impact on history? Who were the important people who made significant contributions?
• Science: What were the major scientific and medical breakthroughs? Who were the important people who made the breakthroughs?
• Inventions: What were the important inventions? What improvement was there on an existing product? How did it change the way people lived? Who were the inventors?
• Philosophers: Who were the social thinkers? Philosophers? Political activists?
• Authors: Who were the writers and major works of literature?
• Artists: Who were the major artists and works of art?
• Culture: What was the popular culture like? Entertainment? Leisure activities? Fashion trends?
• Music: What music and songs were popular? Who were the artists?
• Movies: What movies and actors/actresses were popular?
• Radio/TV: What radio shows or TV shows were popular?
• Sports: What were the major sports teams of the year? Who were the major sports figures? How did the U.S. do in the summer and winter Olympics?
3. IMAGE: Now you are ready to assemble your image. Using graphics software, insert your images into a single document. You may crop your images, cut out portions of an image, use effects to alter the image, etc. The result is to be a montage of images representing your year.
4. GUIDE: Once your final portrait is assembled, copy and rename the portrait to create a guide for identification purposes. Each image should be numbered and referenced to the data you collected during your research.