INTRODUCTION:
Help!  The principal was playing the famous our class Black History Trivia Game, when he or she spilled boiling hot coffee on it and dissolved the whole game!  Boy, was the teacher disappointed!  Could you help replace this game for next year’s class?

YOUR TASK:
You and your assigned partner will be given 3-4 weeks to assemble all the information you can about one famous African American.  You will blindly pick a category out of a hat, but you and your partner can decide which famous African American you would like to research fitting that category.
You will each produce a one to two page, single-spaced  biographical sketch about that person, highlighting different aspects of that person’s life, i.e., family background, education/training, reasons they are famous, and other important biographical data.  Each page needs one or two small pictures. After this information is assembled, you and your partner need to come up with a way to present your famous Black American to the class. Reading your report is not acceptable! Choose one of the following interesting presentation methods to present your information to the class.

1. An interview of the famous person, complete with costumes.
2. A rap song or acrostic poem which highlights all the important information.
3. A PowerPoint, HyperStudio or other program presentation.
4. A mini-play which depicts several scenes of your famous person’s life story.
 

Finally, each person in class will need to produce 5 game cards about their famous African-American with questions and answers to add to the class game. They will be graded on neatness and importance, so do a good job on these as well.

THE PROCESS:
1. You have until _______________ to come up with the name of the person that your group plans to research.  Use your computer time wisely.
2. The category you selected was:________________________________ and your famous Black American is:____________________________.
3. Be sure to bookmark any important sites that you come across and write down the URL address for later use.  You will need to submit a bibliography with your report.
4. You will have 3 additional research and computer work times to continue gathering information.  A 4th  computer time will be given to type up your biographical information.  There will be 3 class periods to work on your game cards, work on your presentation, and tie up loose ends.
5. Your Biographical Report is due on :_________________________________.
6. To gather information, you need to use at least 3 different internet sites. You need  to include a bibliography of the websites you used in your research.  Be sure to include information about the person’s birth and death, education, family life, and important details about their rise to fame.
7. You and your partner will need to decide how to divvy up the information.  In addition, you will need to copy or draw pictures of the person and of their invention, discovery, or obtain a copy of their famous song, etc.
8. You will then find an interesting way to present the information to your classmates, to help them remember the important facts about your famous Black American.  You can make up a song, have us memorize a poem, or put on a small sketch or play – any method to give us the factual information in an interesting way!
9. Your presentation will be presented on __________________________________
10. Game cards are due on: ______________________________________________

CONCLUSION:
We will listen to your presentation, collect your game cards, and then play the new and improved “Black History Trivia Game”! So, get your keyboard fingers ready and let’s see who wants to play the game and be the first to become a millionaire!
 (Note:  less expensive gifts may be substituted for the million dollars)
 

Grading Rubric for African-American Webquest

Timeliness:
10 points = Written report is handed in on time.
  8 points = Written report is one day late.
  5 points = Written report is two or more days late.

Neatness/Correct spelling
10 points = Outstanding attentiveness to neatness and correct spelling.
  8 points = Project is neatly done, but has several spelling errors.
  5 points = Only somewhat neatly done, and/or many spelling errors.

Biographical Sketch
20 points = All important events covered (family, education, fame) in report and presentation.
15 points = Most main points covered in report and presentation.
10 points = Only the one main event of the person’s life is mentioned in report or presentation.

Presentation
30 points = Presentation is interesting, covers all main topics, and shows a rehearsed project.
25 points = The presentation covers most of the topics, and shows some rehearsal.
15 points = The presentation appears hurriedly thrown together, and is not taken seriously, or their biographical paper is orally read to the class.

Game Cards
20 points = The 5 cards are neatly done, and the questions and answers are relevant.
15 points = Some of the cards are not neat, or do not have relevant information on them.
10 points = Less than 5 cards handed in, and/or show little or no effort to complete.

Group Dynamics
10 points = The group worked well together, with little intervention from the teacher.
  8 points = The group needed some teacher intervention to help sort out problems.
  5 points = The group needed much teacher intervention to help sort out problems.