A Tale of Two Cities and the French Revolution

A Web Quest

The Task: Students will work as a team of reporters compiling an article about 18th century France and the Revolution. Students will work in teams of 4-5 students (in a group of 5 there will be two biographers) and will each research a different topic based on their assigned role. Students will research their topic individually and ask for assistance as needed from teacher, pre-practicum students, and/or peers. Students will then review and proofread the articles produced by their group members and compile them into a cohesive and comprehensive article.

Process:

You will have approximately 30 minutes to visit websites and jot down notes for your article. Take notes only on what you find to be most important and interesting and write them down in your own words. If you try and copy everything down word for word you will likely run out of time before you have gathered enough information. You should try and visit at least two websites but you will not be graded on how many sites you visit, so do not feel like you need to visit every site in your topic area. A variety of sites are listed to provide for individual interests.

You will then have 30 minutes to do the following: Write a paragraph or two that summarizes your notes in a cohesive and organized fashion. You will share your article with your group members and combine them to create one comprehensive paper. Each group member should proofread the article of another group member. Since we will not have much time, you may staple your articles together if the computer facilities do not allow for cutting and pasting into one report.

Refer to the Assessment Rubric for guidance and information about how you will be assessed for this exercise.

 

Student Roles and Corresponding Websites:

Note: All students may find the following website helpful: http://www.mcdougallittell.com/whist/netact/U5/U5frame.htm Click on various parts of the picture to discover information about your particular topic.

1.     Biographer: The biographer will choose one of the following notable figures: Charles Dickens, Louis XVI, or Marie Antoinette, and will gather descriptive information about their lives and role in or views on the French Revolution. Some questions to guide your search may be:

How did ________________ feel about the French Revolution?

Where was _________________ from? Where did he/she live? Where and how did he/she die?

How did other people view ______________? Was he/she loved? Hated?

What are some little known facts about ______________?

If you were _______________ what would you want people to know about you?

For information on the life and works of Charles Dickens:

Charles Dickens Gad’s Hill Place: http://www.perryweb.com/Dickens/index.html

Charles Dickens Page: http://www.fidnet.com/~dap1955/dickens/index.html

Biography of Charles Dickens: http://www.gradesaver.com/ClassicNotes/Authors/about_charles_dickens.html

A Tale of Two Cities: Contains information about Dickens’s feelings about the French Revolution: http://www.gradesaver.com/ClassicNotes/Titles/taleoftwocities/about.html and http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/dickens/turkey/turlit12.html

Tombtown: Contains biographical info on dead authors and other famous people: http://www.tombtown.com/html/index2.htm?http%3A//www.tombtown.com/bios/dickens.htm

Biography of Dickens: http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/Jdickens.htm

For information on Marie Antoinette:

Biographical info:http://www.royalty.nu/Europe/France/MarieAntoinette.html

http://members.aol.com/agentmess/frenchrev/marie.html

http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1773marieantonette.html

A letter written by Marie Antoinette to her mother can be found at: http://www2.lucidcafe.com/lucidcafe/library/95nov/antoinette.html

For information on Louis XVI:

Biographical info

http://www.angelfire.com/va/frenchrev/LouisXVI.html

http://www.wsu.edu:8000/~dee/REV/LOUISXVI.HTM

http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_XVI_of_France

For a timeline of Louis XVI’s involvement in the revolution:

http://wwwtc.nhmccd.edu/people/crf01/wc2/lec5.html

For an eyewitness account of Louis XVI’s execution:

http://www.ibiscom.com/louis.htm

 

2.     Lifestyle/Arts/Fashion/Entertainment Reporter: The lifestyle reporter reports on any aspect of the French culture during the revolutionary period. Report on any items that interest you and that you feel would interest others. Some questions that may guide your research:

What were the different classes in French society and how were their lives different?

How did people dress? What did they eat? What did they do for fun/entertainment?

For information on 18th century France:

Information on the private lives of the rich, roles for servants, dress and other aspects of French culture:http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1818marieantoinette.html

Information on the working class: http://www.mtholyoke.edu/courses/rschwart/hist255/la/revhome.html

Arthur Young’s descriptions of France and its people during his travels from 1787-1789 can be found at:http://history.hanover.edu/texts/young.html  and http://campus.northpark.edu/history/classes//Sources/Young.html

Information on fashion during the Revolutionary period can be found at: http://www.costumes.org/pages/fashiondress/FrenchRevolution.htm

Pictures of French fashion can be found here, scroll to plates 76-78: http://www.siue.edu/COSTUMES/COSTUME13_INDEX.HTML#Plate76

Information on recreation and leisure in London: http://www.umich.edu/~ece/showcase/recreation.html

For info on contemporary society: http://www.angelfire.com/ca6/frenchrevolution89/elsewhere.html

18th century inventions and inventors: http://www.enchantedlearning.com/inventors/1700.shtml

 

3.     Guillotine/Crime Reporter: The crime reporter will report on how people were punished for crimes in 18th century France and the invention of the guillotine. Some questions that may guide your research:

How were criminals punished in 18th century France? In your opinion, did the punishment fit the crime?

Why was the guillotine created and by whom?

What did the guillotine look like and how did it work?

For information on the guillotine, crime & punishment:

Crime & Punishment: http://collections.ic.gc.ca/louisbourg/punismen.html

http://www.mtholyoke.edu/courses/rschwart/hist255-s01/thenardier/theresa/prisons.html

The guillotine: http://inventors.about.com/library/weekly/aa103197.htm?once=true&

http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guillotine

http://members.aol.com/agentmess/frenchrev/drguillotin.html

http://www.metaphor.dk/guillotine/Pages/History.html

http://www.metaphor.dk/guillotine/Pages/Guillot.html

 http://www.angelfire.com/ca6/frenchrevolution89/guillotine.html

http://www.angelfire.com/ca6/frenchrevolution89/lastwords.html

 

4.     French Revolution War Correspondent: The war correspondent reports on important events leading up to, during, and after the French Revolution. Provide a brief summary of what you find to be most important and interesting about the French Revolution. Some questions to guide your research may be:

What were some causes of the French Revolution? Who was fighting whom?

Name two major events in the Revolution and explain their significance.

What was the Reign of Terror?

What is Bastille Day?

For information on the French Revolution:

For a timeline with links to major events:

http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_the_French_Revolution

Information on the causes of and overviews of the revolution:

http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Revolution

http://www.encyclopedia.com/html/section/frenchre_originsoftherevolution.asp

http://www.britannia.com/history/euro/1/2_2.html

http://www.rjgeib.com/thoughts/french/french.html

http://www.wsu.edu:8000/~dee/REV/FIRST.HTM

For information on women in the revolution: http://www.angelfire.com/ca6/frenchrevolution89/Revwomen.html

For information regarding the storming of the Bastille: http://www.angelfire.com/ca6/frenchrevolution89/bastille.html

 

 

 

 

 

Performance Assessment Rubric:

 

Incomplete

1

Fair

2

Good

3

Excellent

4

Students will be able to use the Internet to research and obtain information on their assigned topic.

Student made minimal or no attempt to use the Internet to gather information.

Student was able to use the Internet to gather information with frequent teacher or peer assistance. Student visited at least one website.

Student was able to access information pertaining to the assigned topic. Student required minimal assistance and visited at least 2 websites.

Student visited a variety of websites to gather information. Student did not require assistance. Student assisted peers upon request.

Students will be able to extrapolate information from the Internet and summarize that information into a cohesive written piece.

Student made minimal or no attempt to use the Internet to gather information.

Student copied information “word for word” from the websites. Paragraph is a collection of sentences taken off of websites.

Student took notes from websites by summarizing information in own words. Paragraph lacks organization and focus. Student strays from assigned topic area.

Student took notes from websites by summarizing information in own words. Paragraph is well organized and focused on assigned topic area.

Students will be able to work as a team to combine their written work and produce a comprehensive report covering all assigned topic areas.

Student made minimal or no contributions to the team. Student did not submit a written piece to the group.

Student submitted written piece but did not participate in group decisions about how to combine/present the material. Did not request assistance or assist peers as needed.

Student submitted written piece. Student made some contributions to the group process of creating the group report.

Student submitted written piece and made many contributions to the group. Student read the pieces of all group members and helped organize them into a cohesive report.

Student will manage time wisely to complete research and written work in time allotted.

Student does not complete assignment in allotted time.

N/A

N/A

Student completed assignment in allotted time.

 

(Group) Final written product: content, organization, grammar, and spelling.

Group did not produce a written product.

Paragraphs are disorganized and disconnected. Report is lacking information. Many spelling & grammatical errors. Students did not engage in peer editing process.

Paragraphs are organized in a logical sequence but are lacking information. There are few grammatical and spelling errors. Not all group members used peer editing to proofread and revise piece.

Paragraphs are presented in an organized sequence and are full of pertinent information. Students used peer editing to proofread, edit, and revise piece. Minimal or no grammatical or spelling errors.       

Total Points