Abraham Lincoln:
Crooked Man or 
Just a Crooked Bow Tie?

A WebQuest for 11th Grade (U.S. History)

Designed by Ember Sloss
Ember_L._Sloss@interact.ccsd.net

Introduction | Task | Process | Evaluation | Conclusion | Credits | Teacher Information

Introduction

The year is 1865 and you work as a highly paid reporter for the well known newspaper, the Gazette.  The editor of the Gazette has just informed you that the owner of the newspaper wants to change its writing style from its usually informative, news worthy articles to gossip and entertainment. He believes that this new style of writing will sell more copies of the Gazette.  The editor tells you that your next assignment is to write an controversial article about the life and death of our former President, Abraham Lincoln.  You are nervous about writing this type of article.  Lincoln was a popular President whose life was just ended in a horrible way. To ease your nervousness, the editor tells you that you can have another reporter assist you in your writing.

You and your fellow reporter have decided to write the gossip/entertaining style article on Lincoln even though you are nervous about the audience's opinion on this new style of writing.

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Attention:  Your research skills and good judgment are needed.  The other reporter and yourself will be "digging up the dirt" on ol' Lincoln.  The editor has told you that he wants this article to include the following on Honest Abe:
 

• His childhood
• His education
• His marriage and family life
• His struggle with depression
• His views on slavery 
• The crucial role he played in the Civil War and
• Lincoln's assassination

The editor wants the final product (the article) to be well researched, well written and typed.  The editor wants this article to be perfect, so he has brainstormed some questions regarding Lincoln's life that he wants answered. After you and the other reporter have gathered all the notes on Lincoln and answered the editor's question-- the both of you will write the article. 

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Each reporter will take on different areas of Lincoln's life to research.  The editor has assigned each reporter specific areas to study and questions to answer. 

(1)  First you'll be assigned to a team of two reporters.  The teacher will assign each reporter a role as Reporter #1 and Reporter #2.

(2)  Once you've been given a role to play (either Reporter #1 or Reporter #2) you will read your job description and the specific areas of research that needs to be conducted for your half of the article.  Click below on your assigned role to see what your role involves.  You will need to print out the worksheet that has your job description and the questions to be answered.

REMEMBER TO CLICK THE BACK ARROW KEY TO RETURN TO THE WEBQUEST WHEN YOU ARE DONE PRINTING!!

Reporter #1Reporter #2

(3)  After you have printed out the worksheets (a.k.a. "The Reporter's Notepad").  Under each reporter's name, there are several websites to visit.  Each reporter should begin conducting their research by visiting the suggested websites and answering their assigned questions.
 

(4)  After you have answered all the assigned questions, you need to meet with the other reporter and discuss your findings on Abraham Lincoln.  This is the time that you summarize the interesting facts that you learned.  Each reporter needs to read the questions and the answers from their "Reporter's Notepad" and share them with the other reporter. 

(5)  When both reporters are finished sharing their findings, each reporter will draw a star by the question/answer that they would like to use in their gossip article on good ol' Honest Abe! 

(6)  As a team, you will collaborate and create a gossip article based on the life of Abraham Lincoln.  You will want to brainstorm all the areas of Lincoln's life that could be made into an entertaining article. 

(7)  Create a rough draft as a team and submit your article to your teacher. The teacher may or may not make suggestion on your article.  Before you submit your rough draft-- make sure that you have the following:

• A catchy headline
• The names of the authors
• At least 15 sentences in your article
• Proofread the article for grammar and spelling errors.

(9)  After your reporting team has printed out the article staple the following items

• Typed article 
• Rough Draft 
• Brainstorm
• Reporter's #1 Questions and Answers
• Reporter's #2 Questions and Answers

Each reporter will get an individual grade on your assignment, but how you collaborated as a team will help determine your grade.
 

	Beginning Points (0)	Developing Points (2)	Accomplished Points (4)	Exemplary Points (6)	Score
Research and Gather Information	Does not collect any information that relates to the topic.	Collects very little information--  did not complete all of "Reporter's Notepad" questions.	Collects basic information and completes  all of "Reporter's Notepad" questions.	Collects a great deal of information and completes all of "Reporter's Notebook". Also adds additional research to notepad.
Be Punctual	Does not hand in any of the assignments.	Hands in most of the assignments late.	Hands in most assignments on time.	Hands in all assignments on time.
Fulfill Team Role's Duties	Does not perform any duties of assigned team role.	Performs very little duties.	Performs nearly all duties.	Performs all duties of assigned team role.
Shares Equally	Always relays on others to do the work.	Rarely does the assigned work-- often needs reminding.	Usually does the assigned work-- rarely needs reminding.	Always does the assigned work without having to be remind.
Quality of Work	Did not proofread or spell check assignment.	Proof read assignment and there were several grammatical or spelling errors.	Proofread assignment and there were a few grammatical or spelling errors.	Proofread assignment and there were no grammatical or spelling errors.

By the end of this WebQuest, I hope that you will have learned a lot of interesting facts about our 16th President, Abraham Lincoln.  Throughout his life, controversy followed him, but he rose above and  became of our most known and loved Presidents. 

Do you think that Lincoln would be able to run for President in this modern day time?  Do you think his non conventional views on religion would end his political career? 

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I would like to thank the following websites for their great animation: 

http://webclipart.about.com/

http://webclipart.about.com/cs/msub73d/
 

The following website provided the pictures of Abraham Lincoln:

http://images.google.com/images?q=Abraham+Lincoln

I would also like to thank the following websites for helping me create the WebQuest Rubric:

http://school.discovery.com/schrockguide/assess.html#rubrics
 

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