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America and the Great War

In: Historical Events

Submitted By luluadorno
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The purpose of this assignment is to create a 7-10 minute NPR-like audio news story about the long and short term causes for a major event. Your story should be centered around what the conflict was, and it should include “interviews” that provide a variety of perspectives—political, religious, economic, etc.—that capture the many ways different groups of people defined what these long-term conflicts, in their views, were really about.

This assignment is an experiment, and your feedback is vital to helping develop this project for the next time around. In the future, we will be building audio news stories that include a wide range of sound effects, and you will engage in digital audio editing. We will also put your creations online so that you or anyone in the world can access your masterpieces. Please share with the class any suggestions you have on how to make this project better.

For the “You Are There”: Great Depression project, you will be in three groups of 4-5 people building a story on the following topics. Suggestions on who you might “interview” for the economic crisis are below:

• Upon the American Stock market crash of 1929

o “Big Players’” Point of View: President Herbert Hoover, Prime Minister Ramsay McDonald, Leon Blum, President von Hindenburg,

o “Man in the Street” Point of View: A member of the English House of commons, a member of the SS, a German Jew, a Russian worker

• On the Scene Reporting- The Reichstag Fire, The Assassination of Sergei Kirov and the beginning of the Soviet Purges

Your creative process should begin with a) a brainstorm where you discuss the issues and people you need to include in your story, b) research and preparation on these issues, and c) a “script” outline which your team can use to perform/present the entire 7-10 presentation non-stop.

You do not need to script out exactly what you are going to say when we record your news story, but you should create a very specific outline, identify who is going to play what role, and then practice your presentation beforehand to ensure it is of the appropriate length.

In addition to using your textbook and your class notes, you need to use at least three other sources for your information.

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