Be the Thing

Your Task: Write a short personal response as if you were a specific object
from history. Your response should include both emotional and physical
feelings of the object. Imagine you are the thing! Consider that if you were
George Washington’s horse you would have quite a bit to think about.

Your response must:

-Describe the purpose and function of the object.
-Describe how the object might feel or what it might be thinking.
-Mention the historical situation

Example: The flame of the candle who lit the room for Thomas Jefferson as he wrote the
Declaration of Independence.

Whoa! Where am I? I was just minding my own business and now “poof!” I’m here in this room.
Let’s see, what is this…? “We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal…” Oh,
I’ve heard about this. My cousin lit up the room in city hall last week and told me that he heard some
people talking about writing up a Declaration of Independence. I must be in Thomas Jefferson’s
room!

Ha, just think, if I wasn’t here it would be completely dark right now and he couldn’t be working. I’ll
admit though, I’m a little jealous of that quill he’s writing with though. Now that thing will go down in
history! Nobody ever thinks of how important I am though. Well, Mr. Quill, if you’re so great let’s see
what happens if I declare my independence and just walk right out of here! Oh wait; I’m stuck to this
candle. Oh well, I’ll just burn my brightest then so Mr. Jefferson has all the light he needs to write
this amazing document.

I know one day I’ll burn out and nobody will think of me again. Hey, it happens to all of us. At least I
know I’ll have served a great purpose. This man and this document are going to change the world and
I got to be a part of it. The fires of revolution are being lit and it is all because of me!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Historical “What If?”
Your Task: Create a textbook page showing
how history would have changed if one major
detail had changed such as if King John had
written the Magna Carta to grow his power
instead of his nobles writing it to grow their
own.
Instructions:
1. Choose an event from this unit and change a major detail of it.

a. For example: “Magna Carta Makes King John More Powerful”

2. Write a one-paragraph summary of how this change may have happened. (example below)

3. Write a one-paragraph summary of what you think would have happened in history if this
detail had changed in history. (example below)

4. Create a new page for your textbook that teaches your version of the event.

5. The page should have color in appropriate places and be neatly written. It should look like a
real page from your textbook.

Here’s an example of what the summary paragraphs might look like for the Magna Carta:

How it Happened: What Changed?:

When threatened by the church King King John became incredibly rich and
John backed down immediately. He told powerful. His new alliance with the
the church that England needed the church, sealed by this document,
extra tax money and he couldn’t think of required the nobles to submit to him in
any other way to do it. The church every situation. If they did not they
agreed that the money was needed and would be punished harshly by both John
told John they would support him raising and the church. The people, amazingly,
taxes against the nobles. They sat down had even less rights than before. Even
and wrote the Magna Carta to set out a the courts worked to keep the people in
new set of rules for the nobles to ensure line. Instead of protecting their rights

Augustus
 “You Are There” Diary
Your task: Write a series of diary entries as if you were a person living through a
historical event. Keep in mind this is not a report on the event but the thoughts and
feelings of someone living through it. Your diary should include any key concepts or
people involved with the event in some way.

Instructions:
1. If one has not been assigned, choose what type of person you will be (rich, poor,
king, peasant, soldier, etc)
2. Write a one-paragraph entry about the beginning of the event. Include the
date. Briefly described how the event began (if your person would know).
3. Write a one-paragraph entry about the middle of the event. Include the date.
Mention whether things are better than the beginning or not.
4. Write a one-paragraph entry about the end of the event. Include the date.
Describe your character’s feelings about the event now that he/she has lived
through the whole thing.

HiStory
Your task: Write a fictional short story that includes vocabulary and historical events from a given unit. This
story can be set in any time period and be about anything but must be a complete story with setting, characters
and conflict.

Your HiStory must include:

• At least 5 paragraphs including a beginning, middle and end.
• At least 10 key terms or ideas from the historical unit (a list may be provided)
• References to these terms that help your read understand what they are and what they mean. (Naming one of
your characters “Teddy Roosevelt” does not count as using the key term!)
• All the key elements of a story (characters, setting, conflict, description)
• A general storyline that makes sense (fantasy is fine but the story itself should have a solid plot)

My HiStory -- Example
Danny and Abby were exploring the woods when they came across
an old shed. They went near the shed and Danny went to open the
door. Abby went running behind Danny and what they saw was a jet
like machine that was used for the war.
“What is it?” asked Abby.
“I don’t know,” stated Danny.
They slowly crept towards the jet. Danny hopped on the wing and went
inside the cockpit.

“What are you doing?” questioned Abby.

“I’m going to check this thing out,” As Danny sat on the seat dirt
puffed out.
“It’s been here for a while,” stated Danny.
“Just get out of there” nagged Abby.
“Wait it says something here!”

Danny got the sleeve of his sweater and cleaned what looked like a
gold platinum.

“What does it say Danny”

“It says… THE TIME MACHINE!”
“What!”
“The time machine”

Danny turned to Abby and stared at each other. Danny then gave Abby
a smile to Abby.
“What are you? Oh no, no way, we are not taking the time machine”
“Come on, it will be really fun”
“No, we can get in really big trouble”
“Pleeeease”
Abby let out a big breathe.
“I’m going to regret this so much”

After Abby hopped in, Danny punched in a random date and pressed
the launch button. They felt the engine running and next thing they
know they find themselves going through a time hole. Then they
stopped, completely. Abby and Danny found themselves in what
looked like the 1600’s.

“Where are we” asked Abby.

“I don’t know” Danny said quietly.
“What time did you put in Danny?!”
“I don’t know” Danny said, “It was already set”
“ You didn’t check the DATE!”
“No, I was to excited” “Well while were here lets check this place”
Danny said.
“Okay, but only for a little while” Abby nagged.

Danny and Abby were walking when they caught on somebody’s

conversation.

“Did you hear about Galileo?”

“Galileo, oh yeah the inventor of that telescope thing,”
“Yeah him, I heard he was going to jail for a lifetime”
“He actually went against the church,”
“Yeah, he was way braver then that Copernicus guy,”
“But wasn’t he that guy with the theory that the earth orbited the
sun?”
“Yeah, that was him”

As the peasants finished their conversation Danny and Abby both

didn’t believe it, they were in the early sixteen hundreds. As they were
walking, something caught their Danny’s attention. A brown covered
book with an old looking kind of leather. He stopped and looked at the
book.

“What’s wrong Danny?” asked Abby.

“Hey Abbs, what is this”
“It looks like an old book,”

While Danny and Abby looked at the book, an old smelly man came
out.

“I suppose your wondering what that is,” said the man.

“Yeah,” said Danny.
Before the man can say anything else, Abby interrupted.
“Danny, this is…a black market!”
“So”
“So, everything they sell is illegal”

Danny ignored her and asked the man what it was.

“This here is the 95 theses that the monk Martin Luther wrote”
“Really” Danny said amazed.
Abby grabbed Danny’s arm and told the man they weren’t interested.
Danny just followed Abby.
“Where are we going Abby?”
“Home!”
“But,”
“Don’t ask questions!”

When Danny and Abby arrived to the jet, Abby tried to start the jet but
it didn’t start. Abby looked at Danny with a terrified face.
“Danny, it doesn’t want to start”
“Maybe our doing it wrong”
“No I’m not”

Abby and Danny got off and checked the engine. It was low on
something, fuel! Abby and Danny looked at each other for about 30
seconds. Then Danny got an idea.

“I know lets go in town and get the fuel,”

Abby gave him a cold stare.

“Are you actually thinking, we are in the 1600’s, no one knows what
fuel is right now!”
“Right, I knew that”
Abby and Danny went back to town to see if they can find something
familiar to fuel.

“There is nothing here” Abby,

“Of course there isn’t” “this is the 1600’s”
“Wait, but this is also the time of the Reformation
Of the Scientific Revolution,”
“So what, Danny”
“They could of discovered oil, but they could of called it something
different, come on, think about it”
“Maybe, unlikely”

Danny and Abby went into town to see if they can find something like
oil. They described to the storeowners how it looked like. While they
were walking there was a presentation going on. They joined the
crowd and heard the priest talk.

“My dear people as you noticed, Galileo went to jail for the rest of his
life, do you know why”
“No, I’ll tell you why. He was going against the teaching of the ancient
philosopher, Aristotle.” “We are warning you now, if you go against
our ways you will be punished,” “that is all”

Danny was still trying to figure out why they were still upset, and Abby
gleamed at him.

“Do you ever pay attention in class!” shouted Abby

“Back in the 15-1600’s the church didn’t like being challenged
because, uh why do I even try explaining?”
“Wait tell me” “Come on Abby”
“Okay, during the reformation, scientist wondered how they could
prove their theories, so they started doing experiments which led
theeee”
“The Scientific Method” said Danny.
“Yes back then the scientific method had only two parts though;
Hypothesis, Observe, and Experiment.” said Abby.
“Are you following Danny?”
“Yeah, (Well Kind-Of)”
“So all this experimenting caused some major problems”
“What” said Danny?
“Theories”
“Theories?”
“Yes, these theories started happening and the church was not happy”
“The church believed that you were going against many old beliefs,”
“HUH?” said Danny confused.
“In other words, theories challenged many long beliefs.”
“Oh okay,”
“You are a dork Danny”
“I know,”

Danny and Abby were still looking for fuel or oil to get home. They
were starting to doubt they will ever get home. But there luck changed.
They met a blacksmith, who seemed very nice, who sold them the oil,
also known as KLVER. Danny and Abby went back to the jet and
hopped in.

“Okay, I’m pushing in March 23,2007,” said Danny.

Danny pushed the launch button and were off. A few minutes later
they opened their eyes and saw that they were back in the shed. Abby
and Danny ran back home and couldn’t wait to tell their friends what
happened, not knowing if they would believe them or not.