1960’S Counterculture A WebQuest for 11th Grade U.S. History by Jack Opkins
INTRODUCTION
You are an FBI agent in 1969. You have been ordered by the President of the United States to investigate subversive activity. The President is making an “Enemies List” that includes people that don’t conform to society. Yes, this is the time of the Vietnam war, and pretty much anybody that has long hair, or wears tie-dyed clothing is deemed subversive by the government but, you are looking for people that are famous. You have but one clue, a sheet of lyrics to a newly created Simon and Garfunkel song, A Simple Desultory Philippic (Or How I Was Robert McNamara’d Into Submission). Just to make things complicated, Simon and Garfunkel have included both famous subversive people and prominent politicians but you have to find out who belongs to which category. It is your job to find out why both the subversive people and prominent politicians should be remembered for the parts they play in the 1960’s.
TASK
Upon your completion of the WebQuest you will be able to:
• identify subversive people and prominent members of the government; • explain why these people are considered subversives, or prominent politicians and why they should be remembered after the 1960’s come to a close; • create a poster depicting anyone discussed in the song and why they should be remembered; • present your findings and your poster to the class • persuade the class into believing that your suspect is considered subversive or a prominent politician;
If you choose to do so, you may create your poster using a photo editing program. Also, you may use PowerPoint, a video or song, created by you, to present your findings to the classroom.
PROCESS
To accomplish the task, you will have to complete the following steps:
1. Every good cop needs a partner so; you'll be assigned a partner by your Director.
2. Then you will start your investigation here, using the following links to gather information on the people mentioned in Simon and Garfunkel’s song.
A Simple Desultory Philippic (http://imv.aau.dk/~jfogde/lyrics/parsley.html)
Norman Mailer (http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/database/mailer_n.html)
Maxwell Taylor (http://search.eb.com/eb/article?eu=73326)
John O’Hara (http://www.randomhouse.com/author/results.pperl?authorid=22547)
Robert McNamara (http://www.defenselink.mil/specials/secdef_histories/bios/mcnamara.htm)
Rolling Stones (http://www.bbc.co.uk/6music/artists/rollingstones/1960.shtml)
Beatles (http://www.iamthebeatles.com/article1001.html)
Ayn Rand (http://www.ayn-rand.com/)
Phil Spector (http://www.allmusic.com/cg/AMG.dll?p=AMG&sql=Bfme097w7krrt)
Lou Adler (http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=B61jqeaz04xd7)
Barry Sadler (http://www.barrysadler.com/home.htm)
Lenny Bruce (http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/lbruce.htm)
Bob Dylan (http://www.bobdylanbiography.8k.com/)
Andy Warhol (http://www.artchive.com/artchive/ftptoc/warhol_ext.html)
Roy Halee (http://mixonline.com/ar/audio_roy_halee/)
3. Once you have investigated these people and come to your conclusion about what type of suspect he/she is, decide who you would like to depict on your poster and present to the class.
4. Due to the limited funding of the FBI and the need to preserve resources, no more than one group will be allowed to present their findings on a particular suspect. Once your group has decided which suspect they would like to depict on a poster and present to the class, tell the Director so no other group can infringe upon your findings.
5. Once you have told the Director who the subject of your depiction and presentation will be begin creating your poster, being sure to symbolize who they are and why he/she is important.
6. After completing the poster prepare your findings to present to the class. Remember you must persuade the rest of the class that your findings are true and accurate; otherwise the Director might decide that you haven’t properly done your job.
EVALUATION
The Director will evaluate your performance based on the following:
Beginning Developing Accomplished Exemplary Score
1 2 3 4
Agent has not Agent has used allotted Agent has used his investigation used only a investigation Utilization Agent has time or portion of his time to of Research used his resources investigation complete his Period and investigation wisely. Has time to research with Job time spent time investigate no detours, Performance appropriately talking his his suspect and perhaps with little to partner or and but had has helped no detours others about trouble other groups from his task. things other focusing on in their than the task this task. investigative at hand. process.
Poster is Poster is below Poster is satisfactory. Poster is average with average with It is colored in Poster excellent. All minimal a moderate and has Depicting requirements effort. It is amount of appropriate and have been not colored effort. It is details about Explaining completed in, has no colored in, the suspect, Chosen above and description, but could but lacks a Suspect beyond the and does not depict more minimal stated accurately details about amount of requirements. depict the the suspect. aesthetics or chosen topic. detail.
Agent has made a reasonable Presentation Agent has Agent has effort to of Findings Agent has made an made little to explain his are True, made some outstanding no effort in poster and Accurate effort in effort to explaining his has and explaining his explain his poster and somewhat Persuasive poster to the poster to the suspect to the been able to class, but has class. The class. He fails persuade the not persuaded class has to persuade class that his the class that been the class his findings are his findings persuaded findings are true and are true and that his facts true and accurate accurate. are true and accurate. however, the accurate. class still has some reservations.
CONCLUSION
Congratulations! You have successfully completed the WebQuest. If you followed your field training properly, then you have managed to properly identify your suspects as either famous subversive people or prominent politicians. You have depicted one individual on a poster and explained why he is important to the 1960’s. You have presented your findings to the class and have persuaded your fellow agents and the Director that your findings are true and accurate. It looks like that big promotion might be in your immediate future, if you can answer the Director’s next question. Who do you think is a famous subversive, or a prominent member of the government today?
CREDITS & REFERENCES
Simon and Garfunkel image courtesy of: http://shawnyboy.com/mockups/simon&gar.htm
A Simple Desultory Philippic (Or How I Was Robert McNamara’d Into Submission), written by Paul Simon, produced by Lou Adler, 1965.
Based on a template from The WebQuest Page (http://webquest.sdsu.edu/) and the Design Patterns (http://webquest.sdsu.edu/designpatterns/index.htm).