<p>Name______Period______</p><p>Salem Witch Trials Newspaper</p><p>THE YEAR is 1692. The setting is the town of Salem and the surrounding villages and counties. The town and neighboring farms form a prosperous community of Puritans, living together, working together, and worshipping together. But a storm is lurking on the horizon . . . and before that storm passes, friendships will be broken, families torn asunder, and over twenty people will have died. The specter of witchcraft hangs over all, and it is your job to report the story. </p><p>YOUR JOB will be to provide your readers with as much factual information as possible about the people, events, and ideas that made up this moment in colonial history. You will cover the underlying causes of the trials, the key people involved in the hysteria, and the aftermath of these events. You will uncover different interpretations of how and why these events occurred and present them in an unbiased manner. And you will design the layout of your articles so that you present this information in an engaging and informative manner.</p><p>Above all, your task as a reporter is to be CURIOUS. </p><p>Ask questions. Find answers. Tell the story. Responsibilities of Reporters and Newspaper Staff</p><p>Everyone's Responsibilities: * One individual article/column, minimum two pages (typed, double- spaced) * Formatting and design for one individual article</p><p>First drafts of these individual articles are due on Monday, November 10th.</p><p>Everyone's Responsibilities who is NOT a Webmaster or an Editor * At least one substantial additional contribution to the project!</p><p>--Additional articles-individual or in groups --Interviews --Obituaries --Editorials --Advertising --Marketing --Come up with your own ideas!</p><p>Webmasters' Responsibilities (2 students):</p><p>* One individual article/column (as stated above) * Formatting and design for that individual article * Design of front page and links to other pages</p><p>Editors' Responsibilities (2 to 3 students):</p><p>* One individual article/column (as stated above) * Formatting and design for that individual article * Proofread all final articles and the newspaper's final draft—this may need to be done in the days after everyone else has finished his or her articles</p><p>Online resources for your preliminary research: </p><p> http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/salem/salem.htm http://salem.lib.virginia.edu/home.html http://school.discoveryeducation.com/schooladventures/salemwitchtrials/ http://www.salemweb.com/guide/witches.shtml http://etext.virginia.edu/salem/witchcraft/ http://www.nationalgeographic.com/salem/ http://gilderlehrman.org/wp/?p=44 (this is a podcast of historian Mary Beth Norton discussing her recent book, which examines original court documents from the Salem witch trials. The information she presents is fairly sophisticated; toward the end of the podcast she explains her thesis regarding the central role that various Indian Wars played in the lives of the Puritans and their contribution to the hysteria in Salem and surrounding areas.)</p><p>The Middle School Library also has lots of excellent online and print resources that are worth exploring—don't hesitate to poke around those resources or to talk to a librarian!</p>