Midterm+Madness+IX

=Midterm Madness IX=

It's baaaaaack.

Midterm Madness roles into AP United States History with a double tournament this year in January and May. This year, **//__you__//** will decide the participants that are found in Chapters 1-22 (January) and Chapters 23-43 (May). Your participant must be a person, animal, or object that you feel had the biggest influence, good or bad, in American History during that particular time period. This is the same criteria that TIME uses when selecting the "Person of the Year".

In order to prove your point, you must construct a TIME Magazine Cover and a four-page "feature story" that argues that point of view. Instructions for this assignment are found below. Both the cover and article are due on **Thursday, January 7th.**

The Assignment, Part I - The Cover
Below is the Excel document featuring the instructions, example and template for the assignment. If you have any questions, please let me know by emailing me. I think it is pretty self explanatory but here is a quick overview of what you need to put in the magazine cover...
 * At the very top (in the red border), type your name where it says "your name here"
 * In the top three boxes I would like three "AP History" notable facts (i.e. - things that could appear on the AP Exam and not things that could appear on a trivial pursuit card)
 * Picture, photograph, or political cartoon of the figure in question (don't hide the head behind the "TIME" logo - if it dispears right click on the logo and select "bring to front")
 * Please DO NOT stretch photos or graphics so that it looks unnatural
 * Please DO NOT use pixelated photos or graphics
 * The name of the figure your assignment is on
 * 10 word "bullet" biography - short and sweet definition about your figure
 * Plus: The title of your 3-4 page article

For the cover itself, I included an instruction page, an example page, and a blank templete which can be located at the tabs found at the bottom of the Excel spreadsheet. Please print out a color copy which will be put on display in my classroom.

__Do not__ email it to me to print-out...it will overwhelm my email system and also use up my ink. Please note, that the margins for printing should be set at a half-inch (.5) on all sides except the bottom which should be a quarter-inch (.25), in case your computer re-formats the document.



The Assignment, Part II - The Article
Once picking your subject, construct and arguement defending him/she/it as the single biggest influence in the first half of American History. This is NOT a biography, it is an persuasive paper so you will be graded on the merits of your arguement and not on the exciting life of your subject. I want to know __how__ the world changed because of what they did (or did not do). In order to do this set the scene of what America was like before and after their contribution to history. How did it lead to future events? How did it lead to the world we live in today?

This paper should feature:
 * Normal margins (no less than one inch around)
 * Size 10 "Arial Font" or Size 12 "Times New Roman Font"
 * A title at the top, followed by your name (no "wasted space" at the top or around the title)
 * A picture can be included but must be no bigger than 1/4 of the page.
 * Four pages means that words should be about half-way down the fourth page
 * A bibliography at the end featuring where you got your information from in MLA format (how to correctly cite: [])
 * Search engines (like Google, Bing, Yahoo, etc.) are not sources, so their webpages should not appear in your bibliography
 * Wikipedia and other user driven websites are good for gathering information but not always 100% fact checked so they should not appear in your bibliography.
 * Some good sources are available here: []. The user name and password can be found in the email that linked you to this page.

The Brackets
Once everyone has selected a subject, Mr. Freccia is going to create a bracket which will pit all of the various characters against one another. It's an easy way to review and an easy way to see if your arguement was a good one. The four best in the field - the "Final Four" - will receive extra credit for their insightful selection. Good luck!