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Mexican Historical Event MOVIE


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Keywords: Flip Video,
Subject(s): Video, Social Skills, Technology, Geography, Writing, Reading, Information Skills, Social Studies, English/Language Arts, Drama, Speech and Language, History
Grade 6
NETS-S Standard:
  • Creativity and Innovation
  • Communication and Collaboration
  • Research and Information Fluency
  • Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Decision Making
View Full Text of Standards
School: Herbison Woods Elem School, Dewitt, MI
Planned By: Becky Thelen
Original Author: Becky Thelen, Dewitt
The Mexico Movie project is a collaborative group project that takes place in the social studies curriculum. In order to bring Mexico's history to life and recreate the past, students are placed into teams of four-five and are assigned a specific historical event that took place after the 1500's. Once an event is assigned, the students are then directed to research materials and informational websites that provide details about their specific event. After researching, the team must then write a script of their event, which portrays the main happenings and details (years, people involved, reasons for event, outcomes of event, etc.) Finally, the script comes to life through a 5-8 minute production that the students videotape.

Once the movie is complete, teams will share their final taped product with their classmates as a means to teach them about the historical events they have not yet learned. Students are graded on content, historical accuracy, overall performance, and teamwork (a rubric is provided).

The four events choices are noted below.

Spanish Conquest (1519-1819)
Independence from Spain (First Revolution) (1810-1821)
Mexican War with the U.S. (1846-1848)
Mexican Revolution (Second Revolution) (1910-1920)
Comments
I created this project about four years ago, and have had great success. Students really enjoying stepping away from the history books and find this way of learning to be fun and meaningful. However, each year, I have had groups that have not been able to film their movie successfully because they lack the equipment to do so. With in the additon of the Flipvideo, students will have easy access to filming their creative movies which is make the project an achievable for all students.
Cross-Curriculum Ideas
This project crosses barriers in that it focuses on key elements in our 6th grade social studies curriculum as well as our language arts curriculum.
Follow-Up
After viewing each group's movie, the students will discuss key people, places, time periods, and events that occurred within each. A written or oral assessment will be given to check each student's understanding of the important Mexican events.
Materials: Flip Video, Portable, Projector Screens, Power, Keyboards, Video Tools