Summary
The students took factual information about the five phases of the French Revolution and created a five-act, live action film.
TIPC Ratings
Developing – The teacher provided a document of questions and answers regarding the five stages of the French Revolution. Five groups of students were tasked with adapting that material into a screenplay. Students had to be able to portray answers to three essential questions through their dialogue and movie. Students had to research props such as dipping the pen in the ink and costumes of the time period. They even spoke with accents.
Approaching – Extensive use of google docs enabled students to share ideas easily. Once the scripts were finished and combined, they projected it in class and peers and added more ideas. Google docs was used again to assign roles and jobs.
Students collaborated both within the classroom as well as outside of the class. Most of the students met on a Saturday at the home of the “director” and filmed.
Approaching – Their movie had to address these three essential questions:
What were both the fundamental and immediate causes of the French Revolution?
How did each phase of the revolution reflect the positions on the political spectrum?
How was Napoleon able to rise to power? How were various members of French society affected?
Students had to analyze the historical events and convey them through dialogue and a screenplay. This was a difficult and open ended task.
Target – The students were very creative with their script, costumes, and movie. The students used MovieMaker to add music and edit the final cut.
Student Artifact
Lesson Materials
