Talented Students Design Playbills on Exploration

 

Okay, so this may be a pretty sneaky way of giving you your assignment for the next few weeks. What else would you expect from me? As some students begin to think of the Belfry musical or seeing the latest movie, I begin to think of theater, which, of course, makes me think of playbills. So here is what I’d like you to do.

 

         Have you ever been to a play here or in New York? If you have you know that when you are seated, you are given a little booklet called the Playbill. (By the way, this is free in America, though it costs over $3.00 in England!) A playbill is not a request for payment to see a play (that would be a Paybill); it is, instead, a booklet that tells you the following information:

 

Do you get the picture? A playbill tells everything you always wanted to know about a show but were embarrassed to ask. Now, you may be asking what a playbill has to do with studying history. I’m so glad you asked because I was just getting around to the connection. Here it is:

During the next few weeks, you and your group will be studying exploration. You already know a little about this period in history, so now it's time for the finale.

The first thing you will need to do is some research. The best places to start will be with your textbook. Over the weekend you will read the sections that are directly associated with your topic, and you will take notes on the relevant information. Today, you and your group should meet to discuss the information you need. After sharing that information, you should decide what other information you want to find. This would include the names of people who may be relevant to your topic, thinking about whom you would consider as actors, directors, or producers. You will also want to make sure that you understand the history of exploration for your country, or the history of interaction between explorers and your native American tribe. When you are done meeting, you can begin researching in your textbook. You will be going to the library next week.

         Now comes the fun part. (I hope.) As a group you will need to make a playbill. It will be fairly easy to list the characters and give short biographies of them. It should also be easy to give a summary of the event's importance during Age of Exploration.

         One of the key parts of your playbill should be about the “producers” and “directors”. Who do you suppose they were? You will want to explain how he or she had a hand in getting exploration or a tribe on its feet. This is a key, because in order to understand how a country prospered from exploration, we need to know who ran it, why they did so, and what they hoped to gain from their travels or their actions.

         The explanation of the acts and scenes should be a chronology of the country or tribe. This will allow the reader to get a sense of the time frame, what places were involved, who explored them, and what happened during the period of exploration. I will work with each group to help you determine your chronology.

         Finally, what kinds of advertisements do you think would be appropriate? Would there be weapon ads? What kind? What natural resources could be advertised? How about some ads for some of the schools that you may have learned about? What kinds of shops would people be interested in? It’s up to you to decide what ads you might want to have. Your playbill will also need a title. Exploration sounds a bit dull, don’t you think? Be creative but get the point of your study across.

         You'll be using DreamWeaver to design your playbill. You can import graphics from the Web, so you don’t have to worry about drawing a lot of things. I will give you a calendar of due dates. Have fun and happy playbilling!

 

This project designed and implemented by Emily Rubinfield, middle school history chair, for the students of Germantown Academy. Web page design and technical assistance furnished by Carol Siwinski, Curricular Technology Specialist.

February 2003