The Daily Pirate - Imperialism Edition

Your group's mission is to create an online version of the the Daily Pirate newspaper with a focus on U.S. Imperialism at the end of the 19th century and at the beginning of the 20th century. The end result will be an online issue of the Daily Pirate that summarizes the United States' past and present involvement in these areas: China, Hawaii, Cuba, Philippines, Panama. You will find some links at the bottom of the assignment to get you started.

Form groups of four to six students. Each student should choose one of the following roles.

Editors: Your work starts on day one. There is no need to wait for content.
Layout and Design Editor- responsible for the creation of your online publication using either PowerPoint or Dreamweaver. They will collect material from the correspondents and organize it for online distribution. Work starts immediately on layout and design - do not wait for content.

Multimedia Editor- takes requests from journalists to gather video, audio and photo relevant to teach topic. Record source of each file and prepare for publication. Catalog and share materials with your layout editor. Share materials with Layout and Design editor. Collect invidual emails from group and share with all group members.

Correspondents: Each group will have one correspondent for the following countries/locations:
1. Hawaii - focus on Queen Lil, Republic of Hawaii, Annexation of Hawaii.
2. Cuba - focus on Spanish American War, Rough Riders, U.S.S. Maine.
3. China - focus on Boxer Rebellion (textbook pages 378-380).
4. Philippines - focus on Philippine American War (textbook pages 377-378).
5. Panama/Latin America - focus on the Panama Canal, both construction and need.

Each correspondent is responsible for answering the following questions in their individual articles. Do not simply answer the questions in order; instead, write informative articles in concise, journalistic style. Think newspaper writing NOT essay writing.

1) Where is their particular country located? This is a good opportunity for maps, links to Google Maps/Earth.

2) Why was this location valuable to the United States? Think in terms of economic, military and political reasons.

3. What steps did the United States take to "colonize" this location? Military, political, etc.

4. What was the immediate outcome for the location and population? Did they benefit or suffer from U.S. actions?

5. Who are the individuals involved: political, business, government, military, cultural? What were their roles?

6. What was the level of support for U.S. Imperialism among Americans?

7. What is the United States' current relationship with this location in 2007?

8. Providing a properly formatted bibliography of at least four sources to the layout editor. Wikipedia entries may be used for background research but not as sources.

Will this be homework or class work?
Both. The above schedule shows how much time you will have to work on this project in class. To complete the project on time, each group should work outside of class and consider this homework. Use email to share information as needed.

How will we be graded?
Group grades. If someone in your group needs help, you need to step in and help them to move forward and complete their assigned duty. The quality of the final product, completion of product, use of class time and overall group cooperation will play a role in this product.

PowerPoint or Dreamweaver?
If you have never used Dreamweaver before then choose PowerPoint. Choose Dreamweaver only if you are familiar with the software. Either way, your final publication should work like a web site with links to relevant pieces of information. The publication should have a home page with and all pages should link to each and to this home page.

If you choose PowerPoint then you need to learn how to create PowerPoint hyperlinks. Here's a good tutorial.

Will we present in front of the class?
No. Your publications will be viewed in class as students move from computer to computer to see the final results, take notes, and answer questions.

Resources: