20th Century Famous Russians: A Theme Halloween Party

 

A WebQuest for High School Students (Russian Language)

Designed by Olga Slasten-LaPlante

laplao@portlandschools.org

Introduction | Learners | Standards | Process | Resources | Evaluation | Conclusion | Credits | Student Page

Introduction

This WebQuest was designed for the Casco Bay High School, Portland ME, for the World of Russian Course. This is intended to be used with high schools students, however, you can modify and/or use it with younger or older students as well.

The lesson aims at helping students get a closer look at the history and culture of the 20th century in Russia, quite controversial, and to try to interprete rather than simply learn biographies of the famous people. It also opens up a lot of creative possibilities.

Learners

This lesson is designed for the sophomore class, however, it can be easily modified to suit younger or older students as well. The targeted level of proficiency is novice.

Students should be familiar with browsing the web and defining/limiting search using web search engines. Students should be familar with "internet grammar".

Curriculum Standards

Below you will find Maine Learning Results, currently under review (for more information, go to Maine Learning Results homepage), that are associated with the objectives of this WebQuest.

E. CULTURAL PRACTICES, PRODUCTS, AND PERSPECTIVES
Students will gain insight into another culture through an understanding of its social practices, products, and perspectives. (Indicators followed by an asterisk (*) may be accomplished in English or the second language. All other indicators are to be performed in the second language.) Students will be able to:

4. Identify and discuss social, political, and economic issues that affect youth or the community in the culture studied (e.g., legal rights, political organizing, employment opportunities).*

HISTORY
Students will learn to analyze the human experience through time, to recognize the relationships of events and people, and to identify patterns, themes, and turning points of change using the chronology of history and major eras. In interpreting current and historical events, students will evaluate the credibility and perspectives of multiple sources of information gathered from technology, documents, artifacts, maps, the arts, and literature.
A. CHRONOLOGY
Students will use the chronology of history and major eras to demonstrate the relationships of events and people.
B. HISTORICAL KNOWLEDGE, CONCEPTS, AND PATTERNS
Students will develop historical knowledge of major events, people, and enduring themes in the United States, in Maine, and throughout world history.
C. HISTORICAL INQUIRY, ANALYSIS, AND INTERPRETATION
Students will learn to evaluate resource material such as documents, artifacts, maps, artworks, and literature, and to make judgments about the perspectives of the authors and their credibility when interpreting current historical events.

Process

1. In your team, discuss concepts that make people famous or have most influence, like evil, good, wisdom, intelligence, kindness, joy, harmony, etc. Select any four, and define what color best represents each idea. Create a four-color poster. As an alternative (or addition), use music. (Instrumental music only) **Teacher Note: It's possible to work from the person back to the concept, however, there is something different about first appealing to the left side of the brain, and it sort of sets the creative and more personal tone for the whole project.
2. As a team, select each a historic figure from the list of Famous Russians below (or if you have other favorites, ask for the instructor's approval). The people you choose should be associated with any three concepts you selected in Step 1. Feel free to browse Wikipedia for a quick look at the biographies.
• Tsvetayeva, Marina
• Bunin, Ivan
• Stalin, Joseph
• Lenin, Vladimir
• Saharov, Andrei
• Plesetskaya, Maria
• Gorbachov, Mikhail
• Zhukov, Georgy
• Brodsky, Joseph
• Mayakovsky, Vladimir
• Krupskaya, Nadezhda

**Teacher Note: You can select more or a totally different set of people to research. This is totally personal. If you don't trust Wikipedia, it can still be a great resource for more links on each subject.

3. Research your person. Use at least 3 sources to compile a one page long biography to submit, highlighting one or two events that best reveal the concept you originally associated your person with. Please comment on the fact whether all of the sources agree or contradict, and provide your guess why. **Teacher Note: Feel free to add your own resources as needed.
• http://www.waytorussia.net/WhatIsRussia/FamousRussians.html
• http://wikipedia.org
• http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/RUSkrupskaya.htm
• Google
4. Check back with your team to determine whether your choice of the concept truly corresponds with the person. Make changes in the concept as necessary.
5. Share your work with the rest of the class, present your poster, and explain your thinking.
6. Complete your research, and design three accessories or a three-piece costume for the Halloween party. You are to use color you chose for that person, and to make that person as easily identifiable as possible. No incognitos, please!!!
7. Let's party!

Ideally, this will take two-three 1 hour long periods, depending on how much can be assigned as homework and length of the class. Ideally, this will take place immediately before Halloween to preserve the spirit.

Students must be divided into groups. As teacher, you will know what has worked best with your students in the past, but here are some ideas to consider:

Some of the people chosen are often potrayed in a simplified way. For example, Stalin was a tyrant, and sent millions of people to death. While this is true, it's also important to point out that this is not how his image was perceived by many Soviet people for decades, and even now there are people who loved that time. It's important to discuss why that is possible. Another possible issue is if students choose their own character, such as Grigory Rasputin. His figure is more than ambiguous, and is better to keep away from for this particular project.

This lesson seems fairly self-explanatory and scaffolded. However, good organizing skills are a big plus.

Variations

This lesson can be totally self-sustained, and done on students' own time. However, it's a good idea to have at least the presentation and the party part, to keep it fun and serve the originally stated goal.

Resources Needed

Some of the suggestions:

• Computer work stations or laptops, preferably 1 to 1
• Internet access
• Posters (students' responsibility)
• CD/tape player if students choose music
• Costumes (students' responsibility)

This lesson requires one teacher. The party is the piece that you may plan together with the students. Please remember to have an educational goal for that lesson too. For example, if those characters were to meet again and try to work things out, what could they say to each other?

Evaluation

This project aims at developing creative and interpretive perception of history and its famous people. Thus, almost the entire project is about interpretation. It's also important to be critical of the information students gather to base their conclusions on, and the Informational Accuracy section focuses on internet literacy skills.

Conclusion

Now not only you have studied the history and culture through the famous Russians of the 20th century, you have also tried to examine how various sources portray them and to interprete their achievements on a more personalized level. Since Russian history, like that of many other countries, is quite convtroversial, it's important to learn to understand that there is more than one side to each story. Keep an open mind!

Credits & References

Internet Grammar and Search Resources:

One of the hardest parts about doing academic research on the Internet is figuring out where to start! A search engine or subject portal is usually the first thing to try, but which are the most useful for your research need? The search strategy engine.

A Basic Tutorial on Searching on the Web

Evaluating WebPages: A WebQuest

Information Literacy by Alan November

The Internet Archive

Tips on evaluating websites

Who owns the domain?

Helpful Tips for Searching

Google Help

For more recent information about webquests and to find templates go to The WebQuest Page and the Design Patterns page.

"We all benefit by being generous with our work. Permission is hereby granted for other educators to copy this WebQuest, update or otherwise modify it, and post it elsewhere provided that the original author's name is retained along with a link back to the original URL of this WebQuest. On the line after the original author's name, you may add Modified by (your name) on (date). If you do modify it, please let me know and provide the new URL."