GraceBlock2WQText

toc =G.R.A.S.P.S= textbook's coverage of the Pacific theater of World War II. || =Understanding(s)=
 * Goal || You will create a wikispace that will serve as a supplement to our textbook. The wikispace should improve or expand on your
 * Role || You will act as an editor, researcher, and historian. ||
 * Audience || The Board of Editors at McGraw-Hill will be evaluating student wikispaces from around the country and choosing one to serve as a supplement to their textbook. ||
 * Setting || Make the wikispace reflect areas where you felt the book could have improved or broadened its coverage of the Pacific theater of WWII. ||
 * Presentation || You will create a wikispace about the Pacific theater of WWII that will be sent to our textbook's publisher. ||
 * Standards || **Oral Presentation:** Knowledge 25%; Accuracy 25%; Preparedness 20%; Effort 10%; Teamwork 10%; Presentation 10%. **Wikispace:** Content 20%; Accuracy 20%; Depth 20%; Reflection 15%; Teamwork 15%; Presentation 10%. ||

• cultural differences (and misconceptions about those differences) between the US and Japan greatly affected the way the war was fought. • the Pacific theater had far reaching impacts on society in both Japan and the United States. ||
 * **//Students will understand that://** **(U)** ||
 * • the war in the Pacific had profound and lasting effects on the process and outcome of WWII as well as on US foreign policy.

=Introduction= Have you ever re-read the same paragraph in a textbook, over and over again, only to realize that you remember absolutely nothing that was covered? Do you ever wonder how textbooks so often manage to take the "interesting" right out of a subject? Today you'll be given a chance to make it better!

=Task= The publisher of our U.S. History textbook, McGraw-Hill, has put out a call to schools across the nation asking classes just like ours to help them make their textbooks more user-friendly for today’s teen. They are currently taking submissions of student-made wikispaces to act as a supplement to their book’s coverage of the Pacific theater of World War II. McGraw-Hill is requiring that the wikispace utilize a variety of resources, including two to three different media types (such as art, music, text, audio, video, etc.), at least two of which must be primary resources, and at least two wikispace widgets. Wikispaces from around the country will be submitted to the Board of Editors at McGraw-Hill, and the board will choose the one that they feel best supplements their book’s coverage of Pacific theater. The winning wikispace will win for its creators’ school a $15,000 grant for history education as well as a $200,000 grant for the school as a whole. To best present your wikispace, each page on it should have a short statement from your group reflecting on why the material on that page “improves and broadens” McGraw-Hill’s coverage of the topic. Good luck, and get creative!

=Conclusion= Thank you for your submission to McGraw-Hill's call for textbook supplements! By now you have learned about what textbooks simply can't include, and how adding these facets to learning in some other way can greatly enhance a person's understanding of a topic. Media and internet are powerful tools, and their inclusion in your completed wikispace adds a whole new dimension to what and how people can learn about the Pacific theater of World War II. You have probably also noticed how varying sources reveal different (sometimes even contrary) information about a subject, and why it is so important for historians to do thorough research and consider many viewpoints while they are learning or teaching about a subject. Your wikispaces provide an excellent avenue for this process, offering a variety of resources from different media types, primary sources, and welcoming discussion and varying viewpoints on the subject of the Pacific theater of World War II. Well done!