by Renee Shackelford

 

 

 

INTRODUCTION

What happened in our history that would permit something as terrible as the Salem Trials and again happen in 1950 with the McCarthy hearings?  Research the trial and the play that Arthur Miller ultimately wrote as a result of the McCarthy Hearings.

 

 

 

 

 

TASK

 

Students will study and research the play The Crucible in order to gain an understanding of Salem, Massachusetts, the 1950s, and the times in which the student now live.

            Objectives and TEKS:  1(6B,E; 7F: 8B,C); 2 (10B;11A,B,C,D,E,F); 3(6F:G;7E,B;8D,10B,12A,B,C; 19B,C);

                                                   4(1B,C;2B,C;5A); 5&6(2C;3A,B,C;5A).

 

1. Watch the movie The Crucible.
2. Using Microsoft Word put together a newspaper that is called The Salem Sentinel.  The newspaper will have the following articles and sections:

Features:  Write two articles (main and secondary) based on events occurring within Salem.

Resident interview

Editorial (Opinions---The people of Salem aren’t as liberal as we are today; therefore, you can not be as open to differences of opinions.)

Obituaries

Feature 3 advertisements

Entertainments

Food

Classified

Look through the resources that I have included in order to become familiar with the life and times of a person living in Salem, Massachusetts.

 

          3.  Write a biographical essay on Arthur Miller.  Include in the essay these things:  1) How did McCarthyism affect him?  2) Why did he write The Crucible?  3) Could something similar happen in our society today?

 

 

 

RESOURCES

 

            http://www.discovery.com/stories/history/witches/witches.html

            http://www.discovery.com/stories/history/witches/trials.html

            http://www.salemwitchmuseum.com/tour.index.html

            http://www.salemweb.com/witchouse/default.htm

            http://www.xroads.virginia.edu/~CAP/PIRITAN/purhist.html

            204.165.132.2:90/crucible/background/frames_mass_law.htm

            http://www.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/salem/salem.htm

            http://www.odyssey.net/users/edu/courses/is182/assignment1hp.htmllonestar.texas.net/~mseifert.amlit1.html

            204.165.132.2:90/crucible/projects/crucdicw.htm

            204.165.132.2:90/crucible/projects/fabricta.htm

            http://plimoth.org/Library.costume.htm

            204.154.132.2:90/crucible/projects/recipeso.htm

            http://www.plimoth.org?Museum/carriage.htm

PROCESS

 

Put together a newspaper that is called The Salem Sentinel.   Put these articles in the paper:

 

 Newspaper Articles

 

Write a main article and a secondary article. The main article’s title will be written in larger print than the secondary article.  Each of the titles will be written as a sentence and will be bolded.  Put your name bolded under the article to the far left.  Use a smaller point than the title of the article to write your name.  The articles will be written in a 12 point. Use Times New Roman or an Arial font.

 Write eight to fifteen sentences for each article.  Indent each sentence, and in the first sentence, answer the questions who, what, where, when.  The other sentences will answer the question how. When writing the titles, do not use article adjectives (a, an, the) at the beginning of the title.  Write objectively and do not use first or second person pronouns (I, we, us, you, your) anywhere in the body of the article.  State only facts and incorporate opening statements such as “It has been reported,” “A witness to the incident said,” etc.

 

Editorial

 

            In the editorial, state a position (pro or con).  Follow the above directions in writing the article EXCEPT use first or second person pronouns.

The editorial will not be on the first page.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Interview

 

            Answer the questions and write an interview that one of the following characters may have given from the Crucible. 

 

Presiding Authority: Deputy Governor Danforth, Reverend John Hale, Judge Hawthorne

 

1. What is your goal for the outcome of the trial?
2. How do you determine if the accusations are truthful?
3. Why do you think there should be a separation of church and state?
4. What makes you experienced in these proceedings?

 

Resident Interview:   John Proctor, Elizabeth Proctor, Rebecca Nurse

 

1.      Why do you think you were accused?

2.      How do you plan on proving your innocence?

3.      If you could change anything, what would you change?

 

 

Put the interview on another page other than the first page.  Do not write out the questions, but rather incorporate the question into the answer.  For example:  When (person’s name) was asked if he thinks there should be a separation of church and state, (person’s name) answered ______...

 

Obituaries

            Write three (3) obituaries.  The obituary should contain these kinds of information:

a)    Person’s age and place of birth if known

b)    Place and time of services                                                               

c)     Brief bio                                                            

d)    Survivors

 

Life Styles, Entertainment, Foods, Culture

            Include in the newspaper three or more articles about life in Puritan New England.  These things could include some type of entertainment that the Puritans may have done, recipes, clothing style with a description of the clothes.

 

 

 

Propaganda Project

Propaganda refers to the deliberate attempt to influence a mass audience to act or think in a certain way.  In The Crucible the girls used propaganda to convince the people of Salem that many of the citizens were witches.

 

1. Attached are the terms and definitions of different types of propaganda.  Use any twelve of the thirteen types of propaganda for the project.
2. Cut out of magazines and newspapers examples of any of the twelve types.
3. Trim off excess paper and neatly mount the ad along with the type of propaganda onto construction paper.

 

TYPES OF PROPAGANDA

 

___ 1.  Bandwagon Approach:  The idea that everybody is doing it.  Usually employs a large crowd of people or refers to a  large group.

 

___ 2.  Testimonial:  Use of well-known, respected/hated people to sway the argument made by the media.  The 

implication is that if you use the product you will be as 

successful, popular, or beautiful as they.

 

___ 3.  Repetition:  Something repeated over and over again to the point of mesmerizing the listener or reader; also

seeks to have the consumer commit the slogan to memory.

    

___ 4.  Plain Folks or Down Home:  Ordinary people, neighborly and folksy promoting products; the implication is that a plain person is more honest and would not cheat or

receive you.

 

___ 5.  Ego Building, Snob Appeal:  Suggests that if you use a certain product you too may belong to this exclusive group; implies that you are superior and should have an

advantage over others.

 

___ 6.  Emotional Words, Patriotic Slogans, Transfer:  Employs words such as “mother,” “grandmother,” “USA,” etc. suggests that if you are a good mother, citizen, or       whatever, you will use this product and/or associates a            person or product with a respected person, group, or            symbol.

 

___ 7.  Value, Durability:  Idea of getting more and paying less; a product that promises to last loner and save the         consumer more money than competing products.

 

 

___ 8.  Straw Man, Scare Technique:  Creates a problem or

exaggerates where none exists in order to sell a product;   for example, “If you have trouble sleeping at night, use           this product.”

 

___ 9.  Sex Appeal:  Features beautiful women and handsome men promoting products; this form of propaganda suggests that if use this certain product, you will be attractive to the opposite sex.

 

___ 10. Card Stacking:  States all the claims in favor of one product, this implies that the product has completely good qualities, few or no bad qualities, and usually doesn’t mention the competition.

 

___ 11. Rationalization:  Reach conclusions on the basis of desire rather than  thinking critically, this form of propaganda feeds upon a consumer’s desire to have a product and ignores other factors that would keep the consumer from purchasing the product, such as need or expense.

 

___ 12.  Name Calling: Attacks a person, product or idea without examining the evidence; this form of propaganda gives the product, people, or idea a bad label so that they will be rejected or disliked.

 

 

___ 13. Glittering Generalities:  Technique of using vague words or ideas that sounds exciting but do not really say much;  the words or ideas really stand for something that everyone believes but have no specific meaning.

Original Advertisement

Create an original advertisement using any three of the propaganda devices.  You may either make a decorated cover for the propaganda project, poster or put it on one slide of the Power Point.  The ad must relate to the play.  If you are taking an economics or government class, you may advertise something that would also work in there.

 

1. Choose the product, campaign slogan, or idea you will be advertising.
2. Create an advertisement which sells itself to the audience you are targeting (everyone in general, teens, children, young adults, middle-aged adults, elderly, families, singles, etc.)
3. Somewhere on your advertisement state the three propaganda devices that you used.

 

 

 

After compiling the newspaper, write the essay on Arthur Miller.  See TASK #3.

 

CONCLUSION

 

From completing this mini-research unit, students will gain an understanding about the subjects and sources that Arthur Miller used in writing The Crucible. By using different strategies from various links, the students will gain knowledge about using the Internet and other resource materials. The students can also transfer this learning into other disciplines.

 

 

 

EVALUATION

Teacher Project Grading Rubric

	Awesome 4 points	Admirable 3 points	Acceptable 2 points	Amateur 1 point	Score
Organization	Well Organized Logical format Transitions from idea to idea were excellent, enhancing the project	Thoughtful organized easy to follow most of the time Transitions easy to follow, but at times ideas unclear	Somewhat organized Somewhat incoherent Transitions not always smooth and at times distracted the audience	Choppy and confusing Difficult to follow Transitions were abrupt and distracted audience
Content	Excellent job of research Utilized information effectively	Good job of research        Utilized information in an efficient manner	Acceptable job of research          Limited information	Unacceptable job of research               Little or no fact gathering
Presentation	Original, unique approach       Engaging, provocative	Clever, at times unique             Well done, interesting	Few original touches At times interesting	Predictable, bland   Did not keep audience interested
				Total Points
Formula for calculating grade	Add points scored from each row Content Xs 2	Total points divided by16 (12/16= .075)	Multiply that number by 100 to find your grade.(.75 x 100=75)	Grade