American Frontier

The American frontier which is also known as the Wild West or the Old West is a period that starts in the late 17th century and ends in the early 20th century You suddenly awake up in a southern state of America, you will journey through the times of lawman, outlaws, Native Americans, trains, the gold rush, oil barons, gunslingers, slaves, saloons, posses, horses, bank and train robberies, brawls, showdowns, western music, the Pinkertons, civil war, the confederacy, the union, duels, presidential assassinations, congress, the new states, raids, wagons, snake oil and so so much more.

Your quest includes the entirety of the American Frontier period but you do not have to research everything. Only the events that pique your interest. Then you will fill in a graphic organizer of your choice and fill it in with various events that correlate with one another. After learning about different events students will publish a historical fiction piece based on one real life event that took place during the Old West time period.

Step 1. Students will research several events, at least 4, during the American Frontier period.



Step 2. As you are journeying throughout the Old West, students will need to complete a graphic organizer of their choice to record their findings.

Step 3. After completing research, students will choose an event that they have interest in.



Step 4. Students will begin the writing process to complete a Historical Fiction piece from the eyes or perspective of a person from the event you have chosen. It can be from the point of view of anyone involved in that event. The person does not have to be well known figure, it can be someone random who was supposedly there and how they would react to the situation.



Step 5. Upon completion of the piece, students will submit published work.

Here are some resources to get you started but you can also use your own resources as long as you give credit and the resources are not abnormal. Some of these resources are separated by the many alt-periods of the American Frontier. You can either specifically focus on certain events from one alt-period or pick multiple events spanning multiple alt-periods as long as they are connected in some way. The choices is up to you.

Evaluation of the graphic organizer:

-The main focus will be the correlation between the multiple events, at least 4, that you choose.

-Proper punctuation, grammar and structure will be the secondary focus but it is still as important and should be properly maintained.

-You will not be judged based on the events that you choose as you have complete freedom as long as it is in the proper time period and location.

This task makes up 25/100 points in total.

Evaluation of the historical fiction piece:

- The main focus will be the authenticity and insightfulness of the writing.

-  Proper punctuation, grammar and structure will be the secondary focus but it is still as important and should be properly maintained.

-You will not be judged based on the event that you choose as you have complete freedom as long as it is in the proper time period and location.

This task makes up 75/100 points in total.

By successfully completing a fictional writing of an event from the perspective of a person in the American Frontier students will have understood how someone back then might have viewed their everchanging environment and all the new things that came and went so quickly. There are many sub-histories included in the Old West timeframe so each student will most likely write about a new setting including different types of peoples, different types of landscapes and different types of situations because of how big the American Frontier spanned in both time and land.

After turning in their work students will submit a reflection of their journey back to the American Frontier through email. This email will consist of anything that the students liked, disliked, what went wrong, what should be improved and a general overview of their research journey.