The Watson's Go To Birmingham by Christopher Paul Curtis

Introduction

Christopher Paul Curtis penned a historical fiction novel partially set in the segregated South during a hostile time in United States history. It's a coming-of-age story in which Kenny, the main character, is forced to face a harsh reality about racism, sterotypes, and hatred when four African-American girls are killed in a church bombing in Birmingham, Alabama in 1964.

Task

  • What are the positive and negative aspects, for an African-American boy, of living in up north in Michigan during the Civil Rights era?
  • How did siblings rivalry play a part in the story.
  • Who are the real-life girls who were killed in the Birmingham Sixteeth Street Baptist Church bombing in 1964?
  • Did the Birmingham church bombing change the course of American history during the Civil Rights movement?
    The Team will investigate and uncover why the Sixteeth Street Baptist Church was bombed. You will list the reasons for indicting the accused perpetrators of this bombing. The results of the investigation will be presented in a written report. The committee will create a journal where they will keep track of all the information they disclose from observations and interviews. The information will be added to the appendix of the final report. The team will collaborate, write their final report, and present it to the elders for review. Once approved, the findings will be presented in the main auditorium using audio and visual effects. The committees' final written reports and presentations will include suggestions what penalty the bombers must face as a resul of the findings or the team's investigation. Both written and presentations will be done in a convincing way so that they capture the attention of the whole community.

 

Process

Evaluation

CATEGORY Exemplary Proficient Partially Proficient Incomplete POINTS
Research Questions

3 points

2 points

1 point

0 points

 ___/3
Wrote thoughtful, creative, well-worded specific questions that were relevant to the assigned topic. Wrote well-worded, specific questions that were relevant to the assigned topic. Wrote questions which lacked focus, were poorly stated, and were not entirely relevant to the assigned topic. Wrote questions which lacked a specific focus, were poorly stated, and not relevant to the assigned topic.
Use of Sources

3 points

2 points

1 point

0 points

 ___/3

Used websites provided to find informtion to support the questions

Used most of the sources.

Used a few of the sources.

Used none of the sources provided.
Note-taking & Keywords

3 points

2 points

1 point

0 points

 ___/3
Extracted relevant information. Extracted mostly relevant information. Extracted a lot of information which wasn’t relevant. Extracted irrelevant information.
Brainstormed keywords, categories, related terms that were effective in researching the questions. Selected mostly effective keywords to use in researching the questions. Selected some keywords that were not effective in researching the questions. Selected no effective keywords to use in researching the questions.
Organization and Synthesis

3 points

2 points

1 point

0 points

 ___/3
Presented content clearly and concisely with a logical progression of ideas and effective supporting evidence. Presented most of the content with a logical progression of ideas and supporting evidence. Presented content which failed to maintain a consistent focus, showed minimal organization and effort, and lacked an adequate amount of supporting evidence. Presented content which was unfocused, poorly organized, showed little thought or effort and lacked supporting evidence.
Selected an appropriate and effective format to creatively communicate research findings. Selected an appropriate format to structure and communicate research findings. Needed to select a more effective format to structure and communicate research findings. Failed to select an appropriate format to communicate research findings.
Citations/ Documentation

3 points

2 points

1 point

0 points

 ___/3
Cited all sources of information accurately to demonstrate the credibility and authority of the information presented. Cited most sources of information in proper format and documented sources to enable accuracy checking. Cited most sources of information improperly and provided little or no supporting documentation to check accuracy. Created citations which were incomplete or inaccurate, and provided no way to check the validity of the information gathered.

TOTAL POINTS

  ___ /15

Conclusion

Congratulations! You have reached the end of Ms. Windom's WebQuest. You should now have a deeper understanding of how certain tragic events, such as the Birmingham Church bombing, had an enourmous impact on Americans. Just like in the novel The Watsons Go to Birmingham, Kenneth Watson's life was drastically altered by this event, you have discovered how the evil culprits escaped facing consequences for their actions. You were able to make a determination as to the extent of justice your team would have handed down to these villians if you were the judge and jury.

Now, go out and spread love not hate!