History Dinner Party or The Course(s) of History

     

    I recently read a very interesting book called The Course of History: Ten Meals That Changed the World. The authors picked ten major events in history, like the Camp David Accords, Nixon's visit to China, the Big Three Tehran conference in WWII, and the Congress of Vienna, for example. Each event is described in great detail and context, and a major meal from the event is described. The entire menu is listed, and recipes are included. It's really well done, one of my favorite reads this year.  It also reminded me of a culminating project that I did often in my American, World, and European history classes (but it could also be easily adapted into just about any social studies class, or even literature class).

    The idea is a Dinner Party. I searched Histocrats Classroom blogs, and, apparently, I had never written it up for  blog, which I found surprising, because it's so much fun. I wish I could take credit for developing it, but like so many of the things I did in my classroom, I found the inspiration somewhere (who knows where?) and then adapted it to fit my style and needs. That's pretty much what all teachers do, right? So here's the germ of the idea, and you can make of it what you will.

   Imagine it's the end of the semester or the end of the year, and you want some comprehensive culminating project that will 

        1) demonstrate that some learning and synthesis have taken place, 

        2) not be a major stress-inducing activity for the students or for the teacher, and 

        3) not be a major headache to grade and should allow the teacher to be relatively lenient in grading         if he/she wants.

The Dinner Party is for you. It is totally adaptable to your needs or creativity.

    These are the directions I gave to my Advanced Placement European History class the last time I assigned it. I'll make comments in RED CAPS.

This project is your semester project and will count as your final, 20% of your grade. This assignment is meant as kind of a take-home test; do not speak with other  students about this project. INDIVIDUAL IDEAS. (INDIVIDUALS OR GROUPS - YOUR CALL) This is a test of your comprehension of events   and should be solely your original work. 

1)  Imagine that you were going to host a dinner and invite 11 (TOTAL SHOULD BE EVEN, ANY NUMBER YOU WANT. I LIKED 10-12, AND I WANTED THE STUDENT TO INCLUDE HIMSELF/HERSELF, SO THEY HAD TO PICK 9 OR 11 PEOPLE.) figures from European history, or essential to European history, from about 1450 to today.   (We will assume that they can all speak English.) You must choose at least one figure from each century, 16^th through 20^th.  They may be famous, infamous or not.  That is, you may create a type character, like a participant in the Women’s March of the French Revolution for example.  You may even include up to 2 characters from fiction.

(YOU CREATE THE PARAMETERS FOR THE GUESTS. YOU MAY EVEN CREATE A LIST OF CHARACTERS FROM WHICH TO CHOOSE.  IF YOU DO THIS, GIVE THEM LOTS OF OPTIONS. ENCOURAGE THEM TO INVITE PEOPLE WHO WOULD MAKE IT INTERESTING. )

2)  You will create a book for your final product that must include (OF COURSE, THERE ARE A MILLION WAYS TO PRESENT THIS. I WAS OLD SCHOOL. IT CAN BE DONE WITH VARIOUS TECHNOLOGY, ON PAPER, ON POSTER BOARD, 3D, ETC)

          A)  a cover and title page

B)  a ½ to 1 page, double spaced, 12 font biography of each person invited (including yourself), complete with picture (ok if you don’t have a picture of yourself), maybe describe what they are wearing to the party

***C)  a full menu describing exactly what foods will be served and why you chose them

***D)  a diagram showing the arrangement of the room and the seating arrangement.  Describe the venue. Be sure to include a seat for yourself. Illustrate the table (will it be round, rectangular, many small tables?), and label each seat. 

E)  Next, write three to five pages double-spaced explaining your reasons for the seating chart. Be creative when predicting the sort of conversations that people might have with each other. What kinds of questions will they ask each other? Do you expect that there will be any arguments over politics or other subjects? What do these people have in common or what might they learn from each other? Who will dominate conversation? Why? Who do you want to sit next to? What do you want to talk about with them?  Why did you select these people?  Remember, a good host plans a party that encourages conversation, debate, and discussion.  Most of the time you hope it’s all positive; sometimes, however, things happen….

***Do C & D on a posterboard or  ½ posterboard.

(YOU CAN ASK FOR ANYTHING YOU WANT. I HAD STUDENTS WHO WROTE A COUPLE OF PAGES OF NARRATIVE, AND I HAD STUDENTS WHO WROTE SCRIPTS, COMPLETE WITH STAGE DIRECTIONS.)

    I wish I had some examples, but maybe this is enough to get you going. And you can find a lot of other "Dinner Party" assignments, rubrics and examples online.

Thomas Nast, "Uncle Sam's Thanksgiving Dinner,"1869