Black History Project: "A Hero's Soundtrack"

In honor of the many heroic men and women who have greatly contributed to Black History, all 6^th Grade students will complete a project that pays respect to these figures.  This year’s Black History project will be a combination of an essay, music, oral presentation and a visual presentation. 

 Instructions:

Students will be allowed to pair up with another student to complete this project.  There can be no more than two students per project!!!  This is NOT a requirement; students can complete the project on their own. 

***Mrs. Yancie has to approve the partners if you choose to work in a group***

Students will create a soundtrack for their assigned Black History figure.   Mrs. Yancie will assign each student or pair a Black History figure.  For each figure, the following will need to be handed in for full credit:

1)      A song-choose a song that you believe describes your person, relates to his/her life in some way, reminds you of your assigned person, etc.  For example:  “The Journey/Kopano” for Marcus Garvey; “Colored People” by DC Talk for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.; “Strange Fruit” by Billie Holiday for Ida B. Wells (we will listen to these in class)

      2)      An essay-explain why you chose your song and how it relates to your person.  Select at least
             three lines in the song and explain how you believe these words from the song relate to your
             person.  Do not give a long list of biographical information other than the basics (date of
             birth, age, where he/she was born, date of death, etc.).  You will get points taken off.  Use the
             song to tell about the person!

3)      CD covers for the soundtrack-BE CREATIVE!!! Create a CD cover for the soundtrack for your person.  This cover should feature the name of the person and the title of the song.  DO NOT HAVE A PICTURE OF THE PERSON ON THE CD COVER!!!!  Be creative when choosing images that relate to the person. 

4)      Oral presentation-each students or pair will be required to present their soundtrack and poster to the class.  Students need to describe the song, explain why they chose it and how it relates to their person.  YOU CAN NOT READ DIRECTLY FROM YOUR BOARD!!!  You are to have a prepared oral presentation ready on the due date!!!  You must save the lyrics on your flash drive on a Word Document or a PowerPoint slide to present to the class during your presentation.

 The following will be posted on a BLACK poster board:

      ·         Lyrics to the chosen song (which must have the name of the song and the writer of the song);
             KEEP ALL LYRICS CLEAN!!!  If the lyrics are offensive, this will result in an automatic
             loss of 75 points!!!

·         Essay: TYPED, Double space, size 12, and Times New Roman Font

                  o   One student – one page
                  o   Two students – two pages
      ·         CD Cover: WARNING!!!  The less creative you are, the less credit you will receive
        o   Can be no smaller than 8x11
      ·         Your poster must be decorated creatively, attractively, and must not be sloppy and show little
              effort!  You WILL NOT receive full credit!

This project is worth 200 points

Extra Credit:

           ·          If you bring in the actual song for the class to hear, you will receive extra credit.  You will
              not be able to pull the song up on www.youtube.com during your presentation.
           ·          Any extra work (such as “double CD covers”, two page essay if you are not doing this
              project with a partner, etc.)

DUE DATE:  THURSDAY, February 7, 2013