Events that Changed the World!

The Summer Olympics - Berlin, Germany

In 1936, the world gathered for the summer Olympic games in Berlin, Germany. World War I had ended less than 18 years earlier and everyone hoped to see a reformed and recovered nation at these peaceful games. Instead, the world was witness to a powerful and growing group of German people belonging to the new Nazi party. Their leader, Adolf Hitler, wanted to use the Olympics to showcase his superior "master race" of Aryans and to show the world how far Germany had come.

These Olympic games would make people such as Adolf Hitler and Jesse Owens international superstars as well as prove that Germany would soon be a world power once again.

TASK

You and your group are reporters from the United States on assignment at the Berlin Olympics. You will be responsible for researching and creating a newspaper reporting the many events of the summer games.

Your newspaper should include stories on the sporting events, athletes and important news events that are relevant to the times; especially the relationship between Germany and the rest of the world.

Be creative! Include lots of pictures, drawings, maps and other visuals that will make your newspaper exciting to read. Each group member will be assigned a content area that they will be responsible for reporting on, but everyone needs to help with the newspaper design and layout. Once your newspaper is completed, your reporting team will need to present it to the editors - your teacher and classmates. Your assignment will be graded using the rubric included later on this page.

Process: Step 1

Let's get started!

First, as a group you need to choose a name for your newspaper. This is your first chance to get creative! Begin by selecting a US city you want your newspaper to serve. Next you need to pick a name that describes your newspaper.

If you need some ideas, check out this site: http://library.prakashan.org/newspapers-worldwide-directory/

Next, you need to assign each member of your group a reporting responsibility. Below is a chart with the four reporting content areas and a short description of what you will each be responsible for.

Content Area	Details
Biographies	Write informative pieces describing the key figures in the 1936 Olympics. Please include birthdates, pictures, accomplishments and importance in the olympic games. Examples include Adolf Hitler, Jesse Owens, Ernest Lee Juhnke, Luz Long, etc.
World News	Write stories describing important historical events that preceded the games. Please include pictures and how each event impacted the Olympics games. Examples include Hitler becoming leader of Germany in 1934, those who boycotted the games, the Spanish Civil War, etc.
Olympic Events	Report on who won what events, what records were set, any new events that were added, etc. Be sure to include a medal count chart and other graphics.
Miscellaneous Content	Provide other important newspaper features such as television listings (1936 was the first Olympics shown on tv), weather reports, editorials, catchy headlines, games, interesting pictures, etc.

Process: Step 2

Now that you have your reporting assignments, it's time to start researching!

One thing I would recommend is to read a few passages that address the event in general. Once you have a general knowledge of the event, you can continue your research by focusing more tightly on your reporting area requirements. Here are a few sites I have looked at and would recommend you reading:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlin_Olympics
http://www.ushmm.org/museum/exhibit/online/olympics/ (click on the "online exhibition" link to see a great series of pages)
http://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/triumph/tr-olympics.htm

That should get you started. Once you have a good background knowledge of the 1936 Olympics, you can start gathering information specific to each article you will include in your paper. A good way to do this is by simply using a google search. I've included a link below.

The Nazi Olympics

(L) Jesse Owens receives one of his four gold medals.
(R) Commemorative medals given to Olympic supporters in 1936.

Process: Step 3

Warm up that typewriter, it's time to start writing!

Now that you have your research, let's begin putting together the newspaper. For each article, make sure you have a good, attention-getting headline. For example, no one would want to read a story titled Slugs on a Porch, but someone might read an article titled Slimy Monsters Attack House - Police Mystified. Okay, that's a little out-there, but you get the idea.

You'll want to type out each article individually so you can print, cut and paste it together on your newspaper. Along with your articles, you'll want to include charts, pictures and maybe even a game or two.

If you need help organizing your article, you may want to visit these sites I've picked out:

http://www.eduplace.com/graphicorganizer/pdf/5Ws.pdf
http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/aero/wright/teachers/pdf/language/Newspaper_Article.pdf
http://english.unitecnology.ac.nz/resources/units/paperprod/structure.html

Also, here's a great site that will make a wordsearch puzzle for you! Just pick a title, choose a size and enter the words; and voila! you have yourself a wordsearch!

http://puzzlemaker.school.discovery.com/WordSearchSetupForm.html

Process: Step 4

Now that your newspaper is published, it's time to present it to the class!

Each group will be given 10 minutes to present their paper. During this time, try to hit all the highpoints - fun headlines, great pictures, interesting articles - you should be proud of your work and eager to show it off! Remember, every member of your reporting team must participate in the presentation. You need to be convincing; pretend that the class represents your boss - if he doesn't like it, you're out of a job.

Be ready to answer questions from the teacher and class to see if you've done your research.

Assessment

Your work will be evaluated using this rubric:

CATEGORY	4	3	2	1
Graphics	Graphics are clearly related to the articles they accompany and help keep the reader interested.	Graphics are mostly related to the articles they accompany but still keep the reader interested.	Graphics are somewhat related to the articles they accompany and are slighly interesting.	More than 20% of the graphics are not clearly related to the articles OR no graphics were used.
Articles - content	All articles adequately address the 5 W's (who, what, when, where and how).	90-99% of the articles adequately address the 5 W's (who, what, when, where and how).	75-89% of the articles adequately address the 5 W's (who, what, when, where and how).	Less than 75% of the articles adequately address the 5 W's (who, what, when, where, and how).
Layout - Headlines & Captions	All articles have headlines that capture the reader's attention and accurately describe the content. All articles have a byline. All graphics have captions that adequately describe the people and action in the graphic.	All articles have headlines that accurately describe the content. All articles have a byline. All graphics have captions.	Most articles have headlines that accurately describe the content. All articles have a byline. Most graphics have captions.	Articles are missing bylines OR many articles do not have adequate headlines OR many graphics do not have captions.
Contributions of Group Members	Each person in the group has contributed at least two articles and one graphic without prompting from teachers or peers.	Each person in the group has contributed at least one article and one graphic with a few reminders from peers.	Each person in the group has contributed at least one article with some minimal assistance from peers.	One or more students in the group required quite a lot of assistance from peers before contributing one article.
Spelling and Proofreading	No spelling or grammar errors remain after one or more people (in addition to the typist) read and correct the newspaper.	No more than a couple of spelling or grammar errors remain after one or more people (in addition to the typist) read and correct the newspaper.	No more than 3 spelling or grammar errors remain after one or more people (in addition to the typist) read and correct the newspaper.	Several spelling or grammar errors remain in the final copy of the newspaper.

Conclusion

Congratulations! You and your reporting team have successfully published an award-winning newspaper issue! You have demostrated that you can research a topic using a variety of sources and display your knowledge through thoughtful writing and exciting graphics. You have created a document that both informs and entertains!

Stories your mom should've told you.