President’s Desk Project Recreate Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon’s Desk

Do Now: If someone pulled the fire alarm in the White House in the middle of the day and everybody, including the President had to leave quickly, what do you think you would see on the President’s desk?

Objective: you and your group will recreate the desk of your assigned President in his last few months of office. Every fact from your graphic organizer must be displayed in some shape or form on the desk. How you choose to do so is ENTIRELY up to your group. Think creatively and consider the elements on or in a desk that can be shown on a flat surface.

A few other requirements: 1.Be as creative but as realistic as possible 2.Provide enough information but not too much that it is overwhelming. – Example: Try to Explain Great Society, Camelot, New Federalism, Vietnamization etc. in creative ways that lets an audience understand the topic in 4 – 5 sentences or visually. 3.You can ask for clarification on terms, but you can’t run ideas by me, or ask if this looks okay. Work together and trust your ideas. 4.Desk must be 72”L x 48” W 5.You have two days for this assignment.

How will I be graded? Content (40 points): All parts of the graphic organizer are present, correctly interpreted, fully explained. Don’t make me guess but cut the fluff and be precise and succinct. Creativity (10 points): Items are unique and not repetitive of other students work – leverage your group members to find ways to present the information in three dimensions WOW (up to 5 points): If you are able to show me something unexpected that makes me say WOW then you can get extra credit points!

Closure Now that we have reviewed the desks created by our peers, we will divide into 2 groups. Group A will pull out the thread of events that deals with the Cold War and organize it. Group B will pull out the thread of events that deals with the Civil Rights Movement. We will then share these with each other.