Back to the Future - Historical Family Newsletter

http://edweb.sdsu.edu/courses/edtec596/Units/put.the.URL.here.html

by

Paul Theodore

Introduction

From ancient Egypt to our modern day, families have consistently been a crucial factor in our society. Each of us belongs to some kind of family. The family you belong to now might be a lot different than those of your grandparents or before. Or it may be very similar. Today, many people wish that they could go back in time to "the good old days" and see life as it used to be. They feel that families and society were closer and more loving back then been. Think about how you dressed when you were a baby or even a toddler of 2 or 3. By the time you entered school, you were tying your own shoes and by 10, you were really aware of the different kinds of clothes you had. In the same way that our clothing styles have changed, families have changed through time. Just take a look at your parents and their parents - your grandparents, (if they are still alive) and you could get a glimpse of how families have changed. What do you see in your grandparents' family that you don't see in your own? Are there different characteristics or traits that are found in the two families? You and three other students will be cyber - reporters finding out how families have changed through the years.

The Task

To investigate how families have changed throughout historical periods of our world's history, the four of you in your group will be creating a "Back to the Future" - Historical Family Newsletter. Your research will include identifying how families existed in a certain historical period and location and comparing it to modern day families. A newsletter is usually smaller than a newspaper but has some similar sections such as those dealing with business, religion, arts, editorial, classified, and the front page. In your newspaper, you will be answering the questions of:

Resources

To find information on families in the past as well as in the present, the following sources can be very helpful:

The following resources can be used to contact students in other countries to find out how similar or different their familes are with yours:

The Process

As noted above, the four of you will be creating a "Back to the Future" Historical Family Newsletter. Each one of you will have a role in creating your newsletter. The four roles are: Your group will choose from one of these time periods. In addition to choosing one of these time periods, you will be comparing the families in your time period with a family in the time period of 1900 A.D. - 2000 A.D. Next, you will decide which civilization's families you will evaluate. The civilizations that you can choose from are as follows:

Ancient Egypt
Ancient Greece
Ancient Rome
European Middle Ages
United States

When your group decides upon the historical time period and civilization, then you will have to compare the information you gathered on families to a family today. You must compare it with a family from a country other than the one you are living in.

The third step. Next, after choosing the civilization, you will decide what sections you want to include in your newsletter. Every newsletter will need a front page with a headline. Other sections that will be helpful include a business section, a classified section, an editorial page and an entertainment section. If you decide to include more sections than outlined above, that may give you a better picture of how families have evolved over the years.

The fourth step. After gathering the information about the families of the historical period (usually by the researcher) then this information will be written into articles in the various sections by the writer. The illustrator will work closely with the writer to discover what kind of pictures will be needed for the articles. The layout designer will team up with the illustrator to map out the newsletter. Actually, the layout of the newsletter can be completed on computer or on hard copy.

When the articles on the historical period family are completed, then the researcher and writer can collaborate to discover about the modern day family's evolution. This can be completed using E-Mail to another country or through some of the resources outlined in the Resources section.

The last step. After, completing the research, the writing, the illustrations and the layout then the analysis of the questions need to be addressed. These questions are:

Learning Advice

When you gather information, you need to make sure you compile only information pertaining to families and their characteristics. There will probably more than enough info on other subjects but you don't need to be distracted. When investigating information on families, keep your eyes on articles on the roles of family members, their functions, and their characteristics.

1.) A suggestion when writing one of your article would be to write it in the form of an interview. This can be more interesting to read for your readers and more fun to write. In addition, when you write your article on a present day family, you may want to interview that family. The comparisons that a reader would attain from reading the two interviews (of the historical family and the present day family) would be astounding.

2.) Now, let's see if we can break down this project into simple parts. On your front page, you want a headline that will capture the reader's attention. Of course, it has to be something about the family. When exploring information about the historical period families, you may want to research a family of someone who is famous in history. Although, sometimes this may not be an accurate picture of how families lived in that time period. One thing you may want to take in consideration is that the families of average workers, the wealthy landowner/nobleman, the religious leaders and the rulers may have a different family structure. If you decide to investigate the family of a worker in a historical period, then it will probably be more beneficial to compare the modern day worker's family (thus economically or job wise they would have some similarities).

3.)In the business section, include the kinds of jobs that were available for certain family members. The classified section would include items that families at that ime would be trying to sell or trying to buy. To explore the varieties of entertainment that would be open for certain families, include some of the leisure activities that they would attend or participate in. Assessing the characteristics of families that have survived over time and why would be covered in the editorial section. You may want to include ads that may be appealing to certain family members in that time period.

Evaluation

This "Back to the Future" Historical Family Newsletter will be a project that will take approximately one month to complete. The Newsletter is worth 100 points per member of the newsletter team. A breakdown of the points are as follows:

10 points - front page
10 points - creativity
30 points - group's analysis of families (historical and modern day)
this adds to 50 points total for your group's contribution for the newsletter
50 points are for your contribution to the newsletter

The total possible is 100 points.

Thoroughness, neatness and documenting your sources are all elements that will be evaluated in your contribution to the newsletter.

Conclusion

When you have finished this newsletter you will have a better understanding on how families have evolved over time. Explore the other newsletters that are created in your classroom to get a wider perspective historically on the range of family structures. After completing your research, you may still have a couple of questions to ponder. What is the future for families? Are you fearful or excited about the changes in families? If you could make any laws regarding families, what would you like to make sure happened concerning families? Families will probably always be with us. We can not prevent change but we can be a part of it. When we start our own families, then we can create the families we wish for. What are you wishing for?

Last updated April 28, 1996. Return to the Unit Outline Page