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INTRODUCTION

You are an independent consultant hired by the Mount Vernon Shakespeare Company. They want a newsletter summarizing various aspects of Shakespeare's life, adding bits about the times in which he lived. This newsletter will be handed out at all performances of Shakespeare's plays to both inform and entertain the audience.

You are permitted to hire three people on your staff to create this product. They have hired other teams as well and will choose the best designed and most appealing newsletter to distribute at all performances. Additionally, the newsletter will be featured on the MVHS website as an example of solid scholarly work and artistic design.

TASK

Create a newsletter in groups of 4 about the life and times of Shakespeare. In order to accomplish your goal, each of you must choose from the following roles:

LEAD REPORTER
Headline article and Coordinator of Publication

NEWS
Government (Monarchy and Parliament)

BUSINESS
Trades and Crafts, Guilds, Fairs, Exploration

STYLE
Fashion, Food, Roles of Men and Women

SPORTS AND ENTERTAINMENT
Tournaments,

RELIGION & SCIENCE
Church, Witches, Plague

OBITUARIES
Famous people

Extra credit features (No more than 10 pts awarded for each component):

1. Timeline of Important historical events that occur in Shakespeare's lifetime
2. Ads of products that may have existed in Shakespeare's time
3. "Spotlight" feature: featuring small biographical information of key figures in England in the time of Shakespeare

PROCESS

WEEK 1	INTRODUCTION
Overview of activity
Choose your group members and topics.
DEADLINE: End of Period	Group Member Worksheet w/ chosen topics
	(GROUP GRADE 10 pts)

WEEK 2	RESEARCH
Research your own area of expertise.
DEADLINE:	Individual Research Worksheet (INDIV. GRADE 15 pts)

WEEK 3	CITATION
Overview: How to do your Works Cited Page of all sources you intend to use.
DEADLINE: MARCH 24	Rough draft of article
	Directions for Rough Draft
	w/ works cited piece attached
	Sample Elizabethan Article
	(INDIV. GRADE 30 pts)

WEEK 4	LAYOUT/DESIGN
Overview: Utilizing Microsoft Publisher and choosing your own elements within it.
DEADLINE:	Layout design of whose article goes where and where pictures/graphics will go.
	(GROUP GRADE 15 pts)

WEEK 5	REVISIONS
Instructional piece: hand back teacher feedback on articles—areas which are lacking research-wise, etc.
DEADLINE:	Revised rough draft (INDIV. GRADE: 10 PTS)
	COMPLETE Works cited (GROUP GRADE :10 pts)

WEEK 6	FINISHING
Put it all together—send to one person to put into publisher.
DEADLINE:	Submit all information to copy editor.
	(GROUP GRADE 10 pts)

WEEK 7	PUBLISHING
Finalize your changes—
DEADLINE:	Final project (GROUP GRADE 100 PTS)

RESOURCES

You may use only print materials (library books) and the websites listed below in your research.

• ABC-CLIO Modern History Database
• Gale Virtual Reference Library (Elizabethan World Reference Library)
• Folger Shakespeare Library
• Elizabethan England
• National Archives
• Shakespeare's Life and Times

EVALUATION

You will be graded based upon the following criteria:

(40 PTS)	RESEARCH
	✓ Research is documented correctly w/ a works cited page for each section
	✓ Each writer has written the document in his/her own words and not copied words or phrases from the original sources
	✓ Each article reflects a solid knowledge of his/her particular area of expertise
	✓ The newsletter as a whole reflects a holistic understanding

(20 PTS)	MECHANICS
	✓ Each article is well written
	✓ Each article is written in Standard English, following comma and semi-colon rules

(20 PTS)	LAYOUT/DESIGN
	✓ The layout is attractive and effective
	✓ There are at least _________ pictures/graphics
	✓ The layout assists the reader's comprehension of the materials

(20 PTS)	COLLABORATIVE EFFORT (GRADE IS AN AVERAGE OF YOUR PEERS' SCORE FOR YOU)
	✓ Met all deadlines
	✓ Worked well with group members
	✓ Offered creative ideas to the whole project
	✓ Contributed a fair share to the overall project

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