1. The Question

1. 1. The Question How did mass hysteria create the events of The Salem Witch Trials?

2. 2. The Task Fear can make ordinary people do things that they wouldn�t ordinarily do. Mass hysteria occurs when a group of people become irrational and fearful, and often take their fear out on innocent victims. During this investigation we will research what mass hysteria is and how it contributed to the tragic events in the Salem Witch Trials.� To start, use Inspiration to brainstorm a list of all you already know about witchcraft and the events of The Salem Witch Trials.

3. 3. The Student Activity

4. 4. Assessment Using the notes you made in your table, pretend you are a Puritan in Salem who is accused of witchcraft. Create a name and a personality for yourself and write three diary entries on your experiences. In your first entry, you should give background on who you are and what your life was like before the accusation. The second entry should explain the events that led to your accusation. Include who accused you and what �proof� backed up the accusation. Your third and final entry will discuss the choice you made after being accused and what the results of that choice were for both you and your family. Make sure you provide insight into your thoughts and feelings in all three entries.

5. 5. Diary Grading Rubric

6.  6. Further Exploration Visit the Salem, Massachusetts City Guide, http://www.salemweb.com/guide/witches.shtml, to see pictures of actual Puritan homes, the grave sites of the executed, and the monument erected in memory of the trials. The Crucible: Fact or Fiction? Visit http://www.17thc.us/docs/fact-fiction.shtml and find 2 or 3 differences between the true events of the Salem trials and Miller�s version in The Crucible.

7. 7. Standards and Benchmarks Language I.1.HS.1. Use reading for multiple purposes to evaluate and analyze information and pursue in-depth studies. I.1.HS.3. Selectively employ the most effective strategies to construct meaning, such as analyzing and evaluating for specific information related to a research question, and decide who to represent content through summarizing and clustering. I.2.HS.1 Write fluently for multiple purposes to produce stories such as personal narratives. Social Studies I.4.HS.2. Evaluate the responses of individuals to historic violations of human dignity involving discrimination, persecution and crimes against humanity. Technology: NET4. Technology communication tools. 5. Technology research tools. 8. Select and apply technology tools for research, information analysis, problem-solving, and decision-making in context learning.

8. 8. Teacher Tips Read-Alouds for the classroom: Goodheart, Adam. �How to Spot a Witch.� Taken from Literature Connections: The Crucible and Related Readings. Miller, Eric. �Putting the Pieces Together�The Puzzle of Salem.� 1994. http://12.15.174.202/crucible/background/salem.html �McCarthyism.� World History.Com. 2004. http://www.worldhistory.com/wiki/J/Joseph-McCarthy.htm Video: In Search of History: The Salem Witch Trials. A&E Television Networks. 1996.

9. 9. Works Cited Citations for URLs Salem Witchcraft Hysteria http://www.nationalgeographic.com/salem/. Salem, Massachusetts: The City Guide http://www.salemweb.com/guide/witches.shtml, Arthur Miller�s The Crucible: Fact or Fiction? http://www.17thc.us/docs/fact-fiction.shtml Citations for Graphics