The Task

1. The Great Gatsby WebQuest:Wuxtree, Wuxtree!Read All About It!For use by Ms. Bailey’s Junior EnglishAdapted into PowerPoint form fromApril Moore’s adaptation of Kristen Currise’sWebQuest at http://www.teachtheteachers.org/projects/AMoore/GatsbyQuest/wqmain.html

2. The 1920s was an interesting decade because the United States was flourishing.  The monopolies were making the rich very rich, but the poor even poorer.  It was called The Gilded Age. You are living in the middle of The Gilded Age, The Great Gatsby has just been published, and it has become an instant bestseller! The publication that you work for has picked five people to create a special edition on the Great Gatsby.  Your team has a midnight deadline so that it can be out on the streets, ASAP!!! It is your team's job to write the articles and design the layout for the publication. Within your team you will designate four people as reporters and one as the layout designer. Your Editor has said you can include anything you want in the publication; you have complete creative control!

3. The Task • Each team is going to create a publication comprised of writings and photographs, advertising and headlines. • Your publication may be organized in any fashion. • You will create a cover, table of contents, and sections, as well as decide on an original title for your publication – authenticity is the key to this project. • Once your team is done, you must have your publication bound at a local copying center. • Your team will then give a short oral presentation covering the topics to which each person was assigned.

4. The Process Each section of the publication must have at least two graphics. Brainstorm within your team to see how your team's publication can be the best. Make sure to include a cover with an original title and a table of contents. Once you have organized all of your articles into the layout you have chosen, take it to a local copy store and get the magazine or newspaper bound.  On the day you turn in your publication, your team will have to give a short presentation on your project.

5. Available Jobs These are the five positions that are available: English Professor This professor will write an article explaining the symbolism in The Great Gatsby. This article should include discussion of the green light, eyes, the images with colors, and the east/west.  Layout Designer & Copy Editor:  This person will be in charge of the layout and design of the publication, including the table of contents, as well as the editing of the articles.  This person must be creative and organized. Layout Design & Table of Contents are due with rough drafts. Arts and Entertainment Reporter:  This reporter will report on living in the 1920s.  Include specifics on the nightlife, popular actors/actresses, writers, literature, performers, and popular trends. Literature Professor You will write an article explaining some of the themes present in the novel.  Make sure to support each claim with specific examples in the novel.  Biographer:  This person will write a biography on a person that was very influential during the 1920s.  They also need to write a biography on the author F. Scott Fitzgerald. Investigate their lives and why they were so influential in the 1920s.

6. Guidance RESEARCH EACH ASPECT OF THE PROJECT CAREFULLY!!!! Brainstorm with your team to figure out how to organize your project. Some topics you may want to include in your magazine: • The flappers, who or what were they? • What is the Charleston? • What was prohibition, what did it cause? • Who was the president of the United States during the 1920s? • What was so special about the houses on Newport? • Who were Rockefeller and Vanderbilt? Use any kind of technology you like - this should NOT be a bunch of word processed papers stapled together. Use colorful graphics that relate to your articles, and include pictures (with captions) to go along with articles.

7. The Conclusion • Each group will give a short presentation, an unveiling of sorts, for their special edition of their magazine or newspaper, informing the class of what they have learned.  • After we have seen all the products, we will discuss the information that the groups found while researching the 1920s. • Each group must contribute to the discussion by coming up with important aspects that they had not previously known. • We will also discuss the themes and symbols that the "professors" found in the novel.  This discussion will add closure to our unit on the novel. • Some important questions to think about: Who were the people you found the most influential? What did the monopolies do to the economy? What are the specific examples from the book that you found to support the themes and the symbolism in the book?

8. Works Cited 1893 World. Retrieved September 30, 2007, from Image from HIUS 202 Web site: http://cti.itc.virginia.edu/~hius202/images/lecture04/trnsptinteriorexpo.html (1996). Ephemeris Images. Retrieved September 30, 2007, from INTERNET PIPES DIGEST CD-ROM PROJECT Web site: http://www.pipes.org/Ephemeris/index.html (2006). Great Books and the People Who Love Them. Retrieved September 30, 2007, from Book Tribes: Read it, Love it, Share it Web site: http://www.booktribes.com/ Blixt, Jr., A (2006). Blixt Auto Racing History. Retrieved September 30, 2007, from Blixt Auto Racing History Web site: http://alblixtracinghistory.typepad.com/ Brooks, D (2007). My Other Projects. Retrieved September 30, 2007, from Homebrew CPU Web site: http://www.homebrewcpu.com/ History . . . Dancing throughout the 1920's. Retrieved September 30, 2007, from 1920 History Web site: http://www.ilstu.edu/~lmerri/uhigh/1920's/History.htm Moore, A (1999, September 27). Extra, Extra, Read all about it!. Retrieved October 1, 2007, from GatsbyQuest Web site: http://www.teachtheteachers.org/projects/AMoore/GatsbyQuest/ wqmain.html