The Project is designed for two purposes: 1) to give students a better understanding of the Civil War and 2) to help students identify bias in historical documents.

Students are assigned the role of newspaper reporter during the United States Civil War. Them students will assume the role of either a Northern Reporter or the Southern Reporter. They are three parts to the project: 1) Newspaper Article, 2) Newscast, and 3) Review of another students Newscast. 

The key and most interesting part of the assignment is that they must report the news from the perspective of the side that they represent. Meaning, when reporting the Union victory at Gettysburg a Southern reporter will report the event as a great defeat while a Union reporter would report the event as a great victory. After writing their newspaper article, the students create a newscast. I have done this two different ways: as a live news cast in front of the classroom or as a video recorded newscast. Finally, the students critically but professional review a newscast from the opposite side. The main focus of this review is to identify bias. My students really have fun with this part. 

It is a great project and kids love it!