Students - in class we have been studying the Presidents of the United States.  We've learned about their policies, public opinion, scandals, and been discussing whether or not they were "successful" as presidents in accomplishing their specific agendas.  As we now approach the end of the school year, it is your job to select a president and do some research.  You must however, select the American President whom you feel was the "most successful" president in the United States history.  Use the criteria we've discussed in class and some of your own to make this decision.  Be preparerd to defend and stick by your decision.

Now that you have chosen your President, it's time to do some research.  You will need to read up on your president and find out as much information as your brain can hold with regards to his presidency, policies, and accomplishments.  Find out a little bit about his personal life, and how events during youth and young adult-hood shaped his decisions as a nation's leader.  To start your research, you will need to use the Pioneer Library, and the World Book Online Encyclopedia tool.  In this tool, there is a biographies section - look up your president and start taking notes.

Once you've done some preliminary research, it's time to find out a bit more biographical information.  You are going to use the Pioneer Library to do this as well.  Remember that you can access the Pioneer Library at school, at the public library, and at home.  Go into the Pioneer Library and use the eMedia tool.  In the eMedia search field you can either 1) type in the phrase, "American presidents" and find a video for your president or you can search directly by that presidents name to see what video resources are available.  Watch at least one video on your president online (or download it to watch later on your ipod) for your research.

You'll have several weeks to do research.  You will need to find additional resources (books, magazine articles, etc.) to go along with your World Book and eMedia research.  Once your searching is complete and you've got a good idea of your thesis and defense of your president, it's time to create your presentation.  You'll have several options.  A short research based persuasive essay (sort of like your own DBQ), a powerpoint presentation with summary, a video defending your president or a fourth option, to be approved by your teacher.  You will be required to give a short presentation in class in which you will have to defend your president as the most successful.  Good luck and have fun!