Progressive Era Social Media Project

I wanted to share a lesson that I've used with students to help them explore the problems that America faced in the early 20th Century and what some of the reformers from that were pushed during The Progressive Era.

2015 Student Example

My first few years I taught the Progressive Era I had students create interview Podcasts where they would write a script interview as a "Muckraker" asking a reformer a series of questions. Over time I felt that this project was taking my students to long and I needed to find an area to trim back on so I had more time at the end of the semester for topics I always struggle to get into. So I learned on Twitter of several "Fake" Social Media platforms that allowed students to make their very own "Fake" account without having to actually go to the actual platform to create these fictional accounts.

At first I limited this project to a Fake "Facebook" and "Twitter" page. But I've found overtime that I have many of my students who are not familiar with these forms of Social Media so I've expanded to include: Text Messaging, SnapChat, and Instagram.

Overtime I have found additional resources for students to create their very own pages, but the goal remains the same for this project. They problems facing America during The Progressive Era have to be evident and the reforms that these individuals were able to achieve must be visible.  This lesson also provides an opportunity to talk to students about the importance of being skeptical of what they see on the internet because how easy it is to create "fake" but authentic looking posts.

Project Directions: 

Using your notes and resources from your Textbook, I would like you to create a “fake” Facebook page, Fake Twitter Page,  Fake Texting Screen, Instagram, or Fake Magazine  for your Progressive Era Reformer.

You will need to include the following information on your Project Page.

1. Leader’s Name and Photo
2. Famous quote from your Reformer (The Quotations Page)
3. One post that describe the problems your reformer dealt with. Use the terms below in your wall post. Make sure you adequately explain these terms so somebody not familiar with this reformer would understand.  
4. One post that describes any specific reforms they were able to achieve. Use the terms below in your wall post. Make sure you adequately explain these terms so somebody not familiar with this reformer would understand.  
5. At least three updates from your Progressive Reformer Friends where they share their problems and reforms. (Reformers: Theodore Roosevelt, Mother Jones, John Muir, W.E.B. DuBois, Alice Paul, and Upton Sinclair)

Terms that should be used correctly and well described on your Social Media Page:

Trust-Busting (Roosevelt)

 Terms that need to be used:  Trust, Government Regulation, Standard Oil Trust, and Sherman-Antitrust Act (1890) 

Worker’s Rights (Mother Jones)

 Terms that need to be used:  Child Labor, Work Hours, and Factory Safety.

Protector of the Environment (Muir)

 Terms that need to be used:  Loggers, Miners, pollution, and National Parks

 Spokesman for Equal Rights (Du Bois)

 Terms that need to be used:  Jim Crow Laws, Niagara Falls, NAACP, Equality 

 Food Safety (Upton Sinclair)

 Terms that need to be used:  The Jungle, Meat Inspection Act, Pure Food and Drug Act, and Meatpacking 

 Women’s Right to Vote (Paul)

Terms that need to be used:  Suffrage, Jeanette Rankin, and 19^th Amendment

Social Media Templates:

Facebook, Instagram, Magazine Covers, Google Doc Templates via RyanO'Donnell

Instagram Template (Google Doc) via Coffee Nancy

Fakebook via ClassTools

SnapChat Template (Google Doc) via Covais Tech

Twister via ClassTools

SMS Generator via ClassTools

Fake iPhone Text Generator 


Do you do anything with students creating Social Media Projects? I would love to hear about them in the comments section below.