Who is the Real Monster?

Drama:  “Monsters Are Due on Maple Street”

Who is the Real Monster?

        You’re family has just left your home to go to Wal-Mart. At last, you are able to sit in your home alone and watch your favorite television show, The Twilight Zone. You’re in your living room when without warning your television shuts off leaving you sitting alone in the darkness.  A bolt of thunder rips at your heart causing your dog to release a howl so death defying that you nearly fall right off of the couch.  The only thought that is running through your mind is whether or not the furry creature that was on the plane ripping the metal off the wings caused the electrical power outage in your home.  You reach for the phone and realize when you place your ear to the receiver that there is no dial tone.  Your voice breaks the silence and startles you as you speak aloud, “What is going on?”

       You finally muster up enough courage to open your front door and walk outside to the end of your driveway when a dark figure darts up from behind you causing you to plow into your mailbox.  It’s your best friend, Tommy!  Your friend fills you in that all of the citizens on Maple Street have lost their electric and phone service and the citizens are desperate to figure out who the culprit of this mean joke is.  In the late afternoon and into the early evening, your neighbors begin to take matters into their own hands by carrying out dangerous acts to one another.  You and your friend are eager to solve this situation so you decide to hold a trial that allows all accused citizens of Maple Street to give their case as to their innocence.  There will be a jury made up of five citizens on the street.  The citizens will have a rubric that scores each of the citizen’s cases.  Each of the accused citizens will be asked five questions and will be able to ask another accused citizen five questions.

       At the conclusion of the trial, you and your best friend decide that it is necessary to stop the madness on Maple Street!  After all, a life has been lost due to the insanity!  Finally, you decide that the best way to make peace on Maple Street is to conduct further research on world situations that have had similar conflicts.  Your job is to research one conflict that has occurred in the world to present at the next town meeting.   In order to get your town’s attention, you must present the information in an essay format remembering to use an engaging introduction, with lots of facts, and a conclusion that summarizes your entire point.  Most importantly, you want the citizens on Maple Street to agree to make peace.

Choose one of the communities below to research and then begin taking notes on the important information you locate.

-Eastern Europe – Bosnia and Herzegovina

• http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0107349.html

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bosnia_and_Herzegovina

- Mongols in Mongolia

        *Genghis Khan

        *“Largest Empire the World has Known”

• http://www.fsmitha.com/h3/h11mon.htm

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongols

-South Africa

        *Nelson Mandela

        *Arch Bishop Tutu

        *Policy of Apartheid

• http://nobelprize.org/peace/laureates/1993/mandela-bio.html

• http://nobelprize.org/peace/laureates/1984/tutu-bio.html

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apartheid

-Crusades

        *Rescue the holy lands and capture the holy city of

         Jerusalem

• http://i-cias.com/e.o/saladin.htm

• http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/cde-letters.html

• http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/1096jews.html

• http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/fulk2.html

• http://www.medievalcrusades.com/

-Israeli vs. Palestinian

• http://www.muscanet.com/~ampal/photo.htm

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israeli-Palestinian_conflict_timeline

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Israeli-Palestinian_conflict

You will be generating a similarities paper that will consist of at least five paragraphs including an introduction, at least three body paragraphs, and a conclusion. 

Be certain to use one of the introduction techniques including: 

-startling statement

-setting description

-sound

-dialogue

-question

-quotation

In addition, be certain to include a conclusion technique that follows:

-summary

-warning or remedy

-final quotation

-advice

You will be assessed using the Delaware State Writing Rubric. 

http://www.doe.state.de.us/AAB/writing_rubric.html

HINT!!!!!
Before choosing one community to research, you may want to visit all websites listed above to give yourself an overview of each of the world wide conflicts.  Then after researching all websites, decide which one of the communities is most appealing to you to conduct further research.

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