Time Machine

Many movies, books, and day dreams have occurred thinking about time travel. Now it is your turn. You are to write a narrative, a story written in first person, that describes a trip you take to a historically significant event or to meet a historical significant person. (A historical event or person is one that makes the history books and impacts history.)

PARTS of the narrative that should be included:

Exposition – Generally introduces the main character and describes the setting.

Story begins with a “HOOK”, something that draws the reader into the narrative
Setting (time/place) is explained and described.

Conflict & Rising Action – A problem or goal is established. Different events or conflicts develop as the main character struggles to overcome the problem or reach the goal.

Climax – Frequently the story has a high or major turning point, an event, or conflict, that leads to the resolution of the problem.

Falling Action – The events that occur after the climax, explaining the reaction and decisions of the characters.

Resolution – The story generally concludes with the resolution of the major conflict and concluding thoughts and questions.

TECHNIQUES to be used in your narrative:

Narration – this is writing that describes or explains the situation from the perspective of a character. This is where the setting is described using show-not-tell techniques.

Walking down the alley in 1847 London was exactly like I thought it would be: so dirty I stuck out because I was so clean. Soot, smoke, and cough inducing fumes puffed out of every chimney in sight. All too soon my clothes dulled as the black snow covered everything up.

Dialog – When someone is speaking. Dialog is in quotes and each time someone speaks it is a new paragraph:

Then I asked the question I really wanted an answer to, “Do you think that there are ethical business owners?”

“Of course not. Greed is universal. No matter how ethical the business owner is, eventually he will exploit his workers in order to make more money.”

Internal Dialog – Internal thoughts that are written down that allow insight into what someone is thinking. Words are not in quotes and are italicized.

I wander what he would think of America in 2006? Would he be surprised? Would he be appalled? If only I could take him back…

Getting started:

As I stepped out of the time machine…

A SHORT, INCOMPLETE LIST HISTORICAL EVENTS

A-bomb dropped on Hiroshima
Adam Smith writes the Wealth of Nations
American Revolution
American troops leave Vietnam
Apartheid begins
Berlin Conference
Berlin Wall torn down
Birth of Christianity
Birth of Islam
Birth of Judaism
Bolshevik revolution
Boston Tea Party
Civil Rights Movement
Creation of Israel
D-Day
Dutch colonize South Africa
Free elections in South Africa
French Revolution
Gandhi uses non-violent disobedience to push the British out of India
Gavrilo Princip shoots dead Archduke Franz Ferdinand
Germany invades the Netherlands and Belgium
Great Depression
Harlem Renaissance
Hitler writes Mein Kampf
Industrial Revolution
Japan bombs Pearl Harbor
Japanese Attack on Pearl Harbor
Jewish Holocaust
John F. Kennedy Assassinated
Karl Marx writes the Communist Manifesto
Malcolm X Assassinated
Martin Luther King assassinated
Martin Luther King Assassinated
Napoleon invades Russia
Opium war
People’s Republic of China created
Rwanda Genocide
September 11^th, 2001
Slavery in America
Storming of the Bastille
Sudan Genocide
The American Civil War
Tiananmen Square Massacre
Treaty of Versailles is signed
U.S. enters World War I
U.S. enters World War II
U.S. Invades Iraq
Vietnam
MANY, MANY MORE

---------------- Cut here! and attached to the front page of your final draft-------------------

Criteria	Possible Points	Author Evaluation	Teacher Evaluation
Narrative is realistic, describing a historical event or person. (Additional research may be needed to create realism.) 3-5 pages	40
Narrative is descriptive, using show-not tell techniques and includes the proper use of dialog, descriptive narrative, and internal dialog.	20
Grammar and Spelling – Narrative uses proper rules for dialog – each new person speaking is a new paragraph.. TYPED, 12 point font, double spaced.	20
TOTAL:	80