This website gives a procedure and assistance for students to perform an Authentic task with real-world relevance. It is ill-defined in that there are multiple ways that students can come up with the individual story of the soldier they have chosen. It is a task that will require some effort, time and access to computers with internet connections. It is advisable to commence the task around 6 to 8 weeks before ANZAC Day, so that the published stories can be read at an appropriate time.

Note that it is essential for student motivation that they can find the record on their soldier easily following the links on the Research Page.. It can save some trouble in class if teachers check through local names and give students names whose records can be easily found.

A wide variety of resources are available on WW1 and links are provided to the most useful of these. A sequence for research is suggested but the interpretation and use of these links is up to the student user.

This task is designed primarily to be an individual task, however there are great opportunities for it to be utilised as a collaborative project. It could be organised where each group researched a number of soldiers equal to the number of students in the group. They could share the writing of the stories as a group effort in order to make the best of the sometimes different aptitudes of the individual students.

It is important for the students to remember that these soldiers were not much older than they are now when they went to war. Students should use their imagination to put themselves in the position of the soldier so that they can gain perspective and empathy for the soldiers experiences.

This task should be modfied, or aspects of it used so that it complies with the syllabus the teacher is using. It is best used as part of an assessment task in order to provide motivation and justify the amount of time and effort that the task requires. The task may be adaptable to be usable in a range of subjects (such as English, History and Modern History).

Links to resources that can be used or modified to use:

Detailed Scaffold

Simple scaffold

Older assessments from D Partridge 2009 and D Graham 2010 with marking rubric

Current modifiable Assessment Task

Cover sheet (All your Own Work)

NSW Education Centenary of ANZAC Resources

NSW Education Adopt an ANZAC

Armidale High World War One Authentic Task Assessment

1914 Calendar, 1915 Calendar, 1916 Calendar, 1917 Calendar, 1918 Calendar, 1919 Calendar

.