America's Most Wanted ~ 1776

Hello Fellow Teacher,  

First, here is a list of the names of the Rebel sympathizers your class can investigate. It is by no means exhaustive. Feel free to add and subtract as needed. If you are adding names you will of course, need to add some Web sites for your field agents to investigate.  Note also, that some were real spies; some were poets, and some were seamstresses.  

Second, although your agents will be able to complete their tasks of investigating, publishing, and communicating - the people they are taking the roles of failed, for the most part, in their task to bring these “rebels/ patriots” to justice (which as an American, I’m rather pleased about.). However, the frustrations these British counter-intelligent operatives had, and the frustrations your groups of spies encounter, may be quite similar. These patriots were trying their best to be clandestine and they were successful at it.  Some of the patriots listed are somewhat well known and one may find reams of information on them. On the other hand some of these patriots are difficult to bring to light. For example, “Known only by her code name 355” what a brave and courageous lady she was, and what a great story. It would be a shame not to have a team find all they could about her- which isn’t much- and tell 355's story to the class. Just remember to gather the available information that’s what the rubric states. Also, I’m having my students put some sort of appropriate graphic on their posters. It may only be a silhouette, drawing, or simple clipart.

Third, times have changed. The vocabulary we use today is not the vocabulary of the 1700’s. Although, I 'm sure - no doubt they knew what a spy was, and what treason was, had code names, and all those types of ideas. They did not call themselves agents, have standardized methods of gathering and communicating intelligence … well, simply the terminology and methodology has evolved.  I don’t want to discount these early spies, but at the same time I don’t have any delusions about the effectiveness of today’s “intelligence agencies” either. It’s an interesting subject and hopefully it will spark some good class room discussions. Speaking of classroom discussions, that brings me to my final thoughts.

 Fourth,  it may be a good idea to begin with a brainstorming session(s) on what makes an effective wanted poster. Another may be what coding methods you approve or disapprove (check the National Geographic 4 Kids site out). Yet another discussion may be what the teams of students are referred to as within this WebQuest (spies, agents, cells, etc.) and how you the teacher are refferred to as the Bureau Chief, lead agent, field supervisor, or whatnot.

 Cheers,

 Dan Z