Year 9 History Assessment Task 5: Explanation

Year 9 English Assessment Task 5: Diary Entries

A WWI Soldier

In this task, you are required to:

1. Go to www.rslvirtualwarmemorial.org.au

2. Choose a soldier who you are going to study. You may have a family connection with someone who fought
in WWI, and you may wish to learn more about them. If not, you might either choose someone with the
same last surname as you, or the same birthdate as you (day and month, not year). Remember that they
must have been involved in WWI.

3. You should aim to discover the following about your chosen soldier:
a. Home Town
b. Service Outcome (killed in service, missing in action, returned, died of illness, suicide, to be
identified)
c. Cemetery
d. History (discharge, embarkation, honours and awards, involvement, transfers, wounds)
e. Biography (writing 2-3 paragraphs about your soldiers life)
f. Photos

4. Write a summary of one (only one if your soldier fought in multiple locations) campaign that your soldier
fought in. This should be about 250 words. Include information about:
a. The location of the campaign
b. When, how and why the campaign was fought
c. Who was involved in the fighting
d. The result of the campaign

5. Write 3 handwritten journal entries (about 200 words each) from the perspective of your soldier about their
experiences during the campaign that you have chosen. Your entries should be written FROM the
trenches/battlefields to home (and could include: what was it like to have been in the trenches/on the
frontline, what you ate, how you slept/living conditions, what you wore, what the weather was like, how you
fought and what you did in your free time etc.)
Your letter must include the date, time and place of writing.
Remember historical accuracy. Your letter needs to show knowledge of Gallipoli or the Western Front and an
understanding of the experiences of service men and women. Although it is an exercise in creative writing,
historical accuracy is a must.
 Some suggestions when writing your letter:
Decide to whom you will be writing your parents, sibling, mate, wife or even your children. Knowing to
whom you are writing will influence your writing style and what is included in your letter.
Remember who your audience is and that you are writing about war. You want to be able to express
your feelings and explain what you are experiencing; however, you also are limited by censorship of your
letters and also wanting to protect your family from learning about the horrors of war.
Take note of your senses. Describe what you are seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting and feeling.
Remembering the five senses will make a more engaging letter.

6. Put all of this information into a shoebox of WWI memorabilia. Your shoebox should contain the
handwritten journal entries (Part 5), the typed summary of a campaign (Part 4), information about your
soldier (Part 3), plus 6+ different items to put in a shoe box, tin or other similar container:
a. Think about what a soldier might have carried with them or had on their possession whilst on the
battlefront. Some suggestions include: toothbrush, small bible, candle, matches, photos of family,
jewellery (e.g. religious cross), pencil, notepad, socks, diary, medals (photos of/pretend), postcards
and souvenirs.

This collection of work will formulate part of your History and English grade for this semester. Sections 3, 4 & 6 will
demonstrate skills in History, while Section 5 will be used to form a grade for English and History.

You have 2 weeks of class time to work on this task, plus homework and learning catch up opportunities. This work
will be due on Friday June 17th (Lesson 4/5, Friday, Week 7)

Refer to the documents uploaded onto Seqta to assist you in conducting the research into your chosen soldier.

Some Websites to get you started:

http://www.awm.gov.au/index.asp (Australian War Memorial)
http://www.naa.gov.au/ (National Archives of Australia)
http://www.firstworldwar.com/features/trenchlife.htm

OTHER INTERNET RESOURCES

World War 1 Document archive http://wwi.lib.byu.edu/
Trenches on the Web. http://www.worldwar1.com/
The Battle of Verdun. http://www.wereldoorlog1418.nl/battleverdun/index.htm
BBC World War 1 http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwone/
Encyclopedia of the First World War http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/FWW.htm
Eyewitness to WW1 http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/w1frm.htm
The Great War and the Shaping of the Twentieth Century http://www.pbs.org/greatwar/
You will be marked according to the following criteria:
E D C B A
Achievement Standards Minimal Partial Satisfactory Good Excellent
HISTORY Achieveme Achieveme Achieveme Achieveme Achieveme
nt nt nt nt nt
3. Students explain the motives and actions of
people at the time.
4. Students explain the significance of these
events and developments over the short and
long term
5. Students explain different interpretations of
the past
7. When researching, students develop different
kinds of questions to frame a historical inquiry
8. They interpret, process, analyse and organise
information from a range of primary and
secondary sources and use it as evidence to
answer inquiry questions
11. Students develop their own interpretations
about the past
12. Students develop texts, particularly
explanations and discussions, incorporating
historical interpretations
13. In developing these texts, and organising
and presenting their conclusions, they use
historical terms and concepts, evidence
identified in sources, and they reference these
sources
Name:
Comment:

Mark: / 40 Grade:

E D C B A
Achievement Standards Minimal Partial Satisfactory Good Excellent
ENGLISH Achieveme Achieveme Achieveme Achieveme Achieveme
nt nt nt nt nt
3. They evaluate and integrate ideas and
information from texts to form their own
interpretations
7. In creating texts, students demonstrate how
manipulating language features can create
innovative texts
8. Students create texts that respond to issues,
interpreting and integrating ideas from other
texts
10. Students edit for effect, selecting vocabulary
and grammar that contributes to the precision
and persuasiveness of texts
11. Students use accurate spelling and
punctuation
Name:
Comment:

Mark: / 25 Grade: