COLONIAL STOCK PROSPECTUS
PURPOSE: Students will work in groups to create a “stock prospectus” that presents information about the founding,
development, and growth of the three colonial regions of 17th and 18th century America.
GROUPS: New England, Middle, and Southern colonies researching Political, Economic and Cultural growth.
Each group must choose a “head broker” who is in charge of organizing the group, assigning parts, taking phone
numbers, and making sure that all is done and all members will be in class on the day of the presentation.
DIRECTIONS: Each group is responsible for selling a portion of a “colonial stock portfolio”. Your goal is to convince
investors to support further colonization and investment in your region of the colonies. Your presentation should
include some of the “downside” of your region, but should emphasize what is strong about your region. All members of
your group must participate in the presentation.
When presenting your information, your group should organize your presentation as if it were part of a research paper
or essay. Each region should have a thesis statement for their presentation and each group should emphasize a topic
sentence. To support your thesis, your group should formulate major arguments that would encourage investors to
send money to your region as a whole. Topics for body paragraphs should come from the following list:
-Founding, founders, and purposes for settlement
-Geography and town development
-Types of government with specific examples
-Primary economic endeavors
-Ethnic, religious, education issues
-Social indicators (family, leisure, food)
-Significant events, people
-Cultural arts
Though the body paragraph that you choose for your presentation will emphasize the strengths of your region, groups
are REQUIRED to produce a pamphlet, in the form of a broadside, that will cover significant information about all of the
topics on the list above. The pamphlet is designed to educate prospective buyers about the region you are trying to sell
(and help study for the unit test!). Groups must have enough copies of the pamphlet for the whole class.
Each group will also be required to turn in a bibliography that includes at least three sources. A mixture of text and
internet sources is preferred. This bibliography needs to be in MLA format and we will discuss how to compile this list
during class.
After all of the presentations are finished, the class will rate the three regions as to which is the most solid investment
and which region has the best future (taking into account only what we know from the presentations – not what we
know in hindsight). This will be the basis of our discussion during the latter half of the second day’s presentations.
Creative presentations that include overheads, posters, drawings, songs, or other creative ideas used to “sell” your
region are encouraged. The more lively, organized, creative, and prepared the presentation is, the better it will do
(remember: we sit through multiple hours of these). However, be careful that you don’t put style over substance (your
goal is to educate and convince buyers). Groups that make an entertaining presentation that does not fully address the
issue will be penalized.
You are also encouraged to do research about other regions and ask questions to other presenters. This will be a good
time to have other groups address weaknesses that work in your favor.
REMINDERS: This presentation deals with the region as a whole. Do not limit yourself to going through the area colony
by colony. You are asked here to do some analysis and draw some conclusions about each region, using each colony as
support for your conclusions. Your presentation should be linked to your thesis and to the information presented on the
study guide. No late presentations will be allowed. Absenteeism will take away from the whole group’s grade. This will
be a major test grade.
COLONIAL PROSPECTUS RUBRIC
9-8
Each member makes a considerable contribution to the presentation; it is obvious that the groups have gotten together before class and planned
meticulously for the presentation
Team does a thorough job of explaining how the regions were different from each other Clear analysis is given to the question of why these
differences made their region a good investment.
Team does extensive work to tie in people, places, and events and explicitly displays how they were responsible for the evolution of the region
involved – all of these ideas are linked to the thesis
Visual aides and pamphlet are well-done and add to the class understanding of the ideas presented – students could use it to study for the essay
Thesis is well-written and clearly presented in the presentation
Team draws conclusions that provide meaningful generalizations and aide student learning without much prompting from the teacher
Team includes a bibliography that reflects extensive research beyond encyclopedias, textbook, or simple web resources
Team members are able to intelligently answer questions from the class without hesitation
Team members pose good questions to other groups that demonstrate that they have researched their competition
Team has done a good job of integrating style into their presentation; the presentation is entertaining as well as informative and there is a
noticeable degree of enthusiasm devoted to the presentation. Style has not supplanted substance and does not interfere with learning about the
regions.
Groups are aware of their time use, and the presentation makes good use of time without going over
7-5
Workload not as evenly distributed among group members, but each member makes a contribution to the team effort; presentation is not as
polished (group may have a little hesitation making transitions, etc.), but it is not a complete train wreck
Team devotes time to all facets of the presentation, but emphasizes one over the others; team may focus more on how they are different, but does
address why their region is the best investment as directly
Team ties in a lot of outside information about people, places and events; but it may be more descriptive in nature and not as analytical. Though
the information is relevant, it is not as explicitly linked to the task at hand.
Visual aides and pamphlet are neat, but may not be as thorough or relevant to the presentation
Thesis may have mechanical errors, or not be sufficient to address the breadth of the questions at hand
Conclusions may be broad generalities that do no show historical complexity; may not be as relevant to student understanding; may not be as well
supported
Team includes bibliography that reflects some research, but is not as sophisticated
Team can field questions from the class, but may have to reach for good answers
Team poses questions to other groups that elicit further information, but may not reflect any real research or insight
Stylistic elements are not as strong. The team is not as enthusiastic and/or the presentation does not reflect a high degree of creativity. The team
attempts to entertain as well as inform.
Team uses time unwisely, going either a little over time limit, or a little under
4-2
Workload not as evenly distributed – it is apparent that one person did most of the coordinating and/or work; team may stumble at times in the
presentation; presentation is not polished or lacks a sense of planning or urgency
Team focuses on only one part of the presentation, giving only rudimentary treatment to the others; most focus is put on how the colonies are
different, with little to no analysis of to what extent their region is a good investment – presentation is mostly “here’s what happened in our
colonies”
Team does not provide as much outside information; information they do provide is treated in a descriptive, rather than analytical manner;
information is either irrelevant or not linked to thesis
Visual aide and/or pamphlet is poorly done, irrelevant, or missing
Thesis is poorly written or missing; not addressed or linked to the rest of the presentation
Conclusions are not sophisticated and do not aid in student understanding
Bibliography reflects rudimentary research – team knows how to do a Google search
Team struggles to answer questions from the class
Team is unable to ask good questions of other groups, or their questions are posed for purely argumentative purposes.
Presentation boring or has little enthusiasm. Stylistic elements are either hard to find, or so prominent or silly that they detract from student
understanding.
Team is either significantly over time, or does not have enough material to reach the specified time frame
0-1
Presentation is a disaster; team gets voted off the island