3. Introduction Introduction | What to Do | How to Do It | How You'll Be Graded | Conclusion | Standards | Teacher Notes What would your life be like if… You and your family were riding on a wagon through the American West, searching for a new life? What if you were the son of a Comanche Indian chief, watching the white settlers stream through sacred hunting grounds, claiming the land as their own? Imagine if you were the daughter of a conductor of the Underground Railroad, or a slave child running for freedom? One of six Irish children seeing the Statue of Liberty for the first time? An American child with hordes of people moving into your neighborhood, speaking languages you don’t understand? What if you were a journalist, trying to cover these historical events in an unbiased way – as they happened? In the journey we are about to take, we will see historical events through the eyes of the people who lived them. We will try to understand what happened by understanding the people it happened to.
4. What to Do Let’s break it down: You will RESEARCH, WRITE, CREATE and SHARE Introduction | What to Do | How to Do It | How You'll Be Graded | Conclusion | Standards | Teacher Notes Research Your Era! Will you ride The Underground Railroad? Immigrate at Ellis Island? Forge The Oregon Trail? Write A Blog! Once you understand what it was like to live in your era, how will you explain it to people who weren’t there? Create A Documentary! You’ll use pictures and your own words to tell your story. Share With the 8th Grade! Now that you have a story to tell, you’ll present your documentary in an assembly of eighth-graders.
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6. How to Do It, cont. Introduction | What to Do | How to Do It | How You'll Be Graded | Conclusion | Standards | Teacher Notes Underground Railroad All Group Members http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/lesson_images/lesson864/road-freedom.htm http://www.nationalgeographic.com/railroad/j1.html http://ethemes.missouri.edu/themes/988 Slave Child Conductor’s Child Journalist Library of Congress Ellis Island All Group Members http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/lesson_images/lesson864/road-freedom.htm http://www.nationalgeographic.com/railroad/j1.html http://ethemes.missouri.edu/themes/988 Immigrant Child American Child Journalist Library of Congress Oregon Trail All Group Members http://www.42explore2.com/oregon.htm http://ethemes.missouri.edu/themes/179 Pioneer Child American Indian Child Journalist Library of Congress
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9. How to Do It, cont. Introduction | What to Do | How to Do It | How You'll Be Graded | Conclusion | Standards | Teacher Notes 19. Record your narration, using the directions at the link above. 20. Plan your presentation. - Each person should tell what they learned about their era by taking on the perspective that they did. Talk about how you see things differently as a result of looking at the events from the eyes of someone who lived through them. - Introduce your Photo Story. Tell why you arranged it in the way that you did, and briefly introduce your characters (i.e., a slave girl escaping, a pioneer boy on the Oregon Trail). 21. Give your presentation at the Eighth Grade assembly. Don’t be nervous, be proud of what you’ve accomplished! 22. Individually, fill out this self-evaluation form. 23. ALL DONE!
10. How You'll Be Graded Individuals will be graded based on their individual performance on the items marked “individual grade,” but the whole group receives the same grade on items that are marked “group grade.” Click on the link below to open your rubric. Introduction | What to Do | How to Do It | How You'll Be Graded | Conclusion | Standards | Teacher Notes Click Here for your Rubric
11. Conclusion By writing journals and creating documentaries about historical time periods, we have taken on the roles of people that lived “way back when.” Do you understand this time period better because you wrote as someone who lived through it, instead of writing ABOUT it as someone looking back? When we look at history through the eyes of the people who lived it, through their perspectives, we begin to understand that there are many sides to every story, and only by seeing all of the sides can we begin to understand what really happened. Think about this: The time we are living in now will someday be history. Students will study our time like we study times past. If you could tell someone in the future about our time, what would you say? Would your story be the whole story? What will be YOUR history? Introduction | What to Do | How to Do It | How You'll Be Graded | Conclusion | Standards | Teacher Notes
12. How To… Create a blog : An online tutorial that walks you through every step. Save pictures to a file on your desktop: Step 1: Create a folder on your desktop Right-click anywhere on the desktop Select “New” and Choose “Folder” Type (Your Name) Webquest Pictures and hit Enter Step 2: Find a picture you want Use the sites provided Step 3: Download the picture Right-click on the picture Select “Save Image” When the menu opens, click on “Desktop” Double-click on your folder Click Save (you may want to rename the picture)
13. Standards Language Arts 8.3.3 Compare and contrast the motivations and reactions of literary characters from different historical eras confronting either similar situations and conflicts or similar hypothetical situations. 8.3.7 Literary Criticism: Analyze a work of literature, showing how it reflects the heritage, traditions, attitudes, and beliefs of its author. Social Studies 8.1.29 Chronological Thinking, Historical Comprehension, Analysis and Interpretation, Research, and Issues-Analysis and Decision-Making: Differentiate between facts and historical interpretations, recognizing that the historian's narrative reflects his or her judgment about the significance of particular facts. 8.1.31 Chronological Thinking, Historical Comprehension, Analysis and Interpretation, Research, and Issues-Analysis and Decision-Making: Obtain historical data from a variety of sources to compare and contrast examples of art, music and literature during the nineteenth century and explain how these reflect American culture during this time period. Additional Standards related to Eighth Grad U.S. History: Oregon Trail, Underground Railroad and Ellis Island. Introduction | What to Do | How to Do It | How You'll Be Graded | Conclusion | Standards | Teacher Notes
14. Teacher Notes Forming your groups: This project will work better if you have a mixed-ability group. Some of the technical aspects may be challenging to some students, and so try to have one strong technical person in each group. Lesson Plans: http://ethemes.missouri.edu/themes/988 ; http://ethemes.missouri.edu/themes/257 ; http://ethemes.missouri.edu/themes/179 Possible Adaptations: If an assembly of the entire class is not feasible, you might consider inviting parents for a viewing, or showing the documentaries to a younger grade. For students who want to do more: Students could find music to use as a background for their Photo Story. They could also dress as their characters for the presentation. Differentiation: There are sites at varying reading levels for all of these topics, but particularly for the Ellis Island topic. If you have struggling readers, assign them to the Ellis Island group and go to ethemes.missouri.edu to find easier-reading sites for them to visit. Also you may consider having a blog page already set up and ready for some students to type in. Introduction | What to Do | How to Do It | How You'll Be Graded | Conclusion | Standards | Teacher Notes
