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Slavery in America During the
Civil War
Project URL:
http://www.teachnet-lab.org/ettenheim
How it works:
This unit involves studying a person
who was a slave in America at the time of the Civil War. The skills
covered include online and print research, navigating a Web site to find
information, building an electronic graphic organizer, using primary and
secondary research sources, and building html pages as presentation tools.
Students visit the Library of Congress site, Born in Slavery, and the
American Slave Narratives site from the American Studies Department at the
University of Virginia. This collection of interview transcripts with
American slaves is too expensive to be purchased for a school library, but
through these sites, students read and use the interviews, which are
amazing primary source documents. Each student chooses a person, reads the
interview, copies and pastes quotes into an Inspiration Web, and then adds
information from secondary readings and personal responses. The students
then export the Inspiration Web to an html page. They learn to construct a
basic html page introducing the project, link to the page with the
Inspiration Web, and link back to the main page. These mini-sites are then
linked together by a table of projects for others to read. Each
student creates a site that shares information in the same way it is
shared on the Library of Congress site.
Standards
addressed:
Students understand the course and character of the Civil War and its
effects on the American people, analyze chronological relationships and
patterns, and know the characteristics and uses of computer software
programs.
Materials
used:
Required materials include a computer with Internet
connection, Inspiration software, age-appropriate print resources about
the Civil War, and a printer if you want to reproduce the pages.
The students:
The students in this project are from a
fifth-grade public school class with children of mixed abilities and
experience. Some are very capable with computers and some have very little
experience. If the students have fewer skills, additional time for
practice is helpful in completing the tasks for each lesson.
Overall
value:
History is meaningful to students when they can use the
lessons to connect to their lives today. How can a ten-year-old child
relate to the issues and lessons of slavery? Usually, the study of the
Civil War is just an exercise for elementary students and does not
influence their lives in a meaningful way. Students who read the interview
transcripts with American slaves are moved by the stories. Using secondary
sources, they identify events in history that happened at different points
in the lives of the interviewees and identify how old each person was at
the time of the Emancipation Proclamation. The students question what it
would be like for them to experience the stories and make connections to
their own lives. They each complete authentic research using primary and
secondary sources and personal responses and publish the research.
Tips:
The most important factor in Slavery
in America During the Civil War is having patience with the
diverse abilities of students. By encouraging them to share with each
other, the quality of work is improved as they teach each other and share
discoveries about the using the sites and the software.
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About the teacher:
Susan Geller Ettenheim
teaches library/ media/ technology at Midtown West Elementary School, PS 212
and Eleanor Roosevelt High School, M416. She started her career as a
full-time painter and printmaker and won an NEA grant. She did library
work, ran a searchable database, and was responsible at a cable television
company for the online community. At Mount Holyoke College, she studied
art, mathematics, and Spanish. She has an M.A. in media studies and is
currently in the Bank Street/Parsons education master's program. She is an
online course wizard in the Mercy College distance learning program.
E-mail:
settenh@nycboe.net
Subject
Areas:
Social Studies
Library Science
Technology
Grade Levels:
5-12
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