The UnderGround Railroad

Civil Rights 4th grade Inquiry Unit by Dawn Fewell

ESSENTIAL QUESTION

What would have freedom meant to me if I were a slave?

GOALS FOR STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT Students will develop an understanding of the

events of slavery that led to the Civil War. Students will identify with people of this time

period. Students will read to learn information about

slavery and the Underground Railroad. Students will write to express their view points

and feelings about what they have learned. Students will be able to use Web 2.0 to search,

learn, and create artifacts for a final project.

INDIANA STATE STANDARDSSocial Studies

4.1.7 Explain the roles of various individuals, groups and movements in the social conflicts leading to the Civil War. (Individuals, Society and Culture)

4.1.15 Create and interpret timelines that show relationships among people, events, and movements in the history of Indiana. (Individuals, Society and Culture)

4.1.17 Using primary and secondary sources and online source materials, construct a brief narrative about an event in Indiana history

4.2.7 Use a variety of information resources to take a position or recommend a course of action on a public issue relating to Indiana’s past or present.

INDIANA STATE STANDARDSEnglish/Language Arts

4.1.1 Read aloud grade-level-appropriate literary and informational texts with fluency and accuracy and with appropriate timing, changes in voice, and expression.

4.1.7 Use context to determine the meaning of unknown words. 4.2.1 Use the organization of informational text to strengthen

comprehension. 4.2.2 Use appropriate strategies when reading for different purposes. 4.2.3 Draw conclusions or make and confirm predictions about text by

using prior knowledge and ideas presented in the text itself, including illustrations, titles, topic sentences, important words, foreshadowing clues (clues that indicate what might happen next), and direct quotations.

4.4.1 Discuss ideas for writing. Find ideas for writing in conversations with others and in books, magazines, newspapers, school textbooks, or on the Internet. Keep a list or notebook of ideas.

4.4.4 Use logical organizational structures for providing information in writing, such as chronological order, cause and effect, similarity and difference, and posing and answering a question.

English/LA Standards,cont.

4.4.9 Use a computer to draft, revise, and publish writing, demonstrating basic keyboarding skills and familiarity with common computer terminology.

4.7.1 Ask thoughtful questions and respond orally to relevant questions with appropriate elaboration.

4.7.2 Summarize major ideas and supporting evidence presented in spoken presentations.

INSTRUCTIONAL SEQUENCEBefore Reading

Before exploring slavery and the Underground Railroad, students will be placed into groups and will brainstorm “Why is it called the Underground Railroad?”

Students will use a web tool from readwritethink.org to come up with a group answer to the question. http://interactives.mped.org/view_interactive.aspx?id=127&title=

Students will present what they think the answer is to why it is called the Underground Railroad. Students must give detailed reasons why they believe their answer is correct.

VIDEO AND DISCUSIONFrontloading Activities Students will watch a short video called The Underground Railroad.

http://www1.teachertube.com/viewVideo.php?video_id=19374&title=Underground_Railroad

Students will be asked questions to get a discussion going such as:

What was the Underground Railroad? What did the video say about the name Underground Railroad? Who traveled on the Underground Railroad? Why do you think freedom was so important to the slaves? Would freedom be worth the risks they took? Do you think ALL slaves wanted to be free?

DISCUSSION CONTINUED Students will be developing a final project around the question “What

would have freedom meant to me if I were a slave?” A classroom blog is set up to begin discussion on the topic.

Students will go to the discussion blog and respond to at least two questions and reply to at least three other students.

Click on the arrow, it will take you to the discussion blog.

During Reading

•Students will be grouped and given one book to read together.•Students will participate in silent discussion threads after reading their book.

•Question:•Why was freedom so important to the characters in the story?

•After the silent discussion, groups will express why freedom was so precious to many people to the whole class.

LITERATURE

TIMELINE• Students will use

Sweet Search to search for examples of timelines for slavery and the Underground Railroad.

• Students will create their own timeline using information from their searches. Webs will be created with Webspiration.

• Timelines will be graded according to the Timeline Rubric.

SLAVERY IN INDIANA

Students will learn about slavery and the Underground Railroad in Indiana by visiting the following websites:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIlIFgXPNbM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQaVeAl8Xrw&feature=related

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_slavery_in_Indiana

http://www.undergroundrailroadindiana.com/

Students will answer the question on the blog: What was the one thing that spoke to you the most about what it means to be free and why did it affect you?

Gateway Activity

•Students will begin their journey as a slave to get a realistic idea of what it would have been like to risk your life for freedom.•Students will go to http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/bhistory/underground_railroad/escape.htm•Tell the Story – Students will tell their story by answering the questions at the end of the website. After answering the questions, their story will be printed. Stories will be graded according to the Story Rubric.

OUR JOURNEY AS A SLAVE

FINAL PROJECT

What would freedom mean to me if I were a slave?

Students will answer this question by creating a presentation using:

Glogster PowerPoint Webspiration PreziFinal Project will be graded according to the Final Project Rubric.

Students will blog an “exit ticket” by responding to the question:“What is the most important thing I learned from doing the Underground

Railroad lesson?”

TIMELINE RUBRIC

All Rubrics Made Using: RubiStar ( http://rubistar.4teaches.org )

Civil Rights Timeline

Rubric

Student Name: ________________________________________

CATEGORY 4 3 2 1

Title The timeline has a creative title that accurately describes the material and is easy to locate.

The timeline has an effective title that accurately describes the material and is easy to locate.

The timeline has a title that is easy to locate.

The title is missing or difficult to locate.

Content/Facts Facts were accurate for all events reported on the timeline.

Facts were accurate for almost all events reported on the timeline.

Facts were accurate for most (~75%) of the events reported on the timeline.

Facts were often inaccurate for events reported on the timeline.

Graphics All graphics are effective and balanced with text use.

All graphics are effective, but there appear to be too few or too many.

Some graphics are effective and their use is balanced with text use.

Several graphics are not effective.

Resources The timeline contained at least 8-10 events related to the topic being studied.

The timeline contained at least 6-7 events related to the topic being studied.

The timeline contained at least 5 events related to the topic being studied.

The timeline contained fewer than 5 events.

STORY RUBRICCATEGORY 4 3 2 1

Creativity The story contains many creative details and/or descriptions that contribute to the reader\\\'s enjoyment. The author has really used his imagination.

The story contains a few creative details and/or descriptions that contribute to the reader's enjoyment. The author has used his imagination.

The story contains a few creative details and/or descriptions, but they distract from the story. The author has tried to use his imagination.

There is little evidence of creativity in the story. The author does not seem to have used much imagination.

Focus on Slavery as main topic

The entire story is related to the slavery and freedom and allows the reader to understand much more about the freedom and slavery.

Most of the story is related to the slavery and freedom. The story wanders off at one point, but the reader can still learn something about freedom and slavery.

Some of the story is related to the slavery and freedom, but a reader does not learn much about the freedom and slavery.

No attempt has been made to relate the story to the slavery and freedom.

Accuracy of Facts All facts presented in the story are accurate.

Almost all facts presented in the story are accurate.

Most facts presented in the story are accurate (at least 70%).

There are several factual errors in the story.

Spelling and Punctuation

There are no spelling or punctuation errors in the final draft. Character and place names that the author invented are spelled consistently throughout.

There is one spelling or punctuation error in the final draft.

There are 2-3 spelling and punctuation errors in the final draft.

The final draft has more than 3 spelling and punctuation errors.

FINAL PROJECT RUBRICMultimedia Project : What Freedom Means to Me

Student Name: ________________________________________

CATEGORY 4 3 2 1

Blog Presentation

Description of project well written. Clear understanding student understands slavery and freedom.

Description of project decent. Students seem to understand slavery and freedom with a few gaps.

Description of project is lacking. Student did not understand slavery and freedom very well.

Description of project and/or understanding of slavery and freedom are not met fully.

Attractiveness Makes excellent use of font, color, graphics, effects, etc. to enhance the presentation.

Makes good use of font, color, graphics, effects, etc. to enhance to presentation.

Makes use of font, color, graphics, effects, etc. but occasionally these detract from the presentation content.

Use of font, color, graphics, effects etc. but these often distract from the presentation content.

Content Covers topic in-depth with details and examples. Subject knowledge is excellent.

Includes essential knowledge about the topic. Subject knowledge appears to be good.

Includes essential information about the topic but there are 1-2 factual errors.

Content is minimal OR there are several factual errors.

Originality Product shows a large amount of original thought. Ideas

Product shows some original thought. Work shows new

Uses other people\'s ideas (giving them credit), but

Uses other people's ideas, but does not give them

REFERENCES Bial, Raymond (1995). The underground railroad. Boston, MA; Houghton

Mifflin.

Hopkinson, Deborah (1993). Sweet Clara and the freedom quilt. New York, NY; Knopf, Inc.

Ringgold, Faith & Egolf, Robert L. (1992). Aunt Harriet’s underground railroad in the sky. New York, NY; Crown Publishers.

Stroud, Bettye (2007 ). The patchwork path: a quilt map to freedom. Cambridge, MA; Candlewick Press.

Wilhelm, Jeffrey D. (2007). Engaging readers and writers with inquiry. New York, NY; Scholastic.

Winter, Jeannette & Egolf, Robert L. (1988). Follow the drinking gourd. New York, NY; Knopf, Inc.

For website list go to: http://www.diigo.com/user/dfewell64