Kelly Hazlett
ECOMP 5004
June 1, 2010
Independent Literacy Activity
Title: Moments in American History
-Reflecting on important historical events
Grade Level: 7th
Subject Area: History, Technology, Communication Arts
Essential Question:
· Why should we study and try to understand the events which have occurred in our American History?
Content Standards:
Montana Content Standards for Social Studies
Content Standard 1—Students access, synthesize, and evaluate information to communicate and apply social studies knowledge to real world situations.
-apply the steps of an inquiry process (i.e.,identify question or problem, locate and evaluate potential resources, gather and synthesize information, create a new product, and evaluate product and process).
Content Standard 4—Students demonstrate an understanding of the effects of time,
continuity, and change on historical and future perspectives and relationships.
-interpret the past using a variety of sources (e.g., biographies, documents, diaries, eyewitnesses, interviews, internet, primary source material) and evaluate the credibility of sources used.
-identify significant events and people and important democratic values (e.g., freedom, equality, privacy) in the major eras/civilizations of Montana, American Indian, United States, and world history.
Montana Content Standards for Communication Arts
Communication Arts Reading Content Standard 2
Students read by applying foundational skills and strategies to comprehend, interpret,
analyze, and evaluate texts. compare and contrast information to explain relationships and draw conclusions within and/or across texts.
Montana Content Standards for Technology
Content Standard 1. A student must use digital tools and resources for problem solving and decision making.
Content Standard 2. A student must collaborate and communicate globally in a digital environment.
Content Standard 3. A student must apply digital tools and skills with creativity and innovation to express his/herself, construct knowledge and develop products and processes.
Objectives:
· Students will research and understand multiple events in American History.
· Students will understand why it is important to learn from the events which have happened in American history.
· Students will communicate important aspects of such events through the use of technology.
Materials:
· Creating America-A History of the United States
· Internet
· Computers
· Web 2.0 tool-Museum Box http://museumbox.e2bn.org/
Time: 5 (50min) Periods
Procedure:
· First, have a class reflection about the past units studied in American History. Focus in on important events that happened.
· Pass out a list of events to each student. Have each student choose a few of the events that he or she may be interested in. Pull sticks to come up with the order of students for choosing the events. Make sure each student has a different event.
· Explain that they are going to be taking a closer look at these historical events, and that they will be doing some more research and eventually will be presenting their information in a Museum Box to the class.
· Take students to the computer lab to show an example museum box.
· Pass out rubrics to prepare students for the expected outcomes of the research and museum boxes.
· Allow students an adequate amount of time to do the necessary research and construction of their museum boxes.
· Have students present museum boxes.
Evaluation
*Rubric will assess the following:
-museum box (2 layers)
-1st layer
-video clip of student expressing why this event is significant to us
-2 images relating to the event
-resources cube
-sound or sounds of what may have been heard during the event
-2nd layer
-5 cubes which include researched material regarding five important aspects of the event