Life of an Artifact

Students will be asked to:

1.    Describe the events a historical object experienced.

2.    Describe the purpose of the object, how it was significant, and how it was used at the time and how the use of the object evolved over time.

3.    Locate and include a picture of the object found either on the internet or take one of an object in a museum, antique store, or in their own home.

4.    Compose a first person narrative as the object.  Include clues for classmates to determine what the object is, but do not specifically reveal what the paper is about.

Summative Assignment

Outcome:  Students will compose a first person descriptive narrative about an object and how it was used in historical events and how the purpose for the object changed over time.

Assignment Description:  Creative writing assignments in history encourage students to more fully immerse themselves in an event or time.  Understanding the role of tools or objects in relation to history is not only interesting but an important part of telling a historic story.   In this assignment, students will describe in detail the “experience” of an object.  The instructor may want to limit the object choices for students to a certain period or event, or the instructor may want to select some famous objects such as the flag raised at Ft. McHenry in 1814 that inspired the Star Spangled Banner or Dizzy Gillespie's B–flat Trumpet.  The Smithsonian Institute is a great resource online to find more inspiring images of objects for this assignment.  You may also want to provide suggestions of objects that aren’t necessarily famous and allow the student to be broader in their research such as a gun carried into a WWI battle.  The student might start with the factory where the guns were created, use in a training camp for soldiers, it’s time on the battlefield, and then now being displayed in a museum.  While a gun may appeal to many students and is an obvious choice, encourage student to think more creatively.  The object could be  an old school desk from Little Rock, Arkansas or a wagon wheel used by a pioneer family traveling west for a new life and now mounted on a wall in a home.  Encourage creativity, imagery, and attention to detail.  Part of the interest in this assignment is for students to not to identify the object directly in their paper, but rather provide clues to what it is so classmates have to really pay attention to the details to figure out each object.

Steps and Instructor Notes:

1.   Collect some images of objects, or in a face-to-face class bring in some unusual objects, used in a certain period.  Students can also search for artifacts in their own home or grandparents home that they could tell the story about.  Students could also take pictures of objects in a museum or antique store. 

2.    Take a picture of the object or even multiple pictures of the object from many angles or in use.

3.    Research the use of the object in history.  Encourage students to collect lots of facts and specific examples and then thread a story together about that object.

4.    Write a 3-5 page creative narrative essay that is grammatically sound in first person as the object.  Do not identify the object in the narrative and do not include an image that might give away what you are.  However, provide at least one image to the instructor.  (The instructor could post all the pictures and let students match stories with images or simply provide images after students have an opportunity to guess.)

 Rubric is based on 100 points total but this assignment would take several days and is very dependent on participation which could be evaluated many different ways:

10 points-Student submitted a creative 3-5 page narrative for classmates to read that is in first person and describes the life of an object.
10 points- Student participated in a discussion about and guessed the object for at least 2 other classmates.
20 points- The description of events and use of the object is historically accurate.
30 points-Student included at least 1 image and was very detailed about the object.
20 points-Overall the student composed a grammatically sound and well-organized document.
10 points-Citation is included in the assignment.

Comparing a Civil War Soldier to a Modern Soldier

       Learning Objectives: 

1.  Compare and contrast the battlefield equipment and rucksack packing list of a Civil War soldier to a modern soldier. 
2. Identify equipment and rucksack packing items of these American foot soldiers. 
3.  Describe why soldiers have certain equipment then and now.
4. Create a chart comparing Civil War soldier’s equipment and rucksack packing list to a modern soldier.
5. Compose a double-spaced 3-5 page comparison essay describing what equipment a Civil War soldier carried into battle and what they carried with them while marching and contrasting that to what a modern soldier uses today.

Formative/Summative assignment

Outcome:  Students will compose a double-spaced 3-5 page comparison essay that describes the equipment carried into battle by a Civil War foot soldier and what they packed in their travel bags.

Assignment Description:  To better understand life as a Civil War soldier, students will compare and contrast the battle equipment soldiers used and the items they carried from camp to camp with the equipment of a modern soldier.  Ideally in a face-to-face class, a current US Army soldier would be invited to show and explain the modern equipment he or she currently uses.  In an online class, this could still take place with a guest speaker discussion, web conference session, or by video.  Students will then research the items a Civil War soldier carried (possibly divide the class into Northern and Southern soldiers to cover both sides and different experiences.)  While researching, students will create a chart comparing the Civil War and modern soldier’s equipment.  Then students will compose a comparison essay that contrasts the Civil War soldier’s and modern soldier’s equipment in battle and travel.  One side benefit for this assignment is that students will better understand the harsh conditions the Civil War soldiers experienced but also appreciate and better understand the lives of the men and women who currently fight for our country.

Steps and Instructor Notes:

1. Arrange for a soldier to visit the class.  Outline for this volunteer the project expectations and request they bring equipment used in both the battlefield and in day-to-day life (what they would pack in their rucksack.  Be sure to confirm and get special permission with the school if any weapons were to be brought on campus, even army knives.  
2.  Students will take notes to begin to build a comparison chart, but class could create one as a group, in teams, or pairs at next face-to-face meeting or on google docs.  
3.  Provide library and research time for students to find both primary and secondary sources about what Civil War soldier’s equipment in the battlefields and in camp was like.
4. Students will complete chart for Civil War Soldier.
5. Students will compose a comparison essay that is double spaced and 3-5 pages in length.  The comparison chart should be a good resource for students while doing this essay.  Citation should be provided and instruction from the instructor regarding the citation of the modern soldier's visit to the classroom should be provided.

 Rubric is based on 100 points total but it is likely this assignment would take several days and is very dependent on participation which could be evaluated many different ways.

20 points-Student participated on the day of the guest-soldier lecture.

20 points-Student submitted a compare and contrast chart for a Civil War soldier and a modern soldier.

60 points-Student composed a grammatically sound, well organized 3-5 page double spaced comparison essay that was cited properly. 

Monologue-Women’s History Month

Learning Objectives:
1. Identify a historical significant female American.
2. Compose a monologue describing the life of that historical person and that individual’s historical significance.
3. Research both primary and secondary sources to include in the monologue and presentation.
4. In a 3-5 minutes presentation to the class, the student will dress in appropriate period attire to either be that important woman in history or as someone who might have known that person. (Boys could describe the historically significant woman as her son, husband, brother, or even someone she would have interacted with such as a student taught by Emily Griffith.)

Summative assignment
Outcome: Students will identify a historical woman, compose a 1-2 page monologue speaking as the significant American woman, and present it in a 3-5 minute speech to the class.

Assignment Description: In honor of women’s history month in March, students will select from a list of historically significant American females to research and be in a presentation to the class. The student will research that woman looking for both primary and secondary sources and compose a monologue as that person. The script is a significant part of this project and is designed to be an aide for students during the presentation. The student will then immerse herself/himself in the period of study and prepare a 3-5 minutes speech as that woman or as someone she would have encountered. For example, male students can be the husband, son, brother, father, patient, or student of the woman. Student will be expected to use materials at home to create an appropriate costume and props necessary for their presentation. This project is intended to be an immersive learning experience and special attention to detail and creativeness should be rewarded. Online students can use video cameras, photo essays, audio tools like Audacity to record their speech, or even present in synchronous sessions using an online conferencing tool.

Steps and Instructor Notes:1. Provide a list of significant American women to the class. You may want to have students draw from a hat the woman they are going to study or some other way to ensure that no two students present the same woman. You may also want to offer a trading time the next class period to give students a chance to get an idea of who they are researching and maybe trade with a classmate for someone who may interest them more.

2. Provide a few short monologues for students to read to understand the kinds of information provided in a monologue of someone’s life. An encyclopedia might even be a good place to start to encourage students to narrow a person’s life down to key events.

3. Provide library and research time for students to find both primary and secondary sources about their historical woman.

4. Students should submit the monologue with citation of primary and secondary sources at least a week prior to the presentations so that the instructor can grade and return them quickly. Students will have time to improve their presentations to the class before presenting. This is important since their classmates will ultimately learn about that historical person from the presentations so accuracy and completeness of significant details is important.

5. Students will present as a historical character or as the women from history they chose in a 3-5 minute speech. Student should be dressed appropriately and have props that may enhance their presentation. Students should be encouraged not to purchase items. (Online students should be presented with a few formats depending on age and tools available to them.)

6. Audience should be prepared to ask a couple follow up questions which the student should again respond in character. (Online presentations can be presented live for questions or asynchronously in a discussion, but feedback can still be easily provided by classmates.)

Rubric is based on 100 points total but it is likely this assignment could be evaluated as separate pieces and would take several days which could be evaluated many different ways.
20 points-Student submitted a 1-2 page biographical monologue on their historical woman that is accurate, thorough, grammatically sound, and properly cited.
10 points-Student actively participated in the question and answer period following a peer’s presentation.
20 points-Student dressed in character for presentation and used appropriate props to set the stage for their presentation. Student acted and spoke in presentation as the historical character. (Again online students may have a few different parameters here. For instance a photo essay might include actual photographs of the person, their home, and other important images to fit their story, but a audio component with a monologue should be required.)
40 points- Student delivered a well organized, informational 3-5 minute monologue that informed the audience about the historical woman they researched.
10 points-Student responded to questions about their presentation in a thoughtful way.

President's Day: Creating a Trifold Brochure

Learning Objectives:
1. Evaluate examples of historical trifold brochures.
2. List qualities of a good trifold brochure.
3. Locate pictures and research facts about a museum /historical location to include in the brochure.
4. Create an attractive, well written, historically accurate brochure to attract visitors to a historical location/ museum.

Summative Assignment

Outcome: Students will create a historically accurate, well written trifold brochure to attract visitors to a historical location or museum and share that brochure with classmates.

Assignment Description: There are many purposes for historical writing in addition to a research paper. Historians who curate museums and historical sites may be asked to create a trifold brochure to attract visitors to their site. Our students can model this process of sharing historically interesting information that also markets a location to visitors to increase visitation. First, students should become familiar with trifold brochures by examining and evaluating qualities of some brochures that they think effectively convey information and draw visitors to their site. Instructors should select a theme from a certain period to compliment the current unit of study and assign each student a different location. For the purposes of this post, we will use historic homes of U.S. presidents. Students should then research their location and collect interesting facts, images, and other information that would be appropriate for the brochure. Finally, the student will create the brochure and share it with classmates.

Steps and Instructor Notes:
1. The instructor and students collect examples of historical site brochures and examine commonalities and effectiveness. (Students and instructors can collect these at the airport, restaurants, tourism centers, etc.)
2. The class will visit resources on how to create an effective trifold brochure such as the website at the University of Florida.
3. Students will meet in small groups examining the brochures they collected and discussing what they learned about creating effective trifold brochures. They will create a list of qualities they think should be included in a good brochure. (A collective list created by the class and instructor could be used as an evaluation/rubric tool at the end of the project to grade the trifolds.)
4. The student will research and collect facts and images to include in his/her own brochure about one President’s home.
5. The student will create a visually appealing, grammatically sound and organized trifold brochure that contains accurate historical information about the President’s home.
6. The class will share their brochures with one another. Some assignment options are to have the class evaluate each other’s brochures based on a rubric generated from the discussion the class had about the qualities of a good brochure. The class could also rank the top three brochures based on those qualities. Regardless of how you decide to evaluate the brochures, this sharing part is essential as students will learn about Presidential history and get ideas for later assignments by seeing each other’s work.

Rubric is based on 100 points total but it is likely this assignment would take several days and is very dependent on participation which could be evaluated many different ways. For the purposes of this post, the rubric only evaluates the trifold brochure:
20 points-Student created a trifold brochure that is visually appealing and provides enough content to interest the reader.
10 points- The back panel includes credits and additional contact information.
20 points- The inside three panels contain historically accurate information that informs the reader about the historic home and President.
30 points-Student included at least 1 image and 10 facts regarding the location.
20 points-Overall the student composed a grammatically sound and well organized document.

What we don’t know about George Washington

Learning Objectives:
1. Discuss as a class what the group knows about George Washington.
2. Brainstorm and build a list of facts from the prior knowledge of the group.
3. Research individually to find three unique facts different from the list the class created.
4. Share discovered information and sources with class.
5. Explore concepts of information literacy such as source evaluation and information accuracy.

Formative assignment

Outcome: Students will access their prior knowledge on a topic, create a list with classmates of commonly known facts about that topic, and research the topic for new information to share with the class.

Assignment Description: There are a couple of goals with this assignment. The first is for students to recognize and access their prior knowledge about a subject. The second is to evaluate whether what they think they know is actually accurate about a topic. The third is to explore concepts of information literacy including source evaluation and fact substantiation. Students often have a broad understanding of a topic or prior knowledge they have collected over their life time in education and social media. The class will discuss this knowledge and then find new information on the topic to share with each other. Cognitively, this allows students to build connections with what they knew to what they learn from each other. This assignment could be done with any person, event, or significant historical place.

Steps and Instructor Notes:
1. As a class, students will initially brainstorm all the facts they know about George Washington. In an online forum, this could be done with many different types of technology such as a Google doc or discussion board.

2. Class will review the list and divide it between ideas they agree to be true or accurate and ideas that might be questionable.

3. Explore information literacy with class. Discuss effective source evaluation techniques and techniques for determining the accuracy of information in a source. For instance, do at least three sources have the same fact? Here is one resource to help instructors get started: http://novemberlearning.com/resources/information-literacy-resources/

4. Students will then research the topic searching for a minimum of three facts either not on the lists or one that proves the questionable list as accurate or not.

5. Students will share the facts they discovered in their research, the sources they used to find that information, and how they evaluated those sources and their accuracy.

6. Students will compose a grammatically sound and well organized document with all the information listed in step 5 and include proper citation for each source.

Rubric is based on 100 points total but it is likely this assignment would take several days and is very dependent on participation which could be evaluated many different ways.
10 points-Student actively brainstormed prior knowledge with classmates.
10 points-Student actively participated in discussion to divide prior knowledge into two lists.
30 points-Student found and shared with class mates three new facts, the resources used, and how they evaluated those.
50 points- Student composed a grammatically sound and well organized document with the facts they discovered in their research, the sources they used to find that information, and how they evaluated those sources and their accuracy. Student also properly cited each source.