Is it a Massacre or a Battle?

Learning Objectives:
1. Explore the documentation of historical events by historians, the public, and politicians.
2. Develop criteria as a historian for the use of the labels “massacre” and “battle” for historical events.
3. Evaluate historical events and determine whether they are correctly labeled based on criteria.
4. Examine the name changes over time associated with some battles or massacres.

This is a formative assignment and students will critically analyze the labels associated with historic battles or massacres and the reporting of those events.

Assignment Description: The struggle between tribes and pioneers while the United States government expanded westward is depicted in social media as a one-sided event. However, the interactions between the two cultures were more complicated than a western tale of good versus evil. Students will explore this period of westward expansion by analyzing encounters between the groups. Students will be empowered to make their own decisions regarding the correct labels for the events and encouraged to analyze those labels of the past and present.

Steps and Instructor Notes:
1. As a class, students will develop a set of criteria to label a historical event as either a battle or a massacre. Participation in this discussion is required and students should come prepared with research about what each term means, sources and examples of use, and at least two criteria they want to have the class consider. Student will submit document to instructor with research and proposed criteria. (The instructor’s role is to encourage discussion and debate, but then facilitate the selection of the final criteria the entire class will use in their analysis of events. Here is a link in the Chicago Tribune on this very topic. Instructors may have students read this article before starting the assignment to set the tone for the upcoming work. http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2009-08-18/news/0908170600_1_native-american-history-chicago-park-district )

2. Provide a list of battles and massacres for students to research individually or in pairs. After selecting one event, students should write a three page, double spaced summary of the event including who was involved, what happened, motivation for the attack, and outcome. The report should include research about how the event was reported at the time using primary source documents and describe whether the label for the event has evolved or changed over time. Additionally, the student or pair of students will determine, based on the criteria, whether the event is correctly labeled by modern historians. Proper citation is required on an additional page. (This assignment could be applied to a wider range of battles and massacres, but for the purpose of this post the limit will be encounters between tribes and pioneers after 1830. This assignment directly correlates with the Sand Creek Massacre in 1863 in Kiowa, Colorado, see Hippocampus.org link below.)

3. Students will share their research on one of the battles and massacres with the class. Classmates will evaluate at least two classmates’ conclusions about the labels applied to historical events, and openly share whether they agree or disagree and why.

Rubric is based on 100 points total but it is likely this assignment would take several days and could be broken down into more graded parts.
10 points-Student came prepared for criteria discussion with sources and examples.
10 points-Student actively participated in discussion to develop criteria.
60 points-Student individually or in a pair composed a well organized, grammatically sound document summarizing in 3 double spaced pages the event including who was involved, what happened, motivation for the attack, and outcome. The report included research about how the event was reported at the time using primary source documents and explained whether the label for the event has evolved or changed over time. Finally, the paper concluded and explained whether the label meets the class’s criteria for a massacre or battle. On the fourth page of the document, correct citation is included.
20 points-Student thoughtfully responded in writing or verbally (this may depend on your classroom format and level) to two classmates conclusions about other events.

Production Groups: History Teamwork

Teamwork often involves a daunting assignment that is difficult for both the instructor and the students to get excited about. I suggest building a culture in your classroom of collaboration that is not usually tied to a grade so that when a group project is assigned the team experience is not foreign to anyone. For history classrooms, get students thinking about what historians do which is often researching a topic and producing something that communicates that to an audience whether that might be a website, museum display, journal article, or a TV show. Most of the time, historians do not do all the work alone and therefore work with a production group or team. A team is often more effective if each member has a defined role. The roles assigned might depend a bit on the type of project and depending on the size of a group some students might perform more than one role, but here are some of the roles you might consider.

1. Researcher-Not only locates reliable primary and secondary sources, but provides documentation of those sources for the final product.
2. Writer-Composes the text for the final product.
3. Graphics Organizer/Designer-Depending on the project and the level of your students, this person will collect images, maps, and other illustrations of the content or develop their own.
4. Director-Organizes all the text, documentation, and visual aides and develops a story board to be approved and completed by the team.
5. Editor-Edits grammar mistakes in the final product and checks for plagiarism issues.
6. Content Editor-Critically examines reliability of information in product and ensures all the key details are provided accurately.
7. Technician-Depending on the scale and complexity of the technology used in the project, one student may need to be the technical expert who brings a background in computers, AVI equipment, etc. and is responsible for any school equipment utilized and oversees use of technology in the project.
8. Producer-This is the instructor who may remain fairly hands off but should have checkpoints along the way--for instance seeing the story board and approving the production of the team. The instructor might also reject a production group's proposal outlining the specific areas that need improvement to be reconsidered.

Ideally, your students have had a chance in small ways to be these various roles on an ungraded or low stakes assignment. As a class, define the responsibilities of each role, like a job description, and the consequences for not doing the job. Be ready to answer these questions:
-Can the group fire members, and what happens then?
-How will the product be evaluated or is it their performance in their group that is evaluated?
-Do students get to form their own groups or will the instructor assign the groups?
-Will the instructor assign jobs to the students or does the group determine that?

Running production groups in your classroom takes a great deal of planning to truly be effective. However, students, particularly those who are not interested in history, will find the experience rewarding and engaging.

History of Science

While working with my daughter on her science fair project, I began to reflect on the history of science and inventions in the United States. Too often, we narrow the study of history for students to some key political and social events. In reality, our lives and story are intertwined with economics, science, religion and other disciplines. I also have many students tell me they are not good at history and not looking forward to the upcoming semester. However, these students major in other disciplines that they are interested in and intend to pursue careers in other fields. To make history relevant to the budding scientist or inventor, why not provide the opportunity to study the history of that subject and long term effects these fields had on our past?

In honor of my daughter’s science project, here are a few sites worth checking out on the history of science. The list includes web sources that would take you on a research journey…

Internet History of Science Sourcebook Altius Directory
Altius Directory
History of Biology
History of Science
Famous Scientists