Submitted by: Katie Quarforth
Collaborators: Mara LaFratta and Bonnie Spencer
School: Lakeside Elementary School
Summary
The students will use their knowledge of VS.6a and slavery to further their understanding of the Underground Railroad. They will participate in a simulated journey along this secret route to freedom by pretending they are slaves escaping in the 1850s with the help from abolitionists, like Harriet Tubman. The journey begins in the classroom in the “South.” They must decide as a group what time of day will be best for escape, what to bring on their mission, and how to proceed. When the aboitionist “rescues them” and leads them through the school on the path to the “North,” they must look out for safe houses through clues, avoid bounty hunters, determine where and when to hide, and make decisions about who to trust. When they reach the “North,” some will find that their decisions caused them to be captured, while others will reach freedom successfully. In the end, they will reflect as a group about their journey and judge their choices using Voice Thread. They will also upload videos that were recorded along this secret route to freedom.
TIPC Ratings
Entry – Research and Information Fluency wasn’t the focus of this lesson; however, the students did participate in research prior to the time frame this lesson was implemented.
Ideal/Target – The students work in their self-chosen groups with their assumed roles to participate in a simulation activity where they are engaged in the authentic task of learning what life was like as a slave journeying on the Underground Railroad. They created a VoiceThread presentation to communicate and collaborate with others, regardless of time zone or physical distance. The students reflected on their roles as communicators and collaborators and set goals for future growth by way of the VoiceThread presentation.
Ideal/Target – The students will generate and respond to purposeful questions when making decisions about escaping on the Underground Railroad. As discussed in the summary and the lesson development sections, each group will come together prior to the simulated journey to make their plans and problem solve. They will have to decide whether to escape in daytime or nighttime, whether the weather should be dry or stormy, what to bring with them, where to go, what to look for along the way for assistance, what to avoid along the way, how to navigate the terrain, etc. Even more importantly, they will have to justify their decisions on paper and to the teacher when asked along the route and recorded via video camera. When the simulated journey is completed, the students will reflect on their roles as critical thinkers using Voice Thread where they have the choice of sharing via the digital methods of text, audio, or video. They will determine whether or not they were successful as “slaves” escaping along the Underground Railroad and why things happened as they did. They will determine what changes they could make to have a more positive outcome if the journey were to be made again. They will also evaluate how they performed as a group throughout the project and summarize their overall opinions, as well as the knowledge they gained involving VS.6 and slavery.
Ideal/Target – The students used the knowledge they gained from their prior research as well as self-generated knowledge from their simulation roleplay on the Underground Railroad to create their maps, quilt, and VoiceThread presentation. They reflected on this creative/innovative process and set goals for future growth via the VoiceThread presentation.
Student Artifact
