Summary
Through our study of the Civil War, we study the causes, the battles, the effects, and the general way of life during the Civil War Era. For this activity students worked in groups and were given a Google Doc newspaper template. They were to incorporate various elements of a newspaper that reflect the Civil War era. Together they were to decide which members would write each newspaper element. They had an edition of the 1865 Daily Dispatch as a primary source document, various websites, and OneSearch available to research. After researching each member added their pieces to the Googe Doc template to make a complete edition of a newspaper. Students were to write from the perspective of citizens of Richmond of the time exhibiting real life issues of the time. Upon completion students reflected on the helpfulness of each website and any problems they encountered during the project. Students are researching, collaborating, problem solving, and creating.
TIPC Ratings
The research for this lesson is in the approaching category. Students use previously learned knowledge to guide them to further research Civil War topics through various websites and search engines. The use of a primary source document was their guide to what to include in a Civil War Era newspaper. Any websites used were rated with a student checklist.
Students collaborated with their group to agree on the division of responsibilities and topics of their newspaper. They are creating a product that shows they can communicate the different perspectives and issues of the time and share this verbally and in written format. By using a collaborative document, students had an on-going discussion about the goals for their newspaper. This lesson falls in the approaching category.
Students are given elements to include but must think critically as to what topics are authentic to Richmond in 1865. Students are problem solving as they research looking for relevant information and working with a group in adequately displaying everyone’s articles in the document.
Students are able to collaborate, choose topics, and formulate a product. They can exhibit their products through various elements of their choice. There is a great deal of freedom to be as creative as possible so that each newspaper will be unique. By analyzing trends from an actual newspaper, they created original work of their own. This scores in the approaching category.
Student Artifact
Download Files
Contents:
- Lesson Plan & Rubric
- Website Rating Form
- Student Reflections
- Google Doc Collaboration Sample
- Google Doc Student Google Doc
- PDF Copy of Student Newspaper
