Underground Railroad

Presented by: Cynthia Durbin

Subject Area(s):

Grade Level(s):

Description:

Brief Description: Classroom teacher and School Library Media Specialist (SLMS) will work together on unit. This unit is meant to introduce students to the history of the Underground Railroad. Information skills to be reinforced will be navigating websites to extract specific information. This unit will take place over a period of 20 days, with the SLMS meeting with students at four different times throughout the unit, while the remaining teaching will be done by the classroom teacher.



Goals & Objectives:

Instructional Goals:

*      Students will gain map- reading skills and understand the impact of geographical surroundings in relation to the Underground Railroad escape routes.

*      Students will be able to successfully find information they need from the web resources provide by SLMS.

*      Students will be able to discuss information from research.

*      Students will create quilt squares.

Learning Objectives:

*      Students will view a map of the Underground Railroad routes and explain how physical geography might have posed difficulties for slaves trying to escape.

*      Students will use the Web to research the difficulties that escaping slaves faced and the things that helped slaves make it to freedom and take notes on what they find.

*      Students will discuss what they have found in their research and discuss observations made on chart.

Materials:

Materials:      Variety of books to be chosen by teacher and SLMS

                        Computers in library

                        Whiteboard

                        Muslim squares for quilt

                        Construction paper

                       Markers

                       Notebooks, pencils  

Additional Web sites:

http://undergroundrailroad.org

http://www.ket.org/underground

Slave Quilts & the Underground Railroad: http://www.eduref.org/cgi-bin/printlessons.cig/virtual/lessons/interdisciplinary/int0120.html

Aboard the Underground Railroad: http://www.nps.gov/history/nr/travel/underground

 

    

Procedures:

Introduction: The classroom teacher will begin by reading stories to them about the Underground Railroad and explaining that the Underground Railroad was the route that slaves took when attempting to escape from southern states, where slavery was legal, to northern states and Canada, where they could be free. 

 

Session 1: Make sure that students understand that this was not an actual railroad, nor was it literally underground.  Ask students if they think a train can run underground?  If they answer with subways, ask them if this was possible during the time period of the Underground Railroad.  Ask them why they think it was called the Underground Railroad? 

 

Together, the classroom teacher and the SLMS will introduce students to the National Geographic’s Underground Railroad site, http://www.nationalgeographic.com/railroad/j1.html  and discuss the routes used by escaping slaves to the North.  Using a whiteboard, show students how to locate the “Routes to Freedom” from the drop down menu box.  Explain how important it is to be able to navigate a site to locate specific information.

 

Have them look carefully at the map and take notice of the locations of mountains and rivers.  Discuss with students what difficulties escaping slaves would have encountered, based on what they see.

 

In addition to fearing slave catchers, what other natural elements of the environment would the runaway slaves have to be concerned with? Have them take notes this in their notebooks.

 

Body:  In the classroom the teacher will have students make charts with two columns.  The first column should be labeled “Dangers They Faced” and the second column should be labeled “Things That Helped Them Out”. 

 

Session 2:  The SLMS will summarize the information from their previous findings on the websites and how to navigate a site.  Students will then go to the designated websites assigned by the SLMS to find more information on the dangers the escaping slaves faced along the Underground Railroad. 

 

Have students take the virtual journey on the Underground Railroad at the National Geographic site. Then have the student’s explore from the drop box menu the “For Kids” “Famous Faces”.  Continue to ask the students to look for evidence of the things that helped the slaves, including quilts, songs, friendly anti-slavery people, and plain old good luck.

Have students continue to take notes in their notebooks to take the information back to class to be added to the charts.

Session 3:  Using the information gathered from their websites and print materials presented in class, SLMS will present a topographical map of New York.  Based of what the students have discovered about the geography of the land and what features could either hinder or help. 

 

Give students a blank map of New York and have the students map out a route through New York they think a slave might have taken, filling in the geographical features that would be encountered along the way.  (This would be my handout, but I was unable to locate a blank map of the state.  I’m sure once in a school setting, teachers would be able to point me in the right direction or have one they’ve used for other assignments.)

 

Session 4: This session will tie in the importance of quilt squares in helping slaves navigate their way to freedom.  Read them the story, Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt.

 

Have students continue to use their skills for navigating a website to collect information that will help them in designing their quilt squares for the presentation at the end of the lesson.  One possible site to use is http://www.womenfolk.com/historyofquilts/ , which  takes students on a stroll through quilting history.  The significance of quilt squares will also be discussed in class and students will be asked to design a quilt square based on what the learned from the information gathered from websites and books used in class.

 

Conclusion: Classroom teacher and SLMS will gather with students in library to present the charts and discuss the information gathered regarding how the geography of the land affected a slave’s ability to escape and what things helped them.  Students will present the quilt squares they made and the significance of the design to help slaves escape. 

 

After the individual presentations, the quilt will be “pieced” together on the bulletin board of the library and be displayed for the rest of the school to enjoy.

 

Assessment:

Learning Assessment Method(s):

-Notes gathered in notebooks.

-SLMS's observations of student's ability to navigate web sites.

-Student discussions of chart and information gathered.

-Presentation of quilt squares.

Standards: