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We Walk in Their Footsteps
Description:
This lesson plan was created for grades 9-10 but can be modified for younger grades. Students will think critically and create questions about historical letters we will read which touches on World War I, the 1918 flu pandemic, the sinking of the Tuscania and Sanitoriums. One written by a young woman whose young man is off in France fighting and one written by the young man. Students will critically evaluate a web site of their choice related to those topics using the Content Validity Scale job aid created by Small and Arnone. We will discuss the results of their evaluation and the information they found related to the letter.
Goals & Objectives:

Instructional Goals:

 

1. Students will practice perceiving past events with historical empathy.

2. Students will choose historical resources to evaluate for credibility.

3. Students will distinguish among fact, point of view and opinion.

 

Learning Objectives:

 

1. Students will formulate questions based on a historical letter read in class.

2. Students will choose one out of three Internet resources which have historical inofrmation related to the letter to evaluate.

3. Students will read some historical information related to the letter we read together.

 

Motivational Goals:

 

1. Students will become interested in what happened to a young person in history and why.

2. Students will develop an interest in NY State history.

3. Students will become curious about sorting out what historical information is biased and what is strictly factual.

Materials & Sources:
Historical picture, historical letters, questioning, evaluation form, lecture, computer lab, and Internet sites.
Procedures:
As students enter they will see an enlarged picture of a young woman from approx. 1918 and a young man in soldier's uniform. (I used the image search on www.google.com to come up with a couple appropriate pictures by typing in "young man 1918" or "young woman 1918.") I will ask who knows when Tioga County was first settled? Does anybody know how long their family has lived here? Is your family the first to live in the house you live in? I will tell them that I live in a house built by my great-great grandfather in 1895. I will pass out copies of the letters I found in my house written by a young girl staying in a sanitarium in 1918 and her boyfriend in France to my great-great grandmother. A boy will read the letter from Harry and a girl will read the letter from Ruth. The letters should bring up some questions. What is a sanitarium? Why was she there? And why didn't she want my great grandmother's brother to know she was sick? What was the flu Harry spoke of. I'll tell them the answers at the end of the class if they don't find them on the web sites I provided.
What kind of resources would you use to find out the answers to questions like these? Give them a chance to come up with a list and see if they think of the Internet as well. Point out that more and more historical information is being put on the Internet and that while books and newspapers may still be the best resource, we can find out a lot on the Internet now. You're probably on the Internet all the time? But how careful are you about the validity of the web site you use? Ask if they know what I mean by validity? Explain if needed. Hand out the simple web site evaluation forms. We will go over the terms together.
We will log on to the computers and they will then have the opportunity to choose one out of three web sites to evaluate.
I will go over the web site ratings and ask them to explain their evaluation. I will also answer the questions about the letters.
Assessment:
I will assess motivation by observation and content by the web site evaluation forms they have filled out.
Sources:
Clifton Springs web site - http://www.fostercottage.org/index.htm New York timeline - http://www.worldhistory.com/newyork_timeline.htm Sinking of the Tuscania http://www.worldwar1.com/dbc/tuscania.htm Information Power: Building Partnerships for Learning. American Library Association. Chicago, IL 1998 Content Validity Scale (Small
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Presented By: Michelle Budney
Website by Data Momentum, Inc.