Places in History: Researching historic locations associated with the Civil Rights Movement.

Created by:

Marylou DeCamillis

Title/Role:

Teacher

Organization/School Name:

Indian River Middle School

Location:

Virginia

Grade Level:

Type of Lesson:

Stand-alone lesson

Type of Schedule:

Flexible

Collaboration Continuum:

Moderate

Content Area:

Social studies

Content Topic:

Civil Rights Movement

Standards for the 21st-Century Learner

Skills Indicator(s):

1.1.4 Find, evaluate, and select appropriate sources to answer questions.

1.1.5 Evaluate information found in selected sources on the basis of accuracy, validity, appropriateness for needs, importance, and social and cultural context.

Dispositions Indicator(s):

1.2.3 Demonstrate creativity by using multiple resources and formats.

Responsibilities Indicator(s):

4.3.2 Recognize that resources are created for a variety of purposes.

Self-Assessment Strategies Indicator(s):

1.4.3 Monitor gathered information, and assess for gaps or weaknesses.

Scenario:

The students have been studying the Civil Rights Movement. The students will research important locations that were prominent in the Civil Rights Movement and evaluate the sources that they've found. The lesson will expose students to alternate search engines besides Google. Many students rely only on Google when conducting internet searches. They also don't understand the differences between .com, .org, .gov, and .edu websites. Additionally, too many students click on the first link that appears during a search with no thought as to how accurate the information is. The students do have some prior knowledge of the Civil Rights Movement and the more well known people/places associated with it such as Rosa Parks,and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Since our school is on a flexible schedule, it facilitates the ability of the librarian and teacher to collaborate. The teacher and I met multiple times leading up to this lesson and I spent 2 full blocks teaching it, as well as two other blocks assisting the teacher to prepare for and then wrap up the lesson.

Overview:

Students will have to conduct their research about locations prominent in the Civil Rights Movement thoroughly enough that they can produce a final product illustrating the significance of their location. Students will learn about different search engines and domains. While they are conducting their research, they will evaluate the sources they find to determine if the information found is accurate, valid, appropriate, important, and relates to the social and cultural context we are studying.

Final Product:

While students are conducting their research, they will complete an Internet Research Site Evaluation Form. Once the students have completed their research, they will begin working on their presentations to share the information they've found. They may choose to compile their research into a picture postcard, a newspaper headline and article, a written report, a timeline, a storyboard, a poster or another agreed upon option.

Library Lesson:

Students will learn about different search engines and understand how domain names can help them decide what a site's purpose is. They will also learn how to evaluate the websites they use to ensure that they are free of bias or propaganda, accurate, relevant, easy to read and free from advertisements or unrelated content.

Estimated Lesson Time:

120 minutes

Assessment

Product:

The lesson/unit will have several assessments. * A pretest will be given to assess how much prior knowledge students have about using search engines to locate information on the internet, what domain names can tell you and what they know about the validity and the purpose of material they find on topics they are searching for. *An Internet Research Site Evaluation Form will be used so students can critique each site they visit to determine if it is the best site to use and if the information on the site is accessible and valid. *Presentation of research: Students will be expected to present their findings to the class. They will present the results of their research by choosing from the following options: by creating a newspaper headline and article, creating a picture postcard with a written summary, writing a one to two page paper, creating a poster, storyboard or illustrating a written timeline of the event. *Post-Test: Students will take the same test that was used as a pretest to determine how much knowledge was gained.

Process:

This lesson is based most closely on the Big6 methodology, although it could also be a combination of several others. I think it aligns itself best with the Big6 though for the following reasons. The Task Definition stage is where we will determine the information problem (understanding what the Civil Rights movement is and then locating historical places of interest associated with it) and what information is needed to answer the who, what, where, why and when. With the 2nd stage, Information Seeking Strategies, we are instructing our students how to consider all possible sources and then to narrow down their selection to the best ones. We are also ensuring that our students have background information on Civil Rights and are familiar with the vocabulary they will be exposed to. For stage 3, Location and Access, we are going to assist them to locate sources and then, by using guided questions, find pertinent information about the historical places and their significance to the Civil Rights movement. For stage 4, Use of Information, they are going to interact with the sites they find, viewing photos, watching footage, and reading descriptions and first- hand accounts of these places and events. They will then be responsible to extract the information that is necessary for the assignment. Stage 5, Synthesis, the students will need to gather the information they’ve found from the various sources they’ve used and present the information on their historical site to their classmates. Finally in stage 6, Evaluation, the students will consider if their final product effectively conveys enough information about their location, person and event and they will also be judging the efficiency of the sites on which they’ve located their information.

Student self-questioning:

When is a website meaningful for research? How can noticing the domain name help me decide whether to check out a site? Is the website easy to use and understand? Who created the page and why? Is the author of the site an expert? Does the site include pictures and/or animation? Are there links to additional content and do they work? Is the site trying to persuade me to take a certain view? Is the content free from spelling and grammatical errors? What other search engines can I begin to use in addition to Google?

Instructional Plan

Resources students will use:

Dataset (ie. lists, tables, databases)

Still image (i.e.paintings, drawings, plans, and maps)

Moving Image (i.e. animations, movies, tv program, video)

Interactive Resource (i.e. webpages, multimedia learning objects, chat services)

Interactive Resource URL:

http://www.yippy.com;www.sweetsearch.com;www.ipl.org; http://www.sitins.com/index.shtm; www.worldofteaching.com/powerpoints/history/civilrightsmvt.ppt

Resources instructor will use:

Projector

Laptop

Smart board

Other

Other instructor resources:

See additional resources on the attached AASL Lesson Plan which are listed under Instructional Delivery

Instruction/Activities

Direct instruction:

Days One and Two (Classroom): 1.Teacher will ask students what they have heard about civil rights and if they know what that means or can state any basic ones. 2.Teacher will distribute pretest of civil rights questions. 3.Teacher, Librarian and students will discuss the questions and correct answers from the pretest. 4.Librarian will have some places written on the board important to the civil rights movement to see if anyone recognizes them. 5.The class will be broken into 2 groups. Teacher will display some statements on the presenter and both she and librarian will facilitate the discussion between students in their groups to determine whether the students think these statements are examples of discrimination. The class will come together and the groups will discuss what they decided. 6.Teacher will ask students if anyone knows what a “sit in” is. Explain it is an example of a nonviolent protest that was common at this time. The librarian will show a primary source document of a newspaper article about the “sit in” in Greensboro, NC on the presenter. 7.The teacher will ask the student what civil rights are. The librarian will present a slide show on the Civil Rights Movement. Periodically through the slide show, students will be informally assessed on the information just presented by both the teacher and librarian. www.worldofteaching.com/powerpoints/history/civilrightsmvt.ppt 8.The librarian will explain to students that the following day they are going to go to the computer lab to conduct research on the places in the US that have historical significance to the Civil Rights Movement, many which were just seen on the PowerPoint. She will then give students a pretest to assess their knowledge on using search engines, domain names and evaluating the content of what they find on the internet. The teacher and librarian will be monitoring students as they take the pretest. The librarian will take grade and evaluate the pretests to determine the extent of any prior knowledge. Day 3 and 4 (Computer Lab): 1. Librarian will go over results of the pretest with students. Librarian will read a brief paragraph about why Google is not always the best search engine. With the presenter, she will do a Google Search example on historical places of interest during the Civil Rights Movement and click on one of the 1st or 2nd links. She will show students how often the top search links have ads connected to them and what the significance is of this. 2. Librarian will then demonstrate some other search engines that students will be encouraged to use. With each example she will use some variation of the “historical places of interest in the Civil Rights Movement.” Teacher will give each student a list of these alternative search engines. Librarian will then discuss and pull up examples of different domains (edu, com, gov, org) and show students how one can often tell what the purpose and content of the site is by the domain name. 3. Teacher will pass out the Internet Research Site Evaluation Form. Librarian will explain what the purpose of the form is, why it is being used and clarify that each student understands what each category and description mean. Librarian will bring up a site on the topic so that she and the class can complete the evaluation form together. Teacher will circulate around the room, ensuring that all students are following directions and understanding the purpose of and how to use the form. 4. The teacher will now hand out the list of suggested historical sites to be used for the research portion of the lesson. Librarian will stress that these are merely suggestions and by no means the only locations/events that can be used. Librarian will direct students to the questions that are written on the bottom of the list. She will go over them and explain that they are there to guide them as they do their research. They will be told that these are not the only questions they should be looking for answers to and most should be able to come up with a few of their own. However, all guide questions won’t necessarily apply to every person’s research either. Librarian and teacher will solicit students’ ideas for additional questions to add to the list.

Modeling and guided practice:

Day 4 (Computer lab): 1. Both the librarian and teacher will circulate around the room, ensuring students are on the sites they should be, have a clear understanding of how to complete the evaluation form and are writing down the data and information relative to their topic and gathering enough facts about their historical place of importance to compile a thorough, informative product

Independent practice:

Days 5 and 6 (Classroom): 1.Librarian will give students the post-test for the AASL standards, which is the same as the pre-test, to see if there was an understanding and acquisition of knowledge from the beginning of this lesson to now. She will compare the results from both these assessments to determine if learning was achieved. 2.Teacher and librarian will lead the discussion and guide students to choose the presentation format that will be a good fit for them and their ability level. 3.Teacher and Librarian will circulate among students offering advice and assistance when necessary. 4.Teacher and librarian will facilitate the presentation of projects, making sure that behaviors are monitored and students are listening to and participating in any discussion from the presentations. 5.Teacher will grade the final presentations and together teacher and librarian will decide if the AASL and SOL standards have been met. 6.Teacher and librarian will give students the post-test of the SOL Standards to ensure they have a better understanding of Civil Rights than they did at the beginning of the lesson.

Sharing and reflecting:

The students should have had some prior knowledge going into this unit about the content, since we went over Civil Rights when we taught the Reconstruction Unit in September. They had learned about the 14th amendment, Jim Crow Laws and Black Codes at this time. However, from their content pretest, you would have thought they had no previous exposure to this information at all. Out of 22 students, only three of them got 100% on the content pretest. Ten of them got less than 3 answers correct, six students got 5 or less of the answers correct and the remaining three only missed one answer. Unfortunately these test scores are common for this group, who lack retention skills and do no studying or reviewing of information outside school. With this group of 22, we are fortunate if 5 or 6 do their homework, despite many calls home when it is not completed. The post-test for content was given at the conclusion of this unit and we were pleasantly surprised to see that out of 22 students, only 4 did not get at least 5 of the 7 questions correct. The students were also given a pre and post-test to assess the AASL learning standards. On the pretest, 20 out of 22 students felt Google was the best search engine. The majority also stated that any content from a site you could access from a school computer was always safe and appropriate for students. We were surprised to see that most students agreed that some of the information you find on the internet is meant to persuade you and that all information accessed is not always true or has been verified. The class was evenly split as to if the first several links to appear were always the best and that advertisers had no control over where on the page their site appears when using Google. They really weren’t familiar with any domain indicators except the .com one. At the conclusion of the lesson students were reassessed with the ASSL post-test. Every student, with the exception of one of the ESL students, achieved at least 5 correct answers. We also discussed the items from the post-test as students were working on their projects. The lesson could have been improved by having the students try to find some alternate search engines on their own rather than just using the ones I had found. I also could have included their input on the development on Internet Research Site Evaluation Form so they would feel some sense of ownership with it. The projects came together nicely and the students enjoyed choosing the format to present their project. The majority chose the postcard, storyboard and timeline options. They presented their projects and the other students asked questions about the pictures, events and information while it was being shown. The finished projects were assessed by both the librarian and teacher to ensure that they contained the required components and adequately described the event/location/person of historical interest. I feel that the lesson was a success and that the students learned both the AASL and SOL standards that we wanted them to, gaining knowledge and skills that they did not possess prior to our unit.

Have you taught this lesson before:

Yes

Strategies for differentiation:

Special Needs: The pre and post tests have been modified to include simpler terms for the special needs learners. The SOL pre and post- tests for the SPED students has one fewer choice on the multiple choice sections and does not require any short answers. The Internet Research Site Evaluation Form has also been modified to include less categories and simpler terms for these students. To guide all students’ research, but especially these SPED learners, I have created a list of questions so they will have some direction and ideas of what information is important when they are researching. Children like to feel they can make decisions and have choices, so all students will be able to choose which location they wish to research and how to present their final product. If I was teaching an honors or AVID group I would not provide the guided questions for research. In addition, instead of giving them the names of historical places of interest in the Civil Rights Movement, I would have them research what these are on their own, before having them choose which one to target from THEIR own list. I would still let them choose their method to present but would eliminate some of the easier choices like the postcard activity and add a few that were more difficult.