Charting a Course

Curriculum Unit DesignAbolition of SlaveryPresented By:Heather cain and Sam Funnell1ContextWe decided to focus on slavery and the abolition of slavery. Our designed curriculum is intended for a 5th grade, Hartford classroom over a 5-day span. We are basing our curriculum off of having 90 minute classes. Our main objective is to teach the students about a historical and pivotal event in history, as well as allowing the students to make personal connections with a historical event. Our unit encompasses a multi-intelligence type of structure that will allow for students with differing learning styles to succeed. Our curriculum unit is designed to allow the students to develop a deeper understanding of history while interpreting it to make connections within their own lives.

Teaching goal: Multi-intelligence environmentOur main objective is to create a multi-intelligence environment based off of the theory of Howard GardnerThis will give each student a chance to understand the material and excel. Instead of focusing on strictly lectures, individual assignments and evaluations; we intend to incorporate different teaching techniques that can apply to different types of learners.Personal Journals-allow students to freely express their opinions*Field Trip-Students can visually see & experience the content to get a better understanding*Debate-Verbally expressing their knowledge*Active Role Play-A hands-on activityGroup Discussions-Being able to communicate personal experiences to make connections and deepen their understanding3Multi-intelligences

Teaching goal: multicultural environmentHartford Public Schools are made up of 93.8% minorities (Metro Hartford School District Enrollment 2007-2008 )We wanted to integrate a culture that the students can relate toJames Banks says that students learn best and are more highly motivated when the school curriculum reflects their cultures, experiences, and perspectives. (Page 243, Approaches to Multicultural Curriculum) This will avoid student alienation and encourage students to dive into a topic they can relate to and apply to their every day lives

Multicultural

Learning objectivesStudents will be able to describe, discuss, & comprehend the significance of a critical turning point in history, including its notoriety of racism and inequalityStudents will be able to identify and analyze a significant a historical event and apply, compare and contrast its characteristics to their personal experiencesStudents will be able to compare and contrast different perspectives of a historical eventStudents will be able to argue and defend various historical perspectives as they relate to a historical event and judge their meritsStudents will be able to create solutions and apply them to society

7Day 1Day 2Day 3Day 4Day 5*Lesson: Teacher will introduce the topic of slavery

*Activity: Students will be asked to write a brief assignment about what they know and think about slavery.

*Activity: Discuss with students what they already know about slavery & abolition fostered by an open discussion led by the teacher*Activity: Students will watch parts of a movie to deepen their understanding-Unchained Memories: Reading From The Slave Narrative*Activity: Students will be asked to keep a journal for homework & write in it every day from the perspective of a slave*Objective: Students will be able to discuss and describe a historical event

*Lesson: Students will be introduced to people who tried to combat slavery*Activity: Students will visit the Harriet Beecher Stowe Center*Objective: Students will be able to analyze, compare and contrast different perspectives of a historical event*Objective: Students will be able to identify & analyze a pivotal aspect of a historical event*Lesson: Students will learn another leader who tried to combat slavery*Activity: Students will be lectured through a short power point about Harriet Tubman*Activity: Students will participate in a role-playing game to understand the different motives, interests, hopes and fears through various perspectives*Objective: Students will be able to compare and contrast different perspectives of a historical event *Lesson: Students will make personal connections with a historic event*Activity: Students will be asked to talk about what they know about racism/race inequalities through an open discussion fostered by the teacher*Activity: Students will participate in collaborative discussions with diverse partners/groups about personal experiences relating to inequalities*Activity: As a class, students will make a list of ideas to help society take greater leaps toward equality

*Activity: We will discuss the viewpoints on slavery from people both in favor of it and against it and explain some of the reasoning for these opinions.*Objective: Students will be able to analyze a significant historical event and compare & contrast them to personal experiences*Objective: Students will be able to create & organize a list of solutions and apply them to the greater society *Lesson: Students will be evaluated on what they have learned*Activity: Students will participate in a debate through various perspectives(slave, slave owners, Northerners etc.)*Activity: Students will write a letter to the President of that time from the perspective that they were assigned for the debate*Objective: Students will be able to argue and defend a historical event through different perspectives and judge its merits*Objective: Students will be able to present their defend their knowledge with clarity & voice Day 1The topic of slavery will be introduced to the students Students will have a brief writing assignment about what they know about slavery and any thoughts they might have about it.We will discuss with students what they know about slavery fostered by questions from the teacher Students will watch parts of a movie to deepen their understanding of the new topic-Unchained Memories: Reading From The Slave NarrativesStudents will be asked to keep a journal for homework and write in it every class in the perspective of a slaveThis will target the learning objectives: Students will develop a comprehension of the historical event Students will be able to discuss and describe a historical event

Day 2Students will be introduced to some people who tried to combat slavery by visiting the Harriet Beecher Stowe CenterWe will attend the school program entitled, Inspiration To Action.

This will target the learning objective: Students will be able to analyze, compare and contrast different perspectives of a historical event Students will identify & analyze a pivotal aspect of a historical event *Day 3Students will be introduced to another abolitionist, Harriet Tubman, through a short power point Students will participate in a role-playing game to understand the different motives, interests, hopes and fears through each perspectiveThis will target the learning objective: Students will be able to identify & analyze the historical event through different perspectives Students will be able to compare and contrast the different perspectives Day 4Students will be asked to talk about what they know about racism/race inequalities through an open discussionStudents will participate in collaborative conversations with diverse partners/groups about personal experiences relating to inequalitiesStudents will be asked to write a list of ideas to help society take greater leaps toward equality We will discuss the viewpoints of people on both sides of the issue of slavery and explain some of the reasoning for these differing opinions.This will target the learning objective: Students will be able to identify and analyze, significant historical events and apply and compare and contrast them to their personal experiences.Students will be able to create & organize a list of ideas and apply them to the greater society

*Day 5We will do a debate about slavery through various perspectives (Students will be assigned to argue either on the the behalf of white slave owners, slaves, or pro-abolition northerners)Students will be asked to demonstrate their knowledge of the unit through writing a letter to the President, as if they were living in the US before the 13th amendment, from the perspective they were assigned for the debate This will target the learning objective:Students will be able to argue and defend a historical event through several perspectives and judge its meritsStudents will be able to defend their knowledge with clarity and voice EvaluationIn order to evaluate the learning of the students over the course of this unit, we will compare writing assignments from the first day as well as the last day.We will be looking for them to display improved overall knowledge of the subject as well as the ability to articulate and argue a viewpoint that they may or may not agree with. ResourcesMovie- Unchained Memories: Reading From The Slave NarrativeHarriet Beecher Stowe CenterJournals