Dangerous Escape – Choice Activitythe time of these encounters, but it is believed that over 100,000 slaves successfully made it to freedom. Imagine if there were 1,000,000 slaves

©2013 Nancy L. Copeland, Deborah Harmon, & Toni Stokes Jones | Eastern Michigan University | College of Education. All rights reserved. This project was funded in part by the U.S. Department of Education Underground Railroad Educational and Cultural Program.

Dangerous Escape – Choice Activity

Purpose: The purpose of this activity is to give a sense of great danger that slaves faced when trying to escape from slavery.

Grade Level: 4th & 5th Objectives:

Students will be able to decide as a slave would they take on all of the risks after learning about the dangers in escaping. Students will calculate the probability of making it to freedom on one of the Underground Railroad routes. Students will be able to list the dangers in escaping.

Materials:

Calculators Books –3 to 4 copies of each The Underground Railroad – P.M. Boekhoff and Stuart A. Kallen pg 24-30 Escape to Freedom: The Underground Railroad Adventures of Callie and William – Barbara Brooks Simons Get on Board: The Story of the Underground Railroad – Jim Haskins pg 2-13 Underground – Shane W. Evans Inspiration account - http://www.inspiration.com/WebspirationClassroom


Probability of escaping worksheet Dangerous escape worksheet Underground Railroad Escape from Slavery http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/bhistory/underground_railroad/index.htm

Opening:

Ask the students if they were slaves would they try to escape to freedom? Complete a classroom tally and bar graph to show all of the yes’s and no’s. Begin a KWL chart. Ask the students what they know about the journey of escaping slavery to freedom. Ask students what they want to know specifically about escaping. Teachers should begin this portion with a question themselves.

Procedure: Teacher may use the scholastics website to go over the journey of a slave. It begins learning about the life of a slave, on the plantation, the escape the slave made, reaching safe grounds, and then finally making it to freedom. Each tab will give the student a synopsis of that particular part of the journey. Teacher will have to click the listen button where students will be able to listen to the dialogue. Teacher may choose some of the following activities to complete after reviewing the website.

Students will discover the concept of escaping slavery in small groups. Students may review the previously view website, read one of the selected sections of the books provided, or do their own internet research.


Guided Practice: Begin by asking the students how many slaves do they think made it to freedom? Please give students wait time to answer. Inform the students that there is not a definite answer to this question because no records were kept at the time of these encounters, but it is believed that over 100,000 slaves successfully made it to freedom. Imagine if there were 1,000,000 slaves that tried to escape to freedom. What would be the probability of reaching freedom? Begin the teaching the students that probability is how likely something is to happen. Go through both examples as well.

Probability = QUOTE

Examples 1: Getting tails on a quarter.

There is one possible way to get tails and we have two possible outcomes so our fraction would look

like this: QUOTE = .50 = 50% We have a 50% percent chance of getting tails.


Example 2: Rolling a number 3 on a number cube.

There is one possible way to get the number 3 and a total of 6 different outcomes so our fraction

would look like this: QUOTE = .16 = about 16%. We have about a 16% chance of rolling the number 3 on a number cube.

Ask the students to convert the probability of successfully making it to freedom. Student should come up with the answer 1/10 = .10 = 10% Slaves had a 10% chance of making it to freedom successfully. Independent Practice: Part A Based off the findings students will need to complete a graphic organizer on Inspiration answering the following questions. Have students create drafts on paper before beginning their creation online.

What was life like as a slave? What did they do on the plantation? What made them want to flee the plantation? Was there anything holding back? What was the best time to escape and why? What are the slave’s means of travel? How did they escape?

What was it the journey like escaping? Was it fearful? What dangers did you encounter on your journey? How did they survive such a long travel?


How did the conductors help guide the slaves to the path of freedom?

Part B

Students will write an essay based off the information deciding whether they will take a chance at escaping to freedom. Students will evaluate all of the circumstances and make one final decision.

Closing Discuss the student’s findings. Go back to the KWL chart. Ask the students what new information they have learned. Fill in the remainder of the chart. Complete another class tally and bar graph now. Compare the two bar graphs. See if any of the students have changed their mind about going.


KWL CHART

K – What I know W – What I would like to

know L – What I have learned

I

source


Mind Mapping

Using the following questions, you will create a Mind Map that will depict the dangers the slaves encountered as they ran to freedom. Be creative as you put your map together. Create a rough draft first on this sheet. Please use the back if needed.

What was life like as a slave? What did they do on the plantation? What made them want to flee the plantation? Was there anything holding back? What was the best time to escape and why? What are the slave’s means of travel? How did they escape?

What was it the journey like escaping? Was it fearful? What dangers did you encounter on your journey? How did they survive such a long travel?

How did the conductors help guide the slaves to the path of freedom?


When you have finished your rough draft, you will use the Inspiration software to make your mind map. Remember this is an individual assignment. I should be able to see the answers to the questions on your mind map. Below is an example of how you may set up your map.

Source: Google Images


Your Final Decision

Imagine you are a slave. Knowing all of the information you have just learned, would you still try to escape to freedom? Using supporting details, write a one-page essay describing your thoughts about the topic.

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KnowledgeComprehensionApplicationAnalysisSynthesisEvaluaContributions Banks-Bloom Navigator

Knowledge Comprehension Application Analysis Synthesis Evaluation

Contributions

KWL chart – What do you know about the slave escape?

Additive

Based off student research, students will answer comprehension questionnaire.

Creation of the mind map.

Comparing the number of successful slave escapes to the number of people that tried. Probability activity.

Transformation

Imagine you are a slave. Would you take the risk knowing all of the facts? Write a one-page essay.

Social Action

Documents

Dangerous Escape – Choice Activitythe time of these encounters, but it is believed that over 100,000 slaves successfully made it to freedom. Imagine if there were 1,000,000 slaves