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Learning With Lincoln Institute

Now More with the Affects of Slavery: the Interview

by Vicki Martinez

Download a copy of this Learning Experience

Students explore and analyze primary source documents and collections of audio narratives by former slaves to get an understanding of slavery from a new perspective.

Students will research the life of a slave and regroup to present what they have learned in an interview format. The topic of the interview is the personal impact on individuals during slavery. Students gain information through a variety of means; documents, discussion, audio, transcripts and images.

Overview

Subject:
Social Studies / U.S. History / Language Arts
Time Required:
Nine 50 minute class periods (Language Arts and Social Studies), Four 50 minute computer lab sessions.
Grade Range:
4 - 6
Understanding Goal:
How can primary sources tell students how slavery affected the child, families, or adult slaves?
Investigative or Essential Question:
How can primary sources tell students how slavery affected the child, families or adult slaves?

Materials

Purpose of Library of Congress Items:
The primary sources help students gain a better understanding of the personal issues that were involved with slavery. Primary sources allowed the students to gain insight to the affects of slavery on the individual child, family, or adult.
Library of Congress Items:
Bibliographical Information can be found in the PDF of this Learning Experience.
 
  • Receipt for sale of Jane, age 18, and her son Henry age 1
  • From Slavery to Civil Rights Timeline
  • Slaves and the Courts: 1740-1860
  • Slave Narratives from the Federal Writers’ Project
Additional Materials:
Required Vocabulary:
Confederacy, Union, Civil War, President Lincoln, slavery, freed, surrender, Yankee, abolitionists, politician, fugitive, slave owner, free territory
Prior Content Knowledge:
In addition to knowledge of HOW to analyze primary sources used, students will need to know: work cooperatively with age appropriate peers, have some knowledge of the Civil War and Lincoln’s involvement, students will be grouped with varied levels of academic reading levels.
Technology Skills:
Students must be able to manipulate the mouse of a computer and be able to surf the Library of Congress website.

Standards

Illinois Learning Standards:
1, 1A, 1B, 1C, 3, 3A, 3B, 3C, 4, 5A ,5B, 16
 
For information on specific Illinois Learning Standards go to www.isbe.state.il.us/ils/

Actions

Description of Teacher Actions:

Activating Prior Knowledge or Anticipatory Set

  1. Read each of the vocabulary words asking for volunteers to read the words they know and explain that each word involves the time period during the Civil War.
  2. Teacher will also review through question/answer what the Civil War was and what it entailed. (prior knowledge)
  3. Place students in groups of varied academic levels.
  4. Each group will be given three to four (3-4) vocabulary words with a dictionary or students may also use an online source.
  5. Teacher will then instruct the students to look each word up in the dictionary and write the definition as it pertains to the Civil War.
 

Student Investigative Activities

  1. How can we use these words to answer the questions on the worksheet? (5 Ws and 1 H)
  2. Students are to answer each “W” question to gain a better understanding of vocabulary and how it relates and to gain a better understanding of Civil War, causes and issues.
  3. Teacher will go through an example of what is expected on worksheet.
  4. Once students have filled out the worksheet, they will type their definitions in complete sentences on the computer to be placed on the bulletin board, matching the correct vocabulary word with its definition. Students will now have gained a better understanding of the Civil War, issues behind it and President Lincoln’s role.
 

Student Investigative Activities

The Interview

  1. Describe the project briefly.
  2. Review - By working with Lesson 1 and understanding the vocabulary, teacher will now review Civil War and President Lincoln’s role.
  3. Teacher will now give an explanation of what an interview is, show and review parts of an interview and what it entails. Students will complete the practice activity to show how to interview.
 

Student Assessment / Evaluation

  1. Describe the project briefly.
  2. Students will be placed into pairs. Students will be shown how to navigate their way through the Library of Congress website. Websites will be provided for students as examples of resources to begin their research. Students will be encouraged to surf the Library of Congress website to find collections and resources of their own. Practice at home will be encouraged to increase fluency of the site.
  3. Students will listen to an interview of a former slave. Ask students - What are some questions that can be drawn from this interview? Could you understand the person? Is there a place on the website that shows a transcript of the interview?
  4. Students will then form questions that they would like to ask a former slave. These questions will be placed on a worksheet for students to listen for and answer. The teacher may need to provide hints for students in the recognition of answers to the interview questions.
  5. Students are given an interview worksheet to fill out after listening, reading, and surfing the websites.
  6. Students will choose various ways of presenting what they learned during their interview. Students may choose to ask their question and then tape the response from the website. This would then be presented in audio form. Some students may choose to present their interview using a PowerPoint presentation, another way of presenting would be by writing a short Reader’s Theatre.
Best Instructional Practices:

Teaching for Understanding

Interviewing allows students to inquire for themselves and the teacher to observe how students connect what they already know about the affects of slavery. The students know the Understanding Goal for the lesson and will work to answer questions related to the goal. When students explain the Civil War and President Lincoln's role, they put the interview together using questions supplied. This will reference evidence in the audio and transcripts to reveal their understanding of the content.

Differentiated Instruction

The final interview project of audio, Reader's Theatre, or PowerPoint presentation is selected by the student to utilize strengths or differentiated by interest.