Communication on the Underground Railroad

OLD LESSON

NEW LESSON

Use the website brainpop.com to introduce the Underground Railroad. And answer the question What was the Underground Railroad? Read the social Play the video which introduces some of the studies chapter on the people involved with the underground railroad. Civil War, and Choose one person from the video to highlight highlight the section for further research. Using Word Press, tell the on the Underground story of the person in the first person voice. Railroad, by doing the corresponding vocabulary word bank at the end of the section. Using the interactive map from
www.nps.gov/.../ugrr/discover_history/underground_map.htm

Take the chapter pretest, using the text book to help with the review.

Find a route from a southern slave state to Canada through at least 3 southern slave states and 3 northern states. Explain the wisdom of your route using the discussion board. Students will respond to each others routes as being a wise choice and why or an unwise choice and why, based on the availability of safe houses along the route. Communication on the UGRR happened in many ways, but one way in particular was through the use of symbols in quilts, hung innocently on fence posts and window sills. Using
http://pathways.thinkport.org/secrets/secret_quilt.cfm

explore the different symbols and what they meant. Using the drawing board, experiment with designing quilt block. Share within learning group using collaborative tool of your choice. Write a one page Now that student has experimented with

Communication on the Underground Railroad

essay on Slavery and the Underground Railroad as a way to freedom.

design and color, textile comes next. Using the book Facts and Fabrications Barbara Brackman, the student will experiment with a variety of textiles and make the connection with the limited choices slaves would have had to create the quilts they made. Following the directions on
http://pathways.thinkport.org/secrets/secret_quilt.cfm

Create an actual cloth quilt block using the textile of your choice. With your learning group, create a Freedom Trail from point A to point B using your blocks as sign posts. Explain their design and symbolism. Take the end of chapter test.

The old lesson is a basic unit from the textbook on the Civil War, with a sub-module on the Underground Railroad. It gives a passing glance at slavery and the UGRR. Typical of a canned lesson plan, this lesson has students completing the end of chapter pre-test, vocabulary word drills, a short essay exercise and an end of chapter test of standard questions of multiple choice and fill in the blank, and maybe a few short answer questions thrown in at the end. The new lesson has the students using several different resources, introducing the topic in a variety of ways, including video, interactive maps, discussion boards, graphic design, and textile creation. The student uses each of these experiences in conjunction with one another

Communication on the Underground Railroad

as a cumulative learning experience, collaborating several times in learning groups to complete a final task. Students evaluate the information they gleaned from the maps and the variety of sources provided through the links they explored. Then they will take what is useful to the project at hand and look for significant information to aid in next steps. Students will analyze fact versus fiction regarding quilt symbolism. They will also analyze the various symbols used and their significant role as told through oral tradition. Making a quilt block and designing a Freedom Trail is a great example of synthesis because they are to create a block based on the symbolism they have analyzed , and use textiles determined by their study of fabrics used by slaves. Using the blocks, they will create a Freedom Trail. This is also an example of synthesis, because they will need to determine the symbolism of the block, how to use its message as a sign post on the trail, and then use the blocks collectively to lead their class from point A to point B, using just the blocks as direction markers.