More Class Lessons for WebQuests 2001

What Really Happened at the Battle of Little Bighorn or Sitting Bull at the Greasy Grass Summary: I use this lesson as part of a larger unit on Native Americans and The West. Part of the aim of this unit is for students to use primary sources, read and study a variety of view points, and make some determinations about choices that were made in our history. This unit addresses essential questions of who really "owns" history, and how point of view impacts action and understanding. Grade Level: 7 Curricular Area: American Studies Class Time Required: 3 weeks (Estimated)

Standards: Geography - Understand how to use maps and other geographic representations, tools, and technologies to acquire, process, and report information from a spatial perspective. - Understand how culture and experience influence people's perceptions of places and regions. - Understand the processes, patterns, and functions of human settlement. - Understand how the forces of cooperation and conflict among people influence the division and control of the Earth's surface. - Understand how to apply geography to interpret the past. History - Understand United States territorial expansion between 1801 and 1861, and how it affected relations with external powers and Native Americans. - Describe how historians use models for organizing historical interpretation (e.g., biographies, political events, issues and conflicts). - Make inferences about historical events and eras using historical maps and other historical sources. - Identify the differences between historical fact and interpretation. - Describe characteristics of different kinds of communities in various sections of America during the colonial/frontier periods and the 19th century. - Describe characteristics of different kinds of families in America during the colonial/frontier periods and the 19th century. - Compare similarities and differences in the ways groups, societies, and cultures meet human needs and concerns. - Explain how information and experiences may be interpreted by people from diverse cultural perspectives and frames of reference. - Explain why individuals and groups respond differently to their physical and social environments and/or changes to them on the basis of shared assumptions, values, and beliefs. - Articulate the implications of cultural diversity, as well as cohesion, within and across groups. - Demonstrate an understanding that different scholars may describe the same event or situation in different ways but must provide reasons or evidence for their views. - Identify and use processes important to reconstructing and reinterpreting the past, such as using a variety of sources, providing, validating, and weighing evidence for claims, checking credibility of sources, and searching for causality. - Develop critical sensitivities such as empathy and skepticism regarding attitudes, values, and behaviors of people in different historical contexts. - Examine persistent issues involving the rights, roles, and status of the individual in relation to the general welfare. - Analyze and explain ideas and governmental mechanisms to meet needs and wants of citizens, regulate territory, manage conflict, and establish order and security. - Explain and apply concepts such as power, role, status, justice, and influence to the examination of persistent issues and social problems. Technology - Students use technology tools to enhance learning, increase productivity, and promote creativity. - Students use productivity tools to collaborate in constructing technology-enhanced models, prepare publications, and produce other creative works. - Students use telecommunications to collaborate, publish, and interact with peers, experts, and other audiences. - Students use a variety of media and formats to communicate information and ideas effectively to multiple audiences. | top | Learning and Teaching Activities: This lesson will take three weeks of class time. Students will move between the lab, classroom, and library during the three weeks. As the students are part of an interdisciplinary program, we do have 90 minutes of class time per day. It will be helpful to work with your school librarian to find print materials for students. If you have access to microfilm, they may also want to search the New York Times. Cobblestone magazine is also an excellent source for middle school students. It is often useful to be sure that at least one student in each group is capable with computers. As one of the outcomes is generating a web-based newspaper, you will also need help teaching this process to students if you don't know how to do it yourself. There are a number of options available, and you might check with your school's teaching coordinator to find out what your school uses. Dreamweaver and Page Mill are two possibilities. Students may feel somewhat uncomfortable with the sometimes graphic descriptions of the battles, so they may need some encouragement when they get to these sources. This lesson works best with teachers who like to be facilitators and who are comfortable with some chaos and movement. Students will be at all points in a process at any given time, and the teacher will need to be able to move from group to group to offer support and assistance. This lesson was designed as part of a 7th grade humanities program that focuses especially on American Studies. Students in the class have practiced group work all year long, and are used to dividing up tasks. For this reason, I did not specify roles in the process. However, you may want to help your students with this if they are not comfortable with this kind of work. When students begin this project, they have studied pre-Colombian Native American life, colonialism, the US Constitution, and the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights. It is not necessary that your students have all of this background, but I do use this lesson to focus on human rights issues, especially as they relate to the Constitution and the record of mistreatment inflicted upon Native Americans by the government and expansionists. | top | Outcomes and Assessment: Students will be evaluated in a number of ways. First, they will be evaluated on written communication skills in the newspaper project. They will have to read and understand complex sources in order to write coherent articles. This part of the project will also involve technology, as they will design a newspaper to publish on the internet. Students will also create a memorial grounded in the ideas that symbolize the battle for their particular group. This will involve designing, building and collaborating. They will do some self evaluation during this process. Students will also complete a journal to record their observations as they work on the unit. The following types of assessments will be used: teacher assessment, self evaluation, writing, building, and presentation. The memorial and newspaper will be evaluated using a rubric. | top | Materials Needed: Internet access. Web Page maker software. Maps. Library access. A projector is helpful. | top | Resources: Resource 1 Resource: Archaeology at the Battle of Little Bighorn URL/Publisher: http://www.mwac.nps.gov/libi/index.html How Used: student resource Resource 2 Resource: North American Indian Photographs and Biographies URL/Publisher: http://www.curtis-collection.com/tribe%20data/bsketches4.html How Used: student resource Resource 3 Resource: Crazy Horse Archives URL/Publisher: http://www.wintercount.org/archives/crazyhorse/ How Used: student resource Resource 4 Resource: PBS The West URL/Publisher: http://www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/program/episodes/six/goodday.htm How Used: student resource Resource 5 Resource: Eyewitness Account of Battle of Little Bighorn URL/Publisher: http://www.ibiscom.com/custer.htm How Used: student resource Resource 6 Resource: Treaties and Battle Reports URL/Publisher: http://lbha.org/sioux.htm How Used: student resource | top | Downloads: Click to view the website. | top |