Katherine+Gregory

[|"Hello, I am Deborah Sampson" Lesson Plan]

The basis of this lesson plan is centered around role playing - focusing on historical figures during the [|American Revolution], specifically it is suggested to pick figures or types of roles that may have been under examined in historical texts. Students will pick an individual figure then research him/her, creating a physical project to reflect the knowledge learned from their research. Students will then dress up and present their project to the class. The online lesson plan suggests to videotape the students - I view this as optional. As a conclusion of the lesson, it the class will view "[|Johnny Tremain]" and identify which historical characters are portrayed in set movie and how the movie's accuracy compares with their own research.

The objective of this lesson plan is to examine what minority groups have been left of U.S. History and why this may be. The students will learn this through self-directly learning and research. The final evaluation of this lesson plan will be based around whether the criteria of the assignment are met - a well research project was created and presented, along with a costume that was representative of one's character. The projects will be scored by accuracy and effort.

Response by Madeline Wayham:

I like that this activity is creative, and they will lean a lot from imagining themselves as someone else. I think it would be easier for 5th graders to be in character during a discussion or debate than a presentation. The teacher could pick a topic in history and have each person pick a side on the topic based on their character. The teacher could moderate the debate or discussion. This way all of the students could participate together at the same time.

Response by Alyssa Stutzer

This activity seems very unique and important to me because it allows the students to focus on the history that is not talked about everyday. The students being able to research on their own a under examined figure in history is important because I believe the students will learn a lot more by developing their own interests in characters. I would alter this assignment by having the students create a poster of what they learned and present that to the class because I find they would learn more.

Response by Justin Cummings

This lesson plan is well summarized and gives me a great idea of how this lesson can be developed throughout the course of a class. The link to the lesson plan is up to date and I was able to look at the original lesson plan. The only thing that I would suggest is adding a couple of wiki links to it.