In 8th grade Social Studies you will be studying the founding of our country and the many events that make us who we are as a country today. In my class we will be completing many group activities, watching videos, reading primary documents and learning about our country while having fun at the same time.
Class Activities and Assignment Help
UNIT FOUR
Lewis and Clark Writing Prompt
Sacagawea and York Article
Western Country Article
Clark's Journals
Two Cultures One Journey
Health and Medicine
Lewis and Clark Video
UNIT FIVE
UGRR Webquest
Slavery and Plantations Spread
Women's Rights Article
UGRR VIDEO TO ANALYZE FOR PROJECTS
Women's Rights Movement Article
CIVIL WAR PROJECT INFO:
Did you know that about 65 % of all Academy award winning movies for best picture are historical films? People love a good historical movie that helps them see, hear, smell and understand the lived experience of the past in a way that a history book cannot. A good example is the film “Gladiator” in which Russell Crowe brought the world of ancient Rome to life for audiences. Another example is the movie “The Last Samurai” with Tom Cruise where viewers can see what Japan looked like during the Samurai era. The writers of these movie screenplays had to learn all of the details of the historical periods depicted in their movie to accurately recreate the time period in sets, behavior and costuming for the audience. Who knows? Maybe you will be writing screenplays for historical movies someday!
Your task: write your own historical fiction set during the American Civil War
You will apply what you know about the Civil War to write letters or diary entries from the point of view of someone who was there. The writing can be from the perspective of someone who actually lived, or someone you made up but is like someone who would have lived during that time period. The goal is to make your writings historically accurate and believable.
History detective skills
To write historical fiction about the Civil War you’ll need to use your history detective skills coupled with good storytelling. You will ask yourself: “ what was it like to live during that time? What was happening? How did it feel? What did they eat? What did they wear?
What were the historical events (like the Civil War) that affected their choices? How did they travel? How did they talk or write? What did they spend their time doing?” Then you’ll use these historical details to create a character that dresses, eats, talks, uses appropriate technology and transportation for the time, and more, shows how this person feels and experiences what was happening to them because of the Civil War.
An important skill in thinking like a historical fiction writer is to be able to empathize with people in the past. Empathy is “the ability to understand and even feel the feelings of another.” Empathy is not sympathy, which means to pity or feel sorry for someone. Historical empathy is when you can stand in the shoes of someone who lived in the past. Then you can use your imagination to look from their eyes and feel and understand the world they lived in. The very best historians and writers of historical fiction use the skill of historical empathy to do their work. The more you can empathize with the historical character you create and write about, the stronger your project will be.
Examples of what you might create for this project:
A set of letters from a Confederate soldier to his fiance back home
A diary kept by a young girl living in the south who sees the battles of the Civil war rage all around her
Letters between two brothers, one that is fighting for the south, another who is fighting for the north
Diary entries by a slave about their hopes, dreams and experiences during the war
Performance Task
After studying the American Civil War and reading journals, letters and other actual writings from people of that era, you will create any fictional character in the Civil War era and develop a story about this person. You can choose any role you wish: a Confederate or Union soldier, a slave, the wife or girlfriend of a soldier, a doctor, nurse, or any other role you can imagine. Your piece will be written in first-person in the form of letters, diary entries or a story. You will then read your piece to your classmates.
The following parts are daily assignments that you will complete in addition to researching and working on your performance task. The task is due Friday 5/13 and must be a minimum of six (5-8 sentences) paragraphs.
EXTRA CREDIT
September due 9/25
October due 10/23
November due 11/20
December due 12/18
January due 1/25
February 2/22
March 3/21
April 4/18
May 5/16
Class Activities and Assignment Help
UNIT FOUR
Lewis and Clark Writing Prompt
Sacagawea and York Article
Western Country Article
Clark's Journals
Two Cultures One Journey
Health and Medicine
Lewis and Clark Video
UNIT FIVE
UGRR Webquest
Slavery and Plantations Spread
Women's Rights Article
UGRR VIDEO TO ANALYZE FOR PROJECTS
Women's Rights Movement Article
CIVIL WAR PROJECT INFO:
Did you know that about 65 % of all Academy award winning movies for best picture are historical films? People love a good historical movie that helps them see, hear, smell and understand the lived experience of the past in a way that a history book cannot. A good example is the film “Gladiator” in which Russell Crowe brought the world of ancient Rome to life for audiences. Another example is the movie “The Last Samurai” with Tom Cruise where viewers can see what Japan looked like during the Samurai era. The writers of these movie screenplays had to learn all of the details of the historical periods depicted in their movie to accurately recreate the time period in sets, behavior and costuming for the audience. Who knows? Maybe you will be writing screenplays for historical movies someday!
Your task: write your own historical fiction set during the American Civil War
You will apply what you know about the Civil War to write letters or diary entries from the point of view of someone who was there. The writing can be from the perspective of someone who actually lived, or someone you made up but is like someone who would have lived during that time period. The goal is to make your writings historically accurate and believable.
History detective skills
To write historical fiction about the Civil War you’ll need to use your history detective skills coupled with good storytelling. You will ask yourself: “ what was it like to live during that time? What was happening? How did it feel? What did they eat? What did they wear?
What were the historical events (like the Civil War) that affected their choices? How did they travel? How did they talk or write? What did they spend their time doing?” Then you’ll use these historical details to create a character that dresses, eats, talks, uses appropriate technology and transportation for the time, and more, shows how this person feels and experiences what was happening to them because of the Civil War.
An important skill in thinking like a historical fiction writer is to be able to empathize with people in the past. Empathy is “the ability to understand and even feel the feelings of another.” Empathy is not sympathy, which means to pity or feel sorry for someone. Historical empathy is when you can stand in the shoes of someone who lived in the past. Then you can use your imagination to look from their eyes and feel and understand the world they lived in. The very best historians and writers of historical fiction use the skill of historical empathy to do their work. The more you can empathize with the historical character you create and write about, the stronger your project will be.
Examples of what you might create for this project:
A set of letters from a Confederate soldier to his fiance back home
A diary kept by a young girl living in the south who sees the battles of the Civil war rage all around her
Letters between two brothers, one that is fighting for the south, another who is fighting for the north
Diary entries by a slave about their hopes, dreams and experiences during the war
Performance Task
After studying the American Civil War and reading journals, letters and other actual writings from people of that era, you will create any fictional character in the Civil War era and develop a story about this person. You can choose any role you wish: a Confederate or Union soldier, a slave, the wife or girlfriend of a soldier, a doctor, nurse, or any other role you can imagine. Your piece will be written in first-person in the form of letters, diary entries or a story. You will then read your piece to your classmates.
The following parts are daily assignments that you will complete in addition to researching and working on your performance task. The task is due Friday 5/13 and must be a minimum of six (5-8 sentences) paragraphs.
EXTRA CREDIT
September due 9/25
October due 10/23
November due 11/20
December due 12/18
January due 1/25
February 2/22
March 3/21
April 4/18
May 5/16