Civil War Technology Program                            

         Technology in the Curriculum


                      Civil War Project by Jim Huff

Materials:                                                             
     Students will have access to the following four cds.  They are the 
1) U. S. A. Wars (Civil War) 2) U. S. Presidents 3) Civil War II 4) 
American Vista.  The students will also be able to use the
Accelerated Reader program. My class will have access to four computers 
and one computer that is hooked up to a large television.

Objectives:
     Students will be able to use these cds to obtain information for 
the following assignments.  One, the information may be used to 
determine the subject or topic that they will write their paper on 
concerning an inanimate object from the Civil War.  This assignment is 
two pages(typed)and the student takes the place of the object and 
describes their perspective of how they fit into the overall scheme of 
the War.  The students will have access to computers and will be able to 
type this paper using Microsoft Word.  Two, students can use information 
from the cds to accomplish two other class assignments.  These 
assignments are to write a short report or paper on one of the following 
topics: a) leaders of the War (examples) Lincoln, Grant, Lee, Sherman, 
Jackson, and Davis, b) battles of the war (examples) Gettysburg, 
Antietam, Bull Run, Harpers Ferry, c) artillery or units of artillery 
(examples) howitzers, rodmans, cannons, d) infantry units (examples) 
Indiana Black hats, and e) outcomes of the war dealing with loss of 
life, casualties, cost factor, destruction of private property.  The 
second assignment is to draw or construct a map or picture of the 
following: a) battle site (example) Gettysburg, b) a leader (example) 
Lincoln, Davis, Grant, or Lee. The American Vista cd will be used to 
make outline maps of the individual states and help locate battle sites 
or towns. The U. S. Presidents cd will allow students to see pictures of 
both Lincoln and Grant.  The program, Accelerated Reader will be used 
for evaluation purposes. The computer with the television hookup will be 
used by myself to show students the chronology of the Civil War and 
other information that I feel will help them in their assignment

                                (1)

     


The Time Line or Frame:
 
    The entire unit of instruction on the Civil War takes about six 
weeks.  The lesson plan that I am working on would probably take this 
time frame. The written assignments are made at the beginning of the 
unit and the students have until the unit is completed.  The students 
would be allowed to use the computers the first week to search for their 
topics and begin gathering information for their short papers.  They 
possibly could also decide on their inanimate object at this time.              
The students would be given their literature books, The Red Badge of 
Courage and Across Five Aprils. Students have a choice, they must read 
one but can read both. They have the entire six weeks, tests are taken 
during language arts classes.  Students are given credit for both 
history and language arts. In cooperation with the language arts 
teacher, she records the students score on the Accelerated Reader and 
then gives me a print out of the students scores so that I can figure 
their grade.  This is part of our across the curriculum work between 
subject matters.  The next three weeks, students would be allowed to use 
the computers to find information on their topics and to find a picture 
or map that they will be able to use for their projects.  The last two 
weeks would allow students time to complete their research and to begin 
typing their papers, the inanimate object and short report or paper.                                           

Procedures:
     I must also point out that students have access to these cds during 
study halls and can come to my class before and after school to work 
with them. The use of computers would be limited because of the number 
of students per class and the number of computers available during class 
time.  Part of my preparation will be to monitor the time spent per 
student on the computers during class time.  My average class size is 
twenty-seven, the largest last year was thirty-one.  The most computers 
available at any one time will be four.  The class period is forty-five 
minutes in length.  My plan would be to allow eight students per day to 
use their computer time.  Each student would be allotted twenty minutes 
of class time to browse or obtain information.  The time I spend 
preparing the lesson will allow me to steer the students in the right 
direction when they are trying to locate certain information or certain 
topics. The computer with the television could be used as long as there 
is no class presentation scheduled for that day.

                                 (2)




The evaluation process:
        
     Students will be graded on the following three assignments: 1) two 
page paper on an inanimate object, 2) two page paper or short report on 
listed topics, and 3) map or picture of leaders or battle sites.  That 
evaluation process will contain the following guidelines(these will be 
presented to the students before they start working on this unit).  The 
most important criteria will be the educational content, meaning how 
their papers relate to the Civil War.  These will be graded for grammar, 
punctuation, and spelling but will have minimal affect on their grade, 
unless the effort was minimal.  The maps and pictures will be graded for 
neatness, accuracy, and creative ideas. The reading assignment will be 
taken care of by the Accelerated Reader program and assistance from the 
language arts teacher.  I would like to develop a questionnaire for the 
students to see just how much information and how useful the cds were 
for them in accomplishing their assignments.  I feel that the 
information that I would obtain would be helpful and benefit me in 
trying to bring more technology related materials into my overall 
history curriculum. 

Lesson Plan Accompaniment:
     While students are working on the computers, the other students in 
class will be able to be accomplishing one of the following:  1) reading 
their assigned literature books, 2) writing rough drafts of their 
papers, 3) working on other assignments (they have several handouts on 
battles, generals, and leaders that they must complete after reading 
their text and viewing videos and film strips, this however is mainly 
their home work assignments), 4) watching and taking notes from the 
television screen while I present information from a cd on the 
chronology of the Civil War. I am available to assist them with any of 
these assignments.  

Outcome statement:
     A large part of this program of instruction will be influenced by 
the unit district purchasing the hardware that we have been told is 
coming.  The PTO for our school has allotted some money to the 
purchasing of equipment but that will only be available in the library, 
that is why I said that the students could use the cds during their 
study halls.

                                 (3)