Tell me and I forget. Show me and I remember. Involve me and I understand.
Daily Calendar*
LESSON |
INTEREST BUILDING |
ACTIVITY |
REVIEW |
1. Slavery and Heroes |
Students learn about the early history and geography of slavery in the United States (through use of a GLAD-style map). | Students learn to apply concepts through classifying with the concept of Heroes. | Class creates a timeline for following the stories they will learn about The Underground Railroad. |
| 2. African Life and Cultural Contributions | Students learn about Olaudah Equiano's life in an African village, disrupted by the Slave Trade. | Students role-play being captured and enslaved in a West African village, using Equiano's narrative. | Students draw a 4-paneled cartoon that captures the role-playing they did in class during Lesson Two. |
| 3. Life on a 19th Century Plantation | Students learn about life on a 19th century plantation through the story of Frederick Douglass' early life and a GLAD-style plantation drawing. |
Students make top-hats and bonnets in order to understand the different culture of the period around 1850. | Students draw the Wye Plantation, making it into a graphical organizer as they draw. |
| 4. Life in Slavery on a Plantation | Students learn about life in slavery through the story of Frederick Douglass' life at the Wye Plantation. | Students finish making top-hats and bonnets in order to understand the different culture of the period around 1850. | Students use a graphic organizer to compare life in a 19th century home with 21st century life. |
| 5. Escape | Students learn about the difficulties of escape from a plantation through the story of Wallace Turnage and a GLAD-style drawing of a map of the US. | Students re-enact key dramatic moments in the life of Wallace Turnage through Tableaux Charades. | Students annotate a map of the U.S. in 1850, identifying important routes and geography affecting The Underground Railroad. |
| 6. Abolition | After reviewing Turnage's experiences, students engage in an Inquiry into the question: Why didn't more slaves fight back? | Students answer the question: "Why didn't more slaves fight back?" using the Inquiry process. | Students write their answer to the question: "Why didn't more slaves fight back?" |
| 7. Abolition and The Underground Railroad | Students learn about Levi Coffin and how abolitionists used their civic responsibility of breaking bad laws peacefully. | Students do a dramatic reading using Purple Words of a primary document - a speech by an abolitionist. | Students revisit the idea of Heroism by filling in Data Retrieval Charts on the Underground Railroad heros they've learned about. |
| 8. Fugitive Heros | Students learn about fugutives who escaped but still faced danger because of the Fugitive Slave Laws and racism in the north. | Students practice note-taking skills as they continue to look for admirable qualities in the heroes of the Underground Railroad. | Students continue to create graphic organizers to help them understand answer the question: "Who was the most heroic person in the URR?" |
| 9. More Fugitive Heroes | Students learn about fugitives on the Underground Railroad who had help from Stationmasters on the Underground Railroad. | Students practice taking notes on the stories of Heroes of the Underground Railroad. | Students make tableauxto illustrate key courageous moments in The Underground Railroad. |
| 10. The End of Slavery | Students engage in deliberation on the Inquiry Question, "Who was the most heroic person on the Underground Railroad?" writing a final essay, defending their choices. | After writing their essays on heroic acts from The Underground Railroad, students translate the courageous moments they dramatized from the Underground Railroad into similar heroism in their own lives on the playground. | |
| Celebration of The Underground Railroad, the culture of the African American south and clothing of the 19th century. | |||
| * Click here to see a version of this unit that leads to the Washington State CBA, "People on the Move." | |||
More on the Underground Railroad Unit:Unit Plan, Subject, School, Grade Level | Objectives, Rationale and Resources | Assessment |