Classroom Activities
The Seven Kingdoms of Africa
Objective:
The student will be able to research and gather information on their chosen African tribe using print and online resources, in order to create a presentation as well as write a research paper on the tribe of their choice.
Materials:
- Research Notebook
- Printed articles and online research material
- Index cards for exit tickets
- Puzzle strategy forms
Procedure:
The students will begin the year by learning about the seven Ancient African tribes of The Kingdom of Kush, The Land of Punt, Carthage, The Kingdom of Aksum, The Mali Empire, The Songhai Empire and The Great Zimbabwe.62 Students will be researching one of their Seven African Empires by using the puzzle research strategy. This requires students to take on varying roles in order to learn more about a topic. During the research, one student will be the recorder, one student will be the researcher, one will be the analyzer and one will be the presenter who will help share the findings with everyone to record in their notebooks. This allows the students practice in working together prior to the student courtroom. Students will record their research across multiple days in order to prepare for a writing a research project to follow.
The Fugitive Slave Act: Debate Team Discussion
Objective:
The student will be able to understand, analyze and communicate the elements of Fugitive Slave Act, in order to formulate a justice-focused argument and present it for the debate team.
Materials:
- Student Courtroom Debate Team Folders
- Historical Documents/Artifact
- The Argument Sheet
- The Response Sheet
- The Consensus Sheet
- Reflection Notebook
Procedure:
The students will begin by learning about this historical event of the Fugitive Slave Act through presentation. Based on a historical question or argument given by the teacher (Should slaves have fled to the Canadian border as the result of the Fugitive Slave Law or Stood in Opposition? Did this act lead us closer to Justice for all or not?). The students on one side of the court will argue for one side of the question or perspective, while the other side will give a counter-argument. The teams will write up these argument stances. The students will then follow the debate team rules and structures for timing and responses (Appendices) to complete the debate. The students will end the week-long debate by completing a reflection writing or response to the debate. The procedure of the debate structure can be seen below.
The class will be split into two teams and will be given (One Hour and Thirty Minutes) to complete the task. Team A will argue Perspective A. Team B will argue Perspective B. Both Teams will receive: 30 Minutes to construct their arguments for by gathering 2 pieces of historical or factual evidence to pair with their opinions about the topic per person. Once the 30 minutes are complete, each team use the following time constraints to deliver their arguments: Team A will have 10 minutes to talk and try to convince Team B, as well as the teacher, about their stance. (During this block of time, one student will talk at a team as the teacher will encourage the students to take turns talking by dividing up parts of the argument). While Team A is speaking, Team B will be taking notes (must gather at least 3 points from the other team. Team B will have 5 minutes to deliver a response. Team A will have 5 minutes to prepare a rebuttal, and an addition 5 minutes to deliver the rebuttal. Team B will have 10 minutes to talk and try to convince Team A, as well as the teacher, about their stance. (During this block of time, one student will talk at a team as the teacher will encourage the students to take turns talking by dividing up parts of the argument). While Team B is speaking, Team A will be taking notes (must gather at least 3 points from the other team. Team A will have 5 minutes to deliver a response. Team B will have 5 minutes to prepare a rebuttal, and an addition 5 minutes to deliver the rebuttal. There will be a 5-minute window for any thoughts or questions. The Final 15 minutes of the debate will be spent devising a consensus statement. Students will have to put aside their perspective or stance to come up with an overall viewpoint of the event or topic. The Consensus will be recorded as a group and each student will be responsible for documenting the Debate Topic, the stance of Team A, the stance of Team B and the Consensus reached including a Verdict Sentence.
Culminating Writing Project
Objective:
The student will be able to understand, analyze and communicate the historical events debated and discussed in a writing project that will consist of individual essay reflections by the students, in order to articulate and prove their understanding of the content learned throughout the year.
Materials:
- Student Courtroom Reflection Notebooks
- Writing Folders
- Computers or Laptops
- Editing Checklists
- Peer Editing Forms.
Procedure:
The students will begin working on their collaborative and culminating writing project by completing the individual task of choosing a different historical reflection piece (written earlier in the year) to contribute to the writing project. Students will read, re-write, format, type and edit their reflection writing on the computer using an editing checklist. At the end of the writing process, students will be assigned two other classmates to peer-edit their writings to ensure that they are ready for publication.
Comments: