The Journal of Harriet Tubman

Here is an interesting idea on how to use a blog in the classroom.
http://dowell.typepad.com/harriet_tubman/

The students in this classroom have researched a historical figure and created a blog that reflects entries as that historical person. The famous person in this case is Harriet Tubman.

The students in this classroom have researched the life of Harriet Tubman, slavery and other aspects of the time period and are using technology to deliver the information in first person. Here are some of the great things the students are doing in addition to the blog entries:

Audio & Enhanced Audio Post
Listen to interviews as students role play people who lived at the same time as Harriet Tubman in order to describe life as a slave.

Fictional Stories of the Underground Railroad
After studying about Harriet Tubman and learning about the Underground Railroad, the students wrote stories of what it might have been like if their own family were to travel on the Underground Railroad.

Drawings:
I'm not sure what software they used but there are student created drawings of aspects of Harriet Tubman's life.

Concept Maps:
Here's another great idea, it looks like the students have used Inspiration to create some concept maps about Harriet Tubman.

Congratulations to Ms. Jenkins class at Dowell Elementary for a great way to use technology for teaching about the Civil War.

Photo from the Library of Congress (www.loc.gov)

For more information on Harriet Tubman be sure to check out the following websites:

http://www.loc.gov/topics/africanamericans/featured/tubman.html

http://www.harriettubman.com/

Congratulations Eric Langhorst

Eric Langhorst of the Speaking of History Blog has been named the Missouri Teacher of the Year.
Please join me in congratulating Eric on this terrific achievement.

Here is a story about Eric from a Kansas City newspaper.

Take a moment to check out Eric's blog and podcast at http://speakingofhistory.blogspot.com and be sure to leave him some feedback.

Again, congratulations Eric on a great award.

Until next time...

So many statistics....So little time

According to John Busey's "These Honored Dead: The Union Casualties at Gettysburg", the following is a list of the number of soldiers killed during the Battle of Gettysburg.

Army Of the Potomac :

New York	978
Pennsylvania	745
Massachusetts	200
Michigan	200
US Regulars	182
Ohio	139
Maine	119
Wisconsin	105
Indiana	96
New Jersey	80
New Hampshire	67
Vermont	58
Minnesota	50
Connecticut	45
Maryland	29
Delaware	21
Rhode Island	14
West Virginia	11
Illinois	9
Total	3,148

Army of Northern Virginia:

North Carolina	1452
Virginia	1012
Georgia	774
Mississippi	393
South Carolina	295
Alabama	254
Louisiana	141
Texas	111
Florida	80
Maryland	65
Tennessee	55
Arkansas	41
Total	4,673

Total number killed: 7,821

Based on these figures, you can easily have your students working on some math concepts. Have your students answer questions such as:

• What is the average number of soldiers killed for both the North and the South?
• What percentage of the total number of soldiers killed were from Ohio?
• What percentage of those killed were from the South?
• How many more soldiers were killed from North Carolina versus Pennsylvania?

Or, how about some critical thinking skills...

• Why do you think New York and North Carolina had the highest number of soldiers killed?
• During what day of the battle do you think Minnesota lost the greatest number of soldiers and why?
  

Until next time. From just north of Gettysburg...