Teacher's Guide for COBBLESTONE ® Women in the Civil WarFebruary 2005
Teacher's Guide prepared by: Mary Shea, Ph.D. Dr. Shea teaches graduate literacy courses and directs the Graduate Literacy Program at Canisius College in Buffalo, NY.
The following guide is designed as an extension to the reading (in whole class or small groups) and discussion of this issue of COBBLESTONE ®. The activities presented would complement and integrate the knowledge students acquire from the issue, textbook information, and other ancillary sources used in a study of the roles women played in the Civil War, what motivated their participation, effects of women's changing roles on traditional practices, comparison of women's past and current roles in the military, and the personal heroism women have always displayed.
A focus will be the specific roles women openly and secretly played in this very divisive conflict in our nation's history. Students will be guided to make connections with roles women are fulfilling in current conflicts around the world as well as at home in the United States.
Students will generate questions before reading each article. These will set a purpose for reading and guide comprehension and discussion of content. Purpose setting before reading enhances personal construction of meaning and attention to key elements in a selection that relate to that purpose. Students will reread, gather information, and connect Civil War heroines to the type of role each played. They'll also make connections to the roles women play in today's military conflicts and how traditional roles for women have evolved due to personal as well as wider circumstances in societies.
Objective:
Through the activities designed for this issue, students will:
- generate thoughtful questions in pre-reading to guide thinking at surface (literal) and deep levels (e.g. interpretation, critical thinking) while reading.
- read for understanding as reflected in their discussion of articles.
- sufficiently support ideas with 'evidence' from the text or other sources.
- infer what might have motivated individuals to serve as they did.
- discuss how women's service affected the outcome of battles and the war.
- appropriately and efficiently record notes on the organizer provided.
- compare women's roles in the Civil War to the roles military and civilian women are playing in today's conflicts.
- work effectively in groups and with partners to complete assigned tasks.
Bloom's Taxonomy (level of skills): Knowledge, Comprehension, Analysis, Application, Synthesis
Materials: Anticipatory Set (Motivation): Ask students if they know anyone actively serving in the military today. Have them identify that person, giving details such as his/her gender, approximate age, branch of service, number of years served, and current assignment. Ask them to also think of civilians who are also serving in other ways related to current conflicts (e.g. reporters, civilian contractors in Iraq, humanitarian workers). As students share, the teacher will record this data on a chart. It will begin to look similar to the following.
| Name | Gender | Age | Branch | Years Served | Current Duty | | Joe Roberts | M | 42 | Reserve | 22 | Leading ground troops in Baghdad | | Diane Baker | F | 19 | Army | 1 | Member of supply brigade for troops in Iraq | | Tom Hillman | M | 25 | Coast Guard | 5 | Patrolling seaports | | Nan Wilson | F | 32 | Army | 11 | Nurse in American military hospital in Germany | | Janice Palmer | M | 25 | NA | 3 | Humanitarian worker for the Red Cross |
Have student work with a small group (3-4) to analyze the information collected in order to draw conclusion on what the data show. Groups will be expected to share their conclusions.
Teacher Input: The teacher will guide the data analysis. It's assumed that students will realize that both sexes and a wide range of ages are represented. Hopefully, they'll also conclude that a large number of soldiers in the Reserves have been activated in recent times. If these facts are not represented in the data collected, the teacher can share them in a general way. A newspaper article about soldiers and civilians serving in Iraq, preparing for duty, serving in different capacities, or returning from duty could be presented to verify these facts. Explain that during other periods in our country's history similar data on the active military and those who accompanied the forces looked different. Ask students what differences they'd expect to find if we examined the same characteristics of individuals in America's military (as charted during the Motivation) going back to early years in this country's history. Guide the discussion to introduce the facts that military personnel were mostly male, not integrated racially, and, typically, young. Introduce the February 2005 COBBLESTONE ® issue, Women in the Civil War. Have students examine, read, and discuss the magazine's cover page, About the Cover, and the Table of Contents. Invite comments and predictions about the content and information they expect to find and questions they have. Record these on chart paper.
In this issue, I predict we'll learn about:
1. . . .
2. . . .
As students read and discuss the issue, these will be revisited.
Have students skim the first article, "Breaking Tradition," noting captions and illustrations. Discuss the meaning of the word tradition. Web the meaning.
| something handed down | | long-established way of thinking | | | /
'
' | | /
'
' | | | | TRADITION | | | | '
'
/ | | '
'
/ | | | continuing pattern of practices | | body of laws in a culture |
Ask students to give examples of traditions that are part of our society and those that are part of our military. Discuss students' contributions. Discuss the term abolitionist and its connection to the root word - abolish. What did abolitionists wish to abolish during the Civil War era? Invite them to share predictions on information they expect to find in the article as well as additional questions they hope will be answered. Record these on the chart paper.
In this article, I predict we'll learn about:
1. . . .
2. . . .
As students read and discuss the article, these will be revisited.
Read-aloud the beginning of the article on page 2 and continue to the end of the first paragraph on page 3. Ask students if a somewhat similar situation exists today. Some women can choose to remain at home full time to care for their young children while others must return to work and depend on daycare providers. Discuss students' comments. Ask students what tradition dictated for women's roles in the 1800s? How has that thinking and the traditions it created changed in today's society?
Guided Practice: Direct students to continue reading the article. Circulate to assist as needed. As they read, students should make notes on post-its to identify the nontraditional roles some women assumed in the 1800s because their circumstances necessitated it. They should be prepared to share these after the reading as well as consider how these compare with roles assumed by women today. When all have completed the reading, initiate a discussion of its content. The discussion will expand from retelling to include comments, reactions, and wonderings. Compare what students have shared with what they predicted the article would reveal. Examine which predictions are left unanswered.
Closure: The teacher will explain the meaning of profound. Have students talk to a partner about the statement made in the last paragraph, predicting what this foreshadowing portends. "The Civil War, and the absence from home of so many men, brought profound challenges and opportunities to all women." Briefly have partners share their ideas. Explain that throughout the issue, the specific challenges and opportunities that circumstances of the Civil War created for women will be described. As this article notes, some women willingly seized the challenges and opportunities while others reluctantly accepted what was imposed on them. Explain that, as they continue to read and discuss the articles, they'll complete the organizer to identify particular women in the Civil War and the notable roles they played. Introduce the "Women in the Civil War - Up Front and Behind the Scenes" organizer. (Students will need additional copies of the organizer as they work with the issue.)
Repeat the Teacher Input and Guided Practice steps for other articles until the issue is completed and the "Women in the Civil War - Up Front and Behind the Scenes" organizer has been filled in. During Guided Practice with subsequent articles, students will fill in this organizer as they read. The information they record will be used to stimulate discussion about each article's content.
Independent Practice: When students have read the issue, completed their organizer, and discussed the information collected, they'll respond to the following question in their journals. Compare the roles served by women during the Civil War to those served by women in the current War on Terrorism or the War in Iraq.
Students will share their journal entries when these are completed.
Evaluation:
With anecdotal notes of observations during discussions, review of completed organizers, and an evaluation of journal entries, the teacher will assess students' ability to: generate prediction/questions in prereading that provoke inquiry at surface (literal) and deep levels (interpretation, drawing conclusions, evaluating, etc.). These were charted. read with understanding. This is indicated by their predictions posed in pre-reading, expressed understanding of each article read, and identification of connections made - to self, to other texts, or to the world. examine how traditions evolve and change due to need and circumstances. record information appropriately in the organizer provided. work effectively in a variety of grouping formats - whole class, with a partner, and individually. write a journal entry that compares women's roles the Civil War era to their roles in today's military conflicts. Their response includes information from sources that identifies likenesses and differences. Written work will be characterized by clarity of expression, substantive information, personal voice, and appropriate grammar and spelling.
|
Home
Back
Print