Civil War Battles in the Modern Period by Middle School Students 1

Civil War Battles in the Modern Period by Middle School Students

Patrick Nobby

Arizona State University

Civil War Battles 2

Abstract

This paper covers the intricacies of and lessons contained in the project presented to

middle schoolers at ASU Preparatory Academy. The lesson consisted of an opening lecture about

Civil War battles, then a series of work days for students to research and create a presentation

and poster board about what would have happened if the battle they chose to research had access

to modern technology, namely text messaging on cell phones. This lesson meets the standards set

out by Arizona Department of Education in connecting the past to the present. At the end of the

project, the student groups of six will present their project to guests from the Luke Airforce Base

in Phoenix.
Civil War Battles 3

Introduction

The classroom for which this is designed in is a middle school classroom, specifically 6th

and 7th grade social studies at a Preparatory college school program. The students wear uniforms,

and the gender divide is rather even, split down the middle. The split along racial lines is also

rather similar, with a diverse set of students from a multitude of backgrounds. My belief in

teaching is that it should be collaborative and discussion based, with an emphasis on student

success and understanding, as well as the imparting of crucial skills that go beyond the

classroom. Project based learning falls into this philosophy, as well as technology integration

being something important in the classroom.

Applicant Narrative

My name is Patrick Nobby, and I am a first year teacher at ASU Preparatory Academy

teaching social studies to 6th and 7th graders. I studied at Arizona State University and earned a

degree in Secondary Education History and a Minor in English Linguistics. I worked for

University Housing for nearly half a decade and have a background in student interaction,

FERPA, and emergency response. I wanted to do this project and bring it to my classroom as like

to put a focus on real life skills, and analyzing this topic of the Civil War, technology, and

creating a collaborative presentation will help prepare students for life beyond the classroom, and

even just high school level work. Off this, in teaching, I believe in not just teaching the content

but using the content to deliver life skills that can be used beyond remembering an interesting

fact at the dinner party. This sort of project will prepare students for work in a cereberal or

professional area, giving them the chance to research, create presentations, and extrapolate

interpretations from data given. On top of this, project based learning is highly beneficial for a
Civil War Battles 4

history classroom, as it is one of the subjects best suited to presentation, research, and analysis,

and is one of the freest subjects in how it can be taught.

In my first year of teaching, I want to focus on truly implementing into a classroom all

that I have been taught theoretically in a college environment. One of these things is technology

integration. This project heavily uses computer skills in research and creating a presentation, and

so will meet that goal quite heavily. Beyond this, the assignment will also be facilitated by

incorporating a planning stage that utilizes online organizational tools, as well as Google

Classroom for turning in and finding directions. Finally over this year, I want my students to

utilize the skills that can be learned through history and incorporate technology into these skills.

School Environment

From what little I have seen of the school, it looks to be quite diverse. As I said

with the misconceptions, most would expect the school to be mostly white, and filled with kids

from families on the upper level of economic situations. And while I can’t necessarily speak to

the economic status of the family, I can see how very diverse the school is. According to Great

Schools, the school is only about 50% white/Caucasian, while the rest are people of different

minority race populations. Although this is not necessarily equal, it is good for Phoenix, which is

primarily white. There also is a large portion of the school on IEP’s and 504 plans.
Civil War Battles 5

Summary of Project

Project: The project is incorporating take home computers and laptops for the students of

my school. At ASU preparatory the students have laptop use in every class, but they are not

allowed to take them home. This project would be incorporating take home computer for the

students.

Why the project is needed: The school prides itself on tech incorporation in the classroom

and being a digital world, but this only extends as far as the classroom, instead of following them

home. Allowing them to work on the computers at home and creating homework on it will

further prep students for life beyond school, and extend their charter further.

Project-Activities: The activities for the project will be homeworks done in different

styles of the computer, from quizzes to essays to applications like screen cast an video making.

Student Learning and Engagement: This project would largely impact these areas as the

use of technology for learning is more akin to the real world and how it functions.

Student impact: The impact on the students would at first only be in the sixth and seventh

grade areas, and would impact the student populations of those grades. After the pending success

of the project, in two years the testing could be extended to younger grades. Depending on the

age, the computers could be more detrimental to learning than beneficial, so it would have to be

tested. Put simply, if all is successful, it could in a few years affect the population of the entire

school. It impacts direct learning mostly in the ways that have been previously listed.

Teacher Impact: This project would open up new avenues of education for all teachers.

Being able to assign homework on the laptops instead of relying on home use of technology

would change the structure of some classrooms, allowing for a paperless environment. In the
Civil War Battles 6

modern era, nearly everything is done digitally, on the success of this project would allow

educators to teach to this.

Community Impact: The community impact is mere preparedness for the world.

Technology literacy can be considered low among older generations, as is common knowledge,

but the younger generations were born with technology. Taking this innate skill and applying it

to a suitable work style could drastically increase preparedness, and in the very long run, the

ability of the future generation to better the world. Although that would take more than just this

project.
Civil War Battles 7

Project Narrative

This entire project’s goal is to give students a better sense of today’s technology as

compared to the technology of the Civil War, as well as teach them in depth about Civil War

battle tactics, key players, and motivations for the various conflicts, both tactical and nationally

moral.

The project starts off with a day of direct instruction, outlined in the example lesson plan

listen below. The lesson opens up with a basic questions on how much the students know about

Civil War battles as an attention grabber. Then, the instructor moves on to a ten to fifteen minute

lecture covering the various Civil War battles, keeping mostly to the important ones, such as the

Battle of Shiloh, the Battle of Gettysburg, and the Battle of Antietam. After the lecture finished,

the students will have a small amount of time to pick their favorite battle, with access to lap tops

so that they find some more information on anything that interests them. After this a Socratic

Seminar style discussion will be used to assess their knowledge gained through the lecture, with

each student needs to try to participate at least once, while also allowing students to parse out

what battle they might like to focus on which will become important later on in the project.

Finally, either before or after the seminar at the discretion of the seminar, the full project will be

introduced. If there is not enough time then it can be moved to the beginning of the next day.

The project is a group research and presentation project, with the prompt having the

students pick their favorite battle of the Civil War, or placed into groups as needed by class size,

then researching and thinking how the battle would have gone if modern technology was in the

possession of those fighting it, specifically cell phones as most kids have today, with all the

ability to look up information and contact people over long distances. The project after much
Civil War Battles 8

research will culminate in a presentation, which will be viewed and graded by a group of soldiers

volunteering from the local air force base.

The materials needed for the completion of the project by the group of students is a fully

researched powerpoint enumerating how they believe the battle would have gone, including

changes in positions or intelligence, or if they believe it would have remained the same. On top

of this, a poster board will be provided as a tertiary portion of the project, done in a classic

information project style about the facts of the battle they are researching, including casualties,

commanders, locations, and more.

Starting in on the project, the timeline lists for a full two weeks of in class time dedicated

to it, so a total of 10 in class days, with minimal to no work needed outside of class. The project

could potentially be started on any day, for the purpose of the project it is best assumed to have

started on a Monday. The initial lecture is given on Monday, and then Tuesday is taken as the

day to introduce the project, put the students into groups, and start them working. The group

formations, for sake of explanation, are all in classes of 30 students. There will be six groups of

six students, each group researching a different battle or conflict.

On Wednesday of the first week, individual research and project time will be given to

work on the project in class, which will remain true for Thursday and Friday of week one. The

teacher will be around to give suggestions, help when needed, and make sure students stay on

task, but beyond this the project is mostly self-directed. During this time there are no limitations

on where they may start or what they may start on, as it is entirely self-directed.

Starting on Monday of week 2, all groups will have five to ten minute meetins with the

instructor to assess how far along they are on the project. It will not be for a grade, but will

simply be for the instructor to help and push students along where needed.
Civil War Battles 9

Following this, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday are all group work days for the group

to finish their projects. The reason so much class time is given is so that there is no group work

outside of the classroom as that is difficult for student to coordinate, and so that the instructor

can be around to help .

On Friday of the second week, the final day of the project, students will give their

presentations to the instructor and panel of soldiers from the military base who are there to

volunteer.

Each presentation will be from six to seven minutes long, and students will have use of

laptops, the projector, any notes they need, and the bulletin poster board they created. The first

two minutes of the presentation should be explaining the battle, while the remaining time is sued

for their analysis.

As for the panel of soldiers, they are not there to provide any grades for the students,

merely comment and be a spectator, while grades are solely done by the instructor of the class.

Presentations can be moved to an eleventh day the next week if any truly go over time, but with

so much of a buffer, the extra time should be needed. Each class is operating on a 60 minute

schedule.

Finally for grading the project, the rubric can be created based on how many points the

individual instructor believes each part necessitates. The areas to be graded, for example out of a

hundred points, are ten points on team work, twenty points on the poster board, 30 points on the

power point along with research, and 40 points on the overall presentation.

After this, the project has been completed. It is best utilized as a final exam or major

project within the classroom.

Civil War Battles 10

Budget

Item Name Cost Number Company

Needed

Printer Paper $18 1 Pack Staples

Printer Ink $82 1 Pack Staples

Poster Boards $2 30 Staples

Markers $4 10 Packs Staples

Table Clothe $3 1 Walmart

Lemonade $4 2 Jugs Walmart

Projector $15 1 Walmart

Remote

Each item listed goes directly into the project made for the students. The printer paper

and ink is used to print items for the presentation, as well as progress reports if needed. The

poster boards are made for the presentation. The markers are used for making the board. The

table cloth and lemonade are to be used for the judges when they come from the military base to

watch the kids, and the new projector remote is to replace the broken one and for the kids to use

during their presentations.

Appendix:

Other items to be used for the project include laptops, lesson plans for the initial lecture

and the project, and rubrics to be made on a case by case basis for each presentation.
 Civil War Battles 11

Lesson Plan Example

Teachers: Patrick Nobby Subject: History Grade: 7th

Common Core State Standards:

 Evaluate the influence of various causes of events and developments in the past and present.
Objective (Explicit):

 Students will be able to research and have a discussion about various Civil War battles and technologies from the
era.
Evidence of Mastery (Measurable):

 Include a copy of the lesson assessment.

 Provide exemplar student responses with the level of detail you expect to see.
 Assign value to each portion of the response
Evidence of Mastery for this specific lesson will come in the form of a Socratic Seminar held in class, in which each student must participate at least

once, as well as the project that follows it, in which students in groups must create an imaginary scenario in which modern technology was used in the Civil War.

Sub-Objectives, SWBAT (Sequenced from basic to complex)

 How will you review past learning and make connections to previous lessons?
 What skills and content are needed to ultimately master this lesson objective?
 How is this objective relative to students, their lives, and/or the real world?

The connection to past learning for this lesson is the basis of knowledge around the Civil War needed to understand what is being taught, as well as the

lessons that have been taught the two weeks previous in my classroom. The skills needed for this lesson are note taking, minor computer abilities to pull up a group

lecture, and the ability to discuss in large and small groups. This objective is related to the real world as it incorporates the history of technology they use, as well

as acts as the lead in to a multitude of other lessons contained within the project that will be introduced.

Key vocabulary: Technology, Civil War Materials: Laptops, notebooks, pens/pencils.

Engage

 How will you activate prior knowledge?

 How will you hook student attention?
 What question will you pose, based on your objective, that students will seek to answer in Explore?
Teacher Will: Students Will: Answer the question in the google doc before

The lesson will open with a question that will be answered in a the lecture begins.

google form “which is the most famous and bloody battle of the Civil War?”

This will introduce the lesson topic, draw in students to pay attention, and test

prior knowledge.

Explore

 How will you model your performance expectations? (Remember you are not modeling what you want students to discover but need to model expected
behavior or required procedures.)
 How will students take the lead and actively use materials to discover information that will help them answer the question posed in the Engage?
 What questions or prompts will you be prepared to use with students while they are “exploring”?
 Civil War Battles 12

Teacher Will: Students Will: Listen and take notes as needed to the lecture.

Lead a lecture covering the information with the aid of a PowerPoint The sections covered are “battles of the civil war,” “civil war

that covers the info. technology,” and “important people of the civil war.”

Co-Teaching Strategy

 What co-teaching approach will you use to maximize student achievement?

Differentiation Strategy

 What accommodations/modifications will you provide for specific students?

 How will you anticipate students that need an additional challenge?
Explain

 How will all students have an opportunity to share what they discovered?
 How will you connect student discoveries to correct content terms/explanations?
 How will all students articulate/demonstrate a clear and correct understanding of the sub-objectives by answering the question from the Engage before
moving on?
Teacher Will: Students Will: Research Civil War battles and pick the one

After the lecture, the teacher will introduce a small amount of they found the most interesting.

research time for students to pick their favorite Civil War Battle. Teacher will

walk around the room to ask and answer questions during this time.

Co-Teaching Strategy

 What co-teaching approach will you use to maximize student achievement?

Differentiation Strategy

 What accommodations/modifications will you provide for specific students?

 How will you anticipate students that need an additional challenge?
Elaborate

 How will students take the learning from Explore and Explain and apply it to a new circumstance or explore a particular aspect of this learning at a deep
level?
 How will students use higher order thinking at this stage (e.g. A common practice in this section is to pose a What If? Question)?
 How will all students articulate how their understanding has changed or been solidified?
Teacher Will: Students Will:

Listen to the teacher introduce the project.

Introduce the project listed and described above to which this lesson is

an opener to. The project will allow them to explore and questions

Co-Teaching Strategy

 What co-teaching approach will you use to maximize student achievement?

Differentiation Strategy

 What accommodations/modifications will you provide for specific students?

 How will you anticipate students that need an additional challenge?
Evaluate

 How will all students demonstrate mastery of the lesson objective (though perhaps not mastery of the elaborate content)?
 How will students have an opportunity to summarize the big concepts they learned (separate from the assessment)?
Teacher Will: Students Will:
 Civil War Battles 13

The evaluation will be a Socratic Seminar, in which every Participate in the seminar and discuss the question, initially, “what

student must participate once. The teacher will ask a few guiding was the most interesting Civil War battle or conflict?”

questions, and call out students that have not spoken yet to speak,

otherwise allow the discussion to participate as it will.