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May 1, 2003
Investigating The Civil War: A Multimedia Approach
By Michael Hutchison
"Before the Civil War, we said, the United States 'are', plural; after the war, we said the United States 'is', singular. The United States IS, singular, ungrammatical, a one-thing, a nation".
--Ken Burns, special Social Studies forum on The Civil War, TAPPED IN, September 12, 2002.
Perhaps no other series in the history of television has made such an impact as Ken Burns's epic The Civil War. People nationwide were riveted to their televisions on each of the successive nights the program aired, and they learned about not only the more famous people of the war era, such as Lincoln, Grant, Lee, Jackson, but about less-famous but equally important persons, such as Elisha Hunt Rhodes, Sam Watkins, Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, and Sullivan Ballou.
Primary historic sources serve to make history come alive for students. By actually reading the words or seeing a photo of those who participated in historic events students gain a greater appreciation for past events and their significance. In my view, few primary historic sources rival the photos and written documents of the Civil War. It was to this end that I decided I would have my freshman social studies students investigate the series, the war itself, and develop projects based on their research. My goal was to not only have them see the power of the series, but also to also learn about the war, indeed, to understand Ken Burns' statement quoted at the start of this story. This retrospective will address two levels, first, professional development, and second, student work.
The series originally aired in 1990; however, it was re-mastered and re-aired in September 2002. Through the re-mastering process, nearly every frame of the original film was made sharper and the sound clearer. The series also became available on DVD format, as well as on the traditional VHS.
Professional Development
As a classroom teacher, I was honored to be asked by WETA, the PBS affiliate station in Washington, DC, to assist in providing curriculum to accompany the series. I had been interested in the series and the war for several years, and I jumped at the chance to help develop lessons. However, as I began to develop those lessons, I also began to consider how I might help make resources about the series available to other teachers. I have been the "host" of an online Social Studies teachers' forum at TAPPED IN (http://www.tappedin.org) since 2000, and as I worked with Anne Harrington of WETA in regard to the lessons, I suggested to her that it might be an idea to consider inviting Ken Burns to "guest" in our forum session. Anne was interested in the idea, and we decided to go ahead and approach Ken via his production company, Florentine Films, to have him join us.
Anne personally contacted Florentine Films and I wrote Ken via US Mail. By the end of Summer 2002, he had graciously accepted our invitation and we scheduled a question and answer session for September 12, 2002. I began work with TAPPED IN staff, including Director Mark Schlager, Community Director Judi Fusco, and Associate Educator BJ Berquist in regard to promoting the session and developing plans on the most efficient way to hold the session.
Once we had established a date for the forum session, several representatives from PBS TeacherSource were invaluable as resources in assisting in setting up the session, including providing a conference call line for interaction with Ken as well as the typist who would transcribe his words into text for viewing in TAPPED IN. We decided that the best course of action would be for me to interact with Ken via telephone, reading him questions from the audience and relayed to me via TAPPED IN by PBS TeacherSource, especially TeacherSource Director Mary Halnon.
Teachers from across the United States were invited to participate in the session, with Ken fielding questions regarding not only The Civil War but other programming that he had either developed or was in the process of developing. The forum session demonstrated the power of online resources such as TAPPED IN several ways. First, it would have been difficult, if not impossible, for teachers to be able to interact with a nationally known figure such as Ken Burns through any other method. TAPPED IN provided a "virtual meeting hall" (in essence, a "teacher community" currently with more than 15,000 members worldwide), by which teachers could meet and ask Ken questions. Second, the forum session provided an opportunity for promotion of the series itself, which re-aired a few days after the session.
Web Links:
Student work
Even before the re-mastering and re-airing, I felt that The Civil War series provided a multitude of opportunities for classroom teachers as well as learning opportunities for students. With development of the Web site for the series, as well as the re-airing of the program and its availability on DVD, I decided to utilize it with the two freshman social studies classes I taught in Fall 2002. It was my plan to have my students create PowerPoint presentations on some aspect of the series, following guidelines that I developed and distributed beforehand.
While my freshmen were not enrolled in a US History class per se, they were studying a unit on "History," or how a historian collects evidence and makes conclusions based on that evidence. I therefore felt that the idea of having the students do research and derive conclusions on that information through PowerPoint was a valid exercise. I did, however, wish to assist students in finding resources, so I created a Related Resources for Civil War Projects Web page for them, and provided them with some Web-based information, as well as giving them a way to download whatever information they needed to complete the project. Several teachers and other educational professionals shared Web sites and resources, particularly regarding the life and legacy of Abraham Lincoln, and these were included on the Web page.
As the minimum, I decided that student projects should include the following, and specified such in the guidelines distributed at the start of the project, including:
- Each student group will develop a Power Point presentation about a subject covered in The Civil War series. The presentation should be a MINIMUM of three minutes in length, including transitions.
- Final presentations MUST include the following:
- A title slide with the full names of each group member, the title slide should also include the name of the topic presented, as well as the class period (Pd. 2 Introduction to Social Studies; Pd. 4 Introduction to Social Studies), as well as the school name (Lincoln High School, Vincennes, Indiana).
At least four sound files should be included, either from the PowerPoint files themselves, or from a ". wav" Web site.
At least five pictures dealing with or related to the project topic. One picture relating to the topic must appear on the title slide.
- Each presentation must include a slide that includes a synopsis (a summary) of the importance and significance of the topic addressed in the presentation.
- At the end of the presentation, the group must include a bibliography slide listing all the sources the group used in the presentation. (Web-based resources must include the URL, in other words, the web address.) The bibliography slide should also include entries for all sound files and pictures used. At a minimum, the group should use and cite at least four sources other than The Civil War series.
In addition, I decided that student groups should collect information and evidence in a manila portfolio that would be collected as part of the group's grade. In this way, I'd hoped to reduce the possibility of plagiarism by requiring students to submit copies (either printed or photocopied) of all work done and resources found. I also hoped to have an easier way for them to keep information together and for me to keep materials together for evaluation purposes.
As I had in other projects my students have participated in online, I relied heavily on my school's media specialist and the school media center. Mrs. Sandy Crowley, Lincoln High School media specialist, was invaluable in giving me suggestions for organizing projects, space for students to watch segments from The Civil War, and adequate computer availability. Sandy also provided a tutorial on using various resources available in our media center, including NewsBank, Inspire-Indiana, Grolier's Online Encyclopedia, as well as other resources. In addition, Sandy worked to pull various traditional resources (books, magazines, etc.) from her shelves and put them on a cart for my students to use.
In essence, I found the collaboration between teacher and media specialist to be invaluable, and it certainly enhanced the project. Sandy also has an interest in the Civil War itself, and so it was helpful for us to have her describe various Civil War sites she has visited, such as the Gettysburg battle sites. It was evident that it would be difficult, if not impossible, to complete these projects without Sandy's support and assistance. Sandy's enthusiasm for this project, as well as others over the past several years, is a great example of collaboration between teachers.
Before we actually began work on projects, I wanted the students to have a "feel" for how to do Web-based searching, so I developed handouts for the students describing techniques for successful searches. I also created several "scavenger hunts" for them to complete during a single class period. It was obvious (based on the number of questions, if nothing else) that it would be difficult for them to complete the scavenger hunt in a 50-minute class period, especially with losing approximately five to ten minutes of that time in transit to the media center. However, my main goal was not to have them cram that much searching into a small amount of time, but rather to understand that searching for adequate and usable sources sometimes is time-consuming. Therefore they needed to use their time wisely in order to accommodate finding information as well as creating their presentations. You can see an example of Mr. Hutchison's Famous Internet Scavenger Hunt,
one of the scavenger hunts I created.
While Burns' series did not include a great deal of violence or objectionable material, I felt it was still necessary for me to provide the students' parents or guardians with some background information as well as an Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) statement so that everyone was aware of why we were using the computers and online resources, as well as the proper "decorum" that was to be used in the media center. By having students (and their parent or guardian) submit a signed AUP everyone hopefully had an understanding of the project and expectations, and I had signed proof that all students and parents had read a copy of the AUP. I also put group photos of both classes on the related resource Web page, and so it was important for me to get parental permission in order to use the pictures.
In addition to the Web-based resources that I wanted the students to review, I also required them to find and view at least one segment in The Civil War that related to their topic. I had acquired a copy of the series on DVD, and it was easy for us to use the accompanying video database to find a specific point on any of the series discs that pertained to the topic. In addition, I also supplied students with a DVD copy of Abraham and Mary Lincoln: A House Divided as a supplemental resource, if needed.
Students were also required to show they had viewed the segment(s) and had taken notes on the segments by submitting "notes sheets" which would include sign-in spaces for Sandy or myself to verify the group had actually viewed the segment, and space for the group to actually write notes about their segments. The Civil War "Notes Sheet" is available online.
Once we had learned how to search the Internet as well as find information for the scavenger hunts, it was time to start the projects in earnest. In past projects, I had "learned my lesson" by allotting too much computer time for students. Frequently some groups would finish ahead of the deadline, while others would procrastinate and take every available moment. Sandy and I developed a strategy in which I would tell the students they had a limited amount of time on the computers, approximately a week and a half, and that was it. However, I had also budgeted an extra three days on the computers if needed. Although the students weren't aware of the other three days, they were available should we need to extend a deadline.
Students were able to select a project idea from Tentative Topics for Civil War Projects, or they could, with teacher permission, come up with a project idea of their own. However, no student group came to me with an alternative topic. I felt it was better for me to come up with a list of topics for students to pick from rather than simply telling the class they had to do projects on The Civil War and expecting them to develop their own project ideas.
There were also basic computer chores with which students and I had to deal. For example, computers in the media center run a software program called "Deep Freeze" which eliminates anything "unauthorized" on a particular machine's hard drive if that computer is turned off and restarted. So, the students had to be taught to save projects onto folders on the school Web server. Also, having projects available on that server made things easier for me to "drag" completed projects onto my computer for burning onto a CD for evaluation.
While I originally had some fears that I might be asking too much of students 14-15 years old, I quickly found my fears were generally unfounded. Most of the groups were able to demonstrate facility with the Internet, PowerPoint, and the assignment in general, a marked difference over my experience in 1997. (Note: a complete description of my 1997 "Modern Presidency" project is on "Using Technology in a Social Studies Classroom".
In my view, there are several reasons why younger students are now more able to do these types of projects. More students now have online access at school and at home. In other words, they are more "tech savvy" than students of the same age would have been five years ago. In addition, it's likely that more teachers are now comfortable in allowing students to use software such as PowerPoint and HyperStudio at an earlier age than they would have been in 1997. This experience showed in my project in as much as most students had a working knowledge of Power Point from the beginning of the project. Although I provided links to Power Point tutorials on the resource page, I have no evidence that many, if any, students utilized those resources. They simply did not need to do so.
At the conclusion of the project, I evaluated each group's presentation, utilizing an evaluation rubric I developed. I found that in general, presentations met or exceeded the requirements I set, and it was easy for me to reward students for exemplary work.
Naturally, asking students to complete projects using classroom technology can be very rewarding, but can also be a difficult to evaluate. For example, what is more important for me as a social studies teacher: for students to show mastery of PowerPoint or of the subject matter? Should I spend a large amount of time teaching students the "bells and whistles" of PowerPoint rather than the subject area? In my view, teachers should be prepared to balance the technology with the subject area. If the teacher is teaching a course in classroom technology, then obviously the idea of what to evaluate is simple. On the other hand, if the teacher is teaching US History, then the part of the grade regarding PowerPoint should be decidedly less than the part dealing with what he or she has learned about the subject area.
Since, in my own situation, the students were not only learning about the Civil War, but also learning about how a historian does research and makes conclusions about that research, I decided to overlook some instances where students did not specifically follow instructions in the guidelines regarding sound files, transitions for PowerPoint, etc., and focused more on whether the students followed what I considered more "history-based" requirements, such as providing a bibliography.
You can see and print the Civil War Project Evaluation Form, the project rubric.
What is the evolution of use of classroom technology?
In 1997, after finishing the "Modern Presidency" project, I had developed a list of ideas on how teachers at that point who were new to technology (or still skeptical of it) should approach adapting classroom technology. Five years later, I believe that list is still valid. In 1997, I had first stated that teachers who leaned toward traditional teaching methodology (I still place myself in that category) need to be ready to change their teaching style to some extent. Teacher and student become more collaborators with each other rather than the teacher "dispensing" knowledge to the class. To some teachers, this may be revolutionary, but I submit it is necessary. Students need, in some extent, to take control of their own learning. The teacher will always "be there", but the student needs to be an explorer, too.
Also, I noted that teachers should "be prepared to go beyond the basic textbook." I believe that is still true today. However, I would add that the teacher (and students) need to be prepared and aware to separate valid Web-based resources from those which might be inaccurate or created "on the fly." It is amazingly easy for anyone to create a Web site and simply assert that the information in that site is valid. While many sites ARE valid, it's obvious, also, that some sites are inaccurate, or worse yet, trying to promote a political, social, or religious agenda that has no real use in the classroom. Teachers (and students) need to beware and be aware of those sorts of sites.
In addition, I said in 1997 that teachers have to respect diversity. That is still true, also. When given a tool such as PowerPoint, students are frequently going to go beyond the basics because they have as much an interest in how the software works (if not more) as an interest in the subject matter.
I'd also noted that teachers who utilize classroom technology have to "be prepared to accept failure". Fortunately, in my personal case, this doesn't happen frequently. One of the best pieces of advice regarding this is simply plan not to fail. In other words, I spend a lot of time prior to any project considering options and situations that might arise if there is some situation at school that reduces my time on a project, or there is a technology failure, etc. By this sort of planning, I can reduce (although unfortunately not eliminate) the possibility of failure.
In 1997, I also noted that teachers "should be ready to accept technology as the normal progression of teaching." I feel this is as true as ever, even in a professional sense. For example, I now take attendance and record grades via my classroom computer, where five years ago, no teacher in my building had that capability. TAPPED IN has allowed me the opportunity to interact with other teachers as well as technology and history experts worldwide. I can share student projects with other classrooms, other educators, and people around the world. In my view, if we choose not to accept technology, then we are denying our students a great opportunity to learn about the world around them, as well as a great opportunity to take technology skills from our classroom and apply them in the outside world. We owe that to our students.
Email: Michael Hutchison
Civil War resource page
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