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February 1, 1998
A Revolutionary War Unit
by Staci Kasse
I would like to share an idea that we
just finished as we used the Revolutionary War unit as
our culminating activity. Some of you may find it
worthwhile for your own classes.
When we were finished, we decided that
we would do a retrospect of the Revolutionary War
entitled "Good Morning, Continentals." The
students brainstormed and figured out what they thought
were the highlights of the pre-Revolution and
Revolutionary periods. We had to cut many things because
we wanted to keep our presentation to less than an hour.
We decided upon the following:
- An interview with Ben Franklin
- An interview with John Adams
- An interview with Paul Revere
- Crafts
- Fashion
- Cooking
- Women of the Revolutionary War
Times
- The Boston Massacre
- Lexington and Concord
- The Boston Tea Party
- Crossing the Delaware
- Yorktown
The students then split into groups,
did their research, and wrote scripts for each topic. I
contacted local high schools that I knew had production
classes and asked if those students would like to
volunteer their time to tape our show and then edit it.
Both high school classes agreed (much to my surprise),
and after getting costumes together and much practice, we
boarded the bus to go to the high schools.
It was interesting to see the fifth
graders in awe of the high school students as they walked
down the hall in their frilled shirts, carrying rifles
and life-sized colonial paper dolls. We had chosen two
anchors to introduce and conclude the program. They wrote
their own lines and introductions for the other actors.
The high school students had two roving cameras and took
the students in the "action" scenes outside for
filming. The rest was filmed in the studios.
The final results are incredible. (I
think the two high schools were trying to outdo each
other). The show will be shown on our local cable
channel, and the students and I had a wonderful time.
More than just reviewing the events, they learned about
the production of a news program and a great deal of
cooperation. I encourage everyone to try this. Sometimes
we get far removed from sources like the high schools
that are right in our own districts. And sometimes we
only think of technology as the computer. Let’s not
forget video.
E-mail: Staci
Kasse
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