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==  Civil War Unit Overview This unit will explore the Civil War in an inquiry based approach that collaborates with grade level teachers and building media specialists. The purpose of the unit is to learn historical facts about the American Civil War while using higher level thinking skills to question and analyze information. Students are free to explore if then possibilities and cause effect relationships between historical events. They will be gathering and interpreting information as well as presenting their findings to their peers. Student Audience For this project the fourth and eighth grade students are in a suburban school district. The families are from middle to high socio-economic class and have been immersed in information literacy since grade K. I plan to collaborate with our middle school media specialist to share this lesson for eighth grade classes.

Inquiry Skill & Lesson Comparison The fourth grade learner is one that needs more modeling and guided practice of the inquiry stages. Using **//The 8W’s//** of Information Literacy to explain, the 4th grade student can explore subject areas in the **//Watching//** phase while given tools like pathfinders and web quests to help limit the number of search possibilities. Depending of reading level some learners at this age can struggle with the readability of the text they are researching. Partner work here helps to lessen this problem as well as teacher guided inquiry. In the **//Wondering//** phase, focusing in on an issue can pose difficulty for this learner. Using aids such as graphic organizers that narrow down essential questions help to manage the task. In the Webbing phase, a fourth grader needs teacher and adult assistance preferably in a small group setting. Here the MS and teacher teams need to work together to address the multiple intelligences and learning styles of the students. They are strong in identifying the types of reference resources if engaged with them in early years through the school media program. The inquiry skills build upon one another and speaking from experience the earlier the students start working through the process the better off they are when they get to research projects in grades four and five. While **//Wiggling//** and **//Weaving//**, the evaluating and synthesizing phases are where our average grade 4 learner may get stuck. Teaching students that it is okay to go back and make revisions to previous questions is an important mini-lesson to plan. Guiding and modeling our young learners to filter and evaluate lessons takes time. The **//Wrapping//** stage is where they shine! They love to create and share final products. The more technology that is included the better. Our students use technology all evening at home, bringing things like creating a [|mock facebook page], a virtual triaroma, or a Google presentation are ways to excite them about school. In **//Waving//**, I have experienced that a fourth graders need much practice and time when preparing to present to the class. We need to practice eye contact, breathe, posture and everything. When the students are prepared and confident the presentations go well. Enlist parent help during this stage for sure! Students work hard to help me build assessments for all projects at this grade level. A simple checklist or more complex rubric can be developed. The **//Wishing//** stage is able to be mastered in grade 4. I always work on the reflective piece in other areas so when it comes to an Inquiry project, they seem to be comfortable.

The **inquiry skill** that is used in both units revolves around questioning. The fourth graders will use background knowledge from previously taught classroom content lesson (refer to Indiana standards on the lesson plan) and knowledge gained through interaction with a read aloud, __Pink and Say__ by [|Patricia Polacco] to develop questions regarding the historical time period during the Civil War. Then students will investigate the reasons why each side felt they had to go to war. Finally, a cumulative project of a [|Glogster] advertisement will be created to demonstrate their learning. The fourth graders are able to analyze the information task, assess the audience, and work with a peer to select important or useful information to include in their [|Glogster] poster (Callison, pp. 30-31). They can successful gather and use information to create a product. This is a real world application that can be used in various other subject areas.

The eighth graders in this project will be analyzing and interpreting primary sources. This is beyond the inquiry level of the fourth grader. Using the Information Skill Portfolio Checklist, I can see that an eighth grade learner can successfully achieve all of the skill questions where the fourth graders may complete one or more sub question under each question heading (Callison, pp.46-47). The ending activity of this lesson will be using a self selected historical document and analyzing its content for authenticity and reliability. They will need to apply the skills that are modeled and guided in the first part of the lesson using the Emancipation Proclamation. Using the 8W’s Research Model example above, my expectation for an eighth grade learner is to be able to successfully navigate through the stages with precision. I foresee the need for small group reinforcement to help the struggling learners as well as modeled lessons on a need based basis. The eighth grade learner may need more assistance sticking to deadlines and keeping up with the project requirements. I will rely on the classroom teacher to take charge of this concern.

Standards for Learning //* Listed in each individual lesson plan// The language arts and social studies standards are similar at both grade levels. They incorporate asking questions, recalling information, using nonfiction text, identifying cause and effect relationships and inferring beyond the written word. Of course the cognitive development and ability of the learner is where the differences appear in the two lessons. The information literacy skills that I selected to embed in the lessons seem to be easily transferred from learners in grade four to grade eight.

Collaboration When planning this unit, I first met with the fourth grade team at my school. They only have two Civil War social studies standards that need to be covered, however they expressed to me the broadness of those standards. We decided together to incorporate the reading strategy of asking questions with a picture book. In the attached outline of ideas we brainstormed that day, pictures books form a major player in this unit. I am glad to have a deep knowledge of children’s literature. I feel if anything, teachers will approach me for a simple book recommendation. This gets the conversation going and by the end we are planning lessons, units and activities. During our meeting, we decided upon the opening lessons and the material that will be covered in the classroom. Due to my schedule, the majority of the lessons were to be completed in the classroom as the teacher’s responsibility. I volunteered to create graphic organizers, pull book bundles and email web links. Then we decided that the questioning lesson that is spotlighted in this project, I would co-teach in the classroom with the teachers. That way we could use the small group format. I agreed to take the students into the lab during media to begin the [|**Glogster**] project and the teachers would finish them with the students if necessary using the laptops in their pod area. The presentations would take place in their classrooms and the rubric was provided to assess the questioning activity. At my school, I meet to collaborate bimonthly with each grade level team. During this time we develop activities to enhance lessons for many science and social studies standards.

Now the second lesson is a different story (Grade 8). I decided to select a grade level that is outside of my building to deepen my experiences and broaden my teaching knowledge. This was a different ball game when trying to collaborate with teachers and other media specialists. I developed an idea for the project and I used the College of William and Mary resources to get me started. I then emailed my colleague at the middle school. I am having issues making contact with the eighth grade team of teachers, and will keep on the pursuit! If anything else, I will email the lessons and resources to the MS and see what happens. Feedback When thinking about feedback regarding the effectiveness of the lessons, I plan to meet with the fourth grade team and discuss the strengths and weaknesses about the project. Asking questions like, what did you like about embedding the literacy standards with the social studies and language arts standards? Did the students seem engaged? What other ways can we differentiate for our struggling learners? What did they think about Glogster? (It may be a better idea to poll the students regarding Glogster after the unit is concluded). As teachers, this is something we do informally all day long. In passing we may say, loved the website, reading level seemed tough, let’s change that next time and etc. That is how we change and become better educators. I plan to email the eighth grade teachers as well to see what they thought about the lesson plans. I know the feedback I receive form my building colleagues will help us be better next time around. It also shows them that I care about their students and helping them with their teaching is a priority of mine as the media specialist.