Lincoln Lesson Idea: Pondering Podcasts for Secondary Students
Level - Middle School - High School
Subjects - Social Studies, History, Geography, Government
Objectives:
Students demonstrate heightened understanding of human, geographic, and political aspects of the Civil War through writings, debate, or other creative products.
Activity:
This site Podcasts: Civil War Tours has fourteen topics to share! The podcasts focus on the famous battles of the Civil War. Each location also includes a detailed map, brief description, dates, and more.
Share the podcasts on your projector or interactive whiteboard. While listening to the podcast, project the map on the screen for students to view. After hearing a podcast have students create blog entries from the perspective of the soldiers at the battle. Let them comment back to one another's blog post, playing the role of a relative waiting for that soldier at home.
In the older grades, have a debate. Divide your class into two debate teams (Confederates or Union). Draw names randomly and allow the teams time to research the REASONS why they support their side of the war. For a shorter assignment, have a class discussion about how the Civil War and battles would have been different if the television (and YouTube) were around to broadcast the highlights of the battles. Would the war have ended more quickly or lasted longer? Why?
Another idea: divide your class into groups and have the cooperative groups create local maps that highlight a location that has connections to Abraham Lincoln or the Civil War.
Tips:
You may want to download the podcasts in advance; opening can be slow.
Web Resources
| Podcasts: Civil War Tours | Read the TeachersFirst review |
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