Christopher Columbus
Materials:
· Print outs of Christopher Columbus’s voyage journal
· White boar/Chalk Board
· Laptop
· Projector
Goals:
To get children to understand that sometimes in history, only one perspective is given, which distorts history and people’s perceptions.
To learn about Christopher Columbus, his voyage to America, and his encounter with the Native Americans.
Identify why Christopher Columbus came to America. His goals and what he wanted to get out this exploration
Lead into the next lesson of the actual results of European conquest in America and comparing that to their original goals
MMSD standards
· Compare and contrast individual perspectives and differences.
NCSS Standards
· Individuals, Groups, and Institutions
· History Standard
Activities:
This lesson will start differently from the way it appears in the original lesson. The first thing the students will do is an activity where they recount something they have all observed. Since they are learning about Native Americans, I will show a clip from a movie called Dances With Wolves. After showing the clip, I will ask the students to take a couple minutes to write down what they saw. After they have written down what they remember seeing in the movie, I will have them pair up with one of the people at their tables and have them tell their partners what they saw. Inevitably, even though they all watched the same clip, they all probably wrote something down that their partner didn’t. The teacher will bring the class back together as a group and ask the students if what they wrote down was different from what their partner wrote down. The teacher will also ask why they think there were differences in their writing. After this, the students will dive into the activity that the original lesson outlined.
For the original lesson, I would have the students read the journal. However, I would use the entries of the actual voyage to America to have students do a mapping activity of how far Christopher Columbus and his ship crew sailed. The journal documents the voyage, and this would be a great way to integrate math into the lesson. The students could actually calculate how far the Europeans traveled to come to America! Also, I would have the students compare this to how far the crew would have traveled if they actually went to the right destination and see the difference in distance.
After this part of the activity, I would have the students focus on the intro, and the dates spanning from October 11 – October 15 in Christopher’s journal . These are some of the more interesting parts of Columbus’s log because it details the first encounter with the Native Americans. Along with the questions that the original activity asked, I would also ask the students the following questions:
· Do you think that what Christopher Columbus wrote is the full account of what happened when they landed in America? If not, why?
· What could be missing from his account?
· On October 15, Columbus mentions that he wanted the natives to carry a good report of the European Americans. Why would they want them to do this?
· What are the goals of Christopher Columbus from reading his journal?
· Whose perspectives are present?
· Whose are absent?
These questions will be addressed in small groups of 4 students. While the students are in their discussion groups, the teacher will walk around and take note of what people are saying in their groups, how engaged each students is, and keep the students on task. After the small group discussion, the students will come back as a whole class and discuss what they were talking about. Each group will have a designated reporter who will recap the things that were talked about.
Once the discussion is over, the teacher will conclude the lesson with an exit ticket. In the exit ticket, the students will have to address the two following things: What was the most interesting thing you learned about Christopher Columbus’s voyage? If you were to be asked by your parents, guardian, family member, or friend, “Is Christopher Columbus good or evil?” how would you respond and give reasoning for your answer.
Lesson Adapted from http://edsitement.neh.gov/lesson-plan/what-was-columbus-thinking#section-20165
· Print outs of Christopher Columbus’s voyage journal
· White boar/Chalk Board
· Laptop
· Projector
Goals:
To get children to understand that sometimes in history, only one perspective is given, which distorts history and people’s perceptions.
To learn about Christopher Columbus, his voyage to America, and his encounter with the Native Americans.
Identify why Christopher Columbus came to America. His goals and what he wanted to get out this exploration
Lead into the next lesson of the actual results of European conquest in America and comparing that to their original goals
MMSD standards
· Compare and contrast individual perspectives and differences.
NCSS Standards
· Individuals, Groups, and Institutions
· History Standard
Activities:
This lesson will start differently from the way it appears in the original lesson. The first thing the students will do is an activity where they recount something they have all observed. Since they are learning about Native Americans, I will show a clip from a movie called Dances With Wolves. After showing the clip, I will ask the students to take a couple minutes to write down what they saw. After they have written down what they remember seeing in the movie, I will have them pair up with one of the people at their tables and have them tell their partners what they saw. Inevitably, even though they all watched the same clip, they all probably wrote something down that their partner didn’t. The teacher will bring the class back together as a group and ask the students if what they wrote down was different from what their partner wrote down. The teacher will also ask why they think there were differences in their writing. After this, the students will dive into the activity that the original lesson outlined.
For the original lesson, I would have the students read the journal. However, I would use the entries of the actual voyage to America to have students do a mapping activity of how far Christopher Columbus and his ship crew sailed. The journal documents the voyage, and this would be a great way to integrate math into the lesson. The students could actually calculate how far the Europeans traveled to come to America! Also, I would have the students compare this to how far the crew would have traveled if they actually went to the right destination and see the difference in distance.
After this part of the activity, I would have the students focus on the intro, and the dates spanning from October 11 – October 15 in Christopher’s journal . These are some of the more interesting parts of Columbus’s log because it details the first encounter with the Native Americans. Along with the questions that the original activity asked, I would also ask the students the following questions:
· Do you think that what Christopher Columbus wrote is the full account of what happened when they landed in America? If not, why?
· What could be missing from his account?
· On October 15, Columbus mentions that he wanted the natives to carry a good report of the European Americans. Why would they want them to do this?
· What are the goals of Christopher Columbus from reading his journal?
· Whose perspectives are present?
· Whose are absent?
These questions will be addressed in small groups of 4 students. While the students are in their discussion groups, the teacher will walk around and take note of what people are saying in their groups, how engaged each students is, and keep the students on task. After the small group discussion, the students will come back as a whole class and discuss what they were talking about. Each group will have a designated reporter who will recap the things that were talked about.
Once the discussion is over, the teacher will conclude the lesson with an exit ticket. In the exit ticket, the students will have to address the two following things: What was the most interesting thing you learned about Christopher Columbus’s voyage? If you were to be asked by your parents, guardian, family member, or friend, “Is Christopher Columbus good or evil?” how would you respond and give reasoning for your answer.
Lesson Adapted from http://edsitement.neh.gov/lesson-plan/what-was-columbus-thinking#section-20165
