Studying History through Journal Keeping

Submitted by: Robert F. Mulick
School or Affiliation: Lowell Scott Middle School, ID
Endorsed by: These lesson plans are the result of the work of the teachers who have attended the Columbia Education Center's Summer Workshop. CEC is a consortium of teacher from 14 western states dedicated to improving the quality of education in the rural, western, United States, and particularly the quality of math and science Education. CEC uses Big Sky Telegraph as the hub of their telecommunications network that allows the participating teachers to stay in contact with their trainers and peers that they have met at the Workshops.

Date: May 1994

Grade Level/Subject: 8-12 History

I use the topic ot the Oregon Trail as the selected journal topic. This fits my 8th grade class. Next year U.S. history will be in the 9th grade core, so my 9th grade students will work on the journal.

Overview:

This activity can be long term (30 days from start to turn in) or it can be taken apart and used over one or more days. If you use it over a longer term, care must be taken that class time is both set aside and used for production of words on the page.

Purpose:

My lesson is a long term writing lesson in the form of two journal entries. In my statement of reasons to the class I state that much of what we know today of history is the result of people keeping journals. The second purpose is to help the student to relate to the needs, dream, and difficulties people like themselves faced going west. Could they have made this same trip?

Objectives:

To enable the student to relate to a past event, so that a greater understanding of the past might take place. I also have hopes that through this activity, they will develop some degree of understanding that the people in the old days and people today are basically the same and that most of the differences are the result of different resources available to each time period.

Activities and Procedures:

The student will gather information from reading excerpts of journals and seeing how they relate to the same time span and experience as written by children or women, who made the trip. (See Materials Needed Section.) They will also view a two part video dealing with one family's trip west. These two activities will help form an idea bank from which they can draw upon for their writing effort. Students will write equipment lists, daily entries to reflect life on the trail. The ideas for daily entries con be student or teacher generated.

Students will work by themselves or in groups and can share with each other by reading aloud selected entries. They will also write the rules of conduct for the train membership. (Strive to keep these rules constituional as of 1845 and not of today.) I make use of very short (10-15 minute) class time units. While we are working on the journals, we will be also working on other topics in our history course. We shift gear every day. I do a very long activity.

Resources/Materials:

This will vary to fit your topic, but the following is a list of the resources I have made use of:

1. Can you find an reenactment group (Mountain Man) or a black powder shooter to show off the weapons of the 1840's.
2. I use the video, "Lisa Pioneer Journey", to introduce life on a wagon train.
3. I display a wall display of National Geographic, Aug. '85.
4. I display a map of the Oregon Trail put out by the National Park Service.
5. Display of cast iron cooking gear.
6. Display of leg hold traps and a two man cross cut saw.
7. Blackboard for group listing of supply items need for trip. Make sure the students stay with food of the 1840's.
8. Supply list of all goods (foods & supplies) for life on the trail and after to be limited to 2500 lbs per wagon. Students have to declare, who they are and how they plan to earn their living once out west. Thus they can then develop a more detailed supply list.

I supply a list of events, which can be used as a guide for the student journal entries. I don't want a lot of killing of either Indians or eash other. I also have the students make up a plan of one days meals, supplies used for one day. We then re-took at their supply list and redo it, but still keep the weight limit.

This same activity can be found in a computer program. My students, who have the program, told me that on the computer they could do the supply list and the full trip west in about two hours.

Tying It All Together:

Hand in the finished Journal. I call for all rough copy pages to be attached to the final copy to reduce the student from first copy equal final copies. I also have the student mark what they think is their best entry. Before I return the graded journal, I read from a selected paper aloud to the class without telling whose paper it is. I have found that the result will range from the basic re-copy of my suggeted topics to some that read like a soap opera.

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