Lesson Evaluation
Self and Peer Assessment
Students are also asked to evaluate the contributions and work of their team members. The teacher can provide valuable input and further help the student reflect upon their own performance and learning. Each student can provide a confidential self-assessment to gain valuable insights.
Teacher Assessment
Student groups might be requested to answer the subsequent evaluation inquiries:
Every member of the team must demonstrate comprehension by presenting evidence of their understanding, showcasing their products, and delivering their presentation. It is essential to mandate that every student actively participates in the crucial responsibilities of presenting and defending a particular perspective.
Assess student assignments based on the evaluative standards that you and your students established prior to commencing the project.
Lesson Procedure
Introduction
Entry Level Skills and Knowledge
A reasonable proficiency in multimedia tools, familiarity with search terms to navigate Library of Congress digital content, and a fundamental comprehension of Internet research are required.
You may want to use or create a set of primary sources to understand the process of student help. Students can get started with resources from Page Teachers to help acquaint themselves with the unique qualities of primary resources. When working with archival collections, students must think like archivists and historians.
Organizational Requirements
Define the scope of the project:
Will the research be guided by a theme such as immigration? Will the research be linked to the literature being read in class? Will they work with a single digital collection? Will teams gather material from a specific decade? Before introducing the lesson or conducting the historical research in this project, will the scope be defined?
Determine desired learning outcomes:
What do you expect from your students in terms of completing activities and being able to know and do? Create an assessment rubric based on your expectations for students.
Determine required learning product(s):
Students should present and justify their ideas. Students may choose to create their student product in various formats, such as a video, a contribution to the transformation of their classroom into a Decades Museum, a multimedia product, or a Web page.
Engage students:
Students are invited to begin their inquiry by considering the dreams of present and today’s dreamers. Next, they should use the collections of the Library of Congress to learn about our cultural heritage and find evidence of dreamers in our collective history. Finally, ask students to compare their own dreams to the dreams of those who lived before them, as understanding the continuing human experience and the story of history should be understood as helping students to define themselves and pursue their own dreams.
Organize:
Familiarize students with the student lesson pages. Separate your class into learning teams and allocate tasks and duties.
Each team member will be assigned or will select a research role (musician, comedian, producer, politician, poet, lawyer, photographer) to explore the page of the student project. Another way to help is to remind all team members of their specific tasks while they pitch in. Each student will work as part of the team to complete the project.
Your essay on the American Dream shows the photography of the Dream American Design team. It serves as a guide for your passion, sparking debates and controversies. Prepare a brief legal description about the status of the American Dream (references included). The conclusion includes an argument and facts statement, focusing on the distinction between “whom” and “who.” Create a poet’s notebook, including samples of your poetry that showcase how the Dream American has been influenced by significant historical events and cultural influences. Use your poetic language to seek out the soul and heart of the American Dream. With your finger on the pulse of the American people, trace the significant political events that have shaped the Dream American. Write a speech that reflects on how the Dream American has been affected by political responses to historical events and cultural influences. Produce a sequence of scenes for a movie that portrays the Dream American story. Show the action, camera, and lights in your script for the Dream American movie. Create a humorous or ironic political comic strip or cartoon, or write a script for a stand-up comic routine that reflects the irony of the American Dream. Find the irony in the Dream American and play the music that captures its melody with your ear. Write a music sheet that characterizes the Dream American based on your research. Chronicle and report on the events that have shaped the Dream American over the decades in a news article. The article describes how, where, when, and by whom the events of the American Dream were influenced (Article on the Dream American reports the results of your research).
Individual duties might consist of:
Building Background Knowledge and Skills
(Recommended- 2 class periods).
Anticipatory Set:
Start a conversation (either as a complete class or in team groups) utilizing the “What Is the American Dream?” Article. Construct an understanding of the conventional “American Dream” by incorporating students’ existing knowledge and collaborating with them. Establish connections with students’ prior knowledge.
Share them with your learning team members in small groups, using either paper or visual thinking software to document ideas. Collaborate to generate ideas: What prior knowledge do you possess regarding the American Dream? Take part in class discussions, delve into additional readings, conduct interviews, or invite guest speakers to enhance your students’ learning experience.
Primary Source Analysis:
Before students begin analyzing primary sources, the teacher’s guide will prompt and focus the discussion and provide questions for students to select from. The students will work in teams, with each team working with a pre-selected set of materials. Before students begin their research, they will review strategies for analyzing primary sources.
Every team will examine the primary source that has been assigned to them.
Researching Online and Gathering Primary Resources
(Recommended – 5 class periods).
Students are required to plan an action and conduct research on selecting a role in a guide. They are to assign roles such as team manager, research manager, production manager, or archive manager to the strategy. Students will need support in identifying tasks that need to be completed and drafting a timeline.
Possible considerations during research might include:
To aid students in maintaining concentration and, subsequently, to assist in the assessment process, you might consider mandating that every group maintains a “research journal” documenting their progress during each work session.
Select the inquiries that will establish a focal point for the project. Pupils can utilize these inquiries to direct their investigation.
As a class, create and continually add to, a list of “tried and true” search terms. Remind students that the Library of Congress Web site is a collection of collections. It is not encyclopedic and it simply does not have “everything.” If an initial search does not yield desired results, guide students in how they can narrow or refocus the search. Your schedule may limit students to visiting only the suggested collections and provided links for each team. As possible, however, encourage them to identify additional items in the Library of Congress collections and to expand their resources with other sources.
Conduct research and investigation for a minimum of two (with a preference for more) days or class periods. Permit students to utilize tools for analyzing primary sources to document their expanding collection of evidence. Provide necessary supplies.
Creating the Learning Product
Students can produce a variety of products to demonstrate their interpretation of the material. Realia and multimedia are excellent vehicles for students to share their learning, whether it be through displaying museum exhibits or newspapers in the classroom, creating booklets or presentations, giving oral shows or slide documentaries, producing digital narratives or podcasts, or creating private or public websites.
The assessment procedure can offer valuable understanding in their research journal to what occurs during this stage of the undertaking by having students include. Allocate ample time for this crucial stage. The concrete result of this undertaking is generating and enhancing a ultimate educational output that enables students to express, showcase, and support their concepts regarding the American Dream.
The use of internet and print resources should be collected carefully in order to ensure proper entry of bibliographical and/or citation information, thereby reinforcing ethical standards of internet use.
Developing a Personal Dream for their Future
(1 session).
When students have completed their research and have produced and presented the products that share their learning, they can be invited to consider their own American Dream – for themselves, their families and loved ones, their community, their nation and the world. Encourage students to give serious thought and honest expression to their hopes and dreams for the future. For inspiration, they may wish to view the Dream Wall. contributed by other students.
Extension
Today, who are the visionaries that motivate us? Encourage students to learn about or engage in conversations with individuals who possess a strong aspiration. Enrich this undertaking with your personal online materials, literature, film excerpts, discussions, or invited presenters.
Teachers
The Library of Congress invites students to sift and search through recorded sounds, photographs, early motion pictures, and rare print documents to define the American Dream and tell the story of a decade. Students will experience the breadth and depth of the Library’s digital resources.