SAMR Lesson

One lesson I would like to utilize in my classroom would be the exploration of newspapers leading up to the Civil War.

Students can use the newspaper archives to research Northern and Southern newspapers discussing the notion of slavery, economics, disunion, and secession. One of the struggles of studying the Civil War is that the southern perspective is difficult to understand.  It feels very out of touch and impossible to ever have been defendable.  However studying the reasons why the South needed, or wanted rather, slavery and what race meant to contemporaries of the time helps to set up the continued racism experienced in the country today.

I think this is at the Redefinition level of SAMR because without this database the research is impossible without traveling to physical archives.  Furthermore, while the sentiments could be analyzed through secondary sources, the physical engagement and searching on their own adds a level of connectivism and intimacy with contemporary people.  Searching the papers themselves also adds a level of the empowered learner which will help to give engaging context to our nations biggest internal conflict.

via GIPHY