Travel Back In Time Through The Underground Railroad: Process

Process

To begin this lesson you will be grouped in families of three people and you will travel through the Underground Railroad.

Choose the role for each member in your group (a teenage child, a mother, and a father).

Each student needs to take the National Geographic "Route To Freedom" journey online. Make notes as you go through the steps.

Click on the following link or copy and paste it into the browser: http://www.nationalgeographic.com/railroad/index.html

Look at the different routes that slaves took to reach the freedom of the north. This can be found on the above link.
Choose as a group where you will start and the general route that you will take from there. Remember, you must write about six different locations that you reach and travel through.
Also consider the famous people who you choose to meet along your journey.

You need outline the events that will happen in your group and remember to think about your character's point of view. Don't forget the traditional roles that men and women had at that time. Make sure you look through the links below and make notes as to where you are going to go and what you may encounter. Your group needs to agree on the route you are taking, but you will all write your own experiences.
You will need to write a journal that will include facts that you have researched, but your journal entries will be your own creation and experience.
Look through the links below and read through the literature about different people's account of traveling through the Underground Railroad.
Next, you and your group will need to choose the famous person that you will want to run into on your journey. There should be at least one person. Look through the links below to make your selection.
You may chose people that are not on the list below who played a major part in the Underground Railroad.
You will include facts of this person or people in both your letters home to the grandparents and in your journal. Don't forget to consider the state that you chose (it may make a difference depending on the route that you are taking).

Now you will look at your outline and split it up into a two to three week period so that you will have something to write about and research on every day.
Get into groups and talk about what you will do on what day and map it out in writing.
Plan when you will write three or more letters to the child's grandparents

Assign each person in the group a topic that they will specifically research further.
Do the research necessary on the topic and present it to the group
Each person should be taking notes on the topics presented.
You need to include at least 5 images in your journal and it must be typed.
Work on your journal and make it authentic and exciting!

Every week you should do one to two letters home to the child's grandparents
These letters need to contain events that you are experiencing.
They need to contain warnings about the trip and advice. You need to urge the grandparents to consider making the trip and telling other slaves to attempt the journey because you want them to join you in the free world. Be convincing and at the same time honest about what lies ahead of them.
You can also be creative with your letters and add drawings because there were no cameras or computers at that time.

Switch with another student and look over each other's work. Check for grammar, spelling, how the ideas run through the journal.
Peer edit the letters as well, but only in your group.

Spend a half hour and compare journals in your group. Look at the different viewpoints and images.
Share with the class as a group your journey, outline, and some of the favorite journal entries. Each group will receive feedback from the myself (Ms. Trumbo) and the class.