Learning Activity

Journey to Freedom: Underground Railroad

Subject Area

English Language Arts
Social Studies

Grade(s)

5

Overview

This learning activity can be used during or after a lesson or unit on the Underground Railroad and/or the Civil War. The Underground Railroad is a “choose your own” learning experience allowing students to make a series of choices that affect their journey along the Underground Railroad. Presented from a first-person perspective, the learning experience immerses students in the action as they escape from a southern plantation and head north toward freedom. Along the route, students make key decisions that will lead them to one of several possible outcomes.

This activity was created as a result of the ALEX Resource Development Summit.

Social Studies (2010) Grade(s): 5

SS10.5.11

1Identify causes of the Civil War, including states’ rights and the issue of slavery.

Unpacked Content

UP:SS10.5.11

Vocabulary

  • Civil War
  • Missouri Compromise
  • insurrection
  • opposition
  • rebellion
  • personalities
  • political conditions
  • confederacy
  • secession

Knowledge

Students know:
  • Causes of the Civil War, including issues of states' rights and slavery.
  • The importance of the Missouri Compromise, Nat Turner's insurrection, the Compromise of 1850, the Dred Scott decision, John Brown's rebellion, and the election of 1860.
  • Key Northern and Southern personalities, including Abraham Lincoln, Jefferson Davis, Ulysses S. Grant, Robert E. Lee, Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson, William Tecumseh Sherman, and Joseph Wheeler.
  • Social, economic, and political conditions that affected citizens during the Civil War.
  • Alabama's role in the Civil War (Montgomery as the first capital of the Confederacy, Winston County's opposition to Alabama's secession).

Skills

Students are able to:
  • Locate key places and events on a physical and political map.
  • Identify and analyze the causes of political conflict Identify key people and explain their role throughout the Civil War.
  • Describe and draw conclusions about the war affected the citizens of the United States.
  • Interpret and define the role of Alabama in the Civil War.

Understanding

Students understand that:
  • There were many factors that led to the Civil War.
  • Key people and ordinary citizens contributed to and were impacted by the Civil War.
  • Alabama responded to, participated in, and was impacted by the Civil War.
English Language Arts (2021) Grade(s): 5

ELA21.5.34

Write personal or fictional narratives incorporating literary elements (characters, plot, setting, conflict), dialogue, strong voice, and clear event sequences.

Unpacked Content

UP:ELA21.5.34

Vocabulary

  • Personal narratives
  • Fictional narratives
  • Literary elements
  • Characters
  • Plot
  • Setting
  • Conflict
  • Dialogue
  • Voice
  • Event sequences

Knowledge

Students know:
  • A narrative is a piece of writing that tells a story.
  • A personal narrative tells about an event that was personally experienced by the author, while a fictional narrative tells a made-up story.
  • A narrative story describes a sequence of plot events in a logical order (beginning, middle, end).
  • Narrative writing includes text elements, like characters, setting, and conflict.
  • Dialogue is a conversation between two or more characters in a text.

Skills

Students are able to:
  • Write a personal narrative that recalls a personal experience or a fictional narrative with a made-up story.
  • Write a narrative with a logical sequence of plot events.
  • Incorporate literary elements into their narrative writing, like characters, setting, and conflict.
  • Include dialogue in narrative writing.
  • Use a strong voice in writing by developing a personal writing style.

Understanding

Students understand that:
  • Narrative writing includes predictable elements, like a logical sequence of events and characters, setting, and conflict.
  • Incorporating dialogue between the characters can add details to their narrative writing.
  • Narrative writing can be used to tell about something that happened to them personally or it can tell a story they made up.

Phase

During/Explore/Explain
After/Explain/Elaborate
Learning Objectives

Learning Objectives

Students will be able to describe social, economic, and political conditions that affected citizens during the Civil War.  

Students will be able to write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using an effective technique, descriptive details, and clear event sequences.

Activity Details

This learning activity should be used during or at the end of a lesson or unit on the Underground Railroad and/or the Civil War. The students will play Journey to Freedom: Underground Railroad. While they are playing the game, students will need to write down their choices and the effects of the choices they made. Once the students are finished with the game they will write a narrative that describes their journey on the Underground Railroad using the choices and outcomes they recorded while playing the game. After the completion of the activity, students will write a narrative about their journey and the key decisions they had to make along their way to freedom.  

Assessment Strategies

Assessment Strategies

The narrative that the students write at the conclusion of the Journey to Freedom: Underground Railroad game will be used as the assessment.

Variation Tips

Students could compare and contrast their journey with another student's journey after playing the game.

Background and Preparation

Background / Preparation

The teacher will need to share the link to Journey of Freedom: Underground Railroad with the students prior to the activity. Students will need access to a computer with working volume. Students should be familiar with narrative writing prior to this activity.

Digital Tools / Resources

Journey to Freedom: Underground Railroad
https://www.nationalgeographic.org/interactive/journey-freedom-underground-rail…

Approved Date

Owner (Author)

malloyco
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