The Discovery of Clotilda’s Wreckage

Learning Resource Type

Learning Activity

Subject Area

English Language Arts
Social Studies

Grade(s)

5

Overview

Students will listen to the audio of an interview conducted in May of 2019 with Ben Raines, the journalist primarily responsible for locating the shipwreck of the Clotilda.  Students will collaborate in small groups to identify the month and year of the discovery and to write a caption statement for the event on a timeline. The caption will effectively and clearly express the event and will demonstrate students’ command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage, capitalization, punctuation, and spelling. The class will look at each of the groups’ written captions and vote using an online tool to select the best caption. The selected caption will be added to an ongoing collaborative timeline started in previous related learning activities of this unit.

Phase

After/Explain/Elaborate
Social Studies (2010) Grade(s): 5

SS10.5.6

Describe colonial economic life and labor systems in the Americas.

UP:SS10.5.6

Vocabulary

  • economic
  • labor system
  • establishment
  • Triangular Trade Route
  • Hemisphere
  • Americas
  • Latin America
  • North America
  • South America
  • island

Knowledge

Students know:
  • Each colony's economic life and labor system was unique and based on the geographic location of the colony.
  • Most slaves came from a variety of countries in Africa and were brought to the Americas by slave traders using the Triangular Trade Route.

Skills

Students are able to:
  • Locate each colony on a physical and political map.
  • Describe and explain the types of labor used in each colony (indentured servitude, slaves, free blacks, merchants, farmers, shipping, fishing/whaling, among others).
  • Trace, examine and evaluate the Triangular Trade Route and its impact on colonial economy and labor systems.

Understanding

Students understand that:
  • Different labor systems were used to build and grow each of the 13 colonies.
  • Slave labor was brought to the Americas by the Northern colonial shipping industry and purchased and used in the Caribbean islands and Southern colonies.
Social Studies (2010) Grade(s): 5

SS10.5.6.1

Recognizing centers of slave trade in the Western Hemisphere and the establishment of the Triangular Trade Route
ELA21.5.9
ELA21.5.39
ELA21.5.40

Learning Objectives

 The students will

  • determine when the Clotilda’s wreckage was discovered after listening to an audio interview and reading the transcript of the interview and write a clear and effective statement about the discovery of the shipwreck that uses correct grammar, punctuation, and spelling.
  • identify Mobile as a center of slave trade.
  • identify statements that express ideas clearly and effectively. 

Activity Details

The teacher will

  1. Project the class timeline that has been used in previous related learning activities. Explain that students will be listening to an interview and looking at the transcript to determine the month and year the wreck of the Clotilda was found, and they will be working in small groups to write a caption for the event that will be added to the timeline during the course of this learning activity.  
  2. Play the audio of the NPR interview with Ben Raines and allow students the opportunity to view the transcript as the interview plays.
  3. Discuss as a class when the discovery was made.  The students will have to look at the date on the transcript to see the month and year (May 2019). The exact date is not spoken in the interview.  
  4. Break students into small groups of four if possible. Explain that each group will work together to write a statement for the timeline that explains what major event relating to the Clotilda occurred in May 2019. Once each group has written their statement, the class will vote on which statement best describes the discovery and its importance based on clear and effective language use and correct grammar, punctuation, etc.  
  5.  Before writing begins 
    1. Decide as a class how long the caption should be. Try to keep it consistent with the length of the previous entries on the timeline, likely 3 to 5 sentences.
    2. Discuss what should be included in the caption (date of discovery, ship name, ship’s purpose and original date(s), location of wreck, people involved, circumstances of discovery, etc.)
    3. Write or project these decided-upon elements for reference as the groups write their caption statement about the discovery of the shipwreck.
  6. Allow the groups time to work together to write their caption statement.  
  7. Once they are finished, instruct them how to submit their work to you (email, LMS, shared document, etc.)
  8. As the students are submitting their statements, copy and paste them into the survey form you created.  
  9. Share the survey with each student and allow them time to vote on which statement they feel is best based on the requirements you set earlier.
  10. Once the survey results are in, discuss the one that was selected.  Proofread it as a group. If there are any errors, correct them, and post the statement on the timeline to show that the wreckage of the Clotilda was discovered in May 2019.  Allow the class to view the whole timeline. Use the timeline to reflect on all you have learned up until this point and discuss as you see fit. 

*Note:  If you have not taught the previous related learning activities, alter steps 9 and 10.  Instead of posting the selected statement on a timeline, the class will simply discuss which group created the best statement and why based on the elements the class decided on in step 5 and/or the assessment criteria.

Assessment Strategies

Using established grading procedures, review each group’s statement for

  • information about the Clotilda that identifies Mobile as a site of slave trade.
  • clear and effective written expression of the importance of the discovery of the shipwreck.
  • adherence to rules of English grammar and usage, punctuation, spelling, and capitalization.

Acceleration

Students may work as individuals instead of groups.

Students may use the MLA Handbook to create a citation for the NPR Ben Raines interview that can be posted in the Bibliography field of the timeline.  

Intervention

Students may work in pairs if small group work is not a good fit.

Students may listen to the interview again as needed before writing.

Students may be given a printed copy of the transcript and be allowed to highlight important information as they go (date, location, etc.) to use as a reference as they write their captions.

Background / Preparation

Students will need to be familiar with the history of enslavement, including centers of slave trade in the Western Hemisphere and Triangular Trade Routes, specifically Mobile’s history as an arrival site of the Clotilda and other ships bringing enslaved people to the colonies/United States. They will need basic grade-level computer, writing, and English usage and grammar skills, as well as knowledge of punctuation, capitalization, and spelling rules. Students will also need to be familiar with classroom procedures for working in small groups and submitting work electronically.  

The teacher will need to be prepared to play the audio of the NPR interview with Ben Raines and view the transcript of the interview, as well as be familiar with the content of the interview. The teacher will need to set up an online survey before the learning activity using Jotform, SurveyMonkey, or any survey tool that will allow students to vote on the best statement. Students will be divided into groups of four for the activity. The groups can be pre-selected, if desired. The teacher will need to determine how students will submit their group caption statements and, during step 8, will need to copy and paste each group’s statement into the survey as an answer option before sharing the survey with students. The teacher will also need to be ready to add the selected statement to the timeline at the May 2019 point and discuss/review the entire timeline with students. 

Learning Activity (Before)

Mobile’s Cooper Riverside Park: UNESCO Site of Memory

Total Duration

16 to 30 Minutes

Learning Activity (During)

Clotilda’s Story

Learning Activity (After)

The Discovery of Clotilda’s Wreckage

Materials and Resources

Student Materials:

  • Electronic device with internet and word processing capability (Microsoft Word, Google Docs, etc.)
  • Access to an LMS or shared drive for submitting work electronically 
  • Means to access the online survey set up by the teacher

Teacher Materials:

The Clotilda, Last Known Ship To Bring Slaves To The U.S., Discovered In Alabama
https://www.npr.org/2019/05/23/726294663/the-clotilda-last-known-ship-to-bring-…

Approved Date

Owner (Author)

sjordan
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