Friday, February 20, 2009

Lewis and Clark

In the article, "Lewis and Clark," Gail Lovely discusses the importance of teaching about the voyage of Lewis and Clark to all grade levels. Lovely points out that there are many other significant figures in our history who discovered different parts of America before Lewis and Clark. However, studying these two men is very important because they were the people who wrote extensive journals about their journey. Through the study of their journals and documentations of America, we learned a lot about our country.
Lovely suggests that grades K-2 need to concentrate on broad ideas because they are at a early level of learning. A good idea would be to focus on teaching the students about the different components of a community. It is important to relay the idea that there are many roles in society and that when put together, create a community that is fully functional. Another idea for this grade level is to focus on Seaman who was the dog that accompanied them on their journey.
For grades 3-6, it is important to engage in deeper activities by opening up discussions for the students. By engaging in debates about the journey, the students will learn about the different hardships that Lewis and Clark experienced. Students at this age are also able to explore different readings about the journey to better understand the time period and culture of the people.
For grades 7-12, students are able to conduct research on their own and form insights on the expedition. Later, they can write reports based on their findings and present their work to their peers. By collaborating together as a class, the students will gain new insights on the different perspectives pertaining the voyage and time period.

1. What age is it appropriate to ask students to write about Lewis and Clark? 3rd grade is an appropriate grade to ask the students to write their own journal entries.

2. How long should a teacher spend time teaching about Lewis and Clark? A teacher should spend about three weeks teaching the students about Lewis and Clark.

3 comments:

  1. I'm assuming this is your third article...

    Well I felt this was an interesting topic to talk about, I know that many of your posts are from last semester and the schedule is probably different. Having had several classes with you before I know that history is your depth of study, and can see why this topic might have come up. I agree with you that Lewis and Clark, have a huge impact in our history and is important to teach our students. Your post actually reminded me of a project I did in fifth grade in regard to Lewis, Clark and Sacajawea. I dressed up as Sacajawea and presented with a group in regards to their impact in history - it was a fun project and a great way to get students to learn about historical figures. This being a technology class, I'm interested to see how you could incorporate technology into Lewis and Clark lesson plans.

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  2. Lewis and Clark are two very important figures in history that should be addressed and taught to all students. I really enjoyed reading your thoughts on how you would introduce this topic to all grade level from kindergarten to 12th grade. Each grade level you go up, the level of research increases. As far as incorporating technology into the classroom, couldn't they create( might already have) an interactive game that takes you on voyage with characters of Lewis and Clark like the game Oregon Trail. Would be very interesting to do some research and see if this type of game exists and maybe try it out!

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  3. i think that the concepts that they wrote about are great, and it is interesting that they had these ideas back than and that they still fit in with what is going on now. but that is true when should you be teaching children about them? i guess it all depends on the level of understanding of the children.

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