Paul Revere's

midnight ride

A WebQuest for 5th Grade Social Studies

Introduction

This lesson was developed as part of a graduate level Technology Across the Curriculum class at Pacific University. It is intended to help students understand that history is subjective, and that the effort of many is oftentimes embodied in history by one.

In the process of researching Paul Revere and other riders, students will find that there were lesser known people who contributed as much, if not more to the cause than Revere did. This will allow students a chance to view a historical moment from multiple perspectives, to think critically, and to not believe that what is written in their textbook is the only truth.

Additionally, this will be an opportunity for students to work on their research and note taking abilities, both skills that will be necessary for future educational endeavors. Students will also need to exhibit creativity in writing a short story or poem. In producing this creative effort, students will have practice with the writing process and the six traits of good writing. Finally, it will be a chance to work on public speaking skills as they share their work with the class.

Learners

This is a fifth grade history lesson within the context of the American Revolution, with additional research, writing, and speaking components. Due to the nature of this lesson, it could easily be used for fourth through eighth grades with varying degrees of expected outcome.

This lesson could also be easily differentiated to allow for various abilities. From a content perspective, students could choose to study and write about just one rider, or take on the challenge of researching all three. Within the websites on this WebQuest, there are some that are more word-y, and others that are mostly pictures or spoken word. In regards to process, the number of required resources could be increased or decreased, or the approach to which the story is written could be altered. Final product could be altered as well. Students with difficulty writing could present an oral tale, or a videotape of their story. Students could utilize more visual information in the way of illustrations, photographs, etc., to tell their story. Children who would like to work in groups could be paired up to create a story from two perspectives, or with multiple chapters. Flexibility is the key here.

Prior to beginning this lesson, students will need some general background on the American Revolution up to this point to have a context in which to work from. This background should come in part from narrative sources: both historical fiction and non-fiction. Students will also be familiar with the writing process, as well as having ample prior opportunities to write creatively.

Curriculum Standards

Following are some of the standards that will be touched on during this lesson:

Social Studies Standards Addressed

Interpret data and chronological relationships presented in timeliness and narratives
Identify cause and effect relationships in a sequence of events
Understand the impact of individuals through the period of the American Revolution, on ideas, ways of life, or the course of events in U.S. history
Examine an event, issue, or problem through inquiry and research
Identify and study two or more points of view of an event, issue, or problem

Writing Standards Addressed

Pre-write, draft, revise, edit, and publish across the subject areas
Organize information in clear sequence, making connections and transitions among ideas, sentences, and paragraphs; and use precise words and fluent sentence structures that support meaning
Write narrative, expository, and persuasive texts, using a variety of written forms-...-to express ideas appropriate to audience and purpose across subject areas
Demonstrate knowledge of spelling, grammar, punctuation, capitalization, and penmanship across the subject areas

Technology Standards Addressed

Demonstrate proficiency in the use of technological tools and devices

This lesson will also cover critical thinking (i.e., why do we only know about Paul Revere?), organization of research (collecting information in a useful manner), and creative production (taking this information and create an original work).

Process

From students page:

Using the links provided, research Paul Revere, his life, and his well known midnight ride.
Continue through the links to learn about William Dawes, Israel Bissell, and Sybil Ludington- three people who were also riders.
Take notes, summarizing what you have learned.
Continue research outside of class using the library or the internet to gather further information.
Think about how you want to present your story or poem. Is it a first person narrative? A third person account? Who will you include? Revere? Dawes? Bissell? Ludington?
Begin to organize your notes into an outline form.
Write your first draft.
Edit, re-write, and publish. Please attach first (and any additional) drafts and all notes, outlines, etc.
Be ready to share it with your peers.

Links

Biography of Paul Revere:
http://www.paulreverehouse.org/bio/bio.shtml

Poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow:
http://www.cvesd.k12.ca.us/finney/paulvm/h1_poem.html

The story of the midnight ride:
http://www.paulreverehouse.org/ride/real.shtml

Virtual ride:
http://www.paulreverehouse.org/ride/virtual.shtml

"Video" of the ride:
http://www.earlyamerica.com/paul_revere.htm

Who is William Dawes?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Dawes

Poem about William Dawes:
http://www.colorpro.com/wmdawes/theride.html

Who is Sybil Ludington?
http://www.nwhm.org/Education/biography_sludington.html

Who is Israel Bissell?
http://www.dwroth.com/bissell.htm#back
http://www.yourtruehero.org/content/hero/view_hero.asp?15727

This lesson would take five or more days to complete. The first class period would be for gathering information from the above websites and taking notes. If time allowed, students could begin additional research in their school library. The following class periods would be devoted to compiling notes, writing, editing, and publishing their story or poem. This could be done during the social studies block or as part of a writer's workshop. One additional computer lab time would be needed so students could type up their work. The final period would be for students to share their work with the class. Writing could then be collected and bound into a class book, a copy of which could be put in the library.

This lesson is fairly straightforward, and I'd imagine that a novice teacher would be successful with it. The only stumbling blocks I foresee for students is understanding that this story or poem is to be based on the people and events they have just learned about. It might be a good idea to briefly remind them of the difference between realistic fiction and complete fiction.

Variations

If students did not have access to individual computers, this WebQuest could certainly be done in groups of three or four. Research could be done together and students could either take the information and work separately, or work together to create one piece of work.

Resources Needed

Textbooks (to compare what is written in their texts to what they learned via the WebQuest)
High speed Internet access for all students
Word processing software
Access to printers

While it is almost always beneficial to have extra adults to assist in a classroom setting, this WebQuest is totally manageable by one teacher. During the word processing time it would be helpful to have a volunteer, but otherwise this is a very self-contained project with little need for additional aid.

Evaluation

From Student's Page:

Evaluation will take into account the process as well and the product. The final draft of the story or poem should be typed, and show appropriate use of ideas and content, organization, voice, word choice, sentence fluency, and writing conventions. Evaluation will also look at creativity and historical accuracy, as well as presentation of the work to the class.

	Beginning 1	Developing 2	Accomplished 3	Exemplary 4
Creativity	Story or poem does not show creativity in the way information is portrayed.	Story or poem is somewhat interesting to read and is somewhat inventive in the way information is portrayed.	Story or poem is interesting to read and inventive in the way information is portrayed.	Story or poem is interesting to read and exceptionally inventive in the way information is portrayed.
Writing Process	Process of pre-write, draft, edit, re-write, publish is not followed.	Process of pre-write, draft, edit, re-write, publish is followed with minimal results in the final draft.	Process of pre-write, draft, edit, re-write, publish is followed with clear results in the final draft.	Process of pre-write, draft, edit, re-write, publish is followed with exemplary results in the final draft.
Final Draft	Final draft is lacking in three or more of these categories: content, organization, voice, word choice, sentence structures, and writing conventions.	Final draft is lacking in one or more of these categories: content, organization, voice, word choice, sentence structures, and writing conventions.	Final draft is well written and organized, has presence of voice, uses a variety of word choice and sentence structures, and shows good control of writing conventions.	Final draft is exceptionally well written and organized, has presence of voice, uses a variety of word choice and sentence structures, and shows exemplary control of writing conventions.
Historical Accuracy	Story or poem does not reflect any information gathered from WebQuest.	Story or poem reflects minimal information gathered from WebQuest.	Story or poem clearly reflects information gathered from WebQuest.	Story or poem clearly reflects information gathered from WebQuest, and includes information found from further investigation.
Presentation	Presentation is not understandable, and student shows discomfort in public speaking.	Presentation is challenging to understand, and student shows some discomfort in public speaking.	Presentation is easy to understand, and student shows comfort in public speaking.	Presentation is easy to understand, and student shows great comfort in public speaking.

Credits & References

Thanks to www.pics4learning.com for the Paul Revere statue photo.

Thanks to The WebQuest Page and the Design Patterns pages

Further references:

http://www.wikipedia.org/- an online, interactive encyclopedia

http://www.timeforkids.com/TFK/- Time magazine for kids

http://www.nwhp.org/tlp/main/main.html- the National Women's History Project

http://www.pbs.org/- PBS online

http://42explore.com/42exploress.htm- all about social studies

"We all benefit by being generous with our work. Permission is hereby granted for other educators to copy this WebQuest, update or otherwise modify it, and post it elsewhere provided that the original author's name is retained along with a link back to the original URL of this WebQuest. On the line after the original author's name, you may add Modified by (your name) on (date). If you do modify it, please let me know and provide the new URL."

Last updated on (October 25, 2006). Based on a template from The WebQuest Page