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Living American History Project

Living history uses historical tools, activities, and roles to create a sense of
stepping back in time. In this semester-long project, we will explore the lives of
people living in North America from the earliest migrations onto this continent
through the Civil War by creating a series of living rooms of history. Each
separate room will depict the full expanse of an individuals life during a specific
period in time, including (but not limited to): the concept of self, family life,
occupation/trade, participation in society, political affiliations, religious beliefs,
ways of entertainment, scientific understanding, and demographics (e.g.,
lifespan, health, population factors). You are encouraged to look at the life of one
of your own ancestors to identify a role and time period to explore deeply. You
will create a fully-developed character (either real or fictional) that uses
historically accurate artifacts to tell the story of life in your chosen time in
history. Our project will culminate in an exhibition of the rooms and characters
at a public venue selected by students.
Essential Questions:
By bringing the past alive can we gain a better understanding of the
hopes, challenges and experiences of people who have gone before us
and how their lives have shaped our world?
Does this approach make the study of history more meaningful and
accessible to students with a full range of different learning styles and
needs?
Project Launch: Revolutionary War Overnight Experience (cost $120/person) or
Civil War Experience (cost $14/person; four hours) at Rileys Farm in Oak Glen,
CA. Deliverable: One-page letter home from the front on the History page of
your DP. Due Date: Week 2.
Adult-World Connections: Class discussion with a curator at the San Diego
History Center on ways to create an exhibit. (Cost $4/per person). Small group
interviews with historical actors/interpreters at Rileys Farm. Due Date: Week
2.
Period Proposal: Think about a time in history or individuals or events that
are interesting to you from the pre-Columbian era to the Civil War. Start a list.
Read books, newspapers, view online sources and add to your list. Talk with
your classmates, relatives, or neighbors about a particular time in history that
interests you and add more ideas. Deliverable: You will have a selection of six
possible time periods to study more deeply. After peer critique, turn in a period
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selection proposal for two possible time periods that you would like to learn
more about. Write a one-page description of the process you undertook to
select your period and why you are interested in studying these periods and
post it on your DP. Your time period group will be between 4-5 students. Due
Date: Week 3.
Historical Head: Choose a well-known person from your time period. Using
the Historical Head template provided to you, create images of the thoughts,
ideas, visions and motivations of your person. Use a minimum of four images,
number them and write a corresponding statement that explains each image
on a separate sheet. Due Date: Week 4
Character Role: Think about how people may have lived in the past. What
area of life would you like to learn more about? Is there an occupation you
would like to learn more about? You may choose either a famous historical
figure from your time period or create a fictional character. Deliverable: After
peer critique, turn in one-page description of the process you undertook to
choose your historical figure and why you are interested in this character and
post on your DP. Due Date: Week 5.
Venue Proposal: Living History projects can be presented at a variety of public
venues as a stand-alone exhibit or as part of a larger re-enactment. Research
venues in San Diego that could serve as an exhibition site for our project in
December. Deliverable: 3-5 minute presentation to class about possible
venues for exhibition. Each class will vote to nominate a venue selection. The
two nominations will be sent to the entire team for a final vote. Due Date:
Week 7.
Products: At the end of this project, you will have created the following
products for public exhibition:
Creation of a historically accurate character (real-life or fictional). Period
costume is optional, but would be really cool.
A physical space designed by your historical period group that includes
artifacts that are important to your characters. Artifacts can include
photographs, maps, charts, primary source documents, artwork, music,
clothing, books, and tools.
5-10 page biography about your character or 5-10 page research paper
about your time period or 5-10 minute narrated video documentary
demonstrating what you learned about your time period and character.
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As you become experts in your period of history, you will have ideas
about what you want others to take away from your time period. Each
historical period group will present their period to the class in
chronological order. At the conclusion, each group will create at seven
important facts, ideas or concepts related to your time period that you
believe are important for us, as Americans, to know and understand. I
will review the submissions and create a final exam.

Accommodations for Diverse Learners:
Accessing prior knowledge: By 11
th
grade, students will have typically
explored concepts of American History in second, fifth and eighth grades.
Some students will have more prior knowledge than others, but everyone
will likely have opinions about American history that they have gleaned
from the general culture. Differentiating the supporting readings based
on prior knowledge level and skill strengths will give students with a wide
range of abilities access to the content.
Constructivist approach: In a traditional classroom, learning is
something that is categorized and passed along by a teacher to a
student. In a constructivist classroom, in contrast, students learn
through constructing knowledge and meaning on their own and in
social groups. The challenge for the teacher is to create opportunities
for the students to be exposed to new ideas, time to reflect about them
and time to play with these ideas.
Student choice: By allowing students to choose what time period to
focus on and to create their own historical character, they will likely be
more engaged with their own learning.
Independent research: By focusing the classroom on a comprehensive
project, students will be spending a large part of the classroom time
researching their time period and characters. This will allow for
individual and small-group consulting with students who may be
struggling.
Multiple entries into the project: This project allows for multiple ways
to learn about history (primary sources, documentaries, novels, films,
educational websites) and to demonstrate that learning through oral and
written work.
Multiple ways to access content: This project gives students multiple
ways to access the content of American History. In addition to classroom
discussions, direct instruction, independent research with primary
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documents, students will be offered three different secondary sources to
establish a basic framework of understanding. These sources also
provide students an opportunity to look at opinion and bias in shaping
history.
A Peoples History of the United States by Howard Zinn
(Honors required)
A Young Peoples History of the United States by Rebecca
Stefoff (based on Zinns work, but less verbose).
U.S. History videos at www.Education-Portal.com (short 7-
minute videos with a transcript and short repeatable quiz on
a wide range of topics).