Historical Timelines
Lesson 1: (
5 Class Periods)Key concepts:
Chronological Order - Decades - Centuries - ErasPlan:
In order to be able to compare different constitutions it is important to place them in historical context. Timelines can be useful in helping students understand cause and effect, as well as understand global connections. As a review of what students know about American History, ask them to individually identify important events. Students share their ideas to come up with a class list of approximately 30-40 events. Write the events on large post-it notes and have students sequence events on one class wall. There will be much discussion and disagreement about the order, which is good. This will set the stage for their information gathering. Organize the class into 5 or 6 groups and divide the events among the groups. Although students will identify major events, e.g.. civil war, they will also identify popular culture events such as Elvis being drafted. Include some of these; they add an element of fun. Have each group draw a picture to represent their events.Each group should identify the dates of their events using the Internet. This is a good activity to teach about Web Directories and keyword searches. Examples of search activities are included in Searching the Web. In addition to locating dates, have each group search the History Buff internet site which includes a searchable library of press coverage of events in U.S. history. Each group should locate articles about their events and summarize the article for the timeline.
Using butcher paper, have the class create a large timeline that is posted on the wall. Determining the scale will involve some trial and error and much discussion. The only rule is that it must be able to be posted in the classroom. Once the timeline is created and events with pictures are posted, this becomes a reference tool that is used for studying other countries.
Timeline reference provides additional background and activities for using large timelines with students.
Timeliner 5.0 provides a a- tool that allows students to create, illustrate, and print timelines with an extensive graphics library, including more than 400 historical photographs and the ability to import images from the web and incorporate movies and sound. Although this is an exciting tool, we believe it's important to use the low-tech timeline activity first; students will have a much greater understanding of chronological timelines.