Monday, August 3, 2015

Bringing History Alive




One of my most successful units last year was on the mystery of Amelia Earhart's disappearance.  This is always an engaging unit for students because  of its intrinsic mystery.  It's built in to part of my nonfiction/informational text unit and we focus on drawing information from a variety of sources and forming and defending opinions based on the evidence we collect.  This year, having Chromebooks during this unit added a whole other layer of depth I was thrilled about.  Students had much more access to information at their fingertips and were able to examine all sorts of theories about her disappearance.  There are countless videos available about her disappearance, but I also encourage students to examine her life before the infamous flight.  We take some time to listen to Earhart's famous "The Future of Women in Flying" speech.  Students love hearing her voice, and this speech always sparks interesting conversation. You can hear the speech for yourself here:

No comments:

Post a Comment