Brief Description

Students will examine information about George Washington on the Internet and identify two primary source documents displayed there. One site will illustrate, with a primary source document, the rules Washington created for himself as a young man. Students will translate these rules into modern-day English and then evaluate them to decide whether the rules are appropriate for young people today.  They will also analyze the information they find about George Washington and write a brief description of his character.

Standards and Frameworks

Technology Standards

• 1T-E2. Demonstrate increasingly sophisticated operation of technology components
• 2T-E2. Exhibit legal and ethical behaviors when using technology and information and discuss consequences of misuse
• 3T-E3. Publish and present information using technology tools
• 5T-E1. Locate information from electronic resources.

• R-E2.Use reading strategies such as making inferences and predictions, summarizing, paraphrasing, differentiating fact from opinion, drawing conclusions, and determining the author’s purpose and perspective to comprehend written selections
• W-E1.Use correct spelling, punctuation, capitalization, grammar and usage, along with varied sentence structure and paragraph organization, to complete effectively a variety of writing tasks
• W-F1.Use the writing process, including generating topics, drafting, revising ideas and editing, to complete effectively a variety of writing tasks
• 1SS-E1. Understand and apply the basic tools of historical research, including chronology and how to collect, interpret, and employ information from historical materials.

Academic

• Students will visit several sites to gather information leading to the understanding of George Washington’s character.
• They will identify whether the information they collect is based on a primary or secondary source.
• Students will support their opinions with facts gathered from their readings.
• Students will read the rules created by George Washington in his teen years, change them into modern-day English and then show an evaluation of them to decide whether the rules are appropriate for young people today.
• Students will create, using the writing process, an essay evaluating at least two character traits they believe George Washington possessed.
• Students will show an understanding of the Six-Trait Writing Rubric by using it to revise and edit their essays.

• Using the Internet, students will access and read information written by and about George Washington.
• Using Microsoft Word, students will write the final draft of their essays analyzing Washington’s character.
• Students will fill in and print out a worksheet that they have completed on Washington’s rules.

• Students will need to have appropriate permission to access the Internet and to publish their work following school/district guidelines.
• Students must have general knowledge of being able to access the Internet and be able to move from page to page by clicking the back button.
• Students will need to be able to type, edit and save work to their disk/server
• Students must have basic knowledge of Microsoft Word – changing font, spell check, editing and revision, be able to access a fresh document, copying and pasting, and printing.
• Students must know how to save their Word document to a floppy disk, or the server, and be able to access it at a later time.

• Access to computers with Word, a printer, and the Internet.
• A basic knowledge of the Six-Traits of Writing.
http://www.ade.az.gov/stbl/6traits/6traits.pdf
http://www.azed.us/students/languagearts/SixTraits.html
• A dictionary and/or thesaurus either in print or on line (Word 2000) available for each student.

• Gifted Students: Gifted students may be encouraged to read and respond to several of the extra sites on George Washington.  They may create a time-line of his life either on paper or on the Internet. The teacher may ask them to write up some rules that they think Washington would write today. They may also make a chart showing the character traits each member of the classroom has attributed to George Washington.
• Sheltered English Immersion Students: Students who can read in another language can find out more about George Washington’s papers and see a translation of the primary sources offered at: http://gwpapers.virginia.edu/search/index.html  Students can also respond to the pictures offered on the sites listed. A dictionary (Spanish to English, French to English, etc). should be made available.
• Learning Disabled Students: Students can be given a modified assignment. They may work in pairs or small groups. Students may work with a partner who reads the material or responds to the writing prompt after a small group discussion about George Washington. The teacher may ask them to write up some rules that they think Washington would write today.
• Attention Deficit Students: Students can be given various occasions over several lab sessions and classroom computer sessions to complete the assignment in smaller chunks. They can also have a peer typist help type if needed.

Day One: (may be done over 2 day period) In the classroom tell the students that they will be reading about George Washington, the first president of the United States and the man called “The father of our country.”  They are to be reading about him to find out what his character was like or what kind of person he was so at a later time they can write a short essay describing his character.  Tell them that some of the information they gather will be from primary sources.  Have them speculate on what primary sources are and then follow up with a definition. Have them guess what primary sources may be available about a man that lived over 200 years ago. The teacher may find help on directing use of primary sources from:

a. http://www.dohistory.org/on_your_own/toolkit/primarySources.html
This site is for the teacher’s benefit and tells what a primary source is.
b. http://www.k12science.org/curriculum/treasure/part1.html
This site may be printed out as a worksheet to help students discuss what a primary source is and when it is most valuable.

 http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/treasures/trt022.html
A fragment of Washington’s  diary regarding the surrender of the British at Yorktown
 http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/treasures/trt024.html
Washington’s personal copy of  The Declaration of Independence
 http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/treasures/trt051.html
Washington’s first inaugural  address

Day Three: In the computer lab have the students access the following site showing the rules George Washington wrote for himself at the age of sixteen.
 

http://gwpapers.virginia.edu/civility/images/civ01.html
Have them locate and print this out.

http://www.geocities.com/fifth_grade_tpes/washington.html
Students will then translate the rules into modern language taking note of any rules that they think will help define Washington’s character.

http://ap.grolier.com/article?assetid=a2031240-h&templatename=/article/article.html a biography of George Washington
http://www.americaslibrary.gov/cgi-bin/page.cgi/aa/leaders/wash a short biography of George Washington
http://www.pbs.org/georgewashington/timeline/index.html a timeline and short biography
http://library.thinkquest.org/10966/data/bwash.shtml another short biography

Day Six: Students should use the Six Traits of Writing ideas to revise, edit, and complete a final copy of their essays. They will include reverence to two sites in a mini-bibliography including the URL.

Assessment

Teacher Name: Nancy Byrd
Site: Keeling Elementary
Date Submitted: April 18, 2004