Culminating Activity: Creating a Personal Timeline
Review the Lincoln timeline that students assembled at the beginning of the lesson. Point out that each event has a date, as well as information and a picture about that date. Remind students that the timeline begins with the earliest date and goes until the most recent date.
Explain to students that it is now their turn to make a timeline about their own lives. Ask them to think about two important things that have happened to them in their lives. Ask for some volunteers to share this information. (Some possible answers: the day they were born; going on a fun vacation; learning to play an instrument; getting a special gift; starting school; making a new friend; etc.)
Hand out blank sheets of paper to each student. (Hand out 1 sheet of paper for each student creating a timeline online and distribute 3-4 sheets for each student creating a timeline by hand.). Ask each student to write down the two events that they thought of on a sheet of paper. Now ask them to think of 4 more important things that have happened to them in their lives and to write those down, as well.
Ask students to create a timeline on which to put these events.
Creating timelines by hand: Ask students to draw a line from left to right across the middle of their paper. Then ask them to draw small vertical lines to indicate important years in their lives. To create a longer timeline, students can tape 2-3 pieces of paper end to end and then draw a horizontal line across all the sheets.
Creating online timelines: Direct students to the “Timeline Generator” at TeAch-nology.com (Note: Instruct them to scroll to the bottom of the page to see the timeline tool.)
Ask students to put their 6 events in chronological order in their timelines, starting with the earliest event and ending with the most recent. If students are using the online timeline tool, ask them to print out their timelines once they have finished. Encourage all students (whether creating a timeline by hand or on the computer) to draw/paste images or photographs to go along with each event. After students have completed their individual timelines, ask for volunteers to explain/ present their timelines to the group.
Jen Bartsch on 05 Sep 09PBS Teachers provides PreK-12 educational resources and activities for educators tied to PBS programming and correlated to local and national standards and professional development opportunities delivered online. As stated in the lesson plan overview: "Through the activities presented in this lesson, students will become familiar with the tenets of the Homestead Act, the shifting borders of the American frontier, and the life faced by homesteaders. After a class discussion and examination of a variety of Web sites, students will complete an written assessment in which they will determine whether or not the land available through the Homestead Act was, in fact, "free." This lesson can be used as an introduction to a unit on American settlement in the latter half of the nineteenth century, or as a pre-viewing activity to the PBS series FRONTIER HOUSE. A basic knowledge of 19th-century United States history is required."
