General Information

This toolkit is about women trailblazers.  It is centered around two “big ideas” and covers six Indiana social studies.  The two main ideas of this unit are:

• Beliefs and ideals guide actions and impact change, which involves risk.
• The purpose of discovering the unknown creates opportunity.

Standards Tapestry

Women have always played an integral part in shaping our country.  Their beliefs and actions often involved risk, but ultimately created change.  In this unit of study, students will learn how women trailblazers created opportunities for future generations.  Students will examine primary sources such as journals, letters, articles, and songs to explore how women guided change.  The time period this unit covers is primarily pre-colonial times to the Revolutionary War, but also includes the Suffrage Movement.  The Bill of Rights will be examined to study freedoms that our early explorers lacked and what rights we enjoy now.

Assessment Rationale

I will be assessing in a variety of way, with the primary assessment being the final project on Women Trailblazers.  Students will also complete a map on lines of latitude and longitude, write a summary and poem, and create a poster on the Bill of Rights.  After reading many primary source documents, including letters, diaries, and amendments, students will complete a paper on analyzing primary sources and causes and effects.  A final, short test on women trailblazers will also be given.

Assessment Files

• womentrailblazerstest.doc
• womentrailblazersfinalproject.doc

Humanities-rich Resources

Type (book link, etc.)	Name	URL (if any)	Annotation (can include description and notes on how to use.
Link	Our Documents	http://ourdocuments.gov/index.php?flash=true&	100 primary resources from Natl. Archives
Link	American Women	American Women	Articles on women in history
Link	Humanities to Go- Women's Studies	http://www.ihc4u.org/htgWS.htm	Videos from lending library – women in history
Link	Library of Congress	http://www.memory.loc.gov/	American Memory- Historical Collections for the National Digital Library
Link	Trial of Anne Hutchinson	http://pbskids.org/wayback/civilrights/	Article on Anne Hutchinson's beliefs & her trial
Link	Abigail Adams	http://www.umkc.edu/imc/adamsa.htm	Biography of Abigail Adams
Link	Mercy Otis Warren	http://www.masshist.org/bh/mercybio.html	Information on Mercy Otis Warren
Link	Early America- Molly Pitcher	http://earlyamerica.com/molly_pitcher.html	Slide show w/ sound of Molly Pitcher's life.  Great for kids!
Link	Voices of the Am. Rev.	http://library.thinkquest.org/TQ0312848/	Information & poetry of Phyllis Wheatly
Link	Sailing west to Vinland	http://www.fva.is/~vinland/english/e_personur/	Early Viking explorer (Freydis Eiriksdottir – daughter of Erik the Red
Link	Bill of Rights	http://www.memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/	Reproductions of the Bill of Rights
Link	Bill of Rights	http://www.archives.gov/national_archives	Reproductions of the Bill of Rights
Link	Bill of Rights	http://earlyamerica.com/earlyamerica/freedom/bill/	Clear explanation of the Bill of Rights
Link	19 th Amendment (Our Documents)	http://ourdocuments.gov/doc.php	19 th Amendment- women's right to vote
Link	19 th Amendment (Our Documents)	http://ourdocuments.gov/doc.php	Transcript of 19 th Amendment
Book	The World Turned Upside Down		The World Turned Upside Down, Center for Gifted Education The College of William & Mary, Kendall/Hunt Publishing 2003 ISBN 0-7872-9346-6
Book	Sojourner Truth: Ain't I a Woman? by Patricia & Fredrick McKissack		Resource for students, Scholastic, ISBN 0-590-44691-6
Book	Famous American Women- A Biographical Dictionary from Colonial Times to the Present		Resource for information on famous women 1035 biographies
Link	Phyllis Wheatley (1753-1784)	http://www.lib.udel.edu/ud/spec/	Poems of Wheatley & biographical information
Book	Phyllis Wheatley- African American Poet	http://www.americaslibrary.gov/	Biographical information
Link	Who Was Martha Ballard?	http://www.mdarchives.state.md.us/	Martha Ballard – midwife
Link	Mary Pickersgill		Biography & images (flag maker)
Link	Betsy Ross	http://www.ushistory.org/betsy/	The Betsy Ross Homepage
Link	Jeanette Rankin	http://oasis.harvard.edu/html/sch00071.html	Rankin, Jeanette- A Finding Aid (suffrage)
Link	Laura Bridgman	http://search.eb.com/women/articles/	Women in AM history (1st successfully taught blind deaf-mute)
Link	Nellie Tayloe Ross	http://wyoarchives.state.wy.us/articles/rossbio.htm	1st   governor in U.S.
Link	Suffrage	http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/vfwhtml/vfwtl.html	One Hundred Years toward Suffrage:  An Overview  (timeline)
Book	Hang a Thousand Trees with Ribbons by Ann Rinaldi		Book for teacher to read aloud during DEAL  (drop everything & listen) time.  Biography on Phyllis Wheatley.
Book	Social Studies – Building a Nation		Scott Foresman, ISBN 0-328-01764-7
Link	Abigail Adams	http://www.masshist.org/digitaladams/aea/letter/	Correspondence Between John & Abigail Adams
Link	James Madison Center- U.S. History	http://www.jmu.edu/madison/center/main_pages/	Resource for teacher- EXPLORATION

Instructional Day	Description
Day 1  (S.S. 5.1.2 & 5.3.1)	Test (This is a test over trailblazing women.  Most of them will not know who these women are.  This is not for a grade, merely to get them thinking about how little they have learned about famous women!) Throughout the unit, as they learn about these women, they are to correct this test.  This exam will also be given as a final exam. Women Trailblazers Test Discussion: What did you know about the women on this test?  What is a trailblazer?  Why is there not much written about historical women? Brainstorm: women who are/were trailblazers (explorers/pioneers/leaders) Read & discuss European Explorers pp 110-115 in social studies book. Distribute copies of “Sailing West to Vinland” & read about Freydis Eiriksdottir, daughter of Erik the Red.  Discuss her journey from Greenland to Vinland & find out where Vinland is now.  Is it still called Vinland? ( http://www.fva.is/~vinland/english/e_personur/e_freydis.html ) Read pp 140-141, Using Latitude & Longitude.  On large map, trace journey of Freydis Eriksdottir from Greenland to Vinland. Assessment: I will be assessing this using a map on latitude & longitude I have from our social studies series.  Due to copyright, it is not included in the toolkit.
Day 2	Give students a list of trailblazers. Final Project Description Discuss:  What do you know about any of these women?  What would you like to know?  Hopefully, this will encourage dialogue, making inferences about these women, & making connections about trailblazers with events occurring during that time period. Assessment: Students will chose one woman trailblazer to research.  They will have their choice of how they present their findings. (skit, written/oral report, power point,  diary,…) This final project will be due at the end of this unit. (approximately 2 weeks)  Give students copy of rubric.
Day 3  (S.S. 5.1.9)	Read a brief summary about Anne Hutchinson in social studies book. (pp.178 & 184-185) Allow students time to research Hutchinson in computer lab . In groups of 5, search current newspapers to find religious contributors. Assessment: Groups will compile information on one person under the title “Women Building Respect for Religious Differences” & present their findings. Rubric
Day 4  (S.S. 5.1.14)	Read primary source documents of Sarah Osbourn, Sarah Wister, Molly Pitcher, Deborah Sampson, & Abigail Adams. The World Turned Upside Down , pp233, 237, 239,241, & 243 Assessment: Analyzing Primary Sources, pp 231-232 in above book.  This assessment to be completed in groups of 4 or 5. Enrichment:  read & analyze additional letters of Abigail Adams.  http://www.masshist.org/digitaladams/aea/letter/
Day 5  (S.S. 5.1.14)	Referring to the primary source documents of day 4, discuss with the students the following: What generalizations can you make about the lives of Patriot women during the Revolution & on what evidence do you base your conclusions? What new roles or responsibilities did women have to take on because of the Revolution? Journal: Think about ways women participate in the military now. Assessment: “Women's Lives” – cause & effect The World Turned Upside Down , pg. 245.
Day 6-7  (S.S. 5.5.4)	Introduce Phyllis Wheatley by explaining that she was an important Patriot poet as well as the first African American writer to be published. Students read primary source document from The World Turned Upside Down .  (This is a poem written to George Washington by Phyllis Wheatley- pg. 269.) Discuss with students the following: *What is Wheatley trying to convey in her poem? *What does this tell you about the importance of considering point of view & bias when you are reading documents? Journal: Why is it important to avoid present-mindedness in studying history?  For example, what are some of the actions & events that are difficult to understand or accept if we look at them with 21 st   century eyes? Students will have time to get additional information on Wheatley using attached websites: http://www.lib.udel.edu/ud/spec/exhibits/treasures/american/wheatley.html http://www.americaslibrary.gov/cgi-bin/page.cgi/jb/revolut/poetslav_2 Assessment: write a poem about Phyllis Wheatley Rubric
Day 8	Suffrage Movement Conduct a mock vote in the class, only allowing boys to vote.  Examples on what to vote on are : Should students be allowed to sit anywhere in the room for silent reading time?  Would you like a different seating arrangement?  Should we have a longer recess?  Should the school lunch menu be changed? After polling students, stress that you only care about the boys' votes.  This should encourage some inquiry-based questions by students as to why the girls didn't vote and will lead into a discussion of suffrage & the 19 th amendment. Share time line & discuss. http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/vfwhtml/vfwtl.html Show copy of 19 th amendment & discuss. http://ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?doc=63 Assessment: Write a persuasive letter to the editor encouraging women to vote.  (Send to local paper if timing is right.)  Rubric
Day 9  (S.S. 5.2.6)	Distribute reproductions of the Bill of Rights & discuss.  Explore websites on the Bill of Rights. http://ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=true&doc=13 http://www.archives.gov/national_archives_experience/bill_of_rights.html http://earlyamerica.com/earlyamerica/freedom/bill/ 2. Discussion of which rights students feel have made the biggest impact on women's lives & explain reasoning. Assessment:  Using old magazines & newspapers, students are to choose at least 5 of the rights they think are important & find pictures that represent these rights.  The pictures should be glued on posterboard & have a label telling with which amendment it goes. Rubric
Day 10	Final test – Women Trailblazers ( Test ) This is the same pre-test they were given at the beginning of the unit. Begin Women Trailblazers projects
Day 11	Projects ( Rubric ) Assessment: after student presents project & I have assessed, they will do a self-assessment using a duplicate of the rubric I used.

Teacher Inquiry Kiosk

Women's History Bibliography