The Female Paul Revere

Sybil Ludington: The Female Paul Revere

Lesson Objective: The students will be able to . . .  Explain who Sybil Ludington was and what she did for the Revolutionary War  Analyze the 40 mile route Sybil took to warn the troops using a handwritten outline of events  Create a map of Sybil’s journey against that of Paul Revere- including rest stops (camp grounds) and possible interferences (weather and terrain) in reference of her signal of warning the Continental Army

Where, When, What: The students will be working toward the objective of understanding who Sybil Ludington was, why she did what she did, and who she represents to the Revolutionary War’s cause. Sybil Ludington was more than just a female correspondent for there General father, but rather a soldier in her own right, who saved many men’s lived, approximately 400 in toe. Now, as the students are learning of Sybil’s journey, they will be cross references and comparing it to Paul Revere’s journey two years earlier for the same reasons. However, there is quite a difference in their journeys in direct response to their routes, times, and mileage traveled. The students will be figuring out times, obstructions/obstacles, and or routes of each journey using both the Internet for cross referencing, and the video presentations available for revisits.

Hook/Hold: Anchor The teacher will introduce the woman of Sybil Ludington by first recapturing the story of Paul Revere. The story of Paul Revere is captivating and story of familiarity to the students, being that Paul Revere represents the rider of “midnights time,” he represented bravery, strength, and diligence in his ride. Additionally, the students have previously learned of Paul Revere in weeks prior to the beginning study of the Revolution as a whole. Once the students recall Paul Revere and his ride, the teacher will introduce Sybil Ludington and her honorary claim to the Revolutionary War. The teacher will pull a video the video documentary of Sybil and her incredible ride of courage to warn the Continental Army of British encroachment in Danbury. The teacher will be showing the video to show the students a video, which helps captivate their attention and focus on the subject in digital form. Understanding the student’s attention spans, and desired learning experiences, the video production allows the students to view the material with more concentration to detail and educational information. After the video, the students must prepare some responses to the compare and contrast Sybil’s ride with Paul Revere, to show the difference, if any, between a man and a woman’s ride using evidentiary support. The students respond in a positive manner using video presentations to educationally inform and engage attention. Although there are other ways to do so, using the video representation of Sybil Ludington, than telling them they must pair share discussion of comparing and contrasting of Paul Revere’s ride helps keep them on their toes during the video for an accurate and evidentiary supported response.

Experience/Explore: The teacher has created a project for the students to explore the ins and outs of both Sybil Ludington and Paul Revere’s rides to warn the Continental Army against British invasions to their men and supplies. The teacher will display the video of Sybil Ludington for the students to see at the beginning of the lesson, but will have the students recall the story of Paul Revere for verbal comparing and contrasting purposes. Now, for the exploration part of the lesson, the students will be instructed to recreate a map of Paul Revere or Sybil Ludington’s journey in warning of British invasion. However, the difference here is that the students will be working in teams. One team will be Paul Revere, and the other will be Sybil Ludington. The students will be on opposite sides of the classroom, and be prepared to lay out a large piece of paper that stretches from one end of the classroom to the middle or end of the other, depending on the distance. Now, the student are not just comparing the distances that each traveled, but what was noted of what they did, where they went, how they did it, and give and explanation as to why you think they chose that specific route over another using the navigation (naturalist intelligence) skills. The students will have two days to complete this activity since it is a rather large request of mapping and investigating work. Now, after the maps are complete, the class will have a mini “mock trial” debate on the comparisons and contrasts between the designated routes and procedures taken. There can be an argument, and it is fully encouraged, on what could have prolonged the journey along the way, weather conditions and possible resting points for each rider. The debate will settle around the notion of the argument against Ludington’s ride not being recognized, yet Revere’s made famous: is there a justifiable answer to why a man’s ride was more important than a woman’s when the cause and outcome was almost exactly the same in a two year time span? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58g3-6MUtGQ

Rethink, Revise, Refine: The students will be working with the stories of both Sybil Ludington and Paul Revere and recreating a map design of both of their journeys traveled. The students will be put into two separate groups, one that is Sybil and the other being Paul and work collaboratively on recreating the routes taken to warn the army of the British charge. Further, there will be a mock trail debate on which route was better taken. Now, for the students who are struggling, in particular my English Language Learner, the map is not a problem for him because drawing, and working with his hands, is actually quite desired. However, for the mock trial, the student will be using read, write, think to communicate proper responses to the debate, much like Google Translate. For my student who is special needs, what she needs is differentiated instruction where she can use the application of “Doodle Buddy” to make connections and contributions to the group. What my student needs to be able to do is comprehend the lesson in a tactile way. For instance, for focus and attention support, the iPad drawing tools engages her focus and altogether interest in the lesson by being able to use her fingers to make the connection. For the other students who need more guided support in the activity, they will be the ones on the iPads finding the information because if they are the source of the information, they have the ability to have control of their learning process by having the responsibility of finding the accurate information and conversing with the other students for added knowledge.

Evaluate: The teacher will be monitoring the classroom by walking around and checking for student comprehension and extensive details and work within their groups. It is important for the students to be working together, collaboratively on the map design, with added details and factual references from the resources that they found to prepare for the mock trial. The teacher will be walking around the room taking the anecdotal notes necessary for implementation of further review if needed. Now, the students will be able to work collaboratively with one another to input the accurate information on the map, and scale out exactly how each route would have been made, in their minds, if they were following the short facts given through the research. Also, the students will be given a rubric guideline to follow to ensure that they are following the expectations of desired implementation of the learning objectives.

Tailored: The mapping part of the activity is quite engaging, but can be difficult for some students because it takes much more than critical thinking skills but measuring and evaluating numbers, and territorial gains or setbacks. What is most important for my struggling learners is to ensure that they have the tools and resources to comprehend. For instance, for my musical and logical students, they will be working on a musical piece for the background of the explanation, while the small group of interpersonal personalities collides to build a short video presentation on the each ones journeys. The videos will only be allowed to be 3 minutes maximum; in this way, the students are learning how to integrate technology on a completely different platform, which learning in the process. These students don’t learn best through active drawing, but more by having a musical or logically inclined structured brain functioning where organization is the key to understanding! I wanted to address the musical and logical learners in this activity in particular because the integration of technology, for this activity, is more than applicable. In response to the mock trial, the adaptations of the ELL and special needs students remain, and for the students who are not comprehending as they should, they will be the students holding the iPads to gather information during the trial, just as before, those students who are struggling need to be the forerunners of the information gathering to be able to talk through and discuss the information in relation to the debate.

Organized: The teacher will ensure that the students, all students, are using technology within their hands at some point in the lesson because it is a quicker, yet more fascinating way of learning through digital means. However, all students will be using the iPads throughout the activity, but these two groups of students in particular will be integrating technology in a completely different level. The importance of technology is to allow the students to be creative, innovators, and critical thinkers beyond the standard way of teacher, especially if not comprehending from the beginning. As I have always said, reach the student on their level, and they will be hooked in the learning process. For the wrap up, the teacher will assign four students to be evaluating the responses of the mock trail, but posing as the jury to make final conclusions of debate and reward a winner.