A. How is your topic central to one or more disciplines?

Upon completion of this unit on the Underground Railroad as a Freedom Movement, I want my students to understand how astronomy, mathematic calculations, economics, government, literature, and social justice impacted the slavery movement and the movement to escape from it. I want my students to gain an appreciation for the acts of heroism performed by the many individuals involved in the movement, and to realize the injustices suffered by people who were kidnapped from their native land; torn apart from their families; brought to a new country; forced to work for white masters who were strangers to them; bought and sold at a masters whim; made to feel less-than-human; and who faced severe punishment and even death if they tried to escape from such miserable conditions. The dwellings were drafty in the winter and sweltering in the summer. Most adult slaves had chronic coughs and many suffered from frequent bouts of pneumonia and flu. Because of a poor diet, many slave children were infested with worms and had rotten teeth (Stein, 12). Yet, despite all the odds stacked against this group of people, many persevered to gain their freedom by struggling on a northern bound journey that took days, months, and often over a year. They managed to make the escape by evading bounty hunters, starvation, freezing temperatures, and sickness along the way. Not everyone made it. It is important for students to understand that the dangers posed by escaping were more appealing than remaining a slave. I also want students to realize that slavery only ended a mere 150 years ago. I want to introduce the concept that despite gaining freedom, freedom did not grant equality. But this concept would most likely be an extension to the unit, as I do not have time to address that complex issue within the scope of my two-week takeover. I also will not have time to address the fact that slavery overall has not ended with the Emancipation Proclamation: it is still alive and well in many parts of the world, including in the U.S. But these are bigger pieces to the puzzle I will be able to incorporate into my curriculum in future versions of this integrated unit. Students will understand that the North was not as sympathetic to the plight of the slave as we are often led to believe. In fact, through a series of compromises that manifested into national laws, the union actually abetted southerners in keeping slavery intact. My students will read kid-friendly versions of the

Fugitive Slave Act to determine how the Union actually aided the Souths economic agenda in what they claimed was a fair compromise. The government of the United States did not strongly enforce the law that ended the slave trade, yet it enforced runaway slave law. The nations Supreme Court declared in 1857 that the slave Dred Scott...could not sue for his freedom because he was property, not a person (Zinn, 142). My students will have the opportunity to take on the perspective of one of the key actors in the freedom movement to persuade lawmakers to lift the act, as one of their performance tasks. This assessment will include the following skills from the national writing standards: CC.1.4.4.AWrite informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly. CC.1.4.4.GWrite opinion pieces on topics or texts. CC.1.4.4.JCreate an organizational structure that includes related ideas grouped to support the writers purpose and linked in a logical order with a concluding statement or section related to the opinion. CC.1.4.4.MWrite narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events.

By mapping out routes taken by actual people who journeyed the Underground Railroad, and calculating the distance passengers traveled, students will be applying calculation skills with map scales they learned earlier in the year in order to give the arduous journey more significance. The mathematic skills I have found to be pertinent to this portion of the unit include: CC.2.4.4.A.1Solve problems involving measurement and conversions from a larger unit to a smaller unit. CC.2.4.4.A.2Translate information from one type of data display to another.

Through this unit, students will be exposed to astronomy by understanding people travelling north relied on navigating via constellations, among other things. In order for students to understand the type of terrain that was crossed, it will be important for them to understand the topography of each state. Some states are easier to traverse than others, and physical barriers, such as rivers, lakes, swamps or mountains would pose dilemmas for one travelling. At the risk of being caught, people could not afford delays in their journeys. It will be important for students to develop empathy for freedom fighters by examining the weather conditions they were forced to travel through. Often the journey took over a year, and the further north they got, the less ideal the weather may be. One of the science standards this unit will address (albeit, limited in scope) is: 3.3.3.A5.Explain how air temperature, moisture, wind speed and direction, and precipitation

make up the weather in a particular place and time. B. Why would your topic be interesting? a. To your students? I believe my students will find this unit interesting for two main reasons: First, most of my 4th grade students seem to be very much in tune with issues surrounding the idea of fairness. Although I reluctantly admit there is a small problem with bullying in my classroom, students on both ends are very quick to point out instances of their peers or teacher(s) being unfair. I have taught a several Understanding Differences lessons in my classroom, using chapter excerpts from the book Seedfolks and found that my students are not only aware of the stereotypes addressed within its pages, but are eager to engage in conversations surrounding those heavy topics. Because the basis for my unit is to focus on social justice and cruelty and highlight how challenging and in what ways individuals broke free, I think my students will be prepared to take on the concepts embedded within the unit with great investment. The second reason why I believe my students will be engaged in this unit is because most of my lessons are designed with cooperative learning in mind. Typical lessons in my classroom (and even school) comprise of direct-instruction in which students serve as receivers who are expected to understand information the first go-round, as there is little time for follow-up or hands-on practice. The only times students have a space to engage in group work is during the weekly science lessons where they conduct investigations with several peers. Possibly for this reason, science is the favorite subject of many of my students. Because the structures of cooperative learning will be new to my students, they will need to be trained in what it looks like to collaborate with one another. This will take careful planning on my part and practice on the part of my students. Cooperative learning has a positive impact on classroom climate, student self-esteem, empathy, internal locus of control, role-taking abilities, time on task, attendance, acceptance of mainstreamed students, and like for school and learning (Kagan, 3.2).This unit will also provide my students with structured choice, which will help them take ownership of the curriculum they are learning about. I believe my students will appreciate having this kind of freedom. b. To you as a teacher?

As a teacher, this unit gives me the opportunity to bring meaning into the curriculum. When I was in elementary school, I learned about the story of Harriet Tubman through student-conducted read-alouds from the textbook. Living on the West Coast, I appreciated what the few paragraphs of the history textbook had to say regarding her legacy, but I cannot say that the material was conceptualized for me in a meaningful way. I felt very far removed from the plight of the slave and their endeavors to escape from it. When I moved to Philadelphia last year, I went to visit the Liberty Bell. As a symbol of the abolitionist movement, the Underground Railroad took on a whole new meaning for me. Walking through the streets of Old City, and attending church service at Mother Bethel, I wondered if Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglas, William Still, and others had walked in these same places. Living in Philadelphia, which was a destination city of the North and a stopping point for people continuing on to Canada presents itself as a unique location for students (and teachers) to dig deeply into the movement. Their sacrifices deserve to be honored, and students living in Philadelphia can appreciate the important role their city played. I am very passionate about issues of social justice and am appalled on nearly a daily basis with the inequities that still exist. Therefore, I am eager to teach my students about such a socially unjust portion of our history that happened in our country not altogether long ago. What would be even more powerful would be to teach about the ensuing racist structures that have taken place since the Emancipation Proclamation. Experts say to bring your own interests into the classroom so that students can catch your enthusiasm. I hope to invest my students into thinking deeply and having empathy for others as a result of brining this unit to life. Authentic teaching permits individuality and personal style to emergeWe share much more than skills. We share passion for learning in our own unique ways (Charney, 406). C. How is this topic accessible to students? a. In terms of developmental appropriateness? As discussed earlier, my students exhibit a willingness to discuss matters of fairness and overt/covert racism, as evinced during our few conversations surrounding bullying, stereotyping and racism. I have seen an eagerness within my 4th graders to tackle serious issues. Most of my students have been exposed to Harriet Tubman in one capacity or another, and they know her to be a person who helped rescue other

slaves after escaping, herself. Because this is the extent of their knowledge of the Underground Railroad, this unit will build upon their prior knowledge, and taking it to the next level of understanding. When I asked students what they know about the Underground Railroad, many students were able to rattle off the name of Harriet Tubman. One student asked, Its a train, I think. Does it go underground? So while the majority of my students have a basic understanding of what slavery was, and who the most famous person involved in the Underground Railroad was, teaching this unit will be building on and clarifying the background knowledge students already bring with them. By introducing the content at a deeper level, students can read about the laws impacting the lives of slaves and have a chance to respond to them, which is a skill they may not have been ready for prior to this year. My 4th grade students are at a more mature age to handle content dealing with themes of inequality, which I believe will capture their interest. When students read and respond to text that provokes thinking, they are much more likely to become active, engaged readers (Harvey, 61). b. In terms of resources available? Much of my instruction will be presented through flipcharts, maps or videos displayed on the Promethean Board. I have shown useful clips to my students in the past, and because they are members of a technologically savvy generation, they have drawn out the concept I wanted them to understand through a mini-clip than if I just explained it to them. If past experiences are indications of future probabilities, I think my students will find media clips I present in this unit, engaging. For example, for a read-aloud of the childrens book Follow the Drinking Gourd, I will use a media presentation created by The Reading Rainbow. I believe this will capture the attention of my students even more than if I read the book to them, myself. In addition to weekly computer lab sessions, my students also have some access to laptops which can be utilized for research and for writing their persuasive essays and storybooks. My classroom mentor has many notecards stashed in her drawers. We also have access to a lot of construction paper, markers, and tape which will be needed in several lessons; and the teachers room is stocked with butcher paper I can use for making my wall displays and gallery walk posters, etc. I also have access to a copy machine, which is important for when I create group and individual handouts.

D. How does this topic provide opportunities for multiple connections? Studying the Underground Railroad as a Freedom Movement provides many opportunities for multiple connections, which will enhance meaning-making for students. A basic connection students living in Philadelphia will have that many other students living in other cities wouldnt necessarily have is that Philadelphia was not only a major destination for travelers, but also served as a hub for Abolitionists, and even has a symbol in the form of the Liberty Bell which represents the movement as a whole. Furthermore, the Liberty Bell is in walking distance of the school, which means my students can venture there one morning post-PSSAs. I believe and hope that the Liberty Bell will take on more significance for students after completing this unit than it would have had we just glossed over the UR as if it was one to two more paragraphs in taking up pages in the history book. On the way to the Liberty Bell, we can stop at Mother Bethel Church, which served as a station for passengers upon their arrival to Philadelphia to help them transition either to city life, or prepare them to continue further north to Canada. Students will be able to connect the movement literally to the neighborhood in which many of them live. In addition to the physical connections of their surroundings, students will apply skills they have learned in other subjects, and apply them to their performance tasks and other assessments in this unit, such as the mapping skills they learned in one of their math lessons that seemed somewhat fragmented and disconnected from the other lessons taught within that math chapter. I will draw their attention to how we have utilized some of the skills they have learned earlier this year to this unit, to showcase the potential learning across the content areas has for what may at times appear to be isolated skills. Were I to have more time with this unit, I would have students analyze cases of current social injustices, and movements in response/retaliation to those injustices, and then have students compare/contrast these events against the Underground Railroad as a freedom movement. In this on-going social justice emphasis, students would examine how inequality is not simply a singular historic event, but something that manifests into many aspects of day-to-day lifeand something we can never stop fighting for.