Westward Ho!

Alexandra Cortez
The Team 21
Academic 4
Date Project is Due
November 17, 2014
(5pts)

Westward Ho!

Introduction (10 pts)

Our goal in this project is to help other eighth graders understand the impacts of Indian Removal and
technological advances in Georgia and the U.S during the western Expansion. We are very excited for this
project because we will be able to educate other eighth graders in our area of expertise. We will be doing a lot
of important research to make sure that the information is very effective. The time slot we are working on is
1789 to 1840. Our information will be presented through an informational power point. In this power point we
will also have a podcast in the background with my partners and me explaining the slides as we go.
The information shown in our presentation will be key terms, people, vocabulary, and events coming
straight from out AKS. This will be extremely helpful for other students to learn the AKS easily! We will be
working on 2 sections of the AKS, 36C and 36D. They will learn all the information therefore, having complete
confidence on the exam. The first standard is 36c - defend how technological developments impacted
Georgias growth to include the cotton gin and railroads. The second standard is 36d - analyze the events that
led to the removal of the Creeks and Cherokees including the roles of Alexander McGillivray, William
McIntosh, Sequoyah, John Ross, the Dahlonega Gold Rush, Worcester v. Georgia, Andrew Jackson, John
Marshall, and the Trail of tears.
Essential/Driving Research Question (5 pts)
1. What problem or issues have you discovered that needs to be solved?
A lot of 8th graders do not know about Western Expansion.
2. What proposals do you have in order to help solve the identified issues?
We are going to use a podcast to help 8th graders understand this sometimes difficult to understand concept.
In the Podcast we will use a powerpoint and then talk in the background to help everyone better understand
Western Expansion.

Standards (30 pts)

8th Grade Georgia Studies
1. Standards

Explain significant factors that affected the development of Georgia as part of the
growth of the United States between 1789 and 1840 (GPS) (8SS_E2007-36)
36c - defend how technological developments impacted Georgias growth to include the cotton gin and railroads
36d - analyze the events that led to the removal of the Creeks and Cherokees including the roles of Alexander
McGillivray, William McIntosh, Sequoyah, John Ross, the Dahlonega Gold Rush, Worcester v. Georgia, Andrew
Jackson, John Marshall, and the Trail of tears

VOCABUARY: Trail of Tears, Cotton Gin, Railroads, Dahlonega Gold Rush, Worcester. Georgia, Alexander
McGillivray, Sequoyah, John Ross, Andrew Jackson, John Marshal, William McIntosh, Creek Indians,
Cherokee Indians, Eli Whitney

Intended Outcome (10 pts)

We hope to educate eight graders about Indian removal acts and the impact of technology in 1789 and 1840.
By creating this podcast we hope that eight graders can more easily understand the trail of tears, key people, and
technological impacts. Not only are we showing the students a visual aid of what they need to learn, we will
explain what they see on the powerpoint for the auditory learners. We are hypothesiszing that we can creating a
good learning enviroment for all types of learners. The main topics that we are hoping the students will
understand are the events that led to the removal of creek and cherokee indians. Some of these key events and
people are Alexander McGillivray, William McIntosh, Sequoyah, John Ross, the Dahlonega Gold Rush,
Worcester v.s Georgia, Andrew Jackson, John Marshall, and the Trail of tears. Finally, we hope that the
students will gain an understanding of what the cotton gin and railroads are, and how they impacted Georgia.
This project is our only chance to fill the large gap in the eight graders education about the removal of Indians
and the technology impacts in georgia between 1789 and 1840. Therefore, fully educating eight grade students
in these topics is our main intended outcome.

Group Member and Job Assignment (10 pts)

Alex Cortez- William McIntosh, Dahlonega Gold rush, railroads, John Ross. She will also talk about all these
topics
Manmeet Gill- Trail of Tears, Sequoyah, Worcester v.s. Georgia. She will also talk about all these topics
Sarika Soni- cotton gin, Alexander McGillivary, Andrew Jackson, John Marshall. She will also talk about all
these topics
(Be explicit about each persons job. What did he/she do, contribute, design, develop, conclude, provide etc. If
you are working alone, be sure you explicitly list your tasks as well.)
_____________________________________________________________________________

Result (10 pts)

Our result was very similar to our intended outcome. Our intended outcome was to educate
eighth graders on the Indian removal acts, and the technology invented at that time. I know that our
outcome was reached because we are eight graders. As my group researched all of the AKS
standards for our power-point, we learned the AKS very well. Also, I listened to the recording with
the podcast and understood what was going on. When I just looked at the power-point, or just listened
to the podcast, I could still understand the lesson. This proved that the podcast is a good learning
environment for visual and Auditory learners. The result of this project and the intended outcome
were pretty much the same. This was our goal the whole time!
Our final project was a podcast. We combined a power-point with a recording of me and my
group members explaining each slide. The power-point and sound video were posted on my website,
so that they could be easily accessed online. If you want to listen and watch this podcast, you dont
have to download anything! The power-point is a rainbow of colors, but it is mostly pink. There are
fifteen slides with pictures and plenty of content! The audio part of the podcast has been posted on a
YouTube video. This video has one slide displaying a message saying click on the PowerPoint
button on my website if you want to see the slides that go with this!. This project is very useful to
others because it can help them learn about the AKS 36c and 36d. This project can also be used to
teach both auditory and visual learners. Please, use this podcast to teach your eight grade students if
they are struggling with Indian removal in Georgia. This podcast was made not only to educate eight
graders, but to provide a good learning environment so that the eight graders can grasp the concepts
more easily. The podcast is a useful tool for all teachers to have in their tool box, and therefore is
very beneficial to others.

Reflection (10 pts)

My group members and I all learned a great deal about what happened tot he indians, and how
technology affected them. I learned that the end of the railroad became the capital because many
people moved there. I also learned who the indian cheifs were. Before, I didnt really know much
about the law of retaliation or Alexander Mcgillvary. After doing this project, I learned that
Alexander McGillvary signed the Treaty of New York, and that the law of retaliation is exacting
revenge. This project also helped me to better understand how the railroad impacted our economy.
The project was very helpful by advancing my technology skills, and I think that it helped me do
significantly better on the test. In the future, I would want to find a way to make the powerpoint a
PDF. Also, I would like to learn how to get rid of background noise in my video, as this was a
problem when we did our podcast. I think that I learned more from this project in the past because I
could explain what I was thinking, and I had to understand each topic. I couldnt just research a topic
and write random facts, I had to really understand the topic, and be able to explain it. Overall, I think
making a podcast was a great project idea!

References (10 pts)

Atkins. "Indian Removal and Westward Expansion Study Powerpoint." NGMS Study Games. Jeffery Cargill,
n.d. Web. 17 Nov. 2014.
Cargill, Jeffery. "Unit 5 Georgia Expansion and Indian Removal." Cargill's Georgia Studies. N.p., n.d. Web. 17
Nov. 2014.
London, Bonnie Bullard. "Chapter 6." Georgia and the American Experience. Atlanta, GA: Clairmont, 2005. N.
pag. Print.
Stinson. THE GROWTH of GEORGIA (1789-1840) (n.d.): n. pag. Growth of Georgia Powerpoint. Web.