Digital Civil War Timeline

Objective: The students will design and create a digital timeline on the major events of the Civil War.

Essential Question: What are the major events of the Civil War and in what order did they occur?

Procedures:
This lesson should be done as a culminating activity after the students have learned about the Civil War.

1. The teacher and class will discuss and review the major events of the war and make a list with dates.

2. The class will then be split into groups and assigned one of the major events from the timeline.

3. Each group will be taking a picture of the event assigned to them. The group must brainstorm costumes, props, and poses in order to best show the event in a snapshot. They are encouraged to make props and/or bring in objects from home. Once each group has decided on their poses and have the items needed, they will take the picture of their event. The photos of all the events will be loaded onto a computer.

4. The teacher will go through the program Microsoft Photostory and explain to the students how to use it and navigate through it. Encourage students to be creative with transitions, text overlay, and adding audio.

5. The students will then take a couple of classes to put together their digital timeline. They will have to make sure that their photographs are in order and that they get creative.

6. Lastly the students will export their projects as video files and the teacher can burn them to a CD to bring home. Students can also share theirs with the class.