My Colonial Life

My Colonial Life Podcasts

Materials:
- Computers with internet access
o Investigating Colonial Trades WebQuest
• Featuring links to Colonial Williamsburg website
o Colonial Kids ThinkQuest
- Books on Colonial Times
- Social Studies Learning Logs
- Microsoft Word
- Podcasting Program Such as Audacity or Garageband
- Internal or External Microphones
- Class website

Objective:
- Given resources on the Colonial time period, students will synthesize their learning to generate and conduct an interview with a peer pretending to live during the colonial era.
- Given a computer with podcasting software, students will create a podcast of each other’s interviews to post on the class website.

Background: This project is the end product of a full Social Studies unit on Colonial Times. Students will have learned about the followings aspects of colonial life using books, a WebQuest, and ThinkQuest: homes, trades, school, pastimes, Native American life and interactions, clothing, a typical day, goods & services. Students will have also visited a local Colonial home or village (ex. Sturbridge Village, MA).

Lesson Sequence:
- Students work with a partner generate two separate interview scripts using any materials used throughout the unit.
o The script will be typed using Microsoft Word, and the different roles will be highlighted in different colors to facilitate reading during the performance.
o Each student will participate in two interviews, where they will take the part of the interviewer and then the interviewee. In other words, each student will get to conduct the interview and then swap roles to be the person being interviewed. Consequently, each student is responsible for demonstrating his/her understanding of Colonial life.
o The interviewee will take the role of a child or an adult living during Colonial times.
o The interview must cover all of the key aspects of Colonial life that we studied. Essentially, the interview must demonstrate understanding of a typical day in the life of a Colonial person.
• Home, school, pastimes, Native American friends, and trade are mandatory categories of the interview.
• Key notes for Colonial Trade:
o If the student has chosen to take the point of view of a child in Colonial Times, they must discuss which trade they aspire to when they grow up. If they have chosen to be an adult, they simply discuss their current trade.
• Key notes for Colonial School:
o If the student has chosen to take the point of view of an adult in Colonial Times, they should discuss what it’s like for their child to go to school in Colonial Times. If they have chosen to be a child, they simply discuss their day in school.
- Students rehearse their interviews.
- Students create a podcast of their interviews.
- With teacher support, students will edit their podcasts.
- Podcasts are posted on the class website for classmates and parents to listen to. The podcasts will serve as education, review, and entertainment.
- Podcasts will be shared in class to review content covered.