Debating the Lewis and Clark Expedition with FlipCam

This multi-day lesson began with the introduction of the Louisiana Purchase and the Lewis and Clark expedition by using a teacher created Glogster poster. It included portraits of key figures, a map, a video, and a primary source document for students to analyze from the National Archives. Next students used their notes, text books, and USA Studies Weekly newspapers to find more information on the topic. I then asked students to choose a side for the debate. The question was: Should the U.S. government have funded the Lewis and Clark expedition? Students signed their name on the Interactive Promethean Board in my classroom for the side they wanted to argue. They worked collaboratively to develop their reasons. Then I split my class into groups. Students debatde a partner who took the opposite side, and another partnership served as their video crew. Then the partners switched roles. The FlipCam recordings were then downloaded to the computer. Students used a self-assessment rubric to evaluate their speaking skills. At the conclusion of this unit, students will upload their video to Glogster to create a poster about the Westward Expansion unit.