Library, Marblehead Village School, 1 hour

My observation today was a much anticipated lesson in analysis of multiple similar primary source documents.  These five published runaway slave advertisements from the years 1736 to 1738.  Naturally, my focus during this observation was on inquiry based learning.  Once again, Mrs. Soghomonian had her objectives clearly defined and posted.  (As an observer, I appreciate the fact that they are always posted in the same area and format for consistency.)  While Mrs. Soghomonian explained that she hoped to have the students continue their foray with primary source documents she used the projection system to model for the children how to access this lesson on the Village Library website under Fifth Grade Resources.  It is titled Runaway Slave Advertisements and it is located near the bottom of the page.  (These advertisements are to links located on The Geography of Slavery Project.  It is found at The Virginia Center for Digital History (VCDH) which is an independent center within the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Virginia.)   

The Geography of Slavery Project Homepage

In addition to the richness that primary source documents provided in the lesson, Mrs. Soghomonian liked using the documents to provide exposure to new vocabulary.  Words like “fretted, stature, countenance and yawl” were some of the terms that children needed to understand.  She felt that within this lesson of discovery, there was a mini lesson in using contextual clues to understand the meaning of these new words.  

Advertisement in The Geography of Slavery Project

By working in teams of two, the children used the provided structured worksheet that she generated to organize the clues the found in each advertisement.  In the end, Mrs. Soghomonian wanted each team to use those clues to answer the question, “Did the slave get away?” with a follow up question of, “What evidence is there from the advertisement makes you think that?”  She circulated among the students as they were working asking them questions about what they were reading, providing updates to the amount of time remaining and answering questions that the advertisements generated.  I really enjoyed seeing the children ponder over the meaning of the words and decipher them.  

 Runaway Slaves Primary Source Worksheet

Once the worksheet was completed, the teams began the task of determining who made it to freedom and who was captured along with relevant information that led them to their assessment.  (The children were told that they would be discussing their findings during next week’s class.)  Mrs. Soghomonian shared that she always finds it interesting what the children will use as a clue and how they will interpret it in terms of each slave’s success at achieving freedom.  One student was very quick to tell me that a slave in one of the advertisements was most certainly caught since, as she stated, “Who could miss a man with a big R branded on his cheek?  It is easy to hide the problem on his leg, but not his face.”  Some quiet discussion even occurred between groups in close proximity as they realized that they held opposing viewpoints on the freedom of each slave.  It was as if these children had stepped back in time and actually were history detectives. 

Higher level bloom skills were definitely being utilized in this lesson and all the students were actively engaged.  The children were also getting practice navigating to the Village Library website to access various lessons and sources.  This continued exposure to the site will remind students that this site is a great “go to” site which provides other resources across the curriculum.