Library, Marblehead Village School, 2 hours

My observation on 2/12/13 seemed to best focus on the collaboration among partners to present unified decisions along with their basis for each decision.  Each of the two 5^th grade classes that I observed completed a previous lesson where they examined primary source documents in the form of early American runaway slave advertisements.  (This previous lesson can be found on my 2/5/13 blog entry.) The children had to decide, based on the clues given in the advertisements, if the slaves made it to freedom or they were captured.  They then presented the clue along with their analysis of the situation and all surrounding factors at the time to give a logical determination of the slave’s success at achieving freedom.

It was the same as each class entered the library, or in this, the case court room.  Mrs. Soghomonian had an easel with the names of each slave along the left hand side and two additional columns next to it that read “freedom” and “captured” along the top.  The classes were told to finish their final determinations as to each slave’s fate with their partner.  Mrs. Soghomonian reminded the children that they needed to use clues from the advertisements to make their judgment.  In addition to the clues that support their judgment, Mrs. Soghomonian wanted the children to synthesize the given information and extrapolate what it meant in terms of each slave’s success.

After all the groups were ready to present their rulings, Mrs. Soghomonian took an initial poll and tallied the numbers on the easel based on each group’s final determination.  Once that was done, Mrs. Soghomonian asked for those who believed Quash made it to freedom to share why.   Some arguments were, “His clothes were common just like others so he blended in well.  Although he had a missing toe, he was wearing shoes so it didn’t matter.  He had good English skills so he would not attract attention to himself.  He was in his prime so he could handle the harsh conditions of being on the run.”  The groups that believed he was captured stated, “He was well described in the ad including what he wore so it would have been easy to notice him.  He had no big toe so if someone wanted to check his feet it would have been obvious who he was.  It was the middle of winter when he left and since he was not wearing winter clothes, he would have been freezing and left foot prints in the snow.” 

Quash's Runaway Slave Advertisement Courtesy of University of Virginia

In their initial poll, the teams were split evenly over Quash’s fate, but after both sides stated their positions Mrs. Soghomonian turned to me and asked me to rule in favor of who gave the strongest reasoning based on the clues.  Luckily, I was taking notes so I noted key arguments on each side and then gave a final ruling in favor of freedom.  The children were so invested in their positions that you could tell which position they held based on their reaction to the final ruling.  This format was successful and even showed that when the next pair of slaves, Cuffee and Essex, were being debated with 4 teams supporting freedom and only 2 supporting captured, it was the captured teams that gave the best argument overall and won the debate.  This showed all the teams that just because they were in the majority with their determination, if they did not have solid reasoning to back up their position, then they had nothing to base their decision on and ruling in their favor was most unlikely.  

Dick's Runaway Slave Advertisement Courtesy of University of Virginia

This format continued for each of the 5 slave advertisements in each of the classes.  While some of the same arguments were given for the clues in the paper, occasionally there was one that showed even more thought.  This was the case with the last slave named Dick.  One argument for his capture was that he had a very visible R branded onto his right cheek which would be very obvious.  However, with questioning by Mrs. Soghomonian as to the meaning of the R, one student guessed that it meant “runaway.”  This student also said, “I think he made it to freedom since he tried to runaway before and knows what not to do.  Also he is more motivated to leave now after being branded.”  

In summary, Mrs. Soghomonian said you need to really look at the primary source, since there is so much information given, and use your brains to make an educated guess as to what happened.  The students in both classes at the end questioned whether each slave made it to freedom.  They were genuinely engaged in the lesson and the fate of these slaves that they had come to know.  While with major events we know the outcome, the fate of these slaves was unknown.  Seeing this level of interest and the questions and comments that were generated made it obvious that the children were deeply invested in this lesson and the outcome.  These primary source documents helped the students to work together to push each other to use the information given to explore the past.  With the ability to draw on their knowledge and connections, the children were able to critically look at what was presented and determine the outcome.  I am glad that I was able to see the culmination of this lesson and the reactions of the children.  I felt that Mrs. Soghomonian took a potentially dry subject and made it creative, collaborative, interactive, instructive, inquiry-based and genuinely fun!