Spring Online

Teaching Underground Railroad with Children's Literature

EDTE 492M/592M--Three Quarter Hours

Kathie Chini and Diane Burkhart
Shannon Hall
Ohio University--Eastern Campus
(740)699-2500
chini@ohio.edu & burkhart@ohio.edu

Please refer to the complete final course syllabus available on the course Website once the course begins.

Course
Description

This is a 3-hour graduate workshop that will incorporate children’s literature, picture books, historical fiction, biographies, non-fiction and the Internet as resources to teach the Underground Railroad.  The information and web sites will be connected to the academic standards.  This class is appropriate for teachers K-12.

Prerequisites

None

Methods of Course Instruction

All course content is presented on the World Wide Web; e-mail is used for submission of assignments, as well as for the instructor's evaluation and comments.

Course Objectives

  1. Participants will be able to:

  1. Identify and critique children’s literature books to incorporate into a unit on the    

  1. Underground Railroad

  2. Identify a variety of methods slaves used on the Underground Railroad

  3. Compare and contrast leading characters

  4. Evaluate Internet sites that correlate to the novels

  5. Evaluate criteria for evaluating the historical fiction genre

  6. Explain the research on the importance of using historical fiction in the classroom

  7. Link historical information to the Language Arts Academic Content Standards

General Course Requirements

  1. Read Novels

  2. Internet Activities

  3. Response Journal         

Materials

Required

Text(s)

  • Follow the Drinking Gourd                                  by Jeanette Winter

  • Two Tickets to Freedom                                  by Florence Freedman

  • Bright Freedom’s Song                                         by Gloria Houston

  • Underground Man                                                   by Milton Meltzer

  • Freedom Train: The Story of Harriet Tubman                                                                                      by Dorothy Sterling

  • Sweet Clara And The Freedom Quilt                                 by Deborah Hopkinson

  • Anthony Burns:  The Defeat and Triumph of A Fugitive Slave                                                                 by Virginia Hamilton


Note: The books for the course are in stock at College Bookstore, (740) 594-3505. Click here for online ordering.

Exams
Requirements

No exams

Call the Ohio University Online Staff at 1-888-551-6446 if you have questions about this course or the enrollment process.


Call the education counselors in Lifelong and Distance Learning at (740) 593-2910 for information about online degree opportunities from Ohio University.