Beyond the Textbook

Students will:

• Be able to research information regarding the roles played by women and minorities during the Revolutionary War.
• Be able to create a shared hyperdoc of curated information from a variety of resources including Michigan’s Open Book Project.
• Be able to compare the roles of women, African Americans and American Indians during the Revolutionary War.

Vocabulary Words:

1. Curate: To curate is to gather and select resources for a specific purpose.
2. Hyperdoc: A hyperdoc is a document which incorporates different interactive features by linking to web-based resources and activities

To prepare for this lesson:

• Ensure students are familiar with how to engage in research and understand the importance of credible sources.

• The teacher should know how to create hyperdocs.

• Watch this Video tutorial for creating hyperdocs.

See Accommodations Page and Charts on the 21things4students website in the Teacher Resources. 

Directions for this activity:

1. Whole group discussion regarding the way in which information is collected for a textbook. The goal of this discussion is for students to consider the following question: What viewpoints may be underrepresented in traditional textbooks and why.
2. Explain that the learning target is to compare the roles played by various minority groups and women during the Revolutionary War - but to do this effectively, the class will need quality resources that showcase the impact of these groups.  
3. Provide students with an opportunity to research this topic by exploring Michigan’s Open Book Project as well as other online resources.
4. Students should work in small groups to compile quality resources within a hyperdoc.
5. Groups will share their hyperdoc with the class in order to create a supplemental resource for the textbook.
6. Students will explore these resources before comparing the roles of women, African Americans, and American Indians during the Revolutionary War.

Note: 

• Possible Extensions: Students evaluate each of the resources submitted by peers, using a rubric (ultimately deciding whether or not to keep each of the resources).
• Create a website or database of resources curated by students (reviewed by the teacher) for use by all.

Different options for assessing the students:

• Observations
• Check for understanding
• Teacher will assess the resources compiled within the hyperdocs in order to determine whether or not the resources are of high quality and pertain to the topic.
• Teacher may wish to work with students in order to create a rubric to assess the quality of a given resource.
• Teacher will assess student work in order to determine if students are able to effectively compare the roles played by African Americans, American Indians, and women during the Revolutionary War and describe the ways in which these roles affected the outcome of the Revolutionary War.
• Teacher may wish to work with students in order to create a rubric to assess this content.