Beyond-the-Basic Productivity Tools (BBPT)

Lesson Idea Name: Timeline of Major Civil War Events

Content Area/Grade Level(s): 4th Grade Social Studies
Content Standard Addressed: (SS4H5) Students will identify and explain the major events of the Civil
War: Fort Sumter, Gettysburg, the Atlanta Campaign, Sherman’s March to the Sea, Appomattox
Court House. Include one other event during the Civil War of your choosing.

Technology Standard Addressed: Students will create content that illustrates the standard; and
students will use technology to collaborate with peers and discuss topics using multiple
perspectives.

Guiding Question(s): What was the Confederate states reason for fighting and what was the Union
states reason for fighting? Who ultimately won the Civil War?

Selected Technology Tool: Padlet

URL(s) to support the lesson (if applicable): www.battlefields.org and www.history.com

Bloom’s Taxonomy Level(s):

☒ Remembering ☒ Understanding ☒ Applying ☒ Analyzing ☒ Evaluating ☒ Creating

Levels of Technology Integration:

☐ Infusion Level: Students may work at a higher Bloom’s Level, but they do not have any “Voice or
Choice” during the activity and most of the decisions are made by the teacher.

☒ Integration Level: We would like to see ALL lessons/activities reach this level. The project is
student-driven and student-led. Students should have “Voice and Choice” in the activities,
selecting the topic of study and determining the technology tool to demonstrate mastery of the
standard. The teacher becomes more of a facilitator.

☐ Expansion Level: The projects created are shared outside of the classroom, publishing student
work and promoting authorship. This could be reached by showcasing the project on the school’s
morning newscast, posting the project to the classroom blog, or publishing via an outside source.
Your student’s projects must be shared locally or globally to meet this level.

Universal Design for Learning (UDL): For the activity, I will ask my students to create a timeline of
the some of the major events in the Civil War using Padlet. Students will have the choice to create a
video, record audio, or write or type a description that recounts the events that occurred during the
Civil War. If students choose to record a video or audio or hand-write their description, they will also
provide a transcript in the comment section of each piece of the timeline. Giving students a variety
of options for how they will demonstrate the standard connects to having a universal design for
learning. Providing a transcript allows for alternatives for auditory information of the content.
Lesson idea implementation: I will introduce the lesson and activity by supplying students with

TFrazier, 2021
 Beyond-the-Basic Productivity Tools (BBPT)

background knowledge of the Civil War. I will do this by showing the students a brief and
appropriate video on the events that took place during the Civil War. The guiding question is “What
was the Confederate states reason for fighting and what was the Union states reason for fighting?
Who ultimately won the Civil War?” Students will be assessed on their final product of their timeline
in Padlet. I will check student’s ability to put the events in the correct order and I will check for
correct descriptions that identify key details of each event. The final product will be used to inform
learning as students will get to view each other’s timelines and see what each other found about
each event. They will also give each other feedback and discuss the events with each other through
the comment section of Padlet. To extend learning, I will ask students to choose an additional event
that occurred during the Civil War and add it to their timeline. This will give students freedom to
choose which ever battle/event they want to talk about and place it in the correct spot on their
timeline. To conclude the lesson, we will discuss some of the students’ major events that they chose
to include in their timeline.
Reflective Practice: I feel that the activity will impact student learning as they will be given multiple
options on how they will be creating their timeline through Padlet, and by doing this, the students
have more freedom in how they will describe the major events of the Civil War and learn from their
findings. Students will also learn how to utilize the Padlet tool for future use. The extension for
learning will be the students’ choice of an additional event of the Civil War to teach their peers
about. Students can use other tools such as creating a YouTube video, PowerPoint, using graphic
design, etc., and embed them into the Padlet.

TFrazier, 2021