Use notes for faculty

Prior to starting on Assignment 2, we recommend that students have an opportunity to reflect on the process to date, including the challenges and benefits of group collaboration. Assignment 2, Exhibit Preparation takes place over 4-5 weeks. We advise having students complete and submit a draft. Assignment work takes place throughout the period, interspersed with content-based lectures, additional in-class activities, and occasional supplemental homework assignments. Faculty may decide that it is possible to devote one or more class periods to group work.

Scaffolded Activities and Lessons

Goal: a focused exploration of one topic in American history toward the preparation of materials for an exhibit on that topic

Once assigned a topic central to the content of the course (an alternative would be to offer students the opportunity to choose a topic), students use the open source textbook to gain a broad general understanding of the topic, identifying chapters and sections of the text that provide information, and an understanding of intersecting topics.

Students develop a clear understanding of the visual material related to the topic, beginning with the open source textbook and extending out to additional collections that included significant open source items (for example, the Library of Congress).

Students identify core themes and sub-themes central to the topic.

Goal: To think critically about the way we tell stories about our past; to develop narratives designed to make history accessible and engaging for multiple audiences.

With an emphasis on themes and sub-themes, students work in their groups to identify possible plot points, characters, and overall point(s) of view to shape their exhibit stories.

Students develop an organizational strategy for collecting textual, visual, and audio resources that reflect their narrative goals. They also develop an outline for their stories. (It is also possible to encourage student to lay out their narratives on storyboard templates by the end of this assignment or the beginning of Assignment 3.)