Title – Abraham Lincoln Photo Story 3 Biographies

By – Jenna Springfield

Primary Subject – Social Studies

Secondary Subjects – Computers / Internet

Grade Level – 8th

Estimated Time – 1 to 2 weeks (depending on depth)

Texas Standards (TEKS):

• Social Studies Grade 8 Part B:
  • Section 8: The student understands individuals, issues, and events of the Civil War. The student is expected to explain the roles played by significant individuals during the Civil War, including Abraham Lincoln.

• Technology Applications Grades 6-8 Part C:
  • Section 4: The student uses a variety of strategies to acquire information from electronic resources, with appropriate supervision.
    
  • Section 10: The student formats digital information for appropriate and effective communication.

General Goals:

• The students will demonstrate their knowledge of the life of Abraham Lincoln.
  
• The students will demonstrate an understanding of Photo Story 3.

Specific Objectives:

• The students will gather information (including photos) about the life of Abraham Lincoln through texts and electronic formats being sure to cite all sources.
  
• The students will write a brief biography of Lincoln focusing on his role during the Civil War.
  
• The students will use Photo Story 3 to create a presentation using photos and an original written biography of Abraham Lincoln to be presented to the class.

Materials Needed:

• Books on Abraham Lincoln
  
• Internet access for students (computer lab)
  
• Photo Story 3 software downloaded on computers
  
• Computer microphones
  
• Paper and pencil for each student

Anticipatory Set:

1. This lesson should be carried out in a computer lab with a teacher projector.
2. The teacher should play a brief Photo Story of questions about Abraham Lincoln with dialogue from the teacher and background music.
   • This will get the students thinking about possible answers to the questions while viewing an end product of Photo Story 3.
   • This also helps the teacher familiarize themselves with the software.

Procedures:

1. Using a computer projector in a lab, the teacher will direct the students to a website about a historical figure/event.
   
2. The teacher will remind students how to copy 2 or 3 photos (and ensure proper citation) into a pre-established folder.
   
3. Next, the teacher will demonstrate how to import the copied photos into a new Photo Story while the students do the same on their computers.
   
4. The teacher will then show how to add dialogue to the photos followed by the students adding dialogue to their individual stories.
   
5. Volunteers will be asked to show their finished 20-30 second sample stories.

Independent Practice:

1. Students will research the life of Abraham Lincoln and write a 2-page handwritten paper highlighting important events.
   
2. Students will gather photos (digital or scanned) that relate to those events highlighted in the written paper.
   
3. Students will create a new story in Photo Story where they will import their photos and record dialogue from their written paper.
   
4. Students will save their story to a class folder for class presentations.

Closure:

1. The class will watch each student’s Photo Story.
   
2. The teacher will then ask the students to discuss the major points of Abraham Lincoln’s life and why they were important.
   
3. Next, the teacher will ask the students to give examples of how Photo Stories could be use for other purposes.

Assessment:

The student presentations will be assessed using the following rubric.