A 7th Grade WebQuest

Civil War Personal Journal

Imagine you are living in the mid-1800's. You are in the prime of your life - ready to embark upon your adulthood. However, your country is falling apart around you. What your forefathers fought so hard to unite, today is breaking in half. There are so many reasons this is happening, it is hard to list just one. Your life has now taken a turn towards serving your country - whether you support succession or unification. What will you do? What will happen to you, your family, your home? How will you support your country-will you join the army or stay at home? How will your life change? What will happen if you win or lose your battle? This is the story of your life during the great American Civil War.

While you are enduring this tumultuous time, you will keep a personal journal. Your journal will record what is happening to you and those around you. You will provide details, so that your children and your children's children will know exactly what you were experiencing during the war. You will begin to write in your journal prior to the Civil War and continue to write in your journal during and after the war. By reading your journal, your ancestors will be able to understand the enormous hardship you encountered - whether you were in the army or remained at home. You will have a minimum of 9 journal entries - three for each time period (before, during and after the war) and a minimum of 3 photos. Your journal entries will be organized in a booklet form for potential publication.

Before you begin to write in your journal, you must choose an identity from the following scenarios:

1. Union Soldier -
   • Approximately 18 years old.
   • You have enlisted with your father and left your mother and two sisters at home.
   • You were hoping to go to school in the fall.
2. Confederate Soldier -
   • Approximately 18 years old
   • You enlisted with your brothers.
   • You were engaged to be married.
3. Southern Belle -
   • Approximately 16 years old
   • Your fiancé and brothers have just gone off to war.
   • You are left at home to manage the plantation.
4. Northern Woman -
   • Approximately 19 years old
   • Married to a man from the South, his immediate family stills lives there.
   • You live in Baltimore, Maryland.
5. Female Abolitionist
   • You are 35 years old
   • You live in Pennsylvania on a 100 acre farm.
   • You are in the process of helping 10 slaves escape to the north (Two separate families

    

   You will be divided into teams based upon these scenarios. You will work with people who share your same scenario to collaborate information; however, you must write an individual journal.

   As you complete your journal, you will also evaluate a minimum of 5 web sites assessing their validity for this project. You may work together as a team for this portion of the project; however each person must turn in 5 completed web evaluation forms with their journal. This portion of the assignment will be handed in separately from the journal. It will be part of your self -evaluation and reflection assignment.

   NOTE: Keep in mind that this is a project and not just an essay. When organizing your journal entries into a final booklet, utilize the following check list to make sure you have included everything:

• Did I include all the required journal entries - minimum of 3 entries per time period?
• Is my journal put together in creative manner - such as in a booklet form?
• Can my reader get a feeling for what I experienced through my use of descriptive language?
• Does my reader know which scenario I am portraying?
• Have I worked with my team mates to gather information?
• Did I include at least 3 photos in my journal?

You may use a variety of resources to complete this project; however, since this is a WebQuest, I would like you use at least five web sites in your research. After viewing each site, please complete a web site evaluation form. You must have 5 of these forms attached to your journal.

You may click on the following link to go to a clearing house of Internet sites regarding the Civil War

In addition to the web sites, you may use your time in the library to look at books and/or encyclopedias to supplement your Internet research. I would strongly recommend you utilize a variety of resources to complete this project.

You will be evaluated on both the process of completing the WebQuest and the final product. Before you hand in your journal, please check the following rubric to make sure you have completed each objective.

In conclusion, you now realize the horrific lengths your forefather's went through to establish a country where everyone is created equal. You appreciate their relentless dedication to creating a country where people are free - but are they? Now that the Civil War is over, what will you do next? What will happen to your country? How will you contribute to the reconstruction of the United States of America? This will not be an easy task - but a task that must be undertaken if our country is to survive.

After you have completed the journal, you are to write a one paragraph, self-evaluation for each of the following questions:

1. How did I use my class time? Did I waste time or use my time effectively?
2. How did my team work together? Did we share information regarding web sites and other information?
3. If I were to do this same project again, what would I do differently?

(NOTE: Each answer to the above questions would be a concrete detail in an expository essay. You would then expand upon the answer with a minimum of two commentaries. This is different from the personal narratives your wrote for the journal)

While you are in the process of writing your journal, you will be evaluating web sites simultaneously. You must also turn in 5 web site evaluation forms. Click here for the web site evaluation form at

You have just returned to the 20th century. You are in 7th grade and life is back to normal; however, you will never forget your experience as a young adult during the Civil War. Image today if a civil war was to break out in America, what would you do? How would your life be effected? Write another journal entry describing what you would do if you found yourself in a a similar situation today.

Click on the following link if you are planning to implement this Web Quest in your classroom.