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Famous Firsts by African Americans using Infoplease and Factmonster for Summary/Presentations

Details

Main Website:

https://www.infoplease.com/spot/bhmfirsts.html

Activity Website:

https://www.factmonster.com/spot/bhm1.html

Activity Description

Source: Infoplease Famous Firsts by African Americans by Infoplease Famous Firsts by African Americans (License: Protected by Copyright (c) [i.e. screenshot])

Ever wonder who was the first elected African-American governor, or the first African-American General? The Infoplease site has the answer to that plus many other firsts.

Infoplease and Fact Monster have pages devoted to Famous Firsts of African Americas Online quizzes are also available You could also use the Example Document and have students select a famous Black American and write a summary.

Preparation

Become familiar with the Web sites. There is so much available, assignments may vary from year to year.
Decide what to use for class discussion and what to use for follow-up assignments. Print the Example Document or send it to the students by email or a shared online site such as Dropbox

How-To

Go through the two Web sites to preview information about famous African Americans.
Decide how to present the information--could be in discussion as a class or give pairs one name to investigate and then present to the class.
Follow-up with games/quizzes on who, when, and what they did.

Teacher Tips

These sites can be used as an overview for African American History Month--or it can be the stepping off point for greater investigation. Students can be assigned in pairs, groups, or work independently.

More Ways

Use the Timelines in Infoplease to discuss African American History in the United States

Program Areas

ABE: Adult Basic Education

Levels

Intermediate
High

View Lesson Plan

Warm-up

Engagement

February is often celebrated as African American history Month (sometimes referred to as Black History Month)

Pair students, ask them to take two minutes and make a list of famous African Americans and what they are famous for. As a class, compare notes.

Introduction

The goal of these activities is to share timelines, histories, and accomplishments of African Americas with the class. As pairs, write a summary of the individual and then create and share a slide presentation with the class.

Presentation

Engagement

Project infoplease website Black History to see different ways to explore African American history. Some of these include timelines, contemporary issues and facts, biographies, holidays, awards. Ask students which ones they want to visit. Select the links and demonstrate different themes and the Quizzes and Crosswords at the bottom of the page. Share a discussion about the site. Show Factmonster Black History Activities website.

In pairs students discuss what is available on the two sites. Share with the class.

Practice

Engagement Enhancement

As pairs select a person to investigate. Explore the information available at the two sites. Take notes on the facts learned. Use the Document African American Summary Sheet. Turn in your summary sheet answers.

In five slides summarize who, when, where, what and why for your selected person.

Evaluation

Engagement Enhancement

As a pair share the slide presentations with the class. Students in the class, show attention by asking questions to explore each individual.

Application

Engagement Extension

Students discuss the information learned with family and friends. Bring back insights for a general class discussion.