Acadian Memorial Foundation, Inc. - Save Our History Grant 2005 -2006

Let the Children Speak!

Educator’s Guide

Lesson 3

Purpose of Lesson

To learn how the history of the Acadians is being preserved.

To learn how to get information about Acadians from the Mural and Wall of Names.

To select an Acadian child to research.

To find out how the original Acadians lived.

Resources

Save Our History Educators’ Manual, Grades 5-8, Activity 3: Oral History

Internet Resources

Found Poem About Elsie Wall <http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/ndlpedu/lesson98/poetry/example2.html>

Worksheets

Notes About the Acadians or

Notes About the Acadians 2pgs

Found Poems

Evaluation Instruments

Response Journal <http://www.louisianavoices.org/Unit5/edu_unit5w_response_jour.html>

Response Journal PDF Version <http://www.louisianavoices.org/pdfs/Unit5/Lesson5/ResponseJournal.pdf>

Activities

1. A Field Trip to the Acadian Memorial, Museum of the Acadian Memorial, and the Longfellow Evangeline State Historic Site will provide much of the information that students will need for researching and writing stories about actual Acadian children who arrived in Louisiana after the Deportation.

2. Print and distribute the Notes About the Acadians worksheets to the students before the trip, and show the different areas where they will record information. Tell them to record facts and information they learn during the Field Trip on the worksheets. (NOTE: The Notes About the Acadians worksheet is designed to be printed on one page, front and back. This will be much easier for students to handle on a Field Trip. The Notes About the Acadians 2pgs is designed for printing on two pages.

3. Visit the Acadian Memorial to find out how the history and memory of the Acadians is being preserved. Remind students to take notes as they listen and look. The Curator and docents will:

· Present a brief history of the Acadians, telling why and how they came to Louisiana from Canada .

· Explain the Mural and play the Audio Interactive, which presents “first-person” accounts of the journeys of actual Acadians who arrived in Louisiana after the Deportation. These stories are models of the final product that students will produce at the end of this unit.

· Explain the arrangement of the 3,000 names listed on the Wall of Names.

· Help students choose a name to research, locate it on the Wall, and help them make a rubbing of it on their Notes About the Acadians worksheets.

· Teach them how to search the Ensemble Encore database for the name of the Acadian child that was assigned or chosen. This database contains historical and genealogical information on every Acadian listed on the Wall of Names.

4. Visit the Museum of the Acadian Memorial. Docents will guide students through the still and interactive exhibits to help students learn more about the Acadians.

5. Visit the Evangeline Oak and hear two versions of Longfellow’s romantic tale of Acadian lovers separated during the Deportation. Time permitting, visit the St. Martinville Tourism Center, the St. Martin de Tours Catholic Church founded in 1765 by the original Acadians, and the Evangeline Statue donated by famous movie star Delores del Rio .

6. Visit the Longfellow Evangeline State Historic Site. Curators and docents will introduce students to the rustic Acadian Cabin used by the first arrivals, the Acadian Homestead developed later, and the 1814 plantation home. At the Interpretive Center , opened in 2005, they will see exhibits on the history of the area and view a 12 minute introductory video about the site and the family who built the plantation house. They can also arrange spinning, weaving, and Acadian toys demonstrations.

Evaluation

1. To evaluate the lesson and help students summarize and crystallize the multiple experiences of the day, have them each complete a Response Journal. This activity will also help students to begin to verbalize strong feelings aroused by learning of the extremely difficult lives of the early Acadians, which will be useful when writing their stories.

Extensions

1. Have students compose Found Poems using information from their Notes About the Acadians worksheets. They should choose ten key words from their notes and discussions then arrange these words or phrases in a pleasing and meaningful way to make a poem. They may write or type the poems and illustrate them with drawings.

Louisiana Content Standards

H-1A-M3 Analyzing the impact that specific individuals, ideas, events, and decisions had on the course of history. (1, 2, 3, 4)

H-1A-M6 Conducting research in efforts to answer historical questions.(1, 2, 3, 4)

H-1B-E1 Describing and comparing family life in the present and the past. (1, 2, 3, 4)

H-1D-M1 Describing the contributions of people, events, movements, and ideas that have been significant in the history of Louisiana . (1, 3, 4)

H-1D-M6 Examining folklore and describing how cultural elements have shaped our state and local heritage. (1, 3, 4)

ELA-2-M6 Writing as a response to texts and life experiences (e.g., letters, journals, lists).(1, 2, 4)

ELA-5-M3 Locating, gathering, and selecting information using graphic organizers, outlining, note taking, summarizing, interviewing, and surveying to produce documented texts and graphics. (1, 3, 4)