Lesson Topic/Title: Trail of Tears

Author (you): Danielle Vasquez

Introduction: ELP and LEP students, ages 9-11
Grade Level: 4-5
Integrated Disciplines:
-History
-Reading, Writing, and Communicating
-Digital Citizenship
-Technology Operations and Concepts
-Research and information Fluency
Standards:
Content Area(s) Standards and Grade Level Standards
History: https://www.cde.state.co.us/cosocialstudies
1.2 The historical eras, individuals, groups, ideas, and themes in Colorado history
and their relationships to key events in the United States\
Reading, Writing, and Communicating:
https://www.cde.state.co.us/coreadingwriting/statestandards
3.1 The recursive writing process is used to create a variety of literary genres for
an intended audience.
ISTE: http://www.iste.org/standards/ISTE-standards/standards-for-students
3.b. Locate, organize, analyze, evaluate, synthesize, and ethically use information
from a variety of sources and media.
5.a. Advocate and practice safe, legal, and responsible use of information and
technology.
6.a Understand and use technology systems.
6.b. Select and use application effectively and productively.
Objectives
1. Students will be able to identify the relationship the Cherokee and white men had
with each other, and the impact the migration/relocation had on the nation and the
Cherokee people from reading the personal accounts on the Sequoyah Research Center
website and completing the personal accounts worksheet.
2. Students will be able to identify events that took place on the Trail of Tears and what
it was like, by viewing a portrait, and completing a worksheet.
3. Students will be able to demonstrate their knowledge they have of the Trail of Tears,
by completing a self written letter, pretending to be an individual on the Trail of Tears,
with the aid of an anchor chart and interactive letter generator.
4. Students will demonstrate their knowledge by creating short videos using instagram,
and detailing their own personal accounts for the class to view later.
Assessment
1. The instructor will access the personal accounts worksheet based on the authenticity
of the student responses.
2. Teacher will grade the letter based off of the rubric provided to the students and
whether or not they met all of the criteria.

3. Teachers will then access the Instagram videos based off of the provided rubric and
whether or not the students completed the assignment.
Materials/Technologies
To Teach Lesson
-Chapter book Soft Rain
-Link to Trail of Tears interactive map
http://www.cherokeemuseum.org/html/collections_tot.html
-Link to Webquest http://zunal.com/process.php?w=17397
-Link to Informational Site http://nativeamericans.mrdonn.org/trailoftears.html
-Letter Anchor Chart
-Letter Rubric
To Complete Lesson
-Letter Rubric
-Instagram Video Rubric
-Portrait Link http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4h1567.html
-Portrait Worksheet
-Personal Accounts Link http://www.ualr.edu/sequoyah/uploads/2011/11/Family
%20Stories%20from%20the%20Trail%20of%20Tears.htm#TheTrai
-Personal Accounts Worksheet
-Letter Generator Link http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/studentinteractives/letter-generator-30005.html
Procedures
1. In class, place accounts and pictures of the Trail of Tears all over the room and before
beginning class, the students will see all the hangings on the wall, and instantly be
hooked. Take time in class to allow students to visit each location, and jot down what
their ideas are of the picture or location
2. Upon hooking the students, the teacher should then send the students home with
what they need to complete for homework which is reading one chapter out of Soft
Rain, looking at the informational site provided to them, taking a look at the interactive
map, and completing the webquest. The teacher should encourage the students to take
notes on all that pertains to the Trail of Tears, and should also encourage them to look at
the provided materials as many times as they need.
3. Students should go home and complete all the homework that was assigned so that
they learn about the Trail of Tears, and should come to school with their notes and be
prepared to share what they know with the class.
4. Upon returning to school, a group discussion should be done, talking about what the
students learned last night, and what questions they may have about the Trail of Tears.
Here, the teacher should make sure to answer all questions the students may have, and
provide more detail if it appears that the students are unclear of what the material was
over last night.
5. After the group discussion, this is where the class will then transform into an inquiry
based environment. The teacher should break the students into groups of no more than
4, and give each group a tablet to work on.
6. The teacher will then instruct the students to go to the link and view the painting with
their group, and discuss their thoughts on it. Allow them to have a discussion for at least
five minutes, and go around and observe all groups reactions.

6. Upon completing the discussion, the teacher will then pass out the portrait worksheet,
and all students will have to complete the questions individually, making sure to use
correct grammar, spelling, and punctuation.
7. Next, they will transition to another link, where the groups will read personal accounts
of what occurred when traveling on the trail. Again, the teacher should make sure all
students are participating and getting a chance to manipulate the device, but should
also make sure that each group reads the minimum of 5 accounts. Here, t he teacher
should encourage group discussion, and allow the students as much time as they need
to read the accounts and to discuss their thoughts.
8. The teacher should then pass out the personal accounts worksheet, and again the
students need to complete the worksheet on their own so the teacher can access their
learning.
9. From here, the teacher should then display the letter anchor chart, and quickly review
the parts of a letter. The teacher should then instruct the students to pretend to be a
Cherokee Indian on the Trail of Tears, and write a detailed to one of their family members
not yet relocated, about what they are going through. The students should make these
letters very detailed, and should make sure to include all the criteria listed on the rubric
the teacher handed out.
10. If time allows, the teacher will then instruct the students to again form groups, and
have the students make short videos using instagram, explaining what they went
through. Again, the teacher will give a rubric for what the videos need to contain, and
should be available to assist the students.
Differentiation
Gifted/Talented
-These students should be designated as group leaders, so that they can lead the
group in the right direction in terms of discussion, plans, etc.
-Instead of providing these students with worksheet questions allow them write
short paragraphs depicting what they see in painting and personal accounts, and
what they both taught them about the Trail of Tears.
Lower Achievers
-Give these students guideline discussion starters to help them focus their
thoughts.
-Provide them with a graphic organizer to use will looking over the material at
home to
organize their thoughts.
-Allow them to orally tell you what they thought about the portrait and personal
accounts if
They have trouble writing, or to work with a partner to complete the assignment.
Closure
At the end of class, the teacher needs to instruct the students to turn in all their
completed work, and should make sure there are no questions that need clarifying. To
make sure that students retain the information, a Socratic seminar will take place, and all
students will need to speak and explain what they found most interesting about the Trail
of Tears, and what stuck with them the most. Plenty of time should be allotted for this at
the end, so if need be, do not have the students create the instagram video to save time.

References
http://www.learnnc.org/lp/pages/4039

http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/student-interactives/letter-generator30005.html
http://www.ualr.edu/sequoyah/uploads/2011/11/Family%20Stories%20from%20the%20Trail%20of
%20Tears.htm#TheTrai
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4h1567.html
http://zunal.com/process.php?w=17397
http://nativeamericans.mrdonn.org/trailoftears.html
http://www.cherokeemuseum.org/html/collections_tot.html

Explanation/ Reflection
For this lesson plan, I chose to teach it on the Trail of Tears, which was a topic that was
not too difficult because it is a big event in history, but while planning the activities, I
found them hard to integrate technology into. I chose to have students do a webquest at
home, and research information on the topic, which all required a computer, but at
school, I found it much harder to use technology. Finally, after doing a lot of research and
finding most of my ideas from the website http://www.learnnc.org/lp/pages/4039, I came
up with the idea of having students study a painting found online and answering
questions on it, and doing the same when having them reading personal accounts on the
Trail of Tears also found online. In addition to this, I also had the students create a letter
as a Cherokee on the Trail of Tears using an interactive letter generator, and lastly, I had
them create a video on instagram that depicted their experience while on the trail. Many
of the activities were small group due to limited technology, but I think that they would
run smoothly in the class. I chose to do these specific activities and integrate and
integrate the different technologies because group work is always great for the students
but the technology would also make them engaged the entire class, and it paired with
the ideas and concepts in a meaningful way, wouldnt take away from the overall
purpose of the lesson.
Letter Rubric: All students will get a rubric before writing their letter.
Authenticity

Content

1
Student does
not
demonstrate
knowledge of
the actions
being
performed.
Only uses
short
sentences and
at times,
single words to
convey
meaning with
multiple
grammatical
errors.

2
Student knows
the subject but
doesnt use
expanding
ideas to
convey the
actions.
Uses some
expanding
sentences but
mainly uses
short simple
sentences with
few
grammatical
errors.

3
Demonstrates
the student
knows in detail
the subject
being
described.
Uses various
sentence
structures of
different
lengths and
complexity
with no
grammatical
errors.

Why?

Voice

Student never
uses first
person and
uses more of a
narrative
voice.

Student uses
the first person
majority of the
time with few
errors.

Uses the first

person
throughout the
entire entry.

Sequence

Jumps from
past to present
throughout the
entry, making
it hard to
follow.

Writes the
entry in a
chronological
sequence that
is easy to
follow.

Date

Does not
include a date.

Writes the
entry in
chronological
order a
majority of the
time, referring
back to other
events seldom.
Includes a date
but lists the
month, day,
and year in a
mixed order.

Includes a
proper date
listed at the
top of the
page e.g.
month day,
year

KWL Chart: For struggling students to use at home and in class when taking notes.

Letter Anchor Chart: The students can use this as a model for their own letter they will
construct with the aid of a interactive letter generator.
Dear Soft Rain,
Today while I was in our white mans school, our teacher read us a letter saying that
we would have to move west. I dont know what is west, but by the way my class was acting,
I know that it cant be a good place to go. I am crying right now because I love our land, my
home, everything that we have and if we move with the rest of the Cherokee, what will we do? I
think we wont have to move because father has already begun planting corn and we cant leave
before we get the chance to harvest it. I really hope that we wont have to leave our land
like the white men say but if we do, maybe it wont be all so bad. My teacher is going west also
ad she doesnt seem scared. I am going to try and be brave like her. I hope tomorrow I can find
out more from mother and father.

First person/ Primera persona

Until then,
Running Bear

Reflection/ Reflexin
Entry talks about the main event/
eventos principales when Soft
Rain found out they would have to
move and how she felt about it.

States how she felt

chronologically/cronolgic
o (in the order of how they
happened).

Portrait Worksheet: Students will each get one of these, and will have to complete it upon
looking at the painting.

Trail of Tears Portrait Worksheet

1

What is happening in the painting? Describe it in detail.

What are the people in the picture doing?

Describe expressions on their faces. What do they seem to be feeling?

Besides the Cherokee, who else do you see in the picture? Why do you think they are in
the picture?

Where do you think that the people are going to? Explain why.

Based on the painting alone, why do you think that it is this called the Trail of Tears?

Personal Accounts Worksheet: All students will get a copy, and be asked to complete one
individually.

Personal Accounts Worksheet

1

What were the titles of the personal accounts you read?

Summarize what occurred in each one that you read.

Overall, describe the experience. (What did they see/hear while on the trail?)

How did they feel? How did it impact them?

Video Rubric:
Authenticity

1
Didnt contain
any factual
material or
depict
experience
correctly.

2
Contained
some factual
information
and mainly
depicted the
experience
correctly.

3
Contained
multiple
examples of
factual
information
and correctly
depicted the
experience.

Why?

Creativity

Created the
movie in a
hurry and had
now wow
factor.

Presented the
material well,
but lacked in
thinking
outside the
box.

Used
technology in
an interesting
way and kept
the audience
engaged.

Purpose

Audience left
with no
understanding
of the Trail of
Tears.

Audience left
with a clear
understanding
of the Trail of
Tears.

Made the
viewers walk
away with an
outstanding
understanding
of what it was
like.

Participation

1 or 2 students
did all of the
work while
others
watched.

Most the
students
participated
but some did
not.

All students
had a part and
worked
together on
the project.