This lesson plan was adapted from a plan originally published at the AskERIC Lesson Plan Collection by Peter Harames of Mills High School in Millbrae, NM. The original lesson plan can be found at:
http://askeric.org/cgi-bin/printlessons.cgi/Virtual/Lessons/Social_Studies/US_History/USH0009.html
In this lesson students will create a simple web site about their family. The purpose of the lesson remains true to the original purpose of the lesson by:
"…getting students involved in an activity in which they can work closely with their family, identify their ancestors, appreciate their ethnic backgrounds, understand the concept of immigration, connect events in history with the movement of their ancestors, become more cognizant of their own unique individual makeup and its cultural origins, and develop a better understanding of the United States as a melting pot."
In addition to those goals, this project introduces students to some fundamental aspects of web design, including building a simple web site in Dreamweaver, linking within their site, and working with pictures and the drawing tools of Fireworks.
Since the final product will contain personal information about the student and their families, this project is not intended for publication to the Web. However, the project is small enough in size so that the students can easily store their completed work on a floppy disk so they can share it with their family.
At the end of the project students will have completed these tasks:
At the end of this project students will have learned the following fundamentals of web design with Macromedia products:
· Dreamweaver
o Developing a site structure
o Laying out a simple page with tables
o Applying page properties
o Setting table and cell properties
o Formatting text
o Inserting images
o Linking within a site (relative URLs)
o Linking outside a site (absolute URLs)
· Fireworks
o Setting up a new document
o Using basic drawing tools
o Applying fill and stroke settings
o Applying Live Effects
o Editing digital photos
o Exporting images
Computers with Dreamweaver and Fireworks installed (any version)
Internet access
3.5 inch floppy disk (1 per student)
Digital camera (optional)
Scanner (optional)
Approximately 12-15 hours of class instruction plus homework.
Students will prepare a three-page web site with associated graphics. Pages will include the following:
· Home page:
o A history of the student's family to include:
§ Student's place of birth
§ Parent's place of birth
§ Earliest immigrant's to the United States and their country of origin
§ What brought their ancestors to the U.S.
§ Examples of traditions or customs that the student's family retains from their ancestors
o Photo of student (optional)
o Photos of student's ancestors (optional)
o Links to other pages
· Family Tree page:
o A graphical representation of the student's family tree
· History of the nation where the family originated
o Brief description of the country to include location, population, and size
o Map of country
o Flag of country
o Brief history of the country
o Cultural traditions of the country
Homework
Students are to interview their parent(s) to gain as much information about their family's background as possible. Students should find out the following information:
1. Names of paternal and maternal grandparents if known
2. Names of great-grandparents if known
3. Students sketch a family tree going back as far as possible
4. Country of origin of the grandparents and great-grandparents
5. Discuss with parent(s) the role that their ancestor's country of origin had on their family. Examples of cultural influences include food, music, religion, coming of age ceremonies, dance, clothing, etc.
Note: The teacher should be sensitive to the fact that not all students will be able to obtain complete information about their family. In particular, students who come from an unstable family background may become upset if they are unable to complete the homework assignment. The teacher should be prepared to give an alternative assignment to any student who is uncomfortable with completing the homework portion of the project.
i. Drawing basic shapes--rectangles, circles, polygons
ii. Selecting objects
iii. Scaling objects
iv. Changing stroke and fill properties
i. Fill and stroke panels
ii. Effects panel
See this example of a completed student project.