Civil War Journals

My Arkansas History classes have been studying the Civil War. I don't have the time I need to do the subject justice, so to give them some 'hands-on' experience, I have assigned Civil War journals. They had to make up a character, decide what that character's role would be, where they live, which side they were on, etc. Each day, their bell work is a different writing prompt that they had to respond to. It was interesting to come up with something generic enough each day to suit everything from Abraham Lincoln to Confederate soldiers to a plantation owner's daughter. I had to change it up a little after I saw how creative the kids were in coming up with their characters! But I didn't mind at all...they got into this project more than anything this year. The funny part is I came up with this at the last minute to extend their thinking into the subject a little more and the things I have spent hours and days planning weren't nearly as productive.

By the way, my favorite one came from one of my pre-AP girls: she was a plantation owner's daughter who had two brothers fighting in the war. One brother got injured and a nurse had written to tell them he had died because they didn't have the medicine to help him. She became a spy and a smuggler for the Confederate Army to make sure that she could help others like her brother. All that came from my description of female smugglers who used to sew pockets in their petticoats to hide medicine!