Colonial Chronicles: Unveiling America's Complex History
January 22 - May 3, 2024
Grades:
Grades 9
Price:
FREE
Skills Learned:
● Historical Context and Claim/Thesis Development
● Guided and Self-directed Evidence-Gathering
● Historical Analysis Using Primary and Secondary Source Evidence
● Mapping/ Geography using a Variety of Historical and Modern Maps
Classtimes:
Classtimes will be coordinated between the Lead Teacher and Teacher Fellow
Session Length:
January 22 - May 3, 2024
Number of Sessions:
1
This course will be part of an ongoing research study by AIR, in collaboration with CWW, the CERES Institute for Children & Youth at Boston University, and the Rennie Center. The study aims to understand teacher and student experiences in the CWW initiative, including factors influencing effective implementation, and outcomes.
Course Program:
Students will gain an understanding of the causes and impacts of European colonization of the
Americas between the 16th and early 19th centuries. There will be a special emphasis on the
voices of native peoples of the Americas, African-Americans, immigrants, indentured servants,
and enslaved peoples.
Topics will include Indigenous American culture and traditions, encounters between Europeans
and Indigenous Americans, the growth of slavery and the slave trade, the setting of the thirteen
British colonies of North America, and comparisons of the French, American, and Haitian
Revolutions. Students will individually perform various formative and summative tasks that will
assess their learning of content and historical skills. They will also participate in group activities
such as class discussions, group research, and gallery walks.
About
Ashlyn Crossfield
Ashlyn Crossfield is a High School History Teacher at the O'Bryant School of Mathematics and Science in Roxbury, MA. She currently teaches World/US History 1 and AP African American Studies. She received her Bachelors in Sociology with a minor in Urban Affairs from Boston University and Masters in Secondary History Education from Boston College where she was also a Donovan Urban Teaching Scholar. She also serves on the Education Committee at the Leventhal Map Center at the Boston Public Library. Ashlyn has been a classroom teacher for almost 8 years and is dedicated to teaching through a lens of social justice while helping students make personal connections to history and work to reach their full academic potential.