Gathering Facts: Multiple Accounts

1. Gathering Facts: Multiple Accounts Week 2

2. Essential Questions • Why is this topic important? • What are some of the most important ideas related to this topic? • Where can you find information about a topic? • What sources can be used to provide information specific to a topic?

3. Determining Important Information • We have spent a few days establishing common knowledge about the Civil War to get a broad overview of the time period. • Today we will use strategies to determine important information within a text.

4. Teaching • Authors many times provide lots of information about a particular topic however, not all the information is pertinent. • The way readers can determine the most important information of a text is first determining the main idea of the text and their purpose for reading. • It is important to know your purpose before reading so that you can be alert for specific information as you read.

5. Once you have decided on the main idea, then ask yourself: 1. What do I need to remember about this main idea? 2. What information describes the main idea? Look for: • causes of an event or reason something happened • who is the main subject of the text • ideas that visually describe the main idea • a detailed process of how something is made or works

6. Information that may not be that important could be the following: • information that has already been stated but in a different way • specific examples • interesting details that you may think are important but really are not • names of people and titles of books, movies, etc. • specific information like numbers or percents

7. Before reading the text, a reader should create guiding question to help achieve their purpose for reading. Question stems that could be use are: • “Who or what is the article about?” • “What is the main event in the text?” • “What caused the main event?” • “What is the impact of the event?” • “How is the event connected to other events?”

8. As I read through the article “Underground Railroad”, I am going to jot down a few notes as I come across information that answers my questions. T • o help me stay focused on this, I’ll stop at short sections and summarize what I have read to think about whether or not I have found answers to my questions. • In addition, I may jot down my own questions if I find something in the text that is confusing or that I would like to know more about.

9. UNDERGROUND RAILROAD • Loose network of antislavery northerners--mostly blacks--that illegally helped fugitive slaves reach safety in the free states or Canada in the period before the American Civil War; it was also called the Liberty Line. • Begun in the 1780s under Quaker auspices, the activity acquired legendary fame after the 1830s. It was once thought that more than 60,000 slaves gained their freedom in this way, but that estimate is probably an exaggeration. • Because of its proximity to the North, the upper South supplied a high proportion of the fugitives. They were usually young adults, male, unattached, and highly skilled; family flights were rare. • Traveling by night to avoid detection, escapees used the North Star for guidance. Usually they sought isolated “stations“ (farms) or “vigilance committee“ agents in towns, where sympathetic free blacks could effectively conceal them. • When possible, “conductors“ met them at such border points as Cincinnati, Ohio, and Wilmington, Del. The lake ports of Detroit, Sandusky, Ohio, Erie, Pa., and Buffalo, N.Y., were terminals for quick escape to Canada, whose free soil policy was a major source of encouragement for the immigration of escaped slaves.

10. The American abolitionist leader Harriet Tubman, called the Moses of the blacks, and Levi Coffin (1798-1877), a Cincinnati Quaker, were among the famous rescuers. • Professional slave catchers and vigilant officials often seized refugees to gain rewards. • More important than the number arriving safely was the publicity given to this clandestine work, which helped to make northern whites conscious of the evils of slavery. • The federal Fugitive Slave Law of 1793 became difficult to enforce as Yankee judges and legislators restricted masters' rights of recovery. A new law, part of the COMPROMISE MEASURES OF 1850, (q.v.), was more stringent, but the activities of the Underground Railroad continued. • Outraged at northern defiance of the law, southerners grew increasingly provoked. Antagonism over fugitives and the publicity accorded them were crucial in fueling the flames of sectional mistrust that eventually led to the American Civil War.

11. Let’s review answers found in the text. • Let’s highlight questions we jotted down and mention the need to look in an alternate source to seek further information. • When conducting research, you begin by thinking about the topic you would like to know more about. • Generate some questions to focus your research to keep you alert for information as you read. • Briefly jot down notes when you find information that answers your questions. • In addition, take time to ask additional questions as you read when you find confusing parts or would like to find further information.

12. Practice • http://www.ducksters.com/history/civil_war/underground_railroad.php • You should read with the purpose of locating information that answers the basic Who/What/When/Where/Why/How questions as well as the additional questions you posed while reading the previous article about the Underground Railroad.

13. Link • As you research about a topic, bring forth all of your reading knowledge to learn more specific information. • Set purpose for reading, stop at short points to summarize and monitor thinking, ask questions about confusing parts or areas you would like to know more about, after reading, reflect on your learning and seek additional sources as needed.