1. Courage in America: The Civil War
LaTasha Arnold, Cliff Kicklighter, Jami O’Connor,
Sharon Purucker

2. Communication, Tools, and
Applications
• Communication
– Email
– Wimba
– Wiki
• Applications
– PowerPoint
– Windows Movie Maker
– Internet

3. Overview of Project
• Digital Story
– Character word: Courage
– The Civil War and the effects on Georgia
• Antietam
• Emancipation Proclamation
• Gettysburg
• Chickamauga
• Union Blockade of Georgia’s coast
• Sherman’s Atlanta Campaign
• Sherman’s March to the Sea

4. Design, Development , and Production
• Topic
– Brainstormed ideas
– Discussed experiences with such tasks
– Divided tasks
• Resources
– Members searched for and uploaded clips,
images, etc. to include within project
• PowerPoint vs. Moviemaker
– Moviemaker allowed for more editing

5. Sample of Presentation

6. Instructional Activity
Title: Courage in America: A Digital Story
Grade Level: 8th grade
Standard:
SS8H6: The student will analyze the impact of the Civil War and
Reconstruction on Georgia.
•b. State the importance of key events of the Civil War to include Antietam,
Emancipation Proclamation, Gettysburg, Chickamauga, the Union blockade of
Georgia's coast, Sherman's Atlanta Campaign, Sherman's March to the Sea,
and Andersonville.
Character Education Trait: Courage
Activity: Student produced digital story

7. Assessment Tools
Rubric Multiple Choice Exam
1. The Emancipation Proclamation made a. Abolition
_______ the central goal of the war? b. The economy
Courage in America Excellent Good Satisfactory Needs
Digital Story Improvement c. Agriculture
d. The blockade
Content: 123456 123456 123456 123456
1. Who won the Battle of Antietam? a. The Confederate Army
Identifies Identifies all Identifies 4-5 Identifies 2-3 Identifies 2 or less
1.Topic content areas. content areas. content areas. content areas.
b. The British Army
2.Dates c. The Union Army
3.Location Uses specific Uses solid examples Connections Contains little or
4.Important People examples relating relating to the topic. between examples no examples.
d. The Spanish Armada
5.Important Fact to the topic. and topic are weak. 1. In what state did the Battle of Gettysburg a. New York
6.Example of Majority of the
Courage Contains unique All information is Most information is information does
take place? b. Tennessee
information. relevant and relevant to the not relate to the c. Virginia
70% meaningful. topic. topic.
Spelling/Grammar Uses advanced Uses correct Many words are Grammar usage
d. Pennsylvania
punctuation. punctuation. used or spelled distracts the 1. Who proclaimed the blockade of Georgia’s a. General Grant
10% incorrectly. reader and
Advanced words Most words are interferes with coast? b. Abraham Lincoln
are used and spelled correctly. Lacking proper information in the c. General Sherman
spelled correctly. punctuation in project.
Sentences are places. d. Jefferson Davis
Sentence structure complete. Consistent 1. What state was not a Confederate state? a. Virginia
is varied. Sentences may be spelling, grammar,
fragmented. and punctuation b. North Carolina
errors. c. West Virginia
Organization/ Content is well The overall Most of the content There is no logical
Presentation organized, easy to organization and is logically organized organizational d. Arkansas
understand. presentation is and clearly structure. 1. What resulted from the Battle of a. The Union Army surrendered
10% appropriate. presented.
A variety of Lacks relevant Chickamauga? b. The blockade ended
meaningful images Appropriate images Majority of images images and c. The Confederate Army advanced to the north
and graphics. and graphics are and graphics relate graphics.
used. to the time period. d. The path to Atlanta was opened for the Union
Layout is clear and
consistent with Layout is visually Layout is ok but
Layout is hard to
read and/or is
Army
title, audio, images, appealing with titles, readable with titles, missing any of the 1. Why did the Union Navy block the Atlantic a. To prevent passage of goods to the
and video. audio, images, and audio, images, and following: titles,
video. video. audio, images, and
and Gulf ports? Confederates
video. b. To attack the port cities
Creativity/Style Project is unique Project is unique Project shows Project shows
and creative in and creative. evidence of little or no
c. To prevent Confederate ships from sailing
10% approach and creativity, yet lacks evidence of North
design. Contains evidence of evidence of creativity.
student’s personal student’s personal
d. To help the freed slaves escape
Student’s personal touch/voice. touch/voice. Presentation is 1. What character trait did the Confederate and a. Kindness
touch/voice is messy or
evident. At least 4 different Presentation incomplete.
Union soldiers show highlighted in the video? b. Intelligence
types of appears to be c. Courage
A variety of presentation styles rushed and/or Contains 2 or less
presentation styles are used. messy. different types of
d. Trustworthiness
are used (more presentation 1. What battle directly led to the capture of Battle of Kennesaw Mountain
than 4): Contains at least 3 styles.
Title different types of Atlanta? Battle of Antietam
Font presentation styles. Battle of Vicksburg
Background
Transitions Battle of Resaca
Effects 1. What port city did Sherman capture on his a. Port Wentworth
Credits
march to the sea? b. Brunswick
c. Savannah
d. Kingsland

8. Overview of Lessons Learned:
Challenges
LaTasha Arnold:
My biggest challenge with this project was communication on my part. I was sick with allergy and sinus
infections. This caused some ineffective communication on my end.
Cliff Kicklighter:
I felt like it was a great challenge to complete a video project at a distance. I also felt like there were not
enough “main” parts for the entire group to split up equally.
Jami O'Connor:
Although courage is easily told and discussed, finding images that really portrayed courage was a bit
challenging. The images of battles showed courage but if we had not added the slides explaining courage then
the viewer may not have taken away courage from the images and may have interpreted the images in their
own way. Taking video from another and adding it to the project. There were conversion issues from email to
project so no matter how many ways we tried, the video still did not work and we had to create an alternate
presentation using the videos of the students.
Sharon Purucker:
I found it difficult to collaborate on a video project online. Although not impossible, it was a bit difficult
incorporating the character trait because the lesson became longer. I found that I was continually updating the
classroom use and instructional activity to make sure the lesson included all information necessary to be
successful for this project.

9. Overview of Lessons Learned:
Lessons Learned
LaTasha Arnold:
This project can benefit any teacher within their classroom. It is a great way to incorporate life skills within
course content.
Cliff Kicklighter:
I believe this project will greatly benefit anyone interested in implementing DST into their classroom. I also
believe our particular project will benefit anyone teaching the major parts of the Civil War.
Jami O'Connor:
Although courage is easily told and discussed, finding images that really portrayed courage was a bit
challenging. The images of battles showed courage but if we had not added the slides explaining courage then
the viewer may not have taken away courage from the images and may have interpreted the images in their
own way. Taking video from another and adding it to the project. There were conversion issues from email to
project so no matter how many ways we tried, the video still did not work and we had to create an alternate
presentation using the videos of the students
Sharon Purucker:
I found many resources on the Civil War that will benefit eight grade classes. In creating a lesson that
incorporates digital storytelling allows students to have a deeper understanding of the unit. Working with
digital storytelling gives students an opportunity to create multimedia projects.

10. 20/20
LaTasha Arnold:
I would have tried to communicate more effectively.
Cliff Kicklighter:
I think our group did a really good job of dividing specific tasks for the project. I wish I could have helped more
in the creation of our actual video but, when you work at a distance, that is nearly impossible to do.
Jami O'Connor:
I know some felt they were doing so much for the project while others may have felt they were not doing as
much as others. A clearer breakdown of the project and expectations may work better on future assignments.
More discussion on what exactly the final project should be. It is easy to add too much to a project and make
the project harder than it is
Sharon Purucker:
I would like to find a different format to share and merge different videos. Having the digital story assessment
assigned to the person making the video would make this task easier.