Wiggle While I Work...

As of the moment, all of the information that I have collected is still sitting in a pile at my house. There is a sense of overwhelming, in the fact that I am not really sure where to begin. Should I look at the research, books, videos? This is a question that is pondering me. I think the first step that I need to take is to figure out how am going to decide what to keep and what to toss. How am I going to evaluate these resources? I need to take a look at my resources in order to know what to do. Writing it out and looking at the resources is my own personal best way to complete this task. Annette Lamb states “consider the Multiple Intelligences of your students…interpersonal students…visual/spatial students…bodily/kinesthetic students…” This is the key to my success at this stage, my own “intelligence!”

Books:

I am going to skim and read books that I have chosen about the Trail of Tears. Within this, I will be collecting and evaluating the information. In order to keep the information clear and meaningful, I will be listing it below.

Who were the Cherokee? They were located in what is now Georgia, hunted, fished, farmed, and worked hard. They began to learn the ways of the white man and learned English and created councils for towns. When the Cherokee discovered gold, that’s where it all began. People began rushing onto the land and the Cherokee were forced to be moved.

How were they forced out? President Andrew Jackson ordered that the Cherokee be moved and a lottery was created to sell the Cherokee land. Soldiers came in and forced the Cherokee out of their homes and were very hurtful to the people. They would leave the old and sick along the road without food to die, they forced families apart, and prodded and kicked the people.

How did so many die? As stated before, a lot of old and sick people were left along the side of the road to die. Food was scarce, no warm clothing, and in some places there was a drought. Some Cherokee were imprisoned in the stockades. Many died from disease, malnutrition and exposure. The soldiers eventually fled and left the Cherokee in the Great Smoky Mountains.

What happened next? The Cherokee started moving west towards Arkansas and the summer brought sickness. Once they reached Arkansas, the Cherokee tried to start over, but it was not the same. Back in Georgia, the Cherokee Nation disappeared.

The Internet:

Websites with plentiful information:

http://ngeorgia.com/history/nghisttt.html

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4h1567.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trail_of_Tears

Journals/Articles:

There is a Q & A paper on the Trail of Tears.

Q: “Why is it so important to preserve this land?”
A: “…the white man completely disrupted their way of life, ordering their forced removal. It’s a story of character of an entire people …story of Andrew Jackson ignoring the U.S. Supreme Court…”

Media:
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/images/trail-of-tears-map2.gif

http://redheartculturalcenter.8m.net/images/trail_of_tears_painting.jpg

http://www.nativeamericans.com/tears.jpg

The Trail of Tears Video


So how am I going to evaluate all of this information? There are a lot of resources out there, but how do I know which of these are going to be the best? In reading the books, I know that I can skim through some of these books, especially the long, in-depth ones. I used this approach that Annette Lamb has given, "Some people read the first and last paragraphs using headings, summarizes and other organizers as they move down the page or screen. You might read the title, subtitles, subheading, and illustrations."

What about the websites? There is a website called Evaluation Wizard that can help you evaluate different areas of the website:

Author: PBS, this is a credible source just by name.

Publisher: I believe that PBS would also fall into this category.

Objectivity: This is a one page website on the Trail of Tears, just relating to the historical documents.

Links From: It gives a link at the bottom of the page titled Indian Removal: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4p2959.html.

Date: There is not a publication date for this URL.

Accuracy: The facts are correct, but there are little details given.

Evidence: This URL is just a part of a series, so there are other links available, but not all specifically to this topic.

Links To: Again, the links given are for other events in history and do not all correlate to this topic.

Overall, this website has not been the most valuable tool to use. Once I actually delved into it and looked at the resources it has available, I knew that it will not be my first source to use.