Civil War Quest

Lesson 9: Writing the Quest: Movement Clues

Note: Lessons 8 and 9 can easily be combined into a single field trip.

Focusing Questions/Themes:
Who are our Civil War veterans?
How can we teach others how to see them?
Vermont Standard(s):
Writing Dimensions: 1.5 Students draft, revise, edit, and critique written products so that final drafts are appropriate in terms of the following dimensions: purpose, organization, details and voice or tone.
New Hampshire Standard(s):
Writing Standard 5: Students will demonstrate competence in using the interactive language processes of reading, writing, speaking, listening, and viewing, to gather and organize information in a variety of subject areas.
Materials:
Clipboards, pencils and paper.
Procedure:
General note: With a cemetery Quest it is possible to do clue writing on-site or in the classroom. It is beneficial to write some clues (the movement clues) on-site because students can take advantage of the "clues in the landscape" if they can see them.
  1. Before they start trying to write the clues, it is important to make very clear to the students the expectations, as well as to re-establish the purpose or intent of the Quest in order to focus their writing. Invite your students revisit their reaction to their initial quest: What clues worked well? What clues were confusing? Why?
  2. It is also important to reiterate that there are two distinct types of clues: movement clues and teaching clues. While sometimes they are combined into a single phrase, sentence, or stanza, they serve different purposes.
    • Movement Clues are used to orient people to the area and move them through the Quest. They keep visitors from getting lost and are especially important at junctions. Landmarks, cardinal references ("Go west towards the setting sun."), clock references ("With the pasture tree in sight, head to 3:00.") and paces are always good movement clue options.
    • Teaching Clues interpret what visitors see.
      "Albin Nash signed up for the Mass Volunteers
      Not knowing his regiment would fight far from here.
      To Louisiana went all the men
      To wonder if they would see New England again."
Facilitating the process:
  1. Which soldiers will be included in your Civil War Quest? Where are their stones located? Make a map on your chalkboard.
  2. Where should the Quest begin and end? Have students sequence the Quest into a route moving from point A to B to C.
  3. Assigning each group a segment of the terrain. What works best is to have each group create a movement clue TO their soldier's headstone; and then a teaching clue AT the headstone.
  4. Distinguish between a good clue, a better clue and a best clue.

    5. A "good" clue will work to move a visitor in the right direction, but not engage the sensory experience of the surroundings, e.g.

    "Go twenty paces and turn right."

    A "better" clue might say

    "With a Deacon in sight
    Make a turn to the right."

    Here, the clue picks up on a feature, the Deacon's stone, from the environment.

    A "best" clue might read:

    "Leave SJ behind you and study the land.
    The tallest of markers is a nice pinkish tan.
    There is but one other its color and height-
    It blends with the trees and it's up to the right."
Writing Activity:
  1. Decide on your verse format: couplets, stanzas, # of beats per line, etc.
  2. Model the writing of a single clue, working as a group, in that style.
  3. Pass out the Movement Clues Worksheet.
  4. Have students work in groups to write their movement clues.

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