Summer Pennell
Research Assistant
Summer is a Ph.D. student in education at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She has a BA in English Literature and Visual Art from the University of Washington and an MA in Folklore from the University of Oregon. She has taught English conversation in Osaka, Japan, writing composition at the University of Oregon, and high school English in Windsor, NC. In her free time she enjoys reading, playing music, attending performances, knitting, hiking, swimming, and relaxing in a hammock.
Resources created by Summer Pennell
Records 1–13 of 13 displayed
- Black cowboys
- In this lesson, students will use the Blacks in the West Mini Page to learn about black cowboys, read an excerpt from Nat Love’s biography, and create a comic about a black cowboy. This lesson teaches students about figures rarely shown in social studies texts and allows them to demonstrate their knowledge in a variety of ways.
- Format: lesson plan
- By Summer Pennell.
- Black cowboys during Reconstruction
- In this lesson, students will learn about African-American cowboys in the American West during Reconstruction. Students will use the Blacks in the West Mini Page and other online sources to learn about the topic and then demonstrate their knowledge by writing their own fictional narrative. Social Studies and Language Arts teachers may wish to work together for this lesson. This can be used to introduce research skills, to round out lessons on the American West in both Social Studies and ELA and to reinforce short story writing skills.
- Format: lesson plan
- By Summer Pennell.
- Buffalo Soldiers
- In this lesson, students will learn about Buffalo Soldiers using the Blacks in the West Mini Page. Students will compare what they learn from the Mini Page with Bob Marley’s song "Buffalo Soldiers." Then students will choose another group of people or a social movement to compare the Buffalo Soldiers to, similar to the way Marley compared them to Rastafarians, and they will write their own song lyrics to demonstrate the connection. This lesson allows students to make connections between different groups across history.
- Format: lesson plan
- By Summer Pennell.
- Creating a Mini Page
- This activity allows students to take their knowledge from previous lessons or research projects and turn it into a newspaper, modeled after the Mini-Page, to share with their classmates. The focus of this activity is not research and writing instruction; rather, it is meant to be used as a culminating activity.
- Format: activity/lesson plan
- By Summer Pennell.
- The first Thanksgiving: Interactive storybook
- In this lesson, students will use a Mini Page about the first Thanksgiving to make an interactive book for the class.
- Format: lesson plan (grade 2–5 English Language Arts and Social Studies)
- By Summer Pennell.
- Flowers and pollination
- This lesson on pollination uses this Pollination Mini Page and can be used as an extension for lessons about the parts of the flower. This lesson can be used with an entire class, or the materials can be given to advanced students to complete independently.
- Format: lesson plan (grade 3 Science)
- By Summer Pennell.
- Making inferences about the 2000 presidential election
- In this lesson, students will use a Mini Page about the 2000 presidential election to make inferences. This will require students to think about how past events influence political policies and laws. They will use these inferences to conduct research and write an essay.
- Format: lesson plan (grade 8–12 English Language Arts and Social Studies)
- By Summer Pennell.
- North Carolina scavenger hunt
- In this activity, students will use editions in The Mini Page Archive to find information about North Carolina’s history and state symbols. They will search strategically by looking at the titles and headings for clues. After searching, students will create a skit using the information they learned.
- Format: lesson plan
- By Summer Pennell.
- Pirates and economics
- In this lesson, students will learn the basics of a market economy and how pirates impacted the economic system in colonial times. Students will read one Mini Page about the famous pirate Blackbeard and another about economics. Students will map out the colonial economic system to demonstrate their knowledge of both economics and pirates' interventions. At the end of the lesson, students will imagine they are colonists and write a letter to the governor either in support or in opposition to piracy. This allows students to utilize economic vocabulary in a variety of creative ways.
- Format: lesson plan
- By Summer Pennell.
- Presidential elections and American culture
- In this interdisciplinary lesson, students read about presidential candidates from three Mini Pages (available for free online) and consider what messages each candidate wants to show the American public. Students will make inferences about the candidates' values and American values at the time of publication. Students will also conduct their own research on American culture and history in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, as well as research and speculate about contemporary American values. They will use this knowledge to create a commercial for a candidate wishing to sway young voters today. This lesson can work for middle or high school students, but older students would be expected to have more nuanced discussions and consider more complex issues, such as gender and race.
- Format: lesson plan (grade 8–12 English Language Arts, Information Skills, and Social Studies)
- By Summer Pennell.
- Reading recipes
- In this lesson, students practice reading and interpreting recipes. After reading through one recipe as a class, the students will work independently on other recipe passages for practice.
- Format: lesson plan
- By Summer Pennell.
- A smoke-free me
- In this lesson, students will use the "A Smoke-Free Me" Mini Page to learn about how the heart and lungs work, smoking regulations in their state, and the harmful effects of smoking. Students will create an anti-smoking poster using their new knowledge. If possible, students will hang these posters around the school to educate others.
- Format: lesson plan (grade 3–5 Healthful Living and Science)
- By Summer Pennell.
- Women in US history: Research lesson
- Students will use the Mini Page and other sources to research important women in US history: Bessie Coleman and Sally Ride. They will make a poster comparing these two women. This is intended as an introductory lesson to research skills.
- Format: lesson plan
- By Summer Pennell.
