Assessment for K-12:

Ask students to write a letter from Martha Garber to Thomas Garber. In order to do this, students will need to not only show an understanding of nature of letters that were sent from the homefront to soldiers during the Civil War, but also an understanding of family life during the Civil War. For example, by studying the Garber family letters, students will discover not only how important letters from home were and the young age of many soldiers who fought in the war, but also that one family could have three sons fighting in the Civil War. An example of an activity for students would be to provide students with an article on small pox from November 1862 Staunton Spectator . After reading this article, students can synthesize the information they’ve learned from the letters, census records, and newspaper article to write a letter from Martha to Tom reporting on the conditions at home.

 

 

Center for Technology and Teacher Education, University of Virginia. This module created by Cheryl Mason and Alice Carter of the University of Virginia.