In early 2009, Mrs. Lisa Lee, a 4th grade teacher at Summers Elementary in Lake City, Florida, received a grant from the Columbia County Education Foundation. The Foundation requires that the grant be used to help struggling readers improve in the classroom. So Lisa picked a project on a subject dear to her heart. Or as she explains it...
"I love the Civil War, and for the past five years I have involved my students in a three-week unit about the War. I wrote my grant with the idea of students researching (reading, writing and reporting) on the local Battle of Olustee. They would then use this information to create an imovie/DVD to teach other children in our community about the battle. My class of 22 students split up into research groups: generals, soldiers (North/South), the battle and how Olustee is celebrated today. We used the Battle of Olustee Web site at http://battleofolustee.org/, books, articles and interviews to locate information. Once we obtained film and photographs from the reenactment, we added titles, voice overlays and music to create a documentary about the Battle of Olustee—from how it started to how it ended.
"The DVD was given to each elementary school in Columbia County and the public library. We plan to use the DVD as an educational tool for teaching the Florida Sunshine State Standards, which discuss Florida's role in the Civil War. Olustee is mentioned in the textbook, but only in one sentence. I feel the battle deserves more recognition, especially with our local children."
Through the Battle of Olustee Web site, Lisa Lee contacted Thomas Fasulo, a long time Civil War living historian and a member of the Citizens Support Organization for the Olustee Battlefield Historic Site. Tom worked with Lisa and her students on the Saturday of the event. Since Tom was in Federal uniform he could not take them to the Confederate camp, so the students split into two groups. Tom took one group to the Union and Civilian camps, while the other group went with parents to the Confederate camp. The students had written their own questions to ask reenactors, and Tom said he was impressed with the thought behind many of the questions.
Lisa sent this to Tom after the event:
"Thank you for generously working with us. The parents couldn't stop talking about how knowledgeable you were. We could tell you love it!! Me too! The interviews we filmed in the Confederate camp were also great. I came back Sunday and filmed the entire battle; I couldn't help myself. I'm so excited about the project. I'll send you a copy too!"
The students worked very hard on the documentary and were extremely proud of themselves for producing such quality work. Students who have never attended the reenactment said they were inspired to go next year. One young man stated, "I never knew learning about history could be so much fun!" Another student's mother told Mrs. Lee that her son won't stop watching the History Channel now, even while on vacation! Several students have even inspired their families to become involved in learning about Florida's history in the Civil War.
Due to her interest in the Civil War, as well as her involvement in the DVD project, Lisa Lee was selected to participate in a Florida Humanities Council's 2009 Civil War Summer short course. This organization, located in St. Petersburg, conducted a five-day seminar for Florida 33 teachers on "The Civil War and Florida." This was a competitive process as over 150 teachers submitted applications for the short course, but only 33 were selected.
In 2011, the Florida Department of Education made this DVD available for FREE on thr Florida Transforming Education Through Rich Digital Content Web site at http://www.floridaitunesu.com/.
Battle of Olustee home page
http://battleofolustee.org/