Educator's Guide

This guide was developed to support classroom use of the 60-minute video documentary, New York State's Contemporary Canal System, as a teaching tool. The documentary, narrated and hosted by PBS' Roy Underhill and produced by WCNY-TV - Syracuse, navigates along the Erie and its three sister canals - the Champlain, Oswego, and Cayuga-Seneca - providing a virtual tour of New York's current canal system and the communities along it. Throughout the documentary contemporary information is complimented by historical data. The Erie Canal brought people, products, and ideas to upstate New York where they took root in small settlements that became the quaint villages, personable townships, and vibrant cities of the 21st century. Students will "see" the canal system as it is today, learning that history is very much alive on these waterways.
The video documentary and the components within this guide, make up an instructional unit on the Erie Canal, past and present. The unit's lesson plans, activities, reading selections, resource materials, and the Document Based Question (DBQ) are aimed at fourth grade students and their teachers. This unit is designed to meet New York State curriculum, not only for social studies but across the curriculum for teaching in math, science, and English language arts.

How to Use This Guide

The Guide's instructional unit consists of five lesson plans that feature teaching activities and student assignments correlated to New York State educational standards. Lesson components include: key figures, vocabulary, maps, student resource pages, teaching activities, objectives, and learning standards. Educators will find directions on the relevant video documentary segments to be shown as part of each lesson plan. Look for the  symbol which indicates when to use a specified video clip.

The entire Educator's Guide can be found on the web site and is downloadable at http://www.wcny.org/nyscanalsystem/ You may download, print, and make copies of these pages for use in your classroom, provided that you include the following copyright notice shown on all such copies: Copyright 2008 WCNY-TV. All Rights Reserved.

The video documentary, New York State's Contemporary Canal System, is also available on the website in streaming video format.