Lesson Procedures
This specific lesson should take approximately 8 school days, and build upon the prior lessons taught covering the Civil War.
Day 1: Anticipatory Set / Project Set- up Instructions
Preview Questions (to be recorded in students' interactive notebooks):
Scenario: Imagine the last time you disagreed over something important with someone, whether it be a close friend, a teacher, or a family member.
Question #1: Briefly describe the argument/conflict.
Question #2: Briefly describe your feelings about the situation. Why did you feel you were right?
Question #3: Briefly describe how the situation got resolved.
Question #4: Did you ever stop to think about the other person's viewpoint and what their side of the story/argument was?
Teacher will ask a few students if they wanted to share their answers to each question and participate in a brief class discussion about multiple perspectives of an argument; emphasize the concept that there are two sides to every story, if not more.
Teacher will present the Harper's Weekly magazine dated October 18, 1862 and share the article with students entitled The President's Proclamation In Secessia, which claims that the Emancipation Proclamation is going to be the dagger through the heart of the Confederacy. The Emancipation Proclamation took effect in 1863, yet the Civil War continued for two more years. The concept of perspectives will be discussed... how is it that the Union saw the Emancipation Proclamation as the end-all to the Civil War when the Confederacy did not and continued to fight? How could the American people be so polarized by an issue?
Teacher will transition back to the multiple perspectives of the Civil War, in particular the issue of slavery, which is central to the origins of the Civil War. The teacher will briefly discuss the various perspectives of those sub-groups that were impacted by the Civil War: the Confederate soldiers, the Union soldiers, the women who were left behind, the Abolitionists, the slaves, and the Southern Plantation owners.
Teacher will divide the class into the assigned sub-groups, based on mixed ability groups of four. Using the computer projector, the teacher will display the website and go over the website layout and group instructions:
* Students will find the tab labeled with their group assignment. There will be three assignments related to this project:
American Leadership Summit
* Students will spend the next four days exploring the provided links to primary and secondary documents related to their sub-groups to form an understanding of their assigned sub-group's perspective on slavery and the Emancipation Proclamation. Students within each sub-group will work together to form an argument to be presented at the "American Leadership Summit" at the conclusion of the lesson. Students will need to familiarize themselves with the perspective so that when they participate in the summit their voice is reflective of that specific sub-group.
Diary/Journal Entry
* Students will write a minimum one page diary/journal entry in the voice of a person, fictitious or real, from their specific sub-group. The essay is to be written from the perspective of one of the six sub-groups.
Reflection Essay
* Students will write a minimum one page essay at the end of the activity reflecting their personal opinion on how the Emancipation helped shape American culture and history.
Day 2-5: Group Research
Students will spend days 2 through 5 in the computer lab reviewing the primary and secondary source documents that are provided under each group's tab.
Day 6-7: Culminating Activity
Students will participate in the American Leadership Summit and present their arguments on how the Emancipation Proclamation will affect the United States. Students are to have completed by this time their personal diary/personal journal entry in their interactive notebooks.
At the end of the American Leadership Summit students will debrief with the teacher and discuss their thoughts, feelings, and what they learned from the process.
Day 8: Informal Assessment
Students will end the lesson unit by writing a one page reflective essay (from their own personal perspective) on how the Emancipation Proclamation and/or slavery affected the culture and history of the United States.
Specific requirements for each activity found under the Rubrics tab.
Student directions for the American Leadership Summit are located in the file attached below.
Day 1: Anticipatory Set / Project Set- up Instructions
Preview Questions (to be recorded in students' interactive notebooks):
Scenario: Imagine the last time you disagreed over something important with someone, whether it be a close friend, a teacher, or a family member.
Question #1: Briefly describe the argument/conflict.
Question #2: Briefly describe your feelings about the situation. Why did you feel you were right?
Question #3: Briefly describe how the situation got resolved.
Question #4: Did you ever stop to think about the other person's viewpoint and what their side of the story/argument was?
Teacher will ask a few students if they wanted to share their answers to each question and participate in a brief class discussion about multiple perspectives of an argument; emphasize the concept that there are two sides to every story, if not more.
Teacher will present the Harper's Weekly magazine dated October 18, 1862 and share the article with students entitled The President's Proclamation In Secessia, which claims that the Emancipation Proclamation is going to be the dagger through the heart of the Confederacy. The Emancipation Proclamation took effect in 1863, yet the Civil War continued for two more years. The concept of perspectives will be discussed... how is it that the Union saw the Emancipation Proclamation as the end-all to the Civil War when the Confederacy did not and continued to fight? How could the American people be so polarized by an issue?
Teacher will transition back to the multiple perspectives of the Civil War, in particular the issue of slavery, which is central to the origins of the Civil War. The teacher will briefly discuss the various perspectives of those sub-groups that were impacted by the Civil War: the Confederate soldiers, the Union soldiers, the women who were left behind, the Abolitionists, the slaves, and the Southern Plantation owners.
Teacher will divide the class into the assigned sub-groups, based on mixed ability groups of four. Using the computer projector, the teacher will display the website and go over the website layout and group instructions:
* Students will find the tab labeled with their group assignment. There will be three assignments related to this project:
American Leadership Summit
* Students will spend the next four days exploring the provided links to primary and secondary documents related to their sub-groups to form an understanding of their assigned sub-group's perspective on slavery and the Emancipation Proclamation. Students within each sub-group will work together to form an argument to be presented at the "American Leadership Summit" at the conclusion of the lesson. Students will need to familiarize themselves with the perspective so that when they participate in the summit their voice is reflective of that specific sub-group.
Diary/Journal Entry
* Students will write a minimum one page diary/journal entry in the voice of a person, fictitious or real, from their specific sub-group. The essay is to be written from the perspective of one of the six sub-groups.
Reflection Essay
* Students will write a minimum one page essay at the end of the activity reflecting their personal opinion on how the Emancipation helped shape American culture and history.
Day 2-5: Group Research
Students will spend days 2 through 5 in the computer lab reviewing the primary and secondary source documents that are provided under each group's tab.
Day 6-7: Culminating Activity
Students will participate in the American Leadership Summit and present their arguments on how the Emancipation Proclamation will affect the United States. Students are to have completed by this time their personal diary/personal journal entry in their interactive notebooks.
At the end of the American Leadership Summit students will debrief with the teacher and discuss their thoughts, feelings, and what they learned from the process.
Day 8: Informal Assessment
Students will end the lesson unit by writing a one page reflective essay (from their own personal perspective) on how the Emancipation Proclamation and/or slavery affected the culture and history of the United States.
Specific requirements for each activity found under the Rubrics tab.
Student directions for the American Leadership Summit are located in the file attached below.
| the_american_leadership_summit.docx |
