ESL UNIT PLAN: Civil War to Reconstruction
DESCRIPTION:
This unit covers the time period starting with the Civil War and ending with Reconstruction.
DATE: April 13, 2007 – April 27, 2007
OBJECTIVES: The following state standards will be met in this unit.
STATE STANDARDS:
CONCEPT 6: CIVIL WAR
PO 1. Explain the economic, social, and political causes of the Civil War:
- economic and social differences between the North, South, and West.
- Balance of power in the Senate (e.g. Missouri and 1850 Compromises)
- debate over popular sovereignty/states rights
- Presidential election of 1860
PO 2. Analyze aspects of the Civil War:
- changes in technology
- importance of resources
- turning points
- military and civilian leaders
- effect of the Emancipation Proclamation
PO 3. Analyze immediate and long term effects of Reconstruction in post Civil War America:
- various plans for reconstruction of the South
- Lincoln’s assassination
- Johnson’s impeachment
- Thirteenth, Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments
- Resistance to and end of Reconstruction (Jim Crow laws, KKK, Compromise of 1877)
LESSON # 1: Civil War Introduction: Gettysburg
Date: Friday (April 13, 2007)
Bell Work: For bell work, students will look at several pictures from the Civil War. As they look at these photos, they are to try to identify the key person or idea being expressed in each photo.
Objective: Students will be able to:
Identify the physical characteristics of the men who fought in the civil war.
Explain and list the different causes of the civil war.
Procedure:
1. Students will take notes on the causes of the Civil War and the environment leading up to the Civil War. The key enduring understanding for students to know is that the war was not initially waged as a fight against slavery. After this lecture, students will examine the most significant battle of the Civil War, Gettysburg.
2. To begin a discussion on Gettysburg, students will watch a scene from the movie “Remember the Titans.” In this scene, students will discuss as a class why the football coach, played by Denzel Washington, brought his team to the battle field of Gettysburg. Show the first scene of the movie Gettysburg and have students write down three physical characteristics of the characters introduced in the prologue.
3. Next, cue Gettysburg to Chapter 8 and show the scene of a Northern General explaining why he think the soldier should fight for their cause.
4. Finally, cue the movie to chapter 20 and have students view a monologue by a southern general explaining why he went to war.
Evaluation: Students will complete a worksheet about the lecture and turn it in for a grade.
LESSON #2: Images of the Civil War
Date: Monday (April 14, 2007)
Bell Work: Students will reexamine photographs of the Civil War era. They will identify what stories these photographs explain in their journals.
Objective: Students will be able to:
Analyze photographs of the Civil War.
Explains stories of the Civil War through photographs.
Procedure:
- After bell work, the teacher will explain that the class will create their own PowerPoint presentation on the Civil War.
- The teacher will go through the procedure for creating a PowerPoint presentation and distribute the handout related to their assignment.
- Students will go to the library and complete their own PowerPoint presentation.
Evaluation: Students will be evaluated on their ability to explain the Civil War through five selected pictures.
LESSON #3: Images of the Civil War Continued
Date: Friday (March 16, 2007)
Objective: Students will be able to:
Relate Shay’s Rebellion to the founding of the Constitution of the United States.
Procedure: After reviewing the vocabulary, students will watch a movie on Shay’s Rebellion and complete a worksheet that is about this movie.
Evaluation: Students will complete the worksheet and turn it in for a grade.
LESSON #4: Bill of Rights/Constitution
Date: Monday (March 26, 2007)
Objective: Students will be able to:
Define the Bill of Rights
Be able to identify and explain each amendment
Understand why these amendments were included in the Constitution
Background:
Although the US Constitution was ratified in 1787, anti-federalists criticized the constitution because it did not guarantee rights for individuals. As a result, James Madison wrote the Bill of Rights as the first amendments to the Constitution. This was eventually ratified in 1791.
Procedure:
- Play the song, “Know your rights” by the Clash. Ask students to write about what they think this song means to them.
- Write “Bill of Rights” on the board and ask students for the first word that comes to mind when they see this term. Explain that the Bill of Rights is the 1st 10 amendments made to the Constitution. Point out that in 200 years, there have only been 27 changes to the constitution. Also, explain that these first 10 amendments are our guarantees for rights as people. Ask the students why they think these are included in the constitution.
- Tell the students that we are going to look at each of these 10 amendments in more detail. Using the overhead, display the bill of rights and have each student come up with an example that illustrates each right and then write this as their notes.
- Once all the examples have been discussed, tell the students that they are going to use these notes as a way of playing bill of rights Bingo. On their own sheet of paper, students will create a Bingo card. See handout for example.
- Using the Bingo cards, the entire class will play Bingo. The first student that wins will receive a prize.
Evaluation: Students will be evaluated on their ability to recognize the different rights illustrated in the Bill of Rights by playing Bingo and matching the amendment with the right.
LESSON #5: Manifest Destiny
Date: Wednesday (March 28, 2007)
Objective: Students will be able to:
Define "manifest destiny"
Analyze reasons given in support of and against the idea through primary source quotes and art.
Compare and contrast the pros and cons of manifest destiny and formulate their own opinion on the subject.
Procedure:
1. Write the following question on the board or overhead? "What is Destiny? Define it in your own words." Give students approximately five minutes to come up with an answer and write it on a scratch piece of paper.
2. Lead students through a discussion of the idea of "destiny." Once this idea is firmly grasped by the class, add a definition of the word "manifest" to the discussion. This simply means "clear or apparent." As students put the terms together, show them that America in the mid 1800s believed we had a "clear destiny” to expand from sea to shining sea--it was the will of God."
3. Place students in two groups 6 students per group. Pass out the "Controversy of Manifest Destiny" worksheet. Working in these groups, have one group read through the quote in favor of manifest destiny and one group read through the quotes against manifest destiny. For each they find the specific reasons given in either support or against and list them.
4. Pull the class back together for a large group discussion. Write on the board "Manifest Destiny" with two sections underneath it "For and Against." As the discussion goes on write the reason the students found from the quotes.
5. Once all reasoning has been discussed display the artwork depicting manifest destiny. The class then discusses the ideas found within the artwork.
Evaluation: Students will write a list of everything they see in the artwork on Manifest Destiny. They will then use this list to create a concept map of manifest destiny.
LESSON #7: Civil Disobedience and the Political Cartoon/ “The Mexican War”
Date: Thursday (March 29, 2007)
Objective: Students will be able to:
Identify the reasons the United States went to war with Mexico.
Differentiate between the different perspectives related to the war.
Explain who Henry Thoreau and Ralph Walden Emerson are and what civil disobedience is.
Define the term Manifest Destiny.
Bell Work:
Students will be asked what they know about the Mexican War, who won the war, the outcome of the war, and the President of the United States during the war. Then, to introduce the lesson, a political cartoon of George W. Bush will be displayed on the overhead. This cartoon alludes to the lack of evidence the Bush administration had when it declared war on Iraq. This will not only introduce students to the medium of the political cartoon, but will also allude to how wars are often a result of motives besides personal security. In addition, this will allow the teacher to assess what students know about the process of declaring war and the validity of political cartoons in a democratic society. Ask the questions: What do you think the opinion of this author is towards the war in Iraq? Do you think Bush was justified for going to war with Iraq?
Procedure:
Timeline discussion: Manifest Destiny was a phrase used by leaders and politicians in the 1840s to explain continental expansion by the United States (Write 1840 and manifest destiny on timeline). Yet, the country that most stood in the way of this vision was Mexico. In 1821 (write on timeline) Mexico gained independence from Spain and subsequently, Texas broke off from this country in 1836. By 1845, the U.S. Congress accepted Texas into the Union as a state. As a result, both of these countries began fighting over this new land called Texas.
Lecture: See Notes on Mexican American War
Evaluation: Following lecture, students will practice making a political cartoon. They will be given a cartoon that relates to one of the aspects of the Mexican/American War. Depending on the cartoon they receive, the student must explain the following:
- Mexican’s generally felt like they would win the war with their professional army and superior numbers. In the first battle of the war, the Mexican won because of this very notion, but they were also provoked into fighting.
- Because of the superior artillery of the United States military, they were eventually successful in forcing Santa Anna to retreat.
- Henry David Thoreau committed civil disobedience by not paying a poll tax.
- Polk believed in expansionist policies such as Manifest Destiny.
LESSON #8: Post Mexican War/California Gold Rush
Date: Friday (March 30, 2007)
Objective: Students will be able to:
Recognize the struggles of Mexicans and Native Americans in California after the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.
Procedure:
- Students will read five different excerpts of Mexicans or Native Americans who were convicted of crimes in California during the Gold Rush.
- After reading these excerpts and following a class discussion students will assume the role of a Native American or Mexican in California and write a fictitious criminal blog for their assumed personality.
Evaluation: Students will present their crime log to the class.
LESSON #9: Lewis and Clark and the Native Americans
Date: Monday (April 2, 2007)
Objective: Students will be able to:
Associate the Lewis and Clark expedition with Manifest Destiny.
Explain that Lewis and Clark depended on Native Americans to cross the West.
Procedure:
Students will receive a map with different points of Lewis and Clark’s expedition marked on it. Using the powerpoint lecture, students will place stars around the places they visited as they were traveling west and then connect these dots with a red marker. Then the students will do the same for their travels East, connecting the dots with a blue marker. Following this lecture/exercise, students will then be divided into six different groups. Each group will receive a survival card or a needs card. The task of the students is to group their survival card with the appropriate need card. The students will then present this information to the class.
Evaluation: Students will explain why their survival card or need card matches a particular group. This will prove that the students understand the importance Native Americans played in the Lewis and Clark expedition.
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