This class is a survey of United States history
through Reconstruction, and this unit would be close to the end of the
course. The grade level of this course
will be 10 – 12 and will be an elective, so the reading level of the students should
be a strong 10th grade level, and those in the class will be average
to above average achievers because they chose the class and realize it’s
difficulty. The class is made up mostly
of white middle class students. However
there are a few Native Americans in the class, and one Hispanic student. There are a few people with disabilities in
this class including a deaf child, a mute child, and a student with poor
writing skills.
I will be evaluating the students’
prior knowledge from the history course based on how they can relate continuity
and change into the lessons. I want
them to see how events in history are connected, and what each event may have
to do with another. The main theme of
this course is change over time, and students need to relate the events that we
have discussed in class throughout the course.
Also we will be looking at the people of this era, their views and
opinions, and also the environment in which these events took place.
Students with special needs in class
will have access to any equipment that they need to help them learn better, and
those who need an extra person helping them through lessons will be given time
by a class aid. The deaf child will
have an interpreter to sign the lectures and any other audio learning that may
be needed. The mute child will be
allowed to present any class discussion on some sort of overhead or power point
so that he/she can still participate in the class. The child with poor note taking skills will be provided with a
hard copy of the class notes so that he can devote all of his/her attention to
what is being presented in class. Any
other adaptations will be made at the time they come up, but the needs of the
students come first and they will be met.
This class will be taught in a rural
community of around 2,500 people. The
economy will be primarily trade work and agricultural related. Most families will live in a relatively
relaxed environment. Because the
students can relate to the agricultural environment around them, I will
incorporate the types of environment that the Civil War battles took place in,
and weave this together with what they are familiar with. I will allow the students to freely explore
what a battle in our environment would do to our economy and livelihood.
The packet is attached to the
appendices. In this unit we will be
going over the key events, people and information of the Civil War. We will be researching them all differently,
and at one point the students will be required to choose one key event during
the Civil War and explain why it is one of the defining characteristics of the
Civil War. This will demonstrate the
knowledge and processes that the performance packet wishes to assess. This will be used in the lesson plan number
5.
State
Standards
For this standard I will students will “illustrate the influence of diverse ideals or beliefs on a them or event in the historical development of the U.S.” By this I mean that the students will be looking at how conflicting ideas during and up to the Civil War lead to what it would ultimately become in American History.
With this standard I want students to understand how “data and experiences may be interpreted differently” through lecture and personal perspective taking. I am implementing this standard because I feel it is important that students realize and see that there is always more than one side to the same story.
Institutions and Traditions in Society B + D
These standards will be asking students to “examine tension between individuality and conformity”, and also “institutions change over time”. By implementing these standards students will understand how conflict originates when two opposing groups refuse to meet in some sort of middle ground. Also we will be able to look at the idea of slavery and how it change over the period of the Civil War.
Teaching
The main topics that that the class
will be discussing in this unit are as follows: succession of the confederacy, attack on the North, battles,
personal accounts of soldiers or other participants of the Civil War, the
slavery question, fall of the South, and surrender. For the basic knowledge building lessons in this unit I will use
a combination of lecture and movie presentation. From this I only hope to give the students a broader base of what
was happening during the Civil War. For
the more abstract lessons like personal accounts, I will allow the students to
launch a small inquiry to find information that is foreign to the rest of the
class. For lessons involving critical
thinking questions like the slavery issue and its role in the Civil War I will
use a form of small group and class discussion. To study for the test I will also use the different memory styles
of learning.
Rationale
This unit is important to teach because it is a pivotal point in American History. Not only can students not understand American History without understanding the Civil War, but they will also need to know what the conflict was about in order to understand the strength of our Union. With a grasp on the Civil War, students will be able to see how society’s views and opinions have changed over time, and also get to see a dark side of our country’s history. This unit should also give the students a vague understanding of what it is like for a country to be going through a civil war, as many countries are going through today.
Goals
Cognitive:
The students will know the origins of the Civil War,
and how it came about.
The students will learn the various key events in
the Civil War, including I important
people.
Affective:
Students will have taken different perspectives of
individuals during this time frame.
Students will understand why the South went on
fighting the North over issues bigger than slavery.
Psychomotor:
Students will be able to contribute to class discussions with a prepared train of thought that we will be discussing at that particular time.
Objectives
Cognitive:
· Students will recall the main points of the Civil War, including battles and important ideas of the time.
·
Students
will identify important people just by looking at a picture.
·
Students
will evaluate the Confederate Constitution and compare it to that of the union.
·
Students
will asses why the Confederacy failed in maintaining their own government, and
why the Union was able to preserve theirs.
·
Students
will defend opposing viewpoints that groups may have taken at that time, and
formulate the arguments that each group may have made.
· Students will recognize the important events of the Civil War.
Affective:
Psychomotor:
·
Students
develop a personal account of an individual using prior knowledge to understand
what this person may have been feeling.
·
Students
will be able to give an accurate depiction of the environment in which the
battles were fought, and how it effected the battle, and its outcome.
Resources
Nonprinted:
Internet Map
Music of the Civil War Posters
Movie (Ken Burns
Documentary) Paraprofessional
Computer Lab
Printed:
Individual Stories Union
Constitution
Confederate Constitution Pictures of Civil War Generals
Review Game (Jeopardy
Style) Poems from the Civil War
Newspaper Articles
Evaluation
Evaluation during this unit has been limited mainly to participation and ability to think critically. If students participate in the projects as well as class discussion, they will be graded higher than if they were to ignore the protocol. Also if the students have shown any effort or original thought, then they will be given more points than if they just chose to put minimal effort into the work. Things to be grade will be essays, test, participation in groups and the entire class discussions, and projects.
Grading Tools:
Poor Quality Good Quality Excellent Quality
No Critical Thinking Answered Few Questions Answered All and
Thought Critically
0------------2------------4------------6-------------8------------10
Below Average – Little 0-3 Average 4 – 7 Above Average 8 –10
Participation
Critical Thinking
Cooperation in
Group work
Thoroughness of
Work