Goals & Objectives
Students will learn about the various philosophers and Founding Fathers and their contributions to the creation of the American experiment.
Students will understand the American and British perspectives on the American Revolution
Students will explain and defend the various perspectives of revolutionary thinkers prior to the American Revolution (from John Locke to Patrick Henry)
Students will understand the American and British perspectives on the American Revolution
Students will explain and defend the various perspectives of revolutionary thinkers prior to the American Revolution (from John Locke to Patrick Henry)
California State Content and Common Core Standards
8.1 Students understand the major events preceding the founding of the nation and relate their significance to the development of American constitutional democracy.
1. Describe the relationship between the moral and political ideas of the Great Awakening and the development of revolutionary fervor.4. Describe the nation’s blend of civic republicanism, classical liberal principles, and English parliamentary traditions.
Common Core Standards: 6-8.10: Write routinely over extended time frames (time for reflection and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of discipline-specific tasks, purposes, and audiences
1. Describe the relationship between the moral and political ideas of the Great Awakening and the development of revolutionary fervor.4. Describe the nation’s blend of civic republicanism, classical liberal principles, and English parliamentary traditions.
Common Core Standards: 6-8.10: Write routinely over extended time frames (time for reflection and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of discipline-specific tasks, purposes, and audiences
Lesson Introduction
The teacher will introduce the lecture by showing projected on the screen the latest Gallup poll on Americans’ belief on whether or not the United States should be involved in the Middle East. Students might be surprised to learn that not everybody supports the war cause, and the instructor will link it back to the Unit by saying simply that the American Revolution was NOT universally supported.
Vocabulary
During the course of the discussion and deliberation, students will not only be exposed to many revolutionary thinkers, but many terms that are related to the Unit as a whole. They include:
John Locke
Natural rights
Thomas Paine
Common Sense
Patrick Henry
King George III
Loyalist
Patriot
John Locke
Natural rights
Thomas Paine
Common Sense
Patrick Henry
King George III
Loyalist
Patriot
Content Delivery
On the first day of instruction, the teacher will split the class into six different groups, signifying six different characters in the American Revolution. Each group will be assigned to research and know what their person believed in prior and during the American Revolution. The instructor will give them educational research and articles on their given person, a list of appropriate information they should at the very least know in the form of guided questions for them to answer.
On the second day each group will choose a representative to come up and represent them in a “TV talk” show type format. The teacher will be the host and keep the deliberations together, asking questions to essentially get the students to dissent with one another to bring out contrasting viewpoints. The students not directly in the talk show will both be asking questions as well as taking notes on the various perspectives of the time period.
On the second day each group will choose a representative to come up and represent them in a “TV talk” show type format. The teacher will be the host and keep the deliberations together, asking questions to essentially get the students to dissent with one another to bring out contrasting viewpoints. The students not directly in the talk show will both be asking questions as well as taking notes on the various perspectives of the time period.
Student Engagement
Students will be engaged in doing their research and answering the appropriate questions about their person on the first day. They will work as a team to come up with all the information that is needed for the next day’s activities. The planning period allows them to come up with arguments, statements, and rebuttals to anyone that might oppose them. The next day, six lucky students will get to represent their team, and answer appropriate questions given by the instructor and their classmates. The remaining classmates will take guided notes on the deliberation as it is happening.
Lesson Closure
Students will be asked to write in their journals which viewpoint they agreed with the most during the course of the debate and why (it does not have to be their own). They can also talk about if their viewpoint changed during the course of the deliberation, and what they liked most about the activity in general.
Assessment
Informal assessment will occur with the instructor seeing if the activity worked or not during the course of deliberation. The teacher will be able to readily see whether or not students were able to adequately obtain the information necessary to have a deliberation about the material given to them.
Formal assessment will be done by checking the guided notes of the students, to see what information they were able to process out of the deliberation. The lesson closure journal will see if students can use the information they just obtained from the debate they just watched to come up with a conclusion on which viewpoint they agreed with the most. This not only gives them a chance to express their own opinion but it gives them a chance to indirectly illustrate what they have learned.
Formal assessment will be done by checking the guided notes of the students, to see what information they were able to process out of the deliberation. The lesson closure journal will see if students can use the information they just obtained from the debate they just watched to come up with a conclusion on which viewpoint they agreed with the most. This not only gives them a chance to express their own opinion but it gives them a chance to indirectly illustrate what they have learned.
Accommodations for English Learners, Striving Readers and Students with Special Needs
Striving Readers will always be placed in a group with adequate readers to ensure the information can be processed together as a team. English Leaders will obtain the information not only verbally, but in writing, by being able to pair up with one another to complete the guided notes. Advanced students can be the chosen representatives of each group if they so choose to challenge themselves academically.
Lesson Resources
John Locke Biography: http://www.biography.com/people/john-locke-9384544
Thomas Paine Biography: http://www.biography.com/people/thomas-paine-9431951?page=3
Patrick Henry Biography: http://www.biography.com/people/patrick-henry-9335512?page=1
King George III Biography: http://totallyhistory.com/king-george-iii-the-american-revolution/
Difference between Loyalist and Patriot (Modified from source): http://goffstown.k12.nh.us:8100/~apyszka/Loyalist%20and%20Patriot%20Views.pdf
Loyalist Excerpt: http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/pds/makingrev/rebellion/text1/loyalists17751776.pdf
Thomas Paine Biography: http://www.biography.com/people/thomas-paine-9431951?page=3
Patrick Henry Biography: http://www.biography.com/people/patrick-henry-9335512?page=1
King George III Biography: http://totallyhistory.com/king-george-iii-the-american-revolution/
Difference between Loyalist and Patriot (Modified from source): http://goffstown.k12.nh.us:8100/~apyszka/Loyalist%20and%20Patriot%20Views.pdf
Loyalist Excerpt: http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/pds/makingrev/rebellion/text1/loyalists17751776.pdf