American Revolutionary War 9-12
Battles of Lexington and Concord in 1775 to Treaty of Paris in 1783
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Prelude to the American Revolution
Matt Woods
Description of Lesson: Open with a bell ringer, label the13 colonies, give the PowerPoint lesson- Geography and it's Impact on the Cause of the American Revolution-, and have students work on a 13 colonies worsheet.
Taxation without Representation
Dylan Dimock
Description of Lesson: Students will examine the reasons and root causes of the American Revolution. Pulling from our previous study of the English Bill of Rights and the French and Indian war we will examine why the colonist choose to rebel against England, by studying specifically the stamp act and colonial opposition to it.
Roots of the Revolution
Kelly Jones
Description of Lesson: Students will create an annotated timeline of the events leading into the American Revolution. The dates to include are 1763, 1764, 1765, 1767, 1770, 1773, 1774, 1775, 1776. Each date needs a description of the event and a photograph. After the completion of the timeline, students will write cause/effect papers synthesizing the events and create specific outcomes.
Who's To Blame Colonials or Redcoats
Hill Pearsall
Description of Lesson: Students will be broken into two groups arguing for the colonial or British point of view regarding the topics provided. They will defend their side through information obtained from readings and lecture. Each group will present their argument on given topics; at t he end they will given a chance to rebut. Each argument\rebuttal will be timed (no more than 2-3 minutes). Every person in the group must speak. There will an opening address and closing statement given for each group. If a groups wishes, they may use visuals to be projected on the LCD ( i.e. a poster of the Boston Massacre). The debate itself will not be graded, but used as a way for students to openly discuss both view points and assess how effective their arguments were.
On The Fence
Dianne Russell
Description of Lesson: Students have been studying the American Revolution and the roles various individuals played as either a Patriot or Loyalist. Students are to pretend they are “fence sitters” during this time and have not declared their loyalty to either the Crown or the colonists. Students will then be given an excerpt of “Common Sense” to read and analyze. They will then determine if his argument was strong enough to sway them to join the Patriots cause. This argument will be expressed in a short essay.
Rebellion Analysis Carousel
Brooke Hazelwood
Description of Lesson: Students will be divided into small groups of 4-5 students and each group will work in a pod (knee to knee, eye to eye) to complete an analysis of four primary source documents from the period from 1770-1780 and the corresponding guiding questions. Students will choose roles and responsibilities to facilitate completion of the task and to make the process collaborative.
Colonial Views Divided
Kelly Jones
Description of Lesson: Students will be selected and placed in groups as Patriots, Loyalists, and Undecided. The students will be given time in the school media center and computer lab to research reasons for their assigned position. They will be requested as a group to analyze an assigned document, form deep opinions, and create questions in preparation for class debate and discussion. The positions will be split in the classroom and the group leader will present their reasons to the class. Each student will be required to respond to the reasons with questions. The Undecided section will ask questions for clarification to each side. Following the debate and discussion, each student will prepare a one page position paper explaining their reasons. Teacher will provide a follow-up lecture to clarify accuracies and inconsistencies.
Creating Colonial Broadsides
Leah Ashley
Description of Lesson: Students will take knowledge from class lecture/analysis of primary documents/research and apply it to create an 18th c. broadside to advertise general opinions of Parliamentary Acts.
Continental Congress
Leah Ashley
Description of Lesson: Students will evaluate the historical events/pre and post events of Continental Congresses. Students will take notes on short lecture (using blocked notes; 1774-1789). Students will evaluate journals from the Congresses. Students placed in groups of 3-4 for reading/discussion/analysis/skit.
What's the true story of the Boston Massacre
Alison Lemanski
Description of Lesson: Students will watch a short video clip from the History Channel to establish background knowledge about the Boston Massacre. The class will then have a brief discussion about the events surrounding the massacre and possible causes of the massacre. In addition, the class will discuss fact, opinion and bias. Following the discussion students will examine accounts of the Boston Massacre from multiple perspectives. As they examine these, they will note the author of the account, the facts and opinions included in the account and any biases that they identify in the account. After examining the accounts, students will create a news story about the events surrounding the Boston Massacre.
Religion and the American Revolution
Leah Ashley
Description of Lesson: Students will take knowledge from class lecture/analysis of primary documents/research and apply it to a Socratic seminar on religion and its impact on early America.
Role of African Americans in the Revolution
Daniella Stamm
Description of Lesson: After receiving a review lecture on the American Revolution and the individuals who played prominent roles students will then exam what role African Americans played. They will read letters, quotes, and petitions and examine a portrait to understand the role of African Americans. Students will then participate in a class discussion about the readings. To conclude the lesson students will then answer the following questions provided at the end of the documents. To check their understanding the students will respond to the following question- “What role did African Americans play during the American Revolution?”
Breaking Down the Declaration of Independence
Alison Lemanski
Description of Lesson: Students will work in pairs to examine the Declaration of Independence using the APPARTS strategy. The class will then discuss the Author, Place, Prior Knowledge, Audience, Reason, Main Idea and Significance of the document. Each student will then choose a grievance in the Declaration of Independence. They will re-write the grievance in their own words, draw a picture to represent the grievance and provide an example of that grievance that occurred in the colonies.
Interpreting the Declaration of Independence
Kristen Hewett
Description of Lesson: In small groups of 3-5 students will read excerpts from the Declaration of Independence (the teacher will divide the entire document among the class), identify and define words that they are unfamiliar with, rewrite their excerpts in their own words, and create a skit to visually represent their excerpt to the class.
Legal Brief from the Government on George III
Whitney Coonradt
Description of Lesson: Students will analyze the list of grievance by the Declaration of Independence and a British perspective on the rebellion. All students will complete a chart of colonial grievances aligned with evidence (the events, pamphlets, people we have discussed that would prove that point). Students will then use Thomas’ Gage’s reaction and other evidence to create a legal brief from the British perspective as if the call for independence were going to be decided in court. Ultimately students will create an evidence list for the colonists’ argument and a brief for the British opinion. Both will ultimately lead to analysis and debate about the validity of the colonial position.
NC's Road to Independenc
Jonathan Grubbs
Description of Lesson: Students will begin by interpreting the significance of the dates on the North Carolina flags—and how/why they changed. A short class discussion will follow, (20 minutes). Students will then divide into groups of two. Each group will be given copies of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence and the Halifax Resolves (the stronger reader of the pair will work with the Mecklenburg Declaration). Using their dictionary as a resource, the students will read the documents and rewrite them in a way that is comprehensive, yet easily understood. If one student finishes before the other, they may work quietly together to finish the paper, (30-40 minutes). When both documents are complete, students will switch their rendition of the document with their partner to read. (10 minutes).
Lastly, each student will use the information contained in both translations to write a 2-3 paragraph explanation of the origin and significance of the two dates we see on the modern NC flag.
Critique of Thomas Paine
Leah Ashley
Description of Lesson: Students will evaluate the historical events/timeframe of the life of Thomas Paine. Students will evaluate excerpts from "Common Sense"/"The Crisis". Students will take notes on short lecture (using blocked notes; 1737-1809). Students will receive excerpts of both publications (will read as a class; each student reading 1 paragraph). Students placed in groups of 3-4 for discussion/activity.
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