Reconstruction 9-12
End of Civil War in 1865 to Compromise of 1877
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Looking at the Major Impact
Larry Sampson
Description of Lesson: Students will explain how information and experiences may be interpreted by the people from diverse cultural perspectives and frames of references. Students will write and perform skits about the impact of the Civil War on the economy, the landscape, and the population of the North and South.
Exploring Monuments of Downtown Wilmington
Kelly Jones
Description of Lesson: Students will assume the role of a tour guide to an assigned monument in downtown Wilmington. They will prepare a 3 page paper, a 1 page script, and provide an onsite presentation.
Reconstructing Cartoon Meanings
Allison Altvater
Description of Lesson: After covering Reconstruction for 3 days, students are asked to interpret political cartoons about the period.
Reconstruction
Daniella Stamm
Description of Lesson: Students will learn about reconstruction, the individuals who are associated with reconstruction, the events that defined reconstruction, the different definitions and ideas of reconstruction, how reconstruction differed in the North and South and the failures and success of reconstruction.
Would the real Andrew Johnson stand up
Dianne Russell
Description of Lesson: Students will learn about Andrew Johnson, his role during Reconstruction, his plan for Reconstruction and where he stood both politically and socially in the debate over African Americans and equality.
The Battle for Reconstruction in the South
Kevin Hamilton
Description of Lesson: The lesson will look at the different plans for Reconstruction. Students will read primary source excerpts dealing with the effectiveness of Congressional Reconstruction. After working in groups through the documents, students will participate in a class discussion dealing with the goals of Radical Reconstruction and the opposition it faced. The lesson will conclude with students answering a prompt regarding the effectiveness of Radical Reconstruction. The lesson is designed to introduce the controversy over the implementation of Reconstruction, as well as give them practice for the Document Based Question (DBQ) on the AP Exam. Essentially, the class is designed to be a step-by-step walk through of forming a response to a DBQ prompt.
Freedom's Choices
Leigh Robertson
Description of Lesson: Students will examine primary source documents to determine the choices, freedoms, and rights available to freedmen in the years following the Civil War. Topics to be examined include: 13, 14, 15 Amendments, sharecropping, black codes. Students will create a Venn Diagram comparing slavery to the experience of freedmen in the years following the Civil War. They will then write an “I Am” poem or letter from the point of view of a newly freed African American.
Irish and African-American’s: Different, but the same?
Hill Pearsall
Description of Lesson: Students will view several artifacts and come to conclusions regarding similarities and differences of Irish immigrants and black Americans in different periods of the 1800s.
Reconstruction Assessed
Kevin Hamilton
Description of Lesson: This lesson is a follow-up to the introduction to Reconstruction lesson. In this lesson, students will assess the effectiveness of Reconstruction and look to reasons for why Reconstruction failed. Also, this provides additional skills for AP students in analyzing documents for the DBQ question.
Reconstruction, Black Codes and the 14th Amendment
Kristen Hewett
Description of Lesson: Students will examine and discuss the various Black Codes that were passed by southern legislatures during Reconstruction. This lesson would be part of an ongoing unit on Reconstruction.
Political, Economic, and Social Impact of Reconstruction
Kelly Jones
Description of Lesson: How are civil liberties challenged during times of conflict and change? How have the changes during Reconstruction made a lasting impact on America? To what extent did the federal government wield its power over the states during and after the civil war?
Reconstruction or Redemption
Hill Pearsall
Description of Lesson: Students will view several artifacts to make their own determination on the successes and failures of Reconstruction in their own opinion.
How did Black Codes limit the rights of African Americans?
Dianne Russell
Description of Lesson: Students will examine the black codes in Mississippi and discuss whether or not they violated the constitutional amendments ratified by congress.
Political Cartoons and Reconstruction Gallery Walk
Daniel Sidor
Description of Lesson: Teacher will model for students what they should be doing for this lesson. Teacher will show class a political cartoon on reconstruction. As a class they will then fill out the political cartoon analysis sheet. Then the class will discuss what event in reconstruction the cartoon was about and what the cartoonist is saying about that event. Students will be divided into eight groups. Each group will receive a different political cartoon from reconstruction. The groups will discuss their political cartoon and fill out a political cartoon analysis worksheet. After the group is done filling out the analysis sheet, then each group will write a paragraph explaining what reconstruction event the cartoon dealt with and what was the cartoonist’s stance on the event. Each group will be given 20 minutes to evaluate their cartoon and write their paragraph. Then the groups will switch cartoons with another group. They will again have 20 min to fill out their analysis sheet and write their paragraph on the cartoon. After all groups have written their second paragraphs then the groups will share there paragraphs with the group they switched with. The groups will see if they both interpreted the same way or not. After the groups are finished sharing then each student will be responsible for choosing an event from Reconstruction and making their own political cartoon (this may be done for homework). The next class the teacher will collect their cartoons and post them around the room labeling each one as cartoon 1, cartoon 2, and so on (for how many students you have in the class). Then the class will be given a Cartoon Identification sheet where students will go on a gallery walk and try to figure out which event each political cartoon is about.
How did African Americans define Freedom?
Daniella Stamm
Description of Lesson: While discussing Reconstruction and its impact ton African Americans students will read the address of the Colored Convention to the People of Alabama. They will then analyze the document to determine what message was being conveyed to African Americans across the South. Students will participate in both a small group and large class discussion throughout this lesson.
Are They Constitutional? Mock Trial
Daniel Sidor
Description of Lesson: Divide class into three groups. Each group will be given a section from three different states’ black codes (North Carolina, Mississippi, Louisiana) and a copy of the United States Bill of Rights. Each group will act as lawyers who will be trying to appeal these laws through the United States Supreme Court. They will specifically write out which amendments the black codes violate and come up with a case to challenge them. The group will choose three members to present their case to the supreme court. The Supreme Court will consist of the teacher and 3 members from each of the two other groups. The seven justices will then vote on whether or not the black codes are constitutional. After the trial each student will right a reflection on what they experienced.
The significance of the 14th Amendment
Dylan Dimock
Description of Lesson: Lesson begins with a discussion of citizenship then moves towards an explanation of Reconstruction. Notes explain the important points of Reconstruction. We then examine the Civil War amendments with an emphasis on the 14th Amendment. Through a discussion of southern resistance (black codes) to reconstruction and the Civil Rights Act of 1866 we examine Dred Scott and the passage of the 14th Amendment as a vehicle for defining/assuring freedman rights and later the rights of all citizens. Hopefully in student writings an understanding of the importance of the 14th Amendment in redefining the relationship between states and the federal government is explained.
Sharecropping: Legalized Slavery?
Keith Walter
Description of Lesson: Class will discuss different options for the freedman during the Reconstruction period and engage in a class simulation of the sharecropping system.
How effective was the Freedmen’s Bureau?
Kelly Jones
Description of Lesson: In small groups, students will evaluate primary source documents to determine the effectiveness of the Freedmen’s Bureau. After evaluation, students will be regrouped into Team A and Team B. Team A will use the documents to prepare and argument for the Bureau’s and its positive impact and Team B will use the documents to prepare an argument to prove the ineffectiveness of the Bureau. As a class, students will present their arguments in a class debate. After the discussion, students will be allowed to abandon their assigned position and give their own informed opinion.
Black Reconstruction
Allison Altvater
Description of Lesson: Students will look at various primary sources from Reconstruction that illustrates the limitations or failures of the era. Students will fill out a source analysis chart that asks them to pick apart the documents and using background information from their homework’s text draw conclusions about the limitations of reconstruction on social conditions.
The Price of Freedom
Craig Underwood
Description of Lesson: Students will use primary resources to examine life during Reconstruction for African Americans in the South.
The Freedman's Bureau
Dylan Dimock
Description of Lesson: Lesson begins with a discussion of the challenges of reconstructing the nation. Lincolns, Johnson's and the Congressional radical plans are all discussed from the previous notes. Students are then given notes on the Freedman's bureau and its role in the postwar south. Students then read an article by WEB DuBois on the Freedman's Bureau and create potential solutions to the failures of reconstruction Hopefully in student writings an understanding of the challenges of reconstruction and its legacy is expressed.
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