C. Oliver Lesson Plan

Publication Date: June 18, 2004

California Social Science Standard:

11.1.2 Analyze the ideological origins of the American Revolution, the Founding Fathers' philosophy of divinely bestowed unalienable natural rights, the debates on the drafting and ratification of the Constitution, and the addition of the Bill of Rights.

Chronological and Spatial Thinking Standard:

Standard 1: Students compare the present with the past, evaluating the consequences of past events and decisions and determining the lessons that were learned

Standard 4: Students relate current events to the physical and human characteristics of places and regions.

Language Arts Standard:

3.8 Analyze the clarity and consistency of political assumptions in a selection of literary works or essays on a topic (e.g., suffrage, women's role in organized labor). (Political approach)

California Concepts/Vocabulary: change, justice, power, rights, natural rights, democracy

Learning Outcome/ “Big Idea” / “Essential Learning” (objective): Students will be able to identify the key grievances that the colonists had with the British and prioritize which grievances were most important to the Founding Fathers.

EL/Inclusion Strategies: Visual “T-Grid” to make the information easier to process (this takes the place of a lecture). To make primary sources easier to understand, the class reads the material together and calls attention to tough vocabulary and concepts.

Materials: Photocopies of excerpts from Thomas Paine’s writings (should contain at least some of “Common Sense” and, ideally, also “The Crisis”), writing materials (identified by steps, below), overhead.

TCI Materials: Notebooks

TCI Strategy: Social Studies Skill Builder

Technology Component:. The good old-fashioned overhead projector.

Opportunities to Learn/Perform:

PREVIEW ASSIGNMENT

Students are told to write an answer to the following question in their journals/notebooks, using a “T” format:

What rule at our high school do you think is unfair? Explain why you think it is unfair, giving at least five reasons, then give at least three suggestions to improve the rule.

After students have spent about 10 minutes answering the prompt, the instructor should invite them to share their findings. The instructor should write general topics on the board, noting the perceived unfairness of the rule and calling attention to especially unpopular rules.

Rule you don't like: I think it is unfair that Juniors are not allowed to go off campus at lunch.

Reasons the Rule is Unfair	Ways to Improve the Rule
1. I am a very responsible student and I am not allowed to go off campus while there are irresponsible Seniors who have this right.	1. Do not make grade level the basis for going off campus, make it based on behavior
2. The school food is not very good and I have few choices without going off campus.	2. Keep track of any students who do irresponsible things and do not let them go off campus
3. Juniors are old enough to be trusted	3. Have better food on campus so that going off campus is not so tempting.
4. The school is too controlling
5. The food off campus is most excellent.

ACTIVITY

Explain to the students that their problems with the high school can be likened to the problems that the colonists had with the British government.
Pass out previously-prepared excerpt page from Thomas Paine’s writings (“The Crisis” and “Common Sense”).
The instructor leads the students in a class reading, pausing to call attention to difficult words.
At the end of the reading, the instructor turns on the overhead projector to show an empty T-Grid, similar to the ones the students made in their journals.
The instructor writes “Rules that Paine thinks are unfair” on one side and “Ways to Improve the Rule” on the other side of the table.
Soliciting student input, the instructor fills out the table. The idea here is basically to pull out all of the reasons that Paine gives for breaking away with Britain. If using a TCI spiral notebook, this information would go in the right- hand side. Some sample responses occur below:

7. After the teacher has listed as many reasons as the students come up with, (s)he reviews some of the revolutionary catchphrases that the students will (hopefully) recall from their 8^th grade curriculum (“Taxation without Representation”, etc.)

ASSESSMENT

As this is part of an ongoing unit, the assessment will take multiple forms:

NOTEBOOK – The notebook will be evaluated by the teacher to see if critical thinking/student responses are occurring.

MATERIAL – The processing assignment (see below) will ask students to put the information into a usable format.

EXAM – Ultimately the material will be tested in exam format, with visual elements incorporated into the multiple-choice.

THE REST OF THE LESSON…

Following this activity, a short lecture/discussion should take place (ideally, a PowerPoint presentation that features a fusion of fact and emotion in a visually-oriented fashion—utilizing the visual slide discovery TCI strategies). This PowerPoint should provide more detail as to the various acts passed by Parliament that vexed the colonists.
The day after the PowerPoint, the students complete a visual processing assignment where they map the “road to revolution” (each block on the road represents a different event on the way to 1776). Example below:

Reflection:

Overall, I think this is a good lesson with some major flaws. The hook aspect of the assignment was (obviously) the most interesting to the students—most took the opportunity to complain about the school’s dress code (which, quite frankly, isn't really enforced that strongly) or the fact that Junior’s can't go off campus at lunch. It occurs tome that the dress code or lunch situation really don't compare to the colonial complains, so next year I might nix this aspect or modify it somehow.

The source reading is dense and uninteresting. Choosing one that had a bit more drama to it might rectify this , but Paine’s vocabulary and style lend themselves to longer study (with a vocabulary activity on the side) rather than a quick “read it and respond” style assignment. Maybe Patrick Henry would be a better choice because I could at least teach them the famous “Liberty or Death” quote.

The actual “Road to Revolution” follow up was very good, in my estimation, and the responses feel into three categories: very good, good, or not complete. Everyone in the class seemed to “get” the main things that ticked off the colonials. The copies don’t really capture the colors and creativity in my opinion.

Rules that Paine thinks are unfair	Ways to Improve the Rule
1. It is stupid for a small island (Britain) to rule over a large continent (America)	1. The colonies should rule themselves!
2. We are not asked for our opinions on taxes