Designer: L. Rogers
Publication Date: November 3, 2004
Standards:
- History Social-Science 8.1.2
- “Analyze the philosophy of government as expressed in the Declaration of Independence, with an emphasis on the government as a means of securing individual rights.”
- Analysis skills: Research Evidence and Point of View: “Students frame questions that can be answered by historical study and research.” “Students assess the credibility of primary and secondary sources and draw conclusions about them.”
- Historical Interpretation: “Students understand and distinguish cause, effect, sequence and correlation in historical events, including long and short-term causal relations.”
- Language Arts Standards: Comprehension and Analysis: 2.4 “Compare the original text to a summary to compare whether the summary accurately captures the main idea, includes critical details, and conveys the underlying meaning. 3.0 Literary Response and Analysis. Written and Oral English Language Conventions: Sentence Structure, Grammar, Punctuation and Capitalization and Spelling.
Key concepts (CA. Concepts Collection II)/Vocabulary:
Justice, Rights, Democracy, natural rights
Learning Outcome/ “Big Idea”/ “Essential Learning” (Objective):
- Students will explain the meaning of the Declaration of Independence
TCI Strategies: Interactive Notebook, Preview, Visual Discovery, Problem Solving Group Work, and Processing
EL/Inclusion Strategies: Students will be placed in mixed ability pairs. Visuals of the document and process will be presented. Interpretation of excerpts of the Declaration to be put on transparencies for the class to discuss.
Materials: Matrix for analyzing the Declaration; transparencies and pens, copies of the excerpt revisions. Text: American Nation.
Opportunities to Learn/Perform (Procedure):
1. What will students need to do to achieve knowledge and skills identified in standards and learning outcomes?
- Class will review reasons for colonial unrest (Chp.4-lesson 3)
- Students will write and then share their answers to this question: Think of a time when you were so angry with your parents that you rebelled. What were some of the reasons that caused you to rebel? (the last straw?)
2. What will the teacher do?
- Ask some students to share their answers to rebellion question.
- Lead review of reasons for colonial unrest.
- Place students into pairs.
- Pass out matrix for analyzing the Declaration of Independence
- Explain directions: Tell students that they will choose an interpretation for each excerpt that is in simpler language, write it on the matrix, and then draw an illustration that explains the excerpt’s meaning.
- Model the first excerpt.
- Monitor pairs giving feedback as necessary.
- After about 15 minutes, choose students to read their interpretation.
- Class will discuss excerpt and agree on an appropriate revision and illustration.
- Place a transparency of the excerpt on the overhead.
- Tell students to glue excerpts matrix into right side of notebooks.
- Show and discuss slide of political cartoon The Horse of America Throwing his Master.
- Assign homework: Processing Question: Pretend that you are a member of the Second Continental Congress. Write a short diary entry expressing your reasons for signing the Declaration of Independence. Tell how you feel about the British government calling you a traitor. Hand out rubric.
- Next day: Show and discuss video about what happened to the signers
- Collect processing assignment
Technology Component: Overhead projector; video tape player and monitor. Slide projector
Primary Sources: Declaration of Independence, Political Cartoon: The Horse of America Throwing his Master.
TCI Resources: History Alive! The United States: Excerpts of the Declaration, slides of the Convention and the political cartoon.
Resources (Indicate primary sources): Text (American Nation); Text of the Declaration; Broadside of the Declaration; visuals and slides of signers and process, political cartoon.
Assessment:
- Teacher observation of students’ work on excerpts to verify progress and check for understanding.
- Observation of presentations of excerpts.
- Rubric for processing assignment.
Reflection:
1. What did student samples reveal?
Most of the students seemed to understand the frustration of the American colonists and used examples such as the Intolerable Acts, Quartering Act and Stamp Act as reasons for signing the Declaration of Independence. The illustrations showed a good understanding of the Declaration.
2. What do I need to model, change, or adjust regarding criteria, assessment and opportunities to learn?
In the original plan students were to write their own revisions. It appeared from a previous lesson on "Common Sense" that the students were having difficulty rewording excerpts so for this lesson, I decided to give them revisions to choose from. This worked much better. As part of the follow up I will put some of the illustrations on transparencies to discuss with the class.
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