Peter N. Herndon
A.
Lesson One
“Planning a Utopia”
Objectives
After completing the Lesson, students should be able
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1. To design a map with a key, scale of miles and direction;
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2. To discuss reasons for selecting the site location and describe why it is ideal for their purposes.
Lesson Procedures
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1. Distribute a map of Thomas More’s “Utopia” to the students and discuss its topography and physical features. How are the “essentials” of life provided for?
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2. Discuss the short reading from More’s book. How does More define “utopia”? Discuss where there is agreement and disagreement among students. List on the chalkboard students’ ideas for a modern utopian community: What “things” would they include? What freedoms and liberties would be enjoyed?
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3. End the class with instructions for the homework assignment: design a map (begun in class) which will include all the essentials that will make utopia possible. Using More’s map (as a guide) explain:
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landforms man-made building
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natural resources title
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scale of miles key
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political boundaries direction
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4. Explain that students will be expected to bring completed maps to class the next day and discuss with their classmates rules to organize their Model Communities.
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5. This Lesson will prepare students to understand the workings of American communities established in the eighteenth century and how some of them were organized.
B.
Lesson Two
“Advantages and Requirements of a Community”
Objectives
After completing the Lesson students should be able
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1. To list several objectives of communitarian societies;
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2. To list several advantages of these societies;
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3. To list several requirements of a lasting society.
Lesson Procedures
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1. Lead a general discussion on the subject: “How easy or difficult would it be to organize a communitarian society?” List student ideas on the chalkboard and highlight what they believe to be advantages and disadvantages to this system; what ideas (if any) would have to be common to all; would leaders be necessary, and if so what qualities would they possess?
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2. Hand out a list of quotations (below) that address the issues of Communal Life and discuss with students.
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3. Conclude with having students write down two or three requirements of a communitarian society that would be a lasting one, and a paragraph defending their views.
Reading Samples
: (Lesson Two)
(A) Goals of Communitarian Societies:
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1. “We aim to improve the present social and economic condition.”
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2. “We believe that this way of life will build character in men and women.”
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3. “We wish to promote love and unity. The conditions of a happy home are the ingredients of a harmonious community.”
(B) Essential ingredients to a Communitarian Society:
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1. “All must work together and hold all wealth in common.”
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2. “A community needs the power of important principles that all members agree on in order to remain strong.”
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3. “Selfishness must disappear; rules must be enforced to see that the rights of all are protected.”
(C) Leadership in the Communitarian Society:
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1. “Leaders must be honest, fairminded and generally respected by all.”
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2. “The man who would lead is the man who would serve the community and the needs of others as his first order of business.”
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3. “The best leaders are those who are not commanders but instructors. Those that are interested in the truth—the truth of character which promotes kindness, love, purity and righteousness.”
(D) Advantages of the Communitarian Society:
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1. “All can live much more inexpensively.”
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2. “All can live happier, simpler life.”
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3. “All can share in the pleasures and benefits of moral and spiritual instruction.”
C.
Lesson Three
: “Mock Trial: Ann Lee vs. the State of New York” (1780)
Objectives
After completing the Lesson, students should be able
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1. To summarize two reasons why the State arrested Ann Lee and her followers in 1780;
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2. To empathize to a certain extent with the different sides in this debate (Church and State);
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3. To become more familiar with civil courtroom proceedings.
Lesson Procedures
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1. Teacher hands out a “Fact Sheet” to students, which includes necessary background information of events leading up to Ann Lee’s arrest (previous night’s homework).
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2. Teacher divides up the class into three groups. One group is the “Shakers,” another is the “Prosecutors,” and a third is the “Jury Members.”
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3. Teacher hand out separate “Role Sheets” to each group. Each “Role Sheet” has information necessary to perform in the Mock Trial accurately. (The Jury Members get their own instructions plus the other two sheets).
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4. After giving each group time to plan their strategy and to ask questions, the “Prosecutors” are asked to give their testimony before the court, which is run by the “Jury Members” (with one Jury Member acting as Judge). The “Shakers” then give their testimony before the court.
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5. After all testimony has been given, students are expected to write an evaluation of the trial. Were you happy with the results? (The New York governor pardoned the Shakers). What were the real issues in this trial? Are similar issues still being dealt with in courts today (freedom of assembly, speech and religion).
Sample Role Sheet
: “The Shakers”
Instructions
Your group represents the ideas of Ann Lee and the Shaker Community. Study the quotations below so that you will be able to answer questions about your beliefs from the other two groups, the “Prosecutors” and the “Jury Members.” You may also use class notes and assignments to help make your case stronger.
Issue 1
: Shaker beliefs about Ann Lee:
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a. “Christ has revealed Himself personally to Ann Lee. Shakers believe that a Second Revelation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been made through this woman.”
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b. “We do not follow an evil woman or a prostitute . . . Can an evil tree bring forth good fruit?”
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c. “A poor, illiterate, uneducated factory woman has confounded the wisdom of all men—reformers, legislators and scholars, who have come to nothing as promoters of human happiness.”
Issue 2
: Shaker beliefs and practices:
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a. “We believe as Shakers that we who live by the teachings of Christ and live peacefully with one another, do more service to our country than we could possibly do by bearing arms and declaring war.”
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b. “We dance and sing praise to the Lord:
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Come old and young, come great and small,
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Here’s love and union free for all;
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And every one that will obey,
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Have now a right to dance and play;
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For dancing is a sweet employ,
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It fills the souls with heavenly joy,
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It makes our love and union flow,
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While round, and round, and round we go.”
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c. “We are not called to be like the world; but to excel them in order, union and peace, and in good works— works that are truly virtuous and useful to man, in this 1ife.”
Issue 3
: Shaker rules:
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a. “The gospel of Christ’s second appearing strictly forbids all private union between the two sexes.”
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b. “It is expected that any Shaker who feels conviction of any thing from their conscience to go to your Elders to confess it so that you will not grow hardened and finally fall from the way of God.”
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c. “Anyone temporarily leaving the Shaker community may do so only with the permission of the Elders.”