The following lesson plans are designed for an eighth grade classroom. The period for each class is 52 minutes. The lesson may need to be adapted in certain ways for your classroom, but this will give you the basic format of the course. I have taken one sample lesson from each of the main sections of my unit, giving the user a section on Whitman, a section on Lincoln, and a section on using Civil War Photography in the classroom.
Sample Lesson One-Whitman’s poetry
Objectives
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· Students will work cooperatively on interpretations of a variety of Whitman’s poetry
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· Students will read/hear Whitman poems out loud
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· Students will interpret Whitman’s Civil War poetry
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· Students will decide on chronological order of poems
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· Students will identify changes in mood in poetry
Materials
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· Copies of Whitman poems;
Beat! Beat! Drums, A Sight in Camp in the Daybreak Gray and Dim, Reconciliation, O’Captain! My Captain!, Hushed Be the Camps To-day, This Dust was Once the Man.
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· Assignments for Students; Leader/Orator, Illustrator, Vocabulary Enricher, Clarifier, Questioner.
Initiation
· Discussion with class; what kind of poems might a poet write about a war?
Procedure
Once students have had the initial discussion on poetry and war, break the class up into groups of five. Explain to the class that each member of each group will have a role in the discussion of each group’s assigned poem. Choose a leader or have students choose a leader. The leader will be responsible for leading the group and for reading the poetry to the rest of the class. Explain the other roles to the class. (The Illustrator will draw a picture to go with the poem, Vocabulary Enricher will find difficult vocabulary from the poem to share with the group/class, the Clarifier will explain the group’s interpretation of the poem to the class and the Questioner will come up with three questions to stimulate class discussion on the poetry.)
Next hand out the poems and let the students get to work! It will probably take at least one full class period for the students to finish with their individual jobs and an additional one to share with the class, so be prepared to spend about three days on this lesson. After students have had time to work on their responses, let them present to the class. After each group finishes, put their work up on the board until all are finished.
Closure
Have a discussion with the students about the order of the poems. In what order does the class think the poems were written? Use the visuals created by the students to shuffle around the order. Ask the students if they see any changes in mood/attitude over the years.
Sample Lesson Plan-Two- Lincoln’s First Inaugural Address
Objectives
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· Students will read/role play a section of Lincoln’s First Inaugural Address
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· Students will empathize with differing viewpoints at time of address
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· Students will debate the message of Lincoln’s First Inaugural Address
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· Students will write journal entries on tone of address
Materials
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· Students’ journals
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· Copy of portion of Lincoln’s First Inaugural Address
Initiation
Ask students who knows what an inaugural address is. Review with students the situation in 1860 when Lincoln was giving his address. Discuss what students think was on Lincoln’s mind at that time.
Procedure
After the initial discussion, ask students to count off by twos and split the class in half. The “ones” will be represent the South, while the North will be represented by the “twos.” Have students sit on opposite sides of the room facing each other.
Ask for a volunteer to role-play Abraham Lincoln. Give the rest of the class the portion of the address Lincoln will read. Ask students to jot down their reactions to the speech, keeping in mind what part of the country that they come from. Have Lincoln sit in the center of the room as students come up to voice their opinions on the speech.
Discuss persuasion with students. How important is knowing your audience in writing a persuasive essay or speech? How difficult might this speech have been for Lincoln to write, given his audience? Try to get students to think of a time when persuasion is especially difficult as you try to appeal to one side without insulting the other. Brainstorm a situation when a student might have to be persuasive and keep a diverse audience in mind. (For example, a student class president appealing to students to get to class on time in front of an administrative panel)
Closure
Ask students to write a persuasive speech on the topic you come up with as a class
Sample Lesson Three- Exploring Civil War Photos
Sample lesson three begins the cumulating art project for the unit, the Civil War Power Point Presentation. As I mentioned in the unit, students will create their own power points utilizing the text and photography from the Civil War.
Objectives
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· Students will explore primary source documents
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· Students will match Civil War photographs with favorite lines from poetry/text
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· Students will share findings with class
Materials
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· Computers
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· List of Web Sites:
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· Library of Congress; http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/cwphtml/cwphome.html
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· National Archives; http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/brady-photos/
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· The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History; www.gilderlehrman.org
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· The National Portrait Gallery; http://www.npg.si.edu/exh/brady/intro/conthtm
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· Text from previous discussions
Initiation
Have students spend ten to fifteen minutes walking around the classroom jotting down ideas from the artwork that they have created during this unit. All of the Whitman poems, and lines from the Gettysburg Address should be illustrated from previous lessons making the text easy to access. Ask student to write down some lines that jump out at them. Share the lines as a class.
Procedure
Once students have decided on their lines allow them to go on the given web sites and find photography that matches or illustrates the line in the poetry or prose. As always monitor the students when they are on the computers.
Remember, this section of the unit is a sort of warm-up for students in preparation for their larger power point projects where they will be doing the same thing on a larger scale and in a different format. Make sure students are making valid connections and working in a manner that will be beneficial when you lead them through the bigger power point project.
Closure
Share the students’ findings. Project some of the images that the students have matched up with their favorite lines and ask students to explain why they chose those images. This discussion will help students better understand what you will be looking for in the power point presentations.
