Time:
60 minutes
Objective:
Students will use a map of downtown New Haven from http://www.cityofnewhaven.com and a map of the United States and http://www.mapofworld.com and read an article on Benedict Arnold from the website http://www.benedictarnold.org and Nathan Hale from http://www.biography.com/articles/NathanHale.com. Students will locate familiar places and
high-light them on the maps. Students will discuss their ideas with the class about their experiences with these particular places and imagine what it must have been like for the soldiers marching down the streets of New Haven.
Materials:
Map of downtown New Haven
Map of the United States (can be bought at an educator's store or downloaded)
Article on Benedict Arnold
Article on Nathan Hale
Highlighters or crayons
Do Now:
Students will move into groups of four and listen to the description of the lesson.
Procedures:
1. Students will be distributed both maps, one of the United States and one of New Haven.
2. Students will be distributed one article at a time to read.
3. In small groups, the students will look for places in the articles that are familiar to them and highlight them in the text.
4. Students will mark the locations on their maps and discuss in their small groups why they have chosen these particular places. On the United States map, the students can trace the route of Nathan Hale's regiment from Boston to New York to New London, etc. Students can do the same for Arnold.
5. Teacher will ask the class to begin discussing the places that were highlighted and why they were important to them. The teacher will ask about their experiences with these places and the relationship these places have to the war. The teacher will explain the significance of those key places the students' highlighted on their maps.
Closure (Teacher- and student-generated discussion)
"What are some of the connections I can make to these locations? Are there places that I visited before that remind me of the places that these two men visited or lived in? Can I think of what it must have been like in New Haven in the 1700's compared to what life is like in the present in New Haven? Were the streets as busy as they are today? How did the people react when the troops marched through the streets of downtown New Haven, and how do you think we would have acted or felt like if troops marched down our busy streets with guns? What feelings were present? Can I connect to the feelings of the troops?
Assessment:
Students will pretend that they are soldiers from the Revolutionary War who were transported to present-day New Haven marching down the streets of downtown New Haven. Students are asked to write about what they think the soldiers might have seen in 2011 that they might have not seen in the 1700's. How do you think the soldier might have felt? Tell why.
