Standards and Backwards Mapping
Unpacking the Standards for CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.6-8.2
Common Core Standards for History/Social Studies
Standard:
Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source; provide an accurate summary of the source distinct from prior knowledge or opinions.
Why Middle School Social Studies?
My son Jack is a 5th grader in a wonderful public school in our city of Richmond, Virginia. His
innate ability to ask "Why was John Cabot never found after his last expedition?" or "Why did
George Washington decide to become a Patriot instead of a Loyalist?" or "Why did Ponce de
Leon yearn to search for the Fountain of Youth?" rekindled my passion for Social Studies and
Literacy in the last few years. Since we live in Virginia, Common Core Standards are not the
educational law, but in my future I will be moving closer to family in Arkansas, in a state where
Common Core is standard. One reason I want to study secondary/middle school and these
particular subjects is to re-live these curiosities of my childhood along with him, but that's not the
only reason: in volunteering for the past six years in public school, I've realized that my creative
side formerly used only for business and advertising can be used just as well to teach middle
school children.
Proficiencies:
1. Recognize the central idea(s) or main points of the text or source.
2. Be able to provide the author, writer or illustrator's point of view with supporting details.
3. Be able to provide evidence of comprehension of text by summarizing the passage or text.
4. Be able to show comparisons and contrasts of information from primary sources to secondary sources.
Activities/Learning Experiences:
Activity for Proficiency #1 & 2: The students will look at four depictions of the Boston Massacre and answer the questions that accompany each one on a graphic organizer. Show each depiction one at a time on video or slides in front of class and have them record their answers to the relevant questions on the organizer (see PDF below for graphic organizer).
Activity for Proficiency #3: Have students divide into group. All groups will be given two newspaper articles from 1770 depicting The Boston Massacre. One is The Boston Gazette and the other is an article from The London Chronicle. Have them read the two account together as groups and discuss. Have one person in each group type up the group's summary of each account. Besides summarizing, have the group discuss as a group (and then together as a class) how the separate accounts are the same and how they are different.
Activity for Proficiency #4: Provide a "Compare and Contrast" handout for the students where they puzzle out and determine the comparisons and contrasts between one of the photo depictions of the Boston Massacre (of the students' choosing) and one of the newspaper articles (also of the students' choosing). Please see below for PDF of handout.
Assessment of Standard:
1. Students will write a letter to the editor, in the form of a blog post, of a British or American media outlet of their choice that begins: "Dear _______, I am writing to express my opinion about the events that occurred on March 5, 1770 in Boston, Massachusetts. I feel the blame rests solely on ______."
Students must then make an argument either way on who is to blame for the event using information they learned during the lesson.
2. Show the students the HBO John Adams clip on how the trial proceeded, have them take notes while watching, and then ask them whether they agree of disagree with the decision. Follow with a quiz with various questions from the clip such as :
How might different interpretations of the same event affect our understanding of history?
What should we do (as students of history) to make sure multiple perspectives are considered?
Who do they think was at fault? What words did they use to make you think that?
3. Hold a "You Be The Judge" mock trial with information gathered from the trial testimony and the HBO John Adams clip. Have seven students role play the witnesses after providing them with excerpts/testimonies of the witnesses (William Sawyer, Isaac Pierce, Theodore Bliss, Benjamin Burdid, James Woodall, Newton Prince and John Cole). Have one student role play as judge and the rest of the class as the jury.
References:
http://www.bostonmassacre.net/trial/d-bliss.htm
Teaching American History.org "Boston Massacre." British and Colonial Perspectives
"Crispus Attucks, the first martyr of the American Revolution, King (now State) Street, Boston, March 5th, 1770. - ID: 488599 - NYPL Digital Gallery." NYPL Digital Gallery Home. http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/dgkeysearchdetatil.cfm?trg (accessed August 2, 2012).
"Enlargement of Paul Revere's Engraving of the Boston Massacre." Archiving Early America: Primary Source Material from 18th Century America.
http://www.earlyamerica.com/review/winter96/enlargement.html (accessed August 2, 2012).
PBS. "Painting of Boston Massacre." Africans in America.
"Crispus Attucks, the first martyr of the American Revolution, King (now State) Street, Boston, March 5th, 1770. - ID: 488599 - NYPL Digital Gallery." NYPL Digital Gallery Home. http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/dgkeysearchdetatil.cfm?trg (accessed August 2, 2012).
"Enlargement of Paul Revere's Engraving of the Boston Massacre." Archiving Early America: Primary Source Material from 18th Century America.
http://www.earlyamerica.com/review/winter96/enlargement.html (accessed August 2, 2012).
PBS. "Painting of Boston Massacre." Africans in America.
